Roll Out the Gun Barrels: Star Strife
By J. L. Butler
Basic Rules:
Each player should have distinctive dice. If not all of
one color, at least make sure everyone knows which dice belong
to which player. This can get problematic when you have more
than 3 or 4 players, of course.
Your forces will consist of some number of dice of various
types. By adding up the total number of sides on all your
dice, you get the point value of your army. Players will usually
want to have the same number of points, but need not. Determine
who goes first by some random method, then have all players
roll their dice.
Each turn consists of two phases. During phase 1, the first
acting player plays and then during phase 2, the second acting
player plays. A unit may only act once in a turn. If it conducts
a defensive action during the other player's phase, it may
not attack. If it attacks in its own phase, it may not conduct
a defensive action during the other player's phase.
In a direct assault, pick one die of yours that shows a
number greater than one die of an opponent's. That enemy die
is eliminated and placed in your scoring area.
For a flanking maneuver, choose two or more of your dice
whose total equals that of an enemy die. Greater than doesn't
work, the total must be equal. This represents the greater
finesse required in outflanking an opponent. Additionally,
one of the dice used in the flanking maneuver must show a
value that is at least half as large as the value shown on
the die being attacked. This keeps a horde of d1's from being
able to overwhelm any other target, unless that target rolled
really poorly. As with a direct assault, you place the enemy
unit in your scoring area.
Note: The presence of attrition units may change
who is the victor of an engagement. Should after attrition
casualties the defender hold the advantage, he is the victor
and the attacker's die is eliminated. The defender then suffers
damage as if he were the attacker. In the case of a tie, both
sides suffer damage.
Damage: Units suffer damage as a result of engagements.
In direct assaults, the attacker's die is reduced by half
the value of the defender's die. For example, if your D12
with a '10' showing is used to polish off a D10 with an '8'
showing, the D10 is eliminated and your D12 is now reduced
to '6'. An attacking die which is at least 4-sided cannot
drop below one, unless already equal to one. Those which drop
to zero or less are eliminated, and go to the defender's scoring
area.
In flanking maneuvers, those points of damage may be distributed
among the attacking units as the attacker wishes. Any attacking
die may be reduced to zero and thus eliminated.
Catastrophic Damage: Any unit reduced to '1' cannot
roll again.
Once you've made your attack, regardless of the type, the
phase passes to the next player. Obviously, in a game with
many players, the opening rounds will be very bloody as all
the low-rolling dice are eliminated.
The game ends when only one player has any dice left. Total
up the sides of the dice you have in your scoring area, highest
total wins
Attack Sequence:
- Declare attack (type, target and participants)
- Call for Reaction (continues until both sides pass)
- Resolve Attrition combat (attrition units are counted
after attrition casualties)
- Determine Victor
- Eliminate Loser and Assign Damage
Units:
Note: D1-D3 units regardless of type gain the Attrition
tag. Attrition units cannot control, deploy or field other
attrition units.
Small Fry: These units are unattractive targets,
but can get lucky and outflank a big unit that got a bad roll.
It's recommended that no more than half of any total army
be made up of Small Fry.
D1:
D1 Battlesatellite/Space Mine (Cannot kill units larger
than D6 unless flanking.) (Attrition unit.)
D1 Space Combat Drone (Represents a pattern of 1-10 drones.
Adds +1 attack, +1 defense to controlling unit; takes up one
control channel. Owning player can buy more SCDs than control
channels, extras are deployed in space as D1 attrition units
until a control channel is freed. Can be targeted separately.
A ship can only control D/2 of units in control channels.)
D1 Decoy (Cost: 2 pts.) (Adds +2 defense to controlling
unit; takes up one control channel. Decoys cannot be replaced
in combat. Can be targeted separately.)
D1 Interceptors (Cost: 2 pts.) (Represents a pattern of
interceptor drones and/or rockets. Attrition. Reaction. Held
out of play aboard owning starship until used. Requires an
open control channel at beginning of turn of use. Interceptors
react into play from their deploying starship and are immediately
removed at end of the turn in which they were deployed. +3
defense to controlling unit. The interceptors themselves gain
+2 attack when rolling for attrition casualties only.)
D2:
D2 Corvette/System Defense Boat (Escort. Attrition. Cannot
kill units larger than D4 unless flanking.)
D3:
D3 Heavy Corvette (Escort. Attrition.)
Medium Fry: The meat of any army.
D4:
D4 Fighter Squadron (Attrition. Reaction. Must be deployed
from a carrier. Fighters can stack more attack points than
their target in flanking maneuvers.)
D4 Mecha Squadron (Attrition. Must be deployed from a carrier.
Mecha can stack more attack points than their target in flanking
maneuvers. If given a control channel, they lend their firepower
support to the controlling ship, surrending their own attack.
Supported ships receive +1 attack, +2 defense. Supporting
mecha provide a die roll towards attrition casualties against
enemy attrition units attacking their controlling ship. Mecha
receive +0 attack, -1 defense against fighters in open space;
mecha receive +1 attack, -0 defense against fighters in bad
terrain. Mecha receive +3 attack vs. ships without defending
mecha or fighter cover.)
D4 Frigate/Patrol Ship (Escort)
D4 Gunboats/Heavy Fighters (Attrition. Reaction. -1 defense,
cannot drop below 1. May add +1 to attack when flanking or
not as owning player wishes.)
D6:
D6 Destroyer (Escort)
D6 Guided Missile Destroyer (+1 attack, only 1 control channel)
D6 Escort Carrier (Carrier)
D6 Defense Platform (Station)
D8:
D8 Light Cruiser (May add +1 to attack when flanking or
not as owning player wishes.)
D8 Light Carrier (Carrier)
D8 Base Station/Space Station (Station)
Big Fry: The units that you want to have a few of,
but really hope they never roll 1s.
D10:
D10 Heavy Cruiser/Battlecruiser
D10 Guided Missile Cruiser (+2 attack, only 1 control channel;
can deploy 0 D4 units but gets 2 carrier actions for supporting
drones)
D10 Fleet Carrier (Carrier)
D10 (Station)
D12:
D12 Battleship
D12 Attack Carrier CVA (Carrier)
D12 Basestation (Station)
D20:
D20 Dreadnought
D20 Supercarrier (Carrier)
D20 Battlestation (Station)
D30:
D30 Superdreadnought
D30 Battlestar/Mother Ship/Command Ship (Carrier)
D30 Frontier Station (Station)
D60 (D30x2):
D60 Warstar
D60 Basestar (Carrier) [Note: Basestars can carry as many
as 300 fighters.]
D60 Starbase (Station)
D100 (not recommended):
D100 Borg Cube
D100 Starfortress/Fortress Station/Asteroid Fortress/Death
Star (Station)
Unit Type Rules:
Stacking: Certain units may launch mass attacks,
namely fighters and mecha. Fighters and mecha can stack together
more points of units than the die roll of the target die in
flanking attacks.
Attrition Units: Attrition units suffer casualties
when participating in attacks. Attrition units roll their
dice and divide by 3 (round down) and eliminate that many
enemy attrition dice involved in the attack. Non-attrition
units involved in the attack roll their dice and divide by
4 (round down) and eliminate that many enemy attrition dice
involved in the attack.
Reaction Units: If these units have not already acted
this turn, reaction units may be sent in as reinforcements
by the defender to bolster a particular battle for his side.
Or he may opt to pass. Either way, after this, the attacker
is free to send in any reaction units of his to the fight
that have not acted to compensate. Or he too may pass. This
continues until both players have passed. Then all reaction
and attrition units roll their dice and resolve casualties.
The survivors add their points to their respective side and
if the attacker's total is greater than the defender's then
the target die is removed from play; otherwise it is not.
Escort Units: Escorts can either attack or defend
in a turn. Either counts as an action, and they cannot act
twice in a turn. In defense, if your opponent manages to take
one of your dice, you can choose to have one or more escorts
take that die's place, but only if their total is greater
than or equal to the difference between your opponent's die
and the die she is trying to take. Example: Your opponent
uses a d12 to take your d10. The d12 reads "11",
and your d10 reads "8." Her d12 beats your d10 by
3 points. HOWEVER, you notice you have an escort in play.
The escort shows 3. You can choose to sacrifice the escort
to your opponent instead, and keep your d10 in play. Now lets
change that situation... This time, she again has 11 on her
d12 and you again have 8 on your d10, but none of your escorts
show 3 or higher. But you do have 2 escorts in play, with
the numbers 1 and 2. You can sacrifice these two escorts (because
their total equals 3 or higher) and keep your d10.
Carriers: Carriers are used to deploy fighters, gunboats
and mecha. Carriers also gain Carrier Actions depending on
size.
Carrier Type: Can deploy X D4 units: # of Carrier
Actions:
D6 CVE 2 1
D8 CVL 3 1
D10 CV 4 2
D12 CVA 5 2
D20 SCV 8 3
D30 BatS/MS 12 5
D60 BaseStar 24 10
Certain non-carriers can deploy a limited number of small
craft as seen below:
Non-Carrier: Can deploy X D4 units: # of Carrier
Actions:
D6 DD (or smaller) 0 0
D8 CL 1 0
D10 CA 1 1
D12 BB 2 1
D20 DN 3 2
D30 SDN 5 3
D60 WAR 10 6
Carriers cannot attack and thus their attack strength is
always considered zero. They roll as normally to provide a
defense number. Non-carriers utilizing Carrier Actions forfeit
their attack that turn if they use a Carrier Action. Non-carriers
forfeit their Carrier Actions if they use an attack that turn.
Carrier Actions:
Repair Attrition: Roll carrier die, if even, the
loss of an attrition unit in combat is prevented.
Rally: The friendly attrition unit of your choice
re-rolls its die.
Disperse: Friendly D4 attrition unit is dispersed
into 4 D1 Attrition units.
Coordinate: Grants a friendly attrition unit +1 offense
for a turn.
Stations:
Stations can both attack and use carrier actions without
penalty. Only the strategic defender may have 1 station (barring
a special scenario) and he may only have 1 (again, barring
a special scenario). Stations cannot participate in flanking
attacks although they may be the target of flanking attacks.
Stations gain +3 attack, +3 defense, +5 defense against flanking
attacks. Stations have D/2 (round down) control channels.
Stations may make use of decoys. Stations gain the carrier
capacity and carrier actions of a carrier of their die.
Control Channels:
Starships have limited communications and scanner resources;
these are represented by control channels. A ship has only
D/2 control channels. These channels are used to control drones
and decoys or such and/or coordinate close support with mecha
squadrons. A single die may conduct a supported direct assault
by attacking with drone, decoy or mecha support with only
the units that fit into its control channel allotment. Damage
incurred in such a supported direct assault may be scored
off of accompanying drones, decoys and mecha first.
Command Points (optional):
At the beginning of each turn, each player rolls a D6 and
gains that many Command Points. You may use a Command Point
at the beginning of a Phase to reroll a single friendly die.
You may expend all of your Command Points to force a single
enemy die to reroll (in which case, that player may not use
Command Points to reroll.)
Terrain Types:
Asteroid Field: +3 defense for all units. Attrition
units gain +2 attack vs. non-attrition units.
Ancient Minefield: Every turn, during their phase,
each player gains 5 D1 Basic Space Mines to use against their
opponent.
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