Operation Last Train (2019)

In the far future, humans have spread across the galaxy. Gigantic ships ply the stars - stars that lie under the shadow of a terrible swarm. The militaries of humanity are joined in an impossibly huge fleet to dam the bugs’ advance, but many planets have already fallen. While the bulk of the fleets weighs anchor for refit, a fast cutter is dispatched to Helos - one such ruined world - with a complement of one hundred volunteers. They have ninety days to rescue as many stranded survivors as they can.

Operation Last Train is a solo or cooperative game designed to use sci-fi soldiers from any range in any combination. Teams of six volunteers drop in mixed units to rescue civilians. They are opposed by a never-ending tide of ravening bugs. Fast combat and a simple AI make for quick and exciting games that fit on a kitchen table. Track the status and experience of each volunteer and rotate rosters to meet the needs of the day. This is a game of emergent narrative. It’s easy to make the world personal and engaging. The volunteers may come from every company and regiment the future could hold. No two drops need look or play the same.

Each turn, a volunteer may take a move action and a shoot action (any melee combat is resolved as part of the move action that brings volunteers and bugs into contact). Combat is resolved with ten-sided dice. The bugs have no ranged capabilities - in any shoot action, the bugs are either missed, knocked down, or killed depending on the roll. In melee, the volunteers' roll decides everything: a volunteer's failure is her enemy's success. A volunteer's load-out and regiment determine how many dice she rolls, and what qualifies as a hit. After the volunteers have performed all of their actions, a simple AI governs the movement of any bugs on the table.

Scenarios lay out the specifics of the volunteers' objectives. The game ends when those objectives are met, or all volunteers are off of the table. Generally, objectives revolve around searching for, and escorting survivors off the table.