Stargrave - Starship Troopers - See Boltz Run.

The first outing for Stargrave - Starship Troopers.

Captain Marion Leafy and the crew of the William E Barber have been hired to collect a cache of arms from the Skinnies for a group of Mormon extremists in the Arachnid Quarantine Zone. The meeting had gone badly and before you know it laser bolts filled the air.

Five loot tokens two on each half of the table and a central loot token in the centre of the table, the Skinnies enter from the top of the table, the crew of the William E Barber from the bottom.

First Mate Eve Hopkins rushed forwards with a number of the crew across the open ground towards the centre loot location. It was smash and grab, get the token and get out.

Meanwhile The Skinnies start to infiltrate the table flanking left and right, a member of the mobile infantry popped up on a roof top of the nearest building they had been sent to secure the cache. He was swiftly dispatched by the Skinnies with a concentration of laser fire.

They seize the roof tops over looking the centre of cluster of buildings and the first loot counter. 

Boom !!!! - caught in the open Hopkins catches the full force of a grenade. Out of the fight before they had fired a shot. Wilkes the medic could do nothing to help.

Harry 'Flash' Gordon dived into the scrub lightly wounded, not the best start for the crew of the William E Barber.

Boltz the ships dog ignored by the Skinnies darted into the centre building and remarkably managed unlock the loot token.

To the right Leafy starts to work on another loot token, she easily opens the security latch using her computer deck. But the Skinnies had not been idle and now had the ships crew firmly in there sights. With two grenade launchers they started lobbing grenades onto the crew.

As the high explosive rounds rocked the crater, the blasts triggered a bug hole. A random location right behind Leafy and her crew. A warrior bug comes scuttling out targeting the nearest figure.

Gunner Vaskes fired before being skewered by the Arachnid. Skinnies to their front bugs to the their rear, it was a bad night for the crew of the missile ship.

Leafy needed to clear the path, she rushed into combat and discharged her concealed firearm finishing off the bug. She turned to urge the crew to get a move on, but was caught in a blast from yet another HE round, knocking her out of the fight. Leader down and loot token lost.

The surprising hero of the hour was Boltz the ships dog stealing the middle loot and heading off table swiftly followed by Wilkes the Medic and a number of Mobile Infantry rushing to recapture the stolen loot.

The table was left to the Skinnies with 4 tokens to 1.

Not the best first outing but things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Whilst the crew recovered from their wounds Marion Leafy was not so lucky her wounds were irrecoverable and she bled out. There would be no big pay day for Captain Marion Leafy.......

As the remnants of the crew drank in an off world bar, in walks Squadron Leader Patricia Leafy - twin sister of Marion, having received a transmission from her sister in her dying moments Patricia had walked away from her career and a path to citizenship to lead the crew of the Missile Ship William E Barber.

Well that was fun not the result I had hoped for.

The inclusion of troopers and bugs make for an interesting encounter and their random placement can change the dynamics of the game. It's not a good idea to get caught in the open and losing your lead characters really does scupper your chances.

Better luck next time.... I am putting this down to the curse of freshly painted figures.