Stargrave The Last prospector Campaign - Scipio vs Sutch

[Muzfish4]

Honereb. Had to be Honereb. Backwater, dusty nothing sorta place. Still, that’s where Old Mate was messaging from saying he’d finally made the Big Score he’d been chasing half his life. Needed me, my investigative skills and a reliable backing crew to secure the grab. I’d been to the Dahlgren Belt once before, with another crew in another life and barely made it out in one piece. If you like the locals, you’ll love the fauna.  Anyway, business is business so I collected my crew. Some, Iike Agner, I’d trust with my life. Others, I barely knew, finding their way onto the Curate’s Egg through vague recommendations. Still, we’ll see. Looking to catching up with Old Mate at a dive bar on Penthalia Station. His choice of venue, but not much choice out that way at the best of times. As we headed in, I got word that I wasn’t the only party he contacted. Reliable as ever. I knew it’d be a ride when we walked in the bar and within seconds rounds were already downrange.

After playing several stand-alone missions and the ‘zombie’ mini-campaign in Quarantine 37 (Q37) we were ready for the full campaign offered in the latest Stargrave supplement, the Last Prospector (TLP). On initial inspection, TLP looks to be pretty well thought out and structured with plenty of opportunities for players to develop their own crew and tell their own stories as they navigate their way through ten scenarios to see who find the last prospector and ends up on top.

We had played with a few variations in the past as we learnt the game, most notably using 2d10 rather than a d20 for combat to try to minimalize the arbitrary nature of critical hits taking out a key character early in the scenario. So, vanilla rules for us. There seems to be enough going on with hunting for Investigation Points and maintaining a standing with the six major factions operating out of the Honereb System.  We both got optimistic and named all our crew instead of the captain and first mate. Overly optimistic?

In scenario one both sides start with their crew split in half in opposing  corners of a  bar (requiring plenty of scatter terrain) and some special rules such as no long  arms or other heavy weapons (i.e. everyone has a pistol only) and the danger of hitting bystanders in the first few turns.


Above: Turn One set up

My crew, led by Scipio Benoit (using the new character background of investigator), pushed forward pretty quickly looking to secure the nearest data loot token. On the other side of the table, my cyborg first mate, Agner Terrak (thanks, random name generator) did something similar with his lot looking to snare a physical loot token. My opponent did the same, pushing up with the boss, Screaming Lord Sutch (a noble from the Q37 expansion) and his offsider, First Mate Beast (unsurprisingly, a biomorph) did something similar.


Above: Scipio and crew close in on the loot

The first few turns were all about moving up and having the crew leaders attempt to activate various powers, some more successfully than others. As the bar emptied out we came to pistol range and the first few unlocking attempts were made to get the loot tokens. I had some initial success unlocking a data loot but for reasons I was never clear on, always elected to do something else than pick it up. Beast’s team were in a similar situation but the Crazy Meg , Sutch’s chief chiseler, wasn’t having much luck with her picks. By way of contrast, my guy got through first go and as the nearest exit was being covered he took the long way off board, covered by a couple of his crewmates.


Above: Meg advances on the loot (note that Beast is camouflaged and his offsider is stunned

So far, so good, until Scipio wore a critical hit on turn three or four and was out of the match. Not much fun losing one’s boss early on and nearly every subsequent turn I lost initiative so had to contend with being on the receiving end of a lot of fire before getting the chance to shot back. This notwithstanding, Agner pushed onto the centre objective and despite losing a couple of crewmates managed to get it unlocked and picked up.


Above: the fight for loot token heats up

Beast left Meg to her own devices, surely she’d get it open sooner or later, and push onwards with the majority if his team to contest the data token I had finally picked up, but then lost as the bearer was shot down. This token was the scene of all sorts of desperate attacks (my melee was characterised by poor die rolling and I don’t think I won once, whatever advantages I may have had), movements and even the odd (unsuccessful) attempt to control a robot. Eventually, after a couple more casualties we had it and were looking to exit the board. Station security was rarely in evidence and seemed content to come along after the incident and write it up in the Penthalia Station custom notebooks. And then do nothing. Art imitating life?


Above: Sutch grabs what's coming to him

The scenario came to an end as my few remaining crewmembers managed to exit the board taking three tokens with them and Meg still couldn’t get her sonic screwdriver to work so the loot token she was working on remained locked (and rolling under 15 at end-of-game, unclaimed). Scipio’s crew incurred six casualties and Sutch lost three but Team Benoit had three loot token to the one recovered by his Lordship.


Above: Midgame gun battles

Postgame admin was where things turned. Sutch has his runner severely wounded. Runners are a cred a dozen in Honereb so she was let go and another new one added to his roster, but he also lost a more valuable crewmate killed outright. The one loot token was just enough to cover costs and not much more. Scipio, by contrast, survived his wound as did his five crewmates and the three token yielded nothing but cash. He did however, make his  post-game ‘contacts’ power roll (a new power in TLP) and could use some of the loot pick up on an advanced deck giving +8 on unlock rolls. Scipio also garnered 250 odd experience while Sutch had but 170 or so. So we jumped two level and Sutch advanced one. 

Cumulative Investigation points:
Scipio – 3
Sutch – 1

Faction Standings:
Scipio: Freeholders  - 1
Scipio: Honera – 1
Sutch: Molly – 2

No faction standing bonuses.

As Scipio garnered more IPs in the scenario, I got to choose the next scenario and picked scenario four thinking the Freeholders handing out filter masks will make up for the advantage Sutch will have with the surfboys. Next game will see if I am right.

Hell of a way to start an investigation. As soon as the crowd cleared I was taken down by some sort of blaster pistol. Never saw it coming. Fortunately, Agner repaid my confidence in him and grabbed enough info to give us our next destination. Even more fortunately, despite the crew getting knocked around a bit no-one was down for the count. They seem to be working well together and my man in the know came through with a new gadget. Might even thing about souping up the egg next soon.  With everyone one the mend, a bit of cash in the kitty and a Cygnian cigar clamped between my teeth prospects look mighty good for our upcoming excursion to Cratertown….

[Pattus Magnus]

Excellent battle report! I like the crews and terrain, too. I’m looking forward to the next installment.

[hubbabubba]

Entertaining AAR, thanks.