Radison "Rad" Starbender checked the readings on his spatial positioning system and ran. a cross-check against the star-nav equipment. They both positioned his House Colos Pharsi II about 20 minutes out from the Luches Utopia base. Through his cockpit glass, Rad could barely make out his wing-man's green running lights just 100 meters to the port and riding at about ten o'clock. The usual chatter and bravado that preceded a strike mission was missing - orders were for strict communications silence. Even the internal comm-links between Rad and his two gunners, "Hype" and "Bullseye", were silent. There was an eerie feeling about this one that none of his crew could shake. For one thing, this was the first time they had gone in without some sort of escort. The Pharsii was a heavy hitter, but couldn't maneuver as well as the smaller, light fighter craft that it often found itself up against. This mission was different in a few other aspects as well. The two Pharsii were to fly through enemy space on their approach to what the Utopians claimed to be a non-military outpost at the very edge of Colos- claimed territory. They were to destroy it and whatever else they could find, then flee back into Colos territory. Because House Colos was not willing to fight an all out war for this little-used, worthless area of space, the strike was to be ,done without warning - hence the surprise attack from "friendly" territory. The base was to be prevented from calling for help until the attack had begun. By then it would be too late to save the base, and the Colos leaders doubted Utopian resolve to risk large numbers of troops and ships in order to build a replacement. The Pharsii were already in enemy space and on their final approach to the base. Rad keyed the internal comm-link and checked the gunners' readiness. Weapons powered up and energy usage readout spiked. In another moments the base appeared on the headstip display -- there were also four Utopian ships in the immediate area. Computer-generated ship diagrams flashed across Rad's ID screen, searching for a match on the enemy ships. Finally the four diagrams locked in and Rad knew what they were up against - two Shryak Shuttles, a Sorenson III, and a Teal Hawk. Rad felt slightly relieved, knowing that his Pharsii was too quick for the main armaments of the Sorenson and Teal Hawk to be effective against him, but he also knew that the eight torpedoes between them could more than even the score. At a signal from Rad, both Pharsii accelerated to top speed and headed straight for the base. Half a dozen torpedoes left the Sorenson, streaking for the invading Pharsii IIs as the Shryak shuttles tried to get to missile range. Rad said a little prayer and launched his own torpedoes. Scenario This scenario for Silent Death: The Next Millennium sends two heavy fighters from House Colos against a numerically superior but lighter Luches Utopia fighting force in order to destroy an uncomfortably close "non-military" base. The optional rules for Decoys and Point-Defense should be used, but other optional rules must be agreed upon by both players. Use the standard scenario map set-up, meaning long-edge to long-edge. The Utopian base is in one comer of the map, taking one hex. Ships may pass through the hex but may not end their turn in the same hex as the base. The asteroid field should be set up so that no two asteroids are adjacent - there should be at least one hex of open space between any two asteroids. House Colos player: Those slime-eating Utopians built a base right at the edge of Colos space, thus threatening Colos sovereignty of the area, and it's your job to teach those mealymouthed dung heap maggots a thing or two about interspacial etiquette! Your forces consist of. Two (2) Pharsii heavy fighters. Your mission is to destroy the base and escape by the end of turn 12. You can destroy the base by inflicting all 30 boxes of damage to the Utopian base or by inflicting the critical damage. If you destroy the base and exit one Pharsii off of the shaded edge of the map, you achieve a Marginal Victory. If you can withdraw both of your Pharsii after destroying the base, you achieve a Decisive Victory. Intelligence operatives have forwarded the information that your torpedoes are useless against the base. Luches Utopia player: If space weren't polluted by the likes of those Colos Neanderthals it wouldn't be necessary to build all of those "defensive" bases all along adjoining areas of space. Your forces consist of: one (1) Sorenson III, one (1) Teal Hawk, and two (2) Shryak Shuttles, plus the base. You are to preserve your base if at all possible. if not, then you are to punish the Colos dogs for destroying it. If the base is still operational at the end of Turn 1-2, you achieve a Decisive Victory. If the base is destroyed but both Pharsii are either destroyed or still on the map at the end of Turn 12 (when reinforcements would arrive to destroy them), you achieve a Marginal Victory. The Base This is, in fact, a military base. As such, it has a number of special, and defensive equipment built in. For one thing, the ECM equipment, at the base is so effective that Torpedoes directed at the base automatically detonate at a harmless distance, though torpedoes may target ships in hexes that are adjacent to the base. Also, there are two (2) missile systems, each with 20 missiles, mounted on independent 360 degree turrets (top and bottom). The base computer system operates the missile systems with an effective gunnery of 7. The base has two Decoys, a Point Defense of 1-5 (2), Drive 0, Defensive Value 13, Damage Reduction 4, and thirty (30) damage boxes with a critical hit at # 16 (roughly halfway through). When the critical box is reached, the attacker rolls 3d8: if the attacker rolls 14 or more the base blows up as a result of fire and ammo explosions, but if the roll is less than 14 the critical has no effect on the base. Damage to the base does not reduce its Defensive Value of Damage Reduction, since pieces blown away from the base will just become a cloud of debris protecting it from, future attacks. Map Back to Shadis #22 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1995 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com