Rogue Star Wars: Jedi Temple Heist

Planet Bothawui, remote polar region.

Buru Brothers Shipping & Handling, Inc. arrived on Bothawui with somewhat noble intentions.  Based in the infamous Cloak of the Sith, on a planet called Roon, Urdaaghr Buru and his family have skirted Imperial law their entire lives.  With the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War, the company has been having frequent meetings with the rebel Spynet.  However, negotiations have gone sour.

It seems the Spynet thinks that the Buru Brothers OWE them something...duty or what-not.  The whole thing ended with everyone walking away, but Urdaaghr was more than miffed.  They had braved the Imperial patrols and come all this way, for what?  Not to be pretty much slapped in the face!

Unfortunately for the rebels, the murderous aqualish knows a little bit more than they'd like about their operations on Bothawui.  At a remote ruin that is supposedly an "ancient Jedi temple" is an Alliance safehouse, lightly guarded.  Supposedly, weapons and other trade goods are stockpiled there, ripe for the taking.  And so, Buru Brothers Shipping & Handling, Inc. got right to work doing what they do best...stealing.

BATTLE REPORT
Rogue Stars by Osprey Publishing

Rogue Star Wars Campaign 
Bothawui Scum Attack on Rebels; Steal Valuables Mission

Setup
Buru Brothers Shipping & Handling vs Rebel Tech-Partisans

Complication: I thought you had it!
Both players lose 1 piece of equipment chosen by the opponent.  I took this to mean Equipment exclusively, that is, Equipment bought from the Equipment list.  The Rebels lost their medikit, and the Scum had no equipment to take!

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For the Steal Valuables mission, we needed to make use of six tokens.  The book called for three "Yes" and three "No" tokens, but I didn't have anything readily on hand to use.  I had a sheet of cardboard chits though, and figured it's a good a time as any to use them.

I have no idea where that sheet of chits came from or where I got them, but one side was yellow and one side was white.  Instead of marking them "Yes" and "No", I simply wrote "!" and "?" on them.  Might as well get some mileage out of them.  I'm sure we can use them for plenty of games.

Blank Token Sheet.  No idea where it came from.

De-blanked tokens, white face.

Once the tokens were made, they were placed on the field.  We realized that with mission parameters this pretty much pushed everyone to the edges without any other rules.  Scum gained the initiative, and began to advance.

Scum have a rough start, immediately slipping and falling.  Other people just stood there like morons.

Unfortunately, the snow made things rough.  A TN 8 terrain check may not sound like much...but with everyone running everywhere it quickly became apparent that it was going to be a problem.  A lot of stress and not much ground was covered as warriors immediately slipped and had to spend an action getting up.

Let's go out here where there isn't any cover and play in the muddy snow.

The Rebels have it slightly easier, but manage to get caught in the snow in the open.  The melting snow and muddy grass is hard to run in...not solid at all.  The Rebel Pathfinder will have an easier time with his Agile trait.

Moving in the snow is difficult and hazardous.  Get more done with solid Reactions.

The Scum had activated all six of their models before it was realized that the initiative could be stolen before that.  Six or more Stress markers on the enemy team and you've got a good chance.  At the point, the game quickly picked up in pace as the initiative began to get stolen back and forth at breakneck speeds.

Also there were a lot of reactions.  Like...a LOT.  That's part of the game, and even if you don't have the initiative you can get a lot done.  Look at the picture of the board above at the end of what you might consider the first "turn".  The Rebels reacted more than the Scum acted.  Get used to it...this is why the Rebels didn't realize they could steal the initiative earlier.

"There's one over there...and over there...and over there!"

The Rebel advance team consisting of a commando and the medic arrive in cover as they move toward the objectives.  As the Rebel team creeps forward, the Scum start to use their reactions to get further into the map, and steal the initiative back quickly.  It's not long before they make an egress into the central area of the ruins.

Except Whiphid Tracker.  Whiphid Tracker doesn't care what your problem is.

The Scum manage to retain the initiative most of the time, despite not being able to accomplish much other than ratting about in the snow.

Everyone is alarmed, even though the enemy has not yet been encountered.

The Duros Scoundrel actually takes the first shot, nailing the Rebel Commando that advanced earlier.  It knocks him prone, and the Rebels use reactions to move him back into cover for the Duros Technician to use First Aid...even though he doesn't have a medikit.  The Commando is Stunned, which puts him in danger of going Out-of-Action anytime he attempts anything.  First Aid can fix this condition, so they huddle behind the stones as the scum continue their advance.

Make 'em keep their heads down...

The Aqualish Spy and Duros Scoundrel on the Scum side pin down the Duros Technician and Rebel Commando as the rest of the team advances on the East flank.

I like to steal things before my boss gets here.

On that side of the table, the Aqualish Technician (Buru) and his brother (Aqualish Assassin) move toward the objectives.  The Kel Dor Bounty Hunter working for the Buru Brothers moves to grab an objective.

Want me to show you a trick to take your mind off that pain?

First Aid was performed on the downed Rebel Commando, who was not yet out of action.  He remained pinned though...actions were precious and weren't allotted to his recovery.  This kept him down and wounded behind that rock for most of the game.

Folks are having a hard time in the snow.

At least until the Scum moved up and finished the job.  The Commando raced out into the open with his rifle, hoping to stave off the Scum from reaching the objective.  Brave, but foolish...he was rewarded with another laser blast.

What accuracy with that laser rifle!

The Bothan Commando finally reached the center area after a long struggle across the snow.  From that position, he was able to use a reaction to take the Whiphid Tracker out of action with a single shot.  The Rebels stole the initiative soon after and the Bothan was able to take out the Duros Scoundrel with another well-placed shot!

Agility and Speed really paid off here.

Soon, more actions were floating toward the Rebels, unlike in the early game.  The lead the Scum had was soon squandered after every objective they reached was fake.  The Rebel Pathfinder with the Speed and Agility traits really shined in the late game as he was able to move faster and with smaller chance for error.

Here's looking at you, bothan kid.

Soon after this, the Rebels had most of the objectives locked down.  The 'real' objectives.  The Rebel Commander found one at the beginning of the game and simply stayed there in case his rifle was needed.  The sheer clownery of the Scum kept them from securing the further objectives...bad luck for the Buru Brothers.

Every objective you touch shall turn to "?".

In the end, the Rebels carried the day after the Scum decided to retreat after losing half their team.  With the number of objectives in Rebel hands, it was best to call it a day.  According to the Objectives section of the mission, both teams score 6xp each.  It is pretty much a draw, but the Rebels get to keep the gear they were stashing here.  Alarmed that their cache is compromised, they begin moving it to a more secure location.