Core Space: The Heist On Arcturus Station

Finally time to play some Core Space again, but for this one I've created my own map and scenario, complete with a bunch of special rules. Why? Why not! So let's dive into the heist on Arcturus Station!

The map for Arcturus Station

For this mission, the crew of the Ebon Fox are going to try to line their pockets with some goods liberated from a cargo bay. The door to the bay is locked but the Captain knows a guy that knows the code... and maybe he'll actually share that information! There are rumors on the Purge closing in on the station but surely those can't be true, right?

The "market"

For this mission there is a special map that I put together. The Ebon Fox is docked at the bottom of the board and their target is the cargo bay on the other side of the board. In the middle of the board is a small market which is also where the crew will find their contact, Dolin the trench. Also in the market are two stalls, one manned by Sundr and and the other by Mara Chaldr.

The Oblivion's Edge

On the right side of the board is the Oblivion's Edge, a club that employs Zolla-13 and is currently being patronized by the fixer Luya Faetala. There are also two other civilians that are in the sector, the delivery man Delmar Inarta and the cyberdog Skitz.

That's right, there are seven civilians in this mission! And to keep it "simple", they also have special rules. Delmar and Skitz both move freely each turn as normal. Zolla will also move each turn but she will not leave the Oblivion's Edge... at least not yet.

Dolin the trench will remain where he is until the crew persuades him to share the codes to unlock the cargo hold, but they only have one shot at this. Once they have talked with him, Dolin will start to wander around the station, moving each turn just like a regular civilian.

The cargo bay terminal.

Once the crew have the code, they can open the cargo hold door with an effortless action. If they somehow didn't get the code, then they will have to hack the console next to the door to open it (this is an easy task and only needs one success).

And this is when it hits the fan.

When the door unlocks, alarms start sounding on the station as a Purge scavenger vessel has dropped out of Core Space and closing to dock with the station. Once the alarm sounds, the hostility tracker is set to 5 and there is a chance for the Purge to arrive each turn.

Maintenance room...

...the cargo bay...

...and the storage rooms.

There are three locations the Purge could arrive; storage rooms on the right side of the board, the cargo bay in the center, or in the maintenance room on the left. If the Purge arrive in the maintenance room, they will attack the conduits and the CO2 scrubber. If the conduits are destroyed, all of the doors will remain either open or closed and no longer function (all of the doors start in the closed position). If the CO2 scrubber is destroyed, then all of the non-Purge on the board will start to suffocate. At the end of each turn after it is destroyed, roll a red die for each living creature. On a hit, they take one point of damage that ignores armor which means that the civilians will start dropping like flies.

The emergency exit.

Once the alarm sounds, all of the civilians will start to head out of the sector. All of them will move twice towards the exit which is located on the bottom of the board next to where the Ebon Fox is docked. As soon as they reach the edge of the board, they are removed and will no longer be part of the game.

If an Event card is drawn that activates the civilians, then they will follow the instructions on the card and then continue moving towards the exit during the NPC phase.

But wait, there's more!

I've also switched out all of the gear tokens for goods dice. When the traders crack open the crates, there probably won't be weapons in them. Instead they will have some kind of... stuff... that will have a random value. As soon as the goods die is found, it is rolled and has that value. What can you do with them during the mission? Nada! BUT... you can sell them Trade Phase... more on that later.

If any of the civilians are killed or die before they leave the board, remove the mini but place a random piece of gear where they died. This gear can be grabbed by the traders for an effortless action as normal. There are two exceptions to this, Sundr and Mara Chaldr. When the alarm sounds, they will spend their first action to grab the goods out of their respective crates and then start moving towards the exit. If they are killed, they drop both a piece of gear and a goods die.

And there we go! Loads of moving bits and pieces to keep track of so I'm sure that something will slip my mind once the action starts, but I'm excited to see how this narrative plays out! Until next time...