Saturday, May 6, 2023

Chrome Hammer: Ascension - R&D

Hello, Humans!

Sorry about the blog lag (blag?)  It's been a while since I've made a post, and even longer since I've done one about minis gaming.  Sometimes hobbies just get "used up" for me and I struggle to find an angle to get back into it.  I'm also in a bit of a creative slump.  But enough about me!

Today, I'm eating my own (soy) dog food and trying out some rules changes that I'm batting around.

Today's Job is what I'm going to call "Smash and Grab".

Here's the compound.  The "vault" is in the right side of the photo.  The 'Punks start on the left.  The satellite laser uplink is on the platform in the center.  Thanks to the Job's "glitch", I've got to hack the uplink to allow me to access the vault's locking mechanism.  The lock itself has to be hot-wired.  Then somebody has to go inside and grab the McGuffin.  And then they have to actually get said McGuffin off the table.  Sounds challenging.

A Great Mountain installation.

Here's the crew:
Neon and pleather.  Not great for hiding.

Wait, why are they all at such low Stealth?  This is an option I'm playing with suggested by World of Wargaming.  Roll a die.  That's your starting Stealth.  I might make this standard.  Or a difficulty option.  Or maybe a new Glitch.

On the first turn, most of the crew Move Out, like you do, but Sarge (the Ork) takes a moment to Lie Low before things get crazy.

On the second turn, the troll, whose name completely escapes me, handily hacks the first DataTerminal, though he had to spend a point of Street Cred to do it.

"Yeah, I bet your remember the elf's name, don't you?"

Grimm the Revenant popped a LootCrate (and found a glider) but was quickly exposed as a guard stumbled into him.  The other guards rushed in and shot Grimm up a bit.

"I was just looking at it! I swear!"


But this served as a good distraction, allowing the Elf, Ghost, to hack the uplink.  We're halfway there!

Yes, I knew the Elf's name.  Come on!

With that out of the way, Shuffle the Dwarf takes 3 damage to cast his favorite spell on Sarge, teleporting the Ork out ahead and closer to the vault.

"BAMF!"

I'm not sure which turn we're on now, but Grimm has fallen back into cover.  The guards are a bit dangerous now, always doing 2 damage (or 3 if they roll a '1').  Grimm dodges more shots from this guard, but then does well in the Firefight, rolling 5 damage (+1 because he rolled a 6 on one of his attack dice), but the guard only takes 5 as the cover absorbs a point of damage.

Take that, you!

All these shenanigans have summoned a squad of Dragonkin, though.  As a squad, when they would normally Defend, instead they lose a member and heal 2, which makes them a bit more of a threat.

"Hissss!"

Sarge unlocks the vault (thanks to a Street Cred), but he only had one Stealth left, so this Exposes him!  And the Dragonkin come swooping in, uzis chattering!  But Sarge is a able to drive them off with some expert gunplay!



Sarge then takes a Move Out action to enter the building.  He loses the Move Out die, and half of his speed to enter.  He then takes 2 damage from the defenses inside before diving back out the way he came in, McGuffing in tow!

"It's ok.  I'll see myself out."

While all this is going on, Shuffle has taken a turn to Defend, healing a point of damage.  And now, as Sarge comes barreling toward the exit, the dwarf decides to try to clear the way.  He moves into a "Brawl" with the nearby injured guard (who has also healed a bit).  A Brawl is a special subset of Assault.  It's risky, but if you can pull it off, you won't be exposed.

Shuffle takes a point of damage from charging into a Brawl (but the Guard takes two because Shuffle is hidden).  The dice tie, but since the guard has more damage, Shuffle does a point of damage.

"I whack him with my staff!"

The trick is, if you don't win, you can't get away.  And if the winner doesn't choose to back off, you fight another round immediately, which Shuffle does.

"I kick 'im in the jimmy!"

It's another near tie, but one more damage is all Shuffle needed.  The guard goes down, and no Stealth lost (though there's still +1D6 RP for fragging an enemy unit).

On the other hand, Sarge doesn't fare nearly as well!  He gets surrounded by guards and summarily fragged, dropping the McGuffin!

FUMBLE-AYA!

But Ghost scoops it up (costing the remaining half of her movement) and runs for the end zone...
But she doesn't get far.  She's still hidden though, until a guard wanders into her.  The "Bump" Exposes her, and the guard accidentally ends up in a Brawl, which he loses.  Ghost doesn't stick around, though, and she breaks from the melee and keeps going.


The guards keep hounding her, but she avoids their Firefights which she uses to allow herself to be pushed out the front exit!

Ghost can tell when she's not wanted.

And that's it!  Sarge went down, but otherwise, mission success!  This was a good test. I encountered some edge cases that I had to make notes on, but didn't see anything obviously broken.

On the other hand, it's been quite a while since I played, and when I went looking for stuff in the book it was a nightmare.  I mean, I knew the book needed to be reorganized, but yikes!  There's nothing like firsthand experience.  I salute those brave players who regularly take on my crappy layout. :)

Welcome back to the blog.

Ĝis la revido!

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E

2 comments:

  1. Nice. I like the random stealth at start, great optional rule. Roll for each character or roll x die and assign them to characters?

    A Brawl sounds noisy, hmmm, nothing immediately comes to mind as a replacement though.

    Definitely one of the top games available today btw.

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    Replies
    1. I can't take credit for the random starting stealth, but I'm assuming you'd roll for each 'Punk individually. And I suppose a "brawl" does sound noisy, but what am I going to call it, a "scuffle"? Ooh, maybe a "Takedown"! I don't know.

      Anyway, thanks! I'd really like to make the game the best it can be.

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