FROM TASK FORCE GAMES N EXU #13 THE GAMING CONNECTION U .S. $ 3 .0 0 AUST. $4.50 ★ THE LYRAN DEM< A NewSample Ste file * PACIFIC fill A Battlewagon Campaign System \ HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR^ &art 2 Variants I Your fare has just led you into the no-man’s land of the Old City and pulled an Uzi submachine gun on you. Even if you overpower him, you will be alone and lost among the dangers of the Old City. Street Fighter is an Autoventures solo module. It can be used with any auto-combat game, including Car Wars™, Highway 2000™, Battlecars™ or the Quick Combat System, included. Street Fighter includes: a 32-page booklet, 14 colorful vehicles and a road section.Sample file TM Battlecars is a trademark of Games Workshop Ltd; Car Wars is a trademark of Texas Instruments Inc. and used with permission by Steve Jackson Games; Highway 2000 is a trademark of Threshold Games. Use of trademarks is not sanctioned by the publishers of these games. OPENING LINES NEXUS #13 VOL. 2 NO. 13 You now hold in your hands the Holiday Issue of Nexus. Of course, mail service being rather slower than usual at this time of the year, the "Season to be Jolly" may be ended by now. Never­ theless, I hope you have (or had) a really nice Holi­ day Season. TABLE OF CONTENTS I am sure that most of our historical-minded readers have noticed by now that our cover pain­ ting depicts the war in the African desert in World War II. Those readers who also keep up with our STARFIRE History of the Second World War series will realize right off that this relates to Part III of the series — Starfall 2 Counterstroke from Egypt. High Gravity Turns 3 Well, before you get excited, let me tell you that The Emperor’s Primer 4 Part III is not out, and there is nothing pertaining to Part III in this issue. The Arachnid Hegemony 6 Having informed you of that, I think an explana­ Arachnid Military Notes 7 tion is probably in order. When we first contracted for the cover painting (many months ago), we had The Interception - Dennis Coslett planned to have Pan III in the stores by now. A Short Story and Scenario 9 However, to paraphrase a poet, "The best laid plans of mice and game designers..." Anyway, we felt the painting was exceptional, so we decided to use it STAR FLEET UNIVERSE now. The Next Frontier 15 By the way. Part III of the HSWW series has been rescheduled for March. This part will contain The Academy: Term Papers 17 the naval rules for the series, and since the navies The Academy 18 played such a large part in the war (especially in the Pacific), Nick wants to be sure he has the best naval Request for Proposals: Supplement # 4 20 system possible. Shipyard Report: Lyran Ship Names 21 While I am on the subject of upcoming releases, let me write a little about our releases in the next The Lyran Democratic Republic 23 few months. In addition to our Star Fleet Battles pro­ Lyran SSDs 25 ducts (which I will let Steve detail in his section), we have several other new products which we are Scenarios 27 really excited about. More Campaign Data 27 For those of you who are into Car Wfe/s™ (etc.), Aaron Allston is doing another solo module for our SFB Addenda 28 AutoVentures line. This one, called The Gauntlet, Checklist for Combat 34 should be released in February. And speaking of Aaron, he is also designing a What to Do About Errata 34 game called Crime Fighter. This game will capture The Plasma Prosecution 34 all the excitement and drama of the TV cop shows, and may be played as a board game as well as con­ Preview & Review 48 taining a complete role playing system. Crime Fighter is slated as a June release. HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR In the historical area, we will have three other Air Power 12 releases in addition to the aforementioned HSWW Part III. The first, in January, will be Counterstroke Warplans W est 35 in France. This game, designed by James Meldrum The European War 38 and developed by your humble (?) editor, is a simula­ tion of Hitler's counteroffensive in France during ear­ ly August of 1944. The game has some nice RATTLEWAGON features which I think will be well received. Pacific Nights — Leonard Heinz A game which really excites me is Delta Force Four Scenarios and Random Scenario Rules 42 by Bill Keith, Jr. — artist and designer par ex­ cellence. (Bill is the designer of Behind Enemy Lines, and has done Traveller modules and Twilight 2000 OTHER modules.) Convention Report 48 Delta Force is a role playing game about a fic­ tional elite anti-terrorist commando unit based on the U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment — Delta. This game will emphasize action, playability The source for N ex u s subscriptions in Australia is: and weaponry, and will find the elite group travel­ ing all over the world to combat terrorism. Delta Military Simulations Pty. Ltd. Force is planned for April. 18 Fonceca In May, we plan to release Bill's first module for Delta Force. The tentative tiltle is Terror at Sea. I Mordialloc, Vic. 3195 will let you guess the plot. We have not forgotten the Starfire players, either. In January, we should be releasing Dave Weber's long-awaited Corm-Khanate War. This NEXUS is published quarterly by Task Force game, compatible with Starfire and New Empires Barnes, 1110 No. Fillmera, Amarillo, TX will feature a new race — the Gormus. 79107. NEXUS We feel that this will be our best spring I t is available a t hobby shops and schedule by far, and we hope you will think so too. Publisher: Allen D. Fldridge Before closing, let me cover a couple of points bookstores or by subscription. Editor in Chief: R. Vance Buck about Nexus subscriptions. Subscription rate is $8.00 lo r four issues Editor / Star Fleet Battles: Stephen V. Cole First, some information for those who have ask­ or $14.00 fo r eight issues. Overseas subscrip­ ed how to know when their subscriptions are up. Editor / Starfire: David Weber If you will look at the last two digits at the top of tion rates ate available on request Send e ll Editor / History o f the Second World War: , your mailing label, this will give the number of the subscription correspondence to the address Nick Schucssler last issue you will receive. After your last issue, you Associate Editor and should receive a card from us stating that your above. subscription has expired and asking you to A ll materiel is copyright © 1985 by Task Advertising: Rick L Buck resubscribe. Force Bernes unless otherwise noted Art in this issue: Secondly, we usually receive several calls from Send eO articles end artwork (except SFU) Cover: Norm Royal people who have just moved, did not inform us they Page 4, 6, 7, 12, 35 and 38: Bill Keith, Jr. were moving,Sample and wonder where their last issue is. to 1110 N. Fillmore, Amarillo TX 79107. file Page 19, 20, 22 and 34: Tom Spring Many people do not know that the U.S. Postal Ser­ Typesetting by Standard Printing Co. o f vice will not forward second class mail unless the Page 4 2: C.A. Matin person specifically requests it and is willing to pay Amarillo TX. Printing by Standard Printing Co. Page 14, 3 7 and 4 5: B. Vance Buck additional postage to have the magazine forwarded. and Southwestern Publications o f Amarillo TX. If you are moving, please let us know as far in advance as possible. Also when you write to let us know, please give us your old address as well as your new. ★ is used in regard to freighters, bases, lost its flagship subtracts one from and space stations, although the all initiative rolls. number of hull spaces per " H " and " Q " varies. Actually, the rule should state (2.0) UNIT GRADE that each starship (or what-have- you) requires "Qs" at the ratio (2.1) The combat efficiency of a unit specified in the rules, but only a is largely dependent upon the train­ ' single life support cargo hold per ing and experience of its crew. hull. However, it should also be A t last! New Empires is really "Grade levels" define the ex­ specified that this "hold" can never and truly in the stores, and (judging perience of individual crews. be used for cargo (it's full of life sup­ from sales and comments received port equipment), and so players to date) the game appears to be (2.2) There are four grade levels. might want to code this hold as receiving an enthusiastic welcome. Units advance in grade on the basis "Lh" instead of "H " in order to We thank you for your support. of the number of engagements make the differentiation clear. Of course, N ew Empires, by its (space battles) in which the unit has Thus, the starship rule cited nature, faces a few special pro­ participated. above should read, "Each starship blems. It's much more convenient to must include one life support hold produce a set of campaign rules GRADE LEVEL REQUIRED NO. OF ENGAGEMENTS (Lh) in addition to.one quarter (Q) for before producing the tactical rules... each 50 hull spaces." or at the same time, at least.