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.
| 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
Invasion Specialist: This officer’s unit receives an additional +1 Attack when attacking during the Invasion phase. Cost: 1 skill point; available to both Expeditionary & Regular brigades, divisions, and forces.
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 as it increases over time, the commanding officers of Marine units are NPCs with skills that are (randomly) applied to them—in numbers appropriate for their rank—each time a unit is engaged in a combat encounter unrelated to the previous one of record.
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 after a purchase, roll again, and again, until all points are "spent".
Example: Major General Sellet Sh'zyllahr, commanding officer of the 23rd Regular Marine Division, has three skill points. The first roll is 68, Seasoned Marine, which costs 2 points. With one point left, 87 is rolled: Tactical Adaption (Unit) +3, which costs 3 points, too much for the general. A third roll of 62 results in Invasion Specialist for 1 point. Both special abilities, Seasoned Marine and Invasion Specialist, are excellent additions for a Regular unit and will make the 23rd extremely useful during the invasion phase of the upcoming Caliv campaign.
| Roll 1d100 | Special Ability | Skill Points |
|---|---|---|
| 01 - 10 | Attack (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 11 - 14 | Attack (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| 15 - 17 | Attack (Planetary) | 4 |
| 18 - 26 | Attrition (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 27 - 31 | Attrition (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| 32 - 33 | Attrition (Planetary) | 4 |
| 34 - 43 | Defense (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 44 - 48 | Defense (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| Roll 1d100 | Special Ability | Skill Points | 49 - 50 | Defense (Planetary) | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 - 57 | Experienced Peacekeeper | 2 | |||
| 58 - 67 | Invasion Specialist | 1 | |||
| 68 - 74 | Seasoned Marine | 2 | |||
| 75 - 83 | Tactical Adaption (Unit) +1 | 1 | |||
| 84 - 88 | Tactical Adaption (Unit) +3 | 3 | |||
| 89 - 90 | Tactical Adaption (Planetary) | 4 | |||
| 91 - 00 | Tactical Support Specialist | 1 |