Chain Reaction 2015 redux

As usual, I discovered later I had messed up the activation rules in my first game. I had been rolling for each individual group instead of rolling 1 die per side and only activating those groups that meet the criteria. Since I wanted to play a bit more anyway, I re-played the Patrol Mission.

TURN 1

My star and squad move into some trees. 

A PEF (Possible Enemy Force) moves out of the trees. It’s only Something Out There. Phew! My squad is jittery. (The next PEF will resolve with 3 dice instead of 2).

TURN 2

My squad moves to the edge of trees so they can see and be seen. 

I resolve the PEF. 8 SecFor!!! Five Rep 4 (armed with assault rifles) and three Rep 3 (armed with pistols). 

That triggers an In Sight Test. Thankfully, my guys win and shoot first. In the ensuing firefight, 2 OpFor Grunts are Definitely Dead. One is OOF (Out of the Fight). And 2 ran away. 

In turn, one of my Grunts is OOF. Dang! The rest of the OpFor have Ducked Back into cover after seeing so many of their comrades go down. 

The other PEF doesn’t move. Frozen by the sounds of guns firing, perhaps?

TURN 3

My squad goes first and...

... My SAW grunt fast moves out and into cover next to ruined building. But the OpFor leader shoots first sending him ducking back into cover. Dang! 

Not a good turn for my squad. Another grunt is Definitely Dead. All because he was running too fast to shoot properly. My leader actually had to duck back because he got shot and would otherwise have to be OOF but... Star Power to the rescue!

Thankfully my last active grunt managed to recover the situation somewhat by shooting down an OpFor pistol grunt. That involved a lot of back and forth and ducking back between ruined walls, windows and doorways.

The OpFor activate. Only 2 are left. Their leader enters LOS of my Star. I shoot first, making him Duck Back into cover. The second OpFor Grunt gets to shoot at me but misses. (I’m in cover). 

The remaining PEF doesn’t move again. Frozen in fear?

TURN 4

My guys go first and gun down the 2 remaining OpFor. 

Then the last Grunt gets ready to receive the remaining PEF. 

The PEF moves into LOS and resolves as 4 OpFor. My Grunt shoots first and puts the Leader OOF. Not so important as all of these OpFor are Rep 4 anyway. 

Only one OpFor Grunt loses his nerve and Ducks Back into Cover. The other two are made of sterner stuff and shoot back sending my guy into cover. 

TURN 5

All my guys activate first. 

My Star fast moves into the trees. (Which will shortly prove significant).

The SAW Grunt peeks around the corner of the ruins and gets shot at but all shots miss. He is steady and fires back at the OpFor Grunt, sending him Ducking Back to cover. 

My other Grunt fast moves behind the building, rounds the corner ... and gets shot at by the Grunt hiding in the OTHER ruin! Thankfully the shots miss. He shoots back... and misses! Combo of fast moving and being shot at. (I should have taken an Under Fire test for the Opfor Grunt to see what he would do.)

The three remaining OpFor activate. One dashes out of the ruins, and comes under fire from my SAW. Dashes back into cover!

The other two Grunts move out to get at my guy. 

The first gets shot at by my SAW Grunt (he’s having a field day today!) which sends him Ducking Back into cover ... and right into LOS of my Star! My Star shoots and puts the guy OOF!

The last Grunt shoots at my guy ... point blank! One shot hits, sending my Grunt Ducking Back into cover. 

It’s now 3 of me vs 2 of them. 

TURN 6

Both sides roll 5 so only my Star gets to activate. 

He fast moves into cover and shoots an OpFor Grunt in the back, putting him OOF. 

TURN 7

I rolled a 6 for my side, so even with my Star, I don't get to activate! Instead, the last OpFor grunt activates, moves around the corner of the ruins and shoots my SAW Grunt in the back making him Duck Back into cover. 

TURN 8

Both sides get to go but I go first. 

My Star moves out and gets shot at. All shots miss. I shoot back and the grunt Ducks Back into cover. This is a chance for my SAW guy. He moves around the corner of the ruined building and unleashes his weapon. 3 out of 4 shots hit, sending the hapless grunt OOF. 

My last grunt recce’s the first of the three points I need to accomplish the mission. 

TURN 8

My grunt recce’s a second Point. One more to go!

My Star moves into the ruins keeping an eye on the building ahead... and... it’s empty! False alarm!

With no need to enter the building, my squad can now recce the third and final point, then pull out, dragging my OOF guy along with them off the table. 

Aftermath

My OOF guy returns to the squad but doesn’t get to level up. My Star doesn't level up. Ditto my SAW guy. The remaining Grunt does level up, though so he's a Rep 5 like my Star.

After playing the Chain Reaction 2015 Edition, I took a good look at my 5150 Star Army 2nd Ed., and Citizen Soldier. I do like the 2015 rules, and appreciate the detail included in both 5150 Star Army books to give the game more nuance, but I'm not sure I want to go all in for 5150 Star Army. I think I'll stick to the 2015 Chain Reaction ruleset with the sci-fi weapons table and race (basic/alien) tables for the reaction tests. Anything else is adding extra complications for an arguable increase in immersive detail (?).

I'm also toying with replacing the simple skirmish rules found in 5 Parsecs with the Chain Reaction 2015 system. You get more interesting battles for not much more additional complicated rules. The only problem of course, is how to level up my 5 Parsecs crew since the CR 2015 system only uses one stat: Rep(utation).