Five Parsecs Campaign Turn 7

Disclaimer - I first wrote this up last night when I probably should have been sleeping.  Oh my word!  The dreadful typos I spotted afterwards!  So I've now edited it to make sense!

Upkeep was paid, costing 5 Credits, as I had basic supplies already to cover 2 crew.

Jobs

Kari, Annul and Nat went trading, gaining contraband (+3 credits, plus an enemy – raiders, more of the blighters!), scrap (+1 Cr), and medical supplies.
Mila and Noah explored, gaining a broken duplicator and overhearing a rumour

Reece got a new job through the crew’s gang leader patron.  The gang have been having trouble with a cult in their territory, who have now made off with a truck containing something that they shouldn’t have (and that’s all the crew need to know about that...).  They have taken it to a compound they control outside the city, which could be problematic as it is outside the gang's normal territory, and they don’t want to spark a turf war at the moment. So the gang leader wants the crew to get it back for them.

The cult consists of five members, armed with pistols (and one with a brutal melee weapon).

The cult compound

The target truck

Sentry on the north side of the compound

The crew of the envoy sneak in

As five cultists with pistols may not last long against the crew with their rifles and grenades, I decided that this action would occur at night, reducing ranges to 12” so the crew couldn’t just sit at range and take pot shots.  I also borrowed some of the stealth mechanisms from Nordic Weasel’s ‘Five Men at Kursk’ combined with random movement for the two sentries.  The remaining three cult member would appear at random doors once the alarm was raised.

The first few turns were a cat and mouse game with the sentries.  Jak, Nat and Noah flanked right behind the outbuildings, to try and get in the compound from the north, while the rest approached the east wall.  Jak’s group made pretty good progress, despite moving cautiously to avoid picking up noise markers.  However the random movement of the sentry on the north caused near disaster when he came with half an inch of spotting Anul, then randomly paused for several turns, forcing Anul, Reece, Kari and Mila to  hunker down unmoving for a while for fear of being spotted.

Nat, Noah and Jak head around to the north

while the rest move to the east

Sentry on the south side

Another sentry comes around...

...and the crew have to play statues

but Jak, Noah and Nat make progress unseen

By turn 7, Jak, Nat and Noah had reached the edge of the compound and could see the truck they needed ro recover.  At the same time Reece and Kari decided to risk moving, trying to stay out of line of site of the sentry on top of the buiding.

Breaking into the compound

The sentry decides to pause

On turn 9, the crew only rolled up one quick action, which went to Jak, putting him on guard fire, watching the rooftops.  It turned out to be a good choice, as the sentry on the south buildings decided to use that moment to turn around and spot Noah in the compound.  Reaching for his pistol, the sentry started to yell for backup as Jak’s auto rifle barked, sending the hapless cultist flying back on to the roof top, out of action.  However the gunfire was more than enough to wake the rest of the compound.

Jak goes on guard fire inside the compound

First sentry down

Stealth over, everything now went LOUD!

Nat exchanged shots with the sentry on the east roof, but to no avail on either side.  Reece used his jump belt to leep onto the roof to flank him but, before he could get a shot off, Jak had joined in and dropped the sentry. (two in as many turns).

second sentry down

The remaining three cultists emerged from random doorways, thirsty for vengeance.  The lead cultist charged straight at Kari.  In the brief but intense brawl that followed they drew their first clash, then both struck (two natural sixes) but failed to wound, then finally Kari put a stop to it, putting the cult leader down.

cult leader charges...

...Kari wins

The other two cultists emerge

Noah successfully hotwired the truck with a tech roll.  The cultist with the bludgeon ran around the corner of the compound to get to grips with Nat, only to be gunned down in a hail of bullets by  Jak on guard fire.

Noah hotwires the truck

One charges Nat

but doesn't reach him

The last remaining cultist advanced, firing. Straight towards Mila along the south wall of the compound.  With her hatred of cults burning strongly, Mila took careful aim, fired...and that was the end of that.

and it's all over

A good game overall, but in hindsight a few mistakes.  I forgot that I've been giving the enemy leaders two hits for start.  Also, I think it was a mistake having the starting point for the cultists rolled individually, it allowed them to get picked off.  If they've all emerged together it would have been more of a challenge.  On the other hand stealing the stealth stuff from 'Kursk' worked really well.

Aftermath

The crew were paid 6 credits, but didn’t gain any new enemies.
The loot result gave “common stuff” – three rolls on the gear table.  The crew ended up with a suit of combat armour (!), some worthless trinkets and some trade goods (which can be cashed in for credits when they visit a new planet).

All gained +3 XP, with an extra +1 for Jak for the first 'kill'.

The crew rolled up an equipment malfunction for their campaign event and the Nano-Doc duly threw in the towel and displayed the nasty blue screen of doom.

Kari levelled up reactions to 2, and gained a new skill – Tracking (+1 to rolls to track enemies when in the ‘jobs’ phase of the turn).

Noah levelled up Tech to 1

Reece levelled up Combat Skill to 1 (he might actually hit something at some point…)

Jak levelled up Toughness to 4

Anul levelled up Combat Skill to 1

Kari, Reece and Mila all achieved veteran rank 2.