STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Council of Taneshla

"I'm heading back to get them. What have you found?" Rianna asks, talking quietly as she walks.

"A good vantage point," she says simply before cutting contact.

Your allies are ready and waiting for you to present them with some sort of plan of approach. The Contact is prepping his big pair of pistols when you return.

"What are we looking at here?" he asks.

"Not much out here. A few guards and some turrets. Lift down to the mines is open ground," Rianna says. "Graf's found herself a vantage point to attack from. So we'll clear the guards out here and then head down and see what we find underground."

"Plowing straight in," Kalvit says. "PERFECT. We'll obliterate everything."

The others more or less agree with this sentiment but the Contact queries you about tactics.

What queries may he have?

"Do we have any?" he asks.

"I'd prefer to take care of the guards as quietly as possible, but being able to really see what's waiting down in the mines...there's not much that can be planned for there."

"Ambushing those in the clearing above ground counts as a tactic," the Contact responds.

Rianna shrugs. "Then they'll need to be lured into the clearing itself."

Most of the guards were in the clearing.

Ahh, were they? Well, that makes that easier.

Yes. There are some the treeline around the clearing, though.

I had read the earlier comment to mean that they were all in the forest around the clearing.

Whoever that Rianna comes across on the way to the clearing can simply be killed - quietly, preferably. The ambush in the clearing itself should bring the remaining guards in the treeline running.

Alright. Your hired help is ready to wreak havoc on the poor, unsuspecting minions guarding the way down into the base of the Crimson Queen. None of your allies are terribly subtle, but the dense cover of the trees provides enough shadow for them to approach quietly without being seen.

You are coming across a patrol just south of the clearing.

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OPERATION OVERTHROW, Start of Turn 1

South of Lift

Rianna (C11): 2(1A)/0 [MA DW FT] [FB FA DU] (6F)

Contact (G8): 1(1P)/0 [BB GS ES] (?)

Zazez (G8): 2(1P)/0 [ES] (2F)

Battle Droid A (G8): 1(1A)/0 [CC]

Battle Droid B (G8): 1(1A)/0 [CC]

Kalvit (G12): 1(2A 1P)/0 [CC EE ES] [10B CG] (3F)

Mercenaries x4 (G5)

Pirates x3 (G5) (in treeline)

Pirates x5 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

West of Lift

Pirates x5 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

North of Lift

Pirates x5 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

East of Lift

Pirates x5 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

Lift Well

Pirates x10 (G5)

Turrets x4 (G6) (1A)

Heavy Turrets x2 (HW5) (2A)

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You and your allies are inside the treeline with the small pirate patrol. Feel free to post two actions- your ambush will go down without retaliation for the first turn.

Rianna will instruct Kalvit to work on the turrets once they get close, as he has EE and can bypass their armor.

Rianna will be fighting unarmed for now, by the way. That loadout is fine 😛

She'll sneak up to the small patrol as quietly as possible, taking out the first pirate she comes across with a swift strike to the back of the neck. If any of the remaining two of that patrol are left after the others attack (not likely though), she'll take out another, else she'll move to the next group and take down another guard.

"We're in position," she whispers to Graf before making her final approach.

Putting on the ambush, you automatically get initiative. Rianna sneaks up and snaps the neck of her man. The Contact sneaks up and does the same to another, gripping his victim's head and twisting hard. One of Zazez's droids smacks the third down with its arm cannon.

The patrol handled quietly, it is Kalvit that decides to let everyone know that you are there. He goes storming out of the treeline, letting his triple-linked gatling gun rip loose. The three rapidly rotating sets of barrels are themselves gyrating about as a flurry of lasers mow down two pirates and the pair of turrets. Zazez and his other droid follow suite and shoot down the rest.

The following turn, the bad guys get initiative. Those in the west and east and by the lift can target you; two pirates per person, with the light turrets on the Named Characters in you group and the heavy turrets blasting at the mercenaries. Between everything, there is only light damage taken- the treeline provides a point of cover, and you discover Graf shooting from a tree in the west, covering you and your Contact. A turret still nicks you for 3 damage. Your thug mercenaries are vaporized by plasma bursts from the heavy turrets.

You get your action, but Rianna just moves out of the treeline to find no resistance in the south, just molten rocks from Kalvit's ridiculous assault. He keeps going on the west, taking out the turrets there. The Contact claims a kill with his heavy pistols. Zazez and his droids get three amongst them.

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OPERATION OVERTHROW, Start of Turn 3

South of Lift

Rianna (C11): 2(1A)/3 [MA DW FT] [FB FA DU] (6F)

Contact (G8): 1(1P)/0 [BB GS ES] (?)

Zazez (G8): 2(1P)/0 [ES] (2F)

Battle Droid A (G8): 1(1A)/5 [CC]

Battle Droid B (G8): 1(1A)/5 [CC]

Kalvit (G12): 1(2A 1P)/0 [CC EE ES] [10B CG] (2F)

West of Lift

Graf (G12): 1/0 [MK EE CF] (2F) (in tree)

Pirates x4 (G5)

North of Lift

Pirates x5 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

East of Lift

Pirates x2* (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

Lift Well

Pirates x10 (G5)

Turrets x4 (G6) (1A)

Heavy Turrets x2 (HW5) (2A)

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"Kalvit! Get the heavy turrets!" Rianna says as she moves West, taking down another pirate.

Initiative tie means it goes to you. You come flipping over and crack down a pirate with an effective kick. The Contact comes with you and puts two bolts into the chest of another. Graf keeps you covered and the Contact tumbles into cover behind a defunct hauler.

Escorted by his droids, Zazez sweeps east. His spidery mechanical legs give him an added defensive edge as he skitters about. He is not a great shot; he advances on the target he shot last round and tries again for little effect, but his battle droids back him up.

Kalvit crazily taps Carnival again to spray down the lift bunker. Staying planted just inside the treeline, lasers whip through low-hanging branches and Kalvit blows up a few of the turrets atop the bunker and one of the pirates. He spends another Fortune point to refresh it.

This turn, as you predicted, the remaining patrols come running out of the forest. Those in the north also come down to the west and east to respond to the threat. Damage all around, except the Contact.

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OPERATION OVERTHROW, Start of Turn 4

South of Lift

Kalvit (G12): 1(2A 1P)/4 [CC EE ES] [10B CG] (1F)

West of Lift

Rianna (C11): 2(1A)/5 [MA DW FT] [FB FA DU] (6F)

Contact (G8): 1(1P)/0 [BB GS ES] (?)

Graf (G12): 1/4 [MK EE CF] (2F) (in tree)

Pirates x7 (G5)

North of Lift

Pirates x3 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

East of Lift

Zazez (G8): 2(1P)/0 [ES] (2F)

Battle Droid A (G8): 1(1A)/12 [CC]

Battle Droid B (G8): 1(1A)/9 [CC]

Pirates x6 (G5)

Turrets x1 (G6) (1A)

Lift Well

Pirates x9 (G5)

Turrets x3 (G6) (1A)

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Rianna's going to continue North, doing a running kick at one of the pirates there.

Initiative is yours. Running up north is more of an acrobatic deal, leaping over jagged rocks and rusted debris. When you get there you land a hit on one of them, taking him down thanks to Feint. Your allies keep at their slaughter, with Kalvit actually missing one and Graf opting to shoot instead of cover you.

Their turn. Rianna has gone off on her own and takes a few hits. Graf is shaken up a little as the tree she is in gets blasted at. One of Zazez's droids is looking dinged up. Everyone else is alright.

A brawny man with a repeater steps out of the lift bunker.

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OPERATION OVERTHROW, Start of Turn 5

South of Lift

Kalvit (G12): 1(2A 1P)/5 [CC EE ES] [10B CG] (1F)

West of Lift

Contact (G8): 1(1P)/0 [BB GS ES] (?)

Graf (G12): 1/13 [MK EE CF] (2F) (in tree)

Pirates x5 (G5)

North of Lift

Rianna (C11): 2(1A)/12 [MA DW FT] [FB FA DU] (6F)

Pirates x2 (G5)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

East of Lift

Zazez (G8): 2(1P)/0 [ES] (2F)

Battle Droid A (G8): 1(1A)/17 [CC]

Battle Droid B (G8): 1(1A)/12 [CC]

Pirates x3 (G5)

Lift Well

Pirate Captain A (G8): 1(1A)/0 [10B]

Pirates x9 (G5)

Turrets x2* (G6) (1A)

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