18/10/2016

The Battle of Benny Hill (formerly 'To catch a thief'). A Rogue Trader scenario

Here you have the report as promised :) Mastering this game has been as fun as it was writing the scenario, I can tell you. You'll see that some things went out of control, but some others went pretty cinematic. Just a situation point as a quick reminder:

Ten minutes alone with my photoshop...
Infamous outlaw Brent Beronis is having a drink at the Sparklin' Pulsar when the Administratum bailiffs and the Adeptus Arbites make quite an entrance, surrounding the bar. He has to run all over the area, try to get to the docks and get on a boat. The idea is running a movie-like police chase scene, so we can put as much scenery as we can to an use. No shortcuts! The board is 4x4' (120x120 cm).
Remember, you can read the specifics of the scenario in the previous post. GM information involved, so proceed at your own risk.
So... Hey! Ho! Let's go!

This should be more or less the general direction of the game. Longest run we can provide

The bar is totally surrounded. The sirens and light flares are evident now. A frontal confrontation is gonna end badly. Brent better run for his life.

'Run for my life'. Easy to say!
 The most obvious and short route to the docks (just going straightforward downstairs) is totally blocked, so he'll have to do it the rough, long way!

This could have been sooo easy...
Well, this is where first things begun to escape out of control. Yup, I know what I'm saying. We haven't started yet, right. But something unexpected happened just in the first turn, in the very first movement of the game. You could think Brent had quite a fair chance of making his way through the Administratum Bailiffs and get rid of one or two of them in doing so. He could escape through the bridge and the Arbites then would follow him. OK.

Hell no.

Qvo vadis?!
The ruffled law enforcement officers didn't know how to handle this situation, so they made the only thing they could do...

Follow him!!
Onto the roof, now what?
You kiddin' me?
I must say one thing, if this is not following the RT spirit, then I don't know what it is. Free and absolute interaction with scenery. This is not the first time these things happen, of course. The most recent case I can recall is the last time I played a WH40K2 scenario (using the crane and stuff). As per 2nd Ed rules, you may use either Initiative or Leadership values depending on the kind of action you are trying to perform (more daring/physical or more wits/arguing, you know). Though RT presents many more attributes (Intelligence, Cool and Willpower), I'm OK keeping it simple and attaching to the Initiative or Leadership attributes.
As a GM, I firmly believe you have not only to allow, but encourage this kind of actions. So here we are, Brent jumping over the bridge. The perplex pursuers decide to shoot him...

...but they are too perplex to be effective
Brent gets down. The Arbites run, they are almost onto him!
Brent enters the residential area
But the Arbites see their movement impeded by the people on the streets
Brent puts some distance between him and his pursuers, so the Judge gives the order to open fire. The fugitive must not escape.

Unfortunately, they kill a bystander!
Brent runs and gets lost among the streets
As per scenario rules, at the moment the Arbites Squad has no line of sight to Brent, so he decides to use his 'Playing home' event card.

He succeeds! He runs through alleys the Arbites don't even suspect that exist
 The Arbites get one one turn delayed trying to find out where this dirtbag is running towards.

He's trying to make them lose the track in the maze of streets of the underhive
But then suddenly...

Reinforcements have arrived! Block his escape way!
GM note: This seemed to be a proper moment to allow Arbites Squad B get into game; otherwise, the distance between fugitive and chasers would begin to become unachievable. However, you may want to keep the reinforcements rule in secret for both sides. The faces on both players when you give one of them another squad (which can enter the board by any side at will) will be worth of it.

Brent is caged! Arbites behind. Arbites unexpectedly ahead. Then he makes the only thing he can think of. He gets into the building and goes out through the elevated corridor on the first floor.
OK, I see no reason why this couldn't happen. The door on the street is open, I think it's quite a legit movement. Interacting creatively with the scenery was one of the major points of this urban scenario.

The Arbites, fooled, climb up to the platform to follow him
The first squad and the bailiffs are still on the chase
Things are warming up again!!
Don't let him escape!!
Oooops, didn't expect to find such a distinguished company here at the viewpoint!
Trapped again! What can Brent do now? Perhaps the wisest move would be... Wise? We didn't come here to be wise, we came to be bold!

To boldly go where no man has gone before!
Another careless jump, another Initative roll passed. I must confess that a hostage situation at the viewpoint would have been intriguing, though I suspect the Arbites wouldn't have minded much whoever was the victim, not even a high-rank noble. Anyway, fortunately it didn't happen, I wasn't ready for that! The high-speed chase seems like a better option.

But...

What are those lights up there?...
The Metro is coming!

The Arbites run and take firing positions
Brent was most certainly pushing his luck. The pillar is too high to simply jump down (I considered it would deliver an automatic wound). Jumping onto the building (which I honestly thought was the safest move for the previous turn) is now out of the table, as the Arbites are way too close. Gasp.
Apparently this was all part of a reckless plan...

Brent runs directly towards the Metro! He jumps in the very last second!

By the skin of the teeth!
We didn't need to roll for this jump, the platform was a large enough place to make this action safe.

But wow, this is stressful.
The Arbites take firing positions and (finally!) shoot
This was the epic fail dice roll. For the record, the one that impacted didn't cause any wound
However, an innocent bystander was slain as a collateral damage
New reinforcements! [Vooosh, foooom, hsshhhh]
Now, gentlemen, you have to run if you wanna get that guy!
Brent fires back, with no effect. The Arbites fire again, killing another civilian!

Blamm, blamm, aaargh!
Relentless Squad A still on the chase!
Brent tries to get to the streets again
He plays the 'Snitch' event card. Hauer Ruttger makes his appearance!

The Snitch card is a tricky one, anything can happen. Depending on the roll, the Arbites can get an additional move (1), nothing happens (2-3), they can get delayed (4-5) or even mislead (6). Randomness!
Die roll...

Ruttger's chitchattery is really effective!
He leads the Arbites in the opposite direction, through the crowd of children, who ask for candy and a few coins
(I like to envision this whole thing as a kind of Indiana Jones scene. Just for the sake of it. Adds more fun)

The other squads are still on the chase
Once again they are dangerously close to Brent
He's on the verge of reaching the lower bridge
Administratum bailiffs, Squad A, Squad C, Squad B. Aaaaall of them on the chase
Close-up of Squad B getting out of the building

Hmm. This was becoming quite an unexpected outcome, the fugitive ahead (if slightly, but still ahead) and all the almost twenty chasers running behind. The Benny Hill theme was beginning to sound in my head...

So time to add some more thrill. The chase of Brent Beronis has attracted the attention of a bounty hunter...

I am Batman
On the top of the dock crane, Orpheus Khaled ponders the situation. The cockroaches are way too close to the prey. If they reach him, goodbye to the reward. But attacking the cockroaches would only work in benefit of the prey, who may escape. Difficult conundrum. The only logical situation is getting a kill. If he manages to shot the prey down in front of witnesses, not even the cockroaches can dispute it. The money for Beronis dead is good enough to give it a try.

He descends from the crane to get a clean shot before Brent escapes
Brent crosses the bridge, followed by the Administratum clerk and the bailiffs, and then two squads of Arbites. The freshly arrived squad take positions on the roof of the warehouse.

Brent arrives to the dock area!
You are not the only one who can act awesome, man! Look at me!
Khaled misses the shot and kills another civilian
The chase goes on, though we are in the very last turns...
Everyone gets privileged firing positions
Come on! Get the engines warm!!
Bullets and ricochets fly all over. Brent gets on board and the wary boat sails slowly towards the wide estuary. A shot hits him despite being trying to cover himself behind the cargo crates. However, it is not enough to take him down.

The ship escapes under heavy fire and takes Brent to freedom
Phew! This is it! Brent finally escaped. Maybe only temporarily, but he can call it a victory today!

The game resulted much better than I anticipated, though the final turns were quite a clumsy Benny Hill chase, one guy running and all the constabulary running behind (Yes, I've begun to envision it in fast motion with music; still unsure if that makes it still better!). However, the parts in which Brent begins to jump over bridges and rails were totally epic.

It's been quite a strange game, one side with just one mini and with strange dynamics. It's been all about running. Very few gunshots (I expected more 'hard action', though I was fearing about Brent having just two wounds; in the end it didn't turn that bad). The event cards made their role and I'm quite satisfied of how they worked. Maybe more interaction between the fugitive and the bounty hunter would have been fun too, will need to try. A shame that the local population didn't revolt in the end. That would most probably have avoided the Benny Hill situation, the Arbites engaged with rioters, but luckily it all turned out for good and was more balanced than it should may look at first sight.

So on the whole I'm quite happy with the result! I think I'm totally in for writing some more RT scenarios and stuff. Just remember that 2017 makes the 30th anniversary for Rogue Trader. I guess something will have to be done about it...

24 comments:

  1. Very entertaining, it looks like you had fun!

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    1. Thanks! Yup, totally entertaining! Thegame developed in unexpected ways, it was much better than anticipated. Though the Rogue Trader system seems heavy for some kind of games, it resulted quite good for this one :)

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  2. That was one fantastic battle report, Suber. Seriously... I think it was the most exciting report I've ever read... I kept wondering, what will happen next? As it turns out, what generally happens next is a civilian getting popped. But that's just another day in the City.
    Anyway, all your hard work and planning really paid off. This is primo!

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    1. Thank you so much! I've been thinking about continuing the story! The bounty hunter finally meeting the outlaw and engaging through the city looks appealing. But a massive riot triggered by these events would also seem fun to me...

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  3. What a great report! Sounds like massive fun - very cinematic indeed. And your report takes us right into the action. Your RT games are the best!

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    1. Thank you! It was terribly fun, very easy going. I expected a bit more fighting, but the whole run-run-run dynamics were really exciting in the end, so I call it a win :D

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  4. The parkour stuff was inspired.

    The fact that 2nd ed provides a framework for players to calculate the odds and manage risk for completely out of the box moves, just shows how far the current rules have departed from the original intent.

    Great fun, and that outstanding terrain board really gives it that extra pop.

    Thanks for sharing this.

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    1. Thanks! Right, this kind of adventure is way much more appealing to me that the current orthodox approach, the 'let's play 1763 points of whatever two random armies and let me know which exact gear each mini is carrying, rule-wise'. Sorry, not my cup of tea. Even that kind of battle can be conducted in a totally different way. But I guess it's not that much the ruleset but the gamer...

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  5. Really nice and fun battlereport!
    Glad you posted it! :D

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    1. Thanks! I really enjoyed it, it was chaotic, unpredictable... totally fun!

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  6. Fantastic mate - what a brilliant game! This sums up everything that I love about RT - action, intrigue, creativity, a great looking table and bloody good fun! I can't believe the old girl is nearly 30... I feel old today :-/

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    1. Haha, thank you! I guess this very scenario would work under other rulesets (I'm thinking of Pulp Alley, ITEN and the kind, but I haven't tried them!), but the RT flavour was too tempting for me!
      Aye, man! 30!!

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  7. Really cool Batrep Suber!

    I'm not sure how to juggle the risk in the game though? As you alluded to, he could have died at any moment, but it made it all the sweeter when he did make it....because of the overwhelming odds!

    It might take a few play throughs to find the right balance?

    It was a cool read buddy :)

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    1. Thank you! Well, I find that the event cards turned out good for Brent, but I don't think they were determining for the outcome.
      The Arbites didn't perform that well, but I honestly didn't expect them to, considering the shooting modifiers (running, long distance...). That's a thing I had to give a think about when designing the scenario, and reached the conclusion that the Arbites player is to be encouraged not to shoot but to actually get to hand-to-hand combat, that ensuring him a capture, not the risk of killing the prey.
      I expected a different way of things happening, but I really don't complain as it was terribly fun just as it actually happened!

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  8. That was a great report! Well written, keeping the suspense going until the end.

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    1. Thank you! That was the essence of the game, walking on the edge, not really knowing what was to happen next. Keeping the thrill up has been the most rewarding experience as GM. I'm so repeating! :D

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  9. Mate;

    This was amazing; really amazing! Absolutely too stuff; it was a joy to read!

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    1. Thank you! Glad you like it, it was a really exciting game, I find this kind of scenarios more enjoyable than regular battles, I need to do more of this!

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  10. Action packed, cinematic game. I liked reading about the scenario design and the the battle report. Also nice to see all those lovely models in a game.

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    1. Thanbks, the whole process was truly enjoyable, not only thinking about it and developing the pros and cons, but also seeing how it unfolds on a board. RT rules!

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  11. One thing that jumps out at me is how complex the terrain looks. Must have been loads of fun playing on that terrain.

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    1. Well, it's been a long way until I got all this on a board, but it's been totally worth of it. Just the mere fact of having the display in order for the game was rewarding enough :D
      But you know how these things work... I need more buildings!

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