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...  

5 Parsecs - things get real

Over the weekend I completed some painting some figures and so played a couple of games to use them immediately. I'm currently based in the Seranthis system on the frontier mining planet of Ivoris, so all the action takes place there.  

In game #1 my team has been hired by the owner of a local ore processing facility to intercept some Cyborgs infiltrators trying to steal a consignment of rare ore (Trillium-C). They appear very human but are pretty tough under that flesh. I'm a little short-handed as the Captain is still in the med-bay and my new recruit got lost on a scouting mission.       

Slya Koor's ore processing facility

The infiltrators

The aggressive Cyborgs push down one flank in a big group but I manage to set up a decent fire position and take them down without any losses. 

My crew ready to intercept

My bot (PDP-11) takes down 3 of the Cyborgs

Infiltrators last stand

In game #2 the Ore Processor fixes me up with a job to help a local mining company being intimidated by a large corporate concern. They have hired some off-world Mercs to attack the mine shaft and I need to stop them. The game took place in a dust storm so visibility varied randomly each turn.   

Liberty Mining Co main shaft entrance 

Some Mercs flank me

This proved a tough fight as the Mercs are better equipped and trained than my guys and use decent flanking tactics.  After 6 turns I've lost 2 and the Mercs 4 when we do a deal - as pros they will "call it a day" so I win the game but dont hold the field so miss out on some loot. I take the deal and spend some cash on med-tech and bot repairs to get my team healed-up.      

My crew ready for their attack 

PDP-11 is down, luckily he can be patched-up

Its well that I did, as I've attracted the attention of the law and the local SWAT team plan to bounce me on the way back to star port. These guys are well equipped so it will be a tough encounter.