Trailblazing Mission 14

This is a step-by-step breakdown of the fourteenth Campaign Turn in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This mission was my first after purchasing the new Trailblazers Toolkit expansion, so it has a number of new twists and turns, like Enemy Deployment Variables and the Escalating Battle mechanics.

Crew names below are often abbreviated "G" to "M", as explained in: Crew Roster, which also tells you about my team and a bit about their ship. See also the Index of my Five Parsecs articles for a list of previous Missions and other content.

Pre-Battle:
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a

1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - I briefly flirt with the idea of flying back to Aceso Menrva Prime, the planet I started the Campaign on. It was a Medical World, so the cost of Recovery is cheaper on that planet, and with a lucky roll on my Cargo Bay and Hidden Compartment, the voyage might actually subsidize the early return of my badly wounded K'Erin soldier. However, that was also the world that Leonidas loves so much he's tempted to abandon the crew and stay behind. So the bad result if my cargo hold fails would be spending 1/3 of my savings on fuel, leaving me too cash-poor to Recover fully this round despite the discount, and then also having to dump a Story Point to not lose another character when I leave. That's just not a good gamble.

1.3 Starship Travel Event: - n/a

1.4 New World Arrival Steps: - n/a

1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - no

2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - 1    Ship Debt - 0    Ship Repairs - 0    Medical Care - 0

H'Xex, my K'Erin soldier, is still in Sick Bay. Getting him out this Turn would cost 12 of my 14 Credits, so I hold off for another Turn at least.

2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
Find a Patron -    Train - J    Trade - K,G    Recruit -     Explore - I, L    Track -    Repair Your Kit - M    Decoy -

Noteworthy results from Tasks: -

Kid trades for Tourist Garbage, but it's actually worth a Story Point (bringing me back up to 7). I'm picturing a set of "Soup Goggles", kitschy steampunky eyewear with moving wiper-blades and some sort of awful joke about the local fog printed on the frames.

GcViib trades for Spare Parts. Very sensible.

Inshubur and Leonidas go out for drinks at a little dive bar called Ripped. Between the name, and the tables and chairs all being oversized plasteel models, bolted to the floor, we should have known not to drink too heavily here. Leonidas gets a little tipsy, and starts a fight, adding new Rivals to our roster.  It's a Hulker Gang. 7-foot slabs of roid-rage and laced muscle. That's not good.

Moreva fixes the Damaged Military Rifle.


2.3 Determine Job Offers: - No new ones this Turn, but we've an existing Quest and an existing Patron Mission with no expiration date.

2.4 Assign Equipment: - From his sickbed, H'Xex installs a Unity Battle Sight on his Shotgun.

2.5 Resolve Rumors: - n/a

2.6 Choose Your Battle -  We head out to to chase after this promising lead on a Quest for something called "The Xanthous Soul from the 5th Dimension"... but we weren't expecting Rivals to intefere!

Juniper's away at the final for her Security License. Everyone else is going to meet with a contact who has info on our Quest, but the Salvage Team "Kharon & Vanth Towing & Salvage" attacks us at the scheduled meet before our connection can get in the door.


Battle:

Deployment Conditions:  -  Small encounter: A random crew member must sit out this fight. Reduce enemy numbers by -1 (-2 if they initially outnumber you)  Random crew member absent is: Juniper

Planetary Condition: - Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.

Notable Sights:  -  Person of interest: Gain +1 story point.

Objective: -  Rival Mission: Assault: Add one additional enemy figure. Your crew must all set up in or adjacent to a building. If you fail to Hold the Field, you will lose 1D3 credits. If you flee from the battle before 4 rounds are up, a random crew member will also lose a random item of equipment carried in your flight.

Enemy Type: - Interested Parties            Enemy SubType: - Salvage Team

Numbers: +1    Panic: 1-3     Speed: 4”     Combat: +0     Tough: 4     AI: C     Weapons: 2B

Interested Parties: Add +1 when rolling for Unique Individuals. 

Scavengers: Roll twice on the Battlefield Finds Table.

1 regulars with Colony Rifles,

1 veteran regular with Colony Rifle and Combat +1

1 specialist with Combat +1, AutoRifle,

1 LT. with Combat +1, Armor 5+, Colony Rifle, Blade,

1 Unique Freelancer w/ Luck 1, Combat +1, Hand-Cannon, Blade

 Speed: 4”     Combat: +1     Tough: 4    Luck: 1  AI: T  

Freelancer: If the freelancer is slain in a Brawl, you may roll on the Loot Table (p.131) and claim the item for use immediately.

Deployment - We are meeting our connection in a restaurant in one of the larger domed cities on Tiresias-3. The dome reduces the atmospheric pressure, but doesn't prevent the fog.

Deploy Enemies -  They set up at the North end of the map. I put their leadership in the nice luxury suite, and the specialist and veteran in the hallway between some cheaper rooms. I put the Freelancer in the suite as well, but technically set up as third group because his AI is different.

Deploy PCs - Per the Rival Assault directive, all my people start inside one building. Inshubur, Leonidas, Moreva and The Kid are sitting at a table, waiting for our connection. Our bot, GcViib, is watching the door. They don't serve her kind here, anyway.

(H'Xex is in sickbay, and Juniper is taking her Security Exam, so we've only got 5 PCs.)

Notable Sight - The Person of Interest we're hoping to meet up is in a narrow hall in the adjoining hotel. It's a good roll that put him so deep into our side of the map, but unfortunately, there's only one route to him, and it will involve running around in the open to get over there.

Seize the Initiative: Failed by 1. Exactly the amount that Juniper's Security Training would have raised our roll. If only she were here.

Since we failed, it triggers the Enemy Deployment Variables - These are per page 32 of Trailblazers Toolkit - This is my first time using this new expansion!   The Enemy Deployment Variables chart is broken up by AI type. The Salvage Crew are Cautious, but the Freelancer they brought with them is Tactical. I decide to roll on the Tactical chart, seeing as how they hired a strategist (and mostly because the Tactical chart has more options on it).

Initial Deployment, before the Infiltration result

62: Infiltration!   This tells me to pick up half the enemy models off the table, and then at the end of round 2 they'll all be placed on the map in a randomly determined location. This probably works to my advantage, as I'll be able to fight 5-on-2 for two rounds, but if they spring up someplace inconvenient it might get real exciting all of a sudden.

Also, since it sounds like this means the first two Rounds not much is going to be happening, I dip into Appendix VII and VIII of the rules to introduce some Bystanders. Two of them are restaurant guests or who won't be moving initially, and the other 6 are following basic Bystander rules. They move 3" per Round in a straight line, changing directions if they bump in to anything. If fighting happens near them, then run 1d6" away from it at the end of the turn.

Round 1: -  We get a call from our contact. He's nearby, but scared. Kharun & Vanth Salvage & Towing have been nosing around his operation, and he's pretty sure they'll resort to violence to keep us from pursuing our quest. This is news to us, we only briefly interacted with them in spacedock the day we arrived on Tiresias-3, and had no idea that we'd offended them. We tell our guy to sit tight, and we'll send a couple people over to escort him.

Quick Actions -  Inshubur and Moreva head out to meet up with the contact. GcViib goes on overwatch in the doorway.

Enemy Actions - Bad guys move up, but don't have Line of Sight yet.

Slow Actions - The rest of my crew get up from their lunch.

Civilian Bystander Actions - Bystanders move around. Waitstaff tries to get past my Crew and can't. One bystander out in the plaza opens a door, see's a dude with a gun, and moves 1" in a random direction instead.

Panic Test - None yet.

Escalating Battles per page 34 of Trailblazers Toolkit -  Two of the triggers are active (no fighting, and I outnumber the Enemy on Turn 1).  I roll: Fighting Intensifies. +1 Combat Skill on a Salvage Crew guy.


Round 2: -

Quick - Inshubur and Moreva move forward.

Surprise! They've infiltrated to the middle of the map.

Enemy - The Intensified Salvage crew moves out and shoots at Inshubur, stunning her.

The specialist with the Autorifle backtracks, because he doesn't have enough movement to get around the civilian. Even if he Dashed, he'd be left standing in the open, less than 12" from my Crew, so that's a big no-no for his Cautious AI type.

Slow -At the sound of gunfire, the Kid and Leonidas rush outside, but can't see any enemies yet.

Civilian Bystander Actions - The bystander who was just outside of the line of fire panics, and just staggers forward looking around to see what the heck that was (He only rolls a 1" for movement.)

The bystander who just saw a dude with a gun in the hallway turns to walk away, only to see Inshubur running for cover as bullets ricochet across the plaza. They bail (5" movement off the edge of the board.)

The other Bystanders move their normal 3" in their existing facing. They heard something that sounded like a gunshot, but it's just one so far, and they haven't seen anything scary. They'll freak out next Round.

Panic Test - none
Escalating Battles per page 34 of Trailblazers Toolkit - Checking the list of triggers, I see that no roll happens this Round.


Infiltration! Per Enemy Deployment Variables, I place the hidden Salvage Regular, Salvage LT, and Freelancer on the map in a random location.  I roll "the terrain feature closest to the center of the table".  That might be really bad, as Inshubur is out in the open very close to the center of the table. Doors burst open, and armed gunmen appear!

Roll for Battle Events between Round 2 and 3 - 51: "Clock is running out: At the end of the next round and each round thereafter, roll 1D6. On a 6, the game ends immediately, and you are unable to complete any objectives. You will not count as Holding the Field unless you clear the table of enemies before this happens."   Gunshots fired in a public place, so that's probably how long we have before the cops show up.


Round 3: - Quick - Inshubur is stunned, so she can either stand there and get murdered, or she can run for it and not attack this Round. I've raised her Speed stat with XP a couple times, so she can move 7". Better part of valor and all that.

The Kid moves up into cover behind the big glowing data terminal, but misses his shot.

Moreva takes shelter behind a corner, and launches hot plasma death at the Freelancer. His armor saves him, and he falls back. The doors close automatically behind him.

Enemy - The first Salvage Crew to fire is in a weird position now. His target has run away, and he can't acquire a new one without either getting very close to us, or standing out in the open, both of which aren't great for Cautious AI. So I break out the new AI Variations chart, and roll for his action. A "2" tells me that he just sits tight.

His buddy with the autorifle doubles back again. In his case, "cautious" and "indecisive" look about the same.

The other Salvager and his LT both miss The Kid.

The Freelancer shakes off his stun. He's not adjacent to the door, so he can't see or be seen by people outside. Since he's stunned, if he moves he can't shoot, so his best bet it to just sit tight.

Slow - Our bot misses the LT. Leonidas dashes up to cover our West flank.

Civilian Bystander Actions - The most panicked civilian is basically surrounded, so I roll a random direction and distance for his move. 2" North. The others make more sensible flight towards the nearest table edge. The ones in the restaurant all roll low, and hunker down behind tale

Panic Test - None yet, except for civilians.
Escalating Battles per page 34 of Trailblazers Toolkit - Nothing triggered this Round

Clock is Running Out test - rolled a "2" so the cops aren't here yet.


Round 4: -

Quick - Inshubur shouts at our contact "Wait here, I'll be right back!" and then charges back out into danger, because that stunned Freelancer seems like he might be vulnerable at the moment. Unfortunately, he rolls a natural 6 for a total of 9. Inshubur rerolls with her Elegant Boarding Saber, and she doesn't get a natural 6 but her higher Combat Skill means she does tie his total of 9. She's looking at taking 2 hits and only dealing out 1.  Seems like a good moment for a Story Point! He was looking down and checking that his clothes weren't on plasma fire from the previous hit at the exact moment when Inshubur burst in.  The story point rerolls his attack, and it comes up as an 8 total. He's knocked back an inch and stunned again. I consider throwing a second story point into my natural "1" on the damage roll, but since he has Luck, I'm probably actually better off leaving it be. Ugh. I probably should have just had her go make the connection instead of charge.

The Kid drops one of the Salvage Crew with his Tracker-Sight-assisted Infantry Laser.

Enemy Phase - The surviving normal Salvage Crew shoots at Inshubur in the doorway, but misses.

The enemy LT shoots at The Kid. Inshubur is closer, but he'd have to leave cover to get LOS to her, and since he's "Cautious" that's not happening. Either way, his shot goes wide.

The autorifle specialist pops his gun out the doorway on our left flank, and has a really good wide-open shot at Moreva. He only scores one hit, so I throw a story point at it. GcViib warns her "Hostile detected!"

Unfortunately, the rerolled shot is a "6". Instead of ducking, she looks over her shoulder at our bot and shouts "Where?" The damage roll, however, is mercifully a "1". The impact on her armor merely knocks the wind out of her. Next time, shout "duck!".

Freelancer shrugs off the stun and opens up with his Hand-Cannon. Using her Luck, Inshubur dives past him to survive.

Slow - Moreva fires back at the Specialist, and drives him back. Leonidas rushes forward and opens up, but the door provides cover and he misses with both shots. This could get ugly.

GcViib misses the LT.

Civilian Bystander Actions - 4 of the civilians escape the board, but a few others roll low. The restaurant host and the two guys out in the open are probably crawling at this point.

Panic Test - One of the bad guys panics and runs. It makes sense for it to be the regular guy who doesn't currently have line-of-sight to the enemy, but can see all the firepower we're blasting into the room where his boss is trapped.
Escalating Battles roll #2 comes up 22: Reinforcements! From the right edge of the map 2 more Salvage Crew and a 1 Specialist show up. That's not great.

Roll for Battle Events between Round 4 and 5: 50: Possible Reinforcements! Place 3 markers on the Enemy Table Edge. Each turn one of these chosen at random will either be removed, or be replaced by another enemy.

Clock is Running Out test - "1", so we've got at least another turn.


Round 5: -

Quick - Inshubur opens up with the Plasma Rifle at point-blank. The Freelancer spends his Luck to prevent the first killshot, but because we're in a tiny contained space he can't escape the second hit. I would have preferred to beat him in a brawl for the bonus Freelancer loot, but things were getting dangerous so the Indiana Jones moment was a necessity.

The Kid stuns the LT.

Enemy - AutoRifle stuns Leonidas.

The LT misses the Kid.

One of last turn's reinforcements moves to a doorway and misses the Kid. The other two advance and take cover behind the doors of storage bins, but can't line up a shot.

One of the Possible Reinforcements from the Battle Event is determined to be nothing.

Slow - Leonidas returns fire lethally. X out the specialist.

Moreva moves and shoots. Because of the Planet-Wide Fog she only scores a single hit, stunning the Salvage Specialist reinforcement. As much as I'd like to discount that for the mission being indoors, I think we've definitely shot up the mall enough for the fog to be pouring in.

Civilian Bystander Actions - All but two of them are off the board, and those 2 have finally started running, not crawling.

Panic Test - One of this turn's reinforcements nopes right out.
The third and final Escalating Battles roll is "81: Unconventional Tactics."


Clock is Running Out test - another "1", so we've got at least another turn.


Round 6: - Quick - Unconventional Tactics means all my characters are Reactions = 1 this turn. I only roll a single "1" and I give it to Leonidas, and he promptly misses.

Enemy - LT misses The Kid. Salvage Crew misses Leonidas. Specialist sits tight and shakes off the stun.

The second of the Possible Reinforcements from the Battle Event is determined to be nothing.

Slow - Kid stuns the LT again. Then Inshubur rushes over to blast him twice from point-blank.

Moreva advances.

Civilian Bystander Actions - Another one leaves the map.

Panic Test - Passed.

Clock is Running Out test - Not this turn.


Round 7: - Quick - An absolutely stellar initiative roll sees all my characters advance before any of the enemies act.. Unfortunately, they also all either miss, or fail to line up a shot in the first place.

Enemy - Salvage Crew misses the Kid.

Specialist puts a round in GcViib, and my bot goes down.

Civilian Bystander Actions - The last civilian flees off the East end of the map.

Panic Test - None to make this Turn.

Clock is Running Out test - I roll a "6", so that would end it. But I think I've got the win here, and should be able to score another Story Point in Round 8, so, what the heck, I spend a Story Point to force a reroll. It's a "3" so we're on. 

Key: Green lines are controlled and intentional PC movement. Yellow lines are fleeing or knockback. Purple and blue lines are neutral NPCs moving sensibly. Red lines are the advance of the enemy.

Round 8: - Quick - Inshubur runs over to our connection, and scores the bonus Story Point.

In the end, we hold the battlefield.

The Kid moves up and blasts the last Salvage Crew.

Moreva takes a risky move, but rolls well, and the last Salvage Specialist goes down. The mission is over!

Enemy -  ... And then I realize I forgot to roll for the last Possible Reinforcement marker  last Round. If I'd remembered that, it's unclear if I would have spent the Story Point, but, oh well. I roll for it now, and get a "5", so it turns into an bonafide enemy. +1 Salvage Crew. Dang it. He advances.

Slow Phase - Leonidas dashes to the West, to get closer to the reinforcement without blocking the approach for my other characters.

Civilian Bystander Actions - Our contact leaves the map alive.

Panic Test - Thankfully, I roll a "1" and the new reinforcement bails.
Clock is Running Out test - Mission over for real, so I don't have to roll.

Analysis:

That battle was a bit of a slog, but the slow pacing was mostly self-inflicted.

I put those bystanders on the map without thinking much about them. They were from the "GMing" section, which I had initially overlooked in the Five Parsecs core rules, because I'd incorrectly assumed it was for a multiplayer variant. Adding them to the mission wasn't a bad idea, necessarily, but I didn't implement it well. The idea is that they're a form of moving terrain, like what I'd done with the cars in some of my other missions. So, like the cars, I started them near the edge of the map. That's what the mistake was. Starting near the edges meant they didn't have much impact, as they never blocked line of sight, and only really impacted movement in 2 out of 8 Rounds. But there were 8 of them, with random movement, so they really slowed things down. If I use them again, it would be better to place a smaller number of them, but put them in one or two clusters near the middle of the map, where they're more likely to get in the way.

The other new stuff this mission were the Enemy Deployment Variables and Escalating Battles mechanics from the new Trailblazer's Toolkit.

The Enemy Deployment Variables were really cool, and had a neat ambush mechanic that definitely transformed the fight. That was a solid improvement, and I will happily use them again.

The variable did sort of contribute to the slow pacing... but again that was also largely self-inflicted. I tried roleplaying the opening Rounds a bit too much. There were a number of factors that contributed to this decision, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but wasn't the best call in hindsight: 1) Half the Enemy were hidden on Round 1, so it made me a little cautious.  2) This was a Rival Battle, rather than a Mission where my team were the aggressors, and I was trying to make that meaningful. So when the Enemy didn't reach me on Round 1, it felt weird to rush towards them.  3) The particular map I was using had a restaurant or cafeteria section, so it seemed interesting to put all my people there at the start. This was flavorful, but it also meant that the entrance to the dining hall was a choke point that delayed movement and action. If I'd followed normal deployment rules for my Crew,  and spread them out to my benefit, the action would have gotten going sooner.

I'm not sure yet what I think about the Escalating Battles rules. They seem a little fiddly to me. There's an older document for the 2nd Edition of the game which includes rules for "Enemy Ploys", and I'd used that for several recent games. It feels like Enemy Deployment Variables and Escalating Battles are sort of like two different "advanced" versions of the Ploy system.  I don't want to pass judgment just yet, having only played once with the new versions, but thus far, I think the Ploys may have been better? They were certainly easier to implement, as the Ploys were just a single die roll at the end of every Round, and you'd stop rolling after the first time one triggered in any given Mission. Easy to remember and track. With the escalating battles you don't necessarily roll every Round, and then when you do roll, you keep checking once every Round until you've rolled 3 times. It may well be that you'll eventually memorize what triggers the roll, and will be faster when that's internalized. In this session, I had to look up in 6 different Rounds how to know if they were triggered, and when the third roll happened I also had to flip back through my log to double-check that it was indeed the third and final roll. I went from being excited about the Escalating Battles mechanic before play, to finding it kind of a pain in the butt in actual practice... but again, maybe you just have to fight past the learning curve to get to the good stuff. Escalating Battles definitely adds surprises, and it's less predictable than the Ploy mechanic, so this new system may actually be preferable in a long campaign. I don't know yet.

There was one very small rules hole in regards to both the Enemy Deployment Variables and the Escalating Battles. The charts are broken out by AI type. Usually you're facing enemies with just a single AI type, so it's obvious which column of the chart to roll on. However, it's also possible to have a Unique Individual on the board with a different AI type... so which column do you use then? It's also possible to roll up the Battle Event "Change of Plans" which changes the AI type of every Enemy with a ranged weapon. Usually that means all the Enemies change plans, but sometimes you'll have specialists who are armed with just a Power Claw, and are thus unchanged. In theory, you could have a board with three or more different AI types, though that would be incredibly rare. (Requiring a Unique character, a specialist a Power Claw, and the Change of Plans roll all in one Mission.) I think if which column to roll on is ever unclear again, I'm going to just rule that I always roll on the column for the AI type of the regular Enemy at the start of the battle, not characters nor AI modifiers applied during the battle.

It's also possible that maybe I just overloaded the Mission with two many variables, and would have enjoyed them more if I'd just plugged in one new option at a time. I'll have to keep an eye open for that.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - "Kharon & Vanth Towing & Salvage" decides they've had enough, and won't mess with me again.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - n/a

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - Technically this doesn't change our Quest status. Narratively, we made our connection, who handed over to Inshubur the drive they had on the mysterious "Xanthous Soul from the 5th Dimension".

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: -  4 Credits (bringing our stash up to 18 credits)

Planetary Condition - Booming Economy - When rolling for post-battle credit rewards, any 1 on the dice are rerolled until it shows a score other than a 1. (This happened, my first roll was a "1", and the reroll was a "4".)

We held the field, so we do NOT suffer the potential fleeing penalty from a Rival Assault.

4.5 Battlefield Finds: The Salvage Crew were Scavengers: Roll twice on the Battlefield Finds Table.

I roll the same number twice in a row, so we find: 2x Starship part: Redeemable as equivalent to 2 credits only when installing a Starship Component (see page 60).

4.6 Check for Invasion!: - n/a

4.7 Gather the Loot: - Communicator: When making the Reaction roll each round, you may roll one additional die, then choose a die to discard.

Because Inshubur had to shoot him instead of best him in a brawl, we do NOT get an extra Loot for defeating the Freelancer.

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: - I roll on the Bot Injury Table for GcViib, and get a 90: Just A Few Dents, no long-term effect.

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.0 I.4 J.0 K.5 L.3 M.3   - First Kill: - K    Rookie: K   Killed the Freelancer: I

Inshubur raises Toughness to 5.  Leonidas raises Combat Skill to 3.

4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: - Not this Turn.

4.11 Purchase Items: - Sell our Military Rifle for 1 Credit

4.12 Campaign Event: - "In hindsight, it’ll make a great story. Select a crew member who was a casualty last battle. They receive +1 Luck. If nobody got hurt, receive +1 story point instead."  Somebody did get hurt, but it's our bot, and bots can't gain Luck... so we'll take the Story Point.

4.13 Character Event: -  Juniper picks up an unusual hobby. Earn +1 story point and the character talks about it constantly. She recently unlocked the "Security Training" advanced ability, which helps with deployment and avoiding ambushes,  so I think she's probably read up on a ton of military history, and just become the biggest history nerd ever. She's constantly sharing military trivia and assessing the tactical situations of every day life.

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - n/a

4.15 Tick Story Clock: - 4