Five Parsecs from Home Turn 4: The Dead Drop

 After the run in with the well armed strike team, the crew of The Pelican decided to take on one of their job offers. They needed a big payday, in order to upgrade the ship and get off of Launia. An attack by some kind of properly trained, properly armed team? That didn't feel very welcoming.

The Dockworkers' Guild. An organisation designed to protect the rights of the dockworkers. It had been around for as long as Launia had been a major hub for spacecraft refitting. Occasionally, however, they got involved in...less than legal enterprises and it is at this point that our crew came along. Technology advances, ships fly across space, but somethings never change. The dead-drop. The Dockworkers' Guild needed a package left in a dead drop. It would be picked up by someone. The crew of The Pelican were the people who had been hired to do this dead drop. 

Unfortunately for our crew, another team of scavengers had become aware of this dead drop spot, and were looking to also get paid. 

Out, a few klicks outside of Launia City there led a carcass of an ancient mech. Likely alien in origin, it hailed from a long-forgotten war. This wreckage was the dead drop. It also possibly had an item of interest to the Scrapper's Guild, which would result in some bonus pay.

Brenko and Phillips took the initiative and advanced. Here they all are, looking ahead to the ancient mech. Brenko was holding the package that needed to be delivered.

The other scavengers spread themselves out and advanced slowly, trying to keep in cover where possible. The large, hulking wreckage provided a lot of cover anyway, but they wanted to be sure.

These guys are cautious. They will hug cover as much as possible and stay at the edge of their weapon range. Three of them have Colony Rifles (18), one has a machine pistol (8) and a hand flamer (12). I forgot about the hand flamer and chose a miniature who does not look like he has one.

The rest of the team advanced. They decided it was best to just rush over to the mech and hope for the best. Mao and Holmes decided to flank around the edge. Mao would protect Holmes as he took pot-shots at any scavengers who came into range.

Phillips and Brenko made it to the wreckage. Phillips nestled herself in some cover, where she could protect Brenko, while she dropped the package. 

Taking the initiative, Brenko and Lars Nicolau got into position. 

Brenko moved into the wreckage and dropped the package. Mission accomplished. There are so many holes and places to make a drop anyone else would be hard pressed to find it. She also picked up the item of interest for the Scapper's Guild.

From now on my opponents would need to roll 2D6. Score a 1 on either? They give up and leave. Of course, I forgot this at first.

Lars opened fire on one of the scavs, killing her instantly. The human body seems to have an aversion to being caught in the open by a machine gun...

A couple of the other scavs crept around the wreck and one managed to fire at Nicolau, hitting him. Panting, worried he would be out of action again, Nicolau used his stims, numbing the wound and giving him a shot of energy that kept him going!

I was annoyed until I remembered he had a stim. Basically you take the stim and stay where you are, stunned rather than being knocked out.

At the same time, the scav leader advanced and hosed Phillips down with flames! A little singed, she managed to escape the flames and fell back a little, tucking herself deeper into the wreckage.

She actually was killed, but used her luck point to escape death. She was lucky that her random movement put her further into cover.

One of the scavs panicked and ran off! If any of them ended up surviving, then words would be being had. 

One death meant 1D6. Panic value of 1-3 and I rolled 3, so one of them panicked and ran. It has to be the nearest to the edge, and cannot be a leader or unique individual.

One of the scavs had another shot at Nicolau, who took the hit and went down imagining himself to be a bullet magnet, wishing his stim had been of better use.

Brenko made a retaliatory shot at the scav and managed to send him sprawling, blood soaking the wreckage.

It was nice that Brenko has a pistol better than a scrap pistol now.

The scav leader and their hired killer shuffled their way back, to hide behind some trees. They could both cover each other while planning their next moves. 

Mao and Holmes open fire on the hired killer, but all it does is harmlessly kick up dust plumes. The killer doesn't even flinch.

With Phillips and Mao closing in the scavs decided they had had enough. It wasn't going to be worth it so they skulked away, covering each other as they went. Back at their ship they decided to watch out for this other scav crew. They would be coming back for more.

Lars Nicolau picked himself up, realising his wounds were not serious at all - they were nothing a couple of hours with a med-gel patch wouldn't fix. Picking through the dead, the crew were able to salvage a colony rifle

After heading back into town, Phillips went off to get paid by the Scapper's Guild, while the rest met with the Dockworkers' Guild. With the danger pay, and everything else, along with selling some water from their purifier, they have walked away from this job with 11₹. This would be enough to pay for some sort of upgrade or to pay off the entire ship debt.

While getting paid, Oslan Baratski bumped into an old arms dealer contact and called in a favour that resulted in the acquisition of some small arms. 

One more mission. Pay off the ship and upgrade it. Surely this could be done with just one more mission. Discussions were going to have to be had among the crew to decide about how long to stay. 

This game lasted all of 25 minutes. It was quick. Writing this up and doing the campaigny parts has taken me longer. It is a tough call. They might upgrade the ship and fly off. They have a persistent patron who will be following them to another planet. Maybe it is worth just leaving.

Five Parsecs From Home Turn 3 - Sandstorm (Not by Darude)

 Turn 3. 

After getting paid the crew spent some time exploring the city, making friends and generally enjoying being planetside. Sometimes you can spend too long in space and go crazy...some really do on the edge, some are not really human anymore. The bar at Pontague Docks was decent enough: drinks were cheap but of fair quality, the food wasn't bad, the clientele seemed to be a bit above that at less...legitimate ports. These small, privately owned dockyards were generally a good place to land, if you managed to get into one.

Drinks. Food. Music. Storm warnings. More drinks. More food. The screens over the bar gave a final warning about the incoming sandstorm. Mao looked at the others and got up to leave. Phillips stood lethargically and also moved to the door. If they wanted a bunk to sleep in tonight, they would need to leave now, before the sandstorm made even walking back to the ship deadly. That is the one thing they don't tell you about Launia when you arrive - lovely planet, deadly sandstorms.  

The crew left the bar, and despite the noise of the growing sandstorm, Pontague Docks seemed awfully quiet. There should have at least been the bustle of people leaving, in order to find a safe place to ride out the storm. It was already blowing hard, and visibility was low.

I rolled up that it would be "gloomy" with visibility down to 9cm. Although anyone who fires can be fired on from anywhere, provided they are in weapons range.

 

Concerned that something might be going on, Estell Phillips crept her way around some shipping containers, wanting to check if anyone was around, or if anyone mysterious was hanging around The Pelican. Brenko followed.

With the sandstorm really picking up, a cell of red-helmeted, well armed figures carefully advanced to find cover. They had scared off most of the locals, and were planning to ambush these offworlders on their way back to their ship. Most people wanted to wait sandstorms out in the comfort of their own space. It was doubtful that these people would be any different. A comm-link buzzed and the garbled, coded message clarified that this was the correct ship, and they were now weapons free. Someone was unhappy, and wanted an example made.

Baratski and Holmes rushed over to The Pelican, in order to get on board and make sure Lars was okay, while Mao followed Brenko.

The red-helmets managed to get themselves into a nice, defensive line, from where they would be able to cover most of the dock. Now they would wait for the crew to return to ship. 

With low visibility, the worrying advantage of their long-ranged weapons wasn't so bad. I didn't think any of my crew would survive until I remembered the 9cm visibility. This was the first time none of my crew managed to beat their reaction stat and act before the opponents. That wasn't a nice feeling.

Baratski found a sweet hiding spot by the water tanker, managed to see a shadowy figure through the dust and decided an attitude of shoot now, questions later would be prudent. Her shots rang true and the figure fell.

Her hand cannon is nasty.

Estelle Phillips managed to make another figure out in the storm and let loose with her shotgun, forcing it back.

Responding to the muzzle flashes the red-helmets opened fire but it went wide and was largely ineffective.

Brenko and Mao came up the middle, trying to find a good firing spot, and Mao managed to take down another of the figures. Probably just pirates or junkers, looking for a score. They would be easily driven off.

Holmes kept to the shadows under The Pelican and managed to fire at another of the pirates. As did Baratski. This one fell back a few paces and tried to find cover.

This figure is now double stunned. One more stun and they leave the battle, but aren't injured as such.

Baratski and Brenko manage to get the drop on the pirates again.

Oslan Baratski used her distraction bot to keep the plasma gun armed enemy occupied, while Brenko charged over in an attempt to slice him up!

Distraction bot makes one enemy not able to make an action for a round. Useable once per mission. It was useful here. Range of 12. 

The red helmets fired on Mao but again the shots uselessly hit the crates and durocrete around him. 

Holmes tried to shoot the plasma gun armed enemy, but he missed, damaging the shipping container nearby. The other red helmet had retreated further back to get into better cover.

Holmes had run out of cover in an attempt to flank the enemy, but he got caught out in the open. The plasma gun fired, and a superheated mess of energy knocked him down. He stayed down. 

Likewise the other two red helmets opened fire on Mao, sending him to the floor bleeding. Things were not looking good for the crew all of a sudden. Now that they were being tracked by this mysterious enemy, they were struggling to stay hidden. These pirates were certainly well armed, too well armed to be run of the mill pirates.

I forgot that Mao has a luck point. This means if he would be killed, he can spend the luck point and move 1D6 in a random direction. In the post-game I remembered this so just used it then to say it was just a flesh wound and he needs no time in sickbay. 

Baraski rounded the shipping container and blasted off some shots at the red helmet, sending her sprawling against the container, unmoving.

Brenko and Phillips decided to take cover and regroup. There were still three of these people out there, and they seemed to be well armed. Brenko was worried about having to close into sword distance.

Baratski charged over again, firing on one of the red helmets and killing him in the process. This meant they were cleared from this part of the docks and it was time to concentrate fire by the passenger jet. With any luck they could catch them in a crossfire.

Phillips and the enemy exchanged ineffective fire. Although it kept them distracted enough for Brenko to start charging them down, blade swinging!

This is actually when Phillips got hit and killed, but used a luck point to move 1D6 CM in any random direction. That luck came in handy.

At the sight of Brenko coming over, one of the red helmets flat out ran. He had had enough and ran back into the storm, hoping to disappear. The other bravely tried to shoot at her, but her sonic emitter caused enough disruption that he missed.

Slice! The final enemy who felt like sticking around collapsed into a pool of blood in three pieces. 

Once certain that there was no-one else to fight, the crew regrouped at The Pelican. Mao picked himself up and bandaged up his own wound. It was a glancing shot that shouldn't take too long to heal up. Holmes needed a little more care and would need to rest for a while, but his wounds were not life threatening. Who were these people? They seemed to have been wearing a uniform of some kind and were well armed with military grade rifles. They looked like HySys P70s.  While on bedrest Holmes managed to hack into one of their hand terminals and found a contract out for his crew. 

They decided to take one final job on Launia, get a payday, upgrade The Pelican and make like a tree and leave asap. It seemed their days were numbered here. The dock manager transferred over 1₹ for their troubles, and when searching the bodies they found three usable grenades. Unfortunately the crew the military rifles seemed to be genetically matched to each firer and were essentially junk now. Fortunately, there is a market for junk and they sold them for 2₹ which was welcome. Funds were looking thin after this fight so they would take whatever they could get.

This was an opportunity mission. I wanted to see what one was like. The bad pay was due to bad rolls and because it wasn't a patron mission there was no danger pay. I feel like I got lucky last turn with a high paying mission. I need a good score next mission (which is hopefully the patron mission I already have lined up) I cannot afford to get the ship taken. 

It has become clear to me that I need to improve their toughness. So I will be spending any XP on that for the foreseeable future. I wish I had worked that out last time. The luck came in handy twice this game though, which is also fine. The enemy had a panic rating of  1-2 and I rolled a couple of 3s so it was noticeable how they didn't break as easily. Here are their stats:

I was genuinely worried about their 24 range and basically not being able to close them down with my handguns and no combat armour or anything. Their AI is Cautious which means they don't move if they can make a shot, will try and stay close to max range, avoid brawling, and will try and move from cover to cover.

Pontague Docks- Or that time I forgot to print out my character sheets.

 Last night I set up my game of Five Parsecs, only to realise I hadn't printed out my character sheet. So instead I took some pretty pictures.

Welcome to Pontague Docks: one of many smaller, privately owned shipping areas in Launia City. There are, of course, larger starports with better infrastructure, but places like Pontague Docks are great for small crews to find a job, find a cargo, and carry on flying. 

The Pelican is being restocked with water and other vital supplies. While Holmes and crew aren't planning on going anywhere, it is often more convenient to just live on ship while in port.

A private passenger liner. This craft is not space worthy and is used to ferry people around the hemisphere. 

Five Parsecs from Home - Turn 2.1. The first turn with the new Five Parsecs rules.

 Having gone back to their renegade patrons, the group was paid a few credits. This would be enough to cover the crew upkeep costs and to pay off a little bit of the debt on The Pelican. When checking out the battlefield they found what looked like a stash of jewellery that seemed quite unique. They decided to keep hold of it and put it out on the Net that it had been recovered. 

After consulting with each other, the crew decided to stay on Launia for a little while. With any luck they could earn enough with another couple of jobs to upgrade The Pelican. Launia has some well established shipyards and there is enough ship related infrastructure to make upgrading a starship cheaper. 

Aralay Brenko was sent out to find a job, which she managed to do. Augustus Holmes went to a local dive, in order to find someone to join the crew, he came back with a machinegun armed Lars Nicolau. Lars was looking to get paid and get off this planet asap, so it seemed like a good fit to him.

Aralay came back with a job from the Scappers Guild who needed help dealing with some pirates who were proving especially difficult and resourceful.

Left to right: Estelle Phillips, Augustus Holmes, Lars Nicolau. 

Left to right: Oslan Baratski, Aralay Brenko, Mao Yung-Zu

The job was simple: gather information on a shipment of important scrap parts, from a station that had a pirate problem. The idea was to speak to the attendant, get the information, then push through, past the pirates in order to bring this info to the Guild's contact across the city.

The crew came from the southern district, intent on quickly grabbing the important information and making off with it with minimal stress. The pirates, on the other hand, had other ideas. They wanted that scrap and would fight to get it.

Brenko and Mao were able to get the drop on the pirates and advanced up towards the west. The plan was to split into two teams and sneak through the cluttered freight yard, in order to meet up with the attendant.

Brenko has a Reaction value of 2, while the rest are on 1. So only two were able to move in the "Quick Moves" part. Next would be the enemy, then the rest of the team. For this game I changed all measurements into centimetres and while it was a bit fiddly moving my tiny figures around, it worked and meant I could have a nice, busy looking game area that fit in a 1x1 square.

The pirates advanced swiftly, keeping a tight formation, hoping to be able to hose any hostiles with enough fire to drive them off. The front left there is a sniper with a hunting rifle, while the front right has a pirate with a handheld flamethrower. In the back, third from the left is the leader, who is also known to the authorities and has a not insignificant number of warrants out for his arrest. If my crew eliminate him there is a reward. There is also a bounty out on any members of this pirate crew as they have been causing quite a few problems to a few organisations. 

Pirates are and Aggressive opponent, so they generally would always advance into combat, or advance to find targets. Heavy weapons (the kneeling sniper figure) would not move if they had LOS to a target. I get 1D3 credits for eliminating the leader, and 1D6 credits for winning a battle against these guys.

With the freight yard so cluttered, there was little room for line of sight. The crew and the pirates all advanced and closed in on each other. It was only a matter of time before bullets would be flying.

With no shooting they are all adding +2cm onto their moves as they are dashing.

Brenko made it unnoticed to the shipping containers, her plan was to dash over to the logs and again into slicing range! Her blade humming, ready to go.

These pictures might be in the wrong order.

Mao and Baratski dashed along the outskirts of the freight yard, while Phillips advanced along the northern edge. Lars was positioning himself to cover the entire area with machinegun fire and Holmes found himself a nice firing position nestled in cover.

The first shots rang out with Lars attempting to lay down some heavy fire. Unfortunately, the pirates not being in close range, and some having cover, he missed his shots, although one was pinned and dived deeper into cover.

Pinned is stunned. I just prefer the term pinned. 

Return fire from the pirates sent Lars scurrying for cover, but  there had been no blood spilt so far. 

It was at this point that I think realised I was doing shooting wrong. I wasn't adding the character's combat value to my attack roll. I was also rejecting any damage roll that wasn't 6 because I misread the rules. I just have to equal or go higher than their toughness value, which for pirates is 4.

The flamethrower-toting pirate decided to sneak behind the buildings, in order to surprise anyone who would try to advance up into close combat.

It was at this point I realised I had been playing the pirates wrong and not following the Aggressive AI properly. With no LOS they should be advancing max move. With LOS they should be advancing (to cover if possible) and shooting. I read that as advancing out of cover to new cover, or to the open no matter what. Their goal is to close the distance and brawl if possible.

Brenko's quick reactions allowed her to advance further, in the hope she can get her blades working on someone's face. She was, however, all out in the open! It is a good job for her that the pirates couldn't shoot for anything in this moment and some bullets bounced harmlessly around her.

Advancing out of cover, Holmes attempted to take down a pirate, but his shots went wide, leaving a handful of bullet holes in the rear of the train. Hopefully it would buff out...

Estelle Phillips had managed to sneak around the top and was hoping to hold off the pirates who were also sneaking around the back of the train.

Brenko advanced again, while the pirates laid down some withering fire, which was mostly ineffective ... mostly. Lars went down in a hail of bullets, clutching his chest, blood seeping through his fingers. He quickly stopped moving.

So upon figuring out how fire should really be, the first casualty was my newest recruit. Great. He is out of the battle and afterwards we will roll for his injury or death.

The flamethrower-toting pirate jumped out and tried to burn Brenko up, but launched the flames too high. It was ineffective. This may have had something to do with Brenko's sonic emitter, which works to disorientate opponents who are in close proximity. Meanwhile Mao leaned around the corner and blasted his shotgun. Two shots, to hits, two pirates went down in a flurry of buckshot. 

It absolutely had to do with Brenko's sonic emitter. Enemies within 5 get -1 on their hits. Quite a nice bit of tech. Brenko did no combat this game, so didn't get to take advantage of the Battle Visor she was wearing, which lets her reroll 1s. 

Holmes laid down some fire on the flamethrower. It was a scary weapon and he didn't want to be on the end of it! His shots struck true and the pirate went sprawling across the floor.

This was a quick, deadly exchange of fire. It was really cool to see it work.

Seeing the pirates huddling up to sneak past the train, Phillips advanced and threw a grenade. A puff of black smoke, a muffled boom, and all that was left were a couple of red smears on the side of the train and on the tarmac, as well as one remaining pirate who was rethinking her life choices. Two of the remaining three pirates rethought it enough to run away and tell the rest of the crew about what was happening. They would be back.

It was at this point that I remembered I should have been rolling for morale. I think I had missed one round of morale? I honestly can't recall. I took the risk and advanced Phillips, which meant throwing the grenade had a -1 penalty to hit, but because they were in the open, in close range, I went from needing a 3+ to a 4+ which I still got. Ironically Phillips had an Arm Booster, which gave +2 to grenade throwing range, meaning she didn't even need to move!!

Quick reactions again allowed Phillips to fire at the last remaining pirate with her shotgun. The pirate crumpled and fell, blood dripping through gloved fingers as they clutched at her chest. 

With no remaining pirates to worry about, Holmes and Brenko found the attendant and got the relevant information from him, the crew then picked up Lars and took him to a local med-centre were they had to spend 1₹ to get him through some emergency surgery. Oslan Baratski stayed at the freight yard and found 2₹ worth of scrap parts. These would sell easily on the grey market. The crew also managed to get their hands on another damaged Distraction Bot and a damaged grappling gun. These might be worth repairing, they might not be.

With Lars stabilised, the crew went over to their contact in the Scappers Guild. It was time to get paid. They managed to walk away with 4₹ along with an extra 2₹ for taking care of that particularly nasty pirate leader. A meeting with local lawmen earned the crew another 2₹ for the bounty on these pirates. It was time to regroup, rest, train up and decide what else to do next. Brenko also completed a side job trading some tech, which earned the crew another 2₹.

Meanwhile, across the city some pirates met. This would not do. The time would come where this off-worlder ship crew would have to pay. That time would be soon. Revenge would be swift, messy, and final.

Lars gained 1xp as he was a casualty. The others all gained 3xp as they held the field. Mao earned 4xp as he got the first kill. Mao spent 10xp on 1 Luck point. Baratski spent 7xp to improve her Toughness by 1. The rest must wait, although in the next campaign turn Brenko will train, earn 1xp and spend it all improving her Toughness or Combat. 

In total they earned 11₹ which will be useful to pay off a chunk of their ship debt. After one more mission I hope they will be able to buy a ship upgrade with a discount of 4₹ . They get a discount of 2₹ for being on a shipyard world, and another 2₹ for something they found last game. 

I really enjoyed this game. Having it all in one book helped. Changing the measurements to 1cm worked well and I had a really small sized game. The combat worked well once I figured it out. It felt like I could lose my team, which is scary and makes me think of XCOM Enemy Unknown and how sad I get when I lose soldiers in whom I have become invested.

Looking forward to next game.