DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Darkstar Scenario Construction
Getting ready for a live web game of Darkstar tomorrow.
August 3, 2519:
Scenario: Xi Boötis is a Second-Band star system about 22 light years from Sol, currently hotly contested between the United Kingdom and the Holy Russian Empire. In this star system, the British have key military, industrial, and economic installations orbiting the moons of three of the outer gas giants. One of these orbital platforms, Ravenwood Station, is in trouble.
Sensors on Ravenwood Station have detected an incoming gravimetric ripple, the tell-tale sign of ships in a Darkstar Wave. The speed of the wave clearly indicates warships. The amplitude of the wave indicates at least a cruiser strike force. Yet although the wave is too fast for civilian traffic, it’s not fast enough for just a Russian cruiser raiding force. The incoming warships are only doing a 9th-magnitude wave, about 150 c.
This probably means troop ships. The Russians are coming to Ravenwood Station to stay.
Sure enough, as the Russians drop out of their Darkstar Wave and begin to decelerate to attack speed, British sensors identify the threat. This is the battle-hardened Lazarev cruiser squadron (reinforced) under Captain Piotr F. Myshaga, a bloody-pawed bear with a plasma-scorched record extending back to the Psi Serpentis Wars of 2512. The last ship in his battle line is perhaps the most chilling … the Zhukov-class assault destroyer Katukov. Small and practically unarmed, she instead carries almost 200 elite Russian zero-g assault troops. The Russians mean to take Ravenwood Station.
The only British force that is both powerful enough to match the Lazarev squadron and fast enough to make the intercept this far out in the Xi Boötis system is the Bellerophon battlegroup. Accelerating to short, slow (but thereby hyperaccurate) intrasystem Darkstar wave, the Bellerophon and her escorts drop out of FTL just a few thousand kilometers from this moon and Ravenwood Station. The Russians are already on their approach.
General Quarters!
Full Mapsheet
Matchup of the approaching forces. The British have the heavier guns, especially aboard HMS Bellerophon and the installation itself. But the Russians are much faster and more numerous. CPK Katukov is the troop ship, carrying six assault boats and 168 shock troops. If she manages to dock with Ravenwood Station ...
Xi Boötis is where the battle is taking place. 
Some of the rarely-used charts to resolve boarding actions, the firefights that may be taking place while the naval battle is still ongoing.
The station sheet and the sheet for CPK Katukov, a modified Zhukov class assault destroyer (troop ship).
Nice scenario and set up, personally I’d target the troopship and forget about everything else until that was crippled. The station is pretty robust to last a couple of rounds of incoming fire and hey, I’d rather it was destroyed than captured and used against me.
This is going to be a good game.
Dice willing…
I had a chance to see some of the action live but no spoilers:)