5 - Parsecs; they have a cave troll...

 

Game 1 - Invasion!

In the ninth game of the campaign the Hermes crew found themselves on the jungle world of Amarion when there was a full blown invasion by The Abductors, the aggressive race I met in Game 8. The aim was very simple - survive for 6 turns against 2-1 odds. So the crew holed-up in the research station to await the attack.     

Abductors ready to attack 

Depleted crew awaits the attack

A volley of fire took down 3 of the Abductors as they emerged from the jungle, causing several others to make a run for it. Sadly though the ships resident botanist (Vael) was killed marking the first loss for the crew, but at least they escaped the invasion   

Game 2 - Eliminate

Having fled the invasion the crew were back on the mining worlds of Ivoris and quickly found a job trying to eliminate a group on anarchist who had set fire to an ore processing plant causing a plume of toxic smoke. The twist was they had brought cave troll Hulker with them for support

Anarchists

Half the crew take up position

The toxic smoke worked in my favour here as it meant that all Stuns would instead make the target a casualty. As the Hulker very Tough this was an unexpected boost for me.  

The anarchists made it to melee range but I was able to stun the Hulker before we could inflict much damage and this caused the rest of the group to flee. 

Anarchists get to melee but the crew holds them off

5 Parsecs - tough times

This weekend I managed to squeeze in a couple of games of the continuing adventures of The Hermes crew. 

Game 1 - escort

The first game saw the crew hired by a Patron to escort him to a terminal outside the main bank where  he could upload some plans for a new refinery processing unit. 

Down-town near the bank

The Patron advances

The crew got bounced my some Mercs hired by a rival mining corporation. These guys are pretty tough a certainly a match for my crew.   

Mercs move the intercept

The mission was a success in that the plans got uploaded by the withdrawal I took three losses, which turned into two wounded crew of the next game. As in the previous battle with the Mercs I didn't rout them but we did a deal for them to withdraw.  

Plans safely uploaded

Game 2 - Jungle quest

With the numbers of Rivals rising I blasted off for a neighbouring plant as part of an ongoing Quest to find a sample of the rare, and valuable, Trillium-D mineral. This involved searching a jungle research station.

The jungle station

Abductors mass to attack

Arriving on site I found that a group of aggressive Abductor aliens had arrived as part of an advanced guard for an invasion. I was forced to fend them off while searching 4 locations for the mineral. 

I was able to beat of the attack but the clues proved a dead-end and the quest for the Trillium-D continues.  In the next game I must survive the invasion and blast-off in my ship for a safer world. 

The attack is beaten off

 

Lutzen 1813 - a Lasselle battle

Over the last 2 weeks we've begun our series of 1813 battle using Lasselle. The first is Lutzen which was part of the Leipzig campaign. An Allied army is attempting to punch through Ney's Corps to split the French and threaten their supply lines. In our refight Austrian and Russian troops are trying to capture Kaja and two other villages. 

The Allies deployed with the bulk of the Austrians (2 brigades) attacking through the centre and the Russians to their right against Klein. The French deployed most of their troops around Kaja and Rahna, with a brigade holding Klein.   

Austrians assault Gross

Russian advance

The Allies attacked boldly and quickly managed to take Gross with the Russians pushing back the French around Klein.   

French at Rahna

French lights beat their opposite numbers 

By the end of the first night's play the Austrians held Gross in strength and the Russians were poised to attack either Kaja or Klein. The only black spot being the Allied light cavalry had been beaten back by the French Hussars and lost a regiment.   

On the second night's play the Austrians tried to break out of Gross to threaten Kaja but came up against strong French resistance and several waves of attacks were pushed back with losses mounting. On the right the Russians also struggles to gain much ground, even with the support of their Cuirassiers.   

French hold off the Austrian attack 

With the Austrian attack faltering in the centre the French light cavalry finally routed the Allies and so turned-in forcing the Austrians onto the defensive. By now the Russians were also spent and so the Allies were forced to fall back, leaving the French the winners.    

French horse force the Austrians into square

       

5 Parsecs - time to fight back

I played a couple of turns of my 5 Parsecs From Home solo campaign this weekend. 

Game 5 - Rivals

In the first game local law enforcement bounced the Hermes crew on their way back to the ship as they were becoming too troublesome. Two of the crew got delayed so it was 5 vs 4 at the start putting me on the defensive. 

My shuttle awaits in the space port 

Unluckily for the Enforcers they brought handguns to a long gun fight and so were forced to close with the Hermes crew. They snuck along the spaceport wall and managed a flanking manoeuvre. 

Enforcers acting tactical

Outnumbered I decide to turtle

I had the firepower advantage and so was able to take the Enforcers down on this occasion. Post battle though I attracted 2 more rivals - some Skulkers and some Raiders, making 5 rivals in all.  

The crew hold the field

Game 6 - Rivals

With so many Rivals in play its unlikely I'd be able to get many jobs done to it was decision time. Rather than move worlds I decided to try and attack one of my Rivals and hopefully remove them from the campaign. So it was I attacked the Raider gang holed-up in an abandoned warehouse near some old chemical storage facilities. They looked one of the weaker Rivals I have.      

Part of the crew head forward to find the Raiders

The Raiders were all equipped with rifles and could outrange me with 2 snipers in their team . Luckily they are Aggressive and so all bar the snipers would look to attack me.     

Raider gang

True to form the Raiders did advance and luckily I was able to take-out the snipers before they could do any damage. As the Raiders attacked we traded fire with hits pinging-off my trusty bot. By the end the Raiders were down, or fled, and I had eliminated them as a threat.    

Crew advance through a ruined building

Raider flank attack

PDP-11 ready for the Raiders

I've got a background Quest to find some rare minerals but the Rivals have prevented much progress. A clue turned up indicating the minerals may be off-world so I prepared to leave for a while. Sadly there was an accident which damaged some gear on the Hermes and so I need to wait one more turn before I can head to another world. So time for one more job unless my Rivals find me first...