That was okay. They were mutineers and pirates. After several months as penal crew it was good to relax. What was the point of being pirates if you couldn’t be drunk at your work station? It would certainly help with nerves if a fight broke out.
At least Isis was sober and since she was the one looking at the sensors that was all that mattered. If there was a merchant freighter out there, Isis would see it. Grognard had already promised her as much loot as she could carry if Isis found them a ship.
Grognard took a hearty swallow of rum. They needed a ship. Convicting a crew to mutiny was easy. They wanted to be free and they were willing to kill and become outlaws to do it. The problem was that too many of crew wanted to take the ship and go hide. There was talk of going to New Hope and abandoning the ship in order to pursue new lives.
That wouldn’t do. Grognard had spent most of his life fantasizing about commanding a ship and now he had one. He named the ship The Reroll as a symbol of their second chance at life. In Simulation Battles, a reroll was when the game allowed you to make a second random statistical chance when the previous statistical chance had failed. This ship was the crew’s second chance after having the misfortune to be press-ganged into military service.
The crew didn’t feel that way. There was talk of flying to a planet with low law enforcement and trying to blend in with the population. Too many of his crew wanted to ditch The Reroll and find a place to hide. No one signed up to fly a starship and for that matter, they didn’t sign up to be pirates but they were willing to play the part until they got somewhere they could flee to.
Grognard wanted to keep this crew and the best way to do that would be to show them what rewards were out there. That is why they were in orbit around the commercial distribution planet of Wal-Targ 3. He needed some fat freighters loaded with easy loot. He needed to show the crew how profitable being a pirate could be.
“Captain, I have something on sensors,” Isis reported. She smiled like a hungry shark. “I have three possible contacts.”
Captain Grognard finished his rum. “Helm, set course for the closest contact. Everyone, put your games away and man your stations!”
***
This is my first time playing Star Navy and incidentally my first time writing an after action report. I will be talking a lot about the rules as I try to become familiar with them.
First, a look at what Isis saw on her scanner.
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| Exclusive image taken from the Reroll's Scanner Console |
The purple die represents The Reroll. The green dies represent PEF’s. The numbers represent the Rep’s of the ships.
The Reroll heads for the closest PEF. Two rounds of activating and contact is made.
A series of quick rolls finds that I have a Gaea Prime Merchant that is a Grand Freighter with a Rep of 4. Hot dog!
Time for the Long Range Scans. The merchants are Gaea Prime Merchants, and I am a bit unclear as to who that qualifies for on the Long Range Scanning Capability chart on page 9. They aren’t Gaea Prime Rebels, but are they Gaea Prime PDF’s or Gaea prime Star Navy?
There is a two dice difference between the two and I am unclear which qualifies. In the end I decide to count them as Star Navy because I tend to err on the side of which is more severe for me. I am also making a note to label this Discussion Point #1.
The merchants get five dice to do their scans, plus one die for controlling the sector. They get four successes + one for controlling the sector where as the Reroll gets a measly one success. This has them starting 72 inches away on the board.
So, the pirates are a long way away from their target. I assume the merchant would start screaming for help when I notice this in the rules.
“Anytime during a battle after a Merchant Ship has been fired upon it can send out a distress call in hopes of attracting a patrol ship or similar law enforcement vessel.”
That’s interesting. The pirate ship can close in and technically, the freighter can’t call for help until they have actually been fired upon.
***
Seven exciting turns later, The Reroll closes in on Maddof’s Greed. Nine inches away, the pirates go first and launch 2 missiles. The poor freighter tries to evade with it’s sad thrust of one. To my surprise, they actually evade one!
The other missile however smacks right into their hull. Because the freighter is a higher class, they only take one point of damage.
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| Image taken of the battle by Spy Satellite AT&Verizon-72 |
The Reroll fires guns. The drinking of the crew takes a toll as none of the guns hit!
Maddof’s Greed fires back. I use the concentrated fire rules so that the freighter’s 2 guns have a chance of harming The Reroll’s 3 shields. The freighter gets one success for a PV value of one. They then get two successes for a total of one shield loss for the Reroll.
The freighter has much better aim than the pirates. Don’t drink and shoot, people.
The freighter makes a received damage test and passes easily.
Maddof’s Greed sends out a cry for help but receive no response. This happens a lot in space as entire planets sometimes eat up intergalactic bandwidth trying to download the latest episode of Big Sister.
The freighter goes. My understanding of the activation sequence is that once you initially determine who does first, who goes first alternates. This creates a sequence where I go, you go, and then you go, I go. Which means one side makes two moves and then someone else makes two moves. Unless I am utterly reading it wrong.
The freighter fires guns in a concentrated manner that totally fails.
Maddof’s Greed sends out a cry for help. Contact is made! The Star Navy tells them that their distress call is important to them and to please hold on the line for an available star ship.
The pirates go. This time both missiles hit. One hits the Freighter’s missiles but since the freighter has no missiles, this counts as no damage. The other missile hits the hull where it can only do one damage.
The pirates fire guns and get no hits again. Captain Grognard begins to understand why drinking is so heavily controlled on Star Navy vessels.
Next turn. The Reroll fires missiles and the freighter botches its evasion. Both missiles hit! One takes down a shield but the other smacks into the freighter’s bridge!
The Reroll fires all four guns in a smug manner and manage to only hit once, which is negated by the freighter’s last shield.
Maddof’s Greed takes a Bridge Hit test and fails completely. They surrender!
***
“Captain, they want to surrender!”
Captain Grognard took a drink from his mug. His hand was shaking a little. Avalon Sector games were never this nerve wracking!
“Begin transferring their cargo,” Captain Grognard said. “Leave the crew unharmed and allow them to continue after we take everything of value. And Lt Isis, take a grav lift with you when you go to collect your share.”
“Aye aye!” Isis said. The pirate had planned to anyway but it was nice to get permission.
***
Looting in Star Navy is instantaneous. I admire the ease of record keeping in that.
I decide to roll for every cargo hold individually. I imagine that such a large freighter would be crammed with all sorts of goods going to different places on the destination planet. Being a Class 5 ship, you start at a value of 5, and then multiply times the value of what you find.
I roll:
Bay 1- commodities for a total of cv 5
Bay 2- contraband for a total of cv 50
Bay 3 – commodities for a total of cv 5
Bay 4 – commodities for a total of cv 5
Bay 5 – goods for a total of cv 15
Bay 6 – goods for a total of cv 15
Bay 7 – contraband for a total of cv 50
Bay 8 – commodities for a total of cv 5
Bay 9 – commodities for a total of cv 5
Bay 10 – goods for a total of cv 15
Star Navy says to assume they sell everything instantly but I am holding off until I met the other two contacts on my scan.
I am also really curious what the contraband is. That seems to be begging for a random chart.
This was my first battle outside of some practice runs. I have to say that I am pleased with the results. It was fun and relatively easy once I got a handle on the rules. I am curious how the next contacts will go.
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