S T E L L A R W A R S
2nd Edition
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Units
3. Ships Systems
4. Data Sheets
5. Control Sheets
6. Sequence of Play
7. Movement/Combat Phase
8. Movement
9. Combat
10. Cloaking
11. Sensors
12. Mines
13. Self-Destruction
14. Ship Building
15. Game Setup
16. Tables & Charts
17. Ship Data Sheets
18. Ship Control Sheets
19. Counters
20. Example Ships
21. Designer Notes
This game is Freeware and is freely distributable as long as
the copyright line is retained in each copy. The copyright is
retained by Timothy C. Swenson, but others may copy the game in
it's entirety and distribute it to any and all gamers.
Copyright 1993 Timothy C. Swenson
swensont@mail.serve.com
http://www.serve.com/swensont
1. INTRODUCTION
Stellar Wars is an introductory game of tactical space combat
between fleets of space battleships. Each unit in the game
represents a single ship. The game is designed to be quick and
playable, with accuracy left in the game. Care was taken not to
bog the game down in cumbersome rules.
At the back of this rule book are 12 pre-designed ships. You
may use these ships to start playing as soon as you get the
game, or you may use them as examples of how to design your own
ships. There are rules included on how to design your own ships.
2. UNITS
The game is played with counters that represent a single ship.
There are 7 different types of ships. Each ship listed is
smaller than the ship above it. The designations of the ships
use the standard naval terms.
DN - Dreadnought. The largest ship in the fleet.
BB - Battleship.
CA - Cruiser.
DD - Destroyer.
ES - Escourt.
SC - Scout.
FR - Freighter. This ship is not armed.
There are also other counters used in the game. There are
STARTING counters included to mark where a unit starts its
movement.
3. SHIPS SYSTEMS
Each ship has various systems that define its capabilities in
the game. Below is a listing of the systems available.
ENGINE - This is the source of the ships movement. Each unit
of engine allows the unit to move 1 hex during movement. The
total number of engine points is the maximum speed of the ship.
The actual speed of the ship may change during the game.
HULL - The hull of the ship is a combination of the hull and
the superstructure of the ship. The hull may take so much
damage before it is destroyed. When this happens the ship is
beyond repair and is destroyed.
REACTOR - The reactor is the power source of the ship. The
reactor is very sensitive to damage. If the reactor takes too
much damage it will explode, destroying the ship.
SHIELD - The shield is the first line of defence a ship has.
Each point of shield may absorb one point of damage. Different
parts of the ship may have different amounts of shielding. The
same goes from ship to ship.
ARMOR - The armor is the second line of defence of the ship.
Each point of armor may absorb one point of damage. Each side
and/or ship has a different amount of armor.
LASER - The laser is the weakest weapon used, but it has the
longest range. The laser passes right through the shields and
attacks the armor and then systems.
FORCE BEAM - The force beam is weaker than the regular beam
weapon. It was primarily designed to destroy shields. A force
beam does half damage to all other systems.
BEAM - This is a regular beam weapon. It destroys all types
of ships systems.
GUN - This is the second strongest non-expendable weapon that
the ship has. It has a problem of having a short range. This
weapon fires projectiles.
PLASMA CANNON - This weapon sends out a powerful ball of hot
plasma. Powerful, but has a limited firing arc. It also has to
have time to regenerate the next load.
MISSILE - This weapon is the strongest but it may be used a
limited number of times. Each missile may be fired once. Even
if the missile does not hit its target it is lost. A ship must
have a missile rack to fire missiles.
MISSILE RACK - This is needed to fire missiles. If the
missile rack is destroyed the ship may not fire any more
missiles.
MISSILE DEFENCE - This is a defence system set up to stop
incoming missiles. This is used only against missiles. The
further away the firing ship is the better the chance that the
missile defence may destroy it, up to a point.
MULTI-TRACK - This system is used to fire at more than one
ship at a time. The degree of multi-track is the maximum number
of ships the ship is allowed to fire at. For example, if a ship
has multi-track 3 then it may fire at 3 or less ships in one
turn. All ships start out with Multi-Track 1.
CLOAKING - This allows the ship to disappear off the scopes
of the enemy screens. This system is costly, but it gives the
ship some maneuvering advantages.
SENSORS - This is the counter system to cloaking. A ship
with sensors may attempt to locate a cloaked ship once per turn.
MINES - Mines are dropped in a hex by the ship. Any enemy
ship that passes through the hex is attacked by the mines. Only
the player that mined the hex knows where it is.
SELF-DESTRUCT - This system allows the ship to blow up on
cue. Used for suicide missions or before this ship is destroyed
by the enemy.
4. DATA SHEETS
At the back of this rule book is a list of data sheets that
list the capabilites of different ships. The way the data
sheets list the ships and what each capability means is mentioned
below. A blank data sheet is provided for the players to use
when they design their own ships.
NAME - This is the name of the class of the ship
TYPE - Type defines the size of the ship. Its type might be
DD or BB, etc. as listed above.
ENGINE - This is the engine points that the ship has. Engine
points define how fast a ship may travel.
HULL - This defines the amount of damage a ship may take
before it is destroyed due to structural damage.
REACTOR - This is the amount of damage that a ship may take
to the reactor before it explodes.
SHIELD - This lists the amount of shield points a ship has
for each side of the ship.
ARMOR - This lists the amount of armor points a ship has for
each side of the ship. Each side of the ship has a name and an
abbreviation. RL - Rear Left. FL - Forward Left. F - Forward.
FR - Forward Right. RR - Rear Right. R - Rear. The forward
side of the counter is marked by the direction of the silhouette
on the counter. Although the counter has only 4 sides, the ship
has 6 sides.
MISSILES - This is the number of missiles that the ship has.
Each missile may only be fired once.
MINES - This is the number of mines that the ship carries.
Each mine may only be placed once.
WEAPONS - This lists the various weapons that the ship has.
Each ship has a different assortment of weapons.
SIDE - This lists the side of the ship that each weapon is
on. A weapon may only fire at targets within the firing arc of
its side.
OTHER - This is the list of the various other systems that
are on the ship. These other systems may be defensive or
offensive.
5. CONTROL SHEETS
The Control Sheets are used in the game to record damage done to
the ship during the game. The information is copied from the
Data Sheets onto the control sheets. As damage is recieved, the
appropriate number of boxes are filled in showing the number of
points left for that system. When all boxes are filled in, the
system is destroyed and useless.
The Turn/Speed track is used to keep track of the speed of the
ship from turn to turn. The speed of the ship can change during
the game. Name is the name of the individual ship and not the
ship's class.
6. SEQUENCE OF PLAY
The game is played in turns consisting of phases. In each
turn both players will be able to move and resolve combat. The
phases are listed below.
PHASE # DESCRIPTION OF PHASE
1. Assignment of speed. Both players set the speeds of each
ship for the next turn.
2. Initiative Roll. Each player rolls a die. The player
with the highest die roll may choose to be the first player or
the second player. Ties are rolled again.
3. First Player Movement/Combat. The first player may move
his units and resolve combat initiated by those units.
4. Second Player Movement/Combat. The second player does the
above step.
5. End of Turn.
7. MOVEMENT/COMBAT PHASE
In the Movement/Combat phase (M/C) the phasing player must move
all ships that have a speed of greater than 0. At anytime
during movement the player may stop movement, attack with a
ship, and continue movement. A player may not move another ship
until he is finished moving and attacking with the current ship.
A ship is never forced to attack another ship.
It is recommended that a START counter be placed in the hex the
ship starts out at. This will aid in remembering how much
movement is left. Since combat may take place in the middle of
a move, placing a START counter will help the players remember
where the ship started.
8. MOVEMENT
8.1 GENERAL. Each ship must move a number of hexes equal to its
current speed. Each hex a ship enters costs one point of speed
to enter. For example, a ship with a speed of 3 must move 3
hexes.
8.2 STACKING. Any number of friendly ships may be in a hex at
one time. A ship may never enter a hex containing an enemy
ship.
8.3 TURNING. A ship may turn at any point during movement. To
turn the player consults the Maximum Turn Capability Chart to
find the maximum turn possible for the speed of his ship. The
turn on the chart shows the ship making its turn at the start of
its movement phase. No turns may be tighter than allowed on the
Chart.
8.4 ACCELERATION. During the Assignment of Speed phase, the
ship may accelerate +1 speed per turn. The ship may accelerate
+2 per turn if it does not fire during the current turn. Mark
down this option in the turn/speed track with a NC next to the
new speed.
8.5 DECCELERATION. During the Assignment of Speed phase the ship
may deccelerate -1 per turn. The ship may deccelerate -2 per
turn if it does not fire in the current turn. Mark down this
option the same way as above.
9. COMBAT
9.01 GENERAL. Combat may take place between two ships when 3
requirements are met. The Combat Requirements are:
1. The defending unit must be within the firing arc of the
weapon being used to fire upon it. See the Firing Arc diagram
for this.
2. The attacking ship must have a clear Line-Of-Sight (LOS)
between it and the defending ship. A clear LOS is a straight
line between the firing ship and the defending ship that is not
blocked by any other units on the board. Sight from the center
of each hex. If the line crosses a occupied hex or hexside the
LOS is blocked.
3. The defending unit is within the attacking range of the
firing weapon. Refer to the To-Hit chart for this.
9.02 WEAPONS. Each weapon may only fire once per turn. Each
Other System may be used only once per turn.
9.03 MULTI-TRACK. If a ship that has multi-track 1 may only
fire on one ship per turn. The degree of multi- track is the
number of ships that ship may fire upon in one turn.
9.04 TO-HIT ROLL. Once the Combat Requirements are met, then
the attacking player references the range with the weapon he is
using to the To-Hit chart. This will give him a to-hit number.
The player will roll 2 dice. The sum of the two die must be
lower than or equal to the to-hit number. If it is, then the
weapon has hit the ship. If not, the attempt at combat was
unsuccessfull.
9.05 DAMAGE ROLL. Now that you have hit the ship, you must roll
1 die on the Damage Table to see how much damage the weapon did.
Cross reference the type of weapon and the die roll to get the
exact amount of damage.
9.06 DAMAGE ALLOCATION. Damage Allocation is the most complex
part of the combat phase. All damage is recieved on the side of
the defending ship facing the attacking ship. Use the Firing
Arc table to see which is the proper side. If facing is on two
sides then defender decides which on the roll of the die.
9.061 SHIELD. Damage is first recieved by the shields. Mark
off one shield point for every point of damage. If there are
more damage points left over move on to below. If the firing
unit was a laser, then any damage passes right through the
shields and goes to the armor.
9.062 ARMOR. After the shield is gone all damage is recieved by
the armor. The same procedure is used for marking off damage to
armor as was used on the shields. If there is no more armor,
read on.
9.063 SHIP DAMAGE. Now that there is no more armor left, all
damage will go to destroying various weapons and systems on the
ship. For each point of damage, roll two die on the Damage
Allocation Table. The weapon or system rolled will take one
point of damage.
If the table says System or if the table says WPN/SYS and all
weapons have been destroyed for that side, then damage is
allocated on the Other System Damage Allocation table. Roll one
or two dice (depending on the number of Other Systems) and the
table will state which Other System is to be affected. Other
Systems are numbered with one being the top one.
If a weapon or system is destroyed, it may take no more
damage. The damage roll must be re-rolled so that damage is
allocated to an operating weapon or system.
9.07 AFFECTS OF DAMAGE. If a weapon or system is destroyed (all
of its boxes are filled) then that weapon or system may not be
used. For example, if the missile rack is destroyed, the ship
may not fire any missiles. If the hull is destroyed, then the
ship is destroyed and out of the game. The same goes for the
reactor. If the engine is destroyed, the ship may not move.
Unfilled boxes on the engine define the ships maximum speed.
9.08 FORCE BEAM. The force beam does half damage to all parts
of the ship, except for the shields. All damage will be rounded
down in the defenders favor, except that the force beam will do
at least one point of damage.
9.09 MISSILE DEFENCE. The missile defence is used by the
defending ship to try to stop incomming missiles. When the
attacking player states that he is going to fire a missile, the
defending player rolls on the Missile Defence table to see if he
has destroyed the missile before it reached his ship. This is
to be done after the attacking player has rolled for his To-Hit.
If the number on the table is less than or equal to the two-die
die roll, then the missile was destroyed. If not the missile
will continue onto the ship.
9.10 MISSILE. For each missile fired, the attacking player must
mark off one box on the missile track. Each player may only
fire as many missiles as he has on his track. Missiles have a
360 degree firing arc.
9.11 MISSILE RACK. Each Missile Rack may only fire one missile
per turn. A destroyed Missile Rack may not fire any missiles.
9.12 NO SHIELDS. A player may opt to lower his shields in a
turn and use the power for his weapons. When a player does
this, he may either 1) subtract 2 from this To-Hit roll or 2)
add +2 points of damage to the total amount of damage. This
option must be selected during the Speed Allocation phase, and
be marked with a NS next to the speed.
9.13 PLASMA CANNON. The Plasma Cannon may only be fired every
other turn. Each turn it is fired in, put an asterisk next to
the speed for that turn. The Plasma Cannon has a limited firing
arc. Refer to the Firing Diagram.
10. CLOAKING
10.01 GENERAL. A cloaked ship is "hidden" from the sensors of
most of the ships. Only the ships that have sensors can try to
detect a cloaked ship. A cloaked ship is removed from the board
and kept track of on paper.
10.02 CLOAKING. A ship may go into cloaking at any point in his
M/C turn. Before a ship can go into cloaking it must roll to
see if its cloaking device has failed. On a roll of 1 on one
die, the cloaking device has failed and the ship can not go into
cloaking for the turn. At the start of each M/C turn of the
player, the cloaked ship must roll again to see if the device
has failed.
10.03 MOVEMENT. Once a ship has cloaked successfully, the piece
is removed from the board. The player must keep track of where
the unit is at the end of each turn. This is to be written down
next to the speed for the current turn, or may be kept on a
separate piece of paper.
All movement rules apply for cloaked ships. This includes
turning, speed, and entering enemy hexes. This is where the
players honesty is put to the test. If the players agree, a
mistake in keeping track of a cloaked ship will cause a player
to lose the game.
10.04 COMBAT. To attack, a cloaked ship must come out of
cloaking at the begining of the turn (right after the Speed
Alloc. phase), and remain out of cloaking for the rest of the
turn (till the end of game turn). To come out of cloaking, the
player puts the counter back on the board at its current
position.
10.05 MINES. Mined hexes do not affect cloaked ships. Since
mines sense a ship in the area and move toward it, this is
nulled by the cloaking device.
11. SENSORS
11.1 GENERAL. Sensors are used to detect cloaked ships and to
detect mined hexes. Sensors may be used only once per turn to
detect either a cloaked ship or mined hexes, but not both. The
following procedure will be used for each cloaked ship or mined
hex. Sensing may be done at any time during the M/C phase.
11.2 SENSING CLOAKED SHIPS. Sensors can detect cloaked ships.
The chance of finding a cloaked ship lessens with an increase in
range. To detect a cloaked ship, have the other player count
the range, look up the To-Hit number on the To-Hit chart for a
Force Beam. The sensing player will then roll two die. The
other player will tell the sensing player if he is successfull.
If he is, the cloaked ship will be placed on the board, and
remain so for the rest of the turn. Again, honesty comes in to
play here.
11.3 SENSING MINED HEXES. A player can sense mines with a
maximum range of 6 hexes. To sense hexes the player rolls one
die. The player senses mined hexes at range 6 on a roll of 1,
range 4 or 5 on roll of 1-2, at range 2 or 3 on roll of 1-3, and
at range 1 on roll of 1-4. If the player is successful, the
other player must point out the mined hexes within the rolled
range. The player rolls only once, and decides the maximum
range from that roll.
12. MINES
12.1 GENERAL. Mines are placed in hexes to try to destroy enemy
ships that enter that hex.
12.2 MINING HEXES. Each unit of mines can mine 4 hexes. To
mine a hex, the ship must travel through the hex. The mining
player marks down the hex number on a piece of paper. A ship
may not mine a hex that it has not travel through.
12.3 COMBAT. Any enemy ship that passes through a mined hex is
attacked by the mines (exception: cloaked ships). The ship is
attacked like it is being fired upon by a missile at range of 8.
13.0 SELF - DESTRUCTION
13.0 GENERAL. Ships that have this system may self destruct at
any point in their M/C phase. All ships within a certain range
will suffer damage from the blast of the exploding ship.
13.1 DAMAGE. When a ship explodes all ships within a certain
range will take damage. This means enemy and friendly ships.
The amount of damage for each type of ship exploding is listed
below. This is the amount of damage that a ship takes when it
is 1 hex from the exploding ship. For each hex going out,
subtract 2 points of damage. For example, if a ES
self-destructs and a SC in two hexes away from the ES, the SC
takes 8 points of damage.
Damage for each type of ship is SC - 9, ES - 10, DD - 12, CA
- 15, BB - 18, DN - 20.
The Self-Destruct System does not take damage well. If the
System has taken any hits, then before it can be used a roll
must be made to see if the system will work. For 1 hit of
damage a roll must be made of 3 or more. For 2 hits a roll of 5
or more, and for 3 hits a roll of 6. On 4 hits, it will not work
at all.
14.0 SHIP BUILDING
14.01 GENERAL. Players may design their own ships and create
their own fleets. The players may also create their own
historical background for the battles. Creating your own race
can be fun.
14.02 DATA SHEETS. Supplied with the game are some blank data
sheets to be used by the players to keep track of the ships that
they build. To make more copies of the data sheet, the players
are advised to use a copy machine.
14.03 BUILD POINTS. Each type of ship has an amount of Build
Points that are used to buy various parts of the ship. The
Build Table lists the amount of build points for each type of
ship. This is the maximum of build points allowed for that
particular type of ship. It is recomemded that as you buy
systems and weapons, you write down the cost next to the system,
for easy calculating of the total build points.
14.04 HULL. Listed on the Build Table is the number of hull
points that must be bought for each type of ship.
14.05 REACTOR. Listed on the Build Table is the number of
reactor points that must be bought for each type of ship.
14.06 ENGINE. Listed on the Build Table is the cost per ship of
various rates of speed. The faster the ship goes, the more it
costs to buy the engine that can do that speed. When you cross
reference the type of ship with the desired speed, the number on
the table is the cost for that engine in build points.
14.07 SYSTEMS. Now the player is free to buy any system listed
on the Systems Table. Weapons must be listed under weapons on
the data sheet. Any system that does not have a particular
section for it goes under Other. Systems listed under Other do
not belong to a particular side of the ship. A player does not
have to buy any system that he does not want to. Although
shields and armor is heavily advised.
14.08 RESTRICTIONS TO SYSTEMS. There are some restrictions when
buying systems. No more than 2 weapons may be on a single side
at one time. A missile rack must be bought if the ship is going
to fire missiles. Weapons may not be facing the Rear.
Freighters may only buy defensive systems (armor, shields,
missile defense, cloaking, etc). They may not buy any weapons.
14.09 EXTRAS TO SYSTEMS. A player may spend extra points on a
system to make it work better. Each of the options listed below
have a special marking so that the player knows what option he
has bought. The markings are listed with the options.
1. Spend 2 extra points on a weapon and subtract 1 from the
To-Hit roll when that weapon is fired. Marked as -1H.
2. Spend 2 extra points on a weapon and add 1 to the damage
roll when the weapon is fired. Marked as +1D.
3. Spend -1 point on a weapon and add 1 to the To-Hit roll
when that weapon is fired. Marked as +1H. This extra does not
work with cloaking.
4. Spend 2 extra points to any Other System and subtract 1
from the die roll when these systems are used. Marked as +1R.
5. Spend 5 extra points for each Multi-Track and be able to
fire on more that two ships per turn. For each Multi-Track you
buy you may fire on that many ships +1. For example if you buy
2 Multi-Tracks then you can fire on 3 ships per turn. Marked as
the number of ships able to fire on by the Multi-track. In the
above example it would ba marked down as Multi-3.
These options may be used for any number of different
systems. There is no limit of how many times these options may
be used.
14.10 QUESTIONS. If there are any questions on ship building,
look at the ships provided with the game. Use these and figure
out how they were built. This should clear up most questions.
15.0 GAME SETUP
Stellar Wars has been designed to be very open ended.
Essentially it is a set of rules for players to use to engage in
battes of their own design. The number of ships, type of ships,
and starting hexes are all up to the players.
To get the players started, below are a few game setups. These
list the forces per side and the victory conditions. The
starting postions are still up to the players.
Set Up One: Beginning
Side 1] 2 SC, 1 ES
Side 2] 1 CA, 1 SC
Victory: The player with the last ship wins.
Set Up Two: Convoy
Side 1] 1 CA, 1 DD, 2 ES
Side 2] 1 BB, 2 DD, 2 CA, 2 FR
Victory: The player with the two freighters must get them
across the length of the map. The other player must prevent
this.
Set Up Three: Different Forces
Side 1] 1 DN, 3 ES, 1 DD
Side 2] 1 CA, 2 DD, 1 BB
Victory: The player with the last ship wins.
It is hoped that the players will create their own ships and
battles. The game was designed not to lock the players into a
set history or situation.
16.0 TABLES & CHARTS
BUILD TABLE
S P E E D
TYPE BP HULL REACT 1 2 3 4 5 6
|-----|-----|---|---------|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DN | 125 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 11| 14| C
| BB | 110 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 12|
| CA | 100 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 11| O
| DD | 90 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
| ES | 80 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | S
| SC | 70 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| FR | 45 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | T
|-----|-----|---|---------|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SYSTEM TABLE
SYSTEM COST
|-----------------|----|
| WEAPON | |
| Laser | 2 |
| Force Beam | 3 |
| Missile (1) | 3 |
| Beam | 4 |
| Gun | 5 |
| Plasma Cannon | 15 |
| SYSTEM | |
| Armor | 1 |
| Shield | 1 |
| Missile Rack | 4 |
| Missile Defence | 4 |
| Multi-Tracking | 5 |
| Sensors | 7 |
| Cloaking | 10 |
| Mines | 2 |
| Self Destruct | 8 |
|-----------------|----|
TO-HIT TABLE
RANGE
WEAPON 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
--------|------------------------------------------------
Laser | 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 5 4 3 2
Missile | 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Beam | 11 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
F. Beam | 11 11 10 9 8 6 5 4 3 2
Plasma | 11 10 10 9 8 6 5 3 2
Gun | 11 10 9 7 5 3 2
MISSILE DEFENCE TABLE
RANGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DAMAGE TABLE
Weapon 1 2 3 4 5 6
--------------|---|---|---|---|----|----|
Laser | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Force Beam | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Beam | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Gun | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Missile | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
Plasma Cannon | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
DAMAGE ALLOCATION TABLE
Front FR/FL RR/RL Rear
|---------|---------|---------|---------|
2 | Reactor | Reactor | Reactor | Reactor |
3 | Hull | Hull | Reactor | Reactor |
4 | Hull | System | Hull | Engine |
5 | Wpn/Sys | Wpn/Sys | Wpn/Sys | Engine |
6 | System | Hull | System | Hull |
7 | Wpn/Sys | Wpn/Sys | Wpn/Sys | Engine |
8 | Hull | System | Hull | Hull |
9 | Wpn/Sys | Wpn/Sys | Wpn/Sys | Engine |
10| System | Hull | Hull | Engine |
11| Hull | Hull | Hull | Hull |
12| Hull | Reactor | Reactor | Reactor |
|---------|---------|---------|---------|
Wpn/Sys means that when all weapons for that side are destroyed,
then the damage goes to Systems.
OTHER SYSTEMS DAMAGE TABLE
# of | Die Roll
Sys | 1 2 3 4 5 6
-------+--------------------
2 | 1 2 1 2 1 2
3 | 1 2 3 1 2 3
6 | 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
------------------------------------------
4 | 3 4 1 1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3
5 | 3 2 4 5 2 3 4 1 1 5 5
FIRING ARC
__ __
/..\__/..\
\__/ff\__/
__/fl\__/fr\__
a ..__/..\__/AA\__/..\__.. b
\__/rl\__/rr\__/
\__/r \__/
/..\__/..\
\__/ \__/
The ship is in the hex marked with AA. Those marked with ..
are hexes located in two firing arcs. They extend out from the
surrounding hex intersection lines. An example line is between
points a and b.
PLASMA CANNON FIRING ARC
__ __ __ __
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/**\__/**\
\__/**\__/
\__/
/**\
\__/
/**\
\__/
/AA\
\__/
The ship is in the hex with the AA.
MAXIMUM TURN RADIUS CHART
This chart does not convert at all to ASCII. Here is a
description of of each minumum turn radius.
SPEED 2: Move 1 hex forward, turn 2 hex sides, move 1
forward.
SPEED 3: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 1 hex
forward, turn 1 hex side.
SPEED 4: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 1 hex
forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forwards, turn 1 hex
side.
SPEED 5: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes
forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forward, turn 1 hex side.
SPEED 6: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 3 hexes
forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forward.
17.0 SHIP DATA SHEET
SHIP:_____________________ TYPE:__________
ENGINE:_______ HULL:______ REACTOR:_______
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
ARMOR: _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
MISSILES: ______ MINES: ______
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
_____________ ______ __________________
18.0 SHIP CONTROL SHEET
Ship's Name _______________________ Unit ______
Engine OOOOOO Hull OOOOO Reactor OOOO
RL FL F FR RR R
Shields OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO
Armor OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO
Missles OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO Mines OOOOO OOOOO
Weapon Type | Side Turn | Speed Turn | Speed
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
____________|_____ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
_____|______ ______|______
Other Systems _____|______ ______|______
_____|______ ______|______
__________________ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
__________________ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
__________________ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
__________________ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
__________________ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
__________________ OOOO _____|______ ______|______
19.0 COUNTERS
Counters are not easily done in pure ASCII. Creating your
own counters is fairly simple; you can buy pre-cut blank
counters, or cut 1/2" squares out of thick card stock. Each
counter needs only three things: the ship class (DD, BB, FR,
etc), a number keeping it distinct from other ships of its
class, and a facing arrow. Below is an example of how it should
look.
_________
| ^ |
| DD 4 |
| |
---------
You will need one other type of counter; the START counter.
It is just a simple counter with the word START listed on it.
20.0 EXAMPLE SHIPS
SHIP: TYPE: DN
ENGINE: 3 HULL: 5 REACTOR: 3
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 6 6 6 6 6 5
ARMOR: 5 6 6 6 5 5
MISSILES: 11 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
GUN F MISSILE RACK
GUN FR MULTI-3
GUN FL SENSORS
LASER F
SHIP: TYPE: DN
ENGINE: 4 HULL: 5 REACTOR: 3
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 6 6 6 6 6 6
ARMOR: 6 6 6 6 6 6
MISSILES: 10 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS
GUN F MISSILE RACK
GUN FR MISSILE DEFENCE
GUN FL MULTI-4
FORCE BEAM RL
FORCE BEAM RR
SHIP: TYPE: BB
ENGINE: 4 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 3 5 5 5 3 3
ARMOR: 3 4 4 4 3 2
MISSILES: 4 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS
GUN F MULTI-4
FORCE BEAM F MISSILE DEFENCE
BEAM FL MISSILE RACK
BEAM FR
LASER FL
LASER FR
SHIP: TYPE: BB
ENGINE: 4 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 4 5 5 5 4 3
ARMOR: 4 4 4 4 4 2
MISSILES: 4 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS
GUN F MULTI-4
BEAM FL MISSILE RACK
BEAM FR
LASER RL
LASER RR
SHIP: TYPE: CA
ENGINE: 3 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 3 4 5 4 3 3
ARMOR: 3 5 5 5 3 2
MISSILES: 4 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS
GUN F MULTI-2
BEAM FL MISSILE DEFENCE
BEAM FR CLOAKING
LASER FL
LASER FR
SHIP: TYPE: CA
ENGINE: 3 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 2 2 3 2 2 2
ARMOR: 2 4 5 4 2 2
MISSILES: 8 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS
BEAM F MULTI-2
BEAM F MISSILE DEFENCE
GUN FL MISSILE RACK
GUN FR MISSILE RACK
CLOAKING
SHIP: TYPE: DD
ENGINE: 3 HULL: 3 REACTOR: 2
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 4 5 5 5 4 3
ARMOR: 3 5 5 5 3 3
MISSILES: MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
GUN F MULTI-3
BEAM FR SENSORS
BEAM FL
LASER F
LASER FL
LASER FR
SHIP: TYPE: DD
ENGINE: 4 HULL: 3 REACTOR: 2
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 3 4 5 4 3 2
ARMOR: 3 4 4 4 3 2
MISSILES: MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
GUN F MULTI-3
GUN FR
GUN FL
BEAM F
BEAM FL
BEAM FR
LASER F
SHIP: TYPE: ES
ENGINE: 4 HULL: 2 REACTOR: 2
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 3 4 4 4 3 3
ARMOR: 3 3 4 3 3 3
MISSILES: 3 MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
BEAM F MISSILE RACK
BEAM FR MISSILE DEFENCE
BEAM FL
LASER RR
LASER RL
SHIP: TYPE: ES
ENGINE: 6 HULL: 2 REACTOR: 2
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 3 3 5 3 3 3
ARMOR: 3 3 4 3 3 3
MISSILES: MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
LASER F MISSILE DEFENCE
LASER FR CLOAKING
LASER FL SENSORS
SHIP: TYPE: SC
ENGINE: 5 HULL: 1 REACTOR: 1
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 2 3 4 3 2 1
ARMOR: 3 4 5 4 3 2
MISSILES: MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
BEAM F CLOAKING
FORCE BEAM FR
FORCE BEAM FL
LASER F
LASER RL
LASER RR
SHIP: TYPE: SC
ENGINE: 4 HULL: 1 REACTOR: 1
RL FL F FR RR R
SHIELD: 3 4 5 4 3 2
ARMOR: 2 4 4 4 2 1
MISSILES: MINES:
WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM
GUN F MISSILE DEFENCE
FORCE BEAM FR MULTI-2
FORCE BEAM FL
LASER F
LASER FL
LASER FR
21.0 EXPANDED DESIGNER NOTES
History
Stellar Wars has a long history. Since I started playing
wargames, I had always had various ideas of designing my own
games. I had done a few initial designs in High School, but
none ever went anywhere. A few friends from High School had a
shared interest in space and we each designed our own worlds,
race, and ships. We never actually gamed with our creations,
although probably would have if we had picked up a system.
In 1985 I started looking at space combat games. I had
picked up StarFire, Star Fleet Battles, Mayday, and others, but
none fit the way that I felt that space combat should be gamed.
So, I set out to design my own game. Using various commercial
games as a start, I sat down starting working on my game. By
the end of 1985 I had most of the game complete. Since I was in
College, the game went on the shelf for a while.
After graduating in 1987, I worked on the game some more. At
this point the design was about 95% complete. Going into the
Air Force again put the game on the shelf. In 1989 I decided to
really do something with the game. I tightened up the rules,
added a few items and called the design finished. I had a local
print shop run 100 copies of the game. I put up a notice on
rec.games.board on USENET ( a news service on the Internet)
letting people know of the game and telling them that if they
send me their address, I'll send them a copy of the game. I
knew how hard it was to sell a game, so I just wanted to get it
out. About 70 people responded and recieved the game. A few
months later I made an electronic version of the game and posted
it to rec.games.board. As far as I know, Stellar Wars was the
first Freeware board game to be posted on the Internet.
Between the print and electronic versions, I got some good
responses. Some asked for clarifications on the rules, others
pointed out problems with the design. These latter comments
would become the core design changes for the second edition, but
this would have to wait a few more years.
In 1993, I decided to work on a second edition and get it
printed. A few rule modifications were made based on feedback I
had recieved on the first edition.
Before The Design
One of the first things I did in the design process was to
find and read any books that discuss wargame design. I found
two books, a magazine article, and a few other sources that
discussed wargame design and marketing. Most of the reading
focused on the marketing of the games and very little on how to
actually design the game. The one book that discussed the
detail of design was 'Game Design: Theory & Practice" by Steve
Jackson and Nick Schuessler. This became my bible for designing
the game.
The Design
There are a number of key items that affected the design of
Stellar Wars. Most are a few concepts of how I feel a game
should be. Others were reached as I worked out the design and
had to solve various problems that came up. There are four
concepts that I had before I designed the game.
1. Playability vs Realism. There is a good chunk of wargames
that like to scream "realism" and hate games that are not good
simulations. This is fine, but I feel that if a game is not
enjoyable to play, why play it again. So I like to stress the
playability side. And with a space combat game, true realism
would turn the game into one big mathmatics exercise.
2. Miniatures vs Board Games. I've played both miniature
rules and board games. I've enjoyed the speed and easy of
movement in board games and I've enjoyed the few constraints of
miniature rules. Board games can be too contrained on their
scenarios, boards, and setup conditions. Miniatures sets the
rules for engagement of forces and you define the forces, the
terrain, and the goal.
All of my game designs have been essenttually miniature rules
set to a hex board. I define the rules for combat and movement
and that's it. The rest is up to the player.
3. Open-Ended vs Story Setting. Continuing with the above
thought, I like to design my games to be open-ended in setting.
Most board games define a setting in which the game is played.
They give you a history of who the waring parties are and define
the battles which make of the various scenarios. I prefer to
write the rules for how the game is played and let the players
define the setting. This allows the game to be used by people
that have already designed their universe and need a system to
game it.
4. Open-Ended in Units. I really liked games that allowed
me to design my own units. Not only could I win by tactics, but
also by designing good units. Designing units allows you to
enjoy the game without having an opponent around. All of my
games have unit design as an integral part of the game.
One of the biggest hurdles I had to get over in the design
process was tactics. Most games based on a objective defined in
terms of a map. Capture this town, breakthough this line, etc.
Movement is defined in terms of getting around obsticles between
you and your objective. In space, like Naval combat, there is
no town to capture, there is not terrain to move around. It's
one big empty playing field.
Given that, how would a space combat game be played. At the
worst, the players would bring all ships within range of each
other and have one big slugfest. The winner will be the one
that gets the better die rolls. Where is the fun in that. I had
to put something in the design that would make the players want
to move thier ships. I did not want the rules of the game to
dictate tactics, so the only thing I could do was to put sides
on each ship.
Each ship has six sides and each one of these sides have
their own attributes, like shields and armor. If a ship takes
some serious damage to one side of the ship, they must turn the
ship to face that side away from the enemy. If they don't the
will be exposing a weak side to enemy fire, chancing
destruction. You do not have to destroy all shields and armor on
a ship to destroy it, but all one one side.
Each weapon is located on a side and has a defined firing
arc. To fire on a ship, they must be in the firing arc of one
of the weapons. This means you have to turn the ship to fire at
the enemy. Another way to introduce maneuver into the game.
Since I knew that each ship would be made up of different
systems that each had to be kept track of, I knew that I would
need a ship control sheet for bookkeeping. One thing that I did
not like about most other space combat games is that thier ship
control sheets were designed for each ship. If you actually
created your own ship, you had to draw up your own control
sheet. I made sure that my control sheet would be generic. It
also fits in well with the unit design built into the game.
Most turn sequences of wargames is the traditional Player 1
(move, fire) & Player 2 (move, fire). This sequence can make
the game predicable in figuring out your tactics and guessing
when to do something. I added the Initiative Roll to break up
this predicability and add the "fog of war." See Steve
Jackson's book on game design for a full analysis of turn
sequences and how they affect combat.