CR 3.0: You have the right to remain... dead

Jack an I played a great little Sci-Fi skirmish using the free Chain Reaction 3 rules from Two Hour Wargames. I made a few minor modifications to the rules pulled from the 5150 rules:

• Figures with hard body armor when hit reduce the impact of the weapon by 1
• Added Magnetic "Mag" rifles, with a range of 24", ROF of 3, and impact of 4

The scenario was an attack by Federation Law enforcement on a group of smugglers / rebels. The Lawmen consisted of four REP 4 officers in hard body armor armed with Mag Rifles. They were lead by a REP 5 Sergeant armed with a laser pistol.

Their orders were to eliminate the smuggler camp and deadly force was authorized. Insertion would be via teleport, which raised some tactical issues. Unless the individual being teleported is sent to another teleport station, there is a certain randomness as to exactly where they will materialize.

To simulate this, Jack an I determined the start locations for the officers by randomly tossing beads onto the table. The facing of the officers was also randomly determined. Similar to an air drop, the officers would be scattered and potentially in an uncomfortable situation, as the smugglers would be able to take an in sight test against any officers that materialize in front of them.

The smugglers consisted of six individuals:

• REP 5 leader with assault rifle and hard body armor
• Two REP 4's with assault rifles
• REP 4 with shotgun
• REP 4 with two BA Pistols
• REP 3 with pistol

The smugglers also had access to hand grenades.

Two of the smugglers were on guard duty, while the others were in the buildings.

Jack ran the Lawmen and I ran the smugglers. Click on photos to enlarge...

As you can see, the officers were fairly well scattered, with one even materializing behind a smuggler guard! Except he wound up facing the wrong direction.

The guard did pass his in sight test against the officer who materialized in front of him, but he missed. The officer returned fire and the guard went down hard, obviously dead, with a mag slug in his chest.

The other guard passed his in sight test and nailed one officer with his shotgun, out of the fight. The other smugglers started coming out of the buildings, with the REP 4 assault rifle taking down another officer after an exchange of fire.

The action then got hot and hectic. Jack took down my shotgun guy and my female with the two BA pistols. I managed to take down another officer by having the REP 3 toss a grenade, stun him, and then have another guy with an assault rifle run up and finish him off.

In the end, my leader faced off with the sergeant, and lost out, taking a laser pistol shot to the head. My last two smugglers went down when the other officer managed to pop out and shoot them both in the back.

The Law officers lost 2 dead and one wounded, while the smugglers lost 2 dead and 4 badly wounded. The wounded also had an uncomfortable court date to look forward to...

A VERY fun game, it only took us 30 minutes, we'll probably play it again tonight. I highly recommend CR 3.0 for any skirmish games, it is easily adaptable, and the period specific rules (NUTS!, 5150, etc.) are really good and worth the price.

Some of the neat terrain features (the stack of pipes and rubble piles) were picked up from a dealer at Siege of Augusta. The figures are my usual mis-mash, with the police played by SST Skinnies, and the smugglers from West Wind, Warzone, and Hasslefree.