Rogue Stars: Standoff at Undra IV

Rogue Stars:
New Christmas ruleset, new blog post! This time we're going with Rogue Stars from Osprey Publishing. For our first game, because we hate things being simple, we're trying a three player scenario- hard enough to balance in 'I go, you go' games. Our working rules with Rogue Stars reaction/stealing the initiative system was crude but practical- the two 'off-initiative' players would roll off to take reactions, with the loser automatically 'winning' the next roll to make sure one faction didn't get entirely shut out. It wasn't perfect, but the best we could come up with on the fly. Below is a list of the crews used and the scenario details- I'll add some 'fluff' for my crew later if people want to see that sort of thing.

The Crews:
Stoneheart Crew- Militia Theme, True Grit Tactical Discipline. Squats/Space Dwarves Durgrim Alien Species.

Thane Runil Voidblazer- Heavy Worlder, Hero, Combat Dress, Monoaxe (blade), Stub Pistol, Leadership 2, Weapon Master 1, Veteran
Breacher Vallen Stoneheart- Heavy Worlder, Combat Dress, Magma Hammer (monoscythe), Weapon Mastery 2, Quantum Harness
Wayfinder Calgar Bugslayer- Heavy Worlder, Combat Dress, Assault Rifle, Motion Detector, Medic (2)
Wayfinder Thum Bronzebeard- Heavy Worlder, Combat Dress, Assault Rifle, Frag Grenade, Martial Arts (1)
Wayfinder Urist Rockdelver- Heavy Worlder, Combat Dress, Assault Rifle, Marksman (1), Tech (1)

The Ten Thousand- Mercenary Theme, Hard to Kill Tactical Discipline, Human species.

[This was the Crew of a friend, so I don't exactly have all of his traits/weapons down]

Captain Cyrus- Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle, Leader (2), Marksman (2), Elite
Xenophon- Force Shield, Quantum Harness, Assault Rifle
Cleon- Zapp Gun, Light Combat Dress
Caduceus- Medic (2), Assault Rifle, Light Combat Dress

Centrino Security Force Alpha- Star Cops Theme, Cool Under Fire Tactical Discipline, Human or Near-Human species.

Arbiter Billy Beaulieu- Light Power Armor, Hero, Refraction Field, Plasma Rifle, Leadership (3)
Sergeant Drogan- Light Power Armor, Veteran, Tech (1), Laser Cannon, Fire into Melee
Psionicist Pandora- Force Shield, Force Glaive, Psionic (1), Psionic Mastery, Perceptive (1), Levitate, Mind BoltKal the Drone- Flight Pack, Artificial, Non-Reactive, Medic (2), Tech (1), Electromag Shackles, Night Visor, Heavy Blaster

The Mission:

Type- Get to the Ship! After a clash between Star Cops and Mercenaries, the only way off the planet is a transorbital shuttle held by local Durgim militia.
Location- Undra IV, An Ice Planet covered in the ruins of several civilizations long left to the freezing winds. Currently claimed by the Durgrim clans.
Hazard- The earlier fighting set off some long frozen device which has begun to send off intermittent waves of powerful EMP! All technology is at some risk of failure.

"For all intents and purposes, Undra IV was a dead world. Countless battles and tragedies marred its surface, leaving ruins of civilizations on top of each other- a twisted graveyard of ambition and regret. Recently jurisdiction over the planet has become something of a major sticking point. Mineral and Salvage rights recently have been purchased by the United Durgrim Clans and they brook no interlopers- but the planet also lies within the historical purview of the Centrino Station Security Force.

So when a group of known mercenaries fled from a Centrino vessel, heading to the planet to lay low, the Security forces followed. The ensuing dispute amongst the ruins caused uncalcuable damage to several ruins- as well as setting off an ancient defense system. Crackling energy filled the icy sky, communication to their ships in orbit cut off by the electro-magnetic pulses now shocking through the sector. The Mercenaries knew that their only chances of escaping justice sat at a local Durgrim listening post... and the Centrino forces were willing to cause a diplomatic incident to prevent that from happening.

Who could get to the shuttle first? Or will the valient Durgrim fend off these trespassers? "

The cluttered, ruined, frozen wasteland of Undra IV.

The Crew of "The Stone Warden". Left to Right: Thum Bronzebeard, Vallen Stoneheart,
Thane Runil Voidblazer, Calgar Bugslayer, and Urist Rockdelver

The Mercenary Crew "The Ten Thousand". Left to Right: Cleon, Captain Cyrus,
Xenophon and Caduceus.

The "Centrino" Security Force. Left to Right: Kal the Drone, Arbiter Billy Beaulieu,
Psionicist Pandora, and Sergeant Drogan.

This Bunker leads to the underground Durgrim Outpost- which includes a
hanger and a transorbital shuttle. The only quick way off the planet!

Urist takes a sentry post in the ruins on the far left flank, his practiced
Marksman's eye scanning the battlefield for the approaching interlopers.

Runil takes up position behind the ruined fuselage while Vallen (apparently)
takes a nap within the wreckage of a destroyed APC.

Thum and Calgar make their way towards the right flank even as the
Centrino Force makes their way towards salvation.

The drone fires up its flight protocols, rocketing forwards to
engage the Durgim forces.

After two attempts Xenophon manages to foil the EMP and jump using his Quantum Harness.
He proceeded to (in what became a fairly common situation as the game went on) slip and
fall as he sprinted to cover. As he would fail to jump again, it would seem that the fall
damaged something sensitive in the device.

On the right a lucky shot from Calgar staggers the levitating Psionicist, forcing
the Drone to fly back and (successfully) remove the status effect.

Charging up the old fashioned way (taking and returning fire with Urist) Cyrus
manages to take cover behind some ruins with his subordinate.

Things go poorly on the right flank as Sergeant Drogan takes a pair of shots
at Calgar. The second shot hit home, and an unlucky roll took him straight OOA.

The duel between Urist and Captain Cyrus ended ignominiously as the Durgrim
found his position flanked. A pair of shot knocks him prone, before putting an
Assault Rifle round into his head- taking him OOA as well.

Things aren't looking good for the defenders as the Arbiter runs up, taking
Thum OOA even as he attempted to lug the downed Calgar to the bunker. For
those counting, that makes three for three OOA's on injuries with the Durgrim.
In response, the Thane jumps out to engage the Arbiter...

Who avenges his comrade with a monoblade (axe) to first the chest then the
head. Failing an endure roll, the Arbiter goes OOA even as the rest of his
team runs to his aid.

Xenophon rolls two 1's for Quantum leaps, overheating the system and forcing
shutdowns due to the EMP crackling through the atmosphere. Yep, definitely broken.

Cyrus breaks cover to come around the corner, facing down the Centrino Psionicist
and the Durgrim Thane as he sprints for the bunker entrance...

Only for Vallen to finally wake up, having (despite his 'Hero' upgrade) done nothing
beforehand besides give 8+ activations away to the enemy. With a quick flurry from his
Magma Hammer (Monoscythe) he brings the Captain down, crunching straight through
the Power Armored head. Cyrus goes OOA.

Even as Thane Runil hacks apart the drone (whose flight pack failed during its
last activation), Psionicist Pandora picks up his fallen commander and makes
his way ever closer to the bunker.

Xenophon and Caduceus speed towards the fallen Cyrus,
Caduceus managing to stabilize her boss just as...

*Whoosh*. Pandora, with Arbiter Beaulieu over his shoulder, decided that
the danger from the incoming Mercenary band was too much and pulled away-
escaping from the battlefield and winning the mission. They'd always have time
to pick up Sergeant Drogan later.

 "Thane Runil yanked his thrumming blue axe-head from the pile of parts that could have been once described as a Centrino Support Drone. The sounds of the bunker door locking filled him with a simmering anger- a fire merely stoked by the bodies of his comrades lying all around. A quick glance at his wrist-display reassured him that they still lived- and would continue to do so with quick medical attention. Reaching forwards, the veteran grasped the hammer-wielding Vallen before he could rush off to catch the rapidly fleeing mercenary group who had started the whole affair.

He was just as likely to be riddled with bullets as he was to catch any of the bastards.

"Gather the rest of the team while I override the lockdown" her growled, voice thick with emotion "A storms a-coming. We need to be inside before then or we'll all freeze. Don't worry lad, they'll get what's coming to them."

He meant it to. The ship's Book of Grudges would be opened up for this. Runil's eyes hardened as the shuttle pulled out of the cliff-face before rocketing up and towards the sky. No one stole from a Durgrim. No one. "

Aftermath: So, in the end, the Star Cop Centrino forces managed to pull a win by getting off the planet- but we ran into an odd issue with this particular scenario. They managed to get 6xp from getting two members into the ship- but the Durgrim defenders were looking to get 18  xp. All four of the Mercenary crew were still on the field, as well as a downed Drone and a Sergeant. It didn't quite feel right for the losing defenders to get almost three times as many experiance points for a mission they 'lost'.

So we all decided to count this as a test game. All downed troops were saved on a 10+ endure roll (meaning that only the Drone died in the end) and all warbands involved recieved 3xp. Basically, we all decided that the three player format that we used didn't quite work and didn't want to cripple/over-reward any one crew quite yet. We'll continue to brainstorm on the issue for the future!

Have any good three player ideas? Let me know!