MULESKINNERS 4

Scenario 4: Night Attack: And then there were three…

Following the semi victory of ‘get to da...’ The crew retire to lick their wounds....days later after pushing through a thick band of forest, they spy a number of tents huddled into a circle...everyone is tired so here will be as good a place as any to rest up...but as night falls it soon becomes painfully apparent why the camp has been abandoned...
Wilderness/animals/Protect/night-time.

Charged with protecting their meagre camp (it must be clear of adversaries by the end of turn eight) the crew spend the first turn taking up defensive positions.

 Barnes triggers the appearance of a tentacle with the first roll of the game and reveals two salvage markers as nothing, while Harris reveals one and no bad guys.

Turn two and Barnes claims a salvage then returns to cover, Clyde patrols the perimeters and Harris uses her Looter skill to move a marker within range and neatly claims it but the noise rouses a carnivorous ape that had been dozing in one of the tents!

Johansen deals with a mutant hand to hand style then having no fond memories of the vicious simians reduces it to two condition points pistol wise...enraged the ape attacks Barnes causing a single wound on the leader.

Turn 3 and because he was pushed back Barnes is able to use his only range weapons...grenades...

'...err the incendiary if you please Carruthers?'

Seven fire related hits later and the area is awash with the scent of crispy, aromatic ape!

The tentacle is too far from the light of the bbq and so cannot be targeted so everyone else takes a breather.

Turn 4 sees the arrival of a brace of hyena ticks (gross) which are quickly dispatched by the combined shooting of Clyde and Johansen. 

Harris searches again to no avail and a predatory dinosaur takes to the high ground to survey the camp.

Turn 5 begins with the arrival of two blood wyrms  one of which Barnes toasts with his last firebomb while the other charges and reduces him to wounded for his pyrotechnical mayhem before dying.

Johansen kills another skulking mutant only to find two more in camp and Harris tests the dinosaur's hide with a dose of rifle fire.

Turn six and the bad guys have got to start being cleared from the camp area...cue Barnes who scores a whopping seven hits with a fast ball frag grenade, covering the camp with chunks of burning tentacle. And narrowly missing Harris in the process.

Clyde zeros the dinosaur and consolidates back to camp with the shaken Harris while Johansen mops up some mutants in a very businesslike fashion.

Turn 7 means trouble when three mutants appear right on the edge of camp threatening to undo the crew’s hard work. Barnes is forced to close with them and takes another wound for killing two as Clyde offers some side show shooting to take out two more skulking blood wyrms.

Harris ruins the party by conjuring another giant tentacle as she X’s the last mutant and clips the dinosaur in the crossfire.

The dinosaur is incensed...and guts the unsuspecting Barnes on the spot at the start of the final turn!!

Clyde with no LOS is forced to ATC and the shot bounces off its hide. The dinosaur strikes again now inside the camp reducing Harris to wounded, her return hit also fails to penetrate and Johansen is too far out so Harris is left to deal with it alone. 1 shot....1 damage die...2 wounds! One dead dinosaur...

No one has managed to pin the tentacle in place with gunfire and it spontaneously relocates....less than an inch from the camp border. Victory.

DOWNTIME

With victory comes the salvage and with flak coats, grenades,a rifle for Clyde ammo and rations supplemented by the Dino meat the crew live to fight on but they will do so without their leader.

Barnes never recovers from his fight with the dinosaur and so as most senior crew member the heavy mantle of leadership, and a cool hat, passes to Clyde the amiable orang-utan

The survivors are toughened with upgrades and better equipped but will they survive another close mission now theyare only three?

MULESKINNERS 3

 Scenario 3: Get to da....oh never mind

‘Oo oo oo ooo oo o’

Translation: ‘Well we’re shorthanded with the boss laid up but I’m sure if we all pull together we can get the Doc to the transport...’

Hoping for a quiet day at the office, the last three crew members (Clyde, Harris and Johansen) guide the rescued Doctor to the waiting choppa...

Turn one started slow, Clyde took charge of the Doc and Harris stuck close. Johansen had other ideas rolled maximum actions and triggered a random spawning straight off the bat .  A large Ban-dog appeared on the far side of the board. She then moved into space and searched for some much needed salvage.....result two salvage markers and one very large hungry looking Carnivorous Ape...marvellous...

The ape then double activated, charged Johansen and reduced her to one condition point for no damage in return.

Thankfully it lost interest in the following turn and random moved letting Harris have a close range pop with her last AP rounds. JAM!

‘For fleg's sake noooo....’

Sensing that it was going to be one of those days she turned and double moved away taking the Doc off of Clyde’s hands in the process.

Johansen knowing the end was near squeezed off a couple of rounds while the ape’s back was turned 

‘Right in the arse!’

Turn 3 and it was time to make some hard choices. Clyde stood between the ban-dog and the Doc so he ATC’d forward for no hits then shot the shimmering beast only to watch the rounds absorbed by its inter dimensional hide.

Next it was Harris’s turn to top score and attract the attention of three passing tech savages. Thankfully at distance. She then un-jammed her weapon and moved close to the transport under cover of the cliffs. The ape attacked Johansen again losing a wound in the process.

The ban-dog gave Clyde ‘a look’ then leaped on him reducing them both to only one condition point in vicious punch up.

Staggered by her wounds Johansen only managed to generate one action.

Yep 
With enough space she gave the ape both barrels for only one damage die then rolled three hits! The first was taken by its hide.

'See that? Ricocheted off one of its big honky teeth!'

While the second and third drilled into its brain !! Dead.

Turn four saw the ban-dog finish the job on Clyde taking him out, the tech savages circled around to the salvage markers and Johansen (who claimed one) while Harris made good her escape with the Doc.

Initiative stayed with the adversaries in turn five and they closed in on the limping Johansen who just managed to stay out of their reach.

Turn 6 and the ban-dog tries to chase Johansen down but she is saved when Harris makes it to the transport with the Doc bringing the game to an end...

DOWNTIME

Well it started bad, got worse and then the sun came out.

Watching the transport disappear over the horizon with the valuable doctor the crew lick their wounds and take stock.

Clyde came back at full strength and Barnes returns too but things are not looking good...only Harris and Johansen gained any upgrades for the effort (marksman skill for Harris and a deal of mods for both) but it will be all for nothing if they don’t find ammo and rations.

Barnes now has the butt of his shotgun (no ammo) 1 incendiary and 2 frag grenades (should be fun)...The rest have enough ammo for one mission then it’s knives only. And that’s if the rations hold out...

MULESKINNERS 2

 

Scenario 2: The Factory

Having made it into town the crew find themselves in a heavily industrialised area overgrown with the weeds of years.

‘Slim pickings....’

Then a voice raised and distressed, it seems to be coming from the broken down factory to the left. A Pathfinders life is not just looting and shooting...that’s for the savages.
Whoever it is they need help and at this point in history every human life counts.....

Scenario rolls were...Interior/search/mutants (again!) and ‘starting adversaries’ as a complication for a bit of spice which turned out to be 2 blood wyrms (meh) and a mutant hulk...oh.

Turn 1 was all movement and a failure to complete the first of the four required searches. Barnes scored the first search at the second attempt in turn2 and found two mutants and an alpha too...Harris circled round to the second quadrant and caught the eye of the hulk. While Johansen got a second search. Newman Smith scored a hit a blood wyrm then was jumped by Barnes’s revealed mutants!

Out with the machete says he and chops them up taking two hits in the process (good shot...ouch!)
Busy turn 3 for Barnes the boss, random spawning (another alpha) he then blasts the first alpha to hell, claimed a savage marker and splashed a blood wyrm to boot!

Harris scored another search (one more will reveal the position of the scientist in distress) but the alpha and mutants pile up around her as her rifle jams. Elsewhere some pesky rad rats claim the salvage that the injured Smith was angling for.

Turn 4 sees a deal of inconclusive scuffling centre board which moves Harris to venture an incendiary grenade.

'Give us some warning will you?'

The explosion lights up mutants rats and sets fire to an enraged hulk (fire!)
Smith limps on...scores a salvage marker and makes it into the final quadrant ready to make the final search next turn 

'Nice one Newman!'

Turn 5 sees Barnes zero another alpha then jam! Harris needs the whole turn to un-jam her rifle, Johansen jams too and is forced to consolidate with her crew mates. Only Smith seems to be still working completing the last search  and finding the scientist hiding in a truck!
They just need to hold him for the last three turns to claim the victory ...

Barnes spends turn 6 Un-jamming his shotgun and claiming the scientist while Harris try’s out her newly acquired armour piercing rounds on the hulk but misses. Johansen can only manage a default move and Smith circles the truck and sees two good hits on the hulk turned by its armour.

Turn7 breaks the crew...another jam for Barnes forces him to close with the hulk to protect the scientist (brave but foolish) beating a mutant hulk to death with the butt of his shotgun was always wishful thinking and eight hits in return blasts him out of the game despite his armour.

An already injured Harris succumbs to a mutant and plucky newcomer Smith is trodden on by the same hulk that got Barnes.

'Newman!!!'

In the confusion Johansen grabs the scientist and moves out of range of the rampaging hulk
Last turn and a massive roll by Johansen finally wrestles the initiative from the bad guys only to fail activation and get trapped in combat with a giant spider that had been waiting for its chance since turn five.

Her armour saves her as the last mutants converge. The hulk activates but has no LOS for a killing debris throw and can’t get into combat with her due to its 4 inch move....

A very narrow victory but at what cost?

DOWNTIME

Well...
Barnes will miss the final mission (something's busted) Harris however returns, thankfully unharmed, and Crazy Clyde also comes back fully rested to take on the role of senior crew mate or a mission

'You put the monkey in charge!?!'

Smith however failed his survival roll and now lies in a shallow, unmarked footprint somewhere in a quiet corner of Sector 12, not quite surviving one mission...

'What was that guy’s name? The one who got stepped on?’

Rewards were 6 XP and one salvage for the scientist, as anyone who was carrying salvage was taken out. The problem now is ammo...reorganising supplies gives the four remaining  crew enough for the next scenario but if they don’t find anymore and some rations then it’s back to base....Will they be able to get the scientist to safety?

Next (and last) mission: Get to da ch...oh never mind....

THE MULESKINNERS

 

A few battle reports featuring an earlier crew.

Using the scenario generation table for a short 3 scenario campaign gave the following results...

1: Interior, search, mutants, complications adversaries
2: wilderness, escort, animals
3: urban/ruin (double roll) scout A, mutants.

The idea of the table is to give the bones of a situation onto which the player can hang their own narrative, the scenarios can be used in any order or the order they were rolled so. SECTOR 12 is all about the story. Chose the scout/urban ruins/ mutants as a starting point to warm the crew up.

 

Scenario 1: Going to town

...Looking down into the valley the crew sees the crumbling ruins of a modern looking town, perhaps a slice of normality in this strange place? Perhaps not....as they move in to investigate a familiar smell of neglect and decay filters through the ruins....

‘You smell that? Mutants...Clyde take point would yer....’

Everybody moved up in turn one apart from Clyde who stopped to tie his shoe laces. Johansen triggered a random spawning with her first activation (giant spider) then completed the first ‘interact’ while avoiding it. And a single mutant arrived on the scene looking for lunch. Turn 2 saw Barnes wasting the arachnid shotgun wise, Clyde shuffled again obviously having a bad day and Harris shot forward for the second interact. So far....Turn 3 and it kicked off...Barnes ATC’d hoping to pick off the multiplying mutants.. JAM! Damn.

So....what?!
Cue Clyde to the rescue. Max activation brought more mutants so he scampered along the walls at top speed ignoring any climbing effects due to his simian abilities and leapt into combat killing one mutant but losing a condition point in return. Closing again Crazy Clyde downs two more before the third twats him out of the game. Great.
Elsewhere the ladies shake their heads and stay on mission performing interacts 3 and 4

A default move slows down Barnes as he is ambushed by another mutant and the ladies spread out. Turn 5 and Barnes’ fowling piece is jammed again as an alpha mutant crawls from the ruins drawn by the noise, soaking up a barrage of combined gunfire for no damage (tough guy huh?) hitting Johansen twice from long range but she is saved by her Flakcoat

Harris ever the professional secures the last interact now it’s three turns to survive....

Turn 6 and the arrival of a mutant hulk shakes everyone.

'I told you to keep your voice down!'

Barnes and Harris unload on the alpha again getting it down to 1 condition but still alive and still too close. The alpha picks out Johansen in cover as does the hulk with a well aimed boulder but again her Flak coat saves her...but only just. 

Turn 7 is a desperate fighting retreat as the mutants start to pile up and continually steal the initiative.
Last turn and the boss has had enough...It’s frag time!

The grenade blows a whole in the alpha big enough to keep a bicycle out of the rain but clips Harris in the process pushing her out of cover and giving the hulk one last target and pushing her down to her last condition point.

Johansen manages to fend off two mutants in retreat and Barnes is swamped by rad rats for his explosive shenanigans but gives them a size 12 to finish the game.

DOWNTIME

With all the salvage and XP’s the only down side was Clyde missing the next mission for the sake of his heroics. Barnes is upgraded meaning he will hopefully he will activate more next time...everyone gets ammo and rations (just in time actually). Personnel was rolled and the team is filled out with a raw recruit saved from wandering Sector 12 alone.

Next time: The Factory....