Stargrave - Hope Eternal - Episode Two - The Great Maglev Robbery

Vera was in town for the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend, so we got in a second game in our co-op Stargrave campaign. The second scenario in the Hope Eternal campaign is The Great Maglev Robbery.

In this scenario, the same anonymous patrons from the previous job contacted the crew and hired them to do another job for them. Acting on the data acquired from the previous job, the crew was to free a prisoner being transferred by maglev bullet train. The schedule and route of the train were given and the crew supplied with gravity-suppressors and mag-boots. It was suggested the best place to hit the train was when it travelled through a mountain pass. The crew could sneak up on the train from the valley below aboard a grav-skiff (with the help of some device that would scramble any surveillance equipment aboard the train),  jump to the roof of the train from the skifff and infiltrate from the top hatches. 

Long distance scans indicated the most likely location for the prisoner to be were four cargo cars in the middle of the train that indicated the presence of lifeforms and live electronic equipment. 

In front of and behind the four cars were troop transports, which very likely held extra guards/Pirate Troopers. 

The crew approaches the train going over 200km/hr! 

Ordo the Space Sloth Hacker was the first onto the top of the train and tried to open the hatch on top of the second cargo car.... and failed... 

Others piled on.... also failing to open it as each took a try - including Zöe - who had a hacking deck... but apparently forgot how to use it... (That's Amanda rolling a 3...) 

more piled onto the train car... Luci taking up an overwatch position at the front of the car... 

Greyn the Burner took up a position at the rear of the car... 

Eventually orzo just tried manually opening it and found it had been unlocked all the time!? 

Zöe dropped in amongst some very stoned and confused ruffians that were in the middle of some sort of card game. The entire car was filled with the pungent smoke of nyborg weed and, with one deep breath, Zöe found herself higher than she'd been since the Space Academy days!? 

Patricia leaned in and tried to blast away one of the ruffians, only for her gun to jam... so she dropped in with her boss to engage the ruffians in close combat. 

Greyn dropped down between cars and opened the door to the adjacent car and found two heavily armoured and armed Pirate Troopers... with a lot of sophisticated electronic equipment... Greyn filled the car with fire, during one of the Troopers severely and setting fire to the electronic equipment! 

Ruby Monday dropped into the car with the others and sliced one of the Ruffians in two! one of the others rushed at Patricia and she bashed his head in with her useless carbine. The other two fired at Zöe, but in a state somewhere between panic and stoned stupor, completely missed... 

π-Well and Luci, firing in through the top hatch took out a third Ruffian and the others rushed the remaining one! 

Two more Pirate Troopers entered the third car and started firing on Greyn.. 

accurately... 

Greyn took a few his and realized his tank or hose had ruptured (AGAIN!) and found himself covered in fuel... near an active open fire... and his main weapon out of action... so before turning into a massive ball of fire himself, he jumped from the train hoping the Gravity Suppressors worked and the crew would be able to circle back and pick him up after retrieving the target.

[Wilhem Scream]

Ordo and Dolly started moving forward to the next car.

SPAY-50-RC and π-Well accelerated the grave skiff to keep up with them. 

Patricia was the first through the door of the next car and called back to the others; "Target Acquired...."

"but we may have a problem here!" Two gigantic, lumbering Enhanced Mutants stood guard... They were terrifyingly HUGE specimens. 

Zöe joined Patricia through the door and faced the Enhanced Mutants. Patricia's Combat Armour deflected most of the Mutant's blows... Zöe was not so well armoured and took a pretty good bash, nearly knocking her out... 

Dolly, Luci, and Captain Harlec all slipped in behind the lumbering beasts through the hatch above and joined in the melee... 

π-Well and Ordo also dropped in. π-Well joined the melee and helped finish off one of the mutants... Ordo set to work opening the side door of the car to load everyone onto the skiff from! 

SPAY-50-RC dropped the skiff to the level of the door and Ruby Monday escaped to it with some loot she'd acquired in the second car. 

Ordo and the prisoner also escaped onto the skiff, just as Pirate Troopers charged into the car! SPAY-50-RC veered away with the skiff, leaving the others behind, but knowing they could all just jump off the train and drop safely into the valley below where they could be retrieved before making for the ship and getting the prisoner off the planet as quick as they could! 

The clients were VERY pleased with the crew's retrieval of the prisoner and made good on their offer to pay 300 Credits for their release. They promised more jobs would be forthcoming! 

The loot turned out to be an Alien Psychic Resonator... which wasn't of use to any of the crew, so they sold it for another 300 Credits!  

With all this money, they purchased two Advanced Technology Hacking Decks, for Zöe and Ordo, and Advanced Tech Picks for Ruby Monday. Some credits were required for upkeep on Patricia's Combat Armour, as Zöe had not succeeded on her Armoury roll before the game. 

Despite damage to his equipment, Greyn turned out to be okay and there were no other injuries! 

I finally set up a campaign page, which I shall endeavour to keep updated with the latest crew stats and backgrounds and links to all the game reports.. You can find it here:

Stargrave - Hope Eternal Campaign

The next game probably won't be until the end of November. In the meantime, I hope to finish up the last few things I need to get Warhammer Quest going again in early November, and will probably be starting the new Five Parsecs From Home campaign in a week or so, after my philosophy midterm and the two midterm portfolios are submitted for my studio classes... 

Stargrave - Hope Eternal - Episode One

A few weeks ago, Vera, Finnegan, Amanda and I embarked on a new campaign using Stargrave. We are starting the Hope Eternal campaign for that system. The campaign is meant to be played either as a solo game or a coop game involving two players with "half crews". With a few little tweaks we've put together a crew with a captain and two mates (Finnegan, Vera and Amanda, respectively) and I'm running the hostiles as Game Master. 

In Stargrave players run crews of independent starship trying to make their way in a part of the galaxy still reeling from the cataclysm of the Last War. The war was fought between the last two great interstellar empires and ultimately brought ruin to the most of the galaxy and saw both factions utterly destroyed. In the power vacuum great fleets of pirate raiders formed and raid and and reave and pillage and loot and extort all across known space. 

The book suggests playing Solo with a regular crew or Co-op with two half crews made up of a First Mate (with seven level-ups) and each player getting 200Cr to buy up to four crew, two of which could be specialists... Because we had THREE players, I suggested each player gets a Mate and five level-ups and 150Cr to spend on two or three crew, one of which may be a specialist... 

Here's what everyone came up with... 

Finnegan is playing the "Captain" Harlec Wynn - the dashing fellow with the sword and great coat. With him are Greyn Ight, the Burner, Ordo the Inquisitive, a Hacker, and SPAY-50-RC, a robot recruit (it may LOOK like an old Eldar in mesh armour... but Finnegan decided it was a humanoid robot... and not a very good one at that...!)  

Amanda's Part of the crew. She is playing First Mate Zöe - the dashing creature with the blue skin and great coat. Accompanying her is Patricia in the power armour and Dolly, who started out as a Runner but has been upgraded to medic since... 

I forgot to get a crew pic with Vera's Crew... But she is playing Second Mate Ruby Monday- a cyborg, along with a Sniper named Luci, and a Robot Sentry named π-Well. 

I'll create a Campaign Page at some point.. 

Hopefully the players will give me some background on their characters soon... or I might just have to make them up. 

The Scenario

Scenario One: The Access Codes

In this scenario, the crew has been hired by an anonymous patron through an intermediary to do a data smash-and-grab on remote planet run by a small crime syndicate with connections to the Pirate Fleets. 

The central building needs to be entered, the computer station located and the data retrieved and then uploaded to the client and then they need to make their escape! 

There were rules in the game about approaching the building and at what point the alarm would be raised and reinforcements showing up... I added some rules about how all the CIVILIANS on the table would react to violence happening in their immediate vicinity (usually it meant they'd run away and hide in cover... but there was a slim chance they might attack someone they thought was perpetrating the violence.. and there was one gang of thugs - not related to the regular thugs working for the syndicate that controlled this planet - that had a much higher chance of joining in an violence taking place in their immediate vicinity!  

The Game

All set up and ready to go! 

The Crew spread out so as not to attract attention, move towards their objectives and mark any armed individuals who might work for the syndicate. 

Captain Harlec walks right on up to the central building. SPAY-50-RC and Greyn the Burner are nearby, as are First Mate Zöe and Dolly the Runner. 

One of the Syndicate Thugs notes Captain Harlec and Ordo the Hacker moving towards the building but pays no mind. It is a public building. The Syndicate is the closest thing to a "government" the planet has... the kid probably just thought it was a merchant going to pay his "taxes" or apply for some kind of "permit"... 

A carpet dealer tries really hard to sell the first mate some of his wares! 

Patricia and π-Well approach the central square from a side street. 

Second Mate Ruby Monday, along with the Sniper, Luci, take up a position to keep watch over the goings on. 

SPAY-50-RC and Greyn the Burner hold at a corner where they can keep an eye on all approaching. 

A gang of thugs makes their rounds... 

The Captain tries to talk his way in, explaining he's come with a delivery (while Ordo the Hacker just starts trying to hack the door lock...). The Captain is unsuccessful, but the Hacker isn't... but this raises the alarm. 

The Syndicate Thug turns to move towards the building, but Zöe takes shots at him and makes him duck for cover! Civilians everywhere scatter! 

Luci the sniper takes a shot at and seriously injures the thug keeping watch on top of the adjacent building.  Second Mate, Ruby Monday, decides she'd be more useful at street level and heads down the stairs. 

She rushes across the street and sliced the Syndicate Thug's gun in half with her monofilament sword and the young thug started wailing and quickly skated away on his hoverboard! 

Civilians ducking for cover. The Syndicate Thug can't decide where to shoot when there are so many shots coming at him from all directions! 

SPAY-50-RC and Greyn the Burner start taking fire from a Syndicate Thug down the street who has taken cover behind some crates. 

Ruby Monday also exchanges fire with a Syndicate Thug in the street. The small child nearby fled! The thug was eventually wounded and crawled off into the building to hide until all the shooting stopped! 

Syndicate Agents occupying the building get into a bit of a scuffle with Captain Harlec. 

More Syndicate Agents arrive and Ordo the Hacker is injured in the fight! 

The Syndicate Thug in the square is seriously injured in the hail of fire coming his way! 

The Burner moves to roast the Syndicate Thug firing on him... but something isn't working!? 

The Burner starts taking fire from another Thug on a rooftop! 

More Syndicate Thugs arrive! 

Captain Harlec feeling a little overwhelmed in this melee! 

First Mate Zöe joins her captain, trying to force their way into the building. 

Patricia and π-Well cautiously move into the square, exchanging fire with assorted Syndicate Thugs! 

The gangers leader has to take a dump and uses the public privy... his "droogs" stand watch outside... 

A Syndicate Thug arrives on scene and starts firing down the street at Ruby. One of the Gangers decides to intervene and charged the Syndicate Thug! 

The Thug guns down the Ganger at point blank range. Being showered with their Gang-mates brains caused the other two droogies to flee... but the Gang Leader leaps out of the public privy and lays a beating on the Syndicate Thug!!

More thugs show up... one of the shoppers at the market has had enough and engages the Thug, trying to throw a towel over her head!? The ganger turned and shot her dead (which increased the likelihood that civilians would intervene...) 

Ordo and Dolly decide to try and make their way upstairs... 

One of the Syndicate Agents in the building opened a window and started shooting at ... SPAY-50-RC, entering the compound rushed the Agent at the window and shot him in the face! 

The Captain and First Mate finally overcome the other two Syndicate Agents. They were quickly gagged and bound and left in a heap in the corner of the room. 

Dolly tries to unlock the room upstairs... and opens it on her first try! (Seriously, needed and 20... and rolled exactly that!) 

The Burner realizes his main fuel line is broken and he is spilling flammable liquid everywhere and decides it's time to scarper! 

Patricia takes a position by the entry to the compound and prevent any of the Syndicate reinforcements from entering... 

Ruby joins Patricia, just before the compound is rushed by thugs. 

A half dozen or so Thugs converge on the central compound! 

Patricia and Ruby take down the first few.

Ruby is injured and has to retreat within the compound...

One of the agents in the upstairs of the main compound opened the window to fire on the crew in the courtyard below. Luci put a bullet through his neck and showering the room and his fellow agent with blood. While momentarily stunned, SPAY-50-RC to try and apprehend her. 

She is not that willing to give up the fight and all three crew have to wrestle her to the ground, before duct-taping her to the wall to keep her from causing any more trouble! 

Patricia continues to exchange fire with the Thugs outside the compound. 

π-Well is assaulted by a Syndicate Thug and knocked down. When the thug rushes on, the robot slinked away in the confusion. 

Patricia's power armour is pretty tough and deflects a lot of the incoming shots... but not ALL of them... enough lucky shots seriously damages the internal systems and she has to bug out before she's taken down.  

Ruby is also seriously injured, however - a stray shot goes right through her left eye!?  Harlec tells her to just go, and get back to the ship. Ruby flees over the back wall of the compound! 

Syndicate Thugs get brave and storm into the compound through the smoke left by Ruby to cover her tracks. Captain Harlec followed her, when no one was looking! 

Syndicate Thugs flood into the compound. Dolly tries to hold them off while Ordo downloads the data they came for! 

Thugs rush up to the rooftop where Luci has been causing havoc... 

(seriously, I did not take a lot of notes or pictures... but every single activation she had, she deleted a thug within view...) 

She was overwhelmed and had to leap over the edge and scarper down an alley to the RV-point. 

Having successfully acquired the data and uploaded to the clients cloud server, Dolly makes a run for it, as does Ordo! 

Dolly already quite injured, gingerly lowered herself down onto the roof of a market stall, followed by SPAY-50-RK... 

But a syndicate thug, lying in ambush, shot her down as she fled! 

SPAY-50-RK also went down in a hail of bullets (he would later be recovered from a trash heap outside of town and was reassembled and brought back online)... So Ordo decided NOT to follow them that way! 

and instead jumped down on top of the public privy, and then to the ground and made a run for it! 

One of the Pirate Troopers newly arrived took a long shot at Ordo and took him down... luckily he was able to crawl away into cover and hide... Later he snuck away under cover of darkness and made it back to the ship. 

So... the crew succeeded in the mission - having hacked the computer, acquired the data they were looking for and successfully uploading it to the clients remote server... but none of them made it off the table... 

Checking for injuries later... NONE OF THEM ACTUALLY DIED!!! WHEW!!

There were a few injuries. at least one is missing the next game recovering (or maybe starts with half health...?). Ruby lost an eye, which has lasting effects (replacement cyborg eyes are hard to come by nowadays, I guess...) 

Dolly had rolled a serious injury... and since she was a "free" Runner, ruleswise, there was no sense in keeping her on the crew... but everyone kind of loved Dolly, so they spent some of their earnings and "hired" a medic and said it was Dolly and they'd spent the cash on getting her better medical treatment and training her up as the crews medic! 

I picked up Stargrave AGES ago... probably when it first came out in 2021...!? I've picked up a number of the expansion books along the way. The one that looked most interesting was Hope Eternal which contained an entire campaign of ten linked scenarios meant to be played Solo or Co-op against an analog AI-driven enemy. I've thought of running it like a kind of role-playing-game-lite sort of campaign with me being a sort of Game Master running the enemy and keeping the game running along a number of times.... but kind of just never got around to it...  

This is absolutely my favourite mode of play... something between a role-playing game and a miniature skirmish game. That's cooperatively played and run by a Game Master - who is isn't so much an opponent as he is an administrator that moves the hostile forces around and adjudicates any fiddly bits...? Something with a designed scenario, rather than you bring 1000 points and I bring 1000 points and play some generic boring battle. Something with narrative and consequences outside of the tabletop action! I need to run more games like this... I actually HAVE ideas for several campaigns that could be run like this using a number of different game systems; 40K, AoS, Force on Force/Savage Worlds, Bolt Action, etc... 

Amanda and I were supposed to be playing board games with Vera, Nick and Charlie on Sunday, but then Nick and Charlie had to back out... and I'd been thinking of this again lately so I brought it up as a suggestion for Sunday and everyone said YES!! So I did some re-reading of the rules and campaign in a panic Saturday evening and recruited Finnegan to join the expedition. 

We initially only really committed to playing the first scenario, to see how it went... if it seemed fun, it was decided we'd play it as an occasional campaign thing whenever Vera's in town... 

I thought we might play Scenario Two this weekend, as Vera is in town... but she's playing in the Warhammer 40,000 Teams Tournament going on this week! So perhaps we'll get a game in sometime in October!