Star Fleet Marines: Module I – Assault

Star Fleet Marines: Module I – Assault Rulebook

Table of Contents

Unit Types

For game purposes, each counter is one “unit”. In military terms, a battalion-sized “unit” could include over 50 counters (including troops and vehicles), but the term is not used in this game in that context. There are several types of units in the game, which fall into three categories.

Infantry

Infantry are “people walking”. Infantry units might be inside bunkers, vehicles, buildings, shuttles, or other things.

Marines: The standard unit, a squad consists of five troops with a variety of weapons.
Regular Army: Functionally identical to Marines. The only difference is that they probably got to the planet on a troop transport instead of a warship.
Combat Engineers: Infantry trained to use explosive charges in close assaults, giving them a bonus. They also have special “construction” abilities in the advanced rules.
Commando: Special forces troops, they are faster in ground movement and have advantages in a Close Assault.
Prime Team: Functionally identical to Commando units, but harder to kill, and with the close assault bonus of combat engineers; they also have special abilities in certain scenarios.
HQ: A headquarters unit that controls larger formations. Limited ground combat capability (it operates as a militia squad when not doing its normal duty of controlling the battle), and counts as ten people (two boarding parties or one militia squad).
Heavy Weapons: This unit type has heavier armament and moves slower. This unit type is needed for missions where the enemy has armored vehicles or bunkers to destroy.
Militia: Naval personnel assigned to function as infantry, or reserve Army troops with a lower standard of training. This unit type has twice as many troops as others, but is actually less effective in combat and takes twice as much space in vehicles or transporters.
Civilian: Just that, non-military personnel who have a minimal combat capability and are, in most scenarios, simply targets which one side needs to protect. Civilians come ten people to a counter, which means they take twice as much space in vehicles or transporters.

Vehicles

Vehicles are, well, vehicles. Self-powered machines which carry things (people, cargo, weapons) and which operate on the ground. There are many vehicle types in the time period of the Star Fleet Universe, but for our purposes, all of them are semi-floating, which means they have wheels or tracks but have anti-gravity units which gives them greater ability to operate over non-road terrain and a limited ability to cross water, lava, or other unfriendly surfaces.

Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV): This is the standard ground vehicle carried by larger starships to support their marine contingents and by troop transports to support larger infantry units. It has weapons and enough space to carry one boarding party.
Armored Personnel Vehicle (APV): Similar to a GCV, this unit has fewer weapons but can carry two boarding parties or one militia unit.
Ground Assault Vehicle (GAV): Similar to a GCV, this unit has more weapons and cannot carry troops.
Trucks: An unarmored and unarmed ground vehicle which carries four boarding parties.
Tanks: A heavy armored combat vehicle with more weapons than a GAV and harder to kill. It cannot carry troops. The main problem with tanks is that they are heavy and hard to transport, which means they will only be used when the defender has had them around the planet for a while, or when the invader brings them in a special starship able to land on planets.
Trans-Howitzer: Rarely seen on the map because it conducts its operations from long range. This is an “artillery” unit with a limited direct-combat capability (same as a truck), and no troop carrying ability.
Ammo Vehicle: Rarely seen on the map because it stays with “artillery” (off the map), it has a limited direct-combat capability (same as a truck), and no troop carrying ability.
Command Post Vehicle: A special version of an APV designed for command units. While it can carry two BPs, it normally carries one HQ unit.
Combat Engineer Vehicle: A special version of an APV with a construction capability (see advanced rules). It can carry one boarding party or one combat engineer unit.

Transcriber's note: the draft spells the Trans-Howitzer as "Trans-Howitizer" in the vehicle table and gives the Ground Assault Vehicle the code GCV in that table; both are transcribed as printed.

Shuttlecraft

Shuttles are small spacecraft, usually (but not always) carried from planet to planet by starships. Shuttlecraft use special rules; see Advanced Rules.

Administrative Shuttle: This is the standard shuttlecraft seen on television. It can carry two boarding parties (one militia or civilian unit) and has a phaser it can fire at ground targets (albeit without much effect).
Civilian Shuttle: Same as an Administrative shuttle but has no weaponry.
Minesweeping Shuttle: For all purposes of Star Fleet Assault, these can be treated as Administrative Shuttles. This entry simply means those playing Star Fleet Battles can use their minesweeping shuttles to land troops.
Multi-Role Shuttle: A modified shuttle capable of several advanced missions. It has the firepower of a Ground Assault Shuttle and can carry two boarding parties or one militia squad.
Ground Assault Shuttle: Special shuttle variant with more firepower; it can carry two boarding parties or one militia squad.
Ground Bombardment Shuttle: Special shuttle variant with more firepower, but it cannot carry troops. Used as a “gunship” to provide fire support to infantry, and to soften up targets before the infantry lands.
Heavy Assault Shuttle: A larger version of a Ground Assault Shuttle. It has the same ground combat firepower as a GAS shuttle but can carry twice as many troops.
Heavy Transport Shuttle: A larger version of an Administrative Shuttle. It has no firepower, but can carry a ground vehicle (other than a tank) or four BPs.
Fighter: Intended for space combat, this unit can attack ground units using special rules below.
Ground Attack Fighter: A special variant of a fighter which is more effective in ground attacks and less effective in space combat.

Structures

These are not units per se, but are often targets or firing units.

Town: Any group of buildings, factory, farmstead, or other infrastructure. If a scenario required the capture of a bridge, it would also be considered a “town” hex.
Bunkers: A constructed fighting position providing protection for the troops inside. A bunker has no firepower of its own and only one infantry unit can fire out of each of its six hex sides on any given turn.
Defense Turret: Effectively a “unit” in that it has its own crew and weapons. Defense Turrets can fire twice per turn, once in Opportunity Fire during the non-owning player's Active Player Turn and once offensively during the owning player's Active Player Turn.

Vehicle Movement Allowances

Vehicle Type	Code	Move Allowance	Capacity
Ground Combat Vehicle	GCV	10	One BP
Armored Personnel Vehicle	APV	10	Two BP
Ground Assault Vehicle	GCV	10	—
Tank	TNK	8	—
Truck	TRK	12	Four BP
Trans-Howitizer	THZ	8	—
Ammo Vehicle

Movement Rules

General: Units move from one hex to any adjacent hex, without skipping hexes.

Movement Allowance: Each unit is allowed a certain number of movement points per turn (which is equal to the number of hexes of open terrain it can move through in one turn). Movement points cannot be saved, accumulated, or transferred from one unit to another. A unit does not have to use all of its movement allowance. Regardless of its movement allowance, any unit can always move one hex in a turn so long as the hex entered is one that type of unit is allowed to enter. A unit which has moved one or more hexes cannot enter a further hex unless it can pay the full movement cost to do so.

Unit movement allowances include:

Infantry (unless otherwise noted): 3
Heavy Weapons, Militia: 2
Commando, Prime: 4
Civilians, stunned units: 1
Tanks, Trans-howitzers: 8
Trucks: 12
Vehicles of all other types: 10

Stacking: Up to three infantry units and up to three vehicles (which might be carrying infantry in excess of the previous limit) can be in the same hex at any given time without penalty. If more units of either type are in a hex, the hex is said to be “overcrowded” and all targets in the hex are penalized by a die roll modifier.

Climbing: Moving from a “lower” terrain hex of any type to a “hills” terrain hex costs one extra movement point.

Sequence of Play

Each game turn is divided into two player turns, one for each player. (See optional three-player rules in the advanced section.)

Each scenario will specify which player moves first in each turn. Each player, during his turn, is designated the “Active Player” and conducts the following steps:

1-Starting Phase: At the start of the turn, the Active Player may find some of his units upside down, indicating that they were “stunned” on the opposing player's turn. These units will not be able to fire during the Active Player's Turn. The Active Player removes all Opportunity Fire Markers.

2-Fire Phase: The Active Player designates any one of his units that he wishes to have conduct an attack, and the target of that attack. A die is rolled, modified by various rules, and the result is (see Combat Rules) carried out on the map. After this, the firing unit is turned upside down. The Active Player may then select another unit to conduct a fire attack as above. This continues until the Active Player has no more units able to fire, or does not wish to have any units fire.

3-Close Assault Phase: The Active Player may have any of his units which are right-side-up and adjacent to units of the other player conduct close assaults in accordance with the rules. This may result in the unit moving into the (adjacent) hex of the target, and will result in the unit conducting the close assault being turned upside down.

4-Strike Phase: The non-Active Player conducts fighter strikes and transporter-artillery bombardment as per the Special Rules. Active units can fire at the fighters and, if they do so, are flipped upside down.

5-Opportunity Phase: The Active Player marks any units (which are not upside down) that he wants to assign to opportunity fire. These units cannot move in the Movement Phase of the same player turn.

6-Movement Phase: The Active Player may now move some or all of his units. Units which are upside down can only move one hex. Other units which can move, may do so within the rules of movement. It is during this Phase that any newly-arriving units (by transporter, shuttle, or just marching onto the map) are placed on the map. Moving units may be subject to Opportunity Fire.

7-Recovery Phase: The Active Player then turns all of his upside-down units right side up. This ends his player turn, and the other player becomes the Active Player and conducts his player turn. When all players have conducted their Player Turn, one Game Turn is marked complete. (This may have effects if additional units are scheduled to arrive or if there is a time limit for the scenario. If neither situation applies, then the players do not actually have to keep track of game turns.)

Combat

The combat system has been deliberately kept simple and fast. Direct-fire attacks could be conducted during the Active Player's Fire Phase, or during the other player's Movement Phase. The player conducting the attack is known as the Attacking Player.

General Combat Rules

Several different functions come under the general heading of “combat”, each involving the use of firepower to attack and attempt to destroy enemy units and infrastructure.

General: All units which are not stunned can fire once per turn. A given target can be fired at in a given turn by some, all, or none of the eligible enemy units. A unit can fire on a friendly or allied target, but there is no benefit to doing so and if the target is destroyed it would count as destroyed by the enemy.

Spotting: Units cannot be targeted if they have not been spotted. Units are automatically spotted if they can be seen by the unit firing at them. Line of sight (measured from the center of the firing unit's hex to the center of the target unit's hex) is used to determine if a target is spotted.

Units can “spot” only as far as their own direct-fire range. For example, a “militia” unit with a range of 2 hexes cannot spot a Klingon unit 3 hexes away.

Units can see into or out of, but not through, certain terrain types including forest and town hexes. Units can see along the edge of a blocking terrain hex but not along the edge between two hexes of identical blocking terrain. (If a town hex is adjacent to a forest hex, a unit could sight through the gap between the town and the forest.)

Elevation (below) also blocks spotting.

Covering Terrain: Certain terrain types (see THE MAP) are “covering terrain”. Infantry in covering terrain receives a die roll modifier when it is the target. Note that some covering terrain types block spotting (e.g., forest, town), while other types (e.g., swamp) do not.

Elevation: Units on high terrain (hill hexes) can spot units on lower terrain (anything not a “hill” hex) only if the line of sight does not cross another high terrain hex. A unit on lower terrain can see into but not through a high terrain hex.

Range: Range is counted from the firing unit's hex (not included) to the target's hex (included), in the shortest path without skipping hexes.

Combat Sequence

Whenever a unit is selected to conduct a direct-fire attack, conduct the following steps:

1-Designation: The Attacking Player designates the specific “firing unit” and its “target” (a single unit, or a hex of structures). The target must be within range and must be spotted.

2-Dice: The Attacking Player rolls two dice and totals the numbers.

3-Adjustment: The die roll total may be adjusted by various things, including:

If the target is “infantry” in “covering terrain” add 2.
If the target is “infantry” in “prepared positions” add 2.
If the target is “infantry” in “prepared positions” in a “covering terrain” hex, add 3.
If the target is a vehicle in a “Vehicle Battle Position” add 2.
If the target is an infantry unit in a “Improved Infantry Position” add 2 (add only 1 during a close assault).
If the attack is a Close Assault by a qualified unit, subtract 2. (Subtract 1 in the case of Militia.)
If the attack is a Close Assault by commando units, subtract 3.
If the attack is a Close Assault by Combat Engineer or Prime Team units, subtract 4.
If the target is a vehicle in a road hex that moved by road movement in the current or previous player turn, subtract 2.
If the target hex is “overcrowded”, subtract 2.

4-Results: Cross-index the firing unit (left column of the Combat Chart) with the target (top row of the Combat Chart) to find the appropriate “mini-table” of results. Compare the final adjusted die roll with this “mini-table” to determine the result:

Kill: the target unit is destroyed, remove it from the game.
Stun: the target unit is stunned; turn it upside down.
Miss: nothing happens to the target unit.
Destroyed: the target (usually a building) is destroyed. Record this fact (if the target is printed on the map) or remove the target from play.
Damaged: the target is damaged. Record this fact. Two damaged results count as destruction of the target.

Transcriber's note: in the draft, two sentences are printed in blue (the Improved Infantry Position adjustment above, and the eligibility sentence in Special Attack below). They are transcribed as plain text.

Close Assault

This is a special form of direct-fire attack conducted by infantry units which are in a hex which is adjacent to their target (or in the same hex as their target).

Special Attack: The primary differences are the die roll modifier (see above) and that if the target is destroyed, stunned, or killed, the attacking unit must move into and remain in the target unit's hex. (Entering the hex of a stunned unit is the only way a unit can enter a hex containing an enemy unit.) The attacking unit must be eligible to attack (it must have a capability to attack and be right side up and be able to move).

Restrictions: Civilians, vehicles, shuttles, and heavy weapon units cannot conduct a close assault. Militia units get only a -1 bonus on Close Assaults.

Requirement: A unit is never required to conduct a Close Assault and may conduct a regular attack instead. A qualified unit in the same hex as the target must attack that unit (by close assault or regular fire attack, at the choice of the owning player).

Continuation: If a close assaulting unit stuns a target unit and enters that units hex, the two (or more) units continue to co-exist until one the units belonging to one player have left the hex or have been destroyed. This may cause a hex to be overcrowded.

Opportunity Fire

Designation: Units designated to conduct Opportunity Fire are waiting for enemy units to present themselves.

Activation: Whenever an enemy unit moves into a hex which can be seen by a unit with an Opportunity Fire Marker, that unit must pause and allow the non-Active player to decide if his unit will conduct Opportunity Fire. If the non-Active player so elects, he can have any or all of his units with Opportunity Fire Markers conduct direct-fire attacks (but not close assaults) on the moving unit in question. Opportunity fire cannot be conducted against non-moving units, nor can it be used against structures.

Aftermath: After each such attack, the Opportunity Fire Marker is removed, but the firing unit is not flipped upside down (at least, not as a consequence of using Opportunity Fire).

Effect: If the moving unit (target) was destroyed, the counter representing it is removed from play. If the moving unit is stunned, flip it upside down and its movement for the current Player Turn is over.

The Map

Hex Grid: The map is overlaid with a grid of hexes to regularize the placement and movement of units. Each unit (each counter) must be in a specific hex. The “facing” of counters within a hex has no importance. Each hex is 100m across, side to side.

Terrain: The map shows various kinds of terrain, including hill, forest, and town hexes. In some scenarios, a given terrain type (or terrain feature) might be re-designated, such as a forest on the map being used as a swamp in a given scenario. This complication is required because various planets have various degrees of vegetation or ruggedness.

Certain terrain types are “covering” terrain which give infantry an advantage; the concept of “covering terrain” does not apply to vehicles or shuttles.

Terrain Types include:

Open: This could be grassland, crops (knee high or lower), or bare rock. It is the basic type of terrain.

Hills: This is terrain elevated above the “open” hexes. It sometimes counts as “covering terrain” (as defined by the scenario) and has certain restrictions on movement and spotting.

Forest: Trees (or the local equivalent thereof, including taller crops such as corn). Forest slows movement (more for vehicles than infantry), counts as “covering terrain”, and blocks spotting. Some scenarios may designate the forest hexes as “light forest” in which case infantry moves at the same speed as “open” terrain, or as “heavy forest” in which case vehicles cannot enter forest hexes at all.

Swamp: In some scenarios, forest may be designated as swamp. This slows infantry movement to one hex per turn, blocks vehicular movement, counts as “covering terrain”, but does not block spotting.

Sand: In some cases, scenarios may designate that the hill or forest terrain (or both) are “sand”, which is open terrain that is harder to move through.

Road: When vehicles are moving from one road hex to another road hex along the road, they pay 1/2 movement point per hex. Vehicles on a road entering a town pay the town cost, not the road cost.

Town: This also includes any group of buildings, such as a farmstead or an industrial plant. Towns do not affect movement but are “covering terrain” and block “spotting.”

Water: This includes rivers, lakes, and oceans. Some scenarios may designate the water as being impassible (too deep) or as passable† (but at a slower speed).

Lava: Some scenarios may designated the forest or hill hexes to be “lava” (molten rock) which may be passable† (or not passable) to vehicles. Infantry cannot enter lava hexes. Lava may be designated by the scenario as “high terrain” for spotting purposes.

Terrain Summary Chart

Type	Infantry Cost	Vehicle Cost	Covering Terrain?	Blocks Spotting?
Open	1	1	No	No
Hills	1	2	Yes	Yes
Forest	2	3	Yes	Yes
Swamp	2	Prohibited	Yes	No
Road	1	1/2	*	*

† When the scenario rules allow this to happen. * Other terrain in the hex governs.

Other Maps: Players are free to use maps of their own creation, or maps from other games, as terrain maps for Star Fleet Assault. They should agree in writing what each terrain type is before beginning play.

Vehicle Rules

Vehicle Movement

Vehicles follow the general rule of movement above, except that vehicles are prohibited from entering certain terrain types and can enter some types which infantry cannot.

If a vehicle is “stunned” then its movement allowance in the next Active Player Phase of the owner is reduced to two movement points. Stunned vehicles cannot fire their weapons.

Carrying Troops

Vehicles can carry infantry; the number of boarding parties which can be carried are listed with each vehicle type.

Note that militia units and civilians take twice as much space. Two vehicles could combine to carry such a unit but they must load and unload the unit at the same time and in the same hex, or the unit is considered destroyed.

Infantry in the same hex as a vehicle can load on the vehicle, costing the infantry and the vehicle two movement points. (If two or more units load a vehicle at the same time, the vehicle only pays this cost once.) A vehicle can unload its infantry (which costs one movement point for the vehicle) at any time. Any movement points that the vehicle spent before unloading the infantry count against the movement point allowances of the infantry units for that turn.

If a vehicle carrying infantry is destroyed, the infantry on board is destroyed with it.

Combining SFB or FC with SFA

The whole point and purpose of Star Fleet Assault is to create a game that (while it stands alone) can be combined with Star Fleet Battles or Federation Commander to play out the ground battles in parallel time.

Scale: One turn of SFB or FC is the same as one turn of SFA. All of the “units” (boarding parties, militia squads, shuttles, fighters, ground vehicles) directly translate. If an SFB starship transports four of its boarding parties to the Ground Combat Location, they are placed on the map in the Movement Phase under the rules below.

Arrival (On Map)

Units can arrive by PF, Shuttle, or transporter.

If a Shuttle or PF carrying troops is able (in SFB or FC terms) to “land on the planet hex side” during the current SFB or FC turn, then it enters the map (from any map edge) during the SFA Movement Phase and can land and disgorge troops as per the rules for shuttles.

If an infantry unit arrives by transporter, simply place it in any hex on the map not occupied by an enemy unit. It can move one hex (regardless of terrain costs and its unit type) on the turn of landing. The arriving unit is subject to Opportunity Fire in the landing hex and its final hex.

Arrival (Off Map)

In the case of units arriving in “remote areas” (defined as “off the map”) simply place the units just off of one map edge. On the next turn, these units can (but do not have to) march onto the edge of the map, paying for every hex of movement including the first one.

Include play aide from CL17? (designer note, as printed in the draft)

Advanced Rules

Bunkers

Bunkers are, in effect, a vehicle that does not move. It costs troops one movement point to enter or leave the bunker (in addition to the cost of entering or leaving the hex). Troops inside a bunker fight normally, but those outside the bunker attack the bunker, not the troops inside. A stun result on a bunker stuns one combat unit inside the bunker; a destroyed result destroys the bunker and all occupants. Bunkers can hold a maximum of six BPs or three militia/civilian.

Three-Player Rules

Ask me later.

Stun-Retreat

A unit (upside down or right side up) which is in covering terrain and which is “stunned” has the option to retreat one hex (away from the unit which stunned it). In this case, the unit is not stunned (if it was not originally upside down), but may be targeted by other eligible units of the other player during the same phase.

Survival

Just because your unit was “killed” doesn't mean it is dead! Roll one die and consult the chart below.

1-2 = your unit is, indeed, dead. Remove it from play.
3-5 = the unit moves its full movement allowance away from enemy units and is stunned. (It cannot enter a hex containing enemy units. If no retreat path is possible, it is dead. Remove it from play.)
6 = the unit moves one hex away from enemy units and is stunned. (It cannot enter a hex containing enemy units. If no retreat path is possible, it is dead. Remove it from play.)

Engineer Construction

Ask me later. They can, over time, build bunkers, improved infantry positions, or vehicle battle positions.

Improved (Infantry) Positions

Engineers can construct Improved Infantry Positions, or they can be designated as existing before the scenario begins.

An infantry unit in an Improved Infantry Position has a die roll modifier when it is the target of an attack.

An infantry must pay one extra movement points to leave a improved Infantry Position. It costs nothing to enter such a position. Units conducting a close assault into a hex containing an Improved Infantry Position gain no benefit until they captured the hex by eliminating all units in the hex or forcing them to retreat (or their owner moving them out of the position).

Vehicle Battle Positions

Engineers can construct Vehicle Battle Positions, or they can be designated as existing before the scenario begins.

A vehicle in a Vehicle Battle Position has a die roll modifier when it is the target of an attack.

A vehicle must pay two extra movement points to enter or leave a Vehicle Battle Position.

Infantry can occupy a Vehicle Battle Position at no movement point penalty, counting it as “covering terrain”.

Shuttles

Shuttles can be used to land troops, and as fire-support units (much like helicopter gunships in 2007).

Movement: While shuttles are very fast, they must slow down considerably while in an atmosphere, giving them a movement allowance of 20. They pay one point per hex, regardless of the terrain type. It costs them two points to load and two points to unload their capacity of infantry.

Combat: Shuttles conduct direct-fire attacks as any other unit. They have a longer firing range when in flight. Because they are “above” the terrain, infantry and other units can engage shuttles in flight at a range of up to 15 hexes. Damage to a shuttle is considered to equal half of the shuttles original damage points (round the fraction down when calculating these points; a shuttle with 9 original damage points would take 4 damage points.) A damaged shuttle could leave the Star Fleet Assault arena and return to Star Fleet Battles (or Federation Commander), land on the carrier, and be repaired by the appropriate rules.

Flight: Shuttles are assumed to be in flight unless the owner says they have landed. It costs a shuttle on the ground two movement points to take off.

Landing: A shuttle which has landed has a maximum direct-fire range of five hexes. Shuttles which have landed are engaged at normal weapons ranges. It costs a shuttle five movement points to land.

Heavy Transport Shuttles: These can carry one GCV, Truck, GAV, APV, CPV, or CEV (plus one BP). It costs three movement points for the shuttle and two for the vehicle to load or unload (when landed).

Fighters

Fighters are faster than shuttles (even in an atmosphere). They cannot land during a scenario.

Strikes: Fighters conduct air strikes during the Strike Phase of the opposing player's Active Turn as follows:

Place each available fighter anywhere on the map; no two fighters can be placed within three hexes of another fighter owned by the same player.
The units of the Active Player can fire at a fighter using the normal direct-attack rules. Units that fire are flipped upside down. Fighters which are destroyed are removed from play. Fighters which are damaged conduct their attacks and are then no longer available for play, but do not count as destroyed.
Each fighter may then conduct a direct-fire attack as per the normal rules, or it may (once per scenario) drop “ground attack munitions.” The fighter is then removed to any convenient area for use on the next turn.

Combat Air Patrol: A player may, instead of conducting a strike, place his fighters anywhere on the map at the end of is movement phase and designate them as the Combat Air Patrol. These can ONLY fire at enemy fighters making strikes or on CAP, or at moving shuttles using Opportunity Fire. Fighters on CAP can move anywhere on the map during the owning player's Active Movement Phase as long as the hex has no other shuttle in flight in it.

Landing: In theory, fighters could land (use the rules for shuttles), but they cannot use their weapons when landed and cannot carry passengers, so there really is no reason to land.

Gunboats

Gunboats can be used to land troops, and as fire-support units (much like helicopter gunships in 2007).

Movement: While gunboats (also known as fast patrol ships or PFs) are very fast, they must slow down considerably while in an atmosphere, giving them a movement allowance of 20. They pay one point per hex, regardless of the terrain type. It costs them two points to load and two points to unload their capacity of infantry.

Combat: Gunboats conduct direct-fire attacks as any other unit. They have a longer firing range when in flight. Because they are “above” the terrain, infantry and other units can engage gunboats in flight at a range of up to 15 hexes.

Damage: Damage to a gunboat is given in terms of D4 or D2, equal to four or two damage points in SFB. Just how that all works out is something I'm going to have to figure out later. A damaged gunboat could leave the Star Fleet Assault arena and return to Star Fleet Battles (or Federation Commander), land on the PF Tender, and be repaired by the appropriate rules.

Flight: Gunboats are assumed to be in flight unless the owner says they have landed. It costs a Gunboat on the ground two movement points to take off.

Landing: A gunboat which has landed has a maximum direct-fire range of five hexes. Gunboats which have landed are engaged at normal weapons ranges. It costs a gunboat five movement points to land.

Weapons: By their nature, gunboats have either two weapons (if they are the cargo or troops transport type) or four (if they carry no troops or cargo), thus, they can fire two or four times.

Transcriber's note: in the draft, the gunboat Damage, Flight, Landing and Weapons paragraphs fall in the column flow between the Shuttles and Fighters headings. They are placed here under Gunboats, where their content belongs.

Space Ships Other Than PFs

Ask me later. Please. Even the dinky ones are bigger than a hex. Free Troopers and Free Tankers can be considered under the PF rules but will take longer to load and unload. Space ships use minimum shields when in SFA (atmosphere).

Transporter Artillery

Ask me later. Please. Basically, you get so much of it (per turn and/or total) and you pick a hex and drop it. Die roll produces casualties somehow. May also destroy structures.

We may need a “unitary” versions of transporter artillery (one big one instead of 16 little ones) that can smash fortifications. We could just say that the springs are pulled and the 16 little bombs land in one square meter but that's still a lot less than one 500 pound bomb.

Vehicle Combat Damage

Every “stun” result against a vehicle is recorded, and four “stun” results mean that the vehicle is permanently “stunned”. Eight “stun” results mean that the vehicle is destroyed.

Miniatures

Reaper has a ton of these for their ACAV game and we can surely find something usable.

Scenario Rules

In a pick-up battle, either agree who goes first (usually the attacker) or, in a meeting engagement, toss a coin.

Scenario One: Raid on Rickerbee

The draft's historical background paragraphs for this scenario are omitted as flavour text; the scenario's setup, mission and victory rules follow in full.

Federation Forces: The Federation forces set up first.

Two militia squads are placed in or within two hexes of the three town hexes around hex 0000.
Two Defense Turrets are placed anywhere within five hexes of any of the three town hexes in hex 0000.
One Marine Boarding Party is placed in any hex within five hexes of any of the three town hexes in 0000.
Two civilian units are placed in each town hex (total six).
Optional: To make it easier for the Federation, add one or two Marine Boarding Parties.

Klingon Forces: One Command Unit, nine Marine Boarding Parties, one heavy weapon squad, one commando unit, placed in any hex on the map which cannot be “spotted” by the Federation units and which is not within ten hexes of a town hex.

Klingon Mission: Destroy the three hexes of buildings, and move at least one Marine unit through each town hex.

Time Limit, Victory: If the Klingons have not achieved their mission objectives within ten turns, Federation reinforcements arrive to save Rickerbee Station, the Klingons lose the scenario, and the Organians extend the Federation mandate to include the southern continent. If the Klingons have achieved their objectives before the end of Turn #10, the Klingons win and the Organians require the Federation to evacuate the southern continent.

Combat Chart

The chart is cross-indexed by the shooter (left column) and the target (top row). The RANGE column gives each shooter's direct-fire range in hexes.

‡ Units firing at fighters and shuttles can do so at range 15.

Transcriber's note: the draft prints some chart entries in blue (the Space Ships column). They are transcribed as plain text.

Shooters	Range	Infantry (all types) / Trucks	Bases / Bunkers / Defense Turrets / Tanks	Structures / Buildings	APV, CPV, CEV, GCV, GAV, THZ, AMV	Shuttles / Fighters	Space Ships
Marine BP, Regular Army, Commando, Prime Team, Engineer, APV, CEV	3	1-4 = Kill; 5-8 = Stun; 9+ = Miss	1-2 = Destroy; 3-5 = Stun; 6 = Miss	1-5 = Destroy; 6-9 = Damage; 10+ = Miss	1-3 = Kill; 4-6 = Stun; 7+ = Miss	1-2 = Kill; 3-4 = Damage; 5+ = Miss	1-2 = D4; 3-4 = D2; 5+ = Miss
Heavy Weapons, GCV	5	1-5 = Kill; 6-9 = Stun; 10+ = Miss	1-4 = Destroy; 5-8 = Stun; 9+ = Miss	1-6 = Destroy; 7-10 = Damage; 11+ = Miss	1-4 = Kill; 5-8 = Stun; 9+ = Miss	1-3 = Kill; 4-5 = Damage; 6+ = Miss	1-3 = D4; 4-5 = D2; 6+ = Miss
Militia Squad, HQ Unit

Playtest Unit Types (2011)

Excerpt from the "Module #1: Assault" 15 September 2011 playtest book, section L1 Unit Types (pages 2 and 3). It uses newer unit-type wording than the 2007 draft above. Only L1 is reproduced here; the rest of that playtest book is not included.

For game purposes, each counter is one “unit,” a squad of 5-10 people or one vehicle. In military terms, a battalion-sized “unit” could include over 50 counters, but the term “unit” is not used in this game in that context. There are several types of units in the game, which fall into three categories.

(L1.1) Infantry

Infantry are “people walking.” Infantry units might be inside bunkers, vehicles, buildings, shuttles, or other things.

Marines (M): The standard unit, a squad (same as an SFB or FC Boarding Party) consists of five (or six) troops with a variety of light weapons.
Regular Army: Functionally identical to Marines. The only difference is that they probably got to the planet on a troop transport instead of a warship. There are no specific counters for Regular Army troops; a scenario will designate if troops are one or the other but there is no difference.
Combat Engineers (E): Infantry squads trained to use explosive charges in close assaults, giving them a bonus. They also have special “construction” abilities in the advanced rules.
Commando (C): Special forces squads, they are faster in ground movement and have advantages in a Close Assault (L5.23).
Prime Team (PRM): Functionally identical to commando squads, but harder to kill, and with the close assault bonus of combat engineers (L5.23); they also have special abilities in certain scenarios.
Headquarters (HQ): A headquarters unit that controls larger formations, it has a limited ground combat capability. It counts as two squads or one militia section. It shoots like militia but moves like regular troops.
Heavy Weapons (W): This squad type has heavier armament. This unit type is needed for missions where the enemy has armored vehicles or bunkers to destroy. They're also handy for shooting at regular troops, buildings, or anything.
Militia: Naval personnel assigned to function as infantry, or reserve troops with a lower standard of training, or sometimes a group of civilians given weapons and minimal training. A militia section has twice as many troops as a squad (ten or twelve per counter), but is actually less effective in combat and takes twice as much space in vehicles or transporters. There are no specific counters for militia; scenario rules will specify if one side is using militia units.

(L1.2) Vehicles

Vehicles are self-powered machines which carry things (people, cargo, weapons) and which operate on the ground. There are many vehicle types in the time period of the Star Fleet Universe, but for our purposes, all of them are semi-floating, which means they have wheels or tracks but also have anti-gravity units which give them greater ability to operate over non-road terrain and a limited ability to cross water, lava, or other unfriendly surfaces. In advanced rules, there are faster (entirely gravity) or slower (wheeled or tracked without the gravity element) vehicles.

Vehicles are provided in three color groups: blue (Federation), gray (Klingon), and gold (feline). (There are no red, or Romulan, vehicles.) As there are many empires in the Star Fleet Universe, it was not practical for all of them to have their own counters. Players can borrow counters from unused empires, as long as each player has his own unique color or colors.

Ground Combat Vehicles (GCV): This is the standard ground vehicle carried by larger starships to support their Marine contingents and by troop transports to support larger infantry units. It has weapons and enough space to carry one squad internally.
Ground Assault Vehicles (GAV): Similar to a GCV, this unit has more weapons and cannot carry troops internally. Think of it as a light tank.
Armored Personnel Vehicles (APV): Similar to a GCV, this unit has fewer weapons but can carry two squads or one militia section or one civilian unit or one HQ. There are no specific counters for APVs; a scenario will indicate if one player has some (in which case use GCV counters). If that player has both GCVs and APVs, you can borrow some GCVs from the third color group.
Trucks: An unarmored and unarmed ground vehicle which can carry up to four squads.
Tanks: A heavy armored combat vehicle with more weapons than a GAV and harder to kill. It cannot carry troops internally. The main problem with tanks is that they are heavy and hard to transport, which means they will only be used when the defender has been on the planet for a while (and had them shipped in months or years ago) or when the invader brings them in a special starship able to land on planets.
Trans-Howitzer (THZ): Rarely seen on the map because it conducts its operations from long range (L7.26); no counter is provided. This is an “artillery” unit with a limited direct-combat capability and no internal troop carrying ability.
Ammunition Vehicle (AMV): Rarely seen because it stays with “artillery” (off the map), it has a limited direct-combat capability and no internal troop-carrying ability.
Command Post Vehicle (CPV): A special version of an APV. While it can carry two squads internally, it normally carries a HQ section instead.

(L1.3) Shuttlecraft

Shuttles are small spacecraft, usually (but not always) carried from planet to planet by starships. Shuttlecraft use Advanced Rules (L7.13). Some types ‡ are not provided specific counters; make a note which shuttle counters are of a different type. Shuttles cannot carry external passengers. All shuttles can carry twice as many passengers if it is leaving the scenario as it can unload them in a safe area not under enemy fire.

Administrative Shuttle (S): This is the standard shuttlecraft seen on television. It can carry two squads (or one militia or civilian section) and has a phaser it can fire at ground targets.
Civilian Shuttle (CS)‡: Same as an administrative shuttle but has no weaponry.
Minesweeping Shuttle (MSS)‡: For all purposes of Star Fleet Marines, these can be treated as administrative shuttles. This entry simply means those playing SFB can use their minesweeping shuttles to land troops.
Multi-Role Shuttle (MRS)‡: A modified shuttle capable of several advanced missions. It has the firepower of a ground assault shuttle and can carry two squads or one militia section.
Ground Assault Shuttle (GS): Special shuttle variant with more firepower; it can carry two squads or one militia section.
Ground Bombardment Shuttle (GBS)‡: Special shuttle variant with more firepower, but it cannot carry troops. Used as a “gunship” to provide fire support to infantry and to soften up targets before the infantry lands. Think helicopter gunship.
Heavy Assault Shuttle (HAS)‡: A larger version of a ground assault shuttle. It has the same ground combat firepower as a GAS shuttle but can carry twice as many troops or one ground vehicle (up to and including a tank!).
Heavy Transport Shuttle (HTS)‡: A larger version of an administrative shuttle. It has no firepower, but can carry a ground vehicle (even a tank) or four squads or two sections.
Fighter (F): Intended for space combat, this unit can attack ground units using Advanced Rules (L7.14).

(L1.4) Structures

Town: Any group of buildings, a factory, farmstead, or other infrastructure. If a scenario required the capture of a bridge, it would also be considered a “town” hex. The terms city and village can be considered interchangeable, as these are just larger collections of town hexes. Towns are printed on the map, but some counters are provided allowing players to expand or create towns in some scenarios. A town hex which has been “destroyed” (indicated with such a marker) still provides the same defensive die roll bonus in combat, but (covering terrain) no longer blocks sighting.
Bunkers: A constructed fighting position providing protection for the troops inside. A bunker has no firepower of its own but infantry units can fire out of it. These are counters. See rule (L7.11).
Defense Turret: Effectively a “unit” in that it has its own crew and weapons but does not move; this is a game counter. Defense Turrets can fire up to four times during Opportunity Fire (L5.45) during the non-owning player's Active Player Turn and once offensively during the owning player's Active Player Turn.
Base: This is a large, armored and shielded structure, part of a Star Fleet Battles small ground base. See (L8.5).
Note: Structures cannot be placed in hexes which combat units cannot enter (e.g., river, lake, lava). No more than one bunker, turret, and/or base can be in any one hex.

(L1.5) Markers

Improved Battle Positions: See (L7.24).
Vehicle Battle Positions: See (L7.25).
Opportunity Fire: See (L5.4).
Destroyed: Marks a town hex on the map as destroyed, or marks a vehicle, turret, or bunker as damaged. (Destroyed vehicles, turrets, and bunkers are simply removed from the map.)