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Starship Troopers by AH

Starship Troopers is based upon the popular novel of the same name written by the dean of science fiction writers, Robert A. Heinlein. In the novel, Heinlein describes a futuristic war involving ♥♥♥♥ sapiens from our Earth (Terrans) against a Humanoid race (nicknamed the 'Skinnies' for obvious physical attributes) and their cobelligerents, the totally alien Arachnids. Since this is a story of future wars and future advances in technology, much is changed in the fields of weaponry and tactics and strategy. One thing remains the same, however; the fighting still rests on the shoulders of the individual infantryman. Although great starships has shuttle men between the distant solar systems and the power of individual weapons has risen to awesome heights, wars still cannot be won unless men venture onto the face of alien planets and fight the enemy on their home ground. As Juan Rico, the protagonist of the novel, relates:

"We are the boys who go to a particular place, at H-Hour, occupy a designated terrain, stand on it, dig the enemy out of their holes, force them then and there to surrender or die. We're the bloody infantry, the doughboy, the duckfoot, the foot soldier who goes where the enemy is and takes him on in person."

Although the mission remains the same, future inventiveness has changed the method considerably. In a galaxy-wide war, manpower is at a premium. Platoons fight where entire armies once tred. But these platoons possess the firepower equivalence of a Twentieth-Century mechanized division. More importantly, each man in the platoon is provided with a piece of hardware that allows him to fight and survive in the holocausts of future combat—his powered armor suit. As Rico describes it:

"A suit isn't a spacesuit — although it can serve as one. A suit is not a space ship but it can fly—a little . . . Suited up, you look like a big steel gorilla, armed with gorillasized weapons. But the suits are considerably stronger than a gorilla. If a Mobile Infantry man in a suit swapped hugs with a gorilla, the gorilla would be dead, crushed; the man and the suit wouldn't be mussed . . . The real genius in the design is that you don't have to control the suit, you just wear it, like your clothes, like skin . . . Even riding a bicycle demands an acquired skill, very different from walking. But a suit you just wear."

With the suit and the incredible array of weaponry that go with it, the Mobile Infantry soldier is an exceedingly formidable opponent. He had better be. The enemies he faces are the most awesome adversaries in the galaxy. Of the two extraterrestrial races fighting the Terrans, the Humanoids are the least revolting. Rico describes them as " . . . humanoid, eight or nine feet tall, much skinnier than we are and with a higher body temperature; they don't wear any clothes and they stand out in a set of 'snoopers' like a neon sign."

In early scenarios they are fighting on the side of the Arachnids. In later scenarios, after successful negotiations with Earth, they switch over to the Terran side. They're only effective fighters within the confines of their small city terrain and strong points on the board.

But the 'Skinnies' were mild looking in comparison to the Arachnids:
"The 'Bugs' are not like us. The Pseudo-Arachnids aren't even like spiders. They are arthropods who happen to look like a madman's concept of a giant, intelligent spider, but their organization, psychological and economic, is more like that of ants or termites; they are communal entities, the ultimate dictatorship of the hive . . . But don't make the mistake of thinking that they act purely from instinct . . . their actions are as intelligent as ours (stupid races don't build spaceships!) and were much better coordinated. It takes a minimum of a year to train a private to fight and to mesh his fighting with his mates; a Bug warrior is hatched able to do this ..."

As the Arachnid Player, uses an Alien Control Pad sheet to record the placement of his underground central Hive cell complex and the attached tunnels radiating outward. Tunnels are used to move the Warrior units, along with Worker units mixed in as expendable decoys, to locations where they can pop up to the surface through a breach hole and attack the Terran units. Completely unseen, and only paper recorded, Engineer units are used to create the breaches and, later, to extend the tunnels.

The game is set up in a "Programmed Instruction" system of scenarios to slowly introduce the game concepts. Scenarios range from Scenario I, which starts players off with a basic MI raid on a Skinny city (just like the book. "Flores died on the way up") to Scenario VII, The Battle of Klendathu: the final Terran assault on the Arachnid Homeworld.

This mod provides the original game rules, units, and map with all original scenarios. A bonus scenario is included as is a second map without the Skinnie City for those scenarios that don't need it. All counters are new and improved from the talented team of John Hooper (Hoop) and David Little (djlittle1960) on BGG as there's just no good images out there of the original set unfortunately and the newer ones add to the game. Rules and variant counters for solo play and the expansion "Saga of the Bug War" are included as well.

NOTE:
This mod uses Mangofeet's (here on TTS) Stack Exploder mod to allow players to right click on a stack of units to show them all and then reorganize them or repack them.

Rules PDF on the table and at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzxW-HWm9JSVMU8wb1pUdHhxVUU/view?pli=1
The General Magazine Vol 1 No. 6 with variants

Game Research and Design: Randall C. Reed
Original Book and Idea: Robert A. Heinlein
Components Design and Execution: Randall C. Reed
Production Assistant: Richard Hambien
Box Cover and Mapboard: George Goebel
Counter Art: Randall C. Reed and Richard Hambien
Character Illustrations: Emily March
Montage: Richard Hambien

This game is currently out of print. Please support these talented people, if possible, by purchasing their other games if you play it here. Hard work needs to be rewarded to ensure we continue to benefit. If asked, I will remove this mod should copyrights be infringed in any way.

Gratz to Boylegd and Kaza who both have versions of this mod on TTS. Unfortunately one is broken with bad links and the other needed some better resolution counters (IMHO). Both of these members provided some resources and inspiration.
Many thanks to Tumba, here on TTS, for his marvelous ammo crates, dice tray, and camo dice.
Kudos to MadMark56, here on TTS, for his superbe crate skins, they look superbe.
Bravo Zulu to Mangofeet (here on TTS) for his awesome Stack Exploder mod.
Cheers to Lily, here on TTS, for the ever awesome Kraken table.
Thanks to Smight, here on TTS, for the starship miniature.
Hats off to Murfinator, here on TTS, for his hangar background. When is Star Citizen out again? :)
Gratz to all Board Game Geek members, particularillyJohn Hooper (Hoop) and David Little (djlittle1960) for their continued efforts to provide images, charts, counters and other resources to aid us in our TTS endevours. https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/670/starship-troopers

If you like this mod then please remember to rate it or even add it to you fav list. This kind of support will go a long way towards providing additional mods in the near future. Enjoy and please comment if you have any questions, suggestions for additional content, or concerns.

For more of my mods, please see: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198001792274/myworkshopfiles/

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