From Chris Nicole Games
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Boarding Actions in Spaceship Corridors
During the protracted struggle between the old Empire and the newly declared Federation of Planets, the Empire expected an easy victory over the smaller Federation fleet. The Federation, however, were not so naive as to commit their vessels to a fleet action, and instead commenced a policy of lightning raids on Imperial bases and installations. This attritional warfare deeply wounded the Empire, who reacted by breaking up the grand fleet, to cover Imperial possessions throughout the periphery.
The grand fleet action never materialised, most combats being small local actions of little individual importance. Some however were decisive, affecting the political alliances of the minor systems.
Ships were now in short supply on both sides. The Federation were facing shortages of many essential materials needed for ship construction. The Empire was meeting similar problems, with both raw materials and finance; many systems were using the flimsiest excuse to withhold taxes. The time was right for a rethink in ship design; stalemate was setting in due to reticence on both sides to commit ships when risk was involved.
The first of these new vessels were the Federation 'HUNTER' class. Small, light, and with heavy shielding, their long range offensive armament was minimal. The method of attack was copied from the pirates who roamed the spaceways, plaguing the Empire for three hundred years. The attacking craft would lock its tractors onto the enemy ship, and the two would be drawn together. Once docked, the attacker would blow in the enemy's airlocks and armed assault teams would storm aboard.
This form of attack served a dual purpose: The enemy was denied a ship, as effectively as if it had been destroyed. And the ship, once captured and with only minor refit, can now be used against its former owners.
The first use of this new class was at DRACO IV 098PN, where the Federation 'HUNTER' NOSFERATU successfully captured the Imperial cruiser CLEETHORPES, 120,000 tonnes above its own class. The loss to the Empire was a substantial setback on its own, but within a matter of months, refitted and renamed VENDETTA, the cruiser was escorting Federation supply ships through the Imperial blockade. Within eight months of the loss of the CLEETHORPES, the Empire launched their own class of boarding ships and the fighting began in earnest…
After 600 years of subjugation to intergalactic fighting platforms, the foot-soldier returns to his rightful place…
This edition of Encounter 2 was derived from a scan of the original rules, then polished up for the 21st Century by Chris Nicole with the cooperation of Malcolm Booth.
Encounter 2 was very much a 'beer & pretzels' game which we put together around a range of 20mm figures (the manufacturer I can't remember, it's been a while); Phil hand drew the cover, and I bashed out the rules on my wife's portable typewriter. Reading through the rules was a bit of a trip down memory lane, and I remember demoing the rules at a convention (and selling them at side of table for the princely sum of 95p!). We did briefly consider putting a boardgame together, but to be honest we were both skint – I think the first print-run was 100 copies and we had to trim them by hand.
– Malcolm Booth