Military Intelligence??!

by Ed Crisler <edwierd@cyberdude.com>
Y181

The Federation offensive into Romulan space had come as a complete shock to the Romulan High Command. The Imperial forces had scrambled as an effort was made to stop the drives by the Federation, Kzinti and Gorn fleets. The Federation forces had met with such rapid success that they had quickly outstretched their supply lines. Also as they drove deeper into Romulan space the resistance met by the Federation became steeper and so they quickly began to suffer from supply shortages due to the increased fighting.

Romulan Military Intelligence had discovered this problem and their spys managed to get information on a supply convoy being sent to a staging area for the Federation forces. A WE attack squadron was assigned to penetrate deep into Federation space and stop this convoy.

The Romulan Commander expected that the intelligence information would not be completely accurate, however what he discovered was much worse than he had feared. However the convoy had to be stopped or his people would soon be defeated!

(SP?.1) NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2; the Romulan player and the Federation player.

(SP?.2) INITIAL SET-UP TERRAIN: Use a standard open space map.

Federation: Deploy your ships as you wish upon the map. All ships are at WS I and moving no faster than 12. (Federation force consists of: 1 DN, 2 FF, 1 CL, 2 Tug <3 cargo pods each>)
Romulan: After the Federation player has deployed secretly write down the starting positions of your ships. All your ships must begin on the same map edge, however any map edge may be used. All ships are WS III and moving at max speed. (Romulan force consists of 1 KE and 2 WE)

(SP?.3) LENGTH OF SCENARIO: The scenario continues until the all ships have been destroyed, captured or disengages. If the Romulan ships have not disengaged by turn 15 they are considered destroyed.

(SP?.4) SPECIAL RULES

(SP?.41) MAP: The map is floating. The scenario continues until all forces belonging to to one side have been destroyed, captured, or have disengaged by separation or acceleration. Any Romulan forces that disengage by Sub-Light Evasion are considered destroyed. Any Romulan ships that have not disengaged by the end of turn 15 are considered destroyed. Federation ships may disengage in any direction. Romulan ships may only disengage in direction D unless they have cloaks then they may disengage in any direction.

(SP?.42) SHUTTLES AND PFs: None of the shuttles have warp booster packs.
(SP?.421) The Federation DN and one Romulan WE can carry an MRS shuttle.
(SP?.422) No fighters are used in this scenario.
(SP?.423) There are no PFs in this scenario.

(SP?.424) The Romulan KE carries a Cloak Decoy.

(SP?.43) COMMANDER'S OPTION ITEMS

(SP?.431) The following ships have the equipment listed below in lieu of Commander's Option Items.

Romulan KE has a legendary Weapons Officer and one of the WE has a legendary Navigator.
Federation (All Ships): All the Federation ships are carrying a full load of T-bombs.

(SP?.432) Drones: Each drone-armed ship can purchase special drones up to the historical racial percentages as part of the Commander's Option Items. Note that (S3.2) allows drone ships extra points for this purpose.

(SP?.44) REFITS: All ships have completed the appropriate refits for their race.

(SP?.45) SPECIAL RULES: Refer to the setup for the only special rules in this scenario. The Romulan player does not reveal his starting location until all EAF's have been completed.

(SP?.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS:

(SP?.51) The Federation player wins the scenario if he is able to capture, destroy or drive off the Romulans without the Romulans completing their mission.

(SP?.52)The Romulan player wins the scenario if he is able to accomplish the following victory conditions:

Marginal Victory: 35% of the convoys cargo destroyed.
Tactical Victory: 50% of the convoys cargo destroyed or 1 freighter disabled.
Substantive Victory: 75% of the convoys cargo destroyed.
Decisive Victory: Both freighters destroyed or disabled.

The VC's are modified up one level if the Federation DN is forced to disengage, or 2 levels if destroyed.
The VC's are modified up one level if any Romulan ships escape and a VC of at least tactical is achieved.

(SH?.8) TACTICS:

(SH?.81) ROMULAN: This scenario is very tough! You have to be patient and stay clam no matter how bad things get. The future of the Empire is at stake so you ships are expendable. Remember the words that the fleet Commander spoke as he gave your three ships the order to engage, "DEATH IS NOT DEFEAT!" Also remember that suicide is not victory. Pick you targets and nail them to the wall. Your ships can generate an IMPRESSIVE wave of plasma, use this to cripple a ship and then move on to the next one. Your goal is the freighters, however you do not need to destroy them in order to win. Crippling them will at the very least delay the delivery and that is still a good thing. Also if you can destroy enough cargo to make delivery useless then you have accomplished your mission. Do NOT let yourself get drawn into a slug fest with the warships present. You are badly out-gunned and will quickly be destroyed. However an interesting alternate tactic is to mess up the warships in the first pass and then go after the tugs. Either way pick your targets and make the Fed's play your game.

(SH?.82)FEDERATION: If you can weather that first turn you should be okay. Do not abandon the tugs as this is the Romulans primary target. However you also need to keep the escorts close to the DN as killing it will be a big boost to the Romulans.

HISTORICAL OUTCOME: The Romulan Fleet Commander took a bold approach. He sent both of his WE's after the tugs and used his KE to pummel the DN. A good deployment of PPT's forced the Fed ships to use many of their phasers on plasma. Once their phasers where expended the KE launched it's 2 F's and it's R at the DN. The DN was severely damaged and forced to disengage or risk destruction. The KE then turned to the escorts while the WE's went after the Tugs. The escorts where able to destroy the KE and reacted quick enough to stop the WE's from completing their mission. One Tug was gutted the other was damaged but usable. Both WE's escaped. The Federation offensive was not at full strength when they hit Remus. As such they were not able to defeat the Romulans forces. However the battle was very costly to both sides.

DESIGNER'S COMMENTS: This scenario is based off of the premise of Operation Remus. It reflects a minor fleet action that in the overall scheme of the campaign was probably overlooked by historians. While small battles like this do not usually get the spotlight that bigger battles receive, these small battles tend to be the ones that determine the outcome of the big battles.

This scenario is the first in a series of scenarios based on actions that occurred during Operation Remus. These scenarios are my own ideas and are not based on the official material of this major action. While ADB claims to have had this action written for sometime they have not every given any real information about it out to the public. If my scenarios do not match the official versions then I am sorry. These scenarios will be based on the limited information available.