The Vargr and the Fifth Frontier War

Just coreward of the Regina subsector lies the Vargr domains of Gvurrdon Sector. One Vargr warlord – the leader of the Ngath Confederation - has been influenced by the Zhodani Consulate to throw in with the Consulate against the Third Imperium. While larger than any corsair raid could ever hope to be, the Vargr warfleet is small by the standards of modern interstellar war.

As with many endeavors, logistics drives strategy. The Vargr were not immune to this constraint. Specifically, the Vargr had tens of thousands of ground fighters available, but insufficient shipping capacity (‘star lift capacity’ to use the naval term) to move all the troops simultaneously with the fleet. The result is a campaign that often appears to ‘lurch forward’. The assault carrier squadron carries the initial combat drop, but then has to fall back and retrieve the second wave. (Author’s aside: you find similar constraints in the operations of the 7^th Amphibious Force in the Southwest Pacific during World War Two).

Coupled with that is the bottleneck nature of the Feri star system. Feri has no gas giant, so in order to refuel, a fleet must control the planet. But the Vargr could not lift enough troops to quickly conquer the planet.

The Ulithi Fleet plan called for a six week campaign by the 101^st Army and 105^th Tank Corps, supported by the cruiser squadrons of the Fleet. Meanwhile the battle squadron’s accompany Assault Carrier Squadron 12 back to Vargr space to pick up the remaining corps and divisions of the invasion force and return to Feri. Ideally, by the time the fleet returned, the only thing left to do would be hold the victory parade, load up the troops and push on to the next objective.

Hungry Like the Wolf

Long time players of Traveller and no doubt familiar with the Fifth Frontier War – an epic clash between two massive empires – the Third Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate. What is often overlooked are the ‘minor allies’ of the Zhodani – the Swords Worlds and the Vargr. This supplement details the actions of the Vargr forces in the Fifth Frontier War, with special focus on one of the major planetary campaigns the Vargr forces participated in – the battle for Feri.

The Vargr are an alien race descended from Terran canine stock (i.e. wolves). While the Vargr occupy an impressive volume of space to coreward of the Third Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate, this size is not reflected in effectiveness. Vargr society is best know for two polar traits – first a fierce loyalty to the clan, tribe, nation and race. Second an equally fierce belief in the loyalty to the chieftain (derisively referred to by humans as the ‘pack leader’.

Vargr culture tends to inhibit larger governmental organizations, resulting in many competing ‘pocket empires’ that are nominally aligned into a greater whole. If you are trying to wrap you head around how the Vargr work as a socio-political force, two historical analogies would be similar to the princely states of the mid-13^th Century Holy Roman Empire or the Barbary states of mid- 17^th Century North Africa. Moderately powerful political units that cannot quite fully integrate at a larger scale, but still capable of acting on the larger stage.

The Vargr are best known throughout the Imperium as a constant threat of piracy and raiding (the infamous “Vargr Corsairs” of Little Black Book fame) mostly aimed at the Imperium. Anti-piracy patrol has long been a standard task for coreward frontier elements of the Imperial Navy.

In the Fifth Frontier War, this infamy operated on a broader scale. A small fleet embarked on the “pack mother of all raids” against the Imperium. Striking in conjunction with the Zhodani, these Vargr would set out to help bring down a mighty prize – the Third Imperium’s Spinward Marches sector.

LAMI

Light Armored Mobile Infantry

The red-headed stepchildren of the Mobile Infantry. Immortalized in the Paul Verenhoven classic movie “Starship Troopers”.

The Light Armor Mobile Infantry (LAMI) were the result of a strategy designed to produce a hastily raised, trained and equipped force meant to carry the fight to the bugs and end the war quickly.

It failed.  

In hindsight, the Fleet dropped the ball on understand Arachnid intentions and capabilities. The LAMI drop on Klendathu was an un-mitigated disaster. But, as is often said, you don’t go to war with the army you want, but with the army you have.

The LAMI platoon

Platoon Headquarters

1 Officer (LT) with Morita

1 Platoon Sergeant with Morita

1 Commo tech with Morita

3 Squads, each with;

1 Squad Leader with Morita

6 LAMI with Morita

1 LAMI with Morita Sniper Rifle

1 LAMI with Longbow RPG (AP:2/AT:2 M, or Pee-Wee Nuke)

Model type	Move	Armor	Firepower	Traits
LAMI	4” / 8”	1	1
Sniper	4” / 8”	1	1	Designated Marksman
Longbow	4” / 8”	1	AP:2/AT:2 M, or Pee-Wee Nuke
Officer	4” / 8”	1	1
NCO	4” / 8”	1	1
Commo tech	4” / 8”	1	1	Air Support

Notes:

1.      Org notes: 30 total troopers mean that the entire platoon can be dropped or extracted in a single Viking-class landing boat.The mix of sniper rifles and longbows can change depending on the mission.

2.      Unit Quality: Hastily raised and trained. For the Klendathu campaign treat these units as Quality D8, Morale D8. Select units are Quality D8, Morale D10. Exceptional units and D10/D10. Officers and NCO \may be individually better for quality and morale.

More thoughts on Starship Troopers with Tomorrow's War

A quick recap of our beer fueled ramblings regarding SST with TW.

1. Firepower is king in TW. So the bugs have to be tough to be able to close to close combat ranges. The hard to kill trait will help here (needs to be at least D8 for most bugs)
2. Most bug ranged weapons are variations on the flamethrower.
3. Exosuits and M1A* series power armor are treated as PA in Tomorrow's War.
4. The bog-standard Morita assault rifle is the basic rifle in the game (1 firepower die)
5. Marauders (Apes, Chickenhawks, etc) are closer to walkers in TW. Treat them as vehicles.
6. Big bugs (SST size 3+) should also be treated as vehicles;
• Tanker bugs are obviously armored vehicles
• Plasma bugs are lightly armored vehicles
• Brain bugs are vehicles, but they are softskins (The rear area CP/TOC)
• Overseer bugs are brains, but are treated as armored vechiles (The command AFV) 
7. Air support
• TBD, but no reason the core rules won't work.
8. Hopper and Rippler bugs
• TBD. Have to play around with these ratings
9.  Tunnelling
• TBD. Here's a few thoughts,
• Use the Ambush rules as written
• Use the tunneling rules from SST
• Allow Out of Contact movement for tunneling units (Just thought of this and its got real potential)

That's all for now! 

Bugs Mr. Rico!

Scott, Matt and I have a prodigious number of painted models for the old Mongoose Publishing game "Starship Troopers". We've not played since 2010 and no one wanted to re-read the rule book. So, why not try Tomorrow's War!

So we sat down at the table with some beer, some pretzels and proceeded to start hammering out some ratings. We got as far as the classic movie skirmish between a squad of 8 Light Armor Mobile Infantry (LAMI) who were at best a TL 2 force with a rocket launcher against 12 Warrior bugs in two swarms of 6 each. The

LAMI are pretty stock infantry. 1 Armor die, Basic Rifle and no super special attributes. Sure they had a medium support weapon with their crappy rocket launcher, but we basically subsumed the integral GL as just 'part of the rifle' and not worthy of a +1 firepower die like the good old M203 gets. AS basic infantry they move 4"/8"

Warrior bugs were a little more challenging.

TL: 1
Move: 6"/12"
Armor dice: 2 (These bugs are TOUGH! It also reflects exo-skeletal armor )
Weapons: Claws AP: 3 / AT 2(M) (They torn down the walls at Whiskey Outpost!)
Special Traits: Hard to Kill: D6 (We started with D8, but it was stupid tough to kill the bugs)

The Warriors are all about close combat. Very much like a Zulu impi. They move fast. They close to point blank and slash away. We made the warriors regulars - the hive mind gives purpose and guidance to their tactics and they are bred for the violence of the close combat attack.

Big difference in TW from SST is that ranged weapons cover the table. So the Warriors had a long charge over open ground. The MI did okay, but each round of fire triggered a charge reaction from the bugs, pulling them in closer. One group of Warriors got rolled up with fire and really bad saving thows and defense dice.

But the other group closed to point blank. The MI fail their quality check (they could have run away, but we wanted to see the Close Combat rules in action). Over four rounds of combat the Warriors slowly whittled the LAMI down, until after two morale checks the MI 'break' and 'surrender'. (Though we all know how well THAT works out for the MI.)

So not a bad start. The LAMI are pretty bad troops. (Even as D8/D8) The TW rules don't really support why the MI used fortifications so much in the movie.  If the bugs have to close assault, you don't get cover dice and flamethrowers negate cover as well.

Working of stats for the tanker (which should be a vehicle) and some of the other bugs (Blister/Blaster, Firefries and Hopper/Rippler bugs) and then take a stab at the 'cartoon' MI in the M1A4 powersuits.

Let you know how it turns out!

Things have been quiet on the gaming front the past few months. Between trains, work and vacation actually having time to game has been a real challenge.

Hopefully, I'll find more time this summer to get re-engaged with my Vargr campaign, scenarios and figures with the goal of providing games for CincyCon and other area conventions.

Stay tuned - I'll be back.

CincyCon - Rearguard on Regina

Impie Marines hold against the Joe onslaught

3rd Platoon, C Company, 2-2113 Marines always got the raw end of the stick. Posted to what was supposed to be a cushy job guarding the sector capital, they were left holding the bag when a massive Zhodani invasion force dropped on Regina in the opening weeks of the Fifth Frontier War. The regiment was spread thin covering the approaches to the Fleet Marine landing field on the southern continent. The luckless jarheads of third platoon were smack in the path of the Zhodani spearhead that aimed to capture the field and cut the Marines off from escape.

The Zhodani offensive was massive, but its object was to secure the starport and capture the sector capital along with elements of the government and the so-called 'nobility'.

In a range of low hills, Third platoon spread out. One Marine squad on each flank with a heavy grav tank supporting both groups from the center.

Opposing them were the Zhodani - a mechanized lift infantry platoon on the left, a jump troop platoon on the right with three Z-80 grav tanks providing heavy fire support.

Turn 1
The Zhodani push forward, with all 60 dismounted personnel bounding ahead in their battledress. warbots provide a screen for the mech infantry, probing for the Imperial forces. Contact comes quickly as the Marine outpost on the left flank spots an advancing jump troop squad. Passing the spot off to the APC, the Marines open fire with their fusion Y gun and drop three of the advancing infantry. But a Zhodani tank on overwatch spots the brilliant beam of energy and shoots back at the APC. Circuits overload and sizzle and the APC shudders under the molten flame of the fusion gun. Systems failing the APC drops to the ground, becoming a very expensive bunker for the crew.

The Joe tank having revealing itself draws fire from the Imperial MBT.. The Z-80 'blowed up real good' and triggered morale checks for most of the Zhodani company. Fortunately, this is the last action of the turn and the pinned units quickly recover.

Turn 2
The engagement becomes more general. On the Imperial center and right, the advancing warbots detect most of the remaining infantry. In return, the surviving Marine APC lobs a tac missile at a warbot and smashes it. The Zhodani forces (operating with a functional grid) detect this shot and salvo most of their AT missiles in return. In a dazzling display of high-tech hardware the APC shrugs off the swarm of missiles through a combination of point defense and great armor.

Having spotting the mech platoon's APC's firing ATGM, the Marine platoon CO calls fire from the regimental meson battery. With a successful call fire result, much of the Zhodani mech platoon dies a horrible death (all three APC, one tank and two squads were caught in the blast zone of the meson gun.

Two can try and play this game! The Zhodani call fire from an orbiting destroyer...and fail! I mean really fail, the destroyer had to bug out and is no longer available to support the Zhodani advance. Things are looking up the Marines!

Turn 3
Electronic warfare raises its ugly head as the grid on both sides goes down. Fortunately, the surviving troops on both sides (Marine's and jump troops) and not too effected, but the mech troops slow down in the confusion.

The Marines and Zhodani infantry close up to spotting distance and begin to unload on each other with PGMP and FGMP. The Imperial reliance on the FGMP is telling as practically every hit is a KIA result. The plasma guns are not quite as deadly and while Marines are knocked down, the advanced trauma systems in their battledress helps them stand up turn after turn.


Turn 4
The grid comes up for the Imperials. While they run low on combat troops, their platoon leaders pull in all the fire support they can and another meson strike takes out the lead jump troop squad. A MRL barrage attempts to clear the remaining Zhodani infantry, but the point defense sleds come through and keep the infantry and command elements intact.The Zhodani are close to breaking through.

Turn 5
In a mad dash, one of the Zhodani point defense sleds exits the table. The remaining Zhodani tank and point defense gun are caught by the Intrepid and APC and knocked out (The Intrepid suffers a gun casualty reducing its firepower).

The Zhodani platoon headquarters sled and company command sled almost make it off the table, surviving a gaunlet of FGMP fire. In a desperation move, the Marines call for meson fire one last time and successfully fry the Zhodani APC...and just in time! The comm crackles to life to inform the surviving Marines that the transport is away and they can fall back. Victory to the Imperials!

Hot wash up
The Marines were lucky! The successful string of call fire missions allowed them to cut down the attacking Zhodani and make a win possible. In fairness, our players were total noobs both to Tomorrow's War and to the Traveller background. Given their level of skill with the game, they did well using terrain and the high-tech weapons to good effect.

Through no fault of their own, the Zhodani lost their destroyer fire support. A huge blow as this was the 'can-opener' that would allow the Zhodani to smash the armor and AFV's opposing them.

Observations
Again, FGMP are freakin' deadly! Having seen it a few times now, I get why the Imperium equips the Marines with the FGMP-14. When the Marines show up, the party is over! Even plasma guns were hard pressed to inflict casualties at the same rate. The value of energy weapons was clear as they negated some of the benefits of body armor and cover. If we had used gauss rifles this would have been a different game.