The Black Campbell

The last in this series, for now, is the Mercury-class battlestar.  This is the newest, most powerful ship in the Colonial Fleet at the time of the Cylon attack.  The onscreen example is Pegasus, and there is still a bit of speculation on her capabilities, but this is the best I could glean:

BATTLESTAR PEGASUS

SHIP DATA:
Class: Mercury     Length: 5872′     Beam: 2187′     Draught: 1131′     Decks: 35    Scale:  Spacecraft     Crew: 1700 standard    Passengers:  up to 10,000 max

ATTRIBUTES:

Agility: d4     Strength: d12+d4     Vitality: d8     Alertness: d10     Intelligence: d10     Willpower: d10

Life Points: 28     Armor: 6W, 4S     Initiative: d4+d10     Speed: 5 [SL/JC]

SKILLS:  Heavy Weapons d6, Mechanical Engineering d4, Perception d6, Pilot d6

TRAITS:    Construction Facilities (d4), Formidable Presence (d6), Tough (d4)

ARMAMENT:  Heavy Skirmish Range Point Defense System (d12W Planetary-scale ), 34 Capital-Range Heavy Railguns (d12+d2W Spacecraft-scale), 24 Short Dradis-Range Heavy Missile Launchers  (d12+d4W Spacecraft-Scale), 12 Short Dradis-Range Nuclear Missiles  (d12+d8W Spacecraft-scale)

AUXILIARY VEHICLES:  200 (8 squadrons) Mk VII Vipers, 40 Raptors, 12 Marine Landing Shuttles, 6 standard shuttles, assorted work vehicles

Schematics courtesy of Starship Schematics Database, Jim Stevenson’s encyclopedic site.

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.”

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

Here is another battlestar for your roleplaying game’s fleet (and the one we’re using in our campaign) — Pleiades, a Minerva-class battlestar.  She is an intermediate design, newer than Galactica and her sisters, and the iteration previous to the Mercury -class of Pegasus.  Many were still in service at the time of the attacks, including the class prototype, Athena.

She is the flagship for Battlestar Group 55 (BSG-55) and was usually deployed with a pair of Cygnus-class gunstars, two Vanguard-class assaultstars, and a Demeter-class tender.  Like Galactica, Pleiades must retract her landing pods for FTL jumps — her FTL sinks are spaced far and the displacement bubble generated is not large enough to handle the pods otherwise.

BATTLESTAR PLEIADES

SHIP DATA:
Class: Minerva     Length: 4777.7′     Beam: 1742′     Draught: 841.5′     Decks: 30     Scale: Spacecraft     Crew: 1500 standard, 10,000 max

ATTRIBUTES:
Agility: d4     Strength: d12+d4     Vitality: d6     Alertness: d8     Intelligence: d8     Willpower: d10

Life Points: 26     Armor: 6W, 4S     Initiative: d4+d8     Speed: 5 [SL/JC]

TRAITS: Formidable Presence (d4), Viper Construction Facilities (d4)

SKILLS:  Heavy Weapons d6, Mechanical Engineering d4, Perception d6, Pilot d4

ARMAMENT:  Heavy Skirmish Range Point Defense System  (d12W Planetary-scale ), 32 Capital-range Heavy Railguns (d12+d2W Spacecraft-scale), 22 Short Dradis-range Heavy Missile Systems (d12+d4W Spacecraft-Scale), 12 Long Dradis-Range Nuclear Missile Systems  (d12+d8W Spacecraft-scale)

AUXILIARY VEHICLES:  110 (4 squadrons and 10 spare) Mk VII Vipers, 25 Raptors, 10 Marine Landing Shuttles, 3 standard shuttles, assorted work vehicles

Orthographics by tanj from scifi-meshes.com.  See more of his spectacular work there.

One of the things I noticed in the core book for the Battlestar Galactica RPG is that the Cylon ships seemed to have several of their statistics skewed.  I went through and corrected a few of the secondary numbers and fleshed out a few things, including giving the ships skills.  (At the time of the attack, I would assume the combat experience of the Cylon raiders, heavy raiders, and basestars to be sub-par, and this is borne out onscreen.  In our campaign, however, they are steadily gaining experience and getting better.)

BASESTAR, MK II

This is the the basestar from the miniseries, through to when the ZOIC models were discontinued for the newer in-house effects team’s basestar (the Mk III, here.  We’re assuming the old double saucer from the Razor movie is a Mk I.)

There are, according to Battlestarwiki.org, 864 launching racks for either missiles or raiders (they are interchangeable in the early seasons.)  Later MkIII Basestars have missile launching turrets, and less of the the racks are used for fighters (434 total, if I counted correctly [and the above source agrees].)

DIMENSIONS:
Length: 4500′     Beam: 2250′     Draught: 625′     Decks: 31     Scale: Spacecraft

ATTRIBUTES:
Agility: d6     Strength: d12+d2     Vitality:  d10     Alertness: d12     Intelligence: d10     Willpower: d8

Life Points: 22     Armor: 4W, 5S     Initiative: d6+d12     Speed: 6 [JC/SL]

ASSETS:  Biomechanical [d8]: Can self-repair, Formidable Presence [d4]

COMPLICATIONS:   Memorable [d4]

SKILLS:     Heavy Weapons [d4], Mechanical Engineering [d6], Perception [d6], Pilot [d6]

ARMAMENTS:  Medium Skirmish Range Missile Systems  [d12, Vehicle-scale], Heavy Capital Range Missile systems  [d12+d4, Vehicle-scale],  Heavy Capital Range missile Systems  [d12+d4, Spacecraft-scale],  Nuclear Short-DRADIS range Missile Systems  [d12+d8, Spacecraft-scale]

AUXILIARY CRAFT:  up to 864 raiders, heavy raiders, and support craft.  I assume, for the Mk II, 300 raiders, 124 heavy raiders, and a few dozen support craft.  For the Mk III, I assume 434 raiders and heavy raiders combined.

CYLON RAIDER

DIMENSIONS:
Length: 29.3′     Beam: 18′     Draught: 5′     Scale: Vehicle

ATTRIBUTES:

Agility: d12     Strength: d8   Vitality: d8     Alertness: d8     Intelligence: d6     Willpower: d6

Life Points: 14     Armor: 2W, 2S     Initiative: d12+d8     Speed: 9 [7 in Atmo] [JC/SL]

ASSETS:  Biomechanical [d8], Formidable Presence [d4], Stealthy [d4; adds to difficult to spot with the naked eye.]

SKILLS:  Perception [d4], Pilot [d4]

ARMAMENT:  2 30mm [Medium, Skirmish Range] Cannons  [d8, Vehicle-scale], 6 Medium Capital-Range missiles  [d12, Vehicle-scale] OR 2 Capital-Range Nuclear Missiles  [d12+d4, Spacecraft-scale.]

CYLON HEAVY RAIDER

Schematics courtesy of Starship Schematics Database, Jim Stevenson’s encyclopedic site.

DIMENSIONS:
Length: 66′     Beam: 25.6′     Draught: 16′     Scale: Vehicle    Passengers: up to 12 Centurions

ATTRIBUTES:
Agility: d6     Strength: d10     Vitality: d10     Alertness: d6     Intelligence: d6     Willpower: d6

Life Points: 16     Armor: 4W, 4S     Initiative: d6+d6     Speed: 7 [5 in Atmo] [JC/SL]

TRAITS:  Biomechanical [d8]

SKILLS:  Perception [d4], Pilot [d4]

ARMAMENT:  2 Dual Medium 30mm autocannons  [d8, Vehicle-Scale, Capital Range], 12 Capital-Range, Medium Missiles  [d12, Vehicle scale]

CYLON RESURRECTION SHIP

Model by Meleardil on scifi-meshes.com.

DIMENSIONS:
Length: 2010′     Beam: 465′     Draught: 784′     Scale: Spacecraft     Crew:  Unknown, assumed 1000s     Passengers:  Unknown, assumed 1000s

ATTRIBUTES:
Agility: d4     Strength: d10     Vitality: d8     Alertness: d8     Intelligence: d10     Willpower: d8

Life Points: 18     Armor: 1W, 4S     Initiative: d4+d8     Speed: 6 [JC/SL]

ASSETS:  Allure [d4], Biomechanical [d8]

COMPLICATIONS:  Memorable [d4]

SKILLS:  Mechanical Engineering [d4], Perception [d4], Pilot [d4]

It’s been a busy week for the Black Campbell, but I finally have a few moments to sit down and slap out a few posts.  The next few days will be Battlestar Galactica oriented with a series of new ships.  Since the Colonial Military sourcebook appears DOA, here’s my take, with visuals borrowed from various sources.  (Please pop over to scifi-meches.com for more of these artists’ fantastic work!)

Here’s a sister ship to Battlestar Valkyrie…

BATTLESTAR ARGO

SHIP DATA:
Type:     Battlestar, Light
Class:     Erynis [Furies]
Registry:    BSL-3
Group:    BSG-30 [Exploration]

DIMENSIONS:
Length: 3980′     Beam: 1514′     Draught: 634′     Decks: 17     Crew: 1500 [Air Group: 150]     Passengers:  up to 5000

ATTRIBUTES:

Agility: d6     Strength: d12     Vitality: d6     Alertness: d8     Intelligence: d8     Willpower:  d10

Life Points: 22     Initiative: d6+d8     Armor: 5W, 4S     Scale: Spacecraft     Speed: 5 [JC/SL]

ASSETS:     Loved [d4], Lucky Ship [d4],

COMPLICATIONS:     Past It’s Prime [d2], Slow Response (Argo can only launch 12 fighters/turn.) [d6]

SKILLS:     Heavy Weaponry [d6], Mechanical Engineering [d4], Perception [d6], Pilot [d4]

ARMAMENT:     Medium skirmish range point-defense system [d12W, Vehicle-Scale], 14 Capital range primary assault railguns [d12W, Spacecraft-scale] — Can fire Short DRADIS range missile systems [d12W, Spacecraft-scale], 6 Short DRADIS range nuclear missile systems [d12+d4, Spacecraft-scale]

AUXILIARY CRAFT:     68 Vipers  in 3 Squadrons w/ 8 reserve, 20 Raptors, 12 shuttles & assorted

HISTORY:     Argo is the thirds Erynis-class light battlestar off the line.  Constructed in 30AC (after Articles of Colonization) at the Scorpia Shipyards, these battlestars represented a new direction in Colonial military ship design.  For a time, the Colonial Defense Ministry was looking to curb costs of the Fleet, and these intermediate-sized battlestars were to take over much of the heavy lifting for the fleet, supported by the new assaultstars.  However, pressure from the Fleet brass led to the creation of the Mercury project – 12 super-battlestars to replace the aging Minerva, with the Erynis class as a dedicated support vessel.

Argo was scheduled for mothballing in 50AC, but was instead shifted to Battlestar Group-30 [BSG-30], the Exploration Fleet and assigned to protect scientific assets investigating the surrounding star systems for habitable planets, resources, and Cylon presence.  She was out of the system when the Cylons attacked, and neither she nor her Vipers have not be upgraded to the Command Navigation Program.

This orthographic of Valkyrie is the work of Infinity238.  Find more of his work on scifi-meshes.com

This one is the next “novel” of our Artemis Campbell series (think Modesty Blaise and you’re close!)

A Fine Reputation sees the smuggling/spy network of Artemis Campbell being hired by Italian wine merchant Julio Ruffino to find and rescue his daughter from banditi in Southern Italy.  Also, the introduction of a new character, Dag Sverresgaard.  Set in 1946 Venice, Brindisi, and southern Italy.

The Vampire of Victoria Terrasse is the next “novel”, in which the Network is hired by the Norwegian government to find and bring back (dead or alive), Harald Jenner — the prison officer that ran the Victoria Terrasse prison during the War and who was directly responsible for the death of Dag’s wife.  The crew tracks the man from London to Marseilles, to Brazil.

Working on the next “issue” of our Gorilla Ace! campaign:

Following the transformation of Rowland Cabot into a gorilla man by the evil Dr. Wassermann, the group journeys home aboard HMS Durban, only to intercept a distress call from a nearby freighter.  When they arrive, they find the freighter being ransacked by a massive airship of unknown design and origin.

In a desperate race to stop more attacks by these sky pirates, Cabot and co. are hired by His Majesty’s Government to find and destroy the craft.

Next, in Gorilla Ace! #2 “The Sky Pirates!”