An aysmmetric scenario from the 2016-2017 competition for about 125 vs 75 and 100 points.
When the Ghar Empire first decided to take action against Fartok’s outcast revolt, they sent forces to deal with him that, combined, should have been easily capable of crushing the rebellion. They had not reckoned with Fartok’s strategic genius. Manoeuvring on interior lines, he struck devastating blows against first one foe, then another, before they could join together to overwhelm him. The Supreme Commander would soon learn to fear Fartok.
This scenario is unusual in that it consists of two games, fought one after the other – almost like a very short campaign. The attacking player must face two smaller armies in turn, and defeat them both; since casualties from the first battle carry over to the second, he will need to fight well to win.
Game 1
Play Matched Scenario 1: Let Battle Begin from Antares Playing the Game in Rules Central, between the attacker’s force and the defender’s smaller force. The following differences to the scenario apply:
- The forces are not of equal size.
- Break values are ignored; the game is played either until the turn limit has run out, or one side has been completely destroyed.
Game 2
As soon as the first game is over, play the second game immediately; this time the defender uses his larger force. The attacker must use what his left of his army from the first game. Any casualties taken in the first game are carried over into the second; as are any burned out Plasma Amplifiers, activated Soma Grafts, and any similar effects that could normally only be used once in a game.
The second game consists of the same scenario as in the first game, with the same modifications. At the end of game two, if the winner must be determined by comparing points lost, consider the total points lost by the attacker across both games.
Victory
The attacker wins only if he wins both games. The defender wins if he wins either game.
Special Scenario Rules
This scenario, linking two separate (and simple) games, is inspired by Lanchester’s Law. This states that the comparative power of two armies is not based on its size, but on the square of its size. So, an army of 5000 men can take on two smaller enemy armies of 3000 and 4000 men in turn, and the result will be close; even though the enemy has 7000 men in total. In Beyond the Gates of Antares, we do not have thousands of men, but we do have points, and the same principle should apply.
As a variant of this scenario, what happens if the defender uses his larger force in the first game?
Note that Lanchester’s Law is known to be potentially thrown if weapons with broader destructive capabilities are used by either side. This makes this pair of scenarios extremely interesting to run many times using different force combinations, perhaps limited only to non-Strategic options or with neither side allowed to take OH blast weapons. Another alternative is to keep one of the armies identical in composition for subsequent re-runs against a completely different opponent.
Antares Nexus 