Stargrave
Stargrave and the ACE Trucking Co. Crew
I have recently got into Stargrave by Joseph McCullough / Osprey Publishing https://ospreypublishing.com/stargrave
A few of the members of the Causeway Giants Gaming Group have got together and decided to play Stargrave. I like skirmish games, and I like sci-fi skirmish games so I was all over Stargrave in an instant. Having purchased, played and loved Frostgrave (the fantasy version of the game if you were to call it that, and also being written by J McCullough) it was an easy YES from me to get me into the game.
I jumped on-line and picked up a few cheap sci-fi / modern minis that would work, whilst at the same time throwing my money into the pot for a share of the official Stargrave minis from Northstar Military Figures https://www.northstarfigures.com/ that the CGGG guys were purchasing.
Whilst I was waiting for my Stargrave rulebook to arrive I headed over to the Osprey site to grab the free downloads they had available (crew sheets, quick reference guide and crew creation rules) so I could get started.
As soon as my minis arrived I started to work through the crew creation to see what I could figure out in terms of my crew. Everything looked good and I had no inspiration. I was reading something else (vaguely sci-fi related) when it struck me - Space Freight!
I remembered the 2000AD comic strip ACE Trucking Co and the tales of the crew therein. A quick check on-line for a crash course reminder and I now had my inspiration, and my potential crew. I knew that I didn't want to keep true to the comic, but just use ACE Trucking Co as my muse.
Fast forward a few weeks and five of the Stargrave crew gathered together in a shed in the middle of nowhere for a Stargrave Crew Build Day. As I had an idea of my crew format and what I needed I was ahead of the curve (having names, potential abilities etc. previously worked out), and it also helped that a few on the minis I had bought ahead of time were one-piece metal figures making my assembly a little bit quicker.
Having got the crew assembled, I thought a little bit about a background and have come with an bit of a backstory:
Stargrave – Sector 7 Report
#Ref: ACE Trucking Co.
Sector 7 Space Ranger Report #14644-94407-A
Classification Level #Alpha
Incident Date #01-08-2021
Ranger Smith and Ranger Wesson attended an incident at the BLUE-MEGA-Mining-Corp refining facility on Tatra-B following reports of an attack and theft.
A freighter with ACE Trucking Co. logo and ComShipID Peter the Grate, landed outside the perimeter of the refinery at gate #2, and informed refinery control they were there to collect several canisters of Carbonite. Detailed manifests were transferred by the ships AI to the both gate #2 control tower and gate #2 security tower as well as central control and central security. Although the refinery had nothing in it's schedule for collection, all documentation was assessed to be correct. Copies of all documentation are now held by the Space Rangers.
After the crew of ten entered security control tower at gate #2, a power outage occurred in the gate #2 complex. Security surveillance was cut when power was lost within gate #2 complex so information of what occurred is scant and second hand.
From the information gathered by Space Rangers in attendance, a short gun battle took place within gate #2 complex, killing several of BLUE-MEGA-Mining-Corp security personnel, and injuring several administrative staff.
Security surveillance to the rest of the refinery was cut and so Space Rangers are relying on physical evidence gathered at the scene and reports gathered from any eye witnesses.
From information gathered, it seems the crew hijacked the internal BLUE-MEGA-Mining-Corp refinery software and provided themselves safe access to the area of secure vault #4. How this was undertaken with a power outage in gate #2 complex is still to be determined.
The secure vaults can only be opened by cryptokey and fingerprint combination, and without these forced entry to secure vaults needs to be undertaken. Forcing entry to BLUE-MEGA-Mining-Corp is listed as difficult, if not impossible without specialist tools, and Space Ranger intel suggests some knowledge of secure vault construction may have been employed. Possible leads are someone from BLUE-MEGA-Mining-Corp may be working with the crew or passing information to the crew. Again exactly how entry was gained to secure vault #4 is still to be determined.
No records at the refinery exist of what was actually held within secure vault #4, although following Space Ranger contact with BLUE-MEGA-Mining-Corp head office it is believed an unspecified quantity of Unobtainium was housed within secure vault #4. All material within the vault was reported missing.
Space Rangers have picked up a COMShipID signal matching Peter the Grate and several Space Ranger ships are currently in pursuit.
Although no footage of what occurred inside the refinery exists, Space Rangers have the footage of the crew approaching gate #2. The following information has been distributed to all Space Rangers in Sector 7 and all Space Rangers have been tasked to Detain and Question any and all suspects on the following list.
## Detain and Question List ##
Ace Garp – Owner of ACE Trucking Co.
Roguish Human Male – Generally listed as Captain. Suspected of running a con in Sector 5. Has a warrant for unpaid parking fine and unpaid ship repair following an emergency docking on Station-75. Total of 12,000 credits owed to various parties on Station-75.
Chiefy – Possible Co-owner of ACE Trucking?
Biomorph Male – Generally listed as First Mate. Unknown origin. Unknown species. Unknown name. Commonly referred to as Chiefy. Suspected of being involved in assisting Ace Garp in a con in Sector 5. Wanted for questioning in connection to kidnapping incident on Zanthar-B.
GBH – Ship Security
Human Male – GBH, aka Slab. Runs security detail for ACE Trucking. Wanted on multiple counts of disturbing the peace from sites across the quadrant. Not known to say much. Suspected former USCOM Marine Gerald Brian Hibbard. Possibly part of the USCOM genetic experimentation programme. Possibly defective.
Dave – Ace's Personal Bodyguard
Human / Alien Male – Dave, aka Dead Dave. Act's as personal bodyguard to Ace Garp. Has died on several occasions in service to Ace Garp. Each time Dave has been tagged after a gun fight, he has walked out of the morgue, all wounds fully healed. Possibly alien technology or genetics at work.
Ghost – Ship AI
Robot – Ghost is a ship AI. Unknown origin. Suspected USCOM Artificial Intelligence. Unknown how Ace Garp has come to possess such technology, or why the AI seems to stick with Ace Garp and ACE Trucking Company. Ghost has been found controlling several ships all at once. Unsure how the AI manages to do this.
Fatty Arkl – Second Mate
Human Male – Fatty Arkl has been listed as prior-owner of the ship Peter the Grate before the ship was purchased by ACE Trucking. Fatty Arkl is a known gambler, and before ACE Trucking purchased the ship Arkl owed The Grand Casino 150,000 credits. As of the sale of Peter the Grate to ACE Trucking all prior debts have been settled. Fatty Arkl was last seen in The Grand Casino two weeks prior to the the incident at the head of this report.
Feck the Freak – Ship's Engineer
Alien Male – Feck, aka Feck the Freak. Unknown origin. Unknown species. Unsubstantiated reports of Feck having flexible limbs, allowing him to reach difficult spots. Has been known to abscond holding cells. Recommend a laser grid security on any future holding cells.
Lugjack – Crew
Human Male – Former crew to Fatty Arkl on Peter the Grate. Wanted in several sectors in connection with petty theft. Lugjack was seen accompanying Fatty Arkl to the entrance of The Grand Casino two weeks prior to the incident at the head of this report. Security footage from the casino shows he did not enter the casino at all.
Klegg – Ship's Medic
Human Male – Klegg is known to have worked in several private clinics following a short time in USCOM. Records show discharge on medical grounds.
Joobaloo – Engineer's Assistant
Alien Male – Former crew to Fatty Arkl on Peter the Grate. Unknown origin. Unknown species.
## End ##
End of Report
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
J