Home Goal - B5-COMPLITIA Smike's Andromeda,...

MARCH2002

I N S I D E

New shipsfor the Dilgar,

Torata, Alacans,Centauri and Soul

Hunters

Pak’ma’ra fleet formation tactics

Tactical guides forthe Minbari and

the use of gravitic drives

Babcom 2

Fiction: By BEN RUBERY

THE ADMIRALS were assembled in a chamberaround a central imaging array. They were aboard theHyach Dreadnought, flagship of the fleet, the mostadvanced ship they had. And they were considering theassault on Balos, the crown of the Dilgar's possessions.The Balosian admiral was pacing in a circle around thedisplay showing his homeworld and a neckalce ofDilgar installations choking it. He looked at it and thenhe looked around at the assembled admiralty, repre-senting most of the League, the Earth Alliance, theMarkab, the races hurt and pillaged by the Dilgar. Analliance formed to end the terror the Dilgar hadbecome. But the Balosian admiral still paced. Stillstopped, paused, and stared. He was sizing up thebeings around him. The Descari admiral commandedseven ships, four of them tiny, only one of them cruis-er sized. The Hyach Admiral commanded more thanseventy powerful and high tech warships, the EarthAlliance admiral well over a hundred and fifty ships.But would it be enough?

The initial intelligence reports gave Dilgar shipnumbers at over five hundred. Most of the Dilgar fleethad assembled to defend the large shipyards they hadin the Balos system.

The Balosian admiral, Fstomasss, (the EA com-mander had made Thomas out of it) had a dozen war-ships at his command, but he knew he was the key tothis operation. At his signal Balos would rise againstthe Dilgar, harassment attacks would become a full-scale attempt to kill every Dilgar on the planet. Thatwas what he would bring to free his world. He wouldbe buying freedom in blood shed on the warm sands ofhome. But he would have his home. His mate had beengravid when the fleet was defeated and forced fromBalos, he would have children he had never seen if shewas still alive. He hadn't asked, communications were

not with his clan, but with one that lived on the otherside of the planet. The clan leaders knew what the sig-nal was, but there would be no communication until thefleet jumped in system.

And it would soon be time. He had given every racecontributing troops instructions as to where to land,and liaisons for the local clans.

He looked at the display, his world a yellow ball ofhot desert, that his Balosian soldiers would thrive in,but most of the other race's warriors would wilt in. Theexception was the Gaim troops, but they'd brought fewinsectoid soldier drones, they made the EA very uneasygiven their disregard for life. But this would be abloody battle. There would not be one with more deathunless the Alliance invaded Omelos, and that lookedunlikely. The EA senate was looking for a swift end tothis war, and Hamoto was committed to giving themwhat they wanted.

Balos would be the true test, when the League andEA took their chance to destroy the Dilgar warmachine.

He'd made a briefing through a translator, impressedupon those assembled the importance of the situation.Now it was Hamoto's turn. "Admirals," he spoke froma small podium, taking in the assembled ranks. "We areat the cusp of history. We know the evil that we face,and we have driven it back, almost to its home. But thisis not over yet. So far we have been a growing armadafighting garrisons and holding forces. Now we face themight of the Dilgar fleet. This will be a hard battle, andwe will all suffer losses, but we must prevail, or theDilgar will be able to roll back to the border of EAspace, and take every homeworld left undefended. Wewin here, or we have lost the war. Impress this on yourpilots and crews. And be sure the Dilgar commander isdoing the same."

There was a hush. A speech was expected, virtuallycompulsory for the annals of history, either said now or

MARCH2002

Issue No. 11

CONTENTS2 FICTION: Home Goal

- Ben Rubery4 ANALYSIS: Dilgar Warships

- Scott mcGaffin9 SHIPYARD: Dilgar

- Roman Perner10 SHIPYARD: Torata

- Ben Rubery11 B5W SCENARIOS:

Probing the BorderFirst to Fall IISHIPYARD: Alacan

12 ANALYSIS: Hyperion Gamma- Diogenes

13 FA SCENARIO: Balos 9- Diogenes

14 TACTICS: Tactical Formations- Todd Boyce

17 COMMENT: Dreadnoughts- Diogenes

18 TACTICS: Minbari- JJ O’Shaughnessy

20 TACTICS: Gravity drives- JJ O’Shaughnessy

21 FICTION: Flight of the Warlock- Alex Kettle

22 SHIPYARD: Devoras- Roman Perner

23 FLEET ACTION: Gatherer- Alex Roberts

24 BATTLEFORCE: Pirate Hunting- Chris Nasipak

DILGAR WAR: FICTION

Home GoalHome Goal

Babcom 3

released after the battle to the news media. ButFstomasss had not expected something so realis-tic.

There were other words, some exchangesbetween the admirals, but the briefing was over.

A shuttle ride, and Fstomasss was seated inhis chair aboard his flagship, designated BalosOne in the fleet, Frassa yn Crja in his language,but the human mouth could not pronounce it, soit was Balos One.

The ship's captain, Frayqs, had alreadyreported the fleet ready, and formally handedcommand back to his admiral. A score of ships,a few squadrons of fighters, most of them pur-chased Delta-Vs, were all the Balosians had tocontribute to the battle in space. But the fleetwas getting ready to jump into hyperspace, andBalos was not a long journey from here. Andthen there was the waiting. The bustle of thebridge. Endless checks of the outdated equip-ment. They must build their own after this warwas over. The Centauri had cut off supplies ofspares to avoid angering the Dilgar, and hadwithdrawn technical support for the AssaultLasers they had. They'd been forced to cannibal-ize parts and borrow spares from the Abbai. Butevery ship in his small fleet was combat capable,every being under him knew what was expectedof them.

It seemed to take forever to make the journeythrough hyperspace. But then they were there.The plan called for the Balosians to jump in firstand then transmit a beacon for the rest of theAlliance fleet to come in on, as the Dilgar werejamming the beacon in the hope of delaying astrike. They were assigned to destroy the smallDilgar base producing the jamming signal andthen move to engage the OSAT net and land thefirst troops, as the rest of the fleet jumped in toengage the Dilgar fleet.

Fstomass didn't think for a second that itwould work out so easily, but he would have toeliminate the base jamming the beacon, whichwas giving out a ghost of a signal. In order tofind the system his squadron had a hastily con-verted electronic warfare craft, hoping to pick upa faint sideband signal outside the blanket jam-ming or the mass shadow of the Balosian star.

EA ships had swept hyperspace in the regionseveral times for probes, destroying them assoon as the Dilgar deployed them. And they haddone the same at Tirrith, as the Hyach had atShri-shraba, keeping the Dilgar from anticipat-ing scout intrusions into captured systems.Hopefully they had yet to replace the probeshere.

The signal from the scout ship came in.They'd detected a probe, but it was not transmit-ting. Their luck was in, and as the scout foundthe mass shadow of the Balos system in hyper-space, and used that to hunt down the source ofthe jamming, the fleet got into formation tostream through the jump point the scout opened.All fighters were launched and formed up along-side their carriers.

Fstomass waited for all the reports to come in

yellow, and then gave the order to jump. Withinten seconds the first half of the Balosian FreeNavy had jumped into the home system, and thescout was scanning local space and assigningtargets. For once things had gone well and theywere less than four kilometers from the jammingstation. The fleet locked on and opened fire.Within a matter of seconds the station was anexpanding ball of gas, torn apart by fire from IonCannons and Assault Lasers. Fstomass signaledthe comm officer, and the attack signal wasbroadcast.

The Dilgar were not slow to respond, and twoPentacans of Destroyers and a Cruiser Pentacanwere already moving to intercept the Balosianfleet. Fstomass ordered the fighters to move toengage the Dilgar fighter squadrons, an angryswarm of red darts on the tactical display.

A mixture of Balosian Shasis and purchasedBA Delta-Vs broke against the wave of Thorunsmoving to attack. Tapping his fingerclaws on thetac board Fstomass ordered two Esthasa destroy-ers to support the fighters, while designatingfour of the closing Dilgar frigates as targets forthe fleet.

Fire was exchanged, the fighters broke up tofight their private little wars, and particle beamsstarted to stab lone Thoruns out of space. TwoSussha frigates and one Esthasa destroyer hadbeen lost in the first exchange of fire, while allfour of the frigates Fstomass had designatedwere either floating debris or slowly turning endover end in space. Fstomass ordered the fleet toretrograde as he set a target point, hoping toexploit the long range of the ion cannons andwear the Dilgar down. The Dilgar fleet contin-ued to close. The fighter battle was stalemated,as the larger number of Balosian fighters foughtthe significantly better Thorun Dartfighters. Thesmaller Dilgar ships were still out of range, thelarger Dilgar ships were charging their weapons,but the Balosians had weapons charged now.Fstomass designated three of the Dilgar destroy-ers, hoping to disable them before they reachedfiring range. They fired. One of the Dilgar shipsexploded under the weight of fire, another wentdark as it lost its forward hull section, while thelast target kept coming.

The Dilgar were getting closer, and theircruisers fired again. The two Esthasas support-ing the fighters vanished in a hail of Bolter andPulsar fire and some of the Thoruns brokethrough, heading for the scout. Some of the reddarts moving towards the scout snapped out asthe nearby ships fired at them, but enough gotthrough for the scout to start to flicker danger-ously green on the tactical board.

The Dilgar had closed, and close range firewas being traded between ships. Fstomasswatched as one of his Esthasa destroyers slowlybegan to spin away, one side reduced to slag bythe fury of the Dilgar barrage, and a crippledSussha rammed a Dilgar strike carrier, as thefighter melee continued.

The ship rocked from fire, as a DilgarMishakur drew close. The Seffensa that

Fstomass was aboard was the target of the dread-nought, and its return fire was pitifully weak inreturn. As the dreadnought closed, a flight ofDelta-Vs tried to strafe it, only to be shot downby Scatter Pulsars. A destroyer was brushedaside.

Unfortunately the Dilgar ship did not noticethe Thosalsi carrier until too late. Pouring thelast of its fire into the Dilgar frigate it was duel-ing with, it pushed its engines to maximum andheaded straight for the Dilgar carrier. Life podsstarted to stream from the bottom of the hull, anda pair of shuttles sped from the central bay. TheDilgar fire directed towards the carrier was toolate, it smashed into the side of the Mishakur,one of its side pods coming free as it torethrough the dreadnought, rotating and scrapingagainst the behemoths hull.

The detonation of the Mishakur's reactor out-shone the Balosian star for a few seconds, but hisvision cleared just in time to see the Trathartigunship come through the wreckage and fire.

The ship wrenched, and he was thrown to thedeck. The abandon ship signal was sounded.Explosions started to wrack the ship. Fraqyspulled him to his feet, and moved him from thebridge. Fraqys waved two ratings over, and theycarried him from the bridge. He regained hisfooting, and they began to move down throughtwo decks to the pods. He could hear gentlethuds as pods left the ship. They would head forBalos once launched. Fstomass was climbingdown a ladder to the pods when he heard the dullroar. He let go of the ladder and pushed down,using the lack of gravity to float onto the poddeck. The pressure wave hit him, throwing himagainst the wall. He heard voices, then silenceand emptiness.

Fstomass woke slowly. He could feel warmthon his skin. He could feel liquid pouring fromone of his ear flaps. The tinny taste of blood wasin the air. But he could see the sky. Someonemust have carried him to an escape pod.

"We've got to get him inside.""No, the sun will bring him round in a minute,

he's lucky to be alive and he needs to warm up.""They'll be here in less than two minutes.""He's awake!"There was a Balosian face in front of him. "Sir, we've got to get underground, we've got

incoming Dilgar aircraft."He could only hear on one side of his head.

He was helped to his feet, a small group ofBalosians around him, an EA trooper by a cavemouth, stooped over some sort of radar. His infravision picked up several dozen shapes inside thecave. Bright lights in the dark, human, notBalosian. Which meant they'd show up on a heatscan of the region. They had to get further intothe cave. Nothing would give him greater pleas-ure. He grabbed a rifle proffered to him, andwalked into darkness.

* * *

DILGAR WAR: FICTION

Babcom 4

BATTLEMASTER Tal'Dur glanced overat his command console. His fleet ofdestroyers, frigates, cruisers and his own

heavy carrier lay before him on the screen. Offto the edge lay the approaching Drazi force. Hisscout told him the composition of the enemytask group. Tal'Dur snickered quietly to himself.Pathetic, he thought. Turning to his communi-cation officer, he gave the launch order. With anarrogant smile he spoke aloud "Now we will seewho is the true warrior race".

WeaponryThe Dilgar made use of a variety of original

weapons that were the pre-cursor to a number ofmodern weapons, such as the Pulse Cannon,which is widely used by the Earth Alliance, NarnRegime and various pirate and civilian forces.They also helped introduce known space to thetrue horror of total, genocidal warfare throughthe use of mass drivers, nuclear weapons andnumerous biological and chemical weapons.

But this article will only cover the shipboardweapons used by the Dilgar.

Bolters - One of the best weapons in use by theDilgar and still used today by some minorforces. Due to its constant standard damage, it'smuch easier for Dilgar players (and their oppo-nents) to assess what it would take to eliminatean opponent. They don't have to worry about

dragging the damage across an opponent, there-by reducing the amount that impacts the facingstructure. Due to its standard damage it is mucheasier for a Bolter to knock off a structure blockas opposed to a raking weapon. This fact alonemakes it much easier for Dilgar units to knockout their opponent. The downside to the Bolteris that its Laser contemporaries tend to duenotably more damage. For example the MediumLaser does 3D10+12 damage (giving a rangefrom 15-42), whereas the Heavy Bolter onlydoes 24 damage. But, to counter this the HeavyBolter has better range. Another thing to note isthat the bulk of Dilgar opponents (with theexception of the Abbai, Drazi and EarthAlliance) tend to have poor interception capabil-ities. If using a vessel that has both Lasers andBolters, consider firing the Laser first to knock

off the weapons, thrusters etc. before firing theBolter. That way more of the Bolter's energy canbe expended against the facing structure block.

Lasers - The Dilgar's other main weapons arethe Light and Medium Laser. Although it hasthe potential to inflict more damage than theHeavy Bolter, this damage is raking and there-fore will usually be spread over a facing. See thenote above about firing with Bolters. Againsthigh intercept races, such as the Earth Alliance,it has the added bonus of not being interceptable.Use Lasers to rake off an opponent's systems.

Quad Pulsar - The precursor to the Heavy PulseCannon. Able to fire at long range (similar tothe Heavy Bolter) and with the same rechargerate as the Heavy Bolter, the Quad Pulsar can be

DILGAR WAR: TACTICAL ANALYSIS

February 2228 saw the unleashing of one of the most powerfuland devastating war machines ever conceived by a younger race.

That of course being the Dilgar Invasion. The Dilgar used weaponsand tactics and ships their opponents, the League of Non-Aligned

Worlds, could not cope with, and if it wasn't for the timely interventionof the Earth Alliance, the entire League might have fallen.

Scott McGaffin examines the various ships, fighters, weapons andtactics used by the Dilgar. Also included will be some suggested tac-

tics for combating certain period opponents. This essay only usescomparisons and examples from the Dilgar Invasion era.

a devastating weapon capable of easily inflictinga massive amount of damage. The Quad Pulsarhas the capability to destroy virtually any non-primary system facing it (with the exception ofcertain side thrusters). If possible, get an EWboost from a nearby scout to improve yourchances of increasing your number of pulses.

Energy Pulsar - Similar to the Medium PulseCannon, but notably inferior. The Energy Pulsaris a mediocre secondary weapon, mainly due toits terrible number of pulses and brutal volleycount. Unfortunately the poor volley count is aproblem endemic to all Pulsars. Don't count onit to win any battles for you.

Point Pulsar - A rare weapon similar to theEnergy Pulsar but with some improvements. Itsfire control is considerably better versus capitalships and a little better versus mediums. Itsnumber of pulses generally tends to be superior,it has superior range and it has the added bonusof each pulse potentially being used as a calledshot (with only a -4 penalty vs. the usual -8).The only downside to it, is it's terrible at hittingfighters. Don't bother firing at them.

Scatter Pulsar - Very similar, at least in con-cept, to the Light Pulse Cannon. The ScatterPulsar is excellent at putting out quite a volumeof anti-fighter firepower. Unfortunately thedamage is rather weak, a mere six points.Against warships it's only useful if you intend onpecking your opponent to death. Most warshipswill just shrug off the Scatter Pulsar's fire. Evenmost heavy fighters, such as the Brakiri Pikitos,will shrug off a solitary pulse. The key to usingit is concentration of fire. If you intend on utter-ly destroying a fighter flight you have to hit itwith more than one Pulsar. If facing light fight-ers such as Drazi Star Snakes, one Pulsar may besufficient if you can get maximum pulses andyou're lucky, otherwise fire two Pulsars. If fac-ing medium fighters such as Markab Droftas,fire two to three Pulsars (you'll have to be thejudge). If facing heavy fighters such as theaforementioned Pikitos, fire at least 3 Pulsars.Keep in mind this should be in conjunction withyour own fighters.

Plasma Cannons - Should be used in much thesame way as Bolters except the range for PlasmaCannons is generally not as good as Bolters butthe damage is considerably more. Use them forknocking off large structure blocks. Because oftheir large damage and short range, hold off fir-ing them until you are extremely close to youropponent. Hit him with Bolters and Lasers atlong range and Plasma Cannons at close range.

Plasma Torch - An excellent one-turn rechargeweapon capable of inflicting quite a bit of dam-age. Due to its poor range and overheating,avoid firing until you're virtually guaranteed ofhitting, in other words, point blank range.

Mass Driver - A huge weapon capable ofinflicting an enormous amount of damage.Unfortunately you and your target have to be

immobile and can only be targeted on enormousunits, bases and planets. In situations where youare not attacking one of the above, then shut offthe mass driver for extra power. The nine extrapower is a huge bonus that can be used toincrease thrust or EW.

Class-S Missile Rack - The standard missilerack in use by the Dilgar. This gives Dilgar unitsthe ability to hit an opponent for a good-sizedchunk of damage every other turn. Consider tak-ing long-range missiles especially when facingcertain races, such as the Pak'ma'ra, who you donot want to get close to. Period opponents eitheruse the S Rack or the poorer SO rack.Remember because of no intercept degradationversus ballistics, you should either saturate a tar-get with missiles or combine it with HeavyBolter and/or Quad Pulsar shots, thereby givingan opponent trouble as to which heavy weaponto try and intercept.

Structure & ArmorDilgar ships are known for having poor armorand structure. While their structure blocks haveaverage armor, their systems such as weaponsand thrusters have anywhere from mediocre toterrible armor. Compare the MishakurDreadnought to its EA counterpart, the Nova.Structure armor is a little higher on theMishakur, but look at the weapons. The EAMedium Lasers have equal or more than everyother non-primary system on the Mishakur.Even terrible ships such as the Mitoc JomicFrigate are as well armored if not better armoredthan the Mishakur. Because of this, Dilgar sys-tems are easily susceptible to being raked off.Beware of opponents with large raking weaponssuch as Lasers, Graviton Beams and ParticleCannons.For structure, Dilgar ships are about equal tomost of their League counterparts but arenotably inferior to their Earth Alliance oppo-nents.

Jump DrivesIt's also worth noting that the Dilgar jump drivesare rather poor as they have terrible jump delaysof 36 turns. Most of the races they face, with theexception of the Grome and Hurr will have bet-ter to significantly better jump delays. So don'tplan on any quick lightning raids, you're goingto be there for a while. Unless of course youhave two ships with jump drives.

Dilgar WarshipsLeskrati Jumpcruiser - The replacement forthe Ni'Tratha Jumpcruiser. The Leskrati com-pared to other mainline cruisers is somewhatlacking in firepower. Its anti-fighter firepowerthough is excellent. Due to it being one of thefew ships equipped with a jump engine, it shouldstay well back from the battlefront, as its anti-shipping firepower isn't very good. If there is alack of jump drives in the fleet, then this ship

Babcom 5


Mishakur Dreadnought - The pride of theDilgar fleet, the Mishakur mounts a largearray of weaponry able to deal with any oppo-nent at any range. For long range it has HeavyBolters and Quad Pulsars, for medium range ithas Medium Lasers and missiles and finallyfor close in work it has a pair of powerfulPlasma Torches. For anti-fighter work itmounts six Scatter Pulsars with excellent all-around coverage. To further complement itsfirepower it carries a single fighter squadron.Its EW for the period is superb and it possess-es a rather high command bonus. TheMishakur is easily a match for most of its peri-od opponents with maybe the exception of theEA Nova Dreadnought and some of the biggerHyach ships such as the Urutha KalDreadnought and Irokai Kam Battlecruiser.Mishakur-B Supercarrier- The firstSupercarrier ever constructed, the Mishakur-Bbrings six entire fighter squadrons to battle.This of course came at the expense of some ofits medium and heavy weapons. In return itsanti-fighter firepower was increased by athird. The Mishakur-B still possesses consid-erable forward firepower and should not bediscounted as a threat. Due to its lack of sideand rear firing guns, the Mishakur-B shouldstay at the back of the battleline and snipe atthe enemy. Also wherever it goes it shouldhave at least a couple of escorts with it foranti-fighter and anti-shipping duty.Mishakur-D Command Dreadnought - Aunique ship, the Mishakur-D is a monster. Itsmedium and long range firepower is notablyimproved with the addition of one forwardheavy bolter, two class-S missile racks andtwo rear mounted medium lasers. Its armor isimproved in almost every location making itthe most heavily armored vessel in Dilgarservice. Its command bonus is furtherimproved by a staggering +3 and it also hastwo Mass Drivers added to it! And its freethrust is hugely improved, making this shiprather quick and mobile for a vessel of its size.This all comes at the expense of the twoPlasma Torches and the fighter hangar and a -18 power deficit (which can be covered byshutting off the mass drivers). Fortunately(for your opponents) there is only one of theseships. Due to losing two of its close rangeweapons, the Mishakur-D is generally a long-range ship. One tactic to use if close rangecannot be avoided is to overrun your oppo-nent. Fire all your forward batteries going inand as you race by, unload with all your rearguns. Remember to fire your Lasers first!

Dilgar renders: FABIO PASSARO

Babcom 6

should definitely have an escort of some kind.Probably an anti-ship escort as it can protectitself against fighters.Leskrati-D Command Cruiser - The Leskrati-D goes a long way to correcting one of the prob-lems with the base Leskrati model. That beingpoor anti-ship firepower. All three EnergyPulsars are upgraded to the powerful QuadPulsar, thereby massively increasing theLeskrati's offensive firepower. The Leskrati-Ddoes lose a pair of Scatter Pulsars, but is still leftwith six of them, which is more than adequate.Due to the Quad Pulsars, the improved Leskratiis now more than ever able to sit further backfrom its opponent and hit him. Fire the Lasersfirst! Don't forget the upgraded commandbonus.Athraskala-C War Bomber - This ship is anasty surprise for someone who thinks they'reattacking the Athraskala base model. Gearedalmost totally for anti-shipping duty, the warbomber mounts an impressive array of firepow-er including two of the excellent Quad Pulsarsand seven class-S missile racks. Unfortunately itkeeps the same dismal anti-fighter defenses asthe base design. Due to its general lack of close-in firepower, a Dilgar player should considertaking long-range missiles to hit his opponent ata safe distance. If there's no enemy fightersaround, then consider shutting off the twoScatter Pulsars and combine with the extra +4power to raise your EW from seven to eight.Jashakar Frigate - The light workhorse of theDilgar fleet. For 400 points you get a fast,maneuverable, well armed little ship. Packs animpressive amount of firepower for a vessel ofits size. Downside is it's a relatively close rangeship (which doesn't help its survival). Also it'sfighter bait, as it doesn't even mount a singleScatter Pulsar. A suggested tactic would be toshut off the rear Plasma Torches for extra powerto increase your speed and/or turning power.Great for operating in small Pentacans.Jashakar-E Escort Frigate - An excellent littleescort ship, second only to the Ochlavita-E.Possesses excellent overlapping 360° ScatterPulsar coverage. Include at least one of these inevery Jashakar attack group. A suggested tacticwould be to use the extra power to increase yourmaneuverability and try and get the drop on anynearby enemy fighter squadrons.Jashakar-N Minesweeper - The Dilgar's soleminesweeper. Mounts a decent array of MediumBolters to deal with any pesky mines it is sentout to destroy. It's not too bad against shipseither as the Medium Bolters cycle faster thanMedium Lasers.Jashakar-P Pulsar Frigate - An "iffy" variantas it relies on the somewhat lackluster EnergyPulsar. Consider shutting off either the LightBolters and/or Scatter Pulsars to get extra powerto increase the EW. You need it for extra pulses.For more reliable firepower, use the Jashakar-Ninstead.Protra Scoutship - The Dilgar's sole ELINTship (until the improved Protra). Possessesexcellent sensors, but its weaponry is poor(which is alright for a scout, but not good for abattle scout). Has virtually no anti-fighter fire-

power. This is exceptionally bad as chances areif this thing's anywhere near a battle, it's going tobe fighters that catch it. It's also not particularlyfast either. As a battle scout it isn't very good, souse with caution.Protra-I Improved Scoutship - A much neededupgrade. All of the upgrades were to the ship'sweapon suite. Its anti-fighter firepower still isn'tvery good but it is considerably better than thebase model. Also, due to the medium bolters itcan stand off a little ways and fight. Also unlikethe previous model, which has absolutely zerointerception capability, the improved Protra atleast has some.Abrithi Assault Cruiser - The Dilgar's soleassault class ship. To do its job it carries a largearray of assault shuttles. To further enhance itscargo survival, the ship is atmosphere capable.It does possess some anti-ship firepower, butunlike most assault ships, it does not have a lot.Avoid attacking other ships if possible, as theAbrithi is too weak in weapons and structure tosurvive long. Also note its anti-fighter defensesare rather poor, so it may require an escort ofsome kind.Abrithi-B Light Carrier - A small dedicatedcarrier, the Abrithi-B carries a single fightersquadron. Its anti-ship firepower is downgradedin exchange for increasing its anti-fighterdefenses. If you're going to have a number ofassault cruisers, consider taking at least one ofthese as the improved anti-fighter firepower andfighter coverage will be needed to help protectthe assault ships' troop cargo.Delegor Suicide Frigate - The ship has one use,that being to fly into enemy ships. Preferablyimportant enemy ships. It is the ultimatekamikaze. Go full defensive EW and head rightat the enemy's biggest ship at maximum speed.There are three things you can do with thePulsars. One, shoot down enemy fighters that aregoing to be gunning for you. Two, use them forinterception as the enemy is going to be doingtheir best to destroy you before you can com-plete your task. And three, shut them off toincrease your EW. If you can take them, takelots, as they're cheap. Your opponent is going tobe shooting at them, which means he won't befocusing on your actual main warships.Eskravat Refueling Barge - This ship is verysimilar to the Athraskala Heavy Bomber andshould be dealt with essentially the same way.Unfortunately you won't fair quite as well as thebomber as you have no extra power and no massdriver to get power from. But, you do have nice-ly armored cargo bays to absorb lots of damage.Eskravat-H Medical Ship - The ship has prettymuch no offensive capability, but does havepretty good anti-fighter firepower. Use theassault shuttles as sort of a poor-man's fighter.Rishakar Early Frigate- An early Dilgar ship.It's reasonably quick and maneuverable. Hasbrutal anti-fighter defenses, but its anti-shippingfirepower is pretty good. But this firepower islimited to close range. Otherwise it's a bargainfor 275 points. Race in and fire. Hopefullyyou'll survive for another pass. Use it to com-pletely destroy smaller enemy ships and if youget destroyed in the process, oh well; it's only275 points.


Ochlavita Destroyer - The heavy workhorseof the Dilgar fleet. A decent all around ship.Although its firepower is less than amazing, itis adequate for the job at hand. It's the onlyship to mount the Point Pulsar (there is oneother ship that mounts it, but it's an Ochlavitavariant). The Ochlavita is a fast, maneuver-able ship that should use its speed and mobili-ty to get in and make called shots with its pointpulsars. The Ochlavita does have poor anti-fighter defenses as it only mounts two ScatterPulsars, which don't cover the forward 90° arc.These ships should be operated in fast attackPentacans composed of two-three of thesebase models, a D (destroyer leader) variantand an E (escort) variant.Ochlavita-D Destroyer Leader - Easily supe-rior to the base model. Has two additionalScatter Pulsars installed to finally give anOchlavita good 360° anti-fighter coverage.Quad Pulsars are put on which greatly increas-es the damage potential. This also gives theOchlavita the ability to fight at greater ranges,which helps prolong its life. Team this ship upwith other Ochlavitas to create fast attackgroups.Ochlavita-E Escort Destroyer- Probably thebest escort in Dilgar service. Mounts an excel-lent array of Scatter Pulsars to deal with lightfighters and Energy Pulsars to deal with heavyfighters. Every carrier group should have atleast one of these. If you're facing lots ofenemy fighters, you better take a couple ofthese excellent ships.Ochlavita-M Missile Destroyer - A bom-bardment ship similar to the Athraskala WarBomber, except faster, more maneuverable,equal to better armor, better EW, vastly supe-rior anti-fighter defenses, harder to hit and it'scheaper. You get the picture. The only thingthe War Bomber has over it is the two QuadPulsars. The only downside to this ship is it'srare, and chances are youre only rare choicewill be the destroyer leader (unless you arefighting a large battle and can field at least 10Ochlavitas).Ochlavita-B Carrier Destroyer - The small-est dedicated Dilgar carrier. Loses the uselessbomb rack and downgrades the MediumLasers to Light Bolters. But in return it cancarry a full squadron of fighters. This ship isgreat for quick raids where you have to get infast, inflict maximum damage and get out fast.

Babcom 7

Ni'Tratha Jumpcruiser - The first Dilgar jumpcapable warship. Its firepower and capabilitiesare poor compared to later Dilgar ships, but it'srelatively cheap and durable. Otherwise use theLeskrati in its place.Senschuka Patrol Ship - The Dilgar's sole agileship. Useful only as a quick attack ship. ItsMedium Bolters give it the ability to stand off atmore than point blank range. Anti-fighterdefenses are rather meager and any real warshipwill smash this ship aside. Great for anti-raiderwork though.

Period OpponentsAlacans - The Alacans are a pathetic joke. Theirfighters are no match for yours. Their ships areno match for yours. Their capital ships do haveweapons that can cause you harm though. Startat long range and crush them. Their Atrimis isprobably their best ship. Destroy it first. Theyhave poor anti-fighter defenses so consider send-ing in some fighter waves to hit them first.

Balosians - Fighting at long range doesn't workso well with the Balosians. In fact they might beable to hit you before you can hit them, mainlydue to their long ranged Ion weapons. Theirweapons cycle quickly and their ships are wellarmored. Their ships are flawed in that they donot have a lot of weapons on them. Hit themwith your fighters, as they will not be able todeal with swarms of fighters unless they bring aThosalsi. Bolter and Plasma armed ships may berequired to smash through their large armorstructure blocks. The Seffensa is their best shipand can cause you the most harm, destroy it first.

Earth Alliance - Here is where you will have aproblem. They can match you ship for ship,fighter for fighter. EA ships of this era tend tohave a lot of plasma weapons. You will outrange

them usually. Try and keep the range open aslong as possible, because once they close, youwill start to take serious losses mainly due toyour lack of huge damage potential weapons(Plasma, Railguns), and poor structure andarmor. EA ships also have excellent interceptioncapabilities, so you'll have to overload your tar-gets defenses when not firing lasers. The scari-est ship you'll face is the Nova dreadnought.Kill it as soon as possible!

Markab - Markab ships tend to rely on Plasmaweapons for their main weapons. Kill at longrange. Beware of Plasma Wave armed ships asthey can hit you at long range and wipe offnumerous facing systems due to their flash dam-age. Consider sending in Ochlavitas with theirPoint Pulsars to kill the Plasma Waves withcalled shots. Try and avoid sending in fighters todo most of the dirty work as Markab ships arearmed with the dreaded scattergun, which is eas-ily capable of wiping your fighter squadrons outof space. To this end, wipe out Romak escortfrigates on sight if you have fighters launched.The Shafab is their best ship, destroy them first.Pak'ma'ra- Simple, fight at long range. Theywill be unable to reply unless they have aPla'sall'e Wave Cruiser on the field. Pak'ma'raships also tend to be very weak when it comes toanti-fighter defenses. Sit at 4+ hexes (if usingmissiles laden heavy Thoruns) and destroy themat will.

Brakiri - Fighting the Brakiri is the exact oppo-site of fighting the Pak'ma'ra. If you stay at longrange the Brakiri will tear you apart with power-ful Graviton Beams and rapid firing GravCannons. Close to short range. Brakiri closerange weapons tend to be few in number. Due tothe long range and recharge of the GravitonBeam, you'll have to face the fact that you'regoing to get hit hard initially. Then when they'rerecharging, close in and destroy them. Also their


Tratharti Gunship - The Tratharti bringsmedium and long-range firepower similar tothe Mishakur to battle. It is one of only threeclasses of ships that utilize the Heavy Bolter,and it uses them quite well. It mounts sixHeavy Bolters and 2 Medium Lasers, all withexcellent wide arcs. To give it the ability toeasily bust open bases, it mounts a huge MassDriver. When not facing a base/planet, turnoff the Mass Driver to cancel the power deficitand give you +5 power to do with as you wish.The real disadvantage of this ship is its pooranti-fighter defenses. It only mounts a pair ofScatter Pulsars and these don't cover the front90° arc. This ship either needs an anti-fighterescort or a flight/squadron on patrol around itto protect it from enemy fighters.Tratharti-G Heavy Gunship - This variantfixes some of the flaws of the base model.First and probably the best change is the addi-tion of two more scatter pulsars. This gives itfull overlapping 360° anti-fighter coverage.No doubt this was added due to encounteringheavy fighter forces such as those used by theEA and Cascor. Another change was to itsanti-ship firepower. The pair of MediumLasers were swapped out for an additional pairof Heavy Bolters. This can be a good changeand it can be a bad change, depending on yoursituation and your playing style. Also its anti-base/planet capability was hamstrung as theMass Driver was removed. Also take note thatthe EW was slightly improved.

Targath Strike Cruiser - The Targath isprobably the main Dilgar attack cruiser and isone the best all around Dilgar ships. It hasgood, long-range heavy firepower with goodarcs, decent anti-fighter defenses, excellentEW and it carries two squadrons of fighters tofurther increase its tactical flexibility. A forceshould definitely include a few of these wellmade vessels.

Babcom 8

ships tend to have poor anti-fighter defenses.But, beware of Brakiri carriers! Their Falkosisaren't much of a threat to your ships but can keepyour fighters very occupied, but their Pikitos aredevastating. They can easily shrug off 1-2 hitsfrom a Scatter Pulsar, and their Light GravitonBeam can rip through your ships like they weremade of paper. If you see Pikitos, hit them withevery fighter available and send an escort theirway to assist.

Vree - The Vree will want to get pretty close toyou, so keep them at range also. This has theadded bonus of reducing the amount of damageyou will sustain when they do fire. This is onesituation where you may want to bring yourscouts in close to reduce the effects of Vreeoffensive EW. They may not have a lot ofweapons but the ones they do have are verypowerful. Their fighter defenses on some oftheir ships are quite poor. Capitalize on this.You will find their ability to 'rotate' damage quiteannoying though. The key is to hit them with amassive volley. The Xorr is probably their mostpowerful ship. It is easily able to destroy yourships with impunity. Beware of their TzymmHeavy Fighter. It's just like the Brakiri Pikitos.Kill it before it can mulch your ships (it does thisreally well).

Abbai - Fighting at long range isn't going towork too well as the Abbai Assault Lasers canmatch you. Therefore close to short-mediumrange. Abbai interception ability is second only

to the EA, so you'll have to overload theirdefenses. Due to their shields, CommDisruptors and Particle Impeders it will takemore damage to knock out their ships than atfirst glance. Abbai ships don't have a lot ofheavy weapons on them, if you sit around 10-15hexes you will out gun them. Avoid sendingfighters too close to their ships as the QuadArray is quite good at blowing them up. Also beaware of their small fast attack ships such as theTiraca and Tulati. They'll outmaneuver anythingyou have. Make them come to you, avoid chas-ing them around.

Drazi - The Drazi are a race that you can out-shoot at long range, but that won't last long.Their ships are quick, and reasonably maneuver-able. They're going to close as quickly as possi-ble, where they can bring their numerous rapidcycling weapons to bear. And they'll outnumberyou, as their ships tend to be pretty cheap.Where they do have a problem is in fighterdefenses. Pretty much all of their ships have avulnerable rear arc with no defenses at all. Sendin your fighters to tail his ships. Also worthy ofnote is the small number of Drazi ships that havejump drives.

That concludes this study of the Dilgar ships andtactics.

* * *

Garasoch Heavy Carrier - The standardDilgar heavy carrier. This ship exists simplyto bring four squadrons of fighters to battle.Its anti-fighter firepower is good; its anti-shipfirepower is feeble at best. This ship requiresa large number of escorts and should neverapproach the heart of any battle. Keep it as faraway from the enemy as possible!

Thorun Dartfighter - A decent all aroundfighter. More than a match for most Leaguefighters. An even match for the EA Novaclass Star Fury.Heavy Thorun Dartfighter - A muchimproved version of the Thorun. Betterarmored, better offensive bonus, and the abili-ty to carry missiles with a minor loss in thrustmake this fighter a serious threat. Easilyworth the extra 2 points.

Athraskala Heavy Bomber - The mainDilgar planetary bombardment ship. Notmuch can be said about this unit, as no onewould ever take it in a pick-up battle. Thisvessel (along with the medical ship) wouldonly appear in a "stop them bombing the plan-et" type scenario or in a convoy battle. In allcases, the bomber should go full defensive,unless there are enemy fighters buzzingaround, in which case put a few points intoCCEW. To sum this ship up, its anti-fighterdefenses are brutal and its anti-ship weaponsare rather poor. It should do whatever it takesnot to get hit.


Babcom 9

DILGAR WAR: DESIGN PROPOSALS

Dilgar Jashakar TestbedFrigate

A testbed for advanced weapons - this shipoffers a peek at what Dilgar scientists wereworking on at the end of the war: The BattlePulsar was an improvement on the EnergyPulsar, firing an increased number of pulses;while the first Neutron Bolter was to be thebeginning of a new generation of Bolterweaponry, using newly incorporated gravitictech to fire a bolt of neutron particles at its tar-gets - these guns came too late to save themthough, since they never entered regular servicebefore the battle of Omelos... The ship alsomounted another experiment - a one-shot missilepod, intended to give a little ballistic alpha strikecapability to ships too small to carry regular mis-sile racks...Only one of these ships was finished just afterthe battle of Balos, and saw action covering theretreat of Dilgar forces from Drazi territory.Strangely it wasn't seen afterwards, and noreport of its destruction ever reached allied intel-ligence. It is assumed the ship was lost in hyper-space due to engine malfunctions caused by bat-tle damage...

Dilgar Kilthra OutpostThis small starbase was actually a compromiseborn of mismatching Dilgar production sched-ules... it came into being when the shipyard pro-ducing the Ochlavita engine section had a seriesof breakdowns and accidents, which caused it tofall behind in production. That led to a surplus ofOchlavita fore sections which the Dilgar com-mand didn't want to waste... so their ship design-ers created the plans for a central section whichtogether with three such sections would form asmall starbase, to be used as listening post orfixed defense installation for places that didn'trate a Koratyl. It could be quickly assembled in captured terri-tories, since its component parts were small andeasily towed by capital ships, and fitted togetherwith minimum effort. Usually the Dilgar SOPwas to assemble a Kilthra in a newly capturedsystem, to establish some defense while buildinga Koratyl, and when that one became operationalthey disassembled the Kilthra again and trans-ported it to its next destination. During theLeague wars it became evident though that theKilthra just didn't have what it takes to be effec-tive against any real military assault - namelyheavy weapons; almostevery league race could engage the Kilthra frombeyond its own effective range. That was themain reason why no new ones were built afterthe few handful made to take advantage of thesurplus Ochlavita hulls - that and the fact that allthe hull output of these shipyards was consid-ered put to a better use making new Ochlavitas!

Dilgar Rikhata GunboatA Dilgar LCV design from their early days intospace, later refitted for training, anti-raider andrearguard action. All Dilgar spacers made theirfirst "real" space flight in the Academy in one ofthese, and in the end phase of the war when theDilgar were becoming desperate it also sawaction against the advancing allied fleets (sort of"Dilgar Volkssturm"), but fared badly againstmost bigger ships (it did all right hunting fight-ers though). Produced with four light weapons,(instead of the more common LCV weapon loadof two Lt and one Med.), two anti-fighter gunson the sides, and two main guns in the"mandibles". Concerns were expressed that thefour light weapons were too little in the way ofguns, but it was decided that two mediumweapons would be too much for the hull (espe-cially since it's a second-line unit and thereforenot the best the Dilgar could do - they saved thatfor their combat fleets)... It's also non-atmos-pheric, the Dilgar quickly embraced non-atmos-phere capable designs as an acceptable trade-offfor better maneuverability in space.

Dilgar Targath Patrol Cruiser A "Low Cost" patrol variant - less combat powerthan the main hull (since it's supposed to dealmostly with raiders only) and increasedendurance are the main points of this ship. It wasintended to guard the rear of the Dilgar frontlineagainst opportunistic raiders and the like, butwas never built in great numbers since yardspace was needed for front-line units, and theWarMaster in charge of production decided therewas time for building this ship after their fleetshad destroyed all opposition (it was supposed tobecome their main anti-piracy cruiser in theirnew empire).The main changes from the base hull give it 12

fighters, with armament a bit shifted towardsanti-fighter duties and ease of production... Thespace gained is used for storage of more con-sumables, so the ship can stay on patrol longerbefore needing to restock...

Dilgar ThorushkaStingfighter

(From the Showdowns-4 story p.10). This wasthe first fighter the Dilgar fielded and the prede-cessor of their Thorun Dartfighter; it enteredservice during the end of their battles against theRaiders in Rohric, as a counter to their Delta-V.It was very much like the Delta-V, using similaraerodynamics together with better armor, andDilgar weapons & propulsion tech. It was not avery good fighter compared to the ones otherraces had at that time, but sufficient for defeatingthe Raiders, and the first step toward one of thebest fighters the League ever had to face - theThorun...The Thorushka still remained in service duringthe League wars, though not as a space fighter(where it was replaced by the non-atmosphericThorun) but as an aerospace design, escortingassault shuttles through a planetary atmosphereand providing ground support to Dilgar assaultforces; a job it did quite well, even though thisdesign did not have the space needed for upgrad-ing the guns to the Light Bolt Cannons used onthe Thorun Mk II. And in the end, when the Dilgar became desper-ate, they again entered the battlefield as spaceinterceptors, where they became easy prey formost of the League fighters.

* * *(FA and B5W SCS sheets for thse ships can be

found in the Attachments folder.)

ShipyardSupervisor

By ROMAN PERNER

Babcom 10

DILGAR WAR: OPPOSITION FORCES

By BEN RUBERY

GIVEN the Torata's lack of any shipsbefore the Dilgar War apart from theClovant Scout, Babcom presents you

with three ships to use in that era.The Torata deployed a far smaller range of

weapons and hulls in the period leading up to theDilgar War. They had mainly fought raiders (bethey raiding groups or the Llort) and had yet tobe involved in a serious conflict. They were onlyjust deploying the heavy cruiser class that wouldeventually become the Golthar. The Torata hadyet to invent the Pulse and Laser Accelerator,and the Pentagon Prray, using instead only thePlasma and Particle accelerators and the LightParticle Beam.The Torata fleet of the time contained even

fewer ships capable of carrying fighters, theClovant scout, unfortunately, being the mostcommon ship to deploy fighters.However, the Torata made use of some lighter

designs that have now been consigned to thePatrol Fleet for the most part, though some oldAgnar light cruisers are still present in all thefleets.

Torata Agnar Light Cruiser (Unrestricted Availability)

An obvious predecessor of the Golthar, theAgnar sports the best Torata technology avail-able at the time, and is a ship designed for closeengagements. It is vulnerable to massed fighterstrikes, as most Torata ships are, and the shortrange of its LPB anti-fighter suite makes defencedifficult. This ship was built before fighters hadseen any widespread deployment in the Torata

fleets or the fleets that the Torata fought. TheDilgar changed this, leading to some impressive-ly large numbers of LPBs on post war designslike the Toglat.The Agnar continued to serve as a light cruiser

until after the Shadow War, simply beingdeployed in less important theatres in each con-flict. While it handles better than the Goltharhulls of the Reaction fleet, the hull simply lacksthe punch the Torata need in the post Dilgar mil-itary landscape, and improvements are not possi-ble on this limited hull.However an escort variant has been produced

that replaces the Particle Accelerators withPentagon Arrays, though its effectiveness is stilla matter of much debate.

Torata Fathar Plasma CruiserThe first of the hulls that would become the

Golthar was optimized for short range combat,with three Plasma Accelerators providing a closerange punch few ships could stand up to.Torata doctrine frequently had Fathar Cruisers

providing the coup de grace to damaged enemyships, or striking the slower elements of theirfleet.When combined with Gorac Fast Frigates, and

later Atlac Corvettes, this doctrine paid offsometimes, but many Torata enemies learned towithdraw damaged ships within a defensive netand counter the Torata wolf packs with eitherfast warships of their own or fighters.The Fathar shown is the earliest production ver-sion, armed with Plasma Accelerators and LPBs.By the time the Pentagon Array refits began inthe Torata fleet it had been decided to convert

the surviving old Fathar hulls to Golthar vari-ants, and so this class disappeared, with a hand-ful of examples retained by the Patrol Fleet, whofound a ship with three Plasma Accelerators use-ful against Raiders, and who still had the fastfrigates necessary for the combined wolfpackdoctrine.

Torata Gorac Fast FrigateThis early Torata Frigate emphasises speed and

maneuverability over firepower. It is fragile(even more than the delicate Atlac Corvette) butvery fast, able to deploy its limited firepoweralmost anywhere the admiral decided.These make excellent wolfpack ships, the role

in which the Torata used them in the majority ofengagements.However, the ease with which an enemy fleet

could decimate a Gorac squadron led to theeventual design of the slightly hardier and sig-nificantly better armed Atlac, though that ship'slack of agility was a blow to those in the Toratanavy who favored the frigate wolf pack. TheGorac remains in service in the patrol fleet,where its speed makes it greatly appreciated forchasing down Raiders. It is often paired with itsreplacement, the Atlac, and then uses a wavewolfpack doctrine, with Goracs sweeping in totarget thrusters and heavy weapons, then Atlacsmoving in to destroy the crippled target whilethe Goracs move on to the next target.

* * *

(FA and B5W SCS sheets can be found forthese ships in the Attachments folder)

Probing the borderB5W Scenario

The Dilgar had reached the furthest margin oftheir expansion and were pressing on theTorata border, and moved to test the Torataand Kor-Lyans. The Kor-Lyans successfullyrepulsed an attack on their homeworld, thoughmass drivers bombarded one of their colonies.The Torata Reaction fleet was put on alert andelements were moved to Trogoh to head offany Dilgar incursions. When a Clovant Scoutdetected the formation of a jump point, theTorata moved to intercept.

SET UPTerrain: Empty spaceTorata: 2 Fathar Plasma Cruisers, 3 Agnar

Light Cruisers, 4 Gorac Fast Frigates, 1Clovant Scout, 6 Tuka medium fighters, with-in 5 hexes of the left map edge, facing right,speed 10 or less. Fighters may begindeployed.

Dilgar: Leskrati D Command Cruiser,Targath Strike Cruiser, Protra Scoutship,Ochlivita, Ochlivita Carrier, 36 ThorunDartfighters, within 5 hexes of the right mapedge, facing left, speed 5 or less. All fightersmay begin deployed.

SPECIAL RULES:The Dilgar player must withdraw once he haslost two ships, or if the command cruiser is

crippled. The Protra is scanning the local sys-tem, locating astronomical objects, defenceinstallations, and ship numbers. To scan itmust allocate six points of EW to scanning,but is free to use the other five points as theDilgar player sees fit.

VICTORY CONDITIONSThe Dilgar win if they destroy or drive off all

the Torata ships. They achieve a victory if theProtra completes five turns of scanning, adraw if it completes three.To win the Torata must destroy two of the fol-lowing - the Leskrati, the Targath and theProtra. They obtain a draw by destroying morepoints of Dilgar craft than they lose. Any otherresult is a loss.

TACTICSThe Dilgar have a large fighter superiority,

and wise use of their Thoruns will guaranteevictory.The Torata must engage at close range, and

should keep a tight formation in order to pre-vent Thoruns isolating and destroying a ship.It is tempting to form the Gorac fast frigatesinto a wolfpack, but this could lead to theirloss if they are attacked by the Thoruns.However once the Thoruns are dealt with theGoracs should easily outmaneuver the largerDilgar craft.

Babcom 11

DILGAR WAR: OPPOSITION FORCES

ALACANU P D A T E S

Azan Auxiliary CruiserBEN RUBERY

The Alacan High Command was consider-ing the conversion of several of theirAzafac armed freighters to this design forseveral years before the Dilgar invasion,and had finally scheduled the upgrading ofhalf a dozen Azafacs when the Dilgarattacked. Had the Dilgar postponed theirinvasion by several months, a number ofthese conversions (as well as the purchaseof new ships from the Abbai) would havebeenpresent at the final battle, possibly chang-ing the fate of the galaxy. But the Dilgarinvaded early, and history unfolded theway it did in the textbooks.The Azafac sacrifices most of its cargocapacity for a pair of Laser Cutters and asquadron of fighters. This improves thecombat capability of the hull significantly.A prototype was constructed in 2224, todemonstrate the viability of the design.Like the Azafacs, it was destroyed duringthe Dilgar invasion.

Alacan Ithacas LCVROMAN ALEXANDER PERNER

- the Ithami's non-civilian brother, withmilitary-grade electronics (reflected in theinitiative value). Good for Raider hunting and system patrol,bad for anything else. The missile versionscan be nasty though...The "Class-G Missile Rack" is a light ver-

sion of the regular Alacan missile rack, thisweapon can use light missiles only, and nottoo many of them either.

Alacan Ithami LCV ROMAN ALEXANDER PERNER

Famous as the mining ship that had thequestionable honor to become the very firstship the Dilgar blew apart when theyinvaded the Alacan system... (read DilgarInvasion p.3). A small LCV with a Light Cutting Laserfor use in asteroid mining, or as a transportwith a LPB for anti-raider use.

First to Fall IIB5W Scenario

Use the First to Fall scenario written byBruce with the following alterations:

Alacan forces: 1 Atica Command Cruiser, 3Artimis Cruisers, 7 Tacomi Patrol Cutter, 6Azan Auxiliary Cruisers, 4 Azafac ArmedFreighters, 12 Ithacas system defense ships (6missile, 6 cutter), 3 civilian freighters, 4Ithami transports, 16 Caracas A, 16 CaracasB.Vree forces: 3 Vymish armed traders, 1 Xorrwar saucer, 1 Xeecra Trading Post.Dilgar Forces: The Dilgar player has anadditional 3 Athraskala heavy bombers and aProtra scoutship at his command.

Fighters: The Dilgar have 84 Thoruns, allMk-IIs (the additional six months allowedthem to complete the retrofitting of theirfighters), the Vree have 24 Zorth light fight-ers, the Alacan have 240 Rotias.

Forces deploy as in the scenario.

SPECIAL RULESThe Vree will fight alongside the Alacan and

will not simply retreat. The Alacans will notwithdraw, instead transmitting a call for helpto the Abbai. This call is activated when theDilgar player jumps in and jams communica-tions between Alaca and the jumpgate, causing an alarm to trip and a request forhelp to be sent to the Abbai. This failsafe wasoriginally installed in case of invasion by the Drazi. On turn 20 2 Aldriths and 2 Tulatisjump in. If the Dilgar player has notdestroyed every Vree and Alacan ship by thetime the Abbai arrive, the Abbai ships willattack the Dilgar and try and force them towithdraw.

VICTORY CONDITIONSWhichever force has ships remaining on the

map will win. Alacans and Vree are not per-mitted to leave the map.

* * *

Babcom 12

By DIOGENES

THE HYPERION Gamma variant was anemergency conversion of hulls already onthe assembly line, brought about by a des-

perate need for combat-capable assault shipsduring the Dilgar War.

The sudden and unexpected nature of theDilgar War caught Earth force somewhat unpre-pared. Its fleet had been primarily geared for thedefense of Earth’s established colonies. It wasnot trained or equipped for the formation of acohesive Expeditionary Force for operationsbeyond Earth’s sphere of influence.

Conventional converted liners, merchant shipsand bulk carriers were requisitioned and hastilyconverted as troop transports. But early on in theprocess, Earth force realised theseconversions were simply notsuitable for deployingtroops and specialforces in to a “hotzone” during the ini-tial stages of anassault. Troop ships,while a vital componentof the logistic effort, weresimply too vulnerable and inflexible to beentrusted with the thousands of valuable specialforces troops needed to establish bridge-headsand conduct deep penetration raids.

A small force of well armed and armoredassault ships was needed, capable of operationsin close concert with escorting warships.

Assault ships, as opposed to troop ships, wereneeded to be capable of enduring moderate lev-els of battle damage while providing a compe-tent measure of self defense. They needed to beable to carry a useful number of troops, as wellas support equipment and supplies.

Most importantly, they were needed “now”.Designing and building a new specialist class

of ships was simply unrealistic. It would takeyears to settle on a design, construct the manu-facturing facilities and run the prototype vesselsthrough their trials. So the job had to be carriedout by an existing hull.

The Hyperion was the obvious candidate.Because of the urgent requirement to build

combat vessels during the Dilgar War, the lackof political focus upon dedicated assault shipsfollowing that war, and the emergency situationof the Minbari War - the Hyperion Gamma has,by default, become Earth Force's primary front-line assault vessel. First sighted only monthsafter the conversion program was initiated in2230, the Hyperion Gamma has been a commoncomponent of Earth Force fleets for decades.

CONVERSIONThe Gamma Hyperion shares the same hull,

engineering plant and basic weaponry of theearly model Hyperions. The bulky capacitors forthe Particle Cannons were stripped from theHyperion hulls, as was its independent fire con-trol system and cooling racks. The two side-mounted Medium Plasma turrets and associatedinternal power couplings and machinery werealso removed. Combined, the removal of thesetwo weapon systems opened up a significantamount of space between the lateral bulges inthe Hyperion class’s main hull.

While this provided the bulk of the necessaryaccommodation space, further space savingswere achieved through the elimination of thesecondary bridge, Star fury pilot briefing roomand fighter-control offices.

The Hyperion Assault was found to be capa-ble of housing three companies worth of

troops - approximately 150 soldiers,officers, pilots and support crews -

between the heavy cruiser’s networkof pressure doors and vacuum-

tight compartments.The fighter

bays wereextended

f o r -ward to

the mainhull and theStar Furydocking andmaintenancef a c i l i t i e sremoved. Thisprovided space for12 shuttles - the mini-mum number needed for thedeployment of the three companies.

Blast doors in the back of the main hullopening to the hangar bays allowed the troopaccommodation to be removed and loading sledsfor about 12 tanks or heavy vehicles to be fitted.The Gamma Hyperion is capable of operating asa squadron command vessel for accompanyingwarships, but lacks the ability to control bothextensive space and ground-based forces.

Space restrictions imposed by the demands oftroop-barracks and cargo requirements havelargely prevented significant upgrade of thisarmament ever since.

However, the all-round coverage of their stan-dard particle cannons are considered adequatefor self defense as part of a homogenous fleet,supported by a mix of heavy and medium plas-ma weapons for when attackers break throughthe escort screen.

The Hyperion Assault ships are expected toretain their current armament configuration untilthe end of their operational service.

DEPLOYMENTHyperion Gamma Assault cruisers are recom-mended to be grouped in like-hull squadrons,formed about Aegis-Class squadron commandvessels. These upgrades of the same Hyperionhull provide substantially improved fire-controland sensor suites, with the advantage of beingable to share this enhanced information withvessels in the same command network. Thepresence of an Aegis vessel greatly improves theGamma’s anti-fighter ability. A close escort squadron should comprise a mixof Hyperion Delta (pulse) and Hyperion Thetamodels. These are capable of providing protec-tion for interception by enemy heavy forces.Both the Assault squadron and close-escortsquadron should be part of a full fleet formation.

CONCLUSIONThe Hyperion Gamma is an adequate, though

limited, design.Hyperion Gammas are unable to maintain

what Earth Force calls "tactical integrity" - get-ting a balanced force to the same place at thesame time. Its limited carrying capacity (threecompanies of infantry or armor) does not pro-vide an economy of scale. Nor is this vesselcapable of providing its own projected fire sup-port (VTOL and Fighter strikes) as part of theassault package. The troop accommodation andarmor deployment facilities are barely adequate

because of the restrictions imposed by whatis essentially still a heavy cruiser hull.

Internal volume is insufficient toprovide larger accommodation

and storage areas, along withimproved command and

control and fighterfacilities.

Earth Forcec o m m a n d e r s

are calling fora new vessel -

one that can carry a complete battalion, alongwith the supplies and equipment needed in anassault, and land them planetside by either drop-ship or shuttlecraft. This two pronged capability,with emphasis on rapid deployment, wouldenable the Navy and Marine Corps to fulfill theirpresent-day duties.

Such assault warships would be uniquelydesigned to support attacks from space againstdefended positions planetside. They must beable to sail in harms way and provide a rapidbuild-up of combat power planetside in the faceof hostile opposition. The Design Office hasbeen tasked with providing concept plans forsuch a vessel.

* * *

Hyperion GammaDILGAR WAR: OPPOSITION FORCES

Babcom 13

DILGAR WAR: FLEET ACTION SCENARIO

IT WAS one of the most con-fused battles of the Dilgar War.It was a battle born of political

expediency, poor intelligence andplain bad luck.

The multi-national fleet had fin-ished assembling for a majorassault upon Balos. It was to be thelargest campaign of the war so far.

But before such a large gatheringof warships, transports and mer-chant vessels was to be committedto an assault, action had to be takento reduce the chance of early inter-ception.

To do this, Dilgar listening postsin and around the Balos systemwould have to be destroyed.

To this end Earth Force commit-ted three of its newest assault ships- the Hyperion Gamma.

Initially these were to be protect-ed by a balanced task group ofEarth Force warships. But themurky politics that held the allianceof nations together soon changedthese initial plans.

It was deemed important to givethe Free Balosian navy an “signifi-cant” - and largely autonomous -task in the liberation of their home-world. An attack on a Dilgar lis-tening post in their own solar sys-tem seemed an ideal candidate.

As the Balosians did not haveanytroops not already commited to bat-tle on their homeworld, alliedtroops would be needed. The EarthForce GROPOS were available.

Command of this ExpeditionaryForce was assigned to one of thefew surviving Balosian Thosalsicarriers. A Free Balosian TaskForce comprising several Seffensacruisers and Esthasa destroyers wasassembled, along with a fast escortgroup of Sussha Frigates.

At Earth Force’s insistance, thethree Hyperion Gamma’s and theirHyperion Alpha command cruiserwere accompanied by a squadronof Olympus Beta gunships.

The initial phase of the attackwent well. Transmissions from theDilgar listening post were isolatedto a moon of a ringed planet in theouter Balos system. TheExpeditionary Force jumped inusing the cruisers’ jump engines.

Immediately, the ExpeditionaryForce discovered this was not just aDilgar listening post. It was a for-

ward staging base for scout ships.And the scout-ships were in themidst of a resupply operation fromtwo Eskravat Refueling Squadrons.

The Expeditionary Forceattempted to avoid engagement,focussing instead upon getting theHyperion Gammas to near-orbitabove the listening post. It wasexpected the Dilgar would retreatto protect their valuable and vulner-able scout ships and refuelingbarges.

They were wrong. The resultingbattle was a confusing furball ofscoutships, frigates, assault cruisersand destroyers.

LIBERATION NAVYFree Balosian Task Force:(2900pts)Thosalsi Carrier - 750

- 6x Shasi flightsSeffensa Cruiser - 415Seffensa Cruiser - 415Esthasa Destroyer - 415

- 1x Shasi flightsEsthasaDestroyer - 415

- 1x Shasi flightsEsthasa Destroyer - 415

- 1x Shasi flightsFree Balosian Escort Squadron:(900pts)

Sussha Frigate - 300ptsSussha Frigate - 300ptsSussha Frigate - 300ptsEarth Force Close EscortSquadron: (1740)Olympus B - 435ptsOlympus B - 435ptsOlympus B - 435ptsOlympus B - 435ptsEarth Force Assault Squadron:(1640pts)Hyperion Alpha - 365pts

- 2x Nova flightsHyperion Gamma - 425pts

- 2x Hades flightsHyperion Gamma - 425pts

- 2x Hades flightsHyperion Gamma - 425pts

- 2x Hades flights

DILGAR NAVYLong Range Scouting Squadron:(895pts)Protra-I Patrol Ship - 355ptsRishekar Frigate - 180Rishekar Frigate - 180Rishekar Frigate - 180Light Scout Squadron: (420pts)Senschuka-I - 165ptsSenschuka - 140Senschuka - 140Senschuka - 140

2x Refueling Groups: (1345pts x2)Nitratha Jump Cruiser - 365ptsEskravat Barge - 260Ochlavita Destroyer - 310Ochlavita Destroyer - 310Trathati Gunship - 4652x Escort Squadrons: (1580 x2)Torgath Cruiser - 510pts

- 4x Thorun flightsOchlavita Destroyer - 310Ochlavita Destroyer - 310Jashakar Frigate - 225Jashakar Frigate - 225

SETUPLiberation Navy: The LiberationNavy squadrons must use the“jump-in” rules. Two jump-pointsare formed - both by HyperionGammas. The jump hexes must beallocated within three hexes of theright-side of the map board. Any“drift” rolls that place the jump-point off the board must be re-rolled. The Liberation Navysquadrons must move through thejump-points as per the officialrules.Dilgar Navy: The Dilgar forma-tions are to be considered “sur-prised” - with all appropriate penal-ties as outlined in AoG rulebooks.Space the two Refueling Groupsevenly within five hexes of the leftmap board edge. The ScoutSquadrons must be placed withinthree hexes of the RefuelingBarges. The Escort Squadrons canbe placed anywhere on the Dilgarhalf of the playing board.

OBJECTIVESLiberation Navy: To get theHyperion-Gammas over the Dilgaredge of the map-board safely. Allother considerations are secondary.There are a lot of lives on thoseAssault troop ships. And thedestruction of the listening postdepends on them being deliveredsafely.Dilgar Navy: Once the formationsrecover from the impact of surprise,the objective of the invading forcebecomes obvious. You know howimportant this listening post is forproviding early warning of anymajor assault on the Balos system.You will commit all your forces toprevent the enemy troops frombeing landed on the moon.

* * *(Note: The Dilgar, Balosian andearly EA SCSs can be found via

www.robertshome.org)

Assault onBALOS 9

Frontlinescenarios

By DIOGENES

Babcom 14

Almost every fleet has heavy hitting, high value/expensive ships supported by low value/cheapescorts. This formation takes advantage of the fact that opponents usually prefer taking out thehigh value targets first and worrying about the low value ones once they are destroyed.It works like this: Place the one or two of the cheapest ships up front (preferably ones that cantake a bit of punishment). These ships are followed by the next cheapest that hang back a fewhexes. These are then followed by the next cheapest and so on until the most expensive ships sitin the very back as seen in Diagram #1.As these ships approach, the enemy must make a choice; fire on the ships closest knowing thatthe more dangerous ships will be on top of them before their weapons recharge, or fire on theexpensive ships at much longer range and reduced chances of hitting hoping to survive the closerange assault by the smaller escorts.Whichever choice the opponent makes, it doesn't matter because attacking his ships follows asimple process. The lead ships pick a target, accelerates and attacks it while the rest of the fleetcontinues their approach. If they destroy or cripple the target, the next ships in line picks a dif-ferent target, if they don't then they dive in and finish the first target off if possible. Then the nextships take on the following target and so on, generally trying to destroy the opponent's high valueships first if possible but any target will do.Once the attack has begun, on every turn the opponent is facing two or more ships that are div-ing down upon them with weapons charged. Like waves crashing on a beach, these waves ofships will descend upon the opponent and overwhelm any possible defense.This tactic is particularly well suited to the Pak'ma'ra since they often outnumber their opponentsand even their smallest ships working in unison can blow off a side or even destroy a capital ship.This tactic works well against races like the Minbari who have few and very expensive ships butagainst fleets with many small vessels like the Drazi, a different formation might be a betterchoice.

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PAK’MA’RA: TACTICS

Pak'ma'ra Strategy and Tactics: By TODD BOYCE

IN THIS article, I am presenting a variety offormations that are generally useful for anyrace but are specifically suited for the

Pak'ma'ra. Fighters are irrelevant to this subjectsince they are usually able to fly anywhere theyneed to in order to provide support.

A word about formations for the Pak'ma'ra -think of moving the ships like a school of fishrather than a precision aerobatic team. Being toorigid with a formation will allow the opponent topredict your actions based on the movement ofthe first ship and this will become a disadvan-tage. It's OK if ships swap places or the escortsdrift from one side of a formation to another. It isalso OK to have a ship break formation in orderto take a hit on a less vulnerable side. The battle-field is a fluid situation and the movement of theships should be the same.

Many times ships will become separated whenthey get into a furball with the enemy but oncedisengaged, every effort should be made toreturn to a formation (or multiple formations).The recharge times of the plasma weapons pro-vide ample opportunity for this to happen. Evenwhen weapons are charged, it's often better towait a turn for an escort to join an attack than itis to fire each ship as soon as they can. Ships thatwork together will often survive longer anddestroy ships faster than if each ship is actingindependently.

In conclusion, every fleet needs to worktogether in order to succeed. A battle is almostnever won on the virtue of a single ship butrather on the coordination of all of the forcesavailable.

Babcom 15

This is a fairly good all purpose formation against nearly anyopponent, particularly if they have fighters. The escorts fly out frontand to the sides of the core group of capital ships thereby enlargingthe protective zone of the Plasma Webs. From this position theseescorts can also react easily to intercept ships that try to flank orsweep forward to attack. They are also in a position to get the dropon fighters if they beat them in initiative.

Formations similar to this one are often good for the first two turnsuntil the enemy has revealed their plan of attack at which point it isflexible enough to adapt quickly to the ever changing conditions ofthe battlefield.

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This is a good formation for when the enemy is off to one side ofthe fleet or when it is desired to influence the opponent to maneuverto one side. With the escorts close to the main core of the fleet and tothe side, they can react to the enemy's actions without straying toofar away. It is usually best to keep the medium ships between thecapital ships. By keeping the enemy off to the side of the mediumships, the opponent will be reluctant to engage the capital ships atclose range since they will have to run a gauntlet of medium ships.

This type of formation is also useful when the opponent has splittheir forces and is trying to flank in a sort of pincer attack. With theescorts on one side and the capital ships on the other, there are manyoptions available for engaging one flanker, the other, or both.

One method of dealing with an opponent that has split their fleet isto begin flying right down the middle. The opponent will likelywiden the distance between his forces to stay far away as he sets upfor doing an attack run. On the turn the opponent is going to dive in,wheel the formation over in the direction covered by the escorts. Thiswill get the escorts closest to that half of the enemy's force wheretheir lower sensor ratings and shorter range weapons will do the mostgood, and the heavier ships with the longer range weapons, and moreimportantly multiple Plasma Webs, on the side facing the other halfof the force.

An alternative is to cross the paths of the escorts and the capitalships while targeting ships opposite of their formation position. Thismaneuver can, on occasion, surprise the opponent who targeted theships closest to them. By the end of movement, the escorts will be inposition to attack the ships targeting the capital ships and the capitalships will be in position to attack the ships targeting the escorts at thesame time giving the enemy range penalties for choosing the wrongtargets.

The Double Flanker formation is another useful one that can be usedin place of a Broad Escort formation. In this diagram, two Tra'shu'liform one of the flankers and two Urik'hal form the other. In this start-ing position they protect the sides of the capital ships from fighterattack much like they do in the Broad formation. When the enemydraws near however, they are able to spring forward to attack when anopportunity presents itself or occupy the attention of enemy ships thatcould pose a threat. They are also available to intercept enemyflankers.

Flankers such as these should be made up of pairs of the same shipsso that they can move and attack together as a team without worryingabout one of the pair not being capable of pulling off a maneuver. Inthis way the escorts are more flexible than they are in the Broad for-mation but in turn they may leave one side of the fleet weaker than theother.

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Sometimes a fleet is built that is heavier on the capital ships thanon medium ship escorts. In these cases, the capitals need to becometheir own escorts and thus should generally adopt a box formationlike the one shown (a Plus formation can be used instead as isdescribed below). This maximizes Plasma Web coverage and willlimit the directions from which fighters can attack. Meanwhile theescorts can assist on approach but break away and attack independ-ently taking out key targets at opportune times.

This formation is useful when the opponent has a similar composi-tion of forces or is very top-heavy with capital ships.

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Babcom 16

The Plus formation is another useful one very similar to the Box formation butis particularly good when trying to protect a key ship against fighters or othersmall threats. In this case, a Sim'sall'e has 4 Tra'shu'li retainers that are protectingit from attack, though the formation can be comprised of any types of ships.Generally the most important ship is in the center and this formation is best inscenarios where a ship is being escorted or guarded.

These are just a few of the formations possible. Every fleet has a differentcombination of forces and will require different strategies. Larger fleets may useseveral different formations at the same time and be broken up into smaller unitsto use those formations to their greatest effect. Small fleets will likely be brokenup into several two-ship Leader/Wingman formations.PL

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Pincer attack USING A PAIR OF URIK'HAL

Everyone knows the Urik'hal isa very maneuverable and heavilyarmed ship and a pair of themworking in unison can be devastat-ing to just about any capital ship.Keeping them in tight formation,however, is not always the beststrategy.

Enter the Pincer Attack.First of all, speed 9 is usually

the perfect speed for an Urik'hal.At that speed it can accelerate tospeed 12 and still make a turn,make 2 turns while maintainingspeed, or reduce speed down to 6or lower and still make 1-2 turns.This becomes particularly impor-tant with this tactic.

When the pair of Urik'halapproach to around 20-25 hexesfrom their target it is time to splitthem apart. The opponent willlikely continue forward since thetactic won't be apparent right awayand the Urik'hals will likely beattheir target in initiative anyway.Spread the Urik'hals apart by nomore than 10 hexes or so whiletrying to keep the opponent direct-ly in the middle. Preferably theopponent will be moving aroundspeed 6 and be approximately 12hexes away.

As you can see from the dia-grams, from this position it will bevery difficult for the opponent toavoid a point-blank attack by oneor both Urik'hals. Also, when theUrik'hals perform their attack,only one is required to slow downwhich means only one of them haslimited mobility on the next turn.

Only when the opponent per-forms the most extreme maneu-vers to escape do they both needto accelerate up to speed 12,which is not a hindrance to thenimble Urik'hal. This same tacticis nearly as effective with a pair ofTra'shu'li and can be used withany two ships working together.

Babcom 17

Obsolete, oromnipotent?

By DIOGENES

DREADNOUGHTS and battlecruiserswere, in the early decades of the twenti-eth century, regarded as the ultimate

weapon. The phrase "capital ship" was coined toreinforce their status. It became a doctrine thatdominated military thinking long after evidencedemonstrating the opposite was seen.

World War II killed the concept. Swarms ofcheap and quickly produced aircraft rendered thebattleship obsolete and economically unviable.

However, Dreadnoughts remained in the popu-lar imagination for centuries. They were sym-bols of a nation's might and technological know-how. They were the symbols of a bygone age ofimperial sea power.

With the onset of the spacefaring age,Earthforce has again embraced the Dreadnoughtmentality. Once again, government officials,military officers, engineers and the media debatehow many are needed, what characteristicsdefine the ideal Dreadnought, and the best battlefleet composition centered upon them.

Have the lessons of the past been forgotten?Dreadnoughts represent an enormous invest-

ment of capital, resources and personnel.Building and operating these ships is always amatter of controversy. Especially in the face ofeconomic difficulties.

Many argue that the bane of the battleship isstill present: cheap, fast and maneuverable fight-er craft. To this can be added nimble light andmedium combat vessels.

Dreadnought supporters argue that moderndefenses are enough to counter these threats.

Design PhilosophyHere the design philosophies behind the World

War II upgrade of the Queen Elizabeth classsuper-Dreadnought and the Earthforce Warlockclass "destroyer" Dreadnought are compared.

The comparison is to show the change - or lackof change - in Dreadnought design philosophy.

Queen Elizabeth: The Queen Elizabeth classwas the first "true-battleship" design to succeedthe original Dreadnought - emerging in the earlyyears of World War I. In essence, it was a shipbuilt solely to carry the biggest guns then avail-able: the revolutionary 15inch cannon. Butdemands upon and threats to the battleshipchanged dramatically within a short time. Newfeatures had to be incorporated into the design.

In the case of the Queen Elizabeth, this wasdone during a major rebuild in the 1930s. Heavyanti-fighter weaponry, deck armor and torpedo-protection were key among these improvements.

No less than 20 4.5inch high-angle dual-pur-pose cannons were added as the ships' secondaryarmament. The threat from the air - especially inthe Mediterranean - was taken very seriously.But the ship still needed rapid-firing guns todefend it against torpedo boats, destroyers andcruisers. The 4.5inch gun did all this.

The eight twin 15inch gun turrets were modi-fied to improve their range, firing arcs and rateof fire. The bridge was rebuilt to house morecommand staff and new sensor equipment, andarmor distributed more evenly.

Despite the fact of all these improvements, theQueen Elizabeth class suffered from the sameproblem as every other battleship: slow responsetime and deployment difficulties.

Their reach was simply too small. Their abilityto intercept enemy targets was limited by theirspeed, positioning and range of their guns.

As a result, most actions were conducted byships belonging to the more numerous and fasterdestroyer and cruiser classes.

Carriers, because of the long-arm of their air-wings, also took part in far more activity.

Commanders were also simply reluctant tocommit their battleships - always mindful of the

economic and morale price of losing even one ofthese ships.

Warlock: Like the Queen Elizabeth, theWarlock is essentially built around its main guns- two massive heavy particle cannons. The lowrate-of-fire of these guns has made it necessaryto back them up with rail guns, a laser-pulsearray and standard particle beams. The dual-pur-pose nature of most of these weapons reflects thedesign choice behind the 4.5in cannon on theQueen Elizabeth.

The Warlock's one main advantage over thesea-based battleship is the lack of need for aflightdeck to operate fighters. The Warlock car-ries a healthy number of Thunderbolts for bothself-protection and some strike capacity.

It is this fighter compliment that proponents ofthe Dreadnought concept use to justify theseexpensive ships. Odd that the very enemy of theDreadnought is now touted as its savior.

ConclusionWhile the Warlock, like the Queen Elizabeth,

may not be excessively vulnerable to fighterstrikes, it is by no means as efficient as a dedi-cated fighter-carrier.

But the thinking of Dreadnought commandersstill focuses on their big guns. But theseweapons are only useful if they are placed in aposition where they can be used. The limitednumber of Warlocks, due to their cost, their lowspeed and acceleration reduces this potential.The Poseidon, however, can launch itsThunderbolts to cover a broad swathe of space ina short time.

What is certain is that an air of fascination sur-rounds these giant warships. Their place in themodern spacefaring battlefleet is assured - untilthe myths of their invulnerability are once againexploded.

* * *

Artwork: http://www.wolfsshipyard.mystarship.com/

Babcom 18

The Minbari are one of the oldest navies inknown space. Their ships are powerful,graceful, and beautiful, and are rightly

feared by other races. Their tactics are honed bycenturies of simulation, training and actual battleexperience. They also have one of the largestnavies in known space.

That's the theory.Minbari ships are supposed to operate in fleets

of equal or superior numbers to their opponents,slicing them apart with waves of Neutron lasersand keeping fighters at bay with swarms ofNials. In an equal points fight you do not havethat luxury. This article will focus on how tofight and win with Minbari units in a game of B5Wars. First we will examine the generalstrengths and weaknesses of The Minbari, andthen we will move onto specific tactics.

FIRST THE STRENGTHS. The first of these is obvious, the Jammer. This

stealth system doubles your range penalties forall weapons, and halving the range for ballistics.This can render you almost immune to longrange fire from a lot of races. I emphasize thealmost for a reason. The Jammer is a wonderfultool, but you have to learn its limitations.Basically, with your profiles, if you drop all yourdefensive EW against someone like the Centauriyou are asking for trouble. In general though, itcan let you get off the first shot for free usingyour EW edge to overcome his defenses.

The long range and fast firing Neutron Lasersreinforce this tactic, and brings us to the secondof the Minbari strengths, good weapon systems.Your primary long-range weapons are theNeutron lasers, a fairly powerful long range rak-ing weapon with good fire control. However,while good, the Neutron laser lacks the punch ofthe more short range weapons used by the otherraces, and you can never really get enough ofthem on the board without making serious sacri-fices elsewhere. The other heavy weapons inyour arsenal, Molecular Disrupters andAntimatter Converters, are powerful weapons

and actually very useful in certain situations, butin general you are better off with the laser. Itplays to your strengths better.

As for your secondary weapons, the Minbariare blessed with a highly useful gun, the Fusioncannon. The Cannon has a very good punch andrange, and can blow everything up to a HeavyFighter pretty much automatically.Unfortunately, their numbers are limited on mostof your ships and you will soon look with envyat the secondary arcs on Centauri and Earth ves-sels.

The Molecular Pulsar is a very recent additionto the Minbari arsenal. Appearing on very fewships thus far, they are a good fighter hunterweapon and can make ships sweat with theirgood fire control and grouping bonus. That saidtheir fire control vs. fighters is just ok, and youcannot rely on them for this purpose. All in allthough, they are one of the things that make theWhite Star so dangerous to an unprepared oppo-nent.

The Minbari's other weapons are more spe-cialized in nature. The Shock Cannon andGravity Net are very useful weapons that canreally ruin an opponents day. I am a particularfan of the Troligan, which mounts 6 Grav nets. Itplays up to your strengths quite nicely as it canmove opposing ships back away from you, per-haps even taking their weapons out of arc. As abonus, it can only be intercepted by weaponsthat fire at or before the same time it fires, ofwhich none exist at this time. The Shock Cannonis of great use against both ships and fighters, the

only slight problem being its rather slow rate offire compared to a Fusion Cannon. If you canlive with that though, it is a good addition toyour fleet, despite being seen on very few ships.

The Electro-Pulse Gun is at best a mediocreweapon, which does at least provide 3 points ofprecious power when turned off. However, itsability to choose its fighter kill can be useful attimes.

The third advantage you have as Minbari isyour toughness. Your ships are generally moresturdy than other ships in their class and thoseFusion Cannon cannot be raked off by lasers.Your back hulls are rather less armored in gener-al though so watch out for that.

The fourth advantage you have is the psycho-logical edge. Some people believe the hypeabout the Minbari to such an extent that they willdo the craziest things when fighting them. In arecent game I saw people cringe at 5 FusionCannons fired at a ship, despite the fact my Earthally's Standard Particle Beams only do 3 pointsless damage and have a better fire control.

ON TO THE WEAKNESSES. The first of these is obvious, cost. Your ships

can cost twice as much as your opponents'equivalent classes, which means you are goingto be outnumbered. Most of the time outnum-bered badly. In addition to that your opponentswill almost certainly outgun you. The skill youare going to have to master is how to chose yourtargets carefully to provide maximum benefitduring the free fire time in the first few turns.

As mentioned above, the second disadvantageis relative throw weight of fire. You can be crim-inally outgunned, particularly as Minbari shipsare designed for all-round defense, which meansa lot of your firepower is initially facing awayfrom your opponent. To look at an example: aSharlin War Cruiser can do, on the average dice,298 points of damage on a range 0 centerlinedstrike with all weapons firing. This looksimpressive until you see the Omega Destroyer(alpha) which can do 318 under the same condi-

J.J. O'SHAUGHNESSY(Archangel) undertakes a

strategic analysis ofMinbari ships and

weapons and the combatdoctrine behind theirdeployment in B5W

Picture: ARCHANGEL

Babcom 19

tions (tip... Never, under any circumstances, getcenterlined by Earthforce). This on a ship whichis worth half the cost of the Sharlin. You have todevelop an attiude which can be alien to a lot ofgamers: - every point of damage scored on youis worth twice as much as what you are doingback to them. An odd attitude but it has won mea lot of games.

The third disadvantage is Defense numbers,particularly your sides. The advantage that is theJammer is mitigated by the fact that you are rel-atively easy to hit; though you do have a lot ofDEW to throw in the way. Sometimes however,even that is not enough.

TACTICAL ANALYSISNow we come to more specific examples of

tactics. I will look at the ships in turn and seehow their strengths and weaknesses effect youruse of them in the game. I must mention at thispoint that I usually play on a fixed map, which isprobably the most challenging way to playMinbari, but I recommend it if you want to honeyour tactics.

First, the Sharlin. Sleek, powerful, this is theship to inspire terror in your opponents. Well,don't tell them but it's not quite as scary as itseems. First, you really have to work at it to getthe thing to turn, and it's a really good idea tokeep your nose to an opponent as long as possi-ble. It has 18 Fusion Cannon, but unless you arein a hex grain you wont be able to get more than7 onto a target (5 if he is facing your side, yourvulnerable spot). This is both a blessing and acurse, as if your opponent splits his fleet you canraise terror by firing in all directions at once. It'salso not a good idea to take it into a tournament.It's so expensive that you won't be able to fill itshanger bays, forcing you to take an armed flyeralong to get more guns on the table. That said,it's very tough, and in the right hands can winbattles. You just have very little room for error.The Shargotti is just a bigger Sharlin with a fewmore Cannon and Grav nets, which could beuseful. Its side armament is the same as theSharlin, however, and its really too expensive totake in anything other than a large engagement.

The Tinashi and its variants are the corner-stone of a B5W Minbari fleet. After flying theSharlin a few times you will appreciate its 1/1turn cost, and it can turn inside its speed number,another advantage. It's also very cheap forMinbari. Of course there is a down side. Its arcsare good, but still probably won't get more than2 Fusion Cannon onto a target in the basicTinashi. The EP guns can scare fighters, but areprobably best shut down in the first turn for extraEW. And it has only 4 Armour to the rear. Whichincidentally can tempt opponents to split theirfleet to get to your back, allowing you fire moreguns than you normally would. If your opponentdoes your work for you, let them.

The variants of the Tinashi are superb escorts,if in different ways. The Ashinta is a close rangebruiser par excellence, able to dish out rapid-firedeath to any fighters and ships that come intorange. The Eshran is better at contributing to theearly long range sniping so vital to Minbari sur-vival and its guns are instant death to fighters.They do fire slower however. The Letann is arare variant that is a superb scout. It is less wellarmed than the Ashinta, however, and should beplaced in the center if a fleet for protection. TheShantavi is not really an anti fighter escort but a

ship killer. Its defenses are meager and it desper-ately needs protection from other ships or fight-ers if it's going to do its job. That said, it couldscare the hell out of an opponent.

Like I said, I love the Troligan. I'm not goingto repeat my comments on this ship, except tosay opponents tend to ignore it, and that can bethe last mistake they ever make.

Finally we come to the White Star. This is theunquestioned king of the medium vessels and itsshields and Jammer can make it seem un-hit-table. Which is reflected in its cost, which ismore than nearly every other race's cruisers. Itcan do the job of fighter hunter reasonably well,but watch out for the fighters flying into yourhex, as the shields won't work against them. It'smuch better in the role of a ship hunter, and canseem invincible in that role right up until it getshit, where upon it collapses. Personally I don'ttake it that often. The non standard weaponsarrangement means it's meant to attack inswarms and (thankfully) you are not allowed todo that.

Finally the fighters. The Nial is hull for hullthe best fighter yet seen in the younger races.Unfortunately the cost means its going to be out-numbered and overwhelmed in short order. Ifused as an interceptor it desperately needs thesupport of ship fire to thin down opposing fight-er numbers. Otherwise it is dead to strike fight-ers. As an anti shipping fighter there are few thatcan equal it, however. The Tishat is unfortunate-ly far too expensive for what you get (basicallya smaller starfury with better fire control,Jammer and initiative). I always keep my fight-ers with the ships, if I bother taking them at all.Unfortunately, with the cost of things, you arealmost always better off taking no fighters thanjust taking one or two flights. Fighters have toclose with Minbari ships because of the way theJammer doubles their range penalties, and yourship guns can do the job.

There are some other ships (particularly thesuperb variants in Variants 5) but their use isobvious in the context above. I'd like to use themat least once before I comment on them.

BASIC TACTICS. The first is what I call the "Minbari 'OLE!'

maneuver". This takes advantage of the waymany opponents will throw themselves fullspeed at you to try to get to ranges where theycan fire back effectively. Fire on their biggest,baddest ship or any ship with fragile frontthrusters. If you hit your rakes will probably cutthe front thrusters off. Then slide your ships tothe side. The ship cannot slow down anymore,and will run screaming helplessly off the boardin about 3 turns. Great fun!

Second, when the enemies actually close tomedium range, put up lots of defense.Remember that every hit you take is worth morethan what you do to the opponent and yourJammer will help your EW. Maximize yourstrengths to cover your weaknesses.

Third, you know what your weaknesses are.You know what your opponent should do to takeadvantage of them. Read his intentions and acton them. I've had more than one opponent giveup because his high speed run missed me in thelast instant and his fleet was now totally splitapart trying to turn around towards me again,while I am continuing to hammer isolated ships.(Needless to say, I think they were making a big

mistake)Fourth, keep your ships together. You need to

take advantage of your overlapping arcs of fire ifyou are going to present a decent point defenseenvelope to marauding enemies.

Finally, learn to take advantage of the Graviticdrive. The drive is a highly useful tool that canbe used to evade combat while still pointingtowards the enemy. You turn, pivot in the otherdirection and stop the pivot, so you are effec-tively moving sideways along the map line,while still having your nose to the enemy. YourGrav drive still allows you to turn. This is thekey to the 'Minbari OLE!' and is a vital generaltactic to learn. It does cost a lot of thrust to pulloff though, so sit down with a piece of paper andsee how much thrust you can get by switchingoff various weapon combinations. Needless tosay, the Jammer is off limits!

EXAMPLE MANEUVERHere is a maneuver to try with your Sharlin.

Start off in the corner moving at low speed, say4 or even 3. Fire one's lasers on turn 1 (with yourCannons turned off to extra EW, of course). Nextround turn immediately, move one's speed, andthen turn again. Fire one's rear lasers. Round 3move to the edge of the map and turn, then pivotin the same direction as the pivot and stop thepivot. One might consider turning off you rearlasers to provide extra power, but if not yourcannons will do fine. If on a fixed map youropponent is caught as you are on the map edgeand if he over-flies you he loses. On a floatingmap it still a good move, as one will be movingsideways with one's front to his line of advance,one's lasers about to charge, and will have max-imized your fire on the earlier rounds. If he sur-rounds you, turn into his fleet and give him fullfront and rear broadsides!

A variation on this might suit a Tinashi fleetwith no rear firing lasers (also useful if you wantto sustain your front lasers after you fire on turn1). Same start, but you do not turn to the edge(though you still can if you wish). You simplystart the slide on turn 2 and turn as you near thecorners.

One final thing. I have had great success witha fleet of 3 Tinashis and a Troligan by advancingagainst him, turning to bring my lasers to bearand keeping a constant laser barrage going. Thisworks as the Troligan can brake up his fleet as hemoves to point blank and one can run off as heturns around to get to you, then turn and repeat.Even if one loses the back of a Tinashi you canstill pivot the ship round while slowing so it'ssoon back under control, flying backwards!

By the way, I have never retrograded in mylife.

IN CONCLUSION:The Minbari are a deeply challenging, reward-

ing race to play. They are not the most forgivingof mistakes but are great fun to play and open upa whole range of options for those prepared totake them on. Learn their strengths. Use theirweaknesses. And always remember the mottoinscribed over the door of the Warrior cast train-ing college on Minbar...

"One must keep your friends close, my chil-dren... And ones enemies tied to the other edgeof the map!"

* * *

Babcom 20

By J.J. O'SHAUGHNESSY(Archangel)

GRAVITIC Drives are a form of drivethat appears on some of the moreadvanced races in the game, namely

Minbari, Vree, Brakiri, Yolu, Hyach andmaybe a few others I can't remember.

Most of the Ancients have them as well(with the significant exception of theShadows). The drive functions as a kind of'energy' drive, which allows you to focus yourmovement energy in a way that normal driveships cannot. It must be mentioned that somemore advanced races do not have it because itis not part of their tech tree (or perhaps someinternal disorder kept killing off the peopledeveloping it, such as the Centauri). In anycase, it is one of those things that can seemtotally irrelevant, almost totally useless. Thisarticle is here to show you that this is not thecase and if used cleverly it can be a powerfuladvantage, and can even be a battle winner.

First we need to define exactly what aGravitic Drive is. Gravitic Drives are definedon page 29 of the rules compendium. It statesthat it gives an "enhanced ability to operatewhile using roll or pivot maneuvers"

"Rolls: A Gravitic Drive allows a rollingship to perform any other desired maneuverwithout restriction..."

"Pivots: While Pivoting, ships with GraviticDrives ignore the restrictions against othermaneuvers.... In order to accelerate, it mustuse the thrusters opposite its direction ofmotion... Note the thrusters required for othermaneuvers, such as turns, are not altered."

I would advise you to look up the rest foryourself. The purpose of this article will be to

show you maneuvers which will allow you tomake the most of this rule and perhaps tothink in ways that you might not have thoughtof before. Several examples can be found onmy Minbari tactics article on the previouspages. For the purpose of these examples Iwill use a Minbari Tinashi War Frigate (withits extra power used in buying one point ofthrust), a ship which most people should haveaccess to. These maneuvers are applicable toall gravitic ships, however.

The first and most basic maneuver is what Icall "The Slide". In its basic form it goes likethis. Start with your Tinashi moving up the

board in direction six at speed five. You thenturn to direction 1. You then pivot into direc-tion 6 and stop the pivot immediately. You arenow moving at a new direction while havingyour nose pointed at the enemy's line ofadvance. I cannot over-empathize how impor-tant this is. It allows you to keep yourweapons facing forward while not closing therange to the enemy. You can even sideslipaway using your front thrusters! You canfreely turn when you get to the corners, andeven cancel the pivot by simply turning into

it. This is a very powerful tool and one whichtakes a bit of practice to master. However, thiscan really give you an advantage, as it is verydifficult for an enemy to match your maneu-vers if used properly.

In a close range dogfight you can use theGravitic Drive as well. In a recent game I sentmy ships running at the enemy line (It was apair of Vorlon Battle Destroyers sent into ageneral melee). After a spread of missiles hadbeen launched at me, I saw that I could notevade the missiles and keep my weaponstoward the enemy very easily at the speed Iwas traveling. So I ran my ships through hishex, then at the end of my movement pivotedand stopped the pivot, and then turned, effec-tively doing a 120 degree turn in place, plac-ing my nose towards the launch hex and theenemy rear (and maintaining full mobility!).Later on in the battle I was trying to bothevade swarms of fighters and keep hitting atthe enemy ships chasing me, so with my oneremaining ship I pivoted, stopped the pivot,and turned parallel to the enemy's direction ofmotion, sliding along them with my guns infull view of the enemy. His fighters (Delta-Vs) found that they simply could not matchmy maneuver at the speeds they were going(speed 12). I continued to zigzag through theirforce like this through the battle. If I had beendoing this with Tinashis it would have beenfar more deadly, as the Minbari have weaponspointing in every direction and I could havebeen firing in all directions at once.

Following on from this it is possible to do a180-degree "handbrake" emergency turn.Let's take our Tinashi. It is moving speed 4and an enemy has slipped behind it. A normal

“enhanced abilityto operate while

using roll or pivot maneuvers”

Picture: ARCHANGEL

Babcom 21

SHORTLY after the defeat of Clarke'sforces at Earth, the prototype WarlockAdvanced Destroyer EAS Warlock

found itself fleeing the victorious rebels. Afterfleeing to the Brakiri system of Gamma 7, sheran afoul of a small Brakiri convoy. After abrief battle in which she dispatched the escortsand began capturing supplies from thefreighters, the Hyperion Cruiser EASVigilance arrived. Once again however, after aquick exchange of fire, the Warlock opened ajump point and fled, fearing Brakiri and EAreinforcements. Unfortunately for the crew ofthe Warlock, a group of Torvalus detected theShadow elements in the ship while deep inhyperspace and attacked. Having narrowlyescaped the Torvalus in the tides of hyper-space, and battled its way through both Cascorand Descari space, the Warlock was desperateto avoid further battles and escape to a safehaven to plan for their return to liberate Earthfrom the alien led rebels. Setting out on a des-perate and dangerous course back through EAspace, the Warlock enlisted the help of anoth-er rogue EA ship - the EAS Dominion (one ofthe powerful Omega-X class destroyers) and agroup of mysterious aliens calling themselvesthe Drakh. However things didn't go asplanned, and a small EA task force was wait-ing for them. The battle was short but brutalwith the Warlock slipping away while thedefenders swarmed and destroyed theDominion. Now all that remains for the heavi-ly damaged Warlock is to slip through a jump-

gate in the very heart of the rebellion they fightagainst and escape once again into free space.

What else could go wrong?The thought kept going through Captain

Blake's mind as he went over the damagereports from their last battle in the Eridani sys-tem. Damage suffered in a well planned trapsprung by the captain of the EAS Vigilance,who had been chasing them since the Warlockhad first slipped out of EA Space.

There was a beep from the door; wonderingwhat was next, Captain Blake let out a longsigh before calling out, "Who is it?"

"Commander Williamson sir." CommanderWilliamson had taken over as first officer afterCommander Tucker was killed in the last bat-tle, the result of an exploding comm panelcaused by a strafing fighter.

"Come in commander", the door slid open,admitting the short commander, "What is it?"

"Sir, we're having navigation problemsagain. We'll never be able to link up with thenext hyperspace beacon unless we come out ofhyperspace first." The commander's reedyvoice gave away his thoughts on their successif they dropped out of hyperspace.

Flight ofthe Warlock

Part V, By ALEX KETTLE

ENDGAME

Continued PAGE 22

turn would place its side to the enemy andmake it far easier to hit, but it has Laserscharged and it needs to kill the enemy. So itturns left twice (8 thrust) and left pivots once(3). This brings it swinging around to face theenemy with its front profile in use. Of coursethere are downsides. The thrust used will over-thrust the side thruster, you must pivot againnext turn and you must not forget the firingpenalties. However this is a very useful trickto surprise an opponent with sometime. It'seven possible to do it with a Sharlin! (At speedthree with two extra points of thrust bought.)

Let's take another situation. Your poor long-suffering Tinashi has lost its back thruster.Normally this would make it almost useless,as it normally cannot turn without a back(apart from speed 1). It could start slowinglike mad and go into reverse, but that wouldtake it even closer to the enemy. The solutionis to begin a pivot. You can slow down orspeed up using your side thrusters. In addition,even though the rulebook is not clear as toexactly when your front thrusters become youreffective back thrusters, logically it is the sec-ond turn of pivoting. Therefore you can stopright there if you want to, as you can now turn!That's one full turn of straight-line motioninstead of two, which is a powerful advantage.Even if you have lost your side thruster youcan still pull this off, as gravitic ships can rolland pivot at the same time. Therefore you canbegin the pivot, roll, stop the roll and then youcan stop the pivot as your thruster is on theother side of your ship. (Reread that. It willmake sense eventually, trust me). You caneven turn by continually flipping your ship, ifyou need to.

As stated in the beginning, this article is notintended as a definitive 'how to' of using agravitic drive. Its purpose is to introduceexamples of motion so that you can think ofnew ways to suit your particular races advan-tages and needs. For example, the Brakiri canmake really good use of the slide maneuver, asthey need to keep the enemy away for themaximum amount of time to let the beamsrecharge. They can also benefit hugely fromthe other examples due to the large amount ofthrust that their ships are blessed with.

It should also be noted that other races canbenefit from some of the maneuvers describedhere, but it is the ability to maneuver whilepivoted that makes these really shine forgravitic drive equipped ships.

So, next time you strap yourself into aMinbari cruiser, do a nice circle around anearth ship while pointing straight at him.

Bliss...* * *

Picture: CRAIG A CLARK

Babcom 22

"We may not have a chance to rechargeour jump drives after we jump out, B5 is justtoo close...options?" Captain Blake began towonder if they really had any options thistime.

"Two options sir, one we turn back andprobably run into the rebels coming upbehind us...or at least the EASVigilance...option two, we jump in as closeto the B5 jumpgate as we can, and make arun for it. If they're not expecting us wemight have a chance to slip away again."

"That's a bloody big 'if' commander...but Ithink you're right...I don't see any otheroptions right now. Okay, how far out arewe?" Captain Blake knew they'd beenthrough far worse, but something this timedidn't strike him as quite right.

"We're almost there", CommanderWilliamson looked down at his watch,"another 20 minutes to real space, captain."

"Alright then, but we go in prepared, getthe pilots into ready-five, all fighters are tobe launched as we enter real space."

"Yes sir." With that, Williamson saluted,spun around and rushed out of the room,barking orders at the bridge moments later.

Twenty minutes later, the Warlock enteredreal space, its objective in sight.

"Captain...jump gate is in sight, we'll bewithin range in a few minutes...CAPTAIN,I'm reading many fighters, count 48 heavyfighters around jumpgate. It's the station,B5's fighters are deployed and beginningattack runs, they were waiting for us..." theyoung tactical officer's voice cracked, heknew exactly what was to follow.

Captain Blake stood up to face his bridgecrew, "I know it looks bad, but we're out ofoptions...surrender means internment andbrain washing at the hands of those alienbastards that took Sheridan, our only hope isto try and push our way through the fightersand activate the jump gate...In the memoryof Clarke, and for the good of Earth- foreverfree, God help us all." With that theWarlock's massive thrusters lit up, hurtlingthe Warlock into the battle, grasping at onelast faint chance, never knowing that onlyminutes away the EAS Vigilance waspreparing to activate the jump gate in pursuitof their foe.

FORCES: Clarke - EAS Warlock (if played as cam-paign, Warlock should have any damage suf-fered in last battle) + any surviving fightersfrom previous scenarios (if played as a one-off scenario, Warlock has 18 Thunderboltassault fighters with navigators and 2 basicfighter, 2 dogfight missiles each).Navigator, Expert Technician. (CommanderTucker was the expert security officer and

was historically killed in the previous battle,and is therefore no longer available).

Earth Alliance - 24 Star Fury heavy fight-ers + 24 Thunderbolt assault fighters w. nav-igator and 2 basic fighter missiles each.

Turn 5- EAS Vigilance - HyperionCommand Cruiser - Elite Crew - 6 Star Furyheavy fighters

SETUP:Setup the two pieces of the standard mapedgewise (short end to short end) to create along map. 10 hexes in from the far right sidein the center of the map place a jumpgate.

Clarke: EAS Warlock enters from any-where on the left edge of the map, all fight-ers may begin deployed.

Earth Alliance: All fighters must beginwithin 10 hexes of the jumpgate and 15hexes of the right edge of the map.

On turn 5 if the Warlock has not activatedthe jump gate sequence, the EAS Vigilanceenters through the jumpgate, resetting thejump gate recharge.

VICTORY CONDITIONS:Clarke: Survive! That's all that left to hopefor.Victory - activate the jumpgate sequence andescape the trap.Draw - destroy the EAS Vigilance...you maygo down, but you can take those alien-lovingbastards with you!Any other result is a loss.

Earth Alliance:Victory - Destroy the Warlock, there is noth-ing else, no middle ground, stop her here andnow.Any other result is a loss

Historical: The Warlock was swarmed byBabylon 5's fighters and despite sufferingmassive damage pushed its way forward,mainly thanks to the bravery of her fighterpilots, who threw themselves at the rebelswith great fury. Unfortunately, just beforethey could activate the jump gate, it wasactivated from hyperspace by the EASVigilance, who came through with gunsblazing. A brief attempt was made to con-vince the crew of the Warlock to surrender,an offer which her commander rejectedmoments after watching the Captain diefrom injuries sustained in the Vigilance's ini-tial attack. The EAS Warlock, having madeits last stand, broke apart in a series of mas-sive internal explosions, and was finallydestroyed with all hands.

The End.

Centauri DevorasROMAN ALEXANDER PERNER

THIS is the automatic/remote-controlled ship weall see attacking helpless League shipping in S-5.

Special rules:It's Shadow-tech control system usually works in

semi-autonomous mode; then it has only half it'susual initiative bonus, and has to choose a targetwhich it will single-mindedly follow and attackuntil it is destroyed, then switch to another one,while ignoring all other ships or fighters (which isthe reason this shadow tech was never very popu-lar as sole control system for their ships - a deadtechnology).

The system can also work in remote mode, thenit needs a "control ship" nearby (within 150 hexes),suffers no penalties, and can be controlled fully byits player. And it can be turned off and the shipgiven a crew, in which case it functions normally.

Control ships with "stronger" shadowtech canwrest away control from the initial controller (rightnow the only ones with access to stronger shad-owtech then the Drakh would be the Shadowsthemselves, but there may be yet unknownShadowMinions who also have acces to suchtech... minions who were working for the Shadowslonger then the Drakh, and therefore had more timeto understand the systems). This will work even ifthe ship is crewed, since the ShadowTech systemsare designed to allow overriding the crew - just incase. And since the Drakh have stronger systemsthan the pods themselves, and pod-controlled shipcan be controlled by a Drakh ship, even if theDrakh player is the enemy (sonething the Drazimight want to learn before they use the controlpods captured from the Centauri in season-5)

If the ship has to switch modes (because it's com-mand ship is destroyed and it goes semi-auto, orbecause a command ship appears and takes con-trol) the ship's control system is "distracted" for theturn "changing modes" (changing mode is declaredduring EW phase, and takes effect at the end of theturn) and suffers a -1 penalty to initiative and all to-hit rolls. It also has one less point of thrust.

Though the ship has shuttles in it's hangar, it can-not launch them without having someone presentto operate these shuttles (remember the ships wereinitially constructed as standard ships with crew,and only later secretly refitted by the Drakh withtheir control pods).

And finally these ships can always ram, no mat-ter what the scenario says (semi-auto ships willautomatically attempt to ram once they have noweapon left, remote ships will do so if and whenthe player controlling them wishes)

* * *(B5W and FA SCSs are in the Attachments folder)

From PAGE 21

Babcom 23

OF ALL the races alive now,only the First Ones likelyknow the early years of the

race known now as the SoulHunters, and they aren't talking.What is known is that they havebeen around for thousands uponthousands of years.

Ancient Minbari records showtheir knowledge of the existence ofthe Soul Hunters going back 40,000years, and some races speculatethat the Soul Hunters have beenoperating up to 1,000,000 yearsago. Neither their home planet northeir current base of operations isknown. Individual Soul Hunterslive for thousands of years. An ageof 4000 is considered youngamongst Soul Hunters. They canbreath most atmospheres withoutencounter suits, and all nutritionneeded is provided by equipment intheir ships.

What is known is that the SoulHunters are everywhere, and cansense the impending death of indi-viduals across vast distances. TheSoul Hunters do not believe in anafterlife, and consider it their lifemission to ensure that importantindividuals are not lost to the void.Rather, the Soul Hunters capturetheir spirits and imprison them inglobes that can hold them safelyeternally.

These globes are then ensconcedin "Whisper Chambers", spreadthroughout space. These chambersare large spherical halls, withinwhich thousands of soul spheresare placed, allowing them to "talk"to each other, as well as safeguard-ing them from thieves. Extensiveautomated guardians are placed onworlds containing these "WhisperChambers", though not always arethese protections effective.

As can well be imagined, mostraces who believe in an afterlifefind the Soul Hunter's activitiesanathema. However, after eons ofpracticing their life's mission, theSoul Hunters are well equipped andpracticed in their craft, and arerarely prevented. In fact, there isonly one recorded instance of theSoul Hunter's failing to gather asoul. Upon the death of the great

Minbari leaderDukhat, the SoulHunters came to theGrey Sharlin to collect hissoul. However, defensive firefrom the Minbari ships, coupledwith afinallineo f

Minbaribodies man-aged to stop theSoul Hunters longenough to allowDukhat's soul to escape intothe afterlife.

SPECIAL RULESInferno Shield: I n

order to boardunfriendly ves-sels, Soul Hunter vessels areequipped with a special energyfield that is capable of burningthrough the toughest of hulls,negating any defensive fields orcountermeasures. In addition toallowing the Soul Hunter vesselthrough the hull, it also acts as asealant, preventing decompressionupon the entry of the Soul Hunter.

If an Inferno Shield equippedvessel ends the phase in the samehex as an enemy vessel, the SoulHunter may board the vessel and

pick up the soul of someone who isabout to die. If no one is about to

die, some Soul Hunters arenot above "accelerating"

the natural progress oflife. Roll 4d10 and

compare this tothe remaining

s t r u c -t u r eo ft h e

ves-s e l

(primary struc-ture for stations).

If the die rollexceeds the structure

of the vessel, the attack issuccessful. Due to the confu-

sion caused on board by the entryof the Soul Hunter, the vesselcounts as Out Of Command for thenext 2 pulses. The Soul Huntermay continue to move on as normalafter completing their boardingaction. They may not fire any otherweapons on the same turn they usetheir Inferno Shield.

In addition to its offensiveeffects, the Inferno Shield alwaysprovides the defensive benefit of aLevel 2 EM shield.

Advanced Shock Cannon: Thisis a vastly improved version of theMinbari Shock Cannon, and hasbeen in use for eons to weaken orshort out defensive systems beforethe Soul Hunter vessel attempts toboard. It functions as per the ShockCannon in MEMA.

Anti-Proton Cannon: Thoughthe Soul Hunters are loath to inten-tionally cause any loss of life, theyare not above defending themselvesif the cause arises. They are alsonot above destroying those whosteal souls or other devices fromtheir repositories.

SHIPSGatherer: The Soul

Hunter Gatherer is the standardSoul Hunter vessel, and has notchanged for tens of thousands ofyears. It is well equipped anddefended, and carries one SoulHunter. Although these vesselsusually travel alone, it is notunknown for them to gather in largegroups in cases such as gatheringthe lives of an entire planet, orretrieving their Soul orbs fromthieves.

* * *( FA SCS in Attachment folder)

FLEET ACTION: GATHERER

GROPOS By ALEX ROBERTS

HARVESTING SOULS

Babcom 24

Edited by CHRIS NASIPAK

RAIDER activity in the sector has contin-ued to worsen for some time now.Investigation has finally uncovered the

reason why - three smaller bands operating inthe region have all been taken over by a new,more aggressive group, which has been coordi-nating their actions and may well be plottingsomething violently revolutionary. The govern-ment, of course, cannot tolerate such a thing, andhas assembled a naval squadron to assist thepatrol forces in clearing them out.

Setup:PATROL FORCES - select a squadron from

the list of Battle Forces below or design yourown following the same rules (5000 points total,at least two police/patrol units). Patrol squadronwill enter from a map edge or by jump pointafter the Raider player has set up his forces.

RAIDERS - Set up on-map with the followingunits:

1x Marcanos 'Civilian' Station in hex 15151x Raider 'Sanctuary' Base in hex 22204x EA Light OSATs, in 5 hexes of either base650 point minefield (Contact, Captor, or light DEW only)

Deployed within 10 hexes of the Sanctuary base,at velocity zero:

2x Wolf Raider1x Brigantine

1x Sloop3x Civilian Freighter1x Civilian Fast Freighter4x Gunboat

Deployed within 10 hexes of the Marcanos base,at velocity zero:

1x Dragonship1x Barque2x Sloop1x Felucca1x Civilian Ore Barge1x Civilian Tug (no cargo pods)4x Gunboat

Deployed anywhere on the map (placed after thePatrol player chooses his entry point)

3x Gunboat1x L'Karus Raider

The civilian vessels are recent prizes. TheRaider player is under no obligation to identifyhis converted civilian units; use the ShipIdentification rules from the Compendiumunless the units make it obvious by their actions.

All units have a full complement of appropri-ate fighters. Raider units will have Delta-Vs, onein four flights will be Double-Vs with 2x BasicFighter Missile each; the Marcanos will haveCentauri Razik light fighters. Up to four flightsof Gorith medium interceptors may be substitut-ed for Double-V flights.

Victory Conditions: - Both bases and all jump-capable Raider unitsdestroyed: Total Patrol victory- Both bases destroyed or captured: Patrol victo-ry- One base destroyed: Draw- Any other result: Raider victory

THE BATTLE FORCES

Belt and Braces (Jason Thompson)

The raider activity in this sector has meant asubstantial increase in revenues for the BA.However, the trading companies have broughtconsiderable pressure to bear for these pirates tobe brought to justice, terminal justice. To thisend the BA have temporarily suspended some oftheir escort contracts, brought in two of theirHeavies and concentrated their ships into onefleet in order to remove the main reason for theirincome (good business sense huh!).

Each Medium Gunboat should loosely pair upwith two Light Gunboats. This gives 3 hunter-killer elements with the Heavy acting as back-upwhere needed. The Escort Carrier should stayout of the way as much as possible, only beingbrought into the fray if things are dire.

24 Delta-Vs and 12 Star Foxes with Class-Ymissiles should be able to deal with the RaiderDelta-Vs and Double-Vs; The Star Foxes shoulduse their missiles first, saving the Matter-Gunsfor possible anti-ship action.

Pirate HuntingPirate Hunting

Babcom 25

- Heavy Gunboat (2 out of 4, must be serious) - Escort Carrier * 1 - Medium Gunboat * 3 - Light Gunboat * 6 - Delta-V Fighter * 24 - Star Fox Fighters * 12 - Dogfight missiles * 24

Leaving 154 point to spend on specialty ammofor the Blast Cannons

Mob Justice ([email protected])

1x Raider Battlewagon 540 points 1x Civilian Pirate Hunter 425 points 3x Civilian Bulk Freighter 840 points 2x Civilian Missile Barge 1100 points 3x Civilian Q-Ships 1050 points 30x Delta-Vs 960 points = 4915 points total The most recent pirate raid resulted in the total

destruction of the Civilian Liner City of NewOrleans, a ship captained by an old and respect-ed spacer admired by civilian operators through-out known space. Angered beyond reason, a siz-able armada of civilian vessels has gone huntingthese raiders with the intent of extracting justicewith extreme prejudice. The civilian fleet hasalready captured one pirate ship, a Battlewagonthat wisely surrendered after the loss of half ofits fighters convinced the ship's captain that thisfleet wasn't joking. After wringing the locationof the main pirate stronghold from the crew, theodd fleet has decided to use the raider ship withits jump engine to engage the pirates directly.

The commander of this ersatz armada, aretired Earth Force officer, intends to use hisfighters to swarm the enemy led by the PirateHunter. The Missile Barge and the Q-Ships willstay at range as much as possible and pound thepirate base into oblivion with missiles with theBulk Freighters providing anti-fighter supportand using their Plasma Cannons to discourageclose and hose tactics as much as possible.

Losari's Losers (Gianni Liburdi)

Commodore Losari was not happy.Sitting in his office on the Marcanos Base

orbiting Polgrath VI, he once again reviewed thedispatch from High Command. Once again, heboth welcomed and cursed the news it brought.

Commercial shipping in the Marigol sectorhad been suffering heavily at the hands of Piratesas of late. After months of pushing his meagernaval assets to locate the source, he finally hadthe intelligence he sought. Intelligence hadpinned down the suspected location of a majorRaider base to a small area on the outskirts ofCentauri territory. That, along with a directiveto assemble a strike force to eradicate this threatto civilian commerce, had been welcome news

indeed.The problem, however, proved to be finding

ships to do it with. Losari had found that hisrequests to the Admiralty for ships-of-the-linesuch as Primus Battlecruisers and Demos HeavyWarships were met with cordial rejectionsdetailing how such prized ships could not bespared thanks to the chronically under fundedand overworked state of the Marigol SectorFleet. Undeterred by this, he revised his propos-als to request slightly older designs, such asCenturion Attack Cruisers and VorchanWarships. These too, were met with rejectionfor the same reasons as before. After a series ofunsuccessful fleet requisition requests, Losariwas beginning to wonder if High Commandintended him to tackle the Raider base withnothing more than a space suit and a PPG.

As always with the Centauri, politics wereeverything. Losari had spent an incredibleamount of effort as of late calling in all mannerof individual favors owed to him, until he had noinfluence left to spend. Looking from his officeat the fleet he had managed to assemble, Losaricould only sigh in frustration. Three HavenPatrol Boats were all that he could spare of hisnormal policing vessels without leaving the localtrade routes severely vulnerable to other Raidersin the region. They were currently grouped intoan impromptu fast-attack group, lead by aMograth Frigate visiting the Base for a littleR&R only to be pulled back onto active dutyafter its Captain lost heavily to Losari in theCasino. Two Escort Lupas formed a late addi-tion to that group, having been temporarily re-assigned from base defense by virtue of the twocases of very good Bravari now sitting in theBase Commander's office.

If the smaller ships at his disposal gave himcause to despair, then the heavier ones onlyadded to it. The pair of Altarians he hadacquired, and the squadron of Raziks they car-ried between them, would normally be offescorting high-value shipping, and might stillhave been if the officer in charge of them had notbeen an old classmate of Losari's. His moodsoured more when he recalled his stirring wordsto the Admiralty about providing powerfulattack ships which would demoralize the Raidersby their presence alone, only to find a couple ofbattered Kutai Gunships delivered to him inresponse. And while he hadn't the gall to requestan Octurion Battleship or Primus MaximusCommand Cruiser with which to lead his forcesinto victory, he had at least expected somethingbetter than the flagship that he was currentlysaddled with. At the heart of his motley collec-tion of ships, sat an Optine Battlecruiser that hadmanaged to convince one of the House Lordsrecently hit hard by the Raider attacks to provideon loan from his personal Navy. Signs of shod-

dy or non-existent repair work dotted its hull,and trial runs had shown the weapons to have anannoying tendency to misfire at the most incon-venient times, but it was still the most powerfulvessel in the rag-tag squadron he had managedto assemble.

Losari sighed once again, taking one last lookat this symbol of the might and strength of theglorious Centauri Republic. As his computerflashed a message indicating his shuttle wasready to transfer him over to his new command,he wondered yet again if assaulting the RaiderBase armed with only a PPG wasn't such a badidea after all...

- - - - Lets face it, police work isn't the primary

focus of most Navies out there. As such, topquality units generally aren't going to be madeavailable for such mundane tasks, except per-haps when they are using Raiders for live-firetargeting practice. Since the CRN is far moresusceptible to the influence of politics whendeciding naval deployments, the following is theresult of one frustrated Centauri Commodoretrying to carry out his orders as best he can:

1 x Optine Battlecruiser2 x Kutai Gunships2 x Altarian Destroyers1 x Mograth Frigate3 x Haven Patrol Boats2 x Lupa Attack Boats (Escort Variant)12 x Razik InterceptorsCost: 5,000Basic deployment: The Optine and Kutais

carry most of the heavy firepower in this fleet.The cruiser will try to employ its Battle Lasers tomaximum effect, either crippling the Raider basefrom outside of its effective weapons range, orattacking any large Raider vessels such asBattlewagons or Dragonships. The Kutais willgenerally act in support of the Optine, using theirbatteries of rapid-firing MCs to either annihilateenemy vessels, or cripple them for later capturewith well-placed called shots. The Altarians willflank this group, providing anti-fighter coveragewith their TAs and Raziks for the main body, aswell as additional Matter Cannon support.

The Mograth and Havens have two options. IfRaider fighter presence is heavy, they canchoose to break and attack, relying on their TAsto rapidly whittle away the number of Delta-Vsin short order. Should fighter activity be light,they would choose instead to form one largewolfpack. The Mograth's Plasma Streamer willhelp to soften up targets for a barrage of TA fire,which will likely strip enough systems to let theMatter Cannons focus in on ripping the lightstructure blocks of the Raider vessels to shreds.The pair of Escort Lupas will generally alwaysoperate on anti-fighter duty, covering the rest ofthe fleet as needed.

Babcom 26

BABCOM

www.robertshome.org/babcom

A fan-produced magazine for playersof Babylon 5 Wars,

Fleet Action andGROPOS

EDITOR: Christopher Phang

(regret)

FICTIONReid Hupach

(reid)[email protected]

TACTICS & ARTICLESAlexander Kettle

(squawk)[email protected]

[email protected]

SHIPS & SCENARIOSAlex Roberts

(aroberts)[email protected]

[email protected]

PROOFREADINGRobert Garlinghouse

(Gergle)[email protected]

PRODUCTIONJamie Seidel(Diogenes)

[email protected]

Babcom is an unofficial,non-profit magazine

produced voluntarily byfans for fans of Babylon

5 based wargaming.

Babylon 5 Wars, FleetAction and GROPOS areproduced under license

with Warner Bros byAgents of Gaming.

Babylon 5, characters,names and all related

indicia are trademarks ofWarner Brothers (c)

2000.Original concepts andmechanics remain theintellectual property of

the authors.

Minbari house cleaning service (JJ O'Shaughnessy)

1xTrolata Armored Cruiser - 11001xTinashi War frigate - 8501xAshinta Close Escort - 8501xShaveen Police Leader - 6002xShaveen patrol Cutter - 10501xToratha Assault Frigate - 550

= 5000Tactical situation. Ok, I can bet there will be a lot of fighters on the

other side of the table. Granted they're Delta-Vs, butthose are dangerous to low armored opponents. So, wehave included the Ashinta, and 3 Police ships, whichcombined will give a good bit of fighter cover to thefleet, and as a bonus will do good work on any of thefast moving Raider LCVs that might be there.

Anti-ship power is provided by our next selections,the Tinashi and the Trolata. Modeling a very fetching 5Neutron Lasers and 2 Antimatter Converters, not tomention even more Fusion Cannons, these shipsshould be able to impress their superiority on anyenemy shipping. This is backed up by the Torotha, with2 Molecular Disruptors to caress anyone who gets tooclose. The Ashinta will help in this regard as well.

Ok, the Trolata has one primary job, and that is slideup to the base and let rip with its AntimatterConverters. The rest of the fleet is there to deal with thefighter swarms and other threats that might show up. Inother words, make sure it gets there.

Basic plan going in. The base is armed with shortrange weapons so can be safely ignored while otherthreats are being dealt with. If the fighters have notlaunched when we arrive, fire on the base with thelasers in the hope to blast some of them off. TheConverters are 1/3 turn weapons, and so can be used onother threats while the fleet works its way towards thebase. The Shaveen's incredible initiative bonus shouldallow them to get the drop on people. They are fragilethough and should be careful. Aside from that basicMinbari tactics should prevail.

Task Force Scrubber (Kizarvexis)

To: Joint Chiefs, EarthForce, EarthdomeFm: Commodore Smith - Task Force Scrubber

- I have detached the Oracle EAS Farsight from the8th fleet and the Orestes EAS Molasses from theProxima III defense fleet for more carrier space. Taskforce will also include the Hyperion Patrol CruisersEAS Tampa, EAS Maintz and the Tethys PoliceCutters EAS Snook and EAS Tarpon. Task ForceScrubber will jump into the XP-7E system, execute aspiral search pattern to neutralize Raider shippingbefore assaulting the base. Detainees will be trans-ferred to Proxima III for shipment to Earthdome. I willtry to minimize any collateral damage, but are consid-ering ships in the XP-7E system to be hostile raiderforces.

-To: EAS Molasses, EAS Maintz, EAS Tampa, EAS

Snook, EAS Tarpon, EAS FarsightFm: Commodore Smith - Task Force ScrubberSituation: Raider forces based in XP-7E systemMission: Neutralize Raider baseExecution:

The EAS Maintz will open the jump point into theXP-7E system at 145.87.167. The EAS Molasses willform the core of the fleet along with the EAS

Farsight. The Farsight will provide blanket protec-tion while the EAS Tampa and the EAS Maintz protectthe flanks and process defense ships as they presentthemselves. Fighter Squadrons Alpha and Charlie willscreen the task force and assist the Tampa and theMaintz in neutralizing targets of opportunity.

The fleet will move in a spiral search pattern throughout the system to sweep any ships and fighters, beforeneutralizing the base. The Tampa, Maintz andMolasses will use heavy laser fire supported by theFarsight to neutralize the base prior to boarding actionsof any disabled ships. Any detainees will be transport-ed to the Tampa for return to Proxima III.

Service and Support: The EAS Tampa, Maintz andMolasses are currently undergoing SPB gun sight refit.The EAS Farsight will provide ELINT support. Marinedetachment (along with the Claw and the Penetrator)assigned to the EAS Snook and the EAS Tarpon. TheProxima III system base will provide all outside serv-ice and supply for the Task Force.

Command & Signal: I will lead the taskforce fromthe Hyperion Eta EAS Tampa. Captain Jaeger on theHyperion Eta EAS Maintz will be second in command,followed by Captain's Hiroshi (Orestes EASMolasses), Chang (Oracle EAS Farsight), Adams(Tethys Kappa EAS Snook), and Gustanov (TethysKappa EAS Tarpon). Comm channels will be assignedper section 32-47. Weapons Free, Condition Red.System XP-7E is a free-fire zone. All ships encoun-tered are to be considered hostile Raider forces.

-One thing the raiders don't have is ELINT. By requi-

sitioning an Oracle from a sector fleet it provides aforce multiplier that raiders just can match. Two patrolHyperions, maybe three at most is all that could beassembled to provide carrier space. By using anOrestes from the Proxima defense fleet, much neededcarrier space is added as well as heavy lasers for thefinal assault. The Orestes and Oracle escort each otherwith the Hyperions guarding the flanks. The Hyperionsand fighters, with the Oracle and Orestes providingsupport fire, engage raider pop-up targets. The gunsight refits to the Hyperions and Orestes, increase theSPB's FC to 5 for all ship types helping the anti-fight-er cause. The breaching pods on the Tethys are for cap-turing crippled ships and the Tethys themselves pro-vide anti-fighter and light ship attacks as needed.

* * *

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