100% John Lambshead! Sci-fi Skirmish and OHSW

Two books that go great together: 

"One-Hour Skirmish Wargames" & "Sci-fi Skirmish Scenarios" 

For this playtest, ultimately a test of both the OHSW rules and the SSS scenario, I decided to go with a campaign listed in the SSS book. I am such a sucker for a good campaign effort! There are three and all look very well done. I picked Campaign 2: Corporate Rivalry with the intent of using this matchup over a few playtests which would result in a strong narrative, enhancing the enjoyment of the scenario. It seemed to me that the clash between the lowest level of The Empire and the Rebel Scum resembled two corporations more than the alternatives.

I marshalled my WoC Star Wars plastics, Infinity terrain, and ESS game board, and threw it all together in about 30 minutes.

The Defenders of Law and Order in the Galaxy: 4 stormies [one a Leader] with Assault Rifles [2Shots @ 18", 1 Shot @ ∞], a fifth with a SAW [3 Shots / 2 Shots]. I didn't get into more weaponry because this is not an intense combat mission.

Scum & Villainy. 10 Scum, variety of weapons including 3 with nothing but Close Combat weapons. Rest with pistols, ARs, Rifles.

The table: hardboard by Enemy Spotted Studios, a generic arid ground at 2'x2'. The cardboard buildings are from Infinity, and are a great inexpensive grab for a busy gamer.  Few of us have the time and money to buy solid terrain and paint it as well as these have been illustrated. Altho the cardboard attachments [flap and slot] are visible, during play you don't really notice them.

This scenario is #1.2 Data Drip from the SSS book. It involves 6 locations where data is being randomly downloaded. The Sides are both trying to secure the locations, insert their thumb Drive [or whatever], and therefore be in a position to successfully acquire the data. Interestingly, and a good plot twist, is that the data is rolled for randomly with 3d6 at the end of each Turn. The 6 locations are numbered 1-6, and the rolled value of the dice is where the data arrives for that Turn.

The four buildings and the two taller signs are all data download sites. There are also 4 low "jersey barrier" type obstructions that are simply terrain. To make the board a bit more interesting, I used a Rezolution scatter die and also angled each piece to vary where the steps were and how the sign/barrier was aligned. This immediately made the board a more complex situation that had to be analyzed.

For the game the Stormies were outnumbered 2:1, so had a bit of a weapon edge, and also the option to use their Initiative [IN] card or a drawn card for their Action Points [AP] when they won IN.  This reflects their superior training.

In OHSW, a Game Turn can have multiple "Impulses" of player turns, which alternate until a Joker is drawn. So it's not unusual [depending amount of Shots, usually] for there to be 2-3 Player Turns before the end of the Game Turn.

Turn 1, Impulse 1. Imps win IN and choose to enter the East board edge which has the most Data points closest together. They draw 8 AP and get a solid foothold on the East edge of the board. The Scum draw a 2 AP and bring two scum from the opposing West edge. Outnumbered, they have to await a better impulse to come on in force!

Turn 1, Impulse 2. Imps draw 13 AP with the King. They move into position, inserting their drives ito the data dump points, and secure all four. Their first Shot, they draw a Joker... Turn over! They get 2 points of Data with the 5 and 6.

Turn 2, Impulse 1. Scum win IN, draw 12 AP, occupy the two Data points on their side easily, Down one Imp with a Shot.

Turn 2, Impulse 2. Imps do well, getting a buncha AP, Down two Scum and put 2 Imps on Overwatch. This is a house rule, allowing a side to pay one AP and take a Shot at any enemy that complete a Move in their Line of Sight. Joker is drawn during shooting. One Scum retreats to the back of a building like the cowardly Scum he is, and the other Scum and the Imp stand up, Back in the Fight [BiF].

Data dump results in one to Scum, two to Imps!

Turn 3, Impulse 1. Scum get more people on the board, Down two Imps. Imps shoot back, Down 3 Scum. During shooting, Joker drawn, Turn ends. One Scum is dead. one Imp retreats, another is lightly wounded, needs first aid. Other two Scum stand up, BiF.

Once again, Fortune favors Law and Order, and Imps get three data dumps, for a 7-1 lead!

Turn 4, Impulse 1. Shots all around result in two Imps going Down. One is fine, the other is lightly wounded. Situation is getting dicey as the Scum build up their strength! Still, Imps are winning 10-1 in Data Drips, so only question is when the game will end.

The yellow chips are Overwatch chips. The mechanic seems to work OK thus far. Knowing that if you cross an open space over 6" wide the opposition can take a Shot in the open has discouraged some closing in from the larger Scum force, which is half pistol or CC weapon armed. OTOH, they have managed to scoot across when there's no Overwatch, so it isn't an overwhelming advantage, and you do need the AP to use it.

Turn 5, Impulse 1. Effective use of numbers has resulted in Scum presenting numerous threats.  At top, a Scum [no gun] may attempt to steal either Data drive [on the building, at the tall sign] or get on the roof and attack the Down Imp.

At bottom, Scum managed to Down lone Imp on roof - he's getting surrounded. They also managed to advance two Scum to the data point next to the building at the sign, altho one was put Down. Having secured 2 Data points, and threatening 2 others... can they seize the Initiative and catch up?

Turn 5, Impulse 2. Resolving Down Figs, one Imp has light wound and needs first aid [9 hearts], the other is BiF. The Scum take one Out of Fight [OOF] near the Data point to right. They still have an active threat across the board, but have to catch up with the Data drip die rolls. Under time pressure, the Scum are going to have to take risks to steal a win. The best way to do that in this scenario is to seize the Data drives [disk, thumb drive, whatever] from the Data points. The Data 'drips' are on them, so it is literally stealing the win from the Imps. Let's see how it goes...

Scum manages to remove the Data drive from Data point #5!

Imp manages to gun down said Scum, altho we don't yet know if he's dead, etc...

No matter! Imp engages the Down Scum in CC, OOFs him and seizes the Data drive back for the Imperial cause!

Meanwhile, at Data point #2, another Scum makes the same attempt, successfully removing the Drive [blue marker]. Imp manages to Down him.

Imp engages Down Scum in CC, but manages to lose and is himself Down. I modified the outcomes for CC a bit in this playtest - the main issue is around what "Down" represents...possibly Pinned, Wounded or Dead and how to handle this. 

Turn 6, Impulse 1. Scum seize IN and spend buncha AP to Down the Imp with the Data drive, then send Scum over to steal it and escape most of the way back to their table edge. This Drive has 3 Drips on it, so will put them in the run for a win.

Not having any of that, Imp dashes over from NE building and guns Down the Scum!  Now, to secure that Data drive again...

Drive #2 has been secured by OOFing the Scum at Data point #2.

Turn 6...Impulses 2-7. There ended up being a lot of Impulses this Turn. In the end, the Imps managed to secure all the Drives and gather together to hold out at their main building for the game to end. The two Drives that were nearly stolen did contain enough 'drips' [6] to change the outcome to a 9-7 win for Scum if they had pulled it off. However, the Imps managed to edge out the Scum at key moments to desperately hang onto or retrieve the Data.

After a very rough Turn 6, the Scum also flee the field after taking 8 of 10 casualties. This and the Data drip points mean that the Imps can claim a decisive victory in all aspects of the operation, casualties and Data collected.

This scenario was somewhat thrown together, and the 2-1 ratio of Scum to Imps was a best guesstimate. The Imps had a firepower advantage man to man, but the same firepower force to force. The Imps also had superior First Aid outcomes, and about half their "Out Of the Fight" outcomes resulted in mere retreats instead of actual wounds. As for the wounds, they consistently ended up with only a light wound [with the possibility of a serious wound instead] due to fortunate cards.

Regarding fortunate cards... the Imps managed to win Initiative and draw high AP cards on at least 2 occasions at the game start. This allowed them to:

- pick the table side that had the most Data points to enter from,

- quickly secure the points and insert their Drives,

- outnumber and easily hold off the Scum from challenging them,

- the random rolls for Data point 'drips' were almost entirely in their favor. The Scum secured points #1 and 4, the Imps #2, 3, 5, 6. Most of the data came in at 3, 5 & 6. This forced the Scum to have to try and secure Data drives in high-risk maneuvers.

This scenario could easily have gone either way if fortune had been a bit different. The Imps may not have been able to secure as many points as quickly, and more Data may have arrived at the 2 points the Scum secured [as it was, only 1 point did!]. Still, the Scum may have gotten away with enough stolen Data drives to win had the Imps not successfuly fought them off.

Overall, I feel like this scenario was a nail-biter that could easily have gone either way, and was mostly about player decisions being driven by the scenario, not luck.  I think the possibility of either securing Data Points OR stealing Data Drives leaves both sides with options, and all that a "steal" attempt needs is the right tactics and cards.

So this start to the campaign leaves me with a very positive impression of "Sci-fi Skirmish Scenarios", and eager to play the next campaign game!