GSC2 Scenario - Planetary Bombardment
Back to main GSC2 pageGoals - Attacker: To destroy the industrial capability of an enemy city
Defender: To defend the city, and inflict maximum damage on the attacking force.Attacking forces - 10000 points of ships, up to 50% of which can use interspatial drives to enter the battle.
Defender - 5000 points of satellites and ground installations.
10 city sections.
6 reserve battlegroups of 2000 points each (which also may include satellites).The Planet
Space around the planet is divided into 3 levels. The highest level is low orbit, roughly 100km above the planet. The mid level is in the upper atmosphere, roughly 20km to 100km. The low level is the lower atmosphere, below 20km. It is also possible to land on the surface.Gravity is a significant factor in the battle:
Any ship that moves less than 2" in lower orbit will fall into the upper atmosphere.
Any ship that moves less than 4" in the upper atmosphere will fall into the lower atmosphere
Any ship that moves less than 6" in the lower atmosphere will crash.
There are exceptions - ships with 6" of movement or more may remain stationary and land safely if they start the turn in the lower atmosphere.Crashing ships take damage as if they have rammed themselves. However, instead of increasing the damage based on the maximum drive speed, reduce the damage (so a size 20 ship with a drive speed of 4 that crashes will suffer 20 str 1 (3 - 2) hits, not the normal 20 str 5 hits that a ram would have inflicted.
Moving Around the Planet
A ship may move from the lower to upper atmosphere whenever it travels 8" or more in a turn - it does not have to , but it may.
A ship may travel from the upper atmoshere to low orbit whenever it travels 6" or more in a turn - it does not have to, but it may.
Ships without the drives to fly from lower levels to higher may go for a full vertical blast off - by not using any weapons or defenses or special systems the ship gains 4" of movement to its normal movement, and if sufficent can then escape 1 level higher, with no lateral movement on the board. Thus a ship with a drive of 4" may escape the planet's gravity well by shut down all other systems.
A ship may travel from a higher level to a lower freely, but may only drop one level per turn.
A ship may use a tunneling drive or thrusters to increase altitude.
Ships may not use interspatial drives in either of the atmospheric levels. They may not drop into the upper atmosphere the turn they enter the battle.The Planet and Weapons
All beam weapons firing at a target one level higher or lower must add 12" to the measured range.
All beam weapons firing at targets 2 levels higher or lower add 36" to the measured range
All beam weapons firing from the lower atmosphere (and surface) to a target in the lower atmosphere (or surface) have a maximum range of 12", due to the curvature of the planet.
Mountains block LOS when firing between objects on the ground and lower atmosphere.
Missiles lose 6" of movement when going up or down a level. A missile may only drop or raise one level per turn.
Tractor beams may only affect things in the same level. Ship may be carried by the controling ship between levels if the beam is of sufficient strength to impart sufficient movement. It is quite reasonable to immoblize a ship and thus force it to drop a level, but if the controlling ship does not also drop with it, the beam is cut.City Sectors
City sectors are basically size 100 ships, with 500 HD and armor 7. They have an Aspect of 4 (yes they are huge, but have much open space and buried facilities). They are either focused as Residential, Commercial or Governmental.
The player starts with 5 residential, 4 industrial and1 governmental sections. These may be laid out however is desired, so long as each governmental and industrial section are in contact with a residential section without overlapping. Each section should be ~ 4 square inches, though the shape is otherwise not critical, and should have identical back faces - the main focus of the sector should not be obvious until scanned or are overflown by a ship in the lower atmosphere. They may be still targeted, but the player will not know what he is damaging.
No defensive installations may be placed within a city sector.
The player may also place up to 200 units of assault troops throughout the city sections and defense batteries. The role of these troops is to defend against landing assaults. Whenever a weapon hits a city sector the defender must roll an armor save - if unsuccessful 1 assault troop is killed.
Ships are free to land within a city section.Defender Set-up
The defender places his city sections on the board as he pleases. He may then then place any satelites he likes onto the board, giving each of them a direction of movement - the satellities will move 6" per turn in that direction for the duration of the game. If a satellite leaves the board, it does not count for victory conditions. It may reappear on any subsequent turn from a table edge on a roll of 3 or less on a d10, and given a direction that will take it off of the opposite table edge (not an adjacent one).For each planetary defense battery a player bought, he may make 2 hidden counters for it - one real and one blank. These may be placed anywhere on the board, except in a city sector. They are not revealed until a ship scans it, overflies it while in the lower atmosphere, or it fires.
Attacker set up
The attacker may then place his ships at least 24" from any city sector (or right on the board edge). Any ships using interspatial drives must have written down what turn they will appear and from which board edge they will enter. They do not have to be revealed to the opponent until they enter the board from a board edge.Defender Reinforcements
Each turn the defender rolls a d10, and on a 5 or less he gets a randomly determined reinforcement group. The defender does not roll the turn after he recieves reinforcements (there is always a 1 turn gap between reinforcements). Reinforcements approach from a random board edge.Assault troops
Assault troops may be deployed either by landing (or crashing:) a ship, by using transporters from the lower or upper atmosphere, or assault pods. They do not have to roll for ramming a city section, they automatically land. They are deployed in the assault phase. Ships that land in city sectors risk being boarded by enemy assault troops there, just like normal ship to ship boarding actions. A player does not have to reveal how many troops are in a sector unless it is scanned.On the ground, the assault troops may fight enemy assault troops or attack the city section they are in, just like normal boarding rules. Each successful hit on a city section takes one point of damage from it. Assault troops which are in a city section without enemy assault troops may move to a connected city section each assault phase, resolved like a normal boarding action.
Assault troops outside of the city move 1" per turn. They may "board" planetary defense installations if they desire. They may be shot at as if they have an aspect of 0 - each weapon in a battery that hits will kill 1 assault or heavy assault squad. Enemy assault squads must fight without moving if they are within 1" of each other.
Victory
If the attacker destroys all 4 industrial sections, he wins.
If not, the game goes to victory points:
Attacker - normal VP for captured, fleeing and destroyed ships, satellites and ground installations
- 5 VP for every point of damage to the city's industrial sectors.
- 3 VP for every point of damage to the cities governmental sectors
- 1 VP for every point of damage done to the city's residential sectors
Defender - normal VP for captured, fleeing and destroyed enemy ships.
+1 VP for every point of damage left to his citiesIf one side has 2X or more VP than the other, it is a decisive victory. If not, the side with the higher total wins a marginal victory.