Demonsub is Exploring Space Station Zero
Recommendations: 305
About the Project
A project to chronicle my thoughts, photos and games of Space Station Zero by Adam Loper and Vincent Venturella.
Related Game: Space Station Zero
Related Company: Snarling Badger Studios
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Active
The Long Dark - Challenge 2: The Darkened Hall
The next area was a long corridor. It seemed simple enough, no dangers here.
Marik, the veteran soldier, started to walk forward and all hell let loose, specifically lasers. The whole corridor was fitted with some sort of laser grid, which Marik tripped. Four drones appeared, and started shooting, while high powered lasers lit up the corridor making movement dangerous. 
Some of the walls had seen better days and with lasers going off this caused sections to collapse, one injuring Vassa, the scientist, and another catching Doctor Willard.
Commander Krit noticed a damaged control console which he rushed to and started pulling wires trying to repair it and shut down the laser grid. He took a few burns from a laser while moving to it.
Vassa, following the Commander's example, rushes over to help but is taken down by a laser to the knee.
While the lasers were eventually deactivated, the rest of the crew concentrated fire into the drones who were swiftly taken down. No one suffered any injuries due to drone fire thanks to their armour. The area was made safe, and Vassa’s injured knee was soon better thanks to Doctor Willard.And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place - Challenge 5: Medical Bay
Three medical drones activate from their pods and walk towards our crew. They wish to perform surgery and “fix” any abnormalities with the help of the facilities at hand.
Krit’s Crusaders certainly don’t want to be fixed and while the soldiers ready their weapons, the rest plan to try to get to the pods and deactivate the drones from there.
Marik the veteran, along with Goose open up with their heavy weapons on one of the medical drones to create space for the science team. The drone stood no chance and goes down easily.
While the other two medical drones run up to Meric and Goose, Vassa the scientist hurries past on her way to one of the pods.
Likewise Commander Krit and Medical Officer Willard hurry to the pods around the other side.
Meric has his hands full but it’s nothing he can’t handle. 
Vassa, and Dr Willard get to work on shutting down one of the drones while Commander Krit reaches the furthest pod.
The two drones are surrounded and taking a fair bit of damage while, thanks to their armour, Meric and Goose suffer no damage.
The remaining medical drones are both destroyed in quick fashion before the science team even figure out which button to press on the pods. The War Prayer - Challenge 1: Docking Bay Access Port
Krit’s Crusaders enter the bay to discover live wires are everywhere. The Engineer and Vassa the scientist get to work disarming them.
Movement further up as two groups of three drones stumble forward ready to attack.
While the scientist and engineer work the highly trained Crusaders open up with their weapons, quickly dispatching one group of drones.
As the last of the wires was disarmed, only one drone from the second group made it to the crew but was quickly dispatched before it could attack. A very fast game to play and these robots stood no chance against a crew like this. Next is a new scenario for me, Challenge 5: Medical Bay.
Gropos - New Crew & A Golden Button
With my first run over I got back to painting the next crew, the miniatures I showed in the very first post of this project.
Krit’s Crusaders fresh off their ship.Unlike the last crew who were an exploration crew, the Crusaders will be a war crew. This gives them access to the advanced weaponry equipment, but I have to have at least 50% of the crew members as soldiers (not including the commander) and one of those can be a veteran soldier.
For an edge I gave them Armoured Force, so every miniature will have armour of 6 (unlike my previous crew who didn’t have any armour at all).
This time I’ll be using the optional secondary agendas. I rolled and got Rescue. Turns out someone has gone missing somewhere on the station so I’ll need to find them.
For the actual crew we have Krit Kokram (the commander), Marik (the veteran), Yash and Goose (both soldiers), the robot Engineer (the engineer), Vassa Sebbick (the scientist), and Hamelin “Doc” Willard (medical officer).
From left to right - Back Row: The Engineer, Soldier Yash, Soldier Goose, Veteran Soldier Marik. Front Row: Scientist Vassa Sebbick, Commander Krit Kokram, and Medical Officer Hamelin “Doc” Willard.I’m excited to start playing, although it won’t be as quickly as my first run though with a game every day as I’m back at work and I may post my first few games in a more condensed form as I’ll be repeating some of the same scenarios from my first run.
I was thrilled to see that I was awarded a Golden Button for this project. I’m glad people are enjoying what I post and I’m not just doing this for myself (which I would be anyway as it’s a nice record of my games).
Falling Toward Apotheosis - Challenge 7: Science Lab
Now deeper into the space station the crew find themselves in a science lab, with strange mutants behind glass. 
The glass doesn’t hold and two mutants charge out, but to a hail of gunfire. One of them is killed in swift order.
One of the experimental consoles activates and a weird distortion happens. Air begins rushing towards the phenomenon and everyone but the mutants have to fight to stand still.
Treva, the chief engineer, manages to get to another console and realises a small black hole has been created and must be contained before everything in the room is consumed. Arianna rushes to help.
While everyone rushes to get to a console to work on containing the black hole Commander Roykirk and Renton hole off to fight the last mutant.
Tirgarde, the medical officer, has almost reached another console but is struggling against the pull of the black hole. Movement is getting harder and harder.
Treva is swept off his feet and struggles to grasp the deck plating as he is drawn near the black hole. He manages to stop himself just in time.
Tirgarde cannot make any headway to the console and his flat against the wall. He can feel his feet slipping.
Arianna manages to just about get to the console and begins work. Just a few more minutes and she’ll have the containment active.
Rendon and Roykirk manage to take down the second mutant, who’s body quickly gets drawn away and into the black hole.
With the force increasing the whole crew are drawn closer and closer…
…until they are no more.Midnight on the Firing Line - Challenge 6: Pod 6
Entering this open pod with disused junk strew about Commander Roykirk spots something.
Several deranged mutants glare out from their shelters, while what appears to be gun turrets come alive.
But beyond them a large tank lights up and a small counter starts ticking down. It’s a virus bomb set to blow.
Renton takes aim at a gun turret, and badly damages it but a section of the floor gives way and he slides down, getting trapped under it.
As Roykirk and Trevor dash forward to get to the virus bomb the others stay under cover and shoot at one of the mutants, killing it.
Suddenly a turret opens up and it’s rate of fire is intense, three times it’s shots ring out but even with the cover a few shots get through and ace pilot Beck drops to the floor.
Commander Roykirk runs towards the virus bomb but soon found himself surrounded by charging deranged mutants. The drone’s protective shields envelope him and he brings his pistol to bear. Thankfully the mutants aren’t all the best fighters and Roykirk manages to hold his own, but for how long?
Treva gets to the bomb and works frantically as the clock ticked down while the fight goes on nearby.
Arianna dashes out of cover and past one of the turrets to aid the commander in fighting the mutants.
Treva was able finally diffuse the virus bomb and the last deranged mutant falls dead, thanks to Arianna’s help. That new shield drone has really proved it’s usefulness. It was time to patch up the injured and free Renton.
Unfortunately Lars had taken a shot by a drone but it was only a light injury and he’ll be good after a rest. With the help of the others Renton was soon free.
Sadly, even with all his medical training Tirgurde the medical officer couldn’t save Beck from his injuries. Then the whole floor gave way, plunging the survivors down deeper into the station.War Without End - Challenge 4: Fabrication Bay (or why I hate 3d printers)
Arianna immediately runs up to one of the three material printers in this bay. There’s not much raw left but she thinks she can get it to produce something useful. 
Unfortunately there are two problems, firstly one or more of the printers is leaking and the air is filled with toxic fumes. Treva, the chief engineer, runs off to an emergency vent to activate it. 
The other problem it seems, is that one printer has produced three drones who immediately attack.
The drones are tough, and it takes several members of the crew to take just one down. Treva continues on to the vent, while the Tirguarde collapses from the fumes.
Both Renton and Lars get taken out by the drones, who then move on to attack the others.
Beck, the ace pilot, rushes and helps Arianna to craft a drone jamming device which will remotely deactivate a drone shot with it.
Meanwhile it’s all Roykirk, the commander, can do to stave off the attack.
Finally Treva get the vent going. The toxic fumes are drawn away leaving everyone to breathe more easily.
Beck takes aim with the jamming device, shoots and a drone collapses to the ground like a rag doll, and Roykirk clears some distance with the remaining drone.
Unfortunately the last drone sees Treva and attacks, while the others race to help. 
Finally Beck is able to deactivate the last done with the jammer but not before the drone took Treva down. It was time to see to the injured.This was a tough fight and for a time the Commander was worried if they’d survive this one.
Medical attention was given, with Tirgarde the medical officer needing to sit the next area out and Lars being weakened from his injuries. Renton, however, not only felt good but he’d learnt a thing or two more about fighting.
Before moving on Arianna was able to get the fabricators to produce a shield drone, which will be a big help for whatever is to come.
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars - Challenge 3: Repair Bay
Wait, what happened to challenge 2? I never played it. That’s because at the end of some challenges (or games) you roll on a chart to see which challenge you play next.
The crew enter a disused repair bay with a giant alien engine at the centre of the room. 
The workshop isn’t deserted as a group of starving mutants with claws out and jaws open.
Shots are fired and several mutants are killed. A stray shot hits the alien engine in the middle of the room and it hums to life. More mutants approach.
Lars tried to get around the surviving mutant to get to the now active engine.
The alien engine appears to be a damaged fusion reactor which now is building up power as Trevor tries to shut it down. If something isn’t done soon the whole thing will go into meltdown.
Lars gets kicked from behind in a surprise attack from another mutant. Lars then lashes out, wounding it and making it more desperate.
As the Commander tries to reason with the starving mutant Rendon blasts it away. He was only doing his job.
Arianna lends a hand and the overheating fusion reactor is starting to become a bit of an issue. 
Renton charges into combat, and brings down the wounded starving mutant, aiding an exhausted Lars who took a scratch or two himself.
With most of the crew working together the fusion reactor is safely brought under control. Disaster averted. Looking around the now quiet bay several useful pieces of equipment are taken. They’ll come in handy deeper into the station.Into the Fire - Challenge 1: Docking Bay Access Port
My book arrived which is good timing as here’s my first battle report, now with minimal text and lots of pictures.
The air smells strange with some sort of gas. The leaks will have to be found and fixed before we can move on to the next section.
Live wires are strewn across the floor that spark with the slightest movement. Everyone will have to tread carefully while others try to disarm them.
Beck, the ace pilot with his quick reactions and awareness rushes and finds the first leak, while managing to avoid all of the live wires. He does start to feel a little light headed though, from the gas.
The chief engineer, Trevor, finds another leak and readies his tools.
Unfortunately the gas is too much for Beck and he falls to the ground unconscious.
Trevor begins work but it will take a while. He’s starting to feel a little faint. Better work faster.
Hard man Renton, the soldier, started work on the live cables and, along with scientist Lars, they managed to disconnect them, making movement much safer. Unfortunately, the gas gets to Renton and he collapses.
The Commander, Roykirk, finds a third gas leak and starts to work on it. He’s also starting to feel lightheaded but he cannot let it affect his judgement.
Medical Officer Tirgarde checks up on Treva, who’s just managed to shut off the gas for that vent.
Arianna and Lars both arrive at the vent which is the leaking gas that Beck collapsed in front of, and start to work on it together.
With the poison gas shut off and the sparking electric cables shut off the crew take a little time to recover before heading deeper. Although Renton is none the worse after his collapse, Beck is still feeling a little weak so he’ll take a short rest while the others press on into the next room.A Voice in the Wilderness
Recently released the new game Space Station Zero from Adam Loper and Vincent Venturella, is a solo (or cooperative) game in which you are trapped in a giant alien ship and have little choice but to either get drunk or explore its vastness.
This game is ideally suited to me as it’s solo and miniatures agnostic. It has a list of small scenarios which are in a semi-random sequence forming a story as you delve deeper. It fits in nicely with my terrain and miniatures collection and works as a smaller game alongside Five Parsecs and Stargrave.
In my mind Space Station Zero is more of a wargame version of a gamebook but for the gaming table.
I wanted to get playing pretty quickly as I have a week off work coming up, so for my first crew I raided my painted Core Space Collection and came up with this crew.
The Crew of Maria’s Hope: Backrow (left to right) - Tirgarde (medical officer), Arianna (scientist), Renton (soldier), Lars (Scientist) and Frontrow (left to right) - Beck (Ace Pilot), Roykirk (Commander) and Treva (Chief Engineer).I chose to have 6 crew (rather than 8 or 4) plus a Commander which would give me average stats for each miniature, for type of ship I chose “exploration” which gave me a wide range of crew types and for an edge I chose “smuggling” which allowed me to kit out my crew with some extra pieces of equipment.
For enemies the game loosely recommends some fleshy mutant miniatures and some robotic miniatures.
For the fleshy models I plan to use these Gates of Antares miniatures from Warlord Games.
For the robotic models I painted up these Drones from Core Space First Born by Battle Systems.As I haven’t read most of the scenarios yet, so as to preserve the mysteries to come, I may need other miniatures, most of which I plan to use my Core Space collection.
For terrain I’ll once again go to Battle Systems, although some Infinity cardboard terrain might make an appearance depending on the scenario.
The game uses D12s and you need roughly 10 of them, so after a quick check I played an order and they arrived today.
Shiny new dice. Let’s hope that they don’t roll too many 1s.The timing of the release of this game was pretty nice as I’d just started getting back into science fiction after a long overdose of fantasy and I’d just received some Pig-Iron Production models after watching them on a recent Weekender as the “Indie of The Week”.
Taking some of these I formed another crew which I plan to use once I’ve painted them up, for a second playthrough.
The front left model is a Void miniature, and the front centre model is an infinity model, the rest is Pig-Iron.I also tried out my new Greenstuff World hexagon roller for the bases. The reason for the rubble was to disguise the puddle bases that most of the miniatures are on, and besides quite a few models have a foot on a rock.
I’m pretty excited with Space Station Zero and I’m looking forward to playing my first games very soon.
