elcome to STAR WARS Silent Death, aship-to-ship combat game based on

the Silent Death mechanics created by IronCrown Enterprises and owned by MythicEntertainment, Inc. The following is a con-densed version of the Silent Death game,with rules for playing out battles betweenX-Wings, TIE fighters, and other ships inthe Rebellion era. Although this is a stand-alone game, feel free to use the rules, shipdisplays, and poster-sized battle mat toplay out complex starfighter battles in theSTAR WARS Roleplaying Game.

To play this game, you will need a set ofpolyhedral dice. You also have permission tophotocopy the various Ship Displays andShip Tokens for home game use only.

Enjoy these rules, grab your favorite fight-ers, and may the Force be with you!

Ship DisplayEvery ship in the game has its own uniqueShip Display detailing the ship’s systems,cost, weapons, crew, and resilience to dam-age. Let’s look at the Ship Display in greaterdetail.

BPV/TPVAt the top of the Ship Display can befound the ship’s type (X-wing, Y-wing, orwhatever) and BPV. The BPV is the ship’sBasic Point Value: the point cost of theship without any crewmembers added.

Inside the Ship Display is a box labeledTPV, or Total Point Value. The TPV is the BPVof the ship, plus the sum of all of the crew’sskill levels. TPV is used to create balancedforces on opposing sides of a battle.

Crew BoxesEvery ship requires crew. How manycrewmembers and how skilled they are canbe found in the Crew Boxes. All pilots andgunners are rated by skill levels which range

from 1 (the lowest) to 10 (the highest). Eachpilot has a Piloting skill level (Plt) and aGunnery skill level (Gnr), while each gunnerhas only a Gunnery skill level.

Each ship requires a pilot and possiblyone or more gunners to staff it. Pilot andgunner skill levels are either set by a givenscenario or purchased for a point cost whendesigning your own scenarios.

Example: The Y-Wing has both a Pilot anda Gunner, as indicated in the Crew Boxes.

Crew SkillsA ship’s Tight Turn cost shows how well itcan perform radical maneuvers. This isbased on the pilot’s Piloting skill, with ahigher skill level indicating a smaller die.Underneath the big hex on the Ship Display,you’ll see the words Tight Turn Cost and ablank line followed by “+3.” Find the pilot’sPiloting skill on the “Skill Level Table” belowand write the pilot’s Tight Turn Cost die onthe blank line in the Ship Display.

The Attack Die Bonus (ADB) is an extradie that each weapon gets to use when fir-ing. The bigger the die, the larger the poten-tial bonus. Which die rolled is determinedby the Gunnery Skill of the crewmember fir-ing that weapon. A higher Gunnery skillprovides a bigger ADB. Find the pilot’s orgunner’s Gunnery skill on the “Skill LevelTable” and write theADB die in the appropri-ate blank on the ShipDisplay (either in thePilot Weapon or GunnerWeapon box).

Hitting and damagingwith weapons isdetailed in the Weaponssection. The Skill LevelTable shows which ADBto use based on theGunnery skill level.

The Skill Level Table below shows whichdie to use for Tight Turn Costs and ADBs.

DriveA ship’s Drive is located in a box at the bot-tom of the Ship Display’s central hex. TheDrive of a ship represents how much enginepower is available. The higher the number,the more powerful the ship’s engine. As aship gets damaged, its Drive is reduced.

How to use a ship’s Drive is discussedbelow under Movement.

Example: The Y-Wing’s Drive, 12, is locatedat the bottom of the central hex.

Defensive ValueFound in the upper left corner of the centralhex on the Ship Display, the Defensive Value(DV) indicates how difficult a ship is to hit.The Defensive Value represents the nimble-ness of the ship and the strength of its hull.The higher the Defensive Value, the moredifficult the ship is to hit with a weapon.The Defensive Value is the basic number anattacking ship needs to roll to hit the ship. Ifthe total roll is less than the ship’s DV, theattack misses. Defensive Value usually onlydecreases due to Critical Hits.

Example: The Y-Wing’s Defensive Value,located in the upper left corner of the cen-tral hex on the Y-Wing’s Ship Display, is 14.

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Dogfighting Using the Silent Death Rules

Skill Level TablePiloting Skill Tight Turn Cost Gunnery Skill ADB

1 1d10 1 1d42 1d10 2 1d43 1d8 3 1d44 1d8 4 1d45 1d6 5 1d66 1d6 6 1d67 1d4 7 1d88 1d4 8 1d89 1d4 9 1d1010 1d4 10 1d10

W

Damage ReductionThis is found in the upper right corner of thecentral hex on the Ship Display. DamageReduction (DR) gauges how heavilyarmored or shielded a ship is. Any damagedone to a ship is reduced by DamageReduction before it is applied;thus it is pos-sible for a ship to be hit but sustain no dam-age. As a ship sustains damage greater thanits current Damage Reduction, the DamageReduction value drops.

Example: The Y-Wing’s DR, located in theupper right corner of the central hex onthe Y-Wing’s Ship Display, is 3.

WeaponsThe weapons boxes are found scatteredaround the SHip Display. Each weapon boxrepresents a separate weapon mount thatcan be used. The weapon box itself containsall the information needed to fire theweapon mount.

The first line of a weapon box indicateswhich crew position may fire the weapon(either Pilot or Gunner). Only that crew-member can fire that weapon. If somethinghappens to that crewmember, the weaponcannot be fired.

The second line indicates the number andtype of weapon. A single mount can housemultiple barrels of the same weapon. Whenthis occurs, the gunner has the option of fir-ing each barrel individually or linking thecannons together. When linked, the entire

mount receives a bonus to-hit and damagedepending on the number and type ofweapons mounted. For example, twin LaserCannons receive a +1 to-hit and damage.When firing a linked weapon, only one dieroll is made for each link. For example, if anX-Wing is firing its four Laser Cannons alllinked together, then only one roll is madeat +3 to-hit and damage; if all four cannonswere fired separately, four separate rollswould be made, each receiving no bonus to-hit or damage. If the X-Wing fired the can-nons linked two by two, then two rollswould be made, each with a bonus of +1 to-hit and damage. The decision to link aweapon must be made before any dice arerolled but can change from turn to turn.

Also on the second line is the weapon’sfiring arc, found in parentheses after theweapon name. A ship cannot fire a weaponat a ship outside the weapon’s designatedfiring arc. The available firing arcsare Front (F), Front Quarter Left(FQL), Front Quarter Right (FQR),Rear Quarter Right (RQR), RearQuarter Left (RQL), Rear (R), and AllAround (360°). These locations aremarked around the central hex oneach of the Ship Displays to help youremember which hexside is which.

Each firing arc is a 60° cone thatextends out of a side of the vessel’shex in the direction indicated. Thearc covers all hexes between the

cone’s outer lines, as well as any hexes thatthe line crosses into.

The one exception is the All Around firingarc (360°), which allows a weapon to fire inany direction. A weapon system that liststwo or more firing arc codes can fire intoany of the listed arcs. Pilot-mountedweapons only have a firing arc of Front (F).

Example: The Y-Wing has two weaponsytems installed. The Pilot fires a twin LaserCannon while the Gunner fires a twin IonCannon. The Gunner’s weapon has a firingarc of 360°.

The third line in the weapon box is the ToHit indicator. Every weapon has two dice itrolls, plus the ADB. These three dice aretotaled with any applicable bonuses to seewhether the weapon hits. If the total resultis equal to or greater than the target ship’sDefensive Value, a hit is scored; otherwisethe shot misses.

Example: A Y-Wing pilot with a Gunneryskill of 3 (ADB: 1d4) fires the ship’s twinLaser Cannon at an enemy ship. The pilotdecides not to link the weapon, firingtwice instead. For each attack, the pilotrolls 2d8 + 1d4 (ADB).

The next line in the weapon box is theDamage indicator. The words (Low, Medium,or High) indicate which die (or dice) tocount when determining damage. Therecan be bonuses to damage based on thenumber and type of the weapon.

The #D# format tells a player which diceto roll and how many. Thus, 2D6 means rolltwo six-sided dice, and 1D8 means roll oneeight-sided die. Occasionally, a modifier onthe end of the formula adds to or subtractsfrom the total. For example, 3D8+4 meansroll three eight-sided dice and add four to

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Silent but Deadly

Firing Arcs

Forward

Rear

FrontQuarterLeft

FrontQuarterRight

RearQuarterLeft

RearQuarterRight

the result.“Low”means take the

lowest number result,“Medium” meanstake the middle result, and “High” meanstake the highest result. If the dice come upwith doubles, add them together if thedamage is Low and they are the low num-bers, same if the doubles are High and thedamage is High. If the player rolls doubleswith Medium, then use the High result.

The next line indicates the range modifi-cations of the weapon. This is broken intothree sections: short, medium, and longrange. The numbers indicate how manyhexes away the target can be and still lay inthe indicated range. For example, a LaserCannon has a range of 3/9/10; a targetwithin 3 hexes is in short range; a targetwithin 4 to 9 hexes is in medium range; anda target 10 hexes away is in long range. Anyship more than 10 hexes away cannot betargeted. If a target ship is in short range,the to-hit roll is modified by +1, while if thetarget ship is in long range, the to-hit roll ismodified by –1. There is no modifier if thetarget ship is in medium range.

WarheadsSome Ship Displays have Proton Torpedoesor Concussion Missiles. These weapons arecollectively called warheads. These are self-

guided weapons that maneuver on theboard and attempt to impact with targets.Each circle or pip indicates a single torpedoor missile, which is marked off every timeone is fired.

Players with warheads may launch one ormore at any target at any range, as long asthe target is in the firing ship’s front arc. Allwarhead launches are simultaneous, and alltargets must be openly declared afterlaunch decisions are made.

Any living, undazed crewmember mayfire a warhead.

When you fire a warhead, place theappropriate warhead figure on the map inthe firing vessel’s hex. It must face thesame direction as the ship. During all sub-sequent Movement Phases, the warheadmoves toward its designated target. AProton Torpedo has a Drive of 12, and aConcussion Missile has a Drive of 14. Awarhead remains on the board until it iseither destroyed, dodged, or detonates.

Example: The Y-Wing carries six ProtonTorpedoes.

Damage TrackAt the bottom of the Ship Display, belowthe ship’s Drive, is the Damage Track. Eachtype of ship has a unique Damage Track. Asthe ship takes hits, mark off boxes on itsDamage Track, starting at the top left cornerof the track, moving left to right.

As hits are marked off on the DamageTrack, a ship’s performance deteriorates.Special damage symbols and numbers areused in the Damage Track boxes to indicateexactly what happens. The various resultsare cumulative and take full effect as soon

as they are inflicted. Below is a summary ofthe special damage symbols and whateffects they represent.

Damage Track Codes: Reduce the ship’s current Drive number

to the highest unmarked boxed numbercurrently on the Damage Track.

: Reduce the ship’s Damage Reduction tothe highest, unmarked diamond valuecurrently on the Damage Track.

w: Eliminate a weapon system of thedefender’s choice.

W: Eliminate a weapon system of theattacker’s choice.

t: Eliminate one remaining warhead.

*: Roll 2d6 on the ship’s Critical Hits Table.Apply the damage effect immediately.

X: This is the last box on the damage track.If it is marked off, the ship is destroyedand removed from the map.

Critical Hits TableOn the far right of the Ship Display is theship’s Critical Hits Table. Whenever an aster-isk (*) is marked off of the Damage Track,the attacker needs to roll on the Critical HitsTable. Any effect is applied immediately. If aship has all of its crew members killed fromcritical hits, but the ship is not destroyed, itremains on the map.

Below the Critical Hits Table on some ofthe Ship Displays are additional damagenotes for certain weapons.

Sequence of PlayEach turn is broken down into five parts,called phases. The activities of each phaseshould be finished before moving on tothe next phase. When all the phases of aturn are completed, a new turn begins andthe procedure is repeated until the gameis over. The activities performed in the var-ious phases are described in the followingsections.

1. Warhead Launch PhaseThere are two types of weapons: cannonsand warheads. Cannons include various

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Dice Roll Result

3D8 Low 2, 4, 6 23D8 Medium 2, 4, 6 43D8 High 2, 4, 6 63d6 Low 3, 3, 5 6 (3 + 3)3d6 Medium 3, 3, 5 5 (becomes High)3d6 High 3, 5, 5 10 (5 + 5)

Turn Sequence

1. Warhead Launch Phase2. Movement Phase3. Warhead Result Phase4. Cannon Fire Phase5. Damage Control Phase

STAR WARS GAMER 73

types of Laser Cannons, Blasters, IonCannons, and other direct fire weapons,while warheads include Proton Torpedoesand Concussion Missiles.

Most cannons can fire continuouslythroughout the game; warheads, on theother hand, are used up as they are fired.Their entries on the Ship Display should bemarked off as they are expended.

Players with warheads may launch one ormore at any target at any range, as long asthe target is in the firing ship’s front arc. Allwarhead launches are simultaneous, andtargets must be openly declared after alllaunch decisions are made.

Any living, undazed crew member canfire a warhead.

When you fire a warhead, mark off thatwarhead’s pip on your Ship Display. Thenwrite down the target right next to the pip.This will help you keep track of which war-head is going after which ship.

Warhead TokensThe cut-out tokens at the end of this arti-cle include tokens for Proton Torpedoesand Concussion Missiles. Place these onyour Ship Display so you know which war-heads the ship carries.

When you fire a warhead, place that war-head’s token on the map in the firing ves-sel’s hex, facing in the same direction asyour ship. If you are firing multiple war-heads, it might help to number them, sothat you remember which is which.

During all subsequent Movement Phases,a warhead moves toward its designated tar-get, using 12 movement points per turn if itis a Proton Torpedo and 14 movement pointsper turn if it is a Concussion Missile, until itis either destroyed, dodged, or detonates.

A warhead moves immediately after itstarget. It pursues its target, always moving(hex by hex) so as to get closer to its quarryby the shortest path. The player who fired itdetermines the exact flight path of eachwarhead. See the Movement rules for howto move a warhead.

Upon entering its target’s hex, a warheadends its move and detonates. The target hasa chance to dodge it, but if the dodge fails,the warhead damages its target. In eithercase, the warhead explodes and the war-head counter is removed at the end of theWarhead Results Phase.

If, during its move, aship enters the hex of awarhead that is trackingit, that warhead imme-diately detonates andresolves its damage. Donot wait for theWarhead Results Phasein this case. The targetship does not get tododge.

2. Movement PhaseEach ship has a Drivenumber on its ShipDisplay (located at thebottom of the large cen-tral hex) that representsthe maximum numberof movement points thevessel has available to spend that turn ofthe game. As a ship takes damage, its Drivemay be reduced. Note such changes righton the Ship Display. When the Drive numberis reduced to zero, the vessel cannot move.

Movement OrderDuring the Movement Phase, all ships witha current Drive of zero do not count in themovement order.

The movement of ships alternatesbetween vessels on each side of the battle.To determine the order in which the shipsmove, the players roll for initiative at thestart of each Movement Phase. Roll 1d10and add the Piloting skill of your best piloton the map. In case of a tie, roll again.

The player with the lowest result mustmove a ship first. Players then alternatemoving ships until all ships have had achance to move. If one side runs out of shipsto move before the other side, the side withthe extra vessels then completes the movesfor all remaining ships.

If there are uneven sides, things get a lit-tle more complicated. If one side has twiceas many ships as another, it must move twoships at a time. If it has three times as manyships as another, it must move three shipsat a time. If the number of vessels do notdivide up evenly, the extra ships can be heldback until their player’s last move.

Note that the person who wins the initia-tive always gets to move the last ship, nomatter what.

Example:Player A’s highest Piloting skill is8, while Player B’s is 9. They both roll 1d10,with Player A rolling an 8 and Player B rollinga 5. Player A’s total is 16 and Player B’s is 14, soPlayer B must move a ship first. No matterhow many ships each side has, Player A mustwait until all of Player B’s ships have movedbefore moving his last ship.

MovementShips expend movement points to enterhexes and make turns on the map. Whenyou move a ship, you can use as much of itsDrive as you wish, from zero to the ship’scurrent Drive number. How fast the shipmoved the pervious turn has no bearing atall. If available movement points are notspent during a Movement Phase, they arelost. They may not be transferred from oneship to another or saved from turn to turn.

A ship must complete its entire movebefore another vessel can begin moving.There is no restriction on passing throughhexes occupied by other ships, but a vesselcannot turn in a hex occupied by anothership nor end its move in a hex occupied byanother ship.

A ship expends 1 movement point toenter the hex immediately to its front, andit expends extra movement points to turn(change facing) in a hex. Ships cannotmove backward or sideways.

There are two types of turns: a normalturn and a tight turn. In either case, you can-not turn twice in a row (you must move for-

74 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3

ward betweenturns, no matter

which type you happen to be making).

Normal TurnsA normal turn is a turn of one hexside ineither direction from the ship’s present fac-ing, and it costs 3 movement points. If youwant to turn more than one hexside at atime, you must perform a tight turn.

If a vessel has a current Drive of less than3 (but greater than zero), it is allowed toturn one hexside as its sole action for theMovement Phase. This turn takes all of theship’s movement to complete.

Tight TurnsA tight turn is any turn of more than onehexside at once. A tight turn costs 3 move-ment points plus the result of a random dieroll, regardless of the number of hexsidesturned. This modified random roll (calledthe Tight Turn Cost) is determined by thePiloting skill of the vessel’s pilot and can befound on the Skill Level Table.

Example: A player with a TIE Interceptorwants to turn 180° to attack the X-Wingfollowing him. The pilot’s Piloting skill is 5,so the player rolls 1d6 and adds 3 to deter-mine the cost of the Tight Turn. The playerrolls a 2, for a total cost of 5. Assuming theTIE Interceptor has not suffered Drive lossdue to damage, the player still has 13movement points remaining of the ship’soriginal 18.

If a tight turn ends up costing moremovement points than the ship has left thisphase, the craft stalls, failing to execute theturn. The ship’s move ends immediately,leaving the vessel facing in the direction itwas heading before it attempted to makethe tight turn.

Warhead MovementWhenever a ship or warhead completes itmove, any warheads currently tracking itmake their moves immediately before anyother ships or warheads move. As explainedin Warheads, they must spend their move-ment points to get to their targets by theshortest route possible.

Every turn costs a warhead 3 movementpoints per hexside turned, but unlike ships,a warhead can turn an unlimited numbertimes in a single hex. Warheads do notmake Tight Turns; a 180° (or three hexside)turn, for example, would cost 9 movementpoints.

3. Warhead Results PhaseA warhead hits its target once it enters thetarget’s hex, unless the ship manages tododge it. Warheads do not use the sameAttack Dice procedure that cannons use.They simply explode when they get closeenough to their targets. Still, warhead tar-gets can attempt to dodge during theWarhead Results Phase and thus avoiddestruction.

Dodging WarheadsTo dodge warheads, your ship must have acurrent Drive equal to or greater than 10. Ifso, roll:

1d10 + Piloting skill – number ofwarheads detonating – 10

The result of this roll is the number of war-heads the pilot dodges. If only some war-heads are dodged, Concussion Missiles arealways dodged first.

Example: A ship is targeted by twoConcussion Missiles. During the MovementPhase, both warheads enter the ship’s hex.During the Warhead Results Phase, the pilotattempts to dodge the warheads. The playerrolls 1d10, adds her pilot’s Piloting skill of 7,and subtracts the number of warheadsattacking, which is 2. If the player rolls a 1,the modified result is 1 + 7 – 2 – 10 = –4. Allthe warheads hit. If the player rolls a 8, themodified result is 8 + 7 – 2 – 10 = 3, so up tothree warheads are dodged.

Warhead HitsWhen a ship fails to dodge a warhead, it ishit. Now it is time to check for damage. AProton Torpedo does 3d12 damage, while a

Concussion Missile does 1d12. All warheadattacks occur in the Warhead Results Phaseand are considered simultaneous. If a targetis hit by more than one warhead during asingle Warhead Results Phase, resolve thedamage as one combined attack.

Example:A player rolls poorly and fails tododge two Concussion Missiles tracking hership. The two Concussion Missiles hit, eachdoing 1d12 points of damage. Her opponentrolls 2d12 and totals them, getting a 5 and 11.The total damage comes to 16. Smack!

DamageJust because a ship is hit does not necessar-ily mean that it is damaged. Most ships havesheilds in addition to some sort of ablativearmor to protect them against attacks. Toreflect this, each ship has a DamageReduction value. This appears in the upperright corner of the Ship Display’s central hex.

Once the base amount of damage froman attack is determined, subtract the tar-get’s current Damage Reduction. Mark theremaining number of hits off of the target’sDamage Track. Note that due to DamageReduction, some hits will actually fail tocause any damage.

Example: A Proton Torpedo hits a TIEFighter for 15 damage. The ship has aDamage Reduction of 1, so it “only” takes14 damage.

Destroyed ShipsWhen a ship is destroyed, remove it fromthe battle mat, as it no longer has anyeffect on the game. If a ship is notdestroyed but all of its crew members havebeen killed, it should be left on the board.It can still prevent other ships from stop-ping or turning in its hex.

Jamming WarheadsTo reflect the use of electronic countermea-sures, all vessels are capable of jammingwarheads that are presently tracking them.At the end of the Warhead Results Phase—after all warhead detonations areresolved—each ship that currently has atleast one warhead tracking it can attemptto prematurely detonate (“jam”) one ofthose warheads.

To jam a warhead, the player selects awarhead tracking his or her ship anddeclares the jamming attempt. The player

Standard Turn

Tight Turn

STAR WARS GAMER 75

rolls 1d10; if the result is within the ship’sJammer Range (as noted in the bottomright corner of the Ship Display), the war-head is jammed and immediately removedfrom the board. A ship can only jam a war-head that is tracking it, not a warhead thatis tracking another craft. Jammed war-heads never do damage to any ship.

Example: A player whose A-Wing istracked by two Concussion Missiles choosesone of them to jam and rolls 1d10. The A-Wing’s Jammer Range is 1–2. John rolls a 3,so the Concussion Missile is not removed.

4. Cannon Fire PhaseAll cannon weapon systems have variousparameters that affect their range, damagepotential, and targeting ability as noted onthe Weapon box of every Ship Display. In theWeapon box on the Ship Display, eachweapon mount is also given one or morefiring arcs through which it can attack. Thetarget of a weapon system must lie withinthat weapon system’s range and firingarc(s) in order to be attacked. Otherwise, theweapon cannot reach it.

Each pilot and gunner can fire theirassigned weapon system(s) every CannonFire Phase. Any crew members thatlaunched a warhead during the WarheadLaunch Phase can still fire a cannon weaponduring this phase.

Range IncrementsEach cannon has a Short, Medium, andLong Range increment. A target must liewithin one of these range increments tobe targeted. Attacks at Short Range have a+1 bonus to hit, and attacks at Long Rangesuffer a –1 penalty to hit.

Intervening ships or warheads do notblock shots from an attacker to a target.

Attack DiceIf a target is within a weapon system’s fir-ing arc and range, it can be attacked anddamaged by the weapon.

Attack dice are a unique form of combatresolution. One roll of the attack dice deter-mines whether or not a target is hit and, ifso, how much damage the attack deals. Tofigure out whether an attack hits its target,add up the thrown dice. If the sum is equalto or greater than the target’s DefensiveValue, then the attack hits. The weapon type

used on the attack determines which of theattack dice are read for damage.

The total attack dice roll for a cannonweapon system incorporates the BaseAttack Dice listed for the weapon type onthe Weapon Table and the Gunnery AttackDie Bonus (ADB) listed on the Skill LevelTable. Other modifiers might apply as well.

Example: An X-Wing and a TIE Fighter arein a dogfight. The X-Wing fires its quadLaser Cannons (all linked together) at the TIEFighter. The Laser Cannons have a BaseAttack Die of 2d8+3. The X-Wing’s Pilot has aGunnery skill of 6, which has an ADB of 1d6,so the X-Wing rolls 2d8+1d6+3. The dice arethrown and come up 7, 4, and 4, for a total of18 (including the +3 bonus). The TIE Fighter’sDefensive Value is a 14. The X-Wing’s total isgreater than or equal to the TIE Fighter’sDefensive Value, so the X-Wing’s quad LaserCannons hit.

Multiple Gun Weapon SystemsSome cannon weapon systems contain morethan one gun (for example, the Y-Wing’stwin Laser Cannons).When this occurs, thegunner has the option of firing each barrelindividually or linking the cannons together.When linked, the entire mount receives abonus to-hit and damage depending on thenumber and type of weapons mounted.When the cannons are fired unlinked, diceare thrown for each individual cannonattack. Linked cannons tend to hit moreoften, but sometimes do not deal as muchdamage as when they are fired individually.When firing a linked weapon, only one dieroll is made for each link. For example, if anX-Wing is firing its four Laser Cannons alllinked together, then only one roll is made at+3 to-hit and damage, whereas if all fourcannons were fired separately, then fourseparate rolls would be made, each receivingno bonus to-hit or damage. If the X-Wingfired the cannons linked two by two, thentwo rolls would be made, each with a bonusof +1 to-hit and damage. The decision to linkweapons must be made before any dice arerolled, but can change from turn to turn. Allpossible weapon link options are listed onthe Ship Display in the weapon box.

When eliminating a weapons system,you must remove the entire mount at once.It is impossible to simply eliminate a singlecannon from a multiple weapon mount.

Firing OrderThe order in which ships fire their cannonsdepends on the Gunnery skill of the variouspilots and gunners firing them. Gunnerswith Gunnery skill 10 fire first. Gunners withGunnery skill 9 fire next and so on untilfinally the gunners with Gunnery skill 1 fire.If opposing gunners have the same Gunneryskill, they resolve their fire simultaneously.

After all eligible gunners have fired, pilotsthen trigger their weapons. Pilots resolvetheir fire in sequential order just as gunnersdo, based upon their Gunnery skill, movingfrom highest to lowest. No pilot can fireuntil all gunners have had a chance to fire.

Note that attacks are resolved sequen-tially, with all damage from one attack tak-ing effect before the next vessel’s weaponsystem is fired. The only exception to this iswhen gunners or pilots with the sameGunnery value have their attacks resolved atthe same time. Damage is then resolvedsimultaneously.

Damaging the TargetEach weapon type on the Weapon Tablehas an entry in the Damage column;either Low, Medium, High, or All. Thisentry indicates how to read attack dicethat have hit their target to determinethe base amount of damage done. Theentries are defined as follows:

Low: Damage equals the lowest numberrolled. In case of ties, add all the lownumbers together. If all three dice arethe same, total them.

Medium: Damage equals the middlenumber rolled. In case of ties (in whichcase there is no middle number), addthe high numbers together. If all threedice are the same, total them.

High: Damage equals the highest num-ber rolled. In case of ties, add all thehigh numbers together. If all threedice are the same, total them.

All: Damage equals the total of all dice.When rolling multiple dice, this is thedefault method if no other is listed.

76 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3

Ion CannonsIon Cannons are used to disable a shiprather than destroy it. They are slower tofire and not as accurate as Laser Cannons,but they can leave a valuable target float-ing in space rather than being blown todust. An Ion Cannon does Medium dam-age, but the result is halved (round up).After subtracting Damage Reduction, theremaining damage marks only Drive andWeapon hits on the Damage Track. The Xbox in the damage track—the one signify-ing the destruction of the ship—is nevermarked from Ion Cannon fire. Damagefrom an Ion Cannon can be repaired nor-mally using Damage Control.

Attacks Against WarheadsA warhead can be attacked by other weaponsystems, including other warheads. TheDefensive Value of a warhead is 10, itsDamage Reduction is 0, and it is destroyedwhen it takes 1 point of damage.

Warheads attempting to dodge otherwarheads have a Piloting skill of 5 for pur-poses of dodging.

5. Damage Control PhaseShips in the Star Wars universe all have sys-tems dedicated to repairing a ship duringcombat so that it can return to its base.These range from the automated repair sys-tems of a TIE Fighter to a full-fledgedastromech in the X-Wing and Y-Wing.

To attempt damage control, a player rolls1d10. If the roll falls into the ship’s DamageControl spread (as shown in the bottomright corner of its Ship Display), it gets backa number of boxes equal to your roll.

Successful damage control restores thelast boxes marked off on the vessel’sDamage Track. If these boxes contain spe-cial damage symbols, the effects of thosehits are negated. The two exceptions tothis are critical hits and lost warheads.When warheads are lost, they cannot berecovered. Critical hits are so severe as tobe simply irreparable.

Example: A Y-Wing has a Damage Controlspread of 1–4. During the Damage ControlPhase, the player attempts to repair his Y-Wing. He rolls 1d10 and gets a 3. He then canerase the marks off of the previous 3 boxesthat were marked. If he had rolled higherthan a 4, no boxes would be repaired.

Optional RulesThe following sections detail rules that canbe added to the game as players see fit.They are each entirely optional.

The incorporation of certain optionalrules might better balance the play of sce-narios that seem to constantly favor oneside over another. They also allow the gameto be tailored to the players’ own tastes. Themore options used, the more complicatedthe game becomes. Keep this in mind whendeciding which rules to use in your game.

Before starting a scenario, players shouldagree among themselves which, if any,optional rules are going to be in effect.

Time LimitPlayers are encouraged to enforce a timelimit of 30 seconds for the movement ofeach ship. If at the end of 30 seconds aplayer has not completed a ship’s move,that ship must stop in the hex it’s currentlyin and retain its current facing.

If the move would be an illegal one, theship is returned to the hex and facing it hadbefore it began its move.

Drive 0 TurnsPlayers can allow a ship with a Drive num-ber reduced to zero to change facing by onehexside per turn. This would represent theaction of positioning thrusters used byships during docking maneuvers. Allowingthis option provides crippled ships with aminimal tactical option. Any Drive 0 turnsmust be performed at the beginning of theMovement Phase, before initiative is rolled.Note that ships with a Drive of zero still do

not count as being able to take part in themovement order.

Destroyed Ship DebrisWhen a ship is destroyed, replace it with amarker signifying a debris field. Any ship orwarhead that enters the hex sustains a 3D6Low attack.

SideslipsA sideslip is a move that places a ship orwarhead into its front left or front righthex, instead of the hex directly ahead. Asideslip costs 2 movement points to per-form. Forward movement, sideslips andturns can be combined in any desiredmanner, except that a ship cannot make 2sideslips in a row.

AsteroidsBattles within the depths of an asteroidfield can be challenging and exciting. Thefollowing rules detail how to distributeasteroids on the playing surface, what hap-pens when an asteroid and a ship collide,and how asteroids affect attacks.

When asteroids are used in a scenario,one player should take the number of aster-oid miniatures stated in the scenario (or 20,if it is unspecified) and, with eyes closed,sprinkle them over the playing surface froma height of about three feet. Place the aster-oids in the hexes they most fully land in,one per hex maximum. Alternatively, eachplayer can take an even number of asteroidsand take turns placing one on the map.

Once the game begins, asteroids drift by,moving one hex per turn in a direction ran-domized at the beginning of the scenario;roll 1d6 to determine the direction in whichall asteroids will drift throughout the game.Asteroids drift all at once, at the end ofevery turn. If, due to this drifting action, anasteroid drifts off the edge of the playing

Sideslip

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surface, it reenters on the side of the mapdirectly opposite.

If a ship, during its Movement Phase,enters a hex with an asteroid, that shipimmediately takes 10D12 points of damage.If a ship and an asteroid drift into eachother, the ship takes 5d12 points of damage.Asteroid collisions immediately destroylaunched warheads.

Asteroids directly between an attackerand a target block cannon fire. To determineif the fire is blocked, draw an imaginary linefrom the center of the firer’s hex to the cen-ter of the target’s hex. If the line passesthrough any part of a hex containing anasteroid, the attack cannot be made. A fir-ing line that runs along the edge of a hexoccupied by an asteroid is not blockedunless there are such edges on both sides ofthe line. If the firing line is blocked, the fireris free to select another target.

ScenariosThe following are three scenarios to helpget players started. They are arranged inascending order of difficulty.

1. Patrolling the Depths of SpaceLocation: Near the Dantooine SystemBackground: Two Rebel A-Wings are flying

a patrol around an abandoned Rebelbase when three Imperial TIE Fightersjump them.

Rebels (66 points):A-Wing A Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 8)A-Wing B Pilot (Plt 9, Gnr 5)

Imperials (70 points):TIE Fighter A Pilot (Plt 4, Gnr 6)TIE Fighter B Pilot (Plt 8, Gnr 5)TIE Fighter C Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 8)

Setup: Divide the map in half. The Rebelsplace their ships first on one half of themap, on the edge, while the Imperials dothe same on their half of the map.

Victory Conditions: The Rebels can with-draw at any time, although this gives anImperial victory. Otherwise, the side withthe last ship left wins.

2. The Liberation of SyrussLocation: The Syruss SystemBackground: A Rebel strike force is launched

against an Imperial station. The Empirescrambles all of its available fighters tocounter the attack.

Rebels (181 points):Y-Wing Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 7)

Gunner (Gnr 6)X-Wing A Pilot (Plt 7, Gnr 5)X-Wing B Pilot (Plt 5, Gnr 8)

Imperials (185 points):TIE Fighter A Pilot (Plt 9, Gnr 5)TIE Fighter B Pilot (Plt 4, Gnr 10)TIE Fighter C Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 7)TIE Fighter D Pilot (Plt 5, Gnr 8)

TIE Bomber A Pilot (Plt 4, Gnr 4)TIE Bomber B Pilot (Plt 7, Gnr 6)

Setup: The Rebels set up on one edge of themap; the Imperials can place their shipsanywhere on their half of the map. TheImperials place their ships first.

Victory Conditions: The Rebels win if theY-Wing can exit the map on theImperial side. The Empire wins if theydestroy the Y-Wing.

3. Dark Lord of the SithLocation: The Dantooine SystemBackground: Darth Vader decides to take

matters into his own hands and crush aRebel outpost.

Imperials (332 points):Vader’s TIE Adv. Pilot (Plt 10, Gnr 10)

TIE Interceptor A Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 6)TIE Interceptor B Pilot (Plt 8, Gnr 9)TIE Interceptor C Pilot (Plt 7, Gnr 7)TIE Interceptor D Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 4)

TIE Bomber A Pilot (Plt 4, Gnr 5)TIE Bomber B Pilot (Plt 3, Gnr 5)

TIE Fighter A Pilot (Plt 8, Gnr 8)TIE Fighter B Pilot (Plt 5, Gnr 4)TIE Fighter C Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 9)TIE Fighter D Pilot (Plt 5, Gnr 6)

Rebels (332 points):X-Wing A Pilot (Plt 9, Gnr 10)X-Wing B Pilot (Plt 7, Gnr 7)

Y-Wing A Pilot (Plt 5, Gnr 6)Gunner (Gnr 8)

A-Wing A Pilot (Plt 8, Gnr 7)A-Wing B Pilot (Plt 6, Gnr 7)

B-Wing Pilot (Plt 5, Gnr 9)

Setup: The Rebels set up anywhere on onehalf of the map; the Imperials can placetheir ships on their half of the map inthe first three hex rows. The Rebels placetheir ships first.

Victory Conditions: The Imperials win ifthey destroy every opponent; likewisethe Rebels win if they destroy or rout theImperials. Incidentally, if for some reasonVader’s TIE Advanced ship is destroyed,assume that Darth Vader ejected andsuccessfully escapes capture by theRebels. After all, he is the Dark Lord ofthe Sith!

It’s Called Silent Death for a ReasonAs you’ll learn after playing one or twogames of Silent Death, combat is dangerous.The scale is such that a starship the heroesspent all their credits on could be space dustin the blink of an eye. While Silent Deathisn’t meant to be an alternative to the star-ship combat system in the STAR WARS

Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, you canadapt your heroes to fly in Silent Death. Hereare some guidelines for doing so.

Piloting and Gunnery SkillsTo convert your hero’s d20 statistics to SilentDeath statistics, you first need to know twothings: the hero’s Pilot skill and rangedattack bonus (as defined in the STAR WARS

Roleplaying Game).

An RPG hero’s Piloting skill is:Pilot skill bonus (including Dexterity and

miscellaneous modifiers)/2 – 1

An RPG hero’s Gunnery skill is:Ranged attack bonus

(including Dexterity and miscellaneous modifiers)/2

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Piloting and Gunnery skills in Silent Deathcannot be less than 1 or higher than 10.

An RPG pilot without the Starship Dodgefeat suffers an additional –2 penalty whendodging warheads aboard a starfighter (seethe Warhead Results Phase). A similarpenalty applies to pilots who fly YT-1300transports and similar ships without theStarship Dodge (space transports) feat.

An RPG pilot or gunner without theStarship Operation (starfighter) feat suffersa –2 penalty to-hit with cannon weaponsaboard a starfighter A similar penaltyapplies to pilots and gunners who attemptto fire cannons on YT-1300 transports andsimilar ships without the StarshipOperation (space transports) feat.

Injury and DeathCrew members in Silent Death are not asimportant as heroes in the STAR WARS

Roleplaying Game. When a ship is destroyedin Silent Death, its crew members are lost aswell. Before placing your beloved roleplay-ing game heroes at such risk, consider thefollowing changes:

Critical HitsA pilot or gunner who is instantly “killed” bya critical hit is instead reduced to zerowound points. The hero must succeed at aFortitude saving throw (DC 10) or die. Usethe rules on page 131 of the Core Rulebookto determine whether the hero stablizes orcontinues dying.

When a ship suffers a reactor hit due to acritical hit, it is destroyed. Allow the crewmembers aboard the ship a chance to ejectsafely. If a hero succeeds at a Reflex savingthrow (DC 20), she ejects in the nick of time,loses all vitality points, and is fatigued (seepage 131 of the Core Rulebook). Otherwise,assume that the hero is killed in the blast.

Starship DestroyedWhen a starship is destroyed by crossingout the last box of its damage track, it is notnecessarily gone. Typically it breaks up in away that doesn’t prevent other ships frompassing through the hex it once occupied. Ifthe heroes onboard are not wearing protec-tive suits, they die. If they are, there is achance they’ll be injured.

Crossing out the last box of a starship’sdamage track deals 3D8 points of wounddamage to the ship’s crew members. Allheroes (even unconcious or stunned ones)attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC 15) toapply the damage to vitality instead. If theattempt fails by more than 10, the hero’ssuit ruptures, leaving the character dead in1d10 rounds due to exposure to vacuum.

YT-1300 TransportBelow is a Silent Death Ship Display for thatever-popular hunk o’ junk, the YT-1300transport. It’s not nearly as durable as theMillennium Falcon, so don’t be surprised ifit doesn’t fare quite so well against TIEFighters from the Death Star!

Silent Death OnlineBy Douglas E. WilsonI’d heard that Silent Death was a starshipcombat game. I even knew that STAR WARS

Gamer was working on a STAR WARS vari-ant of the board game for this issue. So,being an AOL user, I hit the keyword(“Silent Death”) and plunged into theSilent Death universe, encountering someof the familiar factions from the boardgame universe—all hell-bent on colo-nization and control.

To my surprise, I discovered that eventhough the game is all about space com-bat, it also has many elements of a role-playing game. One must pay one’s duesto get bigger ships and a better reputa-tion. To some degree,“newbies” or lowerability characters merely get in the way.Initially, you feel like you’re leading row-boats against battleships. I was annihi-lated so many times that the “Big Gun” ofthe Hibernia Freehold kept accusingenemy dreadnoughts of killing his babies.

I wish they had a beginner’s sectorwhere you could fight lesser ships beforemoving into the big time, but fortunatelyfor me, I found a tactic that worked. Itook my little craft in behind a screen ofmore powerful Hibernia Freehold ships.While the enemies confronted more for-midable vessels, I managed to sneak inwith my mini-cannon and vaporize por-tions of the enemy’s space stations. Imight never be Luke Skywalker, but I’vehad enough fun to encourage other AOLusers to hit the keyword and get ready toface Silent Death online! (By the time thisissue hits the newsstands, anyone shouldbe able to play “Silent Death” online usingwww.ea.com.—Ed.)

Fighting Irish:The fleet of the Hibernia Freehold repelsforces from the Houses Tokugawa and Red Star.

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