Conflict at Izendral - A Battle Report

Somewhere, in the countless systems controlled by the Exodus Unlimited Corporation, there is a world with oceans that are predominantly heavy water. The mineral content of the water is what makes this world a resource to Exodus. But this very same resource plays havoc with the movement systems commonly used for frame design. The atmosphere itself contains these minerals as well, though in much smaller parts per million. The result of all of this is that frames without an environmental system have a reduction in mobility. This is one reason that Exodus has limited the number of frames they have dedicated to the planet, despite the danger presented by the native people's natural technological aptitude.

Variant rule: Frames without environmental systems only get half their movement, rounded up.

The usually peaceful town of Izendral is located on a strategic river. The people of Izendral live their normal existence, barely making a living working for one of the countless Exodus operations in a company town, on a company planet, in a company system. Many would claim that the faceless corporation that controls this entire sector cares very little about the people that live there. The truth is, they are seen as numbers on a holosheet, simply another resource to be exploited and expended in the quest for profits.

Unknown to the corporate explorers that scouted out this world a mere twelve cycles ago, the sea harbors large creatures that normally stay in the depths of the ocean. With all of the recent surface activity, however, those creatures have been disturbed and begun the slow trek to the surface.

Meanwhile, a motley group of piecemeal frames has also come in from the other direction, seeking salvage and anything else they can scavenge. Izendral had heard of these nomadic native people, but this is their first interaction.  

The skirmish begins with each of the combatants having the following forces:

Exodus Unlimited had two frames, two sensor probes, and an aircraft available to defend the town from the forces arrayed against it. Clockwise from top right: Sentry Drone 00563, with WWRaRaRdRd, the sensor probes, both with EEYY, the KNKSN-0017 Konkussion at WWRaRaEB, and the Whiplash VTOL at WWRdRdGE. With the least systems, the Exodus Unlimited forces find themselves in the unlikely position of starting the game on defense. 

The Crabicles, from left to right: Mantis, Firecrab, KingCrab, OctoBot, and Dungeoness. These are Kaiju emerging from the sea. Three of them are WWERhRhY, with Mantis being WWERhRhB and Octobot being WWEYY. All will also get an extra d8 for movement because they are completely Hand to Hand.

The irregular forces of Red. From left to right we have Spikes, Sneezy, DerpNaut, Duckbot, and Cat Bus. As you can see, all but Sneezy are WWRaRaYY. Sneezy is WWRhRhYE, with the E being an environmental system that allows movement in water as normal. The native’s strategy is to destroy as much as possible to be able to scavenge as much as possible. They have already taken the damaged torso of a frame, as well as a pool of filtered freshwater that the administrators of Izendral apparently swim in. They see the creatures rising from the sea as a potential threat, however, and will try to ensure that they survive that onslaught as well.

 

The corporate forces are deployed along the river in the heart of Izendral when the battle begins, and the Red forces are strung out in a line on one side of the town. The initial contact happened when one of the Reds strayed too close to the town.

 

From the sea, the daikaiju emerge.

Start of battle:

Corp: 7 assets x 6 = 42

Kaiju: 7 assets x 5= 35

Red: 7 assets x 4 = 28

The battle starts, and right out of the gate the defender starts throwing around spot dice. The point attack frame, Sneezy, gets a spot of 6, as does Octobot. The Whiplash attacks Sneezy, dealing four damage and nearly destroying it in one attack. Sneezy counterattacks, dealing one damage to the VTOL. The sentry drone attacks Octobot, dealing two damage. Octobot loses a white die and the environmental system. The Konkussion then attacks Catbus for no damage, and leaves a spot of 2 on Duckbot. Catbus responds by taking a huge chunk out of the Sentry drone, leaving it with one white die and putting all of Red’s artillery completely out of reach.

The Kaiju now have priority, and they begin to emerge from the sea. Mantis moves to take the power station from the Corp, and the score changes. The Firecrab, KingCrab, and Dungeoness all move up, with the FireCrab taking a swing at a sensorbot but missing.

When the Red team takes over, they start the destruction that they hope will result in some salvageable equipment. Spikes attacks the Konkussion destroying the cover it is hiding near and dealing one damage to the frame itself. DerpNaut also attacks the Konkussion for one damage, and puts a spot of 6 on the FireCrab. Duckbot then attacks Firecrab, rolling 10 damage dice, dealing 6 damage and wiping the FireCrab off the battlefield.

Doomsday clock automatically goes to 10, and all three players spin it down.

Score @ doomsday 7:

Corp: 6 x 6 = 36

Kaiju: 7 assets x 5= 35

Red: 7 assets x 4 = 28

The round starts off with the Corp in the lead. The sensor probe starts off the round by declaring Sneezy at Hand to Hand. No damage. Sneezy then activates, rolling an 8 for movement. Sneezy heads directly for Corp’s only station, which is completely undefended. The station changes hands, and Corp loses the lead to the Crabicles.

Mantis goes in for the Hand to Hand versus the Sentry Drone. The drone, with his lone remaining white die, is destroyed. The Corp is now hurting for points. Octobot attempts to hit Sneezy with Rockets, but not able to get in range. Kingcrab moves up, and deals three damage to Sneezy, one more than required. Kingcrab now owns the former Corp station, putting the Kaiju firmly in the lead. Dungeoness moves up.

With the change of hands of the ruby crate yet again, Corp is now in second place and gains priority over Red. The remaining sensor probe lays a spot of 5 on KingCrab, which only has a Def of 4 this round. The Whiplash attacks KingCrab, misses badly, and flees towards the Red battle lines. The Konkussion attacks Octobot, whiffs, and then settles in for the inevitable.

Red gets to go last in the round, and CatBus attacks KingCrab. KingCrab is down to one die, abandons the base to keep another. Spikes attacks Octobot, leaving one remaining white die. DerpNaut gets in on the action, thoroughly destroying the cover that Mantis was hiding behind, but not doing any damage to Mantis itself. Duckbot finishes out the round by finishing off Octobot.

The Doomsday clock winds down to 6, and the Crabicles spin it down to 5.

Score @ doomsday 5:

Corp: 4 x 6 = 24

Kaiju: 7 x 5= 35

Red: 6 x 4 = 24

Kaiju begin the round with Mantis attacking the Konkussion, but the dice result in no damage. The Konkussion in turn attacks Spikes, dealing 3 damage. Spikes then attacks KingCrab, destroying the cover that it is hiding behind but not doing any damage. KingCrab finds another patch of  cover to hide behind. Sometimes being a ‘fraidy cat is the better part of valor. Dungeoness thinks so, because it continues to hide behind cover.

Having won the tiebreaker roll against Corp, Red now gets priority. Duckbot takes a shot at Mantis, for no damage. DerpNaut attacks KingCrab. 4 hits on cover clear it out, and then a 5 and two 6’s get through, destroying KingCrab. CatBus attacks Mantis, dealing 2 damage.

Corp finally gets priority. The first Sensor Probe lays a spot on Spikes and heads for a station. The Whiplash attacks Spikes, deals 2 damage, and leaves Spikes with 1 white die. The other sensor probe then just hangs  out, unable to assist.

The Doomsday clock winds down to 4, and the Crabicles spin it down to 3.

Score @ doomsday 3:

Corp: 5 x 6 = 30

Kaiju: 5 x 5= 25

Red: 6 x 4 = 24

At the start of the round, Crabicles have the priority due to calculation error. Mantis makes a beeline for the station, assigns no value to defense. Dungeoness attacks the Konkussion with Hand to Hand, dealing 1 damage. With only two frames left, that is the end of Crabicle’s turn.

The Konkussion makes an artillery attack, destroying cover. Both Sensor Probes then lay on spots of 6, on Mantis and Spikes respectively. The Whiplash attacks Spikes nearly head on. When Spikes rolls a 2 for defense, the Whiplash shows how dangerous direct fire can be to artillery and performs an overkill.

Those are all damage dice.

Red now has final priority. CatBus attacks the Konkussion, dealing 6 damage against 2 systems, obliterating the Konkussion. DerpNaut goes last, and rolls an 8 for an attack against the Mantis. With the spot of 6 and a defense of 0, Red rolls 14 dice for damage against a frame that is not in cover. This destroys the Mantis with 6 damage vs. 3 systems.

The Doomsday clock winds down to 2, and the Corp spins it down to 1. Due to poor math skills, Red is currently tied with Corp, and spins the clock to zero. Game over! 

We thought that it ended in a tie between Corp and Red, but the actual score looks like this:

Score @ doomsday 0:

Corp: 2 Sensor probes, the Whiplash, and 1 of 2 original Corp stations: 4 x 6 = 24

Kaiju: Dungeoness, both Kaiju stations, and the other Corp station: 4 x 5= 20

Red: 3 frames, both starting stations: 5 x 4 = 20

Several lessons were learned, including:

When on defense, don’t split the map.

If your point attack frame is your only non-artillery piece, run like your life depends on it. Because it does.

And most important is this: Never go in against a calculator when the game is on the line!