'To Plunder the Stars Themselves' OOC Thread

[Lysimachus]

Hi all, I'll try to update Round 3's actions later today, but Round 4 could be the last one... which would be fortunate as the Hordes are almost in charge distance...

 

@Black Cohort: did you want Decimus to fire in Round 3? If not, for the purposes of adding drama to the story, I'll just say he suffered a jam but its clear again for Round 4? :D

[Commissar Molotov]

I'd say you're perhaps moving too fast in updating..!

 

Edit: If you are going to update through it would be best to assume on the players' best interests though!

Edited May 29, 2021 by Commissar Molotov

[Lysimachus]

You may have a point... :P

 

 

Edit: Thanks BC, that was some impressive shooting!

 

I've totalled up Round 3 and started Round 4, but I'll leave it for a few days so people can write up placeholders, etc. Sorry for rushing everyone! :)

[A.T.]

These psychic phenomena rolls are starting to get a bit sketchy :p  Should really be using them at a lower power, but a little more damage will get them to a 'safer' place to assault to delay their movement.

[Trokair]

Would the Photon Flash Grenade do anything to the hordes at this point?

 

Also, presumably the horde will charge in this turn, so do we still just post our stuff when ready or do we actually need to pay attention to turn order?

 

 

Edit: AT, your post has got some that I assume are accidental

 

Regarding the wrap nonsense test, do we pick the better of strength and agility to test against, or the worst?

Edited May 29, 2021 by Trokair

[A.T.]

Edit: AT, your post has got some that I assume are accidental

Regarding the wrap nonsense test, do we pick the better of strength and agility to test against, or the worst?

Ah, auto replacing horde B - fixed that now.

 

Best of strength or agility, but between the bonus(+30), power armour(+20) and unnatural strength making it a level easier(+10) it is impossible for a marine to fail the test unless they have a strength of 39 or less.

[Necronaut]

Having our assault boat fire its retro-rockets and pull out of the merchant's hold would be pretty spectacular and rude for the horde of pilgrims, though I'm sure Holger would not appreciate it either.

[Black Cohort]

that sounds like the solution once we are on the other side of this blast door.

[Beren]

Svelk is very, very much in favour of spacing all of these idiots.

 

So... does Holger pass his standing upright test? Whether he does or not might affect what Svelk does on his turn.

[Commissar Molotov]

Turn order is going to matter here, particularly with Kai's re-roll (which I think A.T. has used in his post.) With Pilgrims B operating early in the turn also, our GM may well need to do a half update so we can strategise appropriately.

[Commissar Molotov]

Alright, so with regards to strategy:

 

My thoughts are that Kai should activate the "Rally Cry" defensive stance, regaining 5 cohesion. Then the Kill-Team should activate bolter assault, giving us 6 extra bolter/bolt pistol shots or frag grenades to thin the horde and get them out of charge range. With their aB of 3, that should be 9 metres, unless they have some other special rules we aren't aware of.

 

We should be careful with our frag grenade supplies, however; we don't know what else we will be required to do on the vessel.

 

Also, BC: Be aware that the Heavy Bolter is -/-/6, so the maximum number of shots you can get is six (but you will get an extra explosive hit)

[Black Cohort]

sorry, for some reason I thought it was -/-/10

[Lysimachus]

Just a thought, but the Horde definitely won't get into CC in Round 4, Mol is quite correct that their Charge is 9m.

 

Because of that, this Round they will probably move half (3m) to get that bit closer and standard shoot - not that this will be much to worry about as their shooting weapon is just chucking bits and pieces of whatever they can find - which I've statted as: 10m; S/-/-; 1d10 I; Pen 0; Primitive. So even with the extra 2d10 Damage for being Hordes, its only 3d10 with no Pen, and you'll have your TB plus double AV for being hit by a Primitive weapon?

 

Obvs, each Horde will get 5 shots for 50 Mag, but only got BS25 so...

 

 

 

So if you can get Holger to complete his test successfully this turn, you're golden? If he fails, then Round 5 might get tricky...

 

Edit: I've just done Holger/Hordes' Str tests and they're all still upright (just!) if that helps?

[Beren]

Yup. If Holger had failed, Svelk would have tried to close the distance to him, haul him to his feet again and brace him next to the panel he was trying to interface.

[A.T.]

Kai's re-roll (which I think A.T. has used in his post.)

I have a few fate points too, so don't let me monopolize the rerolls :p

 

(also I need to remember to use my mastercrafted wave spars, they are there specifically to make pushing safe-ish)

[Commissar Molotov]

I've updated my most recent placeholder with actions and narrative, which should hopefully bring Kai up to date.

 

The assumption is that all of you (even those encouraging Holger) will be able to participate in the bolter assault. The free charge movement should ensure all of you are able to move further back from the hordes and closer to the doors. Decimus can either throw a frag grenade or quick draw to his bolt pistol and back. Your Bolter Assault rolls won't benefit from the +5, but all other rolls this turn should do so, as I'll have reactivated the Squad Mode. This should enable us to put a hefty dent into the hordes and keep them back from us.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Commissar Molotov

[Lysimachus]

Very nice, that's going to be a lot of dice... :D

 

 

Quick question, as I'm not totally up to speed on Cohesion/Squad mode:

 

Kai stops Sustaining Lead by Example and pays 2 to switch to Bolter Assault (good idea, btw, as it moves everyone out of both charge range and shooting range, so Hordes can't hurt you this Round!)

 

Then he goes back to Lead by Example. But if he'd stopped sustaining it to switch, does he need to pay the 5 Cohesion again to reactivate it?

 

Or is it that you only pay once for any given squad mode and can go back in and out of all the ones you've paid for?

 

And in which case, how long do they last? Rest of that fight, or on into other Structured battles?

 

 

 

(Thank you in advance for your patience for a rules newbie! :P)

[Commissar Molotov]

It depends whether it's a sustained squad mode or not -- for sustained modes you pay once and have access to it for the whole mission.

[A.T.]

Very nice, that's going to be a lot of dice...

Then he goes back to Lead by Example. But if he'd stopped sustaining it to switch, does he need to pay the 5 Cohesion again to reactivate it?

No cost to reactivate, other than the action cost. They can even be sustained indefinitely outside of combat as long as the squad has at least 1 cohesion.

 

Squad mode costs are paid per combat/mission. Notably Kai's 'Rally Cry' ability to restore cohesion should probably refresh on the same tick allow him to refill and reactivate - the advantage of having an ultramarine.

[Necronaut]

Added some combat rolls for turn 4; feel free to review and correct me as needed. Will try to get caught up on fluff today & tomorrow.

[A.T.]

For reference - the swift movement Odysseus can offer is his defensive squad mode, which allows characters to reverse their movement actions at the end of their turn. Won't protect anyone from boobytraps but does allow the group to run at full pelt through the ship and then 'undo' their last move if they run out into a defensive choke-point.

 

There may well be better uses of cohesion but as it's the first mission but Odysseus is going to shill out his abilities whenever the opportunity allows (his other squad mode can grant a bonus parry which I was going to bring up in the fighting cages, but didn't really have a good opening).

[Necronaut]

I have updated my three placeholders from the recently-concluded combat:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/370180-to-plunder-the-stars-themselves-episode-1/?p=5704445

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/370180-to-plunder-the-stars-themselves-episode-1/?p=5704530

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/370180-to-plunder-the-stars-themselves-episode-1/?p=5705012

Edited June 1, 2021 by Necronaut

[Necronaut]

@Lysimachus - would you like Vesalius to make some sort of strength check with the shears to force the door open? The wording in Rites of Battle doesn't give any indication as to what sort of strength test bonus the bulkhead shears should/would provide when trying to force open a blast door or similar. All I have to go on is the damage profile for the weapon: 4d10+5R, Pen 6, tearing, unwieldy. Let me know how you'd like to proceed.

 

Edit: maybe this requires a damage roll vs the door?

Edited June 1, 2021 by Necronaut

[Beren]

Probably a good time to note that the axe-rake gives a +10 bonus to forcing doors or locks as well, though it might be a bad idea to be in an elevator shaft if they decide to drop said elevators on top of us.

[Necronaut]

Let's figure out where the lift is first and stop giving the GM ideas! ;)