v0.1

Critical Mass

Author: WiseKensai

What's this? Hey Space Pope, don't you know God can only help you if you install your own security patches? That's it...I'm in. Ok, now where's the guidance module... if we lock thrusters to maximum and lock out the bridge controls two minutes after re-entry, that should give you a nice scare on your next trip. - Rev Mira Rivera, aboard the Amethyst Sky

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY! This is Pan Oceanian Papal lander Shepherd One, our controls are locked following possible hostile action and we require immediate assistance. Our current coordinates are 34 degrees North, 118 degrees West. Altitude is 63 miles and decreasing rapidly. We have His Holiness, the Pope on board. Requesting secured landing location for escape pod. God help the rest of us. Please respond, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY! - Neo-Terran Emergency Channel Broadcast

Shepherd One, the private orbital landing craft of the Pan Oceanian Papacy, has issued a MAYDAY broadcast. An extremely High Value Target has been bundled into a cigar shaped escape pod in the aft of the ship and, after some blockage cleared by a hurried prayer, evacuated.

Teams on the ground are scrambling to secure a landing zone for Shepherd One's drop pod, but the positioning system which allows the pod to target a particular landing spot appears to be vulnerable to redirection from the same rogue parties that interfered with the landing craft.

It is your job to both broadcast a beacon for the escape pod to home in on as well as to secure a landing zone for the HVT. Secure the Space Pope!

Mission Objectives

Main Objectives

  • At the end of Round 1, dominate the Quadrant with the Beacon.
    • 2 Objective Points.
  • At the end of Round 2, dominate the Quadrant with the Beacon.
    • 2 Objective Points.
  • At the end of the game, have the HVT in the CivEvac state with a friendly model.
    • 2 Objective Points.
  • At the end of the game, have killed more enemy specialists.
    • 2 Objective Points.
  • At the end of the game, have killed the same amount of enemy specialists.
    • 1 Objective Point, if at least one specialist has been killed.

Classified Objectives

  • Each player has 2 Classified Objectives, Secure the HVT is not an option.
    • 1 Objective Point for each classified.

Forces and Deployment

  • SIDE A and SIDE B: Both players will deploy on opposite sides of the game table, in Deployment Zones whose size depends on the number of Army Points in the Army Lists.
  • Do not deploy HVTs at the start of the game.
  • Confused Deployment. Any Trooper deploying outside their Deployment Zone must make a PH Roll with a -3 MOD. This Roll replaces any PH or WIP Roll that the Trooper would normally make to deploy. Any MODs from Special Skills, pieces of Equipment, or rules that apply any Roll to deploy will be added to this Roll.

For example a Trooper with Infiltration must make a Roll if they deploy outside their Deployment Zone. There will be a -3 MOD to deploy in their half of the game table, or a -6 MOD to deploy in the opponent's half of the game table. While a Trooper with Combat Jump (PH=14) must make a Roll against PH11 if they deploy outside their Deployment Zone.

If the player fails the Roll, the Trooper will be deployed anywhere in their Deployment Zone. Additionally, after failing the Roll, the user loses the option to deploy in a Marker State or Hidden Deployment State and is always deployed as a Model. Any Deployable Weapons and Equipment deployed alongside them are removed from the game table.

Critical Mass

Scenario Special Rules

QUADRANTS (ZO)

At the end of each Game Round, but not before, the table is divided into four Quadrants as seen on the map. Each player then checks how many Quadrants they are dominating and counts their Objective Points.

In this scenario each Quadrant is a Zone of Operations (ZO).

DOMINATE ZO

A Zone of Operations (ZO) is Dominated by a player if they have more Victory Points than the adversary inside the area. Only Troopers represented by Models or Markers (Camouflaged, Shasvastii-Embryo, Seed-Embryo...) count, as well as Proxies and Peripheral Troops. Troops in a Null State do not count. Tokens representing weapons or pieces of equipment (like Mines or Deployable Repeaters), fake Holoechoes, and any Token that does not represent a Trooper does not count either.

A Trooper is inside a Zone of Operations when more than half the Trooper's base is inside that ZO.

SHASVASTII

Troopers possessing the Shasvastii Special Skill that are inside a Zone of Operations count while they are in the Shasvastii-Embryo State or any non-Null State.

BAGGAGE

Troopers possessing the Baggage piece of Equipment that are inside a Zone of Operations and in a non-Null State provide an additional 20 Victory Points for Dominating the ZO.

Beacon

The Beacon is represented by a 25mm token and starts in the center of the table. It is considered Silhouette X for the purposes of LoF and does not block LoF or movement in any way. It is considered neutral and does not cancel templates.

Move Beacon
Short Skill/ARO, Attack
Requirements
  • Only Forward Observers in LoF of the Beacon or Hackers with the Beacon in their Hacking Area and access to the Spotlight program may declare this Skill.
  • Troopers may declare Move Beacon in ARO if the active model is declaring a legal Move Beacon skill and the above conditions are met. This is true even if the active model would otherwise not have granted an ARO.
  • Cannot be declared as part of a Coordinated Order
Effects
  • Allows the Forward Observer or Hacker to resolve a Forward Observe or Spotlight skill against the Beacon, obeying all requirements and modifiers for those skills.
  • The beacon does not enter the Targeted state as a result of the Move Beacon skill.
  • If enemy models ARO with the Move Beacon skill, the WIP roll becomes a face to face roll, much like resolving a dodge roll against multiple BS attack rolls. Surprise Attack is factored in for the active model if appropriate.
  • If the active player succeeds on the WIP roll, the active player may move the Beacon as if the Beacon were a model with a MOV rating of 2-0, with Terrain (Total).
  • If the active player fails on the WIP roll there is no movement of the beacon. (i.e. Winning the face to face in ARO does NOT provide any movement, just prevents the active player from moving it.)

SPECIALIST TROOPS

For the purposes of this scenario, only Hackers, Doctors, Engineers, Forward Observers, Paramedics, and Troopers possessing the Chain of Command or the Specialist Operative Special Skill are considered Specialist Troops.

Hackers, Doctors, and Engineers cannot make use of Repeaters or Peripheral (Servant) Models to perform tasks reserved for Specialist Troops.

Space Pope

Immediately before the start of Round 3, after scoring has happened for Round 2, replace the Beacon with an S2 PanOceanian HVT. This HVT follows all the standard rules for HVTs and is considered to be neutral towards both players.

Both players may CivEvac and score Classifieds involving the HVT as normal, but Secure the HVT is not available in this scenario.

End of the Mission

This scenario has a limited time frame, so it will automatically finish at the end of the third Game Round.

If one of the players starts their Active Turn in a Retreat! situation, the game will end at the end of that Turn.