Raiders Campaign

[locarno24]

I've just finished reading the new 'Campaign of Terror' rules.

I have to say they look very interesting - although I'll be intrigued to see how they work in practice.


The first couple of games are almost garuanteed to go badly for the raiders, I would think, as anywhere other than a frontier system on 'softly softly' tactics, you're going (on average) to find yourself facing 2-1 odds from a fleet with better ships than yours......for the first few games, at least, the raider player is going to be stuck swapping a desultory few shots at the corporate freighters the enemy fleet has in tow then running light a startled wascally wabbit.....


I can't decide what I'd use - a battlewagon is a nice ship but with its main armament boresighted it won't get to use it when flying solo more than half the time (less once ranges close and less still if facing an opponent with an innate initiative bonus or a command ship). On the other hand a pair of strike carriers aren't that much better. Comments/Suggestions?

 

[AdrianH]

There's a suggestion to vary the campaign by having someone raiding against the Shadows. I'd think that this is just the sort of thing the Shadows would want to play as the attackers. The main problem is the Secret Base; as presented it looks totally unsuitable for the Shadows. Any suggestions for an alternative Shadow hideout?

As locarno24 says, the first few actions are likely to be attack, shoot something, get out before your one Raid level ship gets destroyed. The Shadow scout would probably be good at that.

 

[silashand]

I like the campaign, though I confess I am not into 2 person versions at all. I think multi-player are preferable since it allows the entire group to play as well as gives people more variety in what they get to experience. To be honest, I haven't seen a 2-player campaign played since I was a kid playing games against my brothers (many, many years ago).

That said, I fully intend to steal some of the ideas here to use in more involved campaigns .

To the OP: I've never actually played Raiders so unfortunately I can't really offer much advice. However, you could have the shadows directing things from the Eye, with their stuff simply being inert in asteroid fields or some such. Just a thought.

Cheers, Gary

 

[locarno24]

Well - try using elements of these rules for a raider fleet in a normal campaign (acting as if it's a normal settled system, so everyone else has 10 point battle fleets).

Reminds me a bit of War Fleets/Raid Fleets in battlefleet gothic.


As to a Shadow installation.....hmm.

Raiders Secret Base
Hull: 4 Damage: 200/100/50
Troops: 10
Craft: 6 Delta-V flights

Special Rules: Anti-Fighter 4, Carrier 2, Command +1,
Immobile, Interceptors 4, Space Station, Targets 2

Missile Racks 20" T 2 Slow-Loading, Super AP
Medium Pulse Cannon 12" T 6


Well.....Troops are a no-no. Give it no troops but prevent it being boarded (it's a first one installation; if you want to board it go ahead...)

6 Delta-Vs is a bit short of one flight. With shadow fighters being a touch overpriced, then 2 flights should work fine.

Anti-fighter? Not terribly shadow-esque. Nor is carrier really needed with only 2 flights.

Swapping interceptors for a dice of self repair would work.



Weapon wise, swapping for one dice each of shadow cloud-style thermonuclear missiles (Super AP, Precise, Triple Damage) and phasing pulse cannon (Super AP, Double Damage, Accurate) gives you about the same damage output.

 

[greenboy]

Still has the same problem as the last raider campaign the short range on the base means that it will bring nothing to the battle at all

 

[GhostRecon]

Well, its a "Secret" base. Its main defense is in not being found at all...

But, to my reason for thread necromancy:

Some questions, for the Raider Campaign I'm currently running.

1. Do we have to have a Trade Route as one of the 10 targets, as per the normal campaign?

2. Semi-dumb question, but its always good to be certain. Can we raid the same system as our Hidden Base?

3. Another semi-dumb question. If we board Civilian ships and capture them, can we field them as combat vessels later? (Hey, you're a raider, no nitpicking).

As to the OP, I've not played Raiders myself, either. However, if I would, I would probably take two Strike Carriers, and switch out 2 Delta-V's each for Breaching Pods.

Also, an evil thought. The "Allied Fleets" rule of the Raider lists states "When using a Raiders fleet, you may spend 1 Fleet Allocation Point of your allowance on ships from one of the following fleet
lists; Abbai Matriarchy, Brakiri Syndicracy, Drazi Freehold, Gaim Intelligence, pak’ma’ra, or Vree Conglomerate." What's to stop you from taking your 1 raid FAP from a league list?

Either way, the key, I found, was to aim small at the start, and build up your fleet quickly. Hit the weakest ships, the civilians if there are any, and then jump the hell out of dodge as soon as you can. Doesn't matter if you win or lose the scenario, just if you survive with the least amount of damage.

 

[MongooseMatt]

>>>1. Do we have to have a Trade Route as one of the 10 targets, as per the normal campaign?

No.

>>>2. Semi-dumb question, but its always good to be certain. Can we raid the same system as our Hidden Base?

Sure.

>>>3. Another semi-dumb question. If we board Civilian ships and capture them, can we field them as combat vessels later? (Hey, you're a raider, no nitpicking).

Sounds like fun - however, they won't magically turn into the modified versions, so their worth would be questionable. You could make a house rule up about spending points to convert them. Or, if you want to go the whole hog, write a special scenario where you use a normal freighter as a trojan horse.

>>>What's to stop you from taking your 1 raid FAP from a league list?

Nothing Think of it as your Raiders being initially financed by one government looking to cause trouble for another. . .

>>>Doesn't matter if you win or lose the scenario, just if you survive with the least amount of damage.

The Raiders campaign is more about working for a living than military victories

 

[locarno24]

Sounds like fun - however, they won't magically turn into the modified versions, so their worth would be questionable. You could make a house rule up about spending points to convert them. Or, if you want to go the whole hog, write a special scenario where you use a normal freighter as a trojan horse.

There is, I think, a 'fire ship!' scenario in one of the back issues of Signs and Portents (damned if I can remember which one, though), which seems like an eminently sensible use for a spare freighter hull once you've pilfered the cargo....