Majestic 13: Operation Mud Bath

 It's been a while since I've cleared the table off and had a solo game for myself, and going through my stuff as my wife and I prepare to move house this summer got me itching for another game of Majestic 13. I decided to follow up on my previous game, and play mission two of what is shaping up to be a meandering, irregular campaign. 

After a few dice rolls, I determined that my team of operatives, "Keel's Killers," would be entering an urban environment to A) try to take down a monster called a "Terraformer," capable of reshaping the landscape around it, and B), retrieve a series of medical supply caches. 

First action of the game, the Terraformer moved to the center of the table, turning every piece of non-scatter terrain into "Dangerous Terrain" - any time one of my operatives entered or climbed on top of one of these buildings or hills, they'd need to roll a D6; on a roll of 4+, they'd take 2D6 damage from monster-induced instability. 

The operatives opened fire from their various positions, raining lead down on the towering fungoid nightmare. The creature responded by charging the nearest operative it could see, which turned out to be Agent Arnold; lashing out with its dripping pseudopods, it rolled a critical hit with one of them; then, at the beginning of the second turn, it activated again and rolled a staggering double critical! Arnold was pounded into the ground before she could respond.

At that point, Klass opted to fire a quick round into the monster and retreat into the bingo hall, tagging the first of the three medical caches. Keel, Barker and Moseley continued to move and fire at the creature, with Moseley drawing the creature's attention. 

The Terraformer charged, striking Moseley with a tendril and Stunning him with neurasthenic slime. Barker charged in and hit Moseley with a set of shock pads, clearing the Stunned condition and buying Moseley time to race to the Donut Worry and access the second medical cache.

the healing power of a Boston Creme.

Falling back towards the gas station, Barker's next action was to radio in a drone strike. The call went through, and Lockheed Martin answered with gusto. 

Shaking the flames off itself, the Terraformer followed Barker towards the gas station, striking him with a tentacle and scoring a fourth critical hit for this game. Keel, Moseley and Klass drew the monster's attention while Barker entered the gas station and hit the third and final medical cache. 

It might be less a medical cache and more a pack of smokes and a questionable hot dog.

Moseley was taken out of action by the creature's punishing strikes, and Barker emerged from the gas station to score a critical hit on the monster. This was the end of turn 5 and the last of our heroes' actions; the Terraformer activated one last time and smashed into Barker, leaving him with 1 hit point as the game ended. The monster wasn't defeated, but it was a damn close thing; when the game ended it was at 11 hit points, down from the 140 it started with. 

Going into the post-mission phase of the game, Arnold and Moseley both recovered fully from their injuries and will be available to take part, unscathed, in the next mission. The team's efforts to requisition a pair of sniper rifles were denied, but they were able to upgrade their base with a Combat Training Center; Arnold, Moseley and Barker all boosted their Combat rating following the mission, while Keel and Klass improved their Dexterity. The team's overall rating improved from 1 to 2. 

Overall, I'm really pleased with how the game went, even if I didn't successfully defeat the monster. The fact that I rolled four natural 20s on the monster's attacks definitely aided its survival - I wish I could roll like that in my D&D game. I do feel like I'm getting a better handle on not just playing the game as a whole (though I did forget to make FUBAR rolls after the second turn), but on using my team effectively; I definitely need to upgrade my weaponry after next game (if my bureaucracy rolls succeed), because more firepower is absolutely called for.