Solo (in)action - 5150 Fighter Command

[indystarfarer]

Greetings all,

First post. I am...struggling with the Fighter Command rules. I've been going over them for 2 days and am frustrated, but am trying to make it work (after a post on FB suggested them as a good solo game).

I've spent the better part of 3 hours today flipping back and forth in the rules trying to run a simple 2-v-3 starfighter game. No frills (not using attributes, no reinforcements or added forces, no CapShips, etc), just trying to get a handle on the mechanics. Now, maybe I'm missing something, or getting confused (and spiraling in frustration) over some of the terminology and rules layout, but help a brother out if you can. (note: I'm not new at wargaming; been doing it for decades, and have playtested a number of rule sets)

Force A has 2 fighters, force B (the NP force) has 3. Went through two turns of movement, the forces closing on one another. Turn 3 Force B won initiative (I mean, activation), and in their movement phase triggered the In Sight reaction. Puzzled that out, Force B tried to shoot Force A (the latter being out of range so no return fire bothered), missed, and that was the end of the turn (no further actions available to either side. Great, ok, got that.

Note: In the pregame rolls, mission intel for Force A ended up being pretty crappy (Bad, no info! good luck... ), and then I rolled Mission Goes Wrong (doing Patrol), then the Force B got Flank Attack and Defend.

Turn 4 Force A loses initiative (again!) so have to move first. I move them into their special maneuvers. Now it's time to move Force B. I roll on the NP Movement - Defend table and get 1 success. Okay so...there's no CapShip, and the NP fighters are all within 2 inches of the leader. What do they do? Sit there? Continue previous move? Something else? It's their turn to move then do an action, Force A has already moved but cannot do an action (fire) until after Force B is done.

[indystarfarer]

While I've got your attention question re: Dogfighting reaction test.

Situation: assuming I've done things correctly with my interpretation of the rules, a couple turns later Force A has the upper hand over Force B (won initiative!). Force B moves, then Force A moves and shoots. One fighter from B (Green) is shot out of space (three hull hits!), one Force B fighter (Yellow) is within 3 inches of their now-dead comrade, and the last Force B (Gray) fighter is 8 inches away (and thus can't see, and doesn't take a Ship Down test). The Yellow Force B fighter is also fired upon by the other Force A fighter and takes an Engine, Shield, and Hull hit. He now has two reaction tests to take, correct? Received Fire and Ship Down. Under 'How To Take A Reaction Test' you start with 2D6. Then the Leader Die is added if taking either the Received Fire or Ship Down test? (even if the ship is not the leader?). Let's assume that this is correct, and now Yellow is rolling 3D6. With a Rep of 3, it amazingly rolls three 2s. Flipping to the back of the rules to the QRS there are only 2D6, 1D6, and 0D6 options. Since it passed all three rolls, I figure top end is 2D6. For Ship Down, that equates to Carry On. For Received Fire it means the fighter will fire back if possible (can't; out of arc) otherwise Dogfight. Does the fighter now do a dogfight roll and special move accordingly, even if it already moved earlier in the turn?

[blacksmith]

Mar 28, 2020 20:06:12 GMT indystarfarer said:

Greetings all,

First post. I am...struggling with the Fighter Command rules. I've been going over them for 2 days and am frustrated, but am trying to make it work (after a post on FB suggested them as a good solo game).

I've spent the better part of 3 hours today flipping back and forth in the rules trying to run a simple 2-v-3 starfighter game. No frills (not using attributes, no reinforcements or added forces, no CapShips, etc), just trying to get a handle on the mechanics. Now, maybe I'm missing something, or getting confused (and spiraling in frustration) over some of the terminology and rules layout, but help a brother out if you can. (note: I'm not new at wargaming; been doing it for decades, and have playtested a number of rule sets)

Force A has 2 fighters, force B (the NP force) has 3. Went through two turns of movement, the forces closing on one another. Turn 3 Force B won initiative (I mean, activation), and in their movement phase triggered the In Sight reaction. Puzzled that out, Force B tried to shoot Force A (the latter being out of range so no return fire bothered), missed, and that was the end of the turn (no further actions available to either side. Great, ok, got that.

Note: In the pregame rolls, mission intel for Force A ended up being pretty crappy (Bad, no info! good luck... ), and then I rolled Mission Goes Wrong (doing Patrol), then the Force B got Flank Attack and Defend.

Turn 4 Force A loses initiative (again!) so have to move first. I move them into their special maneuvers. Now it's time to move Force B. I roll on the NP Movement - Defend table and get 1 success. Okay so...there's no CapShip, and the NP fighters are all within 2 inches of the leader. What do they do? Sit there? Continue previous move? Something else? It's their turn to move then do an action, Force A has already moved but cannot do an action (fire) until after Force B is done.


Hello!

Is this your first THW ruleset? I'll try to help you.

If there is no capship and the fighters are already together they just carry on, continue previous move. The idea for NP defending and scoring 1 is safety in numbers, but if they are already packed then there's nothing else to do.

[blacksmith]

Mar 28, 2020 22:43:59 GMT indystarfarer said:

While I've got your attention question re: Dogfighting reaction test.

Situation: assuming I've done things correctly with my interpretation of the rules, a couple turns later Force A has the upper hand over Force B (won initiative!). Force B moves, then Force A moves and shoots. One fighter from B (Green) is shot out of space (three hull hits!), one Force B fighter (Yellow) is within 3 inches of their now-dead comrade, and the last Force B (Gray) fighter is 8 inches away (and thus can't see, and doesn't take a Ship Down test). The Yellow Force B fighter is also fired upon by the other Force A fighter and takes an Engine, Shield, and Hull hit. He now has two reaction tests to take, correct? Received Fire and Ship Down. Under 'How To Take A Reaction Test' you start with 2D6. Then the Leader Die is added if taking either the Received Fire or Ship Down test? (even if the ship is not the leader?). Let's assume that this is correct, and now Yellow is rolling 3D6. With a Rep of 3, it amazingly rolls three 2s. Flipping to the back of the rules to the QRS there are only 2D6, 1D6, and 0D6 options. Since it passed all three rolls, I figure top end is 2D6. For Ship Down, that equates to Carry On. For Received Fire it means the fighter will fire back if possible (can't; out of arc) otherwise Dogfight. Does the fighter now do a dogfight roll and special move accordingly, even if it already moved earlier in the turn?

Leader die rule is on page 12 top right. The die is used for the group of the leader. That die is added in case you only pass 1D6 or 0D6, so if the leader die is passed you can use it to increase your number of passing dice up to two, the maximum. So when using the leader die it is easier to pass tests.

Yes, the fighter dogfights and moves again.

hope that helps, and welcome!

[indystarfarer]

Hi blacksmith,

Thanks for the responses. I have a number of THW rules, but had never fully broken them out to play (I tried this one once a few years ago, got daunted by the non-intuitive layout and reshelved it; broke it out again a few days ago as someone on the FB Solo Wargaming group suggested it as a good option for some solo gaming, and since many of us are in forced or voluntary shelter-in-place at the moment, thought this would be a good time to *really* try and understand the rules, and get *some* gaming in )

From your responses I understand I did a number of things (mostly movement and reactions) incorrectly in the early and mid-game turns.

WRT the leader die, is it that *only* the Leader of the group/force can use it? If a wingman is out of formation, too far from the leader, they do *not* get to use it? Because under "How To Take A Reaction Test" it seems to say the leader can offer the leader die to the wingman, in or out of formation (it doesn't differentiate on this).

Also, while I have you here (I actually have many questions, but I'll just ask one at a time for now as my notes are scattered in scribbles throughout the rules), on page 26 is the Target Fighter Ranged Combat. On the results table, #s 8 and 9, if the shooter (or for #8, also the shootee) is doing any Special Maneuvers, the result is a miss. What is the ruling if someone attempted a Special Maneuver and failed? Does the attempt still count as a Special Maneuver?

[blacksmith]

Mar 29, 2020 0:54:22 GMT indystarfarer said:

Hi blacksmith,

Thanks for the responses. I have a number of THW rules, but had never fully broken them out to play (I tried this one once a few years ago, got daunted by the non-intuitive layout and reshelved it; broke it out again a few days ago as someone on the FB Solo Wargaming group suggested it as a good option for some solo gaming, and since many of us are in forced or voluntary shelter-in-place at the moment, thought this would be a good time to *really* try and understand the rules, and get *some* gaming in )

From your responses I understand I did a number of things (mostly movement and reactions) incorrectly in the early and mid-game turns.

WRT the leader die, is it that *only* the Leader of the group/force can use it? If a wingman is out of formation, too far from the leader, they do *not* get to use it? Because under "How To Take A Reaction Test" it seems to say the leader can offer the leader die to the wingman, in or out of formation (it doesn't differentiate on this).

Also, while I have you here (I actually have many questions, but I'll just ask one at a time for now as my notes are scattered in scribbles throughout the rules), on page 26 is the Target Fighter Ranged Combat. On the results table, #s 8 and 9, if the shooter (or for #8, also the shootee) is doing any Special Maneuvers, the result is a miss. What is the ruling if someone attempted a Special Maneuver and failed? Does the attempt still count as a Special Maneuver?

I think the game is worthy and once you get its mechanics you'll enjoy it. Try a patrol mission with a two fighter squadron for a start.

Only ships within 5 inches from the leader (in formation) can benefit of the leader die. You can read about it in page 11 Flight Cohesion, and 12 Leaders.

If somene tries a special maneuver and fails still counts as special maneuver, so it is a miss if you score 8 or 9 when shooting.

Ask as many questions as you have, no worries.

[indystarfarer]

Mar 29, 2020 8:37:01 GMT blacksmith said:

Mar 29, 2020 0:54:22 GMT indystarfarer said:

I think the game is worthy and once you get its mechanics you'll enjoy it. Try a patrol mission with a two fighter squadron for a start.

Only ships within 5 inches from the leader (in formation) can benefit of the leader die. You can read about it in page 11 Flight Cohesion, and 12 Leaders.

If somene tries a special maneuver and fails still counts as special maneuver, so it is a miss if you score 8 or 9 when shooting.

Ask as many questions as you have, no worries.

Hi again, blacksmith!

Sorry for the delay. After my day of gaming on Saturday, Sunday was full-bore domestic duty day, and Monday was back to work again (even with the lockdowns, my job is considered essential, though I can do 90% of it remotely at least )

Okay, next question. Activation rolls.

On page 13 of the rules, under the Turn Sequence section, it states each side rolls 1D6. Doubles means reroll. Okay, no problem. After that it only covers two possibilities, though I see a third.

Possibility 1: if the die scores are not doubles, but are higher than the Reps of both sides, reroll. Good with that.

Possibility 2: if the die scores are not doubles, nor higher than all the Reps of both sides, read each die directly. Okay, good with that.

But possibility 3 is not covered: the die scores are not doubles, but ONE die is higher than all the Reps (meaning the other die is lower)....what happens?

Using my game, the Reps of the lead fighters were 5 and 4. If I roll a '3' and a '6', then how is that even handled?

OR is it that you add up ALL THE REPS then roll the dice?? Do you only use Leader Reps, or ***ALL*** the Reps? (which seems a bit ludicrous because you could never roll higher than the combined Reps of five fighters).

I guess part of this question is what exactly do they mean by "all the Reps"?

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Did you assigned a different color d6 to each side? Page 13.
So blue 4 and red 6 means Red acts first but as no one is Rep 6 they do nothing.
Then blue acts.

[blacksmith]

Hi again, I think we talked about this in the Facebook group solo gaming, and I told you same as Ed but worse and with more words. You read Reps individually and if the die score is higher than your highest Rep then none in your side activates that turn.

Cheers,

Javier

[indystarfarer]

Hi Ed,

Yes, I did, so I could differentiate between the two sides when rolling. :-)

Hi Blacksmith, ah, so that's who you are! :-D Thanks for the help you were able to give.

[blacksmith]

Apr 10, 2020 12:43:42 GMT indystarfarer said:

Hi Ed,

Yes, I did, so I could differentiate between the two sides when rolling. :-)

Hi Blacksmith, ah, so that's who you are! :-D Thanks for the help you were able to give.

You're most welcome