Traveller: The Adventure Begins w' DA1 Annic Nova

Off in the Solomanni Rim, they sure use some funny system names....

Silver was pleased with the result of the previous adventure, and said that "if they didn't have any better plans for work, they should contact a friend of his who always seemed to need a few good men willing to take some risks for significant compensation...."

An unusual business card was given to the party, somewhat holographic. Upon reporting to the address at the date and time Silver stated, they found a black door with a subdued "BW" logo on it. After a couple of attempts, the card gained them access into an antechamber, where an extremely polite greeter ushered them in, asked their business, checked out the card, etc. He then took them down a few corridors of a place that reeked of corporate money and subtlety.  All the corridors were black, with walls that showed the "BW" logo apparently deep within them.  Occasionally a door would materialize before or after the party, and smartly dressed staffers would move purposefully about their business.

Upon entering an expensively furnished office suite...

...the party met a distinguished looking fellow who introduced himself as Samual Troih, Kidashi office head of Black-Wagner Interstellar, LPC [Licensed Private Contractor]:

Troih is very courteous and professional, in a military fashion: eyes like a predator and carrying himself like a gymnast. He appears to have been had access to Silver, Adm. Tilsin and Col Geery - he asks pointed questions about operational details that dig deep into the professional skill sets of all the PCs, and is clearly gauging their responses to check boxes that are unclear but can be guessed at by any experienced Soldier or sailor - "are these guys the real deal?" It is hard to tell if Troih acts more like an officer or more like a very senior NCO, something the party debates later to no clear resolution.

After deftly drawing out every member of the party, Troih seems satisfied and asks if they'd like to find out more about Black-Wagner Interstellar LPC.  The group is suitably intrigued and led from Troih's office to spend the rest of the day getting the "corporate recruiting treatment" which entails a blend of low-key incentives and hard-thrust marketing, all of which is strongly flavored with serious funding of the type only large government contractors end up with. 

Every piece of furniture, every decoration, the food, the service, the latrines, is immaculately clean and expensive. The recruiting video is a clever blend of unstated risky action with obvious corporate incentives, of high quality, and very likely no actors at all, being somewhat reminiscent of the best blend of Psyops and Propaganda the party has seen on any operation, anywhere. Clearly, Black-Wagner Intersteller, LPC, has successfully blended the best of the corporate and military worlds and is reaping the rewards.

All the PCs eagerly sign on...

The Fine Print:

The PCs will have an ongoing patron in the form of Black-Wagner Intersteller, LPC, a Private Security Company [PSC], "Solving Your Most Lethal Problems"  This will provide stability for the group in mission selection and resourcing. Life with BWI is good - there are a number of sites away from the main Kidashi office, which Troih runs.  They provide excellent facilities for what can only be described as para-military activities, including numerous combat and support capabilities, and no skill that any member has is languishing for want of opportunity to exercise it.

Economy of BWI, LPC

BWI pays a minimum of Cr6,000 / year, an above-average middle class income. For veterans with real time in, BWI generally pays pension level +Cr2,000 [which would be in addition to any pension the PC is earning!].  For those with no pension, expect Cr6,000+ Cr/100 per skill level 1+ in skills, e.g. a Skill 3 Engineer would get Cr300 bonus.

NOTE: to translate buying power, multiply Interstellar Credits by 10 and you have "about" what things cost in today's dollars.

Military Pension Rates

20 years, 5-tour =  Cr4,000 + Cr2,000 / additional Tour

24 years, 6-tour = Cr6,000

28 years, 7-tour = Cr8,000

Paid at start of the year at any Class A or B starport.

Long-Term Cost of Living

- Subsistence Level - reasonable food Cr120 and acceptable lodging Cr180 = Cr300/month

Ergo Cr3600 / year to eat and have a roof overhead.

- Ordinary Level - good food Cr 200 and good lodging Cr200 = Cr400/month

Ergo Cr4,800 / year to be "middle class" veteran: requires 24 years for Cr6,000 annually.

- High Living Level - excellent food Cr 600 and excellent lodging Cr600 = Cr1200/month

Ergo Cr14,400 / year to be "upper class". Mandatory retirement kicks in at 7 tours, so it is unheard of for a pensioned veteran to be living at this level, unless they were forced to serve an additional 3 terms [12 years] to get to the Cr14,000 / year.

Bonuses. Employees cheerfully inform the PCs that very reasonable bonuses are paid for anything that nets the company additional profits, all in line with standard fees and contracts in the sector.

Risk.  BWI employees explain that there is often risk associated with their missions, but nothing that is unreasonable considering their skill sets.  While all material and personnel risks are minimized as much as possible, sometimes worst-case scenarios happen.  When there are losses, the company is diligent about everything from recovering remains, to repatriation bonding, to getting personal belongings and such to next of kin. The company takes a very dim view of lost equipment, however, and sometimes employees have to pay scaled % on losses.

GEAR.  BWI provides essential gear for all missions.  Their gear the PCs will have to pay scaled % for being lost or damaged, depending on circumstances. If PCs lose their own gear, compensation is available, also at a scaled %. 

BWI provides quality room and board at a rate less than half of what it would cost "on the market".  Nearly no employees live anywhere else, and the culture is similar to living as officers at a very well-appointed base close to the Galactic Core. However, nothing is fancy or excessive. 

All the other employees are clearly very similar to the party - veterans of various kinds, some with more experience than others, none are less than superior at whatever it is they did or do or will do and are learning it. 

There are amply opportunities for PCs to learn martial skills of all kinds, from exotic weapons to unusual close combat techniques; all the technical skill sets essential to military operations also have ample opportunities to use simulators and periodically get introduced to standard and rare craft and technical artifacts.  Sustainment skills are also exercised, with some well-equipped shops and genuinely damaged or broken gear to keep technical skills sharp.

In short, BWI is a sort of military dream ticket, with an impressive employee base and great resources.  The only things that become clear are that while most people will talk about themselves and what they're doing or have done, no one goes into details about BWI operations - you never know who might be listening.  Also, employees periodically disappear, and new ones appear, apparently just returned from "elsewhere".

After about a month of acclimating to life with BWI, the PCs were just starting to get a bit restless amidst all the interesting ways to kill time at the various living and training sites, and getting into routines that were demanding but comfortable.  

Then Troih summoned the entire party to the briefing room.

There, he informed them that they had a contract with the Imperium, to investigate an unusual ship which has been noted but note closely investigated by any source. It has appeared periodically and there is a Traveller Aid Society watch for it.

The ship was most recently scanned by a survey ship in the Kishakhpap System; unfortunately the survey ship was in the final stages of a jump and only barely managed to see it at all.  It appeared to be stablishing an orbit around the sun, oddly.

Outfitted with a standard scout vessel, aged but in excellent working condition ["pedigreed and distinguished" the BWI pilot cheerfully informed you all], the group jumps to Kishakhpap without incident, finding the vessel easily. The pilot skillfully closed with the orbiting vessel, one of very unusual, even Alien design:

The vessel appears to have the words, "Annic Nova" written on it...

...most systems were shut down, there were no significant signs of life detected, and the party realized it was time to earn their excellent salaries...

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I don't want to spoil the scenario for someone else.  

I chose Double-Scenario 1 Annic Nova as it is self-contained, in outer space and really emphasizes what Traveller is all about, which is more than just shooting everything up - there's a more intelligent bottom line [Salvage, Salaries] and it all reminds me more of an original series Star Trek episode - smart, space, classic.

Exploration of the engine rooms and drives:

I had to blow up the deck plans at the copier - much easier than any terrain setup!

Above, classic "Snapshot" counters.

Below, the team is wielding hand weapons and low-velocity projectile weapons so as not to hole the hull and damage the prize!

Engineering genius on the bridge with a battle-buddy, deciphering the alien technology.

Extra copies of the enlarged deck plans were given to the party - after all, they have scanners to show the decks, just not capable of deciphering every signal that bounces back.

Suffice it to say that Annic Nova _is_ an interesting ship to explore.  The PCs used caution and intelligent protocols to avoid dangers without any hints.  The longest debate was whether or not to turn the power back on, which itself was both revealing and humorous.

With the power back on [finally] the essential aspects of the ship figured out, the party just has to return with the salvage to Kidashi in order to have a successful operation.

What could go wrong??

Spanish Civil War - A Boutique Project

Having wanted to get into SCW for a good 20 years or so, but never pulled the trigger, I came to a definite decision that I wanted to play the "Wargaming: An Introduction" WWII rules with this period. The rules offer a nice blend of skirmish feel and simplicity that will go well with the period, which is more remarkable for political differences than the troop and equipment differences beloved by WWII gamers. I think this will give the games lots of flavor, especially in scenarios.

I had some Peter Pig 15s for the period, buried among my WWII stuff [for ages].

However, using the figs for WAI basing demonstrations left me with the  impression that I didn't want to use 15s for WAI, and it was time to get something bigger.  

28s are too large for my humble office table, and of course a lot more expensive!  Still Empress Miniatures has lovely figures, and they are always tempting [CLICK]. However, the use of 20mm for a friend's WWII game got me thinking I should check that out, and in that scale the clear choice would be a Spanish company [suitably!] Minairons, which I was not familiar with [CLICK].

Some time spent on their page, checking exchange rates AND postage [very important] left me with the distinct impression that it wouldn't cost much more to do the project in 20mm, and I'd be able to see them a lot better!  I priced out the below forces, which seemed more than adequate for WAI:WWII, in both Peter Pig 15s and Minairons 20s.

REPUBLICANS

30 Rep Infantry

12 Rep HQ + wpns [Maxim HMG, 2 lmg, 1 lt mortar, 3 Rep Flags]

38 Militia [+2 MMG, 6 Anarchist Flags]

Republican flags

5th Regiment Commy Flags

80 total infantry [42 reg, 38 militia], HMG, 2 MMG, 1 Lt Mort

NATIONALISTS

30 Nat Infantry

12 Nat HQ + Wpns [HMG, 2 LMG, 1 lT Mortar]

18 Requete Militia [LMG, 3 Carlist Flags]

15 Moroccan Regulars

Moroccan Flag

Falangist Militia Flags

75 total infantry [57 reg, 18 militia]

EITHER Side

2 Dispatch Riders

4 casualties

9 Isa-caps

9 pasa caps [pillbox]

9 wool caps [ski]

2 AT Guns + 7 crew [or artillerists]

1 105mm Gun & 4 crew

2 T-26 tanks

3 FT17 Tanks

1 Trubia A4 MG tank

1 Trubia Naval Tank

1 Hispano-Suiza AC

1 Bilbao AC

172 figures = $155  [PP = $120, so $35 more for Infantry]

3 guns

2 lt mortars, 2 HMGs, 2 MMGs

2 motorcycles

9 Armored Vehicles = $70  [$60 by PP, so $10 more]

Ultimately, I placed the above order feeling that $45 more for a 20mm project was worth it, and I carefully got the order into the "free shipping" level to save a good $50 or so.

Their website worked quite well, the customer service was excellent, I did receive a disappointing email that due to stocking issues, the order would be delayed a few days.  Still, only a week later, the order shipped via Spanish Royal Mail, and I was happy to discover that I could track the package in Spain with the tracking number provided!  This made it easy to follow the surprisingly quick journey of the package to my house several days later, via New York:

The miniatures were well packed, and nothing appears damaged.

A more detailed review of the figures will come soon.  For now, I was content to check some of my assumptions, and I found them to be completely validated. For example, consider the significantly larger impression the 20mm office has on the eye over the 15mm figures next to him!

OK, he has puffy pants, but still, quite a bit more bulk over the similarly uniformed Italians next to him, 15mm Old Glory figures [which I very much like].

Again, it's not just the height, it's the bulk and the additional details that are easy to pick out - the ribbed sweater under the jacket, the buttons, etc.

For vehicles, altho the scale is 33% larger [15mm to 20mm] the vehicles have more like 66% more bulk, and are much more striking to the eye.

Top view:

For basing, it was quick to decide that I wanted substantial bases to make the single figs easy to handle, and my large stock of 20mm bases from GW Warhammer Fantasy days will be put to good use:

Crew-served weapons will need a full 40mm base, ones for the monsters and beasts, more or less.  I will probly need some more of them, unfortunately.

Overall, I am very excited to finally get into this period, and very pleased with the move up to 20mm for it!

"In Country" Playtest

It's time to go 'In Country"!

Had the rules for a while, but with a box set on the way I had to hit them and see how they played. They *read* well, but the proof is on the table!

Below, I grabbed my new Infinity terrain and assembled the last few buildings.  This wasn't too difficult, and they definitely look better than I could paint anything [more on this cardboard terrain in another post!], plus you get a play mat.

So who should fight on this futuristic terrain?  Star Wars flunkies, of course!  Below, Rebel Scum as 2 x Tier 4 Insurgent Groups and a Veteran Insurgent Group [2 Rebel commando advisors].

Facing off against them, trying to preserve peace and order in the galaxy, two Stormtrooper teams as US Ranger Assault Elements - the grenade launcher is the big tubed thingy...

Scenario is "Intel Grab".  The Insurgents must search the two droids at table center and exfiltrate with them.

THE RULES

A quick overview is probly in order...

1. Turn is IGO-UGO alternating by teams, but if enemy teams are not in a Defensive or Suppressed stance, they will likely react to the activated team by Returning Fire.
2. Activating Teams may do one of three things: 
• Reposition- Move Full and take cover, 
• Engaging - Fire at full effect, 
• Assault - shorter Move w' a Fire.
3. Key mechanic: Grips. These are a sort of quality level, each in three values, e.g. 4+ / 8+ / 10+ for Easy / Normal / Hard. A model must roll that number or higher to succeed in a desired action, such as shoot, rally etc.  They are intelligently used as the main shooting mechanic. 
• Rather than have lots of charts or modifiers, most mechanics are expressed by Grip difficulty. But quality varies by team, as you would expect, with elite Special Forces having much better grips than Insurgents.
• This means that if two sides are both Firing at each other and the shot is such that a Normal Grip is needed, based upon Quality there could be a difference of 10-30% btw their chances to Hit.
• This makes Team quality the most important factor in the game. The value statement here is that training matters most in modern warfare, where similar - deadly - weapons are available to everyone. FWIW I agree.
4. The many relative nuances of weapons are largely abstracted, using tried and traditional wargame mechanics.
5. There are numerous scenarios, most of which are sketched out, so the host needs to make intelligent decisions about the specifics.
6. Generally, the game emphasizes recent / contemporary "reality" in its terminology, attitudes, terms, etc.

The rules themselves are a sort of living document, quite in fashion now, whereby they are easily available [free or cheap] from the publisher.  They are a half-side booklet of 50 pages, so really 25 pages at full size. The company is really making money on the hard product: figures, vehicles, card decks.

Scaling up / down. There are a few different ways to play the game, activating by Teams of 4-6 models, or Elements of 2 models, or squads of 2 Teams.  Ergo, it is easy to scale up or down according to availability of figures, time to play or desired level of combat, i.e. Team, Squad or Platoon level fights.

This is great as it means a new gamer with 8 painted models can host a small game with the same rules as an accomplished gamer with 80 models, and you aren't learning different mechanics.  The contrast would be Games Workshop, where you play 40K with 80 models, Killteam or Fireteam with 8 models, and an RPG with just a few figs, and each set of rules is different.

Culture.  In game culture, Enemy Spotted Studios emphasizes keeping it real and having fun, not power-gaming in tournaments. If winning matters a lot to you, the best approach would be to set up a 2-sided fight, play each side, and the winner is whoever did best overall. This is also a best practice for Newbies who are still learning how to balance forces, set up fair scenarios, etc.

It should also be noted that the company is veteran-owned and donates 10% to help vets out. There seems to be a fair amount of actual Soldiers and vets involved, and therefore the language and terms that get tossed around in forums, etc, may be offensive to those not in the military / first-responder professions.

Hopefully, this short explanation will keep you from getting lost in the following BATREP!

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As the Attackers, Insurgents take the first turn, choosing the board edge that has the most cover and higher buildings. Team 1 Repositions left, Team 2 Repositions right. This allows them to move onto the board as fast as possible, then they take up a Defensive stance [blue shield markers].

R4 Astro droid and Medical droid objectives.

Team 2 with their Defensive marker.   Basically, it makes them a bit harder to hit.

Stormtroopers Assault! onto the board, moving a little less but they get a [poor] shot at the end of the move. They roll two '9's and hit a couple of creeps despite their Cover!  Only one passes his Normal Grip to save the hit, the other is down.

Encouraged by Team 1's success, Team 2 likewise performs an Assault! onto the board. However, in more typical Stormtrooper fashion, all three shots miss [the GL can't shoot on an Assault! Measure, i.e. action.

With a third team, the Insurgents kinda get to go last [I think], and the Veteran Insurgent Team also Repositions onto the board, but takes advantage of the Locals special rule to enter a flanking board edge.

The Stormtrooper guard is just there to look cool.  It's the Security Police HQ, after all...

Turn 1 ends with Insurgent Team 1 easily passing a Normal Grip to avoid Suppression, with a 9. The Injured Insurgent is removed as Critical [in these basic rules...].

Turn 2, Insurgent T1 fires and misses. Stormy T1 does a Return Fire and Aces two rolls [badly missing with the third].

They choose to use their Ace rolls to force the Insurgents to roll against a more difficult save, aka a Hard Grip - neither makes it. He then goes Suppressed. Can't blame him!

Insurgent T2 just plain misses, needing 8s.

Stormy T2 Returns Fire and misses as well.

Stormy Player Turn 2 begins with T2 performing a Reposition to get into better cover. Insurgent T2 gets a hit with their Return Fire. The Stormy blows his Grip [save] and goes down.

Team 2 then rolls for Suppression, and fails w a '2'. Now this is more of what we're used to from the films...

Stormy T1 Performs and Engaging! Measure, and shoots at long range with the Grenade Launcher at Insurgent T2. Another model performs a "Mark" Task and marks a spot on the Board for the GL to try and hit. Amazingly, it does despite rolling a '3'!

"+" Marks the spot, and all models within 2" are whacked!

...and removed from the table.  Ugly!

Insurgent T3, the small Veteran Team also Engages and Hits a Stormy - the Grenadier, no less!  He fails his Grip and goes down.

The Team has just one model that can Return Fire, and he Hits a Veteran Insurgent. They also fail their Suppression roll for take a casualty.

The Veteran Insurgent fails his Grip [save] and goes down. The survivor then fails his Suppression roll.

At the start of Turn 3, the Insurgents have two models left!  The Veteran fails to Execute and remove the Suppression, so will not Perform this turn.

His buddy from T1 shoots and misses.

The Return Fire from the 2 Stormies that can see Mr. Ugly both hit, and he fails one Grip [save] and is down. However, they are Suppressed and shouldn't have fired...oops!

Turn 3, Stormy T1 successfully Executes and removes the Suppression completely.

T2 fails to do so with a '2'.

But they convert it to a Defensive token as part of their turn.

For Turn 3, Stormy T1 Repositions to better Cover.

Insurgent Turn 4 starts with the last Insurgent, a Veteran, successfully removing the Suppression, then missing T2.

As both Stormtrooper Teams are Defensive, they cannot Return Fire and so the Insurgent Player Turn ends.

Stormy Turn 4, they decide to use the Grenade Launcher on the Veteran Insurgent. Again, a model Marks the spot and then the GL gets an Ace hit!

Final Insurgent is dead multiple times over - no save.

Well, that was pretty intense!  I hope I got the Grenade Launcher part right, but it says under the "Explosive" special rule that they ignore Concealment and Cover when firing at Infantry.  As the GL is also Penetrating (1), all models within 2" take a Hit with no save.  Definitely a good reason to spread out!

This was a short sharp fight.  

I figured the open terrain in the middle of the board might be a problem for the Insurgents to maneuver to the objectives. However, they never even had a chance to - the Stormy fire [as Rangers] enabled them to establish Fire Superiority over the Insurgents and then finish them off with the Grenade Launchers.

Overall, there was nothing radical about the rules.  It is basically an IGO-UGO with Reactions possible. A small game of two teams a side means IGO-UGO as you get to Perform twice, once with each team.

The system of shooting and saves is interesting, and this little firefight had good feel with the back-and-forth between the two sides.  The Ranger Assault Teams with their GL are pretty brutal, however, and I carelessly allowed my Insurgents to cluster up too much. Theoretically, I would've only been able to hit one Insurgent with the GL if I spread them out to the max, but I got focused on shooting instead of spreading them out.

The most difficult thing to remember was the unique terms that the game uses, like "Execute" for Rally, "Grip" for Quality, "Measures" for Action, etc. I don't know if the terms were chosen to be more authentic, or if they were chosen just to be different.  I would have found them easier to remember if they were "the same-old, same-old" and if I hosted the game and made a QRS, I might very well switch them to more typical terms.

The Scenarios are pretty rich, and I look forward to trying out some more but with more Insurgents so that the Stormies won't get an easy 2-10 win like this time!

There is also a 1 fig = 1 Unit variant called "Close Quarters" where figs do not act as a team but by 1-2 figs.  That has some more detailed injuries also, which I consider important in these low-level scraps where neither side wants to allow the other to take prisoners.

Definitely looking forward to going In Country again!