This section provides the referee with rules for a strategic-level boardgame about the second Sathar attack on the Frontier. Although the game can be played separately as a wargame, it is ideally suited to be worked into a campaign. The players and referee can alternate between role-playing and boardgaming at their gaming sessions. Fewer players are required for the boardgame.
Materials Needed To Play
The materials needed to simulate the entire Second Sathar War include the same map used for the boardgame, most of the counters included with this boxed set, the Frontier Deployment Map (the outside cover of the module included with this game), paper or ship roster forms, pencils and 10-sided dice.
Determining Sides
Any number of people can play this boardgame, but two to six players is best. The referee should control the Sathar ships if only two or three people are playing. If more than three people are involved, the referee should let one or two control part of the Sathar fleet. The other players command the ships of the UPF Spacefleet and the various planetary militias.
The ships on each side should be divided among the players as evenly as possible. For example, if there are three UPF players, each could take a single task force and the militias of three planets. Roll dice to settle any disagreements about how the forces should be divided.
All of the ships available at the start of the Second Sathar War are listed by type below. Both sides have a limited ability to repair damaged ships and replace lost ships during the war (see Replacements).
Rosters for the various ships should be filled out before ships go into battle. Each ship should be outfitted with the weapons, defenses, DCR and movement capabilities recommended in the Basic or Advanced Game rules.
If the Basic Rules are used, all weapons and ships introduced in the Advanced Game are still used, as is the Advanced Game Combat Table. Ships may move off-map as described under the Advanced Game rules. The Advanced Game Damage Table and the repair rule are ignored, however.
| 25 8 15 7 8 4 | Fighters Frigates Destroyers Light Cruisers Heavy Cruisers Assault Carriers |
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The fighters in each task force can be placed aboard that force's carrier, or they can be based at the station where the fleet is based. The non-attached fighters can be placed with any of the task forces, or based at any station in the Frontier.
Ships may be freely detached or added to the various UPF forces after the game begins. Task forces may even be disbanded if the UPF player wishes.
Planetary Militia Order of Battle
The colors listed beneath each planet name are the colors of that planet's militia ship counters.
| Gollywog (White Light): (black on light green) | 3 Assault Scouts 1 Frigate |
| Hargut (Gruna Garu): (black on dark green) | 2 Assault Scouts |
| Hentz (Araks): (black on dark blue) | 3 Assault Scouts 1 Frigate |
| Inner Reach (Dramune): (black on orange) | 3 Assault Scouts 1 Frigate 1 Destroyer |
| Ken'zah Kit (K'aken Kar): (black on purple) | 2 Assault Scouts |
| Minotaur (Theseus): (black on yellow) | 4 Assault Scouts 1 Frigate 1 Destroyer |
Militia ships begin the game based at a station orbiting the appropriate planet. UPF Spacefleet Fortresses Fortress Kdikit (Madderly's Star) Each fortress is in orbit around the indicated planet. All fortresses have the following statistics: HP 300 / ADF 0 / MR 0 / DCR 200 Fortified and Armed Space Stations
Each station is in orbit around the indicated planet. All fortified and armed space stations have the following statistics:
The Frontier Deployment Map (FDM) is an abstracted representation of the Frontier. It is used to keep track of fleet and ship locations on a daily basis. Combat never takes place on the Deployment Map. |
Star Systems
The large yellow starbursts labeled with system names represent the inhabited star systems of the Frontier. Each star system has one or two planets pictured inside. Each planet is labeled by name.
Transit Boxes
The paths of light blue boxes between systems mark the known travel routes in the Frontier. The boxes are "transit boxes." Each transit box marks one day of acceleration or deceleration along that route. Thus, transit boxes measure speed, not distance. Ships move from system starbursts to transit boxes, and along transit boxes to other star systems. A ship normally moves only one transit box per turn.
If a player decides that a ship should stay where it is and not jump to another system, it must decelerate back toward the star at the rate of one transit box per day. A ship in a transit box can stop accelerating and coast, maintaining its speed, for any number of turns. The ship can resume moving along the transit box track in either direction on any turn.
Sathar Start Circles
The dark red circles are Sathar Start Circles. These are possible locations from which the Sathar can launch their attacks on the Frontier. The light red boxes connecting the Start Circles to star systems are the paths that the Sathar must follow in order to attack the star systems. Each of the light red boxes is a transit box, representing one day's travel.
The start circles represent the positions of Sathar ships as they emerge from the Void. The start circle leading to Prenglar, for example, is actually inside the Prenglar system, but the ships inside the circle are moving at tremendous speed toward the star. The boxes leading to Prenglar represent the number of days the Sathar ships need to slow down enough to attack the stations and ships based there.
Combat
If Sathar and UPF ships occupy the same star system on the FDM, the counters may be moved to the boardgame map for combat.
Before placing counters on the FDM, each player should make a Fleet Deployment Sheet on a blank piece of paper. This sheet should be divided into squares large enough to hold several dozen counters each. The UPF Fleet Deployment Sheet should have boxes for Task Force Prenglar, Task Force Cassidine and Strike Force NOVA. The Sathar sheet should have boxes for Sathar Attack Fleets #1 and #2, and any other fleets the Sathar player forms.
Ships that belong to the various forces are placed in the appropriate box on the Fleet Deployment Sheet, and the counter representing the fleet is placed on the FDM. This eliminates large, clumsy stacks of counters on the FDM.
The composition of the two Sathar attack fleets is up to the Sathar player. Each fleet may contain however many ships the Sathar player wants to put in it. The Sathar player may decide not to organize his ships into fleets at all.
The contents of the fleets, or any other stacks on the FDM, may be examined freely by all players. (Both armies have well-developed intelligence networks throughout the Frontier.)
UPF Set-Up
The UPF player(s) sets up all UPF task forces, militias, stations, fortresses and non-attached ships before any Sathar ships are placed on the map. Strike Force NOVA and any non-attached ships assigned to it are placed off the map until later.
Stations and fortresses must be in orbit around their planets, as listed on the Order of Battle. Planetary militia ships are docked at the stations orbiting their planets. Task Force Prenglar and Task Force Cassidine are placed in orbit around Morgaine's World and Triad, respectively.
Non-attached ships can be placed in any systems where the UPF player wants them. They can be split into as many small groups or individual ships as desired. Any number of non-attached ships can be added to one or more of the task forces.
Sathar Set-Up
After the UPF ships are deployed, the Sathar player must place at least 20 of his ships (not counting fighters) on the FDM. These ships must be divided among two or more of the Sathar Start Circles. The Sathar ships can be distributed among as many start circles as the Sathar player wants, but no more than half of the ships placed can be in one start circle. Sathar ships that are not placed on the map at this time can be placed in a start circle at the beginning of the Sathar move on any later turn. On any turn, however, no more than half of the Sathar ships placed on the map may start in one start circle. (Sathar always try to attack from several directions at once, to confuse the enemy.) These ships can move as soon as they are placed on the map.
Strike Force NOVA
After the Sathar player has made his initial placement, the UPF player can decide whether to place Strike Force NOVA on the map. This formidable group of ships patrols the Frontier regularly, so the Sathar have little idea where it is located as they begin their attack. The strike force is placed randomly, however, so the UPF player also has very little idea where it is.
The UPF player can place Strike Force NOVA on the map immediately, or keep it off the map until later in the game. If SFN is kept off the map, it can be placed on the map at the start of any UPF turn. Like Sathar reinforce- ments, SFN can move normally during the turn it is placed on the map.
Whenever Strike Force NOVA is placed on the map, the UPF player must roll 1d10 and check the Strike Force NOVA Placement table. The strike force is immediately placed on the map wherever the dice roll indicates.
| Die Roll | Initial Location of SFN |
| 1-3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 | Gran Quivera (Prenglar) Pale (Truane's Star) Inner Reach (Dramune) Terledrom (Fromeltar) Zik-Kit (Kizk'-Kar) Kenzah-kit (K'aken Kar) Gollywog (White Light) Kawdl-Kit (K'tsa-Kar) |
STRATEGIC TURN SEQUENCE
After the opposing forces are set up on the Frontier Deployment Map, players follow the Strategic Turn Sequence, below:
| 1. | Sathar reinforcements are placed on the map. Sathar ships are moved. |
| 2. | UPF reinforcements are placed on the map. UPF ships are moved. |
| 3. | Sathar player declares any attacks. Sathar attacks are resolved using Basic or Advanced rules. |
| 4. | UPF player declares any attacks. UPF attacks are resolved using Basic or Advanced rules. |
| 5. | The Time Record is advanced to the next turn. The turn sequence is repeated. |
The Time Record Track
The Time Record Track is printed on the Frontier Deployment Map. It is used to record the passage of time during the Second Sathar War. Each box on the track represents either 1 or 10 days. At the end of each turn, the "Day" counter is moved to the next square on the track. When day 10 is reached, the marker is moved back to day 1 and the "Tenday" marker is placed over the 10 in the Tenday column. This indicates that it actually is day 11 of the war.
As mentioned earlier, the FDM is designed to regulate movement of ships and fleets as they travel from star to star in the Frontier. All ships begin the game in a star system or Sathar Start Circle.
Using The Transit Boxes
A fleet, task force or individual ship can leave a star system by moving into an adjacent transit box. On each following day, it advances into the next transit box. When the ship(s) enter a dark blue box marked with an arrow pointing in the same direction that the ships are traveling, those ships have jumped into the next system and are decelerating toward that star. Dark blue transit boxes with arrows pointing in the opposite direction of a ship's travel are treated as normal transit boxes.
A battle may occur when ships of both sides occupy the same system space. If Sathar ships enter a system space during Sathar movement, UPF ships in that space can avoid combat by moving to a transit box during the UPF move, since combat is declared after each side has moved.
Accelerated Movement (Risk Jumping)
At some point in the war, both sides are likely to find themselves in an urgent situation where they need to move their ships more than one transit box per day. This can be done by risk-jumping.
Players using accelerated jump movement must accept the risk of those ships making a mistake in their jump calculations and becoming lost. The chance that a ship will become lost depends on the ship's acceleration and the skill of its astrogator. These percentages are summarized on the Mis-jump Probability Table.
Ships with an ADF of 2 or more can move two transit boxes per day. Ships with an ADF of 3 or more can move three transit boxes per day. No ship can move more than three transit boxes per day, because such extreme, prolonged acceleration would disable the crew.
Ships that are risk-jumping should be placed underneath the appropriate counter (RJ 2 or RJ 3). This indicates whether the ships are moving two or three transit boxes per day.
A ship using accelerated movement must travel at the increased rate from the time it enters the first transit box until it reaches the jump point. The ship must stop moving for the turn when it enters its Jump Box (dark blue box containing arrow), even if the ship has moved only one or two boxes this turn. After the ship makes the jump, it can decelerate at the in creased rate or at a lower rate. Ships decelerating more than one transit box per turn must stop as soon as they enter the system's starburst symbol.
| Ship Type | Transit Boxes Crossed per Day |
| 2 | 3 |
| UPF Battleship UPF Ship (except battleship) Sathar Warship Frontier Militia | 95% 90% 90% 70% | 90% 70% 70% 50% |
(These percentages assume that all UPF battleships have a 6th level astrogator aboard. All other Spacefleet ships carry 4th level astrogators, as do all Sathar ships. Planetary militia ships are assumed to have 2nd level astrogators. If characters bring their own ships into the war, assume that moving two transit boxes per day allows 50% of the normal calculation time, and moving three transit boxes per day allows 30% of the normal time.)
Interlocked Computers. Ships that are traveling together can interlock their computers and share one astrogator's jump calculations. If this is done, d100 are rolled once for the entire group of ships, instead of once for each individual ship, to determine whether the ships reach their destination.
EXAMPLE: One UPF battleship, three destroyers and two militia ships at Fromeltar are moving two transit boxes per day toward Dramune. The UPF player decides to link them together and make only one roll. All of the ships get the benefit of the battleship's 6th level astrogator. If the player rolls 95 or less on d100, the entire group reaches its destination safely.
Ships in a stack can be grouped however the commanding player wants. The six ships in the example can jump together, or as two groups of three ships, three groups of two ships, or any other possible combination, including six individual ships. Each group is rolled for individually. The failure or success of one group has no effect on the other groups.
Effects of a Misjump. Any ships that misjump during the course of this strategic game are lost for the duration of the war. They may reappear later in a campaign, if the referee wishes, but should not be brought back into the war.
Risk-Jump Limits. Sathar ships in the Sathar Start Circle or the red transit boxes connected to the start circles cannot decelerate more than one transit box per turn.
A ship with unrepaired hull damage may never move more than one transit box per turn.
Militia ships are somewhat limited in their movement, since the primary objective of the militia is to defend its home planet. Militia ships can travel to a star system that is adjacent to their home system, if the home system is not threatened by an imminent Sathar attack. A system is "imminently threatened" if Sathar ships have emerged from the Void inside that system. If militia ships are in an adjacent system when Sathar ships emerge inside their home system, those ships must return home as quickly as possible.
A militia ship can move more than one system away from its home world only if all of the space stations in that home system have been destroyed. When this happens, the militia ships are "deputized" by the Spacefleet and can move as Spacefleet ships.
Day One
The Sathar Approach. The Sathar player always moves first. Ships in start circles must be moved into the red transit box adjacent to that start circle on the first day. They are limited to moving one box per day until they have entered a star system space. Once a Sathar ship has entered a star system space, it can use normal or accelerated movement for the rest of the game.
UPF Reaction. After all Sathar ships have been moved on the first turn, UPF ships can move. If Strike Force NOVA is not on the map, it may be placed before any UPF ships are moved. If it is not placed at this time, it cannot be placed until the UPF move on day 2.
The Second Sathar War will be resolved, for better or worse, by spaceships. Planetary defenses will play very little role in the war, because the Sathar strategy is to destroy the Spacefleet and isolate the planets from each other. Once the planets are isolated, they can be conquered and sacked one by one. This game deals only with the spaceship battles of SW II.
Declaring Combat
If Sathar and UPF ships occupy the same starburst at the end of a day, those ships can fight each other. The Sathar player has the first option to attack, and must announce all systems where he is attacking. If there are two planets in a system that is being attacked, one of the planets must be announced as the target. Only one planet can be attacked by a specific ship or fleet per day.
These attacks are then resolved in any order the Sathar player wishes. Following these battles, the UPF player must declare any systems where UPF ships will attack Sathar ships. The UPF player may not attack Sathar ships that have already attacked UPF or militia ships.
Whichever player declared the attack is the attacker, and moves first in that combat.
Combat is resolved using either the Basic or Advanced Boardgame rules. If the battle is taking place near a planet (this is the defender's option), the planet is placed in the middle of the game map. The defender's ships are placed anywhere on the map, traveling at any speed the defender desires. The attacker's ships must enter the map from one of the narrow edges, traveling at whatever speed the attacker desires. If either side's ships are based at two planets in a single star system, all of the ships may gather for the battle. Ships are not if the defender's ships include a minelayer, the defender may place all of its mines and seeker missiles before the battle begins. The locations of mines and seekers must be recorded on paper, to be revealed to the attacker when a ship enters one of those hexes.
Which Rules To Use?
Depending on the number of ships in the battle, the following rules are recommended. If a majority of the players agree to use rules other than those suggested, feel free to ignore this chart. Players are free to use one set of rules in one battle, and another set in a different battle; use whichever set of rules provides the best compromise between detail and playability for the battle being fought.
| Ships in Battle | Suggested Rules |
| 2 to 4 5 to 14 More than 14 | Advanced Rules; average NPC skills Advanced Rules; no skill modifiers Basic Rules |
Breaking Off Combat
If a battle is goitig badly for one side, that player can try to escape the battle with whatever ships he has remaining. To do this, simply maneuver the ships away from the enemy on the boardgame map. The fleeing ships must outrun any enemy ships that pursue them, crossing the map as many times as necessary. When the fleeing ships are beyond the range of the pursuers' weapons, they have escaped and are placed in a transit box adjacent to the star system. The victorious ships are placed in the system box where the battle was fought. The ships resume normal movement on the following turn.
Militia ships in their home system must make at least one attack (fire one weapon at one enemy ship) before breaking off combat. UPF Spacefleet ships never are required to attack.
Fighters can break off combat, but they cannot enter a transit box unless they are being carried aboard an assault carrier. Fighters not aboard a carrier or station when the "Day" marker is advanced are destroyed automatically.
After a battle, ships that are "in supply" can rearm by replacing all expended weapons and defenses such as torpedos, assault rockets, masking screens and ICMs. Supply has no other function in the game.
A UPF ship is in supply if a path can be traced from the ship to a UPF Fortress without passing through a star system occupied by a Sathar ship. The path may pass through transit boxes containing Sathar ships, but not star system boxes. Supply may be traced into star system boxes that contain both UPF and Sathar ships, but not through those systems.
A Sathar ship is in supply if a path can be traced from the Sathar ship to any Sathar Start Circle, without passing through a star system containing a UPF ship or space station.
Rearming. In order to rearm, the ship must spend one complete day at a planet in a star system that is in supply. The ship may not move or attack during that day. If the ship is attacked and fights back, it is not rearmed.
Fighters can be rearmed from their assault carrier or station twice while out of supply, but the carrier or station must be resupplied before the fighters can rearm a third time.
Ships that have been damaged in battle can repair that damage normally using their DCR. If the battle was fought using the Basic Rules, repairs cannot be made until after the battle. If any hull damage repair attempt fails after the battle, no further repairs can be attempted; the ship's hull can be repaired only at a space station. If a system other than the hull cannot be repaired in space (because a 99 or Oo was rolled), the ship must return to a space station to repair this system, also.
UPF Repairs
UPF ships can be repaired at any spaceship construction center in a system that contains no Sathar ships. Each SCC can repair a certain number of hull points per day. The Repair Capacity Table lists the number of hull points that can be repaired per day at each SCC. These repairs can be divided among as many ships as the UPF player has at that station.
| SCC: System/Planet | Daily HP Repair Cap. |
| Araks/Hentz Cassidine/Rupert's Hole Cassidine/Triad Dramune/Outer Reach Fromeltar/Terledrom Prenglar/Gran Quivera Theseus/Minotaur Truane's Star/Pale White Light/Gollywog | 20 10 40 10 20 40 20 10 10 |
Damage other than hull damage also can be repaired at an SCC. One system can be repaired per day. The repaired system is completely restored. No other system repairs or hull repairs can be performed that day. For example, if a ship lost 3 ADF points and 8 hull points, it must spend two days in the shop to be repaired: One day to repair the hull, and one day to completely repair the drives.
Sathar Repair
Sathar ships can be repaired two ways: by returning to their home base, or by using captured construction centers.
To return to a Sathar base, the damaged ship must travel to a Sathar Start Circle and enter the Void. The ship counter is then placed on the time track, six days ahead of the Day marker. When the Day marker reaches the box the Sathar ship is in, that ship is placed in a Sathar Stan Circle, completely repaired. Any number of ships can be repaired this way.
Sathar ships also can be repaired at captured SCCs. An SCC is considered captured when all space stations in its system have been destroyed and no UPF or Militia ships are in the system. Because of sabotage and unfamiliar tools, however, Sathar can repair only one-half as many hull points per day as the construction center's capacity. Other systems can be repaired normally, in one day.
This rule intensifies the strategy of the game, but also lengthens it. Its use is optional, so players should decide whether they will use it before starting to play.
Replacements can appear at the end of every 20 days.
Sathar Replacements. The Sathar player can try to replace every ship destroyed in combat in the 20 days prior to the replacement phase. To do so, he must roll dl00 for each ship. If the result of the roll is 35 or less, that ship can be brought back into the game through an SSC during the next turn. If the result of the roll is) 6 or more, that ship is permanently removed from the game and no more attempts to replace it can be made.
UPF Replacements. The UPF's replacements depend on how many fortresses and fortified stations the UPF has remaining. For each fortress that has not been destroyed by the Sathar, the UPF can replace one ship larger than an assault scout (i.e., Frigate class or larger). For each Fortified station left undestroyed, the UPF player can replace two assault scouts, two fighters, or a fighter and an assault scout. These replacements are placed on the map at the start of the next turn at the appropriate station or fortress.
Both players may only replace ships that have been destroyed; they can never increase their fleets beyond their original size.
Planetary militia ships may not be replaced at all during the war.
Shatter drones were introduced by the Sathar, but by the time of the Second Sathar War they were being used by both sides. A shatter drone is essentially a ship that has been turned into a huge bomb. They are used to destroy large, tight formations of enemy ships.
Before the first turn, each player chooses two of his frigates to be shatter drones. The UPF can use either Spacefleet or militia frigates.
Shatter drones carry no live crew. Computer and robot controls allow them to perform as normal frigates. However, the ships are packed with hundreds of fusion bombs.
Shatter drones can be detonated at the end of the active player's movement phase, before defensive fire. When the drone detonates, the explosion inflicts one torpedo hit on every other ship in the drone's hex. No attack roll is needed. Every ship in the hex, whether enemy or friendly, must roll on the Damage Table with a -20 modifier (Advanced Rules). Ashatter drone has a hull damage rating of 5d10 in both the Basic and Mvanced Games.
A detonated shatter drone is completely destroyed. It is not counted as a destroyed ship for victory conditions, and it cannot be replaced.
In order to win, the Sathar must destroy UPF space stations and orbital fortresses. Because so little is known about the Sathar, the UPF player never is sure exactly what must be done to defeat the Sathar.
Sathar Victory
The Sathar player wins immediately if the Sathar forces destroy 12 space stations, including all four fortresses.
UPF Victory
If the Sathar can be forced to retreat while the UPF has at least two fortresses left, the UPF wins the war. If the Sathar are forced to retreat, but the UPF has only one fortress remaining, the game is a draw.
Sathar Retreat. The UPF does not know what the Sathar want, or what type of damage hurts them the most. To reflect this, the Sathar player gets to select one of five Retreat Conditions before the first turn. This choice is written down, and revealed to the UPF player when the conditions are met.
SATHAR RETREAT CONDITIONS (Choose One)
The Sathar fleet will retreat if:
| 1. | The Sathar have lost two assault carriers; |
| 2. | The Sathar have lost five heavy cruisers; |
| 3. | The Sathar have lost 40 ships, including fighters; |
| 4. | A tenday passes without the Sathar destroying at least two stations, two fortresses or a station and a fortress; |
| 5. | At the end of any tenday, the Sathar have lost more ships in combat than the UPF. Fighters and Militia ships are not counted toward this condition. |
As soon as the chosen condition has been met, the Sathar player must retreat all of his ships as quickly as possible to the nearest Sathar Start Circle. The ships enter the Void, returning to the Sathar worlds, leaving the Frontier in peace once again.
