--OPERA TlONAL ANAL YSIS

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STARFORCE SCENARIO 10A Strategy for Humansby Tony WatsonBeing the first game that I designed from topto bottom, I have an almost unnatural affec-tion for StarForce. I pat it on its head everytwo months when it makes its regular ap-pearance on the SPI Bestseller list; I snarlwhen its detractors get too close; I makesure it wears its galoshes in the rain; and soforth. S'o: sit down, have some tea, and readabout it a little! Cake? - RAS

So you're playing in Scenario 10of StarForceas the Pan Human Hegemony and you thinkit's about time to show the uppity aliens justwho's on top in this end of the galaxy. Notquite sure how to do it? The following mayhelp.The first thing to do in any StarForcescenario is to look over the Order of Battle,Deployment, and Victory Conditions andjudge the relative advantages and disadvan-tages therein. Comparison of the Order ofBattle is pretty simple: just compare numbersthere to see who has the advantage. Deploy-ment, both in terms of Gates and forces allot-ted to them is a bit more involved. Exactlywhere the Star Forces are- initially placed willdetermine how fast they can get into the bat-tle. Deployment of the Gates will tell whichGates can support each other (Gate-to-Gateshift) in case of attack and also, how accessi-ble your Gates are to enemy attack. Finally,Victory Conditions might give special advan-tages to either or both sides.In the case of Scenario 10we have:Order of Battle: The PHH player has 10StarForces to the DL's 7; a substantial ad-vantage.Deployment: The DL player is at a disad-vantage here since the L'Chal-Dah and Ramesystems are too far apart to mutually supportone another. Within their respective holdingsthe gates are mutually joined. The PHHplayer's Gates are all connected in one movebut that doesn't matter much since heshouldn't be doing much defending in thisscenario. The important thing to rememberin this category is the wide split between theL'Chal-Dah and Rame gates. For the mostpart, deployment favors the PHH.Victory Conditions: This is the category thatmakes things difficult for the PHH. Thegame limit of twenty turns forces the PHH todo things fast and not always exactly as theywish. Also the conditions themselves are notthat easy to comply with; subjugation ofboth home systems or four other Gates is noeasy task. The DL needs only to hold out,sneak in and zap Sol quickly. The only ad-vantage accrued by the PHH is the fact thatEpsilon Eridana and Alpha Centauri do nothave to be guarded (since their capturedoesn't count towards a DL victory.)

A quick synopsis of the above shows that thePHH must execute a quick initial offensiveagainst the divided League while keeping awatchful eye on Sol.At the onset, the PHH player must decide inwhat direction he will attack. In most cases,he can only thrust in one direction; "up"against the L'Chal-Dah or over and "down"versus the Rame. The Rame are probably thebetter choice since the PHH player can haveStar Forces adjacent to two gates (36Ophiuchi and 70 Ophiuchi) in two turns andunits adjacent to HR 7703 in three. Though ittakes but one turn, with a gate-shift fromSol, to 61 Cygni but units can not be adjacentto the other L'Chal-Dah systems for threeturns. The essence of this scenario is speed,and three turns is the fastest L'Chal-Dahforces can reach 70 Ophiuchi SigmaDraconis, and attempting to reinforce eitherof the other two gates will take even longer.An additional incentive to attack the Rame isthe fact they have but three Star Forces to de-fend their Gates while the L'Chal-Dah havefour.Probably the best move in this situation is tothrust the fleet at Alpha C towards the 36Ophiuchi with a gate shift. The same shouldbe done with the forces at Sol, only theseshould be aimed at 70 Ophiuchi. You willhave to make a decision as to whether tocommit all five of the Sol forces or to keepone back to be used with the incoming forcesfrom Epsilon Indi. It goes without sayingthat the two forces at Epsilon should beshifted to Solon the first turn.The first turn should tell you a few things;like whether or not the L'Chal-Dah are com-ing out of Sigma Draconis to reinforce theirallies. If so, shift the forces at Sol to a pointmidway between Sol and 61 Cygni. Therethey can provide a credible threat (especiallyif the DL player believes the move toward theRame stars to be feints or at best attempts tosplit the League) to that star and still be inenhanced shift range of Sol.Down at the Rame stars, the safe plan wouldbe to head for 36 Ophiuchi with the forcesfrom Sol as well as the Alpha C group. You'llbe adjacent to 36 Ophiuchi with 7 or 8 Star-Forces at the end of turn three, just as theL'Chal-Dah shift into the Rame home.star.The maximum defense of 36 Ophiuchi will bethe gate and the three Rame forces; easyenough for the force you can bring to bear.In addition it is unlikely that the Rame willdefend it so heavily (to the exlusion of 70Ophiuchi) so you might even want to send acouple of units back towards 70 Ophiuchi sothey can enhance the forces shifting out of 36Ophiuchi the next turn. Despite any Ramedefense you should be able to carry 36

Ophiuchi if your tactics are not off and for-tune (the chit) isn't totally against you. Strivehowever not to lose any forces to randomiza-tion needlessly as the game is short and it maytake a while to get those units back intoplay. After 36 Ophiuchi has fallen thereshould be enough superiority to move on 70Ophiuchi with a relatively good chance ofsuccess while your remaining force is hover-ing off 61 Cygni or thereabouts tying up theremaining L'Chal-Dah.If, however, the L'Chal-Dah do not head for70 Ophiuchi on turn one thus delaying theearliest arrival on L'Chal-Dah to turn four,you should be in good shape to threaten both70 Ophiuchi and 36 Ophiuchi quickly andsimultaneously while your force at the centerof the map keeps a careful watch on theL'Chal-Dah. The Rame player will probablygive you 36 Ophiuchi, choosing to stand at 70Ophiuchi and depending on what you send to36, you have 4 to 6 StarForces to battle himthere.After 36 and 70 Ophiuchi have fallen, you'regoing to have to size up the relative situationto determine your next course of action.Depending on the positions of any of yourand Rame randomized StarForces, youmight want to spin off a small task force forHR 7703 and take the bulk of the remainingon up to challenge the L'Chal-Dah systems.If you have been lucky and randomized theRame defenders with small losses to yourself,then things should not be too difficult foryou. If not, then the whole war might hingeon one battle at Sigma Draconis. The factthat you hold 70 Ophiuchi should make theDL player hesitant to leave Sigma Draconisweak. The time you won with the quickdefeat of the Rame should allow you theturns needed to maneuver and stretch theL'Chal-Dah thin and pick off his systems.You'll have, if things haven't gone too badlyfor you, a 2 to 4 Star Force superiority. Theunits hovering off Cygni can always be usedfor a quick thrust into that star.Not to appear too partisan, I'll offer a briefword on Defense League strategy.First off, remember you are on the defensiveand both time and the victory conditions areworking for you. You can afford to lose asystem or two saving your strength, and

. meanest scrapping, for the crucial final bat-tles. Probably the two stars you shouldalways defend are the two horne' systems, asloss of one will put you in something of aspot.Basically you are faced with three choices:sending the forces of the unthreatenedLeague member to the aid of the other;defending the two groups of systems withtheir own initial forces; or abandoning the

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Any deep penetrations in the first two turnswill result in the German units being pinneddown and the forward Russian positions be-ing unharmed. So, the German player will becaught between his two objectives of break-ing the forward and the back positionswithout enough force to do either effectively.He is now committed and dispersed for therest of the game and should lose. A mixedpolicy will achieve even less and probablydisperse his forces more. So, the Germanmust attack the egg which brings us to thebasic precept of German play - concentra-tion! In fact all the first three turns reinforce-ment should be used to break this forwardenclave. These forces should ensure thedemise of the enclave by the end of TurnFour, and possibly Turn Three.The German's best chance of cracking the"egg" in the first two turns lies on its Northside. If penetration is achieved the Russiancommander should be overrun to unsupplythe enclave. The German has to be carefulnot to be pinned by forces moving into adja-cent wood hexes. Again, this will generallyresult from dispersion of German forces. OnGame Turn Three the 46th and 47th PanzerCorps attack the South and West of the"egg." The 24th Panzer Corps moves tothreaten both Smolensk and Roslavl, takingup a position so that it can move back if moreforce is needed to finish off the "egg."

2. The Middle GameHaving disposed of the "egg" the German isnow faced with a decision; where should hego to get the greatest advantage. There arefour possibilities for the German player to

choose from: he can move to the NorthernSection, the "gap," Smolensk or Roslavl.Whichever he chooses must be attacked withthe bulk of his forces, to the exclusion of anyother attacks since he needs total armor con-centration to gain victory.If he goes North, there is no possibility of adirect outflanking maneuver. Also the ter-rain is such that it is difficult to dislodge theRussian, while the German can be pinneddown. Furthermore, the terrain allows theRussian to form strong subsidiary lines ofdefense to prevent exploitation. One sup-plied division in the right place can stop awhole advance. Trying to overrun untrieddivisions in woods is a heart-stopping prac-tice for the Germans (and should not strictlybe attempted) since this is more than likely tobea 1-2attack.

Should the German attack the gap, he is facedwith the opposite problem in that there isnothing firm to grasp. If he is not careful hewill flail around ineffectually and withoutsupply. However, the gap does have the po-tential as a pathway for outflanking eitherSmolensk or Roslavl. The game will now de-pend on how the Russian has protected hisflanks on each side of the gap. There are ad-vantages to attacking either city. In the caseof Smolensk the target is quickly accessibleto the majority of the German forces, par-ticularly the infantry which are his most ef-fective combat units. The major disadvan-tage is that Smolensk is easily reinforced. Onthe other hand, Roslavl can be isolated fromthe rest of the Russian forces and may evenbe unsupplied. However, here the German

may become overextended (and unsuppliedhimself) which can lead to disaster.We feel the choice of target depends on theexact situation which must be assessed sepa-rately for each game. Whichever the Germanchooses to do, he must protect himself fromsallies from the other center of resistance.These will attempt to pin, encircle andperhaps destroy him. Remember a Panzerdivision in the open and surrounded is quiteweak, although with all those steps it will be"an unconsciounable time a-dying." TheGerman protects himself by sheer weight ofnumbers and by using mechanized infantrydivisions as a screen.In the End Game it may be possible to secureVyasma, Roslavl, or Yel'nya from Smo-lensk, while from Roslavl the German cantake Yel'nya but should then turn back totake Smolensk. If he moves further East,there will inevitably be counterattacks fromthe side of the gap he has not attacked. Theseobjectives will occupy him for the rest of thegame.

CONCLUSIONUnlike the old victory conditions the fall ofSmolensk or both Roslavl and Yel'nyashould give the German a marginal victory(depending on how many divisions he haslost). We feel the game is so finely balancedthat the old victory conditions are still ap-plicable. Under the new conditions the bestresult the German can achieve is a draw. Likeall the best board wargames this game bringsout the three principles of Logistics, use ofTerrain and, of course, timing. We feel it isbound to become a classic.•

StarForce Scenario 10[continued from page 7J

defenses of either the Rame stars or theL'Chal-Dah systems to the exclusive defenseof the others. In option one you're trying tostop the PHH early and not let them getanything cheap, while in option two youshould attempt to inflict loses and slow downthe advance with the defending forces. Op-tion three is not as strange or stupid as itmight sound, for remember the victory con-ditions force the PHH to occupy systems inboth of the respective league memberholdings. I saw this done (to good advantage)in a game where the Rame StarForces headedfor 61 Cygni at the outset. The PHH player,smelling a trap, advanced too slowly throughthe Rame stars, and didn't have adequatetime to defend the combined units in theL'Chal-Dah system. If you do this however,don't be too obvious with your abandon-ment; bluff him a bit.Probably the most important tactic the DLpossess is to occasionally threaten Sol ifthings get a bit too hot for you elsewhere.Staging at 61 Cygni is excellent as you can beadjacent with one shift. He'll have to call hisforces back, for if he loses Sol he loses thegame .•

War in Europe(continued from page 6J

decisively; he can try to eke out a lesser vic-tory by pulling their fangs and digging in tobeat off their eventual counter attacks. Hemust decide on a strategy initially, and stickwith it in broad terms or court disaster.The Soviet and Western Allied players havelittle choice initially but to absorb the damagethe German inflicts on them, hit him where ithurts at as little cost to themselves as possible,and when he is eventually weak enough, go forhis jugular. In general terms, the campaigngame WIEu should bear a family resemblanceto WWII. However, the details will certainlychange, and one of the most significant ofthese is the ultimate winner. •

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