INDEPENDENT TRADER'S BRIEFING
The Story So Far...
"So have another drink, old chum"
The trader sat back and signalled to the robot waiter for more alcohol.
The group of space station construction workers sat around the bar happily drinking and talking loudly, while the trader sat with them, popular for his ability to supply a seemingly endless supply of free drinks. Their team foreman was sitting close to the trader and talking animatedly.
"Yeah..that new Belter station we was working on out near the lagrange 5 is doing well. And we 'aint complainin'. More work for us. Them stations are no trouble really - though being that far out means we don’t get to socialise much".
She leered at the trader through her drunken haze.
The trader put a consoling hand on her arm
"Yes, I know what you mean…so tell me more about your so important role in constructing those ever so well built defences? It must have been awfully hard."
"Yeah I was saying - y'know those multi-cannon turrets are a breeze to build once you've the experience…though that lot of belters out at Prosperity are a bunch of cheapskates - I mean if they ever had to try and use them cannon in combat … well I would fancy their chances of holding off an attack. Would you believe it? They insisted on using low yield ana-link couplings for the power traverse. Well I said to their chief engineer, I said - all it will take is a bit of overheating on the main cyclic ammo feed and the traverse will stick. But no, 'too expensive', they said. Huh, too expensive my butt. Well they'll be sorry if they get their precious station raided by pirates - serve 'em fugging well right if it does."
The foreman leaned forward "but, my interestin' friend, lets talk about you…" she gave another drunken leer.
"Of course" the trader said "drink up". The burly female foreman drank her new drink, smiled, and slowly, gently, like a giant falling tree fell off her chair unconscious. Her companions laughed but ignored it.
"Hmmm" said the trader to no-one in particular as he left the bar "what an interesting conversation".
He hit his commlink.
"Mr Jones."
"Aye aye Capt'n" the trader's first officer responded.
"Mr Jones, prepare the Dark Boar to burn for Freeport - I believe we have encountered another exceptional opportunity for profit. But I'm going to need some help"
"Aye aye Capt'n Flint sir, Freeport it is."
Introduction
Players in this game will be either the square-jawed honest asteroid miners defending their essential base, or teams of scruffy and ruthless space pirates.
Teams of 4-6 players will form ship's crews, and will negotiate a battle plan with the other pirates, and equip their boarding party for the kill, and then carry out a boarding action against the giant ship itself.
Speed is of the essence: the miners will call for help from the system's Star Guard warships, and they will arrive and intervene.
The pirates have to board and strip the station of its wealth and still have time to power up their ships and accelerate out of the system to escape the authorities.
The Teams
‘Space Pirate’ Crews
The crew of the ‘independent traders’ – rather unfairly known as space pirates are organised on a sort of functional basis.
Obviously, the Captain is the most influential member of the crew, but each of the officers has their own set of loyalists.
- Captain: In charge. Usually also a skilled astronaut (that is someone who knows how to fly a starship)
- First Officer: Second in command. Generally accepted as the person to take over if anything should happen to the Captain. Also usually a trained astronaut.
- Technical Officer: The main task of a Tech Officer is to assist with things like repairs and maintenance. This keeps the ship flying.
- Combat Officers: More than just armed thugs, combat officers are leaders of armed thugs.
All Officers are represented by players, so a typical crew will be composed of 4 to 6 Officers.
The Asteroid Miners ('Belters')
The belters as a class are of mostly ancient earth stock.
Their ancestors were the first to live and raise families in space in the asteroid belt of the home Solar System centuries ago - and they represent a very hard breed of humans.
Belters have spread throughout human space, and their expertise in asteroid mining and living and working in marginal environments is legendary.
It is said of the belters that they can 'eat rock and breathe vacuum'.
Game Control
The tactical game system will be the Starship Marine rules (see separate copy or the website).
The main role of game control is to keep the game moving.
The players will operate all the rules, referring only to Game Control when there are problems defining what can or cannot be seen, interpretation of the rules or generally when the players need help.
Game Control is the last word on interpretation. Do not go around asking several Game Controllers until you get the interpretation you want. This will be frowned upon.
Game Timetable
| 1030-1100 | Reception and Booking in |
| 1100-1115 | Opening Briefing |
| 1115-1230 | Pirate captains plan the operation. Pirate crews have a chance to familiarise themselves with the rules. |
| 1230 | The attack on Prosperity Station Starts. |
| 1230-1700 | The Pirates storm aboard, looting and pillaging as the terrified miners flee before them. |
| Approx. 1700 | Arrival of the Meo Star Guard warships to rescue the station. |
| Approx. 1730 | Game Debrief and clearing up. |
Game Layout
This is a semi-closed game. The defenders of the station will be able to conceal the movement and location of their forces until such time as the pirates' figures can see them. Game control will advise in the event of doubt about what can or cannot be seen.
Pirates will be in view at all times (i.e. internal cameras and sensors give away their positions).
Each of the eight segments of the station will be on a separate table. The defenders will have smaller maps of each segment to mark on hidden movement.
To keep things manageable, all 'innocent civilians' will be placed on the maps in full view (i.e. their rescue transponders can be detected by both sides).
Troop Types
For a more detailed explanation of equipment, see the accompanying rules; Starship Marine which explain the weapons and equipment in use.
Officer: This is the player’s personal figure. They are always equipped as combat crewman (see below). The only officers are players – so if you want more officers on the team, you must somehow recruit more players. Transfers of officers between pirate crews are not unheard of.
Combat Crewman: A civilian crewman with some military training or experience capable of using ex-marine armour and weaponry. The standard kit on all combat crewmen consists of
- Armour
- SCA2
- 4 grenades
- 2 demo charges
Astronaut: These are the technical types needed to operate a starship. Each starship requires a minimum number of these to be able to work safely. Pirate crews often have additional astronauts to act as ‘prize crews’ should they happen to come across another ship in need of some ‘help’.
Standard equipment for an astronaut would be just a Spacesuit and SCA1.
Technicians (of various sorts): A specialist in their field (Armourer, Robot Tec, Medic etc). Standard equipment is a spacesuit and no weapon (all the suit’s hard points being taken up with equipment etc).
Shuttle Pilot: Actually flies a shuttle. Only pilots can fly shuttles. This is different to the Astronaut who are starship systems technicians - the Pilots are more hands-on flyers and can do things like planetary landing and take-off (PLATO) etc.
Standard equipment for a shuttle pilot would be just a Spacesuit and SCA1.
Combat Robots, TRUCs, and Close Support Robots are explained in the main rules.
Starting Forces
Each Player has a set of figures representing themselves and a group of their immediate followers in the crew. These form their fighting element, and may include additional non-combat technical crew as well.
A typical 5-player pirate crew, of the SS Dark Boar might go like this: (IMPORTANT NOTE: Each crew in the game will be slightly different - do not assume the example below represents exactly your crew's starting setup - although it may be broadly similar).
| Role | Forces | Cash in hand |
| Captain Flint | + 5 combat crew + 3 astronauts + 1 shuttle pilot | 450 credits |
| First Officer Jones | + 5 combat crew + 3 astronauts + 1 shuttle pilot | 300 credits |
| Technical Officer Silver | + 3 combat crew + 1 armourer + 1 medic | 300 credits |
| Combat Officer Jarvis | + 5 combat crew | 200 credits |
| Combat Officer Kray | + 5 combat crew | 200 credits |
Totals: 5 Officers (players), 23 Combat Crewmen, 1 Armourer, 1 Medic, 2 shuttle pilots and 6 astronauts. = 38 figures.
The initial crew are all free of charge.
Additional forces may be purchased by individual pirates, or by pooling credits and buying for the ship.
The bases of all figures are marked with stickers to indicate who is in control of them.
Enthusiastic players might wish to bring their own personal figures.
If you do, please make sure that the different types can be clearly identified.
In addition, the crew have their own pirate starship, a modified merchant ship with limited ship-to-ship weaponry, and two medium (25 PAX) shuttles for transferring personnel and material from their ship to their prey (and back).
Each player, as a skilled and experienced spacer can choose their particular specialisation, if they wish (but bear in mind that if they choose a technical specialisation like Medic, they would have to forego weaponry in order to practice their skill in action).
The default skill is Combat Crew.
Exceptions: The Captain and First Officer may have combat skill and astronaut skill at the same time. No-one else can do this.
Limitations
The Modified Merchant Class of starship used by all the independent traders has a maximum crew capacity of 60.
This includes all specialists and combat crew.
The total does not include robots or other equipment (which are stored in the cargo grid during travel, and hence does not drain life support capability).
Costs
The costs for manpower are for a completely equipped individual as described above.
Close Support Robots come with a full load of APGW.
| Item | Credits | Shuttle Load (PAX) |
| Combat Crewman (standard as described) | 20 | 1 |
| Combat Crewman (with SCA3) | 401 | 1 |
| Astronaut | 20 | 1 |
| Medic | 30 | 1 |
| Robot Tech | 30 | 1 |
| Armourer | 30 | 1 |
| Ship Technician | 30 | 1 |
| Shuttle Pilot | 30 | 1 |
| Combat Robot | 401 | 1 |
| Close Support Robot | 601 | 1 |
| Grenade/ Demo charge Reloads (Per combat crewman, complete sets only) | 4 | 0 |
| APGW Reload (per CSR) | 10 | 1 |
| Military supercharge™1 | 50 | 1 |
| TRUC Robot | 20 | 1 |
| Portable Air-Lock | 100 | 1 |
| Light Shuttle (10 PAX) | 350 | - |
| Medium Shuttle (25 PAX) | 600 | - |
| Large Shuttle (40 PAX) | 1000 | - |
| Multi-Cannon fit for a shuttle or ship | 500 | - |
| Multi-Cannon Ammo Pod (10 shots) | 50 | 2 |
| SCA3 Turret fit for a shuttle or ship | 200 | - |
| AutoDoc Medic Unit | 250 | - |
Notes:
- The seemingly high cost reflects the difficulty of obtaining higher spec military grade weapons on the black market.
Profits
Being traders, you will want to know what items are likely to be of value to you.
Equipment listed above can be resold to the totally dishonest traders back at Freeport for half their purchase value (this doesn't include personnel, whom you may not sell to traders).
Other things might be valuable:
| Description | Est.Resale Value (credits) |
| Destroyed combat robot (scrap value) | 5 |
| Destroyed maintenance robot (scrap value) | 2 |
| Plasmatic boring device (PBD) | 200 |
| Portable power unit | 100 |
| Portable MediKit | 150 |
| Hostages ransomed | Variable according to rank - minimum of 10 |
| Recovery value of weapons and equipment | Half the purchase cost (see list above) |
Special Rules for This Game (Additional to Starship Marine)
Astronaut
In order for the pirate's starship itself to be operated safely, a minimum number of astronauts are required.
This varies with the class of ship but, in the case of the pirates' ships they need a minimum of 4 astronauts to safely operate their ship.
If the minimum crew level is not met, dire things can happen when you try and fly the ship (especially on entering hyperspace).
Medic
May assess the condition of any downed combat crew, and increase the chance of them being fit to continue fighting.
Roll 1d6, score 5 or 6 and the individual is fit to fight once more.
Roll once per figure only. Repeat rolls are not permitted.
However, the armour will need repair before they can go on (see Armourer)
If the individual is deemed not fit, they can still be returned to an AutoDoc for further treatment (See below AutoDoc Medical Unit).
It takes an entire turn to assess and/or recover one figure.
Robot Tech
May repair downed robots and make them operational again.
Roll 1d6: A damaged combat robot can be made operational again on a 5 or 6
A wrecked robot of any type can be repaired on a 6.
You may roll repeatedly for any given robot, on subsequent turns ( the time taken to get a 6 reflecting variable repair time).
Successful repair also includes any weapons fitted.
It takes an entire turn to assess and/or repair one figure.
This does not apply to repairing alien robot types - consult Game Control should you want to attempt to work on alien equipment.
Armourer
Assesses and repairs the armour and weapons of downed combat crew.
Roll 1d6: A damaged suit of combat armour can be made operational again on a roll of 6
Obviously, the crew inside will need medical attention before they can operate the repaired suit. (See Medic)
You may roll repeatedly for any given suit of armour on subsequent turns (reflecting variable repair time).
It takes an entire turn to assess and/or repair one figure.
Successful repair also includes any weapons fitted.
AutoDoc Medical Unit
This is an expensive piece of kit that must be installed in the Pirate Ship itself.
Any casualty brought back to the AMU has a chance of recovering, even if a medic tried and failed to revive them earlier.
The AMU is represented by a flowchart, and the figure being treated is moved around the chart until deemed recovered or unsavable by the Virtual Doctor™ software.
A standard AutoDoc can treat 2 casualties at once.
Identification Friend or Foe (IFF)
The armour and weaponry used by the combat crew is of a basic military specification. The military have systems built-in to the weaponry and armour that detects friendly troops and the weapon refuses to fire if targeted at a friend.
The IFF system uses a variable coding algorithm, which can be selected at the start of an action. Once selected, it can be switched off, but not altered (the re-coding process takes a while and needs an armourer).
The IFF system means that you may not fire on friendly troops with SCA or APGW. This isn't a choice - the weapons will simply not fire, no matter how hard or often you pull the trigger.
Grenades, on the other hand, are indiscriminate and are not limited by IFF.
The IFF is also used in the suit's retinal display system to tell the occupant who is a friend or not (since most fights are in the dark using radar and IR to 'see' and are usually very confused). If a friend turns off his or her IFF in action, their display icon changes immediately - in game terms this means you must announce the fact if you turn off your IFF. Once turned off, it cannot be restarted.
In the case of co-operative actions like this mission, teams may agree to have a common IFF algorithm - thus making 'accidental' kills from friendly fire less likely. Normally, all the crew of the same ship will have the same IFF code.
If it becomes necessary, crews may specify the code algorithm by selecting a number between 1 and 10,000, writing it down and handing it to an umpire.
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© Jim Wallman 2002