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"Invasion" by the late J Andrew Keith, is a campaign sourcebook for the "2300AD" role-playing game by GDW.
It covers the climactic events of the Kafer-Human war as the Kafers launch an all out effort to defeat Humanity.
The book treats the invasion on a planet-by-planet basis from Hochbaden, where the colony is wiped out by a surprise attack to Beowulf where the Kafers suffer defeat that marks the end of their campaign.
Each planet receives at least two pages of coverage, one of which outlines the effects of the war on the planet while the other bears a 'Colony World Profile', which is a planetary stat sheet. The only exceptions to this are two 'secret bases' one Human, the other Kafer, these worlds both receive about a page of text, but lack the planetary stat sheets.
Following the invasion outline is advice on how to design adventures around the background presented. The last pages are devoted to a Kafer equipment list and ship stat sheets for use with the 'Star Cruiser' tactical combat rules.
"INVASION", COMMENTS.
"Invasion" succeeds in what it sets out to do, namely provide the GM with a road backdrop against which they can set their scenarios. The GM advice is useful, especially the material on how to run guerilla campaigns.
A link to the authors earlier "Nyotekundu Sourcebook" is also provided, when the Kafers attack the Hochbaden colony the wife and son of an English lord are killed, consumed with the desire for revenge, he uses the old boy network to get control of a light warship, amongst his crew is his niece, fresh from her adventures on AMEC mining station 'Andrew Carnegie'. This link provides the GM with a perfect means to get his players involved in the ongoing crisis.
My problems with this volume relate to matters of presentation, firstly, GDW decided that the planetary stat sheets had to look like the GM handwrote them. This results in an unprofessional appearance compared with the roughly contemporary "GURPS Space Atlas" planetary stat sheets and makes it harder to photocopy the sheets if needed.
Secondly some of the material presented is simply redundant, the Kafer equipment list on pages 66 & 67 is the fifth time (It also appears in "Kafer Sourcebook", "Aurore Sourcebook", "Kafer Dawn" & the "Equipment Guide".) that this material had appeared in a "2300AD" product. Similarly the first of the stat sheets covers a Kafer spacecraft that had already appeared in "Kafer Sourcebook". Had this material been excised, then the space could have been used either to expand the planetary coverage or to provide stat sheets for some of the new Human ships that are mentioned in the book which included American & British space Battleships and space going fighter carriers.
"INVASION", VERDICT.
While flawed, "Invasion" is a good campaign supplement; it focuses on the main events only while leaving the minor events for the GM to create which gives the product a remarkable degree of flexibility. The presentation problems are a matter of personal preference and do not effect the information contained. In short this is one to hunt the second hand shops for.
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