The Big Score. A Pirate campaign

[Dissolv]

So after two years of non stop Alpha Strike Campaigning   :drool:   we decided to give poor Kibitsu a break.  I had in mind a 3024/5 era Star Vikings theme where the players would have to manage the overstretched defenses of a sector against non-player Pirates who would strike at will, and somewhat at random, depending on an intelligence chart.  But the players jumped at the concept of playing the pirates.  A quick vote later and it was unanimous for a Pirate campaign.   Arrrrrr. 

The core concept was to use the Alpha Strike rules for their speed and simplicity not to allow larger and more epic scale battles, but instead to allow multiple very personal battles to be ongoing at the same time, and for the same player to be able to perform a drop, raid a world, get back for supply and repair, and then pick another target and drop again.  To give the Pirates flexibility to choose their target, the missions for the entire campaign would all have to be generated ahead of time.

That's not easy to pull off with GM made scenarios, but I hit on the idea of each planet having its own mission and Op For predetermined, and sealed up in an envelope.  This did mean that there was an awful lot of overhead to create the entire campaign in advance, and I also had to make sure that we didn't go over the limit of the number of each mech, tank, and plane that was painted, number of buildings available, that sort of thing.  Luckily the gang helped out when my math was bad, and it worked!  Each planet had an envelope with a description of the mission(s), the map, the Op For sheet, and if the Pirates were really successful, possibly another colored envelope to advance "The Big Score".



It was like a tournament combined with a campaign where anyone could drift in, play, and drift out as they desired.  Narrative information would be provided between rounds, and the various named Pirates could work toward their individual advanced capabilities, and possibly also form alliances together.  The Op For mainly worked to kill the named Pirates and Pirate mechs to weaken the band and eventually put it out of business.   Some players committed to be dedicated Op For, and had their own email channel, with the Victoria Commonality Security Level going up with each successful Pirate raid, with some worlds mattering much more than others.  The Pirates themselves were in competition with each other to form workable lances for what they thought might be the expected mission, based on limited intelligence.  There was no mercy shown there, and the heaviest, best mechs were chosen early and often, typically

The first night was nuts.  I thought that there might be 4 drops or so.  Nope!  Eight systems were hit, for a total of 10 missions.  There were people I had never even met, let alone invited to the event showing up and playing.  People who had never played Alpha Strike before, but loved classic were there trying it out.  The old timers who had been playing for years were all over the place, helping out too. 

Notable intrusions:
Massacre selected a Centurion for her ride, and manged to sneak her Lance onto Panzyr through the debris field, and then destroyed a local Lord's Highlander and got out.  In addition to valuable supplies the pay out allowed her to form a Rogues Alliance with Deathclaw, who then teamed up and raided an old SLDF base with active defenses, coming away with advanced technology of the laser kind.

Ack-Ack took a Bombardier and hit the Capellans hard, capturing badly needed Spare parts, Ammo, and Armor to keep the enterprise moving along on two different worlds, taking out a Thunderbolt and an Awesome to do it.  Sadly he was forced to abandon a potential salvage of a crippled Orion, as the Pirates were so low on Spare parts that they wouldn't have been able to repair it anyway!

Deathclaw in his Warhammer also manged to hit the miners and excavators of an old SLDF research base.  He came about totally empty handed, except for this thing that Ace really was super interested in.

The Death Commandos executed an impromptu ambush on an unsuspecting light Pirate lance, leading to a bad situation that the Pirates were lucky to get out of.   

A local mechwarrior ruling as Lord over a primitive civilization proved his divine godhood to the natives by repelling the Pirate invaders, and the 10th Sian Dragoons, destroyed in all but name, managed a last stand for the ages with crippled museum pieces.   


A critically damaged Awesome is no match for a fresh Pirate lance.


Turret at the ready to repel Pirates.

[Dissolv]

The second night was no slouch either.  While the Pirates won about 60% of their drops, the loss in mechs and pilots was severe.  Ranger Rick died to the 10th Sian Dragoons defense.  Half of the light mechs were gone.   And worst of all, the Pirates lacked critical spare parts to fully field repair without withdrawing from the AO.  Doing so gives the defender players time to commit reserves from Drozan, and roll for effects such as Veteran cadre with the militia crews, extra air support (Mech Busters!), or a variety of other effects.  One option was to try to turn over the problem to the Dai Da Chi Warrior house, which is stationed on Drozan, but since they were role playing Capellan defenders, it was hard to predict if this would be career and life threatening or not!

The night started with a bang as Deathclaw settled a dispute with one of the new named Pirates that had been recruited to replace the losses. 

No survivors.


Elsewhere the Pirates tackled more significant resistance.  The Veteran cadre were placed by the Op For players into some Demolishers that were drawn.  In 3024, these were pure murder with Veteran crews.

Handle with care!


The Pirates were game, and were luckily dropping the "dream team" on this planet, which was a Rogues Alliance of named Pirates, pooling their skills to carry off a mission that no one regular pilot (and his poorly trained lancemates) might manage.  In this case they employed long range firepower to deal with the Demolishers......gingerly.

Package is in the mail!


The player who liked running that Pirate painted that mech up, which is the ultimate compliment, imo. 

Unfortunately, the concentration of named Pirates all on one mission left only the scraps and dregs of the Pirate venture for the other worlds, and these did not go well. 

Elsewhere was unmitigated disaster for the Pirates.  An assassination against a former compatriot of Ace's, a Colonel Kitterly, went badly awry when it turned out that he had preparing for Ace's arrival for quite some time.  He had the area seeded with Density 4 mines and covered with light LRM turrets.  Although Deathclaw was able to tear down faithful Jones in an opposing Warhammer, the good Colonel himself remained untouched in an even heavier mech, an Orion, and the Pirates were lucky to get out of there with their mechs and hides intact.

Colonel Kitterly was the only mobile unit left, but he ruled the field.

This loss was made good in the repair phase, for the most part, but completely drained the Pirate reserve of Spare Parts.  By now the Pirate players have twigged to the fact that "Spare Parts" represent the expensive, complicated, and difficult replace parts of the mech.  They are extremely short supply, and several of the drops were specifically targeted at getting more of them.  However this did not work out.

Massacre pulled a two mission drop.  The first was against a light, but very game lance that maneuvered well and caused unexpectedly large amounts of damage on the much heavier Pirate lance (I think we calculated 120 tons versus 165).  Massacre was able to use her Lucky and Combat Initiative skills to good effect, but the damage had been done.  Two Pirate mechs suffered Fire Control criticals, and they were not in good shape for the second mission.  Which promptly trotted out a Guillotine.  The Pirate player made a very good game of it, knocking out two mechs, but lingered a turn too long and lost Massacre and two of the other mechs, both mediums.

Pirate losses were harsh.
Alphabet -- killed by Deathclaw
Massacre -- killed in her cockpit
Hawk -- died from exposure trying to walk off the irradiated continent

Colonel Kitterly rules the field.

[Dissolv]

After this unmitigated disaster the Op For players were eager to finish the Pirate incursion once and for all.  But no!  They are foiled by Capellan bureaucracy, which declares the Pirates dead and gone, and runs a propaganda blitz throughout the Victorian Commanality saying so.  Since no Pirates officially exist, they can take no action against the Pirates.

At this point the Pirate band is much smaller, with a real problem with leadership.  However what is left is more lethal than ever, with multiple named Pirates having unlocked their advanced abilities.  Ack Ack in particular takes a leadership role, as he now can train up the regular Pirates into a Fire Lance.  This, combined with his personal skills and the fact that he now has a three way Rogues Alliance with 2 other named Pirates, makes his force more than a match for any local militia.  The problem is...can the Pirates win where Ack-Ack isn't?

Notable drops:

A three mission gauntlet was survived by the Pirates on Repluse in a daring heist of the largest concentration of material wealth in the sector.  It cost them dearly, but also an up and coming Named Pirate was born by fulfilling the requirements to go from red shirt to gold shirt.  He did this in fine style, destroying a VTOL with his rear firing laser to win the 3rd scenario.  He has been given the call sign of "Mr. Mojo".

Colonel Kitterly was finally assassinated on Gorephani by the "dream team" of Pirates -- three named Pirates together in a lance.  His Kuritan mercenaries were no match for the murderous and highly skilled Pirates.  A mystery was uncovered here, as someone may have gotten to the Colonel first -- but then why the mercs?  And why did Ace want him dead to badly?

Hurik held out due to overwhelming local forces, Deathclaw not able to carry the day, as were two other worlds able to hold out, with Hammer having an especially bad day.

Kalindam was another story.  Here Deathclaw again took the field.  A random patrol stopped their looting of an old base, but on turn three both sides were surprised by the arrival of a Dai Da Chi lance.  A three way war broke out, and the Pirates came out on top. Sadly, the roll for the Big Score objective was failed, although the Pirates did loot well.

Ack Ack continued his streak as the ultimate Pirate menace and "dream team" leader, hitting the 10th Sian Dragoons just as they were rebuilding on Cavalor. 

City Fight.  More Demolishers is not good news for the Pirates.


The Spider was the hero of at least three missions.  Here he has gotten into the bank vault and is looting as fast as he can. 


Even after the heist, the mechs still had to make back to the dropship alive.

[Dissolv]

The final round of the Pirate campaign started like it seems so many others have.  With Deathclaw PPC'ing holes into another Pirate.    Mr. Mojo was no dummy and had run the numbers.  This Pirate venture couldn't last.  It was taking too many chances, dropping into too much opposition, losing too many mechs.  He calculated that his best chance was to stage a take over of the entire operation, but that led him into opposition with Ace's junk yard dog.  In person, even in a mech, the intimidating aura of the man caused Mr. Mojo to lose just that little bit of....well, his mojo, and he too fell before the blazing guns and raging howl that is Deathclaw. 

So by this time the Pirates were more or less falling part.  Too many mech losses, too much leadership killed.  But the point of the whole thing was not a long term career.  It was The Big Score!  In that regard, the Pirate players had been very successful, getting the needed items to advance the plot on every world....but one.  They would have to mount a return raid.   And of course......it was a trap.

The initial battle, featuring of course, the Dream Team versus some strikers and some by now hated Demolishers (only in 3 missions out of nearly 30, I swear) wasn't going so well.  Despite having all manner of advantages, the Dream team was rolling cold and was about to cut their losses.

Too much open ground, too many AC 20s.


Then the Capellans blew up the Leopard...and there was no where to go!  And the trap was sprung.


But whose trap was it?  Ace brought the Pirate command out for the first time in the campaign.


Then a mysterious 3rd party showed up.....


And a massive three way brawl broke out.  Pirates, Capellans, and.....mysterious 3rd party  ;)  all going for the McGuffin. 


Everyone's victory conditions changed (the Capellans having to preserve the Dai Da Chi, the Pirates get the McGuffin, and the mystery force kill everyone.)

Finally we had to call last round.  No force was wholly defeated, but both Lances of Capellan militia and both wings of Mechbusters were eliminated.  Then again, that's their job and the Dai Da Chi hadn't lost a mech.   The Pirates had taken a lot of damage, and lost several mechs (Charger, Firestarter, Crusader), but a lot of the damage was spread out.  The mystery force was in the best shape by a good way, although one Shadow Hawk had gone down, and two of the heavier mechs had been stripped of armor.    One last blast of firepower and the campaign was drawn to a close.  All that was left was for our daring Pirate light lance commander to roll his search roll for his last two mechs (another having been vaporized by the Dai Da Chi).....and holy smokes, he rolled it!

The very last roll of the game and the Big Score was accomplished! 

Afterwards, the players were given the whole backstory.  The main point was that we wound up using Alpha Strike to have a seriously good time, in a format that Classic is not capable of pulling off due to time restrictions.  In particular we had 4-6 people come in and try out the rules (and our group's gaming style), without a heavy time commitment.    It was a ton of fun and really showcases the uses of a fast play game.

[LegoMech]

That sounds like an amazing campaign! I'd actually like to hear more about the rules you used for repairs, salvage, and loot.

[Dissolv]

Sure, check it out for yourself. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ja4Pfx_8AcrTh1lXqDZW0958fhjYh8PH

[Kibutsu]

It was truly a great time and a very well run mini-campaign, thanks to all the work put in by our stalwart GM! I'm looking forward to more of this type of thing in the future and we already have ideas for next time.

[BlCharger]

It was a lot of fun to take part in.

Essentially, a mercenary unit - the Drophammers - got involved with a "southern" version of the Jolly Roger Affair that Comstar conceived in 3005. Here is a part of the story as relayed by Ack Ack to the head of House Dai Da Chi. Hope Dissolv doesn't mind.

"Twenty years ago we were approached by a new Patron to the scene.  Very private type.  We were all in the Drophammers, and times were tough, maybe a little tougher than usual.  Without clearing it with us first, as was the usual SOP, Colonel Kitterly committed us to this new Patron.  Well, this had consequences.   The  job was piracy.  We would pretend to be pirates to hit first Davion worlds, and then Capellan ones.  The idea was to stir up trouble and keep things going.  It was pretty clear that it was some type of black op business, but it paid well at least.  That smoothed things over for a while.  What we didn't count on was how thoroughly we became company tools.  Our MRB tanked.  Soon we couldn't keep our families on either Davion or Capellan worlds.  We were pretending to be Pirates, but damn near became the real thing just trying to survive. 

Then Ace, our XO, figured out a pattern.  We weren't hitting stuff at random, but there was pattern.  There was a mission hidden within the mission.   We thought he was crazy at first, but evidence mounted and we hacked Kitterly's computer.  And sure enough, we were being used, and in a very bad way.  Expendables.  We formally court martailed him in accordance to our contract -- damn near had a civil war right there, but in the end we tossed him into the brig and tried to contact our Patron about this second contract we were working.

Then while we were waiting, totally out of the blue they turned up in force.  Honestly we didn't know much of anything about our Patron, but it had to be them. They were the only ones who knew where our base was, but their mechs were unmarked.  So many of them, we lost Able Company before we could get them even out of the hangars.  Kitterly got away in the confusion, but so did a couple of our Lances.

And you know what?  We became Pirates for real then.  It wasn't easy, robbing farmers for food, trying to gauge how much you can take so that they won't starve to death, and leave you with no farm to rob next season.  But we had lost our homes, our loved ones, and even the regiment.  We became hard.

Then one day Ace blows back into our lives.  Has this grandiose plan.  Get back at the bastards that got us.  Get Colonel Kitterly.  He has this great idea to draw them out into the open and maybe get some answers.  But mostly revenge.  Oh yes, this was about our wives and sons that we lost.  The lives that we lost.  And you know what?  It actually worked.  Against all odds we actually got this damn thing.  The whole idea was they couldn't risk us getting...whatever.  I don't know what this is useful for.  I'm not 100% sure Ace did.  But he knew that they wanted it, and if he had it, they would show up for us.  But you guys got in the way.  Ace went out the way he wanted, getting his pound of flesh. Not sure he ever got over the guilt of what happened.  But there is no victory for us in the Drophammers.  Not really.

But with the seed crop, water purifiers, air filtration, dried rations, and pre-fab housing, on top of the mechs, spare parts, and trade contracts, we can do well enough for ourselves out in the Periphery.  It's not land on Sarna and a noble title, but if we go back -- we'll be dead within a year.

The monk slowly took all of that in.  A deal was reached.  A ship with all required supplies for a small colony to live from, as well as defend itself was exchanged.  And the last of the Drophammers set out for the unknown."

The Capellans got everything the Drophammers found in return. The end result of all of that? Well, here it is:


3063.  The Capellan Confederation manages to reproduce the effect of the Star League Null Signature System.  Critical advances and understanding of projected fields make this possible, giving the Capellans a significant technological advantage over their larger, more powerful rivals.  This heralds the beginning of an age of technological achievement for the Capellans, far out of proportion to resources.  The ability of the Capellans to make these leaps of understanding were never made publicly known.....until now.

[LegoMech]

That's awesome! Love knowing the backstory and epilogue!