Mission 1 Enemy: Rebel Unity Soldiers (Corrupt Local Planetary Defense Forces) - The PDF
Mission: Grab
Location: Planetary Defence Force outpost
Crew Roster Sheet The Objective TURN 1 The PDF win initiative, and rolled for a Scurry turn. The Governor ordered his men forward into defensive postions, and Midas ordered his crew to do the same.
Deathskull makes a beeline for the pilot of the PDF interceptor, who is hiding behind the wing of his craft.
I decided Kaylee needed to stay with the ship to try and repair it/stop it from catching fire (no game effect, just not part of the battle).
TURN 2 The crew win initiative. Normal turn. Deathskull charges the pilot, who let out a hasty shot with his service revolver, but missed.
The cybernetically enhanced Pit Fighter swings his axe down and almost cleaves the pilot in two.
Midas pulled the priming lock on his Tau Pulse Carbine (Blast Pistol), and advanced on Trooper Hicks firing as he went. The shots went wide.
Trooper Frak makes a move around the flank, and Jayne let off some Guard fire with his shotgun, but missed. Frak fires his lasgun (Blast Rifle) at Slade, who is hunkered down behind some supply crates, but in his haste also misses the shot, the rounds slamming into the Plasteel crates.
Trooper Knox also fires his lasgun, but sends a burst of incandescent shots over Midas' head to no effect.
TURN 3 PDF win initiative, normal turn. Trooper Frak dashes further down the flank, but Jayne sees the danger and Guard fires again, send him flinching behind the moisture unit.
The Governor, seeing Deathskull advancing around the Interceptor, realises that they are going for the spare Power Core sitting near the abandoned Rhino. He dashes in that direction to intercept.
Slade takes careful aim with his Needle Rifle (Shock Gun), and fires at Trooper Knox, but the trooper see the glint of the ruby targeting laser and ducks just in time.
Midas decides to advance further, and makes a run for cover. Trooper Knox sees him and Guard fires, but once again misses.
Midas, watching the rounds stitch the ground around him, turns smoothly and drops the trooper dead with an accurate burst from his carbine.
TURN 4 Crew win initiative, normal turn. Deathskull makes a Dash for the power core, and makes the distance.
It is then that things take a turn for the worse for the crew of Tranquility; Jayne advances on Trooper Hicks, and fires his shotgun.
The shots go wide, but Hicks Bails under the furious barrage. He runs directly from Jayne to the safety of some Rockcrete barriers.
Hicks then sees Deathskull opening the strong case containing the spare power core for the Interceptor. He activates, is able to rally, and turns and fires on Deathskull with an accurate burst of fire. The first shot strikes Deathskull in the shoulder, who has just enough time to bring his Storm Shield (Combat Armour) around to block a couple more of the shots.
Unperturbed, Hicks switches to full auto and continues to pour fire on his hapless target. Just as his ammo indicator nears empty, a round finally penetrates the protective corona of the shield, and neatly burns a hole in Deathskull's head. His leering skull mask shattered, his axe and shield falling from his hands, Deathskull drops to the ground dead, with a smoking crater in his forehead. [Note I rolled for Out of Action for Deathskull, however in the post-game roll, he turned up dead.]
TURN 5 PDF win initiative, normal turn Seeing the Pit Fighter slumped next to the Power Core, Trooper Hicks realises what the crew are after. He remains in his current position, which provides ample fire lanes to many of the approaches to the core. Hoping for some revenge for Jayne's earlier shotgun blast, he fires back at the distant Jayne, but misses.
The Governor also retreats towards the Power Core, taking cover behind some crates of supplies.
Slades shoots at Trooper Frak near the moisture unit, but misses. Jayne pushes forward, braving inaccurate Guard fire from Trooper Frak.
TURN 6 PDF win initiative, Firefight! The only people with clear lanes of fire, Trooper Frak and Slade let off a furious fussilade of shots at each other, but to no effect. Slade begins to think that this was a bad idea, and they should have tried to make the run into town with a shorted Power Core.
TURN 7 PDF win initiative, normal turn Trooper Frak holds his position. Meanwhile, the Governor shows why he is the law in this town, and strides out into the middle of the street, pulling a large naval revolver from its holster.
This bold move is met by guard fire from Jayne, and sends the Governor bailing back towards Trooper Hicks' position.
Jayne, seeing that the open street in front of the hab-units is well and truly covered, makes a dash in between the two pods, hoping to sneak up on the Power Core from behind.
Midas tries to follow, but must cross the street in front of Hicks, who sends a burst down that street which sends Midas bailing a long way back, right adjacent to Trooper Frak at the moisture unit!
TURN 8 Crew win initiative, normal turn Jayne's gamble pays off, as he flanks around the rear of the hab-unit, and fires a shotgun blast at Hicks, who bails and makes a run for it towards the perimeter fence.
Midas tries to find the courage to rally, but decides to stay put. The adventure vids he watched on his home planet didn't say anything about such a staunch enemy, normally the heroes rolled through them easily and with style.
The Governor on the other hand, a hard-bitten man, rallies as he knows they are after his precious spare Power Core. They will have to come back through him to get to it. He yells at Hicks to pull himself together, as he levels his revolver at Jayne but misses.
Hicks comes to his senses and also rallies, but is somewhat shaken and misses his next shot at Jayne. Perhaps Jayne's flanking maneuver wasn't so clever after all.
TURN 9 PDF win initiative, Firefight! Trooper Frak, tiring of his constant battle with Slade, takes careful aim and wings Slade in the shoulder, who gets knocked down behind the Rockcrete barrier. "This was a really bad idea" moans Slade.
The Governor slams a fresh quick-loader into his revolver, and fires at Jayne, who bails off the objective and around the corner. Trooper Frak, satisfied that he has finally taken down his opponent, let's his guard down - only for Midas to rally, peek around the corner, and execute him at close range with his Pulse Carbine.
TURN 10 PDF win initiative, normal turn The Governor gives chase after Jayne, but doesn't quite catch up to him. Jayne yells in alarm as the imposing man in the leather duster strides around the corner towards him.
Hicks shifts his position slightly to take an even more commanding position near the street.
Hearing Jayne's cries for help. Slade dusts himself off and makes a break towards the centre of the settlement, intent on saving Jayne.
Jayne moves further around a hab-unit, ducking out of line of sight of the Governor; he hopes that he can ambush him with his shotgun.
TURN 11 PDF win initiative, normal turn The Governor continues chase, while Trooper Hicks stays put in his position, confident in his firing lanes.
Midas runs towards the power core.
Jayne spins around the corner and unloads his shotgun at the Governor, but is too hasty and misses.
TURN 12 Crew win initiative, normal turn Jayne shoots at the Governor again, becoming desperate, but again misses. This guy must have guts to stand in the open taking fire like this he thinks.
Slade climbs the moisture unit, and gets a commanding view of the battlefield. He sights carefully down at the Rockrete barriers, and shoots a needle at Hicks. The laser blast stitches a neat hole in Hicks' flak vest, and the toxic dart that follows it a millisecond later embeds itself in his shoulder. Hicks falls to the ground with a howl.
The Governor calmly fires back at Jayne, who again flinches around the corner.
TURN 13 PDF win initiative, normal turn Hicks groggily plucks the needle from his shoulder, but the toxin has clearly already been delivered, and so he stays down.
The Governor checks his clip. One bullet remaining. It is enough, as he shoots Jayne squarely in the chest, who goes Out of Action.
Midas makes a dash for the objective, while Slade stays on overwatch, waiting for the Governor to show himself from behind the hab-units.
TURN 14 Crew win initiative, normal turnThe Governor strides out from behind the hab-units, but is too far the action to do anything.
Seeing Hicks languishing on the ground, Midas decides to hurry over and capture him - after all, this will leave the Governor by himself. Hicks looks blearily up at Midas, and says "The Governor made us do it. I'm sorry about your friends..." before Midas knocks him out with a smack from the butt of his carbine.
The Governor, realising he is the last man standing, decides discretion is the better part of valour, and legs it through a gap in the fence; after all, there is always another day.
The crew return to Tranquility. Kaylee, looking up, sees Slade dragging the prone form of Jayne, a sucking wound in his chest. "Looks real bad boss", she says, "We need to get him to a Doc, fast." She then realises that Deathskull is nowhere to be seen. "I hope it was worth it."
Next time, a look at the post-game campaign rolls and the next mission.THE END