Star Trek: Fistful of Dilithium – The Covid Nebula Campaign

The holdings of the House of KosQ have dwindled significantly since their halcyon days of Gowron’s Civil War. Though their resources are stretched ever thinner with each passing year, they still maintain stewardship of several ancient sacred sites of the Empire.

The klaxon reared to life, a dizzying array amber lights flashing in accompaniment. Kursh slammed a fist against the reset button. Avians, he thought. Now even our sensors are as frayed and derelict as our long tattered tales of glory. A moment of silence passed, and again the klaxon screamed to life, followed by another, and another. Kursh worked his console frantically. His old hands danced across the panel with the vigor of a warrior half his age.

There. 900 kellicams and closing fast. Cloaked, but poorly. No Romulan cloaking device would be so easily surpassed. Kursh glided across the Engineering deck, his arms flicking out at panels, consoles, and buttons with the speed of a Rigelian Viper, and the calm practiced grace of a Vulcan Ballet.

Kursh son of Durg, Master Of The House Fleet – such as it was – spat on the ground as the re-calibrated sensor readings began to scroll across the screen. Pirates.

The grizzled engineer jabbed his thumb into the comms panel like it was the eye-socket of an enemy.  “This is Kursh. Wake the Master.”

Things started out OK for the Orions, but then at the top of round 2, KosQ the Dahar Master, Lord of the House beamed in accompanied by a warrior and the House’s Master of Stables with 3 attack targs.

The Pirates kept up the pressure though, and despite the distractions were able to hack the Klingon computers and bring down the magnetic shields preventing their financiers from beaming in. Colonel Tomak of the Tal Shi’ar arrived shortly after with a cadre of operatives. Lady K’Lor, Daughter of KosQ immediately cleft the Romulan Intelligence office in twain, before being brought down in a deluge of disruptor fire.

In the end the Klingon forces of the House of KosQ quickly overwhelmed the trespassers, and the remaining Romulans beamed away to safety.

Much glory was found this day! The Holdings of the House are secure, for now.

The Reman Strike-force of the IRW I’tirex  prefer the mobility of the Scorpion Fighter over sensors and warp capabilities of tradition shuttlecraft.

Crew Trait: Infiltrators

Daimon Prak
Role: Leader
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: d10
Wounds: 2
Traits:  Leader, *Small, Lucky, Summoner, Bodyguard, Nerves of Steel
Weapons
Disruptor Pistol  6” / 12”
Latinum Walking Stick (power maul)

Daimon Tarr
Role: Specialist
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 2
Traits:  *Small,  Slippery, Cunning, Lightning Fast
Weapons
Disruptor Pistol  6” / 12”
Thought Maker

Rint
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat:D10
Wounds: 2
Traits: *Small, Slippery, Cunning
Weapons
Disruptor Pistol  6” / 12”
Tricorder

Geller
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat:D10
Wounds: 2
Traits: *Small, Slippery, Sprinter
Weapons
Phaser Whip (Whip) 6”cc Deadly

The In-Laws
Role: Grunts (summoned)
Ranged: D8
Close Combat: D8
Wounds: 1
Traits: *Small, Slippery, Steady
Weapons
Energy Rifle  12/24”

Eliminator Bok
Role: Galactic Hero (black suits)
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Traits: Leader, Small, Master, Lucky, Nerves of Steel, Determined, Poison
Weapons:
Type II Phaser
Phaser Whip
Knife
Iridian Fire-Beetle Snuff (Combat Drugs)

Prak-Tarr Heavy Industries is perhaps the most wildly varied Away Team in the campaign, as they regularly replace Specialists, hire Galactic Hero mercenaries, and generally have a bit of a revolving door of models on the table. About the only guarantee is that you will be facing Daimon Prak, his disposable summoned In-Laws, and anyone else who has the Lobes to follow him.

The Covid Nebula contains a Fluidic/Subspace Convergence Anomaly, and unbearable levels of Ionized Trillium particles, substantially hindering scanners and making Transporters all but useless. Away Teams must rely on Shuttlecraft to reach the surface of even the most accommodating planets inside the Nebula.

What this means to us as players is that we need a shuttle to place in our Deployment Zone. The Shuttle marked not only a starting point, but also a our point of Escape. We decided that simply running off the edge of the table was akin to going Out of Action, and thus required rolls on the OoA tables at the end of the game, whereas returning to your shuttle allowed your model to exit the table and be safe.  If someone didnt have shuttlecraft we could slap down a piece of Pattern Enhancer terrain  to denote their entry/exit point.  (How did the Pattern Enhancers get there? It’s Called a Plot-Hole, Steve. You loved Into Darkness, but suddenly – in a war game, of all places! – a little hand-waving convenience is just too much to bear? [we did mention that part of the fun is arguing with your buddies about Trek while you play with your army mans])

Many of the scenarios that we play also rely heavily on objectives related to shuttlecraft: Do XYZ, take it to your shuttle; Defend your Shuttle; etc. And most importantly: they just look damned cool on the table.

The Current Teams that have shuttles are: The House of Kosq, Prak-Tarr Heavy Industries, IRW I’tirex, IRW Perutix, USS Hermes, USS Artemis, USS Ares, Assault Squad Theta, Halvor Caju, Black Crest Cluth.. and Larry’s Borg have wreckage…so we count that.

Below is a couple of the Shuttles, I’ll add more photos the others as I  remember to take pictures of them.

Crew Trait: Ferocious

Lady K’lor, Daughter of Kosq
Role:Leader
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 3
Traits: Leader,Unstoppable, Master, Swordsman
Weapons
Bat’leth (Sword)
Disruptor Pistol 6” / 12” Inaccurate

Sgt. H’oq
Role: Specialist
Ranged: D12
Close Combat: D8
Wounds: 3
Traits: Ranged Fighter, Eagle Eyed (+2”/4” range (factored into weapon profile))
Weapons
D’tagh (knife)
Disruptor Rifle  14” / 28” inaccurate

Koth
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 3
Traits: Bloodthristy
Weapons
Disruptor Pistol  6” / 12” Inaccurate
Mekleth (Axe)

Larna
Role:Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 3
Traits: Fury of Blows
Weapons
Disruptor Pistol  6” / 12”  Inaccurate
D’tagh (knife)

Torak
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 3
Traits: Determined
Weapons
Disruptor Pistol 6” / 12” +1 wound, Inaccurate
Bat’leth (Sword)

This game saw our first Borg Player. This was a one-off game and not part of the overall campaign. Mostly to test how the Borg would play as an actual faction and not just wandering monsters.

While initial objectives for the Ferengi focused around the acquisition of scrap Borg technology, and the Borg scoring points for Assimilating (Defeating in Melee combat); It quickly became a matter of “Run for your Lobes!” for the Ferengi.

The Borg Drones being Grunts, with Regenerate, and Soulless Traits, they very much had the feel of an unrelenting endless space-zombie horde. They played exactly how we wanted them to, completely terrifying.

Initially we were going to test the Borg against a couple of Starfleet Away Teams, but after a few trait adjustments, and rebuilds of the Borg List, I busted out the Senior Survey Team of Prak-Tarr Heavy Industries – The Quadrant’s Premier Preemptive Salvage Experts™

Because Drones come in sets of 3, each only having one wound (a normal model has 3 wounds), when the Drones regenerate, they can replenish 1 model. We placed two Borg Regeneration Chambers up against some of the Borg ship wreckage to serve as spawn points for the regenerated drones.

Overall the Borg as a faction play wonderfully, and have a lot of the flavour/feel of other swarm armies in larger games.

The Borg Adaptation trait allows one borg model to spend two actions for all Borg become immune to a model’s ranged attacks, until that model spends an action to cycle the frequencies on their disruptor/phaser/etc. This played very well in this game, it wasnt over powered, but was used as a nice annoyance feature to keep the pressure on my Ferengi.

As for the game istself, pretty early on Daimon Prak summoned The In-Laws to use as a defensive screen. Eliminator Bok and the Orion Pirate Kaela, took to the offensive, while pretty much everyone else just ran for the Shuttle.

The Borg ended up taking out the In-Laws, but the rest of the Away Team made it to the shuttle. Kaela’s Sprinter trait gave her a nice advantage to covering a lot of ground quickly, and in the last turn Eliminator Bok caught the Luck of the Draw, was able to activate first and high tail it for the shuttle.

Crew Trait: Camouflage

First Rada’klon
Role: Leader
Ranged: D12
Close Combat:D12
Traits: Veteran, Impervious, Inspiring, Leader
Weapons:
Plasma Pistol  8” / 16” AP1
Kar’takin (Axe) CC +1 wound

Second Letek’moz
Role: Specialist
Ranged: D12
Close Combat:D8
Traits: Ranged Fighter, Killer
Weapons:
Disruptor Rifle 14” / 28” inaccurate
Plasma Pistol  8” / 16” AP1

Yudu’clad
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat:D10
Traits: Infiltrator
Weapons:
Plasma Carbine 16” / 32” AP1
Combat Knife

Ramok’kir
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat:D10
Traits: Sprinter
Weapons:
Plasma Carbine  16” / 32” AP1
Combat Knife

Tirit’lot
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat:D10
Traits: Stealthy
Weapons:
Plasma Carbine  16” / 32” AP1
Combat Knife

Oxin’raz
Role: Regular
Ranged: D10
Close Combat:D10
Traits: Stealthy
Weapons:
Plasma Carbine  16” / 32” AP1
Combat Knife

Crew Trait: Heroes All

Cmdr Kysel
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 4
Traits:  Large, Regenerate
Weapons
Ion Pistol  8/16”  AP1,  ammo hog
tricorder
Claws (combat knife)

Teezin
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
Wounds: 4
Traits: Large, Regenerate
Weapons
Ion Pistol 8/16” AP1, ammo hog
Sword
Claws (combat knife)

Slarr
Ranged: D10
Close Combat: D10
wounds: 4
Traits: Large, Gadgeteer
Weapons
Ion Pistol 8/16” AP1, ammo hog
Claws (combat knife)

Zots
Ranged: D12
Close Combat: D8
Wounds 4
Traits: Large, Ranged Fighter
Weapons
Ion Rifle 18/36” burst, ammo hog, specialist
Claws (combat knife)