Traveller: Interstellar Wars, using Dirtside II in 15mm

Megz and I decided to try a little Dirtside II while visiting the Tri-State Gamers Day of Games in Springfield, PA this past 17th November. Megz had never played before (though is familiar with StarGrunt II) and I hadn't played in some 4 years - time to knock some rust off.

We were joined by Cliff B. and Gil (?), which was a pleasant development (They were enthralled by the GEV APCs and first thought it was a Hammer's Slammers game - why disappoint them?)

Imperials Advance
I have no idea why my camera is tinting blue.

This was another "Assault on Alpha Centauri" scenario, first taken from the old boardgame Imperium and answers the statement "You should only attack with 3 to 1 odds." with "Sometimes, you only have  2 to 1 odds and you hope to get lucky...". Happens in Imperium all the time.


(Picture note: my I*Phone was fussing, so the first picture turned out rather blue-ish. We switched to the MegzCam(TM) for the rest of the game.)

The Vilani make a key mistake...they bunch up.

The Imps weren't playing very clever, we were just trying to close to range. Bit of a mistake, really. The Terran mortars took out an artillery scout sled, and then sustained heavy missile fire and high velocity rounds from the light tanks (nicknamed "Terridens") destroying the T53 Area Defense sled. Loss of the AD sled is always bad, as it protects the advance against missiles and mortar rounds. And so, the defeat begins...

The line is dressed,
and the advance may now continue...

Some good news; the artillery spotters were able to deploy a pair of mortars on the reverse of the ridge. The third mortar was still in the burning hover sled. Also, an attached Electronic Warfare sled set up jamming of the Terran communications.

Dirtside II doesn't have EW rules, so we ported them in from StarGrunt II. An active EW stand receive three chits, each can be spent to spot units, jam commo or spoof enemy guidance systems. The Imperial immediately began to jam the Terran artillery spotters requests for mortar fire. This blunted the Terran mortar fire, but did not entirely halt it.

The Terrans had very little capability to counter these EW attacks - Terran Tech lags behind Imperial, so their ECW assets aren't effective except in quantity, and there had been no room to land those expensive, and limited effective units.

The ConFed Marines would defend the giant
 drink cup facility, whatever the cost...

Terran Marine platoon, dug in on three low rises. The big building is some sort of infrastructure objective - maybe it refines and bottles water. It has to be strategically important for the Vilani to capture and not simply nuke.

The marines are supported by light, airmobile AIFVs and a pair of light tanks (with hi-velocity guns). There are mortar teams behind the crests of the rises, the squad leaders are acting as spotters - something the Vilani would never contemplate.

The near squad has lost their Chariot-class AIFV to the 44mm gun of the T53 sled. These small vehicles are light enough to drop into positions, but they have thin armour. All Terran Marine Jump Infantry vehicles are built on the same light chassis, easing logistics ever so slightly.

The view of the Vilani, humping over the ridge, from the Terran ConFed perspective. The Terran mortar teams are still being jammed, as the Command Post attempts to re-activate a mortar section to hit the Imps. This was another StarGrunt II rule we imported - a command unit may pass it's activation to a subordinate unit upon making a successful commo roll.

One thing we did not get on camera was an auto-cannon armed Chariot raced down the Vilani right flank and shot up several elements - Imperial mortar section and spotter section as well as the EW sled.  Megz is a lunatic, but the attack worked. Though the "Mad Chariot" was destroyed by the 22mm autocannons of an Imperial AIFV, with the loss of the Imperial EW team, and the supporting mortar, AND the squandered T43 ADA sled, the Vilani cancelled the assault.

The Vilani have second thoughts...

Post Game Thoughts:

Designing Interstellar Wars ground actions can be tricky, especially if you're trying to stay in Traveller Canon. The first few wars must have been a nightmare, with the Ziru Sirka/Vilani lobbing tactical nukes about like lawn darts. The Terran ConFed would need to keep very mobile, which would be somewhat difficult if they're dropping light troops from orbit - unless they're dropping directly onto targets the Imperials can't (or won't) nuke.

Ziru Sirka/Imperial scouts - these poor b@stards.  Light, open hover-sleds leaves them vulnerable to all kinds of artillery shenanigans. They might need their own Area Defence Artillery, also in a light, open hover-sled.

The Electronic Warfare sled was a lot of fun to play. Blocking unit activations makes up for a lot of a beating. In hindsight, we should have jammed both mortar sections and the command post. Live and learn.

Converting Traveller vehicle designs is, in itself, entertaining. Ken Pick has several excellent articles over at Freelance Traveller - highly recommended....Ω

Marines watch while a Chariot brews up.
Let's hope the crew got out.

GZG 15mm Vilani Imperial Officers and Staff

Between phases of building my next 7TV extravaganza, I was able to finish some Vilani Imperium officers, staff and gunners.  Included in the photo is an old Force XXI ACV Infantry Carrier.

Miniatures by Ground Zero Games and Force XXI

These are from GZG # SG15-J14 and SG15-J15, being part of Jon's new updated Japanese Corporate release. They are smart little figures, and I'm looking forward to deploying them as part of my Imperial 484th "Nusku" Infantry Brigade.

Miniatures by Ground Zero Games and Force XXI

Animation: 5
Detail: 5
Proportions: 5
Variety: 5
Overall: 5 out of 5

Miniatures by Ground Zero Games

The two chaps on the single "squad" base are from the initial, pre-2014 GZG release. They are fully compatible with the new sculpts - though they lack some animation...Ω

StarGrunt II at NJ Con

As has been mentioned previously, NJ Con in Edison NJ is a great convention.  I ran two StarGrunt scenarios, both of which were designed for TravellerCon-USA.

Full write-ups of these can be found here and here - however, I'll post some recent pictures from NJ Con to keep current.

The SMS Mercs - Pinned atop the Dinom Corp HQ.

Crystals from Dinom - I had one player, John R, which is all the game needs if I take the opposing side. John did a fine job of getting the pinned-down mercs off the board.  I think it took him four turns, which is some kind of record.

John caught one of my squads in the middle of the street, shot them up with vehicle-mounted lasers, and proceeded to over run them.

Here comes the cavalry - 1300 HP worth

The miners brought out their mining vehicle (armed with a short range laser) and two prospecting "dune buggies" (armed with 50 caliber MGs) but were unable to make much of an impact on the Mercs APCs (I think we might have shot off one of the rear-vision mirrors)

And they're gone.

On Saturday, I was pleased to have John return for "Canned Vland". Once again, he had choice of sides whilst I would run opposite. He chose the Planetary Defense platoon and supporting ConFederation Marines.  I would run the Vilani.

Downtown Mikanek - Soosboro

Going by The Book, I sent my recon sleds forward, hoping to draw some anti-tank rocket fire, but John was not to be gulled, and as the recon went deeper, the armour had to follow.

Once at the barricades, the fire from the PDF intensified, pinning down the Imperial recon - John decided he could spare a few LAW rounds, and one hover scout went boom.  I think some of the crew got out, and you can see them sheltering in one of the nearby burning buildings.  Idiots.

As the plasma main guns of the tanks fired in support of the recon unit, building caught fire and the PDF SWAT team lost half it's numbers.

Finally, around turn 4, the first tank crossed the barrier, and the missiles began to fly in earnest. Fortunately (for my side - hurrah!) John had some pretty mediocre rolls, and couldn't score a major hit.  He logged enough minor hits to disable the lead tanks plenum chamber (or Bernoulli drive, or whatever) and the crew de-bussed in a panic and took shelter in a nearby burning building.  Idiots.

Buy the end of turn 5, it was obvious the Vilani would be unable to get their three remaining vehicles (2 tanks and a recon sled) off the enemy side in time (end of turn six).  The Terrans were declared the winners. Well done!

Post Convention Thoughts
Both games played well - a single player has a certain advantage vs a team, in that his moves are well coordinated. He loses something of a broader perspective, but in a skirmish game, focus is sometimes better.

In both games, we played to a clear result in just over two hours - a fast moving game is ALWAYS better.

By the way, if the reader noticed the barricades were different in this game, you win a cookie. I wasn't able to find the corner stock berms from previous games, so I used my Northwest Frontier sangars from my 25mm Colonial collection. These were made back in the late eighties using ornamental pebbles and craft glue, and they have served honourably ever since...Ω

Interstellar Wars: The Battle of Ross 154

After a gap of several months, I was able to get to a meeting of the Friday Night Pals.  I was keen to put my Imperial Battleship through her paces, and designed a Power Projection scenario based on an incident that occurred in a game of GDW's Imperium, with a dash of WWI African history.

The scenario, set during the Interstellar Wars in the Traveller Universe, revolves around an Imperial Battleship, the Karunasborg, which has suffered a jump systems failure as a result of wilderness maintenance while in the Ross 154 system, known to the Vilani as Agidda. The battleship is in orbit around the fourth planet in the Ross 154 system, known as Agidda Delta/Rufiji. Rob C. and DJ played the Imperials, whilst Albrecht, Kenzie and myself played the Terran Confederation.

The Karunasborg and her destroyer escorts

What is it about Agidda/Ross 154 that makes it a continual combat zone? Well, it's just under three parsecs from Terra, placing it within two or three jumps distance. It's a Hi-Population world, with a technological culture, and it is anti-1st Imperium.

Scenario Background: A Terran scoutship has detected the Karunasborg and lived to tell the tale: now the Confederation has dispatched a heavy cruiser squadron with orders to destroy the Karunasborg and any important escorts.

What the Terrans don't know is that the Karunasborg has been reinforced by a detachment of light cruisers and a light carrier with a compliment of fighters. The Vilani are still out-numbered, but the odds have narrowed.

The Terran Confederation Fleet Arrives

Here's the scenario in Power Projection format:

Ross 154 - Agidda Delta/Rufij

Attacking forces must destroy damaged Imperial Dreadnought. Defender must prevent this.

1st Imperium as Defender/Native (200 points budget)
Zirukaruna-class BB                   (52)

4 x Shamshir-class DD               (64)

2 x Shibash -class CL                 (50)

1 x Shaskis-class ECV               (25)

            with 4 flights fighters

                                                (191 points + fighters)

Imperial Objectives: 1. Defend Dreadnought for six Turns.  2.Escape 50% Fleet

Terran ConFed as Attacker/Intruder (300 points budget)

3 x New Brooklyn-class CR            (99)
1 x Regulus-class CS                    (25)
2 x Crockett-class DD                    (28)

4 x Guanxou-class CL                   (100)

                                                    (252 points)
 
Terran Objectives: 1. Destroy Dreadnought. 2. Damage CLs (2 threshold checks)

Native sets up at Native start point. Intruder enters from board edge B.  Native must hold for six turns and then depart via jump engines.
 
Damaged ship misjumps on an 8+; one shift in favour of Intruder’s victory level
Damaged ship destroyed on an 11+; two shift in favour of Intruder’s victory level
 

Imperial Light Cruisers, Escort Carrier and fighters

Turn 1 and 2: The Imperials held station whilst the ConFed fleet advanced at 3/4th speed. As I have written before, DJ is a cunning and dangerous opponent.  He used his heavy missile fighters to great effect, detonating a Terran destroyer, bloodying a Terran cruiser, and just being a general nuisance.  As the ConFed advanced, they had to weather a volley of Imperial missiles while being unable to reply in kind.

Terran ConFed Heavy Cruiser, Strike Cruiser and Destroyers

During the second turn, the lads finally got to see a charged particle spinal mount fire (Here's your C-beams a-glitter, Earthlings) as the BB opened up on my brand-spanking-new heavy cruiser.  3d6 damage took out three rows of structure - the only bright spot being we weren't using Tuffley's B5 mods, so I didn't have to check for structure criticals. That would have seen my cruiser collapse like an old accordion.

Imperial Light Cruiser is down

Turn 3 and 4: The ConFed had lost two ships (mine), but had managed to score some missile hits on the Karunasborg, thanks to Kenzie and my Strike Cruiser. Albrechts cruiser had also been savaged, but he managed to cripple the Imperial light cruisers and escort carrier. The dreaded particle spinal mount had missed my strike cruiser, whilst i was still busy trying to shoot down fighters.

Turn 5 and 6: As one of Albrecht's light cruisers blew up, his squadron engaged the Karunasborg at medium range, knocking out some systems, including the spinal mount. My surviving destroyer had managed to knock out another fighter flight. Kenzie was flanking around the far side of the local gas giant. t
 
By the end of turn six, the Imperial battleship was ready to jump. Consulting the Power Projection jump rules, we were surprised (some of us more so than others) that minimum safe jump distance was 70 inches from the planet.  Somewhat put out, amidst some degree of mirth (some of us more than others) DJ elected to jump at minimum distance of 7 inches, and rolled an 8, which indicated a misjump.  This shifted the victory slightly into the Confederations favour, but it had been a difficult fight.

Closing in for the kill

Post Game Thoughts:
Tough little scenario.  I had feared a Terran walkover, but with the Imperials standing off and firing missiles, the Terran ship advantage was trimmed down nicely. The game took about three hours, which included chit-chat and suchlike.

The fighters, which I had added somewhat as an after thought, were very effective.  We've made fighters harder to kill, by essentially giving them three hit points and three weapons batteries. A hit from a ship kills one hp and one battery. Without enough destroyers as escorts, the cruisers had a hard time fighting both fighters and enemy ships.

Some readers who play Power Projection may have noticed an absence of nuclear missile markers - in fact, I forgot to deploy them, so the game was played with standard missiles. Maybe both sides were out?...Ω

Ziru Sirka Battleship

 
This is a scratch built Zirukaruna (Vilani for "Grand Emperor") Imperial battleship for playing the old GDW game Imperium with miniatures, using a combination of Full Thrust and/or Power Projection: Fleet. This ship represents the BB1 Battleship that becomes available in the game by successful petition to the Shadow
Emperor.



I'm trying to keep to the rough outline of the Imperial counters from the Imperium board game. Bits assembled from a table tennis/ping pong ball, with the lens ring of an old toy flashlight, plus particle batteries from the bits box. The aperture from the CPAWS spinal mount is a small drinking straw/coffee stick.


My design sequence is, admittedly, rather Byzantine - I try to keep to the original ratio of beams, missiles and shields as laid out in Imperium. The ship is designed using the MegaTraveller sequence, then converted to Power Projection.


As far as performance goes, this TL 11 brute masses 22,000 dt, lumbers along at Manoeuvre 2, has Jump 2 and is armed with a 1.75 gigawatt CPAWS spinal mount, two 100 ton CPAW bays, eight 50 ton missile bays, and a plethora of  lasers and sandcasters.

Being only partially streamlined, the Zirukaruna relies on support tankers for refueling; though it is possible to undertake wilderness refueling, the Vilani find it difficult to envision a battleship operating in wilderness conditions....Ω

Traveller - Sharushid Type 42 Fire Direction Centre

Sharushid Type 42b ACV/FDC

These second-line vehicles are converted from obsolescent Imperial TL 10 Type 41 APCs.

Miniature by Laserburn/15mm UK - bits from GZG and Grendel

Nicknamed “The Pig” (V. ishalap) by both Confederation and Vilani troops alike, the design dates from the Pacification Wars, and the Type 41 lags a tech level behind its Type 52 replacement.

Tens of thousands of Type 41’s have been manufactured. The Vilani deplore waste, and as a result many of the mothballed T-41’s were sent to the Frontier Legions.  Others were pressed into service as support vehicles.

In conformance with standard Imperial doctrine, the Type 41 was designed without weaponry or firing ports. Frontier Legion motor pools often modify the design by adding firing ports and support weapon mounts. It is known that some Gisadia line artillery batteries on extended active service will add anti-personnel mines to the exterior.  These mines are detonated remotely as a last-ditch defense measure.

The T-42c is the hover version, and coordinates the artillery battery fire missions. In Striker II terms, it acts as a Staff Satellite Uplink Stand for artillery units.

This vehicle was something of a lark for me, in that I can only foresee one or two scenarios where this miniature will appear, but I had the extra miniature and wanted to see it painted. It could also be used as a communications vehicle or as an objective.

The model is an old Laserburn Hover APC, soon to be available in resin from 15mm UK, with GZG and Grendel bits added. I'm only partially finished with painting it, but I wanted to get at least one post up for January...Ω