Game 1 - MISSION BRIEFING – A MOLE IN A HOLE

A Black Star scientist was worried about the ethics of their research and has developed a  conscience, but it might just get them killed. The scientist reached out to a Galactic Corps agent who recruited them as a mole, and last night the scientist notified their handler that they had found a cache of incriminating intel. Unfortunately, the discovery also tipped off Black Star that they had a spy in their midst. Not wanting to get their hands dirty, Black Star have recruited a local gang to ‘terminate’ the scientist. The Galactic Corps have no assets available locally, so they have recruited two local trader crews to get the data out and recover the mole before that can happen. Ivanka Kurganova from the Skylark selects to bring Gan'eek along with her. Meanwhile, Malcolm Reynolds from the Firefly crew chooses to send River Tam and Chewbacca.

In the game, River and Chewbacca head straight to the workers to see if they can locate the mole. River approaches the first worker who turns out not to be the mole but does not shout the alarm. In the next turn Chewbacca approaches the second civilian who does turn out to be the mole. With this goal attained Chewbacca starts to escort the mole back to the ship while River extracts the information from the terminal where it had been hidden. Meanwhile, Ivanka Kurganova and Gan’eek take their opportunity to start looting the facility.

At the end of the second turn the event card generates a bounty hunter. Luckily the bounty hunter was hunting non-player characters and we presume that they had information that the local gang was going to appear. At the end of the turn two gangers arrive at the two entry points to the bounty hunter who proceeds to shoot them both.  On the next turn a second bounty hunter arrives to join the first and they set up an ambush covering the two arrival points. In the ensuing turns the bounty hunters engage with a succession of gangers arriving on table. In one turn both manage to jam their weapons at the same time and the gangers manage to get some shots off, scoring four hits, only to be disappointed when their target had over cover and three armour points, so ignore all damage inflicted.

Meanwhile, the two trader crews are making their way back to their ships, picking up what they could on the way. Gan’eek is attacked by a ganger arriving on table but the ganger hit the cover and in the following turn Gan’eek throws a knife and kills the ganger. Ivanka Kurganova and Gan’eek then exit to their ship as quickly as possible.

While this is going on, Chewbacca is escorting the Mole back to the ship when a ganger appears at the arrival point between him and the ship. However, his reactions allow him the shoot the ganger before they could do any damage. Chewbacca then sends the Mole onto the ship to join the other crew while he guards the exit until River returns with the information and the loot.

A fun game with both crews making sufficient to pay their crews for another month and a some profit on the side. But the heroes of the day were the Bounty hunters who killed ten gangers as opposed the traders two kills and presumably collecting a large bounty from the authorities claiming all twelve bodies for themselves.

For this next game we chose a First Born Scenario, and, as we had two crews, we used the upgraded hostility chart and started at a higher hostility level 

Game 2 - MISSION BRIEFING – A GROWING BUSINESS

Prospectors are flocking to seek their fortune in a newly discovered First Born ruin. Daric, a local ‘businessman’, doesn’t want to miss an opportunity to relieve them of their new wealth, so he’s sent Yeti and Qiog to establish a new Trading Post nearby. Work on Trading Post 6 is going well until a rock fall reveals that what appears to be an abandoned ruin turns out to be very much occupied. The First Born there are not pleased to have new neighbours and the building site has recently come under assault. After a fierce fight, Daric’s team manage to repel the First Born scouting party, but two automatic turrets were left behind before they could be set up. They are now desperately needed to defend the Trading Post so Daric has asked the two traders to recover the guns for him To make matters worse, in the confusion Qiog has gone missing and although Daric is not known for his sentimentality, he knows the value of skilled staff so he has offered an additional to reward to any crew that safely returns Qiog.

In the game the two captains agreed to split the Task with Ivanka Kurganova, taking Yoko the Psycho, Pyromaniac and Gan'eek with her to locate Qiog.  Malcolm Reynolds sends Chewbacca, Jayne Cobb and River Tam to locate and return the two turrets. 

Both crews arrive at the camp and carefully enter the ruins, doing their best to avoid the patrolling Drones. Ivanka Kurganova leads her team off to the right but Gan'eek gets left behind, hiding behind a pillar as he could not get past the patrolling zone. Jayne Cobb and River Tam take the lead and head off to the left to locate the missing automated turrets. As they hide to avoid the patrolling Drones they use the opportunity to search the containers and break into stasis chambers to see what loot they could find.

The crews careful movement proves not to be sufficient as the event cards trigger a couple of events. Yoko was carrying a first born artefact that turned out to be a rock worm which bit her, causing the loss of one health point. Another event upped the hostility level out of the patrol phase and triggered the arrival of the Liege and more drones.

Ivanka Kurganova manages to fight her way through to rescue Qiog, killing two of the Liege in the process. Yoko supports her, taking the opportunity to loot a couple of crates. Meanwhile, another event card triggers a precious object hidden in the pillar next to where Gan’eek is hiding from the drones. The object is worth 20 credits but the downside is that two non-player characters are going to turn up each turn looking for the precious object and attacking anyone preventing then obtaining it. Gan’eek picks up the object and spends the remaining moves and all his skill points fleeing and hiding from his pursuers.

Meanwhile, Jayne Cobb and River Tam have retrieved the turrets and are moving back but both of them and Ivanka Kurganova are penned in by two Drones. Ivanka Kurganova takes out a perusing Leige before she destroys one of their Drones, River takes out the other and both teams take the opportunity to dash back to the camp to claim their reward.

The end of another successful mission by both crews.