A Traveller Ballad

 

The Song of Kane Basquiat

Verse 1 (10/11/2024)

Sailing my Bashful Lady
Minoan bound
Captain Chin
Steady at the helm
But lo, sickness befalls the land
M'peeple suffer, till vaccination is in hand.
But vaccination
not salvation
Doctor Du, know dat true.
He fix us good,
but the natives go mental.
Back to the ship,
we must go
But Long Term Parking so far away

Mayor of Little Minoa
She gives a gift
Location of an Uppee
An all terrain skiff

The Uppee is blocked
By desperate refugee
Through tender words they assuage
To accompany

Throughout the land
Neighbor fight Neighbor
Avoiding conflict
Our days labour

Long Term Parking blocked
By gangs of fury
But one of their friends
We have with thee

The deal was made in airlock
But security on its way
So the peaceful exchange exploded
Into a bloody fray

The Crazies are defeated
Commander Chin the great slayer
But would Security let us in?
Yes! We have Multi-pass from the Mayor

Back to Bashful Lady
Leaving Minoa behind
Not without danger
But missiles could not find
My Bashful Lady

The peaceful embrace of the expanse
Not to last
We have on board tracker
Sword class closing fast

Brave Doctor Du
Space walk with the Beacon
Throw that cruiser off our trail
Roundabout we reach
Our destination

Onto planet Talas
A Scientist we must find
Origin of the Crazy Vaccine
Locked up in his mind

Searching the man's office
But no sign of him there
Up to Doctor Yankee Du
Hack d' man's hard drive and CPU

Follow trail of other lady
Scientist at the lab
She go missing with her son
Supposed to be at resort
Having fun

But she no there
We looken high and low
All we finds is off world soldiers
Lurking on the down lo

Contact with our Patron
The divine Miss Kitty
She give us a hook up
In the seedy side of city

Meet informant at Alley Cat
To the Doc he gives some clues
But then shows up them off world mercs
And informant slips the noose.

Alone again with our Bashful Lady
Facing the expanse

The Lyrics:  Kane Basquiat, ships steward and lounge singer (matt)

The Violence:  Commander Chin, ships captain (Roger)

The Science: Doctor Yankee Du, ships Doctor (Claudio)

The Expanse:  DM Eric

Force on Force: Ambush Valley

 Some Force on Force Vietnam.

Modified "contractor trouble" scenario. 

An ambushed vehicle convoy.  6 casualties in the lead vehicle worth 1 point each if extracted by end of game.  7 turns.

Nva started with 2 fireteams and an MG bunker on board.  They rolled randomly for reinforcement for first 4 turns.

USA started with a 6 man section by the first 2 trucks and 1 man on the M60 in the gun truck.  The first 3 turns they get a 6 man section as reinforcement and the 4th turn the 4 man command group. 

Overview

Nva fireteam starts hidden overwatching the objective zone.

First US section moves up to extract casualties 

Nva open up on US while they are trying to recover the casualties 

The lead US team is put out of action.  Meanwhile reinforcement arrive and start to move up the road.

Second Nva team opens up from the hut, then brings out the fight to close range.  Reinforcement US squad moves right and engages. 

US squad moves up the left side and flanks the Nva MG bunker. 

Second US squad fires down the road from the bamboo.

The NVA sent a team to reinforce the bunker so a long two turn close range fight ensued until the NVA finally lose their last man on the table.

Final US body count, 6 Kia, 6 serious wounds.

4 of the 6 casualty objectives are brought off board so it is a narrow US win.

Pulp Alley: Scenario 8 again, but with Pirates

 We used pretty much the same stats from our LotR game last week except now Rohan was  British military force and the Defender was a group of Pirates.  The "gunmen" that turn traitor on the "its a trap " card were natives (proxies by Zulu figures)..

Major Tom reached the plot point on turn 2, but of course I pulled the "it's a trap" card and all the reinforcements flooded in!

The entire British force was taken down, except for Major Tom, who held out to the last turn to earn the victory. 

Pulp Alley: LotR

 Some Rohan rescue of Hobittses.

Pulp Alley Scenario 3: crossroads

 Objective:  collect 4 points by being near the church doorway at end of turn.  In case both players are in zone, the Director player gets the point.

The Triad gang shows up, with a hired Mafioso.

They quickly enter the church and courtyard 

Texas Rangers arrive.  The Kid (sidekick) takes two deputies around the right flank.

Ranger Buck Jones (left) approached the church with two deputies 

How Phun (Triad leader) and his sidekick Uncle Ho rush out of the church to fight Jones.

Jones falls back to cover, while the Triad turn their attention on two deputies. 

Back in cover, Buck lays down some gun fire.

The Kid rushes How Phun, but gets downed by his superior Kung Fu.

Short on time, the Triad have racked up 3 points, one away from victory. Buck gets in the objective zone and trades shots with all comers.

Unfortunately for Jones he can't handle everyone.   He is whittled down and drops.

The mafioso goes up to loot, but Jones is still alive.   "TIE him up, boys.  The Boss will want to talk to this one."

Will Buck Jones escape the clutches of organized crime!?  Tune in next time....