Battle for Zorpel: Closing Time

After ten battle reports, I think it is time to finish the Battle for Zorpel campaign. A few thoughts about the campaign and the tools presented in Five Core 2:

The campaign system is good, with its random events and character advancement. The campaign progress system may result in quite long campaigns if you play until one side reaches 10 progress points. During these 10 battles, it fluctuated between -2 and 2.

The mission generator is great. The board setups that I ended up playing were quite different from each other and different from what I would have made on my own. I barely used the force generator but I can see them both used together to create very different one-shot games.

The character classes and skills add detail and variety to the forces and worked really well in this campaign, in which each side had 3-4 figures.

Despite all of these tools, I should have worked more on the background of the campaign. The general setting (directly inspired by Legions of Steel) gave some meaning to the battles but they still felt disconnected. A region map with settlement locations etc. might have helped.

Likewise, an outline of the colonial forces and maybe a detailed description of a few recurring characters (instead of an unlimited supply of new grunts replacing the losses) might have made the battles more meaningful.

The two battles fought using MapTool worked well (even if they did not look pretty). Now that I have learned how to rotate tokens in small increments (using Control+Shift+Mouse wheel) I have to try playing games with element bases in it.

Battle for Zorpel: the Sensor Array

This is report #10 in the Battle for Zorpel.

The human soldiers had to retrieve components from a sensor array in the ruins of another outpost. The robots had the mission to destroy the same sensors.

Board setup. The sensor array is the blue box near the ruins.

The humans started in a patch of woods. James moved first but one of the robots spotted him and fired. The laser shots nearly hit him and, being in the open, he ran away. Then Mack had the idea of tossing a smoke grenade at the robots. He moved out of the woods, avoided enemy fire and tossed the grenade at the enemies, blocking their sight [the grenade impact point is marked with the red slime]. Igor then rushed to the ruins. The robots then dashed into the nearby patch of woods and Mack took cover in the ruins.

The grenade landed on the perfect spot. Too bad it was too late to make much of a difference.

The robots then moved out of the woods. Mack fired at them with no effect. One robot took down Mack, the other took down Igor. Karl fled before he suffered the same fate.

A terrifying sight: the robot team storms out of the woods firing their lasers.

Conclusion
A terrible defeat for the humans, and campaign progress is back to 0. Karl raised to level 2 rifleman, and James remained a level 1 Scout.

I did not remember to use the smoke grenade until James suffered a bail result from reaction fire. If I had, the humans might have been able to win.

Battle for Zorpel: Medical supplies

This is report #9 in the Battle for Zorpel.

In this mission, James, Karl and Leon must recover medical supplies in an abandoned outpost, while a robot team must complete their patrol. [Human objective is the yellow marker with a cross, robot objectives are the three blue ones.]

Game setup

The human soldiers crossed the patch of woods to approach the abandoned buildings. Karl saw the robot patrol approaching and ran into the woods. James moved ahead and got the supplies, while the robots advanced. Leon moved out of the woods and shot one of the robots down.

"But I saw the human enter the woods!"... "Surprise!" BOOM

One robot entered the patch of woods while the other set an ambush on the corner of a nearby building. However, Karl rushed to provide cover for James. As James moved out of the building, a quick exchange of fire ensued, with the humans taking down the ambushing robot.

Ok, now let's get out of here before anyone gets hurt by a bad die roll...

Before the remaining robot managed to get out of the woods, the human trio dashed out of the outpost. A laser blast burned a mark on Karl's helmet but he was not hurt.

Conclusion
The mission was a success and Karl was promoted to rifleman. Campaign progress advanced to +2.

Leon was reassigned to another platoon, but Mack (level 1 Support) arrived [I rolled the campaign events Recruit and Reassigned].

The next mission will be a standard military mission in 4 campaign days, so Igor will join the team.

Battle for Zorpel: Sneaky Robots

This is report #8 on the Battle for Zorpel.

Following a successful offensive, the humans repel the skelebots from another settlement. In this mission, James (carrying the detonation charges), Karl and Leon must destroy a robot power core that was detected in the woods, probably left behind as the robots retired. Meanwhile, a group of robot scouts is in the same area, intent on retrieving a data storage system (which was not even detected by the human command.)

Game setup. Robots at the top edge with red bases, soldiers at the bottom edge, with blue bases. The human objective is marked in red, the robot objective is marked in yellow.

The human team moved in between the ruins and woods, watching carefully for enemy contact. They knew some robots might still be in the area but their mission was very clear.
[Both sides moved avoiding contact. The robots left a sentinel to guard the human objective while the other two went for their own objective, which was reached by the fourth turn.]

Leon's energy tracker indicated that the energy core was close. He and James stepped into the woods in a coordinated movement and surprised a robot sentry, firing their rifles until it dropped to the ground. Meanwhile, Karl was standing guard near the ruins. In a moment of distraction, two skelebots dashed past him before he could fire.
[The robots started to get away with the data system, while the human soldiers managed to attack and destroy the enemy sentry.]

Robots rolled a Scurry turn, avoiding the human sentry. Then the humans rolled a firefight and killed the robot sentry.

Karl warned his companions over the commlink and moved towards them. James was concentrated setting the demolition charge on the energy core, but Leon moved out of the woods in time to fire at one of the robots as they escaped.
[In the seventh turn, the robot carrying the data system left the board. Then the humans set their demolition charge, and Leon caused the remaining skelebot to bail.]

The three soldiers reported their action to their commander, still unsure of what the robots were doing there, and why they avoided engaging.

Conclusion
This was a human victory, 8 points to 5. However, as both sides achieved their objectives and the robots rolled higher for overall progress, the campaign progress score decreased to -1. Then I rolled a "War Advances" random event, which pushed the progress score back to 0.

Leon was promoted to rifleman. The next mission will be a regular mission after 2 campaign days, so Igor will not be available yet.

The second mission in this campaign had similar parameters but the different setup changed the game entirely.

Battle for Zorpel: Salvage

This is report #7 on the Battle for Zorpel.

In this mission, the human soldiers must salvage some electronics left in a ruined area overgrown with vegetation. A robot patrol spotted them and moved in to destroy the equipment or kill any soldiers.

The humans are Igor (grunt), James (level 1 Scout), Karl (grunt) and Leon (grunt). There are two regular robots, one riflebot and one assault robot.

Board setup for the mission.

The humans went first and reached their objective right away. The robots approached, trying to attack their objective [I rolled to choose if they would attack the humans (1-4) or focus on their objective (5-6), the result was a 5]. Meanwhile, Igor was positioned to cover the approach of other robots.

A robot grunt entered Igor's field of view. He fired but missed, then the robot took him out of action. In the nearby woods, while Karl retrieved the salvage, Leon fired at the robots. One of them was destroyed, the other bailed out [this happened during a firefight turn].

Igor is taken out of the fight by the approaching skelebot.

The riflebot moved back into the woods, but Karl snap fired at it, knocking it down. Meanwhile, the other robots advanced and fire at their second objective.

One robot out of action, another knocked down.

Having completed their mission, the soldiers moved out, dragging Igor with them.

Conclusion
This was a victory for the human soldiers, made easier by the random assignment of map edges for the forces. The campaign progress is back to zero (from -2 in the previous game).

Igor was seriously wounded and it will take 10 campaign days to recover.

The next mission will be a standard military mission after 4 campaign days, so Igor will not be available.

Battle for Zorpel: Liberation?

This is report #6 on the Battle for Zorpel.

This was part of an offensive action to take back a settlement invaded by the skelebots. As they were losing ground, the robots started destroying equipment and infrastructure. The colonist team must shut down the power generators [by contacting the green and blue buildings] before the skelebots could damage them [by suppressing the blue and yellow buildings.]

Board setup, with randomly generated terrain, objectives and starting edges.

The human team consists of: Ford - level 1 rifleman (1 Grenade), Harry - level 2 heavy (Ammo pack, Dodge), Igor - level 0 grunt, James - level 0 grunt.

The skelebots include a leader - level 2 commander (+1 Morale, Counter move), 2 advanced skelebots - level 1 Assault (+1 Brawl) and 2 skelebot grunts.

[Note: I was reading the class advancement tables in Five Core like the ones in D&D, e.g. level and benefit, and only now I figured they were probably meant to be used with random rolls. Still, I will keep using them the wrong way on this campaign.]

The skelebots started shooting at the nearest building. Ford ran to the blue building while Harry covered him from the ruins. The new recruits rushed to the green building. They managed to shut down both generators before they could be damaged.

One of the advanced skelebots charged Ford but was suppressed by Harry. He, in turn, was taken down by the skelebot leader. The other skelebots moved around the buildings and shot Ford and the recruits down.

A couple of turns and the game was nearly over!

Igor and James recovered and ran away, dodging the enemy fire. Ford and and Harry were captured by the skelebots.

Conclusion
A victory for the skelebots, 9 points vs. 5 points. This was a priority mission, and failing at it caused a greater impact on the war effort. Current campaign progress is at -2. The next mission will be a standard military mission. James gained experience, becoming a scout.

In hindsight, it was a bad idea to put the more experienced soldiers in risk. Originally, the plan was to use their grenade and ammo pack to suppress or even destroy some of the robots. However, I rolled a scurry turn and decided to try and run for the objectives instead.

Battle for Zorpel: Ford's Mission

This is report #5 on the Battle for Zorpel.

Ford marched out of the hospital, a forced smile on his face as he grasped his side. He still had a couple of days before returning to his team, but the beds were needed by arriving soldiers. The days laying down had given him a lot of time to think about his fate. That's why he went to recover his cache of smuggled liquor outside the base.

[In this scenario, Ford must search three spots for his hidden cache, in the woods. There might be someone stalking the area, represented by the three question marks. On visual contact, they are resolved rolling one die: 1 = bandits, 6 = skelebots. The bandits may be reasoned with. Only one of them may turn into baddies.]

The board setup, with static markers for possible enemies. A little bit of rules mixing between Chain Reaction and Five Core.

Ford moved cautiously in the woods, rifle in his hands. It had been a while since he hid the ammo box with the bottles and now the trees looked all alike. As he made a turn around a group of tangled trees, something made a noise in a nearby large bush. [I rolled a 1 for the first question mark, then used the displacement rules to place the bandits.]

Surprise! I might as well adopt displacement in Chain Reaction games.

The soldier leveled his rifle, advancing cautiously, and then spotted two humans. They seemed as surprised by Ford as much as he was. One of them carried a hunting rifle. Ford asked them what they were doing outside of the settlements, suspecting something foul. Still, he wasn't about to go shooting other colonists, so he just confiscated their rifle and let them go. [I used the system for persuasion to have Ford intimidate the bandits, successfully.]

A few minutes later, Ford found the spot where he buried his treasure. As he passed a ruined warehouse on his way back to the base, he dropped the hunting rifle.

Conclusion
This was a quick and easy personal mission, thanks to some lucky rolls. The next mission in the campaign will be a priority mission. Two new grunts have been recruited, Igor and James.

Battle for Zorpel: Turning the Tide

This is the fourth report on the Battle for Zorpel.

This time I used MapTool instead of setting up a physical board. I made a couple of very simple tokens to represent units of the humans and skelebots in Inkscape.

A long way to go in learning vector drawing. Still, at least I can tell them apart :)

A couple of days after the previous mission, Don, Erick and Harry are sent to scout a nearby area and collect skelebot bodies (blue objective markers.) The plan is to analyze their communication systems in order to try to disrupt them. Meanwhile, a skelebot team is in the same area, tasked with securing a temporary base (red objective marker.)

Mission setup. Brown segments are ruined walls that block line of sight.

The skelebots split in two groups: one of them would secure their objective while the other would prevent the humans from completing theirs. The humans gained the initiative and started with a scurry, reaching their first objective. Then the skelebots advanced. One of them reached their objective, while two others guarded the second human objective.

Harry activated and fire at the visible skelebot, destroying it. Then Erick and Don advanced towards their second objective. The skelebots rolled a scurry and took the opportunity to position themselves around their objective.

Both sides on their way to completing their objectives.

On the following human turn, Don activated and entered the woods. The skelebot snap fired, missing. Don fired and knocked it down, then Erick moved in and disabled it. With this, the humans completed their objectives and prepared to leave. One of the remaining robots kept guarding their objective, while the other moved to engage the humans. They exchange fire, but no one got hurt.

The humans rolled a scurry and moved away, with one robot following. The robots then rolled a firefight and Erick was killed before they could get away. At this point, the robots completed their objective.

Never underestimate a berserk robot.

In the next turn, the humans also rolled a firefight. Don missed and was knocked down by the chasing skelebot. Then the robot reached the unconscious soldier and defeated him. Only Harry escaped the mission.

This resulted in a tie using the mission victory points system: both sides completed their assigned objectives and both sides defeated two enemy units. Harry gains another level (now level 2) and the Dodge skill.

Conclusion
When victory seemed certain, the robots nearly turned the tides. Lesson learned: never turn your back to the enemy.

As this was an opportunity mission, there is no change to the campaign progress. The next mission will be a personal mission, featuring Ford alone.

Battle for Zorpel: Defense systems

This is the third report on the Battle for Zorpel.

This battle happened during a larger conflict in one of the colonial settlements. Don, Erick, Ford, Harry were sent to activate the defensive systems (by contacting the building with the pillar and the blue structure in the ruins). The robots wanted to destroy the building with the pillar to disable defense systems. The robots had 1 commander, 1 scout and 1 rifleman.

Initial setup. Sorry for the awful lighting...

I started the game with a scurry turn. Erick moved and contacted the first objective, while Don ran towards the second and Harry took cover. The robot commander also moved forward and the robot rifleman advanced to the center of the board.

The robots rolled a scurry turn. The robot commander and scout moved to their objective. Don reached the building, thus completing the human objectives. However, the robots were still active and must be disrupted.

I rolled a scurry turn and moved Don to a better position. The robot scout reacted and moved in contact with the building he must destroy. The robots then rolled a firefight turn. Ford was knocked down and Don took the robot commander out of action.

Robot commander defeated.

I rolled another scurry turn. Ford recovered and took cover behind a building. The other robots also took better positions -- the robot scout took cover behind the building he must destroy. The robots rolled a normal turn. The robot scout failed to set the demolition charges, so the rifleman robot moved to help. However, Erick fired in reaction causing the robot to run back to cover.

I rolled a normal turn. Don advanced and shot the robot scout, for no effect. Harry moved and disabled the knocked down rifleman robot. Ford moved back towards the ruin. The robots rolled a scurry turn. The robot in the ruins ran to cover, in order to help with the demolition charges. Harry and Ford moved in response, getting to better positions.

I rolled a scurry turn but did not move. The robots rolled a normal turn. The scout robot blasted Don, taking him out of action. Harry snap fired at the other robot when he left cover, but missed.

I rolled a normal turn and Harry fired at the robot scout, knocking him down. Ford moved to a position to ambush the last robot. The robots rolled a normal turn. The scout remained knocked down. The other robot reached him and set the demolition charge (Ford snap fired but missed.)

Demolition charge planted!

I rolled a normal turn. Harry took the standing robot out of action and Ford disabled the scout robot. On the next human turn, Harry disabled the demolition charge. Victory for the humans (19 victory points against 0).

After the battle
Harry gained a level, becoming a character of the Heavy class.

The battle at the settlement was a major victory, and the robots had heavy losses. On the other hand, Ford got injured as the battle continued, and must rest for 7 days to recover. [I rolled the campaign events: Milestone reached and Injury].

Conclusion
The battle could have been won by the third turn, but this would not have prevented the robots from achieving their goal. Still, there were no changes in campaign progress.

The next battle will happen two days later, so Ford will not be available. It will be an opportunity mission (something not directly related to the war effort.)

Battle for Zorpel: Communications breakdown

This is the second report of the Battle for Zorpel.

This time, the forces met in the ruins of a robot base. The humans must destroy a robot communication core, while the robots needed to retrieve a safe box containing important information.

The robots had one commander, one assault bot and a regular infantry bot. Their plan was to have one robot retrieve the safe box while the others would attack the humans. The human team was Don, Erick and Ford. Don was carrying the demolition charges.

Setup for the battle.

The human team went first [and opted to have a scurry turn, in order to approach their objective.] Don approached the communication core and the robot commander moved in response.

The robots got a normal turn. The commander shot Don, for no effect. The assault bot closed in and attacked Ford, but lost the brawl and was taken out of action. The last robot dashed towards the safe box.

The human team got a normal turn. Don failed setting the demolition charge. Ford moved and fired at the robot commander, taking him out of action. Erick moved and set the demolition charge.

Ford shot the robot commander in the back...

The robots got a firefight turn but nobody was in sight. The humans then got a normal turn; Don moved from the ruins and shot the last robot, taking it out of action. Victory for the humans (14 victory points against 0 for the robots).

After the battle
The human team got a new recruit, Harry. Ford gained a level, becoming a rifleman [note: in this campaign, given the small field of battle, a rifleman adds a single grenade to the group.] The soldiers gain 2 days of rest [adding +1 point of high spirits for the next battles].

Conclusion
With this decisive victory, the campaign progress score goes back to zero. Next mission is another random military mission.

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 Battle for Zorpel

During the Skeletron Incursion on our galaxy, several human colonies were attacked. The invaders would send a factory ship to land on the planet, and then start producing hordes of robotic soldiers to dominate or destroy the colonists.

A recently-installed orbital defense cannon at the Zorpel colony damaged the invader ship as it entered the planet's atmosphere. The colonial troops then gathered to repel the robot invaders. A large force was mobilized to attack and destroy the factory ship. Meanwhile, multiple teams would run disruption missions against robot targets.

This is the beginning of my new campaign, the Battle for Zorpel. I intend to use the various campaign and mission generators that are part of Five Core 2nd Edition, including the victory point system for missions and the campaign progress system. Therefore, Progress starts at 0; the campaign will be won if it reaches +10, and it will be lost if it reaches -10.

Skelebot invaders (including leader) and colonial troops.

In addition to the mission and terrain generation rules present in the book, I will use the following system to generate the board: Roll one die to determine if the battle will be fought on a settlement (1-2), ruins (3-4) or an outpost (5-6).

The board will always have six terrain pieces spread around. Each area has different odds of generating terrain pieces:

• Settlement: buildings (1-4) or ruins (5-6)
• Ruins: woods (1-3) or ruins (4-6)
• Outpost: woods (1-3), buildings (4-5) or ruins (6)

 The campaign will follow the adventures of one disruption team. I will start with four "goons": Alex, Brent, Charles and Don, who might level up and become characters along the campaign. The enemy will always have one more level than my forces.