Mynock Alley 2 - March of the Murder Militia

 Campaign Turn 2

Kenthe and Kyra Train, getting +1 XP. This nets Kenthe an Advance; his movement goes from 4.5 to 5 (as a dedicated brawler, a faster movement seems prudent).

Terpfen, Adric, and Mister No all Collect Revenue. Having shown their general chops in the last campaign turn, people pony up a full 3 Credits.

Reelo heads out to Prowl, and proves that last turn's un-wisdom is not an isolated incident. This time he is laid up by a binge of chemical boosters. While this takes him out for a full campaign turn, it also nets him +0.5 Toughness.

Kenthe is the subject of the random Character Event this turn, getting +0.5 Reactions; this makes sense with his Advance, and I think that it indicates him returning home for a training stint with his "parents". The Unifiers are halfway between an order of monks and a cult, raising their children communally and training relentlessly to be "Force Warriors" (regardless of any actual Force Sensitivity).

In the wake of last turn's weapons embargo, the up-and-coming Scarlet Syndicate make a deal with an arm's smuggler this turn thanks to the Campaign Event. Many in Mynock Alley recognize that the Syndicate might be extorting them for money-- but they're also going toe-to-toe with Imperial bootlickers. This far into the sub-levels, the Empire isn't precisely in as much control as they claim. Gangs like the Blackband and other neo-Imperial militias are instrumental in keeping the populations here under the Empire's thumb. In any case, Kyra gets a shiny new Gorevetti I-95 "Scrap" blaster pistol and ditches the underwhelming Zip-13 snub-nose.

Unfortunately for the Syndicate, their all-gas-no-brakes approach to things continues to create its own opposition. The Background Event indicates that gang tensions are on the rise-- the Blackband, the Mynock-Eaters, and even the Glitterguts Swoop Gang are all recruiting muscle. When and if things pop off against them, the Syndicate will face greater numbers.

This turn, however, is contextualized by two things: the opposition rolled are "Militia" and the battlefield condition is "bitter struggle" (giving the opposition a Morale bonus). The Empire is outsourcing its gang-control problems. Still no Enemies yet, so this represents an Opportunity Encounter.

March of the Murder-Militia

"We should chat sometime." Adric said, sliding up next to Mister No at the bar. They were in the Repulsar Failure, a dive-bar south-and-down from Scarlet Heights. It wasn't officially their territory, but no one was willing to contest them-- and besides, it wasn't particularly fertile territory anyway. That made it a decent place to blow off steam.

"We're not chatting?" Mister No asked, with feigned innocence.

"Not yet." Adric said, with some edge. His nickname was All-Smiles and most days he lived up to the gregarious reputation; he didn't enjoy playing tough. Especially not with the boss.

"Then let's chat." Mister No said, dropping into the same kind of tone. His eyes were hard on Adric, who nearly flinched.

"Terpfen is maybe the only other person in the outfit who can see what you're doing," Adric pressed, "And he's too loyal to say anything about it."

"And you're just disloyal enough to mouth off, huh."

"You named me second. That means it's my job to be a little disloyal." Adric said, slamming back his drink and turning to face Mister No fully, "We're making money, but I'm starting to think you want to get political, boss--"

"Imps!" came a cry from outside the bar, and the denizens of the Repulsar Failure broke into panicked movement. "It's a sweep!"

"The armor's Imperial, but they're wearing it wrong." called Terpfen, peering out the window as patrons flooded out the exits. The rest of the Syndicate--barring Reelo, who was sleeping off some Booster Blue back at the Heights--checked their weapons. "Militia. They're not here to arrest-- they're here to disappear folk."

"You think I wanna get political?" Mister No said aside to Adric, who grimaced, "They're not giving me much of a choice here."

March of the Murder Militia

At Mister No's direction, Terpfen took to the bar's rooftop with his blaster rifle-- being one of the better shots in the outfit.

Adric and Kenthe, exited the front while Mister No and Kyra exited the back.

The militia was spread out. Two squads converged from east and west, while their leader took to an overpass to coordinate.

Adric and Kenthe wasted no time, sprinting for the cover of some industrial bric-a-brac. Kenthe crouched down at the corner, hazarding a peak to the east; Adric took up overwatch to the west, sighting down the battered blaster-carbine he used.

Adric was not kept waiting. The two milita moved up with some practiced ease, one member breaking into a sprint as the other lay down suppressing fire from cover. Adric let off an ineffectual squeeze of the firing-stud before flopping back to the safety of his own cover.

To the east, the militia squad had greater cover and only a single target-- the Mon Cal Terpfen. Their blasterfire briefly kept Terpfen behind his cover as they advanced.

But not for long. Terpfen had been drummed out of military service on his home-planet due to insubordination. He'd come to the Syndicate a vagrant, addicted to spice and self-loathing. But in the Syndicate, he'd found something of a sense of loyalty that ran both ways-- and Mister No had found a use for Terpfen's training.

The Mon Cal popped up from cover long enough to put a blaster-bolt through the eye of one of the advancing militia, then dropped back down.

The militia leader had been watching the back of the Repulsar Failure, and as Mister No and Kyra exited the establishment he opened up with his blaster. The two gangsters scattered-- Kyra to the scant cover of a ladder, and Mister No to the northwest corner of the Repulsar Failure.

It was all Kyra could do to stay out of the militia leader's fire, but Mister No managed several shots on the move that caused the militia leader to briefly relent.

Adric fell back towards Kenthe, unwilling to test the mettle of the two militia advancing on him. His parting shots were wild and useless.

"How's it look?" he said, sliding into cover next to Kenthe.

"Terpfen got one. Can't see the other-- he's keeping his head down."

"Head down is good." Adric grunted, peaking back towards his previous position. The militia hadn't advanced.

Mister No's return fire had given himself and Kyra breathing room, but only a little. The militia leader still held a very good, defensible position. They couldn't move up on him without getting caught in the open.

Thankfully, Terpfen was on a more level playing field. The militia leader tried to pan his blasterfire towards the Mon Cal's sniper-nest, but wasn't quick enough.

A single scarlet bolt took him in the chest, sending him staggering back. He collapsed with maudlin speed.

"Boss, that's not even real stormtrooper armor." Terpfen grunted over the comms.

Adric's puzzlement that the militia had not advanced to his former cover turned to an icy fear.

"Boss, behind you!"

In ducking around the corner of the Repulsar Failure, Mister No had presented his back to the militia-- who reacted with a preparatory clarity.

Blaster bolts rimed Mister No from two angles-- but Adric's barked warning had served its purpose. Mister No's overcoat had several new holes in it, but one of the militia had been dropped.

Adric hurled himself west, leaving Kenthe to keep tabs on the remaining militia. He rounded the industrial crate without heed of cover, pulsing fire at the militia he found there. Blindsided by the aggressive move, the man tried to fall back-- then fell down, helped by a blasterbolt to the throat.

"All clear, here." Terpfen said in his usual, unconcerned drawl.

"Good." Mister No said, slumping against the nearest wall as the adrenaline caught up with him. "Who has the fifth?"

"He's still behind cover." Kenthe answered on the comlink. He bounced his stun-baton with anxious energy. "I-- actually I think he might've run off. Hold on."

"Wait for one of us." Adric started, jogging towards Kenthe's position, "No use risking--"

There was a muted explosive thump, and Kenthe screamed.

The Aftermath

The final militia fled the battle, but in rolling post-game loot Kenthe ended up getting injured. I wrapped it into the fiction by supposing the militia rigged up a small trap on his way out, which the young ascetic fell for. He survived, but unfortunately will miss the next three fights and reduces his Reaction down to 1. Not great.

Still, it is mostly good news for the rest of the crew.

The Syndicate earns 5 Credits (3 from "notable objects" on the battlefield, +1 for a Benefactor, and +1 for it being an Opportunity Encounter). The gang's Stash was at the point where I could start thinking about trying to get them better gear.

Adric, Kyra, and Mister No all received 3xp ("survived and held the field"). This nets Kyra an Advance, bumping her Reaction from 1.5 to 2.

Kenthe earned 4xp ("survived and held the field", and "became a casualty").

Terpfen, meanwhile, had scored a solid 5xp from his performance ("survived and held the field", "first to inflict a casualty", and "inflict a casualty on the enemy leader"). He earns an Advance, bumping his Speed to 5.

All in all, this was a very quick scenario thanks to my garbage rolls; the militia solidly had the drop on Mister No twice, and both times failed to capitalize. We'll see if his luck is better in the future.

Mynock Alley 1 - Showdown on Sub-Level 823

 Campaign Turn 1

Terpfen and Kyra both Train, getting +1 XP. This causes Terpfen to gain an advance, bringing their Combat Skill from 0.5 to 1.

Reelo is sent out to Prowl, and ends up losing the gang's spare blaster pistol in an unwise game of sabaac.

Faced with diminishing funds in the stash, Mister No and Adric All-Smiles went around to collect protection money; unfortunately, they came back empty-handed.

This folded in nicely with the Background Event and Campaign Event that I rolled as we-- the former was a weapons embargo and the latter was gaining a new enemy. I decided that the Imperial presence in the lower-levels was getting worse. Stormtroopers at checkpoints were making it harder to get weapons smuggled in.

Worse, the Scarlet Syndicate had come to the attention of a gang of anti-alien Imperial bootlickers calling themselves The Blackband. I added them as a third Enemy for the gang. Undoubtedly they resented the Syndicate kicking out some spice-dealers from the Heights; most especially because the Syndicate is egalitarian when it comes to species.

For the game-scenario, I rolled up a simple Opportunity Encounter-- no Enemies involved (yet).

Showdown on Sub-Level 823

"Turns out the same guys that ripped off Reelo have been telling folk not to pony up protection money," Adric said, kicking his feet up on the ramshackle desk. Mister No didn't scowl--or rather, his usual undifferentiated scowl didn't change--but he did knock Adric's boots off.

"They give a reason why?"

"Wannabe Blackband, I think." Adric rolled a shrug, "Reelo here says they were drunk on ImpNews talking points."

Mister No looked to Reelo, who simply nodded.

"If they wanna be Blackband, treat 'em like Blackband." Mister No said. There was a light in his eyes that Adric had noted in the past weeks-- usually at the thought of violence directed at Imperials. There was something changing in the boss. Adric couldn't say whether it was a good or a bad thing, but at the very least it was pushing Mister No to make moves with the Syndicate. On that, Adric wasn't about to complain.

Adric popped to his feet, whistling and pointing to Reelo and Kenthe who fell in behind them.

The trio, on Reelo's lead, made it to Sub-Level 823; a common series of passages leading from Mynock Alley's more popular cluster of dive-bars and gambling dens.

Adric and Kenthe posted up on one corner of a building, while Reelo split off to the other. The trio of self-proclaimed "vigilantes" were heading right through the sub-level; barely visible through an industrial fog that had settled in. The vigilantes--carrying some battered hunting blasters and carbines--would have trouble shooting far in the fog. The Syndicalists were all armed with pistols.

Reelo moved from cover to cover, managing to get to a chokepoint where the passage narrowed near the corner of a building and an industrial crate.

Meanwhile, Kenthe approached the opposite flank to the chokepoint. Adric sprinted off down a back-passage, muttering something about getting the high ground.

The vigilantes caught sight of Kenthe first, laying down a brief spat of blaster fire-- but the young ascetic hurled himself forward into cover.

The apparent leader broke for Kenthe, but Adric's sudden appearance on a walkway above him coincided with a trio of blaster bolts that slammed him to the floor in a boneless heap.

At the same time, a vigilante rounded the corner where Reelo had taken cover-- receving an unkind pistol-whip for his trouble. Reelo followed up with pulls of his weapon's firing stud, ensuring the vigilante wouldn't be getting back up.

Kenthe broke cover, vaulting the recumbent leader to intercept the final vigilante. He whirled a stun-baton which he'd painted up to look like a lightsaber, ducking under the vigilante's sloppy attempt to bash him with his rifle's butt.

There was a brief flash and sizzle of ozone as Kenthe's weapon made impact. The last vigilante collapsed.

"Roll 'em for credits" Adric said, climbing down from his perch. Reelo wasted no time. "And if any of them are breathing, make it clear they're not welcome in Mynock Alley anymore."

The Aftermath

The Syndicate gains 1 Reputation for the encounter; if they get another 3, they'll be eligible to try and become "Top Dog" of Mynock Alley.

The group additionally gathered 3 Credits from the battlefield-- plus 1 for the gang's Benefactor Resource and 1 for it being an Opportunity Encounter. This makes sense as some of the protection money the Syndicate is owed. The Syndicate is making it clear that they don't truck with Imperial sympathizers down here.

Adric gains 5xp (3 for "survived and held the field", 1 for "first character to inflict a casualty", 1 for "inflict casualty on enemy leader") which translates to an Advance. His Combat Skill goes from 0 to 0.5

Reelo and Kenthe get 3xp each (for "survived and held the field"). No Advances, yet, but Kenthe is getting pretty close.

And that's the first turn down of the campaign! Stay tuned for more blood & blasters in Mynock Alley.

Edit: Campaign Turn 2

Welcome to Mynock Alley - The Crew & Campaign

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

- Roy Batty

It would be tremendously irresponsible of me to write about solo gaming without then demonstrating it to you! Probably. I once drank a purple Monster energy drink out of a champagne glass, so my calibration for what is and is not irresponsible is useless. I got not one but two degrees in English literature. Seriously, the responsibility meter is totally broken. Irredeemably lost.

The truth is I've already showcased some solo gaming on my Twitter feed in the occasional adventure of Captain Finlay Stuart. But those aren't rigorous battle reports, fit for the handsome eyes of you my dear and handsome reader. Further, they're sloppy. They're a narrative overlay hiding the fact that I was really just trying out Warlord's Black Seas gameplay to see if I liked them.

What I want to give you is a bottom-to-top look-see at some solo gaming. How I start, where I go with it, how it changes, and so on.

To that end--

Welcome to Mynock Alley

I've decided to play through a solo wargaming campaign of Nordic Weasel Games' Five Parsecs From Home: Gang Warfare. Nordic Weasel Games produces a bunch of games in this milieu-- small scale, solo and campaign-oriented wargames. Five Parsecs From Home is the "main" game, but each of the spin-offs (Bug Hunt, Gang Warfare, Salvage Crew) is self-contained in terms of playability. There's, additionally, a fantasy version (Five Leagues From The Borderland) that's functionally the same mechanical chassis.

I'll do an in-depth look at the system of Five Parsecs in another post. For now, I'm going to outline the basic premise of my campaign.

First off, I love Star Wars. So it's going to be set in the Star Wars universe. This is further influenced by the fact that I have a shit ton of Imperial Assault miniatures that have not been used in some time. So this little wargame campaign will be my excuse to finally use them.

The game will take place on Coruscant, in the lower levels during the reign of the Empire. So, technically Imperial Center instead of Coruscant if you want to get pedantic. I rolled a gang origin as a prompt and got 'Our hideout is an abandoned apartment block. We created the gang to take down a rival. Our reputation is professional.' which gives me plenty to work with.

I'm calling them the Scarlet Syndicate, and the territory they're fighting over is Mynock Alley. The group is based out of a run-down hab-unit called Scarlet Heights (hence their name); I imagine the Syndicate was a reaction to some previous criminal element that they wanted to force out.

While generating the characters I ended up with two "Enemies"; these are game-elements which serve two purposes. The first is to occasionally contextualize game-scenarios (usually by being the opposition in them), and the second is to act as benchmarks for becoming "Top Dog". Essentially, as you gain money and reputation, you can eventually try to take over territory-- but to do so you need to have final and definitive showdowns with some Enemies you've accrued.

In any case, I want one to act as a kind've background rivalry and one to be a more general threat for the neighborhood. For the former, we've got the Glitterguts Swoop Gang-- proper glitbiters and roughnecks who had been previously dealing spice out of Scarlet Heights. They're probably really salty that the Scarlet Syndicate kicked them out. For the latter, we've got the Mynock-Eaters. Hutt-affiliated in the worst way, who see the population of Mynock Alley as their cattle and prey.

But what about the Scarlet Syndicate? Let me introduce them to you, in brief (from left to right).

Reelo Reezan - A Rodian from modest working class origins, with a knack for prowling. Motivated their desire for a reputation as a proper Rodian hunter.

Terpfen Vebbar - A Mon Cal orphan, soft-spoken and light-footed. Motivated by a sense of found-family.

Kyla Bite - A Coruscanti Human from the destitute underclass. Talented at getting things that aren't legal, and motivated by a desire to escape Mynock Alley.

Kenthe Tene - A Coruscanti Human raised by under-level aescetics (who idolize what they think the Jedi were). A martial artist who wants to see the galaxy someday. Force-Sensitive? We'll see.

Adric "All-Smiles" - A charming guttersnipe, Coruscanti Human, who wants to buy and run his own ship. Second-in-command of the Scarlet Syndicate.

"Mister No" - A Coruscanti Human, the opposite of gregarious. Talented problem-solver (especially if the problem can be solved with violence). Jaded, and doesn't believe in anything in particular except for a supreme distaste for the Empire. Leader of the Scarlet Syndicate.

Keep an eye out, I should have my first game-scenario posted soon!

Edit: Campaign Turn 1