Dran Empire

I. Introduction

The Dran Star Empire was once the largest in this part of the galaxy, spreading well beyond all the sectors humans have explored to date. They achieved civilization around the same time as humanity, but their technological advances suffered no stagnation, so when the human race was emerging from the Dark Ages, the Dran were already in space. But their natural non-aggressiveness has ended their expansion, and they have lost much ground to the belligerent races of the galaxy. They eagerly embraced an alliance with the first humans who made contact with them, seeing us as potential saviors in their endless battles against the Norx. But now they know us better, and the alliance is off.

The problem is that the Dran are mentally incapable of aggression. They are tenacious defensive fighters, and they attack like tigers to reclaim something that used to be theirs. But the thought of an offensive act -- even a preemptive strike against an enemy who obviously intends to attack -- is as repulsive to them as the thought of nerve-gassing a maternity ward would be to the average human. And because humans can both contemplate and commit aggression, the Dran now think of us as not much better than the Norx. The colony worlds they ceded to us as part of our alliance have become points of contention, leading to several unfortunate incidents in the recent past.

Physically, a Dran looks something like a five-foot-tall beer bottle with four thin arms and four short legs, and eyes around the tops of their "heads." They can look and move in any direction; they had to invent words like "front" and "back" to describe alien beings and objects, since a Dran thinks omnidirectionally. Their society is highly stratified, almost to the level of a caste system.

Dran warfare, when it happens, is in no way inferior to any other race's way of war. Neither soldiers nor vehicles have a "back," and thus have no weak spots in their armor. Dran technology is at least as good as anything the StarMarines have; indeed, the monomol sword, a standard StarMarine weapon, is derived from Dran monomolecular technology, and has a counterpart in the bayonets attached to the Dran assault rifle. They like rockets and missiles, and lots of personnel-carrying vehicles to compensate for their short legs. Their armies have fewer soldiers and more vehicles than most races'.

Dran tactics are colored by their social system. They place great emphasis on killing enemy leaders, and have special forces trained and equipped for this. Their common soldiers fight poorly without direct leadership, so the Dran leader units are always in the front of the action. Most of their vehicles are not made for plowing into a battle; instead, they glide back and forth behind friendly lines, pouring fire into their enemies, or make long, looping raids to take their foe in the rear. They pursue a fleeing adversary ruthlessly, not considering the battle over until every enemy is dead, including the wounded.

Dran counters and markers are colored light orange.

The basic specifications of each unit and weapon are listed in tables at the end of this rule book. A general description of the units and weapons, along with specifics about special rules, takes up most of the book.

II. Troop & Vehicle Summary

• Footmen are the basic Dran foot soldier.
• Hackmen are heavily-armored assault troops.
• Hitmen use heavy weapons from a distance.
• Airmen fly across the battlefield with jet-powered packs.
• Repairmen serve as both Doctors and Fixers, healing the wounded and repairing damaged vehicles.
• Leaders (Squires and Knights) provide leadership to the foot soldiers. Every formation bigger than a team must have a leader.
• Cherry-Pickers are heavy-weapons platforms on extendable arms.
• Brethounds are light skimmers that act like cavalry.
• Kialhounds are Brethounds turned into light personnel carriers.
• Enforcers are large personnel carriers.
• Mammoths are hulking battle tanks with personnel-carrying ability.
• Land Ships are huge mobile fire bases.

III. Dran Soldiers

Dran fight poorly if they are not close to each other. They suffer a -2 penalty on separation checks.

III-a. Forming an Army

Force must contain 3 teams and at least one Squire. At least one of the teams must be Footmen, and none of the three teams can be the same type, except for footmen. It can optionally include up to six vehicles, two Repairmen, and one Hero. Heavy-weapons soldiers cannot be part of a force.

Regiment must contain 3 full forces, including at least one team each of Hackmen, Hitmen, and Airmen, plus a Knight and a Squire. It can optionally include unlimited vehicles, Repairmen and Heroes.

III-b. Soldier Types

Name:	Footman
Type:	Basic soldier

Footmen, like all Dran soldiers, have no "front" or "rear" and can move and attack in any direction, regardless of which way their counter is facing. They are considered expendable by Dran leaders, which does not help their morale. Footmen will not move unless they are in the leadership range of one of their leaders.

Name:	Hackman
Type:	Heavy soldier

Hackmen wear heavy, gray unpowered armor and usually carry close-combat weapons. Their role is to bludgeon their way through the enemy line, turn, and roll up the foe's flank. They won't move unless in the leadership range of a leader, or unless one of their number is a Herald.

Name:	Hitman
Type:	Heavy-weapon soldier

Hitmen are the heavy-weapons troops in the Dran army. They cannot move and shoot in the same turn. They won't move unless in the leadership range of a leader, or unless one of their number is a Herald. They have been specially trained in marksmanship, and they will always shoot at an enemy leader unit first if one is in range and if they have an antipersonnel weapon. They don't differentiate between low and high leaders; anyone who gives orders and looks inspirational is fair game. At least one Hitman in each team will use a laser spear or seeker missile. They wear a green band along their lower torsos.

Name:	Airman
Type:	Airborne soldier

The Airman is the airborne soldier of the Dran force, and also has to fill the role of the light, fast-moving foot soldier. Their jet packs allow them to fly over any terrain or unit, then land in any empty hex and begin fighting. They can turn and maneuver in the air; they can move their entire flight-move allowance or only part of it. They can return to the air at any time. Airmen cannot move on the ground and in the air in the same turn. As elite troops, they are the only Dran soldiers who can move without a leader being present. They wear red straps to hold their jet packs on.

Airmen cannot fire their weapons while in the air; controlling their jet packs takes too much concentration.

Name:	Repairman
Type:	Doctor/Fixer

Dran Repairmen combine the roles of battlefield doctor and battlefield mechanic, showing the contempt that upper-ranking Dran hold for the lowly soldiers. Each turn, a Repairman can do a level-1 repair on a Dran vehicle in the same hex or in an adjacent hex, or he can do a level-2 repair if he rolls a 4-6. The vehicle cannot move during turns when it is being repaired, although it can attack normally. Or, as a Doctor, he can turn one adjacent Dran from wounded to normal (not himself).

Name:	Squire
Type:	Low leader

The Squire is the most common leader. Troops within 3 hexes of a Squire gain his benefit when facing morale checks. You will want more Squires than you actually need, because your Footmen won't budge unless some kind of leader unit is nearby. Like other Dran leaders, they wear white powered armor to protect themselves while leading.

Name:	Knight
Type:	Medium leader

A Knight must be part of every regiment. Troops within 5 hexes of a Knight gain his benefit when facing morale checks.

Name:	Bundalo
Type:	Hero

Bundalo is a Hitman, and a master of the laser spear, which is the only weapon he will use. If he is shooting at a soldier and misses, he gets to reroll the attack roll; the second roll is final. He is also a Veteran-level Herald.

Name:	Krigah
Type:	Hero

Krigah is unusually small and light for a Dran. He became an Airman, and his size works in his favor -- he can carry a medium weapon (usually a light cannon) without overloading his jet pack. This extra firepower is always appreciated by the Airmen he flies with. He is a Veteran Herald as well.

Name:	Bolgany
Type:	Hero

Bolgany is an unusually large Dran who has gravitated to the ranks of Hackmen. He is a Veteran, and automatically gets the Tough attribute. Close-combat weapons are all he will ever use, and he can use two of them at once (on different targets).

III-c. Soldier Attributes

III-d. Weapons

• Grenades (can carry 1 of these in addition to any other weapon):
• Shock Grenade harms its target with the concussion of its explosion, not with fragments.

• Hand weapons (can carry two of these):
• Mono Blade is an unbelievably sharp combat knife.
• Assault Pistol fires the same ammunition as the assault rifle.
• Laser Pistol doesn't hit as hard as the assault pistol, but pierces more armor.
• Pocket Rocket can barely hit the side of a barn, but some Hackmen like it because, if it does hit, it usually kills.

• Light weapons:
• Assault Rifle can fire single shots or bursts. If fired in a burst, it shoots twice at the same target, at -1 aim for the second shot. Dran Footmen often fix a Mono Blade under the barrel as a bayonet; this adds +1 to the damage done by the Blade. You can't use the blade and shoot the gun in the same turn.
• Grenade Thrower lobs shock grenades farther than a Dran can throw them. You don't need to buy grenades to use this weapon.
• Rocket Gun shoots a small, unguided rocket. Its accuracy is a problem, but it does a lot of harm if it hits.

• Medium weapons:
• Machine Gun can fire three shots per turn, at one, two, or three targets, as long as they are adjacent to each other.
• Light Cannon is a small recoilless rifle with fair range and armor-piercing.
• Needle Missile is a shoulder-launched anti-armor rocket, best used against lightly-armored vehicles at long range.
• Roman Candle shoots rockets at a steep angle, like a mortar. If it misses its target, roll on the Scatter Diagram and, if a unit is in the indicated hex, roll to attack that unit instead. A Roman Candle cannot move and shoot in the same turn, unless it is on a vehicle.

• Heavy weapons:
• Medium Cannon is a large recoilless rifle with good range and armor-piercing.
• Heavy Cannon is a chemical-propellant gun with superb range and armor-piercing. It is too heavy for Hitmen and light vehicles.
• Laser Spear is a long-range energy weapon. It loses destructiveness as the range increases, but its accuracy is phenomenal. If the range is greater than 2, the AP roll is at -1; if the range exceeds 5, the AP is at -2.
• Frag Missile sends shrapnel through three adjacent hexes in a triangle pattern, mowing down enemy soldiers and riddling light vehicles. All of the target hexes don't have to be in the missile's range, as long as at least one of them is.
• Seeker Missile is a variant on the frag missile, with a sophisticated guidance system instead of a large warhead. It is used mostly for (what else?) taking out enemy leader units; its incredible accuracy makes it ideal for this task.

III-e. Vehicles

Name:	Cherry-Picker
Type:	Small ground vehicle

This tracked vehicle is a counterpart to the Hitmen in that its first goal is to take out enemy leaders. It carries one heavy weapon on an arm-mounted platform; this arm can raise the weapon high off the ground. This means the weapon can ignore the restrictions on shooting through hexes occupied by other units. Like a Hitman, a Cherry-Picker will always shoot leader units first. The time required to raise and lower the arm means the Cherry-Picker cannot move and fire in the same turn.

Name:	Brethound
Type:	Small skimmer vehicle

Brethounds are attack skimmers with a single medium weapon in a 360 turret and a light weapon firing ahead. They almost never operate alone. Brethounds are the most common vehicle in the Dran army; it is rare to find a Dran military force without them.

Name:	Kialhound
Type:	Small skimmer vehicle

The Kialhound has the same lines as the Brethound, but serves a totally different purpose. It is a light personnel carrier, with room inside for a four-man team of any kind. Its turret carries a light weapon, and it has no ahead weapon. It lacks the heavy armor of most APC's; its mission is to deliver troops to distant locations quickly, not to bring soldiers to the front lines through hostile fire. One or two Kialhounds will often accompany a team of Brethounds on raids, dropping their troops to help fight off enemy soldiers.

Name:	Enforcer
Type:	Large skimmer vehicle

This is one of the biggest armored-personnel carriers in any army. It can carry one entire force of Dran -- that's three teams and their Squire. It has three turrets for light weapons. The Enforcer's driver controls the one in front, but the left and right turrets are manned by the soldiers it carries, so they can't fire if no troops are on board.

Name:	Mammoth
Type:	Large ground vehicle

These monstrous tracked vehicles are derived from an old Victor design. Their armor is as thick as any Victor weapon; the armament has been reduced in favor of troop-carrying ability and greater speed. The Mammoth carries a heavy weapon in a 360 turret, a light weapon in front in a smaller turret, and four firing ports on each side. These firing ports can be used by the four soldiers (of any type) who ride in the Mammoth. Hitmen cannot fire heavy weapons through these ports, although they can still ride.

Name:	Land Ship
Type:	Large skimmer vehicle (supertank)

This awesome vehicle looks surprizingly like a WWI-era armored cruiser from old Earth. It carries two heavy weapons in turrets (one firing front/left/right, the other rear/left/right), and two light and two medium weapons on each side. It serves as a slowly-moving artillery outpost, gliding back and forth just behind the battle. The sight of it extends a leadership benefit (reroll failed morale checks) to all friendly units within three hexes, but it does not count as a leader unit for making the soldiers move. This is the only skimmer-type vehicle that is classed as a supertank.

IV. Game Tables

V. Revision History