Able Spaceman is a game of far-future space battles, designed for solo play using

table-top miniatures. To play the game you will need spaceship miniatures, missile
tokens, five 10-sided dice (d10), a measuring device, a playing surface, chits for each
ship, and numerous markers labeled from 1 to 10.

Ship Size and Condition

Ships can be one of three size classes: light, medium or heavy. A ship can be in one of
four conditions: Spaceworthy, Battle-Scarred, Crippled or Destroyed. Typically all ships
start the game Spaceworthy, but occasionally a scenario will feature a ship starting with
damaged systems.

Set Up

Place your ships either randomly along opposing table edges, or in positions dictated by
a scenario. Place the chit markers for all ships, regardless of the faction, in a single
container and draw. I use little polymer clay discs with the ships' names and sizes
written on them. Draw the first chit from the container and decide that ship's desired
starting Defense rating (1 through 30). Next roll energy allocation dice. Roll 5d10 for a
heavy ship, 4d10 for a medium, and 3d10 for a light class vessel. In all cases, discard
the lowest two dice scores and sum the remaining scores. Thus heavy ships can
generate 3 to 30 points of energy, medium 2 to 20, and light vessels 1 to 10 energy
points. Energy points generated by this roll must be used to power the ship's defenses
first. You must declare the desired Defense rating before rolling the dice, and may not
change the planned rating after seeing the results of the energy allocation roll. If the
desired Defense rating of the ship equals or exceeds the amount of energy points
rolled, the ship has no excess energy and the Defense rating equals the energy points
rolled. If the energy points total exceeds the desired Defense score, then subtract the
Defense rating from the energy point total and record the difference as Excess Energy
for the ship. Ships with excess energy have a Defense rating exactly as declared.
Place markers indicating the Defense rating next to the ship. A single layer of a ship's
defenses may never have a rating higher than 10, but ships declaring a higher Defense
rating during energy allocation instead generate multiple layers of defense. Each layer
is then represented by a separate marker. A layer must have a Defense rating of 10
before a subsequent layer can be added. For example: a player decides to declare
Defense rating 13 for his medium cruiser. The cruiser rolls 4d10 for energy allocation
and discards the lowest two, getting 15 points. Thirteen energy immediately goes to
power the defensive systems leaving the remaining two to be recorded as Excess
Energy. The player then places a marker labeled "10" next to the cruiser, representing
the inner layer of defenses, and another marker of the same color labeled "3" to
represent the outer layer.
After placing Defense markers, determine the ship's starting speed. Starting speed
can be determined by scenario, random dice rolls, or arbitrarily set (1 to 3 inches are
good values). Record the starting speed and Excess Energy of the ship (I do it on the
polymer disc) and set the ship's chit aside. Draw the next chit from the container and
repeat the process, continuing until all chits are drawn and starting parameters have
been established for each ship. Gather up all the chits and return them to the container;
the game is now set up.

The Game Turn

Each game turn consists of a number of identical activation segments, one for each
ship. Each activation segment consists of two phases: movement and energy
allocation. All weapons fire takes place during and throughout the movement phase of
a ship's activation segment. Draw a random chit from the container to determine which
ship activates first. The ship may then spend Excess Energy points to accelerate or
decelerate, before moving the miniature. Heavy ships may increase or decrease their
speed by 1 inch for every 3 energy points spent. Medium class ships may change
speed by 1 inch for every 1 energy point spent. Lights ships may increase or decrease
speed up to 3 inches for every 1 energy point. Ships may also spend energy to
increase their chances of maneuvering; this energy is spent prior to moving the
miniature and applies to all maneuver rolls. Heavy ships gain +1 (cumulative) to all
maneuver rolls during this activation for every 3 energy points spent for turning.
Medium and Light ships gain a +1 and +3 respectively (cumulative) for every point
spent. After spending all energy dedicated to movement, move the ship forward (nose
ward) a number of inches equal to its speed. The ship must be moved the full distance,
but the movement may be interrupted at any time to fire at another ship and/or
maneuver. To turn a ship must make a maneuver roll using 3d10. Light ships use the
highest die score of the three and ignore the remaining two. Medium ships ignore the
highest and lowest dice scores and use the remaining middle score. Heavy ships are
forced to discard the highest two dice scores and use the lowest. A ship which spends
energy to enhance its maneuverability adds the resulting bonuses to this die roll. If the
resulting die score exceeds the ship's speed, turn the ship 60 degrees clockwise or
counterclockwise, otherwise the ship maintains the same course. Regardless of
outcome, after any maneuver attempt the ship must be moved forward one inch.
Therefore a ship may only make a number of maneuver attempts equal to its speed.
The exception to this is a ship at speed 0. Stationary ships make a maneuver roll
(adding bonuses from energy) and may rotate the ship about its flight stand a multiple of
60 degrees equal to the die score.
Ships may attempt to fire at enemy vessels any time in their movement phase, after
energy has been spent for movement. Three weapon types exist: heavy beams,
defensive beams, and missiles. Firing any of these weapon types requires a sensor
lock on the target. Achieving a sensor lock requires only that the firing ship spend
energy, earning a Sensor Lock Rating equal to the number of Excess Energy points
spent. These points must be spent prior to any measuring to the target. Commit the
energy to the sensor lock and then measure the distance to the target. Add 5 inches to
the measured distance if the target is a Light ship and subtract 5 if the target vessel is
Heavy. The shooting vessel's Sensor Lock Rating determines the range band the target
is in. Targets whose modified distance is less than or equal to the attacker's Sensor
Lock Rating are at Short Range. Targets beyond Short Range with modified distances
less than or equal to 3 times the Sensor Lock Rating are at Medium Range. Targets
beyond Medium Range but within 7 times the Sensor Lock Rating are Long Range.
Targets beyond Long Range are Extreme Range. Once the range band is determined
one weapon type may be fired. A ship may fire multiple weapon types at the same or
different targets, but each firing requires a subsequent sensor lock (and associated
energy). Weapon fire resolution is similar for all three weapon types but explained
individually below. Heavy beams require energy allocated on previous turns, as
recorded by charge tokens. Ships have heavy beam batteries on five of their six firing
arcs and use Excess Energy to purchase charges for individual arcs (see below). No
ship may allocate heavy beam charges in the 60 degree arc off the ship's stern. Decide
on the number of charges to spend on the attack before rolling the fire resolution dice.
A minimum of 1 beam charge must be spent, and charges may only be allocated from
batteries in the same firing arc as the target. Roll 3d10 and use the lowest die score if
the target is at Long Range, ignore the higher two dice. If the target ship is at Medium
Range ignore the highest and lowest dice scores and use the middle score of the three.
For targets at Short Range use the highest die score of the three. Add the number of
heavy beam charges expended to the die score; the sum is the final attack score.
Targets at Extreme Range cannot be attacked. If the Attack Score exceeds the target's
Defense Rating, then the target ship's defenses have been penetrated. If the attack
penetrates the outermost of multiple layers of defenses, continue making attack rolls
until the attack is stopped or all layers are penetrated, whichever comes first. If the last
layer of a ship's defenses are penetrated the ship takes damage, reducing it to the next
Condition level. A Spaceworthy vessel that's damaged thus becomes Battle-Scarred, a
Battle-Scarred ship becomes Crippled and a Crippled ship is Destroyed. Destroyed
ships are generally immediately removed from the table. Defensive beams do not
require multi-turn charging like heavy beams. A single point of Excess Energy will
charge all the defensive beam batteries on a ship. This single point of energy allows
the ship to fire its defensive beams as many times as it chooses, in any direction
(including astern), as long as it makes (and pays for) a separate sensor lock for each
firing. Resolve defensive beam fire exactly like heavy beam fire, except that only the
die score is used: no bonuses are added. This means ships with Defense Ratings of 10
or more are immune to defensive beams. Finally, defensive beams cannot reach as far
as heavy beams: no ship or missile may be targeted by defensive beam fire if its actual
measured distance is beyond 12 inches. Missiles work a bit differently, as they must
be flown adjacent to the target before the attack and damage can be resolved.
Launching a missile requires only a sensor lock as before: no additional energy is
required. After the target's range band is established as above, a tracking roll is made.
The tracking roll is resolved similarly to a beam weapon Attack, using 3d10 and taking
only the high, low or medium die score for Short, Long or Medium Ranges respectively.
The tracking roll result (1 through 10) and the missile's target are recorded and the
missile token is placed on the table abutting the firing ship's base, pointed at the target
or an intercept point. All missiles move during the missile segment, which occurs after
all ships have activated at the end of the turn. Missile movement and attack resolution
is discussed in the description of the Missile Segment below.

Energy Allocation. An activated ship finishes its movement phase and begins the
energy allocation phase. The first step of the allocation phase is to maintain and charge
heavy beam batteries. If a ship has any unused heavy beam charges remaining at the
beginning of the energy allocation phase, 2 charges may be maintained for every 1
point of Excess Energy spent. If insufficient energy is spent to maintain a point of
charge, that charge is lost and the appropriate marker removed. In addition to
maintaining currently charged batteries, ships may generate additional charge.
Spending 2 Excess Energy points creates 1 heavy beam charge which may be
allocated to any firing arc except the stern arc. When heavy beam energy management
is complete, the ship finally regenerates energy for the next turn. Before rolling any
dice, decide the ship's desired Defense rating (1 through 30). Next roll energy
allocation dice: 5d10 for a heavy ship, 4d10 for a medium, and 3d10 for a light class
vessel. Regardless of ship size, two dice results are always discarded, but exactly
which two depends on the ship's condition. Spaceworthy vessels discard the lowest two
dice scores and sum the remaining values. Battle-Scarred ships discard the highest
and the lowest die score and sum the remaining. Crippled ships are forced to discard
the highest two dice scores and take the remaining total. Thus heavy ships will always
generate 3 to 30 points of energy, but a Spaceworthy heavy vessel will typically
generate 21 to 30 while a Crippled heavy ship is likely to generate only 7 to 10 points.
The same holds true for medium (2 to 20), and light vessels (1 to 10). Energy points
generated by this roll must be used to power the ship's defenses first. You must declare
the desired Defense rating before rolling the dice, and may not change the planned
rating after seeing the results of the energy allocation roll. If the desired Defense rating
of the ship equals or exceeds the amount of energy points rolled, the ship has no
excess energy and the Defense rating equals the energy points rolled. If the energy
points total exceeds the desired Defense score, then subtract the Defense rating from
the energy point total and record the difference as Excess Energy for the ship. Ships
with excess energy have a Defense rating exactly as declared. Place markers
indicating the Defense rating next to the ship. A single layer of a ship's defenses may
never have a rating higher than 10, but ships declaring a higher Defense rating during
energy allocation instead generate multiple layers of defense. Each layer is then
represented by a separate marker. A layer must have a Defense rating of 10 before a
subsequent layer can be added. For example: a player decides to declare Defense
rating 13 for his medium cruiser. The cruiser rolls 4d10 for energy allocation and
discards the lowest two, getting 15 points. Thirteen energy immediately goes to power
the defensive systems leaving the remaining two to be recorded as Excess Energy. The
player then places a marker labeled "10" next to the cruiser, representing the inner layer
of defenses, and another marker of the same color labeled "3" to represent the outer
layer.

Missile Segment. Missiles move during their own segment, which takes place after the
last ship has activated in a turn. The order of missile movement does not matter.
Missiles move exactly like ships but have a fixed speed of 10 inches and do not have
energy to accelerate or decelerate. Although the tiny size of a missile allows it
incredible acceleration and speed, its extremely limited fuel must be rationed carefully to
perform a successful intercept. Therefore, missiles make maneuver rolls as if they were
Medium size class ships (3d10, use middle die). The result of a missile's tracking roll
however is used as a maneuver bonus. At the end of movement, if the missile has not
yet impacted the target, reduce its tracking score by 1. The tracking score will continue
to drop each turn until reaching 0, at which point the missile will be unable to maneuver.
If a missile ever closes to within 1 inch of its target, it goes into terminal guidance,
resulting in an attack resolution roll. Resolve a missile attack exactly as a heavy beam
attack at Long Range (3d10 use lowest), adding the missile's current tracking score to
the roll.