From an alternate Earth/Minbari War...

A year before the EM War, Earth Force Intellegence detected unknown alien signals from deepspace, in the direction of whatthe Narn and the Centauri called the "Minbari". To discover what was happening, three ELINT ships (modified Nova Dreadnoughts) were deployed. These three ships, the Bletchy, the Mossad and the Langley; were sent to monitor, decode, and compile signatures on this new alien race. For the year before the War, Earth Force Intellegence was able to compile enough data to indicate that the Minbari were a very large power.

During the meeting of Task Force Prometheus and a Minbari fleet, the Bletchy detected signals indicating that the Minbari were expecting to meet Earth on very friendly terms to open diplomatic contact. After the sudden attack by Task Force Prometheus, the Minbari sent signals back to Minbar indicating that Earth forces fired first, and that a Jihad was in the brewing. Against orders, the Captain of the Bletchy broke radio silence and sent this information to Earth, with the xenopsycologists' suggestion that Earth Alliance contact the Minbari government, and make sincere apologies before things got worse.

Somebody ignored the message until a month into the War.

Neverless, the three Intel ships provided Earth with a useful service-they kept up-to-date on Minbari communciations. Except for Grey Council codes, Earth Force Intellegence usually had Minbari codes broken within the first two days after use. Many ships and their crews were saved by the fact that they were able to abandon systems before the Minbari arrived. It even allowed for a few counterattacks, but the Minbari fleet kept on going-they would be at Earth within a few months.

Meanwhile, at orbital Earthside docks, the first of the new Omega-class destroyers were being built. While they wouldn't be able to go toe-to-toe with the Minbari Sharlin-class cruiser, three of them were equal to their enemies. However, something had to be done quickly, to buy enough time for more Omegas to be built.

The Langley recieved signals from a Minbari Sharlin, indicating that they had an on-board accident and requested return to a rear-line supply ship for repairs. As the Minbari fleet was making all efforts to stage the invasion of Earthspace, no other ships could be spared to escort the Sharlin back to friendly space.

With this information, Earth Force ordered an attack by an Omega-class destroyer and three Hyperions, with orders to destroy or cripple the Sharlin.

Historical Note: After this engagment, the Bletchy and the Langley would be caught by Minbari forces and destroyed. The Mossad managed to avoid the Minbari, and would serve Earth Alliance forces until the Civil War, when the ship would defect to Babylon 5.

Order of Battle

Player 1 (Minbari): 1 damaged Sharlin, 24 Nial fighters.

Player 2 (Earth Force): 1 Omega-class Destroyer, 3 Hyperion-class destroyers. The Omega has 24 Starfuries, and each Hyperion has 6 Starfuries. The Omega has Improved Fire Control for the Heavy Lasers and Heavy Pulse Cannons, Gunsights on the Heavy Lasers, and Advanced Defense Targeting(-2 rating) for the Interceptors.

Set Up

Lay out the maps in a single long row, the shortest ends touching each other. The maps are to be set up as follows A-B-C-D-E-F.

The Minbari ship can be anywhere in map A, moving at a speed of 6 to the end edge of Map F.

All EA ships come out of hyperspace anywhere on map C, with the exception that fighters can't be launched and all ships have to be at least 3 hexes away from each other. All EA ships must come out by turn 2, and all at once.

Special Rules

• Minbari: The Sharlin has taken some damage due to a defective power conduit. Roll a D6, and use the clock-face modifier on the maps to determine direction(the Minbari ship's nose is considered to be at 1, the tail at 4). Using standard attack rolls, the player rolls a D6-this is the number of "hit" locations that the ship has. Resolve damage as follows - make a standard attack roll, and note that the system is "off-line"-it hasn't taken any damage, but can't be used and any power normally required to use it is free for other uses. If a C&C, Reactor, Engine, or Structure hit is rolled, re-roll. If the ship has an engine hit, consider all thrust reduced by half from the engine. These systems can't be repaired during the combat(that's why the ship is pulling out!).
• General: No ramming is allowed.

Victory Conditions

The Sharlin is trying to get off the edge of map F. Barring that, the Minbari ship is trying to destroy the EA ships. If it exits off any other map edge, or is destroyed, the Minbari player loses.

The EA player has two goals: The primary goal is the survival of the Omega-class destroyer. It has to leave under it's own power by a Jump point, to get combat information back to Earth. Other than that, the goal of the battle is to destroy, disable, or run-off the Sharlin.

A special condition exists if the Sharlin takes a C&C critical - if the ship has lost all of one engine block and the C&C takes damage enough to disable it, the EA players could board the Sharlin and capture it. If this happens, the EA player wins and the Minbari player loses.

Comments

A very unusual battle: the Minbari may be in trouble due to damage and to the fact that it's alone. Depending upon the damage, the players may have to change tactics. If most of the damage is to point-defense weapons, the Minbari might want to let his fighters go and attack enemy ships a lot further away than normal. If the Neutron cannons are damaged, the tactics might change-the Minbari might decide that the ship will take on the fighters, while the fighters take care of the EA ship. And if the engines are hit badly, the player will have to choose where and how they'll fight the EA.

The EA force, ironically, has it both easy and hard. If they lose the Omega, they lose the battle, even if they take out the Sharlin. But the Omega has many special systems that make it more valuable to get in close. And while the Starfuries outnumber the Nials 2-1, the Nials are very deadly.

Designer: Jon Souza NoDUI@worldnet.att.net