Not all of the vessels of the Colonial Fleet are big bruising battlestars.  In fact, there are a number of smaller vessels that make up the 150+ vessels of the Big Blue Machine.  One of these important ships is the assaultstar.  Originally designed as a light, maneuverable vessel to screen the more valuable battlestars from damage, the assaultstars also proved themselves in more prosaic duties like smuggling interdiction, search-and-rescue, and marine reconnaissance and assault support.

Most battlestar groups have 2-3 assaultstars attached to them, coupled with 2-3 of the smaller gunstars, and a tender.  Assaultstars are also grouped in MRG (Marine Reconnaissance Groups) that are tasked with supplying marines to areas of operations including emergency response, disaster relief, and combat action.

The Vanguard class is an older model, the original models as old as thirty years in service, but they are nearly all still active as of the attacks. They carry up to a battalion of Colonial Marines for up to three months, which can be deployed using specialized Marine Landing Shuttles (uparmored standard shuttles.)  The MLS can carry 25 marines and either a tank or two APCs or CAWS, or 50 marines in a drop.

Here is an example:

ASSAULTSTAR DEMOSTHENES

SHIP DATA:
Type:     Assaultstar/Escort     Class: Vanguard     Scale: Spacecraft     Registry: DD-72     Length: 1867′     Beam: 360′     Draught: 377′     Decks: 13     Crew: 270 standard, plus up to 500 marines

ATTRIBUTES:
Agility: d6     Strength: d8     Vitality: d6     Alertness: d8     Intelligence: d6     Willpower: d8

Life Points: 16     Armor: 4W, 4S     Initiative: d6+d8    Speed: 6 [SL/JC]

SKILLS:  Heavy Weapons d4, Mechanical Engineering d4, Perception d4, Pilot d4

TRAITS:
Lucky Ship [d4]

ARMAMENT:  Heavy Skirmish Range Point Defense System (d12W Planetary-scale ),  7 Short DRADIS-Range Medium Railguns (d10W Spacecraft-scale),  12 Short DRADIS-Range Medium Missile Systems  (d12W Spacecraft-Scale) *Can be fired from Railguns.

AUXILIARY VEHICLES:  10 Raptors, 6 Vipers, 10 Marine Landing Shuttles, can carry 10 tanks, 20 APC or CAWS, or a combination for landing with the MLS.

HISTORY:
Demosthenes is part of BSG-55 (Pleiades), but is often released to detached duty for search & rescue and smuggling interdiction missions.  “Old D” was constructed in 35AC, and is one of the older vessels in her class.  She has a reputation for being “lucky.”

vanguard85Demothenes is the design and property of Rick Snider.  You can find this and other examples of his work on scifi-meshes.com.