Post by ironicwolf on Jul 3, 2019 1:46:13 GMT
So I just had my first THW hame and it happened to be Star Marine. It seemed to be a good entry point to the Chain Reaction system. Anyway, here is a short After Action report and some notes, and sorry for my bad English.
My star character Priv. Canute Juraj Hall (43), a former white collar worker. I guess he was drafted by Gaea Prime and landed in marine brach as a result of a clerical mistake considering his age and his cowardness. In any case he ended as an ensign in 32nd Marine Division based at ring 3 sector 4, member of a Blue I squad. Just in time for a Gaea Prime invasion of Boayama (Zhuh-Zhuh controlled Class 1 planet in 3rd sector of 3rd ring), just one sector away from the Home Base. Here I wonder if I should add an carousing event while traveling in the future.
27th of Jan 2220 GPS Olive Branch decelerates at the the oort belt of the Boayama system as an escort of an invasion flotilla and is immediately attacked by Zhuh-Zhuh patrools. While engaged, two boarding shuttles manage to reach GPS Olive Branch. Private Hall is not looking forward to the upcoming battle. I think I should try to combine this game with 5150 Fighter Command or any other space combat ruleset in the future.
So it's a defensive boarding action on a board of a cutter, two detachments of GP marines against two of Zhuh-Zhuh.
Blue I detachment:
Sergeant Deirbhile Tran (29), Female. Rep 5. Abilities: Rage, Hard as Nails. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Canute Juraj Hall (43), Male. Rep 5. Abilities: Coward, Charismatic, Initiative. Exo-Armor, Auto - 5.
Private Alyssia Welter (43), Female. Rep 4. Abilities: Genius, Coward. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2. Career thief before drafted.
Corporal Roy Kirby (29), Male. Rep 4. Abilities: Initiative. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2. Former bounty hunter.
Private Enni Ia'lwale (16), Zhuh-Zhuh Female. Rep 3. Abilities: Drunkard (Slow to React), Stunning. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2 . Former bounty hunter. Quite an interesting character, rules tells that Zhuh-Zhuh are males only, but I rolled gender before I rolled race and decided to keep it that way, considering she is fighting on GP side against her own species. Squads interpreter perhaps?
Private 1st class Heleena Ferrer (40), Female. Rep 4. Abilities: Coward, Dim. Exo-Armor, Auto - 5
Blue II detachment:
Sergeant Hans Gott (31), Male. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Mikael Irvine (34), Male. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Abraão Paternoster (45), Male. Rep 4. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Corporal Osiris Garnett (37), Male. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Romana Beck (29), Female. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Aqila Fontana (16), Female. Rep 4. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
I decided not to roll any abilities for the second squad, they can be generic grunts for now.
The Blue II were stationed at the Crew Bay just before boarding party arrived, the second shuttle breached starboard weapon deck. Blue I took position at the bridge. I ruled that two detachments mean there are two boarding shuttles attacking the ship at two different locations and positioned one of my detachments at the bridge because rules state that bridge is always defended.
Zhuh-Zhuhs breached the hull as Blue II were still taking their positions. Firefight ensues, few seconds later one Zhuh-Zhuh is down, Private Irvine is checking his armor which was just struck by a hail of bullets (he survived 4 hits), Private Fontana's body parts are scattered all around (killed by a double 6 damage roll, I think in the future hits like this will give penalty to the will to fight rolls). Private Irvine
and private Paternoster
panics and retreats back to the bridge. But the invaders loose their resolve to fight and retreat back to the shuttle. One enemy detachment down one to go.
There is no time to regroup so Blue II consisting of three marines advances to the cargo bay. Blue I and two retreated Blue II marines move after them entering the crew quarters. Blue II is ambushed and pinned down. Sergeant Gott gets an explosive bullet in a face (two 6s again). Corporal Garnett
gives a good fight in a desperate situation and manages to kill one opponent forcing another to duck behind a cover. Zhuh-Zhuh weaver and begin to retreat but not before killing Private Beck
. There is only Corporal Garnett left alive at the cargo bay ad he has no choice but to retreat but Zhuh-Zhuhs are probbably not aware of their situation and decide to back down and regroup. Both parties break the engagement by retreating to the opposite ship sectors. Corporal Garnett joins the rest of the ship defenders at the crew quarters. And the full defense force advances towards the cargo bay again.
It's a trap! Zhuh-Zhuh had abandoned the cargo bay but trigger an cargo airlock as soon as the defenders enter the sector. In just a few seconds all the defenders could end floating if not Private Welter's quick fingers and familiarity with the security systems (hard check, 5,5 roll against rep 4, would be a failure but genius trait grants +1 and I assume that thief is applicable here and defending own ship counts as having tools, so +3 in total, does that mean that Private Welter could not fail? I would consider double 6 as pasing 1d6 so there would be at least some kind of risk. Also for a future reference, I should note that one marine is equipped with hacker tools, because this seems to be critical in boarding action, limit the equipped person to a lighter weapon maybe?)
Blue II advances towards the second breach at the starboard weapon deck, Blue I half-squad is sent to check the engine room. (it would be advantageous for me to keep both detachments together because of a numerical advantage, but I decided to split the group as I assume that time is crucial in a boarding operation and big group can't move as quick in the cramped environment of a ship and two groups can find and engage enemy much quicker which is much better than having enemies roaming free in the ship). Despite knowing the layout of the ship Blue I is still jumped by a squad of four Zhuh-Zhuhs at the weapon deck. The baptism by fire for Private Canute Juraj Hall who dives for cover and spends the battle there. One Zhuh-Zhuh gets seven hits before going down. Two retreats. Sergeant Tran and Private 1st Class Ferrer charges the last survivor and takes him a prisoner (the rules state that Grath will charge and everyone else will shoot but I think that in some situations charging is advantageous, also maybe there should be an advantage when charging Ducked Back enemies? Maybe they should not have opportunity to fire before melee because it is stated that they can't see? Then again rules state that they can't be seen either, so maybe that means that they can't be charged?). GPS Olive Branch is saved!
After the battle I decided that Private Alyssia Welter should be recommended for a medal and a promotion, because if not her hacking all the marines would be floating in space hoping to be scooped out before the oxygen runs out and GPS Olive Branch would surely be captured by the enemy. She is awarded a Major Medal of Valor, but the promotion is refused. Nevertheless Alyssia feels inspired by her own actions and loses her Coward trait. On the other Hand Private Abraão Paternoster
feels too old for this and loses one reputation. Private Canute Juraj Hall haven't even shoot once but still gets 2 points of fame for participating in the action.
All in all I had a lot of fun playing this, the game engine is elegant and clever, and I am looking forward to my next play. I think it is a very good way to learn the system before trying the more complicated games like Nuts. And the best thing is that all the action fits on my desk in front of my desktop computer! Here are a few pictures from the action:![]()
My star character Priv. Canute Juraj Hall (43), a former white collar worker. I guess he was drafted by Gaea Prime and landed in marine brach as a result of a clerical mistake considering his age and his cowardness. In any case he ended as an ensign in 32nd Marine Division based at ring 3 sector 4, member of a Blue I squad. Just in time for a Gaea Prime invasion of Boayama (Zhuh-Zhuh controlled Class 1 planet in 3rd sector of 3rd ring), just one sector away from the Home Base. Here I wonder if I should add an carousing event while traveling in the future.
27th of Jan 2220 GPS Olive Branch decelerates at the the oort belt of the Boayama system as an escort of an invasion flotilla and is immediately attacked by Zhuh-Zhuh patrools. While engaged, two boarding shuttles manage to reach GPS Olive Branch. Private Hall is not looking forward to the upcoming battle. I think I should try to combine this game with 5150 Fighter Command or any other space combat ruleset in the future.
So it's a defensive boarding action on a board of a cutter, two detachments of GP marines against two of Zhuh-Zhuh.
Blue I detachment:
Sergeant Deirbhile Tran (29), Female. Rep 5. Abilities: Rage, Hard as Nails. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Canute Juraj Hall (43), Male. Rep 5. Abilities: Coward, Charismatic, Initiative. Exo-Armor, Auto - 5.
Private Alyssia Welter (43), Female. Rep 4. Abilities: Genius, Coward. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2. Career thief before drafted.
Corporal Roy Kirby (29), Male. Rep 4. Abilities: Initiative. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2. Former bounty hunter.
Private Enni Ia'lwale (16), Zhuh-Zhuh Female. Rep 3. Abilities: Drunkard (Slow to React), Stunning. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2 . Former bounty hunter. Quite an interesting character, rules tells that Zhuh-Zhuh are males only, but I rolled gender before I rolled race and decided to keep it that way, considering she is fighting on GP side against her own species. Squads interpreter perhaps?
Private 1st class Heleena Ferrer (40), Female. Rep 4. Abilities: Coward, Dim. Exo-Armor, Auto - 5
Blue II detachment:
Sergeant Hans Gott (31), Male. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Mikael Irvine (34), Male. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Abraão Paternoster (45), Male. Rep 4. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Corporal Osiris Garnett (37), Male. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Romana Beck (29), Female. Rep 5. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
Private Aqila Fontana (16), Female. Rep 4. Exo-Armor, Auto - 2.
I decided not to roll any abilities for the second squad, they can be generic grunts for now.
The Blue II were stationed at the Crew Bay just before boarding party arrived, the second shuttle breached starboard weapon deck. Blue I took position at the bridge. I ruled that two detachments mean there are two boarding shuttles attacking the ship at two different locations and positioned one of my detachments at the bridge because rules state that bridge is always defended.
Zhuh-Zhuhs breached the hull as Blue II were still taking their positions. Firefight ensues, few seconds later one Zhuh-Zhuh is down, Private Irvine is checking his armor which was just struck by a hail of bullets (he survived 4 hits), Private Fontana's body parts are scattered all around (killed by a double 6 damage roll, I think in the future hits like this will give penalty to the will to fight rolls). Private Irvine
and private Paternoster
panics and retreats back to the bridge. But the invaders loose their resolve to fight and retreat back to the shuttle. One enemy detachment down one to go.
There is no time to regroup so Blue II consisting of three marines advances to the cargo bay. Blue I and two retreated Blue II marines move after them entering the crew quarters. Blue II is ambushed and pinned down. Sergeant Gott gets an explosive bullet in a face (two 6s again). Corporal Garnett
gives a good fight in a desperate situation and manages to kill one opponent forcing another to duck behind a cover. Zhuh-Zhuh weaver and begin to retreat but not before killing Private Beck
. There is only Corporal Garnett left alive at the cargo bay ad he has no choice but to retreat but Zhuh-Zhuhs are probbably not aware of their situation and decide to back down and regroup. Both parties break the engagement by retreating to the opposite ship sectors. Corporal Garnett joins the rest of the ship defenders at the crew quarters. And the full defense force advances towards the cargo bay again.
It's a trap! Zhuh-Zhuh had abandoned the cargo bay but trigger an cargo airlock as soon as the defenders enter the sector. In just a few seconds all the defenders could end floating if not Private Welter's quick fingers and familiarity with the security systems (hard check, 5,5 roll against rep 4, would be a failure but genius trait grants +1 and I assume that thief is applicable here and defending own ship counts as having tools, so +3 in total, does that mean that Private Welter could not fail? I would consider double 6 as pasing 1d6 so there would be at least some kind of risk. Also for a future reference, I should note that one marine is equipped with hacker tools, because this seems to be critical in boarding action, limit the equipped person to a lighter weapon maybe?)
Blue II advances towards the second breach at the starboard weapon deck, Blue I half-squad is sent to check the engine room. (it would be advantageous for me to keep both detachments together because of a numerical advantage, but I decided to split the group as I assume that time is crucial in a boarding operation and big group can't move as quick in the cramped environment of a ship and two groups can find and engage enemy much quicker which is much better than having enemies roaming free in the ship). Despite knowing the layout of the ship Blue I is still jumped by a squad of four Zhuh-Zhuhs at the weapon deck. The baptism by fire for Private Canute Juraj Hall who dives for cover and spends the battle there. One Zhuh-Zhuh gets seven hits before going down. Two retreats. Sergeant Tran and Private 1st Class Ferrer charges the last survivor and takes him a prisoner (the rules state that Grath will charge and everyone else will shoot but I think that in some situations charging is advantageous, also maybe there should be an advantage when charging Ducked Back enemies? Maybe they should not have opportunity to fire before melee because it is stated that they can't see? Then again rules state that they can't be seen either, so maybe that means that they can't be charged?). GPS Olive Branch is saved!
After the battle I decided that Private Alyssia Welter should be recommended for a medal and a promotion, because if not her hacking all the marines would be floating in space hoping to be scooped out before the oxygen runs out and GPS Olive Branch would surely be captured by the enemy. She is awarded a Major Medal of Valor, but the promotion is refused. Nevertheless Alyssia feels inspired by her own actions and loses her Coward trait. On the other Hand Private Abraão Paternoster
feels too old for this and loses one reputation. Private Canute Juraj Hall haven't even shoot once but still gets 2 points of fame for participating in the action.
All in all I had a lot of fun playing this, the game engine is elegant and clever, and I am looking forward to my next play. I think it is a very good way to learn the system before trying the more complicated games like Nuts. And the best thing is that all the action fits on my desk in front of my desktop computer! Here are a few pictures from the action:
