Star Army Playtest 2 - Space Stunties on Patrol

For my second playtest I opted to use my new Scrunts list with my Shinmeiche and put the little guys on Patrol. While in my previous game I had an NCO as my Star, this time I opted to make Team B's SAW gunner my Star, Brag Ironballs (love the name). I rolled up a fairly decent squad with Rep 5 Leaders and Rep 4 squaddies and the terrain was mostly clear apart from a jungle and a field at the far end, and a cluster of buildings in my starting zone (which were unfortunately very hostile). The weather was good, but apparently Shinmeiche Air Recon isn't what it once was, and they didn't bother to send me any. Blue Squad walked in with Bad Intel and immediately the shit hit the fan: My First Contact result yielded Unexpected Resistance (Nice job intel wizards!) and an additional 3 PEFs appeared on the table.

Turn 1
The two PEFs in section 4 activate, and the active PEFs trigger an In-Sight test from Team A, which is immediately resolved. One was fake, the other proved to be an Orc squad in a defensive position, Rep 4. The Shinmeiche take their In Sight test: Pass 2d6, they opt to fire, though only half of the team is able. The orcs receive 3 hits, one of which is their NCO. One orc is OOF, whereas the NCO and other target got splatted. The orcs then proceed to take their reaction tests, passing 1d6. The orcs, bloodthirsty and uncaring creatures that they are, opt to return fire with their messy weaponry, resulting in 5 hits, including the NCO.
The NCO and infantryman behind him are taken out of the fight, forcing a reaction test from the Team A: pass 1d6 forcing a Cohesion test. All pass 2d6, and the remaining figures act on the results of their Received Fire test, Ducking Back.

Section 7 Rep 6 PEF doesn't move, Section 8 PEF moves into LoS and proves to be nothing. Section 9 PEF is resolved in the open; the enemy passes 1d6 but receives no reinforcements. Section 7 PEF moves out of the palm forest.

Turn 2
The Orc squad in the defensive position becomes active. The middle section of the squad was cut down, so the remaining groups act separately, passing 1d6 and 2d6 respectively. They are on a Defend Mission. The right orc group fires on Team B. Two hits are inflicted on Team B, resulting in two Knock-Downs, one of which is Brag Ironballs. The infantryman is stunned, but Brag bounces right back up, ready to return fire. The rest of the team decides to Duck back into cover, but Brag decides to put a few parting shots into the Orcs with his SAW. He misses with all shots; the orcs take their test, pass 1d6 with the Rifle Orc opting to keep his head down and the LMGunner to return fire, scoring a hit on Brag and the NCO and causing KD tests on both, they Carry On and take a Received Fire test. Two hits are scored on the LMGunner and one on the Rifle Orc. The LMGunner is dead, forcing the Rifle Orc to take a reaction test; as he is thoroughly outgunned he Halts.

The bar then activates and fires upon the Shinmeiche, inflicting 3 hits, OOFing my Rocket Trooper and killing one infantrymen outright. All Carry On.

Team B activates and attempts to suppress the bar. The bar passes 1d6 on Rep 4, but 13 dice vs. its 4 Dice have succeeded in suppressing it. Team A activates and occupies the bar, concluding Turn 1.



Turn 3
Some PEF movement in the palm forest... nothing interesting there. The remaining Rifle Orc from last time opens up on my NCO and Brag, failing to hit anything. They return fire and he gets splatted. The other Orc group fires upon the bar. The structure is not suppressed.

Team B fast moves towards the shacks. They attempt to suppress one of them and are successful.

Team A in the bar opt to fire on the orc defensive position; 4 hits are scored. The orcs are smacked down but get right back up. I'm not really sure if the Orcs are outgunned or not (since FV isn't actually a proper weapon) but one of the guys in the bar has a mini-gun, so I decide that the Orcs pass 1d6 means they're ducking back behind cover for now.

Turn 4
Team B rushes out and gets shot by the Orcs. Brag takes an OOF, but uses his Star Power to stay in the fight, but he's now down to Star Power 4. The NCO gets hit 3 times and gets splatted. The squaddie next to the NCO opts to Carry On. Brag opts to fire back with two hits, and the infantryman also returns fire. Two hits are scored, OOFing one, but the Orcs then return fire, OOFing the infantryman and knocking Brag over again, who just gets back up and fires again. One Orc is killed and the other gets scared off by Brag's SAW.

The guys in the bar shoot at the Orc in cover again, ultimately to no result. The Orc in cover fires at Brag, who after getting knocked over shoots him in the face.

The shacks fire, putting the remaining non-Star of Team B out of the fight.

Turn 4
Rep 6 PEF in the palm forest doesn't do anything interesting, but Rep 4 PEF moves into view of the bar. It turns out to be nothing. The shacks fire again;

One shack and the bar are suppressed. Team A moves out of the bar.



Turn 5
Random Event triggered: Sniper targeting my mini-gunner; he's dead.

Brag attempts to suppress the shack. and is successful.

There are now two Rep 6 PEFs in the palm forest.

The shacks fire. Brag is stunned and now at Star Power 3; nother squaddie dies.

Turn 6
There's a new Orc squad in a defensive position just outside of the Palm Forest. Brag holds his fire, for the moment. The other PEF turned out to be another Orc squad. Deciding that the necessary resources just aren't there, the Shinmeiche decide to bail.


Thoughts:

• I want to get platoon-sized forces on the table; the bad guys keep getting the reinforcements whereas my luck has meant that I was stuck with what I started with. Also, I want more toys. Time to buy some more figures.
  
• I'm not sure I'm actually taking the right tests... am I supposed to be taking a Received Fire test after a Carry On result?
• As a general rule, instead of allocating dice as I want, my figures with multiple Target dice walk their fire back and forth amongst targets, ensuring that most figures will not receive more than two dice from a single figure.
• I *love* the new 5150, it's perfect for individually-based fire combat. I just want to do some larger games.