Strontium Dog Scenario 01 - Introduction part 2

TURN 1
Red Star Chip - Johnny Alpha

Johnny took a single Move action and advanced 7". He and Durham were the fastest two characters on the board. The wrecked car provided him with heavy cover from the Stix Brothers.

For his second action, he fired his Webley Custom Hand Blaster at Stix #3, who was only 7" away from him. This put him at close range, so Johnny got a +1 bonus to his Shoot stat of 4. Rolling 5 combat dice he scored 4 Hits. Stix #3 now had a Cool stat of 2, so normally this would give him a Pinned token but he was already Pinned and a model can only be Pinned once. Pinned tokens do not stack, unlike Injury or Stunned tokens. Furthermore, Stix #3 could not dodge the attack because his Evade stat was now at -1. Johnny rolled 4 combat dice for the Power of his pistol, looking for Hits. He got 2. Stix #3 could reduce these if he rolled Armour results against his reduced Resist stat of 2. Sadly, he failed to get any and so once again, he was seriously injured and he took two more Injury tokens, which reduced his stats by a further 2. When a model is reduced to a Cool of 0 or less, he or she counts as being Incapacitated and is out of the game, either dead or unconscious. First blood to Team Alpha. Johnny attempted to return his Star chip to the bag by rolling 5 combat dice against his Cool of 5, hoping to score at least 1 Special result. He succeeded and the Star chip went back into the bag, giving him the opportunity to activate later in the game.
Chicanery
Before drawing the next Star chip, Johnny played his Wrong-Footed Chicanery card. This meant I drew three Action chips and returned any friendly chips back in the bag, but any enemy Action chips were placed to one side and could not be used until the next turn. I drew 2 black Star chips and 1 red Star chip, so the Stix Brothers lost two Star chips. Very sneaky play but a great tactic seeing as Team Alpha were outnumbered.
Red Star Chip - Wulf Sternhammer

Wulf decided to make a Sprint double action, which allowed him to move twice plus an extra 1d6". He has a Move of 6" and I rolled a 4 for his extra distance, so he ran 16" in total. This placed the Viking warrior by the ladders of the biggest building on the tabletop. He has a Cool of 4, so I rolled 4 combat dice to see if he could return his Star chip back in the bag, but his luck was out and I failed to get any Special results. As a consequence, his turn was over and he received a Pinned token.
Black Star Chip - Stix #1

Stix #1 threw a Beam Polarizer Bomb from his Armoury cards 3" in front of him close to the fallen Stix #3. A Beam Polarizer blocks firing across a 3" diameter circle but only affects Blaster type weapons. He placed it there to prevent Johnny from firing at him and Stix #2.

For his second action he turned to face Wulf and Snap Fired his Custom Hand Blaster at him. The range was only 7", which was close range and gave Stix #1 a +1 bonus to his Shoot stat of 3. Rolling 4 combat dice he scored 2 Hits. Wulf had an Evade stat of 2 but he failed to get any Special results on the combat dice so his dodge attempt failed. Rolling 4 combat dice for his Blaster's Power of 4, Stix #1 only scored 2 Hits. Wulf was behind heavy cover, so he added +2 to his Resist stat of 4 to reduce the damage. Rolling 6 combat dice, he scored 2 Armour results, which reduced the power of the attack to 0. However, a score of 0 on the Injury chart gave a Stunned result. Wulf took one Stunned token, which reduced all of his stats by 1. Stunned tokens are a lot easier to remove than Injury tokens but their effect is the same.

Finally, Stix #1 attempted to return his Star chip to the bag but he failed to roll any Special results so he became Pinned and his activation for this turn ended.
Red Star Chip - Durham Red

With a Move stat of 7", Durham is very fast. She took a Sprint double action, and added 1d6" to her Move total. I rolled a 3, so she ran 17" to end up in between two buildings close to Stix #4 and Stix #5. She rolled 4 combat dice to try and return her Star chip to the bag and she succeeded by scoring 1 Special result.
Red Star Chip - Durham Red

I decide to activate Durham again as she had a cunning plan. She played her Chicanery card - Red Sneak Attack. Note that this Chicanery card is only available with the Build a Mutie boxed set and although it is actually called Sneak Attack, there is a different Sneak Attack Chicanery card in The Good, The Bad and The Mutie starter boxed set. So to differentiate the two I'll call the new one Red Sneak Attack because it includes a picture of Durham Red on the card. What it does is to allow a model who is out of Line of Sight of an enemy to make a normal Move action and then take an Aimed Shot, effectively giving her three actions for the price of two. Durham was out of sight of all of the Stix Brothers. She moved 2" to the corner of the building. When moving, a model does not have to move their full allowance - they can move less if they want to.

Because Stix #1 had his back to her, she targeted him. It was short range and she only fired one of her two Custom Hand Blasters at him. With an Aimed Shot, the firer may either add +2 to its Shoot stat to represent more careful aiming or add +2 to the weapon's Power representing aiming for a vulnerable spot. Durham opted for the +2 to the Power. Adding +1 to her Shoot stat of 3 because of the short range modifier, she rolled 4 combat dice and scored 3 Hits. As has been mentioned before, the Stix Brothers are not good at dodging with a pitiful Evade stat of 1. Not surprisingly, he failed to dodge the attack. Durham rolled 6 combat dice for the Power of her Blaster and scored 4 Hits. Stix #1 had a resist stat of 4 but this was reduced to 3 because he was being attacked in his Back Fire arc. He rolled 3 combat dice, looking for Armour results and scored 1. Durham's attack Power of 4 was reduced to 3, which still resulted in Stix #1 being grievously Injured. He took 3 Injury tokens. Ouch! Once again Durham succeeded in returning her Star chip to the bag.
Black Star Chip - Stix #2

Annoyed at Durham Red for shooting his brother in the back, Stix #2 played his Stone Cold Chicanery card, which allowed him to take three Snap Shot actions instead of two. He used them all against Durham. She was 5" away from him but in heavy cover from where he stood. For his first shot he rolled 4 combat dice (Shoot stat of 3 +1 for the short range modifier), looking for Hits. He got 2. Durham rolled 3 combat dice for her Evade stat of 3 and scored 1 Special result. She dodged but did not move 3" away.
For his second shot, Stix #2 scored 3 Hits and this time Durham failed to dodge the attack. The Stix Brother scored 1 Hit result for the Power of his attack. Durham rolled 5 combat dice for her Resist stat of 3 plus 2 for being in heavy cover. She rolled 2 Armour results which reduced the Power of the attack to -1, which was no effect on the Injury chart.
Surely it'll be third time lucky, thought Stix #2. His third shot scored 2 Hits, but Lady Luck was shining on the mutant vampire and she easily dodged the attack by rolling 2 Special results. Again, she stayed put. Stix #2 was furious and the two combatants swapped insults. He did succeed in returning his Star chip to the bag. Just to recap, there were now two black Star chips and two red Star chips left in the bag.
Black Star Chip - Stix Brothers
They play their Firing Line Chicanery card, which allowed their leader and friendly models within 6" of him to each make an immediate Snap Shot action. All shots must target one nominated model within Line of Sight of the leader, which in this case, meant Wulf Sternhammer.

The leader, Stix #1 was grievously wounded so couldn't shoot because his Shoot stat was reduced to 0, but Stix #2, #4 and #5 could all act. Wulf was going down! Stix #2 shot first and because Wulf was only 7" away, that put him in close range, so the Stix Brother added +1 to his Shoot stat of 3. Rolling 4 combat dice, he scored 2 Hits. Wulf had been Stunned earlier, so all his stats were reduced by 1. This now gave him an Evade stat of 1 and not surprisingly, he failed to dodge the attack.

Rolling 4 combat dice for his pistol's Power of 4, Stix #2 scored 3 Hits. Wulf's Resist stat of 4 was now reduced to 3. Looking for Armour results on 3 combat dice he managed to get 2, which reduced the damage of the attack from 3 to 1. Even so, this meant an Injured result on the Injury chart so he took an Injury token. This reduced his stats by 1 and stacked with his previous Stunned result.
Styx #4 shot next but this time Wulf was at long range so he only rolled 3 combat dice for his Shoot stat. He scored 2 Hits, which Wulf could not dodge because his Evade stat was now at 0. Stix #4 only scored Hit 1 for the Power of his attack. Wulf rolled 2 combat dice for his reduced Resist stat of 2 and scored 1 Armour result, reducing the damage of the attack to 0. But, as we've seen before, this counted as a Stunned result on the Injury chart, so poor Wulf took a second Stunned token and now all of his stats were reduced by 3. Things were not looking good for the big Viking warrior.

The end came quickly when Stix #5 fired. He scored 2 Hits which Wulf could not dodge. This was followed by 2 more Hits for the Power of his Custom Hand Blaster. With a Resist stat of only 1 Wulf failed to get any Armour results so he was seriously injured and he took two Injury tokens, which Incapacitated him and put him out of the fight. That was a good use of a Chicanery card for the Stix Brothers.
Black Star Chip - Stix #4

The Stix Brothers are actually better at fighting than shooting, so Stix #4 decided to take a single Fight action against Durham Red. This allowed him to move 3" towards his target and then engage in close combat. His Fight stat was 4 and there were no modifiers applicable so I rolled 4 combat dice for him, looking for Hits. He scored 3.

However, as with shooting, the defender gets to dodge the attack if they can roll at least 1 Special result against their Evade stat. Sure enough, Durham did and she moved 3" back, out of the fight.

Not to be deterred, Stix #4 made a second Fight action and closed in 3" hoping for a better result this time. He scored 2 Hits and this time Durham failed to dodge the attack.

Because he was not armed with a close combat weapon, the Power of his attacks equalled his Fight stat of 4. He only rolled 1 Hit on 4 combat dice. Durham rolled 3 combat dice for her Resist stat of 3, looking for Armour results and she got 1, which reduced the damage of the attack from 1 to 0. This gave her a Stunned result on the Injury chart and all of her stats were reduced by 1. Stix #4 failed to return his Star chip to the bag, so he took a Pinned token and his activations were over for this turn.
Red Star Chip - Johnny Alpha

Johnny took an Aimed Shot double action, targetting Stix #2 with his Westinghouse Variable Cartridge Blaster and he played the No. 4 Cartridge from his Armoury cards, which added +1 to the Power of the attack and had a 3" Blast radius. This meant that both Stix #1 and Stix #5 would be caught in the blast if his shot was accurate. Despite shooting through the Beam Polarizer's area of effect, it did not effect Cartridge weapons. Oops, a bit of an oversight for the Stix Brothers! Johnny decided to add the +2 bonus of his Aimed Shot to the pistol's Power. It was a long range shot at 12" so Johnny suffered a -1 penalty modifier to his Shoot stat of 4. He rolled 1 Hit but Stix #2 failed to dodge it. At this point, Stix #2 could have used his Gunfighter skill to return fire on Johnny, just as Durham Red had done against Stix #3 in the Deployment Phase of the game, but the Beam Polarizer prevented him from hitting Johnny. How ironic! Johnny rolled 7 combat dice (4 for the Power of the pistol, +1 for a No.4 Cartridge and +2 for an Aimed Shot), looking for Hits. He rolled an incredible 6 Hits. Come what may, this was going to hurt Stix #2! Rolling 4 combat dice for his Resist stat of 4 the long-coated Strontium Dog rolled 2 Armour results and reduced the power of the attack down to 4. However, any result of 3+ on the Injury chart was classed as grievously injured and Stix #2 took 3 Injury tokens.
Stix #1 was only 1" away from Stix #2, well within the Blast radius and he automatically took a Power 4 hit. The Power was reduced by 1 for each inch away from the centre of the Blast the target was. The Aimed Shot bonus did not apply, but the No. 4 Cartridge modifier did. Stix #1 failed to Resist the attack and so was grievously injured again, taking a further 3 Injury tokens, which Incapacitated him putting him well and truly out of the game.
Stix #5 was 3" away from the centre of the blast so took a Power 2 hit. He managed to roll 1 Armour result and reduced it to damage 1. He was Injured and he took one Injury token. Despite having a Cool stat of 5, Johnny failed to score any Special results in his attempt to return his Star chip to the bag and so his activation ended and he took a Pinned token. Now there were only two Star chips left in the bag, one of each colour.
Red Star Chip - Durham Red

Durham took a chance on going up against Stix #4 in close combat, despite being Stunned and having a lower Fight stat. Madness, you say? No, because she used the Electronux from her Armoury cards to gain a +3 bonus to her Fight stat for one close combat attack. In addition, she gained  a further +1 bonus for Stix #4 being Pinned. Now the odds were very much in her favour. Rolling 6 combat dice, she scored 4 Hits and the Stix Brother failed to dodge them. With a Power of 6 she scored 4 more Hits for the damage of her strike. Stix #4 managed to get 2 Armour results for his Resist stat rolls and reduced the damage down to 2. This was classed as a serious injury result and he took two Injury tokens.

Durham pressed on with a second Fight action, but this time without the Electronux. Her Fight stat was down to 2 for being Stunned but Stix #4 was still Pinned so she gained a +1 bonus, bringing her back up to a Fight of 3. She scored 1 Hit, which Stix #4 could not dodge. With a Power of 3, she scored 2 Hits for her damage and her opponent failed to Resist them. A second seriously injured result incapacitated him and thus won Team Alpha the game. Durham used her Bloodsucker skill, which she can use if she takes an opponent down with a close combat attack. She must take a Cool test. She failed to get any Special results and so was Pinned but she gained a +1 bonus to her Cool stat for the rest of the game. Note this bonus is not cumulative. She did succeed to return her Star chip to the bag.
Black Star Chip - Stix #2

With two Star chips still left in the bag I had to play on, even though Team Alpha had won. I used a Hunker Down double action on Stix #2. His Move stat was now down to 2". He could move this far plus the result of a roll on 1d6 to find cover and reduce the extent of his damage. I rolled a 3 for him and so he moved back 5" to the far corner of the large building.

He then rolled a number of combat dice equal to his unmodified Resist stat of 4, looking for Armour results. For each Armour result rolled, he removed one Injury token down to a minimum of one, i.e. an injured model can't remove the last injury token from itself by using Hunker Down. He rolled two Armour results and so removed two of his three injury tokens. He failed to return his Star chip to the bag, which I was glad of! He gained a Pinned token, not shown in the photo above.
Red Star Chip - Durham Red

A model who is Pinned at the start of their activation may attempt to remove it by scoring at least one Special result on a Cool test. Durham tried but failed. So, she had to take the Shake It Off single action to automatically remove the Pinned token. For her second action, she made another Shake It Off action and automatically removed her Stunned token, bringing her back up to full stats.

There was no point in trying to return her Star chip to the bag. They'd all been drawn and the game was won with three out five of the Stix Brothers down and out and only one of Team Alpha being Incapacitated.
CONCLUSIONS
I won't lie, that took a hell of a lot longer to play than I was anticipating. Maybe it was a mistake to use so many Stars in my first game, and thus they really dragged the game on with so many Star chips being returned to the bag, but I can't deny it was a lot of fun and the rules certainly capture the flavour of the Strontium Dog stories perfectly. There is a lot of unpredictability with this game - which chip is going to be drawn next, what cards are going to be used and when? And of course, any game that uses dice is going to be unpredictable.
I like the inclusion of the Armoury and the Chicanery cards but I do feel if you're using certain characters, you ought to be able to choose at least some cards that are appropriate for them and the scenario you're playing. The scenarios in The Good, The Bad and The Mutie supplement adopt this rule so I don't think it would break the game if you did too. Knowing what cards to play and when to play them is an important factor. I felt that both sides made excellent use of the Chicanery cards they played. The two Armoury cards played by Team Alpha - No.4 Cartridge and Electronux - swung the game for them. Sadly, the Beam Polarizer that the Stix Brothers played proved to be more of a hindrance than a help!
Looking back, I can see a few minor mistakes I made involving the use of various characters' skills; Durham forgot to use her Gunslinger skill when Stix #B shot at her three times; Wulf didn't use his Berserker skill when he took his first injury token; Stix #D forgot to use his Intimidating skill before he fought Durham Red, but these were only minor oversights and wouldn't have changed much if at all.
So, my thoughts on the game? I loved it! It is great for what it does, which is a small scale skirmish game. The rules are simple and easy to learn. Gameplay is fast. My game only took so long because of all the photographs I took and the copious amount of notes I made. I shall certainly be playing it a lot more in the future. I do plan on playing the four scenarios from The Good, The Bad and The Mutie supplement and posting them here on my blog. Do I want to run a Strontium Dog campaign? No, I don't... at least not with these rules. I don't mind running one-off games but not a long running campaign. If I run a Strontium Dog campaign I'd want more of a role-playing element to it and that is something I'm hoping will happen if or hopefully, when, EN Publishing produce the Strontium Dog RPG for their WOIN system of games. Their Judge Dredd RPG is imminent (more news on that very shortly).
I can't think of anything negative to say about this game. Obviously, as a huge 2000AD fan with Durham Red being my number one favourite 2000AD character, I am going to be slightly biased towards the game. But having played it, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I applaud Warlord Games for producing such a wonderful game.