Star Breach : Rescue Mission Threedux

The past few weeks had me busy priming and painting my MDF terrain... sci-fi, Twisted etc. Then there was a Twisted Steampunk challenge to actually PAINT 5 minis by the end of April.

But now I've gotten all that behind me (this game was actually played before my foray into Strontium Dog) I setup my table for a re-match. Nomadic Raiders vs Corrupted L'Orani on the Rescue Mission... may this be the last time I play this particular mission for a looooong while! 😉

TURN 1

Everyone ran forward to their max except for the 2 mechs who advanced and fired. 

The Raider Scrap Mech hit the Bloodsworn for 4 DAM. The Corrupted L’Orani Black Mech returned the favour with 3 DAM on the Raider Alpha thanks to the latter having rolled snake eyes. 

It was in the special phase that the first blood was drawn. 

Thanks to an extremely poor die roll on the Bloodsworn’s part (snake eyes) the Scrap Mech blew him to bits with 13 DAM of which the armour only managed to stop 5. The Bloodsworn never even got a chance to trigger Ancient Decay. 

The Black Mech tried to do the same to the Raider Alpha but missed all shots. 

AAR: First blood to the Nomadic Raiders! The Corrupted L’Orani were already at a slight disadvantage of 8 models to the Raiders’ 9. Now it just got a bit worse, with the loss of arguably one of the L’Orani’s best melee models. Yikes. 

TURN 2

The Raiders went first as expected with their numerical advantage. The Merchant Marine moved around the corner and fired at the Corrupted Alpha. Missed both shots from what was essentially point blank range. The Alpha didn't even have to Shadow Step!

The First Mate went next. Climbed up the building and took a shot at the Black Warrior... who didn’t Shadow Step because a 2” dodge didn’t do much against the First’s Pulse Jezail... and took 4 DAM. 

The Jester activated next and swarmed up a double story building (7” movement. Oy) and as expected cast Swap on the Raider Alpha. The Raider Medic needed a 6 on 2 dice to attempt a Psychic Counter and failed. Even with the boost from the First Mate! The only thing worse than rolling snake eyes is rolling a 2 and a 1. So he got 4 DAM instead and the Alpha got swapped way back to the Corrupted L’Orani lines. 

The next die pulled was also a Corrupted die! The Black Warrior that was just swapped activated and did an AOE attack down on the Engineer and Scrap Mech. Did 1 DAM on the Engineer and none on the Mech due to poor die rolls (even though the Mech was hit the armour stopped the damage). 

After that the Raider Alpha ran like a bat out of hell back to cover and his warband’s lines. The Raider moved up and amazingly one shot a Black Warrior with his Rocket Launcher! (It’s also the first game where the Raider did anything of note). The Black Warrior’s Shadow Step and Ancient Decay could not save him. 

The L’Orani Cultist advanced and took a shot at the Raider Yndij Crew that was essentially out in the open. And missed!

The Yndij Crew ran for cover. The Black Mech advanced and took 4 shots at the Raider Alpha and missed all of them!

The Engineer advanced and fired his Flame Thrower at the Corrupted Alpha. Both shots missed. 

The Black Warrior on the tower took a long ranged shot at both the Raider and Merchant Marine. He hit the Marine but the armour + drone stopped the damage. The Raider was totally missed. 

The Human Crew ran up the building... and stopped. He does NOT want to get into close combat with the Black Warrior!

The Black Mech advanced and took 4 shots at the Raider Alpha. All missed! The Corrupted Alpha cast Decay on the Raider ... and did 4 DAM, bypassing armour. 

The Scrap Mech stood and fired on the Corrupted Alpha. Only managed to do 1 DAM. Measly. 

Special Action Phase

The Corrupted Alpha cast Decay again on the Raider, dealing him another 4 DAM and putting him out of action. 

The Raider Medic healed the Raider Alpha back to full health. 

The Jester swapped the First Mate with a Black Warrior! 

The Black Mech fired at both the Raider Alpha and Engineer. Only did 2 DAM to the Alpha. 

The Scrap Mech fired 4 shots at the Corrupted Alpha ... and did him in!!! Wow!!! The Alpha rolled extremely poorly. So poorly that even with Ancient Decay the Scrap Mech still did more than enough damage to finish him off!  

AAR: What a dramatic Turn 2! It just goes to show ... the dice... the dice... Now the Corrupted have to get the pilot or else all is lost!

TURN 3

The Black Mech advanced, blocking one avenue to the pilot and took 4 point blank shots at the Raider Alpha. All missed! What?!

The Human Crew took a shot at the already wounded Black Warrior. The Black Warrior did a Shadow Step, dropping off the top of the building. The Crew followed suit and took 2 shots. Missed the first but the second hit thanks to the Black Warrior rolling snake eyes 🤦🏻‍♂️

Bye bye Black Warrior. (First time the human Crew was this effective also.)

The Marine advanced and took 2 shots at the Mech. No damage was done due to high Mech armour. 

The remaining Black Warrior on top of the building shot at both the Raider Alpha and the Engineer. Did 5 DAM to the Alpha and 5 DAM to the Engineer, taking him to the Wounded state. Yikes. But the Medic did sterling work this game and healed the Engineer back to an unwounded state. In fact, all the lesser troops in the Raiders really pulled their weight in this game thanks to decent dice rolls.

The Cultist advanced and shot at the Yndij Crew. Missed. 

The Raider Alpha fired at the Black Mech and dealt 5 DAM. 

Scrap Mech followed suit but only managed 1 DAM on the Black Mech due to poor dice rolls. 

Yndij Crew shot the Cultist and missed. 

The Jester Advanced and dropped down 2 levels (for free!!!) heading for the Pilot but the Engineer triggered his Ambush with a Fire order and his flamethrower managed to land 3 DAM on the Jester, effectively stopping her by making her go Down. (NOTE: error in the paid rules. That should NOT have happened. It was later errata'd and I hadn't updated my reference sheet). Meanwhile the Black Mech Shadow Stepped out of the flamethrower’s AOE. 

Special action phase

The Scrap Mech started the ball rolling by firing at the Black Mech. Dealt enough damage to trigger a drive-train malfunction. 

The Black Mech, knowing its days were numbered, assaulted the Engineer as it couldn’t get to the Raider Alpha. The Engineer did a last minute Focus Fire action but missed and the Mech hit home! However it was too severely damaged and no damage was done to either party. (Due to tied rolls). 

The Jester performed an assault and grabbed the Pilot! (I think that's allowed according to the RAW).

The Raider Alpha fired at the Jester.  Managed to take her to Wounded but she immediately applied Ancient Decay and the following shot only did 2 DAM, not quite managing to Wound her. 

AAR: Back and forth firing and assaults. Lots of action this turn. But the most important question is: can the Jester make off with the Pilot now that she's grabbed him/her? At this point there are 4 Corrupted action dice left versus 8 Nomadic Raider action dice. The tension...!

TURN 4

And yes! Against all odds, the Corrupted L’Orani drew the first order die! The Jester immediately Ran all the way back to the Corrupted L'Orani deployment zone, ending the game then and there! (According to the RAW of the scenario).

(No photo of this climactic end... how come??!!! 🤦🏻‍♂️ )

AAR: I did not expect that outcome as I didn't realise the Jester was that close to its own deployment line, and the 1" barrier in front of her didn't provide any barrier at all to movement. 

In fact, I continued playing to the end of the turn and not when the Jester reached the deployment zone. What happened was : every single Corrupted L’Orani was taken out for the loss of the human Crew due to “friendly” fire (the last Black Warrior Shadow Stepped so the Crew was in the Scrap Mech’s weapon’s AOE.)

In the real world however, once all the points were tallied, the Nomadic Raiders came up victors with 32VPs, giving them a Narrow Advantage. 

What a dramatic last minute turn of events. The Corrupted L’Orani managed to narrow the scope of their loss else it would’ve been a Tactical Success for the Raiders. 

While every member of the Nomadic Raiders pulled their weight in this game (even the Alpha who, even though he had a quiet game, actually contributed in that the L’Orani concentrated their fire on him, this freeing up the others). But the MVP has to be the L’Orani Jester. Every move she made was vital and important. And her 7” movement was critical to their eventual running away with the pilot. So hats off to the Jester! The Corrupted Alpha ... could’ve been better and needs to be handled with care. Even with 12 HP, some unlucky dice rolls coupled with concentrated weight of fire proved enough to bring him down. The same almost happened to the Nomadic Alpha if not for the Medic’s sterling work. 

Very fun game full of unexpected twists... and this was me playing solo!!!