S.L.O.B.S. III
Copyright 2003 by Mike Fischer
Last revised: 10/01/2003
I. Introduction
The Simple Large Outer-space Battle System lets you fight
very big space battles. If 42 ships and 12 fighters isn't a big enough battle for you,
then print more sheets of counters and double your fleet, or triple it, or quadruple it, even!
There is no record-keeping at all; the emphasis is on fast play and interstellar mayhem.
S.L.O.B.S. III is a complete game, with maps and counters. All you provide is two 6-sided dice.
II. The Ships
Each ship counter has a number in the upper-left corner, which is its attack strengh;
another number in the upper right, which is its defense strength; and a third number in the
lower left, which is its speed.
Each ship counter is two-sided. The side with the black ship picture is for undamaged ships.
When a ship receives battle damage, flip the counter over to the red-ship side. Damaged ships
have reduced offensive strength and speed, but the defense rating remains the same.
- Carrier (CV) is a big ship with a weak attack. But it carries six fighter wings,
and all those fighters pack a wallop.
- Light Carrier (CVL) has no attack aside from its three fighter wings.
It makes a useful base for fighters to quickly land and rearm, if you don't want to risk
your big carrier near the battle.
- Battleship (BB) is the strongest ship in the game, and the hardest to destroy.
If it has a drawback, it would be its low speed.
- Battle-Cruiser (CB) isn't as strong or tough as a battleship. But it moves faster,
and that extra speed coupled with its undeniable power make it very useful.
- Heavy Cruiser (CA) is one of the mainstays of your fleet. It carries good strength
on a fast hull, and its speed when damaged is unusually high.
- Light Cruiser (CL) is a scaled-down heavy cruiser. Its fair power and good speed,
and the fact that you get a lot of them, make them excellent for taking out enemy escort ships.
- Destroyer (DD) is the fastest ship type, and the most plentiful. They don't have a
lot of combat power, though. Destroyers are one of the two ship types that can attack a
subspace ship.
- Frigate (FF) are small and weak. They're good for getting in the way of an
enemy attack, they're great anti-fighter escorts, and they can attack subspace ships,
so they're far from useless.
- Subspace Ship (SS) move under a permanent cloaking device, which keeps them from
being attacked by most warships. They can move through enemy-occupied map hexes.
This makes them ideal for sneak attacks.
- Repair Ship (RPR) is not a warship at all. But if any damaged friendly warship ends
its turn next to the repair ship, that warship is returned to undamaged status.
A repair ship can fix itself if it repairs no warships for a turn.
- Fighter Wing (VF) moves faster than anything else in the battle. Fighter wings start
the game by launching from a carrier. They get to make one attack, and then must return to a
carrier to reload before they can attack again.
III. Setting Up the Game
Every counter is two-sided. Don't cut along the dashed lines -- these are fold lines, to let
you wrap the counter around a strip of cardboard while mounting them.
You'll want at least nine map tiles, laid in three rows of four. The more room your ships have to move,
the more important speed will become; on a small map, sheer slugging power is all that matters.
Line up your ship counters along the edge of the map; you may set up ships in the second row
of hexes only when the edge row is filled. Make sure your counters are undamaged-side up and
facing the right way.
IV. Playing the Game
Each game turn goes as follows:
- Roll a die to see who moves first in this turn. This player is called Player 1.
- Player 1 moves one of his fighters that have already been launched (if any) and attacks
with it.
- Player 2 moves and attacks with one of his fighters.
- Repeat until all fighters on the map have moved and attacked.
- Player 1 chooses one ship, moves it, and attacks one ship with it. If the ship is a carrier,
launching or recovering its fighters can happen at any point during its move.
- Player 2 moves and attacks with one ship.
- Repeat until all ships have moved and attacked.
- Determine if one player has won the game.
V. Movement Rules
- A ship can move as many hexes as its move rating. It can some, all, or none of that rating.
- A ship must move in the direction its counter is facing. A ship can turn one hex face for
each of its move units, whether it uses all its moves or not. A ship that remains motionless
while next to an enemy ship can turn only one hex.
- Stacking of counters is not allowed, except for fighters aboard a carrier.
Ships may move through friendly ships, as long as they end their move in an empty hex.
Ships that cannot attack a subspace ship can move through an enemy SS.
- All ships except subspace ships must stop moving and turning as soon as they become
adjacent to an enemy ship (unless the enemy is a subspace ship and the moving ship can't attack
an SS).
- Fighters can move through enemy ships, but must stop when adjacent to an enemy fighter.
- To launch fighters from a carrier, move them from the carrier into an adjacent empty hex.
If no adjacent hexes are empty, no fighters can launch.
- To recover fighters, simply move them onto the carrier.
- It is not necessary to stack fighters with their carriers at the start of the game, since
each carrier will have a full load of fighters on board. Once the game starts, fighters that
return to a carrier should remain stacked with that carrier until they take off again.
- To keep track of which ships have already moved in a turn, I strongly recommend moving them
in numerical order.
VI. Combat Rules
- A ship's combat range equals its maximum attack strength divided by 2 (round up).
A ship can attack any enemy ship or fighter in its range.
Exceptions: only destroyers and frigates can attack a subspace ship.
Subspace ships can't attack fighters.
- The attacking player rolls a die and adds the ship's attack strength.
The defending player rolls a die and adds his ship's defense strength.
If the attacker's result is higher, the target ship suffers damage.
If a tie or if the defender's result is higher, the attack did nothing.
- When an undamaged ship suffers damage, flip its counter over to the red-ship side.
- If a damaged ship suffers damage, it is destroyed. Remove its counter from the map.
If a carrier is destroyed with fighters on board, those fighters are also destroyed.
- A fighter can make only one attack, and must then return to a carrier. It can then
launch and make another attack. It can defend itself against unlimited attacks.
- Fighters are destroyed if they take damage once; fighter counters are not two-sided.
VII. Winning the Game
When one star fleet has been wiped out, or surrenders, the game is over.
If no ships are left that can attack each other (nothing left but subspace ships, for example),
the battle is a tie.
VIII. Game Tables
| Ship Table |
|---|
| Symbol | Ship Type | Qty | Attack |
Defense | Moves | Special |
|---|
| CV | Carrier | 1 | 1 (0) | 4 | 3 (1) | Carry 6 VF |
| CVL | Light Carrier | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 (1) | Carry 3 VF |
| BB | Battleship | 4 | 6 (3) | 6 | 2 (1) | - |
| CB | Battle-Cruiser | 4 | 5 (3) | 4 | 3 (1) | - |
| CA | Heavy Cruiser | 6 | 4 (2) | 4 | 3 (2) | - |
| CL | Light Cruiser | 6 | 3 (2) | 4 | 3 (1) | - |
| DD | Destroyer | 10 | 2 (1) | 3 | 4 (2) | Can attack SS |
| FF | Frigate | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 (1) | Can attack SS |
| SS | Subspace Ship | 4 | 4 (2) | 2 | 2 (1) | Safe from most attacks |
| RPR | Repair Ship | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 (1) | Repair damaged ships |
| VF | Fighter Wing | 12 | 2 | 1 | 5 | Must reload after attack |
| - | Values in (parentheses) are for when the ship is damaged. |
IX. Designer's Notes
This is my third try at a huge-simple-space-battle game. The first was too cumbersome, although
some people liked it. The second wasn't simple enough, and got no feedback at all. This version
is closer to the first game, but even simpler.