Space Infantry Campaign Mission 1: part 2

Last week we posted the first part of Zac’s initial campaign mission, This week is the conclusion.

Turn 4

Sadly it turns out that none of the units have a Search skill and the next Node is Search 2. I have to burn the last Intel resource to get into the Node. The event roll is a 6 and so we are on to combat. Thankfully it is only two Young Chtonians.

Combat

The Squad Leader generates a CP and the range is set to Fire. The Heavy Weapon Team and Assault Team A move into the Narrow Passageways to engage the enemy. The Heavy Weapon team generates two Wounds and the Assault Team generates one. In return the Cthonian Young generate no wounds. One Young goes down. The next combat round also sees the Squad Leader generate a CP and the range stays at Fire. The Heavy Weapon Team generates one wound which is enough to take out the last Cthonian which manages to Grapple and wound the Heavy Weapon Team as it goes down.

Turn 5

We leave the confining tunnels of Hive tile #12 and move into the relative comfort of Hive tile #2. The squad is able to advance into the first node and it just narrowly avoids an encounter. I decide to take the path to the left which will take it into a new Hive tile. Tile #01 is chosen and it is Pitch Black. It would also loop back to the starting location so it isn’t a valid tile. Thanks goodness. Instead I go back to the stack and pull out Hive tile #05 which has Narrow Passageways. Again. All three of the Node cards are the Base type and one of them has the Auto/Toxins event string so I will try to avoid that.

The squad advences into the new Node but it is not able to generate three Advance SLs to make it (they generate 2 and so I leave a 2 SL counter on the Node). The squad goes back to the previous node and this requires a check for an event. This time the squad can’t avoid the Cthonians. Once again the enemy consists of two Cthonian Youth and this time the entire Squad can be activated as the previous Node was in the Hive #2 tile which does not have Narrow Passages.

Combat

The range is Melee and the Squad Leader has a CP to spend this combat round. The Squad generates three wounds including one from the Heavy Weapon team. The Squad Leader uses his CP to boost the C-C Team to enable them to get a Wound. Down goes a Cthonian. Neither of the Cthonians are able to land a blow. Next round the range extends to Fire. The C-C team rolls an RN of 3 and I use a CP to boost it to 4 to do the last wound on the Cthonian. It is unable to damage any of the time before it expires.

Turn 6

Once more we trek to tile #05. The squad easily generates the one SL it needs to finish opening up the Node. The RN for the event is a 6 and so we get another encounter. This time it is two Young and one Adult.

Combat

The initial range is a Cave-in event. I put a wound on each of the Cthonian Young and one on the Explorer who hasn’t had a lot to do this game. Might as well treat him like a Medi Kit. After the dust clears, the Cthonians rush into Melee range. Both Assault Teams move in to attack. The Assault Teams combine to do a single wound which will be enough to kill the Cthonian Young. Neither of the Cthonians land a hit in return but their demise clears the way for the Adult to rush forward. The Squad Leader perks up and manages to generate a CP and the range stays at Melee. I have to use the CP to get a second wound on the Adult. Its armour protects it from one of them and then the Adult rolls a net 8 for its AP and that does two wounds which kills both of the Assault Teams. Ouch!

Things are getting desperate now. The Squad Leader manages to generate a CP and the range increases to Fire. The C-C and the Heavy Weapon team step forward. The C-C gets one wound and the Heavy Weapon Team gets three to finish off the Adult. It is unlucky and it does no wounds in return.

The end?

So with only two team members left and both with a wound it doesn’t seem viable to go forward at this point. The next room will automatically apply a wound with the Toxin event and kill one of my troops so I decide to turn back. The way is safe until we get back to the first tile. We hadn’t triggered any of the events in those nodes due to the mission special rule. We avoid an encounter on the first node and then also avoid an encounter on the second and therefore get to our initial starting point and call for a retrieval.

Debriefing

Well that was a bit of a mess. I will chalk it up to my inexperience or perhaps bad dice. I think that I pushed the squad a bit further than I should have but who would expect a single Cthonian to get 8 SL in a single round of combat? I thought that I was doing quite well but then it all came crashing down around me. Quite literally with all of the Cave-in events. At first I thought that the Cave-ins were to injure you but they are really to slow you down more than anything.

Back at base the squad goes through the steps for the Campaign Mission Debriefing. Or at least those of them that are still able to speak will. There are no previously injured troops so I move on to Medical Treatment step. I don’t roll for the Explorer because no-one cares about Support staff. It is sad but a fact of life in the rough and tumble Space Infantry. Assault Team A rolls a 2 and is Recovering. Assault Team B is also Recovering. Sadly Fire Team A was unable to recover and they are marked as Killed. The mission was Aborted and so the squad only gets 1 Campaign VP. Each of the surviving team members gets 3 XP.
Assault Team A, The Heavy Weapons Team and the C-C all spend three XP to become Veterans. Hopefully that will help them to survive the next mission.

So the team was quite beat up but it appears that they all learned an important lesson. Never go into a Hive!

Let’s hope the next mission isn’t underground.