Recent expansion of the Earth's ruling powers unto the red, dusty plains of Mars has created more and more tension concerning colonization, possible warfare, and most important of all economics. There is a call for exported supplies to ship to Mars and a wealth of never-before-available import goods to send back to Earth.

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The need for fresh merchandise on both worlds is the key to the ressurection of one of Earth's oldest professsions -- pirating. A single man with a well trained crew could wreak havoc on the supply lines of evert nation covering the face of the red planet. Mars is still, for the most part, unexplored, giving pirates plenty of opportunity to attack convoys full of trade goods waiting to be sent back to Earth. The standarc tactic is to preform quick smash-and-grab raids, then hastilly retreat into one of Mars' many unmapped mountain ranges until the time comes to strike again. Many pirates have become wealthy from the riches of others.

The seven colonial powers on Mars (not to mention the Martians) naturally don't like having their supply air-trains stolen. Escorts are sent if the merchant vessels travel through unfriendly, or at least neutral, territories. However, most of these ships do not have protection when moving in friendly zones.

Unfortunately. some pirates are daring enough to attack inside a nation's borders, especially inside the British territories. In order to gain back some of their supplies (as well as a good-deal of their self-respect), the British enclave at Syrtis Major decided to do something about one of the pirates who had been raiding shipments for some time: Andre Guoi.

Andre is an extremely bright and intelligent Frenchman working for an unkown power back on Earth. He had the reputation of always being honorable, fair in a fight, and a ladies' man. The officers in the British Navy thought him a scoundrel and a theif. One man in particular, Commander Montgomery Lake RN, held a personal grudge, believing that Guoi was responsible for the death of his fiancee (this has never been confirmed).

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The Royal Navy gave Lake command of its newest aerial gunboat the HMS Vengeance. His mission: to find Guoi and destroy his fleet. Andre, however, had no intention of falling prey to Commander Lake. He set up a line of defense before the British arrived, calling in debts owed to him by friends on Earth and other pirates in the area.

Three days later, Lake found Guoi's base.

The Map: Use the highland map for this scenario. Each dark brown terrain outline indicates an elevation boundry. The highest point on the map is at High altitude. The fortress is ignored (Guoi has his base inside the mountain, not on top of it).

Ships: The British player controls one Vengeance-class aerial gunboat. Commander Lake's ship has a crack Crew.

The Fench player controls two Pirouette-class screw galleys. Guoi's ship has a Crack crew; the other ship has a Trained crew.

The statistics which pertain to these ships can be found on the ship status sheets.

Setup: The British ship enters at medium altitude from one edge of the map, determined by the French player. The French set up at the opposite edge.

Special Rules: Guoi has littered the area around his base with 30 tether mines. All of the mines start out at Low altitude, and may be raised one altitude level per turn.

The mines are to be placed on the board before play begins. Mines may not be placed any less than three hexes apart.

Victory: The British win if they can destroy or capture both the French ships. The French win if they can destroy or capture Lake's ship.

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