Game: Starship Troopers

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gittes — 2008-09-02T21:25:27+00:00

New Counter's Designed by John Cooper

Thread: New (sort of) Variant for AH's Starship Troopers

Leo-T — 2008-08-26T21:10:41+00:00

Starship TroopersJust posted a new file for Avalon Hill's Starship Troopers game. It's basically combining all the other variants together under the "Mission Scenarios" - the one where a random mission & planet are drawn and both sides buy their forces. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has ever tried this, or what you think of my attempt. The zip file also contains an Excel spreadsheet to handle all the force selection & calculations.

Leo-T

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Xookliba — 2008-06-12T15:05:52+00:00

cyberboard gamebox

Thread: Re: Question re: solitaire rules

Rick Mathews — 2008-05-24T17:59:34+00:00

If you're referring to Alone Against the Bugs, the rules for Arachnid warrior attacks (surface or subterranean) are in section 7 under "Battling the Bugs".

--Rick Mathews, designer of Alone Against the Bugs

Thread: Re: Alone against the bugs solitaire variant question

Rick Mathews — 2008-05-24T17:54:08+00:00

I'm the guy who designed Alone Against the Bugs many years ago. It's been a long time since I played the game, but as I recall, M.I. units can destroy subterranean bugs (including workers) via close combat or Heavy Nerve Gas. Combat Engineers can destroy them with HE or NUC demo charges. HE or NUC rocket launchers won't work because they only affect surface units.

FYI, when Avalon Hill published the variant, they left out a section on the Humanoids. It was corrected in a subsequent issue of the General by my letter to the editor, but here are those rules if you're interested:

"The Terran player may use Humanoid installations to subtract casualty points in a sector. They are placed as desired before the game begins. If there is no Arachnid hive in a sector where an installation has been placed, its points are no longer subtracted, but are added instead.

Installations have the following point values:

Communications: 25 points
Power: 50 points
Water: 75 points

Installations are automatically destroyed by an Arachnid demo or beam, or by a functional warrior which ends its turn in the hex with no functional Terrans or Humanoids present. Note that Humanoid installations are listed first on the Beam Fire Priority table."

Thanks for your interest in the variant after all these years. I hope you enjoy fighting Alone Against the Bugs!

--Rick Mathews

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Myrdin T Sasnak — 2008-03-26T20:27:02+00:00

More neat background stuff in the rules.

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Myrdin T Sasnak — 2008-03-26T20:26:01+00:00

The rules have lots of neat background stuff like this in them.

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Jim Krohn — 2008-03-13T21:37:05+00:00

The book that started it...and a great piece of thinking science fiction.

Thread: Alone against the bugs solitaire variant question

castiglione — 2008-03-08T06:17:17+00:00

I've got a question about this solitaire variant.

How do you kill the workers?

They're underground after making the breach so the Terran MI can't attack them on that turn in close combat or hit them with HE rocket launchers. Am I correct in understanding the hitting them with a nuke rocket launcher is the only way to kill them?

Thread: Question re: solitaire rules

castiglione — 2008-02-19T04:14:57+00:00

I've been perusing the solitaire rules and something seems to be missing. Are there any rules to determine if Terran units that go underground run into any arachnid units? It is assumed that any remaining arachnid units in that sector rush to the point where the Terran units have entered?

Thread: Re: Reviews: Holds Up Well

Yaboo — 2008-02-03T05:27:06+00:00

I lost my copy to a basement flood... that and a 1/2 dozen other games. That was a sad day.

Thread: Re: Reviews: Holds Up Well

wargamer55 — 2008-02-02T22:17:59+00:00

I think the bugs are more fun, especially when you use all the rules, although they're hard to play.

Thread: Re: Reviews: Holds Up Well

Shijuro — 2008-02-02T22:04:49+00:00

I loved this one when I was younger (I loved planning out the tunnel system as a bug player).

Your review makes me want to dig it out of the attic and play again, thanks!

Thread: Reviews: Holds Up Well

wargamer55 — 2008-02-02T19:29:47+00:00

Can one design a "historical" wargame based on something in the fictional future?
Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers proves you can. On one level this is a classic, hex-and-counter wargame with the dense rules, intricate procedures and involved gameplay typical of such efforts, especially those form the mid-1970s. On the other hand the game is a very faithful reproduction of the battlefield action from the novel, including all the key skirmishes.
For the Terran forces most units are individual troopers in three varieties. Most are standard battlesuit-equipped "marines." Each had the firepower of a 21st-century battle tank, with additional firepower in the form of nuclear or high-explosive rocket launchers and chemical weapons. Seven of these comprise a squad, joined by a "scout" with weaker armor but more speed and a leader, with more speed but less firepower. The squad leaders do double duty as sectionleaders and their assistants or platoon leader/platoon sergeant. While adding flavor, the organzational structure doesn't have any real game effect. All the troopers are highly trained and enjoy data-linked communications so there are no command and control limitations.
The Terrans are supported by non-armored engineer platoons and psychic-enabled "special talents."
Opposing the Terrans at first, but later allied with them are the "Skinnies," a humanoid alien race with a roughly late 20th-century technology. Their army consists mostly of non-battlesuited infantry squads backed by some tank-like beam and missile-launching vehicles.
The most intractable foes for the Terrans are the Arachnids, an insectlike alien race that resemble spiders but have an antlike hive-based social structure. They also have a ranged heavy beam weapon but most of their troops are masses of warrior and worker "bugs." The Arachnids live underground in tunnel complexes and the main tension of the game is created by the Terrans, who are operating on the surface in full view of the Arachnids, trying to discern the extent of the underground Arachnid hives (which are tracked on a paper "alien control pad."
For the most part the scenarios involve Terran forces landing on the map, destroying Arachnid tunnels and then being retrieved by landing craft.
Mechanically the game is fairly standard mid-70s wargame stuff. Units have attack factors, defense factors and movement factors. Combat is resolved on an odd-sbased basis via a combat results table, although there is a twist in that the two sides use different CRTs. Likewise the turn sequence is the usual wargame "HUGO-IGO" except that the Terrans get an extra "jump" movement phase after the combat phase.
Despite being more than 30 years old, the game holds up remarkably well and still provides and interesting game experience while staying very faithful to its source material.

For otehr game-related content see my blog at http://pawnderings.blogspot.com

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

castiglione — 2008-01-15T20:54:50+00:00

I always thought Verhoeven's point in the movie was to portray the "heroes" as Nazis and get us to cheer for them; in many ways, the film is pretty subversive. It can either be viewed as a cheap joke by Verhoeven (getting us cheer for Nazis) or as an attempt to make us confront our own hypocrisy.

All the main characters have chiseled, Aryan features (even the non-white characters). In fact, any photo still from the film could be a Nazi recruiting poster. They even made the main character (a Filipino in the book) into a white dude.

The senior officers all wear uniforms reminiscent of uniforms worn by German officers in WWII.

The "good guys" take arachnid prisoners and conduct experiments on them and they don't see anything wrong with that.

The whole war is a "race war" - when the human pilot is brought before the brain bug, he spits "I hope my people kill you and your ENTIRE RACE" before his brains get turned into a slurpy.

And so on.

The focus was very different from the book. The book was a thought experiment. The movie was a political satire.

Thread: Re: More detailed component list?

michaeldavidcox — 2007-12-10T19:23:45+00:00

saxophone wrote:
I think the game with two countersheets. Take a look at:

http://www.thewargamer.com/Scans/CounterScans.htmlPerfect. Thank you!

Thread: Re: More detailed component list?

saxophone — 2007-12-10T19:16:23+00:00

I think the game with two countersheets. Take a look at:

http://www.thewargamer.com/Scans/CounterScans.html

Thread: More detailed component list?

michaeldavidcox — 2007-12-10T12:54:23+00:00

I don't suppose anyone has a more thorough list of the counters, do they? I think I have 2 sets and wanted to see what I was missing.

Thanks.

Thread: Re: starship troopers

jhrobin2 — 2007-11-24T14:30:34+00:00

Greg, you really should read the book if you haven't yet. It's nothing like the movie, and will give you a good background for playing the game.

This is one of my favorite games to play; I just never have enough time at one go to play it out now--plus I'm deployed and away from my 15 yo son.

Jim

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

BradyLS — 2007-11-13T22:59:23+00:00

The fighting in Heinlein's book seemed to me closer to what the Marines were facing on rocks like Iwo Jima and Pelilieu and Okinawa. They were dropped to ground by 'chute from drop-ships traveling in precise, bomber-like box formations rather than landing together in an an assault boat or amtrac.

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon H

spacerx — 2007-11-11T04:13:52+00:00

every audience member is welcome to get thier own meanings and messages from an artwork. Verhoeven's version is just one version. every reader has another. when i first read it, i thought that Heinlein had the vietnam war in mind. then i saw the copyright. the idea that for all that is good, we must fight subhuman aliens indistinguishable from each other seems to fit our outlook for every war. as for the citizen soldier aspect, i always took that as a warning rather than an endorsement.

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

wargamer55 — 2007-11-11T03:32:27+00:00

Insofar as I know, the novel was the first appearance of the heavily-armed and armored "stormtrooper" type of individual soldier in Science Fiction. It probably served as inspiration for the similar kinds of soldiers seen in games such as Ogre, movies like Star Wars etc.
Interestingly, Starship Troopers does seem to have anticiapted the direction that infantry arms and armor would take. The modern U.S. infantryman in Iraq is equipped with body armor, individual radios and other hi-tech equipment. Department of defense concepts being worked on will make this even closer. There's even some reserach into suits that can perform some first aid!
The orginal game is one of the mroe faithful translations of a novel into game terms ever done. It's a good hex-and-counter wargame in its own right, but especially good for fans of the novel.

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

Eldard — 2007-11-10T21:31:03+00:00

Eggo wrote:
Starship Troopers . . . “Starship Troopers” is a famous novel by the American SF author Robert Heinlein. In it he develops a relatively reactionary view of the future in which only super soldiers who fight the alien bugs from the planet Klendathu are actually allowed to vote. . .

The message is a little deeper than that.

Eggo wrote:
The whole novel can be understood as a thinly veiled allegory on the Vietnam war and is in many ways the opposite of the much more critical anti-war novel “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman which has some similar ideas.

As was noted, the novel pre-dates the Vietnam War. If you're reading "Vietnam" in "Starship Troopers," you've missed the message entirely.

Eggo wrote:
It also most certainly inspired shows like Battlestar Galactica – hey the original series even had flesh eating bugs in the casino of hell, remember?

The TV series Battlestar Galactica was inspired by the commercial success of the film Star Wars, with perhaps a tip of the hat to the Star Trek series. The fighter scenes in Battlestar Galactica were intended to recreate the similar X-wing action in Star Wars.

Eggo wrote:
. . . Starship Troopers the film by Paul Verhoeven is either considered one of the worst SF films ever or a great parody of fascism and fanatic militarism (which is in fact my own opinion).

Verhoeven also missed the message of the book. In an interview, he saw the story as the stereotypical rite-of-passage warfilm, with the young recruits turned into crack troops by grueling training to ultimately win a big battle. He obviously didn't read the book, or he chose to ignore it and use the famous title to promote his SF adventure film. His film deliberately offers fascist imagery (e.g. the uniforms) to drive home his point.

Eggo wrote:
The film takes many concepts and ideas from the book but also changes a lot. . . Still, some of the action in the film is first rate and intense, and the CGI effects were much above standard for the time and still stand up well today. Viewed in the right mindset this is actually a fun, if somewhat trashy film.

Considering the film missed the message of the book (save for the reference to voting), and if one overlooks the producer's in-your-face message, the film is an outstanding SF action film with great special effects. The dialogue is a little corny, but to be expected considering the production company. It's worth watching for the combat scenes alone.

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon H

Greedo — 2007-11-10T21:07:34+00:00

Could you review the Harry Potter books next?

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

Grimstax — 2007-11-10T17:30:58+00:00

I always marveled at how eerily Heinlein PREDICTED the Vietnam War (or at least the problems the US faced in the Vietnam War) as it was published in 1959. Iraq, with its hidden roadside bombs, etc., is similar as well: A much better equipped army being harassed by lesser technology, but cunning, and hidden, opponents.

The thing I like about the original Starship Troopers wargame is that it was (and may still be) the only game that I would consider to be Strategy VS tactics. The bugs (strategy)have to figure out the best way to ambush the Terran player to maximize casualties because as soon as the bugs are "found" the advantage goes to the Terran's firepower. The Terrans (tactics) have to figure out the best way to deploy their troops to try to avoid an ambush to keep their losses down until they discover where to hit the main brain complex of the bugs.

The bugs player actually building a secret "map" of tunnels (drawn on the map, hex by hex, as tunnels are discovered by the Terrans or opened by a bug ambush) is a time consuming, but very interesting part of the game. The Terran lands on a blank map and immediately starts having to try to map out the hidden map while avoiding ambushes.

Great game, but definitely not for everyone. Especially if you hate bookkeeping. Plus the Terran moves most of the time, just waiting for the bug player to stay "Stop! A hole opens up under this guy and a big ray gun pops out over there and shoots that psychic over there!"

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon H

rri1 — 2007-11-10T16:59:07+00:00

The whole novel can be understood as a thinly veiled allegory on the Vietnam war

No it can't, because the novel was published in 1959.

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

davido — 2007-11-10T16:27:17+00:00

IIRC, the book came out in the late 50's and would have thus predated Vietnam. It does postdate Korea and reflects the tension between a cynical populace trending towards isolationism and the prevailing governtment view of Kennan's "Containment" policy towards communism (e.g. fighting wars between proxy nations w/ the big boys in the background). And yes, the original is a solid hex n chit pusher.

Loved the DYO scenarios-even though 'overload' is penalized, I always presaged the "peace through superior firepower" ethos-hey when you're a teen boy, you can't be too rich or have too much ordnance, right?

Thread: Re: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

BradyLS — 2007-11-10T16:15:35+00:00

What's nice is that AH adaptations into games were true to both of their subjects. The Heinlein game is true to the combat of the books. The movie game is true to the combat of the movie.

Gots 'em both. Glad to have 'em!

Thread: review comparing both editions of the game from Avalon Hill

Eggo — 2007-11-10T12:59:26+00:00

Starship Troopers

We live in a time of game remakes and games that bear similar names. This phenomenon is not as young as we might think. Avalon Hill has remade several of it’s own games, most notably Gettysburg and Third Reich, wich exist in distinctly different versions.
I want to talk about two classic Avalon Hill games that have slightly fallen under the radar but deserve a second look. Both games are OOP but are available at ok prices. Both games bear the same title, and that is “Starship Troopers”.

“Starship Troopers” is a famous novel by the American SF author Robert Heinlein. In it he develops a relatively reactionary view of the future in which only super soldiers who fight the alien bugs from the planet Klendathu are actually allowed to vote. But political views aside, this was a fabulous and slightly cynical SF adventure romp that introduced some new concepts to the genre, most notably the idea of a 1-man killing machine in a robotic suit.

In the novel the bugs are so strange, foreign and powerful as opponents that the humans use technology that boosts the ability of the single soldier, in a way preshadowing the mecha-robots that later turned up in Japanese Manga SF.

The suits are armed to the brim with rockets and turn single soldiers into an Ogre-like foe. They even perform ad-hoc surgery on the soldiers when they are wounded – amputating an arm or such and immediateling cauterizing the wound. The whole novel can be understood as a thinly veiled allegory on the Vietnam war and is in many ways the opposite of the much more critical anti-war novel “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman which has some similar ideas. It also most certainly inspired shows like Battlestar Galactica – hey the original series even had flesh eating bugs in the casino of hell, remember?

Anyway, the wargamer is of course only interested in how the game plays, and for it’s time the first, older “Starship Troopers” game was a valid effort with some things going for it. First of all it used a relatively new concept of rulebook, in which concepts where introduced bit-by-bit in a programmed way unlike the other rulebooks from Avalon Hill of the time, which were often a pain to read and understand. Once you learned the game this was a relatively complex wargame with some bookkeeping involved, and played on a rather bland and boring map. Usually the humans were in the minority, fighting it out with hordes of bugs and skinnies, the allies of the bugs, which usually serve as cannon fodder. An interesting game that is perhaps worth finding, even though it is probably not considered as a classic, but the only game that is faithful to the actual book.

Fast Forward 20 years and Avalon Hill suddenly found itself as owners of a gaming franchise that was turned into a controversial film. Starship Troopers the film by Paul Verhoeven is either considered one of the worst SF films ever or a great parody of fascism and fanatic militarism (which is in fact my own opinion). The film takes many concepts and ideas from the book but also changes a lot. One of the most striking changes is that the bugs were made even deadlier, more powerful and especially faster, whereas the Troopers themselves are depicted as pretty poorly equipped army grunts who get slaughtered easily and in great numbers whenever the bugs attack. Still, some of the action in the film is first rate and intense, and the CGI effects were much above standard for the time and still stand up well today. Viewed in the right mindset this is actually a fun, if somewhat trashy film.

Avalon Hill decided to make a new big box game to follow up the moderate success of the film, interestingly enough they avoided the more complex approach of the first game and made the new Starship Troopers game an introductory game for newbies with extremely simple rules. What was kept was the programmed approach that introduced new rules with each scenario, and the rather boring map. Gone are the tiny bland cardboard counters, instead you get stand-up figurines of both bugs and soldiers. These were produced in bad quality, though, at least my copy of the game makes it impossible to put anything permanently in a black stand, but that’s another story.

The scenarios are a set of skirmishes that are pretty much small scale compared to other wargames. Sometimes each player only commands 6 units per side, but Squad Leader this certainly ain’t. Instead you get extremely basic rules where you have to roll hit dice and defending dice to the effect that most attacks immediately kill. The bugs mostly attack hand-to-hand (or rather claw to claw) whereas the human soldiers use meek carbines or, if they’re lucky – tactical nukes. Each side has distinctly different strategies. The humans usually have to stay close together so they can concentrate their firepower once the bugs get close. The bugs usually have to hover out of firing range until they can surround the human soldiers in one big wave. As most shots immediately kill it only makes sense for the bugs to attack if they have higher numbers than the humans.

Additional scenarios introduce concepts like brain bugs, tunnels and spawning points.
All in all also a decent effort that will probably not satisfy the serious simulation fanatic but which would be an excellent game to introduce your kids to wargaming, as the rules are really simple to learn and explain. Another plus is that the scenarios play really quickly, usually in half an hour, and team play is also possible. I personally think it’s one of the better efforts of the late Avalon Hill, and not as bad as many people think.

If you are a fan of Heinlein – stick to the old game. If you look for the carnage of the film – stick to the new game. If you happen to like both film and book – why not try them both?

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patrel — 2007-11-02T18:17:20+00:00

Starship Troopers AH boxfront

Thread: Re: Infantry Strategy

linguistfromhell — 2007-10-21T04:49:58+00:00

In case you haven't noticed, the beginning scenarios are pretty tilted. One side overwhelms the other.

In the first, the Terrans roll over the Skinnies so bad, the alien player might as well not even be there.

In the second, any alien player that understands that it's about victory points will always win.

The third scenario tilts back to the Terrans.

As the scenarios progress, the odds become even - but don't look for a strategy that will enable the Terrans to win on the second scenario. It takes too much luck and an alien player that has problems finding his way out of a paper bag for that to happen.

Of course, after you finish reading the rules and you re-visit the scenario with all of the optional equipment included at the end of the book, then it might be about even.

Thread: Re: starship troopers

Harkonnen13 — 2007-08-14T21:21:59+00:00

Here's a forum for you:

http://boardgamegeek.com/game/670

Thread: starship troopers

ryththa — 2007-08-14T20:56:34+00:00

I have just got hold of a copy of Starship Troopers, 1976 bookcase edition. The game is unused as all of the counters are still together in sheet form! Unfortunately, the rule book seems to be missing. Can anybody help with a photocopied set or pdf file????? ajabbey@blueyonder.co.uk

Thread: Re: starship troopers

saxophone — 2007-08-13T06:50:21+00:00

I really like this game, though I haven't played it much, and not for a while.

The hexboard and counters are very common in wargames. I'm primarily a wargamer, and play Eurogames on occasion.

Starship Troopers (SST) is a game that is not too difficult to learn because of the programmed instruction method used to introduce the rules. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that you can read a few pages of rules and start playing. You can also progress through the scenarios and add more rules as you go. The disadvantage is that it can sometimes be frustrating to use the rulebook as a reference. Some rules on movement maybe in the 1st scenario, or the 2nd, or the 3rd.

My advice is to take it one step at a time. Read the rules for scenario 1, and then play it out. Re-read the rules shortly after you've played. You'll spot places where you played it wrong. Then go on to scenario 2. Not all of the scenarios are balanced, unfortunately. If you encounter a one-sided scenario, just chalk it up to a learning experience and press onward. The rulebook also contains a section on how to retro-fit the scenarios once you've learned all of the rules.

Also, if you live anywhere near San Jose, California, get in touch with me. I'll be happy to face-to-face and help you learn the game.

Thread: starship troopers

alexjes — 2007-08-13T02:45:09+00:00

Starship TroopersI just brought a 1976 starship troopers boardgame from e bay it seems like a cool game but I have never played this type of game it uses counters and a type of hex board, has any one out their played this game and if so could you give me some tips on getting started? thanks

Thread: Re: Infantry Strategy

Badgeroonie — 2007-08-07T20:30:34+00:00

I've played it once so far as the bugs. I won the game through the VPs I got for having bugs in the zone. I think I had them there every turn. There's no way the Terrans can stop this for the first few turns. After that, you've got to be able to blast them as quickly as they emerge. When we replay the scenario, I'm planning to spread my marines out as quickly as possible so no matter where the bugs appear, I should be able to get some useful shots at them.

Thread: Infantry Strategy

RobertBr — 2007-08-07T09:26:54+00:00

Have now had a complete play through of the second scenario (our first time we only got half way, but having blown the map up to double size its a lot less fiddly) but was wondering about strategy for the Infantry.

I played the bugs and I don't think I positioned my tunnels terribly well, I certainly had pretty bad luck (a turn where I lost 3 heavies on 2:1 odds, two of my 4:1 ambushes in the early part rolled a KIA allowing the marines to missile launcher them to death) and I didn't achieve a good kill ratio (2 KIAs and 4 HVY for just about everything) but it was still an overwhelming victory (60 points to about 30).

The main problem seems to be for the marines actually achieving a turn in which there are no living bugs left in their zone. Any thoughts on this?

Thread: Re: Two questions about play

Phytoman — 2007-07-18T14:26:02+00:00

Thanks for all of the replies.

In terms of the demo charges, I see now in the rules where the building of new tunnels can pass through already placed demo charges.

When playing against another opponent I can see where the warriors are weak and having them on the surface may not be to their advantage. It's just that the solitaire rules state that they stay on the surface if enemy units are within range and then are moved towards them. I guess in the rough or barren terrain it is impossible and should be ignored.

Cheers,
Tim

Thread: Re: Two questions about play

cratex — 2007-07-18T01:30:55+00:00

Movement by the Arachnids in rough or barren terrain seems impossible and in solitaire play pretty much makes them useless (especially the Warriors) for attack since they can never leave the breach space.

When my brother and I played this (MANY moons ago) we never tried to move them much -- they specialized in acting like trap door spiders, particularly if they could catch an already wounded infantryman. Besides, they are weak on defense and we felt that having them move about on the surface was a waste of effort.

Thread: Re: Two questions about play

Karlsen — 2007-07-17T23:18:28+00:00

Phytoman wrote:
My second question deals with the Arachnid demolition charges. The rules state that the munitions can only be positioned adjacent to one of the tunnel hexes. When detonated all units on the surface of the hex are attacked and among other things, any tunnel segments in the detonation hex are destroyed. My question is how can any tunnel segment be destroyed if they can only be placed next to the tunnel hex and the range is only the hex itself? Again, am I missing something here?

If you are playing with the full rules the Arachnids can dig new tunnels during the game. As far as I remember (and without chekcing the rules) there is nothing to stop them digging a new tunnel through a hex that has a demolition charge that was placed there at the start of the game.

Thread: Re: Two questions about play

saxophone — 2007-07-17T23:11:38+00:00

Phytoman wrote:

My second question deals with the Arachnid demolition charges. The rules state that the munitions can only be positioned adjacent to one of the tunnel hexes. When detonated all units on the surface of the hex are attacked and among other things, any tunnel segments in the detonation hex are destroyed. My question is how can any tunnel segment be destroyed if they can only be placed next to the tunnel hex and the range is only the hex itself? Again, am I missing something here?

Thanks for any help in clarifying this for me.

Not all demo charges are alike. Look at the nukes. They have a blast area that goes beyond the hex they are located in.

Thread: Two questions about play

Phytoman — 2007-07-17T20:59:19+00:00

I have had Starship Troopers for some time but never an opponent to play. Now that I noticed the solitaire rules were available here thanks to Rick Mathews, I decided to pull it out and try and play it. However, I have two questions regarding the play:

First, this question was asked earlier but may have been not related to solitaire play so I am going to ask it again. Movement by the Arachnids in rough or barren terrain seems impossible and in solitaire play pretty much makes them useless (especially the Warriors) for attack since they can never leave the breach space. However, I read the rules as stating in the solitaire version that once out on the surface the warriors move towards any Terran forces. Should the movement limitation be disregarded in the solitaire version or am I missing something? Does anyone play the solitaire version and if so, how do you handle this, especially in the one sector where there is rough and barren terrain?

My second question deals with the Arachnid demolition charges. The rules state that the munitions can only be positioned adjacent to one of the tunnel hexes. When detonated all units on the surface of the hex are attacked and among other things, any tunnel segments in the detonation hex are destroyed. My question is how can any tunnel segment be destroyed if they can only be placed next to the tunnel hex and the range is only the hex itself? Again, am I missing something here?

Thanks for any help in clarifying this for me.

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cdefrisco — 2007-07-13T18:13:55+00:00

Rulebook Cover

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cdefrisco — 2007-07-13T18:13:32+00:00

Game Box 'Spine'

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cdefrisco — 2007-07-13T18:13:06+00:00

Back of Box

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5B - Rescue Mission

ATeamRules — 2007-05-11T12:50:34+00:00

Hey, nice review man, its like being there!

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5

dogzard — 2007-05-10T05:52:08+00:00

JarekPL wrote:
Awesome battle/game report! Things like this make me WANT to play.

I second that!

Thread: Diary of a Marauder #5B - Rescue Mission

GeneSteeler — 2007-05-09T14:55:29+00:00

Diary of a Marauder, Sheol Rescue Mission: Sortie #5B

For completeness of my Memoirs, I need to tell you about what happened on Sheol. There wasn’t nearly as much ‘action’ as the rest of my missions to date. And some, reading this, would think it was boring. But, it wasn’t. It was actually very intense, although perhaps anti-climatic for Command. Imagine playing cat and mouse. You are the mouse. And the cat is invisible. I was never so scared in my entire life.

Anarchy was set back down on Sheol to rescue the Knights, who were shot to hell. They had a number of KIA and 12 WIA. They created a defensive perimeter in some Barren Land surrounded by a mountainous ridge. This Gambit turned out to be the perfect defensive position. (Although I’m sure this scenario would have panned out much differently if the Bug Complex was underneath us, instead of about 15 miles to the NE). You see, Bugs have a hard time moving over this terrain and only their Heavy Weapon Platforms can make any speed at all (and even they are very slow)

Anarchy, my squad, was outfitted with High Explosive Missile Launchers and dropped into the middle of the Barrens. We quickly took note of the remaining members of the Knights. They had three Marauders with Listening Devices (LDs), three engineers with a few High Explosives and a few drop charges and Heavy Nerve Gas (HNG) canisters.

We began by dropping our 3 LDs along the northern edge of the Barrens. The Centre and Eastern LDs discovered tunnels 1 mile and 4 miles away, respectively. The western LD detected nothing and it was determined that our ‘gathering’ would be in the NW barrens where there were no nearby tunnels. Our Marauders began moving to gather the WIAs. We planned for 1-man carries, as they are faster, but with the downside of being quite risky for the one being carried.

One Breach appeared in the far SW, but no bug appeared. Was it some sort of decoy? We dropped some HNG down the hole to be safe while 2 engineers and the two LDs relocated in a 1 mile circle around the northern tunnel.

We kept monitoring the NW, with the marauder staying on the LD. Good thing too, because he detected some tunneling 4 miles away. He commanded to stay on his LD.

In the north we located a tunnel and two engineers advanced to it. Meanwhile, we began moving our wounded to the NW, away from both the breach and the known tunnel.

The digging continued and got a bit closer. The Bugs were three miles away now. They were getting closer. Our engineers laid down 2 satchels of high explosive and we were all pretty much gathered within a 10mile diameter. Good thing Command pre-scanned the sector for radioactivity and was certain there were no nuclear weapons in the Bugs arsenal, or half of our guys could’ve been taken out with one demolition!

More tunneling was detected, still three miles from our NE LD. We dropped two more LDs on our western perimeter and detected more tunnels 3 and 2 miles away. We were able to confirm a north-south safe zone. But it appeared that the Bugs were tunneling to either to the east or west of us. Our engineers primed the high explosives and we dropped HNG on top of the tunnel.

As the bugs were preparing for who knows what, we relocated a couple of our LDs to attempt to triangulate their position. The engineers blew two massive holes in the ground and collapsed the bug tunnel and filled it with HNG. The Recovery Boat beacon landed along our western perimeter.

Still no breaches, but our Listening Devices were going wild! All our Mobile Infantry moved a few miles, ensuring that everyone was within 6 miles of the Landing Beacon. The Recovery Boat Landed! It looked like we would all make it off this damn barren planet!

But, the bugs finally made their move! 3 Breaches appeared, two within 6 miles of the Retrieval Boat. 3 Bug Heavy Weapon (HW) appeared along with 4 warrior bugs (who came out of the breach practically underneath Johnson. Johnson was lightly damaged by close combat from the 4 warriors. The three HW shot out at carriers of the wounded: The first at Felix The Scout, heavily damaging him. The second at Tsu, lightly damaging his suit, and the third hit me with its beam weapon in the shoulder, heavily damaging my suit and destroying my High Explosive Missile Launcher! All three of the WIA we were carrying were KIA.

Command then put the success of the mission to the forefront. They could either fight back and miss the boat (hoping the second would arrive safely) or load up the boat and let us fend for ourselves. Command chose the former. Over the intercom, I heard McManlo arguing profusely, but he was outranked by the Knight’s Platoon Leader and had to obey. Johnson, Felix, Tsu and myself were stunned and couldn’t get to the boat. We watched as the remaining Knights, and Anarchy boarded the Retrieval Boat and took off into the sky.

What could we do? I had a HW hovering nearby which was too close to fire on me. The other bug HW, instead of risking friendly fire, combined fire with another HW and Tsu was seriously wounded. He wouldn’t make it back. Without my HEML, I had no way to take on the two HWs that stood between us. Johnson continued to fight bravely was stunned again, whereas the third HW heavily damaged Felix’s suit, stunning him again.

I was the only Mobile Infantry, still on Sheol, that was Mobile. With my suit damaged, I couldn’t extend my jump, but I was still fast enough to flee SW before the HW could get a bead on me.

Instead the HW shot Felix. Those Scout suits just can’t stand a prolonged attack of Heavy Beam Weapons and Felix was killed. Well, that was better than being captured. Johnson was stunned again, still fighting for his life against 4 warrior bugs.

The HW began advancing on me, cutting off my northern escape. I began to flee east, making sure to stay out of their 6 mile range. I was praying another HW wouldn’t burst forth out of the ground and fry me. The second Retrieval Beacon fell from the sky and landed 4 miles south of the HWs and 4 miles NW of where I was. I was within range for a final dash. Unfortunately, the HWs were between me and Tsu, and there was no way I could get to him in time to rescue him. My suit was too badly damaged and the distance was too great. Not to mention the two HWs that were between us!

Johnson continued to receive stuns by the assaulting Marauders when the boat landed. It seemed there was no way he would get to the Boat as well. The two HWs took a shot at the Retrieval Boat, but by Zarquon, that Boat has tough armour and it was only lightly scratched. I bounced to the boat as fast as my damaged suit would carry me and it took me back up into the stars. As I was disappearing into the sky, I looked down and saw the Bugs retreat to their breaches. Johnson stood on the surface, staring up into the sky, watching his last hope disappear into the sky. I held my faceplate in my hands and wept bitterly. I escaped hell. But for Johnson, hell was just beginning.

Aftermath:

Command called this an overwhelming success. We successfully evacuated 43 MI and Engineers. The bugs managed 4 KIA, and two MI were left alive un-retrieved (Johnson and Tsu).

This mission was pretty lop-sided against the Bugs. It seems that to be successful, they would need to ‘randomly’ pick the correct quadrant to set their complex in. 1 in 4 chance. The Bugs also had a chance to shoot down the first Retrieval Boat, but only had a 1 in 6 chance of succeeding. Movement is so restricted, that in the rough or barren, almost half the possible map, they need to get the tunnels directly under the MI to attack with anything beside just their HWs. So, it seems that this mission should have a fairly high success rate for the MI. I’ve heard that there were a number of other Retrievals on Sheol. Have any of the readers heard any other rumours of MI success, or possible enslavement by the Bugs? As it turns out, this mission was more about ambiance and tension than actual combat action.

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5

Gregory Palmer — 2007-05-09T11:20:13+00:00

You may want to consider the Starship Troopers Alt Reality world detailed in the Avalon Hill General Vol. 15 No. 1 article titled "Mission Scenarios". This expansion is where, with the expanded rules and random scenario selection, the game matures into a tense fight where the bugs have limited intelligence as to which Terran mission is being attempted. It is a very in depth article and major revamping of the game including several new planet and environ types and an entirely new point system.

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5

GeneSteeler — 2007-05-08T23:37:50+00:00

There are indeed rumours circulating about squads willfully entering breaches. Thank you for your story, it appears to confirm entry into the tunnels is possible. McManlo is going to talk to Command for clearance to do this. The captured Marauders weren't in his Section, if they were, I'm sure he would've ordered us down there regardless! (Even though we'd have no idea what we were doing!)

I believe if we ever get off of Sheol alive, Command may actually send us down to get one of these 'Brains' you talk about. I'm expecting we'll have a full briefing on assaulting tunnels shortly...

...But first Anarchy has got (the remains of) a Platoon to rescue...

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5

kingbobb — 2007-05-08T14:06:45+00:00

Great report. This is such a great game, really giving you a feel of hi-tech combat on an individual level. So much better than the movie tie-in game. Not sure how it compares to the new minis game.

We ran through all the original scenrios with the same group years and years ago...I don't really want to think about how long ago it was. There are few joys to equal a bug player's when he pulls off a full elimination of a squad using a Scale 6 Nuke. That'll teach them pesky MI to try and swarm down a breach.

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5

Karlsen — 2007-05-08T11:41:12+00:00

If I remember correctly another platoon was on a similar style bug hunt on a different bug world.

They ran into the problem, very quickly a couple of squads were surrounded by breaches and bugs. One of the squad CO's took a different approach and took his squad down into the bug tunnels! Reports are sketchy on whether or not the bugs took one of his men down into the tunnels or if he just decided to take the fight down there of his own accord.

Needless to say, it freaked out the Platoon Leader, Central Command and the Bugs!

The platoon ended up with almost two entire squads down in the bug tunnels and they caused a lot of grief to the bugs - and because the bugs weren't expecting it, they hadn't planted any demolition charges to collapse their own tunnels. Thus in terms of demolition charges it was safer down the tunnels than up above the ground. The MIs do move a little slower though.

Reports are still classified, but there are rumours about two dead bug brains circulating.

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #5

JarekPL — 2007-05-08T11:16:08+00:00

Awesome battle/game report! Things like this make me WANT to play.

Thread: Diary of a Marauder #5

GeneSteeler — 2007-05-08T06:10:13+00:00

Diary of a Marauder, Sheol: Sortie #5A

Well, we were sent on another Bug Hunt. Our mission objective was simple. See how much damage we could do to a Bug Complex and it’s tunnel system. We dropped into a sector which was Barren in the SW, with a ridge around it. The remainder of the terrain was savannah.

Anarchy (my squad) was appointed escort to the Combat Engineers (CE). We were scheduled to land at the 1 hour mark in a soft landing retrieval boat. The majority of the Roughnecks were sent ahead to secure the landing area and do some initial surveying for tunnels using Listening Devices (LD). Roughnecks were scheduled for retrieval on the 3 hour mark.

0 Hour:

Seismic activity registered by our long range sensors indicated the bugs saw us dropping and began digging. There was definitely a hive nearby, but we had no idea where.

The five Roughneck squads (Bravo, Charlie, Dog, Eagle, Fox) dropped in a checkered pattern. Imagine a dice with 5 pips, and you’ll get the picture.

Charlie (C) – NE
Dog (D) – NW
Eagle (E) – SW
Fox (F) – SE
Bravo (B) – Centre (near where our beacon was to land)

Command gave out 4 LDs, one to each of CDEF. Bravo had 3 High Explosive Missile Launchers (HEMLs) and some drop charges and Heavy nerve gas was distributed among the squads.

12 minutes:

The landing was complete. No beaches appeared. The bugs were staying quiet. Our Mobile Infantry (Mobile Infantry) dropped 4 Listening Devices in approximately a large 24 mile circle. The LDs in the NE and NW came back negative, but in the SW and SE our MI, by chance, landed directly on top of tunnels!

Charlie and Dog were called to move south. Bravo was to secure the ridge just south of centre to protect the drop and Eagle and Fox were told to prepare for action.

Two Marauders stumbled upon Bug Demolition Charges, and Wayne, from the Eagles was seriously wounded (WIA) 4 miles north of the LD.

24 minutes:

Only 1 breach appeared, right near a Fox Marauder. A Heavy Weapon (WE) Beam shot him and blew off an arm. It then advanced to his location.

We withdrew our LDs. Charlie began moving south to get closer to Fox in case they would need help. Dog moved south for some further surveying. Bravo positioned in the centre.

Fox had 4 Marauders swarm the HW and assaulted it in Close Combat (CC) disrupting it. 2 Marauders stayed with their wounded comrade while the others, using extended jump bounced away.

Eagle moved their LD 2 miles SW for another reading. 1 Marauder moved to rescue Wayne, while two others hit demolition charges and were stunned/lightly damaged. Eagle also lost their HEML.

36 minutes:

Eagle was then assaulted in the SE. 2 Breaches appeared, one just 1 mile west of where Wayne was lying. The second was 5 miles SE, near the original successful LD reading. Eagle could be Trouble (with a capital ‘T’), as 10 bugs appeared out of the two breaches. Two HW shot out, one against the Eagle’s Scout killing him instantly. The second shot against Wayne, missing him, but lightly damaging (and stunning) his rescuer. 3 warriors ran out and heavily damaged (HVY) his rescuer’s suit. While 3 more warriors heavily damaged another Eagle Marauder’s suit.

Eagle was in it bad. 1 KIA, 1 WIA, 1 HVY and 3 recovering from stuns. That only left three MI active. The Assistant Section Leader (ASL) shot a mystery bug (worker) to hell with his HEML. The two active Marauders tried CC a HW but missed, and had to bounce away.

Meanwhile, in the SW, the two Fox Marauders carried their wounded comrade away and 3 HEMLs filled the sky with rockets eliminating the HW!

Dog was bouncing as fast as they could southwards to aid Eagle, but 3 of their Marauders hit Bug Demolitions resulting in stun/light/heavy damage. (Dog was quite fortunate here)

48 minutes:

A Breach appeared in the savannah due east of the Centre where the 3 members of Dog were stunned, and 8 bugs appeared. A HW appeared and lightly damaged the stunned Maruader, but 5 warriors and a couple workers advanced to close combat two Marauders resulting in stun for one, but a WIA for the second!

HWs also lashed out at the SE breach heavily damaging the suit of the LD carrier, but missing the ASL. The bugs then carried Wayne to the breach! What were they doing! They were going to take him alive! 3 other warriors CCed the Heavily damaged marauder and stunned him again. The HWs hovered over the damaged marines. The Bugs have learned to use our own MI as shields. We couldn’t use our HEMLs or Drop Charges if our own MI were still alive! MI never risked friendly fire.

We responded.

Members of Bravo moved east to help the Dog Marauders by the Eastern Breach, while the remainder of Dog bounced South to help out Eagle. Charlie moved towards the Centre to take up the abandoned Bravo positions. Fox continued to cover the SW on the other side of the ridge.

At the East Breach, 3 Marauders and 2 Scouts managed to rescue the Wounded Dog in a mass assault against 2 Warriors and 2 Workers.

Our limited surviving forces at the SE Breach weren’t as successful with a failed assault on the HW and Warriors who had captured Wayne. Although 4 Marauders from Dog and Fox did manage to eliminate the second HW in CC.

Meanwhile, the Beacon Landed for our squad, Anarchy, but not in a good place. It drifted 6 miles SE, just 2 miles south of the East Breach (and HW) and 8 miles north of the SE Breach (and HW). I had images of our retrieval boat being blasted from two HWs and being vapourised even before I had a chance to exit… I began to pray.

1 hour:

3 Bugs came out of the eastern breach and moved toward our WIA. While the two remaining bug HWs caused a stun and another WIA and both moved within range of the Beacon. But, more importantly, in the SE, Wayne was taken underground by a group of 3 bugs. We never saw him again. Poor Bastard. I’d rather shoot myself in the head than get taken captive by the bugs. I don’t know if I was more worried about the HWs taking a bead on my approaching boat, or grieved at the loss of a good soldier.

The SE breach continued to be a major problem as some warrior bugs caused another HVY and WIA against the remaining members of Eagle.

In the east, 3 warriors tried to stun/WIA the heavily damaged Marauder next to the breach but missed! This was pivotal, as the Marauder shot away north and Bravo was able to drop a proximitiy charge on the 3 warriors, followed up by a number of HEMLs which blew them to bits!

Also at the Eastern Breach, we assaulted the HW and eliminated it and also dropped heavy nerve gas (HNG) down the Breach. The only bad event at the eastern breach is one of our scouts stumbled onto a demo charge and was hit badly (WIA).
A counterattack by Dog in the SE disrupted the HW.

Our boat landed. Safely.

72 minutes:

A second breach appeared beside the Eastern Breach (that was HNG), nothing came out, but some workers moved one of our WIA on top of it. Wanting to capture him too, no doubt. I wasn’t going to let that happen! A couple Marauders and I diced those 3 workers to bits before they could move our comrade.

In the SE, the assault on the HW continued, and with a bit of help from Billy and Marshall, Dog finally took the HW out.

Fox was moving around the barrens, with nothing particularily exciting going on.

Meanwhile, our LDs began identifying some tunnels between the Eastern and SE breaches. (I’ll call this new region 4:00).

84 minutes:

Another terrible thing then happened in the SE. A breach occurred right underneath one of our wounded Eagles and his body quickly disappeared underground, carried away by bugs. This was getting bad.

Our engineers from the aircars began unloading, and we placed more listening devices. There was still one Bug HW unaccounted for, and we were scared it would show up near our retrieval boat and ruin our recovery. Well, it didn’t take long to turn up…

90 minutes:

A breach appeared 2 miles south of the SE breach where one of our engineers was emplacing some High Explosives. The last bug HW appeared and heavily damaged his suit with a blast from his Beam Weapon. We retaliated with the same crew that just exploded the previous HW and they disrupted it.

In the SW our engineer was unmolested and exploded a tunnel filled with HNG.

102 minutes:

A breach occurred at 4:00 and our engineer, who was busy placing explosives was heavily damaged by a couple warrior bugs which erupted forth.

We counter attacked and killed the bugs, while our Marauders finally destroyed the last of the bug’s HWs.

114 minutes onwards:

We spent the next 36 minutes unmolested, using our LDs and destroying a few tunnels. Those engineers sure take their time. But the Beacon landed and we had to gather around the centre, while the Retrieval Boat landed and we all got on board, carrying our wounded. All, that is, except for the two captured Marauders…

Aftermath:

Command called our mission a failure.

You see, we killed 13 warriors and 5 HWs = 18 points, but despite destroying numerous tunnels, we couldn’t isolate anything, as the bugs used the last hour to either repair what damage we did, or build tunnels going AROUND the HNG sections.

The Bugs, on the other hand, killed one of us (3 pts), WIA 5 more (10 pts), but obtained crucial information, and delivered a blow of fear by capturing 2 Marauders alive (18 pts). Who knows what those damn bugs will do to them!

Eagle Squad, is pretty much destroyed. But we fared better than many of the other landing platoons on Sheol. Hell, the Roughnecks didn’t even have time to get back to our capital ship before Command dropped Anarchy (who managed to finish this mission unscathed) straight back onto Sheol. It appears one of our other Platoons was even more decimated by the Bugs. They managed to pull back and created a loose defensive perimeter, but were undermanned and ammunitions were mostly depleted. Command wanted us to help get as many of them out as possible. It wasn’t going to be pretty… but that’s another story, for a later time.

Thread: Diary of a Marauder #4

GeneSteeler — 2007-05-05T14:29:40+00:00

Diary of a Marauder, Revolt!: Sortie #4

It turns out that with our successes against various Skinnie planets, those tall aliens decided to revolt against their Bug Overlords. Our Section, McManlo’s Men, were sent to aid a Skinnie convoy in reaching the City and Spaceport. The convoy consisted of 18 warrior squads, 9 work crews, 2 Heavy Weapon Missile Platforms (HWMs) and 3 Heavy Weapon Beam Platforms (HWBs). We had 3 hours to get as many troops as possible into the city and Spaceport before the revolt would hit it's climax.

We suited up and were on our way. Our Leaders and 6 Marauders (including me) carried High Explosive Rocket Launchers (HERLs). High explosive drop charges (DAPs and DARs) were given to our scouts and 6 other Marauders.

We suited up and were on our way in the dropship when the action began to get wild. The Skinnie Convoy was traveling along a West-East road in the far north of the sector, trying to get to the spaceport/city in the north-east corner. They were scared and set up strongpoints and came to a standstill about 6 miles out of the city. Waiting for us. Or perhaps for the bugs.

While we were still in the dropship, our orbiting probe began to send to us a video feed of the action…

0 Hour:
Seismic readings began spiking the scales all around the convoy. It was obvious a Bug Complex was nearby and the engineers were doing their thing, creating breaches. (A breach is a hole in the ground which leads down to the Bugs Tunnel System which they can attack out of). The Skinnies just sat there. Dumb Bastards.

3 Breaches appeared in the north along the road. 1 just west of the convoy, a second on the road next to one of the Skinnie Strongpoints and the third just within the city boundary 2 miles from the second breach, and the first wave of Bugs began to surface. At the east end of the convoy, some bugs stumbled onto two HWBs. At the west end 4 Bug warriors assaulted the westernmost strongpoint and destroyed it, eliminating 3 warriors and a HWM. This was a bad beginning for the Skinnies, and we urged our pilot to get us there as quickly as possible!

The Skinnies exposed HWBs moved 4 miles to the south of the road and began shooting down some bugs. The second HWM left a strongpoint and attacked the Bugs that assaulted the strongpoint and eliminated two of them.

A second Breach appeared in the city and lots of bugs began flooding the NE section of the city and destroyed 4 Skinnie work crews. A Bug Heavy Weapon (BHW) appeared but only managed to disrupt the skinnie HWM. The third Skinnie HWB retaliated and, with a lucky strike disrupted the BHW. Hindsight shows that this was a pivotal event, and the bugs were unlucky being unsuccessful in destroying the HWM when they had an excellent chance. The other two Skinnie HWBs began moving toward the BHW and they killed 3 warrior bugs on the way.

The Bugs continued to swarm around the NE part of the city, but did not initiate any attacks. The Skinnie HWM, with support of 2 HWBs destroyed the BHW!

Large number of bugs appeared at the western end of the convoy. The NE part of the city was also a swarming mass of bugs and a second BHW appeared but missed damaging a Skinnie HWB.

Our Section was still watching from our monitors in the dropship. We watched the Skinnie HWM and HWB team up firepower and destroy the second BHW.

1 hour:
The third BHW appeared at the perimeter of the city and it destroyed one of the Skinnie’s HWBs. Meanwhile, the mass of unknown bugs were advancing on the convoy from either side.

The Skinnies stayed in their Strongpoints while their HWM and 2 HWBs eliminated the third BHW in it’s defensive position in the city’s NE perimeter. Now, I’m sure I’m not a psychic. I failed the psychic tests drastically when they wanted to see if I had Special Talent. But, and I swear on my squad’s tattoo, I am certain I heard the Bug Queen Swear. Loudly. With 3 of her Heavy Weapons already destroyed, and our squad not even on the ground yet. It appeared that, if we ever did drop, we’d have little problem reaching the space port and maybe even save a few Skinnies on the way.

The Bugs continued to advance (except for three units which stayed hidden in the city) and some warriors managed to eliminate a second Skinnie Stronghold. Their victory was short-lived though, as the Rockets from the HWM blasted them into a chitinous pulp.

Our pilot finally got us to the site and dropped us in the SW corner of the sector. We dropped in 3 ESE lines and all drifted a little south. A pretty good drop as we were well spread out. Six of our Combat Engineers (CEs) appeared in the far south aboard air cars.

I have a friend in Bravo squad called Nibbles. We call him that because, for some reason, he always seems to bite off more than he can chew. One time, in boot camp, we got some Leave Passes and hit the local pub. Nibbles spilled the drink of some Hick who was playing Snooker. It turns out the Hick was the local kickboxing champion. Well, to cut along story short, Nibbles was eventually running away down the alley, naked, with three broken ribs. I never laughed so hard in all my life.

Well, it turns out Nibbles landed right on top of a Bug engineer. And as he was landing a breach appeared under his feet and Bugs began pouring out. A whole slew of them! Well, the warriors assaulted Nibbles and stunned him, while the BHW identified McManlo and stunned him. Other bugs began popping up all over the place in various other breaches which appeared over the previous hour.

They never should have showed their ugly heads. We couldn’t hit the HWB in fear of damaging Nibbles’ suit, but the rest were easy pickings.

McManlo’s Men began surrounding the bugs and we ripped into them with our HEMLs tearing them to pieces. It was a bit of a trap though as 1 Marauder, Clayton, tried advancing over some Bug Demolitions and had his foot blown off (WIA). Another Marauder from Charlie jumped over some Bugs to drop his DAR when more Bug Demolitions rocked the ground and heavily damaged his suit.

Our extended jump took us into position to swarm the BHW in the next few minutes. Another Bug Demolition caused light damage to a Charlie Marauder.

Meanwhile, along North Road, the Skinnies began having a crap shoot, as all the Bug’s Heavy Weapons were destroyed.

Bravo’s Scout dropped west of the ridge line and was sent north towards the city to, well scout ahead.

And boy, was he unfortunately successful. A breach, about 8 miles south of the city appeared nearby and the last bugs (assuming there was only one complex) spewed forth out of the ground. The BHW fired on Bravo’s Scout and killed him instantly. He was a Greenie. His first mission. The rest of these bugs began to scuttle north towards the city.

The BHW near Nibbles shot at, and stunned, another member of Bravo and moved within a few hundred feet of Clayton. This was both good and bad for us. Clayton was immobile, so there was no way to take the BHW down except for using small arms (No Special Weapons). On the positive side, Bug demolitions already blew in that area, and there couldn’t be any more in the near vicinity. At least for 1 mile diameter at least.

In the North, 3 warrior bugs assaulted another Skinnie strongpoint but missed. The Skinnies evacuated, tearing down the road toward the city, leaving the bugs alone to be diced by the Skinnie HWs.

Carson dropped his DAPs on a bug and blew it to bits while jumping overhead. I attacked the BHW with 7 other Marauders and we disrupted it. I didn’t see much of what else was going on around me, but I felt a couple DARs go off, and saw the flare of HEMLs. There weren’t many bugs left besides the BHW.

The bugs, besides the force south of the city, were pretty dispersed and weren’t able to do much at this time.

The Skinnie HWs kept pounding away at the few remaining bugs. Too far away from the Skinnies to do any damage, and too far away from their breaches to retreat.

Nibbles finally escaped from the breach, leaving two remaining Bug Warriors behind. Billy dropped a Delayed Action Remote Charge on them and wasted them. Almost two whole squads came down on the BHW, but we were still only able to disrupt it.

Our engineers were still hovering in the south. We thought we had a rough idea where the Bug Complex was located, probably under the mass of bugs moving south of the city. But we didn’t see any need to get close to them, so McManlo ordered them to stay behind us. We weren’t going to need their services this battle.

The bugs kept moving towards the city. Two more warriors gave away their position in a failed assault against a Skinnie strongpoint. The HWBs retaliated and diced them.

Our assault on the BHW finally was successful and we blew it up with small arms. We began moving NE to the city and uncovered yet another Bug Demolition, which heavily damaged one of Charlie’s suits.

2 Hours in:
The bugs continued to retreat towards, and into, the city.
Some Skinnies, who must have thought they were Mobile Infantry ran into the city to attack an unknown bug. Turns out it was a warrior sitting on top of more Bug Demolitions and that Bug Brain didn’t think twice about wasting his own warrior to take out some Skinnies.

Our Section began to near the bugs south of the city. There were now a number of bugs over the area, mostly by themselves, but a couple were traveling in pairs. I’m sure McManlo had an “I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me” moment. It seemed obvious that the two stacks were probably 2 workers, and we should aim our HEMLs at the single bugs, hoping to target the BHW. But the bugs would be thinking that, and therefore probably have the BHW in a two stack along with some other bug. Unfortunately, in the heat of battle, and with the bugs making stacks and bustling all over the ground, we lost track of where the BHW could be.

Well, McManlo gave the order and we launched a number of HEMLs at the two stacks, eliminating a warrior and 2 workers. Charlie’s Scout, Keith Kitchener, whom we call KayKay, daringly, using extended jump capabilities, dropped his DAPs on two different Bugs. Turns out he blew up a worker, and also found the BHW, but the explosion failed to damage it! The BHW targeted KayKay and it’s Beam Weapon cut him in half. Those Scout suits sure are fast, but the armour just isn’t strong enough against those heavy weapons.

The Skinnies were now relatively bug-free. They sent another 3 warriors into the city to aid their disrupted ally. But they stopped short on top of yet another Bug High Explosive Demolition and were blown sky high.

We focused six of our HEMLs on the BHW and eliminated it.

A couple Skinnies chased down the last bug in the city, but were also blown into Skinnie Nuggets by another underground hidden demolition.

We took a couple pot shots at the remaining bugs south of the city, but they posed no threat, so we bounced around the city’s western perimeter and chose some safe ground, where demolitions were already expended, to gather. All the Mobile Infantry arrived in time, except for the two KIA and our WIA

Aftermath:
The bugs killed a lot more Skinnies than successfully arrived in the city. But with only 3 Mobile Infantry not getting there, as opposed to 30 which did (when you include our CEs), this was a landslide victory for us.

Over the next few days, we eliminated all Bug ‘watchdog’ garrisons from the planet and our Engineers examined the vacated bug complexes. Turns out this one was probably, in hindsight, set too far south, which really split the bugs into three forces. (One major force guarding the city, one guarding the pass over the ridge in the Barren lands, and the third guarding the southern approach. The battle would probably have been a lot harder if:
A. The bugs’ BHW had better luck and was able to EITHER take out the second HWM, or not get disrupted by the single HWB. That was really a bad blow.
B. The bugs’ kept their forces more consolidate in and around the city. As it was, one fifth of the Bug army was virtually useless in the south.
C. The bugs should really stay out of the Barren. They just don’t move fast enough to warrant it.
D. The bugs should have spread their demolitions out a bit more. Probably a few in the city, but more scattered randomly around the immediate outskirts. Although out of the 25 demolitions, there were 9 set off.

Intelligence surmises that if a similar battle was ever repeated, it probably would be a lot closer if the Bugs followed some of the above guidelines (particularly B and C).

Well, I hear we’re off to Sheol, a Bug planet. Operation Corkscrew is what they’re calling it. Maybe we’re winding down, clamping hard on them. It’s not going to be pretty assaulting a heavily defended planet like Sheol. That reminds me, I better stop writing and visit the Chaplain. You never know…

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #2

GeneSteeler — 2007-05-04T07:31:48+00:00

Hindsight is 20:20 yes?
But you're right. We did make that mistake and corrected it in the next mission (#3). The Bugs definitely won't be forgetting that advantage when we play #4...

Thanks for the heads up. And thanks for reading and to all for the positive feedback.

Randy

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #2

Windopaene — 2007-05-04T07:23:49+00:00

You do know that bugs are hidden when they come out of the breaches, yes?

You can't tell which are warriors and which are workers until you or they attack.

Thread: Re: Diary of a Marauder #2

Rick Mathews — 2007-05-04T03:50:28+00:00

Excellent session report. It reminded me of why I designed "Alone Against the Bugs" many years ago (The General 20-4). I really must break out SST again one of these days . . .

Thread: Diary of a Marauder #3

GeneSteeler — 2007-05-03T17:14:19+00:00

Diary of a Marauder, Invasion of Skinny-5: Sortie #3

Well, we’ve evacuated from the Bugs’ planet to knock of their Skinnie allies. Our platoon was being dropped on Skinny-5 to take out their space port city, or at least render it inoperable. Intelligence gave us 14 possible locations for the 3 communications, 2 power plants and 1 water refinery. It was an either/or option. Either clear the city, or knock out all the critical locations. We decided to try to do both.

I’ll try to give you a quick briefing on the terrain. The city is in the NE corner of the sector. 6 possible locations were tucked away behind it even further NE. the city was filled with a multitude of Skinnies and 3 strongpoints were guarding the 6 objectives. 3 objectives were in each of the other compass corners and the rest were scattered in the rough terrain which went from 6:00 to the NW corner, where it encompassed about 1/6th of the sectors total area. Each objective had a strongpoint next to it, and the ones in the SW and SE were loaded with Skinnies.

Each Scout and Leader were given a High Explosive Missile Launcher (HEML), and each of the 6 squads were armed with 2 Delayed Action Proximity (DAP) Charges and 1 Delayed Action Remote (DAR) Charge. I got a DAR. Cool.

We had 2 hours and 24 minutes.

Command ordered the squad drops as follows.
Fox was dropped on the city, they drifted south a bit. Just south of the city Bravo was dropped, they drifted NW and landed on top of Fox. Anarchy, that’s my squad, dropped just SW of Bravo with a bit of a south drift. Charlie was just north of us, but drifted further north and landed west of the city. Eagle was dropped in the south east to look for installations, and Dog has the same objective with a SW drop in the savannah beyond the rough. One poor bastard from Dog drifted too far south and is MIA, presumed dead. I never knew him, but what a terrible way to go.

As we were landing the city went wild. 9 Heavy Weapon platforms appeared at the city’s edge: 5 Missile (HWM) Platforms (more deadly, but more fragile) and 4 with Laser Beams (HWB). They started taking pot shots at us even before we landed. And they were going for our command! Both Assistant Squad Leaders (ASL) had their suits heavily damaged, and ASL1 lost his HEML. 2 Marauder who landed near each other also were targeted and took heavy and light damage to their suits. Fox’s Scout also took a viscous hit and was seriously wounded in aciton (WIA). 6 Skinnie Warrior Squads attacked a fox Marauder in the city did light damage.

The worst part of the drop was losing Sammy. He was the Eagle’s Scout. Eagle wasn’t expecting much resistance, could’ve been a shelter full of workers for all they knew. But 2 HWBs came out and fried poor Sammy before he could even hit the ground.

The rest of us landed safely and the fight was on. This was for Sammy!

Now, war is a chaotic thing. And I hardly knew any of the following was happening at the time. But I spoke to friends in the different squads and pieced together the following. In order to try to tell this story, I’ll break up the events in 12 minute blocks, writing down what happened to each squad/in each area in that particular period. I’ll call each 12 minute period a turn. I could call it a banana, but I’d probably get hungry. Are you with me?

Turn 2 (aka Banana 2):

Dog was too far away from their SW objective, and they launched their 2 HEMLs at the strongpoint, disrupting whatever Skinnies were inside.

Eagle began to move in a focused their attack on the 2 HWBs. They missed both of them with a HEML and in Close Combat (CC). The HWBs retreated part way back to the SE corner and caused 1 stun and 1 HVY (Heavy damage to a Marauder’s Suit)

Anarchy/Bravo/Fox (ABF) – The majority of the Roughnecks focused on assaulting the city. Pretty soon, we were hardly distinguishable as 3 different squads, as we kept jumping past each other and combining firepower to try to take down targets. Bravo and Fox immediately began engaging the enemy. Anarchy, with our drop a bit further out, spent these 12 minutes moving nearer to the city’s outskirts. Marshall landed furthest to the south, and we sent him to check out the objective nearby in the rough. It was just a decoy. Our command and scouts used their HMLs but only disrupted a single HWM. Although, a couple Bravo Marauders in the city managed to eliminate a HWM in Close Combat. 2 DAPs were also dropped, but only 1 HWB was disrupted. This was bad news, because I could see those machines begin to power up for a counter attack. Two Marauders received HVY damage from the HWMs and Charlie’s Scout was seriously WIA. A number of the other scouts were stunned.

Charlie Squad began to move in from the west, but a small spaceport west of the city blocked them from the action so far (except for their scout and Squad Leader). Charlie also broke off two members (Forman and Vickers) who headed NW to check out some lightly and unguarded objectives.

Turn 3:

Dog continued to assault the strongpoint, but failed. They did discover a Communications tower in the far SW though, and a number of Skinnie warriors ran out to protect it.

Eagle dropped their two DAPs, one on each HWB, but both failed to do any damage. A couple Marauders in CC managed to eliminate one though. The second HWB retaliated and lightly damaged the platoon sergeant’s, Sarge’s, suit but did destroy his HEML. A couple warriors ran out of the strongpoint to defend the revealed Communications Tower.

Forman and Vickers continued their long trek NW.

Charlie dropped a DAR and DAP on a crowded strongpoint on the Western side of the city but failed to do any damage.

ABF – Anarchy joined up with Bravo and Fox. Billy, Washington and I, along with a Fox Member CC a HWM disrupting it. Bravo and Fox dropped a DAP and DAR to no effect. Carson and Rasczak focused their HEMLs on a HWB and eliminated it. But the rest of our attacks were ineffective. We used our extended jump capabilities to fan out, to avoid a large cluster for the inevitable Skinnie attack. It was looking bad, with hardly any Heavy Weapon Platforms disrupted. The Skinnies took this opportunity to retreat three of their HWMs into the heart of the city to attack Bravo and Fox, causing a Stun, Light, and HVY. The HWBs held the perimeter and took out 3 of our scouts, including Carson! All the scouts were unharmed, but their suits were heavily damaged, and two of them lost their HEMLs.

Turn 4:

In the SW, Dog’s HEMLs blew up the Strongpoint (and the Skinnies within). They eliminated two more warriors who were defending the Communications. Only 1 defender left in the SW. Part of the squad used extended jump to begin heading north to other possible objectives.

In the SE, Eagle used its DAR to no effect, but disrupted the HWB in CC.

5 Charlie Marauders assaulted the strongpoint and destroyed it with three Skinnie squads trapped inside. They used their extended jump to begin moving around to the northern side of the city where the objectives were.

ABF – Marshall took the HEML from Fox’s Scout. He joined the Leaders in their attack and they disrupted a HWB and HWM. The 3 HWMs deep within the city were hard to reach. In the alien city, our suits are pretty slow (only 2 miles per 12 minutes, while the HWMs can cover 8 miles in the same time). The remaining Marauders from ABF began moving into the city. Two were hit with Missiles and were HVY. Two HWB combined their attack on our Platoon Leader, Rasczak’s suit was heavily damaged.

Turn 5:

In the SW, Dog was having difficulty flushing out the last of the Skinnie Warriors. Half the squad was going north by now and discovered a Power Plant (objective 3/6 found).

In the SE, 6 active Eagles assaulted the HWB and destroyed it!

ABF – Our damaged scouts and marauders began retreating south away from the fight. Washington dropped his DAP on a huge pile of warriors and eliminated 3 squads and disrupted another three! We continued to assault and HEML the enemy HWs and disrupted most of them. Two HWMs that we missed, returned fire and heavily damaged two more Marauder Suits. We weren’t having much good luck, but it gets worse…

Charlie, reached three of the northern objectives. And found 3 decoys. But there were still another 3 to investigate. Which, by extended jump, were a Power Plant, Water Facility and Decoy. The last HWM exposed itself and seriously wounded one of the 5 Charlie Marauders. 7 work crews flooded out of the strongholds to protect the power and water plants.

Turn 6:

Far NE, Charlie dropped their last DAP on 4 workers and eliminated all of them. The 4 Marauders then assaulted the revealed HWM and disrupted it.

Forman and Vickers were nearing the far NW objective (deep within the rough, which made bouncing quite slow)

Eagle blew up the Communications Tower and began moving north to aid ABF with the City Assault.

Dog was still working on weeding out the last warrior squad at the Communications Tower..

ABF – I grabbed a HEML from a damaged comrade, and Marshall and I disrupted one of the HWMs. 4 Marauders from Bravo eliminated another on and McManlo, Rasczak and ASL2 took out a HWB. Finally we were making some headway against the Skinnie Heavy Weapons. 2 HWBs hit McManlo damaging his armour and destroying his HEML. Billy also took a HVY from a HWM deep within the city. Our casualties and damaged suits were adding up, but we didn’t have time for a head count. We had to keep those HWs occupied.

Turn 7: Our time was half over.

Vickers found an unguarded Communications Tower in the far NW.

Dog finally destroyed the SW Communications, and were fighting a lone defender at the western Power Plant.

Eagle was racing north as fast as they could. We’d likely need their help with the remaining HWBs.

Charlie – Managed to take down the disrupted HWM in the far NE. They then used extended jump to ready for an assault against the few workers guarding the critical installations.

ABF – I, Gene Steeler, had my moment of glory. I jumped over a Heavy Missile Platform and managed to drop my DAR amongst it’s ammunitions. The resulting explosion almost blew me out of my suit. It was a sight to see. One of the HMWs knocked Washington for a loop and gave him a HVY.

Turn 8: Winding down.

Dog killed the last defender at the Power Plant and blew it up.

Vickers blew up the NW Communications

Charlie could finish the mission here, but only killed 1 of the three workers. 1 worker was still guarding each installation in the NE above the city. This would prove a pivotal and continuous string of bad luck.

ABF – 5 Marauders took out another HWM. There were only 2 HWB and 1 HWM left. 6 warriors in the city managed to overpower Bunson and heavily damage his suit.

Turn 9:

The first of Eagle squad reached the city and assaulted a HWB disrupting it.

Charlie failed to kill either worker (although, intelligence told us later they had a 5/6 chance of taking out each one!)

Red went psycho and assaulted the HWM by himself and disrupted it.

We combined our HEMLs against the last active HWB and missed. This was also very unlucky, and would prove costly. This HWB fled north 8 miles through the city and stunned one of the 4 Charlie Marauders who were attacking the workers at the water installation.

Turn 10:

Opie dropped his DAP on a bunch of Skinnie warriors, eliminating one squad and disrupting another 4 squads. They’d be easy pickings now.

The rest of the Eagles arrived from the south and eliminated the second last HWB. Good job!

We disrupted the HWM again, but had no success against the northern HWB that was hassling Charlie. Charlie blew up the Water Installation, but again failed against the Power Plant!

The Skinnie HWB missed, so did the few remaining city warriors.

The clock struck two.

Turn 11: Moving in for the Kill

Eagle began racing north (3 miles) through the city.

Fox dropped their DAR on 4 warriors, annihilating 3 squads.

My HEML, along with the last two others in the city eliminated three other warrior squads.

We disrupted the HWM again, but failed to disrupt the HWB. This actually mattered in the aftermath, as Charlie squad, on yet another 1 in 6 failure still couldn’t kill that last work crew at the Power Plant. The HWB took a shot and Wounded one of Charlie’s Marauders. If Anarchy had that assignment, I’m sure we would’ve taken out that Power Plant by now, even with a HWB taking the odd pot shot.

Turn 12: The end.

We disrupted the HWM, but missed the MWB yet again. So the city was still not cleared. Charlie finally destroyed the work crew and Power Plant. The HWB took a retaliatory strike and heavily damaged another of Charlie squad.

We reached the 2 hr and 24 minute mark.

The fight was now over. Eagle finally caught up with the HWM and HWB and combined we took them out. The city was ours, and the critical installations were all destroyed. It was now time to count our losses.

Aftermath:

We had 2 KIA (Sammy and the poor bastard who went MIA on the drop)
We had 4 WIA and 20 suits heavily damaged. That’s 26 casualties. Command gave us a maximum target of 24. Meaning that even if the final retaliatory strike on turn 12 didn’t count, we still had 25 which was just enough to piss Command off. If Charlie was able to take out the Power Plant earlier, HQ would’ve been happy and the Skinnies would have surrendered. So many “what ifs…”

Now, it wasn’t much of a win for the Skinnies. But it was a win. Those Heavy Weapons were pretty devastating and hard to handle.

This was definitely the most fun and exciting mission yet. For both the Mobile Infantry and the Skinnies.

Command is trying to incite the Skinnies to Revolt against their Bug overlords. We’ll have to wait and see if anything comes of this. I gotta run. We’re holding Sammy’s funeral service in a few minutes and I still have to polish my shoes.

Image

IronMoss — 2006-11-16T15:53:33+00:00

Opening quote from Chapter 1 of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers