RS Dalek Dilemma or Real Trouble in New Osaka

So He-Who-Writes did decree, decry and demand: “ A very simple playtest help you can give. Please try squads with a bit more points (say, 230-250 max) but allowing leveled skills up to +5 (marksman 5, weapon master 5, tech 5, tough 5) and please let me know if there is a point of no return after which a character is definitely too powerful. I am thinking of listing this as a variant system in the supplement but I wonder if there are skills that should stay at max3 no matter what (Toughness I am looking at you). Thanks!”

So here is our test. Twice now our poor Daleks have been bested by beastly Ogrons. Let me now set the scene, you may wish to refer to our previous endevours!

I'Zulu looked at the survivors with the sort of intensity usually reserved for extraneous matter impinging on a difficult to clean manipulator: “I have nether seen NO-THING LIKE IT! You could have been outperformed by a pair of Thal grannies!”

“J'Off, you freeze again and I will assign you to a Z'Pok away mission.” - “I have uploaded new test protocols and the waste pipes in sectors 5 &8 need delimnation.”

J'Off personal log Day 3-.

I'Zulu hates deploying the Uber, they can be- very aggressive and undisciplined. The weapon overheats the bottle and even with advanced cooling the Dalek's life is shortened and down-time between missions stretches with each use.

For Captain Ron the mission is easy. Just deliver the chip to the buyer's ship. That's it, no problem. Except everyone in the Thralling UNIVERSE wants it.

Mission 17 “Make it to the ship alive” fits, plus location 6 Open Battlefield makes it harder, complication 11, Surrounded By Hostiles tops it.

Ogron Pirates team Total 245 Tactical Discipline Determined 4 remove stress tokens

Crewing -

Captain Ron Total 58

Crawl 1” Walk 2” Run 4” Sprint 6”

Big, adds +1 to-hit, +1 in melee

leadership (2)

marksman (1) +1 shooting

martial arts (2)

reactive, +1 reaction roll

tough, +1 endure

veteran +1 action & reaction

Plasma pistol, damage 4 short range, minus every 2” over 8” energy

kevlar jacket jacket Torso 2

'arry Total 27 Crawl 1” Walk 1” Run 3” Sprint 5”

Big, adds +1 to-hit, +1 in melee

martial arts (2)

tech (1) +1 tech roll

reactive, +1 reaction roll

tough, +1 endure

veteran +1 action & reaction

Intrusion kit +2 tech roll

monowire scythe damage 3 armour 1pt less Cleave, opponent OOA critical hit

They gained a massive 9 from the last mission, and had 4 left =13 'arry gains a tech (4) and Ron marksman (6).

Ron winced internally. Knowing that when you want this level of urban violence you call on the Driscoll Brothers, Dan-I and Tone-I.

Big, Ampidextrous, marksman (5) , reactive, tough, veteran

2xPlasma pistol, kevlar jacket Total 78 each

Crawl 1” Walk 2” Run 4” Sprint 6”

Big, adds +1 to-hit, +1 in melee

martial arts (2)

reactive, +1 reaction roll

tough, +1 endure

veteran +1 action & reaction

Plasma pistol, damage 4 short range, minus every 2” over 8” energy

marksman +5 per shot.

ambidextrous 2 simultaneous attacks at -1

kevlar jacket Torso 2

So doing a double hail of fire- each target +5 marksman, -1 Ambidextrous, -2 hail of fire= +2

Double called location shot +4-location

Daleks

J'Off Total 44

Fast (3) Crawl 1” Walk 2” Run 8” Sprint 10”

Martial Arts (2)

Non-Reactive -2 on all reaction rolls

Stealth (1) -1 to spot

Green. - 2 on activation, reaction, morale, shoot, melee

Light Power Armour Legs 3 Arms 3 Torso 5 Head 5 sealed

Zap pistol short range, minus every 2” over 8” 3 damage+2 damage to bionic & artificial Energy

Jump Pack jump 8” per action, free disengage

Motion Detector. +2 bonus to spot

Uber Dalek Total 89

Crawl 1” Walk 2” Run 6” Sprint 8”

Big, extra legs (6) Marksman (5) non -reactive

Power armour Legs 4 Arms 4 Torso 7 Head 7

Laser cannon blind, energy, built-in

Omega Squad Al'Gor Total 60

Crawl 1” Walk 2” Run 4” Sprint 6”

Leader(1) Marksman(2) Reactive Tech(1)

Light Power Armour Legs 3 Arms 3 Torso 5 Head 5 sealed

Zap rifle 4 damage+2 damage to bionic & artificial Energy, built in

Omega Squad Bg'Dog Total 54

Crawl 1” Walk 2” Run 4” Sprint 6”

Marksman(2) Reactive Tech(1)

Light Power Armour Legs 3 Arms 3 Torso 5 Head 5 sealed

Zap rifle 4 damage+2 damage to bionic & artificial Energy, built in

The Game

now I guessed that this would be a quick, bloody game and I was not proved wrong. I had also thought that I'd overdone it with the Uber.

Tone-I took the Ogrons and got initiative, working his way up the first half of the board in due caution.

Bg'Dog got the first reaction, Al'Gor the next 2 and fist shot at Cpt Ron, giving him a pin. Tone-I let rip with a hail of fire at Bg'Dog – 3 2's and an 18, so neatly outlined then plugged through the eye. Here, once again a theme's developing. These lads have done their homework.

'arry does a runner for the building, gets a 1- an ineffective shot from the crowd, and becomes a sitting target. Uber rolls 3 successes, so that's +2 aimed at a sitting target with the biggest gun going backed up by +5. 'arry gets 2 pins and a scratch. I had expected smoking boots-.

Dan-I had taken cover behind a bush (not fooling anyone) and takes very careful aim- and plugs the Uber, also in the eye. It goes down in a tangle of limbs.

At least I'm holding up morale wise this time. J'Off makes a move through the village area. Al'Gor rolls 3 fails. And Tone-I uses them to shoot him. Yep, you got it, another head shot. Dead!

So that leads only J'Off who survives the morale role only 'cos it's cops vs pirates. He manages a small move, finding Cpt Ron at danger close he takes a shot – and misses, probably going through gap betwixt Cpt Ron and his Norwegian Blue shoulder sitter.

Ron turns around and fills his torso full of bolts until the lights go out. It's an Ogron thing.

Delivery complete – but wait, who has been shooting? Who is the shadowy recipient of the chip?

Conclusion. I enjoyed the extra points, it allowed me to field an Uber- but looking at the others-. Some RPG's let you play a character at the end of their career rather than the beginning. This feels like this, have one good shooter, one good hand to hand, a good tech, I'm talking Blake's 7 here. What I'm trying to say is that I'd prefer to have a good spread of 3's rather than a couple of 5's. But if you want power armour, this is the way to do it.

The customer service droid is here for your assistance.

Queue music- 

OGAM Uji 2 Once more onto the bridge!

“Once more with feeling!”

Why do the same game twice? Depends on your players and your rules. 

 Back int' day when I attended a local club, 2 players would happily bring the huge mound of figures, set them up in 2 lines just out of shooting, then send one lot against the other. A third party was always dragged in for rule clarifications and with only 4 hours to play they never reached a conclusion.

Rules, figures scenery exactly same as before, although there was some difference in sobriety. I forgot to do this last week, apologies.

Goblin Warriors Drunk Sober

Goblin Followers Drunk Sober

Goblin Followers Sober Sober

Goblin Follower archer1 Drunk

Goblin Follower archer2 Drunk Sober

Goblin Follower archer3 Sober Sober

Mounted Goblins Drunk Drunk

The games – game 2 I take the Minamoto (we had a nice fish supper). Last week faced by a horde of pissed participants Tony piled in. That left me the defensive option like the original battle, defending the river and bridge and using local advantage to overcome greater numbers.

Despite the large number of units I had room to deploy in a double-crescent formation able to respond to any threat. The (Celtic supplement) states legend or god on ford, so I did the same as Tony, my 3 Sohei Heroes on the bridge. This proved a wise move!

The Bridge. This proved the decisive area. I expected my Heroes to go down fighting, and that's what they did! But it took crushing them between 2 units to kill them, and not even every time. As in the last game, a successive wave of nasties came against them.

Now you've all seen those films, the hero is in the middle of the enemy with a captured polearm, knocking down and killing whole groups? There was a lull when the Oni's were dead and everyone was pushed back. So I sent them against greater numbers, out from the +1 defending. Not the sensible move, but these are heroes! Plus Tony had 3 units of archers there, if not in contact, my lot were going to get pin cushioned. First one went down, pinned between 2 followers. Second got the same treatment, but always managed to shove the fronting unit back. Third took on the skeletons. I didn't kill many, other than Oni!, but I tied up a large percentage of the force.

As I'd left the enemy side of the bridge undefended (heroes! You give them ONE job, but oh no-) Tony sent a follower unit crashing other, hitting my blocking Sohei blockers hard. They probably would have won, with the Dai Oni in support, leaving the bridge open, but a nasty reception party would have been waiting.

This would have been the end fight, pulling everyone in-

On my left, I was expecting the flank attack. Tony sent the spider over into my archers, these did very well, didn't kill the legend as Tony was able to turn the result into a knock down.

Then the cavalry arrive, well 2 of them, the goblins turn up a bit later, crash into my monks- but even with a double ambush plus (they are ambush specialists) they got repulsed.

I'd been bringing up Minamoto Yorimasa who earned his position that day, he shot a goblin archer on the far bank, dispatched the spider as it gets upn then shoots the Bake-Neko dead. *

I managed to get a solid line of Samurai blocking the rest. Hah.

My right and rear. My archers on the bank did good service, killed a couple and pushed back some. The Dai Oni, once most of my forces were commited and Minamoto Yorimasa was out of range did a sneaky attack on Amatasu and is repulsed. He then teleports to Prince Mochihito and his Sohei bodyguard but being outnumbered he gets pushed back.

From Museum Miniatures, the August Prince.

Eurika Lady, tried for a 28mm one - there isn't.

That's where we left it, our 4 hour window expired! Sort of stalemate. Any involvement by the gods and remaining legends could be countered by the other sides mortals, who could not assault over the water.

Tony lost 2 Oni, spider, Bake-Neko, 4 goblin warriors, 4 goblin archers

I lost 3 Sohei heroes, 1 Samurai archer to the spider, 3 Sohei monks.

What a difference! The Gods did just about nothing, the Dai Oni was very cautious. Very sensible. This game calls for a follow-on. Tempted to make it into a 3 game mini campaign.

*I hadn't considered this before, but if this was a campaign- the Bake-Neko raised the skeletons, so the unit could/should have deactivated when it was killed, which would have left me with a hero facing a depleted unit of goblin archers--.