Cybela and the Iron Talisman – 1 Abon Setback

A solo campaign with plastic toys based on the Ironsworn RPG and the OnePageRules Grimdark Future Firefight skirmishing rules.
See setup here.

Previous events: The Duchy of Elfbrook has been attacked by the Duchy of Boarwood. Duchesss Cybela of Elfbrook is the best remotely-controlled-mecha-pilot around: she swears a vow to help defeat the invaders and rescue her friend Tahuta, who has snatched the Iron Talisman from the hands of the enemy but is now trapped in the Boarwood-occupied territory.

NPCs:

• Duke Themon of Elfbrook – Cybela’s father
• Archmage Brynn, uncle of Cybela and leader of the Cult. A powerful and ambiguous man.
• Tahuta – an agent in Elfbrook special forces and Cybela’s best friend.

 

[I will use this map to track progress on Cybela’s vow. Progress will correspond to the liberation of occupied territory (marked by the diagonal lines)]

Diagonal lines: Boarwood occupation

Cybela’s Mecha supports two infantry squads and two veterans (running men) in an action at the outskirts of Abon. Both armies want to seize both the gray car in the foreground and the oval white structure in the background. The Boarwood (blue) platoon includes a red giant, four veterans, a sniper (deployed on the oval structure) and a Weapon-team with a missile launcher.

Turn 1: the missile-launcher targets the Mecha and hits! Since it is blast(3), it causes three hits and one of the puts the mecha out-of-combat. Two of the Boarwood veterans move towards the left side of the area and two to the right.

Turn 2: The giant is hit and stunned. The veterans on the right are eliminated by one of the green infantry squads.  The other two engage in combat with the two green veterans, who then move towards the oval structure.

Turn 3: the missile-launcher is effective again and completely destroys one of the green infantry squads. The sniper puts one of the Elfbrook veterans out-of-combat. The blue veterans advance undisturbed.

Turn 4: since the green army has lost more than half of its units, I check morale and the infantry squad decides to retreat. The only remaining green veteran has no option but to retreat as well.

A clean blue victory.
Cybela must Pay the Price. I will add some complication. Oracle: “reveal tool”.
Boarwood has carefully prepared their invasion: all squads will include a missile-launcher unit. I will also decrease supplies by 2: building new Mechas is expensive…

Current situation:

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3
Health:5 Spirit:5 Supply:3 Momentum:0
Vow: retrieve the Iron Talisman (Troublesome) Progress:0
Background Vow: limit the power of the Cult (Extreme) Progress:0

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Cybela and the Iron Talisman – Campaign setup

After playing an interesting OPR Grimdark Future Firefight campaign in the past months, I thought I will continue with this skirmish system which I greatly enjoy. I have invested 10 Euros in Lego bricks: Lego robots will enter the fight. I also want to add more story elements and the Ironsworn RPG is excellent in this respect. I will use a custom anime / steampunk / fantasy / random setting that I will build from scratch. Everything will be as simple as possible: I don’t expect to use assets, at least for now.

1 Create your character – Cybela is the Duchess of Elfbrook. She is the most talented mecha pilot in the duchy.
Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3

2 Create your world. I rolled a handful of dice and drew a map of the Slar island. The Elfbrook Duchy is in the Eastern part of the island. The other two large Duchies are Rockfall at the South and Boarwood, also including the Damula island, at the North.

3 Create your background bonds.
I decided one of the bonds is Duke Themon, Cybela’s father.

I used the Irosnsorn NPC Oracles for the other two bonds:

3a: A “wanting pilgrim”, whose goal is to “obtain an object.” Cybela’s uncle is the second most powerful man in the Duchy: Archmage Brynn, leader of the Cult. He has travelled extensively in all Slar and beyond. Some think his loyalty to Themon is not total.
3b: A “cooperative thief”, who wants to “fulfill a duty.” Tahuta is Cybela’s best friend. She is an agent in Elfbrook special forces.

4 Write your background vow. Oracle: “seize mysticism”. Cybela wants to limit the power of the Cult, which often interferes with all the important matters. (Extreme)

5 Envision your inciting incident. Oracle “deflect destiny”. I used the hints provided by Cybela’s bonds. Boarwood has invaded the neutral area of Stonetower, at the center of Slar. The Iron Talisman is considered as the the symbol of the power on all Slar: it has been preserved in Stonetower for many decades, as the result of an agreement among the three duchies. Tahuta has recovered the talisman, but the quick Boarwood occupation has trapped her behind enemy lines.

6 Set the Scene. Elfbrook will have to immediately counter-attack, trying to get possession of the Talisman. Brynn claims that it must be handled to him who, being a spiritual authority, can grant that it will not be used to damage the other regions of Slan. Themon is not of the same opinion, but all agree that the Talisman must not fall in the hands of Boarwood. Cybela will be a protagonist in the fight by remotely piloting a brand new experimental mecha.

7 Swear an Iron Vow. After receiving the controls of her new Mecha, in front of the Duke and the chief engineers of the Mechanization Ministry, Cybela swears to find Tahuta and the Iron Talisman.
Swear an Iron vow: Challenge:5,7 Action:1+1Heart+1Community=3 Miss
In that very moment, news arrive that the Boarwood army has passed the border and has directly attacked Elfbrook. The task will be Troublesome, harder than expected. (Momentum=0)

Opokt Campaign finale

A solo campaign based on OPR Grimdark Future Firefight  and Nine Steps and a Bloody Heart (NSAABH). Campaign set-up details here.

Background and previous events: 1988 – hypergates appear in different places of the Earth. The gates lead to what apparently is a different version of our planet in which elements of the present world mix with elements from the remote past and from what possibly is a remote future. From the hyperplanet, invading armies, dinosaurs and giant golems attack our world. The governments of the Earth send SWAT squads through the gates: their task is to explore the hostile planet on the other side and hopefully find a way to shut the hypergates and stop the invasion.
Sgt.Ephraim and his comrades  must shut-down an unstable wormhole which has been reported in the Opokt area. The wormhole is under the control of Damocles Garth, a renegade marine who has joined the collaborationists. The earthlings have been informed by an anonymous source in Damocles’ army: who is this person?
I use the NSAABH card deck to answer these three questions:
(Clubs) Where exactly is the wormhole?
(Diamonds) How can it be shut-down?
(Spades) Who is the anonymous informant?
(1) Five of spades – the anonymous informant is not a robot.
Ephraim’s squad recovers a memory deck whose position had been revealed by the informant. He sent the earthlings a handwritten note: so he/she is not a robot. Ephraim fails a 50-50 roll to discover a second card.
(2) Two of spades – the informant isn’t Damocles’ sidekick Tia. Ephraim’s squad is confronted by a group of gaters lead by Tia: clearly, she is loyal to the collaborationists.
(3) Ace of diamonds – the wormhole cannot be shut-down by explosives. Our heroes are defeated in an attempt to break through the defence of the gaters. They receive new from their HQ that the wormhole is supposed to be resistant to explosives.
(4) Ace of Clubs: the wormhole is not in the dungeons below Opokt. The team explores the dungeons and find nothing bug bugs and collaborationists. They win the fight, and, by questioning a prisoner, Ephraim also discovers that
(4b) 4 of Spades: the mysterious informant is not a civilian, but someone in the blue army.
(5) 2 of Diamonds: the earth HQ dig more valuable intelligence out of the memory deck: the wormhole cannot be shut-down by a technological interface.
(6) Ace of Spades. The informant is not Damocles. Only one spades card is left. The informant is a blue soldier: Ephraim’s team recovers him.
(7) 4 of clubs – the team explores an island in the Opokt river, but the wormhole is not there.
(8) 2 of clubs – the wormhole is not carried around in a vehicle. It must be in Damocles’ Headquarters.

__________________

Last card: 4 of Diamonds. The wormhole cannot be shut-down by a physical key. There are two options left: to close it, it is necessary some kind of spell, or one must kill Damocles.

The last fight is at Damocles’ HQ and our heroes face Damocles in person (the paper mini near the wormhole). I decided to give them a chance to kill Damocles and see if that is enough to close the wormhole. I played this game without a turn limit.
Damocles stats: Q:4+ D:4+, one close-combat attack; no ranged attacks.

For the last fight, the green army is augmented with two more Infantry Squads and sniper (for a grand total of 210 points).
I randomly rolled and randomly deployed a similar Blue army:
Damocles, two veterans, blue and red golems, rhino, robot, an infantry squad and a sniper.
I randomly rolled for the green entry board: the centre of the lower side. In the pictures, the Green leader Sgt.Ephraim is marked by the green circle.

The green sniper (scout) deploys inside Damocles’ HQ.

Turn 1: the green sniper shoots at Damocles and misses. Damocles charges and puts him out of combat. The robot charges one of the green infantry squads. Ephraim and most of the green army move towards the East entrance, shooting at the blue infantry guarding it.

Turn 2: the blue Veterans inside the building move towards the East door to stop the green attack. The blue infantry at the door is destroyed, but Ephraim is wounded by the blue sniper, shooting from behind the corner. The golems are slow, but they are closing in: their D:3+ allows them to move forward between the bullets of the green infantry. The robot and the rhino badly damange one of the green infantry squads: a single stunned man remains.

Turn 3: the robot finishes the infantry man. Ephraim enters the building, but is wounded again by the veterans. Pierre also receives two wounds from the sniper and the blue golem.

Turn 4: Ephraim heroically manages to put out of combat both veterans in hand-to-hand combat: he is now facing Damocles! The green infantry kills the rhino and the blue golem. Victory seems near.

Turn 5: Ephraim faces Damocles, but he is immediately put out of command by the fresh opponent. Pierre also enters the building, while Calaf takes cover at the door and tries, unsuccessfully, to kill the sniper. The red golem is stunned. The robot attacks a second infantry squad.

Turn 6: Damocles stuns Pierre. The green infantry charges the stunned red golem and put it out of combat. The other infantry squad repels the tough robot, inflicting two wounds.

Turn 7: Calaf joins the hand-to-hand fight against Damocles, but the villain put out of combat both him and Pierre. Since all our three heroes have been defeated, I decided to assign to Damocles the victory in this campaign. The wormhole has not been closed.

After the game, I checked the last card. Killing Damocles would not have been enough to close the wormhole. An unknown spell is necessary. Something to keep in mind if I decide to give this setting another go in the future…

 

Opokt Campaign 8/9: The abandoned factory

A solo campaign based on OPR Grimdark Future Firefight  and Nine Steps and a Bloody Heart (NSAABH). Campaign set-up details here.

Background and previous events: 1988 – hypergates appear in different places of the Earth. The gates lead to what apparently is a different version of our planet in which elements of the present world mix with elements from the remote past and from what possibly is a remote future. From the hyperplanet, invading armies, dinosaurs and giant golems attack our world. The governments of the Earth send SWAT squads through the gates: their task is to explore the hostile planet on the other side and hopefully find a way to shut the hypergates and stop the invasion.
Sgt.Ephraim and his comrades  must shut-down an unstable wormhole which has been reported in the Opokt area. The wormhole is under the control of Damocles Garth, a renegade marine who has joined the collaborationists. The earthlings have been informed by an anonymous source in Damocles’ army: who is this person?
I use the NSAABH card deck to answer these three questions:
(Clubs) Where exactly is the wormhole?
(Diamonds) How can it be shut-down?
(Spades) Who is the anonymous informant?
(1) Five of spades – the anonymous informant is not a robot.
Ephraim’s squad recovers a memory deck whose position had been revealed by the informant. He sent the earthlings a handwritten note: so he/she is not a robot. Ephraim fails a 50-50 roll to discover a second card.
(2) Two of spades – the informant isn’t Damocles’ sidekick Tia. Ephraim’s squad is confronted by a group of gaters lead by Tia: clearly, she is loyal to the collaborationists.
(3) Ace of diamonds – the wormhole cannot be shut-down by explosives. Our heroes are defeated in an attempt to break through the defence of the gaters. They receive new from their HQ that the wormhole is supposed to be resistant to explosives.
(4) Ace of Clubs: the wormhole is not in the dungeons below Opokt. The team explores the dungeons and find nothing bug bugs and collaborationists. They win the fight, and, by questioning a prisoner, Ephraim also discovers that
(4b) 4 of Spades: the mysterious informant is not a civilian, but someone in the blue army.
(5) 2 of Diamonds: the earth HQ dig more valuable intelligence out of the memory deck: the wormhole cannot be shut-down by a technological interface.
(6) Ace of Spades. The informant is not Damocles. Only one spades card is left. The informant is a blue soldier: Ephraim’s team recovers him.
(7) 4 of clubs – the team explores an island in the Opokt river, but the wormhole is not there.

______________

Opokt Campaign 8/9: The abandoned factory

New Card: 3 of clubs. The wormhole is not in an abandoned factory.

Ephraim searches an abandoned factory. He founds the following collaborationist opposition:

2 Veterans
2 Giant Bugs
2 Robots
An Infantry Squad
A Sniper

The objective is seizing ground by taking control of as many as possible of the six blue cubes.  The opponent sniper and robots have the scout special ability and take control of three the objective. The green start at a clear disadvantage.

Turn 1 and 2: Ephraim, Pierre and Calaf climb the stairs nearest to their entry point. Ephraim is wounded by the sniper, but kills him in return. The giant bugs attack the green Infantry Squad, which kills one of the two. The blue veteran take control of the cube at the centre of the board.

Turn 3: the surviving bug moves (fast) to the objective at the top left. The green infantry squad engages a firefight with the blue veteran: one of the green men goes down. One of the robots tries to recapture the objective that was held by the sniper: it start a melee fight with Ephraim. Pierre shoots towards the other robot across the board, but it’s a miss. Calaf rushes towards one of the free objectives.

Turn 4: Ephraim defeats the black robot and takes hold of the objective. Calaf also reaches his objective. Pierre and the Infantry Squad do not manage to put out of combat any of the opponents. At the end, the blue still control 3 cubes vs the 2 seized by the green. It’s a blue victory.

Yet Ephraim has his third opportunity to gain an extra card: a 50/50 roll and it’s a success!
2 of Clubs: the Wormhole is not a portable device, carried around in a van. Ephraim finds a map on the body of the sniper: the wormhole is at Damocles’ HQ, whose position is clearly described.

The next game will be located there: we will see if Ephraim will find a way to shut-down the wormhole.

NSAABH:
Clubs: Where exactly is the wormhole?
1. — Underground: below Opokt town.
2. It is a portable device, carried around in a van.
3. In an abandoned factory.
4. On an island of the Opokt river.
5. In Damocles’ HQ.

Diamonds: How can it be shut-down?
1. — Blasting it with explosive.
2. By a technological interface.
3. Some kind of spell.
4. A physical key.
5. Killing Damocles.

Spades: Who is the anonymous informant?
1. Damocles.
2. — Damocles’ sidekick Tia.
3. A  collaborationist soldier.
4. — A civilian.
5. — A robot.

Opokt Campaign 7/9: the Opokt island

A solo campaign based on OPR Grimdark Future Firefight  and Nine Steps and a Bloody Heart (NSAABH). Campaign set-up details here.

Background and previous events: 1988 – hypergates appear in different places of the Earth. The gates lead to what apparently is a different version of our planet in which elements of the present world mix with elements from the remote past and from what possibly is a remote future. From the hyperplanet, invading armies, dinosaurs and giant golems attack our world. The governments of the Earth send SWAT squads through the gates: their task is to explore the hostile planet on the other side and hopefully find a way to shut the hypergates and stop the invasion.
Sgt.Ephraim and his comrades  must shut-down an unstable wormhole which has been reported in the Opokt area. The wormhole is under the control of Damocles Garth, a renegade marine who has joined the collaborationists. The earthlings have been informed by an anonymous source in Damocles’ army: who is this person?
I use the NSAABH card deck to answer these three questions:
(Clubs) Where exactly is the wormhole?
(Diamonds) How can it be shut-down?
(Spades) Who is the anonymous informant?
(1) Five of spades – the anonymous informant is not a robot.
Ephraim’s squad recovers a memory deck whose position had been revealed by the informant. He sent the earthlings a handwritten note: so he/she is not a robot. Ephraim fails a 50-50 roll to discover a second card.
(2) Two of spades – the informant isn’t Damocles’ sidekick Tia. Ephraim’s squad is confronted by a group of gaters lead by Tia: clearly, she is loyal to the collaborationists.
(3) Ace of diamonds – the wormhole cannot be shut-down by explosives. Our heroes are defeated in an attempt to break through the defence of the gaters. They receive new from their HQ that the wormhole is supposed to be resistant to explosives.
(4) Ace of Clubs: the wormhole is not in the dungeons below Opokt. The team explores the dungeons and find nothing bug bugs and collaborationists. They win the fight, and, by questioning a prisoner, Ephraim also discovers that
(4b) 4 of Spades: the mysterious informant is not a civilian, but someone in the blue army.
(5) 2 of Diamonds: the earth HQ dig more valuable intelligence out of the memory deck: the wormhole cannot be shut-down by a technological interface.
(6) Ace of Spades. The informant is not Damocles. Only one spades card is left. The informant is a blue soldier: Ephraim’s team recovers him.

__________________________

New card: 4 of clubs – the wormhole is not on an island on the Opokt river.

The informant tells the earthlings that the wormhole might be on an island on the Opokt river. Ephraim’s team go and check the place: they don’t find the wormhole, but there could be something of interest to retrieve. I set up the encounter as a treasure hunt: the six blue markers correspond to potential locations for the
objective.

Blue opposition:
a Veteran
an infantry squad
two snipers
a mutant rhinoceros

The two snipers are “scouts” and they are directly deployed near two of the points of interest.

Turn 1: the blue sniper on the lower-left immediately finds and grabs the objective! All the other units advance towards the center of the island.

Turn 2: the blue sniper with the target object begins retreating towards his exit. The two infantry squads exchange shots and one of the green man goes down. Calaf charges the blue Veteran.

Turn 3: Ephraim shoots at the retreating sniper but misses; then he is cornered by the blue infantry. Calaf and the veteran are still engaged in melee. The rhino charges the green infantry. Pierre tries to get a clean shot to the retreating sniper.

Turn 4: Pierre manages to take down the sniper! The target is available, but no green figure is close enough to try and pick it up. Ephraim is put out of combat by the green infantry. Finally, Pierre is stunned by the second sniper.

None of the two sides managed to recover the target; but the green suffered more losses than the blue.

NSAABH:
Clubs: Where exactly is the wormhole?
1. — Underground: below Opokt town.
2. It is a portable device, carried around in a van.
3. In an abandoned factory.
4. On an island of the Opokt river.
5. In Damocles’ HQ.
Diamonds: How can it be shut-down?
1. — Blasting it with explosive.
2. By a technological interface.
3. Some kind of spell.
4. A physical key.
5. Killing Damocles.
Spades: Who is the anonymous informant?
1. Damocles.
2. — Damocles’ sidekick Tia.
3. A  collaborationist soldier.
4. — A civilian.
5. — A robot.

Opokt Campaign 6/9: fight for the informant

A solo campaign based on OPR Grimdark Future Firefight  and Nine Steps and a Bloody Heart (NSAABH). Campaign set-up details here.
Background and previous events: 1988 – hypergates appear in different places of the Earth. The gates lead to what apparently is a different version of our planet in which elements of the present world mix with elements from the remote past and from what possibly is a remote future. From the hyperplanet, invading armies, dinosaurs and giant golems attack our world. The governments of the Earth send SWAT squads through the gates: their task is to explore the hostile planet on the other side and hopefully find a way to shut the hypergates and stop the invasion.
Sgt.Ephraim and his comrades  must shut-down an unstable wormhole which has been reported in the Opokt area. The wormhole is under the control of Damocles Garth, a renegade marine who has joined the collaborationists. The earthlings have been informed by an anonymous source in Damocles’ army: who is this person?
I use the NSAABH card deck to answer these three questions:
(Clubs) Where exactly is the wormhole?
(Diamonds) How can it be shut-down?
(Spades) Who is the anonymous informant?
(1) Five of spades – the anonymous informant is not a robot.
Ephraim’s squad recovers a memory deck whose position had been revealed by the informant. He sent the earthlings a handwritten note: so he/she is not a robot. Ephraim fails a 50-50 roll to discover a second card.
(2) Two of spades – the informant isn’t Damocles’ sidekick Tia. Ephraim’s squad is confronted by a group of gaters lead by Tia: clearly, she is loyal to the collaborationists.
(3) Ace of diamonds – the wormhole cannot be shut-down by explosives. Our heroes are defeated in an attempt to break through the defence of the gaters. They receive new from their HQ that the wormhole is supposed to be resistant to explosives.
(4) Ace of Clubs: the wormhole is not in the dungeons below Opokt. The team explores the dungeons and find nothing bug bugs and collaborationists. They win the fight, and, by questioning a prisoner, Ephraim also discovers that
(4b) 4 of Spades: the mysterious informant is not a civilian, but someone in the blue army.
(5) 2 of Diamonds: the earth HQ dig more valuable intelligence out of the memory deck: the wormhole cannot be shut-down by a technological interface.

_____________________________

New card: Ace of Spades. The informant is not Damocles. Only one cards is left: the informant is a blue soldier.
I set up a scenario in which one of the two sides will be in control of the informant, escorted by an Infantry Squad. The other side must eliminate the Infantry Squad to take control of the informant. A 50-50 roll assigned the informant to control of the Gaters blue squad: The informant has been uncovered and Ephraim’s squad must recover him.
The informant is the figure marked with a pink cube. The blue enter from the South. In addition to the infantry squad, they have two veterans (running men), a sniper (crouching) and a flying bug. The Sniper has the scout ability and takes position on the relatively high building. This turned out to be a poor decision: he never had a clear line of sight to any opponent.

The squad with the objective moves towards the right. So does the green army. The two sides soon exchange shots in the narrow area near the wrecked yellowish car. Pierre takes two wounds from the two blue veterans. Calaf takes down the first of the three infantry men escorting the informant. The flying bug initially moved to the left, and at turn two it is still a the center of the board, far from the action.

Pierre is engaged in a double fight against the veterans and the flying bug: he doesn’t inflict any damage, but he survives all the attacks.
This allows Ephraim, Calaf and the green infantry squad to focus on the main objective. The task is tougher than it seems. The last infantry man is killed by the very last shot of the fourth turn. The informant is now safely in the hands of the Green army!

I must say that this time I played the blues quite poorly: both the bug and the sniper were not used at full potential. On the other hand, the veterans had some lucky shots, so it turned out to be an engaging fight anyway.

NSAABH:
Clubs: Where exactly is the wormhole?
1. — Underground: below Opokt town.
2. It is a portable device, carried around in a van.
3. In an abandoned factory.
4. On an island of the Opokt river.
5. In Damocles’ HQ.
Diamonds: How can it be shut-down?
1. — Blasting it with explosive.
2. By a technological interface.
3. Some kind of spell.
4. A physical key.
5. Killing Damocles.
Spades: Who is the anonymous informant?
1. Damocles.
2. — Damocles’ sidekick Tia.
3. A  collaborationist soldier.
4. — A civilian.
5. — A robot.

Opokt Campaign 5/9: two robots too much

A solo campaign based on OPR Grimdark Future Firefight  and Nine Steps and a Bloody Heart (NSAABH). Campaign set-up details here.

Background and previous events: 1988: hypergates appear in different places of the Earth. The gates lead to what apparently is a different version of our planet in which elements of the present world mix with elements from the remote past and from what possibly is a remote future. From the hyperplanet, invading armies, dinosaurs and giant golems attack our world. The governments of the Earth send SWAT squads through the gates: their task is to explore the hostile planet on the other side and hopefully find a way to shut the hypergates and stop the invasion.
Sgt.Ephraim and his comrades  must shut-down an unstable wormhole which has been reported in the Opokt area. The wormhole is under the control of Damocles Garth, a renegade marine who has joined the collaborationists. The earthlings have been informed by an anonymous source in Damocles’ army: who is this person?
I use the NSAABH card deck to answer these three questions:
(Clubs) Where exactly is the wormhole?
(Diamonds) How can it be shut-down?
(Spades) Who is the anonymous informant?
(1) Five of spades – the anonymous informant is not a robot.
Ephraim’s squad recovers a memory deck whose position had been revealed by the informant. He sent the earthlings a handwritten note: so he/she is not a robot. Ephraim fails a 50-50 roll to discover a second card.
(2) Two of spades – the informant isn’t Damocles’ sidekick Tia. Ephraim’s squad is confronted by a group of gaters lead by Tia: clearly, she is loyal to the collaborationists.
(3) Ace of diamonds – the wormhole cannot be shut-down by explosives. Our heroes are defeated in an attempt to break through the defence of the gaters. They receive new from their HQ that the wormhole is supposed to be resistant to explosives.
(4) Ace of Clubs: the wormhole is not in the dungeons below Opokt. The team explores the dungeons and find nothing bug bugs and collaborationists. They win the fight, and, by questioning a prisoner, Ephraim also discovers that
(4b) the mysterious informant is not a civilian, but someone in the blue army.

________________________________

New card:
2 of Diamonds: the wormhole cannot be shut-down by a technological interface.

The scenario is a classical “size ground” with five objectives (the pink cubes). I roll for random opposition and get:
Tia (Damocles’ sidekick) same stats as Ephraim
A fast flying bug
Two robots (who have the “scout” special ability and Tough:3)

The two scout robots can be deployed anywhere, and they immediately secure the two buildings with objectives.

Turns 1 and 2: Ephraim and Calaf face the green robot near the building on the right. The robot receives two hits, but Calaf is stunned in the fight.
Pierre shoots a well aimed rocket at Tia, who is over-confidently advancing in the open. She is Tough:3 two, gets two wounds but still stands.
The infantry team fights the black robot on the left. Both sides take damage.

Turn 3: The green robots stuns Calaf again. Ephraim shoots at him but misses.
Pierre also misses his last chance to put Tia out of combat. She retreats behind the red van, also securing an objective.
The fight on the left side doesn’t go well for the earthlings: they loose another soldier and the third is stunned.

Turn 4: The flying bug, who had been quite behind cover the whole time, flies to one of the objectives. Tia and the robots control an objective each: the earthlings have none.

This was a humiliating defeat for the green army. Yet they receive news from their HQ: new data have been extracted from the memory deck. The wormhole cannot be shut-down via a software interface.

 

NSAABH:
Clubs: Where exactly is the wormhole?
1. — Underground: below Opokt town.
2. It is a portable device, carried around in a van.
3. In an abandoned factory.
4. On an island of the Opokt river.
5. In Damocles’ HQ.
Diamonds: How can it be shut-down?
1. — Blasting it with explosive.
2. By a technological interface.
3. Some kind of spell.
4. A physical key.
5. Killing Damocles.
Spades: Who is the anonymous informant?
1. Damocles.
2. — Damocles’ sidekick Tia.
3. A random collaborationist soldier.
4. — A civilian.
5. — A robot.