Rogue Stars sessions

Rogue Stars is the newest sci-fi variation from Ganesha Games. It uses the same action/reaction system used in the Song of Blades in Heroes game. The major difference is the dice. SoBaH uses three d6 dice for activation while RS uses a single d20. Miniatures can be from any manufacturer and are only limited by the player's imagination.

This is a skirmish-style game where both players have small squads of miniatures with less than 10 characters. Each character is created buy purchasing skills, powers and equipment from a long list of sci-fi tropes. Examples are psionics, blaster guns, laser swords etc. Each squad is assigned a theme such as bounty hunters, militia, miners, star cops, or pirates.

Combat is more complex than your typical miniatures game. Most notably, each hit can be applied to a specific body location. Some modifiers are used when trying to place hits on non-humanoid characters. There are also a large number of modifiers to apply hits. And the damage tables can result in  some very improbable results.

Overall, the game plays much more like an RPG than a miniatures game. The players are encouraged to name each character and the level of detail allows for some very customized units. The game lends itself well to a story line. The rules intend for the players to roll randomly for the scenario and each scenario is full of narrative detail.

Chip built a 'Miners' list composed of space age dwarves with a bounty hunter character in support.

I built a 'Star Cops' list based on Starfleet characters from my Prime Directive RPG campaign.

Chip invited me to play this game back in February of this year. Chip pre-selected the scenario and provided a back story...

A survey crew of Squats from the Hammerfall Mining Company had been planetside and raising a ruckus fulfilling their work quota. Upon hearing the arrival of the USS Stauffenburg and imminent dispatch of its Star Cops, the crew thought better of it and secured gainful employment officiating the local Dreadball League. That paying distraction did not last long - and so the crew has taken it upon themselves to check out rumors from beyond The Wasteline and the abandoned settlement called Squint-Eye, perhaps staking claim on the remnants of the mineral works. The Star Cops intend to bring them back and keep the jurisdiction of the property with the Zone's Magistrate. On top of all this, locals have spotted some sort of alien creature lurking amongst the old quarries.

The alien creature was known by the locals as a 'Space Demon'. Hostile action ensued almost immediately after the Star Cops arrived.

The wasteland

The Dwarf faction stayed behind cover

The Star Cops fired on the Dwarves hoping to coax them out

The sounds of weapons fire attracted the 'Space Demon'. It immediately attacked the Star Cops

Star Cops are well trained and they quickly dispatched the Space Demon

After the Space Demon had been dispatched, the Star Cops accumulated 3 victory points for use in campaign upgrades.

After several months, Chip and I both had an itch to play again. So we setup a second game on Aug 10.

This time we decided to just play a simple battle-to-the-death scenario just so we could get used to the rule set again. We used the same forces but decided not to use the results as part of a campaign story.

I primed the Star Cops in the traditional red-blue-yellow Star Trek-style uniforms.

We incorporated some of my 3D printed sci-fi terrain.

Again the Dwarves stayed behind cover and shot the arm of the SC medic, permanently disabling her.

The redshirt sergeant engaged a Dwarf at point blank range. The miner fired first and disarmed the redshirt. But, the redshirt made a hand-to-hand attack that stunned the miner

Time ran out before we could resolve the battle. But, the Star Cops took the most damage. Rogue Stars is a fun, character-focused miniatures game and I highly recommend it. Hopefully, we get to play it more.