How's about the two ships have to have matching velocity and be presenting their broadsides to each other?  Or at least the attacking ship should be swinging around to present its broadside.

IE, the Active Force moves, then the Reactive Force moves.  If the Reactive Force can line up its broadside with the targeted ship, and match its speed by + or -1, it can deploy boarders.  I would think the distance should be no greater than 2".

I like the fact that larger ships roll larger die.  But for the results, I would have the crew casualties be equal to the difference between the two tosses.  A VL attacker rolls D12 and gets a "7," a defending M ship rolls D8 and gets a "5."  So the defending ship suffered 2 crew casualties. 

It just wouldn't seem fair to make the defending ship lose more casualties for managing a good roll that comes close to matching the attacker's toss.  So I think the losses should equal the difference between the two rolls.  It represents a smaller force potentially putting up a very stiff fight, but still losing.

Finally, this ideer might suck, but I think the number of LGs should attrit the attacker's strength before combat takes place.  For every N number of light guns dedicated to blasting these guys out of space, the die rolled by the attacking ship is reduced by a step.  So a VL ship attacking a M ship with a ton of LGs might see its roll reduced to a D10 or even a D8.  I say LGs because I think these are the pieces that could traverse and bracket the attackers fast enough to make a difference.

Does that make sense?

I already got some neat names.

Fukuryu (Crouching Dragon) were late war troops the Japanese were going to use in WW2.  They strapped on diving suits, stood on the ocean floor just in front of a landing zone, and were meant to jab explosive tipped spears at the bottom of passing landing craft.  Now, the intendend role is different, but the name is neat.  So Japanese boarding parties could use this name.

Kampferschwarm (swarm of soldiers) for the Germans or Austrians.

The Italians....I dunno.  Something Italian.

Boarding shouldn't allow for controlling a ship.  The grunts with explosive charges and rifles don't know how to drive, and aren't present in sufficient numbers to man the engines/bridge/weapons. 

Crew casualties are ticked off, and the thing's left floating dead in space -- just as it would be if hit by some of the kit described in TMW 

I don't think taking the ship home should be part of it.  There are other games that treat boarders as a purely offensive weapon meant to destroy systems, kill crew. 

And you gotta remember, the whole process of clearing away the corpses, getting things in running order, clearing the damage YOU've caused and get things moving is going to take hours.  If you're still in an active combat zone, it would be impossible.  I think it would be enough to leave the ship drifting in space, victimized by boarders who then sit tight on the hulk until (presumably) the shooting has stopped and their parent vessel returns to take things in hand.

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A standard boarding party is d4, while specialized units get d6 or even d8.

Then, make an "attack" just like a torpedo, except:

1) Armour is not counted;

2) Apply momentum modifiers for both the attacker and target;

2) A "miss" means the boarding party is not "fired" -- i.e., its tethers didn't attach to the target or somesuch, but they can try again next turn; and

4) A "hit" means the party managed to board the enemy ship.

Then, conduct shipboard combat during the End Phase of each turn.

Dan
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This sounds kinda neat.

It allows for some variation between boarders.  Different units/elites/whatever.

The only thing I would change (if it makes sense to you) is that a miss wastes the boarding party.  I'd treat them as expendable, just like torpedoes or missiles, and a miss sees them tumbling off into the void, having missed their intended target.  Kinda grim, but we're supposed to be depicting combat tactics of a race that is taking its first steps into deep space.  I picture guys in clumsy environmental suits, hurling themselves into the darkness in the hopes of reaching that nearby enemy vessel.

Just imagine how ruthless, and daredevil, such a military force would have to be.

Matt
PS -- I know I'm a heathen for bringing it up, but my main point of reference for ship to ship board actions (which I really liked by the way) was Battlefleet Gothic, where a ship could attempt a boarding action if within a VERY short distance of its target.  From there, factors such as size, armament and other things would determine the results of a contested roll between the two players.  But I like the approach you've introduced, because again, it separates average boarders with true specialists  I'd start with the route you've mentioned here.

[/quote]

Hey....Iron Star's first  "critical miss" mechanic 

I like  it.   The bloodier the better  :twisted:

Merged the all the sets, and added my own bit or two...
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Boarding Rules
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Men are in vacuum suits using tethers in both directions is assumed. The two ships have to have matching velocity and be presenting their broadsides to each other.

You cannot purchase more boarding Parties or Marines than you have space for (more meeble needed here for construction constraints).

To-Hit Mechanic-----------------
A ship launching a boarding action rolls D4/D6/D8 based off the quality of the unit. A "1" is a bungled roll and results in the troops missing the target, and tumbling off into space, never to be recovered.

A standard miss just means conditions weren't right to deploy, or whatever.

The formula is:
1/2 Die Type +1 for every inch beyond the first inch (yeah, even shorter range bands than torps). You don't want boarders covering a big expanse of space.
--AND--
+1 for every difference between the attacker and defender's speed at the end of the Reactive Movement Phase.

The reason for the difference in speed being the modifier is that the speed of the attacking ship, by itself, doesn't matter a whit. Acting in a vacuum, its troops would simply step outside and inherit its forward momentum. But if their target is moving drastically faster/slower, it makes the action all the harder.

So a ship launching a D6 boarding unit (like the Japanese Fukuryu) would need to roll a 5+ if attempting to board a vessel 3" away if their ship had matched its speed/velocity ( 3+ 2 for range +0 for speed variation). If the ship was moving one faster than the target, they'd have to roll a 6 to hit (3+2+1).
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'Damage' Mechanic----------------
Each side should roll a die, the type of which is based on the size class of the smaller ship:
VS = d4
S = d6
M = d8
L = d10
VL = d12

This represents the fact that, even though a VL ship will have many more crewmembers than a VS ship, the amount of carnage that can occur is strictly limited by the fact that the VS ship can only get so many into combat at a time.

The side with the lower roll loses crew casualties equal to the difference between the two tosses.

For every N number of light guns dedicated to blasting these guys out of space, the die rolled by the attacking ship is reduced by a step. So a VL ship attacking a M ship with a ton of LGs might see its roll reduced to a D10 or even a D8. The light guns must be able to bear on the ship whose troops they are firing on.
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QUESTIONS-------------------------------------------------------------------
???WHAT IS THE HIT MECHANIC FOR SHOOTING BOARDERS WITH LIGHT GUNS???

Do we might have 'heavy weapons crews' in SFO, that add a +1 or +2? They have big honking guns specifically for this sort of work....

OPTIONS (Combat roll only)
For each instance of 'Boarding Parties' purchased, the die type increases by one type (ie d8 becomes a d10, etc...)

For each instance of 'Marines' purchased, the die type increases by one type (ie d8 becomes a d10, etc...) AND add one to the die roll. 3 Marine groups purchased means a d4 bcomes d10+3

How crew casualties would be applied (continuing or one time shot only) to the targeted vessel, I have no idea.
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How slow do you want them to go (what's the combined momentum limit)?

By the way -- while I have yet to think of a military designation for my Italian boarders, here's the slang reference used in the Regina Celestia, or whatever their Ether Fleet will be called.

uomini morti  -- "dead men." 

Garbed in heavy, sealed environmental suits, they pour from their parent vessel's hull, directed by crude rocket propellants and kept alive (at least in theory) by safety lines fixed to the hull.  One man in every 6-man team is equipped with a pole ending in a magnetic mine fixed to the targeted ship's armored plating.  Once the hull is breached, the uomini morti storm inside, forcing their way past the debris and corpses sucked through the opening into the vacuum of space.

....now I'm off to bed.  not heading to work til the afternoon cause the 2-yr-old is sick and the wife and I are splittin the day.  At least I get to sleep in.

But see, looking on it now I think the momentum rules are too restrictive.

I like the difference in Momentum idea.  If you're concerned about approaching ships, angles of approach and all that, then just put in a stipulation that the two vessels have to be within N inches (again, I think 3 is a good number) and on similar course and headings.

IE -- if the targeted ship is pointed NE, then the attacking ship has to swing up alongside it, meaning it's also pointed to the NE and the two vessels are presenting broadsides to each other.  Then the modifier is the difference in momentum.

Think on the pirate flicks you've seen -- the pirates don't swing across to another ship when they've crossed its T.  They've always pulled up alongside.

So how about that, the two ships are on the same heading, the difference in Momentum is the main modifier AND then use the following guidelines:

LGs and MGs able to fire through applicable arc affect roll.

Attempt is made during the End Phase.  Natural "1" is a fumble.

Damage is applied as crew casualties, with the same kind of X1, X2 or X3 multiplier you seen on other weapons.

I don't equate the game to Age of Sail.  I'm just pointing to an era where deck to deck boarding actions took place and trying to translate it over.  We're not dealing with a wet water  navy.  We're dealing with guys chugging through outer space with reverse engineered Martian Tech 

If it's just going to be a device to finish off already crippled ships (and that's fine), then I don't think it should be a weapon system, period.  Go back to making it a tactic that can be employed by any hull, and assign die types based off size.

Because if boarding only happens when your opponent is 3/4ths dead anyway, it ain't worth the point investment to buy the kit when it's only going to be used once every couple of games.

It's OK  if you don't think boarding crews are a viable addition to the game.  I'll just find something else to set the Italians apart.  It don't sound like yer in love with the idea, anyway  :wink:

I'm not thinking of a particular momentum limit... what I'm suggesting is that we use the optional momentum modifiers from TMW, but apply them for both the target's and the attacker's speeds.