Fifth Frontier War concludes

At the beginning of the month, Joe and I finished playing the old Traveller universe wargame Fifth Frontier War. Picking up where we left off last time, turn 20 saw more Zhodani Consulate reinforcements begin to make their way toward the front: The 2nd and 3rd Assault Fleets and the 14th Colonial Fleet. Meanwhile, the Zho 1st Assault Fleet destroyed the last of Extalay's system defense boats and planetary militia and landed the psionic 2nd Guard regiment to defeat the Imperial colonial corps and capture the planet. However, despite heavy Zhodani bombardment from multiple fleets, the Imperial subsector capital of Regina held fast, and the Consulate ships moved on to other missions.

As the war progressed, the ZC captured Roup and held off Imperial fleets trying to retake Jewell (subsector capital) and Ruby. And in the Sword Worlds territory, at Joyuse, the Swords' low-tech 1st Infantry Corps and 7th Armored battled the Imperium's high-tech 823rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and several brigades of low-tech infantry levies--with neither side able to drive off the other.

Just across the border in Imperial space, the 18th Imperial Fleet tried to recapture Vilis from a Zhodani army supported by guerrilla units. At the two Sword Worlds fleets, Gram and Joyuse, accompanied by the ZC 35th Fleet, defeated the 18th Imperial Fleet, which lost its admiral in the battle. That success was short-lived, as the Imperial Corridor Fleet then eliminated the Zho 35th, including three battleship squadrons and an admiral, but the Imps could not retake the world. However, they did manage to keep the Zhodani from capturing the neighboring system of Garda-Vilis.

Battles continued as Zhodani fleets crept further and further into Imperial space:  Rech, Uakye, Frenzie, Pandrin, Ruie, Lyse, Inthe, Denotam, Enope, Arkadia. The naval squadrons were aided in their efforts by the elite Fulacin Battalion, which established a secret base to capture Kinorb, all the way in the Ryhlanor Sector (not to be confused with the system of Kinorb in the Regina subsector).

By this time, the Zhodani reinforcements were well on their way to reaching Imperial space, and the Sword Worlds and Vargr fleets were still active (although the Imperium had captured all the Vargr systems). We decided to call the game at this point and tallied up the score. My Zhodani forces had captured thirteen worlds, including a subsector capital (Jewell). Joe's Imperials had taken all four Vargr planets, along with one Sword World system (Gugnir) and one planet of the Zhodani Consulate (Farreach). Calculating the victory points based on tech levels of captured worlds, plus certain bonuses, the Zhodani eked out a marginal victory. However, I think the tide would have turned soon enough, once more Imperial reinforcements made their way to the front.

It was a good time, evocative of the space opera I devoured as a youth. However, with eyesight not as sharp as back in the day, the map was a little hard to read, and the stacks of counters sometimes difficult to handle. So Joe and I discussed making the map a little bigger, so we can fit more counters into a single hex, and so that all the information about each system is contained within the hex, instead of in the boxes on the map's edges. So yes, I want to take the lessons I learned here and play again (but maybe try out Invasion: Earth first!).

Fifth Frontier War continues

On a recent weekend, my gaming buddy Joe and I picked up where we left off in fighting the Fifth Frontier War. The Zhodani fleets continued their attacks throughout the Spinward Marches, devastating Imperial fleets sent to oppose them. Notably, as we resumed play, Consulate reinforcements entered the theater, let by Admiral Niurditlas and the elite 1st Assault Fleet. At the same time, the Zho 16th Colonial, 28th, 47th, and 67th fleets joined the 17th Colonial to bombard Efate, and the 68th attacked Alell before moving to Efate to take out the planetary defense troops. This was followed by the Efate guerilla uprising against a Tech Level 15 mercenary armored unit and TL 15 Imperial huscarles.

Fighting continued at Alell, where system defense boats failed to dislodge the Zhodani 17th Armored Corps. And with the Vargr fleets running around Regina subsector, the Imperial 193rd and 212th fleets landed troops on the Vargr world of Balent after bombarding the planet from orbit, quickly dispatching the native forces.

Fighting was also heavy on Vilis, with the Imperial 18th Fleet chasing the Sword Worlds Joyuse Fleet back to Mjolnir before landing Imperial 2151st and 840th armies to retake Vilis. The ground forces were locked in a long battle, with fleets from each side providing orbital bombardment, and the Imperial 840th eventually being defeated. The world, however, remained contested.

There were battles elsewhere in the sector, with Zhodani guerillas fighting Imperial forces on Ruie, the Consulate's 4th Guards (Psionic) Regiment joining the fighting on Uskye, and the Zhodani 65th Fleet bombarding the planetary defenses at Extolay. At this point, the Zhodani have made significant advances, but the Imperials are starting to get enough reinforcements to turn the tide--including a legendary Black Globe fleet!

The Fifth Frontier War begins

GNN News Alert: The Zhodani Consulate has invaded the Third Imperium. Fighting has broken out around worlds in the Jewell, Lanth, Regina, and Vilus subsectors in the Spinward Marches. Traveller News Service reports that Vargr and Sword Worlds forces have also violated Imperial territory.

My friend Joe has a copy of Fifth Frontier War, a massive wargame in the same background as the Traveller roleplaying setting. I'd acquired the rules to this game some time ago, but I had never seen the actual box in person. So when I asked if we could play it sometime, he agreed--because who doesn't want to play a complex board game with hundreds of counters and written orders? So we set aside seven hours one Saturday to play as many turns as we could. After about an hour of setting up, placing counters and writing orders for fleet movements, the game commenced with the Zhodani invasion, commanded by yours truly.

The first turn was successful for my Zhodani and their Vargr stooges allies. The Consulate's 35th Fleet captured the planet Frenzie, while Elasin fell to the 67th Fleet, Ruby succumbed to the 17th Colonial, and the two Vargr fleets secured the world Dentus. Things did not go as well for the Zhodani 16th Colonial and 68th Fleet, which met heavy resistance at Mongo and failed to take the planet. Likewise, the Joyeuse Fleet out of the Sword Worlds was repelled from its attempt to land on Vilus. They would need help from the ZC 35th Fleet to capture that planet.

It went like this for nine more turns, with fleets meeting and planets falling. My fleets slowly made progress into the Imperium, but Joe's forces held their own on many worlds. The Vargr's ground and space forces attempted to take Pixie from tenacious Imperial Marines, while mercenaries chased the aliens off Dentus. Most significantly, the Zhodani's 35th Fleet defeated the 18th Imperial Fleet at Frenzie, destroying two battle squadrons, two cruiser squadrons, and numerous transports--and killing the Duke of Regina, who was commanding the 18th. The Zhodani and their allies captured several more worlds, but Imperial system defense boats at Efate managed to hold off the 17th Colonial. Turn 10, our final round of the day, saw the Imperial 213th Fleet beat the Sword Worlds' Gram fleet, while the Zhodani 68th Fleet cleared out 90% of Allele's SDBs, allowing the 17th Army to make its way to the planet's surface, while the 17th Colonial kept up its bombardment of Efate. It was getting late at this point, so we decided to break until we have a chance to play some more.

Sure, the game is very complex and fiddly, with written orders, multiple combat odds tables, and lots of math--and the small hex and counter sizes don't help--but I love the sheer grandiosity of this game: clashing starfleets, planetary invasions, psionic troops, and grand strategy. It's the type of space opera I loved as a kid, and I'm having a blast as we play out this interstellar war. Luckily, Joe can leave the game out until we play again, so I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off.