Rouge Trader
"This is not a typo"
After painting up some
Cobalt-1 mercs
and Palansi, I wanted to have a game with them. Unfortunately, I was a bit short on time
and the only Sci-Fi skirmish game I knew well enough to cook up a scenario for on such
a short notice was Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader.
Not that that in itself is a bad thing. Rogue Trader is a classic, nostalgic game. It
is broken for tournament play, but with GM-run scenarios it can be quite fun.
I don't own Cobalt-1,
so that was not really an option. And in any case, I hate the concept of "Official™"
miniatures.
So, I designed the game for four players, some of whom are nominally on the same side.
Unfortunately, only two players actually showed up, which made balancing the scenario
a bit complicated. The player briefings are available,
should you care.
Miniatures used were a mixture Cobalt-1, Warzone and old Citadel stuff, including Limited
Edition Chainsaw Warriors.
Briefing
Cobalt Mercs are doing a joint operation with some Mishima security forces led by local
head honcho
Lord Onikage to catch the notorious thionite smuggler Abdul Goldberg. Meanwhile, Goldberg
is waiting for a client to close a huge deal. An alien client.
Player briefings
Stage 1: The Approach
The heroic Cobalt Mercs and Mishima security squad set out looking for the secluded spot
where the thionite deal is going down. Unfortunately, soon they run across one of
Abdul Goldberg's goons, a real life Chainsaw Warrior who opens up with his Reaper HMG. Cobalts
lose most of their heavy weapons before the brute is brought down.
More of Goldberg's goons pop up and while they manage to cause some distress and a few
casualties among the heroes, they are soon mowed down. Such is the fate of throwaway goons.
We are to believe, however, that they have succeeded in buying much needed time for Abdul,
who is anxiously awating his customers to show up.
Stage 2: The Surprise
And as the Cobalts sight Abdul's camp, the customers indeed do show up. In a classic pincer
movement, the Palansi have caught careless humans between styrofoam rock and hard las-bolts.
(Okay, so the appearance was scripted, who cares... this is supposed to be fun, not a
competition). Trailing Mishima squad takes a quick 180 and starts playing rearguard, stalling
the Orange One's group.
Elsewhere, things are not going so well. The alien Green One wipes out Lord Onikage's squad
in one sweep of plasma (following fire with BS5 and S7 is nothing to sneer at). Lord
Onikage bolts for the safety of the table's edge while Cobalts are deadlocked in a futile
firefight with Abdul Goldberg.
Finally the Mishima rearguard crumbled against weight of numbers. Abdul Goldberg has a violent
disagreement with his erstwhile clients (and me, playing both of them, an acute case of split
personality) and dashes for his hidden jetbike. In a display
of skills acquired from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, everyone misses Abdul
and he gets away. The remaining two Cobalt troopers suddenly remember that they left the coffeepot
on back at the ship and slink away. The Orange One is not quick enough to save Green One,
but exacts revenge upon the last remaining Mishima trooper. The Palansi rule the field!
Editor's note: All the pictures
Debriefing
The game was fun and surprisingly quick (or maybe I'm just too used to historical games
that never end on time), though there were a couple of flaws. Lack of players shortcircuited
the internal backstabbing, which was a bit unfortunate. There was also too little blocking
terrain, giving the heavy weapons too much power. At one point the grenade launcher duel
got a bit boring, but on the whole it was fun.
P.S. The name of the scenario is not a typo. It's a pun. The scenario is about
thionite
trader Abdul Goldberg. Thionite is also known as Purple Death, hence "Rouge Trader".
It's also a common misspelling of "Rogue Trader" by people who have trouble
with diphthongs.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Copyright 2003-2021 Mikko Kurki-Suonio
Sucks!
