Campaigns

This is listing of known campaign rules and resources. The question about campaigns comes up a lot. But there is a paucity of good campaigning content. Here is what we have so far. 

If you know of more examples please let us know, thanks.

External Campaign Rules and Examples

• Full Thrust Campaign Rules 3.01 Michael R. Blair

• Full Thrust Narrative Campaign The Human Xirin Wars Bart Vetters

• Full Thrust Campaign Rules Office format, rules and management spreadsheets Tyler Case

• Art of War Games Campaigns on DriveThruRPG $1.00 - $3.00 & bundles these have comprehensive maps and AoW campaign rules, see sample. The sample pretty well shows the whole system! Getting one is value for money. But they are pretty much cut and paste using the AoW campaign rules. So I'd buy The Great Unification War Campaign (to show support) and use that as a template as the maps and settings are easy to DIY. Also integrates planet side engagements using Dirstside II and Stargrunt II. Here are a few examples, there are lots:-

  • The Great Unification War Campaign $1.00

  • The Ghost War Campaign: The Siege of Terra: Opening Gambit Australia: $1.00

  • The Sentai Campaign $3.00

  • The Alpha Centauri Campaign I $3.00

• Expansion campaign site WM Robert Deakin

• Campaign Toolkit a hex map template with symbols and lines to build a campaign map very easily, you can edit in Google Drawings. You need a Google account to copy and then edit template, which is view only.  fullthrust.net

• The Firing Line campaign system, Advanced System and simpler Economic System Brendan Robertson

Books

These are more generic rather than specific to Full Thrust but contain the tried and tested mechanisms to build a campaign system.

Donald Featherstone’s Wargaming Campaigns Donald Featherstone 

Wargaming Campaigns was the first wargaming book to deal with the art of creating a series of related battles and linking them into campaigns for the modern enthusiast. This book covered straightforward methods of setting up and running such campaigns. It deals with topics ranging from map making, to attrition to the issue of smaller forces delaying larger ones. Included are twenty-one examples of wargaming campaigns, covering periods from the Dark Ages to World War II.  Featherstone is very old school and this book is a bit dry to say the least.

Wargaming Campaigns Henry Hyde 

Although campaigns can be very rewarding, many wargamers are deterred by the need to produce maps and devise mechanisms for strategic movement, Intelligence, logistics, recruiting reinforcements, keeping track of casualties etc. Henry Hyde's excellent book greatly eases this task with masses of sound advice, concrete suggestions and even a full set of campaign rules useful for any period up to AD 1900. Whatever historical or fantasy setting you prefer, Henry shows that even simple campaigns can add extra fun to your gaming.

Authors Note:

The Campaign rules presented here are, of necessity, just an outline of the subject . To provide a truly 'complete' system of Campaign rules, including Economic Factors, Resources, Shipbuilding, Ground Combat and evetytl;iing else that goes along with it, would require an entire book devoted to the subject. Limitations of space in this publication preclude the inclusion of more than the basic rules for 'linked' games which are detailed over the next few pages. We hope to publish a Sourcebook/Supplement sometime in the future that will expand the Campaign rules considerably, and also go into much more detail on the background material, of which the brief outline given here is again only a taster. Please feel free to send in any ideas and suggestions that you have on expansions to the Campaign systems, plus and further developments to the background - all input will be gratefully received and may well be used (with appropriate credits) in future publications.

Campaign Games: Introduction

The Campaign game is actually a series of table -top  battles, fought with an overall objective in mind . A map of  the area of space in which the Campaign takes place is  required, on which the player's ships are moved (via FTL  drive) in Fleets; it is only when two or more Fleets actually  occupy the same star system at the same time that play is  transferred to the game table and a battle is actually  fought.  One important factor of the Campaign game is that each  player or team of players starts off with a certain size of  overall force, either being provided with a ready-generated  selection of ships or else allowed a 'budget' of  Construction Points from which to design their own ships.  This force must then be distributed around the map  according to the player's objectives and any requirements  of the scenario.  Each Campaign will be very different and so will its objectives  and Victory Condit ions; players are encouraged to  write their own Campaign scenarios, as this creative  process is often more than half the fun of gaming!

 Use of an Umpire: 

If you are fortunate enough to have someone present to act as Umpire for the Campaign, you can use a system of 'hidden movement' of fleets in FTL drive . In this case, each player has his own copy of the map, on which he marks the movement of each of his fleets. At then end of each turn of map movement, all players hand their maps to the Umpire, who compares them to see if any opposing fleets have actually 'met' in a star system - if so, then a battle may take place according to the rules set out below. If there are no conflicts occurring that turn, the Umpire returns the maps to the players and the next turn of map movement is plotted. 

The use of the Umpire means that each player does not know where his opponent's fleets are while they are in FTL Space; the first he knows of an impending attack is when the enemy suddenly drops out of FTL in his star system! Without an Umpire, unless all players trust each other(!)

All map moves must be made visible to the opponent, which removes a little of the confusion and 'realism' of the Campaign, since each player can react to his enemy's moves before fleets actually arrive at their destination. As both/all players are at the same advantage/disadvantage, however , this does not really affect the playability of the games and the use of some 'dummy' fleet counters can help to increase the uncertainty factor!

When Fleets Meet in a Star System: 

Whenever a turn ends with two opposing fleets occupying the same star system hex on the map, each player must give his opponent SOME information about the composition of his fleet in that system: the only data that can be gathered at this point is the Long Range Scan reading, which tells only : 1) how many ships there are in the enemy fleet, and 2) what their basic Classifications are. Reference should be made at this point to the 'Sensor' rules on pages 21-22, as this part of the Campaign system follows the same lines - all the players knows about his opponent is how many ships he has, and roughly what types. 

As explained in the rules on Bogeys and sensors, players may (if agreed beforehand) utilise Decoy Drones and/or Weasel Boats to confuse their opponent about the real strength of their fleet.

EXAMPLE:

A player has just moved a fleet into a star system already occupied by a fleet belonging to his opponent. Each fleet scans the other with Long Range Sensors, and each player tells the other what the Sensors THINK they see: The newly -arrived fleet actually consists of two Battleships, three Escort Cruisers and two Destroyers, but the player has also deployed four Decoy Drones immediately upon emerging from FTL - he tells his opponent that the scan shows two CAPITAL, three CRUISER and six ESCORT Class contacts. In return, the player already insystem tells the opponent that his sensors indicate that his forces consist of three CAPITAL ships, two CRUISERSa nd four ESCORTSi;n reality, the player has three Frigates and a Corvette (the four ESCORT contacts), one Heavy and one Light Cruiser, plus just ONE Battle Dreadnought - the othe r two CAPITAL contacts are in fact Scoutships acting as Weasel Boats and emitting Capital Class signatures!

On the basis of the Long Range scan information (and how much they decide to trust it.. .), each player must decide whether he wishes to engage the enemy, or to withdraw from the system without battle. Each must write down (in secret) what they decide to do, and both notes are revealed: if both have chosen to fight then the battle is played out on the table top - using 'Bogey' markers at first, as per the rules on page 21. If neither wish to fight, then BOTH must leave the system on the next map move turn, without ever having discovered exactly what the enemy strength really was. If, however, one player chooses to stand and fight while the other wishes to run, then the player who decided to fight rolls one D6: on a roll of 1-5, the opposing fleet can safely enter FTL and leave the system, but a roll of 6 means that the agg ressor has caught the fleeing enemy before he could 'jump', and the batt le is fought out after all (of course, the player who tried to run may then apply the 'Leaving the table under FTL drive' rules on page 23 to try and escape if he chooses).

If a battle takes place from which one protagonist then disengages (refer to page 28 for rules on disengagement from combat), the opposing forces are assumed to have separated within the star system for that Campaign Turn. Neither player may claim ownership of the system, and at the start of the following Turn each player must make a new decision as to what action to attempt: whether to rejoin battle, to flee the system or to attempt a Stand Off.

The Stand Off: 

There is an extra option available to players when they decide whether to engage in battle or not; if a player elects not to fight, he can note that he wishes to try and STAND OFF the enemy; should the opponent then choose to attack, the battle will proceed as normal. If, however, the opponent ALSO chooses the Stand Off option then . both fleets remain in the system, simply glaring at each other from a long distance (the original occupant in the inner system, the newcomer on the system fringe). Neither is able to gather more data about the other from this position, and each must make a new choice of action on the next move - though of course eit her is free to try for a Stand Off again.

Often the Stand Off is a stalemate situation which will only end when one player loses his nerve and withdraws, or reinforcements arrive for one side. It is the equivalent of a siege on the system, where neither force believes it has sufficient superiority to win in open combat.

Campaign Objectives and Victory Conditions:

Any Campaign Game has to have a carefully defined objective (or series of objectives) for each side to try and achieve; basically, victory goes to the player who first achieves his objectives, or has come closest to doing so by the time the game ends. For a simple Campaign, such as the example given later in this section, the objectives can be clear and straightforward: for example, one player has to occupy a certain number of enemy-held systems, while the opponent tries to prevent him doing so, or at least hold on unti l reinforcements can arrive..

Repairs, Replenishment and Reinforcements:

The sort of basic Campaign covered here represents too short a time -span to allow for actual shipbuilding to take place, but there is the possibility of Repairs to battle damaged ships and the arrival of reinforcements from other areas outside the actual Campaign map.

Most battle damage is quite major, and ships cannot effect repairs themselves other than emergency patch-up jobs to keep the vessel spaceworthy until it can reach a proper repair facility . Certain star systems on the map may be defined as having Naval Bases or other such facilities, which can repair 1 D6 worth of Damage Points to any ship per one-iNeek Turn . To undergo repairs, a ship must be in the system containing the repair facility and is assumed to be docked to the repair Installation for the duration of the repairs - it is unable to fight during this time. Repairs may also be attempted to specific systems of a ship (again, only while it is docked at a repair Installation) : you may roll for up to three systems on each ship, at your choice, per Turn : on a D6 roll of 3 or more the system in question is repaired and fully functional. Note that Drive systems require TWO successful repair rolls if fully disabled, in the same way as they need two hits to disable them. (Refer to the rules concerning Tugs and Tenders on page 27, for details on the FTL transport of Drive-disabled ships).

Replenishment consists of restocking ships with consumables and expendable ammunition (such as fitting replacement Submunition Packs), and can also include the supply of replacement Fighters (at a sufficiently large facility) to return a ship's Fighter complement to full strength after combat losses. All such replenishment must, like repairs, be carried out at a suitable Naval facility; unlike repairs a ship can be considered fully replenished in one Turn (one week) at such a Base .

If reinforcements are to be allowed to enter the Campaign map area during the game, this must be planned before hand and allowed for in the player's initial Force Budget, or by special conditions in the Campaign Scenario. In certain scenarios, such as the sample Campaign supplied in this book, the arrival of reinforcements for one side actually signals the end of the Campaign - the enemy has to try and achieve his Victory Conditions before such reinforcements can arrive in the area to foil his plans.

The Lafayette Incident, 2178.

The Third Solar War between the New Anglian Confederation and the Eurasian Solar Union was characterised by brief periods of heavy fighting both in space and planetside, punctuated by long months of minor strikes and aggressive posturing by both sides. 

One of these renewed bursts of combat occurred in early 2178, when a sizeable Eurasian Naval Force left Chiang for a determined push into the Outworld sectors of the NAC, its primary target being the Lafayette system with its extensive industrial colonies and resources. 

The Eurasian plan was for the Task Force, under Admiral lllyevich Grisheva, to rapidly defeat the System Defences of Lafayette and at least two of the adjacent settled systems before the arrival of NAC Fleet elements from the Core: if this could be achieved quickly enough, the space superiority in the systems would enable the ESU to ransom the colonies under the threat of orbital bombardment, and therefore stand off any NAC attempts to retake the worlds . 

As with most battle plans, however, this one was not destined to stand up to first contact with the enemy . Intelligence information had forewarned the NAC of the impending ESU push; a scratch force of all available fleet units had been hastily assembled at New Toledo under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Arlen Brigstone, a veteran of the Fenris and Nagisa campaigns . Brigstone's mission was to defend the settlements and outposts in the Lafayette sector until elements of the main fleet could arrive to repel the ESU aggression..

Campaign Set-Up:

The Campaign Map on page 37 shows the sector of NAC space around the Lafayette system. The NAC player (or team of players) must divide his FTL-capable forces between those systems on the map that he thinks the ESU player will try to strike for, to supplement the Non FTLcapable System Defence forces that are tied to the various systems (it is assumed that no FTL Tugs or Tenders are available in time to move Non-FTL assets between stars). 

The ESU player must decide how he can best achieve his objectives within the limited time he has available before the NAC main fleet arrives. He needs to get full space superiority in at least three of the SETTLED systems, one of which must be Lafayette itself. The other stars with settlements are Hudson, Merri l's, Kakisa, New Toledo and Baffin . Rock, VN-459 and HR-1306 each have only small scientific or mining bases present insystem). Achieving superiority in a system requires the aggressor to either destroy, disable or drive out ALL defending warships in that system, so that he may safely assume orbit around the settlement and thus threaten it with nuclear bombardment. 

All ESU forces enter on Turn 1, at the point marked 'X' on the map, the NAC forces will already be deployed (and secretly recorded) in any of the star systems on the map.

Time Scale And Victory Condtions:

The NAC main fleet units will arrive in the area in SEVEN TURNS (seven weeks of Game Time). If the ESU player can achieve total superiority in at least THREE of the six settled systems, INCLUDING Lafayette, within this time span then he may claim a total Victory. If the NAC player can prevent this occurring until the end of Turn 7, he is deemed the winner . If the ESU forces manage to hold Lafayette and ONE other colony system, or any THREE such systems but NOT including Lafayette itself, then the Campaign should be considered a Draw.

Possible Strategies:

The ESU player is racing against time. He may try to keep his whole force together and attempt to overwhelm each system in turn with massive firepower, then leave a token force insystem and move on to the next - there is theoreti cally time to do this providing he keeps moving and does not get delayed in any one system. The risk of this, however, is twofold : firstly any hold-up due to meeting unexpectedly strong defence at any star will mean be will run out of time, and secondly the small forces he can afford to leave behind to garrison the captured stars will be very vulnerable to counterstrikes by NAC forces - the ESU player may very well find his early gains evaporating behind him as he presses on into the sector. 

The ESU's main alternative strategy is to split his forces at the start, and make simultaneous pushes towards several systems; this could achieve some quick victories, but of course means that each battle will be more evenly matched.

For the NAC side, his role is in playing a mobile defence and trying to buy time. If the ESU fleet remains in one large force hopping from star to star, the NAC must defend each system as best he can while trying to counterattack and recapture the systems that the ESU player has already passed, or else take the great risk of committing his entire mobile (FTL) force in one pitched battle with the enemy. Should the Eurasian force split, the NAC Admiral must decide firstly whether the split is genuine (is that a battlefleet heading for Merril's, or just a Scoutship running decoy while the bulk of the ESU force pushes on to Lafayette?) and secondly how he will divide his forces to react to it.

The Forces:

Each player must select the ships that will comprise his forces up to the Points totals listed below. All the ESU ships must be FTL-capable, while the NAC forces are divided into the Mobile Force (FTL ships) and the Non-FTL Systems Defences stationed in the settled systems. The Points totals given may be varied if the players desire, according to the size of battles that they want : smaller Points totals (and thus fewer ships per side) will mean that each battle will take less time to play out - alternatively the totals may be increased to give some VERY large table-top engagements! 

The ESU Admiral has 10,000 POINTS to build his forces; he has a free selection of all a1vailable Ship Classes,t he only restriction being that the total NUMBER OF SHIPS (not points value) from any ONE major Classification - ie: ESCORTSC, RUISERSo r CAPITAL SHIPS- may not exceed 50% of the total number of ships in the force: For example, a force of 10 Capital Ships, 16 Cruisers and 25 assorted Escorts would be allowed, but one of 8 Capitals, 12 Cruisers and 40 Escorts would not - the Escorts would be over 50% of the total number of ships. 

The NAC Admiral may spend up to 6,000 POINTS on his Mobile (FTL) forces, subject to the same limitation described for the ESU forces above. In addition, the NAC player has the following 'fixed' System Defence forces stationed in certain systems:

At LAFAYETTE:

1,500 POINTS of Non-FTL ships

At HUDSON:

1,000 POINTS of Non-FTL ships

At MERRIL'S:

800 POINTS of Non-FTL ships

At BAFFIN:

800 POINTS of Non-FTL ships

At NEW TOLEDO:

1,200 POINTS of Non-FTL ships

At KAKISA:

500 POINTS of Non-FTL ships

At Rock:       

NO in system Defence Forces

At VN-459:       

NO in system Defence Forces

At HR-1306:

NO in system Defence Forces

The NAC has a free choice of ship classes to make up his System Defence fleets - refer to the rules for Non-FTL warship design on page 26.

Beth Fulton

Much of this depends on what resources you have available (time and figure wise), we played a relatively small campaign (fleet wise) as we were trying to encourage the guys at the club that one had a fleet pack and nothing more. We had a series of systems (dots on a map which represented sun + associated planets) that mapped out jump routes (you could only jump two

hexes in a go and had to leave and land in a system hex). This worked quite well as it formed choke points to be fought over, but you didn't have to be worried about being hit from all 360 deg at once. Each system had a random number of points allocated to it (between 20 and 200, IIRC) which you used in each economic turn (every 4th campaign turn) to pay for new construction, upgrades, major repairs and 15% fleet maintenance (I can send you more precise details off-list if you want).

It was a lot of fun all up, but I'd say the two biggest downsides to the  campaign were 

1. its victory conditions (hold 50% of the map), heaps of  people got knocked out or distracted before we got near that goal and

2. the build times, we were playing at the club so got in a turn a week so you ended up building in almost real time (SDN taking about 32 weeks to build!!!) - given its a wargame and things are going to die that was probably too long.

Daniel Cleyne

Some friends and I are trying to start up a long term FT and DSII campaign. While the integration rules in More Thrust cover the direct technical aspect of the mating of the two systems they don't (and admits it) go far enough to lay a firm base for a campaign longer than the one given as an example in FT.

Seeing as I'm only new to this Mailing list, please forgive me if I'm trying to cover ground that someone else has covered recently. I'd be very keen to see any material that people have posted here previously.

The first main question that came to mind was how to mate the two different point systems. After having a look at the various equipment lists it seems that a FT point could be equivalent to 100 DS2 points without too much fuss. Is this a value that other people have arrived at or have I missed some vital ingredient? This point ratio means that a DS2 artillery piece is with about the same as a single arc C Battery in FT. I used the reasoning that a WW2 army typically used 6-8" guns as heavy artillery and the corresponding navy used 6-8" guns as it main armament on cruisers and secondary armaments on the larger capital ships. This argument isn't watertight but I would like the point systems to have some sort of logical relationship.

The next point was repair of ships. There is a brief mention of ports in the first FT campaign which covers placing ports near worlds and the capacity of ship they can handle. What I would like to work out is how long things take to fix once they are damaged. If you can't repair forces after a battle in a long term campaign then you may as well not have saved the unit. Especially if it has suffered damage like loss of fire control systems. I put together a rough table of the basic equipment and how long I thought each of the systems could take to repair or replace. The values are arbitrary and I have no real reasons for any particular value. The overall justification again came from WW2 and the length of time it took the US to turn out a ship from keel to commissioning. I believe it took roughly 3 months for a liberty ship and about 12 months for a light/medium cruiser. I am using 1 week as the  length of a turn in the campaign.

Repair/Replacement times for damaged equipment:

Equipment       Repair Time   Replacement Time

Structure Points 1D6  per Week   N/A

C Battery     2  Weeks   1  Week

B Battery     4  Weeks   2  Weeks

A Battery   8  Weeks   4  Weeks

PDAF       4  Weeks       2  Weeks

ADAF       8  Weeks      4  Weeks

Screen Generators   10 Weeks   4  Weeks

Fighter Bays     2  Weeks   4  Weeks

Fighters Immediate*

Needle Beams     4  Weeks   2  Weeks

Pulse Torpedo Tubes 8  Weeks   4  Weeks

Pulse Torpedos Immediate*

Nova Cannon 26 Weeks 20 Weeks

Submunition Pack Immediate*

Minelayer System 2  Weeks 1  Week

Mines Immediate*

Mine Sweeper 8  Weeks   4  Weeks

Fire Control     8  Weeks   4  Weeks

FTL Drives     10 Weeks   8  Weeks

Sublight Drives (HV * Thrust) / 6   (HV * Thrust) / 8

* Obviously this is subject to availability of the particular system at the port that it is being repaired at.

Given that this table pertains only to naval equipment, what about capture and repair of Dirtside equipment? What sort of value should "holding the  battlefield" have? How long would it take a unit that has been beaten up  badly in an engagement to refit so that it is combat ready again? Where would this sort of activity take place? Does it matter how structured this system is? Would it be better to think out the whole system and justify it so that it works logically or would it be better to do a best Guestimate for a few of the values and from those prepare a couple of lookup tables you  roll dice against to get the result?

Another problem is one of replacements. How do you determine what sort of replacements become available? Just allocating a point value per turn means that the player can always get the type of equipment they need. Is it worth going to the trouble of determining particular equipment types for the replacements? It certainly would add an element to the game in my opinion. Requesting 10 units of heavy tanks and being allocated 5 units of AA vehicles and having to cope with them has an appealing ring to it.

There is a vast amount of stuff that needs to be done before I have a working system but the most important issue seemingly is Supplies. I realise that keeping track of individual supply points is not in keeping with the FT ethic of being fun and easy. But ships need equipment and troops need to  eat. I haven't yet come across a game that covers the constant need to keep units supplied without being exceptionally arbitrary. FASA tried it with  Prefect but the system they used there is at the large formation level and I can't seem to break it down to make it cover the unit sizes in DS2 as well as the naval units in FT. If anyone has any really good ideas on this issue I'd very keen to hear.

Here's a suggestion for a simple way to run an FT campaign: 4000AD

Although the game is long out of print there are some 4000AD resources. Of particular interest is the system it uses to move fleets in three dimensions between stars at FTL.

Another option is the old Metagaming game WarpWar. I created a large map for it years ago for use in a campaign game. It, too, could be used with FT.

WarpWar Re-mastered Rules , Map, Counters

WarpWar the Campaign Game rules from Space Gamer #33 Page 10, Page 11

Stellar Conquest also has a map that could be utilised for a campaign, Stellar Conquest Maps