Talnar's Tatooine Traitor

By Sterling Hershey

In their desperate struggle against the Empire, the Rebel Alliance is always in need of equipment, weapons, and supplies. Experienced procurement specialists often find they must travel to remote places of the galaxy and deal with less than savory characters to acquire material of all sorts. Such deals are always risky for everyone involved.

Lt. Talnar is one of the Rebel Alliance's best procurement agents. He used to work alone; however, a recent incident requiring his rescue forced him to rethink his tactics. A team of troopers and agents now accompany him on his acquisition missions.

Talnar's latest trip is to meet Orex and his gang of illegal tech runners at their hideout in the back streets of Mos Eisley. Talnar is here to negotiate a final deal with Orex while his team peruses the gang's sample materials.

Orex has assembled a ragtag group of mercs, techs, and others to run his operation. They specialize more in sales and acquisition than in modification or manufacture. Talnar has developed a decent working relationship with Orex and even hopes to bring him into the Rebel Alliance someday.

But Orex's gang is another story. Talnar and his team have become increasingly suspicious of them. Someone tipped off the team that there might be a traitor or Imperial informant among the gang, ready to call in the Empire at any moment. The team is concerned, but such rumors and risks go with the territory.

As this scenario begins, Talnar is negotiating with Orex and his trusted bodyguard in Orex's office. Talnar has ordered his team to keep a watchful eye on the rest of the gang while they check out the goods on hand. Some are looking over the group's limited weapons, others are discussing technical matters in the shop, and the remainder inspect a damaged skiff that one of the gang intends to repair and upgrade to show off their available speeder enhancements.

During the negotiations, Orex realizes that someone has accessed his private data store and copied all of his files regarding the Rebels. He knows it must be one of his associates and relays the information to a very disturbed Talnar. But before they can act, the Imperials raid the compound. The traitor has sold them out.

This scenario uses the eastern Mos Eisley side of the map from Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm. Place terrain tiles as indicated on the map below.

For more information about Talnar and his previous exploits, check out the "Talnar's Rescue" miniadventure for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

Rebel and Fringer Setup

The Rebel force consists of Talnar and his Rebel team. The Fringer force includes Orex and his gang. Both forces may be controlled by a single player, or each may be controlled by a separate player. The Rebels and Fringers are considered a single force when controlled by a single player (in other words, both a Rebel and a Fringer may be activated in the same phase).

The Rebel force consists of Talnar (use Rebel Officer), one Rebel Commando, three Rebel Troopers, one Elite Rebel Trooper, and one Bothan Spy, totaling 56 points. If the Rebel player chooses not to use the suggested forces, he can build a 56-point force of his own, using only Rebels (no Fringers). Also, a minimum of seven Rebels must be used, and no unique characters are allowed.

The Fringer force consists of Orex (use Dengar), one Twi'lek Bodyguard, one Ithorian Scout, one Gamorrean Guard, one Duros Mercenary, and one Mon Calamari Mercenary, totaling 56 points. If the Fringer player chooses not to use the suggested forces, he can build a 56-point force of his own, using only Fringers (no Rebels). Also, a minimum of six Fringers must be used, and no unique characters are allowed, other than to replace Dengar, if required.

The Rebels and Fringers set up first in four areas as indicated below and on the map:

Area 1, Private Office: Talnar (Rebel Officer), Orex (Dengar), Twi'lek Bodyguard
Area 2, Junk Dealer’s Shop: Two Fringers, two Rebels
Area 3, Weapon Shop: One Fringer, two Rebels
Area 4, Skiff: One Fringer, two Rebels

Rebel Setup

Fringer Setup

Rebel and Fringer Victory Conditions

The Rebel and Fringer player(s) win by accomplishing the following goal:

Retrieve the stolen data chips: The Rebel player wins if the traitor is defeated and a Rebel character escapes via landspeeder with the data chips.

Defeat the Imperials: The Rebel player also wins if all Imperials and the traitor are defeated.

Imperial Setup

The Imperial force consists of two squads:

Squad 1 includes one Imperial Officer, one Heavy Stormtrooper, two Elite Stormtroopers, and three Stormtroopers, totaling 63 points.
Squad 2 consists of one Stormtrooper Officer and three Scout Troopers, totaling 38 points.

If the Imperial player chooses not to use the suggested forces, he can build a 101-point force of his Imperial officers and Stormtroopers of any type. No unique characters are allowed. The Imperial force must be broken into two squads. If the scenario is played with four players, each Imperial player controls one squad, and the traitor is controlled by the Squad 2 player.

The Imperial player sets up second. Squad 1 may set up in either Area A or B (but not both). Squad 2 sets up in Area C. See the map for area locations.

Squad 1 Setup

Squad 2 Setup

Imperial Victory Conditions

The Imperial player wins by accomplishing the following goal:

Wipe them out. All of them.: The Imperials must defeat all of the Rebels and Fringers. To do so, they must also prevent any Rebels from escaping with the data chips.

Special Scenario Rules

Heavy Blaster: Talnar (Rebel Officer) has a Damage of 20 instead of 10 points.

The Traitor: One of the Fringers is a traitor to his gang and the Rebel Alliance. After both sides have set up their forces on the map but before the start of play, the Imperial player selects one of the Fringers to be the traitor. He must note the name of the traitor on a piece of paper, indicating starting position if more than one miniature of that type is in use. Orex and any other Fringers in Area 1 may not be the traitor.

The Imperial player keeps the traitor's name secret until it must be revealed. Once revealed, the traitor becomes part of the Imperial force. Give the character's card to the Imperial player for the remainder of the game.

The traitor is revealed in one of two ways. If the Imperial player so chooses, he may activate the traitor as one of his normal activations.

However, the Imperial player may wait until the Rebel/Fringer player activates the selected character. When the Rebel/Fringer player activates the traitor character, the Imperial player reveals the paper with the traitor's name on it. Place a medpack tile under the traitor to represent the data chips. The Imperial player immediately takes control of the traitor for this phase and may move and attack normally. This activation still counts as one of the Rebel/Fringer player's activations (they essentially lose a phase through the traitor's despicable actions). After the traitor's turn, the Rebel/Fringer player may resume their phase if they have a remaining activation (in other words, the traitor's activation was the first of the phase).

In the Imperial phase following the activation of the traitor, the Imperial player may activate only one character instead of the normal two. For all future rounds, the traitor acts as part of the Imperial force and activates per the normal rules.

When the traitor is defeated, the tile representing the stolen data chips remains in his square. Any character may pick up the chips by ending its turn on them.

Lockout: All of the doors on the map are closed and locked. Rebel and Fringer characters (including the traitor) may pass through the doors per the normal rules. Imperial characters must shoot a lock to open a door. Imperials adjacent to the door may automatically hit the lock, but they may take no other action unless they have an ability that allows it. Imperials more than one square away (and with line of sight) may shoot the lock, but they must make an attack roll versus a Defense 10 to succeed. Any door with the lock blown opens at the end of the character's turn and remains open for the rest of the game.

Look at All That Junk: For this scenario, the piles of junk printed on the map in the Junkyard are considered tall enough to block line of sight (they are not low objects). Terrain tiles added for this scenario are considered low objects. See the map for tile placement.

Not Entirely Stable: The junk piles are unstable. Place single square terrain tiles on the junk piles as indicated on the map. Any grenade exploding in a square adjacent to these tiles will cause the pile to shift. Roll a d20 for each tile.

On a roll of 1–10, the junk (tile) falls into the square where the grenade exploded.
On a roll of 11–20, the junk is pushed one square in the opposite direction from the exploding grenade.

If the shifting junk enters a square with a character, the character must make a save of 11 or take 10 points of damage from the falling debris. The character remains in the square. Squares with one tile of fallen junk are considered to have low objects. Squares with two tiles of fallen junk block line of sight and are impassible. Any characters caught in a square by two tiles of junk must use all movement to climb out to an adjacent square. The junk tiles may be moved any number of times by exploding grenades.

Damaged Skiff: The skiff is considered a low object for cover and movement. The skiff is low to the ground, so any characters moving through the skiff are considered to be on board. The skiff may be activated by any Rebel or Fringer character on board or adjacent to it. However, due to damage, the skiff immediately moves forward seven squares (where it crashes into the vaporator) or back six squares (where it crashes into the equipment terrain tile indicated on the map). The activating character chooses if the skiff goes forward or backward, but otherwise has no control over the speed or direction. The skiff may be activated only once during the scenario; the crash totally disables it. Any character hit by the skiff must save for 11 or take 10 points of damage. Any character on board the skiff when activated must save for 11 or also take 10 points of damage.

Escape Route: The landspeeder adjacent to the Storage Building provides the Rebels with a quick escape route. If they retrieve the data chips from the traitor, any Rebel (not Fringer) may end the scenario by entering the landspeeder. Entering the landspeeder requires two movement points, and the speeder is considered a low object. Should any Imperials enter the speeder, they must be defeated before the Rebel can escape.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.

About the Author

Sterling Hershey has been a full time architect and freelance game designer for over 10 years. Initially published in Polyhedron, he quickly moved on to work with West End Games on Star Wars The Roleplaying Game products. He authored Flashpoint! Brak Sector, "Rogue Elements" in The Kathol Rift and "Rodia" in the Shadows of the Empire Planets Guide. For Hideouts and Strongholds, he was both designer and cartographer. He also created the Nebulon-B deck plans for The Far Orbit Project. His work with Wizards of the Coast includes Talnar's Rescue and scenarios for Star Wars Miniatures. Sterling lives in the midwest with his wife, Mary.