AN ONGOING NEWSLETTER March 2003


Solo Search & Sweep

by Doug Cowie

When lead starts to fly, you always feel alone: You desperately seek ANYONE, friend or foe. It's often the same way looking for fellow gamers: On occasion, you have to game solo or not at all. This is a solo scenario for those days where you just have to game.

MISSION

Ministry troops are on a sweep through gang area, in order to intimidate the gangs and keep them subdued for a while. To do so, they must search out the gangs and teach them a sharp lesson.

If only the locals would stay out of the way...

FORCES

Pick as many troopers as you like. Personally, I kept it to one squad of 5. Select twice as many gangers as you have troopers. I didn't bother with points. I used one of my standard trooper squads (elite leader; veteran sub-leader; 4 veteran troopers) and selected the first 10 ganger figures I picked up. Rate them all average and armed and armoured as seen. There may never be more than this number of gangers on the table at any time.

ACTIVATING GANGERS

At the beginning of each turn roll twice as many D6 as you had troopers at the start of the game, e.g. if you started with 6 troopers, roll 12 D6. Any 6's indicate a contact. Randomly identify which trooper has made the contact by any convenient method (like rolling dice).

INITIATIVE

Once the number of new contacts for this turn has been established, initiative for both sides is determined.

Instead of rolling by squads, roll for each figure (leader adds 2, sub-leader adds 1). This is a good reason to keep the numbers of figures low.

Roll 1D6 for each trooper, each new contact and for each contact already active on the table. (All contacts are average). Any ties between contacts and troopers are decided in the contacts' favour. Ties between figures on the same side are re-rolled.

EXAMPLE: There is a squad of 5 troopers against 3 contacts.
The troopers' initiative rolls are –
Leader: 5 + 2 leadership bonus = 7;
sub-leader: 2 + 1 bonus = 3;
trooper A: 4;
trooper B: 3;
trooper C: 6

Sub-leader and trooper B need to re-roll against each other.

Both roll 4 but as the sl has a bonus of 1, he wins. This means that the troopers turn order is: Leader, trooper C, trooper A, sub-ldr, trooper B.

The contacts also roll and their results are integrated with the troopers.

Contact i rolls 6;
ii rolls 4
iii rolls 5.

Trooper C and contact i have equal rolls so the contact takes its move before the trooper.

There are no other ties so the final order of play is:
Trooper leader;
contact i ;
trooper C;
contact iii;
contact ii;
trooper A;
sub-leader;
trooper B.

SUMMARY OF ORDER OF ACTIONS SO FAR

Roll to see number of contacts

Roll for initiative

Carry out moves based on initiative

A new contact is placed on the table only when it's his turn in initiative order.

PLACING CONTACTS

New contacts are not placed on the table until their own turn so that troopers have no prior warning of their location. Randomly identify which trooper has made the contact by any convenient method (like rolling dice). New contacts are placed 10" from the trooper identified as the contact maker and with that trooper within their LOS. It must not be any nearer to any other trooper than the contactor. If this is impossible, the contact is lost and the figure is not placed.

Once the figure has been placed, roll D6:

1-4 The contact is an innocent bystander
5-6 The contact is a ganger

At this time, troopers do not know if a contact is a civilian or a ganger. See "Recognition of Civilians" below. On the turn that a ganger is placed, it will attempt to shoot at the nearest trooper. Gangers always fire bursts if possible. After firing, gangers can move out of the LOS of troopers or drop down or both. On subsequent turns, a D6 is rolled to determine a contacts actions:

Remember, although the behaviour of the contact will tell you whether he's a ganger or not, the troopers on the table can only go by what the results of their Contact ID roll below.

Of course when a contact starts shooting, the troopers will catch on.

Contact actions: roll 1D6
1-2 Ganger fires burst at nearest target if any available, then drops down

Civilian drops down

3-4 Ganger fires burst at nearest target if any available, then attempts to move out of LOS of all troopers.

Civilians attempt to move out of LOS of all troopers.

5-6 Ganger or civilian manoeuvres
If result is manoeuvre, roll D6 again
1-2 Ganger advances towards nearest trooper in attempt to contact it.

Civilian does same but does not attempt to contact

3-4 Ganger moves to gain better burst shot at nearest target either by shortening range or outflanking target's cover.

Civilian stands still

5-6 Gangers seek better cover before firing burst at nearest target

Civilian seeks cover

CIVILIANS

Civilians starting a second or subsequent move on the table dice as above to ascertain its actions.

A civilian spending one complete move from "Compulsory Actions" phase to "Action" phase without being fired on, is removed from play.

A civilian ending a turn more than 10" from any trooper and out of LOS of any trooper, is removed from play.

RECOGNITION OF CIVILIANS

Troopers with an unidentified contact in their LOS roll D6 to see if they recognise it as a civilian or ganger: A contact that has fired is already identified as a ganger.

Contact Identification
roll 1D6

Heroes always recognise civilians and may take any permitted actions

1 2 3 4 5 6
Elite X ? OK OK OK OK
Veteran X ? ? OK OK OK
Average X X ? ? OK OK
Green X X X X ? OK

X - Mistaken ID, fire if contact is civilian, hold fire if ganger

? - Not sure; roll again

1-3 = X

4-6 = OK

OK - Correct ID, take any permitted actions

A trooper can inform other troopers whether a contact is a civilian or not if he has made a correct ID or if he has himself been informed by another trooper.

Leaders inform anyone within 6"

Sub-leaders inform anyone within 4"

Troopers and heroes inform anyone within 2"

GAME LENGTH

The game should last for a designated number of turns. By the end of the final turn, all surviving troopers must have already exited the board, from an area specified before the start of the game.

DETERMINING VICTORY
Total victory points as follows:

+1 Each occasion a ganger is panicked
+2 Each occasion a ganger is routed
+3 Each ganger removed as casualty
-1 Each occasion a civilian is panicked by trooper fire
-1 Each occasion a trooper panics
-2 Each occasion a civilian is routed by trooper fire
-2 Each occasion a trooper routs
-3 Each civilian removed as a casualty
-5 Each trooper removed as a casualty
-5 If no ganger is removed as a casualty during the game
-5 Each trooper remaining on the table after the end of the game
To win, the troopers need to end with a plus score.


SCENARIOS

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