First 2 games of Stargrave

I got in my first two games of Stargrave today. My opponent was John, a local gamer and all around good guy. Making my starting crew I wanted to only use painted miniatures from my collection so here is what I came up with.

 As you all know I cant help but come up with some backstory for my crew. This time I kept it to only my Captain and First Mate. In short they are two surviving members of a military unit left over from the Great War that devastated the galaxy. When their Empire crumbled they were left without leadership, guidance, supplies, and far from home. Captain Thomas "Toto" Cebuano did his best to keep those from the unit alive who had no were else to go. Lt Coleman "Darling" Tagalog has been the 2nd in command since the collapse and does his best to keep their original equipment intact. Despite the two's best efforts, most of their unit succumbed to death or had been separated during their many trials. Presently, only one Trooper from the original unit is still with them and they affectionately call him "The Privet". The rest of the crew is made up of hired help, willing to risk their necks for some credits. Toto has also taken to keeping some large spiders as pets, they are often seen at his side on missions.

Mission 1 "The Botched Deal" 

It was supposed to be an easy mission. After landing their ship in some hills to avoid drawing unwanted attention, they were to proceed to the nearby town and make contact with "The Dealer". The town was unremarkable, similar to so many ravaged by war and hard times. Unfortunately they where not the only ones looking for The Dealer and when they walked into town they were confronted by a rival crew. Some of the rougher locals took the commotion as an opportunity to get in the way.

The table setup from my deployment side.

The Loot dispersion. Blue: Data. Red: Physical.

The Center compound that The Dealer was supposed to have met us.

One of the local thugs out for trouble. This one on my side of the table.

Another thug but on John's side.

My deployment. Ready to get some loot.

I split the bulk of my crew on either flank with just a pair of guys in the center. I managed to get 1 of my Drones deployed and made a general advance up the table. I tried to deal with the closest thug as quickly as possible but was having trouble getting the range.

I tried attacking the thug from both sides, taking shots and rushing one of my spiders towards him. 

Unfortunately he took out the spider.

Darling got revenge for the fallen pet and took out the thug soon after.

Another thug jumped out of a building near some loot and my last spider and Red both rushed in, killing him quickly.

A bit later on I was confronted with a third thug. By this time I had done more fighting with the locals then the other crew. Though one of John's crew got a good hit on Ana while she was rushing for some loot, leaving her stunned. 

Toto and Red were working their way up the left side of town to make a play a loot stash. 

Together the tried to suppress some of John's crew advancing in the center.

Lane was trying to support Ana from his position in the center and was able to put some hurt on the thug. 

The Privet was credited with the killing shot on the thug. Ana had run into the ruins to try and grab some loot. A decision she would come to regret.

The thugs didn't ignore John entirely. After killing the one that started on his side they were confronted by a 2nd, half way through the mission.

John got a holographic wall down to block the fire from Red and Toto who had also been joined by Helena and the remaining spider. It turned into a bloody fight for the data loot. I emerged with the loot but not before loosing the spider and downing two of John's crew.  

So engrossed in the game I forgot to take more photos. On the right flank I lost Ana and the loot she had garbed. Darling had gotten badly wounded trying to contest with middle and lost his Drone in the process. Lane managed to grab a loot and get off with it. Morva spent half the game trying and failing to unlock some data loot. Eventually he gave up and rushed a thug outside, nearly getting himself killed in the process. The Private had also been knocked out while trying to protect Darling. At this point both captains decided to pull back. I had 3 loots secured (2 Data, 1 Physical). John got away with 4 loot secured (2 Data, 2 Physical). In the post game I came out on top for Experience because of the number of thugs I had killed, loot unlocked, and powers gotten off. I leveled up both Toto and Darling. Both my spiders and Darling made a full recovery but Ana had a bad injury and would start the next game at half health.

Mission 2 "The Starport Raid!"

After the botched deal, both our crews fled to the regional starport. While there klaxons began to sound alerting of an incoming pirate raid. Everyone began to flee in a panic. The shuttles around us started to prep for emergency takeoff and we were in real danger of being caught it their back blast. Both our crews needed to cross to the other side of the starport to get to the hangers containing our ships. We needed to avoid the departing shuttles and go as quickly as possible. The problem was all the valuables loot the locals had left in their mad rush. We could stay and fight over the valuables or make good our escape. The longer we took the more pirates were likely to show up.

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of this game. Below you can see the table setup from my side. Blue are Data Loot and Red is Physical loot. You can also see the 4 shuttles we needed to avoid. At the start of each turn their was a chance of one of them taking off. Anyone within 4in would be blown back and take damage. Their was also a chance of Pirates showing up and that chance increased with each turn. I chose to deploy strong in the center and on my left while John did the same. Only one of the shuttles took off and it was the one in the bottom left. It did so while Toto, Red, The Private, and Lane were all huddled around it. Only Toto stood firm, getting blown back 1in and taking no damage. The others were not so lucky, but still survived the game. Ana was lost again making a reckless rush for some loot on the far right. I also lost both of the spiders again. Unfortunately Helena was also lost after dealing out significant damage and dodge loads of return fire. By this time we had 3 Pirate Troopers on the table, multiple crew members wounded or down, and clear avenues of escape. Both captains decided it was better to run away and live to fight another day. Sadly, all of those who had gotten knocked out were captured by the pirates. Toto decided the 40 credit ransom for each could be better spent else were and they were left to their fate. Again I had only gotten away with 3 of the loot to John's 4. I spent my hard won loot on hiring a few replacement crewmembers, we'll see how long they last.