Ground Combat

Note: see Civil War and Federation Involvement regarding ground forces not involved in direct conflicts.

Note: This is a work in progress and borrows heavily from VBAM's 1st edition Campaign Moderator's Companion, with concepts pulled from the 1st and 2nd editions' respective Campaign Guides.

Commanding Officer Special Abilities

The Star Fleet Marine Corps Expeditionary and Regular Forces share the same organizational hierarchy. Where they differ is in the assets that comprise their commands: Expeditionary utilizes medium infantry and light & medium armor trained to take and secure beachheads during an invasion; Regulars have heavy infantry and armor—as well as an assortment of other elements with special capabilities—in the pursuit of conducting a world-wide campaign to secure and hold the planet.

Additionally, Expeditionary units may have to operate in smaller commands than regimental level if assets to get them from orbit to the beachhead are limited. In such a case, one of the combat commands will be identified as the lead element, with any other regimental assets that can be provided giving tactical support.

In such an event, along with fighting at a smaller warfighting capability than the preferred regimental level, the units conducting the invasion will also lose out on their commanding officer's special command ability. Randomly assigned to the commanding general (or colonel, for regiments) is the ability (or abilities) the officer developed over the length of his career. The section below the following table will detail each possible ability the commanding officer may bring to his unit.

The number of skills are dependent upon the rank of the commanding officer. Those with more than one (Brigadier General and above) can all be combined into one ability or spread out among several.

Marine Officer Command Skill Count

Rank	Echelon	Skills Points
Colonel	Regiment (VI)	1
Brigadier General	Brigade (V)	2
Major General	Division (IV)	3
Lieutenant General	Expeditionary Force (III)	4

Abilities

Attack (Unit): Each level of this skill adds 1 to the unit's Attack value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.

Attack (Planetary): This is considered the upper level of the Attack skill and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to Attack, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to Attack. Cost: 4 skill points

Attrition (Unit): Each level of this skill adds 1 to the unit's Attrition value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.

Attrition (Planetary): This is considered the upper level of the Attrition skill and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to Attrition, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to Attrition . Cost: 4 skill points

Defense (Unit): Each level of this skill adds 1 to the unit's Defense value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.

Defense (Planetary): This is considered the upper level of the Defense skill and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to Defense, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to Defense. Cost: 4 skill points

Experienced Peacekeeper: This officer’s unit receives the Peacekeeper special unit ability. Cost: 2 skill points; available to both Expeditionary & Regular brigades, divisions, and forces.

Invasion Specialist: This officer’s unit receives an additional +1 Attack when attacking during the Invasion phase. Cost: 1 skill point

Seasoned Marine: This commanding officer has considerable experience on the expeditionary side and they bring that knowledge to the Regulars. The officer’s ground unit receives the Marine special unit ability. Cost: 2 skill points; available only to Regular brigades, divisions, and forces.

Tactical Adaption (Unit): Each level of this skill adds 1 to the unit's D Factor value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.

Tactical Adaption (Planetary): This is considered the upper level of the Tactical Adaption skill and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to D Factor, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to D Factor. Cost: 4 skill points

Tactical Support Specialist: Cost: 1 skill point

Random Special Ability Selection

Unlike in the Fleet, where the commanding officer's command skill is tracked and improved over time, the commanding officers of Marine units are NPCs, redefined each time that a particular unit is engaged in a combat encounter unrelated to the previous one.

When a regiment or higher is tasked with conducting a combat operation, the skills of the current commanding officer are randomly determined. The first skill rolled is "purchased" with the skill points allotted for their rank, as long as they have enough points; re-roll otherwise, until an affordable skill presents itself. If points remain, another roll is done, and another, until all points are "spent".

Example: The Major General has three skill points. The first roll is

Random Special Ability table

Roll 1d100	Special Ability	Skills Points
Colonel	Regiment (VI)	1
Brigadier General	Brigade (V)	2
Major General	Division (IV)	3
Lieutenant General	Expeditionary Force (III)	4