Zona Alfa - Focused Mission 2 - Position the RC Drone

Following on from last weeks mission fiesta, I decided to run the second narrative mission I'd written up.

This time the crew was being hired to guide an RC sensor drone up to the military compound.

I set up a new board, but using the same concept as last time...

...and if we compare last week's map (below), we can see that I just sort of panned the camera up on a larger map (more or less).

Infil point top right - Exfil point top left... the APC moves across as the game progresses. Rolled up 9 turns which was not a terrible result.

The new map had a lot of open space in the middle. A road at the top, an abandoned track leading down toward the centre...   overall it was quite fun.

Mission objective at the military outpost, at the entrance which made the objective point quite cramped (intentional).

Four Hot Spots, one near the Infil point, one down toward the barns (lower right) and two kind of on the way back up to the Exfil Point (left side).

The crew alights and heads into the container depot. Note the RC drone at the rear.  Moving the drone requires a crew members (any) to spend their own activation points to move it, plus they must be within 6" of it when it starts moving (therein the unique challenge of this mission).

Hoping for an easy bonus while everyone is fresh they set a quick overwatch and trigger the Hot Spot. No anomalies, just rats. Blasted quickly.

A Control Turn check at the end of turn 2 saw a roaming pack of dogs enter the board from the South. Their excellent eyesight picked out movement ahead and they tracked towards the crew.

Maintaining forward momentum and also keeping the RC moving, the crew manages to pick off the dogs on the run.

Every 2 turns I was moving the APC forward 12" - could have done 6" per turn but then I'd have to remember more :)

HUSTLE and LEADER rush the MO point to clear it of hostiles. Nothing but rats. LEADER takes one with overwatch, before the other swarm reaches base contact with HUSTLE...

then SNIPER, still perched up on the containers blasts the second swarm to goo from the other side of the board. An excellent but slightly risky shot. Given his equipment and skills he was a <= 9 to hit (highly likely) but being overwatch there was a 50:50 of causing friendly fire.   he rolled odd's  which took out the rats fortunately. Gulp!   A tense but fun result.

The RC trundled into position securing the Mission Objective!

The crew quickly turn their attention to the nearby Hot Spot, set some overwatch and trigger it. Bandits and an anomaly. Some of my new Bandits hit the table (yhay).

Overwatch took out the AK guy (the biggest threat) and one of the pistol guys shot at KNIFE as he ran for cover.

In the new turn the Bandits were quickly outgunned.

With the Hostile Phase now only a turn away the crew boots toward the APC. SNIPER leaps down from the containers and starts sprinting across the width of the map.

Hostile Phase kicks over: Bandits emerge at the container yard...

Zombies and Snorks are spotted near the military outpost...

and another swarm of Rats pops up right by the APC.

As turn 10 ticks over HUSTLE clears the rats expertly, LEADER gives SNIPER a boost of speed, and the hatch of the APC slams shut!

Phew!

The crew managed the mission competently. There were some stages where things could have gone far worse (mainly the hostile rolls; as in i could have rolling up tougher hostiles at the MO or first HS). As it was, no one needed a med kit or became incapacitated - in fact, no consumables were used at all (though i was contemplating giving HUSTLE some eJuice at one stage). 

So about 7.5k of credits once the salvage and artifact were sold off. Didn't need to buy any gear this time around. Gave KNIFE a 1+ combat bonus with the advances and held back the remainder. 

New HUSTLE performed admirably (jumping at just the right time as SNIPER's salvo came in), and this was mission 4 for the remainder of the crew. Next mission, should they survive, they will earn promotions for the older, non-veterans.  Will need to reconsider the crew at that stage to maintain the 12k skill threshold (hence keeping some advances available too).

Oh, and i never got around to collecting a reward from the Scientists... that's two they owe us.

Other stuff... 

These are all the Bandits I've finished. Paint still drying on the non-AK carrying ones (pistols and machetes) as dice were being rolled.

I have another 4 models more or less assembled but i'm not super happy with them (they feel like mutated leftovers). Think i'll just stick with these 2 sets for now. Can always make up more later.

And this... is all the minis i've assembled for Zona Alfa.

On the left is the 'norWesters' (contractors/independent stalkers), The Scientist HVT and the RC drones.

On the right are (from back to front)  bandits (8), yowies [mutants] (10), snorks [rad ghouls] (4), bloodsuckers [rad ghouls] (4), zombies (12), rats [vermin] (4), and dogs (12).

I still have a bunch of the Eureka military minis to get painted up. I'm sure i'll get to them one day.

Update 2020-11-03

Not worth a post of it's own. finished off the military outpost. Clearly the bolts holding the thing together were subpar.

Just brushed on some rust and weathering washes. Happy enough with how it turned out.

Until next time...