VSF boarding actions

[Malamute]

I haven't. Or at least I don't think I have...

Had you been paying attention at Mini BLAM rather than hiding behind your city walls you would have seen one of the Japanese Neffs get boarded and the crew killed in a most brutal fashion.

The rules are pretty simple:

Assuming the boarding vessel has the correct speed on the turn of the activation card the ship attempting to board makes a skill roll for the pilot/rudder man to enable the ship to come alongside and anchor against the target neff/ship.

 The figures who are attempting to board make a morale/bottle roll on a D10 to see whether they make the jump onto the target ship. on a roll of a one they miss time the jump and fall to their death, on a 2-4 they hesitate and do not jump, on a 5+ they successfully board and move immediately to hand to hand combat. (Martians only need a 5+ due to their fieldcraft +2 to die rolls, Earthers require 7 + to board.)

Simple really I think the numbers are correct for the die rolls, but you get the general idea.

[Mason]

....on a 2-4 they hesitate and do not jump....

I think the Brits must have rolled a lot of '2's and '3's at mini-BLAM before they plucked up the courage to come down from  the safety of the walls.
 

EDIT: I must apologise as it seems that the Brits were only issued with D3's at the start of the battle......

[Malamute]

I think the Brits must have rolled a lot of '2's and '3's at mini-BLAM before they plucked up the courage to leave the safety of the walls.
 

 

[Dewbakuk]

The British forces were tasked with defending the walls, and a sterling job they did too. As evidenced by the fact the Martians were too terrified to close with them!

[Malamute]

The British forces were tasked with defending the walls, and a sterling job they did too. As evidenced by the fact the Martians were too terrified to close with them!

 

No its coz they were too busy butchering the Japanese

PS what are you doing for Salute? (hint, hint)

[Dewbakuk]

Currently my good lady wishes to come to Salute too.

[Bullshott]

Easy way for the Japanese (or any other Earthers) onboard large armoured nefs to screw the Martian boarders - as the boarding craft approaches, simply retire into the superstructure of the nef. Even if the boarders break through the doors they will find themselves at a severe disadvantage, with the 2m tall Martians being forced to stoop under the low deck heads (that's ceilings to you landlubbers) and fight in such tight confines that they can't wield their glaives to effect. Also, with all the crew inside the armoured superstructure of the nef, it allows allied nefs to rake the decks with machinegun fire and kill any boarders stupid enough ho hang around.

[Dewbakuk]

Wooden decks don't do a lot to stop bullets and the British ships were the only ones with armoured decks, and only some of those at this point in 'history'.

There's a great report from WW2 about the first British ship to be hit by a Japanese kamikaze plane (going from memory so details may be wrong). The commander of the formation with his American advisor watched as the plane drew a line directly on the centre of one of the ships and dived into his attack. The American turns to the commander and gives condolences on the loss of the ship and lives, the kamikaze slams into the ship and there is a huge explosion. The commander turns to the advisor and asks why they'd do something like that? As hatches on the struck ship swing open and sailors come out with brooms to sweep the plane wreckage over the side and into the ocean.

[Bullshott]

Might have to put an armoured deck on the nef frigate I'm considering making

[Bullshott]

Might have to put an armoured deck on the nef frigate I'm considering making

...and machineguns positioned for sweeping her own decks!

[Mason]

Do whatever you like, Dave.
Them cliffs will get you in the end anyway.
 

[Dewbakuk]

Do whatever you like, Dave.
Them cliffs will get you in the end anyway.
 

 

[The_Beast]

Have we seen this already?

Sorry, all, I thought you meant a skiff purpose-built, or converted, for boarding actions.

Doug

[Bullshott]

Getting this thread back on track and carrying on with my theme of diving suits, I have these to paint up soon:



They look far better 'in the lead' than in this picture - they are very nice sculpts indeed.

My big decision is do I keep these as divers or modify their guns and turn them into more space troops.

What are your thoughts on what a VSF spaceship/high altitude boarding party would look like and what they would be armed with?

[Dewbakuk]

Are you sticking with vacuum in space? If so then swords and harpoons are fine in space. They just have to tear the suits.

The 'bio of a space tyrant' books had a section on space piracy that talked about how the old pirate styles made a return along with swordplay. All it takes to kill is a flick of the wrist and a knicked suit.