Star Destroyer vs Providence-class Dreadnought
Introduction:
In recent weeks I've been collaborating with The Rancor Pit's CR McNeill to develop rules for Capital Ship battles for the Star Wars D6 system. Once the rules are finalised, I will share them on a post here, but meantime, I thought it might be fun to provide a play test battle report illustrating how the rules work. So, without further ado...
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| Image from Revenge of the Sith (c) Disney |
The Scenario:
The Rebels in my campaign are based on a ship called Nowhere, a Providence-class Dreadnought very similar to General Grevious' ship the Invisible Hand as seen in Revenge of the Sith. In this scenario, Nowhere is going head to head with an Imperial-class Star Destroyer.
The Command Deck:
Each ship has a template called the Command Deck which provides a number of key statistics, fire arcs and other information required to run the Capital Ship. I'm not going to explain the rules in full here, but a couple of key points to note are as follows:
1) Turn Sequence: The turn is split into the following phases:
Initiative Phase
Command Phase
Damage Control Phase
Action Phase
Movement Phase
How these work will hopefully become apparent during the course of this battle report.
2) Orders: Each turn, the ship's Captain can order the ship to carry out any one of the following three manoeuvres:
Fly Casual: The ship takes a steady course, maximising the chances of hitting an opposing ship. The ship receives no penalties to subsequent actions, although enemy ships can hit this vessel based on range difficulties alone.
Evasive Action: All subsequent actions are subjected to a -1D Multiple Action Penalty. However, when enemy ships target this vessel, they can be hit on difficulties based on range and Ship Defence (see Command Deck).
Full Evasion: The ship throws all of its power into the engines to maximise evasive action and weapons may not fire. Any Damage Control rolls suffer a -2D Multiple Action Penalty. The difficulty for incoming fire to hit is equal to the Ship's Defence and Range Difficulty +10.
3) Battery Dice: Battery Dice can be allocated either to Gunnery Fire Control (boosting the roll to hit) or Damage (boosting the roll to inflict damage). Dependant on range, there are limits to how many dice can be allocated to the Damage (see Command Deck).
Starting Command Decks:
Nowhere:
Imperial Star Destroyer (ISD):
Turn One:
Note: This turn is described more fully than subsequent ones to illustrate how rolls are calculated.
Ship Positions:
Initiative Phase:
Nowhere: 23
ISD: 23
ISD wins Initiative and gains +1 to future rolls, marked on the Initiative Bonus Tracker.
Command Phase:
Nowhere: 23 - exceeds required Command target by 11 points, increasing all skill rolls by 1D this turn.
ISD: 23 - exceeds required Command Target by 6 points, increasing all skill rolls by +2 this turn.
Both of these bonuses are noted on the Command Tracker.
Orders: Both Captains take Evasive Action. All subsequent rolls this turn will incur a -1D Multiple Action Penalty (MAP).
Damage Control Phase:
Both ships angle their deflector shields to the front arc of their ships. (Free action, automatic success.)
Action Phase:
ISD has Initiative. The Captain decides not to try to fire both sets of weapons at once (as there would be an additional -1D MAP if he did so). He is at 40 space away from Nowhere, long range for both weapons. He decides to use the Ion Cannon to attempt to deplete Nowhere's shields (using CR McNeill's alternative Ionisation Rules). Because of the range, he can only place 1D into Damage, which he does. The other 3D of Battery Dice are assigned to Gunnery Fire Control. He makes the following rolls:
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 7D+1 + Battery Dice: 3D + Command Bonus: +2 - MAP (Evasive Action): -1D = 10D.
Target Difficulty = Long Range: 20 + Nowhere Ship Defence: 12 = 32.
The Ion Cannon roll is 42 - a hit!
Damage roll: 3D + 1D Battery Dice = 4D = 14
Shield roll: 3D+2 = 10
4 points of Damage = 1D of Shields lost to Ionisation for Nowhere!
Nowhere responds, firing its own Ion Cannon! All Battery Dice have to be allocated to Gunnery Fire Control.
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+1 Battery Dice: 2D+1 + Command Bonus 1D - MAP (Evasive Action): -1D = 10D+2
Target Difficulty = Long Range: 20 + ISD Ship Defence: 13 = 33
The Ion Cannon roll is 31 - a miss!
Play returns to the ISD which fires its Turbolasers.
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+2 + Battery Dice: 3D + Command Bonus: +2 - MAP (Evasive Action): -1D = 11D+1.
Target Difficulty = Long Range: 20 + Nowhere Ship Defence: 12 = 32.
The Turbolaser Cannon roll is 34 - a hit!
Damage roll: 5D + 1D Battery Dice = 6D = 19
Hull: 6D + Shields: 2D+2 = 8D+2 = 28
Nowhere soaks up the damage! Finally, it fires back with its Quad Turbolasers!
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+1 + Battery Dice: 3D + Command Bonus: +1D - MAP (Evasive Action): -1D = 11D+1.
Target Difficulty = Long Range: 20 + ISD Ship Defence: 13 = 33.
The Turbolaser roll is a mega 53 - a hit!
Damage roll: 6D + Battery Dice: +2 = 6D+2 = 16
Hull: 6D + Shields: 2D+2 = 8D+2 = 36
The ISD easily shrugs off the Damage! Firing for both ships now completed, the Action Phase is ended.
Movement Phase
Having lost Initiative, Nowhere is forced to move first. The ISD follows suit and both ships close in on one another. End of Turn One.
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| End of Turn One |
Turn Two:
Initiative Phase:
Nowhere: 13
ISD: 9 (Modified to 10 because of the +1 Initiative Bonus from last turn.)
Despite having a bonus, Nowhere wins Initiative and gains +1 to future rolls, marked on the Initiative Bonus Tracker. The ISD Initiative Bonus returns to zero.
Command Phase:
Nowhere: 20 - exceeds required Command target by 8 points, increasing all skill rolls by +2 this turn.
ISD: 25 - exceeds required Command Target by 8 points, increasing all skill rolls by +2 this turn.
Both of these bonuses are noted on the Command Tracker.
Orders: Both Captains take Evasive Action again. All subsequent rolls this turn will incur a -1D Multiple Action Penalty (MAP).
Damage Control Phase:
Nowhere suffered 1D of Ionisation Damage last turn. However, 1D of Ionised Shields are automatically regenerated each turn, meaning no Damage Control roll is required to regenerate the shield.
Both Captains once again angle their deflector shields to the front arc of their ships.
Action Phase:
Nowhere has Initiative and decides to fire one weapon at a time so as to avoid MAPs. The range is 21 space: all weapons on both ships are now at Medium Range! The Captain puts 2D Battery Dice into Damage.
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 10D
Target Difficulty = Medium Range: 15 + ISD Ship Defence: 13 = 28
The Ion Cannon roll is 40 - a hit!
Damage roll: 3D + Battery Dice: +1 = 3D+1 = 13
Shield roll: 3D = 6
7 points of Damage = 2D of Shields lost to Ionisation for the ISD!
Having lost 2 shields, the ISD Captain decides he wants to fire both weapons before Nowhere responds. This means he suffers a -1D MAP for firing both weapons which is added to the -1D MAP for giving the Evasive Action order. He throws 2 Battery Dice into Gunnery and 2 into Damage on both weapons.
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 8D
Target Difficulty = Medium Range: 15 + Nowhere Ship Defence: 12 = 27
The Ion Cannon roll is 24 - a miss!
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 9D+1
Target Difficulty = Medium Range: 15 + Nowhere Ship Defence: 12 = 27
The Turbolaser Cannon roll is 27 - a hit, but only just! They all count, though!
Damage roll: 5D + 2D Battery Dice = 7D = 26
Hull: 6D + Shields: 3D+2 = 9D+2 = 33
The ISD has failed to even scratch Nowhere this turn!
Nowhere fires it's Quad Turbolasers.
Quad Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 10D
Target Difficulty = Medium Range: 15 + ISD Ship Defence: 13 = 28
The Quad Turbolasers roll 32 - another hit on the ISD!
Damage roll: 6D + 1D+2 Battery Dice = 7D+2 = 19
Hull: 7D + Shields: 1D = 8D = 25
The ISD manages to get away without taking any more damage!
Movement Phase:
The ISD moves forward 6, while Nowhere's Captain, keen to close on the ISD in the hope that he may later get in behind the ISD where it has no weapons, moves 12. End of Turn 2.
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| End of Turn Two |
Turn Three:
Initiative Phase:
Nowhere: 12 (Modified to 13 because of the +1 Initiative Bonus from last turn.)
ISD: 13
Draw! Both Captains reroll!
Nowhere: 12 (Modified to 13 because of the +1 Initiative Bonus from last turn.)
ISD: 12
Nowhere scrapes an Initiative win and gains +2 to future rolls, marked on the Initiative Bonus Tracker.
Command Phase
Nowhere: 18 - exceeds required Command target by 6 points, increasing all skill rolls by +2 this turn.
ISD: 23 - also exceeds required Command Target by 6 points, increasing all skill rolls by +2 this turn.
Both of these bonuses are noted on the Command Tracker.
Orders: With the Range now being closed to Short Range, both Captains take Fly Casual orders. Neither ship suffers MAPs for this, but the difficulty on rolls to hit is based solely on Range, now 10!
Damage Control Phase:
The ISD recovers 1 Ionised Shield per turn - but it lost two last turn, so the Captain orders Damage Control be carried out to bring the remaining shield back online. A Capital Ship Operation roll (5D+1) is required to do so, with a Difficulty of 10 (10 per shield requiring repair). A roll of 15 restores the ISD to full shields - but it suffers a -1D MAP to successive actions.
Both Captains maintain Shields in their front arcs.
Action Phase:
With shots expected to hit with ease, Nowhere's Captain decides to fire both weapons at once, suffering a -1D MAP. He piles all but the 1 Battery Dice into Damage (but only because of the limitation of 1D at Short Range).
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 9D
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Ion Cannon roll is 43 - a hit!
Damage roll: 3D + Battery Dice: 1D+1 = 4D+1 = 11
Shield roll: 3D = 14
No Ionisation Damage!
Quad Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 9D
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Quad Turbolasers roll 30 - another hit on the ISD!
Damage roll: 6D + 2D+2 Battery Dice = 8D+2 = 27
Hull: 7D + Shields: 1D = 8D = 24
The ISD loses 1D of shields!
The ISD Captain decides to fire his weapons one at a time so as to keep his MAP penalty at -1D (because of Damage Control Action). He places 3D Battery Dice into Damage.
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 8D
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Ion Cannon roll is 34 - a hit!
Damage Roll: 3D + Battery Dice: 2D = 5D = 17
Shield Roll = 3D+2 = 11
2D of Shields suffer Ionisation Damage on Nowhere!
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 9D+1
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Turbolaser Cannon roll is 25 - a hit!
Damage roll: 5D + 3D Battery Dice = 8D = 29
Hull: 6D + Shields: 1D+2 = 7D+2 = 29
A zero result means Nowhere's remaining shields have been blown - but Shields Blown by anything other than Ionisation are automatically recovered next turn! A lucky escape for Nowhere's Captain!
Movement Phase:
The ISD Captain turns his ship while Nowhere's Captain turns his in the opposite direction, lining up for a point blank exchange of broadsides next turn! In retrospect, this was a blunder by Nowhere's Captain: it would have been better to stay facing directly on to the ISD and hit it with front arc weapons next turn. End of Turn Three.
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| End of Turn Three |
Turn Four:
Initiative Phase:
Nowhere: 10 (Modified to 12 because of the +2 Initiative Bonus from last turn.)
ISD: 22
ISD wins Initiative and gains +1 to future rolls, marked on the Initiative Bonus Tracker.
Command Phase:
Nowhere: 19 - exceeds required Command target by 7 points, increasing all skill rolls by +2 this turn.
ISD: 12 - fails required Command Target by 5 points, reducing all skill rolls by -1 this turn.
Both of these are noted on the respective Command Trackers.
Orders: With the Range now being closed to Point Blank, both Captains once again take Fly Casual orders. Neither ship suffers MAPs for this, but the difficulty on rolls to hit is based solely on Range, now a meagre 5!
Damage Control Phase:
The Shields blown and 1D Ionisation Damage are automatically restored to Nowhere, but the Captain wants the remaining Ionised Shield brought back online - so carries out a Damage Control Action (conferring a 1D MAP to later actions). He rolls 21 - easily succeeding! The ISD shields automatically come back online.
Both ships angle deflector shields to their opposing side arcs.
Action Phase:
This time the ISD Captain decides to fire both guns at once, accepting the -1D MAP. With both ships now at point blank range, he piles all Battery Dice into Damage!
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 6D
Target Difficulty = Point Blank Range: 5
The Ion Cannon roll is 22 - a hit!
Damage Roll: 3D + Battery Dice: 3D+2 = 5D = 25
Shield Roll = 3D+2 = 14
3D of Shields suffer Ionisation Damage on Nowhere! They only have +2 left!
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 7D+1
Target Difficulty = Point Blank Range: 5
The Turbolaser Cannon roll is 28 - a hit!
Damage roll: 5D + 4D Battery Dice = 9D = 28
Hull: 6D + Shields: +2 = 7D+2 = 26
Somewhat implausibly, Nowhere has escaped again with its remaining shields have been blown - but with 3D Ionisation, they will require some Damage Control next turn! Another lucky escape for Nowhere's Captain!
Nowhere's Captain decides to fire both weapons separately, limiting his -1D MAP caused by Damage Control alone. Like the ISD Captain, he piles all Battery Dice into Damage.
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 8D
Target Difficulty = Point Blank Range: 5
The Ion Cannon roll is 35 - a hit!
Damage roll: 3D + Battery Dice: 2D+1 = 5D+1 = 27
Shield roll: 3D = 9
A mammoth 18 Ionisation Damage not only takes down the Shields but inflicts a Lightly Damaged Controls Dead result - but the Quads have yet to fire now! What an opportunity to inflict serious damage on the ISD!
Quad Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D
Target Difficulty = Point Blank Range: 5
The Quad Turbolasers roll 27 - another hit on the ISD!
Damage roll: 6D + 3D Battery Dice = 9D = 31
Hull: 7D = 21
With 10 points of Damage, the ISD is Heavily Damaged! A 1D6 roll reveals that Weapons in one Arc have been destroyed! Another roll reveals that the Ion Cannon weapons on the ISD's right side are permanently destroyed!
Note: I forgot to place tokens illustrating the Damage this turn. These will be shown on the Command Deck in Turn 5.
Movement Phase:
With the ISD dead in space, it cannot move! Nowhere's Captain simply turns his ship in place. Not only does this ensure more Point Blank, but because the ISD's Ion Cannon have been destroyed on the Right Arc (and cannot be repaired), the ISD would be restricted to one weapon attack from that flank next turn! End of Turn 4.
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| End of Turn Four |
Turn Five:
Initiative Phase:
Nowhere: 9
ISD: 18
(Modified to 19 because of the +1 Initiative Bonus from last turn.)
ISD wins Initiative and gains +2 to future rolls, marked on the Initiative Bonus Tracker. More importantly, by winning by 10+ points, the Captain has pulled off a Tactical Masterstroke which allows the ISD to move during the Action Phase and fire from 2 different arcs (it is normally limited to one). However, with the ship in a dire state, repair rolls will dictate whether the ISD can make any use of this.
Command Phase:
Nowhere: 15 - exceeds required Command target by 3 points, increasing all skill rolls by +1 this turn.
ISD: 17 - succeeds, but receives no bonuses or penalties this turn.
Both of these are noted on the respective Command Trackers.
Orders: Both Captains order their crews to Fly Casual, but for different reasons: Nowhere's Captain wants to avoid the MAP penalty for Evasive Action, particularly when the ISD's ability to return fire may be diminished, while the ISD Captain wants to maximise his chances of repairing Damage and Shields.
Damage Control Phase:
Nowhere regains the shields blown by the ISD's Turbolasers and one Ionised Shield, before performing a Damage Control Action 4D6+1. The result is 15 which allows one more Ionised Shield to be regenerated. Nowhere now suffers a -1D MAP to other actions.
The ISD Captain also makes a Damage Control Roll 5D6+1, looking to repair the Light Damage (ship's engines) and regenerate as many Shields as possible. He rolls 19 - the engines are back online, but that's all! 1D of Ionised Shields are regenerated automatically.
Nowhere angles its deflector shields to the left arc while the ISD Captain assigns his to the rear of the ship.
Action Phase:
The ISD Captain makes use of his Tactical Masterstroke to boost away! He decides not to push his luck by taking additional actions to fire from his left arc!
Shrewdly recognising the danger, Nowhere's Captain opts to fire both of his weapons immediately, this time unleashing the Quad Cannon before the Ion Cannon. Nowhere can fire either at the ISD's rear or left arcs, but opts to hit the unshielded left arc.
Quad Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+2
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Quad Turbolasers roll 30 - another hit on the ISD!
Damage roll: 6D + 2D Battery Dice = 8D = 39
Hull: 7D = 25
With 14 points of Damage, the ISD is Severely Damaged! The Damage roll reveals a Damaged Reactor which must be repaired within 3 rounds or the ship will be destroyed! However, Nowhere isn't finished yet - here come the Ion Cannon!
Ion Cannon Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+2
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Ion Cannon roll 34 - another hit on the ISD!
Damage roll: 3D + 1D+1 Battery Dice = 4D+1 = 17
Hull: 7D = 22.
The ISD hangs on - for now at least! The Captain fires his weapons at Nowhere separately.
Ion Gunnery Fire Control: 7D+1
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Ion Cannon roll is 30 - a hit!
Damage Roll: 3D + Battery Dice: 2D+2 = 5D+2 = 14
Shield Roll = 2D+2 = 12
1D of Shields suffer Ionisation Damage on Nowhere!
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+1
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Turbolaser Cannon roll is 23 - a hit!
Damage roll: 5D + 3D Battery Dice = 8D = 34
Hull: 6D + Shields: 1D+2 = 7D+2 = 25
Nowhere has been Heavily Damaged! A subsequent roll reveals that Shields have been blown! This confers -2D to Shields until they are repaired!
Movement Phase:
Nowhere turns but does not move further. The ISD made use of Tactical Masterstroke to move earlier in the turn and so cannot do so again now. End of Turn Five.
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| End of Turn Five |
Turn Six:
Initiative Phase:
Nowhere: 15
ISD: 15
(Modified to 17 because of the +2 Initiative Bonus from last turn.)
ISD wins Initiative and gains +3 to future rolls, marked on the Initiative Bonus Tracker.
Command Phase:
Nowhere: 15 - exceeds required Command target by 3 points, increasing all skill rolls by +1 this turn.
ISD: 16 - fails, but does so by such a small margin that it suffers no penalties this turn.
Both of these are noted on the respective Command Trackers.
Orders: Both Captains order their crews to Fly Casual to maximise Damage Control success.
Damage Control Phase:
The ISD decides that the ship is in such a bad state that getting the damage under control is the prime consideration. He opts to throw everything at Damage Control by putting 5D into his repair bonus - but this will come at the expense of -5D MAP to subsequent actions. (Repair rolls can have 1D allocated per full 1D of skill in Capital Ship Operation, in this case 5D+1 = 5D). However, his crew suffer a -3D penalty for being Severely Damaged, therefore the repair roll is 5D+1 + 5D - 3D = 7D+1. He rolls 20 - a fail! The ISD remains Severely Damaged and that reactor will blow in 2 turns! The only good news is that 1D of Ionised Shields have regenerated!
Nowhere's Captain attempts to repair the Heavily Damaged Shields but allocates no bonus dice to the roll (as he wants to finish the ISD this turn and does not want any weapon penalties). He rolls 2D6+1 for the Damage Control Action (4D6+1 -2D for being Heavily Damaged). The result is 7 which does not help.
Nowhere's deflector shields remain down while the ISD Captain assigns one to the rear of the ship and the other to the left arc.
Action Phase:
With a massive -8D penalty to firing (5D MAPs + 3D Damage Penalty), the ISD Captain opts to fire his weapons separately. As Nowhere is unshielded, he tries to hit it with the Quad Cannon first. throwing all Battery Dice into the Gunnery!
Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+2 + Battery Dice: 4D - Penalties: 8D = 4D+2
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Quad Turbolasers roll 13 - Nowhere is hit!
Damage roll: 5D Battery Dice = 13
Hull: 6D = 20
Nowhere hangs on - and retaliates! The Captain decides to fire guns separately - and unleashes the Quad Turbolasers! He only has to Lightly Damage the ISD to destroy it! He does have -1D MAP for Damage Control and a further 2D for being Damage...
Quad Turbolaser Gunnery Fire Control: 8D+2 + Battery Dice: 1D - Penalties: 3D = 6D+2
Target Difficulty = Short Range: 10
The Quad Turbolasers roll 17 - a hit on the ISD! Could this be the coup de grace?
Damage roll: 6D + 2D Battery Dice = 8D = 31
Hull: 7D + 1D Shields = 8D = 25
With 6 points of Damage, the ISD is Lightly Damaged and, stacked on top of being Severely Damaged, is finally obliterated! Victory to Nowhere - and the Rebellion!
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| End of Turn Six and Battle: ISD Destroyed! |
Closing Reflections:
I'm very happy with how the battle played out. After a few opening exchanges, things got deadly as the ships closed on one another. One thing I messed up on was that when the ships become Damaged, the crew skills suffer penalties - I only remembered about this on Turn 6! I'm sure I'll remember next time - obviously there are a number of things to juggle, but I feel that this is about as simple as Capital Ship Combat can be made. In particular, I think CR McNeill's Battery Dice mechanic works fantastically well! I hope future play tests prove equally successful and that we can finalise the rules for others to use soon!
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