In Memory, Still Bright

Transcription

ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
THE GREAT MACHINE
1
Contents
3 Remembering G’Kar
A look at the life and memories of the late
Andreas Katsulas.
7 Ambassador G’Kar &
Commander Tomalak
It was the year of fire...
This issue of The Great Machine is special
in many ways, the least of all because it is a
real person that is supposedly writing the
introduction (or am I?). In February we lost a
very special talent in Andreas Katsulas. His
death did not come as a complete surprise,
but that does not soften the blow.
As I saw remarked on the web by another
Babylon 5 fan, it took Star Trek nearly 20
years to lose anyone (DeForest Kelley... it
seems the doctors die first), but in a little over
ten years Babylon 5’s cast has already begun
to fade slowly away. Andreas joins Richard
Biggs and Tim Choate among the list of
actors that have passed on since their
appearances on Babylon 5.
I hope that everyone enjoys this issue of The
Great Machine. Special thanks goes out to
Sean Hillman, who was one of the few B5W
fans to answer the “call to arms” for this
issues submissions. It was only the day after
the request went out on the forums that Sean
answered with his Shadows Cubed scenario.
That is real dedication!
Sample elite officer combinations to
represent these two prominent figures.
10 Narn Ships: Past,
Present and Future
We look into the past to find the lost ships
of the Narn Regime. What fan ships have
we forgotten?
13 Staring Across the
Neutral Zone
The Romulans return with a vengeance,
with ships from the archives expanding their
fleet’s options and capabilities.
16 Shadows Cubed
The Shadows and Borg have joined forces
to invade the Alpha Quadrant. Can G’Kar
and Tomalak defeat them before it is too
late?
18 Talons of the Raptor
Charles Haught presents a new slate of
advanced Romulan warships.
22 The Stars are Right!
David Ainsworth delves into the heart of the
Mythos, providing us with a horrifying
glimpse at terrors beyond space and time.
32 Ships of the Hyach
Fleet
New ships for the Hyach!
Katsulas will always be G’Kar, and he will be
missed.
To absent friends, in memory still bright.
Tyrel Lohr
EDITOR
2
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34 Rules of Engagement
Sean Hillman B5W conversion of the Rules
of Engagement computer game universe.
40 SCS Roundup
The Firefly Freighter, Federation Antarctica,
and EA Command Explorer are inbound!
43 Next Issue
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
Andreas
Katsulas
May 18, 1946 February 13, 2006
Remembering G’Kar
This February the science fiction community lost one
of its most notable actors, in the form of Andreas Katsulas.
Whether you associate his presence with Romulan
Command Tomalak, Narn diplomat G’Kar, or the OneArmed Man, you should have some fond memories of this
singular and irraplaceable actor.
Andreas Katsulas death after a battle with lung cancer
was not a complete surprise to some, as information about
Katsulas’ condition had become public via other Babylon
5 castmates at conventions the year before his death. Still,
his death came as a sad surprise. He will definitely be
missed, and no one will ever be able to replace him as
G’Kar: one of the most important, if not most important,
characters on the Babylon 5 canvas.
In Tribute
This issue of The Great Machine is a tribute to the life
and work of Andreas Katsulas. We asked the fan
community to submit material that would honor the man
who for us some us symbolizes the Narn or Romulan
empires. I am happy to say that some of you answered
this call to arms, submitting material quickly for inclusion
in this special issue.
Obituaries and Remembrances
What follows are a series of obituaries and notable
Internet notes left by fans, friends, and family of Andreas
Katsulas. All of this information comes from other various
websites, including the Los Angeles Times, St. Louis
Dispatch, ISNNews.net, and Usenet.
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
THE GREAT MACHINE
3
From the Los Angeles Times
Andreas Katsulas
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Veteran
character actor Andreas Katsulas,
immortalized as imposing red-eyed
alien ambassador G'Kar on television's
"Babylon 5" and a one-armed murderer
in the 1993 film "The Fugitive," has died
of lung cancer. He was 59.
Katsulas, who had been undergoing
chemotherapy treatments, died in his
Los Angeles home Feb. 13, his agent
Donna Massetti said Monday.
"He was a lovely and talented man, and
we are deeply saddened. He will be
missed," Massetti said.
Born May 18, 1946, in St. Louis, Katsulas earned a
master's degree in theater at Indiana University.
He appeared in small roles in a handful of films before
landing the part of a Greek immigrant in 1982's "King of
America" and then a regular role that same year in the
soap opera "Guiding Light."
He cemented his status as the actor to go to for villainous
characters with his turn as mobster Joey Venza in Ridley
Scott's "Someone to Watch Over Me" in 1987.
Katsulas donned a prosthetic device in 1993's "The
Fugitive" to portray the murderous one-armed man
Frederick Sykes, who frames Harrison Ford's Dr.
Richard Kimble in the death of Kimble's wife.
But Katsulas' role as Narn ambassador G'Kar in the
syndicated television series "Babylon 5" brought him the
most attention.
Spending hours in heavy makeup, the actor played G'Kar
as a diplomat whose hatred of Londo Mollari of the
Centauri Republic became a central theme of the show.
Later, G'Kar evolved into a spiritual leader.
Katsulas also appeared as Commander Tomalak in
several episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
He also appeared on such TV shows as "NYPD Blue,"
4
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"Diagnosis Murder" and "Murder, She
Wrote"and in such films as "The
Sicilian" and "Executive Decision."
Survivors include his wife, Gilla Nissan
Katsulas, and two children from a
previous marriage, Michael and
Katherine.
* * *
From the St. Louis Post Dispatch
02/17/2006
Andrew C. "Andreas" Katsulas, a St.
Louis-born actor best known for
characters he portrayed in such films
as "The Fugitive" and the television series "Babylon 5,"
died Monday (Feb. 13, 2006) at his home in Los Angeles
after a battle with lung cancer. He was 59.
Mr. Katsulas took to the stage as a child, performing in
community theater and with a high school theater group
in St. Louis. He studied theatrical arts at St. Louis
University and earned a master's degree in theater from
Indiana University in Bloomington.
He landed roles with the St. Louis Repertory Theatre
and later in plays in New York and Boston. He joined
Peter Brook's International Theatre Company and
traveled around the world, performing in improvisational
and prepared theater pieces. He performed on wellknown stages such as Lincoln Center in New York and
the Kennedy Center in Washington but also in such
locations as barrios in Venezuela and the marketplaces
of remote African villages.
After Mr. Katsulas was cast in Michael Cimino's "The
Sicilian," he traveled to Los Angeles, where he was
chosen to play Joey Venza in Ridley Scott's "Someone
To Watch Over Me," and then Arthur the chauffeur in
Blake Edwards' "Sunset."
Since 1986, Mr. Katsulas lived in Los Angeles, where
he played dozens of roles in feature films, including the
one-armed man in "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford,
and recent parts in "Executive Decision" and "Babylon
5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in
Starlight." Among his television appearances were
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
"Diagnosis Murder," "Murder, She
Wrote," and "Star Trek."
His roles in "Star Trek" and as
G'Kar in "Babylon 5" made him a
popular figure with science fiction
buffs, and he appeared at science
fiction conventions in the St. Louis
area, including the Archon 27 in
Collinsville in 2003.
The funeral will be held at 10 a.m.
today at St. Nicholas Greek
Orthodox Church, 4967 Forest
Park Avenue. Interment will be at St. Matthew Cemetery.
Among the survivors are his wife, Gilla Nissan Katsulas
of Los Angeles; a daughter, Katherine Parker of Buffalo,
N.Y.; and a son, Michael Katsulas of Springfield, Mo.
to know all the stories we never told
him because, as he said, "Who am
I going to tell?" So we did. Because
we knew we were saying goodbye,
and there would not be a second
chance.
Last night, in the company of his
wife and family, Andreas closed his
eyes and went away.
He lived an amazing life...full of
travel and wonder and good
work...was part of the world
renowned Peter Brook company...he saw the planet,
loved and was loved, ate at great restaurants, smoked
too many cigarettes...he lived a life some people would
die for.
And, sadly, due to the last part of that equation...he did.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Nicholas
Greek Orthodox Church, 4967 Forest Park Avenue, St.
Louis, Mo. 63108. Their website is: http://
www.sngoc.org/main.asp
* * *
Memorial arrangements are still being worked out, but
will doubtless be private.
Andreas is gone...and G'Kar with him, because no one
else can ever play that role, or ever will.
A Note from JMS, Posted to Usenet
I will miss him terribly.
Subject: Andreas Katsulas is gone
From: jmsatb5@aol.com
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:52:01 +0000 (UTC)
J. Michael Straczynski
Just over a year ago, Andreas Katsulas -- who loved
smoking with a passion that cannot be described -- was
diagnosed with lung cancer, which by then had already
spread to other areas. He quit smoking at once and
went on a healthy diet and vitamin program, but there
was little hope of a good resolution even though the
new regimen was very good for him. When we spoke
about it, he laughed, and said, "Now that I'm dying I've
never felt better!"
A Message from Katherine (Katsulas) Parker,
From isnnews.net
His spirits were always up and positive, putting everyone
at ease about his condition, because...well, that's the
kind of person he was.
A couple of months ago, he and his wife convened a
dinner with me, Doug, and Peter Jurasik, which was
filled with laughter and stories and good food. He wanted
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
* * *
NOTE OF APPRECIATION
From: "Kate Parker"
Subject: From Andreas's Biggest Fan
Date: Friday, February 24, 2006 23:24:32
To all those and the Zocalo and anyone else interested
in reading,
My name is Katherine Parker. I have the distinct honor
of being Andreas's eldest child, from his first marriage.
I am writing, first of all, because I want you all to know
how much it means to me to see so many people crying
out at the loss of my father. I think that my father saw
his screen acting as a 'day job', something he did to
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5
earn a few bucks. I don't think he ever really understood
how much his acting meant to his fans. Thank you so
much for all your condolences and sympathy. In return,
I thought you might enjoy sharing some of my reflections
and memories.
What I see being said about my father again and again
is that he had a "zest for life." I want people to understand
what that really means. It does NOT mean that he was
out partying every night, or that he was a thrill-seeker.
He was anything but! It means that when he saw a
beautiful flower with vibrant color he would have tears
in his eyes. It means that he pinched every penny so
that he could spend his money only on what he valued
most. It also means that, in Greek tradition, he LOVED
to eat and to cook. Most of my fondest memories of dad
revolve around one good meal or another. It means that
he woke up early every morning, never sleeping the
day away.
Among those that knew Andreas best, the most common
theme in their remembrances of him is the image of a
very quiet, very private person. And in this we see a
huge contrast. On one hand, people remember my father
as the giant of an actor who flooded the stage and screen
with his sometimes comical, often terrifying, characters
(One of the saddest things about my father's acting
career, I think, is how often he had to play the bad guy.
He was such a funny person!). On the other hand, people
remember him as being meditative, dodging convention
offers and most fan mail, and as being the one who
didn't go out drinking with the rest of the cast after a
con. But the fact of the matter is that BOTH of these
characters represent who my father was. And the reason
that G'Kar was such an important part of my father's life
is that he reflected both the private, spiritual man and
the man with the dark and delightful sense of humor.
The fact that G'Kar has touched so many people only
shows me that people appreciated my father for who he
was; G'Kar and my father had a LOT in common.
Again, thank you all for your sympathy.
Sincerely,
Katherine (Katsulas) Parker
6
Video Tribute to Andreas Katsulas
As with the passing of Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen
Franklin, B5), John Hudgens, has created a video
memoralizing Andreas Katsulas. Combining various
scenes from the many years of Babylon 5, this video is
a fitting tribute to both the man and the character he
portrayed.
http://www.zteamproductions.com/b5stuff/Andreas.html
* * *
For information on other deceased
actors and personalities connected to
Babylon 5, please visit the Babylon
5: In Memory, Still Bright website at:
* * *
http://isnanchordesk.com/mem/
THE GREAT MACHINE
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
Ambassador G’Kar
and
Command Tomalak
Elite Officers for
Babylon 5 Wars and
Victory by Any Means
By Tyrel Lohr
Introduction
This article takes a look at the
history and abilities of two of the
characters that Andreas Katsulas
portrayed in science fiction. One is
recognizable to all of us:
Ambassador G’Kar, to many the
heart and soul of Babylon 5. The
other is Romulan Commander
Tomalak, one of the most
memorable opponents that the crew
of the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D
ever encountered.
Statistics are included for both
Babylon 5 Wars (obviously!) as well
as for the Victory by Any Means
campaign system.
Ambassador G’Kar
G’Kar began life as the
son of a Narn slave. When
his father was killed by his
Centauri master, G’Kar ran
away and joined the
resistance. There he worked
to help free his people from
the Centauri occupation and,
later, expand the Narn sphere
of influence. In particular, in
participated in the initial
subjugation and invasion of
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
the Tuchanq homeworld of Tachunq.
Later in life, G’Kar found himself
in the service of the Third Circle of
the Kha’Ri – the diplomatic circle. As
part of his diplomatic duties, G’Kar
traveled between worlds seeking
allies to help protect Homeworld and
at the same time bite at the
Centauri’s throat. One such mission
found him on Earth during their war
with the Minbari, with G’Kar
brokering weapons deals between
the Narn Regime and the Earth
Alliance.
Eventually Ambassador G’Kar
was appointed the Narn delegate to
the neutral space station Babylon 5,
located in neutral territory between
the four major regional governments.
Over the course of the next six years,
G’Kar would grow from being a
spiteful warrior into an enlightened
visionary. The transformation was
not sudden; much baggage had to
be shed before G’Kar could learn to
see past his hatreds. By this time he
even came to befriend his once
mortal enemy, the Centauri
ambassador to Babylon 5, Londo
Mollari.
After the formation of the
Interstellar Alliance, G’Kar traveled
as a special envoy. This employment
ended when G’Kar was imprisoned
on Centauri Prime. G’Kar’s life
ended in 2278 when he helped
Emperor Mollari free himself
of his Keeper.
Babylon 5 Wars Officer
Stats
Trying to get G’Kar’s abilities
to fit into the B5W framework
is difficult. The B5W elite
officer rules are not as
granular as those found in
the VBAM system, so some
kludging is required to make
anything work. In the end, I
decided that the best fit for
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7
G’Kar would be to have the
traditional Narn trait of Expert War
Leader, as well as a secondary
fighter-based trait of Expert
Motivator. Both felt like good fits for
G’Kar.
It could be debated that, at least
later in his life, G’Kar could be
considered an Expert Religious
Leader. This is a definite possibility,
but I am not sure that it fits him as
well as it does Delenn or other highly
religious characters.
Level 1 Ground Officer
Defense: Unit
Level 1 Fleet Officer
Command Rating: Ship
Level 1 Flight Officer
Defense: Wing
Level 5 Diplomat
Charismatic
Negotiator
Firebrand
Ambassador
Infiltration
Ships
Expert War Leader
Expert Religious Leader (optional)
Fighters & Shuttles
Expert Motivator
VBAM Officer Stats
The abilities that Ambassador
G’Kar demonstrated both onscreen
and in his background make him an
extremely versatile elite officer. He
does not possess any exceptionally
high level traits in any field beyond
diplomacy, but he can take on nearly
any mission and provide some
benefit to its execution.
The G’Kar from Season 1 of
Babylon 5 is a Rank 6 elite officer,
specializing in Diplomatic endeavors,
possessing the following traits:
(Ground) Defense: Unit, Command
Rating: Ship, (Flight) Defense: Wing,
Negotiator,
Firebrand,
and
Ambassador. By Season 3, G’Kar
has risen to being a Rank 7 officer,
adding Infiltration to his repertoire.
By this point in the series, G’Kar’s
ability to get information in and out
of Narn was quite good – even if he
needed Garibaldi’s help to smuggle
things in. During Season 5, with the
spread of the Book of G’Kar (coffee
stain and all), G’Kar rose to being
Charismatic, increasing him to a
8
Rank 8 officer. In VBAM terms, this
is a considerable feat!
Chronologically, the first time that
we see G’Kar is during the events of
the Earth/Minbari War, as shown in
the TNT telefilm In the Beginning.
Here G’Kar should be considered a
Rank 4 officer, with (Ground)
Defense: Unit, Command Rating:
Ship, (Flight) Defense: Wing, and
Negotiator traits. He would gain his
other abilities over the course of the
next 10 years prior to being assigned
to Babylon 5.
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Commander Tomalak
The embodiment of the Romulan
Star Empire during the time period
of Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Commander Tomalak was a
prominent officer in the Romulan
navy that was often spotted in
command of ships along the
Federation/Romulan Neutral Zone.
Tomalak was not afraid to risk
conflict with the United Federation of
Planets. On several instances,
Command Tomalak defied treaty and
entered the neutral zone. On one
occasion, Tomalak illegally crossed
into the neutral zone to find and
recover a Romulan scout that had
crashed on Galorndon Core. In
another instance, he pounced on
Picard’s Enterprise after it had
moved into the neutral zone to
investigate reports provided by a
Romulan defector. If not for the
assistance of the Klingons, the
Enterprise may not have survived the
latter encounter.
The final appearance of
Command Tomalak was in an
alternate timeline in which he
commanded a task force of over
thirty warbirds sent to watch and
investigate the anti-time eruption in
the Devron star system, a world
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
Raider
located inside the Romulan Neutral
Zone. It is somewhat ironic that
Andreas Katsulas’ Tomalak would
make an appearance in the TNG
series finale, but be absent from
Babylon 5’s own (due to
chronological reasons, of course).
Babylon 5 Wars Officer Stats
Tomalak is perceived to be an
extremely affluent and competent
commander, and as such I have
given him B5W traits commensurate
with that standing. Command
Tomalak is both an Expert Political
Officer as well as an Expert Warrior,
the latter trait typically reserved
solely for the Drazi and other highly
belligerent and militant species.
These two traits I think help to
capture the political connections that
Tomalak enjoyed as well as his skill
in combat.
Ships
Expert Political Officer
Expert Warrior
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Spring 2006
VBAM Officer Stats
Determining statistics for
Tomalak based on his limited
appearances is difficult to do. As a
result, in compiling these stats I have
opted to make Commander Tomalak
a true career military officer, with a
supreme focus on starship combat.
As of 2366, when we first
encounter Tomalak, he should be
considered a Level 6 Fleet Officer
with a Rank of 7 (thank to the Political
Favorite trait). In this configuration,
Tomalak is an extremely competent
captain.
Level 6 Fleet Officer
Anti-Ship: Ship (2 Levels)
Command Rating: Ship
Formations: Ship
Master Tactician
Political Favorite
* * *
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http://home.att.net/~b5wars/Raiders.html
Problems?
9
NARN SHIPS
Past, Present,
and Future
By Tyrel Lohr
Introduction
Being one of the ‘core’ races in
the Babylon 5 universe, the Narn
have received a lot of attention
from fan designers throughout
the life cycle of Babylon 5
Wars. A number of Narn
ship submissions have
graced the pages of The Great
Machine and Babcom before it,
offering more tactical possibilities for
our spot-headed friends.
With the passing of Andreas
Katsulas, and G’Kar with him, I
thought it would be a good time to
take a look back at some of the “lost”
Narn ship designs that some may
have forgotten since their original
introduction.
It is somewhat depressing that
no current fans of Babylon 5 Wars
submitted any new Narn designs for
this issue, but that is more owing to
the waning interest in Babylon 5
Wars and, by extension, The Great
Machine.
10
G’Tir Gunboat
Background: The G’Tir Gunboat is
an advancement over the older
D’Tarn class. The G’Tir possesses
roughly the same firepower but
incorporates advances into other
ship systems, including sensors and
armor. Improvements in sensor
reduction techniques have also
benefitted the hull, giving it a better
defense profile.
Prior to the War of Retribution,
G’Tir Gunboats were used solely in
a police role. These craft were used
to patrol locations in the Narn
territories that did not warrant the
presence of a full Sho’Kos Police
Cutter. However, with the start of the
war, the G’Tirs were ultimately
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pressed into fleet combat. The
class fared poorly, but every ship
was needed to help and hold
back the Centauri advance on
Homeworld.
After the fall of the Narn
homeworld to the Centauri, many
G’Tir captains managed to escape
with their ships and crew into
neighboring territories. The Drazi
Freehold was especially welcoming
of the renegade ships, even moreso
after the Centauri began annexing
worlds along the Drazi border.
Once Homeworld was freed, the
G’Tir Gunboats saw to the immediate
defense of it and the other freed
Narn territories. These small ships
were capable of beating back some
of the less impressive raiders that
had moved in to take advantage of
the Narn’s weakness.
Comments: The G’Tir Gunboat was
originally named and designed by
Alex “Xander” Fulton, and was one
of the first set of “gunboat” class fan
ships introduced into Babylon 5
Wars. These ships would later return
and become the basis for the Light
Combat Vessels found in the Second
Edition of Babylon 5 Wars. However,
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
it is important to note when
discussing Light Combat Vessel’s
that it was Juan-Manuel Vidal’s
dogged pursuit of resurrecting
Fulton’s gunship concept that
eventually led to the development
and standardization of the small
ships that we all know and love (or
loathe, as the case may be).
extremely powerful vessel -- perhaps
too powerful. The ship was
considered a bit outlandish by some
at the time of its release, but without
playtesting no one will ever know.
Still, it is an interesting look back at
a ship from Babylon 5 Wars’ past.
G’Koth Scout Cruiser
Background: The G'Koth was the
first combat ELINT ship widely used
by the Narn's after their war of
independence from the Centauri.
Poor and inadequate, it traded
firepower for a weak sensor
upgrade. It did not take long for this
design to be phased out of service.
The last one was gone several years
before the first Sho'Kar was built.
Comments: One of my own old
Variant rejects that Paul Brown put
together as a GIF SCS. That was a
long time ago!
G’Kar Super Cruiser
Comments: This class was created
by someone that went by the screen
name of “Ramius” or similar in the
year 2000. The background text for
the class is unavailable, but it
involved the Narn building a new
starship with the assistance of the
Interstellar Alliance’s technical
assistance.
As the non-standard control
sheet demonstrates, the G’Kar is an
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Spring 2006
Na'Lon Assault Frigate
Background: The origin of the
Na'Lon Assault Frigate first began
when shipyards cut back production
on the T'Loth Cruisers in favor of
some of the newer designs resulting
in a supply of excess parts.
Increased need for an inexpensive
multi-purpose support vessel
pressured designers to come up with
a ship that utilized pre-existing
manufacturing processes. Design
after design was rejected for one
reason or another as was the
proposed Na'Lon.
The design was discarded until
a shipyard, that received the various
designs for feasibility study, had
production set back a month due to
attacks to the shipping lanes by the
Centauri.
The foreman in charge of
Vid
the facility, not wanting his crews to
be paid without working, ordered the
construction of the only design they
had the components necessary to
complete, the Na'Lon. Within three
weeks, an amazing amount of time
for a new design, the first Na'Lon
rolled off the line and began it's
shakedown trials. Though classified
as a frigate, since it was nearly the
size of a cruiser, it's armament and
lack of a jump drive makes it's
combat effectiveness more like that
of a destroyer. A second ship had
already been started when another
shipping attack delayed normal
production again. Three Na'Lons
were completed by the time the
shipyard was able to resume normal
production.
The completed Na'Lons sat for
another month until a battlegroup
who had just seen combat and
needed repairs arrived. They were
on a planetary assault mission but
were intercepted by a Centauri task
force. Towing a crippled T'Loth and
many of their ships damaged or
destroyed, they were ready to return
for new orders until they saw the
Na'Lons berthed. Inspecting the
ships they found the division of
troops they carried in the crippled
T'Loth could fit onto the three of them
and repairs on their other ships could
be accomplished in short order.
Gaining approvals from the Kha'Ri,
the Na'Lons were added to their
battlegroup and performed beyond
all expectations. After the successful
assault, the design was reevaluated
and accepted and more orders for
the frigate were received.
Slowly, the Na'Lon turned into a
naval workhorse, it's capacity to
carry almost a brigade of troops and
equipment or additional fighter
support made the ship useful in both
assault and transport roles. Though
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11
The Post-War
Narn Fleet
Rich Bax has compiled his view
of the Post-War Narn fleet,
reflecting the state of the Narn
Regime navy following the
Centauri withdrawal in 2261. A
PDF containing background
material and ship control sheets
can be found at his website:
w w w. r i c h b a x . c o m
many variants of this ship exist, the
most common mounted the newly
developed Energy Mine to assist in
bombarding orbital defenses.
The Na'Lon can still be found
here and there but it's use has
decreased dramatically since the
development of the Dag'Kar Frigate
and Rongoth Destroyer.
Comments: This ship was created
by Todd Boyce, and the text comes
from his website, Battle Spoo (http:/
/ravensbranch.allen.com/
battlespoo.html). This ship appeared
before AOG’s own T’Loth panel ships
did, and in some ways I am still
preferential to Todd’s design. It is
simply a more interesting ship thanks
in large part to the variety inherent
in the design. You have several
different types of weapons that give
the ship an entirely different ‘feel’
than that of the T’Rakk and its ilk.
Shadow G’Quan
Comments: After the release of the
Shadow Omega as a Ship of the
Month release, Graves and Symon
Cook went whole hog creating a wide
range of Shadow-tech infused
starships. One of these was a
12
Shadowized version of the Narn
G’Quan. This ship isn’t a serious
design, being a lot like my own
Shadow White Star, but it was surely
an interesting intellectual exercise.
The ship is still usable, too -- it would
make an excellent scenario target!
G’eron Battleship
Comments: Anyone that was
around during the First Edition would
know about the Narn G’eron. This
ship was created by Keith Dague,
operator of the Stellardyne Shipyards
website. Stellardyne was one of the
first major Babylon 5 Wars sites and
featured a number of interesting,
original ship designs -- including
original ship miniatures that were
available for mail order.
Eventually, some time after
Stellardyne disappeared, Rich Bax
applied his unique style to creating
a new version of the G’eron
Battleship. In so doing he
‘modernized’ the design, bringing it
up to the Second Edition standard.
Some changes were made to the
ship’s arsenal, but the intent of the
THE GREAT MACHINE
design remained the same.
The G’eron Battleship is essentially
an oversized G’Quan Heavy Cruiser,
with a little more firepower in all
areas. It is a nice, balanced ship and
one that I look back on with some
degree of nostalgia. I don’t think I
ever played with the ship, but I
consider it a de facto part of the Narn
Regime’s order of battle.
Tor’Eth Fighter Bomber
Comments: Roman “Shadow
Scout” Perner’s Tor’Eth Fighter
Bomber originally appeared in an
issue of Babcom. This Narn fighter
bomber was based on a piece of CGI
artwork that has made the rounds
around the Babylon 5 fan
community. Since its release, the
Tor’Eth was been a favorite of the
Babylon 5 Wars community.
* * *
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
Staring Across the
Neutral Zone
By Tyrel Lohr
Introduction
Ambassador Tomalak was a
patriot of the Romulan Star Empire,
one of the more mysterious political
entities in the Star Trek universe –
and also one of the most powerful.
The Romulan Star Empire’s
representation in my B5W
conversion has always been spotty
at best, with a poorer selection of
ships for any given time period than
their arch rivals, the Federation or
Klingon empires.
In assembling this issue, I looked
back into my archives and dug up a
few ships that I don’t think every saw
the light of day during my days of
high activity. These designs are ships
that I came up with but never
released, for one reason or another.
Dhael’tagor Dreadnought
This ship is a conversion of the
Romulan Condor from the Star Fleet
Battles game. The conversion is not
perfect, of course, given my lack of
knowledge of SFB. The ship
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
attempted to convert the ship so that
the general armament remained, but
not on a 1:1 basis.
This large dreadnought is more
than capable of leading a fleet into
battle. In fact, the ship was built to
serve as a task force command ship
and saw extensive use in this role in
combat against the Gorn.
The ship’s one major failing is a
lack of a cloaking device. Once
cloaking devices became standard
in the Romulan fleet, the
Dhael’tagors were removed from
service. The cost of prepping the
ship to use a cloaking device was
simply more than the Romulan
government was willing to pay.
Vas’Hathirra Bird of Prey
This early precursor to the
Vas’Hatham served in the Romulan
imperial navy during its conflicts with
the Gorn in the early 2200s. This
starship is much the same as the
later Bird of Prey model that would
wreak havoc on the Federation
border; it simply uses older
technology. Blast beams replace
Medium Disruptors (which were not
available to the Romulan Star Empire
prior to its alliance with the Klingons),
and the central plasma mortar is
replaced by the older, less powerful
plasma shotgun.
THE GREAT MACHINE
13
class does lack is torpedoes of any
kind, which limits its engagement
range.
Sharekka Light Torpedo
Warbird
If all the Shirek Light Warbird
was missing was a torpedo, why not
create a torpedo variant of the hull?
The Sharekka Light Torpedo Warbird
discards the Shirek’s heavy disruptor
oriented armament for plasma
torpedoes. The ship is armed with
three in all, one firing forward and
two firing into the rear hemisphere.
The two remaining forward disruptor
mounts are downgraded to medium
disruptors.
After all weapon conversions are
complete, the ship does not have
enough power to cover the
difference, which means that the ship
– albeit a good torpedo support ship
– does have a power shortage of –3
power.
Vas’Mandukar Light Cruiser
D’nei’rrh Warbird
In searching for any
Romulan starships I may have
created and then forgot about, I
came across this finished project.
This warbird was designed after I
played around in Photoshop and
superimposed a Valdore over a
normal D’deridex Warbird and
created a ‘merged’ version of the two
ships.
The original concept behind this
design is that of an evolutionary
design that could link the newer
Valdore to the older D’deridex – a
merging of the two design
philosophies. Looking at the ship
control sheet, it seems that I decided
to make the ship a fairly advanced
vessel using the most advanced
weaponry the Romulans had
available during the Dominion War
period.
14
Shirek Light Warbird
Another interesting find in my
Romulan folder, this light warbird
design is based off of a graphic that
I found on the Internet. This ship is a
light cruiser vessel comparable to the
Federation’s Excelsior or Miranda
classes. The ship is closer to an
Excelsior in capabilities, but its
intended function is to operate as
more of a pack tactic oriented unit
like the Federation employed its
Miranda cruisers during the
Dominion War.
The Shirek has enough heavy
weaponry to be a major threat to
enemy capital ships. With three
heavy disruptors, the ship nearly has
the forward firepower equivalent of
a D’deridex! The one thing that this
THE GREAT MACHINE
This Romulan ship is based on
the “Shrike” class from the computer
game Starfleet Command III. I never
played the game, so I am not sure
as to its capabilities there, but when
the game came out this is one of the
few Romulan ships that actually
looked Romulan to me. The others
could have been Romulans from the
2100-2240 era, sure, but they didn’t
look like TNG era vessels.
In designing the Vas’Mandukar,
I decided to give it the “Myotronic
Beams” that the official game site
mentioned. I designed these beams
to be principally raking weapons with
an EM bonus. I can’t remember why
I decided to do them the way that I
did, but in essence the Myotronic
Beams act like raking Burst Beams
for purposes of how they score
damage against a ship. A few good
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
D’dredar Battleship
beam hits could in theory deactivate
the facing systems on an enemy
ship!
Based on a ship from
Birth of the Federation,
this vessel is supposed to
be the Romulan’s preD’deridex Battleship. This
ship is slow but large and
has shields on par with
those of the Federation
Ambassador Heavy
Cruiser. The D’dredar
Battleship is armed with
three plasma mortars, one of them
a heavy model, which makes it a vile
opponent at short ranges. Various
medium disruptors make up the
ship’s secondary armament.
My design for this ship can be
characterized as a “Romulan Komo
Val”, meaning that this ships shares
a lot in common with the conversion
of the Klingon battleship from the
FASA games. This ship has plasma
mortars, true, but its main weapon
in most battles is likely to be its
medium disruptors.
* * *
Are you looking for some good, old-fashioned variants? Paul Brown’s
Variants Rejects page collects many of the failed variants submitted by
fans during Agents of Gaming’s variant contests. The site has not been
updated for awhile, but it will provide a nice bit of nostalgia for those that
remember it, and perhaps some interesting new ships for those that
haven’t!
Variants Rejects
http://www.angelfire.com/games/b5wvariants/
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
THE GREAT MACHINE
15
Shadows
Cubed
By Sean Hillman
Introduction
It is the year 2273 in the Babylon 5 Universe… and
2373 in the Star Trek Universe. The Shadows have been
routed and the Borg pushed back for the time being.
However, there are those on both sides who do not
accept defeat very well. Borg and renegade Shadow
scientists (who had not agreed to go to the Rim) each
discovered the existence of the parallel universes and
began a plan to alter time in both realities.
To prove their worth, however the Borg required
proof that the Shadows could enhance their ships with
Shadow technology that would not interfere with the
Collective. This they did, creating a Shadow Cube from
the hull of a Borg Tactical Cube.
It is ironic that the Romulans and Narn each found
out about the odd alliance and moved to quickly destroy
not only the Shadow Cube but also the Time-Space
nexus point between the two universes. The Romulans
dispatched Commander Tomalak and the Narn allowed
G’Kar to lead the fleet that was pursuing the Shadow
Cube. The Narn and Romulans met near Quadrant 47
and the two leaders decided to work together. Moving
as one, their vanguard intercepted the just short of its
goal: The Borg-Shadow Nexus Point.
16
THE GREAT MACHINE
Scenario Forces
Narn / Romulan Alliance
1x D’deridex Advanced Warbird (1200)
2x Griffin Light Torpedo Crusier (550)
2 x D’ridren Disruptor Destroyers (480 each)
1x Bin’tak Dreadnaught (1250)
+18 Gorinth Medium Fighters (720)
2x G’Quan Heavy Cruisers (625 Each)
+24 Gorinth Medium Fighters (960)
Shadow / Borg
1x Shadow Tactical Cube (5000+?)
+6 Shadow Medium Fighters (900)
Map
Full Sized B5Wars Map
Terrain
Asteroid Field: In the middle three hex columns of the
map, an asteroid appears in every other hex. These
alternate between the three columns. Moving through
the hex resolves an immediate attack on the moving
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
ship. If successful, the ship takes 10 damage
on the side facing the asteroid hex.
(note: if/ when I find the asteroid rules for B5
again, this could be adjusted.)
Nexus Point: On Turn 2, roll 1d100 and place a
Nexus Point Marker on the 42XX Column. This
is the random location of the opening Nexus. A
ship can enter this hex from any direction and
bee transported to the Star Trek Universe.
There is no other terrain of note.
Starting Locations
Romulans
Within one hex of the asteroid field, on the Nexus side
of the map. Direction at commander’s discretion, speed
5. All systems armed and ready
Narn
Within one hex of the asteroid field, on the Non-Nexus
side of the map. Direction at commander’s discretion,
speed 5. All systems armed and ready
Victory Conditions
Romulan / Narn
Their only purpose is to prevent the alliance between
the Borg and Shadows from happening. To this end, if
the Shadow Cube is disabled or destroyed, it is a Major
Victory. If the Cube manages to get through the Nexus
Point, it is considered a Major Defeat.
Shadow / Borg
Shadow Borg
At start of Turn 1, they arrive, speed 5, any heading on
the 00 Map edge. The Shadow Borg player can roll
randomly or choose a hex to enter on.
Special Rules
The only purpose is to make sure the Shadow Cube
makes it through the Nexus. If the Cube is unable to
move, it self destructs in the next round instead of being
captured. If the Cub makes it to the Nexus Point, this is
a Major Victory. Any other result is a Major Defeat.
The Tactical Cube has had Molecular Slicer
Beams installed, replacing several Light Laser
Slicers. A Borg Shadow Pilot has been placed at
the center of the Collective here and acts as a
focal point. In all other ways the Shadow Cube is
considered a Borg Vessel.
Shadow Fighters: These are actual Shadow units
and will enter the Nexus only after the Tactical
Cube does. Their sole purpose is to protect the
Shadow Cube on its journey.
Ramming: Ramming is allowed.
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
THE GREAT MACHINE
17
Talons
of the
Raptor
By Charles Haught
Introduction
This is to be the first in a series
of articles (most regarding the Star
Trek Universe) that will be seen in
upcoming issues of The Great
Machine. Expect to see Sheliak,
ISC, and post Dominion War ships
in addition to races of the Triangle.
There may be an occasional article
on Babylon 5 or Escalation Wars
races.
Adding ships to the early and
show TNG era Romulans is
something I have wanted to do for
some time. While Tyrel’s Star Trek
conversions are indeed excellent I
18
have always felt that the fleet
selection for the Romulan Star
Empire was seriously lacking. As a
result, I set about to rectify this gap
in ship assortment. Creating these
ships was something of a labor of
love, as the Romulans are my
favorite science-fiction race. I hope
you enjoy using them as much as I
creating them.
I would be remiss if I did not
thank the writers, modelers (both
CGI and physical), artists and actors
that have brought the Romulans to
life in a way I never could on my own.
Their work inspired these ships and
the, hopefully, many more to come.
THE GREAT MACHINE
Again, thank you for all the hard work
and brilliant performances, such as
those by Mark Lenard, Joanne
Linville, Carolyn Seymour, Andreas
Katsulas and Alan Scarfe.
My words could never convey
the true loss, both to Star Trek and
Babylon 5, of a great actor. Both
universes are now greatly
diminished with the death of Andreas
Katsulas. These science fiction
universes have experienced the
death of a sun, one whose light can
never be replaced. He will be sorely
missed.
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
The Ships of the
Romulan Fleet
Arius Bird of Prey
Much like the relatively
unsuccessful D’Vas class Bird of
Prey before it, these ships were
designed to hunt down and destroy
Klingon B’rel and K’vort classes of
Bird of Prey. Their success in this
endeavor was far greater than the
D’Vas. As a result, a large number
of these warships are stationed
along the borders of the Klingon
Empire and the Triangle; though they
see service anywhere Romulan
warships are found.
During the Dominion War, these
ships proved their worth many times
over against smaller Cardassian
warships and Jem’Hadar Attack
Fighters. While their loss rate was
higher than any other Romulan
warship that participated in the war,
their kill rate against enemy small
vessels during their involvement
outstripped that of either the B’rel or
Federation Saber.
These ships are named after a
small pterosaur native to the
Romulan subject world of Gorwah.
Swift and deadly, they fill much the
same ecological niche as Terran
falcons and are revered for their
grace and compact power.
Cl’vangam Heavy Starbird
Designed in competition with the
T’Varo class of starbird, these
heavier starships were seen as being
cost prohibitive next to the smaller,
faster and more easily produced
T’Varo. However, while their size,
complexity and power saw the ship
lose to the lighter Starbird, the Star
Navy did see a use for these
excellent ships. Cl’vangam serve
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
largely with the Tal’Shiar where they
are used to infiltrate agents and
saboteurs, destroy lesser targets that
the Romulan Intelligence Agency
deems a threat and to guard
important installations that do not
warrant a more powerful vessel or
where subtlety is more important
than firepower.
A number of these vessels were
assigned to the conflict zone during
the Dominion War and all performed
with distinction. In fact, due to their
Tal’Shiar commanders, these ships
were capable of working better in
mixed strike fleets than most other
Romulan vessels. It proved a
strange sight early in the Romulan
involvement in the war when attack
wings of Saber, Steamrunner, K’vort,
B’rel, Arius, T’Varo and Cl’vangam
fought against Jem’Hadar and
Cardassian Attack Ships.
D’Generex Swift Warbird
This smaller class of Warbird
was designed as a rapid response
and perimeter defense unit. In
designing these ships, the Romulans
sacrificed heavy weapons, save the
plasma torpedoes, in exchange for
raw speed. To compensate, the
D’Generex carries a large number
of medium disruptors with wide fields
of fire allowing it to concentrate
weapons to make up for the lack of
heavy hitting ability.
These ships are assigned to
border outposts and core worlds,
responding to any enemy incursion
in order to halt an adversary’s
advance until the larger, slower, and
more powerful Heavy Warbirds can
arrive. In a fleet environment Swift
Warbirds are used to drive enemy
units into the arcs of the more
powerful Romulan Warbird classes
and to harass enemy flanks.
D’Generex are named after the
Romulan admiral who was
instrumental in the early successes
and planning of the Earth-Romulan
War. Unfortunately for the Romulan
war effort Admiral Generex was killed
in a daring raid during the first year
of the war.
D’Vaden Pacification Cruiser
Pacification cruisers are one of
the most feared ship classes in the
Romulan Star Navy. Not for their
overt combat abilities, but for their
designed purpose. These ships
move into a star system that the
Romulans have decided to conquer.
Then they obliterate fixed
installations and level any major
resistance on a world before
deploying troops.
Of these ships, the D’Vaden is
perhaps the most effective. Carrying
a massive number of heavy
disruptors backed up by plasma
torpedoes, these ship are capable of
quelling any resistance a planet
might provide. They carry more
troops than the smaller Pacification
cruisers in addition to the assault
shuttles necessary to deploy them
all simultaneously to the surface of
a world hiding behind transport
inhibitors.
For all their power, the D’Vaden
has its weaknesses.
While
exceptionally heavily armed, their
weapons are locked into very narrow
arcs and the ships are designed for
offensive firepower and survivability.
As such, they forfeit maneuverability
and speed. Despite these set backs
several of these ships were used by
more audacious Romulan fleet
commanders during the Dominion
War. Backed up by Veles Torpedo
Frigates and screened by Shrikes
and Arius Birds of Prey they were
devastating
to
Jem’Hadar
Battlecruisers and Cardassian heavy
warships.
Vadan was the first general to
THE GREAT MACHINE
19
command the newly created
Romulan Imperial Shrikes. It was
she that defeated the hardened
warriors during the conquest of
Gorwah, fighting against the
massive Gorn-like reptiles eventually
crushing their heaviest fortifications.
fade vessels when larger ships, such
as the V’Terex, are not needed.
They also coordinate wings of
Romulan small craft in battle and are
prized commands.
Only a few of these ships were
assigned to the Dominion War, most
Llaekh-ae’rl Starbird
These ships became the
most common of the larger
Romulan scouts shortly after
their introduction. Llaekhae’rl have much larger
research and lab facilities
than any other Romulan ship
of this size and these are put
to good use scanning the
Romulan’s coreward frontier
for new minerals, information
and new servitor races.
While not as powerful as
the D’Deridex class scouts
they are much cheaper to
build and deploy, and so exist
in far greater numbers. And
though their primary mission
is scouting and scientific
research, such activities are
often very hazardous. As
such these ships are well
armed and have served well in
ELINT support roles when a larger
D’Deridex scout is unavailable or
unnecessary. The Llaekh-ae’rl
proved its worth many times during
the Dominion War by providing
ELINT support to attack groups of
Romulan Starbirds and Birds of Prey
on fast attack or search and destroy
missions.
Llaihr’dhael Bird of Prey
This was a ship designed in
competition with the Arius. While
more powerful, the Llaihr’dhael is
more expensive to build, operate and
maintain. Still the Star Navy saw the
value of these small killers.
Llaihr’dhael are used as small hit and
20
taking up position only the border of
the Klingon Empire to watch for
possible incursion. Those few that
did take part in the war had an
astounding war record. In fact, per
capita, fewer Llaihr’dhael were lost
than any other class of Romulan
vessel that took part in the war.
T’Varo class Starbird
These ships were designed and
built off of the hull of the Arius class
Bird of Prey in much the same
fashion as the Cardassian Keldon to
the Galor. Romulan designers
moved the warp nacelles to the
wingtips and mounted additional
systems and weapons in what had
been the nacelle housings on the
Arius. The end result is a capable
THE GREAT MACHINE
light cruiser easily a match in a one
on one contest with a K’Vort.
These ships are often seen
screening Romulan fleets with their
smaller brothers or leading attack
groups of Arius, Shrike, and Veles
class ships. While supplanted by
more powerful ships during
the period before the
Dominion War, these ships
were still highly prized
commands and many fell into
Senatorial fleets or battle
groups stationed away from
hostile borders where they
would see long and
successful careers.
The T’Varo class is named
for the Romulan scientist that
invented the first Romulan
plasma bolt. While the
weapon and the technology
have changed much since
this original weapon, used
heavily during the EarthRomulan War, the basic
principles are still applied in
Plasma Torpedoes. For her
design and the power it gave
Romulan warships, past,
present, and future, T’Varo’s
family was elevated to the nobility
and holds a seat on the Imperial
Senate.
Vahhrer class Starbird
Vahhrer were designed and built
as a replacement for the T’Varo.
While capable in many ways, the
T’Varo was falling behind vessels of
similar classes in the navies of the
Romulan’s adversaries. Since these
ships were already expanded to their
limits it was decided to start with a
fresh design, one that would exceed
the T’Varo and allow for future
upgrades. Thus was the Vahhrer
born.
Mounting more firepower and
better
shielding
than
her
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
predecessor, these new ships
exceeded Romulan expectations.
They proved crushing to Klingon
K’Vort and B’Rel class Birds of Prey
and were more than a match for the
replacement designs the Klingons
had on the drawing board (thanks to
the Tal’Shiar).
While their numbers were still
more limited than the Romulans
would have liked when they joined
the Dominion War, these ships
served with great distinction, out
flying and out performing anything
of similar size the Cardassians could
put on the battlefield and meeting or
besting ships of similar size used by
the Jem’Hadar.
Vahhrer should have had long
and prosperous futures with the
Romulan fleet, but following the
Dominion War and the Shinzon
Incident the Romulans opted for
newer, even more powerful units. As
such Vahhrer are never a common
sight.
Vereleus Battlebird
Designed and built in response
to intelligence provided by the
Tal’Shiar on the Federation
Sovereign and Klingon Negh’var
classes of dreadnought, the
Vereleus possesses colossal
firepower. Based off several
battleships that were never put into
series production, the Vereleus was
the master of the battlefield until the
Jem’Hadar built their battleships.
These were also the first ships
to mount the deadly Singularity
Torpedo, as no other ship up to that
point had the space to fit such a
massive weapon. These destructive
torpedoes are backed up by an
impressive array of mega and heavy
disruptors, plasma torpedoes and
powerful, overlapping shield
generators.
Their only real
weakness
is
a
lack
of
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
maneuverability and a balanced
armament.
Two of these behemoths took
part in the Dominion War. Both
scored massive successes, tearing
through Jem’Hadar battlecruisers,
Cardassian Keldon and Breen Ghor
Taan. However, both of these ships
were lost in the final days of the war.
The Vereleus was destroyed in a
confrontation with a Breen Voh
Lanthe and her escorts on a mission
to create holes in the defenses of the
Chin’toka system in preparation for
the final invasion (a mission she
completed successfully). The
Ko’nar, flagship of the Romulan fleet,
was destroyed in the battle to retake
Chin’toka a few days later; a death
that required the sacrifice of several
Jem’Hadar and Breen battlecruisers.
These “failures” forced the
Romulans to abandon construction
of new Vereleus Battlebirds; however
an additional 5 ships had been laid
down before and during the war and
were completed before the project
was finally cancelled.
These giant ships are named in
honor of the commander who
blunted the Klingon advance at
Klach D’Kel Brakt. Using the
powerful Z-1 Nova class battleships,
Vereleus managed to damage or
destroy more than two-thirds of the
Klingon’s heavy units. He died when
his heavily damaged ship rammed
the Klingon L-24 flagship. The
damage inflicted on the Klingons
was enough to cause them to pause
and gave the Romulans the time
they needed to reinforce their
borders.
V’Terex Incursion Cruiser
If pacification cruisers are the
most feared invasion tool of the Star
Empire, incursion cruisers are the
most feared intelligence gathering
and hit and fade vessels. Fitted with
more powerful cloaks (when
determining the detection factor for
discovering cloaked incursion ships
divide sensor value by 2 and round
up), these ships cross the borders
of an adversarial nation to gather
intelligence and destroy high-value
units. To that end these ships are
fitted with powerful weapons arrays
and excellent shield generations
coverage.
V’Terex are not the most
numerous of incursion vessels, but
for well over a decade, they were the
most powerful and successful of
these designs. As such, nearly all
are under the command of the
Tal’Shiar and oftentimes have Expert
Intelligence Officers aboard and an
Expert Anticipator in command, as
well as, a higher percentage of Elite
Crews than many other vessel
classes in the Romulan Navy.
During the Dominion War these
ships greatly proved their worth,
moving behind enemy lines to
destroy Jem’Hadar breeding
facilities and fixed installations.
These missions were aided by their
powerful weapons, advanced cloaks
and well trained crews. While a
sizeable percentage of the ships so
used were lost during their missions,
the damage they inflicted on
Dominion infrastructure made life a
great deal easier for other Alliance
ships and crews.
V’Terex are named in
remembrance of the Tal’Shiar agent
who’s infiltration work of the Klingon
Empire shortly after first contact
resulted in all initial forays by the
Klingons into Romulan space being
repelled. The V’Terex name is still
respected and feared with Varel
V’Terex serving as a Romulan
Senator and General in the Tal’Shiar.
* * *
THE GREAT MACHINE
21
Written by David Ainsworth,
with SCS by Christian Meador
Introduction
In the depths of space, buried
and slumbering on countless worlds,
or shambling in places between
space and time, the Ancient Ones
roam the galaxy. Mind-blowing alien
horrors from beyond may once again
rise to threaten life as we know it... if
the Stars are Right!
B5W: The Stars are Right is an
unusual crossover, adding the
22
horrors of Lovecraft’s creations, what
he termed “Yog-sothery,” to the B5W
rules setting. This crossover is not
so much an enumeration of a new
race so much as a bestiary and set
of additional rules which can allow
your favorite B5W fleets to encounter
terror past their imagining.
New Rules
The Stars are Right adds a few
THE GREAT MACHINE
new rules to B5W in order to model
the deities and creatures of the
Cthulhu mythos. Insanity rules and
rules for the Great Old Ones follow.
Insanity
The mere detection of some of
the Ancient Ones causes the weakminded to surrender to insanity.
Many of these beings also possess
the ability to inspire madness in their
foes. These rules will help you
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
compute a new “sanity” statistic for
B5W ships. Some Ancient Ones will
cause all enemy ships to lose a
certain amount of sanity every turn;
others possess “weapons” which
drain sanity on a hit. Depending on
how complicated and atmospheric
you’d like your game to be, you can
follow the simple or complex
mechanic for insanity.
Simple Insanity
For every point of sanity a ship
loses, reduce its initiative bonus by
1 point. When a ship is reduced to 0
sanity, it is considered disabled.
Treat the ship as if all C & C boxes
have been destroyed. Bases ignore
the initiative reduction but are also
considered disabled when reduced
to 0 sanity. Mines and OSATs have
no sanity score and are immune to
sanity loss, as are automated units
like Hunter-Killers or Walker
Mapmakers. Fighters have no sanity
score, but must roll for drop-out if
they suffered any sanity loss in a
turn. For every point of sanity loss
beyond the first suffered by a fighter
in a turn, apply a +1 penalty to the
roll.
Complex Insanity
Use the rules above, but with the
following addition. If a unit’s sanity
score is reduced to less than or equal
to 25% of its starting score (rounded
down), the unit is considered erratic.
Roll 1d20 on the following table at
the beginning of each turn:
1-2 Unit attempts to ram an Ancient
One unit if possible. If not possible,
unit must declare full OEW against
a single Ancient One unit and fire all
weapons which bear, even if they
have no chance to hit.
3-4 Unit must declare full OEW
against a single Ancient One unit and
fire all weapons which bear, even if
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
they have no chance to hit.
Size Defaults
5-7 Unit must employ all available
EW as DEW and must intercept
incoming fire with all available
weapons. It may not attack this turn.
Unit may not apply any thrust in order
to maneuver this turn.
LCV: 4
MCV: 6
HCV: 9
Capital Ship: 12
Enormous Ship: 15
Base (HCV or smaller size, includes
manned OSATs): 8
Capital Base: 16
Enormous Base: 20
ELINT-capable unit: -3 (sometimes
special sensors aren’t a good thing)
8-10 Unit randomly assigns each
point of available EW to the 6 closest
friendly or enemy units (roll 1d6 for
each point and assign to that unit).
This unit must fire all available
weapons at targets it has a lock-on
to. If multiple targets are available
for a given weapon, roll randomly
amongst them to determine which
will be fired upon by that weapon;
the weapons must fire even if there
is no chance to hit.
11-13 Unit may not apply any thrust
in order to maneuver this turn, but
declares EW and may fire normally.
14-16 Unit must employ all
available EW as DEW and must
intercept incoming fire with all
available weapons. It may not attack
this turn but may maneuver normally.
17-18 Unit must declare full OEW
against the closest ship and fire all
weapons which bear, even if they
have no chance to hit.
19-20 Unit attempts to ram the
closest ship, friendly or enemy, if
possible. If not possible, unit must
declare full OEW against the closest
ship and fire all weapons which bear,
even if they have no chance to hit.
Determining Sanity
Sanity points for each ship are
determined based on the size of the
ship and the controlling race. A few
races have special rules. For races
not listed here, use the default sanity
modifiers or decide upon the closest
cognate race and apply the
appropriate modifier.
Race Modifiers
B5: Abbai: +3
Alacan: +0
Balosian: +1
Brakiri: -1
Cascor: +1
Centauri: +0
Civilian: -1
Corillani: +4
Descari: +0
Dilgar: +2
Drazi: +0
Earth Alliance (human): +1
Gaim: +5
Grome: -1
Hurr: -1
Hyach: +1
Ipsha: +0
Kor-Lyan: -1
Llort: -2
Markab: +4
Minbari: +4
Narn: +3
Orieni: +4
Pak’ma’ra: +2
Rogolon: +1
Streib: +6
Torata: +1
Usuuth: +0
Vree: +1
Yolu: +1
Ancients
Although the Ancients often
possess tremendous force of will,
their improved senses actually make
THE GREAT MACHINE
23
them more vulnerable to the effects
of a Great Old One’s mental attacks.
These modifiers take these factors
into account.
Kirishiac: +4
Mindriders: +8
Shadows: Special. Instead of
tracking current sanity, track sanity
loss. At the beginning of each turn,
roll as if the ship was under telepathic
attack, with a Psi rating equal to the
current sanity loss. If the ship is
piloted by Shadows, compute sanity
normally with a +6 modifier.
Torvalus: +1
Triad: The Triad are immune to the
effects of sanity loss.
Vorlon: +5
Walkers: +3
Star Trek
One’s options and abilities. Unless
otherwise noted, Ancient One
weapons use the standard fighter arc
to determine what they can hit. Most
Ancient Ones possess inherent
OEW which applies to all enemy
units equally (this is listed as an
Offensive Bonus, and stacks with
weapon fire control). Some Ancient
Ones have additional EW points they
can spend as indicated on the sheet–
these EW points add up with the
Offensive Bonus and weapon fire
control. Ancient Ones rarely possess
any DEW, and cannot benefit from
an ELINT ship or have a lock
disrupted by one. Regardless of
effective size, Ancient Ones
maneuver using the rules for
fighters. Ancient Ones do not drop
out and are immune to power drain,
stunning and similar effects.
Humans: +0
Klingons: +2
Romulans: +1
Cardassians: -1
Dominion: +4
Ferengi: -2
Breen: +0
Tholians: +5
Borg: +7
Species 8472: +15
Ancient One Control
Sheets
As beings capable of
surviving in interstellar space,
many of the Ancient Ones
possess an unusual fluidity of
form. I model them as the
equivalent of fighters. The
most powerful and least
material, however, like the socalled Gods and Great Old
Ones, have a diffuse form
difficult to damage effectively.
The control sheets for these
beings list only structure (aka
“hit points”) along with the Old
24
THE GREAT MACHINE
Mythos Unit
Descriptions
Non-Unique, Non-Great
Old Ones Units
The following units represent
creatures which exist in numbers.
None of these creatures are Great
Old Ones although some are nearly
as terrible.
Mi-Go, Fungi from Yuggoth
(Unlimited Deployment)
These fungi-crustaceons can fly
through space on vast membranous
wings. They carry electrical
weapons. Their nonterrene bodies
are resistant to attack. Mi-go have
no special association with any
Mythos being, but many worship
various Great Old Ones and
they may appear to assist one.
Mi-go are effectively light
fighters. Their wings provide
them limited maneuverability,
but they are unusually small
compared to most fighters
(though those same wings
make them easier to hit from
front or rear). Mi-go need to
appear in numbers to be
effective, but their high-tech
lightning guns are comparable
to fighter armament.
Star Spawn of Cthulhu
These massive creatures
may stand 50 feet tall, and
appear as slimy humanoids with
octopod heads, vicious claws
and great batlike wings. Like
their progenitor Great Cthulhu,
the Star Spawn are only partly
made up of ordinary matter, and
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
they regenerate damage rapidly.
Their rubbery flesh resists attacks.
At range, Star Spawn can invade the
minds of others to weaken their
resolve and hurl star-stuff at foes; up
close, they lash out around them with
their many tentacles, which can
extend to tremendous distances. As
beings originating in the depths of
space, Star Spawn maneuver well in
that environment.
to confront these beings or their
flaming God.
Special Rules
Servants of Nyarlathotep,
Hunting Horrors look something like
vast ropy worms with a single wing
along their backs and a gaping maw.
They fly along paths not existent in
our universe, and they hunt down
enemies of their lord and punish
them terribly. Hunting Horrors are
sometimes “loaned” to other Mythos
beings or summoned for special
purposes. Hunting Horrors are
composed of highly unusual matter,
and they cannot abide strong light.
Even regular starlight does them
harm, although their regenerative
abilities can preserve them for short
Regeneration: Star Spawn regain
2d6 structure during the self-repair
phase of every turn if they are
damaged. 30 structure is their
maximum. Star Spawn do not
regenerate if destroyed but can
regenerate damage suffered this
turn if they survive to the self-repair
phase.
Fire Vampires
Little more than living plasma,
Fire Vampires are usually found in
the company of Cthugha, though
they can be summoned and
bound by other Mythos beings. As
creatures of plasma, they are
immune to plasma weapons and
their heat often dissolves matter
weapons before they can do
harm. Small and agile, Fire
Vampires
are
extremely
dangerous but must actually make
physical contact with an enemy to
deal damage. Fire Vampires can
transform matter into living plasma
like that which makes up their
bodies, and if they successfully
deal damage they can heal
themselves or replenish their
numbers. These formidable
creatures are best as ship-killers,
and their presence is sure to draw
off enemy fighters. Races relying
on plasma weapons may find
themselves defenseless if forced
ISSUE 18
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Special Armor: Fire Vampires suffer
no harm from Plasma weapons.
Their armor counts DOUBLE against
Matter weapons (instead of the
regular rules). Treat their armor as
Advanced Armor against all other
weapons.
Hunting Horror
periods of exposure. Horrors radiate
a miasma of fear around
themselves. At close range their vast
maws can take deep bites out of their
foes; at range they rely on dark
incantations to literally eat away
matter. This disintegrating attack
weapons molecular bonds across
the entire side of a ship struck by it,
rendering it more susceptible to
continued attack.
Special Rules
Special Movement: Travelling
along non-Euclidean paths, the
Hunting Horror shifts through
alternate dimensions as it travels.
Instead of treating its forward facing
as “forward” for purposes of
movement, the Horror can use either
adjacent facing interchangably as its
forward facing, switching from one
to the other freely. Thus, if the Horror
is facing direction A, it can move
“forward” by moving one hex in
directions F or B, and it can move F
one hex and then move B the very
next hex without turning or otherwise
adjusting its movement. Note that
the Horror cannot actually move
in the direction it is facing. If the
Horror moves in reverse, reverse
these rules. A Hunting Horror
cannot pivot or roll.
Regeneration: A Hunting Horror
normally
regenerates
a
considerable amount of damage,
but it also suffers constant
damage from exposure to the light
of stars and suns. If the Horror is
fighting under conditions which
obscure light (in the shadow of a
planet, or in a dust cloud), it
recovers 3d6 points of structure
during the self-repair phase of
every turn. If fighting under
normal light conditions, it recovers
3d6-10 points of structure instead.
If this number is negative, the
THE GREAT MACHINE
25
Horror actually loses points of
structure. A Horror with 0 structure
is immediately destroyed.
Servitor of the Outer Gods
These protean horrors most
closely resemble giant toads, though
they have no single shape, and they
move through space in a sort of
roiling boil, flowing forward in an
ungainly fashion. Though not large
and not material, they can withstand
an unusual amount of physical
punishment. These things send out
a full-spectrum piping noise as much
psionic as sonic, as it can distinctly
be heard even through the depths
of space.
This obscene
accompaniment can enhance the
summoning of Mythos creatures, but
its more dangerous effect is upon the
sanity of all who can hear it. These
creatures often appear in groups,
and can quickly drive foes insane.
Fortunately, they are not otherwise
very dangerous, being limited to
close-range lashes of their tentacles
and pseudopods.
Colour Out of Space
Native to space, these creatures
are noncorporeal and appear to be
some
form
of
sentient
electromagnetic energy. Roiling
masses of color and mist, they glow
through the depths of space seeking
out life and energy to consume.
These beings are terribly dangerous,
capable of engulphing a ship or
fighter flight and slowly draining
away both ship’s energy and the
lifeforce of the crew. The constant
electromagnetic field surrounding
them provides some measure of
obscurement, and since the things
themselves barely exist in our
universe they are excessively hard
to damage, with most fighters and
26
light weapons unable to create any
substantial effect on them. Contrary
electromagnetic interference or
gravitic interference is most useful
against them, though in many cases
the Colour will suffer the most
damage at the hands of a crew
desperate to force it off their ship
before they all die. The Colour can
hurl electromagnetic packets short
distances to disintegrate matter, and
can drain energy from nearby ships.
Few “common” Mythos creatures are
more feared.
Special Rules
Special Armor: A Colour Out of
Space consists predominantly of
energetic particles, which respond
very differently to weapons than
conventional ship structures. As a
result, a Colour uses special armor
rules. Determine the class of
weapon hitting the Colour and
consult the following table.
Remember to subtract for the EM
shield first:
Particle: 12 armor
Laser: 10 armor; 5 against all
subsequent rakes from the same
weapon
Plasma: 12 armor
Molecular: 10 armor; 5 against all
weapon (against Slicers treat as 5
armor at all times)
Electromagnetic: 0 armor
Matter: 15 armor
Gravitic: 5 armor
Antimatter: 10 armor; 5 against all
weapon
Ion: 6 armor
Ballistic: 15 armor
Proximity: as other class if any–if
none, the Colour is immune to this
weapon
THE GREAT MACHINE
Envelop Ship: A Colour can attempt
to board a ship using the boarding
pod rules. If it successfully attaches,
the entire ship is considered
enveloped by the Colour. The Colour
cannot envelop a ship protected by
an active EM field–such attempts
automatically fail. If any arc of the
ship has no active EM shielding,
however, it can be enveloped. Being
enveloped by a Colour Out of Space
has the following effects:
The enveloped ship gains the
benefits of a 4 point EM shield. (This
actually protects it.)
During the Boarding segment of the
combat round, the ship loses 1d6
Sanity points, 1d6 power, and 1d6
thrust.
The Colour may opt to depart the
enveloped ship. If it does not, the
Colour cannot fire its weapons, nor
can any unit fire weapons at it. The
Colour can be attacked by marines
defending the ship–roll 1d10 every
boarding segment, +1 if the
defenders can ram, +1 if they are
Narn, +2 if they are Gaim (in other
words, apply standard modifiers):
3 or below: No damage to the Colour
4-6: The Colour loses 1d6 structure
7-9: The Colour loses 1d6+3
structure
10+: The Colour loses 2d6 structure
The Colour may also suffer damage
if the ship it envelops is attacked.
Score half of the overkill damage
done to the enveloped ship against
the Colour instead of applying it to
structure (round down against the
Colour and up against the structure).
If the Colour is destroyed score any
remaining overkill damage against
the ship normally.
Envelop Fighters: A Colour which
has not boarded a ship can envelop
any fighters which are in its hex after
it has moved. All flights in the same
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
hex can be affected. At the end of
the Colour’s movement phase,
immediately roll 1d20+4 against
each fighter flight in the same hex: if
the result is greater than the target
flight’s free thrust (not available
thrust, so ignore usage this turn), the
flight is enveloped. An enveloped
flight must immediately roll drop-out
against all fighters in the flight–
fighters not immune to drop-out roll
2d10, while fighters normally
immune to drop-out roll 1d10.
Non-Unique
Great Old Ones
A few of the divinities of the
Mythos can exist in multiple versions
simultaneously.
Nyarlathotep, the Crawling
Chaos
(Limited Deployment)
Often considered the most
conventionally intelligent of the Great
Old Ones, Nyarlathotep is the Herald
of Azathoth. He spreads chaos,
insanity, evil and destruction
wherever he goes. Though capable
of appearing in human form,
Nyarlathotep also possesses many
monstrous forms. The statistics
provided here are for one of his
monstrous Masks. Nyarlathotep can
draw upon the power of the “deities”
of the Mythos and possesses a wide
range of magical spells, many of
which he developed himself. By
drawing
on
Yog-Sothoth,
Nyarlathotep can appear multiple
times in a single location.
Nyarlathotep can warp minds,
and he can command a wide range
of Mythos creatures magically (in his
role as agent of the supreme
Azathoth). By reaching through
space with magic, he can draw
servitors to him to assist in a range
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
of different tasks.
Though Nyarlathotep can
potentially associate with any Mythos
creature, he favors Hunting Horrors
as his special servants. Unlike many
of the Great Old Ones, Nyarlathotep
(as the messenger of Azathoth)
freely associates with his “peers”
with only rare conflict.
Since he can appear in the form
of multiple masks simultaneously,
multiple “versions” of Nyarlathotep
can fight alongside each other. The
statistics provided here are fairly
generic and represent a monstrous
form. Feel free to tweak stats to
represent other masks.
THE GREAT MACHINE
27
Special Rules
Summon Mythos: Nyarlathotep can
summon additional Mythos creatures
to serve him. During the Jump
Points Open phase of the turn,
Nyarlathotep can summon a Mythos
unit to any hex within 50 hexes of
his position. Under ordinary
circumstances, his player must have
pre-purchased these summoned
creatures. They appear with any
facing, all weapons charged, and
speed 6 or less. Note that
Nyarlathotep can summon other
masks of himself.
If you’re not playing a pointed
combat, you can use the following
table to determine what Nyarlathotep
gets each turn:
1-5
Nothing appears this turn.
6-10 Summon 1d2 flights of Mi-Go
or 1 flight of Fire Vampires
11-13 Summon 1 Star Spawn or 1
Hunting Horror
14-15 Summon 2d3 Servitors of the
Outer Gods or 1 Colour out
of Space
16-17 Summon 1
Nyarlathotep
Mask
of
18-19 Summon 1 Mask or 1 Unique
Mythos Unit of your choice.
If the latter, roll another d20–
on a 11+ you control the
Unique Mythos Unit. On 110, your opponent controls it.
20+
Summon any 1 Unique
Mythos Unit, 1 Mask, or 2d3
non-unique units (not
counting Masks or YogSothoth)
Enslave Minds: Nyarlathotep can
sway the weak-minded and force
them to do his bidding. At the
beginning of each turn starting with
the second turn, Nyarlathotep picks
28
one enemy unit to try to control.
Determine his success or failure as
follows: 1d20, he succeeds if he rolls
greater than the unit’s current Sanity.
-1 to the roll against Ancients. -X to
the roll if the enemy fleet has at least
one telepath, with X = to the P rating
of that telepath. (Use the Ancient
Telepath rules to determine their best
P rating.)
If Nyarlathotep fails to control his
target, that unit immediately gains
1d3+1 Sanity. If he succeeds, his
side controls that unit for this turn of
combat, after which it returns to its
owner’s control. A unit controlled by
Nyarlathotep in this way which
destroys a friendly unit immediately
loses 1d3+1 Sanity. Note that units
with 0 Sanity are no longer active and
thus cannot be usefully controlled.
Nyarlathotep is not required to
choose any unit to enslave if he does
not wish to. Only one Mask may
attempt to enslave an enemy, even
if multiple Masks are present.
Yog-Sothoth
(Restricted Deployment)
The Key and the Gate, YogSothoth dwells outside space-time
but can coexist with space-time at
all its points. Although Yog-Sothoth
can appear as a small collection of
glowing silver orbs, the form
indicated by these statistics appears
as a conglomeration of iridescent
globes shifting, flowing, and breaking
into one another, spanning up to half
a mile. Besides its ability to play
tricks with time and space, YogSothoth can expand or contract into
a closer target to ram it. As the Key
and the Gate, Yog-Sothoth can open
doors to elsewhere and pull other
Mythos beings through.
Fortunately, Yog-Sothoth can
only appear at certain points in
space-time, or if summoned. YogSothoth’s role means that, like
THE GREAT MACHINE
Nyarlathotep and Azathoth, it can
coexist with other Great Old Ones.
No Mythos creatures are especially
associated with Yog-Sothoth, though
he is the patron of sorcerors.
Special Rules
Temporal Manipulation: YogSothoth can reach backwards or
forwards in time to cause a variety
of effects. Each turn when YogSothoth moves it may perform one
of the following actions:
Time-space manipulation. YogSothoth may move to any hex on the
map and select any facing and
speed. Yog-Sothoth does not move
normally this turn. Yog-Sothoth may
also escape from combat or move
to any other space using this ability.
Time double. Yog-Sothoth may
materialize a temporal duplicate of
itself in any hex, facing any direction,
speed 0. This duplicate appears
during the Vortex Activation Phase
of this turn and is removed during
the Vortex Activation Phase of the
following turn. The temporal
duplicate has no damage and all
systems are fully charged. When the
duplicate is removed, the original
Yog-Sothoth suffers damage equal
to half of the damage suffered by the
duplicate (round down, ignore
armor). The duplicate may not
employ any of the Temporal
Manipulation effects on its turn.
Timeheal.
Yog-Sothoth may
immediately regain 6d6 structure.
Excess healing is ignored.
Time Vortex. Yog-Sothoth may edit
one opposing unit out of time for the
remainder of the turn. Select one
unit within Yog-Sothoth’s weapons
arc and no more than 20 hexes
away. Roll 1d20. If the roll is greater
than the unit’s DEW, mark it. It does
not move or fire and it cannot be fired
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
upon or affected for the remainder
of this turn. At the end of the turn
the unit returns to normal spacetime. A unit removed from spacetime suffers 1d3-1 Sanity damage.
If the roll is less than or equal to the
target’s DEW, the Time Vortex fails.
their nightmares through his mere
presence, or through a mindshredding direct attack. His children,
the Star Spawn, often accompany
him.
oppose him. All opposing units with
LOS on Great Cthulhu suffer 1d3
points of sanity loss at the end of
each turn of battle.
Special Rules
Regeneration: During the Selfrepair phase of each turn, YogSothoth regains 2d6 structure.
Regeneration: Great Cthulhu can
regenerate damage which would
cause an ordinary being’s death. If
at least one box of active structure
exists Great Cthulhu can act
normally. If all active structure is
destroyed, Cthulhu dissolves into a
cloud of mist and cannot maneuver
or employ any of his abilities except
for his regeneration.
If all
regenerative structure is destroyed,
Cthulhu’s material form is banished.
At the end of every turn during the
self-repair
phase,
Cthulhu
regenerates 3d6 boxes of damage
(starting with regenerative structure).
If Great Cthulhu spent the entire turn
in mist-form, he regenerates 6d6
boxes instead.
(Unique)
An amorphous, blind, idiot god
gnawing at the center of creation,
Azathoth is senseless, destructive
matter. A part of Azathoth can be
summoned into the normal universe,
though this requires the work of a
priest or other Mythos creature. Only
insane humans worship the thing as
it is incapable of registering such
worship or rewarding it. Conditions
for summoning Azathoth should be
provided in a given battle or
scenario–Azathoth is the Mythos
equivalent of a Planet-Killer and
should be treated appropriately.
Once released, Azathoth absorbs all
matter around it (save for a few
powerful Mythos beings who can
shield themselves from this effect),
and grows hungrily for some time
unless its link to the rest of itself is
severed.
Azathoth is always accompanied
by at least one Servitor of the Outer
Gods. If summoned during a
scenario, you should place one
Servitor adjacent to one of
Azathoth’s hexes unless a Servitor
is already present. Azathoth does
not require a Servitor to be present
in order to manifest, but it tends to
lash out with greater fury when
deprived
of
musical
accompaniment.
Azathoth is a terrain feature, not
a ship. Use counters to indicate
Azathoth’s location. Generally
Azathoth must be summoned in
some way to appear on the field–
place its first counter at the point
of summoning and place counters
in all adjacent hexes, and execute
the damage effects listed below if
Unique Great Old Ones
These beings either exist in a
single location, or at the least appear
only once in any given place. Many
of them do not like each other.
Except under extraordinary
circumstances, only one Unique
Great Old One should be present at
a given battle (except for Azathoth,
who may potentially appear along
with any of the others). The nonunique Great Old Ones can appear
alongside Unique Great Old Ones
freely.
Great Cthulhu
(Unique)
A high priest of Azathoth, Great
Cthulhu vaguely resembles a squid,
a misshapen humanoid, and a
dragon. He stands over 100 feet
high, and can strike with his long
tentacles or with his magic.
Cthulhu’s flesh is rubbery and
resists damage; if injured he
regenerates rapidly from damage,
though severe damage may burst
his flesh and release a noxious
cloud of green mist which gradually
coalesces back into his physical
form unless disrupted.
While
Great
Cthulhu
hypothetically lies slumbering in the
city of R’yleh, his mind wakes and
may project his substance into
space. Cthulhu touches the minds
of sleepers and he can reawaken
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
General Sanity Drain: The mere
presence of Cthulhu sends waves of
insanity and despair against all who
Azathoth
THE GREAT MACHINE
29
Non-Mythos units suffer the following
effects:
any units are in one of Azathoth’s
hexes. Azathoth normally appears
during the Vortex Activation
segment. Azathoth operates under
the following rules:
During the Ship Power Segment,
Azathoth expands. The Mythos
player rolls 1d6 for every hex
Azathoth currently occupies. On
each 5+, the Mythos player may add
one hex to Azathoth so long as the
hex is adjacent to a current Azathoth
hex. If a unit occupies the new hex,
immediately apply damage as listed
30
below.
Damage: If a ship occupies an
Azathoth hex for any reason, it
immediately suffers damage as
follows.
Mythos units are
automatically destroyed, adding
another hex to Azathoth, unless the
unit is a deity (Nyarlathotep, Great
Cthulhu, Cthugha, Yog-Sothoth, and
other uniques). A Mythos deity may
immediately redeploy to any open
hex adjacent to Azathoth.
THE GREAT MACHINE
Fighters, shuttles, and similar sized
units are automatically destroyed.
Larger units suffer 8d10+10 points
of Gravitic class damage in Raking
mode to EVERY side of the unit
(except for the Primary hit location
chart–unless a side has been
destroyed, exposing the Primary to
attack). Armor applies but Azathoth
dissolves normal armor immediately
upon its blocking damage; advanced
armor loses half its points (round
down), and hardened advanced
armor loses 1 point each time it is
hit by Azathoth. If the unit survives,
move it directly forward in its
direction of travel until it is no longer
inside Azathoth. It takes no further
damage from this movement. A
surviving unit loses 1d6-2 points of
sanity for every hex of Azathoth
moved through, however, including
the original hex, with a minimum of
0 points lost per die rolled.
If Azathoth expands or moves into a
hex with a terrain feature (asteroid,
moon, planet, atmosphere, etc) that
hex of the feature is destroyed and
Azathoth grows by 1d3 hexes
immediately. These new hexes do
not move this turn and may not be
placed on a terrain feature. Azathoth
does not consume clouds, storms,
or nebulae, but can consume and
grow from debris of strength 3 or
greater.
EW Phase: All ships within 5 hexes
of Azathoth during this phase lose
1d6 points of sanity automatically. If
they drop to 0 sanity the ship is
considered inert immediately. Note
that Azathoth blocks LOS as any
large object.
Movement Step: The Mythos player
may move every hex of Azathoth one
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hex at this point, before any other
ships move, with two restrictions–
each hex of Azathoth must end
movement adjacent to at least two
other hexes of Azathoth (if possible),
and Azathoth’s point of origin must
be occupied (if possible). Any hex
of Azathoth which is not adjacent to
two other hexes of Azathoth at the
end of movement is immediately
removed. If Azathoth does not
occupy its point of origin at the end
of the movement step, its
manifestation is dispelled and all
Azathoth hexes must be removed
immediately. Note that Azathoth is
only removed at this point in the turn
sequence–thus, to dispel Azathoth
it is necessary to destroy all hexes
adjacent to its point of origin, as well
as the origin hex itself.
Weapons Fire Step: Azathoth may
be attacked. Consider each hex of
Azathoth as an enormous unit with
a profile of 30. Treat each hex as a
separate unit for purposes of EW
and weapons fire. Roll damage for
all weapons hitting the target hex,
ignoring weapon type or damage
mode. If the total for all weapons
fired by this ship or flight of fighters
is 180 points or more, the hex is
destroyed–immediately remove it
from the map. Other ships firing on
Azathoth may target a different hex.
If the total damage is less than 180,
divide the total damage by 30,
dropping all fractions, and indicate
how many units of 30 points the hex
has suffered by marking it with a d6.
Ships, shuttles, and fighter flights
unable to deal at least 30 points of
damage cannot effectively damage
Azathoth.
Tactical Note: Protect Azathoth’s
point of emergence with other hexes
whenever possible. Obviously,
Azathoth is most effective as a
ISSUE 18
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consumer of moons or worlds.
Cthugha
(Unique)
Effectively a giant Fire Vampire,
Cthugha dwells near Fomalhaut and
is worshipped by the Fire Vampires
as god and progenitor. Cthugha
exists to burn things around it.
Cthugha is fairly dangerous to other
Mythos creatures but they will
sometimes employ rituals to
summon it and direct its destructive
tendencies against enemies.
Cthugha is most appropriate in
the company of Fire Vampires and
Colours Out of Space. It will only be
found in the company of a Star
Spawn under extremely unusual
circumstances.
Special Rules
Special Armor: Cthugha suffers no
harm from Plasma weapons. Its
armor counts DOUBLE against
Matter weapons (instead of the
regular rules). Treat its armor as
Advanced Armor against all other
weapons.
Spawn Fire Vampires: If no flights
of Fire Vampires are currently on the
map, Cthugha may attempt to
Summon flights at the end of each
turn. Roll 1d20 (modified by
Servitors if any):
1-8 No vampires respond.
9-14 1 flight of Fire Vampires
appear in Cthugha’s hex,
speed 0, any facing.
15-18 2 flights of Fire Vampires
If at least one flight of Fire
Vampires is currently on the map,
Cthugha may not summon any
additional flights. However, if it
destroys an enemy ship (not a fighter
flight) with its attacks, immediately
place a number of Fire Vampire
flights in the victim’s hex, speed 0,
any facing, based on the ship’s size:
LCV = 1d2-1 flights (minimum 0)
MCV = 1d2 flights
HCV = 1d3 flights
Capital Ship = 1d2+1 flights
Enormous Ship = 1d3+1 flights
Fire Regeneration: Cthugha can
absorb any flight of Fire Vampires
which enters his hex during the
movement phase. Immediately
remove the flight.
Cthugha
immediately regains one point of
structure per point of structure
remaining to the Fire Vampires.
Using the Old
Ones
One option is to generate
scenarios–you can include “ordinary”
ships commanded by cultists or
insane followers of the Old One in
question, and either augment these
ships with some of these beings, or
have some timed event which
summons an Old One into the battle.
They also make nifty random
encounters for campaigns.
* * *
19+ 3 flights of Fire Vampires
THE GREAT MACHINE
31
Ships of the
Hyach Fleet
By Tyrel Lohr
Introduction
The modern Hyach ships
demonstrated a special, if not
confusing, affection for the Medium
Laser. When extrapolating their older
fleet, I opted to keep the Medium
Laser as their primary weapon
system. Without any of the newer
weapons in wide use, almost all of
the ships would rely on the Medium
Laser for engaging enemy starships.
Alorai Kam Light Cruiser
The direct predecessor to the
Senchlat Kam, the Alorai Kam Light
Cruiser was intended to serve as a
smaller cruiser that could be built in
large numbers and supplement the
firepower of the larger, more
powerful Irokai cruiser hulls. The
Alorai Light Cruiser would operate as
32
a system defense cruiser, providing
for planetary security at various
outposts throughout Hyach space.
In a cost-cutting move, jump
engines were omitted from this
design. This limited the design’s
strategic movement options but its
role as a planetary defense cruiser
did not require the inclusion of a jump
engine, and the money saved on
construction costs and Quantium 40
would allow more light cruisers to be
built and operated for the same cost.
It was the Alorai Kam that set the
precedent of arming Hyach light
cruisers with heavy weapons, in this
case the Heavy Laser. Previous light
cruiser classes had not been armed
so heavily, relying on quantity of
weapons rather than quality.
In deciding what type of heavy
weapons to outfit the Alorai Kam
THE GREAT MACHINE
with, the Hyach initially investigated
the possibility of integrating a Spinal
Laser into its design. However,
internal volume limitations in the
design precluded its installation.
Other than the Spinal Laser, the next
heaviest weapon in the Hyach
arsenal was the Heavy Laser, which
had previously been employed, with
good results, on the Irokai Kal
Command Gunship. Two Heavy
Laser turrets can be found on the
Alorai Kam design, projecting
substantial, long-range firepower
into the forward and side arcs.
Alorai Kon Light Carrier
The 2150s saw a period of
heightened raider activity in Hyach
space, mostly as the result of a
particularly intense Llort political
crisis that had exacerbated existing
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piracy problems. Rival factions within
the Llort government had provided
raiders with currency and war
materials, planning on them to be
used against the enemy. However
many of the raiders were more than
happy to ‘take the money and run’,
quite literally in this case, deserting
their Llort patrons and moving into
nearby territories they perceived as
being ‘weak’.
After several years of enduring
these escalated attacks against their
border interests, the Hyach navy
authorized the conversion of several
Alorai Kam Light Cruisers, currently
under construction at Shri-Shraba,
into auxiliary light carriers. Upon
completion, these ships were
deployed to the border and served
as convoy escorts.
The presence of Alorai Kon Light
Carriers in the borderlands provided
a significant deterrent to all but the
most dedicated of raiders. Most
pirates, even those who had
benefited most from the Llort ‘gifts’,
were no match for a Hyach convoy
under the protective escort of a light
carrier and its fighter wing.
Sirol Kur Fast Escort
This older Hyach escort frigate
design was in heavy use prior to the
development of more advanced
successor designs, including the
Okath Kur. For over a century, ships
of the Sirol Kur class provided the
bulk of fleet and convoy escort
services to the Hyach navy.
Unlike future Hyach frigates, the
Sirol Kur was built for speed over
survivability. The engines of these
escorts were supercharged and
sacrificed efficiency for raw thrust.
This extra speed potential improved
the frigate’s chances of hunting
down and engaging nimble enemy
fighters.
ISSUE 18
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Yaltat Kes Exploration Cruiser
Prior to the 2200s, the Hyach fleet
contained two distinct families of
ELINT vessels. One family was
optimized for battle operations and
providing ELINT support to other
Hyach combat units. The second
was designed for long-range
exploratory missions at the expense
of combat abilities.
The Yaltat Kes Exploration
Cruiser falls into the latter family. The
ship was one of the last great
exploration cruisers developed by
the Hyach. The ship bears a
functional resemblance to the EA
Explorer in that both classes are
intended for long-term deployment
to the fringes of known space.
However the Yaltat Kes is a much
smaller vessel with a more limited
cruising range. The class’ jump gate
construction abilities are also much
more limited. A Yaltat Kes can
transport and deploy one limitedcapacity jump gate in a target
system, which then allows dedicated
jump gate construction teams to
arrive on site and begin building a
more permanent jump gate.
Over the last several centuries,
the Hyach’s exploration program has
waned. Few systems of importance
have been discovered, and even
those systems of merit that have
been discovered have not been fully
exploited. The declining Hyach
population simply could not support
additional colonial ventures outside
the core of Hyach space. In some
cases, the territories opened up by
the Hyach exploration cruisers were
leased to Drazi concerns
who were more than interested in
developing limited habitats in the
systems, with a percentage of their
income being directed to the
Gerontocracy.
As a result of this waning
exploration, most Yaltat Kes
Exploration Cruisers had already
been placed in mothballs prior to the
Dilgar War.
Vestal Light Fighter
This successor to the Dartha
Medium Fighter acted as a testing
platform for many of the technologies
that would later be adopted in that
fighter. The Vestal Light Fighter’s
mission however was quite different.
The Vestal fighters were optimized
for dogfighting with enemy fighters,
particularly raider fighters. They were
not designed for performing attack
runs on enemy capital ships, the
mission in which the later Dartha
would excel.
One of the major failings of the
Vestal Light Fighter was its reliance
on the antiquated Light Maser
weapon. Like its ship-based
counterpart, the Light Maser had
difficulty penetrating enemy armors.
Against fighters this was less of a
problem, as fighters tend to have
comparatively weaker armor than
capital ships. However there were
still some fighters that were
equipped with much stronger
defenses, and it was against these
fighters that the Vestal Light Fighters
ran into difficulties.
* * *
THE GREAT MACHINE
33
Conversion Quick Start Rules: Original Game Era (OGE)
By Sean Hillman
Note: B5 & Babylon 5 are
Trademarks of JMS, Babylonian
Productions and the WB. B5Wars
is Copyright Agents of Gaming.
Rules of Engagement I&II are, I
believe, still properties of
Impressions Games and the
original designers. Nothing here
is meant to infringe on any rights
that have been mentioned or that
exist and have not been
mentioned. This is for personal
entertainment only.
Introduction
The following rules and the
accompanying SCS’s are based
on designs from the Rules of
Engagement (ROE) I Computer
Game and Manual. Thus these
are interpretations of the original
designs of that game. These rules
do not directly reflect the Game
Rules of Engagement II. As more
information becomes available
this could change.
Unless otherwise stated, all
items and rules found in the
B5Wars Rules Compendium work
as normal.
34
THE GREAT MACHINE
Weapon
Systems
Unified Weapons
Array (UWA)
The Unified Weapons Array is a
large reactor and munitions
magazine that acts as a central
distributor to the weapons on
board the ship. It holds both the
collected energy particles for
Energy Beams (EB) as well as the
various missiles. Depending on
the size of the Weapon System
installed, these could be standard
missiles or more advanced
versions.
The UWA is separate from the
Reactor.
Each UWA will have a number
associated with it. This is the
energy reserve available for the
weapons systems. Note that this
number is different than the
amount of power saved by turning
the UWA system off. In effect the
UWA is a power converter, turning
reactor power into energy for the
Energy Beams or guidance and
launch power for the missiles.
The energy used to fire weapons
is automatically replenished each
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
round that the UWA is on and
active. The reason that a given
UWA may require more power is
that some of the ships of the OGE
are a bit over gunned for their
sizes in B5Wars terms. Thus
there may be more ELT to fire
than there is power for them.
The UWA is heat and
radiation shielded so that Plasma
weapons do not impose any half
armor penalties. However, when
an ELT is destroyed, the
connections to the UWA may
conduct any residual energy to
the UWA itself, instead of the
structure for that section as per the
normal rules. Roll 1d20, on a 1-5 the
energy is transmitted to the UWA,
which takes damage as normal.
If the UWA is destroyed, any
energy in it is released as a single
volley on the Primary Section. If
there are remaining missiles, roll
1d20 for each missile. On a 1 or 2
the missile explodes for 5 points.
Each missile that explodes is a single
volley.
Energy Beam –
Launcher Turret (ELT)
The primary weapon of the Local
Group forces (both FW and UDP) is
the Energy Beam. However, the
weapon systems designed by the
local manufacturers also come
equipped with missiles. In the
original
game,
Rules
of
Engagement, there is no specific
emitter or launcher, the weapons just
seem to fire from an undisclosed
location. Thus it seemed logical that
all weapons were connected to some
centralized location, the UWA, and
then the energy or missile was sent
out to a specific launch point on the
hull. This is the ELT. Most ships in
the OGE have from 1 to 6 ELT on
their SCS.
ISSUE 18
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Defensive
Energy
Screens (DES)
A given ELT may be used on any
given turn either to fire an Energy
Beam or to launch one ballistic
missile. It may not do both. An ELT
can fire every turn and the mode of
fire from the previous turn has no
effect on the mode of fire for the
current turn.
To fire in Energy Beam (EB)
Mode, 3 points of power must be
allocated from the UWA to the ELT
in question. If not used on the current
turn, this power is lost. However, this
does not prevent the weapon firing
in either mode the following turn.
Energy Beams come in 1 size and
do 2d10+2 damage per hit. They fire
in standard mode.
To fire in Ballistic Missile (BM)
Mode, 1 point of power must be
allocated. Note however, that these
ships carry a very limited amount of
missiles for each type. See Missile
Types below for more rules on these
weapons. Note also that when in BM
mode, the firing arc of the ELT is 3600
and not what is printed on the SCS.
Aside from their varying
warheads these weapons are in all
ways like normal missiles in B5Wars.
When an ELT is destroyed, the
feedback might damage the UWA.
See the UWA rules above.
Aside from extensive
armor plating, the ships
in the Local Group
depend on electronic
shielding to deflect
damage away from their
ships. DES systems in
no way make a ship
harder to hit but instead
absorb a certain amount
of damage. They act as
energy armor and absorb damage.
There are 4 shields and each is
connected to and controlled from the
central DES. This system allows a
good deal of flexibility in how power
is given to the shields. Each
individual shield can hold a variable
amount of power, depending on the
amount transferred into the individual
shield from the DES.
The DES system is a centrally
located power converter, taking
whatever power it generates or is
transferred into it and converting it
into ionized energy that first polarizes
and then dissipates energies that
strike it. Unless damaged, the DES
regenerates power equal to its power
rating every turn. This power can
be assigned to any DESP on the ship
that is not destroyed. For each point
of power given to the DESP, 1 point
of damage protection is created.
Every turn, the power must allocated,
whether the points are maintained or
varied from turn to turn. Shield
power will regenerate between turns
as long both the DES and the DESP
are working.
Like the UWA, the DES is
armored and shielded in such a way
as to not be affected by the armor
degrading properties of Plasma
weapons.
THE GREAT MACHINE
35
that side of the ship with a DES
anymore. Screens and shields
cannot be stretched to cover more
than one side. For a Transporter to
be used, the shields must be
dropped. Dropping shields can be
done at any point in a given turn.
Raising them again can only occur
in the Power Allocation Phase.
Matter – Energy
Transporter (MET)
Defensive Energy
Screen Projector
(DESP)
Each Ship in the ROE has 4
DESP, numbered clockwise from
1(forward) to 4(port). These convert
raw energy into protective energies
and help protect the ships from
damage. These shields or screens
can absorb any type of known
energy. They do suffer normal
degradation from Plasma weapons
just like armor does.
Each projector can accept
maximum of 5 points of energy from
the DES and thus produce 5 points
of armor per round (one point of
armor per point of power added).
This provides an extra point of armor
for any and all attacks that come
through that shield during the given
turn. Once the projector itself is
destroyed, it is impossible to cover
36
A by-product of hyperspace
science, the MET allows matter to
be turned into energy and
transported to another location within
a limited distance. The target
location and original location must
both be free of any kind of shielding.
There are very few solid objects that
can block the MET.
For the MET to be usable in a
ship-to-ship
transport,
the
transporting vessel and target vessel
must be within 6 speed factors of
each other. Otherwise there is too
much speed differential to attain lock.
Second, the transporting vessel
must have a positive lock on the
target vessel. Finally, neither ship
can be under the protection of any
kind of shielding. Each MET can
transport 1 MRS (Marine Raider
Squad) per turn. Every ship in ROE
has at least one MET. Some of the
larger ships have more than one.
The MET is affected the same way
a weapon would be against a Minbari
jammer. The maximum range of an
MET is 10 hexes. Transportation
takes place during the Ship-to-Ship
Firing phase.
mayhem on enemy ships. Use the
normal boarding rules from B5Wars.
Note: More information will be
forthcoming on the Marine Raider
Squads and other alien shipboard
combatants.
Missiles
Missiles are an important tactical
consideration in the ROE universe.
Ships carry relatively few of these
weapons but they can offer a tactical
advantage when used properly. The
following missile types are available
in the OGE.
General Damage: This is straight up
brute force damage.
Anti-Shield: Destroys a shield and
a DESP’s ability to convert energy
into protection. When a shield is
struck, the amount of AS damage is
applied to that shield immediately. If
there is equal to or more AS damage
Marine Raider Squad
(MRS)
The Marine Raider Squad or
MRS is a highly trained group of men
and women who enjoy causing
THE GREAT MACHINE
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
than shield power, the shield
collapses. If the AS damage is less,
the shield’s ability is lowered.
Regardless, the DESP cannot
convert as much energy to protection
as before.
Example: A normal DESP can create
up to 5 points of armor. If hit by a
missile doing 3 AS damage, the
DESP can now only created 2 points
of armor. If AS damage negates a
DESP entirely (doing 5 or more
damage or a combination of missiles
doing 5 or more) that DESP can no
longer function though it is not
destroyed. It can still absorb normal
damage as a system if its number is
rolled.
Anti-Personnel: This missile was
harder to convert. So what I did was
convert it straight into C&C damage.
When one of these missiles strikes
a ship, no location hit is rolled.
Instead, the damage is dealt to the
C&C only. This is a very powerful
missile type representing crew killing
ability.
Anti-Drive: Like the AP missile, the
Ant-Drive missile attacks only one
system: engines. All damage is done
directly to the engine.
Missile Statistics
Federated Worlds
Missile
PN Pritchard SBR
Melbourne FU8
Giaperelli FU9
Franklin Lab FE
Woden FE
Thiodyne P/PD
Woden Nova
Iliya Nova
Damage
3
10
20
6
9
6
30
40
Type
Anti-Shield
General Damage
General Damage
Anti-Personnel
Anti-Personnel
Anti-Drive
General Damage
General Damage
Cost
5 per
2 per
4 per
10 per
12 per
6 per
8 per
10 per
Damage
Type
20
General Damage
6
Anti-Personnel
3
Anti-Shield
30
General Damage
9
Anti-Personnel
6
Anti-Weapon
6
Anti-Drive
40
General Damage
Cost
5 per
10 per
4 per
5 per
12 per
6 per
8 per
10 per
United Democratic Planets
Missile
Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
Type 4
Type 5
Type 6
Type 7
Type 8
Missile: Missile Name
Damage: Amount Damage
Type: Type of Damage
Cost: For purposes of trading missiles out and altering a ship’s cost
ISSUE 18
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Anti-Weapon: This missile is
exclusively a weapon of the UDP. It
attacks the UWA directly, trying to
cause a critical explosion and disable
an enemy’s ability to fire its weapons.
A Brief History of
the Local Group
The current year is 2374 and the
Federated Worlds (FW) & the United
Democratic Planets (UDP) are at war
with one another. Much of the conflict
stems
from
the
loss
of
communication with other Earth
colonies for a period of thirty years.
The people of the Local Group have
been on their own for a very long time
and have grown accustomed to
handling their own problems.
The Human worlds in the area
split into two armed camps, the FW
and the UDP. The ships of both
forces are limited to HCV or lower
due to limited yard size and size
limitations placed on Hyperspace
travel by the Mass Limit. This limits
the size of craft that can enter
Hyperspace (ROE Manual, Pg. 27).
Although technologically evenly
matched, the FW’s industry is slightly
better than that of the UDP. It could
easily overcome the one enemy but
the FW must deal with more than
one. Creatures known as ‘Aliens’; the
alien Entymion; the Muties – humans
who have undergone sever
mutation; and the Cybers – a
powerful race of human-machine
hybrids.
Author’s Note: I could reprint all the
pages of the History but these are
included in the game manual and
thus I am not sure of the legalities
involved.
THE GREAT MACHINE
37
Design Decisions
Why Rules of
Engagement?
I loved this game. It was the best
ship-to-ship game that had come out
to date AND it had a lot of Star Trek:
Next Generation feel to it. It also had
a fairly simple but compelling history
and unlike many TV shows, the ships
had never been converted to my
knowledge. The unique feel of the
weapons systems also meant that I
had to seek out some inventive
solutions instead of just arming
everything with a Babylon 5 Wars
weapon.
38
Weapon Systems
Shields
You would think that a weapon
system which essentially consisted
of two components (beams &
missiles) would be fairly easy to
convert. Well this is not the case for
a number of reasons. For one, the
different ship classes could fit
different sized weapon systems. This
was not exactly a “modular” system
that could be easily represented. For
another, there was no obvious hard
points for the weapons. So after
some thought and some advice from
Tyrel, I decided to create the UWA –
ELT system. It’s a slightly different
way of creating over-gunned
situations, since all weapon power
comes from the UWA and not the
reactor directly. So an ELT that
stands idle is not saving power.
The shields or Defensive Energy
Screens went through a few
variations. Initially I had them as
damage absorption and being able
to be recharged very easily each
round. I realized that this would not
work well in that two scouts could
potentially never hurt each other if
they maintained the same facing
throughout he battle. So the DES
went from damage absorption to
damage reduction. Now they act as
extra armor though there is still a
variable element.
THE GREAT MACHINE
No Capital Units
The FW Dreadnaught is 303
meters long. The FW freighter is 450.
These barely make it into HCV
category. I decided that the fluff
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
about the Mass Limit allowed me to
simply keep everything at HCV or
smaller. So in campaign games the
ROE ships will be at a disadvantage
due to no capital units (among other
things). However, they will be heavily
gunned units for the most part.
Expanded Era vs.
Original Game Era
I had plenty of ideas for
expanded era designs and histories.
I have not seen the information from
ROE II yet so I am not sure how
things might change. In any case,
the OGE does offer up a variety of
enemies - even if they all use the
UDP ships.
Ships of Rules of
Engagement
Federated Worlds
Shipyard
Mark 1 Scout (LCV)
Although this is an ELINT ship,
the FW & UDP forces use their
scouts as Gunboats as well as
Scouts. Scouts will often perform the
same mission as Cruisers. The
FWAF designed the scout to not only
be the eyes and ears of the fleet but
to carry out small missions on its
own. Its primary purpose is as a
patrol and early warning ship, but it
also performs convoy escort and
fleet support roles.
Although armed with the same
number of ELT’s as the UDP Scout,
the Mk1 has one weapon forward and
one weapon aft, making it difficult to
outflank. FW captains prefer an
oblique approach which allows the
front and rear weapons to fire.
ISSUE 18
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Mark 2 Freighter (HCV)
The largest ship in the FWAF
inventory, it is also the least combat
worthy. Never the less, in such a
dangerous universe, the engineers
and Fleet command thought it best
that all ships be armed, even the
merchantmen. Although many of
these ships are privately owned and
operated, they use the same design
throughout FW territory.
United
Democratic
Planets Shipyard
Type I Scout (LCV)
The Scout was the prototype
design for the UDP who initially relied
on fast moving small ships in their
war against the FW. Although not as
sturdy as the Mark 1, the T1 is able
to fire both ELT’s in the forward arc.
This gives it an advantage on headon attacks.
Designed primarily as a raider,
the T1 performs well in escort and
fleet duties, especially since it carries
an Anti-Personnel missile as a
standard load out.
Type II Freighter (HCV)
Designed by the military and
leased to civilian corporations, the
Type II Hull is much like the FW Mark
2. Instead of being a single large hull
however, it is broken into three large
cargo areas that are strapped onto
a bridge and control unit. The heavy
losses these incurred during the War
nearly crippled the UDP economy.
* * *
THE GREAT MACHINE
39
‘Designing Everyones Favorite
Tramp Freighter’
or
‘Six Rebels on the Run with an
Empire in Pursuit’
Article and SCS by Adam Keane
Introduction
With the release of The Great
Machine Issue 15 everyone
discovered that Issue 16 would
contain Star Wars conversions for
B5Wars. So I figured I would include
everyones favorite rebel laden
freighter. A ship who’s brave
occupants are relentlessly pursued
across the galaxy by the evil
‘Alliance’. A brother and sister who
is wanted by the authorities, bounty
hunters chasing them. No it’s not the
Falcon; it’s Serenity. Lucas has
nothing on them. Sadly because of
FOX we know don’t know the whole
story, but with an upcoming film I
thought I should present my work
here, especially with the arrival of the
Serenity movie on September 30th.
40
Editor’s Note: This was sent to me
before the release of Serenity to
theaters. Sorry for being so late
getting this included in an issue!
Firefly Class Freighter
The Firefly Class Freighter is a
medium-sized, fast, rugged and outdated atmospheric cargo craft. This
type of craft is favored by smugglers
and independent cargo carriers. The
ships themselves are over 70-years
old and retired from all of the major
shipping operations. However with
a decent sized cargo capacity,
excellent maneuverability and high
speed the ‘Firefly’ Class is still found
in relative frequency in known space.
Unlike many other cargo craft there
are no defensive weapons
whatsoever and their crews must
rely entirely on their wits, superior
THE GREAT MACHINE
maneuverability and speed to
escape hostile situations.
Similar in design to the ‘Fast
Freighter’ the ‘Firefly’ has better
sensors (but still very poor compared
to any actual combat vessel), higher
thrust, jump-capability and greater
maneuverability. All this at only the
price of carrying only half of the
cargo, its defensive weapons and an
increase in points cost.
Vectored Thrust
Vectored Thrusters act as
normal thrusters in all respects,
however may direct available thrust
in either the forward or aft directions.
Thrust may not be directed both fore
and aft during one turn.
* * *
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
Federation Antarctica Class
Medical Frigate
Article and SCS by Adam Keane
Artist Unknown
With increased hostilities associated with the
Dominion War and heavy losses from the Borg, Starfleet
Medical recognized that it would have to rely increasingly
on the one-hundred and twenty year-old Oberth-class
Science vessels, as the more modern ships were
required for front-line patrols and combat duties.
Without the required resources and fast ships
Starfleet Medical’s centralized structure could not
effectively combat outbreaks or epidemics on outlying
worlds. For this they negotiated the production of a small
prototype vessel and ten follow-up hulls, in return for
turning over the three Nebula-class starships that were
assigned to them. Construction of the prototype
Antarctica-class was completed and evaluated against
the aging Oberth-class and the three Nebula-class ships
they were replacing.
Constructed from the ground up to make use of
Starfleets new Emergency Medical Hologram or EMH,
there were multiple holographic processors and emitters
installed throughout the ship and tied into a central
dedicated computer which allowed there to be eight
separate EMH projections active at any one time. Two
standard ground-based medical facilities with complete
laboratory support, acute and chronic-care wards were
adapted and included in the forward triangular ‘saucer’
section of the hull. This design was hoped to allow
ground based personal to be quickly and efficiently
integrated with starship operation without having to have
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
them adapt to the layout of a standard starship which
might slow their reaction times in a crisis.
Compared to the other two designs the Antarctica
bears more of a resemblance to the Oberth than to the
Nebula, being of comparable overall size and crew
compliment, this was to allow the crewing of the planned
eleven ships with the crews assigned to the original three
Nebula-class vessels. Increased shields, heavier
weapons and armour all address the changing climate
of the galaxy and a modern warp-drive allowed for faster
response times to medical emergencies. Equipped with
a large shuttle bay carrying six shuttles, almost the same
size as the Nebula class and three-times the capacity
of the aging Oberth’s, provide for large scale relief
missions when it’s compliment of transporters is not
adequate. Federation Type 9a Personnel Shuttles are
normally the type carried due to their availability and
large payload capabilities.
Weapons and shields compare favorably to the older
Oberth-class ships, though obviously not in the same
class as the much larger Nebula-class Heavy Cruiser.
The Oberth’s three light-phaser mounts have been
upgraded to four medium-phasers with 240-degree arcs.
However, unlike most Starfleet Vessels the USS
Antarctica doesn’t mount any photon torpedo launchers,
which normally occupy a great deal of internal space.
To save resources the sensor suite and shields are the
same as those installed into the Saber-class Attack
Frigate, the shield projectors themselves are the same
as those on the Nebula. The net result is a shield system
75% stronger than the Oberth’s with the same rechargerate. These add up to improved combat capabilities,
however the Antarctica and it’s medical crews are far
too valuable to be risked in hostile situations and the
offensive systems are only designed to get the ship to
warp where it’s high speed allows it a fair change of escape.
Since its construction in early 2373 the U.S.S.
Antarctica has participated in the relief effort of a
mutagenic weapon deployed along the Cardassian
border with successful results. Construction of the first
four of the new hulls are well under way and should be
completed by early 2374.
NOTE: This ship is based off an image I had on my
computer, I can’t read the artist signature. If you know
who should be credited, please email me at
adam.keane@gmail.com and I will update the ship.
* * *
THE GREAT MACHINE
41
Earth Alliance
Command Explorer
By Andrew Wieting
Overview
The Command Explorer was the result of President
Clark’s regime and the xenophobia that it created. The
small fleet of Explorers that were run by the EA was
only armed with 24 Aurora Starfuries, two heavy pulse
cannons and an array of Mk-1 interceptors. The
Command Explorer was upgraded with mk-2
interceptors and modified to carry Thunderbolt Starfuries
as well. The final upgrade that was made was to put
two additional hangers into the primary section, raising
the amount of fighters to 48. The hangers are so
extensive that the four boxes per one light combat vessel
requirement is lowered to two boxes per one light
combat vessel.
42
THE GREAT MACHINE
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
Credits
Editors
Tyrel Lohr
Layout
Tyrel Lohr
Proofreading
Admiral Ackbar
Submission Address
submissions@firenebula.com
Distribution Point
planetside.firenebula.com
The GREAT MACHINE is
an unofficial, fan-based
electronic publication
dedicated to the Babylon 5
Wars game system.
BABYLON 5, BABYLON 5
WARS, the B5W Core Rules,
FLEET ACTION, GROPOS and
all related material are copyright
 2002 by Warner Bros. The
contents of this unofficial
publication are for personal, noncommercial use only. Any use of
these product identities,
copyrighted material or
trademarks anywhere in this
document and its associated files
should not be viewed as a
challenge to those copyrights or
trademarks.
Original concepts and mechanics
remain the intellectual property of
their respective authors.
Coming Next Issue...
CLOSED FOR
BUSINESS?
Well, it was a good run... but given the recent rate of releases
I don’t think that The Great Machine will be around much longer.
Why? Because outside of a small circle of people that submit
material, there just aren’t all that many that are interested in
sending anything in. I really do appreciate the work that those
tireless few have put into their submissions, and it has been
fun putting this together.
Is this the end? That depends. My interest in B5W as a game
system has largely waned and I have joined Hyperion and
others Beyond the Rim. But will there still be new content and
new issues of The Great Machine? Possibly. It all depends on
YOU. There are some players that still seem to be actively
designing ships and creating rules for the system, but few of
them want to submit anything to this publication. That makes
the pool of available material extremely limited. And with Paul
gone, my ability to fill an issue without external material has
disappeared.
I would like to thank all of those who have worked hard over
the last year and change to make The Great Machine a reality.
Send all submissions to submissions@firenebula.com.
Really. I won’t bite. You can send it right there to that e-mail
address. Come on, you know you want to!
Submission Deadline: Every Thousand Years...
ISSUE 18
Spring 2006
THE GREAT MACHINE
43

In Memory, Still Bright

Transcription

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