The play
  The game is turn based and alternates between the two teams. Each time the last (second) team finishes a turn any surviving Boggies take a turn and then random events are determined.
  A player's turn is broken up into phases: The first thing to occur are "fire fights"-- If any enemy commandos are in view of each other at the beginning of a turn they are embroiled in a vicious firefight. The commandos involved take turns shooting (and moving if it happens to be their turn). After everyone in a firefight has had a turn the active player then gets to control the rest of his/her team.  If it appears that a firefight has ended but you are unable to move your players, hit the ‘n’ key for ‘next’.  Commandos can move up to the extent of their movement allowance each turn and have one "action". An action includes shooting, opening a hatch, fighting in hand to hand combat, picking up an egg, etc. Each commando may either move and shoot or shoot and move. If a commando moves into view of an opposing commando, the enemy gets a chance to react and shoot at the commando. Once a commando has reacted to an enemy commando on a turn they can't react again. Boggies pose such a threat and are so startling that reacting to them is second nature and the commandos may always try to react to boggies.
  The hand to hand phase occurs immediately after fire fights are worked out. Hand to hand combatants are safe from shooting attacks, as no commando would risk accidentally shooting his compatriots. Each round of hand to hand, combatants receive a random amount of attacks which they may use against any enemies they may be grappling with. Hand to hand attacks cause 'fatigue' and 'slap' damage points, depending on the rank of the attack (the higher numbered attacks are generally better. Once a commando has received three or more fatigue (pink) tokens (displayed next to his face) he topples from exhaustion and blood loss. If a commando has a slap token (cyan) he is irritated and has a reduced number of attacks. If a commado recieves two slap tokens they are replaced with a fatigue.   Commandos with swords cause quadruple damage and knives cause double.

Boggies
  Boggies can attack from inside hatches or appear as random events. Often the commandos will react and blast apart a boggy before it has a chance to cause any harm and you won't even see it. This is a good thing. If you fail to blast it a boggy will cause considerable harm to whomever it attacked and will continue to pose a threat. Durring each Boggy phase the Boggy will attack the nearest visible commando. If a boggy is threatening you, you have two options; shoot it or get out of its view. Boggies can be shot just like other commandos.

Weapons
  Commandos will find weaponry either dropped by enemies or hidden in hatches. If you get a new gun, you lose your old gun. Therefore it might not be wise to pick up a targeter if you already have a shotgun.  The autogun may shoot one to four times every turn so keep selecting targets untill it can no longer fire.  Shotguns can not shoot over friends, so don't stifle the destructive potential of your shotgun by leaving it in the rear.

Strategy tips:
Your captain is your most important commando, he nearly always reacts on the first try, he has the best gun, the best sword and is an excellent shot. Take good care of him.
Try using your least valuable commandos to draw the reaction fire of your enemies, especially the enemy captain, before sending in your good commandos.
Block up key passages your opponent needs with hand to hand combat. Hand to hand combatants can not be shot at and your opponent can't move over you. A bout of hand to hand could last many turns.

History

  This adventure takes place in a corner of space in many ways very different from our own, yet in many ways similar… The title protagonists are the Space Commandos, inhabitants of the planet Eargth. Eargthlings enjoy limited space travel yet are far from being the most advanced species around. That honor could arguably go to the Stuckass, an advanced, wealthy, and very old species. The Stuckass are, we could say, in the retirement of their existence. They have given up hard labor, dabble in intellectual pursuits, are very concerned about their social security, and are very appreciative of an expensive meal. For our purposes this final note is the most important. To adequately explain the situation involving the intrepid space commandos we must start with the Stuckass Food Research Project.
  The details of the project are unimportant, the goal was to create the ultimate in dining ecstasy, and in that the Stuckass eventually succeeded. The Stuckass created space labs drifting in the space not far from their home planet. On these space labs, Stuckass scientists toiled long and hard on their top secret project, the results of which would almost certainly make them very, very rich. What they developed amidst so much secrecy, was the Boggy. The Boggy (also spelled Boggie) is yet another species; the knowledge of whether the Stuckass created it from nothing, like the gods they aspired to be, or if they simply corrupted the genetic code of some other creature beyond recognition, died with those scientists. The Boggy itself was not the focus of the food project, but rather it's eggs. This intense focus is what brought about the eventual end of the project. The scientists seemingly failed to notice that as the eggs became tastier, the Boggies became nastier. As the eggs reached the pinnacle of perfection the Boggies had developed into a species of frightening danger. They were immense, yet able to vanish into the smallest shadow, they had many long fangs, powerful jaws and steely arms that ended in wicked spikes, claws or with vice like fingers.
  Across the many space labs the newest strain of Boggy seemed to break free in unison. Scientists were mercilessly slaughtered and devoured as the Boggies ran amok. In a few short days all of the labs had been abandoned. The surviving scientists were desperate for some means of regaining their investment without risking their lives. They waited for the Boggies to die off without their care, but the creatures were able to survive and procreate. The Stuckass salivated at the thought of so many delectable eggs so close yet so unobtainable. And thus began the relationship between the Stuckass and the Eargthlings. The Eargthlings were exactly what the Stuckass needed, they were intensely violent, brash, poor and greedy. With incentives of pecuniary rewards beyond their wildest dreams Eargthlings lined up to enter Stuckass employment as Space Commandos.
  The surviving Stuckass scientists, growing greedy, split into factions – forming companies employing teams of Eargthlings to retrieve the eggs for them. The Stuckass government created a department that regulated the monitoring of the labs. For a small tax the department would inform the companies of recently discovered labs containing egg caches. Soon bitter rivalries grew between the companies, as they often arrived at the space labs identified with eggs at the same time.

  New Space Commandos are offered an intense month long training program to prepare them for the rigors of the space labs. Most decline the offer, the anticipation of instant riches too great. Those that undergo the training are made Captains and put in charge of small bands of Commandos with the sole task of retrieving as many eggs as possible. The dangers of the space labs are unthinkably high, and even with the highly advanced medical technology of the Stuckass most commandos survive less than 10 missions. Dangers include defense systems installed by the Stuckass in the final days of their control on the labs, the mutagenic gasses that are found in high levels aboard the labs, the always lurking Boggies themselves, and most notably bands of other commandos. On the space labs there is no "professional courtesy", commandos ruthlessly fire upon each other with the proton guns they were given to fight off the Boggies.

Proton weaponry:
  Proton guns were designed by the Stuckass to fire a pulse capable of breaking down the atomic bonds of atoms. This effect is most pronounced in Boggies who have an unstable structure. The guns also have no effect on the Boggy eggs, the preservation of which remains the highest regard of the Stuckass. Unfortunately proton weaponry does have an effect on Eargthlings. It tears apart flesh in a most unpleasant and painful manner. Luckily for the Commandos, if they are beamed off the lab and into a Stuckass medical station in a timely manner the damage can be reversed, again very painfully, but surprisingly effectively. Proton guns come in a few varieties, including shotguns, autoguns, and heavy concentrated rifles.
  Following the success of the proton guns, the Stuckass began equipping the commandos with proton swords and (due to popular demand) good old fashioned steel knives. Other weapons exist, left behind on the space labs by desperate Stuckass. These include rockets, grenades, the highly valued "Guardian Head Laser", and the sadistically favored "Raptor" grenade. (Don't hold your breath for the Raptor or the Guardian, they didn't make it into version 1) The Stuckass also began providing proton armor to their more profitable commandos as insurance on their investments. The armor comes in two grades, both of which are resistant, to a degree, to the effects of the proton weapons.


Here is a little something to get you into the line of thinking best suited to playing Space Commandos. Space Commandos is most entertaining if played as a roll playing game, this of course involves acting out the most spectacular events and lots of cursing in loud voices. It is also best if you are 14 while playing (or at least 14 at heart).

Space Commandos Fiction:

"Damn it's always 'bout whitey puttin' every body else down. I kina figured I'd be getting' away from all that out here. Man we in deep space, we inn't back on home. Man we on equal ground." Poop Frog shouted testily, his brow knitted angrily under his backwards cap.
"Oh just shut up won't you. No one is oppressing you. Now be quiet, I think I hear them up ahead," Clappage spoke quickly over his shoulder.
"Man, that bull!" Poop Frog stamped his webbed foot.
"They won't give you a bigger gun because you're an idiot! It has nothing to do with your race." Clappage returned, the irritation building quickly in his serpentine voice.
Cock Connaway observed the two out of crooked barely understanding eyes. Cock was an intense bigot and therefore knew that whatever the topic was, Poop Frog was undoubtedly wrong. That's not to say he liked Clappage. The Brit was condescending and cruel. Cock often wished for an opportunity to shoot the both of them while enduring the lengthy waits between missions, floating aimlessly in space for days or weeks on end. But everything changed once they were on the space labs. The danger was so great that these men instantly became closer than his own brothers back home on the corn farm and they relied on each other for survival. Just last week he had lost his favorite comrade, Charlie "twenty hot dogs" Thompson to the hated red company. The turban wearing rat of theirs had blasted Charlie's vast torso into a trillion fragmented particles, even the stuckass couldn't put Charlie back together again.
"Damn, dey give tha yokely dokely here a mutha f**kin' sword, an dey won' let tha brutha shoot nothin' special."
"That I can't explain." Clappage conceded. "Now shut up and get your guns ready."
Poop Frog leveled his proton gun and aimed it down the hall. Cock Connaway did the same and Clappage kept his nervous gaze sweeping down both ends of the hall.
The hall seemed exceptionally dark and dank. Their boots stuck ever so slightly to the floor thanks to the omnipresence of Boggy slime in the air.  As they stood perfectly still they could hear the tell tale squelching of combat boots peeling off of slime-coated lab floors. Cock Connaway closed one eye to reduce the effects of their horrible crossedness. Poop Frog mumbled obscenities to himself, a little nervous habit that he had.
The three stood in absolute silence as they tried to count the number of boots they could hear cautiously resounding off of the crusty space lab walls. They heard a shout behind them, Clappage spun about in an instant, swinging his heavy rifle toward the source of the sound. A fat feline known as Blue Cat was glaring over a bulbous red nose, proton gun leveled at eye height. Clappage fired a concentrated burst of proton-dispelling energy, but in his nerve-stretching haste he fired wide. The cat fired past Clappage, over Poop Frog and blasted Cock in the back of the head. Screaming in pain, Cock fell to his knees, swinging his arms about wildly.
"Mutha f**kin' son of a c**k s**t!" Poop Frog exclaimed, entirely forgetting his duty to monitor the hall ahead of him. A large Scandinavian hare clutching a wicked knife came racing around the corner and fired at Poop Frog, missing the enlivened frog.

Clappage regained his composure and taking quick aim blasted Blue Cat off of his feet.
The dark hall flashed with each blast of energy. Eyes dilating and contracting wildly, Cock Connaway scrambled to his feet, feeling his life blood (along with his brains) seeping out the back of his head. With the click of a switch a glowing bar of atom-tearing energy leaped from the grip of his auburn feathered wing. The burly hare paused for a moment with a look of uncertainty and Cock thrust at him. He sliced heartily into his opponent's torso, drawing forth a slew of gasps and curses. The hare pounded at Cock's head, but Cock disturbed the attacks with his strong wings. The fight was appearing to have turned decidedly in Cock's favor when he unceremoniously passed out, dropping his still active sword to the ground.
Poop frog nearly had an aneurysm. Cussing like only an inner city gangster can, he leaped into the hare, swinging his proton gun like a bludgeon, in desperate hope of rescuing the dropped sword.
Blue Cat climbed back to his feet and fired unsuccessfully at Clappage. Clappage returned the favor and they both stood glowering at each other and their own ineptitude at shooting. The staring contest was cut short by a large gray-green boggy which had crept up unnoticed on Blue Cat and neatly separated his head from his portly shoulders.
Clappage gurgled in fear and made a feeble attempt to shoot the boggy before it jumped into him, thrusting a long spike through his ribs, lung and ribs again. He fell on his back and got a good look at the dim ceiling.
Poop Frog caught the hare on a bad foot and set into him with a barrage of nearly ineffective attacks. He finally managed to connect a crotch slam and the hare rolled over and passed out before he faded in a transporter lock. Poop Frog swept up the sword. Beaming he turned to show his prize to Clappage. What he saw, chilled his very being. Clappage was vainly struggling to stand. A massive boggy, dripping slime, was contemplating Clappage with open, jagged-tooth lined, maw. Finding a suitable angle it reached in and bit the hapless snake in two. Poop Frog screamed in rage, unable to even put his verbalism into words. He fired one anger imbued blast from his proton gun, directly into the center of the boggy. The pulse hit home and the creature erupted in foam. It emitted a high pitched scream and thrashed it's arms before collapsing into a pile of slimy, bloody remains.
"Damn mutha F**KA'!" Poop frog exclaimed to no one in particular. He stared at the dust particles settling in the light of his new sword for a moment. Realizing that he was still needed for the important task of egg retrieval, Poop Frog pictured himself wearing a huge solid gold chain about his neck and giant ruby ear studs and raced off down the hall excitedly.