Session 3, or finally -- The Campaign

 I do not like the fact that GW's Spec Ops campaign is basically just a collection of remarkably similar bonuses being granted to agents via different methods. I don't really think it works.

Thus, I had to come up with my own variant. I started with the following necessities:

1. Lists are semi-set at the start.  No later recruits via requisition, no subbing out, no 20-model roster. If there are only a few players, giving them input or options (in a Pick 2 of 3, making all three options and letting them choose can be a good idea.

2. Skip over just being a collection of modifiers lumped onto models, and have everything have a purpose

3. Integrate all the parts into the missions and/or the campaign itself

Next, I looked at all the given parts: Base, Equipment, Map, Casualties, Spec Ops, and Levels

How they work currently is... well, my entire problem with the rules. That, and supplying the models myself means that I can't really add 20-model lists for ten players... meaning also that we need to review the casualties rules and equipment.

So... my final creation is as follows:

- Base: mission 1 was to establish the base, after that, we added the functional parts of the base and their advantages.

* Med Bay (see "Casualties" below). Also, a place to record Battle Scars, and remove them

* Comms (See "Spec Ops" below) Also a place to record Spec Op progress

* Armory (see "equipment" below) Also a place to record found gear

* Command Center: (see "Map" below) Also a place to record the Spec Op tokens gained from completion

- Equipment: unlocked once the Armory is available. Instead of starting with nothing and having to buy requisition, every model starts with their needed gear. In addition, they get one of each item listed in their regular gear list. For the fun of it, I also let them roll on either the Ranged or Melee table (I would now also add in the "Rare Faction" table as well) and keep one of that result. During each mission after the Armory is available, they may equip agents from the armory as per normal limits

- Map: I made a map of the region (in Inkarnate), that had a graph of 8 x 11 boxes. I placed a base for each player. The map involved walls/restrictors, dangers, resources, and monitor stations. Between games, players could choose to conduct missions:

* Explore: reveal an unexplored square

* Disarm: use a monitor to disarm a threat

* Open: use a monitor to open a region or change the status on certain walls/doors

* Harvest: harvest D3/level resources from resource nodes

* Attack: attack the opponent's base, and cause D3 damage to one of their components

* Repair: Use 2 resources to repair D3 attack damage to one module

Monitors and resource nodes can only be used once each per round.

Simple system: choose how many missions will be attempted. Roll that many dice. If there are doubles, reroll one. These are the Mission Fail numbers. Then, roll 2 dice: if either die is NOT a Fail Number, it passes. EX: I conduct 3 missions. I roll a 3, 3, 5 -> reroll a 3 to a 4. My Fail Numbers are 3,4,5. I then roll 2 dice for mission one and declare its type. I want to explore. I roll a 1 and a 4. I succeed in exploring. I then declare mission 2 to be a harvest mission, and roll a 3 and a 5, failing. Then I declare a second harvest mission, and roll a 5 and a 6. This succeeds as well.   

- Casualties: Once the Med Bay is available, one agent active in the mission is nominated as the Medic - if the team has an actual medic, it MUST be that model. If the Medic is not Incapacitated at the end of the mission, they get some bonuses to the post-battle recovery rolls. 

First... For every model that is injured, roll a die (active medic grants a reroll), and on a 3+ they are fully recovered. On a 1-2, they are not fully healed by the next mission -- lose one wound for every 5 they have (minimum 1) 

Then... For every incapacitated agent, roll a die. On a 3-6 they recover fully. On a 1-2, they receive a Battle Scar... but if the Medic is still active, they can change the roll by 1 up or down (this is the part I'm considering changing... there are too many rolls, especially in a row... but I think a better system would be for the medic to get a certain number of tokens that can be used to change the roll, and the player can choose how many to use and when, with the Leader and Medic model automatically getting the ability to change their own... perhaps 3 tokens?). If they still manage to die, all that happens is that the given agent is reduced to level 0 and loses whatever gear he was equipped with.  

Finally... after playing one battle with the scared operative, they can roll to get rid of the scar -- on a 3+ they remove the effects.

- Spec Ops: mostly, I just needed to revise a few things. For one, given our limited timetable, they only needed to complete 3 Tac Ops over at least two games to finish Part 1. Second, I removed requisition and some other rewards, and replaced some of them with Tokens. The Tokens are recorded on the Command Center, and each one gives a one-use benefit:

* Med Tokens grant an auto-pass for all Medical tests after a game

* Scout Tokens grant d3 models a scout move after deployment ends but before the next phase of the game 

* Initiative Tokens allow the player to seize the initiative after losing the initiative roll. Only one player can use their token in the same TP.

- Levels

Finishing the first mission grants the team experience -- I used 30 the first time around, allowing for four models to gain experience levels.

I also did not restrict what specialism an agent could take a specialism in -- I figured that while each one has specific proper uses, the ability to bolster a weak area was a choice the players should have instead of merely augmenting an existing strength. That being said, I think that the bonuses achieved in what were the only options before are better options for them in general. 

I let them pick the specialization, but they rolled on the table to pick what they got.  

Everything else, I introduced naturally. I'll create a streamlined product to show it all off, later.

Project open to criticism.

Preparation

 Preparation work: School Kill Teams League

1. Models

This was all sparked by my own desire to paint only a few things -- perhaps trying to batch-paint an entire company of Iron Hands had exhausted me? What I ended up with is a plan to create ten teams: staying mostly with Compendium teams instead of Bespoke ones for the ease as well as the balance.

In the end, it was easy to find 90% of the .stl files I needed, and my bitz box and creative license covered the rest.

2. Play Necessities

I found a craft storter container with 14 clear boxes inside. I had originally thought to use it as a carrying-case, but many of the models were too wide. Instead, I filled each box with the same stuff:

- two themed barriers

- enough engage and conceal tokens for every model

- cards I made (that featured pics of each model) with all their stats

- 4 white and 4 black dice

-  ten plain yellow plastic tokens that dry-erase markers can work on (for various things)

- Tac Ops cards

- A summary sheet for each group

And for the overall games, I used

- (5) 3d Printed round trackers

- (5) It's a Skin play mats 22"x30"

- extra pieces as needed

- available superglue and paint

I had also ordered the Battle Systems Alien Core set (x3) and Cyberpunk Core set (x1) for walls and scatter terrain... but they didn't come in time before we began, so instead to start we used:  

- some 3d printed terrain of my own, mostly from the LOOT Cities Kickstarter

- TTCombat's MDF Beta Complex and Delta Complex scenery (again, my own)

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For the entirety of session 1, I used these materials and taught students how to play. When the walls came in, though, things got really interesting.

Session 3 is what I would call the true Season One of the league I had wanted to run. I called it The Selvatico incident, and it focused on an Imperium system thrown into chaos and rebellion as a Space Hulk slipped out of warp and careened into its moon.

Of note... one of the primary issues I had with actually running a campaign was that the missions took so long to start with, that we never had time to finish. And I was running them out of a classroom with nowhere I could move the games and store them for a week.

One of my best resources came about toward the end of Session 2: an empty room. The teacher running a D&D club later in the week noticed that the science lab next to his room was unoccupied -- we have some weird population things going on, and a s a result there's some retirees whose jobs have not been filled.

Once I could set up the games ahead of time, and leave them up, we could finish later AND handle systems such as prolonged wounds and reinforcements. But that opened up another issue...

Season Zero: Kill Teams Spec Ops League

 It's been a journey.

I've learned a lot about how this has had to go, and what works better (and worse) for teaching younger players the game. The biggest element has been enthusiasm -- my own, and theirs.

Firstoff... Let me say that I view the first session of the Spec Ops League as a learning experience, and an attempt to court new players who might be interested. One of the critical disconnects occurred during the initial planning of it all -- with Admin wanting to populate the program predominantly with middle schoolers who had difficulties in ELA -- which is not necessarily a bad choice, but did not yield many individuals who were truly interested in the game itself.

It is what it is.

I taught six kids how to play. We met weekly, and I had a new mission designed for each week. The main problem I ran into was that my actual campaign idea was not really feasible to do with learners and without the terrain I had requisitioned from the program (it took three months to arrive). I had written an entire campaign with backstory and segues from one mission to the next, and I'd designed it all to integrate with some of the more elaborate portions of the KT Spec Ops league (more on that later!)

Simple missions... no "wounded" status, no items, no levels, no bases. It was my premade teams, and a revolving opportunity to try out different armies. One really loved Orks, another Primaris, and another Sisters. By the end, if any of them had decided to continue, we would have had something to build on.

But three things got in the way: the D&D game run through the program by one of our teachers / activity leaders really took off... a new aide launching a Overwatch Club for FPS gaming... and the woman we have coming in to do a specialized theater program launched her "Cosplay Tuesdays" crafting program. Plus, the kids I was trying to recruit anew All got involved with the Spring Musical. All my kids went to other activities. All but one.

The Primaris player loved the game... right up until baseball season, when he got on the team. But around then, another player joined, and I taught her how to play with her Ecclesiarchy team.

We limped on.

Finally, the third session began. Two Highschoolers joined, and both were immediately enthusiastic. The Sisters player joined the cosplay group, but the other two really dug in. I even printed a Wyrmblade team as an alternative, as well as some Pathfinders.

I also added some elements I had been considering for a while, but I had the task to "fixing" them to match up with my needs.

Currently, I'm set to run them in their 4th mission tonight after school, as well as some maintenance elements such as wounded operatives and the like. It's going well, but it definitely took some time to get here.