This time I'd like to describe some freighter models that you can make. These ships are the most important yet least appreciated in any fleet. Freighters carry the goods of trade; they can be outfitted to carry colonists; or used to ferry troops and weapons. In a campaign style game, they can carry Supply/Repair points, and become mobile repair facilities to your fleet. This also makes them a highly prized target to the enemy. Freighters can also be retrofitted to represent hastily armed cruisers or even carriers.
The first model is a large Federation freighter. You need a complete circular hull, like the Reliant or Enterprise type. Next you need two plastic spoon halves, and either a piece of thin plastic or thin balsa. Then you sandwich the layer between the two spoons. This is the tough part: carefully cut away the excess wood or plastic, leaving a "wing" on either side of the ship, AND a small tab in the front. (Plastic makes it easier by letting you use scissors.)
Remember that these are game pieces, so don't make these wings too thin, or you'll be constantly making repairs. Attach the circular hull to the tab. It can be glued into a carefully morticed hole in the round hull itself; its up to you. Engines are mounted on the ends of the wings, these can be new or old style. As it is a plastic hull use a thin long nail to act as the stand. Use this model as a large freighter.
Another ship is a Romulan type, but is really ubiquitous as a small freighter. Use one spoon as the hull, and fashion wings under the spoon out of balsa. Engines of the appropriate type are added on the ends and that's it. This is a fast and useful model.
A different kind is a bulk freighter. It is based upon a Star Wars design. You need 2 sections of balsa that are 1 inch thick by 1/2 inch wide and 2 inches long. These are the cargo containers. Then cut a 3/8 inch thick strip of balsa, 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch long.
This is the drive section. The model is assembled by gluing the drive section in the middle of the two containers. The drive section can then be improved by adding detail with strip balsa or even a plastic McDonald's spoon. The engine is contained in the center section, and merely painted on.
Task Force Games made a great model of a freighter, that was the general shape of a AA battery, with sensor dish in the front and two small warp engines in the rear. You can fashion something similar with dowel rod. Just cut an indentation into the rear of the ship to accept the wing shape that will hold the warp engines. Here it would be best to use plastic card. There are innumerable styles of freighter available to you.
Building a Fleet
Building a fleet of ships for wargaming requires a little forethought. Presumably as solo gamers, you will control both fleets, and need ships from both sides. What you should avoid however is a concentration of big ships. It sounds great to have an armada of battleships, but they make for really dull games. Basically its a slug-fest with you rolling dice over and over and . . . .
The best force is a balanced force, with one heavy capital ship, half a dozen cruisers, a few destroyer / corvette picket ships and a couple of freighters. Also take it easy on building carriers. Too many fighters and it again becomes a dice throwing marathon. Treat carriers as capital ships, one per fleet. When you begin to build ships, it soon becomes difficult to stop building a certain kind. Sooner or later you will create a ship that was not only easy to do, but looks great: so why not build a bunch? The reason is that you soon will have a dozen of these warships for one side, and very few for the other.
You can quickly find yourself in a miniature arms race where one side is up to its neck in Cardassians while the other side has only a couple of cruisers. That's when discouragement sets in, because you have to build up the other side, and it becomes a chore. Always build at most 3 or 4 ships for one side at any time, then repeat the process for the other fleet. That way you can avoid my mistake of having 8 Enterprises and 6 Reliants and 6 Destroyers and only 4 Micro Machine Klingon ships. I spent the next month trying to catch up, and had little time or inclination to wargame.
Also keep in mind that you can use your balsa ships as the basis for conversions into other ships. Try adding different or bigger aft sections to the Reliant model, or mount engines on top of or beneath the main hull. Another source for ship design is the Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph. It has been reprinted recently, and gives several ship designs based upon the original Enterprise. It also has a Dreadnought, a larger Enterprise basically, with a third engine on top. At over 3 inches long, it is a great model. There are also tug and modular container plans. As for everyone else in the Star Trek universe, ideas aren't so readily available. The Klingons have several ships available, but the Cardassians and Romulans only have a couple. That means that you are free to build ships of your own design. It isn't as hard as it seems, just try to keep a basic design integrity to your ships so that they look like they belong on the same side.
If that's too tough, then simply build larger or smaller versions of the ships you already have. That's what Star Trek has done with the Bird of Prey, which has appeared as a 12 man scout, and as a battle cruiser. Also the new Enterprise itself has appeared under different names on Deep Space 9. (I guess Paramount has trouble making up ship designs too).
I suppose I should mention that the game Star Fleet Battles has a system of recording the energy use and damage to ships on something called a ship system display or SSD. These SSD's were rough outlines for ships from nearly a dozen different races, and can be used as the basis for model ship design. That's what I did to create both a Kzinti and Lyran fleet - really nice ships! At one time the game had a complete selection of lead ships available, all in scale, and representing everything from patrol craft to dreadnoughts (the Klingon and Romulan Battleships were huge!). Get them if you can.
Heresy
Well, time for some heresy. You can mix Star Wars and Star Trek ships in the same battle. Science fiction on screen is an entertainment vehicle that thrills its audiences with visual spectacle. The "official" made up future can be very strict in its proclamations that a photon torpedo can kill a Klingon at 300,000 KM. So what? If that were true, we'd never see any space battles on screen, the ships would be too far apart. Almost all battles take place in very close proximity, visual range, and at sub-light speeds (yes I know about Journey to Babel and Eylan of Troyius - don't write to chide me). As for whether phasers are more powerful than turbo lasers; its as silly an argument as: Cap'n Kirk is better than Cap'n Picard. What I am presenting is very general set of rules that will get you started. Please feel free to tinker all you want.
Now for some conventions. There are two basic speeds of travel, sublight - on the wargames table - and faster than light - warp, hyperspace, whatever. The later is never really considered in the game, except that ships can enter the battle or exit this way. We only need concern ourselves with sublight speed. This should be set at a maximum of 6 inches for ships - it really just depends on how big a table you are using. The only ships capable of this speed are fast patrol craft. Cruisers and destroyers are next at say 4 inches, and battleships and freighters last at 2 inches. Fighter models represent 12 ships in formation, and can travel 8 inches. Other small craft formations such as transport shuttles should be much slower, say 4 inches. Each turn of 90 degrees costs 1 inch of movement.
Weapons are divided into two categories, energy a.k.a. beam weapons; and projectiles such as torpedoes. The torpedoes tend to be the big guns of the game, with high power and long range. Beam weapons are the workhorses, and vary in power from fighter weapons to heavy cannon based on planets or space stations. As well, the fighters can carry some type of bomb or torpedo, its up to you. These typically are slow projectiles with limited range, but they can make for exciting games where a fleet has to fend off waves of fighters, each capable of crippling a ship.
Each ship has Shields and 6 main internal systems needed to fight. They are:
-
1. HULL Maximum of 6 points
2. SENSORS Maximum of 6 points
3. TORPEDO 1 shot every second turn per launcher
4. BEAM WEAPONS 1 shot per turn per launcher
5. ENGINES Maximum of 6 points
6. CREW Maximum of 6 points
A typical arrangement for a cruiser may be: Shields of 5 points:
Cruiser Internal Systems:
| 1. Hull | 2. Sensors | 3. Torpedo | 4. Beams | 5. Engines | 6. Crew |
| 4 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
A typical arrangement for a large freighter may be: Shields 3 points:
Freighter Internal Systems:
| 1. Hull | 2. Sensors | 3. Torpedo | 4. Beams | 5. Engines | 6. Crew |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Fighters do not have these arrangements, they are considered as a collection of 12 small ships, and are discussed below. Beam weapons may be fired every turn, while torpedoes are fired every other turn. The range of weapons is as follows: Beam: 12 inches. Torpedo: 18 inches. Beam weapons can fire in a 360 degree arc, while torpedoes fire straight ahead.
Torpedoes cause 6 points of damage regardless of range.
Beam weapons' power is reduced by range:
| BEAM DAMAGE: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 0-6 inches = 1 point damage | Fighters + Freighters | 6.1-12 inches = no damage |
| 0-6 inches = 2 points damage | Patrol ships | 6.1-12 in. = 1 point dam. |
| 0-6 inches = 4 points damage | Cruisers and Destroyers | 6.1-12 in. = 2 points dam. |
| 0-6 inches = 6 points damage | Battleships | 6.1-12 in. = 4 points dam. |
In order to cause damage, a sensor lock must be obtained. For each ship you must nominate a target, and roll 1 die and match or roll less than the sensor rating. If you fail, you can't fire the ships weapon's in that turn. Cruisers and battleships have a sensor of 6. Smaller ships like destroyers have 4, and picket ships and fighters 3. Freighters have sensor of 2.
Modifiers: Subtract 1 from the roll against fighters, and add 1 against freighters and battle ships.
To cause internal damage to an enemy ship, you must first defeat the shields. You must cause enough damage to equal or exceed shield strength. E.G. You must score 6 points of damage on a ship with a shield strength of 5. You cause 1 point of damage to the shield (for equaling it) and 1 point for internal damage. Had you caused 5 points of damage, only 1 point of shield strength would be lost. E.G. You cause 2 points of internal damage to a Cardassian warship. Roll 1 die for each point of internal damage, and apply the damage to the appropriate system. Roll 2 die get 1 and 4. Therefore you reduce the hull (#1) by one, and you destroy one beam weapon (#4).
Critical damage: If the shields are destroyed, the ship is extremely vulnerable as all damage is applied to internal systems. When all the hull points are destroyed, the ship is destroyed. If sensors are destroyed the ship cannot fire its weapons. If all weapon systems are destroyed the ship cannot fight. If the engines (#5) are destroyed, the ship explodes. If the crew (#6) is destroyed, the ship is a hulk and can be captured or salvaged by transferring 1 crew unit aboard.
Transporters (beam me up) have a range of 4, and the transporting ship's shields must be lowered that turn. NOTE: you can board an enemy ship and fight the crew if the enemy ship has no shields. Each crew transported aboard (1 per turn per ship) rolls 1 die, a 6 kills an enemy. However, if the enemy crew rolls a 5 or 6, the boarding crew is destroyed. Fighters are destroyed by assessing the damage caused by a hit. A torpedo causes 6 hits or "kills" to a formation. A beam weapon hit is the total strength of the hit based upon the firing ship: at less than 6 inches patrol ships cause 2 kills, battleships cause 6. Fighters attack a ship as if the fighters were a single entity. They all attack or they all don't. Their beam weapons are not cumulative and can't beat down a ship's shields, so their biggest weapon is their torpedo.
Once a sensor lock is achieved, roll 1 dice per fighter, a 6 is a hit. Treat each hit as an individual attack. Once completed, the fighters are empty, and can only use their beam weapons. It is a good idea to limit fighter torpedoes to a 6 inch range, or less, so that they don't dominate the game. They can be reloaded if their carrier lowers its shields while they land. It takes two turns to reload after which the carrier lowers its shields again and launches. The whole operation takes 4 turns. Otherwise they have to hyper out to their carrier or base.
Fighters can combat other fighters with their beam weapons only. Roll 1 dice per fighter, a 5 or 6 causing a kill. Slower fighter units like shuttles roll a 6 to kill, and are hit by a roll of 4, 5, or 6.
When things are looking grim and maybe its time for your fleet to get out of Dodge, you can send the ships into hyperspace, or light speed. Just move the ships in a straight line, and double their speed every turn until they are off the table. A freighter traveling 2 last turn would move 4 this turn, then 8 next turn, etc. Slowing a ship from light speed is handled in the reverse. Just don't enter a scenario too fast or you will warp right off the table.
If there are enemy ships within 2 inches either side of your path during your first turn of acceleration, you must abort the attempt for that turn. Once out of a scenario, your ships can be repaired. Its a good idea to pursue the enemy fleet once it has been beaten, so roll 1 dice per pursuing ship after all the enemy has fled. This number is the turn that the ship will appear at the enemy rendezvous point. It is assumed that the enemy will be undergoing repairs at one end of the wargame table, and all pursuing ships will arrive at a distance of 12 inches from the nearest enemy ship. Its best to allow the retreating force 1 or 2 free turns of unhindered repairs before the pursuers arrive.
Repair. Ships may restore 1 point of damage to their ship free of charge (except crews of course) after a battle. Other repairs are completed at a base or by freighters. A small freighter may repair 1 ship up to a maximum of 6 points in a single turn. A large freighter may repair two ships up to a max. of 6 points per turn. Fighters cannot be repaired, only replaced. It is a good idea to keep a log of the freighters that records its total cargo of repair points. Small freighters can carry 24 points of repair, large freighters carry twice that.
Also, spare crews can be carried instead of supply points. These crews are generic, they can be used as soldiers or as replacement crews. Its probably best to carry a mix of both supply and crews though. Fighter replacements can only be carried by special freighters. These ships are not carriers, only transports of fighters for carriers. Small ones carry 12 replacements, large ones 24. While being repaired or restocked with fighters, both carrier and freighter are shields down and unable to fight. If pursued, an interesting scenario can develop where you must hold off the enemy with the least damaged ships, while the worse off ones are made battle ready (told you freighters were important).
Pretty soon you will realize that the games are more involved and fun if you name the ships, and keep track of their battles, maybe even add modifiers for green crews or skilled veterans. You can also add base stations to your wargames, or planetary bases. Incidentally, I just bought a GREAT model of Deep Space 9, its about 1 1/2 foot across.) You can use your crews as soldiers to capture planets or raid them for valuable repair points. An economy can be developed based upon supply points, and trade routes established. Alliances can be forged between races, or mercenary pirates hired with bribes of supply points. You can expand the role of fighters by giving them shields, and making some fighters dedicated bombers and some interceptors. Warships can be modified to carry cargo or soldiers, and new weapons can be developed. There are innumerable scenarios and amendments that you can develop and play out.
You will find that the more detailed your wargame universe becomes, the more sophisticated and enjoyable the scenarios will be. Just one word of warning though, remember to keep the overall rules simple and fast, as the more ships you have the greater the paperwork required. Any weird situations that develop during a battle are best resolved quickly and with common sense and not voluminous rules. Happy Soloing.
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