Game: Silent Death

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

Ayrk — 2008-10-24T19:19:31+00:00

Don (Walsfeo) and myself have a hoopload of ships for sale for Silent Death. (Hmm, why is that?)

Let one of us know what you want and we'll see if we can fill it.

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

orionstars — 2008-10-24T16:49:17+00:00

Are people still "unloading" any ships 8 months later? I too am looking at starting this game up and possibly adding it to my BFG scenario's.

Thread: Re: Paint schemes

UnluckyNumber — 2008-03-09T19:28:28+00:00

Half the fun of painting my own ships up came from trying to plan out a unique color scheme, as well as why the squadron would use those particular colors. Jeeze, I miss playing this game regularly.

Thread: Re: Paint schemes

Walsfeo — 2008-02-19T12:30:06+00:00

cyric036 wrote:
Just so you know, there are specifics as to what houses field what ships, I don't believe this affects any of the base game ships, but I can't be sure. The lists are detailed in a couple of the books, I think. Rules of Warfare maybe? or Maybe the Fighter Tactics Manual.

IMO: For your current situation, I don't think its that big a deal.

Not all of the starter ships were available to all of the houses, but unless you are playing with someone dedicated to one of the houses it does not matter that much.

Thread: Re: Paint schemes

cyric036 — 2008-02-16T16:25:21+00:00

jgerman wrote:
I don't want to make a mistake and paint ships up to belong to a particular faction if that faction can't actually field those ships... any danger of that?

Just so you know, there are specifics as to what houses field what ships, I don't believe this affects any of the base game ships, but I can't be sure. The lists are detailed in a couple of the books, I think. Rules of Warfare maybe? or Maybe the Fighter Tactics Manual.

IMO: For your current situation, I don't think its that big a deal.

Thread: Re: Paint schemes

Mundane — 2008-02-15T16:17:04+00:00

There are no official paint schemes for the ships. For the base ships I arranged them into squadrons and chose a color pattern for each squadron. For the house fleets (Sigurd, Yoko-Shan, etc.) I just picked a color.

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

Petru5 — 2008-02-08T14:28:46+00:00

If you don't mind the ships being 2" long instead of 1", I have an inexpensive source. Plastic ships, 10 models.

Thread: Re: Silent Death Fans - some questions

michaeldavidcox — 2008-02-01T18:58:30+00:00

jgerman wrote:
What is the latest edition of the base rules? Is Silent Death: The Next Millenium something I should track down to start?Silent Death: The Next Millenium is the latest release so I would buy this boxed set. You should be able to buy it from ICE.

jgerman wrote:

How about the Unleaded box set.. it came out later are there rules changed?I do not think this came out after TNM. Unleaded was just a release of the first edition without the metal ships.

jgerman wrote:
The rules were streamlined at some point right? Are any of the expansions invalidated by the latest edition of the rules?As long as the expansion says it is for TNM, the expansion should be safe.

jgerman wrote:
I saw something somewhere that indicated that there were rules/scenarios for campaign play, is this true, and how deep are the campaigns?Not really sure. There is a Yahoo! group and a forum you can peruse.

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

Walsfeo — 2008-01-08T13:12:27+00:00

Yup, I have loads of ships to sell.

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

Paragon Games — 2008-01-08T00:21:19+00:00

Thanks for the info Mike!

John, I am sending you a PM.

Derek...

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

MWAlbion — 2008-01-07T22:00:00+00:00

Iron Crown still sell some of the ships.

http://store.ironcrown.com/category.jsp?category=2517

Thread: Re: Getting this Game - any ships?

JohnnyD — 2008-01-07T21:45:34+00:00

May be unloading my game....its the delux version and I have about 10 or 15 blisters i think. Still pondering ebaying it or selling/trading it here.

Thread: Getting this Game - any ships?

Paragon Games — 2008-01-07T20:50:35+00:00

I have had my eye on this game for years... never a top priority, but always on my list... years ago a guy I knew had it and it looked fun, but I never did actually play it.

Anyhow, it looks like I'll be getting this game here in the near future, and wanted to know if anyone here had any ships to unload for a fair price.

Thanks!
Derek...

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midnightmadness — 2007-08-23T03:26:06+00:00

The fleet ready for action - GenCon 2007

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midnightmadness — 2007-08-23T03:25:44+00:00

The fleet ready for action - GenCon 2007

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midnightmadness — 2007-08-23T03:25:21+00:00

The fleet ready for action - GenCon 2007

Thread: Re: Any good resources for making paper ships?

Gladius76 — 2007-08-08T19:46:14+00:00

Thanks for the link.

Those minis are too rich for my blood. Cardboard counters will work fine.

Thread: Re: Any good resources for making paper ships?

TheChin! — 2007-08-08T15:08:41+00:00

Follow this link: SD Ship pictures

This one is even more complete:
http://store.ironcrown.com/items.jsp?category=7144

Thread: Re: Any good resources for making paper ships?

wookie1 — 2007-08-08T13:09:18+00:00

Do you know how to use Photoshop or some sort of graphic softwhere like it?

In the past I have copied the ship pictures from the SSDs and just put them into a hex shaped box.

Follow this link: SD Ship pictures

Examples:

Hope this helps

p.s. Silent Death is Da Bomb yo!

Thread: Re: Any good resources for making paper ships?

Gladius76 — 2007-08-08T04:39:53+00:00

Thanks, but there does not seem to be Silent Death icons on that site.

Thread: Re: Any good resources for making paper ships?

Dorque — 2007-08-08T04:16:49+00:00

I have this link on speed dial.

http://zho.berka.com/rules/war/ship_counter.shtml

Starmada rules!

Thread: Any good resources for making paper ships?

Gladius76 — 2007-08-08T04:00:50+00:00

I am thinking of getting the game and source books.

I don't think I will buy into the minis, beyond what comes in the box.

Does anyone here make paper counter ships? If so, do you have any suggestions on the best way to do this? It seems that the game would still be super cool, even with counter ships.

Thanks

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bucklen_uk — 2007-07-13T13:50:42+00:00

Reverse of game box

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Jokerman — 2007-05-29T21:12:22+00:00

Hit and leaking plasma his partner joins the pursuit.

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crusher100 — 2007-04-13T07:45:31+00:00

More units from Studio bergstrom (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/4155/)

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crusher100 — 2007-04-13T07:44:27+00:00

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crusher100 — 2007-04-13T07:43:57+00:00

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crusher100 — 2007-04-13T07:43:01+00:00

X-Wings

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crusher100 — 2007-04-13T07:41:03+00:00

Tie Fighters for SD

Thread: Re: ASP Technocracy

Walsfeo — 2007-01-26T22:40:16+00:00

Yeah, the tech was pretty major, but the ships were poorly enough put together that they don't really overpower the ships from any other house book. On the other hand if you built your own min-maxed ships the tech is very mighty indeed.

The book was designed that way to reflect the fact ASP is run by mad scientists - not military genious types.

Oh and Scott is still writing, just not game stuff anymore.
http://www.scottsigler.net/

Thread: House Colos

Mundane — 2007-01-23T18:27:35+00:00

House Colos is a sourcebook for Silent Death covering one of the twelve major houses of the Silent Death universe. This 64 page supplement was written by Sheldon Greaves. Miniatures are available for the ships.

House Colos is one of the original founding families of the Terran Empire. With the fall of the empire they now lay claim to the remnants and seek to rebuild the empire with themselves in charge. Colos is a military powerhouse with a feudal structure.

This book has a section on various military decorations. As usual a catalogue of the systems controlled by the Colosians is included along with a roster of their well known squadrons.

There are only three scenarios in this expansion. They are small battles that can be resolved quickly. Compared to other supplements in the product line the selection is below ICE’s usual standard.

Like all factions House Colos gets some new weapons, the maxim lasers. These weapons have way of doing bonus damage. If your attack roll exceeds the target’s defensive value by at least two, extra damage is scored. They work best against traditional designs that have low defensive values and some armor. Against those types of ships it is relatively easy to roll well above the defensive value and the bonus damage can cancel out the armor. They don’t work as well against the newer designs without any armor and high defenses. The four weapons are:
• Stiletto uses 2D8 attack dice and does low damage +1 point for every 2 points rolled over the target’s defensive value.
• Epee uses 2D8 attack dice and does medium damage +2 points for every 2 points rolled over the target’s defensive value.
• Rapier uses 2D8 attack dice and does high damage +3 points for every 2 points rolled over the target’s defensive value.
• Sabre is a warhound weapon that uses 2D10 attack dice and does high x 2 damage + 4 points for every 2 points rolled above the target’s defensive value.
Adding this weapon to your game will influence your ship selection and design tendencies.

New ships and refits are offered in this supplement.
The Spectre is a small one man fighter. It has a pair of disruptorguns and six torpedoes. It is quick with a good defensive rating and token armor.
The Spectre II replaces the disruptorguns with a quad stiletto.
The Strella is faster and harder to hit than the Spectre but ahs no armor. Its only weapon is a triple stiletto.
The Strella II mounts a pair of splatterguns instead of the stiletto.
The Dracula is a three man fighter. It carries a twin epee and two quad stilettos. It ahs decent speed and defense. The ship display for the Dracula was omitted from the book in error. You can down load it from Iron Crown’s site at: www.ironcrown.com/free_downloads/DraculaSDshipsheet.pdf
The Predator gunboat is small and fast. Its defenses are moderate and it has little armor. It packs a punch though with three ion rams, an epee, a pair of splatterguns, and six torpedoes.
The Totenkopf destroyer is a serious contender for the ship with the most weapons in the game. It has 2 sets of twin ion cannons, 2 sets of triple laztubes, four twin repeating blasters, four ion rams, and four quad splatterguns. While it has good speed and defense its armor is low for an escort. No miniature was released for this ship.
The Totenkopf II replaces the laztubes with twin sabers. Two of the ion rams are now twin rapiers and all of the splatterguns were removed to make room for two triple stilettos and two quad epees.
The Salamander HCR has three impulse gun mounts and five torpedoes. Its armor has been reduced but it is now faster.
The Death Wind HCR mounts an ion ram, quad stiletto, twin splatterguns, and four torpedoes. The defensive value and point defense were improved with this refit.
The Fletcher HCR is outfitted with a keel cannon, quad repeating blasters, twin saber, ion ram, four pulse lasers mounts (two 5 barrel and two 6 barrel), and four missile launchers.

Three ship displays from other products are reprinted here.
The Thunderbird II from Operation Drydock.
The Death Wind II from Operation Drydock.
The Star Raven from the core rulebook.

In summary, I think this is one of the weaker Silent Death supplements. The main reason to purchase this expansion is the new weapon system. Even though it covers one of the top powers in known space this book is one of the smallest in the line. I think that’s Iron Crown’s bankruptcy may have been a factor here. This was the last Silent Death product the old Iron Crown released. It just seems to lack the energy seen in other Silent Death products.

Thread: More Than Valor

Mundane — 2007-01-19T20:05:24+00:00

More Than Valor is a supplement for Silent Death adding more detail and complexity. This 112 page book was written by Leland Erickson. Miniatures for the units are available separately.

This expansion to Silent Death focuses on the role-playing and campaign aspects of the game. The book starts off with a history of fighter aces throughout the 20th century and into the future. It talks about the evolution of tactics from the First World War up to the modern age.

This book adds skill levels 11 and 12 for all crew. There is also an alternative point cost for skill levels. The lower levels are cheaper while the high levels cost more. An alternative method for determining initiative uses different types of dice instead of a die roll modifier. A level 5 pilot would roll 1D6 while a level 8 pilot would roll 1D8. New design options for warhounds can make it easier or harder to kill crew.

To further penalize ships built without armor a revised method for rolling critical hits is in this supplement. If a fighter without armor takes a critical hit you roll 1D12 instead of 2D6 (a 1 becomes a 7). This increases the chance of a really bad critical such as pilot killed from 1 in 36 to 1 in 12. For gunboats you would roll 1D8 instead of 2D4 (a 1 becomes a 5).

An experience point system is included. Points are awarded for many achievements from winning initiative (1 point) to destroying an escort with cannons or missiles (50 points). The points can be spent to improve skills (24 points are needed to improve your piloting skill from level 7 to level 8) or gain special skills and quirks (10 points and up).

Special skills have three levels of proficiency. Skills include Marksman (+1 to +3 to all cannon fire), and Aggressive Pilot (+1 to +3 to initiative rolls). Quirks are idiosyncrasies that can be positive or negative. A positive one is “Always Checks His Six”; this quirk allows a pilot to make turns after all other ships have moved. A negative quirk is “Hyena” where the pilot keeps attacking the first wounded enemy and will not change targets until it is destroyed. All of the skills and quirks have a point cost if you want to use them in a single battle. While negative quirks give you a rebate in points it costs you experience points to remove it from your character.

A biography of famous fighter crews for each house shows how the new skills and quirks can personalize characters in the game giving it a role-playing aspect. Each house has certain skills/quirks it will favor and others it will avoid showing the cultural and tactical differences between the various factions. If I were setting up a Silent Death campaign I would definitely use this system. It gives more incentive to keep your crew alive as you can improve their proficiency in combat.

The three scenarios feature legendary aces and crew with special skills and quirks. A list of all option rules is included which gathers all the optional rules from the various expansions. It even tells you the book and page where the rule was printed. Another nice aid is the list of all ship display errata (unfortunately there are a lot of ships listed) and corrections for various rules. The errata can also be found at http://www.citilink.com/~wilcoxon/rpg/sd/errata.html

This wouldn’t be a Silent Death supplement if it didn’t have new ships and many are included. Most of them are refits to existing designs.
The Black Widow II has two 5 barrel pulse lasers, a dual meld laser, 6 barrel splattergun, missile launcher, and ten torpedoes.
The Death Wind III has an ion ram, two impulse guns, and four torpedoes.
The Drakar EX is missile happy with eight missile launchers. It also has an ion ram, four dual pulse lasers, and 19 torpedoes.
The Night Hawk EX trades the meld laser and some armor for improved speed.
The Salamander III has a meld laser, dual splattergun, quad pulse laser, and five torpedoes.
The Seraph EX has only one crew man. The pilot has a 6 barrel pulse laser, two missile racks, and 15 torpedoes. The Mk. 20 torpedoes on this craft do not always work correctly. Whenever you launch one you have to roll to see what happens. It may launch in a different direction, misfire, or all of the torpedoes might launch.
The Shark II has an impulse gun and an ion ram. It also gained armor.
The Sorenson IV has a quad minigun, quad autocannon, and 6 torpedoes.
The Talon III has a dual disruptorgun, missile launcher, and a single torpedo.
The Teal Hawk EX loses the gunner. The weapons include an ion ram, 6 barrel pulse laser, and four torpedoes.

House Tokugawa receives three new ships with new miniatures.
The Hayabusa is a small fast one man fighter. It has a 5 barrel pulse laser and five torpedoes.
The Samurai fighter has good speed and defense. It has a protobolt projector and a quad pulse laser. The ship sheet shows a skill slot for a gunner but this ship does not have one. Both weapons are assigned to the pilot.
The Samurai II is a much better design. It has a meld laser, 6 barrel pulse laser, and six torpedoes. This display also shows a gunner in error.

In summary, this is a good expansion to Silent Death but the new skills and quirks are best left to experienced gamers who have a good handle on the rules. If you are new to this game I’d wait on this one. While it seems to be intended for campaigns you can use the new skills in a pick up game. The revised skill costs help to balance the game better. I like the alternative initiative rule since it gives the lesser pilots a better chance to win the initiative.

Thread: Re: Rules of Warfare II

Walsfeo — 2007-01-19T03:40:05+00:00

“This has a qualified recommendation from me. If you like running tournaments or group events then pick up the supplement otherwise you can give it a pass.”

The smash scenarios are also great for introducing your friends to the game. I'd say even if you don't run standard tournaments one or the other ROW books would be worth picking up. But yes, the most obvious use is for sanctioned style tournaments.

Also, if you want to kit-bash an Executioner you could take any axe type weapon and glue it to a SD ship stand. One from a high tech game would be best.

Thread: Rules of Warfare II

Mundane — 2007-01-18T20:31:37+00:00

Rules of Warfare II (ROW II) is the second supplement for Silent Death focusing on tournaments and organized play. This 48 page book was written by Richard Dufault, Scott MacGregor, George MacLure, and Glen Simpson. Miniatures for the ships in this book are not available for purchase; they are prizes given out at conventions.

This supplement expands on the tournament and scenarios introduced in the first Rules of Warfare (ROW). Repeated from the first supplement is a section on advice for tournament directors, and the official player ranking system.

Two rules clarifications are presented. The first deals with moving ships in initiative order when the two sides have an uneven number of ships. The second covers how to move torpedoes when there are several seemingly valid paths; the ruling is that the torpedo must take the path that uses the fewest movement points.

A new rule is added for crew allocation in tournaments. This addressed a big complaint with the first tournament system. Previously players had complete freedom to select their crew skill levels creating some min-max opportunities to game the system. Now players must select skills from a set list (7, 4, 8, 3, 9, 2, 6, 5, 10, 1). If both sides have the same number of skill slots they will have the exact same ratings to work with.

While the tournament structure has not changed the scenario did. A few asteroids are placed on the map. Players still get 300 points to build a custom fleet using the base twelve fighters or their variants from Operation Drydock. In addition eight pre-built fleets are available representing a selection from previous expansions such as Sunrunners.

Two new Astro Smash scenarios are included. The House Smash uses fighters from several faction books. The four ship smash limits each player to four fighters for the entire game making for a very short game.

The House League is an ongoing campaign/tournament where each player takes a different faction and creates a fleet. Each round ships are selected randomly from this fleet list and battles are fought. This is a nice light system for generating battles and can be used by a club to have a simple on going campaign.

This is one of the few Silent Death books to come with counters. There are counters for each of the fixed tournament fleets plus four counters for each of the twelve base fighters. Counters are given for missiles, torpedoes, asteroids, and wormholes.

Five ships are included in ROW II. They are variants of the ships from ROW. Miniatures for these ships cannot be purchased they are given out as prizes for participating or winning an ICE sponsored Silent Death event.
The Piranha II totally changes the weapons from the previous design. It has a quad mini-gun, and a pair of splatterguns. I prefer the original with its missile rack.
The Dolphin II has an ion ram, disruptor gun and four torpedoes. While I miss the missile launcher from the first version, the ion ram is worth the loss.
The Orca Alpha gunboat is great for taking on heavily armored ships. It has four disintergrators, two dual disruptorguns, two missile launchers, and four torpedoes.
The Executioner II has two 6 barrel splatterguns, two missile launchers, and four torpedoes.
The Snarling Badger II mounts a quad hyper cannon, two quad gatling cannons, two ion rams, two 6 barrel splatterguns, and four missile launchers.

In summary, just like the first Rules of Warfare this supplement is not for everyone. Since ICE does not currently run tournaments at the major conventions most of the material will have little use unless you are planning to run tournaments yourself. The smash events and house league work in a club setting and the counters are always useful. If you don’t have the prize ship miniatures you might not care about the ship displays. Repeating what I said in my review of Rules of Warfare: “This has a qualified recommendation from me. If you like running tournaments or group events then pick up the supplement otherwise you can give it a pass.”

Thread: Q'raj Void Protectorate

Mundane — 2007-01-18T17:38:22+00:00

Q’raj Void Protectorate (QVP) is a sourcebook for Silent Death covering one of the twelve major houses of the Silent Death universe. This 112 page supplement was written by Sheldon Greaves. Miniatures are available for the ships.

The QVP is a collection of worlds settled by various cultures from the Middle East that somehow manage to live in peace with each other. There are seven semi-independent states in the QVP that eventually united for mutual self protection. A catalogue of the systems in the Protectorate is included along with a section covering some of it’s fighter squadrons.

A new optional rule is added that allows a pilot or gunner to operate more than one missile launcher per turn similar to the rule for firing multiple cannons. It is nice to see this in print since I have used a similar house rule in the past.

There are twelve scenarios in this expansion. The first three cover major battles between the QVP and the Night Brood. Scenarios 4 and 5 are fights between pirates and the QVP. The next six scenarios deal with the Dinar War, a conflict between the QVP and the Draconians. The final scenario is a raid on some QVP outposts by Colosian forces.

Three new related weapons are in this supplement. The Khanjar uses 2D8 for its attack dice. Its damage is low x 1D4 (no multiplier is used on low doubles or triples). The Sayf ad-Din is similar except the damage is medium x 1D4 (again no multiplier is used on medium doubles or triples). Finally the Evil Eye is a warhound class weapon that uses 2D10 for its attack and does all x 1D4 damage.

This supplement has more ship designs than any other. The new ships follow the design strategy from the Fighter Tactics Manual and have no armor but a high defensive value.
The Jambiya is a small one man fighter armed with a Khanjar and a missile launcher. It is very fast and hard to hit.
The Mujahadeen is a two man fighter that has good speed and defense. Each crewman has a six-barrel pulse laser; in addition, it has a missile launcher and ten torpedoes.
The one man Shedu has a 6 barrel splattergun, missile launcher and six torpedoes. It has moderate speed and good defense.
The Djinn is a large three man fighter. It carries a 6 barrel pulse laser, Sayf ad-Din, six barrel splattergun, missile launcher, and 15 torpedoes. It is slow but has a high defensive value.
The Lilith gunboat is a true monster. Its crew of seven has a lot of weapons to use: a turbo laser, Sayf ad-Din, quad pulse laser, five 5 barrel pulse lasers, and 30 Mk. 50 torpedoes. For a ship this size it has a very high speed and defense rating. Like the other new designs it has no armor.
The Saladin is a new escort used by the QVP. It is a lightly armed carrier. It has just four 6 barrel pulse lasers and three missile launchers. Its real power is the ability to carry eight 400 ton fighters into battle. Its speed is high for a warhound as is its defense. This is also the only warhound in the game to have no armor.
The Talon QVP refit has improved speed and now has a Khanjar, missile launcher and five torpedoes.
The Sentry QVP has a Sayf ad-Din and two 6 barrel pulse lasers. This ship seems out of place here since it is slow, easy to hit, and heavily armored.
The Black Widow QVP replaces the gunners’ weapons with mine sweepers and the torpedoes with four mines.
The Epping QVP is not intended for battle. It has a quad pulse laser, two mine sweepers and eight mines.
The Nemesis QVP mounts a Sayf ad-Din, two quad splatterguns, two 6 barrel splatterguns, missile launcher and 30 torpedoes.
The Megafortress QVP is a major refit to this escort. It has two evil eye cannons, three 6 barrel splatterguns, two 6 barrel pulse lasers and two missile launchers.
The Fletcher QVP also has two evil eye cannons. It mounts quad repeating blasters, two 6 barrel splatterguns, two 6 barrel pulse lasers and four missile launchers.
The Stingray QVP replaced the plaz projector with an evil eye cannon. It also has a triple repeating blaster, eight 6 barrel pulse lasers, two mine sweepers and a missile rack.
The Stingray QVP Mine Layer removed the blaster and the missile rack to add mine layers and 17 mines.

This supplement also added several satellites and outposts which will require the Space Junk supplement.
The Shomer Sha’ar satellite has dual meld laser, a missile launcher and 11 torpedoes.
The Ba’al Mapteach I has a splattergun, mine sweeper, missile launcher and one torpedo.
The Ba’al Mapteach II has a 5 barrel pulse laser, mine sweeper, and six torpedoes.
The Masada Type I outpost has two laztubes, three Sayf ad-Dins, six 6 barrel pulse lasers, and three torpedo tubes. Its magazine is filled with 120 torpedoes so it will not run out in the middle of battle.
The Masada Type II removes one laztube, 2 Sayf ad-dins, 2 pulse laser mounts and all the torpedoes. It now has the capacity to house one 1000 ton fighter.
The Golan outpost has a laztube, Sayf ad-Din, two 6 barrel pulse lasers, and 2 missile launchers. It also has a small cargo bay.
The Wasp Nest I has no weapons but can carry two 1000 ton fighters.
The Wasp Nest II changes the fighter bays so it can carry four 700 ton fighters.
The Wasp Nest III gains a turbo laser, dual meld lasers, a 6 barrel pulse laser, and a missile launcher. This version can house ten 100 ton fighters.
The Tachanah is a storage facility with five cargo bays. It is armed with a quad repeating blaster, two 6 barrel pulse lasers, two missile launchers, a mine sweeper and a single mine.

In summary the Q’raj Void Protectorate is a one of the best supplements for the Silent Death universe. The background is detailed and well written. The new technology section has just a few weapons but they can be quite potent with the 1D4 damage modifier. The main reason to get this expansion is all of the ship designs. While most Silent Death books have six to ten new designs this one has 25. This includes new satellites and outposts which increases the usefulness and value of the Space Junk expansion.

Thread: Re: Yoko-Shan Warworld

Godeke — 2007-01-17T15:44:43+00:00

Walsfeo wrote:
Mundane wrote:
I can’t prove it but I think this weapon was created to counter the ship designs in the Fighter Tactics Manual which have no armor and point defense.

Yup, you have your proof. That's why we created Plasma Missiles. (I was the brand manager/line developer at the time.)

Interesting... this is one of the books I didn't pick up for the game, so I wasn't familiar with this counterbalance. It would have been nice to have restored some balance to the designs being flown in our group.

Thread: Re: Yoko-Shan Warworld

Walsfeo — 2007-01-17T04:03:28+00:00

Mundane wrote:
I can’t prove it but I think this weapon was created to counter the ship designs in the Fighter Tactics Manual which have no armor and point defense.

Yup, you have your proof. That's why we created Plasma Missiles. (I was the brand manager/line developer at the time.)

Thread: Yoko-Shan Warworld

Mundane — 2007-01-16T19:42:22+00:00

Yoko-Shan Warworld is a sourcebook for Silent Death covering one of the twelve major houses of the Silent Death universe. This 80 page supplement was written by John Hopler. Miniatures are available for the ships.

The Yoko-Shan Warworld is the pre-eminent mercenary force in human space. The founders of the Warworld came from eastern and southern Africa and the culture evokes the feeling of African tribesmen such as the Zulu. They a have strict code of honor and are known to turn down contracts (such as the one that would have led to the destruction of the Sigurd Archdiocese). The leader of the Warworld, Makhtar Mutumbe is determined to reunite all of humanity under a new republic and has a four phase plan to accomplish it.

A description of the major systems in the Warworld is included along with a section covering some of the Yoko-Shan squadrons, and rules for their honor system and how they gain “spots” which are a measure of a pilot’s bravery and combat prowess. This is interesting if you are flying Yoko-Shan ships in a campaign.

Three new systems are added in the book all based on plasma technology. Plasma missiles are an improved missile system. They use D8’s instead of D6’s. Also when attacking a unit with no armor (either through design or battle damage) each missile that gets by point defense does an additional point of damage (High + 2/missile instead of High +1/missile). I can’t prove it but I think this weapon was created to counter the ship designs in the Fighter Tactics Manual which have no armor and point defense. Against those ships a volley of ten missiles will probably inflict over 30 points of damage.

The Plasma Shell Cannon is similar to the plazgun except rolling triples does not destroy the weapon (it only has to cool down for a turn), and the weapon has limited ammunition.

The Plasma Defense System (PDS) replaces the normal point defense. This system has a limited number of charges. Unlike normal point defense it works against torpedoes and missiles in the same turn. Also any fire at or by a ship using this system is penalized.

Ten scenarios are included in the book along with a mercenary campaign. The campaign is made up of six contracts. Each player submits a bid for each contract which is awarded to the lowest bidder. The winner is the player who had the highest profit to force ratio.

Eight ships are presented in the supplement.
The Iklwa is a small, fast, one man fighter. It is armed with a splattergun and a plasma missile launcher.
The Iklwa II downgrades the missile launcher to a standard version but doubles the firepower of its splattergun.
The Jii is a one man fighter with a dual meld laser, plaz shell cannon, and a plasma missile launcher. It has good speed and armor, but has a low defensive rating. It also has a PDS with 3 charges.
The Iwisa is another one man fighter. It carries a quad pulse laser, dual plaz shell cannon and four torpedoes. It is slow for its size, and easy to hit but has decent armor. It also has a PDS with 3 charges.
The Death Wind YS has improved speed over the base model. It mounts an ion ram, plasma missile launcher, dual splatterguns, and four torpedoes.
The Kraal is a heavy gunboat. As expected it is slow and heavily armored. It has a lot of weapons for its crew of five: triple pulse laser, heavy plazgun, impulse gun, two dual plaz shell cannons, three plasma missile launchers, and 26 torpedoes.
The Kraal ECM replaces many of the weapons with an ECM suite normally found only on escort sized vessels.
The Cetshwayo is a medium sized escort. It has a tactical operations center to improve the fleet’s initiative and carries four small fighters into battle. It has average speed and defenses for its class. The weapon coverage is well balances with four sets of missile launchers, dual splatterguns, and plaz shell cannons. In addition there is an ion cannon up front. This is one of a few escorts that does not have any torpedoes.

In summary Yoko-Shan Warworld is a good supplement to the Silent Death universe. It might not be the first one I would recommend to someone but it would be in the top half. The new systems are not overpowering and the plasma missile does serve as a deterrent to the emerging trend of fast unarmored fighters. In terms of background material the Warworld is one of the few good guys in the universe pursuing a noble (if improbable) goal of restoring the Terran Federation.

Thread: Re: Fighter Tactics Manual

Walsfeo — 2007-01-13T20:53:28+00:00

Godeke wrote:
The ships in this book outperform nearly all of the prior ships... but only in the hands of someone who understands how to fly them effectively.

I'd say the ships in the book will outperform all the prior ships in the hands of someone with equal skill and tactical savvy.

Godeke wrote:
I liked it, even if it exposed some weaknesses in the existing system.

And that's one of the reasons I like it. Some folks were better able to take advantage of certain optional rules than others, by utilizing the meta game, and this book helped players understand some of those elements.

Thread: Re: Hostile Takeover

Mundane — 2007-01-13T03:34:37+00:00

I think you have your odds wrong. With 2D10 its (1 x 1/10 x 1/10) = 1%. It is definitely a good weapon.

Thread: Re: ASP Technocracy

Godeke — 2007-01-13T00:52:58+00:00

This is the book I think of when I think "later supplements that went nuts with power". Lots of overpowered toys... a lot of fun can be had if these are used in limited amounts, but too many groups simply dropped the prior technologies and loaded up on the "latest and greatest", somewhat killing the balance of the game.

Thread: Re: Hostile Takeover

Godeke — 2007-01-13T00:49:38+00:00

The Plexar is crazy: the odds of rolling a triplet are 1 (first die is anything) * 1/6 (second matches) * 1/6 (third matches) or 1/36. The damage output being what it is clearly is worth the very small risk to a couple points of defense during the game... especially if you focus your design on defense factor (which you should be doing anyway).

Custom designs with Plexars are just silly-powerful compared to the base ships.

Thread: Re: ASP Technocracy

Mundane — 2007-01-12T18:57:53+00:00

I was looking at one of the later books which has a list of correction to ship displays and the Nova does have the Artificiance system.

Thread: ASP Technocracy

Mundane — 2007-01-12T17:37:14+00:00

ASP Technocracy is a sourcebook for Silent Death covering one of the twelve major houses of the Silent Death universe. This 80 page supplement was written by Scott Sigler. Miniatures are available for the ships.

The ASP are the technology geeks of the Silent Death universe. They are heavily into high technology and bionic implants. I can imagine them becoming like the Borg eventually. In the history section we learn about its creation as a corporation that evolved into a government. The government of the ASP is set up like a corporation with a CEO and various vice presidents. The history section reveals that they accidentally created the Data Sphere when their super computers became self aware though a virus.

Like most sourcebooks this one has a listing of the Technocracy’s worlds along with a map. Several ASP squadrons are described. Five scenarios round out the book.

The book is packed with new technology. Quantum thrust engines are smaller than regular engines but have a higher cost. The BioLink pilot interface allows pilots to fire during the gunner phase. The draw back is that any pilot dazed critical hits result in brain death for the pilot. I think of Neo jacking into the Matrix when using this rule. The Artificiance targeting system gives crew a +1 bonus to their cannon fire.

The first new weapon is the entropic accelerator. If this weapon hits its target it does high damage that turn followed by 1D6 points of damage at the beginning of every turn until you roll a one. The only negative is that it has limited ammunition.

The C-torpedoes does no damage to ships; instead it temporarily incapacitates the crew. During this time fighters cannot move or shoot. Against gunboats in only affects crew that have weapons facing in the direction that was impacted. Warhounds are immune to its effects. Since stationary ships are very easy to hit this is an effective way to kill a ship; just hit it with some C-torps them close in for the kill.

The Mk. 20 parasite torpedoes were built using Brood technology. Though slow they cannot be jammed and decoys have a reduced effect. They ignore fighter point defense while gunboats point defense suffers a penalty when firing at them. Parasites are harder to hit with cannons and count as two torpedoes each when dodging. This improved torpedo is definitely worth the increased cost and space.

The last weapon is the graviton cannon. It can be used only be warhounds. It has the longest range in the game (40 hexes), has a full 60 degree firing arc and does all x 2 damage. This may be the best warhound weapon in the game. In an attempt to balance it the speed restriction of 13 is not subject to the easing speed restriction option rule. On most maps you will never be without a target for this weapon.

The new ships are included of course
The Quark is a one man fighter. It hss good speed but it is easy to hit for a small fighter. The weapon suite has a meld laser, twin miniguns, missile launcher and two parasite torpedoes. The biolink allows the pilot to shoot with the gunners.
The Spirit Rider IV has improved speed, upgrades the torpedo to a parasite and gives the pilot a biolink.
The Shyrak Shuttle III has a pulse laser, twin splatterguns, and a mixture of C-torps and parasite torpedoes.
The Pulsar is a two man fighter. It is slow and easy to hit but heavily armored. It carries a disruptor gun, impulse gun, entropic accelerator, and five torpedoes. It also has the Artificiance targeting system.
The Binary is the ASP heavy fighter. Like the Pulsar it is slow and easy to hit and has medium armor. It has a twin pulse laser, disruptor gun, entropic accelerator, plazgun, twin blatguns, and four torpedoes. The Artificiance targeting system is included.
The Nova gunboat is very slow but heavily armored. This ship has a blatgun, impulse gun, ion ram, entropic accelerator, quad splatterguns, two missile launchers, and 18 torpedoes. The ship display lists the Artificiance system but the weapons do not include the +1 targeting bonus and it is not mentioned in the ship description so I’m not sure if it really has this system.
The Nebula II escort is a multi-role command ship. It is armed with two sets of quad splatterguns, 2 impulse guns, 2 missile launchers, and three pairs of torpedo tubes. In addition it has a modular weapons bay allowing the player to select from three different weapons options: hyper cannons, ion cannons, or repeating blasters. Finally it can carry six medium fighters. Its weaknesses are it is one of the slowest escorts in the game and the armor is light for an escort.
The Pteradon is a fast escort. It mounts the graviton cannon, dual laztubes, dual meld lasers, two sets of 6-barrel splatterguns, three missile launchers, and three pairs of torpedo tubes. On top of that the miniature is really cool looking too.

In summary, I really liked this book and highly recommend it. It gives you lots of cool toys to play with and the background section sheds light on two of the great houses. It is a combination of the Matrix and Terminator movies.

Thread: Hostile Takeover

Mundane — 2007-01-12T17:35:00+00:00

Hostile Takeover is a sourcebook for Silent Death that revisits the Espan system last seen in Renegades: The Espan Rebellion. This 64 page book was written by Erik Dewey. Miniatures for the ships in this supplement are available separately.

The background section of this product summarizes the events from Renegades. It then continues with details of a conflict between the victorious rebels and the Kashmere Commonwealth. During the rebellion the Commonwealth lent military supplies to the rebels. The new rebel government repudiated its debt due to its worsening economic crises. Events quickly escalated and a war started. This section ends with the listing of a few squadrons from the war.

Two new technologies are added in this book. Tractor Shielding nullifies the tractor beam. This rule ends any reason to install the tractor beam on any design as it is assumed all ships now have this ability.

The Renegades receive a new weapon, the Plexar gun. It uses 2D10 as its base dice and does high damage. The draw back is if you roll triples your defensive value drops by 2. With a range of 12 it’s a pretty nice weapon.

A dozen scenarios come are in the book including a multi-player scenario with the Night Brood. All of the ships from the Renegades expansion are included though the Eagle has had a change in its weapons. In Renegades the Eagle has two forward firing plazguns. The version printed here replaces one of them with a 360 degree impulse gun.

New Renegade ships are:
The Astrahauler is a freighter. It does not have an official miniature.
The Blood Hawk is a super fast one man fighter armed with a plazgun.
The Blood Hawk II replaces the plazgun with a dual plexar gun.
The Strata is a slow two man fighter. It is easy to hit but has decent armor. Armament includes a triple pulse laser, 5-barrel pulse laser, plexar gun, missile launcher and six torpedoes.
The Prowler is a one man fighter with a dual splattergun and ten torpedoes. It is quick and has a decent defensive rating.
The Kosmos III has a dual splattergun and a one shot missile launcher.
The Eagle Beta replaces the tractor beam with a protobolt projector. It also has 2 dual plexar guns that replace the plazgun and impulse gun.
The Scorpion Beta replaces its tractor beam with a dual disruptor gun.
The Narwhal MK III replaced the forward torpedo tubes and pulse lasers with a repeating blaster increasing its ability to take on other warhounds.

The Kashmere also receive new ships:
The Agni is a slow two man fighter armed with an impulse gun, dual meld laser, missile launcher, and two torpedoes. It is heavily armored but fairly easy to hit.
The one man Surya is also slow and even easier to hit. The pilot will be kept busy firing a blatgun, dual disruptor guns, dual pulse lasers, and a missile launcher.
The Epping Alpha replaces all of its cannons with impulse guns.
The Kali is a new warhound. It has good speed, defenses, and armor. It has 3 blatgun mounts, a 6-barrel splattergun, 6-barrel pulse laser, laztube, four missile launchers and two torpedo tubes. This ship sheet has typos in the crew section with spaces for two extra gun crews.

In summary this expansion to Silent Death is worth picking up. If you don’t have the Renegades book this gives you all the ships from that book plus many others. Like all Silent Death books the history section is an interesting read and adds to the development of the background.

Thread: Re: Space Junk

wookie1 — 2007-01-12T17:16:30+00:00

Space Junk is a must have...

the whopping 29 scenarios makes it worth it alone!

Thread: Re: Fighter Tactics Manual

Champion Eternal — 2007-01-12T11:59:48+00:00

Great review! This is one of my favourite SD books.

Thread: Re: Fighter Tactics Manual

Mundane — 2007-01-12T03:28:24+00:00

If ICE ever does another edition I would like to see the construction system revised.

Thread: Re: Fighter Tactics Manual

Godeke — 2007-01-11T23:20:22+00:00

It was interesting that this was published by the company that made the game: the points about armor were clearly true, point defense perhaps a bit less so. The ships in this book outperform nearly all of the prior ships... but only in the hands of someone who understands how to fly them effectively.

I liked it, even if it exposed some weaknesses in the existing system.

Thread: Re: Space Junk

Godeke — 2007-01-11T23:18:18+00:00

Worth the price of admission to add variety to any battle.

Thread: Fighter Tactics Manual

Mundane — 2007-01-11T20:31:36+00:00

Fighter Tactics Manual is a supplement for Silent Death that will help improve your performance in the game. This 72 page book was written by Sheldon Greaves and Leland Erickson. Miniatures for the ships in this book are available separately.

This book differs from most in the Silent Death line in that it has no background information and no new systems. Instead this is a guide to playing the game better. Throughout the book are quizzes to test your skills. Fortunately there is an answer key in the back of the book.

The beginning of the book covers general topics that can be applied to many wargames:
• Superior Force Wins
• Teamwork Beats Individual Heroics
• Have a Plan
• Know Your Enemy

The next section discusses the weapons types in Silent Death. The highlight of this section for me was on evading torpedoes. Included are diagrams that show the maximum reach of a torpedo on one turn. Seeing this you discover that often the best way to avoid a torpedo is to get behind it not to run away from it. Attacking with torpedoes is also talked about. Topics include coordinating multi-ship attacks, breaking the enemy’s formation, and hiding behind your torpedoes. The section on cannons contains several tables showing the chance to hit for each die combination and DV as well as expected damage for each weapon type. While the tables are interesting it is unlikely you will consult them during battle.

Next the book covers situations that arise in the game such as dealing with lost initiative, handling damaged fighters, using attrition units, using gunboats, and fighting against a larger force. Finally there is a section on campaign tactics.

The book has some sample squadrons, three scenarios and a list of suggested reading on fighter tactics.

The one new rule section is a change to the cost of torpedoes. The basic game has one cost for each type of torpedo but there are two optional rules that affect their movement: variable speed and maneuverable torpedoes. This section proposes cost changes for each torpedo type depending on the movement rules you are using. The theory here is that the cost should change based upon the number of hexes the torpedo can reach in one turn. A table lists each torpedo and the cost changes. Another table lists all the units that use torpedoes and has new BPV’s for each. As an example the Blizzard has a cost of 19 with the basic rules, 27 when using variable speed torpedoes, 26 when using maneuverable torpedoes, and 39 when using both variable speed and maneuverable torpedoes.

Finally there are six new ships. These ships are not designed like a typical Silent Death fighter. Five of the designs have no armor. The authors of the book feel that armor is not cost effective in the game. Instead they used the space saved to increase the defensive value of the units. Also most ships have no point defense since the tactics stressed in this game are to avoid torpedoes until they run out of fuel.
The Bat is a two man fighter. It carries two dual splatteguns and four torpedoes. It is slow for its size but has the maximum defensive value along with some armor.
The Black Widow scares many Silent Death players. This heavy fighter has 3 six-barrel splatterguns and ten torpedoes. It is slow but hard to hit with a DV of 17. Like the rest of the ships in this book it has no armor. It also has no point defense. When this ship first came out many players thought it might be unbeatable. However it has been demonstrated that an equal value of small torpedo fighters such as the Blizzard can deal with it.
The Shark is a fast one man fighter. It has an impulse gun and an ion ram. Its high defensive value is offset by no armor and no point defense.
The Chupacabra is also a fast one man fighter. If has a disruptor gun and two missile launchers. Like most ships in this book it has no armor or point defense but a good defensive value.
The Stinger is similar to the Chupacabra. It carries a splattergun and two large torpedoes.
Finally there is the Nemesis gunboat. This large ship is fast for its size with a great defensive value. While it has no armor it does have a very effective point defense system. This ship has an ion ram, four splatterguns (2 quads and 2 6-barrel), a missile launcher, and 30 torpedoes.

In summary this supplement is for the serious Silent Death player who wants to improve his tactics in the game. For anyone else you are paying for six ships and an alternative cost system for torpedoes. The ships are quite interesting to fly, and were a little controversial when released. You will get a book that is well written and fun to read.

Thread: Space Junk

Mundane — 2007-01-11T20:28:29+00:00

Space Junk is a supplement for Silent Death adding more rules for terrain and space stations. This 80 page book was written by Erik Dewey. Miniatures for the units are available separately.

Unlike most Silent Death books this one has no background information; it just jumps straight into new rules. First there is a section of construction rules for satellites and outposts. Satellites are small, unmanned weapons platforms. They use fighter weapons and have predetermined pilot and gunnery ratings. Outposts are larger units that have a crew. They can use escort sized weapons and use the warhound rules such as point defense and damage tracks. The first of these units was seen in the Sigurd Archdiocese expansion.

Minefield rules are included. Minefields come in five radii (1 to 5 hexes). Ships entering the field suffer a 3D12 attack doing medium damage. Rules are present for laying and sweeping mines and building ships with mines and mine sweepers.

The next section expands on the terrain rules found in the base rule book.
Rules are added to asteroids:
• Destroying asteroids
• Dodging
• Variable speed asteroids move 1 to 3 hexes per turn.
• Large asteroids occupy 2 or 3 hexes
• Asteroid belts
• Radioactive asteroids have various effects.
• Rogue asteroids move in a different direction from the rest of the field.
• Micro asteroids

New gravitic fields are added:
• Paired black holes
• White holes push objects away instead of pulling them in.
• Gravity wells are basically weak black holes.
• Gravity waves cause ships to drift up to 4 hexes in a random direction each turn.
• Bi-polar holes alternate between black holes and white holes possibly damaging ships when it changes.

Rules were added for wormholes:
• Seeking weapons tracking through a wormhole
• Unstable wormholes can damage or destroy ships.
• Shifting wormholes have a randomly determined exit point each time a ship travels through them.
• Wormhole blocking torpedoes temporarily collapse a wormhole.

New terrain types were also added to the game.
Nebulas cover the entire map and come in three types:
• Blue Nebulas reduce ships DV, penalize to-hit rolls, prevent tractor beams, and allow only mass drivers can fire at long range.
• Pink Nebulas prevent seeking weapon usage, penalize to-hit roles, add 5 when figuring range, penalize Brood ships in many ways, and prevent ECM from working.
• Green Nebulas penalize to-hit roles, limit cannons to short range, prevent missiles, increase turn cost by one, and prevent tight turns.

Comets are added. Flying through the tail of a comet can damage a ship or torpedo. Missiles can also be destroyed by them. The actual comet is 1D6 hexes wide and sweeps across the board in one turn destroying everything in its path.

Various star effects are present.
• Pulsars destroy torpedoes and drones and cause minor damage to ships.
• Nova waves either destroy everything on the board immediately or move across the board at speed 25 destroying everything it meets.
• Sunspots prevent players from talking to each other and reduce defenses by 2
• Solar flares attack a random unit for a 3D6 attack doing Allx2 damage.
• Radiation zones cause minor damage every turn and a critical hit every third turn.
• Heat zones damage ships that have reduced defensive values or damage reduction.

Three types of dust clouds are added:
• Type I clouds increase the cost of turning, might cause damage to ships tight turning and reduce the drive rating of ships.
• Type II clouds reduce weapons to medium range and reduce defensive values.
• Type III clouds reduce drive ratings, penalize to-hit roles, and prevent tight turns.

Planet rules include:
• Planetary rings act like asteroid fields that moves in a circle.
• Combat can take place inside a moon or asteroid with narrow tunnels.
• Fighting in atmospheres affects almost all systems in the game.

Rules are included for landing on a planet. All ships released up to this supplement have their atmospheric capability listed which affects their ability to land and take off.

Finally a chart is included that allows one to randomly generate terrain for a battle.

The book has 29 scenarios that use the various new rules.

Several new units are included.
The Dain is the only fighter added. It carries a mine sweeper, mines, and a splattergun. It is not really designed for combat as it is slow and easy to hit. It does have heavy armor which helps if it sets off a mine field.
The Atlatl satellite has one missile launcher with a large ammunition supply.
The Taurus satellite has a dual meld laser and six torpedoes.
The Octopus satellite has 2 quad pulse lasers, and 16 torpedoes.
The Wakazashi outpost has bays for two 300 ton fighters, 2 dual splatterguns, a dual blatgun, a blast cannon and torpedo tubes.
The Dauntless outpost is heavily armed with a plazgun, several meld lasers and missile racks, a repeating blaster and torpedo tubes.
The Whisper outpost is design for spying and has minimal armament of a five-barrel pulse laser, twin meld laser, and a missile rack.
The TDB platform from Sigurd Archdiocese is reprinted here. It has a decent selection of splatterguns, a meld laser, turbo laser, missiles, and torpedoes.
The last unit is a real oddity. The Solar Worm is a living animal that causes star to go nova. It is a warhound sized creature with only three weapons: 2 plazguns and a plazprojector.

In summary, I highly recommend this supplement. You get a lot of rules in this book. The various terrain rules add a lot of diversity. The rules for space stations fill a hole in the rules. It also gives you a reason to buy the cute Solar Worm miniature.

Thread: Rules of Warfare

Mundane — 2007-01-10T19:44:36+00:00

Rules of Warfare (ROW) is a supplement for Silent Death focusing on tournaments and convention scenarios. This 42 page product was developed by Steven Arensberg and Don Dennis with contributions from several playtest groups. Miniatures for the ships in this book are not available for purchase; they are prizes given out at conventions.

ROW contains the official tournament rules for Silent Death. A Swiss System is used to pair players each round. Advice is given to the organizer on various topics such as dealing with players who drop out mid tournament. Various materials are provided including record sheets and signs that can be used to advertise the game in your FLGS. The official format gives each player 300 points to spend on ships and crew. This format was modified in ROW II.

Also included are three Astrosmash scenarios. These are a great way to introduce new players to the game. Each player starts with a randomly determined small fighter and has to score a certain number of damage points before leaving the board. The player then gets a larger ship and a higher damage goal. The winner is the first player to reach the damage goal with one of the largest ships then get off the board. If you lose your ship you just get another one of the same size and keep flying. The Red Shirt Smash is still run each year at Origins and GenCon.

Five ships are included in ROW. Miniatures for these ships cannot be purchased they are given out as prizes for participating or winning an ICE sponsored Silent Death event.
The Piranha is a small one man fighter. It has a disruptorgun, missile launcher and a MK 40 torpedo. It is fast and hard to hit.
The Dolphin was first seen in the base rule book as the example used in the construction rules. It finally gets a record sheet here. The Dolphin has a quad splattergun and a missile launcher. It is fast but fairly easy to hit.
The Orca gunboat completes the aquatic trilogy. This six man ship has an ion ram, 2 impulse guns, a quad splattergun, 2 six-barrel pulse lasers, and 2 missile launchers. It has decent speed for its size and good defenses.
The Executioner fighter looks like an axe. This two man heavy fighter mounts a six-barrel blatgun, ion ram, and six torpedoes. It is slow and easy to hit but has decent armor.
The Snarling Badger is a mid-sized warhound. It is heavily armed with a keel cannon, 2 quad repeating blasters, 2 ion rams, 2 six-barrel splatterguns, and four missile launchers. Though it has a low defensive value it has the strongest armor seen on a warhound.

In summary, many players will not need Rules of Warfare. The tournament rules have been replaced in ROW II and the miniatures are only available at a few conventions or the secondary market. The highlight of this book for me is the section on Astrosmash events. These are great for a club or at a local games day. I usually try to participate in one when I go to Origins. This has a qualified recommendation from me. If you like running tournaments or group events then pick up the supplement otherwise you can give it a pass.

Thread: Kashmere Commonwealth

Mundane — 2007-01-09T20:07:12+00:00

Kashmere Commonwealth is a sourcebook for Silent Death covering one of the twelve major human powers. This 80 page book was written by Eric A. Dewey. Miniatures for the ships are available separately.

The Kashmere Commonwealth is the major financial power in the known galaxy. Kashmere controls a large fleet of cargo ships and they carry the bulk of cargo from one state to another. The background culture of the Commonwealth is based in the Indian subcontinent.

The book begins with a history of the Commonwealth and its political relations with the other major powers. The major government departments are described. A gazetteer of Kashmere systems is included.

Only one new weapon is added in this supplement, the twin impulse gun. This weapon gets a +1 bonus to hit and a +2 bonus to damage over the normal impulse gun. A rule is included for concealed weapons. Using this rule you know the base fighter type your opponent is flying but you won’t know which weapons it has until it uses them. There are rules for carrying cargo and damaging cargo in combat.

The most significant new rule added is the section on building cargo ships. These can be the size of a small fighter up to a warhound. Just like in the base game you start by selecting a design template; however, some of the space on a freighter can be used only for cargo. This section really helps to flesh out the universe. Now you can design ships with a role other than combat.

A section follows listing the famous squadrons of the Commonwealth as well as famous pirate squadrons that prey on freighters. Kashmere Commonwealth includes 12 scenarios, 2 mini-campaigns, 1 large campaign, and rules for designing your own campaign.

The Kashmere Commonwealth has several new ships as well as refits of common ships.
The Marut is a small one man fighter. It has an impulse gun, dual pulse laser and three torpedoes. It is fast with decent defenses.
The Lakshmi is a large 2 man fighter with some cargo capacity. It has a dual impulse gun, dual pulse laser, and four torpedoes. It has good speed for its size and average defenses.
The Varuna is one of my favorite heavy fighters. It has a three-barrel pulse laser, ion ram, quad splattergun and six torpedoes. It is slow but heavily armored and can take a lot of punishment before it loses any weapons.
The Karttikeya is a light gunboat. It has a crew of four and mounts an ion ram, three-barrel pulse laser, missile launcher, two dual splatterguns, and ten torpedoes. It has decent speed and armor.
The Vishnu is a large gunboat with three cargo bays. It has minimal weapons for its size: four sets of dual pulse lasers. It is slow, easy to hit, and lightly armored.
The Yama is a variant of the Vishnu. It carries battle pods in each of the three cargo bays. The nine pods vary greatly in cost and abilities. The cheapest pod costs 5 points and carries one 100 ton fighter. The most expensive one costs 70 points and has 2 gunners each with a quad splatter gun and a missile launcher.
The Ushas is an escort sized bulk freighter. It has minimal armament and armor. Like the Yama the Ushas has the ability to carry battle pods in its two cargo bays. Each bay can carry two pods or one pod plus cargo. There are four different pods for the Ushas. These add fighters and various weapons to the ship.
The Teal Hawk III replaces the gunner with a small cargo bay.
The Hell Bender K has an autocannon, dual pulse laser, and two torpedoes. It also has the ability to travel in hyperspace.

In summary, Kashmere Commonwealth is a useful addition to the Silent Death universe and a worthwhile purchase. The background information is well written and interesting. The large number of scenarios and campaign will keep you busy for a long time. The freighter construction rules add to the diversity of ship types.

Thread: Re: Sigurd Archdiocese

Walsfeo — 2007-01-09T00:19:59+00:00

I always loved this book. Scott Sigler did a heck of a job when writing the background source material, it was fun to playtest, though the tech and ships needed a bit of work to come out "just right".

In all, Scott really seemed to know how to build books that worked well within the SD:TNM universe. He rocks.

Oh, and his web site is here:
http://www.scottsigler.net/

Thread: Sigurd Archdiocese

Mundane — 2007-01-08T18:41:36+00:00

Sigurd Archdiocese is a sourcebook for Silent Death covering one of the twelve major human powers. This 80 page book was written by Scott Sigler. Miniatures for the ships are available separately.

The Sigurd Archdiocese is a theocracy dedicated to the Church of Odin. They believe Ragnarok is imminent. They are extreme hardliners and have difficult relationships with most of the other governments mainly because those governments are allies of either the Primates or Draconians (two alien races from another galaxy). As a fan of the Thor comic book series when I was a kid I really got into this sourcebook.

The book begins with a history of the Archdiocese and its political relations with the other major powers. A detailed timeline is also included.

The next section details the new weapons used by the Sigurds. Sigurd uses Gauss Field Generators. These weapons have the ability to fire on all torpedoes in one hex if they are headed to the same target and are at short range. This won’t be used that often but is a great way to wipe out a large wave of torpedoes. When flying against ships with these weapons you need to try to spread out your torpedoes to avoid this trait. The three weapons are:
The Mjolnir uses 2D8+ADB+6 to hit and does Low+3 damage out to ten hexes.
The Gungnir also uses 2D8+ADB+6 to hit and does Medium+2 damage out to 16 hexes.
The Bifrost Cannon can be used only be warhounds. It uses 2D10+ADB to hit and does Allx2 damage out to 30 hexes.

A section follows listing the famous squadrons of the Archdiocese. This is followed by six scenarios. These are quite large. In fact the last scenario covers four separate battles. The final battle involves four warhounds for each side so it will take a long time to resolve.

The Sigurd Archdiocese has several new ships and some refits of common ships.
The Hound is a small one man fighter. It has an impulse gun and 2 torpedoes. It is fast with decent defenses.
The Dagger is a larger one man fighter. It carries a missile launcher, meld laser and a Mjolnir. It is slow for a one man fighter with good armor.
The Hammer is a two man fighter with an ion ram, Mjolnir, and 8 torpedoes. Its speed is okay and its defenses are average.
The Storm is a large three man fighter. It has 2 missile launchers, a Gungnir, impulse gun, and a dual blatgun. It is slow but has heavy armor.
The Storm II is an improvement to the Storm. It loses the blatgun but gains an ion ram. It is a bit faster and has better point defense.
The Iceberg is a tremendous gunboat. Carrying a crew of 6 the weapons include a Gungnir, 2 Mjolnirs, a quad autocannon, 2 ion rams, 2 missile launchers, and 12 torpedoes. It has good speed for a gunboat this size and the armor is incredibly thick.
The Longboat is the Sigurd escort vessel. It mounts the Bifrost cannon and 2 laztubes along with many missile launchers and splatterguns. The torpedo rooms can launch MK 10, 30 and 70 torpedoes. The speed and armor are typical for a warhound of this size.
The TDB Platform is a small space station that uses the warhound rules.
The Glaive III is a refit mounting a plazgun, Gungnir, splattergun, missile launcher and two torpedoes.
The Spirit Rider III loses its torpedo but has a quad splattergun.
The Pit Viper II has a dual pulse laser and three torpedoes.

In summary, Sigurd Archdiocese is a fun addition to the Silent Death universe. The new weapons are interesting but not overpowered. The ships are fun to fly and fairly balanced. I definitely recommend picking this one up.

Thread: Re: Drift ???

Mundane — 2007-01-08T18:40:37+00:00

I've played Silent Death a lot at Origins and drift has never been used in the scenarios I've played in.

Thread: Re: Drift ???

fullerbd — 2007-01-07T19:07:01+00:00

it is one of the optional rules that you may use. I have never been to a con but I often have used this rule

Thread: Re: Drift ???

fullerbd — 2007-01-07T19:07:00+00:00

it is one of the optional rules that you may use. I have never been to a con but I often have used this rule

Thread: Drift ???

Blustar — 2007-01-07T17:40:48+00:00

Is this one of those optional rules that most people use? (like at cons or tournaments) I just feel it would change the game quite a lot.

So, is it generally in use at most cons? Should I just get Rules of Warfare for the tourney optional rules that are used?

thanks,

Blue