(Planet 28) Terror of the Loc-Nar 2! - Cuddles Gets a Knife

 After finally playing a solo game with the rules for Planet 28 over the holiday weekend, I ended the 4th of July with strange situation:  My 13-year old daughter, Maja, expressing the word "bored" out loud.  A perfect excuse to break unpack everything in the dining room for round two of "Terror of the Loc-Nar!"... with a few modifications.

Again, the scenario's goal was relatively simple.  Two figures need to fight off the shambling hordes, secure the mythical and magical "Loc-Nar" and bring it back to the temple (stone circle) and keep it inside there for one whole turn. 

Ignate Perditius - Lost Space Mariner   257 points

Shooting -  5   Fighting - 7   Agility - 7 Hit Points - 20   Speed - 10cm

Traits: Shore Footed, Unshakable

Equipment:  Bolt Pistol (1d10+2 damage, range 25), Chainsword (2d6+6) , Heavy Armor (1d12+6, -1 Agility already calculated)

Cuddles - Teddy Bear Cyborg Bounty Hunter - 280 points

Shooting - 9   Fighting - 7  Agility - 8  Hit Points - 20   Speed 10cm

Traits: Unshakable, Inspiring, (Removed Heal)

Equipment: Heavy Laser Pistol (1d10+2 damage, range 25), Knife (1d4+3) Light Armor (1d8)

With his Heavy Armor, Ignate is overpowered, but it will take a few more sessions to see just how bad it is.   Cuddles wasn't a complete overhaul, but the Heal ability, while amusing for the Teddy Bear concept, just didn't work in this scenario, and it made more sense to add to ability scores and give the creature a freakin' melee weapon.

I also adjusted the "Mutants" they were fighting against.  Perhaps I was swayed by the Zombies! figures I was using, but I converted them into sentient zombies.  There max move per turn was 10cm, but they were allowed a second action, so charging zombies could be a thing.

On turn one, the Loc-Nar appeared close enough to the characters, but he was accompanied by four of his mutant zombies.  It didn't help that neither Ignate nor Cuddles could hit the broad side of an abandoned settlement, much less the creatures.  

Maja's luck quickly turned, as the next two turns yielded no new zombies.   The Loc-Nar bounced from location to location, but with Ignate's chainsword cutting through the opposition, Cuddles took a risk and dashed across the board.  

 

As four more zombies closed in on Ignate, Cuddles secured the Loc-Nar, only to be surprised by a lone zombie shambling through the building behind them!

The Space Mariner was simply too tough in the heavy armor, requiring incredibly bad luck vs good luck combined to even make a scratch on the armor, much less him.   On the Death World, heavy armor is worth more than some bandit kingdoms.

Cuddles and the Loc-Nar could flee from the solo zombie, but mere steps from the temple, Cuddles saw another pack of zombies had ventured right in the middle of it!

Unlike the first scenario, Cuddles luck ran the center of the statistical curve.  He ventured into the temple and was beset by four inside the temple, and one chasing him.  A quick stab with his trusty dagger dropped one, but the others ripped his teddy bear fur, dropping him from 20 hit points to 4!

Ignate finally dispatched the final zombie out in the open and ran inside the temple to distract a new horde that had appeared. Unfortunately, the Killer Teddy Bear couldn't take out a second zombie, so all four attacked. 

Three hit

Of those, one was completely blocked by armor.

The other two barely got through the armor, but left Cuddles at -1 hit points, dropping him.  

As both of us yelled our lamentations from the injustice in the game, I reviewed the scenario goal again.  The Loc-Nar need only spend a full turn inside the circle to be dispelled/sent away.  A character need not be holding it the entire time.  Since the Loc-Nar couldn't teleport until the beginning of the next turn, I ruled that Cuddles heroic gesture was enough to dispatch the entity.  The universe was saved!

Outside of a deeper understanding of how power armor should be treated in a Planet 28 universe, and the need for unique characters to carry some sort of melee weapon on them, I find the rules work.  I'm probably going to look into painting some Imperial Guard grunts with Maja, and expand on scenarios with no armor vs light armor.   I also have plans to get the Gnomish Space Marines on the board, although with a few vehicles to see if combined arms is a better placed for the Wandering Space Mariners.

I'm also actively looking for more Killer Teddy Bears, a few more as "heroes", and another batch painted as undead Necro-Bears.