INTRODUCTION The year is 2100. Human beings have been intensively colonizing the solar system for the last 70 years in relative peace. THE MAP Each player gets an identical space hex map. Place a counter representing Earth in the center. Place the L4 and L5 space stations 15 spaces from earth on either side. Place the moon 10 spaces from Earth. NEOSTAT or Near Earth Orbit Station is adjacent to Earth and moves 1 hex per turn in orbit clockwise. GEOSTAT-5 or Geo-synchronous Orbiting Station is 2 hexes from Earth and moves 1 hex per turn in orbit clockwise. There are many more space stations and satellites in Earth orbit, however these are the only ones with weapons. VICTORY The Earth wins if all of the Mother Ships are destroyed. The fighters are not jump capable, and will self destruct. The Aliens win if Earth is destroyed. COUNTERS Use counters or chits to represent units and Attack markers. SETUP Units may stack. The Human player sets up first. The shuttles are located on Earth or NEOSTAT. 5 Transports are located at each of these 4 sites: NEOSTAT, the Moon, L-4, L-5. The Alien Fleet starts within 2 hexes of any 1 side of the map. REINFORCEMENTS Every 3rd turn the Earth gains the ability to launch one additional Missile per turn. 8 Transports arrive from Mars on turn 4. 2 Transports arrive from Venus on turn 6. 8 Excavators arrive from the Asteroids on turn 8. 6 Solar Sails arrive from Mercury on turn 10. 6 Ramjets arrive from Jupiter on turn 12. NUCLEAR WARHEADS The governments of Earth have more than 20,000 nuclear warheads in storage left over from earlier arms races. At the start of the invasion the earth can only launch 8 per turn from Ground based launchers. Missiles launched from Earth and NEOSTAT are large ICBMs. Missiles launched from shuttles & transports are smaller & have shorter ranges. LASERS & MASS DRIVERS The giant lasers on L-4, L-5, and GEOSTAT are for pushing Solar Sails around. There are other giant lasers in the solar system, but they are not effective weapons at this range. Numerous other stations have less powerful lasers, also for the same purpose. Solar Sail ships are capable of concentrating and redirecting these laser emissions. The Tycho base Mass Driver is normally used to send materials mined on the moon to other locations. Special 'Catcher' Transport ships are used to recover the shipments. The excavator ships from the asteroid fields are actually small hollowed out asteroids filled with refineries. Small Mass drivers on board can be used for propulsion and as weapons. There are other mass drivers in the solar system, but they are not effective weapons at this range. Ramjets are able to fire directed bursts of ionic plasma from their engines. Ramjets scoop up gasses from the outer atmospheres of the gas giants. The Mercury Solar Array collects solar energy from the sun. This energy is beamed to collector dishes at other far away stations in the form of Infra-red radiation. THE ALIENS The Kathar are still a young race: aggressive, and impetuous. They have conquered numerous other less militant races. They are currently fighting wars on several fronts. Initial reconnaissance of Earth mistook us for a peaceful race. There was no reports of Nuclear Weapon stockpiles. A small task force was sent to enslave us. The Kathar ships use antimatter energy weapons. TURN SEQUENCE Both players go simultaneously. Each turn has 2 Phases: 1. Action Phase 2. Resolution Phase ACTION PHASE Each player moves his units and places his attack markers on his own map. Players cannot look at each others maps. Each unit can move a number of spaces up to its speed rating. Units may stack. If a unit is attacking, place an Attack Marker on the target space. The target space must be within the units range. U = Unlimited range. Rotate counters 180 degrees to indicate that they have moved and attacked. All Shuttles and Transports start the game unarmed. Up to 7 Shuttles and/or Transports can be loaded with Missiles per turn in near earth orbit. Once armed these units have enough missiles for the rest of the battle. Alien Ships may not move onto moons, planets, or stations. RESOLUTION PHASE Players look at each others maps. If an attack marker occupies the same hex as an enemy unit, than that unit takes 1 Hit of damage per attack marker. Remove the Attack markers from the board once resolved or leave them stacked on the Target to keep track of damage. Any unit that takes damage equal to or in excess of its hits is destroyed and removed from the board. If there is more than 1 enemy unit stacked in the space, all are hit by the attack. ALIEN COUNTER LIST Unit Name # Speed Range Hits AMN Mother Ship 6 3 E/10 5 24 Fighters 60 6 E/5 1 60 Each Mother ship can make 4 attacks per turn. # = Number of that type of unit in the fleet E = Energy weapons U = Unlimited AMN = Attack markers needed HUMAN COUNTER LIST Unit Name Number Speed Range Hits AMN Loc Shuttles 20 2 M/4 1 20 Earth Transports 30 4 M/4 1 30 Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus, L-4, L-5 Solar Sails 6 5 L/5 1 6 Mercury Excavators 8 4 R/3 1 8 Asteroids Ramjets 6 8 E/2 1 6 Jupiter L-4 Colony 1 0 L/U 15 1 L-4 L-5 Colony 1 0 L/U 15 1 L-5 Tycho Base 1 0 R/U 20 R Moon Earth 1 0 M/12 30 8 Earth NEOSTAT 1 1 M/20 10 2 NEOSTAT GEOSTAT-5 1 1 L/U 5 1 GEOSTAT-5 Mercury Solar Array 1 0 L/U - 1 Mercury: Off Map Note: the Mercury Solar Array is off the map and cannot be attacked. Earth can launch 8 Missiles per turn and NEOSTAT can launch 2. # = Number of that type of unit available M = Missiles L = Lasers E = Energy weapons U = Unlimited AMN = Attack markers needed Loc = Starting Location SINGLE BOARD VARIANT Use just one hex map. All units from both players are on the same map. Attack counters are unnecissary if the attacks are resolved immediately. Players take turns moving and attacking. The Aliens go first. To resolve an attack roll a six sided die: On a roll of 1-3 the attack misses. On a roll of 4-6 the attack hits.