The Tesserae Incident: part 1 (the Scenario)

Introduction

Some of you with long memories might remember a game of Full Thrust in which a Klingon fleet investigated a secret Romulan research base: here.  This game was played 2 years ago, almost to the day and I thought that it was high time we gave the Klingon fleet another chance (it was hammered in the previous game).

However, rather than replay the game exactly as we did in 2014, I thought that I'd change the scenario around a bit.  Rather than having a small Romulan force already on table, we'd have a much larger Romulan fleet arriving slowly over time.  This would give the Klingons an advantage early on, but they'd have to move quickly to achieve their objectives or risk being overwhelmed later on.  Additionally, I thought that this would be an excellent testbed for my half-baked revision of the Full Thrust boarding rules.  The original rules for marines are extremely basic; it has long been an intention of mine to experiment with something slightly more detailed.

The Scenario

So, the Klingons have to raid the planetary research base, steal whatever data, materials and personnel (scientists, technicians) they can and then make their escape before the ever-escalating Romulan response becomes too much for them.  Sounds simple, right?

Well, standard boarding (using transporters, short range pods or similar) in Full Thrust requires the attacker and the defender to match both speed and heading (to within 1 point of each) and to be within a fairly short distance (6mu, from memory).  This is so difficult to achieve as to be effectively impossible if the target is mobile; it's hard enough even when the defender is a stationary planet!

To overcome this difficulty and give them a reasonable chance of success, the Klingons have been given a fast attack transport equipped with assault shuttles capable of ferrying a generous complement of marines.  These assault shuttles are detailed in the Full Thrust: Continuum supplement, though I've modified some of the rules for their use here.

Forces

Klingons

• Ragnarok: assault transport/commando carrier.
• Relentless: battle cruiser
• Valhalla: heavy cruiser
• Warrior and Victory: frigates

This adds up to around 800NPV, excluding the assault transport (which the Klingons get for free).  The Relentless and Valhalla are capable, fast ships though the frigates are pretty useless.

Romulans

• Farside Base: military research station.  The "secret weapon" developed by this base is a reflex field, as detailed in the Full Thrust rules.  As well as the weapon, the base has 2 "P" passenger/living quarters for the research scientists & technicians and 4 "H" holds for their materials, workshops, computer banks and data archives.
• Consul: battle cruiser
• Dragon: heavy cruiser
• Decurion: light cruiser
• Lorica and Pilum: destroyers

The Romulans have about 1200NPV of ships (plus the base, which is free).  They outgun the attackers by about 3:2, though this is tempered by the fact that their ships arrive piecemeal and over a number of turns.  Fortunately, all the Romulan ships have cloaking devices and so early arrivals can hide until the fleet is ready, rather than risk being annihilated one-at-a-time.

Victory Conditions

The Klingons must capture the base and carry off research material.  There are a maximum possible of 7 points worth of such loot: 1 for parts from the reflex field generator, 2 from the "P" crew quarters and 4 from the "H" laboratories and stores.  Loot can only be captured if the system hasn't already been destroyed in the fighting!

Each point of loot is a full assault shuttle load or it can be transported as per the standard Full Thrust rules.   It must be taken to a warp-capable ship which must then escape in order for it to be counted.

Obviously the scale of victory is from 0 (the Klingons fail completely) to 7 (total Klingon success; every loot point retrieved).  All else, including casualties, is really secondary to this!

Deployment

Klingons

• The Klingon fleet is placed 48mu (4') away from the planet (i.e. outside of weapons range) at any speed and heading desired by their commander.  We used a 6'x4' table; the Klingons were allocated one of the short table edges as their deployment zone.

Romulans

• The Romulan fleet is divided into 5 groups as evenly as possible and each is assigned a unique number from 1..6 .  Note that since their are 5 ships and 6 groups, one of the groups will be empty.
• At the start of each of the first 6 turns, the Romulan player rolls a single dice and receives the group with that number as the turn's reinforcements.  If the group has already been used as a reinforcement then the player re-rolls until an available group is received.
• Once the reinforcement group is known, the Romulan player rolls for its entry point.  This should be the centre of one of the 3 "non-Klingon" table edges.  On arrival, reinforcements may have any desired initial speed; their heading is directly towards the table centre.
• If the reinforcement ship is to remain cloaked (including the group without any ship in it) then a suitable blip should be placed at the entry point and the Romulan must write orders for as many turns ahead as the ship will remain cloaked, as per the standard Full Thrust rules.
  The Klingon player may know that "group 4" has arrived, but will not know the composition of group 4 until it uncloaks.  Obviously, for the empty group any such orders will be a blind since in all likelihood it will never uncloak.
• Otherwise, if the reinforcement is to be uncloaked then the model should be placed directly at the entry point.

On average, Romulan forces on the table will have achieved parity with the Klingons by turn 4, but they might be lucky and receive heavy units early or they might be unlucky and only get small ships by then.  The Klingon will have to guess when (and where!) the Romulans will appear, whilst the Romulans will have to plan for the uncertain location and timing of their reinforcements.  Should they try for an all-out uncloaking & assault for turn 5 (say), or is it worth having a smaller number of ships uncloak earlier?

Special Rules

Assault Shuttles

• Unlike in the Full Thrust: Continuum rules, my assault shuttle can be reused - if they survive!  They can therefore be used to lift off marines as well as captured loot after an assault.
• Each assault shuttle can carry 1 marine or 1 unit of loot (captured personnel, secret parts, data crystals or whatever).
• When making an attack, the shuttle squadron(s) are moved into contact with the target.  The defenders may fire point defenses and class-1 beams as normal.
• Shuttle which survive point defense fire make a combat landing on the target.  This is a dangerous manoeuvre, so a dice is thrown for each shuttle: any score of 1 or less and the shuttle plus anything it was carrying is destroyed.  Modifiers: take the thrust rating of the target away from the roll [note that this makes assaulting anything other than the slowest freighter or static base a very risky plan].
• Once an assault shuttle has landed on the target, any marines it is carrying will disembark and fight the defenders.

Threshold Checks

• If a ship or base takes a threshold check whilst hostile shuttles and/or marines are present then make rolls for each of these as well as for the defending ship or base's systems.  Firing on a ship that has an internal battle going on is just as likely to hurt the invaders as it is to hurt the defenders!

Marine Combat

• Once per round, during the final phase (just before making threshold checks), all marines will fire at any enemies who are within the same ship or base.  To resolve this, roll 1 die for each marine and calculate the number of casualties as if a beam-1 was being fired at a level-1 screen.  In other words, a roll of '5' causes 1 casualty, whereas a roll of '6' causes 2 casualties and a re-roll.
• As an extra rule, not needed for this scenario: if firing on lighter forces (such as civilian freighter crews) then treat them as an unscreened target.  If firing on better trained and equipped troops (for example, regular army in armoured battle suits) then treat them as a target with screen-2.
• Re-rolls don't count as penetrating in the same way as beam fire against a ship, so the target's "screen" class remains the same.  However, if any further enemy squad is hit on a re-roll then the ship or base takes 1 hull point of damage as well.  Note that the re-rolls should be made even if all enemy squads have been eliminated, just in case such structural damage is caused!
• Whilst an assault is in progress, the defenders still control all systems on the ship or base.  The fighting occurs around the perimeter, not on the bridge!
• If at any time all the defenders are eliminated and at least some attackers remain then the base or ship has been captured.  Generally speaking, weapons, propulsion and other systems will be unusable by either side from that point on in the game (the defenders may have sabotaged them or installed lockouts, the controls could have been too badly damaged in the firefight, or perhaps enemy systems are just too alien to operate in the heat of battle).  Specific scenario rules may sometimes override this.

Coming soon in part 2: how our game played out => HERE!

TRWNN: The Shooting Contest

Introduction

In today's game of The Rules with No Name, there's going to be a shooting competition.  Mr Henry Smythe (the proprietor of the town's biggest gun shop) has offered a brand new rifle of the latest model as a prize.  This exceptional weapon has quite a reputation and this has drawn in hopeful contestants from far and wide.  The sheriff and his deputies are keeping a close watch on things during the contest, but who knows what will happen when the victor leaves the town boundaries?

The Scenario

This game will be in 2 parts.  As a prologue there will be the competition itself, followed by the main opart of the game (in which the winner attempts to escape with his prize).

Forces

Each player is randomly allocated a main character who will take part in the competition.  These are all either shootist or legend classes, with a variety of skills.  Additionally, each player will have a sidekick of either gunman or citizen class.  These sidekicks won't play any part in the competition (apart from spectating) but will be used in the main game.

We had 5 players.  The groups were as follows (and yes, there were quite a lot of Mexican cowboys involved this time):

• Santos and Jebediah
• Emilio and Santiago
• Jesse and Esteban
• Black Bart and Kid Shelleen
• Tuco and Old Pete

The Shooting Competition

For this part of the scenario, each contestant would take 4 shots at a target.  It is assumed that they were firing with rifles, lent to them for the duration of the competition and that the firing is deliberate (i.e. not aimed).  Each shot would be evaluated by throwing the number of dice for the range band plus appropriate modifiers for class and any personal attributes.

• If the best dice is a '6' then the shooter has hit the bullseye (gold) and scores 4 points.
• If it's a '5' then they hit the red (3 points)
• If a '4' or a '3' then the blue or white is hit (2 or 1 points respectively).
• If the best dice is a '1' or a '2' then they've missed the target altogether and much jeering will probably follow!

The first round of shooting will be at short range (i.e. 3 dice for range + personal bonuses).  After the initial round, if anyone is ahead by 3 or more points then they are the outright winner.  Otherwise the contestants who are more that 3 points away from the winner drop out, the targets are moved back to medium range (i.e. 2 dice for range + personal bonuses) and the remaining contestants take another 4 shots.  If necessary, this is repeated at long range as well, until there is a clear winner.

Leaving Town

Once the contest is over, the winner is given the prize rifle (this is such a good weapon that it gets +1 dice when fired) and retires to the saloon for a short celebration.  While he's doing this, the jealous other parties all plot their revenge!

Each of the other players is given 3 tokens.  2 are blank and 1 has a suitable mark on the back.  In turn, they place all of these tokens face-down behind cover between the town boundary and the stables (where the hero's horse is tied up).  A token is revealed when the hero or his sidekick can see it without any intervening cover, or when the owning player chooses to do so at the start of a turn.  If it's a blank then the token is simply removed.  Otherwise, the group associated with that token is placed on the board.

Victory

To win is very simple: you have to take the prize rifle into the barn at the end of the table.  It is then assumed that you find a horse and make your escape.  Note that all players share this victory condition: the only advantage (?!) that the winner of the shooting contest has is that he starts this segment with the prize.  Let's see how long he can keep it...

Our Game

1st round: Close range

In the first round of shooting, it was quickly obvious that Emilio and Tuco were a long way ahead of the rest.  The 2 of them progressed to a second round, whilst the rest retired, grumbling.

2nd round: Medium range

Emilio seemed to have some difficulty at the slightly longer range, or maybe the pressure was getting to him.  His shooting wasn't as consistent as it might have been, whereas Tuco's shots were still very well grouped.  With such a commanding performance, Tuco was declared the winner and was given the prize rifle.  Now all he had to do was retrieve his horse and gallop off into the sunset!

As the afternoon turned into evening, Tuco and his faithful friend Old Pete came out of the saloon where they had been celebrating their win.  The street was deserted; everyone else had left already.  "I have a bad feeling about this" mumbled Pete, as the pair set off for the barn where they had left their horses that morning.

Carefully, the pair made their way through the town's back alleys, trying to think how to cross the open ground on the outskirts.

They avoided the main road (well, dirt track) and had travelled perhaps 2/3 of the way towards the barn before seeing anyone else, when...

2 players decided that this had gone far enough and declared their positions.  Oddly enough, both Emilio & Santiago and Jesse & Esteban had decided to hide near a rocky outcrop on the far side of the road out of town.

Tuco wasted no time in using his new rifle.  He was lucky enough to be dealt a whole bunch of action cards and used these to aim and fire at both Emilio and Jesse.  Despite the range and the slightly-obscured targets, both men were sent scurrying for cover - Emilio clutching at a badly-bleeding shoulder.

Showing a considerable amount of bravery (or maybe foolishness!), Santiago ran back to his injured friend Emilio.  He picked up his boss's (ordinary) rifle and fired at Tuco.  Santiago wasn't a very good shot, but he put enough lead in the air to cause Tuco to duck down behind a small cactus.  Meanwhile, Jesse used the distraction to start on a wide flanking manoeuvre.

At this point, a Bystander card was drawn.  Lola Vasquez, a "certain kind of lady", came out of one of the buildings, looking for mischief.  She would be controlled by whichever player drew the first character card of each turn, so the target of her fluttering eyelids could change from turn to turn.

At about the same time, another team declared their position.  Black Bart and Kid Shelleen appeared from inside the barn, where they had been hoping to stage an ambush.  They were tired of waiting and moved outside to see what was the result of all the recent gunfire.

Sadly for the newcomers, Tuco was once again gifted with a handful of action cards.  Again, he used the prize rifle to aim and fire at Black Bart and Santiago.  Both men were luck that the bullets hit the cover behind which they were sheltering, but the splinters and dust caused both of them to hit the dirt nevertheless.

Meanwhile, the wounded Emilio had drawn his pistol with his off hand and was approaching Tuco from the front (but sheltered from view by a small patch of scrub).  Similarly, Jesse was coming in from the side, hidden by a rock outcropping.

Jesse thought he had the drop on the distracted Tuco, so he stepped out from behind his rock and prepared to shoot.  However, Tuco was unbelievably fast; he spun round and fired before the big man - but missed.  Jesse's hasty return shot also went wide.

Not fancying his chances at gun play, Jesse decided to charge Tuco and wrestle with him.  This obviously caught the legend off guard; he didn't react as the tall stranger closed the distance.  Old Pete, Tuco's loyal sidekick, ran in to help his boss - though against the brawling specialist this looked like a forlorn hope.  (Jesse was typically rolling between 6 and 8 dice in melee, depending on his chosen attack or defence.  Old Pete usually rolled 2 dice...)

It looked as if the gambit had paid off for Jesse as he punched Tuco's lights out.  Now all he had to do was overcome the little old man and he'd be able to pick up the prize rifle from Tuco's unconscious body.

At this point, the final group entered play.  Santos and Jebediah came out of the tent on the far side of the road, close to where Santiago was dithering about what to do next.

In a strange decision, Emilio decided to give up trying to cross the fence (perhaps his injured arm made this just too difficult?) and run to the aid of his sidekick (Santiago) instead.  He charged full pelt straight towards the new arrivals but Jebediah, despite being only a lowly citizen, thumped Emilio so hard that he went down for good.

Santos now marched towards the fence, intending (I think) to cross and have it out with Tuco.  On the way, he was beset on all sides.  Both Kid Shelleen and Esteban blazed away at him, but although both of them emptied their pistols, neither came close to hitting.  Lola also tried to entice him away from his plan, but the man in black wasn't at all interested in her charms.

Even as Santos was rejoined by his sidekick (Jebediah), he tired of the 2 pests who had been firing at him.  Santos walked casually between them and shot down both his attackers.

Meanwhile, Old Pete was doing a very impressive job of fighting with Jesse.  Unbelievably, the big man just couldn't get past the old timer.  Tuco recovered consciousness, grabbed his prize rifle and ran hell for leather  towards the barn.  He slipped past the waiting Black Bart at the end of the fence line before the latter could react, but was hotly pursued by Santos.  And at this point we had to end the game and pack up.  Tuco was within 1 move of safety!

Conclusion

Well, that was anarchy!  Who won?  I have no idea!  Let's see:

• Santos and Jebediah were both unhurt and had acquired considerable kudos from capturing and killing enemies.  Not the right ones, however.
• Emilio was wounded, knocked out and tied up.  His sidekick Santiago started well, but then hung about uselessly in the background.
• Jesse had a good plan, but was foiled by an old codger that he should have been able to push over.  Esteban didn't do much.
• Black Bart was pretty useless as a "main" character: he stood around looking fierce but did nothing more.  Kid Shelleen tried hard, but was too junior to make much impression on his own.
• Tuco won the competition and still held the prize rifle at the end of the game, though he hadn't yet escaped.  Old Pete was quite a hero, though not in a way I would have predicted at the start.

Who do you think was man (or woman!) of the match?

Scenario: "Terror on Tapu Island"

The Competition

Recently, "jimjackaman" organised a scenario-writing competition on the Lost World Safari Yahoo group.  Some of my readers may already be aware of this, but I put forward an entry and when the poll was taken, I won!  Now this wasn't a big competition and there aren't any prizes, but I'm still chuffed to bits about the result.

The full rules can be read here (I think even non-members of the group can see these).  Paraphrased, they go something like this "design a Lost World adventure in no more than 500 words, using 6 packs of miniatures from Bob Murch's 'Pulp Figures' range, of which at least 1 pack must be PLT 08 Saurian Predators".

You can see the shortlist of entries here (and some very good ideas are in them, too), but below is my own effort.  Note that I've dressed up the formatting a bit and added some images (sadly, not my own).  This was obviously not possible in the text-only Yahoo group format, but hey - I'm recording this for posterity.  Here goes...

Terror on Tapu Island

A Lost World adventure for 4 players

Scenario

Somewhere in the South Pacific, a small island is tapu (forbidden) to the natives who live on the nearby, larger islands. Word has got round that there is something extraordinary to be found there and several bands of adventurers with different motivations have set off to discover the secret of Tapu Island!

Forces (from the Pulp Figures range, by Bob Murch)

• Dinosaurs (non-player force): 2 packs of PLT 08 Saurian Predators
  
  
• Big Game Hunters: 1 pack of PHP 08 Safari Into Danger (minus Jim Remington, the guide)
  
• Film Crew: 1 pack of PHP 01 Film Crew (plus Jim Remington from PHP 08, above)
  
• Seamen: 1 pack of PSS 03 Tramp Steamer Sailors
  
• Natives: 1 pack of PSS 11 Melanesian Island Warriors
  

Setup

Tapu Island is a 4' square-ish tropical island, with narrow sandy beaches and rocky outcrops alternating along the outside and lush jungle filling much of the inside. There should be a few more open areas away from the coast, along with many narrow paths/game trails. A few small streams wouldn't go amiss and a tall waterfall with a pool at the base would be excellent!

Randomly position 12 counters at least 8" away from the coast. If a character gets line of sight to a counter then roll a d6: on a 1 it's a large dinosaur; on a 2 it's a small dinosaur; on any other roll it's just nerves. A revealed dinosaur, or a counter if there is anyone within 6" of it, will move straight towards the nearest person on a 1-3, straight away on a 4-5 or in a random direction on a 6. Counters move 6".

Each player's forces start on a different beach, having just disembarked from a small boat or canoe.

Special Rules

• The Big Game Hunters win if they kill a dinosaur, take a trophy from the carcass (takes 1 character a whole turn) and then escape by boat.
• The Film Crew win if they shoot at least 2 turns worth of film that includes a live dinosaur (roll "to hit" for the cameraman to take the shots) and then escape by boat.
• The Seamen win if they capture a dinosaur and then escape by boat. One of the seamen has an endless supply of bottles of chloroform; throw these as a grenade, a hit renders the target unconscious for 1d3 turns. It takes 2 men to drag a captured small dinosaur or 4 men to drag a large one. Dragging a captive is done at half normal speed.
• The Natives win if they prevent any of the white men from leaving the island, either by killing them or taking all the boats. The warriors have rubbed their bodies with the berries of the punga tree; this causes a dinosaur to ignore them in disgust on a d6 roll of 5+.
• Random events could include goats (as bait), snakes and typhoons.