Spinward Marches Solutions, LLIC.

Art by Ian Stead, by commission.

Spinward Marches Solutions
Rhylanor/2716 Spinward Marches

UCP: Im◄2444●23►LLPAR●Sec◄0466●56►

Established at the end of the Fourth Frontier War by mustered-out senior Naval personnel, Spinward Marches Solutions, LLIC., is a family-owned and operated mercenary, security and troubleshooter company, based on Rhylanor.  

Using their naval contacts, SMS were able to obtain a series of tickets for a subsidized 800-ton Type-M cruiser in the service of various march planetary governments, eager to re-establish peace and order in the wake of the recent war.  The first cruiser was paid off in just under ten years (1094). A second Type M was purchased used and paid off in eight years (1104).

The recent purchase of two additional Type M cruisers, while allowing SMS to service multiple tickets, has stretched corporate finances to their limit. It remains to be seen whether SMS can make the payments or has over-extended themselves.

Corporate recruiting policy is to engage previous-service mercenaries with either Army, Marine or Navy backgrounds. While this limits recruitment intakes, it reduces costs by reducing the need for basic training, and focuses on physical and mental reconditioning, as well as technical education.

Benefits are generous, with the leadership committed to attracting the best veterans in the subsector to their enterprise.

In addition to dirtside security, SMS offers a range of aerospace services, employing 6-ton light aero-space fighters. The company depends on High-Ticket, Moderate Risk assignments to keep operations profitable. Long term tickets with success-only bonuses are preferred.

Founder: Seth Coraille, Count of Aramanx

CEO: Garith Coraille,

CFO: Jone Coraille

Main Office on Rhylanor.  Servicing the Porozlo Schism on a retainer to Ling-Standard Products and the Free Trade Bloc.  3 Broadsword Cruisers carrying a Light Infantry Company.

Recruiting office: Marovic/Porozlo (5d+5 recruits per month)

Subsidiary Office on Vilis (4d+3 recruits per month).  Servicing Garda-Vilis brushwar in a government-supportive security capacity. 1 Broadsword Cruiser with Light Infantry Platoon.

Possible expansion projected to:

Aramis Subsector, with a recruiting office on Aramanx. (4d+3 RPM)

Glisten Subsector, with a recruiting office on Glisten (4d+3 RPM)

...Ω

Traveller Scientists for Bug Hunt

 

Traveller miniatures by RAFM

For TravellerCON/USA last October, I ran a Bug Hunt scenario where the human forces had to escort a timid Hiver into the infested station and assist the recover of some critical data. I don't remember the result, except that the bugs arrived in deluge. I'll be running the scenario again at next month's RETCON Game Day, and I'll be certain to take some pictures for the gentle reader's delectation. 

Traveller miniature by RAFM

The 25/28mm Hivers were had some two decades ago, as part of the Traveller New Era clearance that swept the miniatures and RPG industry.  Produced by RAFM, they were, and are very nifty figures. They are easy to paint (once one decides on a colour-scheme), and look good on the table top.

My usual rating system is slightly skewed for these, since they were part of a packet that included a human scientist. In consideration, one may add a point for "Variety", resulting in a final mark of "4".

Animation: 3

Detail: 4

Proportions: 5

Variety: 3

 
Overall: 3.75 (4) out of 5

Miniatures by Ral Partha

The second set are part of the 25mm Ral Partha Shadowrun line, and are listed as Elven Deckers, or somesuch. To my eye, they shouted "Darrians" and since I need some hi-tech civilians for my games, these fit the bill nicely.

Miniatures by Ral Partha

These minis are also very nicely sculpted, with excellent detail (observe the data-pad), goggles and froopy 90's style clothes. The camera doesn't show it well, but the lady sports an iridescent body suit. Actually, I think I gave the bloke's shirt a bit of a shimmer as well.

Animation: 4

Detail: 4

Proportions: 5

Variety: 4

 
Overall: 4.25 out of 5....Ω

Not Quite Another Bughunt - 5P/FMA

With the lock-down firmly in place, it was time to have a go at a Five Parsecs from Home/Full Metal Anorak/Bughunt game.  A fireteam of four was rapidly generated: Logan, Kupperberg, Farlander, and Correia. From various backgrounds: Prison Planet, Hi-Tech World, and Trade World - each location providing some small benefit for that particular trooper.

Quick word on mechanics: I use the 5PfH/BH campaign shell to generate the troopers backgrounds, the scenario and objectives, and the campaign turn in between encounters. The actual scenario resolution is driven by Full Metal Anorak. So there are twice as many rulebooks to search through than normal. But, hey!  It's Lockdown!

For this scenario, I used part of my paper-terrain space station as the encounter board. Three green  poker chips were placed as 'Objective' markers, each of these gets a 'Contact' marker (potential hostiles). Also, six 'Tactical' markers are placed, as evenly spaced as possible, about the board.

Rolling 1d6 for mission Priority, I had a 1, which was a relief, as this was essentially a training mission for me and my squaddies. Priority 1 also means 1 additional 'contact' marker is placed on each objective...you see where this is going? Had I rolled a 6, it would be six times the "fun".

Mission Priority also provides points where you can shop for support - in this scenario, I picked a tough-as-nails Gunnery Sgt., named Sigler, armed with a boarding cutlass and auto-shotgun.

Contact markers are randomly moved several d6 in various directions. Your squad enters a random board edge. And the Hunt begins.

Turn 1 and 2: The squad headed for the first objective, and immediately encountered the opposition: crazed robots.  I decided to roll randomly, and that's what was selected.

"I thought it was supposed to be bugs..." said Logan.
"Maybe it's bugs in their programs!" joked Kuppenberg.
"Secure that pun!" growled the Gunny.

D6 with the '2' will move in the Slow Phase

Initiative in 5P is slightly different, since it's designed as a solo game. Adapted for FMA, each player figure has a Motivation Rating, from 1 - 3, 1 being best. To move in the first phase, AKA the 'Fast' Phase, a number of d6 are thrown, those that roll over their Motivation may now move, shoot and take special actions.

The aliens/bugs/robots move and take action in the second phase.

Finally, in the last or 'Slow' phase, any player models that haven't yet moved are free to do so.

It's a neat system, and it reminds me of Two Hour Wargames

"I just Burked myself..."

reaction system, but IMO it works more smoothly and is less cumbersome.

Turn 3 - 4: The robots at the first objective were quickly dispatched, due to some hot die rolls. The objective turned out to be the Evac point.  Each objective is rolled for details, usually before actual play begins. One objective was lifted, and the other, in the Med Bay, had a 'hack' result, meaning someone was going to be using their Tech skillz.

"You are BURKED, my lad!'

While the main squad was clearing the first objective, Trooper Kuppenberg went off to investigate on his own. He found a Tactical marker, made his Tech roll, and was able to remove a Contact marker that was getting close to his fellow squaddies...and then he bumped into two more robots.

Kuppenburg ran for the exit, and decided to make a Tech roll (5-6 on a D6) to lock the door. Rolled a 4. "NOOOOOooooo!"

"C'mon you Rednecks!"

As Burke, I mean Kuppenberg, dodged mechanical claws, he dropped his ACR and pulled out his standard issue Heavy Service Pistol. Shots rang out and slugs ricocheted off the robotic steel plating.

The rest of the squad, hearing the shots, ran toward the sound of the gunfire.

"And that's what we mean when we say
'Fight Like Robot'"

Running in FMA/Stargrunt II, to me, has always seemed awkward, with many players conflicted on what works best.  For my games, I've implemented "Run" as an additional action. First action, you get your regular move distance. With Run, you get to add your movement Die type. So, if your model has an 8" move, it gets that distance, then rolls a D8 when it Runs.

Results seem to be, you will occasionally fail to make the distance, but you won't be standing 2" from where you started 3 minutes ago.

Pvt. Logan has stabilised Kuppenberg,
and he's walking.

By turns 5 - 6, The rest of the squad had reached the room, from where they'd heard the shots. Kuppenberg lay crumpled on the floor, with an obviously chuffed robot standing over him.

Extending it's claws, the robot advance on the squad...

...however, walking into a three-way crossfire of aimed shots doesn't do anyone a bit of good...and the saucy 'bot was gunned down with dispatch

Main Objective in Sight

Turn 7 - 8: Pvt. Logan was able to stabilise Kuppenberg on the second attempt (luckily she didn't kill him on a '1') and since the damage taken wasn't heavy, he was able to walk and fight at a reduced level (he dropped a Quality die).  I was glad I had traded some of Logan's pre-gen points for Medic-1. She is fast becoming my favourite model.

The rest of the squad headed for the Med Bay, where the objective was to hack the computer and bring the data back to HQ for analysis.

"Who's our tech?" asked Sgt. Sigler

"That'd be Kuppenberg, Sarge" replied Pvt. Correia.

"Well sheet!" swore the Sergeant, "I guess you're our new Tech, Correia!"

"I lay awake at night and think of you, Sergeant..." muttered Correia.

"What's that, Marine?" growled Sgt. Sigler.

"I said, 'Sergeant! Yes, Sergeant!'" Correia exclaimed.

"Damn straight, you did." said Sigler. "And now that we're all in agreement, let's get into Med Bay, grab the data, and GTF off this rattle-trap.  On the DOUBLE!"


There was a single robot in Med Bay, but a Contact marker was slowly moving closer. The Sgt and Pvt Farlander charged the Bot, guns blazing, while Correia swung clear of the brawl and ran to the Med Computer.

"Jesús en una muleta!" she cursed under her breath. ¿Dónde está el maldito fabricante de capuchino en esta puta?

"Marines! EXFILTRATION!

Just behind Correia's back, Pvt. Farlander took a swipe from a claw and went down hard. Sgt. Sigler emptied his service pistol into the metal attacker and was pleasantly surprised when it began to gout smoke from it's seams and crashed over satisfactorily.

"No time for triage" Sigler said to himself, as he picked up Farlander and slung him over the shoulder.
Sigler yelled to Corriea, "Don't be gentle, Cariño! Kick the drive loose if you have to!"


Correia drew back her armoured combat boot. Wham! she kicked. Wham! Wham! WHAM! The impacts kept time to shouts in Spanish:
"Abre! Abre! ABRE! TU PERRA!"
There was a snapping sound, accompanied by the skittering of some plastic something across the floor. The drive, with a data crystal,  slid open.

Correia picked up the crystal and grinned as she showed it to Sgt. Sigler. "Just like Prom Night, Gunny!"

"A natural Romantic..." said Sigler. "Marines, EXFILTRATION TIME!"


Outside the Med Bay, Logan and Kupperberg headed cautiously into the comms room.  Logan held up Kupp's ACR, "Can you handle this?"

"Yeah" he said. "Just don't ask me to dance..."

Logan grinnned "I'm not asking you to dance. I'm asking you to fight..."

FMA allows for fighting while wounded, unlike SGII. For a light wound, the model has it's combat quality degrade by one level, so Kupperberg drops from a D8 Quality to a D6. He also cannot run.

The two marines made slowly for the EVAC point.

"Dropship Kalgon; take us away!"

Turn 9 - 10.  Just behind Logan and Kupperberg, Sgt. Sigler crossed the main corridor. Several close contacts were being held off by a Tactical marker (more on these in the notes).

They entered Comms just as two more Robots moved in.

Putting the unconscious Farlander down, Sgt Sigler swore, "Jesús en una muleta!" as he raised his shotgun. Correia raised an eyebrow.

The shotgun blast caught both bots, destroying the lead one. The other advanced on Corriea,metal claws grasping.

Actually, Gunny Sigler took the brunt of the melee, because he is one tough hombre (AC d12!) and I was playing the odds. Correia and Logan provided fire support, again, playing the odds that any stray shots wouldn't damage Sigler.  The strategy worked, even had it failed, Sigler is not a regular member of the squad, and can be replaced by an exact copy - but I would have missed him.

By turn 11(pursued by yet again two more robots) the Squad had reached the EVAC objective - not sure how they were extracted, possibly a hole in the ceiling. There was one walking wounded, one incapacitated, and two objectives achieved.  Mission: Success.

Post-Game Thoughts:

Tactical Markers - these add a neat twist. When contacted, a successful Tech roll (5-6) creates a tactical effect - it can be removing a Contact marker or creating a Blocking Zone vs. Aliens. This latter was how the Sarge got across the main corridor whilst carrying the wounded Farlander.

This scenario was pretty hard, for a priority 1 game. I was getting close to despairing, until I realised I had short-changed the main squad a second Fire Team. That's an automatic back up, and then you can requisition heavier weapons, etc. by paying some Priotity points.  Of course, the first Smart LMG the squad acquires goes to Pvt. Correia.

Creature Movement Does Eventually Get Boring - rolling movement dice for a dozen Contact markers does get a little tiresome, especially on the far side of the board, where one just knows they will never come into contact. I'm thinking about a hack.

On the other hand, there's always an off-chance that a new Contact marker will appear in your squad's way. This happened on the penultimate turn, where the EVAC point was attacked by a single robot. Logan and Kupperberg were able to bring it down with concentrated, aimed fire.  Still, made for a tense turn.

Campaign Turn: After the encounter, models use are assigned experience points, roll for reputation increase, apply for cross training, go on R&R, if up for some and recover in sick bay. In the case of Kuppenberg, since he had been stabilised with a light wound, he would require a turn in sickbay, so if the team goes out, it will be without him, and Farlander as well.

Farlander had been recovered while incapacitated, so  he had to roll on the chart  and take his chances - fortunately, he also came up "Lightly Wounded" so he'll have Kuppenberg to keep company.

Correria had enough experience points to buy a trait upgrade - she was a half-point down on her Move trait (3.5") so that was increased to 4". They're still slow, but at least they're all slow together.

Logan was able to improve her Motivation to a "2", meaning she will be taking a more active role in future encounters.

Sgt. Sigler went on to his next assignment, nannying another set of wet-arsed boots on a thankless job of keeping Mankind's Final Frontier safely expanding.

"Damn Straight!"...Ω

28mm Adventure-scale Buildings from Sarissa

In preparation for RetCon-USA Gameday, I finished some MDF structures from Sarissa Precision. These were their Storage Pod, Small Water Tower, and two grain Silos. These will dress up my Zhodani Colony farm on Zdovesil (Foreven 1212) A65588A-9.  

Sarissa do a good job of cutting the parts to fit - I had no trouble assembling the bits. The detail is very good.

MDF does like to drink paint, though. All surfaces had to be primed and painted, at least twice in the base colour, then several layers of highlighting. Still, the result was well worth it.

Unfortunately, there was no time to play the game, due to competing events at the Gameday, but I'll be running this again, with great enthusiasm, at Cold Wars and GZG-ECC next month...Ω

Just Another Bug Hunt...Full Metal Anorak

Two weeks ago, Megz and I had another visit with the Wargames Association of Metro Philadelphia (The WAMPS) and decided to test my basic concept for a bug hunt scenario, featuring Traveller's favourite Alien derivative, the Chamax Horde. Miniatures used are Denizen Ventaurans, and WoTC D&D Mad Slashers. Acid Splash and Suppression Markers were from Litko.

Miller's Crossing Farm

These wicked wee beasties have featured on my blog in the past; this time, Zhodani troops, supported by their famous Teleport Commandos, would attempt to quell the Chamax threat.

The situation at hand: A Zhodani agricultural colony has had an outbreak of Chamax, and a platoon of Zhodani regular lift infantry is sweeping a protected farm for bug contacts.

We were using the beta test of Full Metal Anorak, basically an abandoned rules set, derived from GZG's StarGrunt II. Supplementing this were element of Nordic Weasel's Bug Hunt, part of the Five Parsecs from Home rules group.

First Contact - A Questing Bug

Players take the part of the hunters, whilst the bugs are run automatically. In Bug Hunt, there are contact markers (we're using chits) and objective markers (again, chits) which I assigned random rolls once encountered. There was also a random value assigned (my own inclusion) which meant that players could compete with each other, while also working together.

I was also using the Bug tables from 5150, hence, there are a lot more bugs than you tend to have in Bug Hunt. OTOH, there are also more soldiers.

Second Contact - these chamax are more alert

Bug Hunt assigns a random set of d6 for rolling  movement and aggression. To simulate the chamax state of "questing" - where the bug is not actively attacking potential food sources, I altered the aggression level down to a d4, making it less likely the chamax would attack unless a figure got within 8" (movement range).

Once a bug was killed, however, it emitted a radio/psychic shriek, which caused all other chamax on board to increase their aggression dice by one die type. This would eventually max out at a d12.

Forming a firing line?

The Zhodani Infantry were standard line, so they were armed with 4mm Gauss Rifles. These had an impact of 2d6, vs the Chamax armour/toughness of d8. A trooper had to at least double his impact roll vs the chamax defense roll to kill it, or else there was no result (alien biology, and all that...)

As an added bonus, when a chamax is killed, it's because the acid sack behind its gullet was ruptured, causing a spray of fluoric acid and molecular debonder to shower out in a 1.5 inch radius.

The Hive is aroused...

 The first two turns were spent with the Zhos advancing cautiously toward the contact markers.  half proved to be non-contacts (random wildlife fleeing the area, puddles of digested colonists, etc.), but still worth VPs.  The first chamax contacted was blown away fairly easily - as Megz noted, a little too easily.

"We've got movement all over the place!"

As each chamax died, another 2d6 swarm would activate, with dead figures recycled back into my "bug pool". Then they enter via a random map edge. By the third/fourth turn, there were bug swarms on all sides of the Zhos, except to their left flank.

So they began to draw together.

And they called for help.

*TADAAH* The Teleport Commandos Arrive.

One of the nice things about playing the Zhos is their high degree of telepathic officers and NCOs - all of them, to be exact. This means that actions can be passed from higher ups to riflemen with greater flexibility than in Stargrunt II or FMA,  Another perk is you can ask for help from the Consular Guard Commandos, who can teleport in like...magic.

A fireteam of three commandos and senior NCO was held in reserve for just such an occasion.

Effects of directly applied Plasma Gun fire.

Armed with PGMPs (Plasma Gun, Man Portable) and the comforting thought that they could, if necessary, just manage a quick teleport back to base if things got too dicey, the Commandos arrived. The Effing New Guy in the team got teleport sickness (out for a turn - suppressed) but the rest opened up on the bugs with their plasma guns - with devastating effect.

"HERE THEY COME!"

Chamax melted and burst, sending showers of acid on those bugs next to them, causing them to melt and burst as well. A cheer went up from the encircled Zhos.

And more swarms activated.

And other hives in the area were beginning to activate, as well.

"Time to go!"

There were three waves of chamax swarms coming toward them from the building area, and the Zhodani decided it was time to breakout back to their rally point, call in an airstrike, and then return for the mop-up sweep.

First though, they had to deal with the bugs that were reaching them.

Chamax have no morale to break, so they keep coming until they're all dead or you're all bite-sized niblets. The two or three survivors of the plasma-storm reached the commandos and attacked.

In melee, chamax get two slashing attacks - if both are successful, there is an automatic acid-laden bite on the following turn. Also, armour is degraded by one level for each bite, this can continue even after the bug is dead. And speaking of dead - don't forget the acid spray.

Winning the melee is also losing the melee...

Three chamax sprang at the commandos - the senior NCO/TD* was able to use his gauss pistol in melee and got off a lucky shot, killing the chamax and spraying everyone in the immediate area with acid. The two commandos took a couple of slashes, but not enough to warrant the dreaded bite attack.  By the second round of combat, the NCO had killed another chamax and acid spray did the rest to its companion.


With armour smoking and more Chamax on the way, the Leading Officer saw the opening and gave the telepathic code: "Guardsmen, we are leaving..."

The final result was Megz had gathered more VP than myself, but the calling in of the Commandos had elevated the priority of the sweep, meaning we'd be going back in after a quick refit to take out the Maternal/Queen. So no clear victory as far as a campaign would be concerned.

Post Game Thoughts:
Usually, I find games with the Chamax Plague to be lots of fun, and this was no exception. There is plenty for the players to do, while the mounting numbers of opposition keeps the pressure on to take objectives, gather clues and keep from becoming tomorrow's leftovers.

My main thought is the chamax might be too vulnerable to their own acid. With a d8 Strength vs. a d8 defence, it seemed that they were dying more from their own acid than from Zhodani fire. I'll need to play again and keep closer track of the casualties.

Bug Hunt has more tweaks and options I'd like to incorporate, like Location Effects. Kinda like Objectives/Clues except they effect the environment, possible slowing bugs down or delaying swarm activations.

Plans are to run this at Cold Wars and at GZG:ECC in March. I'm going to add some grain silos and water towers, as well as an out building or two.  That will reduce the lines of fire a bit and make the game more...interesting...Ω

*TD: Teleport Director. That's a real MOS in the Zhodani Armed Forces

Ship's Crew - 28mm Heresy (et al).

Miniatures from Heresy and EM4

Five Parsecs from Home (5PfH) looks to be an amusing way to generate sci-fi skirmishes without a lot of campaign back-logging.  After reading these rules, I decided to match the campaign shell to Full Metal Anorak (GZG's abortive StarGrunt II skirmish rules).

Heresy 28mm Ship's Crew

While I have a ridiculous amount of 25mm sci-fi miniatures, they are mostly old Grenadier Star Wars minis, and I wanted to capture the Traveller-esque flavour of 5PfH.  Fortunately, I had been given a small pile of 28mm sci-fi some years ago, and after a rummage about in my abandoned 5150 project, I was able to assemble and paint my first 5PfH crew.

Heresy and EM4 - Perfect Together

These are all Heresy 28mm SciFi, except for the auburn-haired gal on the end, which is EM4, painted to look like Hillard from Alien:Resurrection. Andy over at Heresy Miniatures hasn't added much to his scifi selection of late, and two of the figures seem to have been dropped from the catalogue.

Pity too, as I remember they were offered as part of a four-figure "Ship's Crew" set, which work very well together, as the reader can see - with matching jackets on three of the four. All four have badges on their jackets/vest, which make for nice corporate markings (and which my camera work doesn't show...). The engineer has the most variety, and I painted his undershirt black, and gave him non-regulation footwear.

(The scattered terrain in the background is for my 1970's 7TV game - yes, that's an old fashioned cigarette dispenser behind the blue post boxes. How times have changed.)

Coming soon: I'm working on another crew/gang, based on the crew of "The Betty" from the aforementioned Alien:Resurrection...

Update: The Ship's Crew are being offered again as a five pack...Ω

Foreven Shipyards Ships Painted

So, despite some minor issues with the primer (Testors grey) interacting with the Smooth Fine Detail Plastic of which the Foreven Shipyards models are composed, I'm well pleased with the results.

Gazelle-class Close Escorts

Vargr-class Corsair

Type M Merchant

Type M Merchant

The solution to the slow-curing tack seems to have been to hit the model with a puff of dull-cote. This was mainly an issue on the Vargr.  The Gazelles and the Merchant where primed with an oil-resistant base that's meant to cover grease spots for latex house paint. Worked a treat.

After the convention, I may go back and pick out some more details, but by-and-large, they're ready for the table top....Ω

Traveller Starships from Foreven Shipyards

In the run up for this years TravellerCon/USA convention, I ordered some classic ships from Foreven Shipyards, a Shapeways supplier of licensed Traveller ships.

This year's TravellerCon theme is the Vargr, the genetically uplifted canines often referred to as "the Wolves of Space", so imagine my delight when I realised that Foreven Shipyards offered a Vargr Corsair ship in 1/1000 scale.

Personally, I've never cared much for the Vargr. In our classic Traveller campaign of my youth, there was always one fringe player who insisted of playing one, and it usually made the session feel "off". Certainly, his character was not allowed on the settee. The irony of this year's theme is not lost on me.

All models displayed on a 1" grid.

Vargr Corsair

The ships are very nice - they are also, in some cases, rather pricey. This is due in some part to the materials in use, as well as the manufacturing process. Still and all, worth every penny.

Also ordered was a set of four Gazelle-class Close Escorts and a March-class Type R Subsidized Merchant.

Gazelle-class Close Escorts

In each case, the classic lines of the original artwork is faithfully reproduced, making these models a joy to behold. Cast in Smooth, Fine Detail Plastic, the detail is excellent. One thing to watch for is there seems to be a lengthy curing time for the plastic. I'm not sure how long, except to say that the models have a slightly tacky feeling, except for two models I purchased in October of 2018. I have had some 15mm Rhodesian Alligator APCs that had to sit atop the hot water cistern over the winter before the Smooth, Fine Detail Plastic lost it's tack.

Type M Subsidised Merchant

Flight stands were ordered from Litko, at the suggestion of the model maker.  I had a bad experience with them in the past, but Litko seems to have improved on both delivery time as well as customer service. My complaint with the execution is the post pieces have not been cut straight.

The idea that a company with "Aerospace" in its name making Out-of-Tolerance parts is rather droll....Ω

Tears for Arusage - Redux

This past TravellerCon/USA, I needed a Traveller-themed miniatures game for the Sunday morning slot, and decided to give "Tears for Arusage" another go.

To prevent the game from descending into the bogged-down slug-fest from LAST TIME, I took a page from DirtSide II and assigned objective markers to various spots in the encounter zone. These represent abstract victory conditions met, so even if a side didn't recover all four missing nukes, it might be possible, through reconnaissance, to find clues where the nukes might be.


Unfortunately, Player #1 (Dan - Condor Legion) took a lucky (or unlucky) hit on the first turn, and it threw his game off permanently.

PWND! Condor Legion debus and take cover:
the card disk is mortar searching fire.

Player #2, Beta Quandrant Security (aka The  BQS Mercs aka David) won the initiative and deployed their weapons team (mortar) and disabled the Legion's leading APC, incidentally scoring 2 - 3 casualties as well.


The surviving Legion decided to debus ("Call the shop!) and take cover beneath the ornamental-yet-sturdy Vilani-built fortifications. They also were "suppressed".

This is StarGrunt; naturally they were suppressed.




Player #2 (David) had his BQS mercs occupy the housing block and motor pool. A simple quality roll would activate an APC (originally abandoned by the Viliani withdrawal and virtually identical to the Legions vehicles. The objectives (4 abandoned nukes) must be exited from the table on a vehicle.

David kept his mortar team behind the ramparts and used his officers as artillery spotters - not very accurate, but effective in keeping the pressure upon the Legion.

Centre: the Khikkei/Vilani Cenotaph, while at top, the
2nd Legion Squad occupies a block house.

Turn 3 - 4: As an additional stroke of undeserved good luck, the BQS Mercs found one of the missing nukes in the back of a salvaged APC.

Jammy B*ggars.

Meanwhile, the Legion commander decided to debus his troops from their TL10 mortar-magnets and move to cover, while using the APCs (armed with single .30 cal MGs) as infantry support.

Condor Legion troop occupy the missile silos - are the
warheads still there?

The Legions gambit was pretty effective, in that his two APCs, aided by unexpected reinforcements (more on that in a moment) tied up the BQS Mercs long enough to recover two nukes.


Unfortunately, both Legion APCs were destroyed/disabled by RAM grenades or the LAG AP rifle of the weapons team.

The arrival of a Condor Legion recon team in TL10 air/rafts did cause some trouble, as they arrived on the rear flank and immediately threw fire on the mortar team.

The mortar and accompanying security dashed into a nearby block house and returned fire - suppressing the recons.

At this point, as we were running out of time, the Condor Legion player conceded the game.


Post Game Thoughts:

Rough game for the Condor Legion. Due to an error (third person) in setting up the map, the Legion was given an extended approach, while the BQS Mercs arrived on board and "Bobs yer uncle!" they were in cover. This doesn't mean Dan had to drive straight down the road, but, to his credit, he was acting according to his briefing, in that no opposition was expected.

The objective markers did help a bit in preventing a huge "pit of suppression" at the silos, and I will use these again in the next re-fight.

I think Dan's counter-attack was more-or-less sound, and if he hadn't lost the first APC, he could have carried off at least 2 - 3 nukes and won the game.

The Beta Quadrant Security Mercs also had a slight quality advantage, being Veterans to the Condor Legion's Regular status. This gave them the initiative advantage about 2/3rds of the time.

Rules, no matter how well written, can't compensate for bad luck....Ω