Majestic 13: Operation Wrong Turn

 The morning was silent save for the lapping of water against the bow of the boat and the creak of the wooden oars as Hank guided them across the river. Even the insects were still and quiet. A family of campers had gone missing on this isolated spit of land, and Majestic suspected the machinations of FORCE behind it. 

The Lieutenant reviewed the mission briefing on the tablet.

"Initial satellite imagery suggests we're up against a 'Poisoned Lasher' today," he said quietly. "Big toad-looking thing that'll grab you with its tongue and retreat someplace quiet to eat you. We're short Maria today, so we need to really be on our A-game if we want to gig this frog."

The tiny drone in Becky's hands whirred to life, lifting off gently and bobbing as if politely acknowledging the Lieutenant's statement.

"I think with this little baby we'll be just fine," Becky said, allowing herself a smile. "A little extra firepower never hurt."

"We're here," Hank said, even as the Lieutenant and Sarah-Jane stood to drag the boat on to shore.

*** 

 The Lieutenant prodded the tattered remains of the campsite with the barrel of his rifle.

"Something's not right here," he muttered. "There's no mucus. Dossier says the Poisoned Lasher's handiwork is immediately recognizable by the quantity of mucus it produces."

"Boss...?" Becky hazarded as a hissing chitter echoed from the nearby woods.

 "Shit!" The Lieutenant barked. "That's not a Lasher! We were given bad intel! Spread out!"

 With a shriek, the Warping Crawler shimmered out of existence, rematerializing right on top of the Lieutenant. He fired blindly into its abdomen and took off running. 

 "I'm on it," Hank barked, moving into position and squeezing the trigger on his M249 SAW, not worrying about trying to stabilize the heavy gun. Ichor spurted as round after round punctured the creature's exoskeleton. 

"Alright little fella," Becky cooed to the drone even as she made a mad dash north towards the woods. "Show us what you've got."

The remote in her hands chirped as the drone locked on to the monster. With a smile she pressed the "fire" button. The targeting drone swooped out of the way as its larger cousin arrived, dropping an incendiary munitions bundle down the Crawler's back before returning to its launch pad.

 Snarling in pain and fury, the Crawler dematerialized, reappearing between the Lieutenant and Hank - close enough to drive a pointed claw at each of them. Hank rolled out of the way but the razor-edged limb sank into the Lieutenant's shoulder.

 Sitting calmly, almost meditatively atop the riverside billboard, Sarah-Jane lined up her shot; the sniper bullet tore a hole through the creature's elongated, flanged skull, causing it to squeal and flail. The monster teleported away, carrying the Lieutenant with it; rematerializing atop a nearby ridge, it began to gnaw on him. As he tried to wriggle out of its grip, it speared him with another spiky limb, keeping him pinned. He managed to fire into the creature's belly, but couldn't escape.

 Hank fired a burst into the creature's back and took off running towards the dilapidated cabin. From the woods, Becky smiled and thumbed a request into the burner phone. A second drone streaked across the sky with a fiery payload.

 Chemical fire sprayed across the monster's back, its bulk shielding the restrained Lieutenant from burns. The creature squealed and teleported again. 

[The first Drone Strike was courtesy the team's new "Drone Control Pod" addition to their base, the second was their usual 1/mission "Call For Aid."]

Reappearing at the river's edge, the monster continued to try and stuff the Lieutenant into its bladed mandibles. 

"Oh no you don't," Sarah-Jane said flatly, squeezing the trigger and sending another round deep into the monster's chest cavity. Oozing ichor, the creature teleported again, reappearing in a nearby copse of trees. The variety of bullet-holes in the monster's body were actively spilling steaming fluids as the creature entered Extremis. Enraged and in agony, it finally managed to cram the Lieutenant down its gullet before teleporting again and seizing Becky.

 The Crawler tried to teleport away with her to consume, but the exertion was too much for its overtaxed systems. It rematerialized atop the bluff overlooking the river, sank its fangs into Becky and promptly collapsed, tumbling over the cliff into the swirling water below.

 ***

Wow, this game took me by surprise today. The monster died at the top of turn 3. That has never happened for me before. I know there's extra XP given if you accomplish it, but I didn't know it was really doable. Having the second drone strike made a huge difference, plus Sarah-Jane scored a critical hit both times she activated. Because the Crawler is classed as a "Monstrosity," It activates again whenever it's hit with a critical hit. So both hits caused it to take an extra action and technically resulted in the Lieutenant getting eaten, but the second hit also caused it to take bonus Extremis damage. 

Rolling into the post-game...

The Lieutenant died of his injuries. After 13 missions, the old sunovagun bit the big one. Fortunately, Majestic was able to decant a fresh clone of him, so he'll be back for the next game, all shiny and scrubbed-pink looking. 

Hank had enough XP banked to raise both Acuity and Fortitude, while Sarah-Jane and Becky each raised their Combat ability. The Lieutenant, being a fresh clone, did not garner any XP. 

The team's requisition for a prosthetic arm for Maria has finally gone through and been approved! And additionally...

***

The Lieutenant - the new Lieutenant, he supposed - walked towards the Last Liner's hideout, his stride a little firmer than it had been in the past few months. Clonal vigor; it would wear off in a day or two, the scientists said, but for now he'd enjoy it. He pushed open the door.

"Hey, it's the Lieutenant!" Maria cheered, a beer in each hand. "Or is your rank now '2nd Lieutenant'?"

Hank groaned, and Maria shook her head. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay! I'm allowed to make clone jokes!" 

"Yeah, but can you make good ones?" Hank replied as he tossed a beer to the Lieutenant. "How's it feel to have a first beer all over again, boss?"

Even Sarah-Jane, normally so taciturn, had to laugh. The Lieutenant bit the cap off the bottle and raised it in toast. Everyone raised theirs as well. 

"The higher-ups are real happy with us right now," he said. "Let's keep that momentum going, and keep kicking alien ass, all right?" 

The team cheered. 

"In fact," the Lieutenant continued, "I sweet-talked them into a little present for the team. Hank, son, your arms getting tired lugging that SAW around?"

"What you got, some ultralight Retech'd version?" Hank asked, leaning forward excitedly. 

"Step outside and see," the Lieutenant said, gesturing out the door. An unmarked truck was backing up towards the hideout. The Lieutenant stepped up and pulled open the loading doors.

"Wow," Becky said, staring into the dimly-lit interior. 

"What is that?" Maria asked, eyes gleaming in excitement.

"It's beautiful," Hank added.

"Brand new, top of the line powered hardsuit," The Lieutenant said. "Complete with attachment point for anything up to and including light artillery. Slip this bad boy on like a set of long johns and it'll carry your gun for you, son."

"I GET A MECH SUIT!?!" Hank exclaimed.  

More Zombies!

 I've completed another 14 zombies, all from Recreational Conflict, bringing the completed total up to 34. Let's take a look:

 

 Not quite so many in this batch form a themed group as in the last batch I did, but we do have some clergy in here:

 A mix of fairly tall figures, including one that's intended as a zombified basketball player:

My favorite of this quarter is the biker with the giant beard and the pickelhaube helmet. 

Then some ladies:

 The one missing both legs and one arm won't be categorized as a "Fast" Zombie, I'd just like to note. 

And a couple miscellaneous:
 

 The middle one is my favorite zombie out of all 34 I've painted so far, because it's clearly based on the poster art for my favorite zombie movie, THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD:

 That's all the (human) zombies I have at the moment; I've got a couple of Zombie Dogs that I'm going to paint up to use as Fast Zombies in Zombie RV, but otherwise I'm all out... Until my friend Dave gets back after GenCon. He's been digging around in his Pile of Shame, and found some old plastic Wargames Factory Zombies still on sprue that he bought a decade ago and forgot about. Once our Monday Night paint hangouts resume on August 3rd, he's going to hand them over to me. 

I initially thought it was going to be, like, one box of 20 zombies. Which, awesome, my initial target was 50 zombies so that's perfect. 

Oh no. See, after I confirmed that I wanted them, he sent pictures.

 That's one box of Zombie Vixens, a bag containing one box's worth of male Zombies, and another bag containing another box's worth of Zombie Vixens. Each of these three packs contains *30* zombies. 

I'm taking home *90* zombies, not *20*. 

You hear that sound? That's the sound of my acquired to painted ratio screeching off a cliff. I'm not going to add these to the tracker yet - I may refuse the second box of Zombie Vixens - but this is a looming zombie wave. Thankfully I've got assembly line painting them pretty well down pat. 

Do you know what title RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD was released under in Germany?

The Germans called the film VERDAMMT! DIE ZOMBIES KOMMEN, or "Damn it! Here Come the Zombies!" and I might be feeling that a little bite.

 

 Let's enjoy the progress I've made on getting figures painted while I can: 

 

Miniatures Acquired: 184

Miniatures Painted: 182

Terrain Acquired: 2

Terrain Painted: 8

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 10

 

Pick Up A Pint

 I've been pretty effusive in my praise for Atomic Laser Cut Designs' MDF kits, and have built several of them. Well, I posted pictures of my Urgent Care on Facebook and tagged the company in the post, and Vince, the owner, was pleased enough with my work to send me a complimentary copy of one of the latest kits - a long, narrow retail space with a small back room and a trap-door in the roof in addition to the normal front and back doors. As soon as I saw the design, I knew it'd be perfect for a liquor store - one of the businesses I'd been wanting for my table but hadn't found an option I was happy with for yet. 

 

I started off with a spray of Montana Gold "Sahara Beige" for the exterior, picking out the bricks first in a raw sienna craft paint, then doing singular bricks in shades of brown and tan. My usual lost dog posts and "No Entry - Staff Only" signs are on display as well, along with some Greenstuff World graffiti decals. The sign over the front door is printed paper, cut to fit over a 50x25mm Renedra flat base painted black. 

I didn't bother with a printed paper floor this time, in part because the gray spraypaint I put down with on splotchy and with a lot of texture. Bare concrete floor it is! 

The interior walls were primed white and painted with a bottle of craft paint called "Sea Glass," a very pale blue-green tone. I printed a bunch of alcohol ads scaled down to serve as posters on the walls, along with "No Refunds" and "No Sales to Under-21s" signs. I need to get a counter for the store, but once I do it'll go right in front of where these signs are hung.

 The backroom has a pallet and stack of cardboard boxes, both of which I pulled out of a Mantic Terrain Crate set - "Abandoned Factory." To this I added a pair of 3D-printed boxes I had laying around.

 What's in the boxes? Who knows - there might be "business" being conducted in the back room unrelated to liquor sales...

 More furniture to come - I'll need to get some shelves and a counter at the very least. But considering that I basically dropped everything (except the zombies, which I mostly painted at my usual Monday night paint-hangouts) to start this kit immediately, I think I've done a pretty good job.

It's a little different from previous ALCD kits I've built - the base plate is different, lacking the front sidewalk and with the walls plugging flush into the edges of it instead of slotting into holes cut into the base. It's not bad, just takes slightly more effort to ensure the walls line up with each other. I've got a second one, because I ordered a copy of this kit before I knew Vince was sending me a complimentary one! 

 

Miniatures Acquired: 184

Miniatures Painted: 168

Terrain Acquired: 2

Terrain Painted: 8

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 10

 

Zombie RV, First Playthrough - "A Cabin in the Woods"

 It has been a hell of a week here at Casa De Adcock, with an emergency trip to the veterinary hospital on Tuesday for my cat Poppy overwhelming my brain and my ability to do anything painting- or game-related for several days. Poppy is home and doing well and it's time to burn off some of this nervous energy with a game. 

Time to take Zombie RV for a test-spin. I used Mike Demana's unofficial campaign supplement to give my survivors a bit more differentiation as well. Recognizing that I had everything exactly called for, terrain-wise, I laid things out for the second scenario in the rulebook, "Cabin in the Woods." Our survivors are paying a visit to Uncle Bob's survivalist cabin in the woods to see how he's holding up and maybe see if he's got some spare gear for them.

Left to Right: Mark, Hector (in back, with rifle), Dave, and Sandra

 There were four search tokens (the cabin itself, the port-a-john, the broken-down car and the boat) and two zombie spawn points, in the northwest and southeast corners. Our crew cautiously fanned out, no zombies in sight, and began to make their approach, with Dave reaching the broken-down car, though not having time to search it before the zombies began to wander in.

 Dave pulled an old bug-out bag from the car and started sneaking towards the boat to see if there was anything to find there. Mark opened the door to the port-a-john and closed it just as quick. "What died in there?" He asked. 

 Things started to go to hell when Hector kicked in the cabin's door, finding four zombies milling around - including Uncle Bob.

 The four zombies converged, but managed to do little more than get in each other's way, with Hector managing to wriggle out of any sort of meaningful injury from this encounter. Instead, he managed to drive his knife deep into Uncle Bob's forehead and make a run for it.

 Mark started swinging at the zombies shambling his way, while Dave came up empty with the rowboat.

 As the zombies began to shamble out of the cabin in pursuit of Hector, Sandra started shooting them as they appeared in the doorway. 

 Unfortunately, as more and more zombies converged on the scene, she was overwhelmed.

 Dave fired a shotgun blast into a cluster of zombies, as Hector signaled for the survivors to retreat towards the RV. He looked glumly at the cabin; he'd seen the floor safe but the zombie swarm was swelling by the minute and he didn't expect they'd survive opening it. Meanwhile, Sandra rose as a Nasty Zombie and quickly shambled towards him. 

 Dave ducked and rolled into the cabin, opening the safe and pulling another bug-out bag from inside. With both bags over his shoulders he stepped out on to the porch. There were a LOT of zombies between him and the RV.

 The RV engine roared to life. Mark was behind the wheel with Hector riding "shotgun." The mechanic floored it, splattering five zombies including the risen Sandra beneath its wheels, stopping in front of the cabin long enough for Dave to jump in before high-tailing it out of there.

 

***

 My big takeaway from this game is I need to get more zombies painted. I had every painted zombie I've got on the table towards the end and had to stop rolling for reinforcements because I had nothing left to reinforce with! 

It's a game that does exactly what it sets out to do - it's a beer and pretzels zombie apocalypse game, your crew rolls in, tries to find what they can before the zombies overwhelm them, and get out. With the rulebook being 10 pages (four of which are scenarios), there's plenty of room to customize as well; I 100% winged it on "running zombies down with the RV" at the end of the game there. I also fudged a bit on zombie movement - rules as written it seems if there isn't a survivor making noise within 9" the zombies just stand still, and that left a corridor that the survivors could move in without the zombies noticing them at all. On a 2'x2' board, I was fine letting the zombies hear any major noise on the table and moving in that direction. 

It played out fairly quickly - I think about an hour, maybe hour and a half at the most? - and I feel like I got the mechanics down fast. It definitely held some surprises for me - At the end of turn 1 I was feeling pretty confident, by turn 4 I was looking at 4-5 zombies shambling towards each survivor. 

Making a note here, before I forget, that rolling on the loot table, the survivors came up with Extra Ammo and food (Supplies), so while they're sad to lose Sandra, they can continue on their journey.  

Last Two Zombicide: Invader Monsters Complete!

Having finished flocking the bases this morning, I can count these last two "Zombicide: Invader" monsters complete and ready to see action in games of Majestic 13 - indeed, one of them's destined to appear in the next game! 

First up, the "Widowmaker Abomination," a spidery thing with long, spiky legs. It's meant to sit on a clear acrylic post, but the gent who sold it to me couldn't find the base to go with it. 

 Not the end of the world! I wound up cutting off the back legs, drilling the legs and body, and using bent pieces of paperclip to reattach the legs at a different angle, allowing it to stand stably without the post and to tilt it back slightly, raising the head and front set of limbs into a more active position. 

 A little greenstuff to cover the gaps where the legs re-met the body and the fill the peg-hole in the belly and it was ready for priming.

 I kept the paint job simple - prime white, go over with GW "Nighthaunt Gloom" contrast paint, then a heavy drybrush of Reaper "Aircraft Gray." The spikes on the back and the two tentacles at the end of the body were given a little bit of a green glaze to break up the gray. 

 All in all, I'm really pleased with how this one turned out, with the repositioned legs working great - it stands just fine even without the base, all four feet on the ground, which to me is a sign of a job well done. 

The second figure didn't need any conversion; this is the "Shadow Abomination" and it reminds me very much of the "Aliens" action figures I had as a kid in the early 1990s, loosely based on the 1986 James Cameron film. Most of the Xenomorph figures in that line were molded in colored metallic plastic or black and given a heavy drybrush of colored metallics. I decided to follow that look here.

 Over black primer, I drybrushed the figure originally with Reaper "Gunmetal Blue," and when that wasn't quite what I was looking for, went over the entire figure with TurboDork "Let Them Eat Cake," a colorshift paint that varies from dark blue to plum based on the angle the light's hitting it at. I only gave it a single coat so the colorshift isn't too apparent, but it definitely yielded a deeper metallic blue color that I like a lot.

 The tubes connecting to the throat were given a base coat of Reaper "Dungeon Slime," followed by a wash of GW "Biel-Tan Green," highlighted back up with "Dungeon Slime" and finally glazed with GW "Waywatcher Green." The tongues are Vallejo "Warlock Purple" washed with GW "Druchii Violet."

 I think after this I only have 3-4 more monsters to paint for Majestic 13, which is a pretty good feeling! 

While I was at it, I finished a pair of Northstar Robots, originally released for the game Rogue Stars, to use as Destroyer Drones in future "Special" Missions against the aliens who are dropping these monsters off on Earth.

 These were dead simple - spray black, heavy silver drybrush, then going over the panels with contrast paint for a colored metallic look; on the left uses GW "Baal Red" and the right uses Army Painter "Magic Blue" speed paint. I think the blue worked out a lot better than the red but no complaints about either one of them. Picking out the eyes on Vallejo Scorpion Green completed the look. 

So that's four more for the completed side of the tracker, things are looking good...except a buddy of mine found a stash of old Wargames Factory plastic zombies to give to me. Once I receive those from him the red side will be jumping...

 

Miniatures Acquired: 184

Miniatures Painted: 168

Terrain Acquired: 2

Terrain Painted: 7

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 10