Majestic 13: Operation Truth Hurts

 The Lieutenant eased off the side of the road, taking his foot off the gas and letting the RV roll to a halt. Ahead of them, half-shrouded in greenery, was a chain-link fence; this far out from populated areas, it seemed out of place.

"Is this it? Where's our secret new friend?" Maria asked, tapping a cigarette out of the pack one-handed and lighting it. 

"Past this fence is a Majestic 13 installation. Top secret, like everything else in Majestic. Real hush-hush stuff. Our meeting point is 50 yards beyond the fence."

The Lieutenant's phone chirped as a text message arrived. He held it up to show the team.

"Don't keep me waiting! ~ Indrid Cold" it read.

"This informant's a real prick," Hank muttered.

"We're going to have to break in to this facility to meet him, kids," the Lieutenant said slowly. "I've got a bad feeling about this but it's the only lead we got on the questions you've been asking. Everyone working in that base is doing, ultimately, the same job you've been doing - protecting Earth from FORCE. Don't go in guns blazing unless you absolutely cannot help it."

***

So this is a "Special Mission," but not the next sequential one from the Majestic 13 rulebook, which sees the alien soldiers of FORCE attacking the team in their home base. Instead, I took it upon myself to come up with something different based on the Last Liners' story so far - which has been one of death, dismemberment, rebirth and burn-out. They want more information and the higher-ups aren't offering it, so when an informant, one "Indrid Cold," reached out offering a meet-up, the Liners took him up on it. Unfortunately, to get to the meeting place, the Last Liners will need to bypass another Majestic 13 fireteam - the Force Discreet, a much more militarized group led by a cutthroat Belgian mercenary named Anna-Maria. The Force Discreet's name is ironic, as they are very fond of rocket launchers. 

 The Last Liners spread out quietly and carefully, with the Lieutenant jumping the fence and circling behind the nearest hangar. I decided that they'd need to investigate each building, and on a D6 roll of 6+ (adding +1 for each previously searched building), they'd found their informant. 

Unfortunately, Javier spotted them and raised the alarm, moving towards Hank and opening fire - and missing. 

 And thus began a trend this game - I rolled absolute trash on attack rolls this game. Probably 75% of shooting rolls, for both the Last Liners and the Force Discreet, were below 9 on a D20. I'm rationalizing it as both teams have trained extensively to fight aliens - fighting humans causes some hesitation. 

Before long, Anna-Maria had jumped the fence to confront Maria II, while the rest of the Force Discreet had closed in.

 Anna-Maria did manage to give Maria II a nasty pistol-whipping before the Last Liner broke free and darted for cover. Meanwhile, you know how I said on a 6+ roll on a D6 they'd find their informant? Guess what the Lieutenant rolled as he slipped in the back door of the first hangar. A one-armed man stood there, calmly smoking a cigarette. "Took you long enough, Lieutenant," he said.

 

The man quietly slipped the Lieutenant a USB drive even as Ortiz appeared in the hangar doorway, spraying the darkness with lead from his machine gun. 

 Sarah-Jane was having a bit of a rough time of it as well; she'd scaled the garbage truck to get a better vantage point for sniping, missing, and took a running leap on to the cab of the freight truck. She was bleeding from some superficial wounds but wasn't ready to open her medkit and treat herself just yet.

 

And then Javier  took aim and squeezed the trigger on his automatic rifle.

 

A hit, and maximum damage. Sarah-Jane is out of action! 

 

I realize as I'm writing this I actually rolled one die too many for his damage, and she technically shouldn't have gone out of action, but no retconning it now!

Maria and Anna-Maria were trading hits and shots as they darted around the trucks, and Emilio of the Force-Discreet was hot on Becky's tail as she dashed for cover behind the UPS van. The Lieutenant withdrew from the hangar, signalling to his team to get the hell out - mission complete.

 Anna-Maria managed to shoot the Lieutenant in the stomach as he crossed the fence towards the waiting RV, and Pilar moved up to join her commanding officer, despite having not scored a single hit on any of the invaders thusfar. 

 The Lieutenant rolled into cover behind the green pickup truck, quickly patching up his wound with his own medical kit. Maria II tossed a flashbang grenade at Anna-Maria and Pilar, stunning both of them. Quickly shaking off the stun, Anna-Maria said, "Fuck this," shouldered her rocket launcher, and fired at the clustered Last Liners in cover. 

And missed. 

I decided the rocket fell short and blew up the truck they were hiding behind.

 With information obtained and only additional injuries and death to be gained, the Last Liners piled into their battered RV and burned rubber getting away.

 ***

"Majestic 13 has turned a blind eye towards your more... unorthodox... methods, Lieutenant, because you've shown considerable success in countering FORCE's bioweapons. However, this is beyond the pale. Infiltrating a secure Majestic black site because a voice on the radio told you to? Absolutely unacceptable. You're lucky you're not being treated as FORCE collaborators."

"Yes, sir." The Lieutenant kept his tone neutral.

"You could have at least Googled your alleged contact. 'Indrid Cold' has been an enigmatic figure in UFOlogical circles since 1966, an ageless prankster inserting himself into investigations to muddy waters and confuse data. Does that sound like a high-ranking agent of Majestic to you?"

The Lieutenant bit back what he wanted to say, instead replying simply, "No, sir." 

"It is only your admittedly impressive success in the field that stays Majestic's hand, Lieutenant. Your team will be allowed to continue to operate against FORCE, instead of being disappeared into the US prison system. But you will be monitored much more closely going forward. Today's fiasco cannot happen again."
 

"Yes, sir."

 ***

 So a relatively quick and mild mission this time around, with things eased by how few hits I actually rolled for combat. The Last Liners made contact with the informant, whoever he was, and escaped mostly unscathed. Rolling on the casualty tables, Sarah-Jane had a full recovery and will be ready for the next mission. 

The crew gained enough XP to each boost an ability - The Lieutenant, Sarah-Jane and Maria each bumped Dexterity up by 1, while Hank boosted Acuity and Becky boosted Combat. There was no gear requisition this time around - all requests immediately canceled by the higher ups!  

Next time around, the Last Liners will be back to fighting monsters. Will having the bureaucracy breathing down their necks impact their ability to succeed?  

Hitting the Open Road

 One of the things I'll need if I want to start playing Zombie RV (besides zombies) is... an RV! Fortunately, I had one in my backlog - a clever 3D-printed kit from Miniature Tanks here in the US. I got a bunch of vehicles from them for Christmas this past year, and I decided it was time to get this one assembled and painted. Assembly was pretty easy, though I did need to use a pair of tweezers to glue on the railings at the top and the silver bits on the side - weight supports when parked, I'm guessing? 

 

Because it's a 1970s Ford F-150,  I started looking up 1970s paint jobs, and found a pretty sharp-looking black, red-orange and silver example. I decided to change the red-orange to just plain red, and got to work. Except for the headlights and taillights, everything here is just done with cheap craft paint instead of expensive hobby paint. 

 I painted the license plate yellow with blue lettering to match the color plates on my own car, and carefully freehanded "ZRV" in lieu of trying to squeeze on an authentic plate number. 

It's not going to win any awards but it's a solid addition to my scatter collection, and I'm looking forward to seeing it on the table. 

The Last Liners are never far from hand so obliged for a scale shot.

 

Miniatures Acquired: 178

Miniatures Painted: 129

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 7

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 10

 

Urgent Care - You're Gonna Need It!

 While I still have furniture to paint and glue into place, I've completed the building itself for this Urgent Care center from Atomic Laser Cut Designs - making this my fifth building, and sixth kit overall, from them. As always, I've done a little customization and decoration to make it feel a little more alive.

 The exterior walls have gotten some graffiti, courtesy some GreenStuffWorld decals, as well as some lost dog signs and a "no littering" sign I pulled off Google Image Search and resized before taking to my local office supply store to print out. The windows (including the window separating the receptionist's area from the waiting room) have "glass" cut from overhead projector acetate sheets and glued into place.

 The floors are likewise printed paper, from a set of floor patterns I got from Sarissa Precision. There was a lot of careful measuring, re-measuring and cutting, believe me! 

 Inside, we've got more signs in the waiting room (including one on the receptionist's window reminding patrons to be polite, based on ones I've actually seen in waiting rooms post-pandemic), and a bulletin board in the receptionist's office. 

The one piece of furniture I've painted and glued into place so far is an air conditioning vent from OshiroModelTerrain. Most of the rest of the furniture I've got to paint is also from Oshiro, save for a pair of bench seats for the waiting room from GreenStuffWorld.

 I had some nerves going into this kit - it's one of the most complex Atomic Laser Cut Designs offers, with multiple interior rooms, and I knew I wanted to split the flooring between wood and tile. And yeah, I snapped a piece while I was test-fitting. But other than that, I just took my time and did a lot of test-fitting and sanding and cutting and ultimately it was less stressful a process than I feared it would be. 

In others news... while I'm not keen on zombie movies or TV shows much any more (post-pandemic they feel a little too close), I've gotten the bug to try out one of the solo zombie apocalypse wargames on the market - specifically, Zombie RV, which I know my friend Mike over at Lead Legionaries has spent some time playing. Thing of it is - I don't have any zombies! So an order was placed, and I fall well behind on my painted vs acquired tracker! At least they should be fairly fast and easy to paint up...

 

Miniatures Acquired: 173

Miniatures Painted: 129

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 7

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 9

 

A Less-Than-Frosty Frostgrave

 I went out and met up with Set (the host of our fizzled Dracula's America campaign, with an absolutely awe-inspiring terrain collection) for a game of Frostgrave today - or rather, a game of houseruled Frostgrave, incorporating some aspects of "Ghost Archipelago" and in a homebrew setting. As you can see, there's not much frost on the table!

 I brought a wargame comprised of some of my recent samurai figures, whose snow-covered bases wouldn't have been out of place in the game's original setting. We had a multi-faceted mission - hobgoblins had been raiding caravans and taking captives, and the merchants were paying for dead hobgoblins, rescued captives and retrieved artifacts. Rather than "treasure tokens," there were investigative tokens strewn across the table  - once we interacted with these, they might yield treasure, a monster, or nothing at all. 

Early on in the game, one of Set's warband members interacted with one that yielded a monster, and a roll on the table yielded a pterodactyl that over the course of the game ended up taking out a third of his warband, including his wizard.

 Meanwhile, my crew accidentally brought a pair of armored skeletons and an ogre on to the table.

 I won't get into a direct play by play here, since a lot of the particulars of what happened when seeped out of my brain on the half hour drive home. But the overall gist is that we originally focused on our objectives - taking down hobgoblins and collecting treasure. One of my Thieves unlocked the cage the captives were in, and with the help of one of my Thugs, began ushering the two captives to freedom. 

And then we started trying to kill each other. I inflicted very little harm on Set's warband, only managing to kill his warhound, while he killed outright or at least finished off most of my warband (at least, those that the ogre didn't splatter!). 

 At the end of the game, I'd killed two hobgoblins, retrieved two parcels of treasure (one containing one of the artifacts we'd been hired to go after), and rescued one captive, while Set killed two hobgoblins, retrieved two parcels of treasure (both artifacts) and managed to make it off the table with zero captives. 

 

In the post-game, my treasure resolved itself into a grimoire containing the spell "Miraculous Cure," a magic dagger that gives the wielder +1 Fighting, and 250 gold coins when combined with the rewards for the artifact and captive.  Of those in my warband who'd fallen, everyone made a full recovery except for my Archer and my two Thieves, who will need to be replaced before next game, whenever that may be. My Witch gained two levels, which I used to improve her Fighting stat and made it easier for her to cast "Curse" in future games.

All in all it was a great game and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully this turns into a more regular thing - in part because I visit Set's house so infrequently that I keep making a wrong turn on the way home that adds an extra three miles to my commute and I'd like to get accustomed enough to the route to stop making that wrong turn! 

Living On This Island Earth

On June 10th, 1955, a humble little scifi B-movie hit theaters called THIS ISLAND EARTH. It starred Rex Reason and Faith Domergue as atomic scientists kidnapped by Exeter, a mysterious yet seemingly kindly man with white hair and a large forehead, and taken to his home planet of Metaluna. Metaluna was under attack by the forces of the planet Zagon, and Metaluna needed the earth scientists' aid to synthesize enough uranium to fuel their defensive screens long enough to evacuate Metaluna's population to Earth. While Exeter argues for a peaceful coexistence with Earth, the leader of Metaluna instead suggests a future where earthlings would be subservient to the "superior" Metalunans. The question is moot, however, as it's too late; Exeter and the earthlings narrowly escape as Metaluna, under heavy bombardment, transforms into a new star. However, a Mutant (or Mu-TANT, given the enunciation in the film), a synthetic species of humanoid insects used as slave labor on Metaluna, has stowed away on the flying saucer and attacks, delivering a fatal wound to Exeter before being destroyed itself. 

I'll be honest, while it's got its charm it's not an amazing film, and these days might be best known for being included in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie," which I used to have on VHS back in the day. I certainly tend to think of some of the jokes made by Mike and the Bots in that when I think of this film. 

The Mu-TANT, however, has achieved a degree of iconicness; because the film was produced and distributed by Universal Studios, it does get included with the Universal Monsters in some tie-in media (action figure licenses, etc), and coming just a year after the Creature From The Black Lagoon, I applaud the inclusion. Modernized version have also appeared in the films MEN IN BLACK 3 and LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION in scenes paying tribute to the sci-fi boom of the 1950s. 

Which is a long, roundabout way to explain who these guys are. BigMrTong did a limited release of metal figures inspired by the Metaluna Mu-TANT, and I picked up three of them. They're now available as an STL file through his patreon, but I got three of the metal release, bending the arms slightly to create some variation between them. They'd been sitting primed on my desk for a while, but on the 10th I saw a notice on one of the B-movie pages I follow on social media stating it was the film's anniversary, so I got my rear in gear and started painting. 

 

Nothing too fancy, and I avoided trying to paint the sculpted veins on the arms - I just don't have a fine enough brush and enough trust in the steadiness of my own hands not to bodge it up repeatedly.  

 While I was at it, I knocked out another bit of scatter terrain for my modern tables - a hot dog cart, ready to be parked on a street corner dishing out delicious street meat to hungry pedestrians. 

 This is a 3D print I got from Miniature Building Authority, given a simple metallic drybrush for that stainless steel look, and the hot dog and soda logos picked out in full color. 

"This kid's been back four times today... he's an eating machine!"

 

So let's get that tracker updated:

 

Miniatures Acquired: 149

Miniatures Painted: 129

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 6

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 9

 

Majestic 13: Operation Out of Sight

 "The eggheads call it a 'Navite Warrior,'" the Lieutenant said. "Cybernetic organisms - a meat core surrounded by steel armor and robot limbs, armed with a big damn gun. They've got a couple different load-outs they cycle between - blinding shot, restraining shot, things like that. So stay frosty, kids, watch each other's backs, and put more rounds into it than it puts into you."

He scratched his beard. 

"I've been calling in favors, team," he added, sounding older than usual. "You deserve a hell of a lot better than Majestic is giving you. You know that, I know that. You're a damn good team and you're putting the hurt on FORCE better than some of the more militarized fire-teams in the field. And I'm damn proud of you, all of you. Let's kick some ass today, collect some monster samples, and remember I'm doing everything I can to get you the rewards you deserve."

***

The Last Liners converged on a busy city street. The gleaming orange and green metal of the Navite Warrior caught the summer sunlight as it crouched above the failing TeeVeeShak, its optical sensors surveying its surroundings.

 

 The Lieutenant opened fire on the creature, blood and oil spurting as bullets pierced the rubber sheathing covering its mechanical joints. Hank, his hands shaking with nerves, squeezed the trigger on his SAW...and missed! The Navite Warrior responded with its Scatter Shot ability, blazing away at every member of the Last Liners. Everyone took damage, and the creature scored a critical hit on Sarah-Jane, almost killing her. Becky was also temporarily blinded by the creature's attack. Its attack completed, the Navite Warrior leapt off the TeeVeeShak roof and scurried into the junkyard.

 

Maria darted across the street and, teeth gritted, pulled herself up the drainpipe on to the TeeVeeShak, taking a pot shot at the monster upon reaching the roof. Blinking away her blindness, Becky ran towards the junkyard gates, lining up a quick shot. Sarah-Jane shot the monster with her sniper rifle, then performed some quick first aid on herself. 

 

The Navite Warrior retaliated by firing a Restraining Shot at Becky; she ducked and dodged the spinning bolas of razor-wire, avoiding damage, only to have the monster somersault over her and shoot her in the back from the front steps of the pawn shop with its Focused Shot ability. The Lieutenant and Hank poured fire into the creature, and Maria called in a drone strike on the monster.

 Becky wandered into the junkyard, feigning polite interest in the conflict between the yard's manager and an unhappy customer as she collected a sample of the creature's effluvium. 

 The Navite fired its Scatter Shot again, hitting the Lieutenant and Becky, both of whom successfully resisted being blinded. The monster darted up on to the roof of the doughnut shop, firing its Restraining Shot at the Lieutenant who miraculously managed to dodge (his Dexterity is still low, and all of these attacks necessitated him making Dexterity saves). 

 

The Lieutenant rolled into cover behind the pickup truck (the driver of which was engaged in intense price negotiations with a hooker, and hadn't noticed the monster) and fired at the Navite Warrior. Hank tried to line up another shot, and missed again; the creature activated, firing its Scatter Shot, hitting the Lieutenant and Maria. Maria and Becky shot at the monster, dealing enough damage to send it into Extremis; from here on out it would take additional damage every time it activated. 

Sarah-Jane missed her next shot, and the Navite whirred into action, blood oozing from its joints as its servos overheated and systems began to fail. It fired another Scatter Shot, striking Maria and the Lieutenant, who failed his saving throw and was blinded by the attack, and leapt down from the doughnut shop roof, landing hard and spurting hydraulic fluids, its knees buckling from the strain. Activating again, then fired a Restraining Shot at Maria, who failed to dodge. The razor-wire ball struck her and expanded, encircling her and restricting her limbs. Bleeding profusely, she collapsed. The Navite tried to activate a third time, and its systems fully overloaded and failed, shutting down and dying.

***

The Lieutenant blinked sight back into his eyes. The Navite Warrior was quickly slagging itself, destroying all traces of FORCE technology to prevent it from falling into human hands. Hank and Becky were extracting Maria, unconscious, from the tangle of razor-wire as best they could. 

He cursed, and pulled out the burner phone. Thumbing a number in, he listened to the buzz as the call was picked up.

"We killed it fast and discreetly. These kids are the best there is in this goddamn fight, so don't tell me you can't give them some answers and some goddamn hope. I've got a soldier down and you're picking up the goddamn medical bill."

He ended the call without waiting for a response. 

***

 This was the smoothest game I've had yet. The pre-game Bureaucracy roll came up "No Event," I had no "FUBAR" events, and the monster died at the end of turn 3. Granted, I'm probably two games away from the game switching to "Phase 2," where the monsters' stats go up, so the challenge will go up again soon. 

Going into post-game...

Maria fully recovered from her wounds, and is ready to go for next game with no new penalties. 

I was one building shy of successfully completing the "Alien Tissue Collection" secondary mission I'd rolled up; if the monster had held on for one more turn I would have had enough time for someone to touch the doughnut shop and it would have been a success. As is, everyone but Maria scored 3 XP, and Maria scored 2. This allowed everyone to improve one ability. 

The Lieutenant boosted Dexterity again, while Hank, Sarah-Jane, Becky and Maria all improved their Combat ability by 1. Hank's Combat ability is now at 20, meaning from here on out it will cost him 6XP to boost that ability instead of the usual 3. 

As for post-battle gear requisitions...

Targeting HUD (second request)? - No.

Drone control pod for the base? - No. 

A prosthetic arm for Maria? - No. Apparently United Healthcare is involved with Majestic 13. 

***

As the team unwound after the fight with beers, the radio suddenly crackled and switched over from classic rock to a hollow, echoing voice.

 "Good evening, Lieutenant! Congratulations are in order for you and your team following today's performance. Majestic is very pleased with your track record against the bioweapons of FORCE. I'm given to understand that your team is dissatisfied with Majestic's dissemination of information, and I'm very sorry to hear that. Please understand that information regarding the ongoing war against FORCE is highly classified, even within Majestic, both for the good of the conspiracy as a whole and for the individual agents on the ground. There's very little I can tell you even if I wanted to. That being said, I do believe your team deserves to be thrown a bone, so to speak. Please be on the lookout; I'm going to provide a date, time and coordinates to you in the very near future through coded channels. Meet me then and there and I'll see what I can do for you." 

The radio hissed and returned to playing the Eagles. The Last Liners looked at each other. They could all feel it. Something big was coming their way.  

12 Civilians? No, 13!

 I finished a baker's dozen of figures for my modern collection last night after about a week's worth of evening work. Even better, most of them had large, well-sculpted faces and I was able to go in and paint eyes on them! 

 First up, a short order cook and a carhop waitress, complete with a tray of fries, shake and burger, from Killer B Games (purchased through Recreational Conflict here in the USA). Maybe slightly anachronistic for a "modern" game, given that carhops on roller skates seem to really be a thing of the 1950s, but my table is pretty consistently a blend of the second half of the 20th century up into the 2010s or so. My home city of Buffalo is often used as a shooting location for early 20th century films because so many local buildings haven't changed in a century; it's the Rust Belt, things hang around because we can't always afford to replace them. 

 A few more Killer B figures - a slobby guy in an undershirt with a newspaper, scratching his ass; a clerk I'm interpreting as a pharmacist or even a barber; and a "Sporty Girl" in shorts, high socks and a tight T-shirt with a Farrah Fawcett cut. I'm pretty pleased with myself for the piping on her shorts and the blue stripes on her socks. I gave her a grassy base versus a gravelly one because I can see her showing up in non-urban games as well. 

 Something a little spicy - a pimp and his stable of girls. Everyone but the rightmost figure here are from Reaper Miniatures, while the black madam in a red jumpsuit and white coat is another Killer B figure. I took some color cues from "A Pimp Named Slickback" on the animated show "The Boondocks" for him:

"No,no, not 'Slickback,' I'm 'A Pimp Named Slickback,' you have to say the whole thing."

 One of the guys in the group I hang out and paint with on Monday nights saw the feather in his hat the and the hook of his cane and said, "Oh cool, a pirate!"

Not...not quite, Darryl. You got the "pi" part right. 

 I am really pleased with the sheer stockings effect I got on the blonde, as well. 

 Pushing the bounds of "civilians" quite a bit, these two armed ladies are from Copplestone Castings. Not a whole lot to say here; I realize now I forgot to go in and put a dark wash over the metallics for their guns. 

So that's 12, but I promised you 13 - who's still to be shown?

 I'm a little bummed - I painted this Reaper Miniatures cat on the sprue (I've got three more cats left), so I wasn't able to test-fit him to this 3D printed cardboard box. So he's more concealed than I really would have liked, but it is what it is. Once varnished he's going to be glued to the sidewalk in front of one of my modern buildings.

 So let's update that tracker:

 

Miniatures Acquired: 149

Miniatures Painted: 126

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 6

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 8