Pax Stellarum- Rulebook

7/24/2019 Pax Stellarum- Rulebook

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ONE RULESET TO PLAY THEM ALL

CREATED BY MATEUS CARNEIRO

EDITED AND REVIEWED BY TIMOTHY WHITE

COVER ART BY NICK CONSTANTINE

(nickconstantine.com)

SECOND EDITION

2015
http://nickconstantine.com/http://nickconstantine.com/http://nickconstantine.com/http://nickconstantine.com/


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PAX STELLARUMIS the INTELECTUAL

PROPERTY OF MATEUS CARNEIRO. ANY

COMMERCIAL USE OF PAX STELLARUM

WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT IS STRICTLY

FORBIDDEN AND SUBJECT TO

INTERNATIONAL LAW REGARDING

INTELECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT.


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Mighty Quality empires cast their hungry gaze upon the

surrounding infinite darkness and marvel at the gallant

beauty of countless sparkling stars.

There can never be harmony and peace. There can be

only war and feeble truce.

Diplomacy among the Stars is one of arms. Enemies

remain checked from all-out conflict for fear of becoming

easy prey for neighboring powers.

This is the Peace of the Stars. The Pax Stellarum.

The only solution is...a balance of

power. We arm our side with exactly

that much more. A balance of power...

the trickiest, most difficult, dirtiest

game of them all. But the only one that

preserves both sides.

- Captain Kirk, in 'A Private

Little War'


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Introduction 9

Elements of Play 11

Units 11

Game Board 12

Fleet Display 12

Dice, Tokens and Rulers 15

Basic Rules 18

Beginning the Game 18

Phases in a Game Turn 20

Initiative Phase 20

Starship Movement Phase 21

Forward Movement 23Pivoting 24

Disengaging 26

Starship Attack Phase 28

Weapon Stats 29

Shooting 37

Shields and Countermeasures 43

Example of Combat 47

End Phase 49

Quality Checks 50

Fleet Morale Check 51

Achieving Victory 53

Calculating Victory Points 53

Contents


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Advanced Rules 56

Terrain 56

Rough Terrain 58

Impassable Terrain 58

Squadrons 59

Squadrons Coordinated Attacks 61

Escorting 62

Activation Interruption 63

Screening 64

Use of CTM to Protect Escorted Unit 65

Mines 65

Space Stations 67

Docking 67

Reserves 68

Deviation Roll 70

Fighters 73

Fighter Movement 76Catapults 78

Dogfighting 79

Point Defense 80

Fighter Attack 82

Crew 86

Critical Hits 87

Multiple Hits of The Same System 90

Precision Attacks 91

Planetary Assault 92

Planetary Bombardment 92

Planetary Invasion 93

End Phase 97


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Special Systems & Abilities 98

Agile 98

Assault 98

Automated 98

Command 99

Composite Plating 99

Holographic Screens 100

Mine Sweeping 100

Modulate Shields 101

Patrol 101

Quick Jump 102

Ram Ship 102

Reinforced Prow 103

Scout 103

Self-Repair 104

Stealth 104

Special Orders 105Accelerate to Attack Speed 106

All Systems Shut Down 107

Boarding Enemy Ships 107

Divert Power to Shields 112

Emergency Jump 113

Evasive Maneuvers 113

Full Stop 114

Linked Fire 114

Maneuvering Jets to Full Power 115

Overload Engines 116

Overload Weapons 116

Ramming 117

Roll Over 119Running Silent 119


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Heroic Characters 120

The Brave 120

The Brillant 120

The Dreadful 121

The Ingenious 121

The Lucky 121

The Tactician 121

Faction Traits 122

Barbarians 122

Cybernetic 122

Collective Mind 122

Organic 123

Rogue 123

Superior 123

Swarm 123

Fleet Composition 124

Limit of Ships Per Squadron 125

Limit of Command Ships 125

Limit of Fighters and Patrol Ships 126

Limit of Escorts per Unit 126

Limit of Quality Ratings 126

Optional 3D Rules 127

Design Rules 129


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TECH DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES

1

Space Age

First steps out of its own atmosphere

USA and Soviet Union during Cold

War

2

Solar Age

Initial Exploration of own Solar System

USA and Russia after Cold War

3

Interstellar Age

Discovery of Faster-Than-Light Travel

4

Exploration Age

Exploration of nearby Solar Systems

Bajor

5

Expansion Age

First Colonies beyond own Solar System

Orks, Narn

6

Imperial Age

Constitution of thriving trans-stellar

Civilization

Imperium of Man on Millennium 41,

Klingons, B5 Earth Alliance

7

Galactic Age

Capacity to reach far into the Galaxy

Mankind on 40k Dark Age of

Technology, Centauri, Federation,

Romulans

8

Introspection Age

Search for the ultimate secrets of the

Cosmos

Minbari, Dominion, Eldar, Dark Eldar

9

Dimensional Age

Transition into Dimensional Beings

Borgs, Necrons, Vorlons, Ori

10

Nigh-Omnipotence Age

Non-Corporeal Existence. Absolute Scientific

Knowledge

The Q, C-Tan, First Ones after

Transition in B5, The Stargate

Ancients


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Players will need some a set of D6 and D10 to play PAX STELLARUM.

Dice are needed not only for resolving weapons fire and other tests, but are also used as

tokens for keeping track of the ships stats throughout the game.

The most common tokens will be for keeping track of a ships current hull points, Shields

and Thrust Mode. During the game, some circumstances may require additional tokens for some

ships.

Those are:

Crew

Troops

Critical Hits

Special actions (Hyperdrives On, Stealth, etc.)

Above, a Harmony-Class Super dreadnought, by Zandris IV Miniatures

(atz4miniatures.blogspot.com). Its current stats are represented by dice: 11

Hull points (grey die) and Shields Rating 6 (blue die).

DICE, TOKENS AND RULERS
http://z4miniatures.blogspot.com/http://z4miniatures.blogspot.com/http://z4miniatures.blogspot.com/


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In order to set a game up, players must first decide the Fleet points for that game the

number of points each player may use to put ships in play.

Each ship, space station, troop and fighter flight has its own point cost. This number

represents how many points you must spend to be able to include such unit on your ranks.

The point cost of Fighter flights is not included in ships/stations with capacity to carry

them. They must be paid for separately, and their cost is labe led as Ordnance, on the ship

display.

There is no need to buy all the ordnance a ship can carry; the player may choose to buy

just part of it, paying its correspondent cost.

After choosing their units according to the predefined game points, players must deploy

their fleets on the game board.

Unless players are playing a scenario with specific instructions for deployment, they should

do as follows:

Place terrain. No more than 1/6 of the table should becovered by terrain, such as

asteroid fields, nebulae, planets, etc. Both players should participate in arranging the

terrain on the table.

BASIC RULES

Beginning the Game


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Appoint a Flagship. Each fleet must nominate one ship to be the Flagship. If any ships

have the Command Special Ability, it must be the command ship with the highest Quality

stat. If no ships have command it must be the ship with the highest Quality stat.

Determine Initiative of Deployment. Each player then rolls a D6 and adds the result to

their Flagships Quality Stat.The side with the highest total has got Initiative.

Initiative allows a player to determine who deploys first. The player who deploys

first chooses his table side. The player with the highest total has also got the Initiative

for the first game turn, just as if he had won the roll off on the Initiative Phase of the

first turn (see ahead, Initiative Phase).

The table edges used for deployment (long or short) must be agreed upon by players

before rolling for Initiative.

Deploy ships.The player designated to deploy first must then place his ships on the game

board at up to 10 from their own table edge. As each ship or squadron is placed, their

controller must also place a token indicating the thrust mode of the ship (or squadron).

The first player will deploy their entire fleet at once, before its the opponents turn to

do the same

Begin the Game.First turn.


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PROPULSION RATING

0 half maximum

Low Thrust High Thrust

1

Adrift

Ships must operate at the thrust mode they began the turn with, but may switch from one

mode to the adjacent one at the end of their movement activation.

As such, the change in thrust normally only affects the next turns movement. Ships cannot

transit through all 3 modes in the same turn, except with certain Special Orders.

ADRIFT LOW THRUST HIGH THRUST

Thus, a ship currently Adrift may change its thrust mode to Low Thrust at the end of its

activation on the Starship Movement Phase. A ship currently on Low Thrust may change its

thrust mode to Adrift or High Thrust on the end of its activation on the Starship Movement Phase.

A ship currently on High Thrust may change its thrust mode to Low Thrust on the end of its

activation on the Starship Movement Phase.

The Special Order which allows a ship to switch from Adrift to High Thrust immediately is

called Accelerate to attack speed. Another Special Order allows a ship to switch from High Thrust

to Adrift in a single turn, and is called Full Stop.

In addition, these Special Orders change the thrust mode at the beginning of the movement

phase. Since the thrust mode of a ship may only be changed once per turn, a ship that uses

either of these special orders may not also change thrust modes at the end of the movement

phase.


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In addition to moving forward, ships may also turn (pivot), up to twice a turn. Each ship has

a Pivoting Rating that indicates the distance it must move in a straight line before turning the

first time each turn and between the first and second turns. In addition, the Pivoting Rating also

lists the maximum number of degrees it can rotate during each pivot.

Ships that are in the Adrift Thrust Mode may not turn. Ships that are in Low Thrust can

reduce the distance of forward movement required for a turn by 1. Ships in High Thrust use the

Pivoting Rating as listed.

No starship is required to pivot on any given turn.

_____________________________

Example:

A ship with a Propulsion Rating of 12 and a Pivoting Rating of 445 is in Low Thrust. As

the ship is in low thrust, his effective Maneuver rating is reduced to 345.

He moves his ship forward 3, expending 3 points of thrust, and then rotates 45. He then

moves forward another 3 expending his remaining thrust, and then turns another 45.

______________________________

PIVOTING


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DESIGN NOTE:

The Pivoting Rating for each ship is already calculated and located on their Ship Stat Card.

However, for those of you interested, the Pivoting Rating of a ship is based on its Hull size and

armor rating.

The base Pivoting Rating based on Hull size is listed on the table below:

Hull Size

Pivoting Rating

1 or 2

9

3 to 8

19

9 to 18 275

19 to 30 36

31 to 45 445

46 and up

53

Each level of armor shifts the Pivoting Rating down that table according to its rating.

Armor Rating may be:

0 - No Armor

1 Light Armor

2 Medium Armor

3 Heavy Armor

Thus, a ship with 6 hull points and Armor Rating 2, is going to have Pivoting Rating 2 levels

lower than 190 (the level for ships from 3 to 8 hull points), which means its Rating is going to

be 360.

You will notice that while ships are allowed to turn up to twice per turn, this can be difficult

for large and well armored ships to achieve. Large ships often have Propulsion ratings lower than

the amount of distance they need to move forward in order complete two turns.


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In this phase, players will take turns activating their ships to fire with them just as they did

on the previous phase for movement. The Player with Initiative may decide if he wants to attack

with one of his units first or let his opponent attack first.

In some situations (usually when there are ships with the StealthSpecial Ability) a player

with inactivated units in the attack phase will no longer have any targets in range. If this situation

arises the player may pass the attack to his opponent.

His opponent can then select another of his units to attack, or pass. If he also passes, the

attack phase is over and inactivated ships do not get a chance to attack. If he chooses to attack

with a ship, then play continues as normal.

Additionally, there are times when a ship does not want to fire (again usually because of

stealth) even if there are targets in range. A player has the option of activating a unit in the

attack phase and simply choosing not to attack with it. (Note: this is different than passing as

you are forfeiting the units chance to attack, not simply deferring it. Additionally, when you pass,

you are essentially granting the opponent the prerogative of ending the attack phase immediately

if he wills).

Every ship can only attack with its weapons once per turn and every weapon can fire only

once per turn. Thus, activating a ship in this phase gives its controller the chance to fire once

with every weapon the ship bears, provided they have targets on range.

Starship Attack Phase


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Each Arc of Fire consists of a 60 angle. There are two ways of figuring out which of the

ships arcs of fire the target enemy ship is in:

1.

If your ships are based on hexagonal flight stands, the arcs are determined by simply

placing rulers or measuring tapes on the edges of the stand, along an imaginary line

running from the peg to that edge.

Above, the Embassy Class Assault Carrier, by Zandris

IV Miniatures, is shown within the Fore Port arc of Fire of a

Harmony-Class Super dreadnought.

2.

For ships without hexagonal flight stands, place a circular protractor over the ship, so

that the 90 mark is aligned to its Prow, and the 270 is aligned to its Stern.

The Fore Port arc of fireis located between the 360 mark and the 60 mark.

The Prow arc of fireis located between the 60 mark and the 120 mark.

The Fore Starboard arc of fireis located between the 120 mark and the 180 mark.

The Aft Starboard arc of fireis located between the 180 mark and the 240 mark.

The Stern arc of fireis located between the 240 mark and the 300mark.

The Aft Port arc of fireis located between the 300 mark and the 360 mark.


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The Diplomat-Class Heavy Cruiser above is based on a circular flight

stand. A circular protractor is placed on top, displaying its different arcs

of fire (white background for better visualization).

Tip:Mark the limits of every arc of fire on your circular protractor with white paint. This way

you can easily see the different arcs of fire:


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Range

Every weapon has a range, which is the maximum distance, in inches, that it can fire at a

target.

Some weapons not only have a maximum range but also a minimum range. This is the case

of weapons that take some time in order to become armed after being fired. Such weapons have

their range stats shown with two values: X Y, where x is the minimum range and y, the

maximum range. A weapon cannot be fired at targets which are closer than its minimum range.

Range is measured from the peg of the base of the firing ship to the peg of the target ship.

Traits

Some weapons have Traits, which are properties not defined by the weapons stats. While

not all weapons have traits, some have more than one, but no weapon can have more than three

traits. Below is a list of all weapon traits:

Annihilate (An)

Armor Piercing (AP)

Beam (Be)

Blast (B)

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)

High Rate of Fire (HF)

Mine (Mn)

Shields Piercing (SP)

Target Lock (TL)

Tractor (Tr)

Weapons withAnnihilatedestroy anything they hit, provided the hit is not effectively blocked

by Shields. Such weapons cannot target features of terrain.

Annihilateweapons require a significant amount of power to energize. To use a weapon

with Annihilate, the ship must execute the Overload Weapons Special Order.


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Armor piercingweapons ignore a number of points of the targets armor equal to the Level

of armor piercing, to a minimum of 0. E.g. A weapon with armor piercing 2 would treat an Armor

Rating of 3 as 1.

Beam:When a Beam weapon fires, if it misses the initial target, the player may roll to attack

the next closest enemy ship on the same squadron, as long as its also within the arc(s) of fire

that weapon can fire from.

Blastweapons explode on their targets, creating an area of effect. All weapons with this

trait have a number indicated next to the letter B, which determines the radius of the area of

effect, in inches.

All ships/stations/fighters (allied or enemy) caught in the area of effect are automatically

hit and are subject to damage.

Blast weapons need to hit their primary target to deal damage to those in the blast radius.

If the shot is a miss or if it is prevented by countermeasures, then the area of effect damage

does not occur.

However, if the blast weapon hits the target it will deal damage to the surrounding targets,

even if the primary target cancels the damage with shields. The targets in the area of effect may

also prevent damage with shields.

Electromagnetic Pulseweapons are capable of causing all systems on the target ship to

shut down momentarily when the EMP weapon hit is not blocked by Shields. Such targets will be

unable to roll for weapons fire or Shields until the end of the turn, and their Thrust mode will

immediately become adrift. Ships affected by EMP may not go on Special Orders until the end

of the turn.

If an EMP weapon is also a blast, then each target within the area of effect is also subject

to the same effect if their shields do not block the hit.

The Fire Power of EMP weapons does not inflict hull damage, and EMP weapons are unable

to inflict critical hits either. The FP of EMP weapons is only used to establish if it is blocked by

shields. Armor provides no protection against EMP weapons.


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Weapons with a High Rate of Firemay reroll all attack dice that failed to hit the target. The

result of the second roll is final, and no further rerolls for the same weapon are allowed on that

turn.

Mines are a type of weapon that is not fired against an enemy target. Its placed over the

battlefield as the ship moves. See the Advanced Rules for further rules on how Mines work.

Shields Piercing(see the section on Shields for further explanation on how Shields work)

increases the difficulty of the shields roll by the level of the Shields Piercing stat of that weapon.

Therefore, if a weapon has a Fire Power of 4 and Shields Piercing of 1, then instead of

having to roll 4+ to cancel the hit, the player needs a roll of 5+.

Weapons with Target Lockare capable of performing Precision Attacks (see the Precision

Attackssection in the Advanced Rules).

Additionally, Target Lockweapons ignore Range and Profile modifiers. Note that they may

still not be fired through blocking terrain, such as planets. It also lowers the targets Basic Profile

by 1.

Finally, Target Lock weapons are the only weapons that can be fired against enemy fighters

in base contact with an allied ship/fighter flight, or against an enemy ship in base contact with

allied fighters.

Tractoris the defining trait of Tractor Beam weapons. Such devices are able to immobilize

the target when they lock beam on them. They are also able to literally tow the target in space,

by applying its ship thrust to move itself and the target ship together.

The Fire Power of a Tractor Beam is not used to determine damage (Tractor beams

themselves never inflict damage) but rather indicates its Tractor Power.

In order to target an enemy ship with a tractor beam, the tractor power must be equal to or

greater than the Initial hull points (also known as Hull Size) of the target unit. Thus, a Tractor

Beam with Fire Power 5 can only target ships with Hull Size 5 or less. In addition, no ship may

target its tractor beams on ships of greater Hull Size.


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Whenever a player succeeds at hitting a target (starship, space station or fighter flight) with

a Tractor Beam and such hit is not blocked by the targets Shields, that target is locked. Locked

targets cannot perform any movement and its Profile is reduced by 1.

The effect of the tractor beam lasts until the ship controlling the tractor beam optionally

decides to shut it down or when it suffers any hull damage.

During the period the tractor beam is locked upon a target, the ship projecting the beam

can only move if it is able to move (tow) the locked target as well.

To tow a locked ship, the ship controlling the tractor beam must expend 1 point of thrust

for every 10 hull points of the locked ships Hull Size. Round to the nearest 0.5 thrust points.

For example, if a ship with Propulsion 8, on high thrust, has locked its tractor beam on a

ship of Hull Size 22, it could only move 6, for the remaining 2 thrust points would have to be

applied to tow the locked ship.

When the tractor ship moves, the locked unit moves with it the same distance, in same

direction, thereby maintaining its relative position to the tractoring ship.

Immediately upon tractoring the target ship, the ship controlling the beam has options to

move the target ship if the FPO of the tractor is greater than the target ships Hull Size. The

target ship can be both translated or rotated.

The locked ship may be translated 1 in any direction or it may be rotated 15, for each

point of tractor FPO in excess of its Hull Size. The controlling player may also both translate

and rotate the target as long as the sum of the points is less than or equal to the FPO minus the

remaining hull of the locked ship. Such movement can be performed in any direction, provided

that the locked unit remains within the beams range and fire arcs.

The locked ship can be moved again in the next attack phase when the tractor beams

controlling ship activates again. No to-hit roll is required to maintain the lock, provided the tractor

lock was not either voluntarily broken by the controlling ship nor did the controlling ship suffer

any hull damage.

It is important to apply the effects of the tractor beam at the correct time. As a tractor

beam is a weapon, its intended use and effects happen at the same time as the other weapons

on the controlling ship.

As such, in the first turn the tractor beam Is used on a target, the reduction of Profile down

to a 5+ does not occur until after the to-hit rolls of the other weapons.


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Those emissions are responsible for making a ship detectable by other crafts in outer

space. Thus, the lower is the signature, the harder it is for enemy units to detect it.

* DESIGN NOTE:

A ShipsSignature Rating is based on the following table:

Type / Hull Size Signature

Light Fighters, Structure, Troops 1

Heavy Fighters, Space Mines 2

spaceships with 1 to 3 hull points 3

Spaceships with 4 to 10 hull points 4



Spaceships with more than 38 hull points 7

There is no need for players to memorize or check this table during play, as each ship

has its Signature indicated on the Fleet sheet.

The maximum distance a ships Sensors can detect an object at is equal to:

Sensors Rating X objects Signature.

Thus, a ship with Sensors 4x could detect (and therefore fire at) a ship with a signature

of 6 is at a distance of 24 (4x6=24).


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The basic to-hit number of any ship is determined by its Quality, as seen on the chart

below. This value is modified by the circumstances above, which are first combined and then

applied (added to or subtracted from) the shooting ships basic to-hit number.

QUALITY BASIC TO-HIT

Poor 2) 8+

Good 3) 7+

Elite 4)

6+

Legendary 5)

5+

Note that each Quality level has a

to-hit number determined by the

equation 10 - Quality number, so

its very straightforward for players to

remember the basic to-hit number of

each of their ships during play.

Once modifiers are applied to the

basic to-hit number, the new value

becomes the actual minimum number

the controller of the ship performing a

shooting action must roll on a D10 to

hit the enemy.


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7.

Target uses defensive measures, such as Shields and CTM.

8. Apply Damage.Compare the weapons fire power to the enemy ships Armor. Each hit will

cause damage to the target equal to the weaponsFire Power minus the armor rating of the

ship. Each point of damage will remove 1 hull point. Ships that lose all their hull points are

immediately removed from play.

____________________________

Ex:

3 hits of Fire Power 2 against a target

of armor 1. Each hit causes a single

point of damage, as the other point is

absorbed by armor, for a total damage

of 3, which reduces the targets

current Hull points by 3.

____________________________

Note:Every unit is considered to fire all of its weapons simultaneously. Therefore, the target

ship only rolls for its defensive systems after all the attack dice for all weapons from the enemy

unit have been rolled.

In order to speed up play, players should roll for all weapons from the same unit at once,

using different colored D10 to represent different weapons.


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Most ships and space stations either a Shields Rating or Countermeasures (CTM) Rating,

and some even have both. This is represented by a number, which indicates how dice that craft

can roll for that system.

Shields use D6, while CTM uses D10. Thus, a ship with Shields Rating 3 can roll up to 3D6

for Shields, while a ship with CTM 5 can roll 5D10 for this system.

Shields and CTM are not used when the ship is activated, but rather whenever they are

attacked by an enemy, in an attempt to cancel any hits, thus preventing damage to the ships

hull.

CTM represents flak, flares, point defense, electronic jamming and other suitable means of

deflecting or neutralizing incoming fire.

Shields represent any kind of protective energy/electromagnetic bubbles enveloping a

ship, and which are so common in sci-fi backgrounds.

Only one CTM and Shields roll may be made against each source of enemy fire.

Each unit (all weapons on an individual ship, squadron of ships or fighter flight) is considered

to be a single source of enemy fire.

A roll of CTM or Shields involves rolling a number of dice equal the ships dice pool for that

system.

SHIELDS AND COUNTERMEAUSRES


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____________________________

Example: A ship is attacked by 5 enemies. If they are all from the same squadron, all their

attacks are treated as a single source of enemy fire, and thus the defending ship may roll their

dice pool for Shields only once against all their weapons.

If each ship was running individually, the defending ship would get a Shields roll against each

ships attacks.

__________________________

Shields and CTM provide protection around the entire ship, and thus can be rolled regardless

of what fire arcs the attacks originate from. In case the ship has got both systems, CTM must

be resolved first.

Resolving a CTM Roll:

Attacking player rolls to hit. All dice that were hits should be kept on the table;

Defending player rolls a number of D10 equal to the CTM Rating of his ship;

Each result can be paired with an equal result of the pool of hits, thus cancelling

it;

CTM is treated as a High Rate of Fire system, which means it gets to reroll all

missing rolls. This is done by rerolling all results below the lowest result of hit on

the enemy hit pool;

The hits that werent cancelled by CTM are then applied to the ships Hull (after

reduced by armor).

Note that when there are multiple hits that rolled the same number, an equivalent roll of

CTM may be paired with any of them, as the defending player chooses.


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____________________________

Example: A ship received 5 hits, which scored 9, 8, 8, 7 and 10 on their to-hit rolls. The

attacked ship has got 4 CTM, so the defending player rolls 4D10 and gets the results 3, 5, 7 and

1.

The results 3, 5 and 1 are below the lowest result of enemy hit (7), so they may be rerolled.

The new roll results in 4, 8, and 3.

Thus, the defending player pairs up the 7 and 8 of his CTM rolls with those respective

numbers on the dice pool of enemy hits, cancelling 2 hits, leaving the hits of result 9, 10 and one

8 undefended.

____________________________

Resolving a Shields Roll:

Determine the total hits scored by the enemy unit and not cancelled by CTM.

Add up the firepower of all of these hits. This combined firepower total will be

used later to possibly reduce the current Shields Rating of the ship;

Roll a number of D6 equal to the Shields Rating the defending ship currently has.

Each die rolled is then paired with a single enemy hit as the defending player

chooses. Each Shields die roll that equals or exceeds the FP of the attack it was

paired against cancels the attack. To cancel a hit of a weapon with FP 7 or more

requires pairing it with 2 Shields rolls of 6;

The hits that werent cancelled by Shields are then applied to the ships Hull

(after reduced by armor).

Finally, compare the firepower total of all the attacks from the source of fire that hit the

ship and werent canceled by CTM. If this equals or exceeds the current Shields rating of the

ship, then reduce it by 1. If this equals or exceeds double the current Shields Rating, its reduced

by 2, rather than 1.

A die should be used next to the ship to indicate its current Shields Rating.


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This effect only occurs after the ship rolls its Shields dice for the current attack. So, if it

has Shields 5 and is hit with a total fire power of 7, it will be able to roll 5D6 for Shields.

Immediately after that, its Shields will be reduced to 4.

___________________________

Ex:

The Cruiser Agamemnon has a Shields Rating of 3. Its hit by 2 shots of Laser Cannon, with

fire power 3, and another shot from a Photon Torpedo, which has got fire power 4.

The controller of Agamemnon rolls his 3D6 for Shields and gets 3, 5 and 1. He chooses to

pair the 5 with the hit of Fire Power 4, and the 3 with one of the hits of Fire Power 3. The

remaining hit of FP 3 is not cancelled, for his roll of 1 is ineffective against it, and will thus be

resolved against the ships armor/hull.

The total fire power that impacted on AgamemnonsShields was 10 (2x3 + 1x4 = 10), causing

it to be reduced from 3 to 1, once the attack is resolved.

___________________________


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leaving only 2 damage points (1 from each cannon shot) to be applied to the units hull.

Having a total hull structure of 9 points, the Audacious hull is now down to 7 points.

_____________________________

In the End phase of each turn, in this order, players must:

Remove ships from the table that have a Hyperdrive On token;

calculate the number of hull points each fleet still has in the game;

Make morale checks if one or more of the fleets has lost 50% of its starting total of

hull points;

If either fleet fails the Morale Check and leaves the table, the game is over and the

fleet still on the table is victorious.

If both fleets must take Morale Checks and fail, the game is over. Calculate victory

points to determine the winner (see ahead Calculating Victory Points).

If the game doesnt end, ships with current Shields Ratings below their maximum

raise them by 1 point. Continue to the Initiative phase of the next turn.

End Phase


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Quality Checks are of 2 types:

Morale Checks

Skill Checks

Both types of tests are performed using the ships Quality Rating, by rolling a D6 to get a

result equal to or lower than that number. Skill Checks are referred to on the Advanced Rules.

The distinction between Skill and Morale Checks is important, for there are circumstances and

modifiers that only apply to one of those types of Quality Checks.

Sometimes, during battle, a ships crew, or even the entire fleet, may go through

circumstances that challenge their courage and determination to keep on fighting.

On such occasions, a Morale Check must be taken. Passing the test means that the crew

overcame their fear and carried on with their duties.

Failing the test represents the lack of proper determination and spirit of sacrifice among

the ranks, or simply that they understood there was no tactical advantage in fighting a lost battle

and chose to withdraw.

Morale Checks must be taken by a ship whenever:

Its designated to a ramming action (Advanced Rules)

It loses a round of combat on a Boarding Action (Advanced Rules)

Morale Checks must be taken by the fleet whenever:

It loses 50% or more of its total initial hull points

Quality Checks


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The morale check here is taken based on the Quality Rating of the Flagship. If the flagship

has been destroyed, use the Quality Rating of the new appointed Flagship. However, losing the

primary flagship generates a modifier to this test, as show on the chart below:

If the test fails, the fleet immediately leaves the table and the game is over.

If the morale test is passed, the fleet remains, but the morale check must be retaken in

each subsequent End Phase, with the difficulty increasing by 1 each time.

For example, if on the turn the fleet dropped under 50% of its total hull points the target for

the morale roll was 3, on the next End Phase the test will be taken with the target number of 2.

Regardless of the number of turns, the target number will never drop below 1.

*DESIGN NOTE: This is due to the assumption that the loss of hull points will continue, and

so will morale, to the point where remaining in the fight is simply not a (sane) option anymore.

Modifiers to this Morale Check:

Flagship Destroyed: -1to the Target value

More remaining hull points than the enemy fleet:+1to the Target value


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Victory conditions are foremost determined by the specific scenario rules. Below are the

Standard Victory Conditions, which are adopted by most scenarios and are the default victory

conditions unless otherwise specified by the players.

The Game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

One side concedes defeat. The other side claims the win.

At the end of a predetermined number of turns. the side with most victory points will

be the winner;

If one or both sides are forced to disengage their entire fleet. The fleet that remains

on the table is the winner. If no fleet remained on the table, victory will be determined

by victory points.

In case players choose to play a game with a predetermined number of game turns, they

can use the rules here to determine who the winner is. These rules can also be used to

determine a winner in a game where both fleets fail a Morale Check for hull destruction on the

same End Phase.

At the end of the last game turn, each player will have scored a number of victory points

equal to the number of hull points destroyed on the enemy fleet, multiplied by the enemy Tech

level.

Each point of hull remaining in a captured ship counts as 2 hull points destroyed. Each hull

point remaining in a captured Flagship counts as 3 hull points destroyed. Each completely

destroyed fighter flight counts as 1 hull point destroyed.

Thus:

Achieving Victory

CALCULATING VICTORY POINTS


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Victory Points =

total enemy hull points destroyed x 1

+

total enemy hull points captured x 2

+

total enemy hull points captured on flagship x 3

X Enemy Tech

Additionally, there are some specific rules for victory points. They are:

Ships that disengage individually, earn the opponent a number of victory points equal to

half their remaining hull points.

Fighter flights, Patrol ships and any other ships (e.g.: ships with damaged engines, unable

to jump into hyperspace) that are left behind because their fleet has disengaged without

them are considered destroyed if the enemy fleet also disengages. If the enemy fleet does

not disengage they are considered captured. In such a case, the fighter flights are worth

2 VP each.

Ships that were still in reserve by the time the game ended are treated as destroyed in

regard to calculating victory points.

***

This is the end of the Basic Rules Section. These should give you the fundamentals you

need to play a game of PAX STELLARUM. For those looking for more, there is a plethora of

additional gaming options presented in the Advanced Rules.

There, you will find options for Terrain, Squadrons, Special Orders, Special Systems &

Abilities (e.g. Stealth. Teleporting), Boarding Actions, Fighters and more. These rules will add

more tactical depth to your games. Feel free to decide with your opponent before the game if

you will use the advanced rules or not, and, if you do, which you will use if you do not wish to use

all of them.

***


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Anything that is part of the game table and is not controlled by any player is a terrain

feature. It can be stars, planets, moons, asteroid fields, space anomalies, etc. Terrain adds

exciting features to the game, and can influence the ships actions, by blocking line of fire, or

hindering movement.

In Pax Stellarum, the location of Units such as Starships or fighters is indicated by the flight

peg and not the miniature itself. However, the location of terrain features is defined by its actual

size on the table. This is to represent the immense size of such features compared to our fictional

starships, however big they might seem.

In case they are mounted on flight stands, planets, moons and stars are considered to

occupy all the space of their shadow(that is, the imaginary projection of their silhouette on

the game table).

For other terrain features that

are made up of a grouping of smaller

elements (e.g. asteroid fields),

consider them as a single terrain

feature. Place the individual

elements on a felt template or

devise suitable means by which to

indicate their extent on the table.

ADVANCED RULES

Terrain


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Rough Terrain has got several impacts in play:

+1 or +2 Modifier for Shooting

-1 or -2 Modifier for Sensors

Risk of damage if moving through it

Players should determine if a piece of rough terrain is light or very rough. Light rough terrain

imposes a +1 modifier to all shooting with line of sight passing through any part of it. This means

that if either the attacking ship or its target has got any part of its flight peg located on it, or if

the terrain lies it the trajectory of the shooting, the modifier applies, raising the to-hit number by

1.

Similarly, a ships Sensors receive a -1 modifier when determining if it detects a target

through a piece of light rough terrain.

If the terrain is classified as very rough, the modifier for shooting is +2, and the modifier for

Sensors is -2, instead.

Ships moving through a piece of rough terrain risk being damaged by it. For every full inch

or fraction of inch a ship moves through a piece of rough terrain, its attacked by 2AD of Fire

Power 2, if light rough terrain, or Fire Power 4, if very rough terrain.

The to-hit number for these attacks is 7+, and is modified by the ships Profile (no other

modifier applied). The opponent should roll the dice. CTM and Shields can be used against those

attacks.

This type of terrain blocks line of sight and sensors completely, which means no shooting

can be performed through it, nor can targets be detected when a piece of impassable terrain lies

in the direct line of sight. If a ship moves into a piece of impassable terrain, such as a planet,

moon, gigantic asteroid or such, its immediately destroyed.

ROUGH TERRAIN

IMPASSABLE TERRAIN


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Deploying ships in squadrons is one of the most tactically important aspects of the game.

It also allows players to control large fleets with relative ease.

Starships can be part of a squadron with other ships of the same class. The formation of

squadrons can only be done at the beginning of the game. This must be announced when the

ships are deployed and the ships in a squadron must all be deployed at the same time (and in

formation).

A squadron is considered to be one unit, thus all ships in the squadron activate at the same

time in both the movement and attack phases. Ships in a squadron must be on the same thrust

mode.

The only exception to this is if one or more ships are on a Special Order which changes

their thrust mode. However, they must attempt to bring their thrust mode back to that of the

majority of the squadron as soon as possible.

Rule of Formation:

In order to remain part of a squadron, a ship must be within x of at least one

other ship in the same squadron, where X = Squadron Quality. A ship may never

deliberately move out of formation.

Squadrons


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Thus, if the ships in a squadron have got Quality 4, each ship must keep a distance of up

to 4 to another ship in the squadron. The entire squadron must remain as a single chain of

models, which means its not allowed to keep some ships in formation with one another, but

distant from the rest of the squadron.

Example of formation for Squadron Quality 3:

RIGHT WRONG

3 8

3

Whenever a ship becomes out of formation (due to loss of another ship on that squadron),

it must try to return to formation as soon as possible (that is, in the next Starship Movement

Phase) and it cannot be activated with the rest of the squadron on a Starship Attack Phase until

it returns to formation.

In order to be considered of the same class, ships must have identical stats to each other

(i.e. hull size, weaponry, Shields, CTM, Hangars, Propulsion, etc.), including Quality Rating.

An exception to this is Legendary and Commandships. Legendary ships are rare, and most

games will sport a single one of them per fleet (if any!), and so we will allow them to be part of a

squadron where the other ships are equal to them in all stats but Quality (the other ships must

all be of the same Quality, though). In that case, the squadrons formation distance is the

Legendary ships Quality, that is, 5.

Similarly, a ship with the Commandspecial rule may be part of a squadron with ships of

identical stats to it, even if they are not also Command ships.

The advantage of having ships in a squadron is being able to activate them all at once per

activation on the attack phase.

On the other hand, squadrons are a disadvantage in the movement phase, for moving second

is an advantage, as youd move knowing the final location of the enemy unit. However, players


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The exception to this is when one of the ships in the squadron is Legendary, or when there

is terrain in the line of fire of some of the firing ships only. In that case, the to-hit numbers will

be distinct, and therefore the shots from these ships must be rolled separately.

When a ship is attacked by multiple enemies from the same squadron, it must wait for all

the attacks to be rolled before using its defenses (CTM and Shields), as all of these rolls

constitute a single source of enemy fire, as explained on the Basic Rules.

Individual ships or squadrons may be designated to escort an allied ship. No ship may have

more than one escorting unit (i.e. ship or squadron).

A ship (whether individual or in a squadron) may only be designated to escort an ally with

at least double its Hull Size. Therefore, a squadron with 3 frigates of 4 hull points each could only

escort an ally with 8 or more hull points.

A ship or squadron may also be designated to escort a squadron. In this case, each escorting

ship cannot have more than half the number of hull points of each ship in the escorted squadron.

Escorts must be declared on the beginning of the game, upon deploying the escorting unit.

No ship can be designated as an escort during the game.

Escorts must keep within xof the escorted unit, where x = Escorting unit Quality Rating.

Whenever they move farther away than this, they temporarily lose the escort prerogatives.

When whole squadrons are escorts, only one of the ships in the squadron must be within

Quality distance of the escorted unit to maintain their escort status.

Units which have been assigned as escorts cannot have escorts themselves.

Escorting


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Escorts may:

Interrupt the activation of an enemy unit attacking the escorted unit

Screen the escorted unit

Use CTM to protect escorted unit against enemy fighter flights

Whenever a unit is activated in the Starship Attack Phase and declares an attack against

an enemy unit which has got an escort, the escort has the option to interrupt the attack before

the dice are rolled.

If the escort is designated to interrupt, it immediately activates and may attack the unit

whose activation it interrupted, and only that unit.

After that attack has been resolved, the escort is considered activated and may not go

again in the current attack phase (including interrupting other attacks against its escorted unit).

Continue the activation of the interrupted unit.

Note: It is possible for an escort to be interrupted itself if its interrupting the attack of a

ship that also has its own escorts!

_________________________

Example:

Ship A is escorted by ship B

Enemy ship C is escorted by ship D

A is designated to attack C. D is then designated to interrupt As attack, thus attacking it

first. The controller of ship A chooses to get B to interrupt ships D interruption.

Therefore, B is going to attack D. If D survives, it is going to attack A, which is then going

to attack C, here again, provided that A survives an attack from D.

__________________________

ACTIVATION INTERRUPTION


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Escorts may also be designated to screen the escorted unit. This means that whenever

the escorts controller so chooses, the escort may block line of fire to the escorted unit, by

deliberately putting itself in the line of fire between the attacking unit and the escorted unit.

Screening may be declared whenever an enemy activates a unit to fire at the escorted ship

during the Starship Attack Phase. If the line of fire between the attacking ship and its target

passes within a 1 radius of the flight peg of a escorting ship performing Screening, the attacks

are resolved against that escort instead or the original target.

SCREENING


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As will be further explained ahead, on the end of the Fighter Movement Phase, all ships may

fire their CTM on enemy fighter flights in base contact with them.

Escort are allowed to shoot their own CTM at enemy fighter in contact with the ship or unit

they are escorting. This is resolved as if the CTM was being fired by the escorted ship itself.

If an escort uses its CTM this way, it cannot use it to also fire on enemy fighters in base

contact with itself on the same turn. Each escort ship may freely choose any number of its CTM

dice to lend to escorted ships, while keeping some to use on enemy fighters its itself in base

contact with.

Starships that are armed with weapons with the Mine traitmay deploy them whenever

they are activated during a Movement Phase, regardless of Thrust Mode.

Unlike other weapons, the Attack Dice (AD) for mines do not represent the number of mines

that can be deployed per turn, but rather is the total number of mines that may be deployed each

game. A ship may deploy all of its AD in mines in one turn or may spread it over a number of

turns, but may never exceed this number.

Mines are deployed along the flight path of the ship. Simply place a token or die in any

location between where the ship started that turn and where it finished its movement. A ship

may deploy more than one mine in the same spot. Players should use dice or tokens of different

colors, so as to differentiate them from those of their enemies.

USE OF CTM TO PROTECT ESCORTED UNIT

Mines


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Whenever a starship moves into

contact with an enemy mine, it will

immediately detonate. When this

happens, the triggering ships

movement is halted until the effects

of the mine explosion are resolved.

After that, if the ship survives, it will

finish its movement.

When a mine with the Blasttrait

detonates, all units (not just enemy

units) within its blast radius are

caught in the explosion (that is, take

an automatic hit).

The damage inflicted by mines

may be prevented by Shields. If

players choose to do so, they should roll for Shields just as with any other weapon. CTM cannot

be used to protect a ship from a mine once it explodes.

Whenever a mine detonates, all mines (both allied and enemy alike) within its blast radius

also detonate. Therefore, close-placed mines can really trigger a chain reaction. In this situation,

ships will take damage from every exploding mine within range, unless they save such damage

with Shields.

Note that since all the mines detonate at the same time, they are considered one source

of fire and thus only one Shields roll can be made against all mine damage collectively.

After a mine explodes, remove its token from the game.

Players may fire at any space mines deployed on the game board, in order to detonate them.

This can only be done before a mine is triggered by enemy movement.

For shooting purposes, treat mines as Signature 2targets that can only be hit with a result

10 on a shooting roll. If they are hit, they explode in the same way as if a ship had moved into

contact.

Both allied and enemy mines may be fired at in this way.


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Space Stations are any space installations that lack the means of moving under their own

power. This includes Star Bases, Defensive Platforms, Space Docks, etc.

Space stations are designed similarly to ships, but do not have any Propulsion, Pivoting

Rating or Hyperdrive. As such, space stations do not move in the movement phase, and

therefore are not activated in that phase.

In the Starship Attack phase, space stations activate as normal.

Ships are allowed to dock at Space Stations. In order to dock a ship, the player must move

it into base contact with the station under Low Thrust or Adrift mode. A ship can only dock at

an allied (or occupied) station.

Once a ship docks, it immediately changes its thrust mode to Adrift. Docked ships are not

allowed to fire any weapons.

During the Starship Movement Phase, whenever a player wants to undock one of his ships,

he may simply move it as if it were on Low Thrust. If it remains docked, the player can choose to

have it pivot on the spot at facing any direction.

Space Stations

DOCKING


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While docked, a ship gains the special trait Self Repair. Additionally, it is able to make a

Repair Roll for each damaged critical system in the End Phase, instead of only one system.

No Space Station may have more hull points of docked ships than it has itself. For instance,

a 20 hull point station could dock, say, 4 ships of hull size 5, each, or 2 ships of hull size 10.

Current hull points for the station and initial hull points (that is, Hull Size) for the ship are to be

considered here.

When a player is deploying their fleet, they may elect to hold some of their ships/units in

reserve (i.e. off the table). A number of units, with a combined hull total of no more than a third

of the fleets total hull points, may be placed aside, while the rest of the fleet is deployed normally.

At the movement phase of each game turn after the first, whenever its a player turn to

activate a unit, he may choose to try activating one of his units currently in reserve. He then

performs a Skill Check with the ship or squadron Quality Rating. If the test is a pass, the unit

enters the game immediately. If the test is a fail, the arrival of that unit will be deferred by a

number of turns equal to the difference the test failed by.

___________________________

EX:

Mark has a Destroyer in reserve, and will try to bring it to the table on the current game

turn, the 2. The Destroyer has a Quality Rating 3 (Good), and Mark rolls a 5 on the Skill Check,

which means the arrival of the Destroyer will be deferred another 2 game turns, and will only be

able to arrive on the 4 game turn.

___________________________

Reserves


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Even if the Skill Check fails, the player is considered to have spent his initiative of activation,

and therefore it then passes to the opponent.

Additionally, a unit whose arrival from reserve has been deferred by a failed Skill Check

doesnt have to enter the game exactly on the turn it becomes available. The player may instead

hold it in reserve for additional turns still, and whenever he wants it to arrive, he will be able to

activate it and bring it from reserve automatically.

Escorts do not roll to enter from reserve. They enter the game on the same turn the

escorted unit does.

When a unit that is currently in reserve enters the game, the controller must deploy it on

the table according to the type of entry chosen for that unit.

Reserves are deployed on the game board either by:

Moving onto the table from a table edge

Hyperspace Jump

The type of entry is decided by the player prior to the start of the game, upon deployment.

The arrival of reserves by moving onto the game board is done by placing each ship in the

unit out of the game area, but with its flight peg in contact with it, and then moving them into the

battlefield according to the chosen thrust mode.

As a general rule, the border the reserve units arrive from is that of their controller.

However, a unit arriving from reserves by moving onto the game board may choose to Flank,

instead. This means that the unit will be able to enter from either of the 2 sides of the table that

dont constitute deployment zones for either player. In order to do so, a unit is required to stay

1 extra turn in reserve in addition to those determined by its Skill Check.


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___________________________

EX:

A player is going to bring onto the table one of his reserves. He selects the exact place on

the game board where he would like his ship to enter. He indicates that location to the other

player by placing the arriving unit there, and then performs a Deviation Roll.

The result of the D10 is 7, and the direction is indicated below by the orange arrow,

according to the D10s facing:

As his ship has a Quality Rating Good (3), he must subtract that number from the D10

result. The exact spot the ship is going to enter is 4 away from the intended location, in the

direction shown by the upper edge of the die.

________________________

The ships heading may be freely determined by the controller. However, it must be selected

beforethe Deviation Roll.

Ships in a squadron jump out of the Hyperspace together. Whenever they do so, the

Deviation Roll is performed for the squadron as a whole.

In such occasions the player must determine the exact position and location for each ship,

by placing them all on the table.

He should then pick one of the ships to be the reference point for the Deviation roll. If the

roll deviates, all ships in the squadron will deviate together, keeping their relative position/heading

in relation to each other.


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In case of escorts, their position is also determined in relation to the escorted unit prior to

the deviation roll, and it will deviate together with the escorted unit (it wont perform a deviation

roll for itself).

If the actual entry point of any ship in a unit places it in a collision situation with rough

terrain, make a terrain attack roll against that ship. The number of D10 to be rolled for its hits is

going to be exactly 2, as no distance was covered through the terrain.

If any ship in the unit jumps into Impassable terrain, its automatically destroyed.

If the actual entry point of a ship places it in the same spot as another ship, then both must

be arranged so that they may be placed adjacent to each other. This is done by both units being

relocated the minimum distance necessary to create space for both of them, as near their original

spots as possible.

If the actual entry point places any ship in the unit outside the game board, then there has

been a navigational error and the whole unit does not arrive that turn. It may enter on next turn,

performing a new deviation roll.


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Fighters are small attack craft that are carried into battle on carriers. Fighters are grouped

into Flights. Each flight consists of 6 fighters.

Each flight is represented by a single model or token. This can be something elaborate like

a hex base with a spider stand with 6 individual fighter miniatures or simply a plastic counter. All

measurements to and from fighters should be measured from the edge of their base, as the fighter

miniature may not have a peg or have multiple pegs.

Fighter flights are assumed to be at

full strength unless they have a die beside

them. As a fighter flight loses members,

place a die beside them indicating how

many fighters are left in the flight.

Fighters are classified as Light or

Heavy. Light Fighters are fit for the roll of

Interceptors, because they are small, fast

fighters, efficient at dogfighting. Heavy

Fighters, on the other hand, are designed

to attack capital ships with considerable

fire power, and thus usually perform the

roll of bombers.

Fighters only operate as flights, never individually (unless a fighter becomes the only one

remaining in its flight). Fighter flights cannot form squadrons with other Fighter flights.

Fighter Flights are considered to be part of the weaponry of each ship or space station, and

so share some of the stats weapons possess.

Fighters


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Below are indicated the basic stat lines for both Light and Heavy fighters. Stats in white

are default, stats in green are optional, and may be upgraded to the limit shown in red.

Light Fighter

Heavy Fighter

RNG FPO TRAITS

14 23) 1 2)

Quality 2 Quality 5); Dodge 6 Dodge 5+); Shields Piercing

1; High Rate of Fire on FPO 1;Extra Payload;

Sig 1; Profile Tiny +2)

RNG FPO TRAITS

10 18) 2 3)

Quality 2 Quality 5); Dodge 6 on FPO 2; Shields Piercing 1

Shields Piercing 2); Armor Piercing 1 Armor Piercing 3);

Extra Payload;

Sig 2; Profile Tiny +2)


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On the ship display, the number of attack dice indicates the number of fighter flights of

that type.

Every Fighter flight must be assigned to one ship or space station that has capacity to

transport it.

Each ship/station may have a number of Hangars. As each flight occupies 1 Hangar, the

number of Hangars on a model determines the limit of flights it can carry.

A standard fighter Flight has payload for 2 Attacks.

At the start of the game, each Fighter flight has 2 payload counters on it. Each time they

attack, they lose one payload counter (including CTM, see below). When all of a fighter flights

payload counters are gone, it may not attack again until it has returned to its base and rearmed.

Fighters may be upgraded with a trait called Extra Payload. These Fighter flights have 3

payload counters at the start of the game and when reloaded.

All fighter flights that are on board their base during the End Phase of any turn will be

rearmed (i.e. have all their payload counters replenished).

If a carrier has a critical hit on its bridge, no fighters will be able to take off or land until the

bridge damage is successfully repaired (see topic Critical Hits).

*NOTE:Tracking Fighter Data

If you are finding that keeping track of both payload and the number of fighters remaining

in a flight is cluttering your table with too many counters, it is suggested that you combine the

two into one die.

Use 4 colors of D6s. Use the color to represent a certain payload level (e.g. blue=3

payloads, yellow=2 payloads, red=1 payload and black=0 payload), and of course the number

showing on the D6 indicates the number of fighters remaining in the flight.


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In the Fighter Movement Phase, players will take turns activating their fighter flights in order

to move them around the game board. All flights based on the same carrier are moved at the

same time, as if they were part of a single squadron, before the initiative is passed to the opposite

player. That doesnt mean such flights should move as squadrons (that is, keep any formation

distance). They are still independent units, moving simultaneously only to speed up game play.

Activating a fighter Flight in this phase may consist of:

Launching it and then moving it, if the flight is onboard its carrier;

Moving it, if the flight is already on the game board;

Moving it and then landing it back on base, if the flight is already on the game board

and is to be brought back to rearm.

Fighters begin the game onboard their carriers. In the Fighter Movement Phase, each carrier

is able to launch and/or recover a number of fighter flights equal to its number of Launch Bays.

Thus, a carrier with 5 Hangars and only 2 launch bays is only able to launch 2 flights per turn.

Each Launch Bay may launch or recover 1 Fighter Flight per Fighter Movement Phase

The number of Launch Bays a ship has is indicated under Specials on the ship display.

Upon being launched, the flight will be deployed on the game board at base contact with its

carrier. If such position is not possible, due to the size/shape of the carrier or to other ships

around, then the flight must be placed as close to its carriers flight stand as possible.

FIGHTER MOVEMENT


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Each Launch Bay has a position designated for it, which may be any of the six fire arcs. The

flights that leave the ship must be placed at base contact with the carrier in that specific arc.

When returning to the base, simply move the fighter flight into base contact with the

carrier/base, on the specific arc where the launch bay is located.

No ship may use launch bays and fire weapons through the same fire arc on the same turn.

(Ships wouldnt fire while launch bays on that side of the hull are operating, for fear of hitting

fighters that are being deployed/recovered there!).

Fighters can move a number of inches, during the fighter movement phase, equal to their

Range in inches. Fighters may only move up to half their range on the turn theyre launched.

A Fighter Flight may be moved at any direction regardless of facing which means they do

not have to turn. Thus, a Fighter flight with range 18 may be moved at any direction up to 18.

As explained ahead in the topic Fighter Attack, fighters may only make attacks against units

theyre in base contact with. Thus, fighters wishing to engage targets must move adjacent to

them in the fighter movement phase.


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Note 1: As with starships movement units do not block the way for fighter flights

movement, but rough terrain does.

Each hit on a fighter flight due to collision with terrain destroys 1 fighter, regardless of the

strength of the hit.

Note 2:Fighter flights moving into contact with enemy mines do not trigger them, as those

are too small crafts to be detected by minessensors.

Note 3: When a fighter flight is in base contact with a ship or a space station, no unit allied

to that fighter flights may fire at the enemy ship/station through the enemy fire arc where the

allied fighter flights is, for fear of hitting allied fighters, except for those using weapons with the

Target Locktrait.

As an exception to the standard rule, fighters may move up to their full range the turn they

are launched provided they remain completely within the launching fire arc of the carrier they

belong to.

This simulates the use of catapults to launch a fighter at full speed, which of course makes

it difficult to execute a sharp turn immediately after launching. This option will often be employed

by carriers that have their launch bays facing the forward arc, with the disadvantage that they

cannot fire forward that turn.

CATAPULTS


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Whenever a Fighter flight is in base contact with one or more enemy Fighter flights, they

are considered to be in a dogfight. Dogfights may involve multiple flights from both sides.

If any flight involved in the dogfight is activated and designated to either move or attack a

target out of the dogfight - that is, a ship its also in base contact with a single enemy flight

its in contact with may be designated to intercept it. Only one flight may perform an interception

against an enemy flight, and this action cannot be intercepted by other flight.

The effects of the interception depend on whether the intercepted flight is attempting to

move or to shoot.

If a Fighter flight involved in dogfight wishes to move away (i.e. break off the dogfight), the

interception will force both flights to roll a Maneuver Check.

The test is taken by both flights rolling 1D10 and adding their Range stat. If the flight

attempting to break-off gets a higher total than that of the pursuing flight it can move away

unharmed.

Otherwise, the enemy flight gets to roll a free attack against the fleeing flight before it

moves. Such attack is a normal fighter flight attack (see ahead, Fighter Attack), but will not

prevent that flight from attacking again in the Fighter Attack Phaseof the current turn.

After this interception attack, the fleeing flight is free to move and attack normally, provided

it was not completely destroyed.

If, instead, the flight is attempting to fire at a target out of the dogfight, such as a ship its

also in base contact with, an intercepting enemy flight in contact with it will automatically be

granted a free attack (no maneuver checks required). This free attack is resolved before the

intercepted flight gets to perform its attacks.

Even though those free attacks dont prevent the flight from attacking on its own activation

on the Fighter Attack Phase, they do spend a payload counter, and therefore flights that are out

of payloads cannot perform free attacks on dogfights or normal attacks on their own activations.

DOGFIGHTING


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Additionally, no units from outside the dogfight may fire at those fighters (including CTM),

or at any ship in base contact with them, for fear of hitting their allies. Weapons that have the

Target LockTrait are an exception to this and may attack fighter flights participating in a dogfight.

In the end of the Fighter Movement Phase, after all flights have moved, ships that are

equipped with CTM are allowed to use them to shoot at any enemy Fighter flights that are at

base contact with them. This represents point defense platforms firing close range bursts against

the incoming threats.

Additionally, ships are able to lend CTM to ships in their squadron, to fire at enemy

fighters in base contact with them, provided that the allied ships that are sharing CTM are within

formation. Escorts and escorted ships may also share their CTM among each other, here again,

provided that escorts are in formation with the escorted unit.

Note that because Point Defense is resolved at the end of the Fighter Movement Phase, it

cannot be used against fighters merely passing by an enemy ship. Only the place where a fighter

flight ends its movement is used to determine whether they may be attacked with CTM.

POINT DEFENSE


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In order to hit a fighter with a CTM roll, the to-hit number is determined by the firing ships

Quality, modified by the fighters Profile (always -2), just as if shooting a weapon. Because there

is no distance between the fighters and the ship, there is never a Range modifier to this roll.

Terrain modifiers will only apply if both the fighter flight and the ship are within an area of terrain.

CTM used as Point Defense also benefits from the High Rate of Fire trait.

The player that has initiative first nominates one of their ships/squadrons that will be using

CTM against fighters and resolves the attacks. Then the other player picks a unit and does the

same. Players continue alternating ships until there are either no more fighters to attack or no

more ships engaged by fighters.

___________________________

Ex:

2 Interceptor Fighter flights end their movement at base contact with an enemy ship. One

of these fighters has got 6 fighters, the other, only 2.

The ship has a CTM of 4, and so its controller may roll up to 4D10 against the fighters.

The ships controller cannot roll his 4D10 and then choose where to allocate the hits. He

must point out the flight hes going to target with each D10 before rolling it.

He chooses to roll all 4D10 for the flight with only 2 fighters left, as he believes he may be

able to destroy the flight completely.

His ships Quality is Good, so his modified to-hit value against fighters is 9+. He rolls the

dice and gets 9, 3, 1 and 4, thus managing to destroy 1 fighter. He then gets to reroll the 3 miss,

and gets results 6, 1 and 10, which means that the single fighter left on that flight is now destroyed,

too.

___________________________

NOTE: In addition to point-defense, ships may also attack fighters normally in the starship

attack phase. The difference being that Point-defense occurs at the end of the Fighter Movement

Phase and can only be done using CTM. Thus, point defense can destroy fighters beforethey

have a chance to attack ships.

Attacking fighters in the starship attack phase can be done with any weapon, but it occurs

after fighter flights have had a chance to attack on their own attack phase.


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Also, fighters have very low signatures, which will often require the starship to be very close

to the fighter flight to even attack it with regular weapons. CTM cannot be used to attack fighter

flights during the starship attack phase, although they may be used to defend against their attacks

as normal.

In this phase, every Fighter flight that is in base contact with an enemy unit (starship, space

station or fighter flight), may attack. The orientation of the fighter flight does not matter as

fighters are extremely maneuverable and are assumed to be able to change course as part of

their attack.

Similar to the Starship attack phase, players will activate fighter flights one at a time based

on initiative order. Each flights attacks will be resolved before proceeding with the next flight.

In order to perform an attack, Fighter flights roll a number of D10s equal to the number of

fighters remaining in the flight (remember: undamaged flights have 6 fighters).

FIGHTER ATTACK


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The attack roll follows the same

procedure as for starship attacks:

apply modifiers, roll the die and, if the

result is equal to or greater than the

modified to-hit number, the attack hits.

Fighters attack based on their

own Quality Rating, just as with ships.

Because fighters attack in base

contact, there is no range modifier.

Only Terrain and Special modifiers are

applied. Terrain modifiers only occur if

both the fighter flight and defender are

inside rough terrain.

Each fighter flight constitutes a

single source of enemy fire.

Against ships/space stations,

each hit from an enemy fighter flight

may be cancelled by CTM and Shields, and those not thus cancelled are then worked out on the

ships hull, after reduced by armor, just as any other hit.

Each hit (regardless of Fire Power) against an enemy fighter flight destroys 1 fighter.

Players should use tokens (or D6s) next to every Fighter flight to keep track of the number of

fighters remaining. Blast weapons destroy the entire flight when they hit it.

Fighters may have the Dodge Trait. This special ability allows the squadron to roll 1D6

every time its hit. If the result of the D6 roll is equal to or higher than the Dodge Rating (the

number next to the D, on the traits box on the fighter flight line of the ship display) , the hit is

ignored. Dodge cannot be used against Target LockWeapons.

During theFighter Attack Phase, players may choose to move any of their flights when

activating them, instead of making attacks.

Any squadron may move its full range on this phase when activated. Such squadron wont

be able to make any attacks on this turn.


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If that squadron is locked in dogfighting with an enemy squadron, an interception may be

declared, as already detailed above.

________________________

Example of Dogfighting:

During the Fighter Movement Phase, a Heavy Fighter Flight from the redsideis moving

to attack an enemy cruiser from the blueside. The Flight ends its movement in base contact

with the enemy vessel. A blue Light Fighter Flight, allied to the cruiser, is then moved to base

contact with the Red Flight.

Seeing this, the Red controller then sends

another Fighter Flight, this time a Flight of Light

Fighters of his own, into base contact with the blue

Fighters. All 3 Flights are now locked in dogfighting.

In the Fighter Attack Phase, the controller of

the red fighters who has initiative - chooses to

activate his Light Fighter Flight first, trying to

destroy the blue Light Fighters. This would free

the Heavy Fighters to attack the cruiser without

the risk of interception.

The red Light Fighter Flight is at full

strength, and so 6D10 will be rolled for the attack.

The to-hit number will be 9+, as both flights have

got Quality Rating Good (basic to-hit = 7+),

modified by the fighters Profile Tiny(+2).

The Red player rolls the dice and gets the

results: 4, 2, 10, 5, 2 and 9. With 2 hits, 2 blue light

fighters are destroyed.

Now, its time for the blue player to activate

his flight. With only 4 fighters left in the group, he can roll only 4D10. The player chooses to attack


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the red Heavy Fighters, but his modified to-hit number is 8+, instead, for his blue fighter flight

has got Quality Rating 4.

The blue light fighters roll 4D10, with the results: 10, 8, 10 and 2. That means 3 hits, and so

3 red Heavy Fighters are destroyed.

The Red Player now gets to activate the heavy fighters. Because the heavy fighters are

still locked in a dogfight with the 4 remaining blue fighters, if they attempt to attack the cruiser,

those enemy fighters will receive a free strike on them (provided theyve still got payloads left).

Thus the red player chooses to try to break off with them, instead, so that next turn itll

be free from the dogfight and will then be able to seek a better (less hazardous!) target, even

though in doing so it will grant the enemy a free strike just as well.

The blue player declares an interception, and therefore they both roll a D10 for the opposed

maneuver check. The red player rolls a 9, which, added to the range of the red heavy fighters of

12, gives him a total of 21. The blue player rolls an 8, which is added to the range of the blue light

fighters of 15, giving him a total of 23.

Having failed the maneuver check, the red heavy fighters are subject to a free attack from

the blue fighters before breaking off. The blue fighters roll 4D10 (one for each fighter remaining

in that flight) and get 1, 3, 1 and 9. The 9 is a hit, and another red heavy fighter is destroyed.

After that, the remaining heavy fighters in the flight two are able to break off, moving

up to 12 away from the dogfight.

Example of Fighters Attacking a Ship:

A Fighter flight with 6 fighters and Fire Power 2 rolls for attacking an enemy ship. 4 rolls

are hits, and therefore the enemy ship may try to cancel all those hits with CTM and/or Shields.

The ship manages to intercept 1 hit with CTM, and the remaining 3 hits impact the Shields.

The ships controller then rolls 4D6, for it has a Shields Rating of 4, and gets: 2, 1, 5 and 4.

That means 3 rolls were good, and since there were only 3 hits to be cancelled, the ship

doesnt suffer any damage.

However, the total fire power that impacted the Shields was 6 (3x2=6), and therefore it

suffers a 1 point reduction.

________________________


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Every ship/space station is considered to have 1 crew point for every 1 hull point. Whenever

a hull point is lost, 1 crew point is lost as well. Because of this equivalence, there will normally be

no need to keep track of crew points. However, in some circumstances, crew may be killed while

hull points remain the same.

These are:

Critical Hits to Life Support System

Boarding actions

Whenever the crew points of a ship are different from its current hull points, a specific token

must be placed next to the model to indicate the difference.

The loss of crew has 2 major game effects:

Whenever a ships crew gets reduced to less than half the initial value (= Hull Size),

its Quality is reduced by 1, to a minimum of Quality Poor (2). Thus, ships of Hull Size

3 or more will suffer reduction of 1 point to their Quality if their current hull points

or crew points are below half their Hull Size.

If the crew total is reduced to 0, then the ship/space station is considered destroyed,

and will either grant the opponent normal victory points, or double, in case of

Boarding action (see ahead Boarding Enemy Ships, for further explanation);

Crew


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When a player gets a result 10 on a D10 roll for firing a weapon, and that hit is not cancelled

by CTM or Shields, he scores a critical hit on its target. However, critical hits are not scored

when a 10 is the minimum result required to hit, or when the hit doesnt i

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