Round 2 a) Yellow Hawk down (Based on Smash & Grab scenario)
Liberty League v Dr Death v Commonwealth Co-operative Corps
The CCC knew from the information captured in the first round that the handover was coming to them aboard a shuttle on a low level trade mission between the CCC and S&M. Their techs monitored the flight displays as the small craft headed across wasteland on its way to the CCC outpost at Fire Bend. It was about half way into the journey that the CCC techs raised the alarm as the shuttle disappeared from the screens . A recovery squad was dispatched to the site at which the craft disappeared.
Out in the wasteland an LL patrol saw the small yellow shuttle dropping lower in the sky skimming the ruins of some columns before crash landing amongst rubble on the edge of the beaten zone however theirs weren’t the only eyes which were scanning the skies from the desolated land. Dr Death focused his enhanced retinal implant at the S&M shuttle and calculated its trajectory before ordering his shambling cohorts towards the likely crash site.
As noted previously there were 10 plot points in total but 5 were false and the major one unknown to the three leagues.
The actual plot points were :
Crashed shuttle
Male pilot
Female pilot
Distress beacon
Electrical flight recorder.
False points were a bag containing papers, an equipment crate, a bag, a back pack, a supplies box.
The potential perils were 28 in total but with only 4 actual perils and one hazardous peril , the remainder were false.
The perils and plot points were spread evenly across the board. When characters came within 6” of a potential plot point it was revealed as a genuine one or not depending on the character rolling a successful cunning or finesse roll. If it was genuine they went on to try & capture hit if it wasn’t they ignored it and moved on.
When a character came within 3” of a peril counter it was turned over and if it was a peril the player could have a card played on them.
There were zonal perils as well as these point perils. Cratered ground/ rubble/ was a peril if characters ran in it and walls/barricades >2” high were also perils if a character jumped/climbed it.
In the random events rolls each league received a friendly local, drew an extra fortune card at the first turn and had to reconnoitre (no attack, run or rush in first turn).
Dr Death won the initiative and deployed as shown, followed by the CCC and then the LL.
This left the LL at somewhat of a disadvantage as they were rather sandwiched between the other two forces and perhaps for future reference if there are 3 or 4 players in this game they should all start in a corner rather than on a side.
Dr Death took a gang of rats (one of the bases shown) in this scenario rather than a servitor.
Dr Death’s league set off on a broad front reaching two possible plot points but finding them to be useless waste. No perils were triggered. The CCC similarly checked out some plot points but they were again not genuine, however neither were the perils they encountered.
The LL making frequent reference to their disadvantageous situation set off forming a three character firing line as a defence against Dr Deaths league whilst working their way into cover to shoot against the CCC. The possible plot point they encountered was revealed as waste but neither did they trigger any perils.
Dr Death determined that the beacon he could see was an actual plot point
but in moving towards it triggered a peril which was the double skull and failed the health check to be down & out.
The gang of rats moved across broken ground on their right flank & Anna Sthesia moved cautiously up the centre towards the downed crewman who she discovered was a plot point. The zombies were thrown out in a broad front to trigger perils and act as bullet magnets. The CCC split their forces in two Thurman and two allies moving towards an electrical circuit board which they discovered was a genuine plot point. Rice and a follower moved towards the dead female from the shuttle which again they discovered was a plot point.
The LL set about shooting but in the first of a set of long dice rolling failures they didn’t manage to cause any damage to the enemies characters. At this point Andy, the LL player, started complaining vociferously about his dice rolling. All I can say is that its never a taken as a good sign by the dice gods who invariably – as they did in this game, set about inflicting more misery on the transgressor.
Dr Death used a card to auto recover, not trusting to a dice roll- even though he had Regenerate. Clearly this feeling of the capricious nature of the dice gods was catching.
Dr Death having recovered passed the next peril challenge and then the challenge at the beacon before taking the plot point. The zombie moved ahead of him to draw any fire. Anna Sthesia made it to the downed crewman but was hit by a 2 success challenge which she only passed one of. The rats and the other two zombie continued to move up towards the CCC.
The CCC moved towards the downed female crew with Pilger (follower) going for the plot point but failing a challenge and Aneka shooting at Ripley with both ending up being down.
On their other flank Chester tried to take the plot point but failed. He was joined by Dillman and Ekhardt who again failed. As cunning was involved this wasn’t their forte. Seeing them all clustered around the plot point was a bit like that joke ‘how many ... does it take to change a light bulb’. In this case how many CCC characters does it take to capture a plot point? More than half their league apparently!
The LL again carried out some ineffective shooting but started to move Apone and Hicks (ally) towards the downed shuttle which was a plot point.
The rats could now reach Chester and his pals so attacking them and tying them down in combat but not before the CCC characters had tried and still not succeeded with their plot point.
With plot point in hand Dr Death made his way towards Sister Anna Sthesia who this time completed her challenge now to be hit by a ‘3 success’ challenge from the deck.
Aneka had recovered and took her plot point whilst the temporary CCC backup fought the LL characters in the ruins thus tying them up in combat (it being drawn).
Apone shot at Aneka and not surprisingly missed. Hicks made it to the shuttle but couldn’t pass the challenge (well it did involve dice rolls). The LL player was now complaining about the shape of the dice (sharp edged versus rounded edged). I could just see the dice gods lining up more pain.
In round 4 Anna Sthesia captured her plot point and was joined by Dr Death. Her zombie companion moved towards the shuttle. Meanwhile Chester finished off the rats ( clearly better at combat than cunning) and his two companions finished the plot point. Three character, three turns, one plot point! Apone tried to fight Aneka for her plot point but again as it involved dice rolling (this time round edged dice) he failed and Aneka dodged away! Cue more complaining.
Hicks however did clear the challenge and the LL backup- a character derided as useless by the LL player dodged shooting and made his way into the ruins to put the CCC backup down and out.
Apone moved to the shuttle and took the plot point as Chester and his companions moved to the other side of the shuttle. They were however held up by a zombie attacking them. Dr Death handed his plt point to Anna Sthesia and moved ahead of her to act as a shield.
In the final round Apone moved away from the shuttle under cover of his remaing league members. Chester and his companions shot at Dr Death but he dodged and the LL player clearly better with cards than dice hit Anna and the Dr with a challenge peril from his fortune cards- a good move but they both survived.
The game ended with the LL holding one minor plot point, Dr Death holding 1 major and 1 minor plot point and the CCC holding two minor plot points.
It was a really cagey game with the players all using their cards really carefully (& well).
The abiding lessons though were if you want to flummox the CCC give them cunning challenges and don’t complain about dice rolls- the dice gods will only serve you up more pain!