0 BETA TEST
Writing and Artwork William Mitchell Playtesting Rich Bonaparte, Maurice Spann Sr., & Michael Zabkar Copyright 2012 Imperium Group LLC All Rights Reserved www.imperiumonline.com facebook.com/imperiumchronicles twitter.com/imperiumrpg
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION... 3 The Expansion... 3 New Factions... 3 K thonian Void... 3 Talion Republic... 3 New Ships... 4 New Weapons... 4 Space Installations... 5 THE FACTIONS... 6 Fleets... 6 K thonian Void... 6 Talion Republic... 6 Ships... 7 K thonian Void... 7 R'lyeh-class Battlecruiser... 7 Syaha h-class Drone Carrier... 7 N gha-class Destroyer... 7 Fhtagn-class Escort Destroyer... 8 Gof nn-class Heavy Drone... 8 Sotti-class Drone... 8 Talion Republic... 9 Kyrylo-class Light Cruiser... 9 Andriy-class Frigate... 9 Bohdan-class Torpedo Boat... 9 Fedir-class Gunboat... 10 Daryna-class Minelayer... 10 Vasyl-class Torpedo Bomber... 10 Zorya-class Fighter... 11 Imperium... 11 Countess-class Battlecruiser... 11 Squire-class Minesweeper... 11 Magna Supremacy... 12 Scinda-class Battlecruiser... 12 Space Stations & Starbases... 12 Space Stations... 12 Imperial Space Station... 12 Magna Space Station... 12 Talion Space Station... 13 Starbases... 13 Imperial Starbase... 13 Magna Starbase... 13 Talion Starbase... 13 Armory... 14 Direct-Fire Weapons... 14 Beam Weapons... 14 Projectile Weapons... 14 Pulse Weapons... 14 Rockets... 14 Guided Weapons... 14 Regular Missiles... 14 Heavy Missiles... 14 Anti-Missile Missiles... 15 Anti-Matter Missiles... 15 Torpedoes... 15 COMBAT... 16 Anti-Matter Missiles... 16 Area of Effect... 16 Damage... 16 Line of Sight... 16 Tactics... 17 Drones... 17 Launch/Stowing Drone Flights... 17 Drone Movement & Attacks... 17 Mothership Destruction... 17 Minefields... 17 Line of Sight... 18 Laying Mines... 18 Mine Sweeping... 18 Torpedoes... 18 Combat Charts... 19 Speed vs. Agility (Minefields)... 19 Accuracy vs. Agility; Sensor vs. ECM... 19 Max Speed; Sensors; Superstructure... 19 Thrust... 19 Shields... 19 Damage vs. Armor... 20 Range; Max Flight... 20 Direct-Fire Weapons... 20 Guided Weapons... 21 SCENARIOS... 22 Raid!... 22 Summary... 22 Order of Battle... 22 Victory Conditions... 22 Set-up... 22 Field of Play... 22 Torpedo Alley... 23 Summary... 23 Order of Battle... 23 Victory Conditions... 23 Set-up... 23 Field of Play... 23 Attack of the Drones... 23 Summary... 23 Order of Battle... 23 Victory Conditions... 23 Set-up... 23 Field of Play... 23 From the Darkness... 24 Summary... 24 Order of Battle... 24 Victory Conditions... 24 Set-up... 24 Field of Play... 24 Gunfight at Pidkova Nebula... 24 Summary... 24 Order of Battle... 25 Victory Conditions... 25 Set-up... 25 Special Rule... 25 Field of Play... 25 Reprisal... 25 Summary... 25 Order of Battle... 25 Victory Conditions... 25 Set-up... 25 Field of Play... 25 Hard Target... 26 Summary... 26 Order of Battle... 26 Victory Conditions... 26 Set-up... 26 Field of Play... 26 2
INTRODUCTION From the Void The Old Ones come. The end is near, As heartbeats drum. Bow your heads; Receive your fate. Chaos reigns; Their love is hate. Meanwhile, other races appeared and brought civilization to the galaxy. The Old Ones, sensing this through their dreams, created the K thonians as their proxies to spread chaos across the universe and bring about their reawakening. Burning fire From sky will fall. Praise the Gods! The END for all! Harbinger of the Old Ones Ancient K thonian Chant THE EXPANSION Claws of Chaos is the first expansion of the Fleets at War! sci-fi wargame. Claws of Chaos includes additional rules, as well as new counters and markers. Note, however, you will still need the original Fleets of War! rulebook to play. The expansion includes the following: New Factions New Ships New Weapons Space Installations New Factions K thonian Void In the beginning, goes the legend, the universe was chaos and all was good. A group of gods called the Old Ones formed the basis of this chaos swirling the matter and energy of the cosmos into a maelstrom of destruction. After a billion years, for reasons unknown, the Old Ones fell into a death-like sleep from which they could not wake, but in which they dreamt of hatred and annihilation. As a faction, the K thonians are allied to no one, and enemies to all. Both the Imperium and the Magna Supremacy have made efforts to eradicate this strange race, but each attempt has ended in failure. Seemingly at random, the K thonians appear from deep space, attacking civilization wherever they find it. Talion Republic The Talion Republic has long been a part of the group of nations called the Magna Client States. Situated between the Magna Supremacy and the Imperium, the Tals have maintained a strategic alliance with the Magna who supplied the Republic with both financial and military support. When the Third Imperium-Magna war broke out, the Tals paid their debt to their ally by allowing the Magna Navy to launch a flanking attack from Republic territory. Once the war was over and the Magna returned home, however, the Imperium launched a series of reprisals against the Tals. Its intention was to destroy Talion infrastructure that the Magna had used in their attacks during the war. 3
Using their new Countess-class battlecruisers, the Imperial Navy sent assault groups across the border, destroying or heavily damaging several space stations and starbases. The Tals lacked a fleet of large ships, and instead depended on vast minefields and smaller vessels armed with torpedoes. In the end, the Imperials withdrew bruised and bloodied, but not before leaving a slew of destruction behind. Gunboat (PG): A patrol boat armed with projectile weapons instead of missiles. Minelayer (DM): A ship designed to sow minefields. Minesweeper (AM): A small vessel designed to find and destroy mines, usually to clear a path for larger ships to pass through. Remote Drones (DR & DRH): These are small craft similar to fighters except controlled by a larger ship. They come in regular and heavy versions. Torpedo Boat (PT): A patrol boat armed with slow, but powerful torpedoes. Torpedo Bomber (TB): A craft similar to fighters except designed to carry a single torpedo. Due to their larger size, a flight of torpedo bombers includes only three craft instead of the usual four. New Weapons Anti-matter Missile: The K thonian weapon explodes into a ball of high radiation that damages any craft that pass through the sphere. Sensors cannot see past the cloud, making missile locks impossible against ships on the other side. New Ships Battlecruiser (CB): The battlecruiser sacrifices armor for armament to give the vessel greater attack ability. Drone Carrier (CVD): Smaller than a conventional carrier, the CVD carries remote-controlled drones instead of piloted fighter craft. Escort Destroyer (DDE): A specialized ship type designed to protect other vessels from attack. Autocannon: Similar to a Gatling gun, the autocannon fires exploding shells instead of solid projectiles. Disruptor Cannon Turret, Heavy: A very large energy weapon, this turret can only fit on space stations and starbases. Mine Launcher: This launcher fires a spread of space mines across a wide area. Particle Gun: This weapon fires a focused beam of energy particles, similar to an ion cannon, but doing greater damage. Plasma Bolt Cannon: A powerful energy weapon with a relatively short range. 4
Plasma Cannon Turret, Heavy: Like the heavy disruptor version, this weapon is too large to be carried by ships. It is normally used on space stations and starbases. Rail Gun: Using an electromagnetically charged barrel, this weapon propels a solid projectile at very high velocity toward its target. Rocket Pod: This weapon fires a high volume of unguided rockets at its target. Since the rockets are not very accurate, the weapon depends on the sheer number of projectiles to ensure a hit on the target. Torpedo Launcher: Torpedoes fired by this weapon are slow, but carry a large warhead capable of damaging even capital ships. Due to its large size, the torpedo carries its own sensors, allowing it to lock on targets without help from the launching craft. Space Installations Space Station: A space station is a large, stationary structure usually orbiting a planet or moon. It lacks propulsion and depends on its defensive capabilities instead of agility when attacked. Unlike starbases, a space station is run by civilians instead of the military. Starbase: This is a large, military structure used as a command-and-control hub for naval ships in the area. It is heavily armed and armored and normally has a complement of vessels assigned for additional defense. A starbase is considered a high-value target to enemy forces. 5
THE FACTIONS The ships and weapons of each new faction are listed below. New ships and structures are also included for the Imperium and the Magna Supremacy. FLEETS K thonian Void It is unclear whether the K thonians maintain organized fleets as such. However, telemetry gathered from K thonian raids suggests they group their ships into so-called Claws with four vessels per claw (K thonians have only four fingers per hand). In addition, raids usually consist of pairs of claws working together. In very large attacks, multiple pairs have been seen. Each claw normally falls into one of the following types: Carrier Claw 2 Syaha h-class drone carriers 2 Fhtagn-class escort destroyers Battlecruiser Claw 4 R'lyeh-class battlecruisers Destroyer Claw 4 N gha-class destroyers Assault Claw 2 R'lyeh-class battlecruisers 2 N gha-class destroyers The total number of claws (or total number of ships for that matter) is completely unknown. Talion Republic As a small nation, the Tals lack the resources to build massive fleets like their larger neighbors, the Imperium and the Magna Supremacy. Although they have bought a few decommissioned cruisers and frigates from the Magna, most vessels in the Talion Navy were built domestically. As a result, instead of focusing on capital ships, the Talion Admiralty settled on incorporating many smaller vessels grouped into squadrons. When attacked, the Tals attempt to overwhelm the enemy with many smaller ships instead of a few larger ones. Talion squadrons are organized into four vessels of the same type (CL, FF, etc.). Each squadron has a name indicating its type and designation number. For example, the three cruiser squadrons are called the 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd CruRons. In most cases, patrol vessel squadrons (PTs and PGs) are assigned to specific star systems since they lack a FTL drive. Cruiser and frigate squadrons, by contrast, travel freely between systems as needed. Below are listed the types and total number of each squadron: CruRon (x3) 4 Kyrylo-class light cruisers FrigRon (x4) 4 Andriy-class frigates TorpRon (x6) 4 Bohdan-class torpedo boats GunRon (x5) 4 Fedir-class gunboats MineRon (x4) 4 Daryna-class minelayers 6
SHIPS K thonian Void The K thonians are renowned for striking fast and hard, then disappearing back into deep space before their enemies can react with larger vessels. Drones and anti-matter missiles are the primary weapons used by the K thonians to create as much havoc and destruction as possible. Syaha h-class Drone Carrier Superstructure: Above Average Max Speed: Above Average Thrust: Average Agility: Above Average Shields: Average Armor: Average ECM: Above Average Sensors: Very Good Offensive Systems x1 Hvy Triple Missile Rack (Fwd); x1 Hvy Particle Gun (Fwd) Defensive Systems None Craft x4 Sotti Flights; x2 Gof nn Flights R'lyeh-class Battlecruiser Superstructure: Above Average Max Speed: Good Thrust: Below Average Agility: Average Shields: Average Armor: Average ECM: Good Sensors: Good Offensive Systems x1 Plasma Bolt Cannon (Fwd); x1 Hvy Triple Missile Rack (Fwd); x2 Hvy Particle Guns (Fwd) Defensive Systems None Craft x2 Sotti Flights; x1 Gof nn Flights Largest of the K thonian fleet, the R lyeh-class battlecruiser appears in formations designed to smash through enemy defenses and destroy as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. Its lack of heavy armor makes the R lyeh less effective against other capital ships, but its plasma bolt cannon can annihilate most smaller vessels. The Syaha h-class drone carrier is the cornerstone of nearly every K thonian raid on record. Not as large as a conventional carrier, the Syaha h still houses six squadrons of regular and heavy drones. In many ways, these squadrons are an extension of the carrier s own firepower, allowing the ship to strike enemies far beyond its own armament. In practice, the Syaha h uses a spread of anti-matter missiles to shield its drones as they approach a target, giving the smaller craft a better chance of drawing close before making their own attacks. N gha-class Destroyer Superstructure: Average Max Speed: Very Good Thrust: Good Agility: Good Shields: Poor Armor: Poor ECM: Below Average Sensors: Average Offensive Systems x1 Double Missile Rack (Fwd); x1 Dual Particle Gun turret Defensive Systems None Craft x1 Sotti Flight 7