Invasion Combat

After the active player has landed one or more ground units during the Planetary Landings step of a Tactical Action, an Invasion Combat must be fought if the destination planet holds any enemy occupying forces (Ground Forces, Shock Troops or Mechanized Units).

Invasion Combat is executed almost identically to Space Battle, with the notable exception that no withdrawals or retreats are allowed.

Landing PDS units with an Invasion

The invading player is allowed to land PDS units with his other units during the Planetary Landings step. Such PDS units do not participate in Invasion Combat, nor can they be taken as a combat casualty. If all the other invading units are destroyed during Invasion Combat, all invading PDS are immediately destroyed with no further effect. PDS units may never take control of a planet on their own.

**BEFORE COMBAT**

Before the actual Invasion Combat begins, players must resolve pre-combat actions such as planetary bombardments, defensive PDS fire and assign commandos.

1) BOMBARDMENTS

The active player's Dreadnoughts and War Suns may bombard planet before any Invasion Combats take place. They may bombard even if no Invasion Combat is about to happen, that is if no attacking ground units have been landed on the planet. However, the decision to land must be made before making bombardment rolls.

Roll one combat die for every Dreadnought, three for every (undamaged and fully tech-upgraded) War Sun. Each ship may only bombard one planet, so a War Sun may not divide its bombardment dice. Remove one enemy Ground Force on the contested planet for every result equal to or higher than the combat value of the bombarding unit. If there are any Mechanized Units on the planet, they are removed before Ground Forces, and may not use the Sustain Damage ability against bombardment.

Each PDS Unit on the planet (max. 2) cancels one bombardment hit. If there is ALSO a Scientist on the planet, one additional hit is cancelled.

Ground Forces, Shock Troops and Mechanized Units destroyed by bombardment are removed immediately, do not receive return fire, and will not participate in the upcoming Invasion Combat.

If a planet takes more hits from bombardment than it has Ground Forces, Shock Troops or Mechanized Units, and the active player so wishes, the planet immediately reverts to neutral status. If a planet reverts to neutrality, all PDS and Space Dock units on it are removed. If this happens, the PDS do not get return fire.

2) PDS FIRE

After the attacking player has finished his bombardment, the defending player may fire a single shot with each PDS unit on the contested planet. The defending player rolls a die for every PDS unit present, and for every result equal to or greater than the combat value of the PDS unit, the invading player must assign a hit to his invasion force. Attacking units destroyed by defending PDS do not receive return fire and will not participate in the upcoming Invasion Combat.

3) ASSIGN COMMANDOS

This step only happens if there are Shock Troops landing along with Ground Force units. After removing casualties from the PDS fire, the attacker may assign any number of landing Shock Troop units as Commandos. Commandos do not participate in the Invasion combat - they do not roll combat dice nor can they be taken as casualties – but each Commando can capture one PDS or a Space Dock after a successful invasion.

**THE INVASION ROUND COMBAT**

After any bombardment and defensive PDS fire has been resolved, the players proceed to the Invasion Combat itself. Like a Space Battle, Invasion Combat is fought over a series of consecutive combat rounds until only one player's units (or none) remain.

To resolve an Invasion Combat round, follow the Invasion Combat Sequence.

THE INVASION COMBAT SEQUENCE

1) Roll combat dice

2) Remove casualties

The sequence is here described in detail:

1) ROLL COMBAT DICE

Both players simultaneously roll one die for every friendly Ground Force and Shock Troop (but not Commando!) and two dice for each undamaged Mechanized Unit (only one die for a damaged MU) on the planet. For every result equal to or higher than the combat value of the unit, the player scores a "hit." Players must remember their total number of successful hits as they move to the next step.

2) REMOVE CASUALTIES

Each player must now assign the hits scored by the opponent in step 1. Shock Troops must be killed first. Casualties are, as always, returned to a player's reinforcement pile. If, at this point, both players still have units remaining on the planet, another Invasion Combat round is initiated. This continues until only one (or no) player has units left on the planet.

INVASION SUCCESS?

If all defending units were destroyed and at least one attacking Ground Force, Shock Troop or Mechanized Unit survived the battle, the invasion is a success. All defending PDS units and any Space Dock on the planet are immediately destroyed. The attacking player then claims the Planet Card from the previous owner and places it, exhausted, into his play area.

The Attacker then promotes one of his invading Ground Forces into a Shock Troop. If he has more than one Ground Force remaining, and he has the Gen Synthesis Technology Advance, he may promote two Ground Forces. If he has no other ground units on the planet, mark the Shock Troops with the race’s Control Marker.

Since combat is simultaneous, it is possible that all the units on both sides were destroyed. If this is the case, the defending player retains control over the planet and simply places one of his Control Markers on the vacant planet to indicate this.