Five Parsecs From Home: The Millennium Chicken - Battle 1

Pre-battle:

The crew pay 1 credit for their upkeep and decide to put all their remaining cash into paying off some of the ship debt.  16 credits - 6 payment =10 +2 interest = 12 credits debt remaining.

Blaze Westerfied takes Lifter the bot with him to try and decoy their various rivals.

James Bond explores, taking Destructionator with him for protection.  He finds a promising lead that could earn them an extra 3 credits this turn.  The assault bot is approached by a shifty looking character who offers an extra 2 credits if a certain enemy is eliminated. "The specialist guy, the one carrying a shell gun.  That's the guy I need gone, and I can make it worth your while.  WELL worth your while..."

The religious punk Frost trades a useless trinket.  He likes it, but it's worthless really.  Flame spends her time trading more productively, procuring 2 stim-packs and 2 med-patches to add to their medical reserves.

Mustering back at the Millennium Chicken, the crew sit down together and compare notes.  Reviewing the rumours they have gathered, they start to join the dots and make a breakthrough. Their quest begins!

• The data file that hacker Blaze obtained whilst searching for the truth appears to be part of a series of messages from initials "TA", providing details for the attack on Flame's isolationist enclave.
• At one of Frost's religious meetings, a fellow Nagrican passed him a notebook.  The Nagrican knows that Frost has had his difficulties in the past, perhaps he can advise how to help her son?  The Nagrican is concerned that her wayward son has fallen into bad company.  She found the notebook, fallen from her son's bag or pocket.  The notebook contains records of payments, mostly in code - but several are listed as coming from "TA", the most recent of which was only a couple of days before the attack on Flame's isolationist enclave.
• Flame received a notebook from mortally wounded isolationist Enkara, shortly before she died, detailing links to various events on Coldwater.  Enkara revealed that she had worked within the Coldwater government, but after discovering information about a mysterious individual or group operating behind the scenes, received threats and fled in fear for her life.  The isolationist enclave appeared to be as safe a place to live as any, but her past has caught up with her.  Enkara died before she could pass on any other information.
• Flame received a tip from another dying isolationist known as Harran.  "They know what we've discovered... they know that we know.  Ochveri told them exactly where to find us... and they will be coming for you, too, if they find out you've survived!"
• Finally, since setting out for revenge, Flame's own research has produced a datafile that includes the dates of numerous attacks by the Nagrica outlaws. Comparing with clues from the others, these dates are all within a day or two of the payment dates in the notebook that Frost received.  The attacks often seem to be against those who are least likely to be missed - those that have been abandoned by society, or live on the edges.

Who or what is TA?  Is the bad company the son has fallen in with those same Nagrican outlaws that attacked the enclave?  Were they hired to do it?  How did they know where to find the isolationists ship?  Who is Ochveri?  What was the purpose of those other attacks?

Although the idea of an opportunity mission following the promising lead that James Bond discovered is tempting, the crew settle on a Quest mission.  Taking stock of their equipment, they re-arm Destructionator with an autorifle, plus a blast pistol for close-in work.  The autorifle is a poor substitute for Destructionator's original weaponry but it's better than nothing.  Lifter is equipped with a colony rifle.  Blaze Westerley retains his trusty colony rifle.  Flame passes her beam pistol to James Bond, taking a military rifle as replacement, along with a scrap pistol as a backup weapon.  She keeps one of the stimpacks she purchased.  As well as the beam pistol, James Bond has a concealed blade and a nerve adjuster.  Frost takes a shotgun from the stores and grabs the other stimpack.

Unfortunately, as the crew set out to find some transport, they are attacked by a salvage team - enemies of James Bond, whom they accuse of stealing their ship.  Looks like Blaze and Lifter's decoy attempt failed!

The battle takes place near the shore, where the wet mud and algae from the recent high tide make the conditions slippery (-1" movement penalty for everyone).

There is a peculiar item worth +2XP to the crew member who moves into contact with it.  We decided on a mobile item (converted Star Wars Gonk power droid) to add some interest.  At the end of every turn, it moves D3" in a random direction (using scatter die), having started in the centre of the game area.

A peculiar item indeed!

 

The salvage crew have brought friends (+1 enemy).  Fortunately, they start from a low initial number - roll 2D6 and choose the higher... they rolled a 1 and a 2!  With 1 additional starting enemy plus the +1 "brought friends" enemy, the crew will be facing only 4 enemies, ideal for their first encounter.

Salvage Team

L-R: Hand laser, shell gun, lieutenant with hand laser, military rifle.

The salvage team are a tough bunch, but quite cautious.  They won't be rushing in with guns blazing.  The shell gun could be a problem, but the hand lasers mean they will have to close to fairly short range to be able to use their weapons effectively.

Team member 1: Panic 1-3; Speed 4"; Combat skill +0; Toughness 4; AI cautious; Hand laser

Team member 2: Panic 1-3; Speed 4"; Combat skill +0; Toughness 4; AI cautious; Military rifle

Specialist: Panic 1-3; Speed 4"; Combat skill +0; Toughness 4; AI cautious; Shell gun

Lieutenant: Panic 1-3; Speed 4"; Combat skill +0; Toughness 4; AI cautious; Hand laser, blade

 Cautious AI.

 

The Battle:

The sea borders the game area on one side.  A partially unloaded cargo ship is moored, and a small transport crawler stands ready to move some of the items inland.

A view from the seaward side.

A small submersible pod can be reached by a short jetty. Fuel and transport trucks are parked nearby.  Unloaded cargo is scattered across the muddy ground.

A small complex lies near the centre of the game area.  Due to Coldwater's poor atmosphere and also the high tides which will submerge the complex, the prefab pods are equipped with an airlock.

The complex.

The crew roll randomly for their starting location.  They were obviously coming along the beach and start behind some of the piles of cargo.

Crew starting positions.

A communications antenna is positioned on the grandly named "Comms Hill", a small hummock on the landward side of the game area.

The view from landward.

 The crew start in the positions marked in blue.  The green marked item is the peculiar item.  The enemy salvage team are split into 2 pairs, marked in red. 

Overview of starting positions.

 The crew move forwards into the scattered cargo.  Destructionator uses its 6 legs to clamber directly over the small orange comfort pod used by visiting workers and ship crew.  James Bond, being fleeter of foot than the others, edges slightly ahead of them.

Turn 1 crew positions.

 With neither side able to see the other, the salvage team make a dash across the open ground to see if they can get into safe firing positions from which to spot the crew.

Turn 1 salvage team positions.

 The crew continue their advance through the cargo area.  The 2 humans head landward, uphill around the cargo crawler, thinking perhaps they can flank the enemy.  The Nagricans move up the centre and the bots choose a route closer to the sea.  To help remember the "slippery conditions" move penalty, I cut a little cardboard movement template with 3" normal move and 4" for James Bond marked into it.  This also reduced the chance of a tape measure being waved around with the accompanying risk of scenery or figures being knocked over!

Turn 2 crew positions.

The salvage team continue their move forwards.  2 of them reach the cover of some cargo pods.  The team leader and shell gun-toting specialist are heading for the complex.  We rolled for a battle event: 71 - fumbled grenade.  None of the enemy salvage team have grenades, so this has no effect on them.

Turn 2 salvage team positions.

Destructionator's autogun tracks back and forth as it scuttles between the cargo piles.  Lifter clumps along behind, colony rifle clutched slightly awkwardly in its cargo claws.

Destructionator and Lifter advance.

The salvage team continue to work their way forwards, edging around freight storage and the complex.  They know the crew are ahead somewhere.  Weapons are readied, muscles tense, breathing quickens...

Salvage Team edge closer...

Flame and Blaze Westerley continue their long flanking move around the rear of the cargo crawler.  The treacherous footing is really slowing their progress, Flame swears under her breath as she repeatedly loses her footing when they ascend the shallow slope.

Blaze and Flame skirt the cargo hauler.

The Nagricans approach the complex.  They can hear the squelch of cautious footsteps in the mud ahead, the enemy must be near.

Approaching the complex.

 The robots and the Nagricans should be in position for mutual support fairly soon, but the humans' slow progress means they are getting left far behind.

Turn 3 crew positions.

 Destructionator moves up, autorifle seeking a target but a power droid blocks the line of fire.  The salvage team edge around the sides of the storage pod.  One spies Lifter in the distances and chances a shot with her military rifle, but the bullet ricochets off the pipes nearby.

Poised for action.

 The Nagricans take cover between the quad bike and the side of the complex airlock.  James Bond calls to the humans to join them.  They're too slow, flanking just isn't going to work this time.

Flankers move to rejoin the others.

Hearing the rifle shot, but unable to see anything, the salvage team leader and specialist crouch against the front of the tracked vehicle and chance a quick look over the bonnet.  The specialist fires his shell gun at the only crew member he can see, Lifter.  Nerves must have affected his aim, the shell explodes harmlessly in the ground nearby, showering Lifter with mud but causing no damage.

Turn 4 positions.

In the distance, possible reinforcements appear (Battle event: 50).  3 markers are added to the enemy board edge.  One random marker is checked on each of the next 3 turns by rolling a D6.  On a 5-6, an additional enemy will appear.

Enemy reinforcements?

As the power droid shuffles away, Destructionator scuttles swiftly across the slippery ground and opens fire.  Autorifle rounds tear into the unlucky salvage team member.

Destructionator lets rip.

The stricken human slumps against the storage container and collapses to the ground, clearly out of the fight.  Her military rifle splats into the mud. 

First casualty.

The two Nagricans dart round into the cover of the airlock.  James Bond chances a shot with his beam pistol at the suddenly exposed salvage team member by the storage container, and luck is with him.

James Bond and Frost score a hit on another enemy.

The second enemy goes down.  The remaining 2 exchange worried glances.  They heard a lot of shooting somewhere out of sight towards the sea, but this time they've personally witnessed a team-member fall.  Nevertheless, their nerve holds and they prepare for action.

Second casualty.

Rolling for the possible reinfircements, the first turns out to be additional salvage team member armed with a military rifle.

Team member 5: Panic 1-3; Speed 4"; Combat skill +0; Toughness 4; AI cautious; Military rifle 

Salvage Team reinforcement.

He appears at the landward edge of the battle area and wastes no time moving forwards towards the complex to assist his team members.  He's late, but hopes he can get there in time to teach that Nagrican and his crew a lesson.

The reinforcement approaches the sounds of battle.

Back in the battle, the specialist sweeps round into the shelter of the vehicles tracks and fires at near point-blank range with his shell gun, but again the shot goes wide and the 2 Nagricans are unharmed.

Shell gunner once again fails to hit.

The leader, approaching from the other side of the vehicle, is more careful with his aim.

Salvage team leader takes aim...

His hand laser scores a direct hit on the captain, but the tough Nagrican remains standing, albeit stunned by the sudden pain - something that his nerve adjuster fails to counteract.

The captain is hit!

Stomping slowly but steadily up the muddy slope from the cargo area comes Lifter.  Raising its colony rifle, the robot draws a bead on the only human it can see, the shell-gunner.  The shot flies true and the human stumbles with the impact, but stays on his feet, stunned.

Lifter scores a hit on the specialist.

James Bond, still stunned, and with the smell of singed fur in his nostrils, returns fire against the enemy leader.  The human cries out and staggers back...

Captain and enemy leader exchange shots.

... before keeling over into the mud with a heavy squelch. 

Enemy leader succumbs.

Frost pushes past his captain and heads for the shell-gunner.  His shotgun blast flies wide.

Frost misses with his shotgun at close range.

This is the team's chance - if they can act quickly, they can finish things.  Sadly, fate has other ideas and the reaction rolls are a five and five sixes, so no-one can act before the enemy!

Not a good reaction roll.

The specialist shakes his head to clear it, then brings his shell gun up for another shot.  The shell gun thumps for a third time... and misses a third time.  The shell flies between Frost and Destructionator, shattering a cargo case.  Debris rains down, spattering the mud behind them with tiny, sticky craters.  

The end is nigh!

Destructionator doesn't take kindly to this and stiches a line of bullets across the specialist's chest.  The human proves astoundingly resilient, staggering back several feet under the impacts as bloodstains blossom through his clothing, but still struggling to raise his shell gun again.

Destructionator's revenge.

Frost wants to end things now.  He darts forward and strikes a blow, but poorly in his haste.  It is clumsy - normally it would merely stun the human, but with the injuries already sustained, he falls at last.

Frost finishes the job.

All 4 of the salvage team have been defeated, and James Bond walks across to the power droid to investigate it (peculiar item +2XP).  But what of the salvage team's companion, late to the fight but still a threat?

James Bond moves to contact the power droid.

 The gunfire and explosions have ceased.  An ominious quiet hangs over the shore.  Despite the distance, the approaching survivor of the Salvage Team can see one or two bodies - and they're probably his team mates, judging by the Nagrican and assault bot that he can see moving around nearby.  The reality of the situation suddenly hit home, and he turns and runs, slithering and sliding back down the slope and away from the fight. (Both of the other possible reinforcement counters turned out to be nothing when revealed during the previous 2 turns.)

Discretion is the better part of valour!

Post-battle:

The salvage team are no longer a threat.  The survivor has made it back to whatever was left of their team with the bad news.  With so many of them either dead or badly wounded, there is no chance of them coming after the crew again, so they are removed from the list of rivals.

Checking over the bodies, the crew gather 3 credits.  Because they eliminated the shell-gunner, they earn an extra 2 credits from the shifty looking character they met earlier, for a total of 5 credits.  They also gain some useful ship parts from the salvage team, worth another 4 credits of ship upgrades.

Faction activity:  The factions lay low for now, with nothing happening.

Fringe World Strife: Existing instability 1, plus 1D6 = 2, plus number of rivals = 3, totalling 6.  No roll on the chart this turn.

Loot: The crew recover 3 Frakk grenades after the battle.  Looks like that Salvage Team did have grenades after all!

Experience:

All of the non-robotic crew earn 3XP for surviving the batle on the winning side, bringing Blaze to 3XP, Frost to 5XP and Flame to 5XP.  They all save their XP for the next game turn.

James Bond earns his 3XP for surviving, plus 1XP for being the first character to cause a casualty (bots can't earn XP so I'm assuming they dont count as "characters" for the purpose of registering the first casualty.  Hey, this is our game, so we get to choose!) and another 2XP for investigating the peculiar item power droid, bringing his total to 8XP.  He takes some time on weapons training and boosts his combat skill to +1, leaving him with 1XP remaining.

Campaign event: The crew sell cargo worth 5 credits, boosting their total funds to 10 credits.

Character event: Frost and Flame have a heart to heart chat.  The crew want to help hunt down the Nagrican outlaws who wiped out Flame's isolationist enclave.  Frost feels shamed by the deeds of these other Nagricans and wants to make amends for their crimes, but is conflicted because he knows that some may have been drawn in unwittingly, such as the son of the Nagrican from his religious group.  Flame understands, and can see that he wants to help her cause.  Both earn 1XP, bringing their respective totals to 6XP.

 Faction Event: A new faction arises!  Charismatic leader Nelor Brand, has emerged.  Brand has little influence at this time but benefits from a strong following right from the start (Influence 1, Power 3).  What's more, Brand has a job offer for the crew next turn...

 

 That was a good first game!  Number 1 son enjoyed himself, and I only occassionally had to reign him in ("No, your crew can't go driving the cargo crawler round, sorry.").  There was some jeopardy, but very bad rolling by the salvage team kept the crew safe, particularly the shell gun which missed 3 shots, the last 2 of which were at almost point-blank range!  If those had hit, they could have wiped out more than half the crew.  Thinking about it again now, I should probably have played the salvage team as being more cautious, lying in wait for the crew instead of trying to close with them. A good start though, and hopefully one that will encourage a second game.  I wonder what Nelor Brand has in mind for them?