When I spend five hours writing about a game that took maybe 45 minutes to play, I suppose I can be accused of obsessive behavior. So it’s time for me to put a quick wind up on my expanded AAR of Space Infantry.

After collecting the two “rescue” points in the last episode, our intrepid Cav squad backtracked a bit into the desert — entering previously explored nodes — then proceeded to enter Cave Complex B. On Turn 18, they entered the complex’s first node and made contact with a force of four AI drones. Continue reading →

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” Bernardo’s voice crackled over the comm link. The narrow defile ended at a crevasse that descended steeply into the rocky depths of the uplift. The Pathfinder had pulled out his climbing gear and started down some five minutes earlier. “First Sergeant, you need to see this. Check my video.”

Reno pulled up Bernardo’s helmet feed. Signal loss caused by all the rock made the image grainy and unstable, but the sergeant recognized a small pile of gear with unmistakable Fleet markings. Continue reading →

“I’m not a xenobiologist, but I’ve never seen vegetation like this so close to a sand sea.” SPC Bernardo, the squad’s Pathfinder, crouched underneath the cap of one of the native plants. It looked like a cactus crossed with a very large toad stool. It’s thick, mottled-brown skin sprouted spiny thorns that were easily 10cm long.

Hundreds of the plants covered the top of rocky escarpment which rose 30 or 40 meters from the sand sea. Clumped in groups of five or six plants, they rose maybe 4 meters and the bottoms of their thorny caps extended uniformly to within maybe 1.5 meters of the ground. Tracking down the science party’s survivor in this terrain wasn’t going to be easy. Continue reading →

“I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I didn’t see it?” SPC Ramsay, the APC driver, asked. The imprint of the boulder was perfectly outlined in the lower front armor of the vehicle.

“Uhhh. No.” Reno looked up at the silvery orb of the planet hanging almost directly overhead. Between 18 Scorpii Alpha’s high albedo and the warm, yellow light of the star that squatted low on the horizon, it was as bright as high noon anywhere on Earth. “Specialist Ramsay, have you just wrecked the taxpayers’ brand-new trak?” Continue reading →

The Fast Attack Transport Audie Murphy settled into a geosynchronous orbit above Turnbull I, the largest moon of 18 Scorpii Alpha. On board, the men of B Troop, 1/7 Cav completed their preparations for the mission to come.

The Fleet frigate Congress arrived in orbit 36 hours before them. The plan had been for Congress to wait for the Army transport’s arrival while gathering as much intel as possible. A recon probe sent down to the science station — which had sent out distress calls four days earlier — detected no activity. Video showed the station reduced to rubble. Continue reading →

So. How does this Space Infantry thing actually play? With a little luck and self-discipline, over the next few blog posts I’m going to write up a serialized After Action Report of a real, live game. A little creative license may be involved in some of the reporting — the goal being entertainment, after all — but the entire narrative will be generated by in-game actions.

Seriously, if a science-fiction game can’t get your imagination going, somebody needs to check your pulse.

Here’s the setup.

Cybers. I hate these guys.

This is the third scenario in a campaign game. In the SI rulebook, it’s the first campaign, “Jovvian War Prelude,” which comprises both surface and hive missions. I have yet to play the second campaign, which is all hive missions. The Advanced rules are in play, but I’m not using any of the Optionals.

With a couple of combat missions already under their belts, our valiant squaddies have accumulated some experience. Both Fire Teams, Assault Team A and the Close Combat grunt have all acquired Veteran status. They’ve also collected Talents, as has the Squad Leader.

As I’ll get to in the next blog post, one of the Veteran units, Fire Team A with its “Eagle Eye” Talent, is staying behind on this mission. Sarge has decided to drag along a Shotgunner for some extra close-range firepower this time out.

The mission map is Surface 2, a desert area the squad must traverse in their Pilum APC in order to find and rescue some scientists who are hiding out in widely separated cave complexes. The desert is populated by giant sand worms with bad attitudes, and the enemy selected for the mission is the Cybers — heavily armored robots that favor ranged fire attacks.

Looks like our squaddies have their work cut out for them.