Playtest Game Report

A couple of buddies came over Tuesday night. We were planning to play some PKowboys. We had previously discussed doing something similar to Warhammer Quest, which we have been playing lately, with starship crews. I had written up some rules which we looked over and wound up playing.



I didn't keep notes, but here's pretty much how it went.
Both guys made a small, unarmed ship with four crew and set out to salvage. They got stopped by a government warship, but their papers checked out and they were sent on their way. They got lost, but working together, managed to get back on track without too much trouble. Finally, they found a derelict ship they decided to try and loot. We played out the tabletop using PKombat (playtest Sci-Fi rules based on PKowboys by Nick Hawkins).
Upon exiting the airlocks, they found the corridors covered with a secreted resin-- sure signs it was Infested (think aliens/genestealers). They ventured down a long corridor, with Mik's "scruffy female Engineer" leading far out in front.
They found several security rooms, and as the Engineer was searching one, a fire broke out and started to spread. Leaving the room, three "hatchlings" (Tyranid Rippers mounted individually) rounded the end of the hall and attacked. With a little help from the rest of Mik's away team and some of Chris's, they killed all of them.
However, as soon as things settled down, a "juvenile" (Tyranid gaunt) dropped from the ceiling, slicing into one of Chris's crew and taking him down. The lights went out on the ship, and a giant "adult" emerged from a darkened Security room.
Mik's two-gun blonde locked the door on the adult, grabbed Chris's down character and ran him back to his airlock, but in the ensuing melee, Mik's Engineer went down and was cut off by the juvenile. The adult muscled open the Security door, but Mik's captain Heroically hooked it with his axe and closed it again. One of Chris's crew grabbed the engineer and began to haul her the length of the corridor under they scything arms of the Infestations.




Mik's captain, in the meantime, was bound and determined that nothing would stop him from searching the Hydroponics bay and grabbing some equipment for his ship. Chris's character, having roused Mik's Engineer, decided he'd done his bit and beat his way back to the airlock. The Engineer was soon to follow, leaving Mik's captain rumaging through hydro tubing while the big nasties closed in on the only way out...




We called it at this point, it was 1:30 AM and everybody had work or school the next day. We actually felt Mik's captain had a better than even chance of getting out if he left right then, as the juvenile was wounded and the adult had to get the door open again.
All in all, everybody seemed to have fun with it. The biggest problem was the battlemat, which was a parting gift from our old RPG GM when he left town, and I ruined it by using Dry Erase markers on it!