Managed to assemble a board during the middle of the day Sunday after cleaning was done. Over the last couple of days i've been contemplating missions. 'Real' missions, not the randomly rolled token objectives i've been running out of the rulebook.
Specifically, now that i've assembled some various terrain pieces i wanted to write and run some themed missions for the terrain. I've pretty much got the drafts all done so thought i've give one a crack.
Today's mission was 'escort the scientist to the abandoned military outpost'.
During the week i'd assembled the outpost and put on some base colours. More still to do in terms of shading and weathering (rust) etc but at a table-worthy state.
The military outpost is up at the top left corner, the APC (Infil/Exfil) is at the bottom left corner, and there were 4 Hot Spots also added.
I borrowed a non-weapon carrying dude from my Infinity models. I'd like to create a purpose built Scientist HVT model but didn't have time [see below].
Here's a couple of board overview shots from different angles...
The mission goal is for the Scientist to reach the Mission Objective point at the military outpost, do a search, and then get back to the APC. The Scientist can move 6" and is not armed.
An extra rule i made for him is that he must always move the maximum distance possible where appropriate (i.e. if he's not making 'Searches' instead) and using the shortest path to his objective - it's up to the crew to clear the path for him. He can be activated at any stage like a crew member, i.e. he doesn't always move at the start or end of turn or anything like that - so you can move him first if hostiles are approaching or move him last allowing the crew to clear existing hostile before moving him up.
For the game i rolled up 8 turns which is not a lot (minimum possible [7+d3]). There was a gap in the (otherwise impassable) wall so there was a bit of a run from the starting position. In general everything of interest was on the left side of the board.
HUSTLE booted through the gap and triggered the Hot Spot. The Hot Spot was 'in the Scientist's path' so there was a chance he would have triggered it when he got there and been overwhelmed by hostiles (thus ending the mission if he carked it). HUSTLE was hoping to reduce the hostile force there before he arrived. Unfortunately he hustled a little to fast and didn't have enough backup (just a couple of inches short)... and wound up Dead... My first casualty since I've been playing missions 'proper'. RIP 'Moran' HUSTLE you SOB.
This this was my first time putting the bandits on the table too - so a little exciting there. Two of them ran for cover, and two of them attacked while deploying. One of those deployment attacks made HUSTLE incapacitated, and an attack during the subsequent unanswered activations (everyone was moving up still so no return fire) finished him off. The Kelvar wasn't enough to deflect all the hits and he forgot to use his Electric Juice (damnit!) which could have swung the event around. Anyway, that happened.
The rest of the crew poured through the wall gap and finished off the bandits. SCROUNGER searched the anomaly, failing his will check despite the new detector (obviously needs calibration) but passed his armour save. KNIFE booted fast up towards the outpost to stop the Scientist doing anything stupid.
Scientist reached the MO, did his Science check and it was time to head back.
With the crew retreating a pack of Mutants spawned during the Control Check at the end of turn 6. With 8" movement and 2 actions per turn they really zip across the field (16" is a third of the board span). LEADER took one out before his retreat moves.
LEADER blasted another one as everyone reached the Exfil point - the Mutants were within pouncing distance as the doors of the APC slammed shut. Sure, they would have got blasted with overwatch but why risk it. This was the end of turn 8 so the Hostile Phase would have been starting and that turns things bad really quick.
So...
The mission concept worked really well. There wasn't a lot of time for dicking around raiding Hot Spots and the one that was triggered was more to clear it than to raid it. I probably would have avoided it until the return leg if that had been possible.
The anomaly produced a 5k artifact with armour bonus. The crew sold up all the loot obtained, resulting in a tad under 5k of spendable credits once dues were paid etc.
The MO was not 'Searchable', instead a reward was to be received from the Scientists. I didn't bother adding anything because... i just didn't (done with thinking for the day). The Scientists will just 'owe them one' for now - especially since the muppet they sent rushed blithely across the board and caused the crew to lose a member.
With the credits the crew hired a new Veteran 'Carter' who will be replacing 'Moran' in the HUSTLE role. All the gear just transfers - Stalkers don't care much for where the gear comes from, especially Veterans - so long as it works (don't mention those armour rolls though). This took most of the ready cash from the mission.
With the mission 'advances' the crew purchased '+1 combat' bonuses for LEADER and (new) HUSTLE.
The mission aspect was worth playing for sure. I'll probably throw it into the mix every few games (along with the other scenarios i've drafted). The scavenger hunts are probably a bit more fun imo, being 'sand box' and allowing you to decide your route better; which is the point of STALKER for me. Having the focused action of a tight mission goal was interesting too.
Until next time...
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