It was the third day of low-level bombardment from an enemy we never saw, and we had been out of radio contact for a week. The borders had shifted so many times that our HQ on Gibson was now occupied territory. Our only orders had told us to hold the pass against any assault, and so we were staying. In the rain, in the cold, on a world none of us had visited before, waiting for extraction. The narrows were mined so we didn’t even have to pull a trigger, and as the bombs went off, the explosions would echo through the canyon. Debris might also set off a mine. More explosions, more echoes. Ripples from many splashes intersecting on an otherwise tranquil pond. As forward observer, I saw our targets first, and it was I who signaled to the platoon the precise distance of the approaching foe. A string of jeeps, apparently unarmed, and marked with the colours of Gibson.

Sometimes characters in Diaspora get swept up in events larger than themselves. The spacecraft combat game allows players to travel and to control huge arsenals battling off world. If characters get caught up in geopolitics, it might revert to the social combat game, whereby the players attempt to persuade system leaders to accomplish their aims. But not all problems can be solved by words.

The rules for platoon-scale wargaming are provided in Diaspora for campaigns that want to focus on military combat. Perhaps the players are old army buddies, offering their services to their planet’s defense. Perhaps a heavily balkanized world is enlisting offworlders to fight their battles for them. Perhaps the characters are a mercenary strike team, performing short-term contracts for anyone willing to pay. Whatever the story, it is easy to imagine combats where the scale of personal combat is simply inadequate: when there are too many individuals active in battle, platoon scale provides opportunities for incorporating infantry, artillery, armour and aircraft units in a ground war.

Some campaigns may choose to build around this sort of encounter, with the story effectively moving the characters from one mercenary ticket to the next with each game session. Others might never need these rules, but will be able to use them to model robbing an armored vehicle. Whatever the application, the rules are provided as a means of representing something that could also be done within the existing Diaspora mechanisms. Operating at the platoon scale becomes an option that is available for those tables that want it.

For infantry units, platoon scale represents combat between teams of 2-5 men organized into platoons of 2-6 teams; an armour platoon might be 4 or 5 tanks. Individual characters can improve a platoon’s performance, but, as in the spacecraft combat, an individual can only modify the performance of the larger unit. The principles of Fate still apply, of course, and (as is common in Diaspora), they have been stripped down. At the platoon scale, there is only a single stress track: morale. If a platoon loses morale, it can no longer function. Whether it has lost morale because of its ongoing frustration with lack of supply lines, because of the constant pressure of close enemy fire, or simply because most of the platoon has been killed, Diaspora models the only crucial variable of loss at the platoon scale along the axis of morale. How that story becomes interpreted is a question for the table and the larger narrative.

As with the other minigames, platoon-scale wargaming can be played independent of the larger Diaspora RPG.

The objective of this system is to represent squad or team units (2-5 men for infantry or single armour/artillery units), serving in platoons of 2-6 teams, using standard Fate character turns in order to be able to perform large-scale military scenarios. The organizational unit of interest is the platoon, which is a number of single units, one of which is a leader, all in communication.

In most games, players will control either a single platoon, or (as is more usual when used as a stand-alone game) a company of 3-5 platoons.

1. Map

The map is constructed like the maps described in the section on Personal Combat (ch. 6), with a few differences:

• There are many more zones: you want at least a zone per unit, so a platoon engagement might have 10 or more zones.
• A regular grid is less effective than irregular shaped zones reflecting the contours of the landscape. Irregular shapes allow access to a greater number of neighbouring zones.
• Altitude is marked for determination of line-of-sight.
• Each zone has a center mark.
• Difficult terrain (e.g. forest, swamp) is represented with smaller zones; easy terrain (plains, roads) with larger zones.
• a Rearm track of six boxes exists on the side of the map to manage aircraft availability

1.1. Line of Sight

Because we want to empower indirect fire units (artillery), we need ways to block line of sight. To this end each zone is marked with a center point (which need not be exactly in the center, but close is good) that contains a number representing the altitude. Base level should be zero, and increment up or down one or two. No need to go crazy. The guideline is as follows.

1.1.1. If you draw a line between your zone's center mark and your target zone's center mark and that line is obstructed by a zone with a higher altitude than your zone, LoS is blocked. You may only engage this unit with indirect fire.

1.1.2. If the target zone is lower than yours and you draw a line between your zone's center mark, LoS is blocked when that line is obstructed by a zone with the same or higher altitude than your zone. You may only engage this unit with indirect fire.

1.1.3. Some terrain features block line of sight but not through elevation (a forest or a town, for example). If you want to model these features, give each zone an altitude as normal, but for zones with blocking terrain add another number indicating the effective altitude for tracing LoS though it. For example, a forest at altitude 1 might be marked as 1 (+2). When tracing LoS through this zone, it has effective altitude 3. When tracing LoS into or out of this zone (that is, tracing from the unit itself or the ground level), its altitude is 1.



This rule works best if raised terrain (like the hills in the example above) have zone divisions along their ridge lines as this prevents firing across the ridge to terrain below on the opposite side.

1.1.3.1. A blocking terrain pass value can be placed on a zone (eg. forest) or a border (eg. wall or hedgerow).

1.1.4. Each unit may be in only one zone at a time, and a zone may contain any number of units. The system does not represent where within the zone a given unit is located.

1.2. Zone aspects

Zones may have Aspects on them at the start of the session.

1.2.1. A terrain icon drawn on the map is an implicit Aspect and may be tagged normally.

1.3. Pass values

While generally mobility is well modeled by the size of the zone and possibly by adding an Aspect, it may be the case that a border has features that intrinsically limit mobility (a low wall, for example). In this case apply a pass value and a direction in which the pass value applies. Pass values are not eroded — they must be exceeded in order to continue through in the direction they specify. Shifts spent on passing through a border with a pass value do not count against maximum movement.

1.3.1. When working with pass values, always consider whether it is more effective to model the terrain with a simple Aspect. Simply placing the Aspect Raging river! on river zones would attract compels that are much more interesting. Also, keep in mind that just making zones small intrinsically impedes movement, providing a third way to model difficult terrain.

1.3.2. The Interdiction action works by placing pass values, allowing the ability to funnel enemy movement in certain directions or into specific zones with finer granularity than placing Aspects provides.

1.4. Aircraft re-arm track

If aircraft are used in the scenario, add a re-arm track: six boxes with the first labeled "REARM" and the last labeled "LAUNCH!".

1.5. Artillery battery zones

Artillery that are represented off map should be placed in a "battery zone" of an artillery card created and placed at the side of the map. If the artillery is capable of operating at range from their leader, the battery zone can be divided into sub-zones and one unit placed in each.





1.5.1. Units on an artillery card can move from zone to zone on the card in the same way as they would on the main map.

2. Units

There are four types of team units: Infantry, Artillery, Armour, and Aircraft. For each platoon, one unit (which may not be aircraft) is also designated the leader. There is no maximum number of units in a platoon.

2.1. All Fate points are kept on the platoon and spent from the platoon. All Consequences are on the platoon.

2.2. Similarly, Spin counters are associated with platoons and not with units. They may be spent by any unit in the platoon. Spin expires after having had one complete turn in which to use it (thus if Spin is acquired during a defensive roll, it lasts until the end of the platoon's next opportunity to act whereas if it is acquired during movement, say, it lasts until the end of the platoons next opportunity to act and NOT the opportunity in which it moved).

2.3. Units that are not normally part of a platoon (Aircraft only at this time) are associated with a particular platoon (their "director") and donate their Fate point to that platoon. They draw Fate points from that platoon when invoking, tagging, or compelling. In some scenarios the director will not be represented on the map, and will not be controlled by forces represented on the map.

2.4. Unit Representation

All units have Skills, Aspects, Stunts, and Tracks. Skills are an n-cap pyramid (e.g. one skill at level three, two skills at level two, and three skills at level one) or a column (e.g. one skill at level four, one skill at level three, one skill at level two, and one skill at level one).

2.4.1. All units have 1 Aspect and contribute 1 fate point to their platoon.

2.4.2. Infantry Units have a baseline of zero stunts, plus one stunt for each Technology level. All other units have one stunt, plus one additional stunt for each Technology level; consequently, units at T-1 or lower do not have stunts. As described below, the platoon leader always has one additional stunt, regardless of technology level. No unit may have negative stunts.

2.4.3. Units have only one Stress track: Morale. When a unit takes a hit past the end of its Morale track that cannot (or will not) be mitigated by a platoon Consequence, it is eliminated. This narrative associated with this elimination can be determined by the table: it might represent panic and dispersal or surrender; a complete lack of morale is also adequately explained by everyone being killed. Some combination of the three is most likely, but it's your story. regardless of the story, the mechanical effect at this scale is the same. As with other stress tracks, a hit on a marked box rolls up to the next unmarked box.

2.4.4. Infantry

Infantry units represented a small number of individuals of similar or concerted equipment: a unit typically represents 2-5 individuals, though it could be as many as 12. Specific weapons and armour per individual are not modelled except as they are represented in the skill and stunt list.



2.4.4.1. Infantry have a 3-cap Skill pyramid. Infantry units choose one skill at rank 3, two skills at rank 2, and three skills at rank 1.

2.4.4.3. Infantry have a basic Morale track of 2 boxes, modified by the Veteran skill. The Infantry unit has a Morale track two boxes long. If the unit has Veteran at rank 1 or 2, the Morale track is three boxes long. If the unit has Veteran at rank 3, the Morale track is four boxes long.

2.4.4.4. The maximum movement for Infantry is two zones. Infantry units may move a maximum of two zones regardless of their Movement roll.

2.4.5. Armour

Armour units are individual tanks, cars, or other mobile armoured platform. They represent all of the equipment present on precisely that model of vehicle.

2.4.5.1. Armour has a 4-cap Skill column. Armour units have one skill at rank 4, one at rank 3, one at rank 2, and one at rank 1.

2.4.5.3. Armour has a basic Morale track of 1 box, modified by the Veteran skill. Armour units have a Morale track one box long. If the unit has Veteran skill 1 or 2, the Morale track is two boxes long. If the unit has Veteran skill of 3 or 4, the Morale track is three boxes long.

2.4.5.4. The maximum movement for Armour is four zones. Armour units may move a maximum of four zones regardless of their Movement roll.

2.4.6. Artillery

Artillery units are batteries of indirect fire kept off map. They move only in a notional sense insofar as they can roll Movement as a defensive roll against counter-battery detection (Spot actions) and Indirect Fire. Infantry-based artillery (such as mortar or grenade launcher crews) should be represented by including an Indirect Fire capability on an Infantry unit. Artillery batteries that need to be represented on the map for purposes of the scenario should be represented by their attending personnel as lightly armed Infantry units.

It can be handy to create an off-map artillery card for artillery platoons, especially if they have a platoon range greater than one. This will greatly simplify aircraft attacks on the artillery platoon.



2.4.6.1. Artillery has a 3-cap Skill column. Artillery units have one skill at rank 3, one at rank 2, and one at rank 1.

2.4.6.3. Artillery has a basic Morale track of 2 boxes, modified by the Veteran skill. Artillery units have a Morale track two boxes long. If the unit has Veteran skill 1 or 2, the Morale track is three boxes long. If the unit has veteran skill 3, then the Morale track is four boxes long.

2.4.6.4. The maximum movement for Artillery is zero zones as they are not represented on the map. Artillery units do not move on the map and so do not make Movement rolls except to remove a Spotting marker. Shifts from a Movement roll erode an Artillery SPOTTED marker. This applies to non-artillery elements of the platoon that are off-map with the artillery (leaders or anti-aircraft components, for example).

2.4.6.5. Artillery can only fire on targets that are in Line-of-sight to a friendly unit that is currently attached to a platoon (or does not need to be) and has no OOC counters.

2.4.6.6. All units in the same platoon are considered to be in the same zone as their leader for purposes of command and communication, and for purposes of Zone Effect when attacked by aircraft, unless they have a stunt that allows a greater platoon range. All members of an artillery platoon not situated on the map must be on the same Artillery card (they cannot be spread over multiple cards). Not all units in an artillery platoon need to actually be artillery units (there might be an infantry leader unit supplying comms and other coverage and an armour unit supplying AA for example).

2.4.6.8. Artillery units with OOC counters cannot fire.

2.4.7.9. Non-artillery units in an artillery platoon must be in the off-map artillery card in order to be associated with the platoon. This means that, although the Leader unit might be represented by something other than artillery (a vehicle or infantry unit might be more advantageous) it will gain no advantages from its mobility on the map.

2.4.7. Aircraft

Aircraft are independent units and therefore require no leader unit. They also move differently from other units: an Aircraft unit may place itself on any zone on the map when its turn to act comes up.

2.4.7.1. Aircraft are automatically spotted when they are on the map.

2.4.7.2. Movement. Aircraft movement is different from other units.

• Aircraft begin on the REARM box of the Rearm track.
• While on the Rearm track, an aircraft unit may make Movement rolls to progress along the track.
• An aircraft on the LAUNCH! box at the beginning of its turn may be placed on any zone on the map. Its turn is now over.
• Once an aircraft acts while on the map (usually in the turn after it has moved there), it is returned to the REARM box of the Rearm track, unless it has a stunt (such as VTOL) which allows it to stay.
• An aircraft unit on the map may act as any other unit except that it may not make a Movement roll.

2.4.7.6. Aircraft have a 4-cap Skill column. Aircraft units have one skill at rank 4, one at rank 3, one at rank 2, and one at rank 1.

2.4.7.8. Aircraft have a basic Morale track of 1 box, modified by the Veteran skill. Aircraft units have a Morale track one box long. If the unit has Veteran skill 1 or 2, the Morale track is two boxes long. If the unit has veteran skill 3 or 4, then the Morale track is three boxes long.

2.4.7.9. The maximum movement for Aircraft is zero zones as they are not represented on the map. Aircraft units do not move on the map in the same fashion as ground units and so do not make Movement rolls except to decrease their re-arm time.

2.4.7.10. Aircraft increase range by 1 for all distance calculations (both against them and against other targets).

2.4.7.11. Aircraft can only be attacked by the Anti-air skill.

2.4.3. Leadership

Each platoon has one, and only one, leader unit. An infantry, armour, or artillery unit can be designated a leader.

2.4.3.1. A Leader unit may perform a Rally action in addition to its normal action. It may, therefore, make two Rally actions in a turn.

2.4.3.2. Leaders have one Stunt chosen from the Leadership set in addition to the stunts for their base unit type.

2.4.3.3. Leaders add two morale boxes to the unit to which they are attached.

2.4.3.4. The maximum movement for Leader units is their base unit's maximum movement.

2.4.3.5. Leader units contribute one extra fate point to the platoon (one for the Leader and one for the base unit).

2.4.3.6. Leader units have two Aspects — one for the Leader and one for the base unit — in addition to Out of Ammo.

2.5. Skills

All skills are eligible to be chosen by any unit type.

Anti-air: base roll to inflict harm on aircraft units
Armour: base defensive roll against fire
Camouflage: base roll to avoid detection
Command: base roll to improve (repair) morale
Communications: base roll to jam or unjam a unit's communications
Direct fire: base roll to inflict harm in line of sight
Hand-to-hand: base roll to inflict harm in the same zone
Indirect fire: base roll to inflict harm beyond line of sight (including off map)
Movement: base roll for movement
Observation: base roll to detect and locate enemy artillery fire
Specialist: a sink skill that has no mechanical effect, for placing on the pinnacle skill of a unit that is not designed for the represented forms of combat (example, artillery crews as Infantry or a staff convoy as Armour).
Veteran: modifier to Morale track

2.5.1. Units may only roll skills for which they are trained. The only exception is when defending against an opposed roll, in which case the untrained skill is presumed to be zero.

2.6. Stunts

Cavalry: this unit is undersized and overpowered, so its maximum move is increased by one (Infantry, Armour, or Artillery only). Infantry units may take this stunt multiple times: the unit may be thought to have an intrinsic vehicle for mobility. When taken by an Armour unit, the stunt is designated Light.

Commando: this unit is not automatically spotted when it shares a zone with an enemy unit (Infantry only).
Commo: unit is attached to an integrated communications net, increasing platoon range by 1. May be taken multiple times.
Defensive investment: this unit rolls down morale hits.
Engineer: may use a successful maneuver roll to use up the free tag on an enemy-applied Aspect or make two Maneuver rolls on the zone it is in instead of the usual one (Infantry and Armour only).
Guerrilla tactics: attacks from this unit never generate Spin for the defender (Infantry only).
Highly trained: this unit has one additional morale box.
Infantry carrier: this unit can carry infantry (Armour or Aircraft only). One infantry unit in the zone can move with this carrying unit (including traversing the Rearm track for aircraft). The infantry unit cannot act this turn (before or after the move). The unit can begin the game carrying its infantry load. For aircraft, when the aircraft re-enters the map, the infantry is deployed and may act normally; the aircraft may not otherwise act while deploying infantry. Carried infantry do not have to be in the same platoon as the carrier.
Interceptor: if this unit is on the LAUNCH! box, it may enter the map any time an enemy aircraft enters the map and act immediately before the target aircraft can act. It may act only against this target aircraft (Aircraft only).
Irregulars: this unit is an irregular non-professional unit (a sink stunt). Other sink stunts can be invented to fit the scenario: Slow, to represent a low rate of fire, etc.
Long range: ignores one zone for attack roll range modification.
Orbital: this unit can only be attacked by fire from other orbital units (Artillery only). Orbital units that are attacked with the Jam action, however, take damage as though attacked with weapons (in addition to the effects of jamming).
Prepared positions: this unit was set up long before the battle (Artillery only). Before combat begins, it may add a the aspect of "locked in" to any two zones on the map. This aspect can be free-tagged by any allied Artillery unit, and remains an aspect on the zone which may be tagged normally thereafter.
Scatterable mines payload: this unit can deliver area-denial ordnance (mines). Pass values placed by the unit from an Interdiction strike are permanent (Artillery and Aircraft only).
Scout: this unit can continue movement after entering a zone containing enemy units (Infantry and Armour only).
Skill Substitution
With an appropriate narrative, additional stunts may be designed to allow skill substitutions. Each unit may only ever have one Skill substitution stunt. The following are offered as representative examples.

• Agile: can use Movement in place of Armour (Armour only).
• Graphite payload: this unit can deliver payloads designed to interrupt electrical and electromagnetic function (Artillery and Aircraft only). It may use its Indirect Fire skill to effect Jam attacks. Note that this combines with Zone Effect to jam all units in a zone (regardless of owner).
• Shoot and Scoot: this weapon system is designed to be fired while on the move or to move very soon after firing a mission. It may use its Movement skill instead of Camouflage (Artillery only).Technology Enhancement: increase any skill by one. This stunt may be taken at most twice per skill, for a total bonus of +2.
• Stealth technology: designed to hide, this unit can use Camouflage in place of Armour (Armour only).

VTOL: this unit is designed to stay on target — once on the map it may remain, moving a maximum of 1 zone (its free move) per turn (Aircraft only).
Zone Effect: this unit may attack all units in the target zone with one roll at -2 (Armour, Artillery, or Aircraft only).

2.6.1. Leadership stunts

Each platoon leader additionally chooses one of the following four stunts.

Battlefield genius: Command units can be one zone further apart than otherwise allowed.
Logistics genius: units in platoon do not have the "Out of Ammo" stunt.
Not a genius: sink stunt for crap commanders.
Tactical genius: Units in platoon ignore one extra zone of range when attacking.

2.7. Tracks

All units have a single track, Morale. A platoon may expend Consequences to mitigate hits past the end of the track on a unit. A platoon has a three Consequences to allocate and each mitigates two hits on a track. As is standard in FATE, platoon Consequence becomes an Aspect and may be free-tagged once or compelled or tagged normally to affect any unit in the platoon.

2.8. Aspects

All units have one descriptive Aspect chosen by the owner and add one fate point to their platoon. All units also have the Aspect "Out of Ammo". A unit, when spending fate points, expends platoon fate points. When a unit gains a fate point through a compel, that fate point belongs to the platoon.

3. Command

A base is the minimum unit for each type, represented by a single miniature "base". For Infantry, that's 4-8 guys. For Armour that's one vehicle. For Artillery that's a battery.

3.1. A platoon is a grouping of bases that can be ordered to act by a Leadership unit. By default that unit must be in the same zone as the Leader, but this may be modified by Stunts.

3.2. Non Leader units that do not belong to a platoon may move away from enemy units, may attack enemy units that have fired upon them, and may attempt to unjam and remove OOC counters on themselves, but may take no other actions. They have no fate points and do not share a platoon's Consequences. Hits on these units may not be mitigated by a platoon taking a Consequence. Units that become disassociated from their platoon do not change the platoon's Fate point total.

3.3. Platoon membership is checked at the beginning of the platoon's action.

3.4. Units with Out of Communication (OOC) counters are only part of a platoon membership when in the same zone as the leader unit.

3.5. A leader unit with OOC counters disconnects all its platoon members but suffers none of the other restrictions described in 3.2.

4. Sequence of play

The Sequence proceeds in a fixed order around the table, with each player acting for each of her units in whatever order she prefers. The sequence order is best left simple and static — clockwise from the person on the left of the Caller, say.

4.1. Identify a player to act as Caller. The Caller manages the Sequence.

4.2. The player currently acting is the Actor.





4.3. A Turn is a set of cycles through the Sequence sufficient that every player has had an opportunity to move every platoon under his control.

4.3 The Sequence

• The Caller names the next Actor and asks for actions.
  • The Actor selects a Platoon that has not acted this turn and for each unit in that platoon:
    • determine Platoon membership, based on range and communication.
    • pick up any Interdiction tokens placed by the unit previously
    • optionally move the unit 1 zone (a free move)
    • select an action for the unit. If the action requires a target, the target must be named at this time. If the unit is an aircraft on the LAUNCH! box it can be placed on the map and its turn ends.
    • The Caller calls for compels. If a compel is offered, the Actor may take the Fate point and skip this unit or pay a Fate point and continue. A compel must refer to an Aspect on the unit, the platoon, the zone, or the map.
    • resolve action as per the specific action events listed below. In general this involves:
      • rolling Skill + 4dF, possibly versus a defensive roll of Skill + 4dF. Success is achieved by any number of shifts.
      • adjusting the rolls by invoking Aspects on the attacking unit, tagging enemy or friendly Aspects (unit or platoon), tagging Consequences on the defending unit, tagging Aspects on the attacker or defender's zone, or spending spin.
      • resolving the attack (apply damage, garner spin, place new Aspects, or otherwise complete the action as detailed below for the specific action)
    • If the unit is an aircraft, place it on the REARM box on the REARM track.
  • Actor proceeds to the next unit she wishes to act.
• When all units in the platoon have acted, the platoon is marked Acted.
• If all platoons of all players have been marked Acted, the Caller announces a new turn and has all platoon markers removed.

4.1. Actions

4.1.1. Move: Roll Movement and move the number of shifts, up to the maximum movement permitted.

4.1.1.1. If your movement places you in (or passes through) the same zone as an enemy unit, both you and it gain a SPOTTED marker of value 3 and the moving unit ceases movement.

4.1.1.2. For artillery, roll Movement against a SPOTTED marker value and reduce its value by the number of shifts.

4.1.1.4. For aircraft units, move the number of shifts along the Rearm track.

4.1.1.5. Aircraft on their LAUNCH! box may be placed (without a roll) on any zone on the map or any battery zone off the map. Aircraft in a battery zone may be attacked exactly as spotted artillery, though only with anti-air skills from a unit on the same artillery card as the spotted Artillery unit.

4.1.1.6. If Movement takes a unit out of Line-of-sight from all enemy units, reduce any SPOTTED marker by one.

4.1.1.7. For each zone that a unit enters during its movement, an enemy may compel it to halt in that zone.



4.1.2. Attack: Roll your appropriate attack skill against enemy Armour skill on any unit with a SPOTTED marker, counting shifts as damage. Subtract range to target. Add the minimum range of the attack type (zero for hand-to-hand, one for direct fire, two for indirect fire). -3 shifts gains Spin for the defender.



4.1.2.1. Indirect fire may not act at range zero or 1. Direct fire may not act at range zero. Hand-to-hand may ONLY attack at range zero. Anti-air may attack at any range but recall that all ranges from ground to aircraft are increased by one. Range from aircraft to aircraft are counted normally. Artillery attacks targets without range modification. Attacks on artillery in an off-map "battery zone" are at effective range 10 zones when attacked by on-map units.

4.1.2.2. Units that attack are automatically spotted: for Indirect fire, add a SPOTTED marker of value 1. For Direct fire, add a SPOTTED marker of value 2. For Hand-to-hand add a SPOTTED marker of value 3. If the unit already has a SPOTTED marker, increase it by this value. A SPOTTED marker can be no larger than 4.

4.1.3. Interdict: Select a target zone. Roll your appropriate attack skill against target zero. Subtract range to target zone. Distribute shifts as pass values on any border for that zone (thus 4 shifts could place a pass value 2 on two borders, 4 on one border, 1 on 4 borders, or any other combination). Interdiction lasts until the beginning of the attacker's next turn. Interdiction attacks grant SPOTTED markers exactly as Attacks.

4.1.4. Rally: Roll Command against highest Morale track hit to repair track hits by shifts (as repair on spacecraft). Can roll against any unit in the platoon.

4.1.5. Jam: Roll Communications against another unit's Communications. For each shift generated, place an OOC counter on the attacked unit. Failure by three or more generates Spin for the defender. Note that this attack is especially effective against a Leader unit.

4.1.6. Unjam: Roll Communications against zero and remove the shifts in OOC counters from yourself. If this unit is a Leader unit, it may remove OOC counters from members of its platoon.


4.1.7. Maneuver: Roll any skill + narrative and subtract range to target zone. Success places an Aspect on a Zone. The Aspect is free-taggable once by an allied unit. Use Maneuvers to model artillery cratering (Cratered on a zone), forward observation (Laser designation on a unit), covering fire (Keeping our heads down on a unit), and so on.

4.1.7.1. Maneuvers that use Direct Fire, Indirect Fire, or Hand-to-Hand? grant SPOTTED markers exactly as attacks of those type.

4.1.7.2. Maneuvers cannot be used to place an Aspect on a Unit.

4.1.8. Spot: Roll Observation against Camouflage for any artillery that has fired or any other unit in Line of Sight. On any success, any allied unit may fire or maneuver on the spotted unit. Place a SPOTTED marker on the unit including the number of shifts. Failure by three or more generates Spin for the defender. If the unit already has a SPOTTED marker, increase it by the number of shifts.


4.1.9. Cover: Roll Camouflage against a target value of zero and reduce any SPOTTED markers on the unit by the number of shits achieved.

4.2. Limitations

You not use same skill for your action as was used in defense (unless allowed by a stunt).

5. Damage

When playing a fast game with many units, any hit past the end of a track removes the unit (it is just Taken Out). Prior to determining the Taken Out result, hits may be mitigated with platoon Consequences. A platoon can have a maximum of three Consequences. Each Consequence reduces a hit by two. Platoon Consequences are also Aspects that are effectively on all units of the platoon. They may be free-tagged once.

5.1. Example Consequences

Unit Tango Alpha is on fire!
We'll all miss Captain Magdalene.
How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?!

7. Creating scenarios

Units of the same technology level should be roughly balanced unless you deliberately take sink stunts or skills. Units with higher technology levels are more effective than lower ones but not outrageously so — all they get is an extra stunt on some units per level of difference.

When constructing scenarios you will want a way to weight the effectiveness of different units. This system has been designed so that a "unit" is roughly equal to any other unit, the exception being Leader units, which are the equivalent of two normal units. Units of differing technology levels are different in power but not hugely so — they differ by a small number of stunts. Depending on stunts taken, a good rule of thumb is that each difference in Technology is about 25% more unit power.

Within the context of the RPG, scenarios will often be unbalanced, with the players struggling to make do given the odds as determined by the situation in which they have found themselves.

As a stand-alone wargame, though, some approximations of balance are possible. Nevertheless, we recommend that, above all, you run a scenario that's interesting. Create units and organizations with a story and an engagement with a purpose and it doesn't matter a ton who wins it — the simulation will be fun either way. It might even be the case that can victory conditions be created or modified as the game progresses, or even at the end. The victor is the side that achieves its purpose. Revisit victory frequently during the game — the story may change! An ambush might be won and become a pursuit which is lost. A Breakthrough that starts going especially well for the runners might turn into a Meeting Engagement, or even an opportunity to secure objectives.

As a wargame, progress can even be determined by an arbitrary time limit. Set a number of turns after which victory will be evaluated. At this time, the game is over. If you want to continue (perhaps with new objectives!), set a new timer and perhaps allow some reinforcements in. You will have to experiment with times, but 6-10 turns should be plenty.

7.1. Purpose

Engagements come in a limited number of forms. By all means, dream up your own scenario from whole cloth, but you may find these categories useful for setting the scene.

Meeting engagement

Roughly equal forces meet by accident or intent on the field and engage to destroy. Armies start on opposite sides of a map.

Pursuit

A small force is pursued by an equal or superior force. The small force wishes to disengage. The large force wishes to destroy. Armies start with pursuing force on one edge and the pursued force near the middle-ish. You want a long map for this. The more units the pursued force gets off the map, the better.

Breakthrough

A dug in force attempts to keep another force from disengaging. The disengaging force needs to get most of its units through or get special units through. Start with the blockade force setting up in the middle of the map and the runners on one edge. They must exit the opposite edge with their objective units intact.

Ambush

A strong force has entered the region to patrol and is surprised by an inferior but entrenched force. Set up as Breakthrough but balance units differently (patrol is stronger), and give defensive advantages (Aspects on zones or units). The ambushers should win by inflicting lost of harm and then escaping. The patrol wins by surviving the ambush and destroying the ambushers.

Objectives

Designate a number of objectives on the map — perhaps towns or hilltops. Start with equal forces on opposite edges of the map. Win by having units on most objectives at the end. You can mix this with many of the previous scenario designs (especially Meeting Engagement and Ambush).

8. Example units

9. Design notes

As this is intended for use as a wargame, lacking a referee, core design principles are consistency, coverage, and symmetry. When a referee is assumed, there is great leeway in designing rules to simply say "wing it", and while that's powerful and useful in that context, it won't work here. We want the rules to be clear, well covered, and obeying general principles with sufficient consistency that a rule can be guessed and will generally be guessed correctly. Or at least playably.

This has driven choices like:

• Actions generally have specific skills associated with them
• Rolls that do not generate additional advantage beyond success (or that generate limited advantage) generate spin (previously only defensive rolls qualified, but the reason they qualified was because they do nothing additional when they succeed exceptionally, which was asymmetrical with the attacker)

9.1. Tactics

One of the chief sources of tactical pressure, aside from the obvious one of move and fire, is the choice of unit action order. The actor must elect to act with specific units in an order he prefers, but counter-activity or action results may have cascading effects on remaining unit action.

For example, it might be obvious to lead an action by moving the platoon leader. In this fashion the Actor knows exactly how far each unit must move in order to stay inside the platoon's communication envelope. This is good, careful process. However, the enemy may elect to compel this move, which basically means halting or slowing progress of the entire platoon. That's a no-brainer to pay Fate for, which makes it a Fate point sink. On the other hand, moving the Leader last could wind up with a bad Movement roll, stranding the whole platoon too far from the Leader unit. This is basically a manifestation of social pressure and initiative which is complicated and involves player-level psychology as well as game tactics. This is good.

Similarly, Jamming Leader units is time well spent — successfully suppressing the Leader will disconnect the entire platoon. This will then drive unit design — the Leader unit or his associated ride (recall that the Leader can defend with either his or his ride's skills) will likely be burdened with defensive Communications skills in order to resist these attacks.

9.2. Simulation through Aspects

Smoke? A maneuver to place the Aspect Smokey on a zone. Cratering charges? A maneuver to place the Aspect Cratered on a zone. Time sensitivity is often sufficiently modeled by the free-tag mechanism — smoke is only especially effective the first time it's tagged; thereafter it's another source of advantage at normal cost.

9.3. Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock, and something else

Game design tears me between simulation integrity and a fun game. Fortunately, in symmetric warfare there is some intrinsic balance that suits both goals. In asymmetric warfare, we are deliberately choosing simulation over "game play" but can adjust objective values to make up for it (that is, an incredibly weak side can "win" by running out a timer to save fictional compatriots, even though they are all eliminated). That said, there is some unit relationship balance that is more game than simulation.

The balancing relationship between unit types is as follows:

Infantry is intended to be flexible, capable of adequately subsuming multiple roles. An observation unit can also be a credible anti-air threat and be adept at re-hiding. An assault unit can also be a credible defensive unit.

Armour is intended to be dedicated and reactive. They do a couple of things extremely well and will generally suck up one skill slot for Movement just to take advantage of their intrinsically high speed limit.

Artillery is intended to do lots of harm but be vulnerable to reactive attacks from other Artillery. It is also intentional that aircraft are the bane of artillery in all cases. A configuration that includes artillery has to consider the possibility of enemy air power and dedicate some counter-measure or they will get their artillery cleared.

Aircraft are intended to do periodic but precise and devastating harm. They are highly vulnerable while on the map (always spotted, always in line of sight), again by design, but also extremely precise in their deployment while there (range 1 to any target they choose to kill). Countering aircraft requires deployment of specific equipment: either other aircraft or AA capable units. Putting a little AA capacity in all infantry is a good buy.

10. Player characters

A player character may be associated with any unit. While more than one character can be associated with a single unit, for playability it helps to assign characters to different units, to allow players something to control during the game. A single character stand can have his base is touching the associated unit base for representation, but it is easier just to note which character is associated with which unit separately. The player character moves with the unit. If the unit is destroyed, the player character is no longer involved in the combat (he's gone to ground, run off, or dead — let the player narrate his escape).

Each character associated with a unit may, however, amplify one skill of the unit. The player may choose which skill gets amplified based on the following list:
Anti-air: amplified by MG Slug Thrower, MG Energy Weapons, or Ship's Weapons
Armour: amplified by Tactics
Camouflage: amplified by Stealth or Survival
Command: amplified by Tactics, Intimidation, or Oratory
Communications: amplified by EW
Direct fire: amplified by Slug Thrower or Energy Weapons
Hand-to-hand: amplified by Brawling or Close Combat
Indirect fire: amplified by Ship's Weapons or Demolitions
Movement: amplified by Tactics or Vehicle
Observation: amplified by Alertness
Veteran: amplified by Resolve

Example: Sonja hasn't served on a tank crew since she had been drafted during Aratea's fight for independence, but here she was again, helping these low-tech schmucks find their way free of the Consortium. Sonja has Tactics-4 and Vehicle-1, and the T0 Assault Tank Crew she is with has Direct Fire 4, Armour 3, Indirect Fire 2, Movement 1. Because her Vehicle skill is the same as the Tank's movement, there is no effect. Her Tactics training, however, can potentially amplify either the Tank's Armour or its Movement. She knows they are up against infantry, and so she choses to amplify Movement, giving the tank an effective Movement 2 as it begins its assault.

While the skill amplification will improve overall performance, the primary value of a PC attached to a stand is that the PC retains his own Fate points — that stand may use either platoon Fate or the PC's Fate to compel, invoke, or react to compels.

PCs do not act at a scale relevant to platoon scale combat, but they may use their turn to perform Maneuvers that place Aspects on zones or units.