NEW CALEDONIA : THE BIG ONE : PART 1

 Verminator Team Ajax - it cleans as it sweeps as it Verminates! Ready to enter Cargo Lock.

As the door opens, the Biosensor sweeps and detects that the infestation level on the  ships generally is 'HEAVING'  i.e. high.

 As the Verms' eyes adjust to the Cargo Bay lights ... Harpies can be seen. 

 

All Verms make a test and lose 1 BINGE if they fail a FUMBLE roll. 

YOU, TEQUILA AND PETTYBONE get an attack of the willies but everyone else is ok.. ATTACK!

Then we work through the Activation pile. This is good for forcing the action when solo playing. No decisions as to who acts..just take it in sequence.

TEQUILA: on the door control. No LOS. Dumps an action and goes onto WAIT.

YOU : Ditto - the hand blaster is OK to stop a rush if it happens...

TROTSKY : HAR shot at the Harpy on a stack of stuff. He has no other good angles and doesnt want to wreck cargo with a grenade so early in the mission.. His shot richocheted off the Harpy knocking it off the cargo but not doing any damage. He reserved his second action to repel any rush.

KONGO : th einitial deployment squeezed Kongo to tightly to make good use of his shotgun.  He decided to be bold and clear one of the side corners. He stepped forward then blasted the Harpy to his left. This blasted the  the creature into the bulkhead, wounding it. He then !DUCKed to let others cover him..hopefully. Being first to enter th emodule, AND having to stand adjacent to a Threat meant Kongo lost two BINGE points.

SNITMEISTER : was also crowded out by the poor initial deployment. He dumped an action and went onto WAIT.

PETTYBONE : Now belched flame onto the Harpy to the team's front.

The Harpy was crippled and remained writhing in the flames. Pettybone fired a single squirt to the right, boxing the Harpies there in from rushing the team.

CHANG : Now let rip over the prone form of Kongo with his HAR. The first round wounded and the second merely grazed. But the harpy was turned to the bulkhead, and was wounded makin git unlikely to attack next turn.

HIGGINS  was now ready with his weighty HEMG. He pumped 3 round sinto a Harpy on the right. and reserved his second burst. The first was deadly, scoring 3 wounds and deceasing the target.

The team had now let rip with their first volley and, as the smoke cleareda little, the Harpies screeched and chattered into action.

They mostly ran to hide...no attacks materialised.

 The initial entry had thus bagged two Harpies and forced most of the others back.

THREAT TURN : Nothing except milling arond..

Harpies pushed back. Entry going well.

 TURN 2

HIGGINS : Strides purposefully through the door and blasts to the right. No kills! one Harpy is forced back, another slamme dinto the bulkhead and drips blood.

TROTSKY: Steps up beside Higgins and blasts the wounded Harpy at close range, riddling it but failing to finish it off.

CHANG : continued the advance and leapt onto a cargo box to shoot over the flames at the hiding Harpy near Higgins. The Harpy was driven-off, unwounded. 

SNITMEISTER : Joins Chang on the box then pops a grenade into the corner unseen to attack the cluster of hiding Harpies. Scoring no wounds !

PETTYBONE: Advances and waits in front of the fire he sprayed last turn.

Things are getting cramped, the others dump an action and WAIT with weapons poised.

THREAT TURN

Now the Harpies try to counter-attack. The grenaded group rush forward over the cargo but Snitmeister and Chang throw themselves flat( !DUCK) and this allows YOU and TEQUILA to blast the Harpies before they get their claws into any Verminator. 1 dead, two blasted back.

Tequila blasts over his fellow !DUCKed Verms

 

Now one of those tricky situations happens which is typical when too many Verminators are too aggressive. The right-hand group of Harpies advances and one jumps at HIGGINS - normally, he would !DUCK and PETTYBONE could flame over him to fight-off the attack. This Harpy, however, sneaks along beside a cargo element and because HIGGINS is immediately adjacent PETTYBONE cannot shoot before the threat is on top of the HEMG gunner.

The second Harpy from the same group manages to jump on TROTSKY by the same route. Again TROTSKY is unsupported and cannot !DUCK. The last Harpy has 4 wounds and can barely hobble in the direction of the Verms. 

HIGGINS tries to ditch the HEMG and get his pistol out but he FAILS HIS FUMBLE! This means he has 1 less dice in the grapple. The Harpy has one wound so it is 3 dice versus 2 for the human.

An HEMG is not the best close combat weapon...

Mercifully, the Harpy gets no hits and HIGGINS gets 1. HIGGINS takes the oppurtunity to back  away and get out of the grapple. THIS  RAISES TENSION..HIGGINS and PETTYBONE now form a block to TROTSKY backing-off. TROTSKY must win his fight! This kind of mess doesn't just happen in 'Aliens' !

Harpies all around. Trotsky reaches for his cutlass.

TROTSKY has +2 grapple, he is a monster in a fight! He tries to draw his cutlass instead of his HAR but his FUMBLE IS 4! oh the horror! the dice rattles down the dice-tower and comes up......2!!!!!

 

The Verm's guardian angel shoves Trotsky's dice to 2!

Havingsuccessfully ditched his HAR and taken up his cutlass, TROTSKY lays into the lizard thing and the HARPY slashes back with claws, teeth and tail-spike. TROTSKY gets a damaging slash into the Harpy's teeth and manages to fend off all its attacks! TROTSKY cannot retreat because the way is blocked by his comrades. ............The dice clatter again for the second round..... TROTSKY blocks all the Harpy's talons and teeth and again lands a damging slash with his cutlass! The grapple continues. Tension rises!

HOUSEKEEPING sees no important actions.. 

End Turn 2 : Messy ! But no men down or wounded.

A LOT FOR TWO TURNS... Let's find a titanium mug of Plutonian Koffee!