Wargames Weekend: Operation Argos IV

Next up Lenin put on a science fiction game using his extensive collection of AT-43 kit but with the Two Hour Wargames' 5150 rules.

I was cast as an officer in Faulkner Consulting, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Parasol Corporation, which is one of the biggest corporate entities in known space. Faulkner Consulting was, in reality, a private military corporation that acts as enforcers and trouble-shooters for Parasol.

My mission was to proceed to the planet Argos IV and extract a three-person biomedical
science team from the Kildare Foundation, another Parasol subsidiary, that has been carrying out a planetary survey. The science team had reported some sort of difficulty, the exact nature of
which was unclear, and had requested an immediate extraction.

I was briefed that Argos IV was a primeval world with surface conditions not unlike Earth millions of years ago when the most sophisticated forms of life were plants and insects. I was informed that it was doubtful that the science team had encountered any hostile life forms, but it is possible that they are having problems with a rival corporation.

The only suitable landing area for my dropship was some distance from the scientistsʼ camp, so
my team needed to approach it on foot, through the primeval forest. I started with one squad of
light infantry, but each time that the activation dice totalled seven and my side had the higher die score I got a chance to roll on the reinforcement table to determine whether additional forces were available.

Perhaps unsurprisingly it turned out not to be a walk in the park! No sooner had we advanced a little towards the camp than some rather strange aliens appeared along with a rather nasty looking walker. Fortunately the walker appeared to be crewed by a graduate of the stormtrooper school of accuracy and its first two shots were close enough to tip me off but not to do any damage. Fortunately my missile launcher team got a lucky first shot and knocked it out.

Even after taking out the walker it was pretty hard going as the aliens just kept appearing and not only from in front. My first squad took quite a few casualties but reinforcements including a Fire Toad and a second squad meant I eventually managed to knock out the strange devices the aliens were using to transport in and after that it was a lot easier!

5150: Assault on Arcturus

The 5150 game we played over the big game weekend was another trial for the rules (as we were running it wrong previously) to try them again. This was human vs human so we need another trial to check out the alien specific reaction tables though. Here's the briefing:

Location: Arcturus, the Arcturus Loop (between the Borodino and Weyland Yutani Sectors)

For years the Arcturus Loop has provided a route for trade (both legal and illegal) to bypass the Core Systems. Both the ICC and the UNSC have failed to halt or regulate this traffic and this has been a source of some tension amongst the Nation States and the Corporations. The Neu Swabian League (NSL) have finally lost patience and taken direct action to deal with this problem. They have launched an invasion force bent on taking direct control of Arcturus itself and hence the loop. The initial assault wave was formed of elite teams of Sturmtroopen who have been deployed against specific strategic targets in advance of the main invasion force. One such target was Ibn Ihmael, a key control complex for the Arcturian planetary defence and communications system. The surprise assault has left the NSL in control of the complex but the Planetary Defence Forces have planned a counter attack to retake the complex and regain control of the planetary defences, possibly their last chance to halt the main NSL invasion force.

The NSL force consisted of two 5 man squads in Hard Body Armour with a variety of weapons. They were generally Rep 4 led by Rep 5 squad leaders and had the advantage of a fortified position (albeit with a perimeter too long to properly defend). The Arcturian PDF was a squad of Rep 3s in Soft Body Armour led by Rep 5s again.

A initial probe by a PDF scout quickly revealed the NSL positions (recon by death) but the first PDF assualt was quickly routed by NSL fire and the entire squad legged it for home. A more tactical approach had the NSL pinned down by one squad whilst the other attempted a flanking manoeuvre. The NSL squad slowly lost out to the greater PDF numbers and following a quick bypass being run on the main gate the outer defences were penetrated.

A short firefight between a second NSL fire team and the PDF ended prematurely with the judicious use of an anti-air missile by the PDF. The PDF advanced towards the command bunker only to be pinned down by the remaining NSL troopers. A brave assault by a PDF trooper with a flame unit failed by concentrated fire some his buddies took out the NSL trooper.

The final assault on the bunker was quickly resolved with the NSL officer being cut down before he could destroy the comms equipment and the NSL shuttle pilot thought discretion the better part of valour and bugged out.

It was a fun game (around the two hours - as you might expect) and reinforced our view that the THW system is a winner.

Our SF universe is a melding of the Aliens RPG and GZG backgrounds - more details can be found on the Encyclopedia Galactica.