SCURVY DOGS: A DC Universe Space Pirate Campaign

FOLLOW ME, YOU SCURVY DOGS! WE’LL BE UP TO THE SCUPPERS IN EITHER BLOOD OR LOOT BY TOMORROW!!!”


What follows is the outline for a Heroclix campaign set in the DC universe.


One player takes operates a team of Space Pirates that have recently arrived in our Solar System and are bent on causing mischief. His opponent will operate a variety of heroes determined to put a stop to the evil pirates. The two players will heretofore be referred to as the Pirate and the Hero.


WARNING: This campaign requires owning or borrowing a lot of generics. Also, it presumes you own or have access to the DC Map set.


BACKGROUND: The pirates manning the space craft Centauri’s Revenge are clever. Knowing that Earth seemed to be a nexus for super-powerful beings, they came up with a plan for drawing some of the most powerful away from Earth while they make a series of lightning strikes to steal valuable commodities and technology.The pirates fake a distress call from the planet Rigel 4. The Justice League responds to the call. The pirates’ clever plan has worked! For the duration of their campaign of evil in our Solar System, Earth’s most powerful heroes will be absent.


FORMING THE PIRATE CREW:The Pirate now forms a pool to represent his crew. For each scenario, he will make his team up this pool. His crew is made up of several named figures and a lot of generics. It’s based on the logic of mixing-and-matching universes. Figures will be taken from the Marvel and Indy universes and used as alien creatures and races in the DC campaign. The Pirate uses any of the following pieces to form his crew:

Any ONE version of Corsair. He’ll be your captain. Give him a really cool pirate name of your own choice. If you don’t have Corsair, then choose Hepzibah, Nebula, Raza or Nightcrawler as your captain. You MUST use at least one of these four characters.


Any ONE version of Hepzibah and any ONE version of Nebula. (Space pirate babes. No crew should be without a few.)


Any ONE version of Abomination or Ultimates Abomination. In this campaign, he represents a semi-intelligent alien creature that has been tamed by either Hepzibah or Nebula. Pick one of these two girls to be the lady to which Abomination is fanatically loyal. Abomination may only appear in a scenario if his lady does as well. If his lady is ever captured, Abomination may then appear without her, but must always start with one click of damage. If the lady is KO’d while Abomination is on the board, he immediately heals to full strength. (It doesn’t pay to tick him off.) Obviously, if you don’t use either Hepzibah or Nebula, you can’t use Abomination.


Any ONE version of Nightcrawler. (Here he’s not an Earth-born mutant, but a space-born pirate. I think he’s probably much happier.)

Any ONE version of Raza.

Any ONE version of Brood Queen. (Yet another alien, um, babe.)

Any ONE Skrull General

Any ONE Ruling Caste Dominator (Serving with the pirate crew in hopes of one day manipulatively using them to carry out his own nefarious schemes)

Korg

Miek

Cho'd

ONE Parademoon Drill Sargent (The leader of the abandoned Parademon squad described below.)

Any one Science Police. This is an intergalactic cop who was on the take and ran off with the pirates after Internal Affairs got wind of her illicit activities.


A couple of Dreadnaughts of any level. Every space pirate crew needs to keep a battle robot or two handy.


The following three characters represent a pirate wearing high-tech battle armor. You may pick ONE OF EACH of any level:


Intergang Agent—(During an attempt to use a matter transmitter to rob Fort Knox, this agent was inadvertently transported to another planet. He subsequently joined the pirate crew.)


Mandroid


Doombot. . Optionally, the Pirate may play a Doombot (If he chooses the old-school version) atop a Lexcorp battlesuit base.



The next set of characters are the various aliens that make up the bulk of the crew. Use as many as you like of all available levels. With these guys, it doesn’t matter if they get captured. There’s always more lurking about the lower decks to take their place:

Rock Trolls (Here they are aliens from a primitive planet rather than Asgardian creatures. They were recruited for the crew when the captain convinced their tribe that he was a god decended from the heavens. Thus, their Special Power applies to the captain rather than Ulik.)

Saurian Troopers


Skrull Warriors, Agents, and Commandos


Kree


Brood Warriors


Moloids


Morlocks

Shi’ar

Badoons

Dominators

Vampire Lackeys. (Space is full of races of female vampires. It’s a well-known fact.)


Parademon Grunts, Scouts and Warriors. (Representing a contingent that was left behind on an alien world by Darkseid after an unsuccessful invasion attempt. Abandoned by their lord and master, they joined the pirate crew.)


“THERE BE ONLY ONE CAPTAIN ON THIS SHIP": The Pirate’s designated Captain has permanent leadership, which can not be countered or outwitted. The Captain is worth double points if KO’d.


THE HERO: The Hero may only use DC universe heroes of 100 points or less. Superman, Wonder Woman and the other powerhouses have flown off to Rigel 4 in answer to the fake distress signal. The Hero should use heroic characters, but if both players mutually agree that a particular villain might be helping against the pirates, such characters can be included. (Catwoman, for instance, is a reasonable choice.)


Within these restrictions, the Hero has several options. He may form one team to chase the pirates about from scenario to scenario. OR he may form a different team for each scenario (with the option of reusing some heroes in different scenarios still available.) He may only use ONE version of any named figure and must use the same version throughout the campaign. When he’s allowed to use generics, the Hero may use as many as he likes.


“ARRR! NO CHAINS WILL EVER HOLD ME!”: Some members of the pirate crew are unique. If they are KO’d during the course of a Scenario, roll one die. On a six, they are captured. A rescue attempt may be made late in the campaign, but until then the captured figure is not available to use.The following figures may be captured: Corsair, Hepzibah, Nebula, Raza, Abomination, Nightcrawler, Brood Queen, Skrull General, Science Police, Korg, Miek, Parademon Drill Sgt,  Intergang Agent, Mandroid, and Doombot.


Whether or not a figure is captured, points for KO’d figures are awarded normally throughout the first four scenarios. The Hero will have a chance to earn extra points for captured characters in the last scenario by staving off a rescue attempt.


DESTROYED: The Dreadnaughts can usually be repaired after a battle, but if the damage is too severe, then they are removed from the campaign. Whenever a Dreadnaught is KO’d, roll one die. On a six, the Dreadnaught is either damaged beyond repair or its remains could not be recovered. In either case, it is removed permanently from the campaign.


The remaining members of the pirate crew are all instantly replaceable. Sort of like the guys on Star Trek who wore red shirts.


FEAT CARDS: Both players may use Feat cards as desired when building teams. For the Pirate, the “In Contact With Oracle” card represents a link to their ship’s tactical computer.


ON TO THE CAMPAIGN:


IMPORTANT NOTE: All characters who aren’t captured are fully healed between scenarios. The Centauri’s Revenge has a really good auto-doc on board.


VICTORY CONDITIONS: Keep a running total of points throughout the campaign. He with the most points wins! ARRRRRRR!


Scenario #1, or “Rob ‘em blind then steal their eyes.”: With its cloaking devise active, the Centauri’s Revenge approaches the moon. Captain ? uses the Revenge’s powerful computer to lock on to the Watchtower teleporter. He beams an attack force over, determined to loot the Watchtower of its valuables.


TEAMS: Each player forms a 400 point team. The Hero is not obligated to stick to Justice League characters, since it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that the JLA called up some reserves while their more powerful members are off-planet.


SET-UP: The Hero sets up first, placing his characters on or within two squares of the conference table.The Pirate sets up within three squares of the teleportation pad (but not actually on it.) If the size of his force requires it, he may set up four or five squares away.Objects are set up normally—any clear square outside the starting areas.The Pirate will move first.


GOALS: Points are awarded normally for KOs. Also, the pirates get extra points for stealing trophies and information. To steal something from the trophy room: A Pirate character must be on or adjacent to a trophy and perform a power action. This represents him placing a teleport device on the trophy, causing it to be beamed back to the ship. Place a Special marker on the trophy to represent that it is gone. Each stolen trophy is worth 20 points. [The trophies will bring a nice price at the tech black market on Altair 17. Many alien cultures are especially eager to get their hands on Earth-made large robot penguins.]


The Hero may destroy a trophy (using normal “destroying an object” rules) to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, but each destroyed object awards the Pirate 5 points. If all four trophies are destroyed by the Hero, the Pirate gets 100 points for forcing the JLA to embarrass itself.To steal information, the Pirate must have a figure in the Monitor Womb in the middle of the map, on or adjacent to the chair. The figure may perform a power action, which represents attaching a device to the Watchtower computer system that downloads valuable information to the Centauri’s Revenge computer banks. This can be done once and earns the Pirate 20 points.


“RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY”: Any of the Pirate’s figures that enter the teleportation pad, whether by movement, being carried, being TK’d, or knock back, is beamed back to the Revenge and thus escapes from the scenario. The Hero’s characters will not teleport, since the Revenge’s computer will not recognize them as crew.


The scenario ends when everyone on one side has been KO’d or has fled.


Scenario #2, or “Shiver me timbers, lads, we’ll show them brown-coats how a real man fights!” : Acting quickly—always conscious that Superman and the other powerhouses could return at any moment, the Captain takes the Revenge into orbit about Earth. Using his sensors and his contacts within various Earth governments, he launches a strike against a secret U.S. military base.


SET-UP: Use the Secret Headquarters map that came with the Indy starter set. If this map isn’t available, the players should be able to agree on a viable alternative among available maps. If another map is used, the players will also have to decide on a location for the secret weapon and locations from which the Pirates can steal information.


Both players field 400 point teams. For this scenario, the Hero must include at least 4 HDC troopers (he may use more if he desires) as well as whichever 100-point-or less DC heroes he chooses.


The Pirate sets up and moves first, using the end of the map with the goldfish ponds. The Hero sets up on the opposite side. Objects are placed normally.


The Pirate also places one Special Marker somewhere in his start area. This is his portable teleport pad, which works exactly the same way for escaping the scenario as the JLA teleport pad did in the previous scenario. The Marker must be placed in a clear, unoccupied square after the Pirate sets up his figures.


After all other set-up is complete, the Hero places a Special Marker on one of the wooden crates to the front/right of his start area. This is the secret weapon the pirates want to steal.The Pirate will move first.


OBJECTIVES: To steal more stuff. Their primary objective to steal the working model of a new Hyper-Warp engine recently developed by the military. This is the Special marker on the crate. (The device is actually inside the crate.) The Pirate can successfully steal it by attaching a transport device to it as described in the first scenario. (He doesn’t need to bust open the crate or anything. He just beams the engine, crate and all, up to the Revenge.) Stealing the engine scores the pirate 50 points. The Hero may NOT destroy the engine.


The Pirate may also steal information as described in scenario #1. Each line of computer consoles may yield one batch of information. Each line of computers, no matter how many squares long, can be raided for info only once. The information retrieval device may be attached to any portion of the computer.Each of batch is worth 10 points. Points for KO’d enemy figures are also counted up.


The battle continues until one side is KO’d or has fled.


Scenario #3, or “No stinkin’ aliens are movin’ in on MY territory!”: The pirate captain has learned that a crime lord in Gotham City has stolen a prototype cold fusion generator. Something else that would fetch a nice price at Altair 17’s black market. (And pay for a good time at the flesh pots of Altair 16. And Altair 15. And Altair 19.) The attempt to steal the stolen generator forces heroes, cops and villains into an uneasy alliance.


TEAMS: 400 point teams again. The Pirate, as usual, picks from his pool. The Hero must use one of the following characters for the crime lord: Two-Face, Penguin or Kingpin. (Kingpin, in the DC Universe, represents the sort of generic crime boss that’s always popping up in Gotham.) He must also use at least four crooks (criminals, henchmen, lackeys and thugs.) He may use more than four and may include ONE con artist. The Hero must use at least TWO Gotham police and/or Undercover Agents. He may use more and may use Commissioner Gordon if he wishes. The rest of his force are 100-point-or-less DC heroes.


SET-UP: Use the Warehouse map that came with the DC premiere set. If this map isn’t available, the players should be able to decide on a good alternative. (The Construction Site or Truck Stop both work well.) The Hero places a Special marker atop any of the crates inside the warehouse. This is the much-coveted generator. He sets up at least two of his crooks within two spaces of this crate. He sets up the crime lord and his remaining crooks in the “office” area at end of the warehouse, placing them inside the smaller rooms located there. He sets up his heroes and cops along one of the outside edges of the map as per regular set-up rules.


The Pirate uses the opposite outside edge as his starting area, setting up as per normal rules after the Hero finishes setting up. He also places his teleport pad in his starting area as described in Scenario #2.The pirate will move first.


GOALS: To steal the generator. This can be stolen exactly the same way as described in the previous scenarios. It’s worth 100 points to the Pirate.Naturally, points for KO’d figures are still awarded.


Scenario #4, or “Say your prayers, little man, before I sent you to Hades!”: Pirates are never adverse to killing politicians and don’t mind turning a profit on the deal as well. A particular Senator from Metropolis is pushing to open formal diplomatic relations with the planet Rann. Certain other alien governments would rather not see that happen. They’ve promised the crew of the Centauri’s Revenge a hefty bounty for seeing that the senator doesn’t survive until the next congressional session.


TEAMS: 400 point teams once again. The Hero must use at least two Metropolis SCU figures as well as the usual suspects of 100-points-or-less heroes.


SET-UP: Use the Metropolis street map. Set up normally, with the Hero choosing his start area and setting up first. The Hero places the politician pog next to one of his figures. This is the politician’s bodyguard.The Pirate sets up his teleport pad as per the previous scenarios.The Pirate will move first.


GOAL: To kill the politician. The politician does not move on his own and cannot be given actions. He moves along with his bodyguard, using the slowest movement rate of the two. He is immune to damage of all kind until his bodyguard is KO’d. Once his bodyguard is out, he can be damaged normally. If KO’d, he’d been killed and the Pirate gets 150 points.


If the bodyguard is KO’d, the politician can still be taken in tow by another of the Hero’s figures, but the immunity to damage is gone. Any figure carrying the politician can still attack and take other actions normally. Remember, though, that the politician still blocks LOF like any other figure.


Points for KO’d figures are still calculated normally.The battle continues until one side has fled or been KO’d.


IF NO PIRATES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED—the campaign ends here. Add up all points earned by both sides. High score wins.


BUT—if one or more pirates are captured, then go to Scenario #5.


Scenario #5, or “We can’t leave our shipmates behind, maties!”: The pirates make an attempt to rescue any captured crewmen before fleeing the Solar System with their loot.


TEAMS: 400 points. The Hero must use at least two Checkmate Agents and/or DEO agents on his team. The rest come from his usual 100-point-or-less DC hero collection.The Pirate does NOT count the cost of captured pirates when building his force.


SET-UP: Use the Star Labs map. The Hero sets up first. He places the captures pirates any of the three holding cells on the map. He may spread them out among the cells any way he wants, placing up to four to a cell if he wants/needs to. For this scenario, the prisoners shown on the map are considered not to be there. All cell interiors are clear terrain.The Hero’s start area is opposite the front entrance. Set up is normal, except he may also place one hero adjacent to each occupied cell. The Pirate sets up on the side of the map that includes the front entrance. He places a Special marker for his teleport pad in his start area as per the previous scenarios.


GOALS: To rescue friends. Any pirate figures adjacent to the entrance to a cell may perform a power action and thus deactivate the force field blocking the entrance. (No one can enter or exit a cell until this happens.) When the cell is opened, the pirate figure inside has been freed and immediately become a part of the Pirate’s force. Corsair, Hepzibah, Nebula, Brood Queen, Abomination, Raza, Science Police and Nightcrawler are tossed their weapons and enter the fray with full dials. Intergang Agent, Mandroid and Doombot are without their armor and start on their last click. The Doombot is grounded. None of these three can be healed.


Any prisoner who is not freed by the end of the Scenario—or who is freed but is KO’d before reaching the teleport pad and escaping—earns double their point value for the Hero. A separate die roll to see if they are captured is not necessary in this case—a KO means the escaping figure is automatically recaptured. (These points are in addition to the points earned when the figures were KO’d in a previous scenario.) Any other pirate figure KO’d earn normal points for the Hero. If a member of the rescue force that’s eligible for capture is KO’d and a 6 is rolled on one die, then that character is indeed captured for double points. The pirate gets normal points for KOing the Hero’s figures. The Captain is worth quadruple points if he’s a prisoner at the end of the campaign.The battle continues until all figures on one team are KO’d or have fled.


The Pirate may not voluntarily flee the battle with any of his figures until he has freed at least one prisoner or had at least one of his figures KO’d.


Once the rescue attempt ends, add up all victory points earned during the campaign. High score wins.