In the beginning...

As a prelude to space, humanity will start out on planet earth. Adding three centuries on to the date, I will begin in 2309AD. Before reaching for the stars, I want to have a few straightforward conventional battles in order to determine the character of the ultimate earth-based power. Only a single global force capable of uniting the entire planet to a single task can hope to enter into space, so the character of the winning side will have long-term implications for the newborn Human Empire.

The first faction is the Western-type powers, representing the industrialised nations of Europe and North America that dominated the 18th to 23rd centuries. They are effectively the United Nations in future-form, generally liberal and democratic, if somewhat vulnerable to corruption. Their armies are relatively small, but of high-quality volunteers, largely like a more technologically advanced present-day army. These are backed by vast amounts of firepower and air-support, giving them a technical edge which has kept them at the forefront for so long.

The second faction is the Asiatic bloc, consisting of Russia and much of Europe. This faction is the standard totalitarian archetype, with a Neo-Tsar dictator controlling all with a rod of iron. The military is modelled very closely on the Red Army, favouring teeming hordes of near-worthless conscripts. Bite is added by lavish amounts of artillery, plus swarms of medium-to-extremely-heavy tanks.

The third and final faction is the Pacific-Rim nations of S.E. Asia, Japan, China and such. They are largely democratic in style, conservative socially and extremely keen on the high-tech provisions for warfare. They tread the middle-line between the other two, harnessing the masses of troops available from China and adding a decent strengthening of elite hi-tech troopers to bear the weight of the struggle.

I plan to play each faction off against each other, probably using the Hordes Of The Things (HOTT) rules set. The logic being that if I game a single 'decisive' battle, this can stand in for years of warfare which would ultimately confirm the result - similar to playing a tabletop game of Stalingrad in order to represent all of WW2: the years of fighting either side of the critical battle are not portrayed, but they are assumed to happen to confirm the result of the game.

So, long before humanity can reach for the stars, the resource-starved earth must become a bloody battlefield for a series of global wars, until one faction emerges as dominant and can turn outwards to new worlds.