VSF Scenario Design Contest Entries

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Fortress in the Empyrean

by ericski

Scale

1/1200

Rules

Aeronef

Length

Until the fortress collapses

Players

2 sides - British and German

Forces

British

• Agincourt class battleship
• Exeter class cruiser
• Rawalpindi class cruiser
• 2x Steadfast patrol nefs
• 2x Cossack patrol nefs
• 2x Osprey patrol nefs

German

• Blucher class dreadnaught
• 2x Koln class cruisers
• 3x VA-7 patrol nefs
• 3x SA-15 patrol nefs

Situation

Stories persist of the great Martian wind storms being a weapon of some kind, guided and controlled by ships or even floating buildings. Most people laugh off the claims, thinking believers of such stories to be mad.

Of course, like all myths, there lies some truth. A British scout nef caught in one of the storms produced some rather strange photos of a fortress floating in the eye of a storm. While normally it would be attributed to the mass terror brought about by the storm, this particular scout ship had a third cousin to the queen on it. That was all the expert witness needed to go looking for more clues.

Of course, if one nation suddenly started looking for something inside of storms, it was worthy enough for all nations to suddenly start looking. Eventually there would be opposite forces looking into the same storm and eventually, they would actually find something....

Set-Up

Ideally a 48 MU by 72MU table should be used (4 foot by 6 foot, if 1 MU = 1 inch.)

Set the fortress in the center of the table. Around it at a 18 MU radius is the wind storm, with a 4 MU thickness. Adjust for table size so that there are passages on either side of the table that the storm doesn't block.

The forces deploy opposite the long edge in the center, no further than 6 MU's in from the edge. Starting speeds are 12.

Special Rules

Wind Storm

The wind storm varies in strength each turn. At the start of the turn roll 1D6. The dice value is the strength of the storm. To pass through requires rolling equal to or higher than the strength. The storm slows down movement by a factor equal to the strength of the storm. For example, if the storm's strength is four, then each MU of movement through the storm takes 4 MU's. The wind storm completely blocks line of sight.

Observing the Fortress

The goal is to get more pictures about the fortress than the other side. This is represented by rolling a D6 for each ship that is within 6 MU's of the fortress. The result is the number of pictures the ship retrieved. The side who recovers the most photographs wins. The ship must exit back on it's own entry side to count the pictures.

Fortress Collapse

The fortress is many, many eons old. No one really knows how it got there, but it has been a miracle of science and luck that it is still there. With all the new disturbances, the fortress is starting to fall apart. It starts with 30 "strength points" that go down by the number rolled each turn for the wind storm strength. When the value hits zero, the fortress collapses. If the result "goes negative," it is a grand explosion that does damage to nearby ships. All ships within 6 MU's of the fortress when it collapses takes damage equal to how much damage that is left over after reducing the fortress to zero. For example: If the fortress has 3 points and a 6 is rolled for the wind strength, all ships within 6 MU's would take 3 damage points. After the fortress collapses, the wind storm will start to dissipate at the rate of 1 strength per turn. When it is at zero it is completely died down and no longer affects movement or line of site.

Recommended Figures

The miniatures are all Brigade Models , and all but Agincourt and Blucher are available in the British -vs- German Starter Pack (VAN003).

British

• Agincourt class battleship (Brigade VAN-109)
• Exeter class cruiser (VAN-102)
• Rawalpindi class cruiser (VAN-104)
• 2x Steadfast patrol nefs (VAN-108)
• 2x Cossack patrol nefs (VAN-107)
• 2x Osprey patrol nefs (VAN-103)

German

• Blucher class dreadnaught (VAN-301)
• 2x Koln class cruisers (VAN-303)
• 3x VA-7 patrol nefs (VAN-304)
• 3x SA-15 patrol nefs (VAN-305)