7TV2e Batrep 01 - Burger Bar Bust-Up

I have been promising this batrep for quite a while and at last, here it is. Using the 7TV2e tabletop skirmish rules, this scenario is set in the early 1980's starring the main cast from the BBC TV series, Ashes to Ashes. 
The Cast - Heroes.

VEHICLE. Flash Motor (used to transport the four detectives). Rating = 4
STAR. DCI Gene Hunt (Tough Detective). No changes to stats. Rating = 10
CO-STAR. DI Alex Drake (Investigative Academic). Adjust Mind from 4 to 5, Replace Torch Dazzle +9 with Pistol +8. Rating = 6
CO-STAR. DS Ray Carling (Strongarm). Lose Lucky effect. Add Pistol +6. Rating = 5
CO-STAR. DC Chris Skelton (Plucky Assistant). Lose Screamer effect. Rating = 4 

VEHICLE. Police Car (used to transport the four policemen). Rating = 3
EXTRA. Sgt. Tony Sykes (Police Sergeant). No changes to stats. Rating = 3
3 x EXTRAS. PCs Anderson, Barnes and Campbell (Police Constables). No changes to stats. Rating - 3 models for 5
Total Rating of Heroes = 40

The Cast - Villains

VEHICLE. Van (used to transport seven villains. I know the stat card says it has a capacity of 6 but mine has a capacity of 8.) Rating = 4
STAR. Charlie Slater (Underworld Boss). No changes to stats. Rating = 10
CO-STAR. Micky Neville (Faithful Lackey). Swap SMG  +7 for Sawn-Off Shotgun +8. Rating = 6

EXTRA. George Houseman (Thug Bruiser). No changes to stats. Rating = 4
EXTRA. Tom Kilgour (Thug Bruiser). Swap Pistol +7 for Sawn-Off Shotgun +8. Rating = 4
EXTRA. Dougie Wetherall (Thug Bruiser). Swap Pistol +7 for Sawn-Off Shotgun +8. Rating = 4
EXTRA. Colin Briggs (Thug Bruiser). Swap Brawl +8 for Club +9. Rating = 4
EXTRA. Paddy McDee (Thug Bruiser), Swap Pistol +7 for Shotgun +8. Rating = 4
Total Rating of Villains = 40

The Cast - Neutrals

EXTRA. Mr. S. M. Quinton (Administrator). No changes to stats. Rating = 2
3 x EXTRAS. Gerald, Beryl and Jimmy (Bystanders). No changes to stats. Rating - 3 models for 2
Total Rating of Neutrals = 4

Rules Changes. No Gadgets were used. No Maguffin was used. Both teams set up within 8" of the two longest sides of the board. The Neutrals would always act last and so never rolled for initiative, nor did they use any cards from the Countdown Deck. The Heroes were the attackers and so automatically won initiative. Due to the restrictions of this particular scenario the defenders could not use Leader or Unit Leader special effects during their first turn. Because of the small size of my board (2' by 2.5') I ignored the rules for the placement of the five objective tokens and simply dotted them around the restaurant interior as I saw fit. The small board size also meant I would be using the smallest Countdown Deck size, i.e. five each of Act One, Act Two and Finale cards for 15 in total.

The Synopsis. DCI Gene Hunt of the London Metropolitan Police has received a tip-off that the notorious Slater Gang, led by the vicious Charlie Slater, were planning a robbery at a newly opened fast food restaurant, Brummie's Burgers, when the owner, Mr. S. Quinton, arrived to collect the week's takings. Hunt led a team of plain clothes detectives and uniformed policemen as they lay in wait to ambush the villains. This scenario is based on The Ambush feature found on p.24 of the 7TV2e Producer's Guide.

Set Up. The Heroes set up at the left (west) side of the board with Gene, Ray and Chris just inside the restaurant making use of the tables and chairs for hard cover. Alex, who has the Spy effect, set up last after everyone else and she stood guard outside the storeroom, where the four staff members were hiding (out of sight in this photo). The four policeman stayed in the police car. They were needed elsewhere once the action kicked off. Six of the villains were placed just inside the restaurant at the right (east) side of the board. One (McDee) remained outside, keeping an eye on their van. He was their designated getaway driver.

TURN 1

HEROES' COUNTDOWN PHASE

Advance the Countdown. I drew the Hogging the Limelight card for the Heroes. This allowed one model to make an additional fight or shoot action this turn. I simply had to give this to Gene Hunt. Because a pistol can fire twice per shoot action, this meant that he could fire four times this turn.

HEROES' ACTION PHASE

Gain Plot Points. The Heroes gained 12 Plot Points. They got 2 for having a Star, 3 for having 3 Co-Stars, 2 for having 4 Extras and 5 for the use of Gene's Homework effect. This effect allowed him to roll 2d6 before the first initiative roll, gaining Plot Points equal to the highest single die roll. I rolled a 5 and a 2, so the Heroes gained an extra 5 Plot Points. Cool!

DCI Gene Hunt. "Drop your weapons or suffer the consequences!" Gene shouted menacingly. He spent 1 Plot Point to activate (11 left). His first Action was to shoot twice, using 1 Plot Point for each shot (9 left). His targets were George Houseman and Colin Briggs, both with Defence 9 and behind hard cover for a total Defence of 11 each. Gene had a Pistol Strike score of 8. He rolled a 6 and a 1 for his first shot (the 1 was ignored) to give him a total Attack of 14. Houseman dropped down, severely wounded. For Gene's second shot he rolled a 5 and a 3 for a total of 13. (The 3 was once again ignored). Briggs took a bullet to his right shoulder and was also out of the fight.
Gene used his free shoot action for Hogging the Limelight to fire at two more targets - Dougie Wetherall and Tom Kilgour. They also had Defence totals of 11 each. Gene was determined to put these scum down and so spent two more Plot Points, one on each of them (7 left). Against Wetherall he rolled 4 and 3 for an Attack total of 12. Wetherall was hit in the centre chest, requiring urgent medical attention. Three down, one more to go. Could Gene score four out four? You bet he could! He rolled a double 5 which gave him an Attack total of 14 (5 for the first roll and +1 for the second roll, because it was a 4 or higher). Kilgour crumpled to the ground screaming that his ear has been shot off!

"I thought I said drop the weapons, you morons!" Gene said angrily. "Are you bloody deaf as well as stupid?" For his final action he moved 4" forward to take cover behind a waste disposal unit.

DI Alex Drake. Alex spent 1 Plot Point to activate (6 left). For her first Action, she moved into the kitchen to stand next to the objective token. Next, she used a Special Action to take the objective token. That would come in handy at the end of the game. Note that you can just see the owner, Mr. Quinton, in the top right corner of this photo.

DS Ray Carling. Ray made use of Gene's Leader 1 effect to activate for free. He moved 4" to take cover behind a table next to Micky Neville. For his second action he shot twice at Neville and used 1 Plot Point on each shot (4 left). Neville had a defence of 9 which was increased to 11 for being behind hard cover. Ray only had a Pistol Strike score of 6, which was not so good. However, he rolled very well with a 5 and a 3 for his first shot, giving him an Attack total of 11. Tied results always go in favour of the attacker. Neville had two wounds, so he lost one. For Ray's second shot he rolled a 5 and a 4 for an Attack total of 12. The 4 added a +1 to the 5. No problem! Neville took another wound and was incapacitated.
"Bloody scum!" Ray scowled, feeling no sympathy for the man he'd just shot.

DC Chris Skelton. "Slater! Don't move! You're under arrest!" the young detective shouted as he moved a full 6" forward after spending 1 Plot Point to activate (3 left). Slater snarled back at him derisively, and said, "Come on, copper. Do you really think you can take me?"

Chris used his second action to charge at Slater, thus giving him a free fight attack. Slater had a Defence of 10. Chris had a Brawl Strike of 6. He didn't fancy his odds so he spent 2 Plot Points to boost his chances of hitting (1 left). He rolled 3d6 scoring 5, 4 and 1, to give him an Attack total of 12 (the 1 was ignored and the 4 added +1 to the 5 he rolled). The punch did no damage but it did give Slater the Weakened status (he may only take one action when activated instead of two).

Sgt. Tony Sykes. He spent the Heroes' final Plot Point to activate and used two move actions to drive the police car in front of the villains' van to block their escape. The other three policemen remained in the police car and did not activate.

HEROES' END PHASE

None of their cast were axed, no one was on fire and they couldn't steal the scene so this concluded the first Turn for the Heroes. 

VILLAINS' COUNTDOWN PHASE

Advance the Countdown. I drew the Out of Frame card for the Villains. This allowed them to move up to three models up to 3" each if these moves ended with them in base contact with hard or soft cover or an obstacle. So, Paddy McDee moved indoors to take cover behind a table and chairs just inside the restaurant near to where Charlie Slater was standing.

VILLAINS' ACTION PHASE

Gain Plot Points. The Slater Gang gained a measly 3 Plot Points. That was 2 for having one Star, and a half, rounded up to one, for having one Extra. Oh dear!

Charlie Slater. He spent 1 Plot Point to activate and another Plot Point to remove his Weakened status (1 left). He could have used his first action to fight back against Chris but being a vicious bastard he decided to shoot him twice instead. Chris had a Defence score of 9. Slater had a Pistol Strike of 7. He rolled a 4 and then a 3, giving him two hits with results of 11 and 10 respectively. Being a Co-Star, Chris had two wounds but that was not enough to save him. He fell to the ground, very badly wounded and clearly out of the fight.
Slater used his second action to beat a hasty retreat out of the restaurant. He knew he had lost this fight and the only sensible option left was to retreat.

Paddy McDee. He used the last of the Villains' Plot Points to activate. He fired his Shotgun at Gene Hunt but totally missed thanks to Gene having the Hide special effect. This states that if this model is in hard or soft cover or behind an obstacle, any model making a shoot attack against them automatically misses if the distance to the target is more than half the attack's range. A Shotgun has a range of 8" and Gene was 5" away from McDee. This was good news for Gene but bad news for McDee! McDee used his second action to follow his boss out of the restaurant.

VILLAIN'S END PHASE

Axed Cast. If a cast is reduced to less than half their starting total they are considered to be axed. The Slater Gang had lost 5 of its 7 cast in this Turn so were clearly axed. In game terms this meant that any remaining Star or Co-Star had to make a successful Spirit test for his side to carry on. Failure would result in the remaining cast losing 1d6 more models immediately. Charlie Slater had a Spirit score of 4, which meant he had to roll 4+ on 1d6 to succeed. Sadly for him, he rolled a 3 and it was game over as he was forced to roll 1d6 to see how many more men he lost. He rolled a 4 which was more than the 2 he had left. It was defeat for the Villains. They were all arrested.

NEUTRALS' ACTION PHASE

Brummie's Burgers Staff. They had 2 Plot Points to spend but decided to play it safe by remaining hidden in the storeroom. After all, why risk their lives unnecessarily? Being unable to see outside of their little room, they had no idea how the conflict had gone and had no inclination to find out until the police told them it was safe to come out.

VICTORY POINTS

It was quite obvious that the Heroes had won but how decisive was their victory?
The Heroes gained the following Victory Points.
If the enemy has no models in play. +2
For each objective token held. +1
For each enemy Star or Co-Star removed (per Health of model). +5
Total = 8
The Villains gained the following Victory Points.
For each enemy Star or Co-Star removed (per Health of model). +2
Total = 2
So the Heroes won by 8 to 2. A 6 point margin resulted in a Crushing Victory.

FINAL THOUGHTS

First up, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this scenario. I thought the rules worked well and certainly captured the cinematic feel of the genre. Be assured, more games will certainly follow. In any ambush type scenario the advantage always lies with the ambushers, so it was no surprise that the Heroes won. What was surprising was just how easy it was for them. The game was effectively won and lost on the draw of the first Countdown card. With Gene Hunt Hogging the Limelight, getting to shoot four times in a Turn and hitting with every shot, the Villains never stood a chance. The Heroes also had another ace up their sleeve. Gene's Homework effect allowed the Heroes to rack up a huge amount of Plot Points, which they used very effectively. It was great fun to play but it most definitely did not go the way I thought it would. It was all over before the first advert break! I'm sure if I was to replay it things would go a lot differently. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed playing it.