One of my favourite TV-series from my younger days, is Blake's 7. Despite an obvious limited special effects budget and alien planets looking deceptively like British forests and stone quarries, I liked it better than some bigger budget SciFi series, perhaps because of the more realistic moral ambiguity of the heroes.
So when I discovered 28mm Blake's 7 miniatures (Crooked Dice, CP models miniatures and Beast in the Broch), I just had to get them. Although I like (the basic version of) the Crooked Dice 7TV rules, I wondered whether Toofatlardies rules could be adapted to SciFi, not only for Blake's 7 games but any SciFi skirmish game. Using concepts from TFL Quadrant 13, Chain of Command DMZ, Fighting Season and based primarily on Chain of Command and with help from some friends I've cobbled together a generic SciFi CoC ruleset. After playing TFL Sharpe Practice, which has rules based around a narrative, I thought this might suit SciFi skirmish combat better than Chain of Command and wanted to try the card driven turn mechanism.
The start of a new (and hopefully better) year seemed a good opportunity to try something new. So I dug up the modular corridor scenery and "interior" scenery I built and painted years ago but had never seen a game and drew up a scenario for Blake and his rebels.
The Scenario
Blake and Avon have developed a plan to disrupt Federation military operations by erasing all administrative records of an entire sector. This means entering the Federation Military Administration facility on planet Ledger, breaking into their main Data storage room and deleting every record just before the backup runs (so it is deleted as well). With the help of the Ledger Allied Resistance Directorate (L.A.R.D.) and an informant inside the complex, they have identified a spot (jump off point) where they can teleport without being detected. Avon then disables the surveillance equipment by hacking a console, while Vila opens the air duct covering to let the L.A.R.D. forces inside.
Forces:
Federation (regulars)
Commander Travis (senior leader)
Squads 1-3:
Sergeant (junior leader)
Team 1: 6 troopers with plasma carbines; Team 2: Squad support weapon with 3 crew+ 2 troopers with plasma carbines
Blake's 7 & L.A.R.D. (green)
Blake (senior leader)
Squads 1&2:
Sergeant (junior leader)
6 troopers with assault rifles, 1 squad support weapon, 1 grenade launcher
Support: "engineering team"
Avon (senior leader)
Vila, Gan, Orac, Cally
Deployment:
One Federation squad (including Travis) is asleep in their quarters. They don't have their weapons and must first collect them at the armoury when the alarm is raised. One Federation squad is waiting to start their watch in the mess hall. One Federation squad is patrolling the corridors. Their sergeant and the squad support weapon are in the armoury.
Avon and his engineering team deploy first at the deployment point and must make their way to the Data storage room. All doors are open to Federation personnel but closed to the resistance and can be opened by Vila (Task 10). Deleting the records can only be done by Avon/Orac (task 20).
Blake's 7 (well 6 actually since Jenna is operating the teleporter in the Liberator) can teleport using a command card at any time but trigger a "support group/leader routs" morale roll if they do. L.A.R.D. members can only escape via the way they came in...
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| Data storage room |
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| Infirmary |
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| Guard quarters & mess hall |
The Game:
Avon, Vila, Gan, Cally and Orac teleport into the complex, unlock the air duct covering and disable surveillance.
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| Down and safe |
They move to the store room unseen. Vila starts working on the door.
Meanwhile the first L.A.R.D. squad has entered the complex via the air ducts.
Everyone enters the store room.
L.A.R.D. squad 2 arrives, Blake teleports in. Everything is going according to plan so far.
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| Vila: "They will hear the doors when they open!" Avon: "The noise of the air processors will mask it". Vila: "And if you're wrong?" Avon: "If I'm wrong you can say I told you so, provided you do it loudly and quickly" |
Two L.A.R.D. troopers approach the Federation sentries from behind and attempt a silent kill.
One succeeds, one doesn't........ ALERT, ALERT, ALERT.
Federation squads emerge from their quarters and the mess hall.
The Federation sergeant exits the armoury with the squad support weapon trooper and tries to stop the L.A.R.D. A well placed grenade leaves him wounded and forces the squad support weapon trooper to retreat.
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| I sure hope the door holds! |
Travis directs his unarmed squad to run to the armoury while under fire from L.A.R.D troops. " Coordinating" from the rear, he lives up to his reputation as a ruthless commander.
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| Another Federation leader gets hit, force moral is dropping fast |
Incredibly, most of the Federation squad makes it to the safety of the armoury corridor.
Blake and L.A.R.D. squad 2 have made their way through the other corridor, taking down sentries as they move and fire. Blake takes a gamble and decides to go around the corner, facing a Federation squad on overwatch.
They survive the fire, and even succeed to reduce Federation morale to zero.
While the Federation squad in the armoury arms itself and discuss shooting Travis for making them run the gauntlet in the corridor, Avon and Orac delete the Federation records after Orac has searched them for valuable intel. Mission accomplished.
Using Sharpe Practice card mechanism with Chain of Command worked reasonably well. Some things like when Overwatch ends, still need to be fleshed out. The commands cards are really useful for reducing shock or extra commands like ordering the grenadier to fire a grenade.
