Here we are at game 6 out of the 10 games I wanted to play in the campaign. Can my survivors make it out of Martian territory? So far, it has been a rough campaign. After early successes, things went downhill rapidly! Now, they are battered, bruised, and dying of thirst. Far from the plucky band of heroes they started as! Let's see if they finally catch a break? However, this is a horror game so don't count on it!
The group just found a new hide-out after their last one and its stash got destroyed. They have been out of food, water, and scrap for the last two games now. This is a make of break game, because without water people are going to die at the end of this one.
His throat was burning. It had been a long time, and it was best not to think about it. John limped along with the group. He knew as much as anyone that they needed to find water, but his leg was killing him. He was too tired to be ornery, but his body was aching.
Luke glanced down at the map Annie had. He didn't want to get too far away from their new hide-out. All around them was just blank space on the map. A whole lot of nothing and woods.
Tommy signaled to the group, and they all crouched down. He scooted back and reported in, "There is a shack up ahead."
"Anyone in it?" The young boy shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay, good work. Let's spread out and approach from the woods. Be cautious, and don't get ahead of your boots," Luke said.
The small group approached, but before they could get inside an loot the place, things took a turn for the worst. A Tripod reared up from the woods on the opposite side of the house. It's war horns trilled as the sunset glinted off it's reddish hull. In response, dogs howled nearby.
Annie's eyes went wide, "By Christ, let's get outta here!" Luke found his feet moving before he could respond.
Our Survivor Band
Right now, our plucky band is 4 survivors. I am using Copplestone Casting gangster range for the miniatures.
The back left is Handsome John. He was a criminal archetype who ran for the hills to survive.
Activation Aimed Suppression Fight Brawn Brains Nerve Exp
5+/2 6+ 3+ 4+ 8+ 9+ 7+ 5
- Cool Customer
- Body Injury (+1 to Grit tests)
- Leg Injury (3MU Move)
- Fear the Dark - If in a Dark Place and alone, must take a Fear test
- Pistol, Knife, Canteen of Alcohol
- Duck and Weave- Shooting attacks have a -1 TN when he has moved.
Next is Tommy Wilkins. He is just a kid, but survived when a building fell on his family. He managed to dig his way out.
Activation Aimed Suppression Fight Brawn Brains Nerve Exp
3+/2 9+ 8+ 6+ 4+ 7+ 5+ (6+) 4
Pitter Patter of little feet, Fear of Enclosed Spaces
- Improvised Fight weapon, Satchel, Good Shoes
- Shellshocked
- Jump Back skill
The lady is Annie McCall is a devout believer who is struggling to process what is going on. She was part of an ambushed evacuation, and forced to flee.
Activation Aimed Suppression Fight Brawn Brains Nerve Exp
6+/2 7+ (8+) 5+ 9+ 8+ 4+ 3+ 14
Pray, +3 Experience
- Pistol, Map, Bandages, and Knife
- Eye Injury
Finally we have Luke Goodson who is the leader of this little band of survivors. He survived when he was suddenly knocked unconscious.
Activation Aimed Suppression Fight Brawn Brains Nerve Exp
5+/2 7+ 6+ (7+) 4+ 8+ 9+ 3+ 14
Do As I Say, Do Not Be Afraid
- Knife, Flares, Empty Canteen
- Nerve Damage
- 1 Game without water
They are all suffering deprivation for two games now, making their Target Numbers even higher! Luke managed to get water from a Canteen for 1 game, but that was empty after the last one.
- Every Game without enough food = +1 TN for Brawn and Fight (Max 10)
- Every game without enough Water= +1 TN for Brains and Nerve (Max 10)
- Every game without enough Scrap= +1 TN for Shooting and Grit (Max 10)
If John, Tommy, and Annie do not get water at the end of this game, they are going to die!
Scenario
We followed the scenario generation method in the rules. I was very disappointed to roll up a 1, Martian Swarm! Oh dear. Annie has a map, and that allowed me to move it to the next higher scenario and only slightly less dangerous, the Running From Danger scenario. These guys really need a Scavenge or Loot scenario about now!
This scenario starts with 3 Dangers on the table. We randomly roll up 4 Wild Dogs, a Jolter, and ..... oh man..... a Tripod! That is not a great way to start the scenario! This one is going to take place at dusk. That will help reduce Line-of-sight BUT Handsome John is afraid of the Dark since a bad encounter with Black Dust.
In addition, we rolled up 3 Green Gas Clouds that are hovering around the area. This will make things just a bit more dangerous for our heroes.
Set-up
This will be played on a 36 x 36 MU board with each MU equal to 1 inch.
I used the method to place terrain outlined in the rules. This gave me a decent mix of terrain for this board. Hopefully, it will give my survivor's chance. However, with the Green Gas Clouds and a Tripod to start with, things are going to be tough for turn 1!
The Survivor's chose their deployment zone and started per the scenario, then we deployed the Martian pursuers. In the end, the board looked like this.....
Before starting, I moved my little band up into the woods at the top of the board. I did not want that Tripod seeing me right away!
As usual, I won't go over every turn but try to give you a high level overview of the action.
The Game
Our heroes creep to the edge of the woods, but stay hidden in cover. They let the sunset and stay down to reduce Line-of-sight, before they make their move. However, their plan is foiled as the Tripod starts heading their way. It sees them as they are at the edge of the woods.
With the Tripod heading their way, the survivors try to break cover and get across the trail and to the woods on the other side. However, in their deprived state they get caught up in the brush before they can get to cover, or fail to activate a second time.
Wild Dogs swarm Annie as she tries to stumble through the shrubs! The pack makes short work of her and she is quickly down and possibly dead! Not seeing any foes, the Jolter just leaves the area, wandering around looking for prey elsewhere. The Martian Tripod sweeps its heat ray, but Handsome John manages to duck and weave to avoid its deadly rays. Trees nearby explode as the moisture in them evaporates!
Handsome John manages to pass his Fear test after watching Annie go down. He has a pack of Wild Dogs too close, so he fires at them to suppress them. The dogs are too hungry to be scared off by his shots. Worse, he runs out of ammunition as well. He stumbles away from them, but probably not far enough.
Tommy manages to get into the woods after some desperate thrashing. He manages to hold it together, despite seeing Annie go down. Luke moves to where he can help Handsome John if the Dogs attack!
Of course, the dogs attack. Luke manages to kill one. Handsome John struggles with two more, and gets a nasty bite, but fights on. Just a scratch! However, the Tripod lumbers in and sweeps the area with his Heat Ray once more! Two more dogs are killed, and the third flees from the blast. However, Luke and John manage to avoid the exploding shrapnel and manage to just get severely banged up, but are still standing!
Tommy manages a Dynamic Action test and dashes through the woods and to safety! Luke and Handsome John are way behind now, but manage to make it into the woods for some cover! The Tripod can barely see them in the fading light, and fires again! This was 1 Heat blast too many and the two go down.
With that, my survivors involuntarily Scatter.
Post-Game Sequence
Well, Luke and Handsome John ended the game down. However, they barely manage to make their Grit tests and avoid serious injury. That means they can scavenge! Annie is not so lucky!
- Annie receives a Leg wound and is reduced to 3 MU movement
- Tommy gains 6 Experience, which he banks for now
No one scouts for Martians as they need to get Water over anything else! Thankfully, none find their new Storefront even with a -4 to the roll! This will allow them to re-roll a Scavenge tests!
Tommy manages to find an old scrapyard, where he finds 20 scrap, and some ammo for a pistol. Handsome John re-loads his pistol. Handsome John then goes out searching, but collapses from exhaustion and finds nothing. Luke finds a pond and manages to get 4 water, and rummaging around in the storefront he finds 8 more water in a buried cistern!
In the Deprivation stage, there are tough choices. 8 water is used to keep all of them from depriving further from water. I then uses the last two on Tommy and Annie to get them back to down 1. Luke and John are now down 2 each, on the edge of death. They have enough scrap to shelter in place and avoid deprivation from scrap, and keep 8 in the stash for next time. However, none of them have food, and are now at 3 days without. Two more and people start to die!
Conclusion
Cool, cool water. He had never tasted anything so good! He tapped his flask of alcohol, but that didn't even hold up. He was still thirsty, but his body aches seemed to subside from it. However, his stomach growled to remind him how far behind he was on a meal. How much longer could they go on?
"Look Luke, I don't know how much longer we can go? All of us have taken a beating," John grimaced.
"What's the alternative? Lay down and die?
Tommy shook his head aggressively. Annie was sleeping, but she thrashed around a bit. Tommy did his best to hold her still. Her wounds were freshly bandaged, but those were running low too.
"We need to keep going, our only chance is to get away from the Martians," Luke said.
John grimaced, but kept his ill-thoughts to himself. What if there WAS no getting away from the Martians.
Another very tough scenario. My group is in rough shape, and still needs to last 4 more scenarios. Things do not look very good as they run low on food, water, and injuries are stacking up! Can they make it? I am not sure, but I have to start rolling better on the scenario chart!
Until next time!
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Boy, I feel for your crew. They are having a rough go of it! Hopefully, things turn for them in the future...
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