SPACE COMBAT 1. LASER FIRE · Attacker determines order of battles. The Game of Interplanetary War · by Tom Wham & Jim Ward · Each ship can fire its weapons only once during Laser Fire. · Each firing ship compares its own Battle Number to that of its target: If the firing ship’s value is higher, the difference is subtracted from the Combat Roll; if the target’s value is higher, the difference is added to the Combat Roll. · Roll a d10: 1–5 destroys target, 6–10 misses (Note: Regardless of modification, rolling a “1” is always a hit, while rolling a “10” – “0” on most d10s – is always a miss.) 2. TORPEDO FIRE · Any ship or satellite that survived Laser Fire may fire one Torpedo for each “T” on its counter. · Resolve each Torpedo as follows (Attacker first): Each player selects a number on a d10; both are revealed simultaneously. If equal, or if the difference is no greater than 1, the Torpedo hits and the target is destroyed. (Note: “1” and “0” (ten) are considered adjacent.) 3. PLANETARY ATTACK – CAPTURE · If at any point during combat the Defender has no ships or satellites remaining, any remaining Attackers may attempt to capture any ONE of the Defender’s Planets. · Resolve Laser attacks on the Planet first (resolved as in Laser Fire, using the Planet’s Battle Number); then if the It is the far distant future. The planets around the sun have been Attacker has any Torpedoes left, they also may be used tamed and colonized by humans. Unfortunately, the interplanetary to attack the Planet (resolved as in Torpedo Fire). government has grown corrupt and feeble. Power groups are · Any successful attack captures the Planet. marshaling their forces in efforts to gain control of the worlds and the warships with which to hold them. Players are the leaders of these 4. PLANETARY ATTACK – PLANET BUSTERS factions… all seeking to bring the most planets under their · AFTER any attempts to capture a Planet, the Attacker control. It will be a desperate struggle, and no one knows who will win! may attempt to destroy the Defender’s Planets if he has Table of Contents any Planet Busters remaining. · Each Planet Buster may attack a different Planet, or they BASIC GAME . 3 may combine their fire against a single Planet. ADVANCED GAME . 11 · Resolve as in Laser Fire, comparing the Battle Numbers of CREDITS . 15 the Planet Buster(s) and the target Planet. A successful SPACE SHIPS OF THE 24TH CENTURY . 16 attack destroys the Planet (which is discarded). MAJOR POWERS OF 2305 . 19 · Whether successful or not, Planet Busters are discarded EXAMPLE OF COMBAT . 20 after use. QUICK REFERENCE CHARTS . 23 24 QUICK REFERENCE PLANET BUSTERS · A Game for 2–4 Players · ©1982, 2004 by Tom Wham & James M. Ward BASIC GAME Sequence of Play Planet Busters is played in successive turns called Player Turns. During a Player Turn, the player draws 2 pieces from the Draw Deck and adds them to his hand. He may then meld pieces from his hand into his Zerstor vs. Scout: –1 Sphere of Influence. The player then has the option of sending his Scout vs. Zerstor: +1 space fleet to attack the Sphere of any ONE other player. After Space Combat (if any), the player's ships return to his Sphere. If, at this time, BATTLE #4 the player has more than 6 pieces in his hand (hidden from other The Scout, with 1 added to its die roll, rolls a 1 which is always a hit players on the rack), he must discard until his hand totals only 6. anyway, and destroys the Zerstor. The Zerstor, with 1 subtracted from This completes a Player Turn. its die roll, rolls a 6 and so barely destroys the Scout. OUTLINE OF A PLAYER TURN 1. Draw 2. Meld (optional) 3. Attack any one other player (optional) 4. Discard (if necessary) Play proceeds clockwise around the table. RESTOCKING THE DRAW DECK Baycruz vs. Uranus: +2 When the Draw Deck has been exhausted once (the cloth bag has PLANETARY COMBAT been emptied), take all the pieces from the Discard Pile – including If any of Tom's ships (or satellites) had survived, combat would be over the Peace Treaty – and place them in the cloth bag to form a new and Ernie's ships would have to return home. Such was not the case, Draw Deck and continue play. and Tom’s Sphere is now defenseless. Ernie has one fuel left over (and ENDING THE GAME no more to play from his hand) so only one of his two surviving ships The game ends the moment any player draws the Peace Treaty. You may attack a planet (and only one planet may be attacked, no must reveal the Peace Treaty whenever you draw it; however, you matter how many ships remain for Planetary Combat). may meld any planets remaining in your hand before revealing the Ernie chooses to send his Baycruz (5) against Uranus (7). The difference Peace Treaty. adds two to Ernie's die roll so he will only capture the planet on a roll HOW TO WIN of 1, 2 or 3. In this case, Ernie rolls a 2 and captures the planet. Ernie When the Peace Treaty is drawn, play stops. Players count the total takes Uranus and places it face up in his Sphere, and his surviving value of the Planets they control in their Spheres of Influence. The Baycruz and Zerstor are placed face down around it. highest total planetary value is the winner. If there is a tie, both players win. If you are playing the Advanced Game, the two Colonies are worth ½ point each if in orbit around a player's Sphere. The Draw At the beginning of his turn, a player draws two pieces from the Draw Deck. Whenever a player melds a planet into his Sphere of Influence, he may draw two additional pieces. A player may meld any number of planets in a turn and may continue to draw extra pieces until he stops melding new planets. When the Draw Deck is emptied, all the discards and the Peace Treaty are placed back in the Draw Deck. Any player who was unable to complete a draw does so as soon as the Draw Deck is restocked. 22 EXAMPLE OF COMBAT BASIC GAME 3 EXAMPLE OF COMBAT they are committed to fire only at each other. The attacker may not double up (place more than one ship opposite any single The illustration shows an attack by Ernie against Tom. Before the instant defending counter) until he has placed at least one ship opposite in time pictured, Ernie decided to send all ships in his Sphere on the every defending counter. Once there is at least one attacker for attack. He revealed two Fuel counters from his hand, a 4 and a 7. This each defender, there is no restriction on the number of extra ships provides a total of 11 fuel – enough to move five ships and to fire five the attacker may line up against any of the defenders. ships with 1 fuel left over (there is no change… but the 1 remaining fuel If the attacker's fleet is smaller than the defender's, defending ships could be used in planetary attack if all of Tom's ships are destroyed). with nothing paired against them are ignored (they remain face Neither player had Special Events to play so Ernie began pairing up his down and out of combat). ships. Tom's pieces started the encounter face down. Ernie first moved Not all of the attacker’s fleet must be paired against defending a Scout against #2 revealing a Conicle; and because a Scout can ships. The Tanker has no attack value for example, so it should reveal the two ships on either side of its target, also learned of the #1 remain in the rear, out of combat. In the Advanced Game, Dranaut, and the #3 Tug. Ernie took a chance on ship #4 because he Salvage Ships and Carriers can also lurk out of harm's way. had no more Scouts. He paired up his Zerstor there and discovered a lowly Scout. 4. Defender Fuel Allocation. Once all attacking ships have been lined TOM up against defenders, the defender may play one or more Fuel counters to enable his ships to return fire. The defender automatically receives 1 Fuel from each melded planet in his Sphere for this purpose, so he might not need to play a Fuel counter from his hand. One unit of Fuel is required for each ship that fires. Only those ships which have been attacked may return fire. Place any defending Fuel counters face up on the table (all Fuel used on both attack and defense is discarded at the end of the combat). 5. Attacker Special Events. The attacking player may now play Special Events from his hand against the ships of the defender (only 1 4 Mutiny or Sabotage are useful here). Space Combat 2 3 1. Each pairing of attacking/defending ships is a separate battle. Combat is resolved one battle at a time. The attacker determines the order in which battles are fought. 2. The effect of ERNIE weapon fire is determined by the roll of a 10-sided die. Because he wants to kill all the ships in Tom's Sphere, Ernie pairs up a A roll of 1–5 Zerstor with the Tug, a Baycruz with the Dranaut, and doubles up on eliminates the the Conicle by adding the other Baycruz to his Scout (you can only target.