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1THE GREAT MACHINEISSUE 6 April 2004 THE GREAT MACHINE



“It is by my will alone I set mymind in motion. It is by the juice ofsapho that the thoughts acquirespeed, the lips acquire stain, thestain becomes a warning.” Genlodripped the bittersweet taste of thesapho down upon his ruddy lips.Each drop shimmered from thedisplay lights on the bridge, thesteady thrumming of the machineryof the ship of war fading away intonothingness. “It is by will alone I setmy mind in motion.”

Genlo shuddered, his everynerve on fire. He then sighed like asatiated lover as the sapho spreadfirst through his veins, then straightto his hyper-accelerated neurons.He disliked using the precious juiceso far from home and any chance ofreplenishment, yet he understoodthe reward offered by thisunexpected opportunity. To breakthe Guild Monopoly on space travel,his thoughts reflected. That is a

prize worthy of the Harkonnens! Hefocused his mind on to the conceptof proferred rewards… andstudiously avoided thinking what theBeast would do to him if he failed.

“Mentat, I would have yourcounsel.” The crisp tenor of LordCaptain Torn Ruatha penetratedGenlo’s reverie, and for a moment alook of distaste shimmered on theMentat’s face. Then realizing hiserror, it quickly vanished, and Genlobowed and walked humbly up to theyoung naval officer. While not asfavored as Feyd, the Ruathas stillhad far to much influence at GeidiPrime for one such as he to showdisrespect. Yet if the strangerstechnology could do as hiscalculations had predicted… HughGenlo might yet be a name to bereckoned with in the Halls of theHarkonnens.

“Yes, Lord Captain Ruatha,”Genlo purred with a sibilant note to

his voice, “how might I be ofassistance?”

“Speak to me again of thenature of space we seek.”

Genlo stopped for a second,his eyes searching through theshadows of the command chamber.He registered again the hum of Ixianmachinery throughout the room,heard the low voices of the juniorofficers passing information fromstation to station. The machines hetrusted, as they had been thoroughlyvetted using snooper-scopes. Hehad seen to this himself. Thecrewmen, however… how could youever tell the thoughts of the humanmind? Such calculations should bewithin his boundaries as a mentat,but there were so many variables,so many subtleties that could makethe difference between loyalty andbetrayal. What could not becalculated still filled Genlo with asense of dread.

Prequel toPrequel toPrequel toPrequel toPrequel toPresciencePresciencePresciencePresciencePresciencePrequel toPrequel toPrequel toPrequel toPrequel toPresciencePresciencePresciencePresciencePrescience by Christian Meador


4 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 6 April 2004THE GREAT MACHINE

The Lord Captain frowned,following the gaze of the stoopedolder man. “You fear a traitor in ourmidst?” The handsome Ruathanlaughed, a chilling thing. “These menare mine, mentat. Mine alone. Theyhave been broken down andreassembled as my will bequest.They know well the risks they takefor even thinking of subversion. Thepain of their heart plug remindsthem, from moment to moment.”

Genlo nodded, as much tohimself as to the Lord Captain. “Myapologies, my Lord. It is simply theMentat way to consider all of thepossibilities.”

“And it is the way of the LordCaptaincy to expect questions to beanswered.”

Genlo paid obeisance,knuckling his hand to his foreheadas he bowed. “Of course, my Lord.Again, accept my most sincereapologies.” After a moment whenthe Lord Captain didn’t reply, Genlocontinued.

“The area that the Heighlinerhas deposited us in has manyunusual features. This area lies faroutside the charted Empire. Timeand space here seem to havedifferent properties than those towhich we are accustomed.”

“Yes, you spoke of that at thebriefing. I am not certain I followedthe implications of your theory,however.”

Genlo hesitated a second,puzzled. It was unusual for one ofthe upper hierarchy of BaronHarkonnen’s holding to admitweakness, even a simple ignoranceof a matter outside their normalscope of knowledge. Whileweakness on Giedi Prime wouldquickly be seized upon, ignorance inthe depths of space would be acalamity even greater. In amicrosecond Genlo filed thisobservation away for future analysis

of what this might mean in hisdealings with Torn Ruatha.

“Sire,” the mentat cautiouslybegan, “the calculations begin to driftinto the realm of philosophy insteadof science. They are numerousareas of understanding that arenecessary to process all of the datafrom this region.” Genlo brought outan old folder of notes, wrinkled by theweight time and smelling faintly ofsapho. “If I may be permitted toinstruct you in some of the basics ofTheonian physics and Holtzman’sderivatives, I feel that I might….”

The Lord Captain shook hishead slightly, stopping Genlo’sramblings. “I do not question theveracity of your calculations, Mentat.I seek knowledge of what thosemathematics mean to my fleet andtheir crew.”

Genlo fumbled with theparchment, attempting to make itdisappear under his robe. “Um, yessire. Of course.” He shook his headat his unaccustomed nervousnessat speaking with this man. “To speaksimply, My Lord, it is my estimationthat this area might be a tear intoanother reality. A different universe,bleeding into our own at this locality.The data allows this, if not offers itas the only conclusive proof.However, in combination with theencounter with the Strangers at thenew colony in this region, I find it themost elegant answer to thisenigma.”

Torn Ruatha frowned, andGenlo wondered if the mind of theLord Captain could conceive of thispossibility. Indeed, many of the othermentats had scoffed at hissuggestion. But Genlo had utteredhis belief enough times so word ofthe possibility had reached the earsof Baron Vladimir Harkonnenhimself. Combined with theimplications of their strangers at theRabani colony, who appeared to

travel through the vastness of spacewithout the use of the GuildNavigators… Genlo had calculatedthis to the ten thousandth percentile,and he knew the Baron would wantto believe this was possible.

Now all Genlo had to do is beproven correct.

Ruatha took a long stride tothe other side of the bridge, checkingthe monitor controls above aproficient looking navigator. Amoment later an Ensign saluted andoffered the Ruathan a shigawiereader, which he casually signed.“Well, Mentat, we shall find out if yourcalculations are correct. We enterthe Bleed within the hour.”

Genlo nodded with a grimresignation, torn between elation andfear. His stomach churned withknowledge that his future, for boonor bane, would soon be decided. Heturned to leave the bridge to returnto his cabin, to recheck hiscalculations for the thousandth time.

“Mentat.” The Lord Captainsvoice once again cut through thebridge despite its calm, consideredmanner.

“My Lord?”“Have you considered if it is

truly another reality bleeding intoours?” Lord Captain Ruatha’s voiceasked in an entirely too reasonabletone. “Or could if be our universe,bleeding into theirs?”

Genlo stopped, theimplications of that statementburning through him. What wouldthe laws of different realities be?What if they could not coexist? Orcould the Bleed be to a third reality,separate and distinct from the othertwo? And if that proved true, howmany different universes mightabridge that area of space-time. Athousand possibilities spun throughhis head, and not even the juice ofthe Sappho could allows his mind towork through the possibilities



inherent in that concept. Thevariables were all consuming.

“My Lord, a question if youwill?”

“Yes, Genlo. What is it youwish?” The Lord Captain was againlooking through the dispatches ofthe day on the reader.

“Have you ever takenMentat training, my Lord?”

Torn Ruatha’s eyebrowraised then, his face a mask ofamusement and disdain.

“No, Genlo. I have not.”“If I may be so bold, sire….

Perhaps you should have. Youappear to have a natural aptitude.”

The Ruathan turned to facethe disshelved mentat, his eyesburning into Genlo’s with afierceness that Genlo had neverbefore seen. A wild fire burninginside, masked by the ice knownonly in the depths of the emptyplaces of the universe.

“Become a Master ofAssassins? Or a dweller amonglost tomes? No, Mentat. Such alife is not for me. I seek the majestyof battle. Only there can a man’sworth truly be told. Only there canthe depths of his soul be tested.”The Lord Captain strode across thebridge in two quick motions,grabbing Genlo’s robe with anintensity born of immaculate will.

“Find me the Bleed, Mentat.Find me the Strangers within. Letus see if we can wrest the secretsof the stars from them. No moreshall we be beholden to the vileputrescence that is the Guild.” TornRuatha’s eyes shone with an unholyfervor. “We shall take back ourbirthright as Lords of the Stars. Weshall take it back regardless of thecost, in lives, ships or souls. Andwhen we return, the Empire willquake with the slightest whisper ofour coming.”

The mentat fell back as theLord Captain released him. Acheer came from the men of thebridge, pouring praise upon thesuddenly silent Torn Ruatha. HughGenlo scrambled up from hisprostate state, and quickly fled thebridge to the protection of thehallway beyond.

Genlo shook his head ashe passed by crewmen throughthe corridors, seeking refuge inhis cabin. He couldn’t get theimage of the malevolence of theRuathan’s eyes, the burningvenom held within, out of hisconsciousness. Genlo didn’tknow what had happened to theyoung Lord Captain at the handsof the Guild. Or perhaps thewound came from the treatmentof his elders, as life in HouseHarkonnen was rarely gentle andnever kind. Yet no matter thecase, there was one thing MentatHugh Genlo had calculatedwithout a fraction of a doubt.

Lord Captain Torn Ruathawas quite insane.

The Ixian built, Harkonnenflagged Assault Cruiser EndlessSilence glided through space. Afull legion of Shock Troops waitedin its hold, and the fleet spread outlike Worm sign in its wake. A faintshimmer passed along the hull,and one by one the fleet fadedfrom sight. They left their ownreality for one undreamt of.

House Harkonnen hadentered the Bleed.

* * *



Introduction“The space above Arrakis is filledwith the ships of the Guild. ThePadishah Emperor himself is there.With his favorite Truthsayer and fivelegions of Sardaukar. The old BaronVladimir Harkonnen is there withThufir Hawat and seven shipsjammed with every conscript hecould muster. Every Great Househas its raiders above us... waiting.”“For what are they waiting?”

“For the Guild’s permission to land.The Guild will strand on Arrakis anyforce that lands withoutpermission.”

The Padishah Emperor rulesthe Imperium in the universe ofDune, but only as long as he canmaintain the flows of the spiceMélange. All intersystem spacetravel is dictated by the monopoly ofthe Spacing Guild, and the Guild’sdominance means nothing withoutthe prescient abilities granted to theirnavigators by the Spice. The powertriumvirate of the Great Conventionexists to ensure that the spice flowis never threatened. The existenceof the Imperium depends entirely onSpice.

Yet the million worldscontrolled by these great powersburns with passions that must findtheir expression. Generation longrivalries between the Great feudalHouses have created detailed anddeadly laws concerning war andassassination. Great ideologicalclashes arise between the ReverendMothers of the Bene Geseritsisterhood and the ghola masters of

the Tleixalu. The Fremen sufferunder the depredations of theirplanetary governor, awaiting for theirMahdi to arise. And a single act oflove and devotion can derail themachinations of a thousand years ofgenetic manipulation, leading to thecreation of a savior and tyrantdestined to bring all the carefulcompromises and binding alliancescrashing down to their knees.

Welcome to Dune Wars.Part one of this article will deal withthe universal components of starcombat in the Imperium – theomnipresent Spacing Guild, and theships themselves that are largelycreated by one planet, Ix. Part twoof this article will investigate thevarious political factions of the Duneuniverse, and the unique talentseach brings to the table.

While conflict in theImperium is most often settled by thearchaic rules of politics andassassination dictated in the code of

Dune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune Wars Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2Dune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune Wars Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2

The Spice Must Flow:The Birth of Dune Wars

By Christian Meador



Kanly, the brilliant machine forgersof Ix and their rivals in the House ofRichese have created warmachines should the conflict everextend beyond the borders of thenoble’s siridar fiefs and into theconfines of space. Mighty armoredmonitors, frigates bearing deadlylasguns, Holtzman shielded cuttersand even experimental no-ships thatcan exit our very space-time to lie inwait for unwary travelers exist in theImperium. But they have alwaysbeen withheld from the field of battlesince the formation of the GreatConvention formed by the ThreePillars of the Empire; the SpacingGuild, the Emperor himself, and theGreat Houses.

Of these, the Spacing Guildhas had the most influence on thecreation of the warships of Dune.

The Spacing GuildThe Spacing Guild is perhaps

the dominant power in the galaxyprior to the coming of the KwisatzHaderach. Having a monopoly on allfaster than light travel, the GuildHeighliners are the only means oftransportation and communicationbetween the far-flung fiefs of theImperium’s million worlds. Inaddition they control intersystem

banking, giving them additionalleverage as holders of the loans onthousands of noble house andindependent mercantile concerns.And the vast amount of spice theypurchase has slowly mutated thetalented steersman and navigatorsinto something both more and lessthan human. The Navigators castaside humanity for one simplereason; prescience is the cost ofvoyaging among the stars.

This extraordinary power hasallowed them to help enforce two ofthe great dictates of the Imperium –the Great Conventions and the GuildPeace. These protocols haveseriously influenced the evolution ofspacefaring navies in the Dunegalaxy. The foremost rule of theGreat Convention prevents the useof atomic weapons on humans inthe Imperium. The Guild Peaceinfluences the laws of Kanly (Housewarfare and assassination) and thegreat refuges for the defeatedhouses. These dictates have limitedthe development of warships, yetmany types still exist.

As the actual GuildHeighliners are produced on thesame world as many of the othervarious ship types, it is obvious thatthe Guild is aware of the productionof the warships of the House navies.

Adjusting the oil lenses of hisfather’s field glass, Leto shiftedaway from the shifting pastels ofthe dawn horizon, up to thevestiges of night. A glintingspeck moved against the stars.When he touched the zoompad,the speck grew until Letorecognized a Heighliner in loworbit surrounded by theshimmering blur of a shielddefensive system.

‘Do you see it?’ Paulus asked,standing at his son’s shoulder.

‘It’s there – with full shieldsactivated. Are they worriedabout military action? Here?’With such severe political andeconomic consequences, Letocouldn’t imagine anyoneattacking a Guild craft. Althoughthe Spacing Guild had no militarypower of its own, it could –through the withdrawal oftransportation services – crippleany solar system. And with theelaborate surveillancemechanisms, the Guild couldtrace and identify rogue attackersand send messages off to theEmperor, who in turn woulddispatch Imperial Sardaukaraccording to mutual treaty.

“

”The SCS for the Heighliner

is a conservative estimate, madeprimarily for playability issues. Themovie script from Dune, whiledefinitely a secondary source, tellsus that the size of the Atriedes fleetbeing ferried by a Heighliner whiletraveling from Caladan to Dune is3,415 ships. Needless to say, thatpresents scaling issue in aBabylon 5 Wars game systemframework. The Heighlinerpresented here could beconsidered a minor Guild vessel,with the treatment of a Heighlinerof the scope shown in the movieto be presented at a later time.



While the Guild maintains manytypes of ships, they are known tomost of the people of the Imperiumfor their great Heighliners, monstrouscargo ships which can fold space toappear anywhere in the galaxy inmere seconds.

The Heighliner itself is amarvel of Ixian contriving. Internallyit mounts hundreds of Holtzmanrepulsors, able to tractor ships in totheir berthing positions. If necessarysuch repulsors could be used todefend the ship from attack. But thebest defense for the Heighliner is tosimply be elsewhere, which takesbut a few turns concentration fromthe Navigator to achieve.

The Guild Navigator is one ofthe foremost defenses of these craftand a prime reason that the loss ofa Heighliner is almost an unheard ofincident. The same limitedprescience which guides theHeighliner between the vastemptiness between the stars alsogives the Navigator forewarning ofhostility – and more than just a little

insight into how any specific dangermay arise.

While the Heighliners carryno armament, their defensivescreens are among the mostpowerful in known space. They alsopossess extremely powerful

sensors, and they are one of the fewunits that possess the ability toconduct electronic warfareoperations in the Imperium. Thoughthere are very few situations that theGuild would allow the leasing of aprecious Heighliner for that purpose.

The Guild ships areenormous, absolutely astoundingfeats of engineering. This is madedoubly so when one sees the actualcreation of said ship. Unlike whatmost would expect, the Heighlinersthemselves are created in largeunderground chambers on themachine world of Ix. The crushinggravity of the ships massive frameis nullified by large arrays ofHoltzman repulsors, used later toguide other vessels into itscavernous holds. This form of

construction is made possible by thenature of their space fold engines.Instead of a complex and potentiallydangerous launch procedure, thevast ships simply slip betweenspace-time to enter orbit above theplanet.

The hangar bay of a GuildHeighliner betrays the ship’s truepurpose: to carry its cargo of lesserships across the interstellar void.The hangar is broken up betweenforward and aft sections, and eachhas a capacity of 180 spaces. AHeighliner can even carry capitalships in its cavernous hold. Thefollowing chart should be consultedfor the amount of hangar spacenecessary to carry the various shiptypes:

All planetary assaults areconducted with the approval of theSpacing Guild, as without aHeighliner’s space fold abilities itwould take at the least decades tobe able to travel from system tosystem. However, should the Guildagree to the need of the transport,the capacity of one Heighliner isnormally sufficient for the task.

“

”

…Leto saw the dimly illuminated cargo hold of the Heighliner, a vacuumchamber so large that his passenger ship, by comparison, was even smallerthan a grain of pundi rice in the belly of a fish. Other ships, large and small,were arrayed in the hold: frigates, cargo-haulers, shuttles, lighters, andarmored monitors.

House Atreides, pg 97

HangarShip Size Capacity

Ultralight Fighter 1/2

Shuttle, Fighter 1

Super Heavy Fighter 2

Light Combat Vessel 3

Medium Ship 6

Heavy Combat Vessel 10

Capital Ship 20



The Technology of theImperium

The Empire of a MillionWorlds has been shaped by manyfactors over the ten thousand yearsof its existence. Of the rise of theSpacing Guild and the GreatConventions much has already beensaid, as the masters of the Imperiumsought to find ways to limit theamount of damage that everincreasing technology could create.However the reasons behind thisneed are also profound, as mankindfaced a terrible foe in his quest forthe stars. Their own genius.

The Butlerian Jihad againstthe machines was a pivotal point inthe development of mankind, and ahuge limiting factor in the technologyof the Imperium. Automation of anykind is now suspect, and the creationof even expert systems capable ofhuman competence can call downthe might of the Emperor’s eliteSardaukar storm troopers on theoffender. The machine culture of Ixtreads on this line constantly, and fortheir offenses were once nearlydestroyed by the machinations oftheir own Emperor and the BeneTlexilu.

This has limited theopportunities for researchconsiderably among the MillionWorlds. In game play in Dune Warsthis translates into severaltechnological deficiencies.

First and foremost are thelimited Electronic Warfare ratings ofmany of the ships. For a cultureten thousand years old their sensors

PresciencePresciencePresciencePresciencePresciencePrescience is more than just a little difficult to enact in a tactical

space warfare setting. The following guidelines should give you someability to portray the Limited Prescience of a Navigator in Dune Wars.

1. A fleet with a Limited Prescient cannot face tactical surpriseregardless of any specified scenario or campaign rule unless theopponent has some way of negating Limited Prescience. Thisincludes a Prescient of any type in the opponent fleet, or any shipdeeply phased out of space/time. Harkonnen No-Ships qualify asnegating prescience under this ruling, as does any vessel droppingout of a reality that is not attuned with our dimension. For crossoverpurposes, this does not include ships coming out of relationaldimensions such as Hyperspace, or those traveling in a subspacebubble such as a warp drive. Ancient level vessels emerging fromhigher level planes such as Thirdspace are too remote for a LimitedPrescient to sense before they arrive, so they can gain tacticalsurprise.

2. Knowledge of real space. A Limited Prescient can ask to see anySCS, request arming levels of specific weapons and knowledgeof any elite characters on board any ship in the game that isn’tprotected from Prescience.

3. Knowledge of time. A Limited Prescient has a special rule forresolving initiative. The prescient may target any capital ship, HCV,MCV, LCV, super heavy fighter or single flight of fighters on theboard. Initiative for that unit is modified for the rest of the combat(until destroyed). This system requires a cup and two differentcolored d20s. At the beginning of the first turn, the prescient playerand the player who controls the targeted vessel roll initiativenormally. However, the prescient player also takes the two d20sand allows the targeted player to choose one to represent his ownvessel. They are then placed in the cup, shaken, and the cup isplaced face down on the table. This represents the two vessels’initiatives starting for the next turn. The prescient player is allowedto see both die rolls, though not allowed to touch the dice. Thisallows the prescient player to plan his turn knowing the relativeinitiatives of both vessels for the next turn. The initiatives are onlyrevealed to the target player during the next turn of play at theappropriate initiative step. The dice are then rolled again for thefollowing turn immediately, and kept secret again from the targetedplayer until next roll initiative sequence. The targeted vessel canonly be changed upon its destruction during the game, and thenthe Prescient may target a new vessel.

The Point Cost of a Limited Prescient Navigator is 100% thecost of the vessel. The location of the Navigator must be the C&C.This cost is already included in the Guild Heighliner, as all these shipsmust include a Navigator to be capable of Space Fold travel.

“ ” Thou shalt not make a machinein the likeness of a man’s mind.

The Orange Catholic Bible



are merely adequate, and behindmany otherwise less advancedraces in terms of crossover battles.While the sensors themselves areas powerful as any, the supportautomation and computer control isextremely limited, reducing theireffectiveness.

Secondly, the sensor suitesthemselves have been pushed as faras possible when you consider theirlimitation in computational power.The special rules in Militaries of theLeague-2 for Antiquated Sensorsshould be considered in effect for allDune ships. Simply put, they cannotat any time generate additional EWpoints through the application ofadditional power. In addition, their firecontrol ratings on their weapons areaverage at best.

Outside the realm ofcomputer technology, there are alsoseveral limitations to the ships of theImperium. The vast diversity of shipweapon technologies as seen in theBabylon 5 universe is simply non-existent. The combination of adistrustful populace with a religious

hatred of overly advancedtechnology added to the enormouspressure the Spacing Guild hasapplied over the centuries to limit theproliferation of space born weaponryhas taken its toll on the optionsavailable even to the machineculture of Ix or the greed of theRichese.

The following weaponsystems are not available in theDune universe: Particle, Molecular,Plasma, Gravitic, Ionic, Antimatter,or Electromagnetic. Imperiumtechnology is limited to mostly matterand ballistic.

Vulcan RailgunThe primary weapons suite

currently utilized by the variousHouse navies is the Vulcan Railgun.VRGs are essentially high capacityslug throwers. Powered by micro-Holtzman repulsors, they fire highdensity calladium and titanium alloyrods at exceptional velocities todestroy enemy ships. Thesesystems are especially adapt at

stripping off the weapons batteriesof opposing forces, and do relativelylittle collateral damage.

Gauss CannonThe Gauss cannon has

become a frequent sight on manynavies’ frigates as a secondaryweapon. Moderate range and alarger kinetic impact have made it afavorite for taking out thosesupposedly non-rakeable systemsfound on larger enemy warships.

Blast CannonA more recent development

is the rapid fire Blast Cannon. Whilethe Vulcan Railgun fires aconcentrated salvo of high energyprojectiles, the Blast Cannon has amore diverse stream. Eachindividual impact does less damagethan a Railgun, but it has thepossibility to strike several times persalvo. The only real disadvantageis the moderate spindown time ittakes to clear the weapon betweenshots.



Rail Interceptor ArrayIn addition, the development

of the Blast Cannon led to a furtherrefinement, the Rail InterceptorArray. It is primarily deployed as adefensive weapon, and is anextremely effective interceptoragainst any weapon other thanLasguns (-4 intercept). It may alsobe fired as a group defensiveweapon in ‘Guardian’ mode,intercepting attacks against otherships at half effectiveness (-2), aslong as the weapon system isinterposed between the attackingship and the ship it is defending. Itmay also be used in an anti-fightercapacity, targeting attacking flights offighters. However, against unitslarger than fighters or shuttles, theInterceptor array’s spheres are toolight to do any appreciable damage.

Other Ballistic WeaponsBallistic weapons have been

developed to a high level ofrefinement in the Imperium, and theequivalent of Class-S and Class-Lracks are often seen. The Class-Rrapid fire twin rack is more rare, butthe richer Great Houses occasionallyhave them in their inventory. All ofthe normal types of missiles in theRules compendium are available toHouse and Imperial forces. Inaddition, the type I antimissile missile(Militaries of the League-2 – Kor-Lyans) occasionally makes its markin engagements.

The Lasgun and theHoltzman RepulsorShield

While these armamentsystems are very influential in theoutcome of space warfare in theMillion Words, two technologies andtheir very special interactiondominate the battlefield. Both

originating primarily in the conceptsof one man, the Lasgun and theHoltzman Repulsor Shield are themost technologically advancedsystems in the Imperium.

LasgunA weapon that dates back to

the days of the Butlerian Jihad, theHeavy Lasgun is just what it implies– a highly focused laser that is themost fearsome weapon deployed onany weapons platform in theImperium. As the most damagingweapon in the House naval arsenal,it combines strong destructivepower, good fire control with a longrange and, being a Laser weapon,is non-interceptable. Theincorporation of the Hufuf oil lensoptic targeting into the base systemmakes it even more dangerous.While in general the sensors ofHouse navies in the Dune universecould best be described as barelyadequate, the incredible focusingabilities of the Hufuf oil lens haveallowed for one significantbreakthrough; the Lasgun canoperate as a Piercing weaponwithout the normal additional 4 pointsof focusing EW requirement. (Note:the hufuf oil is held in static tensionby an enclosing force field within aviewing tube as part of a magnifying

or other light manipulation system.Because each lens element can beadjusted individually one micron ata time, the oil lens is considered theultimate in accuracy for manipulatingvisible light.) This allows the Lasgunto penetrate ships hulls andthreatens the key components of theprimary hull.

The Heavy Lasgun should betreated as a laser class weapon,and is not interceptable, nor can itintercept. And it has one deadlydrawback in its potential interactionwith shielded ships creating theHoltzman effect.

The light lasgun is primarilymounted in fighters, but uses thesame basic mechanics for lagsun/shield reactions, as describedbelow.

Holtzman ShieldsAn electromagnetic shield

that repulses objects traveling at highspeeds, the Holtzman shield is boththe boon and bane of any Imperiumbattle fleet. Against most knownforms of weaponry, such asballistics, matter, and evenconjectural particle-based weapons,the Shield operates efficiently. Theprofile of the shielded ship is reducedby the power rating of the shield(making the ship more difficult to



successfully target), and if a strikeis successful the Holtzman shieldreduces the impetus of the weapon,acting as additional armor againstany effective strike. This should betreated as any otherElectromagnetic (EM) Shield. Aprimary difference is that theHoltzman shield has a 360 degreeprotection arc. Secondary Holtzmanshields on the ship should beconsidered backup generators.Only one Holtzman shield may beoperated at any time.

The benefits of the Holtzmanshield are enormous, but have anincredibly dangerous drawback.Lasguns have a particularlydangerous effect when striking aHoltzman shield, causing an effectmost closely described as asubatomic fusion reaction,generating impressive explosiveforce. In addition, a transversecarrier wave is created down thefrequency of the Laser beam,causing damage to the ship thatfired the laser as well.

If such a strike hits, rolldamage as normal; then take theholtzman shield power rating (SR),and roll d6 on the following chart todetermine damage to each ship. Allsuch damage is resolved in rakingmode.

Roll Effect1 50% Lasgun Damage +

(SR x50), to firing ship, 50%Lasgun Damage + (SR x10)to target

2 50% Lasgun Damage +(SR x35), to firing ship, 50%Lasgun Damage + (SR x15)to target




6 Laser Frequency/Shieldharmonic flare. Roll again –on a 1 through 3, Lasgun andShield Generator aredestroyed, with no additionaldamage applied to eithervessel. On a 4-6 each shiptakes Lasgun Damage + (SRx100) damage.

The Warships of theImperium

Due to the deadliness of theShield/Lasgun interaction, it becameapparent that the utilization of theseweapons technologies carried aconsiderable risk in any conflict. Thisfactor more than any other hasdictated the growth of fleetcomposition in the Imperium. Largerships are often considered tooexpensive to risk on a potentialHoltzman field explosions. Smallerattrition units however are oftenconsidered an acceptable casualty,especially if the reaction damages alarger vessel significantly. For thisreason many of the smaller ships inDune carry heavy protectiveshielding, while the larger ships oftendisdain it because of the threat oflight lasguns which may causefusion reactions to the larger hulls.

The machinists of Ix are thelargest shipwrights in the MillionWorlds. The vast majority of ship

designs come from this one planet,as it is one of the few that stillembrace the machine culture.However, even they have to observethe dictates of the form, andbecause of external pressure thereare relatively few different types ofhulls designed for the purpose ofwarfare. Richese also dabbles inwarship manufacture, beingespecially effective in miniaturization.The twin Imperial fighter designscome from this House, as the needto provide small, effective weaponssystems for the fighters lay directlyin their field of expertise. Still, thevast majority of large hulls come fromIx.

Very few noble houses havetheir own ship building apparatus,due to the inherent cost and lack oftechnical sophistication. However,there are many independent smallcraft construction facilities, forshuttle operations and interceptordesigns for planetary defense. Onenotable exception to this rule isHouse Harkonnen, who has investedin both small shipyards and anexpansive research program thathas yielded impressive results in itsprototype No-Ship design.

Ixian Ship DesignsMost House navies are

comprised of Ixian ship types.These are some of the mostprominent.

Ixian Armored MonitorThe largest warship being

regularly produced in the Imperium,the Monitor is primarily a systemdefense unit. Combining a largeLasgun and Missile capacity with thebest armor Ix is capable ofproducing, the Monitor should beable to deter most adversaries.However, in attack it is extremelyslow and unmaneuverable, and if the



need arises for it to be pressed intoservice in such a mode the Monitorworks best as a weapons platform.The influence of the Guild in ensuringthe creation of the largest hull typeas a defensive unit is seen onceagain. Most Monitors areunshielded, instead relaying on theirthick armor. It was deemed too largea hull to risk on the vagaries of aHoltzman reaction. Monitors useClass-L missile launchers.

Ixian FrigateThe ship most members of

the Landsraad think of when theythink of naval might, the Frigate is aversatile bearer of House standards.Carrying a normal armament of aHeavy Lasgun, Missiles, GaussCannons and Vulcan Railguns, theFrigate has good maneuverability fora capital ship and is relativelyinexpensive to produce for itseffectiveness. The House Navieshave found that these ships are bestused as hunter/killers, using theirmaneuverability to their bestadvantage. Without a Holtzmanshield and with only moderate armor,it is not as sturdy a ship as thedesigners had originally hoped.However, it is an effective ship at allranges, and the combination ofweapon systems it employs isparticularly advantageous whenutilized in conjunction. It also is thelargest vessel capable of a planetarylanding, and may take off without anyadditional assistance.

The Imperial Navy of HouseCorrino and the House Navy ofHarkonnen often utilize a Lasgunvariant of the Frigate. Possessingstaggering offensive firepower for aship of the Imperium, it sacrifices itsintermediate weapons and some ofits reaction thrust for a moreextensive Lasgun suite. While stillreasonably maneuverable for a

capital ship, it is more orientedtowards being a mobile weaponsplatform when compared to thestandard Frigate.

Ixian Assault CruiserThe Sardaukar ’s ship of

choice, it may land 6 imperial legionsusing its two assault pods during aplanetary attack. The assault podsare detachable, and the AssaultCruiser merely has to attain orbit inorder to deploy them. While knownprimarily as a weapon of theEmperor ’s legions, the AssaultCruiser has found its way into manyHouse navies and has become theweapon of choice for any plannedinvasion. The ship itself is wellsituated to its role of planetaryassault, being a tough design andemploying four of the new RailInterceptor Arrays. It is also one ofthe few carrier craft currentlyproduced by Ix. It can carry a flightof 6 fighters and 12 shuttles intocombat. A Burseg of the Sardaukaris currently looking at a prototypeversion that would replace theshuttle capacity for breaching pods.

Ixian Fleet CarrierUsing the same basic hull as

the Assault Cruiser, this is its sistership in many ways. The removal ofthe assault pods has allowed for theextension of the hull and the hangarbay, and this enables the ship to carry36 Padishah or Shirkhan fighters intoaction. A relatively rare ship designin the Imperium, its role has beenquestioned extensively by the Guildas normally fighter support would beprovided defensively throughplanetary facilities or during anoffense being based on the Guildtransport vessel.

Ixian Escort CorvetteThe escort corvette is

designed to protect larger capitalships from fighter and missile attack,and therefore has been fitted with aholtzman shield and two RailInterceptor Arrays. While lacking indirect fire capability, it does carry oneClass S missile launcher. A sturdy,maneuverable ship, the EscortCorvette is always a cheerful sightfor House naval captains and theircrews.

Richese Ship Designs

Richese Missile CorvetteCreated with the same hull

design as the Corvette Escort undera license from Ix, the Missile Corvettetrades in its two Rail InterceptorArrays for two additional missilelaunchers. An inexpensive weaponsplatform, Missile corvettes addgreatly to the firepower of fleets theyserve with, and are often equippedwith specialist missiles to improvetheir effectiveness. These corvettesutilize Class-L missile launchers,giving them the extended range tomake them effective fleet supportships. They are often considered aprimary target on the battlefield, yetlike many small ships of theImperium are very difficult todamage due to their Holtzmanshields.

Richese PadishahFighter

The “Imperial” fighterprogram of the Richese created thedefault fighter in most House fleets.Naming the weapon program afterthe Emperor’s position itself wasconsidered an unorthodox move atthe time due to the fighter’s role asan attrition unit, but considerable



politicking and the claim of thePadishah as a space superiorityfighter eventually gave the programthe green light. In truth the Richesedid create a fighter better than anyother in its day, and upgrades overtime have made it quite competitiveeven now.

The Padishah carries twolinked light fighter railguns and aholtzman shield. The miniaturizationcapability of the Richese created asuperior light railgun platform. Whilethe shield drains some of thefighter’s reactor, draining off a bit ofthrust, the extra shield protection isconsidered worth the trade off. It isboth an effective anti-ship fighter, asthe fighter’s matter guns ignore shiparmor, and a respectable dogfighter,as its shields make it very survivableagainst other fighters.

Richese ShirkhanAssault Fighter

A dedicated anti-ship fighter,its light LasGun and missilecombination make it a deadly threatagainst enemy vessels, includingcapital ships. It is also a little bit moremaneuverable than the Padishah,but not nearly as survivable. Evenso, the sight of a flight of Shirkhansreadying for a strafing run is a sourceof considerable apprehension formost House captains.

General Ship DesignsWhile the majority of the

technical work on these ships stilloriginated from Ix, these designshave become so commonplace thatmany different worlds nowmanufacture them.

Generic Cutter andMissile Cutter

A small and lethal ship, thecutter is the mainstay of planetarydefense forces and is ubiquitousthroughout the Imperium. A designsmall enough to be considered anattrition unit and therefore fields astrong Holtzman shield, the shippacks enough punch to be able tobe a concern in a fleet action,especially en masse. The basecutter fields a Medium Blast Cannonand two Vulcan Railguns. Themissile variant replaces the BlastCannon with a Type-S missile rack.In either configuration the Holtzmanshield provides the ship with animpressively small profile, and theadditional armor the shield addsmakes them immune to attack frommost fighter flights. A proposedvariant including a Rail Interceptorarray is being considered to accountthe larger fighter presence beingseen as the new Fleet Carriers arebrought into action. So far howeverthe Rail Interceptor Cutter has notfinished trials.

Generic Bulk FreighterThe basic freighter of the

Imperium, the Bulk Freighter can befound in numbers anywhere tradeexists in the Million Worlds. Theseships lack any substantial defenses,though the standard armament ofthree Vulcan Railguns may givepirates pause. The other basiccargo ship, the Cargo Lighter, whichis often utilized by the Spicesmugglers of Dune, may be seen inan upcoming supplement.

The Stain of SaphoAnother of the results of the

banishment of machine culture atthe end of the Butlerian Jihad was

the creation of the great mental-physical training houses of theImperium. The foremost of thesewas the Bene Geserit sisterhood,but others include the Guild’s ownattempt to sidestep themathematical limitations of theuniverse which led to the creation ofthe Navigators, the Bene Tlexilaugenetic masters, and the thrivingcomputer-minded Mentats. Whilethe unique talents of the ideologicalBene Geserit and Bene Tlexilau willreceive further treatment in part twoof this supplement, the integration ofthe Mentat calculators is soinextricably tied into the GreatHouses and the method by whichthey are forced to bypasstechnological limitations they will bedetailed here.

As the tenets of the ButlerianJihad forced mankind away fromtechnological answers in a quest tofind mastery of the universe throughbiological means, the Elite characteroptions are an inviolate condition ofcombat in Dune Wars. Indeed,much of the specific flavor of theseries translates only in this manner.

Mentats are a uniquecomponent of the Dune universe,their logical discipline that they areendowed allowing them to fill the rolethat machine minds play in mostother universes. Unlike computers,however, mentats are not simplyhuman calculators writ large.Instead, the exceptional cognitiveabilities of memory and perceptionare the foundation for supra-logicalhypothesizing. Mentats are able tosift large volumes of data and comeup with concise analyses in aprocess that goes far beyond logicaldeduction: Mentats cultivate “thenaive mind”, the mind withoutpreconception or prejudice, that canextract the essential patterns or logicof data and deliver, with varyingdegrees of certainty, useful



conclusions. They are not limited toformulating syllogisms; they are thesupreme counselors of the Duneuniverse, filling roles as menial asarchivists and clerks, or as grand asadvisor to the Lords of the GreatHouses or even the Emperorhimself.

The role of the Mentat inDune Wars is simulating by thefollowing elite officers. These twoofficers are available to any factionin the Imperium. Further examplesof mentats specific to certainfactions such as the Harkonnen‘Twisted’ Mentats will be detailed inpart 2 of this work.

Fleet MentatA councilor to star ship

captains, the Fleet Mentat allows forcalculation and anticipation of theactions of enemy vessels. TheMentat may choose a single enemyvessel or flight of fighters. After twoturns of observation, the Mentatmay make a calculation as tothe enemy’s strategy andintent. On the third turn roll1d6, and subtract that fromthat vessels initiative that turn.For every turn after of continuedobservation, subtract an additionalpoint from that ships initiative. TheFleet Mentat may change the subjectof his observations, but thiseliminates any penalty to the originaltarget ship and requires the sameinitial two turns of observation of thenew vessel before he has enoughdata to form a calculation.

Point Cost: 20% of the base cost ofthe shipLocation: C&C

Mentat MathematicianThese Mentats bring their

logic to the task of compensating forthe lack of sophistication of the EW

suites of the Dune ships. TheMentat Mathematician can help intargeting solutions to help maximizethe damage potential of an Imperiumwarship.

The Mentat Mathematician’sexpertise adds +1 offensive or closecombat EW to the firing vessel. Ifthat bonus EW point is targeted onthe same vessel for three turns in arow the mentat has calculated thebest way to damage the target, andall weapons fire from his vesselagainst that ship add +1 to theirdamage. This cannot exceed themaximum damage of which theweapon is capable, however. Thisbonus is maintained as long as thebonus offensive EW is applied to thatship, but is negated if the bonus isused against another vessel.

Point Cost: 15% of the base costof the shipLocation: Sensor array

ConclusionThis is the end of Part One

of the Dune Wars article. Pleasesee the attached zip file for theship SCS’s. Part two willinclude a work of fictioncompleting ‘Prequel toPrescience’, detailingHouse Harkonnen’s entryinto the Bleed, as well asspecific faction informationfor the major players in theImperium. This includesHouse Corrino and theImperial Sardaukar legions,House Atreides with their GinazSwordsmasters and Fremen allies,

Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife- chopping off what’s incomplete andsaying: “Now it’s complete because it’s ended here.

-From “Collected sayings of Muad’Dib” by the Princess Irulan

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House Harkonnen with their Mastersof Intrigue (including rules forimplementing traitors on board aship), in addition to specific rules onthe Bene Tlexilau Face Dancers andBene Geserit Sisters. Severaladditional ship types will be detailed,including the Atreides Frigate Leadermade exclusively for them by theirallies in Ix, the Harkonnen prototypeNo-Ship, and Sardaukar breachingpods. And the full powers of theprescient Kwisatz Haderach shallbe revealed!

I hope you enjoy the shipsand rules of the Dune universeincluded in part One, and wish youwell in your combats in theImperium. Simply remember theultimate axiom of Dune – the SpiceMust Flow!

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Battles on the EdgeBattles on the Edge

8 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 8 July 2004THE GREAT MACHINE

Dune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune Wars Part 1 Part 1 Part 1 Part 1 Part 1Dune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune WarsDune Wars Part 2 Part 2 Part 2 Part 2 Part 2

Political Factionsof Dune

While the great system ofcontrols and restrictionsimplemented by the Guild, BeneGesserit and Great Housesaverted open warfare in theImperium for centuries, the limitedwarfare of Kanly and even themandated elimination of GreatHouses such as that which nearlyclaimed Ix show how thin theveneer of civility actually was. Thecoming of the Kwisatz Haderachonly underscored this point. Untilthen, the intrigues, duels,assassinations and stratagems ofthe great factions of the Imperiumpulsed like a magma flow under thesurface, awaiting only the properspark to surge forth into the open,spreading destruction in their wake.

Major PoliticalFactions in theDune UniverseHouse CorrinoHouse AtreidesHouse HarkonnenBene GesseritBene TleilaxuThe Spacing Guild

Minor factions includevarious lesser houses such asHouse Ordos and House Moritari,the mercantile alliance known asCHOAM, the Fremen (this changesto Major faction later in the books),and the Spice Smugglers.

The second part of this articlewill look at the Major Factions of theDune universe, while the third willreveal the secrets of the MinorFactions and the role they play in theImperium.

The Spice Must Flow:Dune Wars Continued

By Christian Meador

Many elements of theImperium believe they hold theultimate power: The SpacingGuild with their monopoly oninterstellar travel, CHOAM withits economic stranglehold, theBene Gesserit with their secrets,the Mentats with their control ofmental processes, HouseCorrino with their throne, theGreat and Minor Houses of theLandsraad with their extensiveholdings. Woe to us on the daythat one of those factionsdecides to prove the point.

Count Hasimir Fenring,Dispatches from Arrakis 1 128

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9THE GREAT MACHINEISSUE 8 July 2004 THE GREAT MACHINE

A Universe ofConspiracy

While most science fictionsettings include an element ofpolitics and intrigue, these factorsare the very lifeblood of theImperium. The ever-changingalliances and vendettas play a majorrole in determining the faction thatis currently ascendant. In a typicalBabylon 5 Wars game you chooseyour race and distribute your pointsfrom its list of ships and officers. InDune the choices aren’t limited tomerely your factions own resources,but those that you can bribe, cajoleor extort to your will as well.

To represent the tangledpolitics of the Imperium each factionhas a list of Allied and Enemyfactions.

When spending your pointsto create your force for a scenario inBabylon 5 Wars, you may choose toactivate one of your allied factions.An allied faction for that one battleis then considered to be part of yourforce list for all purposes. In otherwords, in addition to the normalchoices you have for your ship listsand characters, you may choose anyof the special abilities of the alliedfaction as well. Note that you mayonly choose one (1) of your alliedgroups for this scenario. If you wishto add a second factions list theymust be treated as a non-alignedfaction per below.

The factions’ Enemies listshows those groups that the factionwill not work with under anycircumstances. Special ships andcharacters from that faction cannotbe used.

If you wish to utilize thespecial ships or characters of afaction not on your Allies list, or wishto choose a second group off yourallied list, they are treated as non-

aligned factions. Non-alignedfactions require more for theirservices than an allied group. Allchoices from a non-aligned factioncost 33% more than normal. Anyfaction listed on your enemies listmay not be chosen as a non-alignedfaction.

What follows is a descriptionof the most powerful players of theMillion Worlds, including the specialships, philosophies and leaders thatthey employ in their service.

The Imperial Houseof Corrino

Taking its name for the greatvictory at Corrin several thousandyears ago that brought it to the LionThrone, House Corrino has had a

steady grip on the reigns ofgovernment ever since. Imperialleadership has shown to be politicallyadroit, and is often considered byhistorians to be as significant a factoras their dreaded Sardaukar legionsin maintaining the stability of theImperium. Corrino is nothing if notpragmatic, and balancing the egosand aspirations of the various powerfactions in the Imperium ensurestheir continued preeminence amonghouses.

Allies: Bene Gesserit, theSpacing Guild

In the ever-changing world ofImperium politics, House Corrinomay find itself conspiring with almostany faction. However, they are mostconsistently allied with the BeneGesserit Order, as they have servedas counselors and truthsayers forCorrino for generations. BeneGesserit Advisors may be purchasedaboard a House Corrino ship for thenormal cost. Corrino also benefitsfrom ignoring the chance of BeneGesserit deception, there is nochance a Sister will willingly betrayCorrino as long as the PadishahEmperor sits on the throne.

We all live in the shadows of ourpredecessors for a time. But we whodetermine the fate of planetseventually reach the point at whichwe become not the shadows, but theLight itself.

Prince Raphael CorrinoDiscourses on Leadership

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Enemies: FremenThe Fremen can never be

allied with House Corrino, as they donot acknowledge the power of theEmperor. Fremen troops cannot beaboard a Corrino vessel.

Troops:The Sardaukar

The finest troops in theImperium for a thousand yearsbefore the coming of the Jihad ofMaud’Dib and the Fremen Feydakindeath commandos, the Sardaukarstrike fear into the enemies of theEmperor and help ensure thedominon of the Lion Throne.

Born on the death world ofSalusa Secondus, the majority of theSardaukar never finish their trainingregimen there, as the harsh climateand draconian discipline claim thelives of those too weak to endure.However, those that do arise fromthe training become among theforemost of warriors, and follow theorders of the Emperor withviciousness and discipline.Combining the training and ferocityof Salusa Secondus with the nearlyendless coffers of the ImperialHouse for equipment producesformidable armsmen.

A Sardaukar Marine unitgains a –2 modifier for initialboarding of an enemy vessel. Inaddition, they gain +2 on anyboarding missions they attempt. Inattempts to capture enemy shipsthey are at –1, increasing theirchances of killing enemy marines.

Sardaukar Legions cost 15points per marine contingent insteadof the normal 10.

The Corrino FleetA House Corrino fleet on the

move normally means the impendinginvasion of an unruly system, as the

Imperial fleet acts as the punisherfor those members of the Landsraadwho break the Great Conventions oranger the Guild. Lasgun Frigatesand Assault Cruisers are the favoritevessels of the Corrino fleet, and theyoften deploy armored Monitors inorbit around rebellious worlds asreminders of Imperial authority.They also utilize a Corvette designintended to hunt down and capturefleeing ships, the SardaukarBoarding Corvette.

Sardaukar BoardingCorvette

House Corrino kept theirpreeminent position in the Imperiumfor thousands of years due to thestrength of the mighty Sardaukarlegions. While outright naval warfarebetween the stars was rare due tothe stranglehold the Guild had onintersystem travel, the Emperorhelped keep that in place with thestrength of his troops from SalusaSecondus. While that death worldhelped strengthen the will and bodiesof the legions trained there, it wasquickly found that the Sardaukar’s

formidable skills in battle did notextend into naval combat, where lackof live combat experience madethem no more skilled than theirpotential rivals. Burseg Jesk of theImperial Corrino Navy overcame thisin the Battle of Bela Tegeuse byusing ancient asteroid haulers withmechanical arms to attach to enemyvessels and board them. In essencethis has been the primary tactics ofthe Sardaukar ever since, echoingthe strategy of ancient Romanlegions from Old Earth; treat thenaval battle as much as possible asa land battle, where the advantageis given back to the Legions.

The Sardaukar BoardingCorvette excels in this role. The shiphas minimal weaponry, with twoVulcan Railguns for defense and aMedium Blast Cannon designed tostrip away external weapons on theenemy hull. The use of a Holtzmanshield was originally controversial buthas proven its weight in battle,allowing the Corvette to withstandconsiderable fire as it closes. Theaddition of larger hangar bays overthe years to hold additional shuttlesand breaching pods greatlyenhanced the threat posed by theship. A large forward thruster arrayhelps deceleration so the BoardingCorvette can match speeds with itsintended prey.

Sardaukar BreachingPods

A superior breaching pod,the Sardaukar’s version of thebreaching pod has superior thrust,a lower profile and reinforced armor,making it truly the weapon of choicefor boarding enemy vessels. Onceattached to an enemy ship, theSardaukar’s extensive battle trainingand ferocity normally are shown togreat effect.

If the breaching pod is



damaged, it loses one point of thrustafter the first six points of damage,and a second point of thrust for thenext six points of damage.

To underscore the point ofhow much the Sardaukar value theability to board enemy ships andengage in combat, there is a variantof their breaching pod that employsa Holtzman shield generator.Subtract two from the Pod’s defenserating, bringing it down to a 6, andadd 2 to the armor value. The costof the upgraded pod is raised to 80.

LeadershipHouse Corrino may take the

following Elite Officer choices atnormal cost:

Expert HelmsmanExpert NavigatorExpert TechnicianExpert Security OfficerExpert Matter Weapons Officer(per Grome, S7, p.10)Expert DogfighterExpert EvaderExpert CoordinatorExpert Pilot

Fleet MentatMentat MathematicianBene Gesserit AdvisorSardaukar Burseg

Sardaukar BursegA proven warrior of rank and

skill, the Burseg directs hisSardaukar with brutal efficiency.Aboard either a breaching pod or aSardaukar Boarding Corvette thathas attached itself to another ship,he provides the following benefits:

(1) any breaching pod the Bursegcommands gains +1 thrust(2) may join a boarding party in anattempt to capture an enemyvessel, and rolls three dice on thefirst turn instead of the normal one

in an attempt to resolve crewcasualties. If the boarding party isdestroyed the Burseg is killed.(3) may join a boarding party onany mission, and may reroll themission results roll once during ascenario if the result is not to theplayers liking.

Point Cost: 10% the ships valueLocation: Barracks, Breaching Pod

House AtreidesKnown for their benevolent

and wise rule, the Dukes of Caladanhave transformed a sleepy fishingand agricultural fiefdom into one ofthe foremost players in the MillionWorlds. Their wisdom in runningtheir Duchy has created a populacethat adores them and cementedmany alliances through the yearswith those that respect them for theirstrength and kindness. Their insightextends to the battlefield, whereAtreides battle training has producedan army second only to that of theEmperor himself. Wise, successful,beloved, and strong, it was only amatter of time before the enemiesof Atreides conspired to bring about

their destruction.

Allies: Ix (prequel timeframe),Fremen (Dune onward)

The Atreides has held manyallies over the years. Before itsdestruction, House Ginaz was thetruest of friends, and their teachingsstill help create some of the greatestswordsmasters who have ever lived,and these swordmasters that stillfight under the Atreides banner. Thetechnocratic House of Ix owes itscontinued existence to Atreidesloyalty. Finally, once the comingstorm falls upon Atreides, they soonearn the friendship and vassalage ofthe Fremen of Dune.

Enemies: Harkonnen, CorrinoHouse Harkonnen shares an

age old enmity with Atreides, thoughtheir bloodlines are somewhatstrangely mingled. In later daysHouse Corrino’s decline leads to theAtreides ascension to the Throne,and members of the Sardaukar andthe remaining Corrino leadershipbecome bitter enemies of theremnants of House Atreides.



Troops:Atreides Battle Training

House Atreides armsmenare extremely professional and welldisciplined on the battlefield. Theirbattle acumen was one of theforemost reasons that the PadishahEmperor Shaddam IV conspired todestroy House Atreides with HouseHarkonnen, as the army Duke Letowas forming was becoming apotential threat to Corrino’sdominance on the battlefield.

To reflect the skill evinced bytheir soldiers, Atreides troops havea –1 modifier on attempting boardingactions, and a +1 bonus oncompleting marine missions.Marine contingents with AtriedesBattle Training cost 12 points per unitinstead of the normal 10.

The Atreides FleetThe Dukes of Caladan know

well the need for naval vessels toprotect the skies of their water duchyfrom the schemers of the Imperium.This was shown to be doubly trueafter the invasion of Ix by themachinations of members of theImperial line and the Bene Tleixalu.The Atreides Fleet is built forversatility, and employs many escortand screening vessels in order tomaximize their tactical flexibility. Thestandard Ixian frigate is a mainstay,and is often accompanied by manyEscort Corvettes and ShieldedCutters. They also utilize many ofthe missile variants and believe in along-range ballistic ability to keepmarauders away from their ships.Finally, the Atreides specialrelationship with the Ixian shipwrightshas paved the way for the House’ssignature vessel, the Atreides BattleFrigate.

Atreides Battle FrigateWhile the leaders of House

Atreides for the most part have todeal with the same productiondesigns as other Houses, thelongstanding friendship between Ixand the Atreides has allowed for onesignificant variant to be introducedinto Atreides Battlefleets. Thisuncommon variant provides forseveral upgrades from the standardmodel. The first is a higher initiativebonus than most frigates. Thesecond is a better standard sensorsuite (though it still functions underthe ‘antiquated’ rules). Also aweapons upgrade from the normalGauss Cannons to the longer rangeand more accurate Matter Cannonshas increased their ability to projectfire zones and to damage shipsbefore they can respond. Lastly, anincreased communications suiteenables the Battle Frigate to act asa squadron leader, giving every shipin the squadron a +1 bonus to theirinitiative. The Battle Frigate is asuperior overall design, and shouldthe Duke of Caladan ever need topersonally take command of anAtreides Fleet, it is from the confinesof a Battle Frigate’s bridge that hewill do so.

LeadershipHouse Atreides may take the

following Expert officers at thenormal cost:

Expert HelmsmanExpert EngineerExpert NavigatorExpert TechnicianExpert Ballistics Officer (Kor-Lyan, S7, p10)Expert Shield OfficerLucky CaptainExpert DogfighterExpert MotivatorExpert Missileer

Expert EvaderExpert PilotFleet MentatMentat MathematicianGinaz Swordmaster

Expert Shield OfficerAn expert shield officer

keeps the Holtzman shields at peakefficiency. The Shield Officer has thefollowing effects:

(1) All criticals resolved againstHoltzman shield generators are at -4 to the die roll.(2) The Shield Generatorlocation where the Expert ShieldOfficer is assigned may be operatedat increased efficiency. The shieldgains 1 additional level of shielding,adding to both the modifier to profileand the amount of armor generatedby the shield.(3) An Expert Shield Officer maymodify the die roll for a Lasgun/Holtzman shield reaction by 1 inwhatever direction the playerdesires.

Location: Holtzman ShieldGeneratorCost: 10% the ship’s value

Ginaz SwordmasterHouse Ginaz was once an

Atreides ally, but was overcome in awar of assassins with HouseGrumman. Noted for their incredibleskill with the blade, the House itselfhas fallen as a political institution butthe legendary training halls live on.

A Ginaz Swordmaster gainsa –1 modifier for boarding attempts,and adds +1 to any marine missionresults while on another vessel. Thisis in addition to any modifiers for thetroops he commands. He also givesthe following advantages:

(1) He may join a boardingparty and conduct a new kind of



It is no secret that we all have secrets. However, few ofthem are as veiled as we intend them to be.

Piter de Vries,Mentat Analysis of Landsraad Vulnerabilities,private Harkonnen document

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mission – a Duel. The Duelmission is announced against aspecific location on the ship, in thesame manner as a Sabotageattempt. If an enemy character islocated at that location, roll on thefollowing chart for resolution

3 or less: The Ginaz Swordmasterslays the enemy character in theduel.4-5: The Ginaz Swordmaster killsthe enemy character, but iswounded in return. He is out ofthe scenario, but is presumablyreturned to the player’s ship.6-7: Both the enemy character andthe Ginaz Swordmaster areconsidered wounded and out of thescenario.8-9: The Ginaz Swordmaster iswounded, but the enemy characterescapes.10: Both the enemy character andthe Ginaz Swordmaster are slain.

If the character in questiongrants any type of bonus to marineactions, add +1 to the die roll.

If no character exists at thatlocation then make a normalsabotage roll. The Swordmaster isslain if his marine unit is destroyed.

(2) If on a vessel beingboarded, the Swordmaster maychallenge an attacking character asabove, but the site location isconsidered to be the boarding pod.If no character exists then there isno result, continue the boardingaction as normal.

House Harkonnen

Controlling an empire basedon fear and uncertainty from theirSiridar Fief of Geidi Prime, HouseHarkonnen has come to be regardedas the most amoral of all the Housesof the Landsraad. Made rich by thecontrol of the Spice Trade of Arrakis,the Harkonnens have reached theuppermost reaches of power in theImperium. The cunning treacheryof Count Vladimar Harkonnen andthe brutal thuggery of the BeastRabban ensure that the Harkonnenswill do anything to remain at the topof Dune’s hierarchy. Thiscombination ensured their actionwhen the Emperor removed thecharter for spice production fromHarkonnen and granted it to

Atriedes, beginning the cycle ofevents that led to the destruction ofHouse Atreides and the coming ofthe Kwisatz Haderach.

Allies: VariesThe Harkonnens have no

recurring allies, seeing all others aseither too strong to assail or aspotential victims. However, they aremasters of political deception – theymay choose one (1) other faction inany scenario to be treated as areluctant ally. However, theirreluctant allies cost them 10% morethan if they were true allies. And,due to Harkonnen double-dealing,they may not choose the same alliestwo scenarios in a row!



Enemies: Fremen, HouseAtreides

The Fremen detest HouseHarkonnen over all other beings dueto the depredations of the BeastRabban. House Atreides is bothpolitically and ideologically opposedto the Harkonnens.

TroopsHarkonnen troops are

efficient and brutal but too thuggishto be considered elite. They haveno modifiers to marine actions.

Harkonnen FleetA Harkonnen fleet is built on

the principle of pure power, the largerand nastier the vessel the more itexcites the Harkonnen admiralty. Alarger number of shielded monitorslead Harkonnen fleets compared toany other faction, and the Admiraltyhas been very supportive of theLasgun Frigate design. In additionthe Harkonnens have helpeddevelop the Ixian fleet carrier that theshipwrights have been trying to passby the Guild bureaucracy, andsimulations for the efficiency of afighter wing of 36 Shirkhan AssaultFighters have been ongoing.

Unlike other Houses, theHarkonnens have delved into theirown research projects for navalsupremacy. Their prototype No-Ship has shown great promise.

Harkonnen Prototype No-Ship

A rare ship design in thehands of the Harkonnens and notavailable to anyone else, the No-Shiprepresents a huge technologicaladvancement. The No generatorsallow the ship to slip outside ofspace-time, making it undetectableto any sensor or even prescientsenses because while the ship is

under the No Cloak it simply doesnot exist in this space-time. The No-Ship cannot move its relative positionduring this time nor can it detectanything in the base universe.However, the strategic advantagesfor preset ambushes are obvious.The ship itself is a medium vessel,and stresses initial attack strengthin order to maximize the No-cloakseffectiveness. Caught without thecover of the No-cloak the ship’sdefenses are minimal and the vesselbecomes quite vulnerable.

LeadershipHouse Harkonnen can

purchase the following expertofficers at normal cost:

Expert ScannerExpert NavigatorExpert Political OfficerExpert Lasgun OfficerExpert DogfighterExpert MissileerExpert PilotMentat MathematicianThe BeastTwisted Mentat

Expert Lasgun OfficerAn expert Lasgun officer can

be assigned to one Lasgun aboardthe ship. He may travel to anotherLasgun if he desires. His proficiencygrants the following benefits to thatweapon:

(1) adds +3 damage per die(2) May either: Increases rateof Fire by 1 factor, from 1 every 3to 1 every 2 turns for example. Iffired at the increased rate of fireroll a critical against the Lasgun at+4 at the end of the turn.(3) Or may increase the rangepenalty by 1 factor, for examplefrom -1 per 3 hexes to -1 per 4hexes. If fired at the increased

range factor roll a critical againstthe Lasgun at +4 at the end of theturn.(4) May modify a Lasgun/Holtzman shield reaction by 1 onthe die roll in whatever direction heprefers.

Location: LasgunCost: 12% of the ship’s value

The Beast The Beast is a planetary

governor of such vicioustemperament and vile renown thathe has become reviled by all whoknow of him. If a Beast is on boarda vessel in a Harkonnen fleet, theyact in the exact same manner as aDilgar Expert Geneticist.

Summarized here, thismeans that the location of the Beastis always known, enemy ships mayram his ship, all fire on the ship he ison is at +2 to be hit, but his presencecauses such a distraction that allother ships in his fleet are –1 to behit.

Location: Any system on a ship inthe scenarioCost: 5% pf the cost of all ships butnot fighters or shuttles in the fleet.

Twisted MentatA creation of the Bene

Tlexailu order, Twisted Mentats areoften gifted to House Harkonnen forthe Tlexailu’s own purposes. TwistedMentats have the same enhancedcognitive abilities as their morecommon cousins, but their traininghas been altered. Instead of anormal mentat’s extensiveinstruction in philosophy, ethics andmorals, a Twisted Mentat has insteadbeen indoctrinated to remove anyinstinctive compassion or sympathy



for other beings. Indeed they wouldbe considered sadists andsociopaths in most societies.

House Harkonnen uses theirTwisted Mentats most effectively inthe role of interrogators andtorturers. The Twisted Mentants’genius for these roles mean they canbreak anyone with enough time,even those considered normallyinvulnerable to coercion, such asImperial Conditioned Suk Doctors.

The result of this is that anypolitical faction that Harkonnenknows it will be facing may beseeded with a traitor before theencounter.

The Harkonnen faction maychoose one ship from the opponent’sfleet as the target of the potentialtraitor. The Harkonnen faction maychoose to activate the traitor at anytime. Choose one mission for thetraitor on the ship, and roll a d20 todetermine the success of the traitor.On a 1-5 the traitor fails, on a 6-16he succeeds with his mission, andon a 17-20 the traitor hasextraordinary success. Subtract 1from the die if the marine contingentson board the target ship give it aboarding modifier, subtract 2 if theship has an Expert Security Officeror Bene Gesserit Advisor, andsubtract 5 if the ship has a LimitedPrescient or Truthsayer present.

Traitor Missions:

Open the Doors: Boarding partiesautomatically succeed their boardingattempt when attempting to enter theship. Adds +1 to boarding partymissions, and +1 in attempts tocapture the ship. ExtraordinarySuccess, double marine bonuses to+2 and +2.

Sabotage Weapon: Choose oneweapon. When activated, theweapon automatically misfires (e.g.,

misses). Roll a critical on the weaponat a +10 critical bonus. Extraordinarysuccess: affects a second weaponof the same type or destroys theoriginally target weapon entirely.

Sabotage Engines: Engine thrustreduced by 3 for 3 turns.Extraordinary success, thrustreduced by 5 for 4 turns.

Sabotage Reactor: Reactor powerreduced 4 for 3 turns. Extraordinarysuccess, power reduced by 6 for 4turns.

Spy: Ship suffers -4 to its initiativefor the scenario. Extraordinarysuccess, ship suffers -6 to its

initiative and the fleet as a wholesuffers -1 to its initiative.

Sabotage Shield: Shield drops inone arc for 1 turn. Extraordinarysuccess, shield arc is down for 3turns.

Sabotage Sensors: ReduceSensors by 3 for 2 turns.Extraordinary success, reduceSensors by 5 for 3 turns.

Location: C&CCost: 5% of the fleet cost



Bene GesseritSisterhood

One of the mental-physicaltraining orders that were created inresponse to the removal of themachine culture after the ButlerianJihad, the Bene Gesserits have along history of manipulation of thefactions of the Imperium in order toachieve their hidden goal. Dedicatedto intensive training of mind and bodyutilizing the bindu nervature andprani musculature, this level ofcontrol has given the Bene Gesseritmany semi-mystical abilities. Firstand foremost of these is the Voice,the ability through stress control and

impulse manipulation tooverride an individual’s self-control through voicecommands alone. They alsoare known for their role asphilosophical and spiritualadvisors to the nobility; areverend mother stands atthe right side of the Emperorto act as his Truthsayer.Few know of the BeneGesserit’s hidden goal, thecreation of the KwisatzHaderach that they intend tocontrol for their own benefit.A being whose perceptionsspan space and time, theBene Gesserit hope that theycan bring about this demigodthrough an extensivebreeding program involvingall of the Great Houses.They are more surprised thanany when their Kwisatz

Haderach arises a generation beforethey expected from the halls ofHouse Atreides.

Allies: CHOAM

Enemies: Bene TleilaxuThe Ghola Masters of the

Bene Tleilaxu are the ideologicalopponents of the Bene Gesserit.The Sisterhood considers the Gholatanks to be abominations.

TroopsBene Geserit soldiers are

likely to be mercenaries or pawns.They provide no bonuses in marineactions.

Bene Gesserit FleetThe Bene Gesserit Order

prefers to remain neutral in mostmatters, sending their Advisors torender their wisdom to all those whoask. This of course ensures thatalong the way the interests of theSisterhood are served. In their guiseof neutrality, the Bene Gesserit Orderhas avoided creating a standingfleet.

That being said, the BeneGesserit would have little difficultyfielding a fleet if they so desired.Indeed, in the far future of Dune, theyally with the Mentat Bashar Miles Tegto do just that. In the Tenth Milleniumtime frame of the prequels and firstthree Dune books the Bene Gesseritwould most likely utilize proxies if theneed for a fleet was established.Assume that the fleet in question isactually a Minor House fleet, andbuild them accordingly: no specialships, and they may purchaseGeneric, Ixian and Richese shipdesigns. A Minor House influencedby the Bene Gesserit generallyutilizes attrition units such as fightersand light combat vessel type cuttersto protect the larger capital shipsfrom harm. This ensures theprotection of both the Bene Gesseritsister and the genetic lineage of thelords of said Minor House.

LeadershipA Bene Gesserit force may choosethe following Expert officers at thenormal cost:

Expert ScannerExpert Shield TechnicianExpert MotivatorExpert DogfighterExpert CoordinatorExpert DogfighterBene Gesserit Reverend MotherBene Gesserit Advisor

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care thatthe balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesseritknows.

From Manual of Muad’Dib by the Princess Irulan

“”



Bene Gesserit Truthsayer

Bene GesseritReverend Mother

One of the foremost leadersof the Bene Gesserit order, aReverend Mother commandsrespect and devotion from thosearound her. In Babylon 5 Warsterms, a Reverend Mother should beconsidered an Expert ReligiousLeader.

Location: C&CCost: 15% of the ship’s value

Bene Gesserit AdvisorA counselor from the ranks

of the Bene Geserit is an invaluableresource, aiding House Lords inmany ways. A Bene Gesseritadvisors grants the followingadvantages in game play:

(1) The ship the Advisor is ongains +1 initiative due to theSister’s insights(2) Criticals in the location theAdvisor is currently stationed arereduced by 4 due to her ability tomanipulate others with the Voice(such as forcing others to remainat their posts regardless ofpersonal danger)(3) Any attempt by enemycharacters to attack a friendlycharacter at the Advisor’s locationof the Bene Gesserit is negated.This includes but is not limited toGinaz Swordmasters Dueling andFace Dancer assassination.(4) Twisted Mentat attempts torecruit traitors are at -2 to theresolution die roll.

Location: Default C&C, but playermay chooseCost: 7% of the ship’s value

Bene Gesserit TruthsayerRenowned for their ability to

enter the truth trance and determinefact from fiction, Truthsayers provideseveral subtle but powerfulprotections in Dune Wars.

(1) Bene Tleixalu Face Dancerassassins are immediatelyunmasked.(2) Twisted Mentats attempt torecruit traitors are at -5 to the dieroll.(3) The Beast’s ability is nullified.(4) The Beloved Ghola’s abilityis nullified.(5) Any non-Dune Wars expertofficer that relies on espionage ordeception is nullified. For example,the Star Trek Intelligence Officer orChangeling Operative would nothave their abilities.If any of the above situations occur,the Bene Gesserit fleet gains +1on all fire attempts the next turn dueto righteous outrage.


Bene Tleilaxu Order

The Ghola Masters of theImperium, the Bene Tleixalu are asecretive order on the edge ofrespectability. With unparalleledability at genetic manipulation, theBene Tleilaxu have mastered manydark secrets, including the ability toclone others from but a strand of hair,or unleashing the shape shifting

Face Dancers who can causeunprecedented chaos among anyfoe. Their powers are many andunexpected, their motivationsobscure. However if the citizens ofthe Imperium knew what theirGholas and Face Dancers weregrown from, the horrid Axotl tankswould likely be the downfall of theorder.

The Bene Tleilaxu are at theirheart are conspirators. Theirmachinations have ranged from theattempt of the creation of an artificialreplacement for the Spice Melangeto outright conspiracy and treasonagainst the Kwisatz Haderach whenhe assumed the mantle of theEmperor. The Bene Tleilaxu longago created their own messiah.They have little wish to live throughanother one.

Allies: House Ordos, SpiceSmugglers

Enemies: Bene Gesserit, IxTroops:

While the troops of the BeneTleixalu are exceedingly average, indifficult times they can send theirFace Dancer spies into the fray.Face Dancers are at +3 to board aship, +1 on any Marine Mission

except wreak havoc, mayalways wreak havoc, and are at+2 to resolve that mission.While Face Dancers are onboard any enemy ship suffersefficiency problems due toparanoia and mistrust, so

subtract 2 from its initiative until theFace Dancers are forced off the ship.However, Face Dancers fare poorlyin direct confrontation – in Captureship attempts they are destroyed ona 5-10 and destroy enemy marinesonly on a 7-10. Face Dancer marinecontingents cost 15 points.

No one person can ever knoweverything that is in the heart of another.We are all Face Dancers in our souls.

Tleilaxu Secret Handbook

“”



Bene TleilaxuFleets

While not as unremittinglyneutral as their rivals the BeneGesserit, the Bene Tleilaxu do notwish to gain the attention that a largefleet would attract. Instead, theyfocus on smaller ships spread outthrough many client systems, andhave developed a network of shipsthat could be assembled quickly ifnecessary. The Bene Tleixalu shunlarge capital ships and should treatany capital ship as one level of raritymore than normal for a House fleet.Their stealth fleets normally revolvearound one capital ship, such as afrigate or assault cruiser, withmultiple corvettes, escorts andcutters providing the bulk of theirfleet.

An agreement with HouseRichese has allowed the BeneTleilaxu to develop their stealthdestroyer. The Stealth Destroyershould be considered a stealthy shipper the Hyach sub-invisibility rules(Militaries of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds 2, page 5). Insummary, the Stealth Destroyer canonly be detected at ranges equal toSensors x2 for ships (x3 for Elint),using hidden movement untilentering that range. At rangesgreater than 12 the Stealth Destroyercan’t have a lock on from any unit.

The Bene Tleixalu has alsooutfitted their Stealth Destroyerswith the expensive StealthMissiles (per Kor-Lyanmissile rules, Militaries of theLeague of Non-AlignedWorlds 2, page 30). The BeneTleixalu player does not have toannounce the target of the missileswhen launched.

LeadershipThe Bene Tleixalu Order

may use the following Expert officersat normal cost:Expert HelmsmanExpert NavigatorExpert EvaderExpert PilotExpert MissileerFace Dancer AssassinBeloved Ghola

Face Dancer AssassinUsing their incredible

musculature control a Face Dancermay impersonate any individual.This makes them extraordinarilydangerous assassins, able toassume the guise of the most trustedfriend.

The Bene Tleixalu playermay nominate one ship to be thetarget of the Face Dancer. At anypoint during the scenario the FaceDancer may attempt anassassination of any characteraboard the vessel. Roll on thefollowing chart:

3 or less: Face Dancerassassinates target and escapes.

4-5: Face Dancer assassinatestarget but is himself slain.6-7: Face Dancer wounds target;the target will be unable to use hisabilities for 1d3 turns.8+: Face Dancer is destroyedbefore being able to complete hismission.

If there are no characters onboard, the Face Dancer may attemptto slay the captain of the vessel. Usethe same chart to determine results.If the captain is slain the ship is at -4initiative for 1 turn, then at a -1 forthe rest of the scenario as the firstofficer takes over.

Location: Enemy ship!Cost: 3% of fleet cost

Beloved GholaA genetic clone of the

original, a Beloved Ghola is therecreation of an important memberof a Noble House but without hismemories or emotional attachments.Beloved Gholas can be a fearsomedistraction, and as the ride to war inBene Tleixalu fleets cause fear anddoubt in the minds of their formerloved ones. Note that HouseHarkonnen is immune to the BelovedGhola – as a house of sociopathsany member of Harkonnen thatmight be susceptible to such anemotional attack is generally slain

long before they rise toprominence.

(1) The Beloved Ghola protects theship he is on as captains from otherfactions hesitate to fire on thereincarnations of their loved ones.All fire against the ship the belovedGhola is on is resolved at -2.

(2) If the ship the Beloved Ghola ison is boarded, one marinecontingent must be sent on a



rescue hostages mission every turnuntil the Ghola is either rescued orthe ship itself has been captured.

(3) Once per game the BelovedGhola may reach out to a characterin the enemy fleet viacommunications. Choose anExpert officer in the enemy fleet,that officer is nullified and providesno bonuses for that game turn.

Location: SensorsCost: 20% of the ship’s value

The Spacing GuildThe Guild’s role in the

foundation of the Dune universe isexplained at length in the previousarticle. In the mainline Duneuniverse the Guild would not allowitself to become involved in anyspace conflict. It would either simplypunish the offender by denying themintergalactic travel, destroying theirtrade and resources, or it has thepolitical connections to contact theEmperor in order to bring the forththe Sardaukar to deal with thetransgressors.

However, in any alternate

reality where there is a schism in theorganization or the Guild’s monopolyon faster than light travel wasusurped it is quite likely that the Guildwould rearm itself. The Guild’sprescient abilities would allow it tosee the need for a naval force beforethe need existed. And it’s masteryof the space lines, control ofinterstellar banking, and massivespice reserves would allow an armsbuildup of frightening scope andspeed.

Allies: None

Enemies: None

TroopsThe Spacing Guild has a

considerable presence of Securitytroops, and hires mercenaries toreinforce them as needed. However,the morale and training of the Guildsoldiers is low, and they actuallyperform worse than a normal marinecontingent. Guild Troops are at +1to boarding actions, making it moredifficult for them to secure a foothold,and suffer casualties on a 5-10instead of 6-10 in attempts to capturethe ship. Guild marine contingents

cost 8 points.

SpacingGuild Fleets

In the mainline Duneuniverse the SpacingGuild is supposedlydisarmed. While it isquite likely they havesome warships in reservethey would make everyattempt to avoid combat.Guild Heighliners aresimply to expensive toreplace.

In any alternatereality where the Guild

arms itself it would have severaladvantages in battle. First andforemost their work with the giantHeighliners has granted them aworking understanding of Holtzmanfields greater than that of any otherfaction. This allows them to upgradetheir shields. Each ship mayupgrade its shields by 1 point,increasing the cost of the ship by 10times the number of the shieldupgrade. So a Generic MissileCutter increasing it shield from 3 to4 would cost 40 points. Note thatthe Guild can offer this advantageto its allies as well.

Any conjectural Guild battlefleet would contain a balance ofships, and likely being to producevariant ship designs with improvedHoltzman shields and repulsor liftbeams. It would not invest heavilyin fighters or other attrition units.

LeadershipA conjectural Spacing Guild

Fleet would have access to thefollowing Expert officers at normalcost:

Expert HelmsmanExpert NavigatorExpert EngineerExpert Shield OfficerGuild Banking DirectorGuild NavigatorGuild SteersmanGuild Functionary

Guild Banking DirectorA Guild Banking Director

drops the cost for choosing a non-aligned ally from 33% to 10%.

Location: Forward StructureCost: 100 points

Guild NavigatorThe limited prescient abilities



of the Guild Navigator are detailedin section one of this work.


Guild SteersmanA Guild Steersman combines

a lifetime of training in navigation andFoldSpace techniques with a limitedprescient ability to anticipateproblems before they occur. Theresult is a navigation officer ofunparalleled ability.

(1) turn cost is reduced one level(2) turn delay is reduced onelevel(3) pivot and roll costs arereduced 1 point(4) accel/decl cost is reduced by25%, rounded up(5) Foldspace delay is reduced25%(6) Any turn that a steersmanintends to enter Foldspace it gains+10 to initiative

(7) Subtract 4 from ships speedwhen calculating damage fromatmosphere or meteor impacts(8) Ship automatically wins anyties in initiative, even against shipswith an Expert Helmsman

Location: C&CCost: 20% of the ships value

Guild FunctionaryA high-ranking bureaucrat of

the Spacing Guild, a Functionaryknows the laws of interstellar travelintimately. A Guild Functionary canlimit access to Guild Heighliners bymanipulating loopholes in theSpacing Guild Charter, thus denyingopposing forces the ability toeffectively coordinate their forces.After your opponent chooses theinitial faction, you may negate hisfirst choice of ally. If the faction hasa second force on their allies list theymay use it as normal. If not they maychoose to recruit their current ally asa non-aligned group, costing the

normal 33% surcharge for forcestaken off that list.

Location: Forward StructureCost: 250 points

Generic HouseUnits

The following units are sopervasive throughout the Imperiumthat any force can take them as acommon choice.

Generic Assault LighterA light combat vessel, the

Assault Lighter is used in largenumbers to attach enemies with itsgrappling claw and sending in its 3marine contingents. The AssaultLighter is not protected by aHoltzman Shield and has onlymodest weaponry mounted. TwoVulcan Railguns protect the ship asit attempts to chase down its prey.



Generic Silat LightFighter

A less expensive interceptor,the Silat is considered inferior to theRichese-produced fighters, but areeasy to manufacture. Silat LightFighters are generally used fordefensive purposes against morepowerful attack fighters where theyemploy swarming tactics to attemptto take down opponents.

Generic House BreachingPod

While overshadowed by theirmore expensive cousins employedby the Sardaukar, House BreachingPods see the brunt of the combat inthe Imperium. While slow and small,they do mount an Ultralight VulcanRailgun so can assist in combat untilthey have a chance to board. Theylose 1 point of thrust after taking 4hits, and another after taking 8.

Thus ends our investigationinto the forces and composition ofthe Great Factions of the Imperium.The third and final part of this articlewill detail the minor factions,including the Feydaken DeathCommandos of the Fremen, themachine-wrights of Ix, the greatmercantile combine known asCHOAM, and the Minor House ofOrdos, a faction known for its greatwealth and greater duplicity.

Also included will be asection on alternative ammunitiontypes for the matter weaponsemployed by so many of the shipsof the Million Worlds, information onresolving cross-over battles, somenotes on the Bleed as a crossovergenre, and the powers of thePrescient Kwasitz Haderach.

See you next issue!

* * *

Grey 17 is MissingGrey 17 is Missing

15THE GREAT MACHINEISSUE 10 September 2004 THE GREAT MACHINE

The last part of ourdiscussion of the universe of theMillion worlds details some of thelesser-known factions. Whileimportant in their own right, theyhave a less prominent role to play inthe books, with the exception of theFremen. The Fremen are put heredue to their lack of political power inthe days prior to the ascension ofPaul Maud’dib, and they would beconsidered a minor faction even thenin terms of space power, the focusof this article.

We will also discuss some ofthe advanced weapons systems thatare weaving their way past Guildinterests, and discuss the full powersof Prescience of the mighty KwizatzHaderach.



By Christian Meador

The Fremen must return tohis original faith, to his geniusin forming human communities;he must return to the past,were that lesson of survivalwas learned in the struggle onArrakis. The only business ofthe Fremen should be that ofopening his soul to the innerteachings. The worlds of theImperium, the Landsraad andthe CHOAM Confederacy haveno message to give him. Theywill only rob him of his soul.

The Preacher at Arrakeen

“

”

So without ado let uscontinue our examination of theMinor Factions!

The FremenThe descendants of the

Zensunni wanderers, whose epictale of forced migration at the handsof the Corrino Emperor has becomethe stuff of legend, the Fremen havebeen vastly underestimated over theyears. The combination of theharsh survival requirements ofArrakis and their focused strength ofwill dominated by Zensunni doctrinehas made for the most formidablerace of humans in the Imperium.Little was known of their capabilitiesuntil their might was unleashed byPaul Maud’dib against the Emperorand his Harkonnen lackies.

Allies: House AtreidesEnemies: House Harkonnen

Fremen TroopsThe Fremen are the most

fearsome warriors in the universe,with little regard for life or death.Their own potent talents werereinforced further by the knowledgeof Atreides Battle Tactics that PaulMaud’dib provided them. The end


16 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 10 September 2004THE GREAT MACHINE

result was the Feydaken, theFremen Death Commandos. Whenfinally unleashed against theImperium they swept all from theirpath.

Fremen Feydaken are -2 onboarding actions, and +2 on allmarine missions. For purposes ofcapturing ships, they inflict woundson a 5-10, and take them only on a7-10. In addition, Feydaken are bydefinition the best troops in anyencounter. All bonuses for any othertroop type are nullified when fightingthe Feydaken. Feydaken cost 18points per marine contingent.

Fremen FleetsIn the early years the Fremen

have no standing navy. In the daysof Maud’dib’s Jihad they usedcommandeered Guild and Houseships, which were normallycommanded but not crewed by theFremen. The Fremen soldiers oftenact as marine contingents amongaligned fleets, particularly in assaultcruisers, assault lighters, andbreaching pods.

However, at the height of theJihad the Fremen forces socommonly pressed into service onetype of modified transport used as amilitary troopship that it was oftenconsidered to be a type of Fremenvessel, though most of the navalcrew on board were from otherworlds.

Fremen Assault TransportTaken from a modification of

design specifications of a standardModulon Ore Transport, FremenAssault Transports weren’t createduntil the rise of Maud’dib. They differfrom the role of the SardaukarCorvettes in that their primaryfunction is to land ground troops onplanets, and they consider any othergoal tertiary. By the time of their

peak most planets were toointimidated by the Fremen toeffectively resist, with most spacedefenses being done only by thefoolhardy. This caused relatively littleproblems with capital ships, thoughplanetary fighters became an issue.The new Class-D defensive missilesystem showed its worth in trials andsoon became the standard on thenew generation invasion craft.

The Assault Transport itselfis a dichotomy. While the newmissiles and Matter Cannons werestate of the art technology, the hullitself was a rather uninspired olderdesign that was chosen for its abilityto be mass-produced. The endresult was a strong ship that becameubiquitous throughout space, but ifany faction had ever been able tochallenge Maud’dib in space thingshave might have gone quitedifferently indeed. Still, it wasadequate for its job, and once theFremen had landed on your planettheir warrior skills proved to be farmore than adequate.

Jihad Assault ShuttleA common sight descending

from the heavens during the Jihad,the Assault Shuttle was powerful andquite capable of fighting its way toits destination. A generation ofFremen went to space behind theconsoles of this versatile shuttle, andquite a few made a name forthemselves. A Fremen may chooseexpert Redline Pilots (per the Cascorrules) for the Jihad Assault Shuttleonly.

Leadership

Expert MotivatorExpert CoordinatorExpert PilotExpert Redline Pilot (per Cascor)(Assault Shuttles only)



Progress and profit requirea substantial investment inpersonnel, equipment, andcapital funding. However, theresource most often overlooked,yet which can often provide thegreatest payoff, is an investmentin time.

Dominic Vernius,The Secret Workings of IX.

“

”

Expert Security OfficerExpert Breaching OfficerExpert Warrior (per Drazi)

Fremen BarakaFreman Naib

Fremen BarakaA fremen Zensunni holy man,

often attributed holy powers due totheir direct connection with a higherlevel of existence. The presence ofa Fremen Baraka is considered agreat honor, and focuses thereligious fervor of all Fremen onboard. The Baraka has the followingabilities:

(1) the ship that the Baraka is ongains +4 initiative(2) the ship that the Baraka is onincreases its profile by 1(3) the ship may ignore safetyconsiderations in weaponsrecharge times. Any weapon maydecrease its Rate of Fire by 1, butmust pay the additional energynecessary to charge it in one turnless. So if the weapon had a oneevery two turns rate of fire andrequired 5 energy per turn, it wouldfire as a one shot every turnweapon but require an additional

5 points of energy to arm. At theend of the turn the weapon fires itmust then make a critical roll at+6, and spend one turn cooling offbefore the arming cycle can beginagain.(4) Ramming is always allowedfor all Fremen units or allies in ascenario that includes a FremenBaraka. Note that thisautomatically gains the Fremen a+1 modifier to boarding attempts.

Location: C&CCost: 40% the ships’ value

Freman NaibThe term Naib is literally

translated as one who pledges hislife for the others of his tribe, and ithas become the traditionalappellation of Fremen Tribal leaders.A Naib is known as much for hiswisdom as his battle acumen, and atrue Naib’s presence can have adramatic affect on battles.

(1) All ships in the Fremen fleetand her allies gain +1 to theirinitiatives(2) All critical hits caused by theship the Naib is on add +2 to theirdie rolls

(3) He can taunt enemy ships,giving them a +1 bonus to attackhis ship and a –1 penalty to attackany others in the Naib’s fleet.(4) He can focus his wrathagainst any 1 enemy unit. AllFremen ships and allies gain a +1to hit and +1 per damage dieagainst that target.(5) He can join a marinecontingent or breaching pod, andacts as an Expert BreachingOfficer in all ways.(6) The Fremen Naib invokesgreat devotion from his crew. AnyFremen Expert officer on boardthe Naib’s ship that is killed incombat returns to duty after 1round and continues as ifunaffected. Only at the end of thecombat will they allow themselvesto die.

Location: C%CCost: 50% the ships value

The MachineCulture of Ix

The artificers and machinistsof the Imperium, the House of Ix hasshown itself to be complacent withits place in the social hierarchy.However, despite their relative lackof ambition compared to otherpowers, personal matters and themanipulations of other Great Houses



have conspired in the recent past towrest control of Ix from its hereditarynobility. In large part due to fears ofIx violating the Great Proscripturesand creating a machine in the imageof the mind of a man, Ix has provenvulnerable to other political factionsand is not considered one of theGreat Houses.

However, those who wouldhave truck with their enemies shouldbe reminded of where the mastersof the machines reside. House Ixhas been caught off-guard by theirenemies in the past. They have nointention of allowing it to happenagain.

Allies: AtreidesEnemies: Bene Tleixalu, CHOAM

Ixian TroopsIxian ground troops proved to

be no match for the Bene Tleixaluassault on their homeworld.However many forces would havehad difficulty with a surprise attackby Face Dancers combined with anuprising of their underclass. Ixiantroops have no modifiers to marineactions, and cost 10 points per unit.

Ixian FleetsIn the past Ixian defenses

were limited to a few shielded cuttersand various defense lighters, as theIxians believed that their role asmanufacturer to the Imperium andthe nature of their subterraneanhome would protect them. Theyhave since learned the error of theirways.

After the Atreides crusade toreclaim the Ixian homeworld for itsnoble masters, the Ixians have keptmore of their products forthemselves instead of selling themto the highest bidder. The Ixian Fleethas one great strength that has beenrevealed to no one outside of their

inner circles; Ixian ships have beenupgraded with expert computersystems to resolve their sensor arrayissues. For a cost of 10% of theships value, you can upgrade theirsensors from antiquated to normal,allowing them to buy extra EW pointsas normal. The Ixians will revealthis modification only in the direst ofcircumstances, as their connectionwith the creation of proscribedmachines could easily restart theJihad against Ix.

Ixian Overseer Scout DestroyerThe ultimate expression of

Ixian design, the Overseer is the onlyELINT vessel in the Million Worldsoutside the clutches of the SpacingGuild. Crammed full of electronicsand integrated into various expertsystems, the Overseer is a shipshrouded in secrecy. Currently thefew Overseers that have beenmanufactured are stationed in Ixspace, monitoring the comings andgoings of ships from the Great

Heighliners. After the betrayal of theGuild in the attack on Ix by the BeneTleixalu, the Lords of Ix authorizedthe production of the ScoutDestroyer. While they may still haveto do business with the Guild, thepowers that be at Ix have determinedto never again trust them.

Should Ix be thrown intoanother war they have decided tomake any approaching fleet pay fortheir temerity. The electronic warfarecapabilities of the Overseer are thefirst line of defense in any new battle,and a very impressive edgecompared to the capabilities of theHouse fleets.

LeadershipThe Ixian Fleet can buy the

following Expert characters atnormal cost:

Expert EngineerExpert TechnicianExpert Elint OfficerExpert ElectricianExpert Shield TechnicianIxian Shipwright

Ixian ShipwrightA master builder of Ixian

contrivances, the Ixian Shipwrightknows the ins and outs of the variousvessels he builds as only a proudparent could. Having an IxianShipwright on board has severaladvantages:

(1) All criticals against the shipthe Shipwright inhabits are at -4to the die roll.(2) Overthrusting criticals are at-2 to the die roll.(3) Engine Efficiency is shifteddown one level. For example, anefficiency of 3 points of power forevery point of thrust is changed to2 points of power for every pointof thrust.



(4) He not only knows how tomake them, he knows how tobreak them. Choose one hull typeof ship. All damage against thathull type adds +1 to each dierolled. Note that this includesvariants of a basic hull type design.

Location: ReactorCost: 25% of the ship’s value.

C.H.O.A.M (CombineHonnete Ober Advancer

Mercantiles)A conglomeration of the

great Merchantile Houses of theImperium, CHOAM is a subtle andoften overlooked player in the ebband flow of power in the MillionWorlds. CHOAM like mosteconomic entities primarily desiresstability and the continuation of thestatus quo, as this ensures theircontinued dominance in their chosenrealm. However, in an economydominated by the distribution of thespice Melange, even the greatwealth of the members of CHOAMcan be affected by the whirls and

Melange is the financial cruxof CHOAM activities. Withoutthis spice, Bene GesseritReverend Mothers could notperform feats of observation andhuman control, Guild Navigatorscould not see safe pathwaysacross space, and billions ofImperial citizens would die ofaddictive withdrawal. Anysimpleton knows that suchdependence upon a singlecommodity leads to abuse. Weare all at risk.

CHOAM Economic Analysis ofMateriel Flow Patterns

“

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upheavals of the Spice trade.

Allies: House OrdosEnemies: Spice Smugglers

CHOAM TroopsCHOAM rarely involves itself

directly in any ground war, thoughthey retain security forces andmercenaries to watch out for theirinterests. CHOAM marinecontingents cost 10 points, and haveno bonuses.

CHOAM FleetThe Inspection fleet of

CHOAM is supposed to be limitedto system defense and tariffenforcement, but has grown to reachfar beyond those dictates.Enormous shielded monitors can beemployed to inter entire starsystems, and the reach of CHOAMcustoms ships pervades theImperium. To this point the excessesof the CHOAM Inspection fleet hasbeen overlooked primarily becauseof the economic might of the housesCHOAM represents, and the fact thatthey have backed down during theirminor conflicts over the years withthe Great Houses. This is in largepart due to the political factionalismwithin CHOAM itself, and the factthat so often the divergent groupswithin the mercantile alliance pull itin different directions. HoweverHouse Mentats have long sincecalculated that should CHOAM uniteover any one issue, their fleet wouldbe the equal of any great house –and their holdings would be greaterthan any one other faction.

Shielded MonitorThe original Monitor design,

it has come into some disfavor afterMentat risk analysis showed thedanger of utilizing a Holtzman shieldgenerator on such a large vessel.

This point was further proven duringa skirmish at Moreno III, when aHouse Ordos Monitor wasextensively damaged by severalsmuggler vessels due to the Lasgun-Shield reaction. Still, the design hasspread to many house navies, andthe CHOAM inspector fleet can callon several for blockade purposesduring times of trade war.

The Shielded Monitor hasseveral design differences to thelater armored Monitor. Whereas theArmored Monitor carried a large suiteof Heavy Lasguns, the ShieldedMonitor bypasses any potentialreaction by adding a long rangeMissile battery and three MediumRailguns for moderate rangeencounters. While less heavilyarmored, the shield generators makethe Monitor all but impervious tofighter attacks, and the suite ofVulcan railguns that later Monitorspossess for defensive purposesretain the heavier Gauss cannonsthat the original models used againstlarger ships.



The Shielded Monitor is quitea dangerous vessel. Against anopponent without Lasgun support, itsability to shrug off damage andrespond in kind makes it the centerpoint of any CHOAM or Houseconflict. But against a foe bringingLasguns to the fore, it is an extremelyrisky choice , and in most cases oncea Lasgun has been sighted on thebattlefield the Shielded Monitor isforced to turn off its Holtzmangenerators. This transforms it fromthe dominant force on thebattleground to an adequate but notoverly effective weapons platform.

Note: House Atreides,Corrino, Harkonnen, and Ordos maytake a shielded monitor as a rarevariant with a 10% increase in cost.For CHOAM fleets it is considered acommon design and has nosurcharge.

LeadershipA CHOAM fleet may

purchase the following Expertofficers at normal cost:

Expert HelmsmanExpert ScannerExpert QuartermasterExpert CoordinatorCHOAM Financier

CHOAM FinancierThis ship has attracted the

interest of one of the majormercantile houses inside CHOAM,and has been granted a Financier inorder to ensure the crew has the bestof everything available to them. TheCHOAM Financier has the followingeffects on the ship:

(1) An Expert Technician isadded to the ship at no extra coast.Note that due to the limits in placeagainst the Machine Culture in theImperium, the Expert Technician

is not normally available toCHOAM forces. A CHOAM forcecan only take an Expert Technicianif he accompanies a CHOAMFinancier (who monopolizes thetalents of the few Technicians thathave avoided the purges) or if theyare a political ally of a faction thatmakes Technicians available.(2) Sensors on the ships areupgraded with the latest detectionsuites. Any ship a Financier ispresent on is treated as havingnormal Sensors instead of theusual Dune Wars antiquatedSensors.(3) Costs for shuttle bayconversions are reduced by 33%(4) Costs for non-standardmissiles are reduced by 33%(5) The ship counts double itsnormal cost for Logistics andsupply, but also doubles the speedof repairs in a campaign setting.(6) A CHOAM Financier has thefinancial backing to work his waythrough the Spacing Guildsloopholes and redtape. For 100BPV at the beginning of a scenariohe may nullify the ability of a GuildFunctionary to negate a CHOAMally from joining the faction.

Location: C&CCost: 25% of the ship’sbase value

House OrdosHouse Ordos is one of the

most mysterious of the greatHouses. Run by a cartel ofbusinessmen from the ice planet ofDraconis IV, Ordos has managed tokeep the identities of those who runthe cartel secret from even thoselucky enough to be stockholders inthe House. Intrigue and espionageare the watchwords of the day inOrdos, and the ability to keepinformed and aware of the politicsof domination in the House areabsolutely critical to the memberscontinued survival among theconstantly changing politics.

The Cartel has managed togain influence in many businessventures, even though the Househas relatively few direct investments.However, their ability to control theprocess of business and theirexpertise in influencing andmanaging outside investments areimpressive. House Ordos also isknown to be a shrewd andcalculating organization, and theiramoral point of reference means thatthey can act with ethical flexibility.Penetrating business practices,cunning intrigue and even overt



conflict are all employed on a regularbasis among the House. When theychoose to engage physical forceduring their dealings House Ordosis known for its mastery of ballisticweaponry, and the House OrdosMissile Cruiser is renowned for itscomplicated and multi-tiered missilesuites. Expert Quartermasters oftenprovide House Ordos with superiorweapons load outs, and their famedDeviator missiles can create manydangers for enemy crews as thechemical and psychologicalweapons cause many unusualproblems for crew integrity.

Allies: CHOAMEnemies: Spice Smugglers

Ordos TroopsHouse Ordos troops are

competent, but not exceptional.They add +1 on attempts to rescuehostages or take hostages, but haveno other modifiers. They cost 11points per unit.

House Ordos FleetThe Ordos fleet is respected

among the major houses, and theballistic heavy doctrine they utilizecauses a great deal of consternationfor most adversaries. The mainweapon utilized by the Cartel’s fleetis the Richese Missile Corvette andthe Generic Missile Cutter, with anassortment of different missileordnance. Basic, Flash, Heavy, Anti-Fighter, Long-Range, Harm (X),Chaff, Antimine, Antimissile, andJammer are all commonly used.House Ordos also commonly utilizesthe Generic Assault Cutter forboarding purposes and the IxianEscort Corvette for interception forthe larger ships. Their basic fighteris the Sirat Interceptor.

The true strength of theOrdos fleet however lies in two of

their home built designs. The HouseOrdos Missile Cruiser is the mostdangerous ballistic vessel in theImperium. And the Ordos TaqwaMissile Fighter is an efficientweapons platform capable ofdelivering a consistent deluge ofmissiles.

House Ordos Taqwa MissileFighter

A light fighter that functionsas an efficient missile plastform, theTaqwa Missile Fighter is named afterthe ordeal of a divine trial by fire. TheTaqwa is not as capable as theShirkhan assault fighter, and carriesa more traditional Ultralight VulcanRailgun than a Medium Lasgun. Yetthe Missile fighter can carry 6missiles, and Ordos is known to outfitthese ships with advanced missilessuch as Fighter Long Range, FighterHeavy, and Fighter Drop-outversions.

House Ordos Missile CruiserThe ultimate prestige ship in

the Imperium, the Ordos MissileCruiser carries 8 type-L and type-Rmissile racks, backed up by twospecial weapon systems. First andforemost is their Sensor Minesystem, which adds tracking abilityto their ballistic homing capabilities.Allowing them to paint the field withmore intensive EW signatures, ithelps the cartel tilt the playing fieldin their favor utilizing their mostpreferred advantage of all – wealth.

Their second new playthingis the devious Deviator missiles, acombination of chemical andpsychological weapon that canindispose and even compromise theloyalty of enemy crews. Apsychotropic stimulant, the Deviatorcan cause radical psychosis in thosewho are exposed to it.

The only real disadvantageof the Ordos Missile Cruiser is its

expensive cost and its relatively poormaneuvering capability. Howeverthe Missile Cruiser has excellentweapon arcs and has excellent standoff range. Note see Sensor Minesand Deviator Missiles under NewWeapon Systems for extensiverules.

LeadershipHouse Ordos is not known

for the quality of its leadership,instead investing extensively into itsupgraded weapons systems. Manyof the House’s leaders aremercenaries, and their dedication totheir duty often shows it. In addition,their last Master Mentat wasexecuted for graft, and Mentats areout of favor with the Cartel at themoment. The leadership HouseOrdos brings to battle can beexploited.

A House Ordos Fleet may purchasethe following expert characters atnormal cost:

Expert ScannerExpert MissileerExpert PilotExpert Ballistics Officer (S7, P10)Expert Quartermaster (L2, P48, 10%cost for House Ordos)

Spice SmugglersAllies: NoneEnemies: None

Spice Smuggler TroopsThe Spice Smugglers

themselves are dangerousscoundrels who play for keeps onArrakis. While not particularlydisciplined, the Spice Smugglers areunrepentant criminals and make upwith enthusiasm what they lack in



order. Consider them normal troopsin all respects, with a cost of 10points per unit.

Spice Smuggler FleetsIt is rare when a smuggler

fleet becomes a real danger in anarea, though it has happened. It ismore common when SpiceSmuggler fleets are hired as extramuscle by those who aren’t tooworried about the letter of the law.The Spice Smuggler Lighter is acommon ship to be found formercenary work, and the Smugglersoften use the generic AssaultLighters and corvettes and SiratLight Fighters. An occasional OrdosTaqwa Missile fighter has been knowto make it in their rosters.

Spice Smuggler LighterThe ship of choice of the

Desert Spice Smugglers, the Lighteris similar in appearance to one of themost ubiquitous ships in Imperial

space, the Cargo lighter. However,the break-away casings in front ofthe primary weapons turrets canreveal the ship for what it is, an agileand dangerous light combat vesselintended to either outfight or outrunany systems defense ships a localminor house or trading coalitionmight employ. The spice smugglerlighter is particularly dangerousbecause of the wealth and power thesmugglers enjoy as the only illicitsource of spice in the Imperium.Instead of the normal missile ormatter weapon suite, they can affordthe Medium Lasgun, a particularlyvicious weapon far above what isnormally available in civilian circles.Ships without shields are threatenedby its power and the fact as a laserweapon it can’t be intercepted. Shipswith shields have to determine if thepotential Holtzman reaction is worththe cost of closing on the smuggler.

While smuggler ships arejust as reliant on GuildTransportation as any other faction,

the fact that they can afford to bribeguildsmen with the Spice Melangeallows them free reign over all of theMillion worlds.

LeadershipSpice Smuggler fleets may

contain the following elite charactersat normal cost:

Expert HelmsmanExpert NavigatorExpert DogfighterExpert EvaderExpert CoordinatorExpert Scavenger (S7, p6, 15% ofships base value)Expert Analyst (S7, p7, 10% of shipsbase value)

New WeaponSystems

While the Guild Peace givesthe illusion that arms technology has



been somewhat depleted in theMillion Worlds, even their power andthose of the Lion throne are unableto completely mitigate the march oftime.

Explosive RoundsWhile for most missions the

penetrating power of the tungsten-cadmium rod is preferred within theImperium, there are some occasionswhere damage potential is a betteroption than armor penetration.Explosive rounds can be purchasedfor any Matter weapon. A weaponfiring explosive ordnance does +2points of damage per die andchanges the damage type to Flash.There is no change to weapons costwith this ammunition exchange.

Sensor MinesOne of the more innovative

ways of getting around the difficultyof processing information from thenon-computerized sensor arrays ofthe warships of the Imperium, sensormines provide detailed ranging andtriangulation on enemy units within5 hexes of the Mines location. Theprobes tread the line on what theProscriptures allow, and areincredibly expensive to purchasefrom Ix. The great wealth of theOrdos Cartels has so far ensuredtheir near monopolization of theseunits.

A sensor mine is fired in theballistic weapons phase at a specifichex location. This is resolved similarto a Narn E-Mine firing in the rules,including making the targeting rollwith a die result of 16-20 indicatinga misfire. The mine then may targetany 1 ship within a 12 hex range ofthe mine’s location and 30 hexes ofthe original launching ship. As longas the mine exists and the target iswithin that range the targeting datait reads back to the firing ship adds

+3 to hit on any ballistics, and keepsa lock on for that ship even if the shipwould normally lose lock on due toterrain. Note that the sensor mineitself may be blocked if it loses itsown line of sight to the targeted unit,such as by an enormous unit like aGuild Heighliner.

Sensor mines have adetection rating of 3, but that isreduced to 1 for the target it iscurrently tracking. They have 9structure points, but lose a +1tracking bonus for every 3 points ofdamage they take. A sensor minemay change targets every turn.

Multiple sensor mines maytrack a single target, however foreach additional mine the bonus isreduced by 1. So the maximumbonus from the mines is +6 for threemines.

Deviator MissilesHouse Ordos’ signature

weapon, the Deviator Missile causesconfusion and chaos in its wake. Apowerful psychotropic weapon,exposure to Deviator gas can causeoutbreaks of rage, aggression andparanoia. Originally relativelyineffective in space combat as theability to seal systems and wearpressure suits made targets largelyimmune, it wasn’t until the Deviatorgas was be wed with an acidic basethat could eat through acrylic,polymers and sealants that it’s truepotential was found.

Class: DCost: 8 combat pointsWarhead: 12Range: 20 hexesAvailable: 10057Special: Gas

A Deviator Missile functionsas a normal missile in all ways. Thewarhead on it is reduced however,

doing only 12 points of damage.This is because a portion of thewarhead has been removed in orderto inject the Deviator gas into themissile. Upon striking the ship themixture was injected into thefuselage. When this happens, roll1d4+1. This is the number ofpockets of gas that are released.

Track each pocket of gas asa separate critical roll. Each turndetermine hit location on the chartsas normal with the followingexception. The Deviator gas can laston board for multiple turns, and itseffects become worse as they lingerin the same areas. Keep track ofall locations hit, and on the next turnif a roll yields the same location, theplayer cannot assign it to a differentsystem of that type; instead the gasmust hit the same system as waspreviously hit. Criticals are rolledfor each gas pocket at the end of theturn at +4, but they add an additional+4 if they had hit the same target theprevious turn! This is cumulative.If a structure roll is hit, subtract 1power from the ship for the next threeturns. At the end of every turn,remove 1 pocket of gas from LCV/MCV/HCV, 2 from a Capital ship, and4 from an Enormous vessel. This isthe base purification ability for mostships, it may be altered in a scenariospecific context or as a campaignspecific technology goal for anopponent.

If an elite character is in alocation when it is struck by a criticalthey too are risk. The die roll isincreased by 1 each turn after thefirst they face the marauding Ordosgas. Roll a d20 for a critical check,consulting the following chart:

12 or less: No effect.13-15: Momentary confusion.They are stunned and cannot actthe next turn.16-18: Intense psychotic episode.



Character is stunned 1d3+1 turns.19 plus: Psychotic break.Character is out for remainder ofscenario (and may havepsychological issues in acampaign). If there are any elitecharacters in the same location asthis character, there is a 50%chance they are killed.

Marine Contingents may alsosuffer from Deviator gas in a sectionthey are stationed in. If enemyforces are on the section that hasbeen struck, it is necessary to trackthe effects of the gas pockets duringbattle. Each pocket may effect amarine contingent, roll on thefollowing chart:

4 or less: The Marine’senvironment gear holds, no effect5-6: Slight contamination, unit isat –1 on all of its rolls this turn.7-9: Definite contamination. Theunit is immobilized and combatineffective this turn. Next turn add+1 to their die roll.10 or more: C o n t i n g e n tInfluenced. It will fight for HouseOrdos for the remainder of thebattle, but at –1 on all die rolls.

Purification SuitsThe penultimate in leading

defense technology, PurificationSuits are a wise investment for thosewho think they may be facing HouseOrdos and its Deviator technology.The suits cost 5% of the cost of theship they are on, and come free forany elite characters that may beaboard. Once protected, elitecharacters and marine contingentsbecome immune to deviator gas, andthe normal critical locations only gaina +1 critical bonus per turn per hit,not the usual +4.

However, the suits do havetheir drawbacks. Response time in

general is down on a ship that is fullyprotected by its Purification Suit, soa vessel using them has a –3initiative in combat. Also, they aresomewhat difficult to put on and fullyseal, so a ship that is caught atanything other than battle stationsisn’t considered to be protected untilthree full turns after the shipachieves battle stations. Finally, thesuits can be considered verytiresome to wear, so in a battle thatgoes beyond 12 turns of wearing aPurificiation Suit, every additionalturn decreases the ships initiative byan additional –1.

The KwizatzHaderach

The shortening of the way,the dream of the creation of a newlife that takes a step forward andbeyond our own human limitations.Paul Atreides, the Maud’dib was theculmination of a breeding project oflegendary focus. The futureknowledge of the Kwizatz Haderachoften makes combat against theirforces an exercise in futility. Theconcept of True Prescience can beincorporated in a campaign orscenario using the following rules:

1. A True Prescient has all theabilities of a Limited Prescient.They cannot be surprised unlessthe source of that surpriseemerges from a non-tangentialrealm. Only deeper levels ofsubspace or non-euclideandimensions apply. They also mayalways request to see any SCS inthe game, and have knowledge ofall locations of characters on shipsor planets.

2. The True Prescient may rollinitiative in the same manner as

the Limited Prescient. However,instead of only choosing 1 ship orflight to roll initiative for, the TruePrescient may choose 6 vessels.Needless to say this will requiremany more dice. It may be betterto simply have the KwizatzHaderach record the initiatives theturn before. This is best if a judgeis available to ensure veracity.

3. The player with the TruePrescient may hear where all EWis going to be decided beforedeciding upon assigning his ownfleets EW.

4. The True Prescient mayassign intercept against attacksafter the die roll is known. Heknows exactly how much must beused in each instance.

5. All initiative ties go to theplayer with the Kwizatz Haderach.His vessel itself has a +10initiative.

Location: C&CCost: N/A (Campaign/ScenarioOnly)



Note also that these reflecta Kwizatz Haderach’s Prescienceabilities only. Paul Atreides was atrained Mentat, Ginaz Swordmaster,and Naib as well.

Endings

Thus we finish our tour of theuniverse of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Ihope you will enjoy the ships andcharacters of Dune in your owngaming in the future, and perhapsone day we will return for moreinformation of the land of spice,intrigue and conspiracy to find newbattles among the sand. Long livethe Fighters!

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There is in all things a patternthat is part of our universe. It hassymmetry, elegance, and grace -these qualities you find always inthat the true artist captures. Youcan find it in the turning of theseasons, the way sand trailsalong a ridge, in the branchclusters of the creosote bush ofthe pattern of its leaves. We try tocopy these patterns in our livesand in our society, seeking therhythms, the dances, the formsthat comfort. Yet, it is possible tosee peril in the finding of ultimateperfection. It is clear that theultimate pattern contains its ownfixity. In such perfection, all thingsmove towards death.

Leto Atreides

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Having failed to completethe Destroids for the better part of amonth, I decided to feature the lastof them in this month’s GreatMachine. Such an article will ensurethat I finish them, as I have littlechoice. Expect to see the websiteupdated with these new units, andsome others that have still yet to seethe light of day.

MAC II MonsterHeavily armoured and

equipped with powerful cannons andanti-ship missiles, the Monster formsthe core of any destroid defensiveformation. The SDF-1 carried only acouple of these massive robots,which proved their worth time andtime again. Despite their long-rangedprowess, they are quite vulnerablein close combat as they lack theagility of other mecha.

DefenderThe Defender is the primary

anti-fighter Destroid in use by theRDF. Equipped with a quad of eitherlong-ranged autocannons or lasers,the Defender’s range and accuracyis unparalleled by any other Destroidweapon. At short ranges it is morevulnerable, being both slow andlightly armoured to the rear.

PhalanxThe Phalanx is the space-

borne counterpart to the Defender,though both were utilised by theSDF-1 during its many battles.Rather than using direct-firearmaments, the Phalanx is equippedsolely with powerful and accuratemissiles. Large missile drums allowthe Phalanx to be engaged for asustained period of time asammunition is plentiful. It is howevertotally hopeless in any close-quarters situation.

MasamuneApart from the Mac II, the

Masamune is the rarest of the RDFDestroids. Developed in tandemwith the Tomahawk as a lighter,more agile Destroid the Masamunesaw only limited success. Equippedwith a battery of missiles and a GU-11 Gunpod, the Masamune wasdesigned to be a quick-responsedestroid. In practice however, theRDF preferred the Valkyrie for thetask while at the same time, as adestroid the Masamune was lightlyarmed compared to one like theTomahawk..

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Last of the DestroidsBy Paul Brown

Last of the DestroidsBy Paul Brown

CampaignsCampaigns

26 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 14 March 2005THE GREAT MACHINE

IntroductionThe ducal frigate took its

assigned position inside theHeighliner ’s cavernous butcrowded cargo bay. Nearby,shuttles full of passengers moveddelicately into position, along withtransports and cargo ships full ofthe trading goods of Caladan:pundi rice, medicinals fromprocessed kelp, handmadetapestries, and preserved fishproducts. Privately ownedlighters were still loadingmerchandise into the hold,

ferrying up from the surface to theHeighliner. This huge guild shiphad gone from world to world onits roundabout route to Kaitan,and the province-sized cargo baywas dotted with ships from otherworlds in the Imperium, all on theirway to the coronation… Hewatched two Tleilaxu transportstake positions near the Atreidesfrigate. Beyond the transports aHarkonnen frigate hung in itsGuild-assigned place.

Dune, House Atreides

The great Heighliners of theSpacing Guild move effortlesslythrough the stars, traveling fromworld to world, binding the GreatHouses of the Imperium in a vastweb of commerce and politics. While

it is true that the secrets of navigatingthe stellar void between star systemsare known only to the Guild, thepopulace of the Million Worlds is wellacquainted with space. Indeed,hundreds of space vessels flit aroundeach world, as befits a civilizationthat has existed as space farers forover twenty thousand years. Thetimeframe of the novel Dune startsat 10019 by Guild Reckoning, but thefirst star empire of mankind existedten thousand years before the startof the current calendar, dated fromthe ascendancy of the trinity of theLion Throne of Corrino, the SpacingGuild, and the formation of thecommercial giant CHOAM from themany houses of the Landsraad.

While the Guild Peace,enforced by their monopoly on spacetravel and the golden legions of theSardaukar, has worked to prevent



By Christian Meador

- Ships of the Million Worlds -

CampaignsCampaigns

27THE GREAT MACHINEISSUE 14 March 2005 THE GREAT MACHINE

strife and war spreading from theSiridar fiefs of the Houses to thespace lanes themselves, the sheersize of the Imperium has preventedthem from accounting for all possiblethreats. Unrest has come to theMillion Worlds as its politicalinstitutions strive for control of thesource of all things, the spiceMelange. And while the Dukes,Counts and Barons of the aristocracylook to build their resources in termsof House Atomics, Mentat Mastersof Assassins, and the legions ofwarriors, not an inconsiderablenumber wonder if the Spice becomesrare or its monopoly is broken whathappens to the far flung worlds ofthe Imperium? So they gather theirstrength, and make their plans to findways to subvert the Guild Peaceshould a rival chance interdiction andbring war to the stars.

Part IV of Dune Wars looks

at the plans made by several of theGreat Factions of the Imperium, andintroduces many new warships intothe fold. The second section of thisarticle includes more of the diverseweapons systems of the MillionWorlds, from the antiquated Chaingun to the highly advanced PrismLasgun.

The House AtreidesNaval Militia,service to Honor:

The Duchy of Caladan’snoble house has long found its wayamong the conspiracy of rivals. Inancient history House Atreidesacquitted themselves with braveryand honor in the formation of theImperium, the Butlerian Jihad andespecially the battle of Corrin. In thenot too distant past they wereperipherally involved in the war ofassassins between House Ginazand House Moritari. There are quitea few vassals of the house whoremember the assassination of DukePaulus, and the intrigues and battlesthat a young Duke Leto fought withthe Bene Tleixalu, leading theinvasion of Ix to restore his allies inHouse Vernius to the Throne.

Under Leto’s rule the Househas recruited many talentedindividuals, and with the learnedadvice of those such as ThurfirHawatt and Gurney Halleck he hasset up a naval plan in order totransform the House Militia into atangible asset in times of war. Thishidden strength of Atreides is nevercalled for during Leto’s life, but ithelps Paul Atreides expand hispower out through the galaxy whenhe assumes the throne of theEmperor.

Guardian Rescue ShipAn old design and the

mainstay of the Caladan militia, theGuardian ship is designed to aid andassist travelers among the far flungfiefdoms of House Atreides,especially in the asteroid miningareas near Caladan. With lightarmament for anti-piracy and anti-smuggling duties, its main functionis to repair foundering ships, and inthat role it excelled. It served a dualrole in times of war, and withminimum refit time it could be turnedinto an Auxiliary Patrol Carrier. Notethat the Guardian has a repaircapability, and can repair other shipsthat it tractors during the course of abattle. While limited in scope, thisability proved useful on severaloccasions during the Great Jihad.

Auxiliary Patrol CarrierA much more robust variant

of the Guardian, the Auxiliary PatrolCarrier was purposefully given a lessthan imposing designation in anattempt to hide its capabilities frommilitary planners and the mentats ofother houses. The core hullremained unchanged but reinforced,and the weapons it was outfittedutilized a new variant of the classicVulcan railgun, using the targetingability of the advanced Huffuf OilLens, greatly increasing its accuracy.The hangar bays are usually filledwith the excellent Waveskimmerfighter, and its ability to project powerwith these superiority fighters arewhat eventually gave the Patrolcarrier its excellent reputation.Finally the ship did keep some of itsrepair capability of its more commonsister ship, but due to the militarychanges it lost its ability to repair anyexternal ship, but often used thosefacilities to refit fighters at convenientpauses in the battle.

CampaignsCampaigns


Militia Torpedo CutterAn LCV manned by loyal

Atreides militia, the Torpedo Cutterwas based on a civilian lighter designthat emphasized speed andmaneuverability. In its convertedMilitia role the vessel’s weaponsincluded two class-S missile racks,a Vulcan Railgun and two chaingunsfor point defense. Designed as anattack platform with limited defenses,it would be the ultimaterepresentation of how free Atreidescitizens paid back the beneficenceof their Duke with loyalty and bravery.

Waveskimmer MediumFighter

The Atreides medium fighter,it was designed as a spacesuperiority platform. The strength ofthe design is the concentric bandHoltzman shield, giving a uniformarea of protection greater than anyother main line fighter in the MillionWorlds. A very flexible design, it wasmade to exploit the weaknesses ofits opposition, and in so doing hasserved with distinction and oftenbrilliance. It was named after one ofthe predatory seabirds of the seasof Caladan, a favorite of DukePaulus in honor of the Duke after hisuntimely death.

A Treatise onTreachery: theHarkonnen BaronyAdmiralty

The Baron VladimirHarkonnen is a return to the statusquo for the most dangerous housein the Imperium. While somementats calculated a chance of theunassuming Abulurd to be a positive

influence on the behavior for thehouse, Baron Harkonnen’s influencehas ensured the continuing ravenoushunger for power as the primemotivator in its dealings with others.

While House Harkonnen’sintentions are apparent, their meansgrow ever more devious, never moreso while the twisted mentat PiterdeVries as the House Master ofAssassins. The defection of thescientist who discovered the NoCloak from the researchers of HouseRichese was a prime example of this,as was his later demise at the handsof Glossu Raban. A variant of thistechnology, the No Room,suspended outside the walls of localspace-time in an alternatedimension, provided the perfect localfor the plotting of the Barony’s webof intrigue and betrayal, away evenfrom the prying minds of theprescient Guild Navigators.

However, when looking fornaval might the Baron choose theprofane over the sublime, and thedesigns favored by his Admiraltywere chosen for brute strength andintimidation. The house’s role as thegovernor of Arrakis and his ability tosiphon off vast hordes of Spiceallowed the bribes to the Guildadministrators that paid for thisprivilege.

Penance DestroyerA penal ship, the Penance

Destroyers are given the worstassignments, and sent intentionallyinto harms way. The officers are keptin line by explosive brain implants,while the crew has the moretraditional heart plugs. Those fewwho survive their tenure on aPenance ship are often the mostvicious and resourceful ofBaron Harkonnen’s minions, and canrise quickly in the ranks. This givessome little incentive to perform

adequately for those worstoffenders.

A HCV, it carries crude largecaliber short ranged weapons, whichwhile inaccurate can cause a torrentof matter and explosive round fire inclose. And while having no shieldsand only moderate armor the shipitself is built sturdily and can standup to a pounding. They are often sentto point blank range. These shipshave poor crews, as defined on page24 of the Wars of the CentauriRepublic, but occasionally this isbalanced by an Elite officer amongstthem, often a Ruathan or Rabbanilooking for redemption in the eyesof the Harkonnen command forsome perceived mercy, weakness orslight.

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Line FrigateThe Harkonnen ship of the

Line, this Frigate bears a potentarmament of Heavy Lasguns,Medium Lasguns, and Medium BlastCannons, backed up by a decentfighter defense in its Flak Cannons.Used agressively, the Line Frigatecan often decimate its foes at range,with its main battery of three heavylasguns capable of gutting manysmall vessels in just a few salvos.One of its most successful usesoccurred in the Smuggler’s War ofthe Red Crescent systems, where asquadron of line frigates withsupporting craft decimated the rogueGuild Steersman Bienvieno’s piratefleet with long range Lasgun fire.

The Line Frigate’sweaknesses are two fold; the normalissues all Imperium ships mustaddress without advanced computersupport for its sensors, and a lack ofadequate thrust compared to thelighter Landsraad Frigates. Still, itsability to lay down an impressive fieldof fire makes it a favorite of thehomocidal Harkonnen captains.

Defiler Heavy FighterThe Defiler is a brute of a

fighter, lacking anything like graceor dexterity. However, it’s weaponssuite more than makes up for its lackof charm. The Quad Flak Cannonsare a disconcerting weapon, andwhile the dispersed flak bursts fromits explosive rounds don’t do asmuch damage as the designers hadanticipated they often causesincidental damage to enemy fightersand can fray a pilot’s nerves. Thistranslates into a +2 dropout penaltyfor any fighter damaged by them.The rear ultralight Vulcan Railgunsprovide for an excellent defense,especially when on a Burst Rocketattack run.

House Corrino –The Imperial Navy,the Lion Amongstthe Stars

The Guild Peace applies lessto House Corrino, as the Emperor’sHouse plays a major role in enforcingsaid laws. As such the Corrino shipscan be dedicated to more purelymilitaristic roles, and will appear tooutsiders as a more traditional navy.That being said the Sardaukar havealways been more focused onplanetary combat, and the navy is notas strong as it could be because ofthat lack of focus.

Still, the weapons of theImperial House are potent, and thedesigners had successfullyanticipated many of the problems the

Imperial Navy would face as theenforcer of the social structure withinthe Million Worlds. In the end it wasthe myriad political skeins thatfractured Imperial rule, and had lessto do with the capability of the navythan the political realities which oftenforced it to react in less than the mostoptimum way.

Pathfinder DestroyerA HCV, the Pathfinder clears

the way for the rest of the Corrinofleet. A capable combatant with a pairof medium lasguns, Vulcan railguns,and class-D missiles to interceptfighters and incoming ballistics, thePathfinder is more known for itsability as a minesweeper. If a rogueHouse can’t run because the Guildwill not provide them transportation,they invariably fortify their siridarfiefdoms for the inevitable attack ofthe Sardaukar. The banishedHouses of Transix in the eighthcentury of the eighth millennium keptthe Sardaukar at bay by such meansfor over three months, an affront tothe will and eminence of theEmperor. This directly led to thecreation of the precursor of thePathfinder. Since the creation of thisnewer model such rogue worldsbarricading themselves hashappened infrequently, but the fewtimes it has occurred the PathfinderDestroyer has been essential inbringing the rebel House to Imperialjustice.

Golden Lion BattlecruiserA limited run ship (10%), the

Golden Lions are the only truedreadnoughts in the Imperium. Theycould have turned the tide during thegreat Jihad if they had been utilizedcorrectly, but the foresight ofMaud’dib and overt acts of sabotageminimized their impact. When theGuild turned on the Emperor when

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they realized that Maud’dib hadcontrol of the spice the Battlecruiserssat idly in their moorings, lackingGuild transportation to bring them tobattle.

A true war craft, this capitalship carries the heaviest Lasgunsever created, and bristled withrailguns, missile defenses and railinterceptor arrays. Designed as afleet flagship and intended as aspace control ship, it carries fourflights of fighters and a dozenassault shuttles, and proved a usefulasset in space combat, interdiction,and planetary assault.

Known as Shaddam’s folly,the three Golden Lions producednever saw actual combat. In largepart this was due to bureaucraticwrangling, as there were many whoopposed their creation. The Guild feltthat the warship was too much athreat to their Heighliners in its mereexistence, the Sardaukar feared ashift in dominance from their Legionsto the Imperial Navy, and CHOAMresented the vast drain on imperialcoffers it represented.

Still, they proved their worthduring the Offerman uprising, whenthe appearance of a singlebattlecruiser caused a collapse in therebel forces without a shot everbeing fired.

Scion Light FighterThe rivalry between Ix and

Richese for defense contractcontinued, with Richese scoring amajor victory in its fighter designs thePadishah and Shirkhan. The defaultfighters for decades, it wasn’t untilthe Ix shipwrights developed a newweapons system and mounted it ona agile and swift interceptor that theymanaged to win a large portion ofthe Imperial contract back. ThePrism Gatling Laser was a majorbreakthrough, generating a myriad

of scintillating lasgun beams from asingle source. While weaker thannormal lasguns and lackingcoherency forcing a limited range,they realized it would make a perfectweapon for an interceptor. The ScionLight Fighter was built around thisweapon, and provided an impressiveanti-fighter capability for the Imperialnavy.

The Bene Gesserit:

the rule of theperfected mind

The Bene GesseritSisterhood made little preparationsfor the coming war, as that was anobjective that could easily beachieved through subtlemanipulation, and the lesser houses

could always be brought to theirbiding through marriage ties,blackmail and seduction. Indeed,with their influence over EmperorShaddam himself they found therewas little need for other action.

However, they did require apresence in the outer reaches of theMillion Worlds, to ensure theteachings of their order weredisseminated to all the cultures ofthe Imperium, in order to prepare theway for the coming of their messiah,the Kwisatz Haderach. For this theycreated the Protectiva MissionaraOrder, and great vessels to conveythe Sisters in protection to the wilderregions of space.

Protectiva MissionaryShip

The cargo vessels that feedthe great religious creation of theBene Gesserit, Missionary ships canbe found scattered through all theknown corners of the universe.Creating the foundations for thecoming of the Kwisatz Haderach, theMissionary vessels have specialcharters with the Guild that takesthem beyond the normal borders ofthe Imperium. In such backwaters ofcivilization, their ability to protect theSisters of the Order becomes anecessary if unwelcome factor oftheir design. Lightly armored, thevessels Holtzman shields are strong,as it wasn’t anticipated that thebackwards civilizations theyencounter would have Lasguncapability. The Missionary ship alsohas a large hangar capacity andextensive cargo room.

Acolyte Escort CutterThe escort cutter of choice

for the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood,the Acolyte combines the rapid fireclose defense capability of theDouble Chaingun with the

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interceptor missiles of the Class-DMissile Rack. When they upgradedthe vessel to include a RailInterceptor Array mounted forward,the Witches created the premierdefensive cutter in the Imperium.They were a common sightescorting the great MissionProtectiva Transports to the outeredges of the Imperium, and oftenwere spotted among House Minorfleets that had the favor of theSisterhood.

Wayfarer DiplomaticCourier

Often seen scuttling fromcrisis to trouble spot within theImperium, the Wayfarer is a wellknown ship among the nobility ofthe Million Worlds. Indeed, itssumptuous appointments andluxurious surroundings include asection used exclusively fordiplomatic conferences, and itwas the ship of choice of AnirulSadow Tonkin, a Bene GesseritReverend Mother and wife of thePadishah Emperor ShaddamIVth.

A MCV, the Wayfarerdiplomatic courier fills a pressingneed for the Sisterhood. It relieson agility and speed more thanweaponry, and armor rather thanshields. This is because the Witcheswill never willingly trust the welfareof the Reverend Mother on thevagaries of a Holtzman reaction.Weaponry is focused on defensiveabilities, including four VulcanRailguns and 2 Class-D MissilesRacks.

Gom Jabbar CorvetteExternally indistinguishable

from the Bene Gesserit WayfarerDiplomatic Courier, the Gom Jabbaris an assassins ship. Designed to getclose in to the intended victim using

stealth and diplomatic immunity asits guide, the Gom Jabbar isdesigned to use multiphasic shellsto cause internal flash damage, orto use its concealed grappling clawto board and apprehend its target.These ships are rarely used, and areso successful they rarely leave anywitnesses. Most House leadersconsider their existence just anothermyth concerning the perfidy of theBene Gesserit. Their wives, mentorsand advisors agree that the veryrumor of its existence is the heightof foolishness.

House Vernius ofIx: Never AgainShall their ProfaneFeet Touch the Soilof Ix

House Vernius of Ix is oftenconsidered a necessary evil. Whiletreading delicately along the line ofthe Great Proscripture againstforming a machine in the image of ahuman mind with their expert

systems and training mechs, thetechnical ability and infrastructure ofIx are unmatched in the Imperium.Earl Dominic Vernius made the fatalerror that his fief’s goods were sonecessary to the continuation of thesystem of governance of the MillionWorlds that he was all butunassailable. After all, who but Ixcould make the massive Heighlinersthat all commerce depended on?The result was the death of his wife,and the subjugation of his proudworld at the hands of the BeneTleixalu Order and with covertassistance from the legions of theSardaukar.

Earl Rhombur, his son whoendured years of banishmentfrom his beloved world, will notmake the same mistake. Whileowing a great debt to HouseAtreides, Vernius and Ix havetaken great pains to remainneutral in the current politicalclimate. Indeed, some wouldcall the Earl overly cautious, oreven craven. Yet the leader ofIx realizes what he must dobefore any other action; ensurethat no foreign soldier evertouches the sacred soil of hishomeland.

To this end, Earl Rhombur ofthe Great House Vernius of Ix

has spent his time wisely.

Amtal Export FighterThe Amtal Export fighter is a

common fighter in use by everyfaction. It was one of the first fightersmass produced by the House as itrecovered from the invasion of Ix bythe Bene Tleilaxu, and many in theImperium wondered if the famedmanufacturers had lost their touchwhen it came to new designs. Anaverage fighter all around, theAmtal’s only redeeming quality wasits inexpensive cost. Because of this

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House Richese took the lead infighter design, and the Padishah andShirkhan became the defaultsuperiority fighters for anothergeneration. Indeed, even the nameAmtal was met with derision. A galacterm meaning ‘tested to the veryedge of destruction and beyond’,many felt it was all too appropriatefor such a mediocre offering.

Which was exactly the wayEarl Rhombus wanted it.

Kanly Assault FighterHis true intent was only

shown later. While the Amtal waswidely sold to lesser houses, theKanly Assault fighter was a designreserved for House Ix alone. With thesame profile as the Amtal, it wasoften mistaken for its cheaper,ubiquitous cousin. The Kanly carrieda single powerful Plasma Boltcannon, able to chew through thearmor of any frigate in space withease. However, in a universe filledwith shielded ships, it wasconsidered a strange design, as theplasma weapon had no additionaleffect against the Holtzmangenerators.

Again, according to Ixiandesign. For the Kanly fielded aweapon unseen before in theImperium. Even the Lion Thronecould not have anticipated theHarmonic Resonator. Using theirunique knowledge of shipconstruction and the abilities of theHoltzman shield, Ixian researcherscreated a weapon designed tobypass the shield itself,and set up a resonance wave thatwould cancel out the shield for shortperiods. This ability came as a greatsurprise to enemy commanders,leaving ships dangerously exposedfor uncomfortably long times.

Freyn Hunter-SeekerThe Freyn Hunter-Seeker is

a weapon of last resort for theIx homeworld, designed as a lastditch effort to avoid invasion.Knowing that the quality of theirtroops was inferior, the Lord of Ixpledged that no invasion force wouldever land there again. The Freyn,translated as the Outcast Foreigner,take the Great Proscipture to its verylimits and beyond, its guidancesystem and the HS controller beingat the absolute edge of what couldbe allowed by galactic law.Understanding that knowledge ofthese weapons could result in aJihad against them, the Ixians woulddeploy them only in a time of utmostcrisis - or absolute potential. TheFreyn Hunter-Seeker uses the Orienicontrol system for Hunter-Killers asdetailed in Wars of the CentauriRepublic, pages 34 and 35.

Ix Overseer Hunter-Seeker Controller

A variant of the OverseerScout, the Controller is the onlymethod that Ix has of projectingpower with its H-S weapons, with themajority of Hunter-Seekers beingdeployed in asteroids around theworld of Ix and other importantstrategic targets in that system.While it does its best to remainneutral considering how precipitousits roll as provider of technology to aculture still scarred by the betrayalof the sentient AI, Earl Rhombusrealizes that some games have tobe played. And while reluctant toenter combat in anything but thedefense of his home system, it wasargued that some day it mightbecome necessary. The Controlleris a limited ship (33%).

Weapons of theImperiumAtreides Huffuf LensVulcan Railgun

The Huffuf Oil Lens is themost accurate optical instrument inthe Imperium, able to refine light todefine things a micron in size. Thisoptical technology has long been inuse to target the Lasguns employedby various powers; indeed thisrefinement is what allows them toignore the normal 4-point EW lockfor piercing mode. However, itsincorporation into the Vulcan Railgunis a new development, so far onepioneered only among the Mentatsat House Atreides.

The implementation of thisadvanced optic ability has greatlyincreased the targeting and firecontrol rating of the Vulcan Railguns,making the Atreides vessels that aredeemed worthy of the extra expenseof these weapons some of the mostcapable anti-fighter vessels amongall of the fleets of the Landsraad.

Harkonnen Burst RocketThe Burst Rocket is a

compact, almost squat weapon, withthe ballistic weapon comprisedalmost entirely of warhead withrelatively little thrust fuel. Thisprovides for a very limited range, butcarries a big punch. The weapon isalso extremely inaccurate, but theHarkonnen Admiralty’s fascinationwith shock value and intimidation iswell served by the damage thesesmall missiles can provide.

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Burst RocketCost: 5 combat pointsRange: 5 hexesDamage: 15Fire Control: +1/+0/-5Special: Flash 5 points of damagein Hex

Note - the Flash damage isn’tlikely to harm any warships in thehex, but could do light damage tolight and medium fighters andshuttles nearby, especially innumbers.

Bene Gesserit TripleChainguns

An obsolescent weapon thatserved as the precursor to thecommon Vulcan Railgun, thechaingun is found now primarily incommercial shipping. The velocityof the shell was deemed too slow toprovide sufficient armor penetrationcapability compared to newermodels, so it eventually wasrelegated to back line use.

Still, it’s a common weapon,and the Bene Gesserit often use iton atmospheric ships, as they findits suppressive fire capability anasset in planetary situations, and itdoesn’t draw the same notice ascurrent military hardware in knownspace.

The Triple Chaingun isclassified as an explosive weapon,in that it uses explosive ammunition.This does standard damage, buttreats armor as normal.

Ixian HarmonicResonator

Another leap forward for theweapon designers of Ix, theHarmonic Resonator at its core is amodified Holtzman shield designedto penetrate other shields slowly andsending out a harmonic pulse that

disables shield generators. Boring tothe edge of the shield, the weaponslowly penetrated the Holtzmanresonance, slipping in under theprotective screen and causing awave amplification effect once ittouched the hull. It takes 0-2 turnsfor the weapon to burrow through theshield, knocking all of the shields onthe ship down, causing the above-specified critical rolls, and extendingthe length of the shield failure by 1turn for every addition Resonator thatattached to the ship. The resultingenergy surge within the vessel oftendamaged shields for long periods oftime (causing a +8 critical), and couldeven cause power outages over theship (a +4 critical against the reactoras well).

Furthermore, the Resonatoritself was a powerful shieldgenerator, the one normally attachedto the Kanly. When fired it goes intoan overloaded mode, and allintercept against the ballistic isreduced by half, rounded down.However, a Prism Lasgun that hitsthe inbound Resonator causes aHoltzman reaction as a strength 5Holtzman shield.

The only true way to stop aHarmonic Resonator is to destroy itfrom outside the ship, by other shipstargeting the Resonator while its stillon the ships Holtzman shield. Shipsmay fire at the Resonator at -6 to hitof the ships profile, and it requires 6points of damage to destroy. Anyshots that miss by 1-6 points hit theship instead of the Resonator, doingnormal damage.

Of Endings I must not fear. Fear is themind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings totalobliteration. I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over meand through me. And when ithas gone past I will turn theinner eye to see its path.Where the fear has gone therewill be nothing. Only I willremain.

Bene Gesserit LitanyAgainst Fear

Yes, that time again, as thelatest installment of Dune Warsends, blown into the sandy wastesas if born by the Coriolos Storm!Hope these ships and technologiesadd to your gaming experience.Next up, we’ll analyze the tacticalcampaign of the Red CrescentRotue, the last major border flashprior to the rise of Maud’dib, thatshowcased both the technology andthe intrigue that marks the conflictsof the Imperium as so unique. Andin the near future I hope to extendwork on Dune into Crossovers, withspecific rules for tech interactionswith other universes, highlighting theHoltzman shield and its variousinteractions. And also I’ll introducethe Bleed, a campaign artificeintended to allow interactionsbetween multiple sci-fi genres in aneutral ground between them all.

Make sure your stillsuit isfastened properly, and beware ofWorm sign!

* * *

“

”

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27THE GREAT MACHINEISSUE 15 April/May 2005 THE GREAT MACHINE

IntroductionWelcome! Here are some

ships suitable for campaigns for theDune Wars net supplement, as wellas some of the core concepts behindthe upcoming Dune Red Crescenttactical campaign. Enjoy, andcomments are always welcome atmy Yahoo Group http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/b5wcrossovers/

I hope these are helpful, andthat you enjoy them either as standalone vessels or part of an ongoingDune or Crossover campaign.

Ships of theDuneCampaignCHOAMCHOAM Super FreighterLimited Deployment 33%

When the Baroness Katrinawas brought forth from the MagyaraShipyards in 9485, it was the rebirthof the grand majesty of the super-freighters of the seventh millennium.The style had gone out of voguesome nearly three millennia ago dueto the risk involved in concentratingso much of the wealth of individualhouses into these majestic ships.

But with the Butlerian Jihad an everpresent but no longer immediatememory, and with the best wishesof the Guild Bankers and CHOAMmerchant empire, by Imperial decreethe super-freighter was reborn.

However, little of such aninvestment is left to chance anymore, with every calculation and riskmanipulated and extolled by endlessmentats and the finest Ixianarchitects. The current superfreighters, while vulnerable as onlya cargo ship can be, are far fromtoothless. Pirates operating fromthe cover of gravity shadows andnebula have much to fear from thetwin heavy blast cannons mountedin the front of the ponderous vessel,and many a sirat fighter has gonedown in flames after a strafing runagainst the flak canons and triplechainguns that guard the perimeterof this gargantuan craft.

Many spacers consider the

Ships of theShips of theShips of theShips of theShips of theDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune Campaign

The Battle for DuneContinues

By Christian Meador

Ships of theShips of theShips of theShips of theShips of theDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune Campaign

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28 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 15 April/May 2005THE GREAT MACHINE

Super Freighters to be nearly fleetsunto themselves. Two dozen cargoshuttles flit about the massive ship,and there are four hard dockingpoints that can fit anything from OwlScouts to Cargo Lighters or evencombat Cutters.

CHOAM Customs CorvetteUnlimited Deployment

The mainstay of the CHOAMinspection fleet, the CustomsCorvettes are a ubiquitous sight inthe Imperium. Wherever trade andcommerce bring the merchantilespirit, CHOAM follows to ensure thelaws of the Imperium, their laws thatinnately contained the concept ofCHAOM fair advantage, aremaintained. The endless game ofhide and seek between theSmugglers and CHOAM find theirexpression most often in thecramped C&Cs of this vessel and thesmall piloting pod of the SmugglerLighter.

While adequately armed forits intended mission, the CustomsCorvette is not a true warship.However, it does maintain a quartetof CHOAM Breaching Pods. Whilemost often used in traditionaldocking functions, the BreachingPods can burn through a fleeingsmugglers hull to deposit itsInspection marines just as well asany Sardaukar craft. Or so themarines tell themselves.

The standard customscorvette has spawned severalvariants. Unfortunately the corvetteis often placed in a role moreappropriate for a dedicated warship,but the designers rightfully point outthat in its intended use the designperforms well, and that its shortfallsagainst the successes of thesmuggler trade often have to do withthe frailties – and the greed – of itscrew. However, while the thrusters

on the Customs Corvette arereasonably powerful and efficient,they are frail, the true weakness ofthe craft.

CHOAM Customs PursuerUncommon Customs Corvette Variant

Often assigned as the thirdpart of a triad of Customs Corvettes,the Pursuer is there to chase downerrant vessels, and does its job well.While not quite capable of stayingeven with the smaller lightersdedicated specifically foracceleration, most other ships arequickly born down under themomentum of the medium vesselssuperior thrust.

The weapons on the Pursuerare minimal in order to devote themost possible weight to speed. Thatbeing said, it does contain aGrappling Claw, and the onboardcontingent of Inspection Marines isgenerally more than sufficient tocapture the smuggling vessels thatare their natural prey.

CHOAM Customs LeaderUncommon Customs Corvette Variant

When the CHOAM BattleDestroyer was declared by theSpacing Guild as to exceed theirmandate as an Inspection Fleet andmerchantile interest, CHOAM designbureau #23 scrapped its plans todevelop a new warship capable ofdealing with the emergent piratethreat and decided to reevaluatetheir situation. What they came upwith was the zenith of the CustomsCorvette design lineage.

The Customs Leader wasstated as a command,communications and control ship.However, its capability in that veinwas limited. Instead it was retrofittedto be more easily adapted to aheavier combat load. Instead of a

control ship, the Customs Leaderwas slowly, painstakingly refitted intoa Battle Leader. By the time theSpacing Guild saw the end result, thematter was a fait accompli.

The Custom Leader is a dedicatedwarship, and as such fields the bestweapons array of the InspectionFleet. A single Heavy and MediumBlast Cannon to the fore of the shipprovides significant firepower, whilethe Vulcan Railguns provide aconsiderable upgrade from thenormal dual and triple chaingunsmounted on corvettes. Finally, theHoltzman shield on the weapon isconsidered an acceptable risk, andagainst non-laser armed foes theCustoms Leader is a truly formidableopponent.

CHOAM Breaching PodUnlimited Deployment

Most often employed by theCustoms Corvette, this BreachingPod is designed for speed andmaneuverability more than strength.The hull is considered weak bymilitary standards, but the small craftis outfitted with a single chaingunproviding it some self-defensecapability as it travels toward itsdestination.

The CHOAM Breaching Podloses 1 thrust for every 3 points ofdamage it takes. In addition, thechaingun is disabled on the sixthpoint of damage.

ImperiumMerchantVessels

The lifeblood of the millionworlds, merchant vessels fly underall house crests, and may even be

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privately owned. With so manyfascinating and insular goods in theImperium, individual traders,moderate co-ops, even CHOAMindustries and noble houses areinvested in the day to day give andtake of the greatest market mankindhas ever known. For all of this, onlyone thing binds the Empire together;the Spice Melange. For this reason,the transport of unique goods thatcan only be found in the disparatecorners of the galaxy, the Spice mustflow.

Known trade goods of theImperium:

The poisons Chaumas andChaumurky, so popular in the Warof Assassins between the noblehouses of the Imperium; Cutterrays,small lasguns that can cut to themicrometer; the Dew Collectors, sovital to life on Arrakis; Distrans, thathide nearly undetectable codeswithin the neural systems and voicesof avians; Dump Boxes, protectedby suspensor fields and ablativecoatings, designed to drop from orbitto planetary surfaces; the Elaccadrug, that removes the instinct ofself-preservation; Fanmetal, metalformed by the growing of jasmiumcrystals in duraluminum, noted forextreme tensile strength inrelationship to weight, its namederived from its common use incollapsible structures that areopened by “fanning” them out;Fogwood, from the planet Ecaz, itsgrowth defined solely by humanthought; the suspensor guidedGlowglobe, illuminated by organicbatteries; the virtually indestructibleMetaglass, that shields againstradiation; the Hufuf Oil Lens, PundiRice; the super-stimulant Rachag,the mutable Shigawire, that hasreplaced books as the chief way ofstoring knowledge, the Solido

Projectors that can createholographic images stored on saidShigawire; Family Atomics;Holtzman Fields and Lasguns;Stillsuits and Balisets; anduncountable other wonders spreadout through the million worlds thatmankind has made their own.

And, of course, the SpiceMelange. Always the Spice.Forever the Spice.

Some of the most prevalentmerchantile vessels of the MillionWorlds are the following:

Modulon Ore TransportUnlimited Deployment

The Modulon Ore Transportis the primary ore hauler in theImperium. It has light defenses andarmor, as befitting a merchant ship.The Modulons, like the namesindicates, has a modular design, andcan be quickly and rapidlyredeployed with several differenttypes of components.

A modified Modulon was latertransformed by the Jihad into theFremen Transport.

Bulk FreighterUnlimited Deployment

The basic Freighter of theImperium, the Bulk Freighter can befound in numbers anywhere tradeexists in the Million Worlds. Theseships lack any substantial defenses,though the standard armament ofthree Vulcan Railguns may givepirates pause.

Passenger LinerUnlimited Deployment

When comfort is the goal,and the trip matters less than in themanner that one arrives, thePassenger Liners of the MillionWorlds are often the choice of thewealthy. Dedicated to the

experience of travel, these vesselsare used for incursions into thepleasure planets of the interior.Carrying ten passenger shuttles andthree passenger ferries (an LCVsized craft), the Passenger Linerscater to the most jaded of Imperialsophisticates.

Cargo LighterUnlimited Deployment

The single most commonship in the Imperium, Cargo Lightersflit through the galaxy in the millions.Small vessels intended to maximizetheir cargos as they travel betweenHeighliner and the trade meccasfound in every system, CargoLighters are so inexpensive familiesand even individuals are often foundat their helm.

IxIx Asteroid HS BaseUnlimited Deployment

The last line of defense forthe ninth planet in the homes systemof House Vernius, this base providesfor both the command and controlof the Ixian Hunter-Seeker. Housingup to six flights of the dreadeddevices, the existence of thisforbidden technology along with howquickly they’ve managed to deployit would come as a great surprise tothe Landsraad and the Emperor.However, it has not yet come to passthat Ix must show its hand in thismatter, and should the Emperorscheme against them once againtheir will be little regret in the halls ofVernius should the need for theweapon be felt.

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LandsraadLandsraad Veritas ScoutTenderUnlimited Deployment

The Veritas Scout Tenderprovides a vital role in Fleet affairs.It was built to address a technicallimitation, as the Great Proscripturesagainst creating a machine in theimage of the mind of a man abortedcomputerization. This in turn causedcomputerized imagery enhancementand detection capability to stagnatein the Million Worlds. The ScoutTender carries 3 Owl Scouts todeploy to search out enemydeployments in system, in order toprovide accurate intelligence to theHouse Mentats for fleetdeployments.

The Veritas (“Truth”) ScoutTender carries 3 fighters for localdefense in addition to the threecatapults to launch and recover theOwls, a Super Heavy Fighter design.

Landsraad Owl Scout FighterUnlimited Deployment A super-heavy reconnaissancecraft, the Owl seeks out enemy fleetsand hopes to live through theexperience. The Owl is wellequipped for its job, with extendedendurance (in Campaigns that useendurance give it the same rating asa Medium Ship), long rangescanners (increased searchingcapabilities), and an unusualdefense - the DF Missile Rack.

The DF Missile Rack holds 9missiles of type C, I, Y or Z. In theOwl’s case, three of these aremounted in the forward magazine,and six to the rear.

Landsraad Perimeter BaseUnlimited Deployment

A common defense asteroidhollowed out to shelter the Class-BMissile silos, the Perimeter Base isdesigned to discourage incomingaggressors through long rangesuperiority fire. And it is a commonaxiom that the Perimeter Base isnever found alone, as it is almostalways deployed in groups.

The DuneCampaign

While originally intending topresent a full Tactical Campaign forthe Dune Universe, I realized that Iwould not have time to adequatelyplay test this project. Instead, I wishto present some ideas on how thespecific scope of Dune Warscampaign play is significantlymodified to most B5 Wars players’expectations. The following aresome of the specific alteration I planto include in the Red Crescentcampaign when time allows for amore thorough examination.

The Bid System a general overview

Production in the Duneuniverse is quite different than thenormal tactical campaign for the B5Wars system. This is because ofthe lack of diversity in productioncapabilities. While Major Housesand the assorted great powers ofmankind’s empire have the ability tocreate shipyards, most production isdone at several institutionalizedlocations, such as Ix and Richese.What this means to the different

factions competing in the universeof Dune is facing the open marketwhen trying to expand their fleets.

In campaign terms, eachfaction can build the vessels that areconsidered specific to them. Again,in tactical campaign terms thismeans that there will be a build listfor each faction, listing the numberof turns it takes to produce a ship.And there will be an economic list,both in terms of general productionability and specific rewards forgetting trade vessels to certainlocations. This will be specific foreach tactical campaign dependingon the premise and strategicsituation. In general though buildtimes for the factions will beconsiderably slower than those ofother settings.

However, the bulk of fleets inDune are still comprised of thevessels shown in the Landsraadsection. These ships are commondesigns employed by all of thefactions in the galaxy. The rathermediocre build rates of the individualfactions is then supplemented bywhat is available in the bid!

Depending on the scope ofyour campaign, you’ll need to assigna bid impulse. This is the number ofcampaign turns between a newallotment of units that are brought tothe bid pool. For a campaign thescale of those in Showdowns 6, it issuggest a bid impulse of 10 turns asa good starting point. Though thismay be modified if an expanded Bidchart is used – this would includemore than just what hulls wereavailable, but also elite characters,campaign specific items, ImperialOffices, and other such goodies thatmodify game play in the player’sadvantage. Each bid impulseconsult the chart to determine whatof interest is being offered in theCHOAM markets. The informationin the chart is laid out as follows:

CampaignsCampaigns


Unit Type No of Units Under Bid No of Impulses available

For example, if you roll the dice and consult the chart you’ll seesomething similar to this:

Shielded Cutters d4+1 75 EP per Cutter 3 impulses

Unit Type is self-explanatory. Number of units may be either aspecific number or a range represented by a die roll. If the number of unitsis for a fighter then that represents the number of flights available. Numberof Impulses available represents how long it will be up for bid. The UnderBid chart represents the chance of a non-campaign faction beating anyplayer bid for the resource in question. It is in effect a minimum cost inorder to purchase the resource. The Under Bid cost will be modified by thenumber of players in the game. The more players, the lower the Under Bidmodifier, as this tends to naturally drive up the price of available resources.

ConcealedMovement

Without the churningcomputers and expert systems thatsift through data patterns andanalyze sensor readings, theadmirals of the Dune universe haveto deal with the vagaries of the fogof war. This allows for terrain andhidden movement to be a muchlarger factor when determining thecourse of battles When added tothe stealth technologies spearheaded by the elusive Bene Tleilax,the limits of the Imperium’s ability toanalyze sensor information canbecome a serious source of concern.However, as in all things where themental training orders sought to findsurrogates for the banished machineminds, the Order of Mentats found away.

In game terms, a scenarioemploying the search game is runon a separate map for each player.After movement but before combatanother sequence is played. Eachplayer announces the locationswhere that player has his unitssearching, and whether they are

running on active or passive sensors.He must announce the total searchstrength, and the number of ships,its type, and the number of fighterflights searching. If sensor buoyclusters are deployed he may notethat instead of the ship type.

In the case of active sensors,the other player must reveal the shiptypes he has in that location if thesearch strength of the shipssearching the location is equal orgreater to the search strengthrequired to detect the ship.

In most cases, the easiestway of showing the required searchstrength is a color-coding system onthe map. An example follows:

CampaignsCampaigns


In addition, there may becertain modifiers to the search costsindicated. Ships running on passivesensors, ships powered downentirely, the stealth coating used bythe Bene Tleilax and the SpiceSmugglers, specific mappedpathways through asteroid fields, orspecific current flows through nebulathat are known, all of these thingscan increase or decrease the valueof the search strength.

The search strengths of theships vary as follows:

In the late 94th centuryRichese architects developed aphased relay system that allowed forships to deploy sensor buoy clusters. This allowed ships to create alocalized system of sensor buoysnearby their own ships, giving themthe advantage of active sensorswithout giving away the exactposition of the ship. This allowsships to make an active sensorsearch while remaining up to twohexes away from the buoy cluster,as long as the ship itself did not moveduring the search turn. Thisprovided for a fairly effective picketsystem, and the cluster itself can berepositioned by 1 hex every turn aslong as the ship itself doesn’t move,and the buoy cluster remained withinthe 2 hex limit.

Passive sensors were alsodeployed. These were only effectivein open space (hexes with a searchstrength requirement of 1), and theyuse the normal detection rules forTactical Campaigns on Showdown-6, p16. Note that Dune ships don’thave Sensors over 10, so several ofthe rows simply don’t apply.

Most Dune TacticalCampaigns will also have variantsearch capabilities depending on thesituation in the campaign. Sensorwarning nets were often deployed in

systems of potential hostility. Manycampaigns will include Spies thatcould be placed in ports of call andgive an accurate count of the shipsleaving that world. And the humanmind as always was the mostdangerous weapon in the Duneuniverse. These unique searchesinclude but are not limited to:

Prescient Viewing: The SpacingGuild Navigator’s prescience canfilter all-space to find specific shipsin space-time. While expensive tobribe and almost impossible tocoerce, a Navigator’s abilities couldoften tip the scales from ignominy toglory for an aspiring House Admiral.In game terms once the bribe wasmet or the diplomatic pressure wassufficient, a player could request a

Prescient viewing, name a shipclass, and either a destination orpoint of departure, and it would berevealed on the game map for himfrom that point forward.

Mentat Calculation: And given theproper data and parameters themore capable House Mentats cancalculate the chances of findingships at certain locations by findinghidden energy sources or graviticmass displacement. While lesspowerful than employing prescience,

the Mentat can name ahex and detect any shipswithin 1 hex of that area,regardless of the searchstrength required for sucha search. It is often easierto find a ship due to itsinteraction with otherparticles such as icecrystals, nebuladisplacement or asteroidgravitic shift, but it requiresa Mentat to do so withalacrity.

This should create aninteresting fog of war

aspect to the game, making thefinding of the enemy the first andmost important step in the battle!This is particularly effective inscenarios based on commerceraiding or surprise attack.

Mines in theMillion Worlds

Very little antagonizes theSpacing Guild like mine warfare. Assuch, it is considered an extravagantrisk most often not worth the chanceof interdiction to use them. Indeed,only one faction has employed themextensively in modern times; HouseVernius of Ix, whose technological

Shuttle, Breaching Pod, OSAT: No search valueFighter Flight: 0 (1 with Search order)LCV 0.5 (1 with Search order)MCV/HCV (sensors <6) 1 (2 with Search order)MCV/HCV Owl SHF (sensors >=6) 1.5 (3 with Search order)Capital (sensors <6) 1.5 (3 with Search order)Capital (sensors >=6) 2.0 (4 with Search order)Sensor Mines 1.0 (automatically in Search order mode)

Note that Scout/ELINT ships (ie Ix Overseer Scout and the Guild Heighliner) andships with the Mentat Analyst Elite character on board double their search valuesin their hex, and halve their search value every hex out. Therefore it is possible forthem to detect ships from several hexes away, especially in open space.

CampaignsCampaigns


prowess allows them to skirt theedge of the wrath of the Guild,especially considering the wave ofsympathy that swept through themoderate houses when it wasdiscovered the duplicity involved inthe false jihad called on them underthe flimsiest of pretenses.

However, for the right priceand with the right connections minescan be acquired. But actually layinga minefield can have a price to bepaid in diplomatic terms in all tacticalcampaigns. If the Spacing Guilddeems the area strategic, thesmallest response that can beexpect is the increase in the cost inspice to pay for Heighliner access.Over time, such rate hikes can bleedeven the wealthiest Great House dry.The problem is the Guild keeps itsown council as to what it considersa strategic area. It is best to proceedwith caution.

The following mines areavailable to all factions:

Trallis-1 Proximity Mine: Cost 8,Damage 10, Signature 3.Trallis-2 Proximity Mine: Cost 13,Damage 18, Signature:4Zenith-1 Proximity Mine: Cost 18,Damage 25, Signature: 5Shai-Hulud Proximity Mine: Cost25, Damage 40, Signature 4Coriolis-1 Captor Mine: Cost 15,Range 6, Accuracy +3, Damage 18,Signature 4Coriolis-2 Captor Mine: Cost 20,Range 5, Accuracy +6, Damage 20,Signature 3

Only Ix and their allies maydeploy DEW weapons. However, assome of these may fire lasgun blasts,their affect on shielded ships may betotally out of proportion to theirnormal effectiveness.

Sunfire-1 DEW Mine: Cost 60,Range 8, Accuracy +5, Signature 3

(1), Armor 3, Structure 8. Fires aheavy lasgun.Hailfire-1 DEW Mine: Cost 38,Range 6, Accuracy +5, Signature 4(2), Armor 2, Structure 5. Fires aGauss Cannon.Hailfire-2 DEW Mine: Cost 45,Range 5, Accuracy +6, Signature 3(0), Armor 2, Structure 6. Fires 2Vulcan Railguns. Includes theMultiple Target Enhancement.

All Major Houses have thecapability to create Family Atomicmines. So far none has dared touse them in combat, but should theoccasion provide the will, the affectwould be most… illuminating.

Family Atomic Mine: Cost 300,Damage 250 in the detonation hex,100 out to 1 hex, 50 out to 3 hexes,25 out to 6 hexes, and 10 out to 10hexes. This effects each unit in thatradius. Radiation and EMP requirescritical checks on Sensors for thoseships within 10 hexes at +10, shipsout to 20 hexes at +6, and those outto 50 hexes at +3. Any fighter facingthe blast within 40 hexes of the blasthas a 50% chance of dropping out.Signature 2.

Spacing GuildRoutes

All FTL travel betweensystems in Dune is handled by theSpacing Guild. The Guild Peaceprevents conflict of any type on aHeighliner between opposedfactions. While FTL travel isinstantaneous in the Imperium, mostsuch activity is standardized andfollows specific routes betweensystems. These do not alwaysmake sense in astronomical terms,but instead follows the political and

economic mandates of the daycombined with the obscure flow ofspace-time between locales. Inother words, the shortest distancebetween two places is not a straightline, but instead the non-euclideangeometry of the vagaries of spacetime.

Most Dune tactical maps willhave boxes on the edges of the maprepresenting the specific heighlinersin operation in that sector of theuniverse. Each one will have aspecific route designated, withdestination times at certain locations.For example, the Heighliner on routeA may travel to Salusa Secondus onturn 2, Wallach IX on turn 7, andGiedi Prime on turn 10, and Arrakison turn 15, then start the entireprocess over again. Once you’vepaid the cost of passage, simplyplace your ship on the Heighliner boxfor all to see.

While on a Heighliner nocombat as allowed, all ships andarmies being carried areautomatically identified and must beannounced, and when they departthey are considered spotted on thefirst turn of their new location. It isquite common for the most vitriolicrivals to be moored within visualdistance in a Guild Heighliner.Almost no goal is worth antagonizingthe Spacing Guild to inviteinterdiction – that is how even GreatHouses die.

ConclusionThat’s all for now, though

more Dune campaign ships and rulesystems will be forthcoming.Remember, slow and steady gets theCrysknife’s point under the Shield!

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Distant Worlds - tesarta.com Worlds 6 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 6 April 2004 ... legions of Sardaukar....

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Transcript of Distant Worlds - tesarta.com Worlds 6 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 6 April 2004 ... legions of Sardaukar....