![\"banner\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/banner.png\")
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Our next Redcap’s<\/a>\/PAGE<\/a> campaign\u00a0is about to kick off, as monsters, traitors, and the Emperor’s finest all descend on Solypsus 9<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Who knows what dreams and dreamers lay waiting in the endless void?<\/em><\/p>\n There’ll be four events\/sessions\u00a0in the\u00a0series:<\/p>\n Players are free to come and go for each campaign session without penalty to their alliance\u00a0or disadvantage to themselves, so don’t hesitate to join in even if you can’t make the whole series.<\/p>\n Missions, a signup sheet, and other details for\u00a0January\u00a0are on the webpage<\/a>. Campaign mechanics are based on the map-based scheme\u00a0drafted here, with other elements thrown in as we proceed.\u00a0These will no doubt be revised as we go, to make them\u00a0work better as well as\u00a0to be flexible with\u00a0the group’s variable\u00a0size and player composition per event, a tough challenge.<\/p>\n Feedback\u00a0and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Please\u00a0comment below or email us<\/a>. For those\u00a0interested in playing this campaign elsewhere, we will be refining the details and putting up a PDF with all of the bits, maps, and rules afterward. Sign up for our announcements-only mailing list<\/a> if you want to be notified of that release.<\/p>\n Solypsus 9 is one of the countless far flung, forgettable outposts of the Imperium. A barren, lifeless planet of rock and mountains with minimal atmosphere and sunlight but punishing wind storms, only a single small settlement\u00a0has ever been established. Nestled in\u00a0a rare\u00a0pocket of less\u00a0forbidding terrain, the colony originally grew to serve\u00a0an adamantium mine. Over time as the\u00a0occasional more esoteric ores and minerals were found, a small laboratory was founded\u00a0to study them. With\u00a0the original mine\u00a0petered out to barely sustainable levels the lab\u00a0has seen little call\u00a0for this role of late, but clearly it is still being put to some purpose. Meanwhile, life in the colony hab blocks\u00a0grows daily\u00a0more grim\u00a0as the workers drive the mine ever desperately deeper in search of a\u00a0new lode to restore\u00a0some measure of prosperity. Unseen\u00a0and unknown by\u00a0all but the most elite, however, is\u00a0the ebb and tide of a galaxy at war, but\u00a0even they fail to see how\u00a0machinations and conflict throughout the sector might someday come to\u00a0fall on\u00a0Solypsus 9…<\/em><\/p>\n (click for PDF map)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n At the start of a campaign session each player is grouped into an alliance: Discord, Spoilers, or Order. These should be roughly equal\u00a0in size. Players can\u00a0switch alliances for\u00a0different sessions, i.e., to play a different faction or to balance out the teams by number or strength.<\/p>\n After\u00a0establishing alliances, each team\u00a0secretly chooses a particular strategic objective for that session from the most critical installations on the planet:<\/p>\n At the end of the session,\u00a0each\u00a0alliance that controls its chosen strategic objective earns campaign\u00a0points equal to double the current session number in the campaign (1, 2, 3, 4). Each additional installation\u00a0of those\u00a0three which\u00a0it controls awards\u00a0campaign points equal to the current session number.\u00a0The other three installations—the Starport, Comms Tower, and Generator—are each worth\u00a01 campaign point at the end of each session.<\/p>\n Throughout the campaign, teams are thus\u00a0fighting on three levels:<\/p>\n Each session, the alliances get\u00a0a number of armies\u00a0equal to\u00a0the number of players in the smallest alliance, representing the active forces and major thrusts of that phase of the campaign. At the start of the campaign none of the dirtside territories on the map are controlled and all of the armies begin in the orbital positions. In later sessions the alliances start in control of those territories they\u00a0held at the end of the previous session.\u00a0By descending\u00a0order of total accumulated victory points they alternate placing a single army\u00a0on any territory they control or in orbit, until all are placed. Multiple armies may not be placed on a single territory, except for the orbital positions which can hold any amount.<\/p>\n The\u00a0alliances also get a number of command\u00a0token sets, equal to half the number of armies (rounding down, to a minimum of one). Each command set has\u00a0tokens to indicate Attack, Support, and Defend.<\/p>\n Finally, each alliance gets a set of round order\u00a0bid chits,\u00a0from 1 to\u00a0the number of missions in the session,\u00a0typically 3.<\/p>\n A pool of control markers to indicate territory possession as well as extra armies not yet in\u00a0play are also available for each alliance, played as if\u00a0unlimited in quantity.<\/p>\n The campaign sessions are made up of the following cycle, usually over 3 rounds:<\/p>\n At the start of each mission round the\u00a0alliances simultaneously secretly place commands, face down on the map. Attack commands must be put\u00a0on the alliance’s own armies and all of them must be placed. Support and Defend commands can be put on an\u00a0alliance’s armies or on dirtside territories it merely\u00a0controls. Only one command can be placed on an army or territory except for the orbital positions, which can take as many commands as there are\u00a0armies on them but cannot otherwise receive\u00a0commands.<\/p>\n The alliances then simultaneously bid\u00a0for round order using their remaining bid chits.\u00a0The\u00a0round order used in the various steps below is determined by the increasing numeric order of\u00a0those bids.\u00a0In event of a tie, the respective\u00a0alliances in\u00a0order by\u00a0accumulated victory points get to choose their\u00a0round order position relative\u00a0to each other.\u00a0Following\u00a0each round the bid chits used are\u00a0discarded, so alliances cannot make the same bid twice in a session.<\/p>\n Into the temple, quickly, whatever may come!<\/p><\/div>\n Following the round order bid, all of the\u00a0commands are flipped over and revealed. In round order a match is assigned to each\u00a0Attack:<\/p>\n This process then repeats for the next alliance in round order until all of the Attack commands have matches.\u00a0If there are more players remaining, i.e., there’s an uneven number of players, then matches are assigned to Defend and Support commands. In round order:<\/p>\n This repeats until all of the players are paired up and\u00a0matches associated with commands. Note that there may be Support and Defend commands without associated matches, as well as those left unplayed, but all Attacks must have been placed and then associated with a match.<\/p>\n The players then\u00a0battle for\u00a0the outcome of the commands. These games\u00a0might be\u00a0determined randomly from the standard missions, chosen by the players, or in a campaign tournament are taken from\u00a0the mission packet.<\/p>\n Follow your corpse god to the grave, fools!<\/p><\/div>\n Once all the matches complete, campaign results are resolved in the sequence of Support, Defend, and Attack commands, followed by tallying victory points.<\/p>\n Support.<\/strong>\u00a0Matches assigned to Support commands are evaluated\u00a0first. In round order the alliances choose a Support match they won and\u00a0either remove the command or leave it on the\u00a0map. Any Support commands that did not have\u00a0a match assigned are left in place.<\/p>\n Defend.<\/strong>\u00a0Next each\u00a0Defend command is\u00a0evaluated. In round order the alliances choose a Defend match they won and either remove the command or leave it on the map. Any Defend\u00a0commands without\u00a0an assigned match are left in place.<\/p>\n Attack.<\/strong>\u00a0Evaluated\u00a0last\u00a0are the Attack commands. In round order the alliances choose\u00a0any territory targeted by an Attack, including those they are not involved in if they wish. All of the Attacks toward that\u00a0territory are then simultaneously evaluated as follows:<\/p>\n Whichever alliance scored the highest in this calculation maintains control of or immediately takes over the territory.\u00a0If an attacker was victorious, a single one of its participating armies may move into the\u00a0territory, leaving a control marker on its starting territory if it had none. Any other attacking armies stay in their original territories, which may result in them being affected by an attack resolved later.\u00a0A victorious alliance that\u00a0made an attack toward a\u00a0territory it already controlled may only move an army onto the territory if it is unoccupied.<\/p>\n Any Support or\u00a0Defend command\u00a0on\u00a0the territory is\u00a0then removed, its\u00a0forces have either been routed or are too busy defending themselves to assist in\u00a0other battles. Any opposing control marker\u00a0is also removed. If a\u00a0defending army is present\u00a0it\u00a0must immediately retreat, moving to an adjacent territory its alliance controls that does not already have an army on it, or an uncontrolled territory if there are no such spaces. If neither option is possible, it retreats to its alliance’s orbital position.<\/p>\n At no time may a territory be occupied by\u00a0more than one army, including\u00a0multiple armies of a single\u00a0alliance.<\/p>\n Overall Points.<\/strong> Once all commands have been evaluated they are removed from the board.\u00a0The\u00a0raw victory\u00a0points earned\u00a0from\u00a0all matches and covert missions are then added to the\u00a0alliances’ accumulated tallies. Defend and Support commands do not factor into this.<\/p>\n Drop zone in 3… 2… 1…<\/p><\/div>\n Besides the overt strategic value of the\u00a0Mine, Hab Blocks, and Laboratory, control of each will also determine how later aspects of the campaign progress.\u00a0Heavy fighting in and around them may also\u00a0have inadvertent, potentially catastrophic effects as infrastructure, equipment, and the planet itself are destroyed.<\/p>\n The other installations though also offer tactical choices:<\/p>\n Finally, players\u00a0may be given the opportunity to directly\u00a0affect their alliances’ tactical\u00a0situation as well as the campaign itself by completing covert missions. In each round after the first, all\u00a0the players in the\u00a0alliance with fewest accumulated victory points will be given a covert mission, as will half the players in the middle-ranked alliance.\u00a0Those alliances will be randomly given a mission from a\u00a0list of possibilities, with\u00a0all their players working toward the same goal. Every player that achieves their covert mission that round will gain the given\u00a0boon for their alliance, regardless of the tactical outcome of their battle. Any victory points earned by a covert mission success are in addition to those earned as normal, but apply only to the overall campaign tallies and not the\u00a0player’s individual score or resolving any associated\u00a0command. Players should be sure to record at the stated time any secret selections their mission requires them to make.<\/p>\n Two sample covert missions.<\/p><\/div>\n We have some other ideas and fun stuff lined up for the later sessions, but these are the core basics needed to get our Solypsus 9 campaign off the ground. Again, any comments, suggestions, or questions are more than welcome; please\u00a0comment below or email us<\/a>. We also hope you can join us<\/a> for any or all of the campaign!<\/p>\n Our next Redcap’s\/PAGE campaign\u00a0is about to kick off, as monsters, traitors, and the Emperor’s finest all descend on Solypsus 9. Who knows what dreams and dreamers lay waiting in the endless void? There’ll be four events\/sessions\u00a0in the\u00a0series: Saturday, January 24th: Standard 1850 pts Sunday, February 22: Standard 1850 pts Saturday, March 14: Doubles 2×1000 pts … Continue reading \n
Background<\/h2>\n
![\"map\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/map.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nObjectives<\/h2>\n
![\"alliances\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alliances.png\")
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Setup<\/h2>\n
![\"commands\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/commands.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"bids\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/bids.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPlay<\/h2>\n
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Place Commands<\/h3>\n
Bid for Round Order<\/h3>\n
![\"Into](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/coteaz-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Assign Matches to Commands<\/h3>\n
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Play Out Matches<\/h3>\n
![\"Follow](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/chaos-da-fight-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Resolve Results<\/h3>\n
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![\"Drop](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/valkyrie-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Special Effects and Covert Missions<\/h2>\n
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![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/solypsus-9-coverts.png\")
<\/a>Prepare to Drop!<\/h2>\n
![\"redcaps-logo\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/redcaps-logo-300x189.png\"){kind=logo}
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