The old SPI game Freedom in the Galaxy by John Butterfield is the classic attempt to do Star Wars as a wargame, without any of the pesky licensed IP. It is a complex game, with an intricate layering of system, province and galactic levels meant as a kind of programmed instruction. But the real attraction is definitely the galactic game, depicting the empire-wide attempt to build and launch a full scale rebellion against a sprawling space empire.
The other big attraction is the mixing in of RPG elements in the form of characters performing Missions alongside the planetary politics generating forces and the military game, which only kicks off after multiple planets have been sent into Rebellion by the character-agents of the rebel side. The Imperials also get their own character agents, though fewer of them, and more of them optimized to command military forces or engage in planetary diplomacy. They get a group of 4 knights who are Vader anti-hero types, led by the flexible Redjac who is basically the game’s Vader. Similar subplots cover things like Atrocity weapons (death star stand ins), planetary Secrets, recruitable leaders from various game races, etc. There is obviously a lot to like in the game system.
In practice, however, the galactic game’s play balance left something to be desired, as the Imperials were strong favorites using the right strategy of rebel character elimination literally “by the boat load” via the game’s space interception mechanics. Meanwhile the missions were all over the place in variety and power level, but the relatively boring Diplomacy mission normally had the biggest impact on the game, though slowly. Missions are conducted by drawing cards looking for mission letter codes to achieve success, and this can get mechanically tedious when enough missions of the same type are run on planet after planet.
The largest problem with the strategic play-balance, however, is just that Imperial income is so high they will eventually put their counter mix on the map and squash what the rebels can come up with. In the rules as written, only Elite units cost maintenance, while all others are just an upfront cost, and this allows force in being to “snowball” over time, as a bigger force takes fewer combat losses and controls a bigger tax base.
So the biggest part of a fix to all this is to impose much higher unit maintenance costs, so the Imperial force “plateaus” at a level the tax income can afford, instead of expending continually. This is far more realistic, as well. The pre-rebellion Empire presumably had a long time to expand its forces and so is probably near the “set point” where sustainable tax income and force maintenance roughly balance. The original also used a military-unit combat system that was relatively linear in combat power, and with smaller forces the impact of quality needs to be higher and of quantity somewhat less.
Meanwhile for rebel income, the galactic game dealt only crudely with pooled rebel resources rather than immediate forces generated by rebellion events, expecting scenarios to set these instead of core game systems. Especially with force maintenance costs, that doesn’t work – some portion of rebel resources need to be centralized into their wealth pool for general purposes like maintenance and upgrades.
Finally, the search and space intercept systems need to be updated in line with all the changes above, and in particular the power of “level 2 PDBs” (planetary defense bases) needs to be toned down from the character-group killers they were in the original to something livable. Military units should find is somewhat easier to interact with characters by finding them and fighting them with squads (tense and fun), while less able to destroy whole shiploads of them every time they hit orbit with abstract orbital laser systems.
Those are the motivations behind these revisions. Now to the changes themselves.
New Unit maintenance costs
Every budget period (3 turns with a Rebel then an Imperial turn in each), after income is received from Taxation, maintenance must be paid for all units above Militia on both sides. Consequences for not paying maintenance are listed after the costs themselves. The units were are all MC (mega-credits, “force points” in the original game). Newly purchased units do not pay maintenance until the following budget period. If a unit upgrades, it pays only the maintenance cost it had before the upgrade and for the upgrade itself; any higher maintenance cost is only paid in the following budget period.
Imperial 1-0 Militia, Rebel 1-0 or 2-1, Up Level 0 PDB – 0 MC, Free
Imperial Patrol, Line, Rebel 2-3 or 4-3, Up Level 1 PDB – 1 MC
Imperial Veteran, Suicide Squad, Rebel 4-4 Elite, Up Level 2 PDB – 2 MC
Imperial Elite, Atrocity – 3 MC
Planetary Stabilizer – 5 MC
Elites and Veterans that do not pay maintenance downgrade to Imperial Line 3-2, Rebel 2-3.
Line and Patrol that do not pay maintenance downgrade to 1-0 Militia (and must land if in orbit).
Up PDBs that do not pay maintenance are placed into Down status.
Atrocity units that do not pay maintenance become Immobile, may not attack planets, and lose their space combat attack ratings. Their space combat defense ratings are not affected (2 for most, 4 for Planetary Stabilizer).
Rebel Income – when a planet goes into rebellion, before buying units the Rebel player picks any amount between 1/3 FRD and 1/2 FRU of all resources produced by the rebellion event (including any Populace Goes Wild bonus) and places that amount in the Rebel treasury. The rest are spent on units as in the original rules, restricted to 1-0 Militia or 2-1 standard Rebels unless the planet has * production. In addition, any resources gained from the Steal Resources mission are placed in the Rebel treasury; the amount stolen by that mission is increased to 5 for a single success and 15 for 2+ successes (for either side).
Rebel income can be used for maintenance of Rebel units and for unit upgrades. Once per game, any amount can be spent on Rebel units of unrestricted type at the Rebel Base, but that base is revealed when this is done (there is no further effect if it was already discovered). Central rebel income can also be spent to place a PDB Up on a Rebel Controlled world, or to increase the level of an Up and Rebel Controlled PDB.
Both sides can spend on unit upgrades by paying the cost of the new unit, minus the cost of the unit replaced /2 round down. E.g. Upgrading an Imperial Patrol saves 1 MC (3/2 FRD = 1). The cost to upgrade a Veteran or Rebel 4-3 to Elite is reduced by 2 if down after that unit survives a battle in which it destroyed at least 1 enemy unit.
Imperial taxation income and effects
The core taxation rules are kept, meaning each budget period a different Imperial province is subject to taxation, cycling through the Provinces until Province 1 is taxed at the start of Budget Period 5. Normally, every planet taxed at full reduces its Loyalty by 1, planets taxed 1/2 FRD maintain their loyalty, and planets due for taxation that are not taxed at all gain 1 Loyalty. There are the following exceptions to that general rule, however.
Planets at -2 Loyalty may not be fully taxed, and if taxed 1/2 go into Rebellion on 1-2, stay unchanged 3-6. if not taxed at all, on 1-2 their loyalty remains unchanged, while it increases +1 on 3-6.
Planets at -1 Loyalty taxed at 1/2 lose 1 loyalty on a roll of 1, no effect on rolls of 2-6. If not taxed at all, they keep the same loyalty on a roll of 1, increase +1 on a roll of 2-6.
Planets at +1 Loyalty that are fully taxed retain their existing loyalty on a roll of 1, losing 1 on a roll of 2-6.
Planets at +2 Loyalty that are fully taxed retain their existing loyalty on a roll of 1-2, losing 1 on 3-6.
Planets that are Rebel Controlled or In Rebellion never produce tax revenue.
In addition to planetary taxation, the Imperials also receive income from Secrets, starting at +13 per budget period. They can lose some or all of this income as the relevant secrets are discovered as explained in the Galactic Guide.
Rebels never receive taxation income; they get income only when planets first go into Rebellion or from missions like Steal Resources.
Revised Combat
The core combat system revision is that all units now roll D6 vs their combat rating to inflict a Hit on an enemy unit, and can also roll against that combat rating to Block a Hit. These rolls need to be less than or equal to the unit’s adjusted rating. One unblocked hit destroys any unit; blocked hits have no effect.
All combats can last up to 3 rounds, ending early only if 1 side is completely eliminated before then. Each unit designates a target for its fire each round, with all targets designated before any are rolled. Fire is simultaneous within the same combat round. Fire and defense ratings can be modified by leadership, PDB support, environmental advantages for rebels only, and for Committed Assault at the attacker’s option. After all hits on units have been tallied, each target Hit gets to roll to block each Hit, and is only eliminated if at least one unblocked Hit remains. If both sides have forces remaining, combat proceeds to the next round, up to 3 rounds maximum.
At the end of the 3rd round, if both sides have forces remaining, total the strength in that environment for each side, with any Committed Assault modifiers ignored. The higher total as Won and the lower as Lost that battle. If the totals are tied, then the Defender has Won and the attacker has Lost. The losing side must Retreat to an eligible adjacent location; if it cannot then its military units are Eliminated (characters are not affected). But resolve all combats in a given system before executing any required Retreats.
For battles in a surface Environment (Env hereafter), the eligible retreat locations are only Envs on the same planet or the Orbit box, but only if clear of enemy combat units. For battles in Orbit, eligible retreat locations are any Env on the surface or the Orbit box of any adjacent system, but again only if that location is clear of enemy combat units. Bear in mind Militia (space rating 0) cannot leave a planet’s surface so they can only retreat to other Envs on the same planet.
Combat strength modifiers –
Leadership 1 higher than enemy commander +1 attack; 2+ higher +1 defense in addition.
Defending with Up PDB support, level 1 +1 defense; level 2 +1 attack in addition.
Rebel units fighting in their Env type gives +1 defense in any, in special (fire, gas, water) also +1 attack
Determined Assault gives both sides +1 attack, -1 defense rating for all units, all combat rounds. This is automatic at the attacker’s option.
Atrocity units have 0-2 combat rating, except the Planetary Stabilizer has 0-4 combat rating.
Revise Interception
The intercept table is used as presented but with 2 left shift for either of level 2 up PDB and highest space combat value 4+ in orbit, 1 left shift for highest space combat value 2-3 in orbit. Do not total for all space units present, just use the highest single value. There are no shifts for space combat value 1 nor for level 1 PDBs. If the PDB is level 0, all results worse that Detection D become D, as in the original.
Revised Squad Combat and Search
For the Squad combat chart, do not total all military units in the Env; instead use 2x the highest single value present. Use the 14+ line only for an Imperial Suicide Squad (which no longer causes auto-elimination, just a squad fight). In addition, whenever 1-2 characters perform a mission in a location with friendly combat units present, they receive a Escort Squad with a strength determined the same way. Groups of 3+ characters performing the same mission are on their own.
For Search, again do not total all military unit strengths; instead use the highest ground combat strength present x 2, plus the leadership rating of any character leading that unit. Suicide Squads count as strength 5 for search purposes (thus contributing 10 search value themselves). The leader may choose to be part of the combat or allow a squad to fight any characters found without said leader if the controlling player prefers.
If searching with characters instead of a military unit (including suicide squads), the search rating is the total all Intelligence ratings, but if they find anything they must fight without a squad, only with the characters.
Character combat
This is unchanged from the original procedure, except that squad ratings are determined differently. Squads are always Active when escorting a defending character or character pair, who may fight or break off etc. There are no consequences to losing a fight with a military unit Squad, except for a Suicide Squad unit. A Suicide Squad unit is eliminated on the map if its Squad takes 8 wounds in character combat (since the squad fights as a 14-8).
Transport and Interception changes
Ignore the original rules about transporting 1-0 militia units. These can never leave the planet they were created on, except by first being Upgraded. Note that given the formula (cost/2 FRD) and militia cost (1), upgrading militia never saves MC cost, but it can allow a unit to be formed where it might not otherwise be allowed.
Ignore the original rules on space interceptions for military units. Instead whenever military units move into a space occupied by hostile military units, a space battle is automatically triggered among all units present on both sides. There is no running some units past the position without fighting etc.
Planetary Control and PDB revisions
The intent of these rules is to simplify changes in planet control and force the PDB status to follow that of the planet itself, instead of varying independently as though it is a separate item to capture. When a planet changes control, the PDB is placed Down, and can only be brought back to Up condition by the new owning player in a subsequent budget period by spending 1 MC to return the base of Up under its “new owner”.
If a planet is In Rebellion and has only Rebel military units at the end of the Rebel player turn, switch the planet to Rebel Control and place the PDB Down. If already in Rebel Control at a budget period, the Rebel player may spend treasury MC to place the PDB Up or to Upgrade it, or both, cost permitting. If a planet is not in Rebellion (Imperial loyal) but only Rebel military units are present at the end of the Rebel player turn, place the PDB in Down status without changing the planet’s political state.
If a planet is in Stop Rebellion and has only Imperial military units at the end of the Imperial player turn, switch the planet to Imperial Control (remove the Stop Rebellion marker) and place the PDB Down if it wasn’t already. If a planet is in Rebel Control and only Imperial units are present at the end of the Imperial player turn, switch the planet to Stop Rebellion and place the PDB Down.
Note that to get a planet from Rebellion to Stop Rebellion status requires a successful Stop Rebellion mission. To get a planet from Imperial control (no Rebellion or Rebel Control marker) into Rebellion requires a successful Start Rebellion mission. In both cases Domino Effects or taxation outcomes might also change a planet’s Rebellion status. A planet’s Rebellion or Imperial Loyalty status is always independent of military occupation. A planet’s PDB can only be placed Up if the political loyalty and undisputed military control coincide for either owner.
wargame grogs 