War in the Planet of the Amazons: Finale

In this final encounter of the War in the Planet of the Amazons campaign, Aleta and her squad must raid an enemy base. This is represented by two buildings near the landing pad. The green patches are woods that block line of sight even from the top of the observation tower.

The encounter took place during the day. As per the raid encounter rules, one PEF started in each building, and another was randomly generated -- in this case, starting in sector 6. My forces started in sector 7, conveniently hidden from the buildings.

I won the initiative on the first turn and moved my units towards the wooded area. The PEF outside of the buildings moved towards the maintenance shack. On the second turn the enemy moved first, with the PEF advancing towards my squad. I then moved my squad inside the wooded area.

The enemy moved first again on the third turn. Now the PEF moved back towards the shack again. My squad moved to the edge of the wood, becoming simultaneously in sight of the three PEFs. The PEF outside the buildings resolved as nothing but nerves. The other 2 turned into a total of 13 enemies: 5 in the tower, 3 in the shack and 5 outside the buildings. Eight of them were facing my squad and thus took part in the in sight test.

Aleta and Delfina rolled no successes. Delfina and Ercilia were killed before they could even act, and Imelda, the new recruit, was taken out of the fight. After the in sight test was completed, Aleta used the rest of her movement to hide in the woods. The enemies moved out of the buildings and split in groups to surround the wooded area.

Some enemies entered the woods and caught Aleta running away. One of them shot Aleta but she was saved by her Star Power. On the next turn she activated first, rolled two successes on the fast move test and left the board. Whew!

Aleta reported their discovery of an enemy base in Mexeluine territory and the subsequent loss of her squad. The base was destroyed by long-range artillery, and that marked the end of the small infiltration skirmishes and the escalation into full battles...

Another Patrol Mission in the War of the Amazons

After a while, here's the third battle in the War in the Planet of the Amazons campaign. This time, Aleta, Delfina and Ercilia go on a patrol mission in a region with ruins and wooded areas. Here's the map with the PEFs in sectors 2, 5 and 6.

Ercilia thought she heard something move in the woods but it proved to be nothing more than a wild rodent. The group of Mexeluine soldiers took the time to survey sector 8. It was Aleta's turn to note something moving in the ruins in sector 5, but it was just the shadows playing with her mind. The previous ambush might have all of them on edge. She completed surveying that sector, and also sectors 7, 9.

The last PEF resolved as two rep 4 soldiers, one hiding in the ruins and the other in the woods. The one in the ruins moved to a position in cover to fire at Aleta, prompting an In Sight test. Aleta acted first, firing at the enemy soldier and taking her out of the fight.

It was then the other enemy soldier's turn to move to the edge of the woods and attack Aleta's group. Delfina reacted first but, being out of range for her shotgun, dropped to the ground in order to avoid being hit. Then the enemy soldier and Aleta fired at the same time. The enemy was stunned, while Aleta was saved by her star power. Ercilia was taken by surprise. Aleta then fired again during her Received Fire reaction and took the other soldier out of the fight.

Having defeated all the opposition, the group took their time to patrol the rest of the sectors and moved back to their headquarters. Having found a route without heavy enemy presence, the next encounter will be a Raid to an enemy outpost. The EAL remains at 3. Playing time: about one hour.

Little Girls: Defending the Outpost

This is the second battle in the War in the Planet of the Amazons campaign. After being surprised by a large group of Chalactan soldiers in their first mission, Aleta and companions must defend an outpost from incoming forces. Soldiers Fernánda (rep 4, assault rifle and grenade) and Guadalupe (rep 4, B.A. pistol and sword) have joined the group in place of those who were lost.

This is the initial setup of the game. The defending forces start in front of the building while the PEFs start at the opposing edge.

Patrol Mission with CRFV

Here's the battle report for my first patrol mission of the War in the Planet of the Amazons campaign. I'm playing with 15mm miniatures in a 2'x2' board, with all distances and ranges halved. All the terrain features count as impassible terrain and block line of sight. All my forces (a rep 5 star and four rep 4 soldiers, as presented here) started on sector 7. The individual miniatures on sectors 2 and 5 represent the possible enemy forces (PEFs.) The enemy activity level is 3.

On the first turn, I rolled a 5 and the opposing forces got a 4, so I went first. I decided to stay on sector 7 to complete the patrol of that sector. I then started moving the PEFs. The first one to move advanced towards my group and resolved as two groups of five soldiers. I placed them in the map, rolled for their reps and started an In Sight test. Delfina (the unit in the lower left in the picture) had her line of sight blocked by friend units and the same happened to one of the enemy soldiers. The second group that was spawned from the PEF was hidden behind cover and didn't take part on the In Sight test, either.

My star rolled zero successes, freezing in place. Bibiana and Ercilia, two of my soldiers, rolled 1 success and everybody else rolled two succeses, so I had to resolve five "simultaneous" actions. The way I played was to roll for all actions and effects but apply all damage only after all units with 2 successes had acted. After the In Sight and reaction tests were resolved, Bibiana was out of the fight, Constanza was obviously dead and Ercilia was stunned. One of the enemy soldiers was out of the fight and one had charged and captured Bibiana.

I continued to roll for PEF movement. The other PEF on sector 5 entered line of sight but resolved as nothing but nerves. The last PEF rolled a result of "split into two PEFs" and stood in cover.

On the following turn, I rolled a 1 and the enemy rolled a 5, so the enemy forces would act first. I started with the single soldier that had charged into melee. Using the NP movement table, I resolved her action as moving to cover and attacking my star. She managed to cause an out of the fight result that was reduced back to "carry on" with a good roll of star power. The star then returned fire and took the enemy out of action. The second enemy group (in the middle of the map) activated and fired at Aleta (the star) and Ercilia, taking her out of the fight. Aleta returned fire and scored an obviously dead result.

The enemy group that was in cover split into two. Part of them would move and fire while the other would try to move around my group. This triggered a new In Sight test, during which my star was taken out of the fight (yes, even after rolling star power) and Delfina, my only remaining soldier, ducked back when it was her time to act.

At this point I decided the game was lost. Constanza was killed and Bibiana was captured as a prisoner of war. Next mission will be defending from a raid, with the enemy activity level increased to 4...

Little Girls at War

As a reference to the original "Guns and Girls," the theme for my mini campaign usign Chain Reaction Final Version (CRFV) will be "War in the Planet of the Amazons." Somewhere in the universe, a civilization of independent, combative women is torn apart by civil war. As a result, two separate empires rise and years later, they start fighting again for territory and resources.

For miniatures, I'm using Jenny McKenzie's awesome 15mm little girls. She's been making these paper miniatures since 2009 and they are surprisingly detailed and varied. More specifically, I have built some of the Chalactan Frontier Force and Mexeluine National Guard, which are respectively clad in blue and red.

In the campaign, I'm in control of a small group of  Mexeluine soldiers guarding the borders of their empire. This is the beginning of the war and both sides are probing for information, so there are lots of small actions involving infiltration and reconnaissance, not a full-scale invasion. Using the recruiting rules from CRFV, I'm starting with a rep 5 star and four other soldiers. Here they are, from left to right: Aleta (rep 5 star, with assault rifle and machete), Bibiana (rep 4, with SMG), Constanza (rep 4, with grenade and assault rifle), Delfina (rep 4, with shotgun) and Ercilia (rep 4 with assault rifle and bayonet.)

Well, that's it for now. Coming next: the first patrol mission...