Battle for Zorpel: Extermination service

This is the first battle report for Battle for Zorpel campaign.

In this mission, the human group was called to clean an infestation of forest jellies from an outpost. What they did not know was that a group of skelebots was on their way to recover a probe nearby. [I rolled the outpost terrain. Each building corresponded to two Ikubes.]

Board setup created with the mission generator.

As the robots had one level, I gave them a commander figure. All robots were armed with blast rifles and cyber claws or saws [winning a brawl on a draw.] All soldiers were armed with infantry rifles.

I had the first turn of the game, rolling a normal turn. Don fired at the red jelly with no effect. Alex fired at the robot commander, and he flinched, moving into the woods. Brent entered the wooded area, firing again at the commander. He bailed, and then fled the battle.


The robots rolled a firefight turn but no one had line of sight to an enemy. I then rolled a normal turn. Brent and Don fired at the red jelly, still with no visible effect. Charles entered the woods, fired at the jelly and finally destroyed it [getting a Bail result, as required by the objective.]

The human soldiers get the first half of their objective. So far, so good.

The robots rolled another firefight turn and still had no targets. I rolled a scurry turn and moved one of my soldiers to focus on the other jelly. This allowed the robots to move into the woods.

The robots rolled a third firefight! This time, they took Alex out of action, while Brent knocked a robot down.

I rolled a normal turn and Brent defeated a robot. The robots also rolled a normal turn, and now Brent went out of action.

I rolled a scurry turn. Don left the wooded area but the robots followed. The robots rolled a normal turn, firing at the human soldiers. Charles went out of action.

Don flees but the robots follow, in the scurry turn.

I rolled a normal turn. Don fled the battlefield. Victory for the robots (6 victory points against 2 for the humans).

After the mission
Charles was killed, while Brent and Alex recovered, but were captured by the enemy. Don gained a level, becoming a scout (+1 move benefit).

Three new recruits were added to the group: Erick, Ford, Gary. However, Gary was reassigned to another group. News of confrontations were coming from all sides, meaning this group would need to face the next mission with one less man. [I rolled two events: Intense fighting, and Reassigned.]

Conclusion
After a good start, the humans were nearly destroyed by the skelebot blast rifles. The campaign progress total is now at -2, and the next mission will be another random military mission.