Human League Rising
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The main goal for this game is digging into the mechanics of shifting, especially Enhanced and Enhanced Gate shifting, both of which provide increased range, but also require thinking ahead to carefully place shift enhancing starforces. Tough to do in 3D on a flat piece of paper.
I'm reexamining combat as well, because I'm pretty sure I've been "Doing It Wrong" somehow, to be expected from lack of experience.
The Basic Combat rules will be used for this game. A future game will explore how the Advanced Combat rules play out.
Scenario background
Scenario 3 follows Scenario 2 in the timeline, postulating the Solar Hegemony collapsed and was replaced by the Pan-Human Hegemony. Humans being what they are, friction with the Human League ensure hostilities continued.
The PHH player has Sol and Alpha Centauri, and is using the blue counters in the following screenshots. The Human League is using the tan counters.
Turn 1
The Pan-Human Hegemony (PHH) makes a Gate Shift from Alpha Centauri to Epsilon Indi, it's a single shift, total no brainer to pick up a first victory condition.
The Human League (HL)
Here's what it looks like at the end of Turn 1:
For some reason, it seems to be really difficult to get a good photo of the StarForce map under plexi in any lighting conditions. I'll keep trying.
Turn 2
Hl and PHH are jockeying for position, getting starforces in range of enemy gates to ensure overwhelming combat.
At the end of Turn 2:
Is the Human League really going after Sol? Or is that just a feint when the real target is Alpha Centauri?
This scenario feels like it has a lot of replay value.
Turn 3
Setting up for some combat. Note the PHH is positioned to accept an Enhanced Shift from starforces A and B.
Combat looks likely next turn. Modulo breakoffs, Turn 4 might be the last turn. Or, the invading starforces may all get wiped out and no gates taken at all. We'll see.
Turn 4
Looks like the Human League faked out the PHH after all, and will be attempting to neutralize Alpha Centauri.
The PHH is definitely attempting Epsilon Eridani, they can't get anywhere else within the next turn.
Here's what it looks like before combat gets under way:
Time for combat. As noted at the beginning, this is Basic Game rules.
Combat at Alpha Centauri
That's 4 HL starforces against a starforce and stargate at Alpha Centauri.
| segment | faction | total | attack | defend | net | roll | result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HL | 8 | 5 | 3 | +3 | 6 | 2, 1 PHH lost |
| PHH | 3 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 1 | NE | |
| 2 | HL | 12 | 10 | 2 | +6 | 6 | 5, gate lost |
| PHH | 5 | 1 | 4 | -1 | 1 | 1, 1 HL lost |
Combat at Epsilon Eridani
At Epsilon Eridani, we have a stargate and two starforces resident with one shifting in for defenders (2x3 + 2 = 8 in Segment 1), and 4 PHH starforces attacking.
This should be a roughly even match.
| segment | faction | total | attack | defend | net | roll | result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HL | 8 | 1 | 7 | -1 | 3 | NE |
| PHH | 8 | 6 | 2 | -1 | 9 | 1 HL lost | |
| 2 | HL | 11 | 1 | 10 | -3 | 6 | 1 PHH lost |
| PHH | 12 | 8 | 4 | -2 | 6 | 1 HL lost | |
| 3 | HL | 8 | 1 | 7 | -2 | 6 | 1 PHH lost |
| PHH | 12 | 9 | 3 | +2 | 4 | 1 HL lost | |
| 4 | HL | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 1 PHH lost |
| PHH | 6 | 5 | 1 | -1 | 3 | NE | |
| 5 | HL | 5 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 | 1 PHH lost |
| PHH | 3 | 0 | 2 | - | 1 |
That was nasty. It could have gone either way, but the PHH should also have a slight statistical advantage. Trading losses 1 for 1 is a bad deal for the attacker in this case, as the star gate just sits there grinding down the attackers.
AAR
Clear win for Human League, in part due to a large number of 6s rolled when outnumbered at Epsilon Eridani, which chewed away at the PHH starforces 1 at a time. That 9 for the HL was pretty helpful too. It went 5 combat segments, and the last of 4 PHH forces was in breakoff mode, but still was lost. It was just a bad day for the Pan-Human Hegemony. Murphy must have brought his whole family.
The next time I play this either solo or as the PHH, I'm not going for Epsilon Indi right away. I'll deal with that later, after reducing some HL starforces and neutralizing an HL gate.
I really like this game. The mechanics are simple, but the decisions are truly agonizing.
StarForce would be a fantastic game to umpire for people playing double blind. I believe I'd want some sort of intelligence capability though, such that at least some of the enemy OOB was exposed.