New versions of Rules 17 and 18; Attack and retreat

17 Attacking systems which have fleets in them
17.1 Philosophy.
The GZG rules cover the tactical aspects of battle, and are written on the assumption that the forces are aware of each other and that at least one side is committed to action. They also assume that the opposing forces have completed their jump into the system and are in a combat formation. The GZG rules DO envisage players jumping straight into combat, but make it very risky. The following rules cover the operational aspects of engagement between jumping into system and moving to tactical engagement.

17.2 All strategic moves must give the destination of the task force and its posture for arrival.

17.2.1. Stand off; fleet will manoeuvre for advantage until it elects to withdraw, is attacked, or changes its orders to attack after assessing the situation
Fleets on Stand Off orders do not attack against either fleets or planetary defences, and do not count as interdicting the system if they are still present at the end of the turn.

17.2.2. Attack; fleet will attack what it finds on arrival; first attacking other fleets on attack orders (attack posture is readily distinguishable from stand off because active sensors are switched on), then other fleets on stand off orders, then planetary defences.

Attack orders give +1 to initiative rolls

17.2.3. Withdraw if contested; fleet will withdraw if any hostile mobile forces are present in the system. If only planetary defences forces are present, a fleet in "withdraw if contested" may remain, and change its orders to attack following recon of the defences. Fleets on Withdraw if Contested bug out as soon as they detect mobile opposition but may pick up some data on what's there.

17.4 If all fleets are on Standoff, each player chooses a fresh tactical posture secretly, repeating as necessary until one way or another the system has no more than one fleet in it. Alternatively, players can leave their fleets in place in standoff mode at the end of the turn. Maybe you'll get reinforcements and the other guy won't. Who knows?

17.5 Once at least one force is committed to attack orders, combat becomes likely. Other players must decide immediately whether they're sticking around or trying to disengage. Check for range; roll 1 d6 and add 6. This gives the distance between task forces in feet. If the distance is too big for both forces to be on table simultaneously, disengagement is automatic. Otherwise forces go on table and disengagement is fought out. If one force is big and slow and the other small and fast, this may be adjudicated quickly without formality.

17.6 Before ships are put on the table, force commanders should make an unambiguous note of formation and speed. Formations can be as dispersed as you like. However, if you left your last system under fire, you must use the speed and formation you had at the moment you hit the FTL button.

17.7 All fleets not disengaged under 17.5 dice for initiative. Highest initiative is assumed to have the drop on the others; note that an attack order makes you more likely to have the initiative. Player with the initiative gets half the difference (rounded down) in the dice rolls to use in making his initial dispositions more useful to him. Anyone rolling a 1 arrives from FTL and has to put up with being in formation 6 inches apart from the moment of arrival. Essentially they've shown up much later than everyone else.

17.8 Relative positions on table. Top of the table (Brian's end, if that helps), is equivalent to top of the campaign map. The bottom is equivalent to the bottom. Task forces enter the table from the side equivalent to the hex side they move through to enter the hex on the campaign map.

17.9 Players with higher initiative will be able to make between zero and two changes in their dispositions. These can be used to change the point of entry on the table (one point per edge segment) the separation between opposed forces (one point per foot in either direction) or to split the formation. No matter how that goes, all fleet begin facing in towards the centre of the table



18 Departing under fire
18.1 The standard rules in Full Thrust for FTL'ing out apply. Executive summary, six inch spacing between ships, no use of manoeuvre drive and no weapons fired during the run-up to departure. The rules say that shields can be left on during this process. The firing up of the FTL drive is apparent during the previous move, and the blink out happens half way through the normal move.

18.2 Your departure takes the place of your normal move in the next strategic turn. This is also the case with recce units sent into a system which elect to leave after looking around. Immediately write down your destination; that's where you're going to be in a week. You arrive at your destination travelling in the same formation, spacing and speed that you had when you left the last hell hole.

18.3 You can try FTL ing while under fire, or you can try to build up enough distance to do it safely. Disengagement is not automatic; there is no real edge to the table, so getting off the table does not get you out of trouble. The first step to disengagement is to get out of weapons range of the enemy. This is considered to be the distance at which the enemy can't get more than one dice on you per working gun or 36 inches, whichever is less. At that point, check relative speed and the thrust of the poorest accelerating ship in each fleet. It should be clear cut whether the separation is going to increase or shrink. If not, roll one d6 each. If the disengager gets higher, he gets away, otherwise the pursuit continues. Plus one on the dice roll to whichever side has the highest acceleration in its poorest accelerating ship.