STALKER7

An INSURGENT EARTH AAR

The Rowville Resistance Cell was at it again last night, responding to a frantic call on a CB radio. Apparently, a survivor was hiding in Dryden’s Ditch, an old farm on the outskirts of town.

According to the survivor, old Dryden himself had made a last stand there, taking down half-a-dozen of the invaders before being disintegrated by some kind of laser gun. The attackers had moved on, leaving two of their kind to stand guard over a weird crystal growth that had sprouted up across the road. “Please, come get me,” the woman’s voice pleaded. “I’m afraid they’ll come back.”

TABLE SET UP

Level 1 Occupied Zone, (low-threat area) 3 x 3 game mat, 9 Point of Interest sites (potential salvage) and 1 hidden survivor. Our heroes elect to enter via the corner nearest to the crystal/sentries. As usual, Resistance acts first.

OPENING SHOTS

Dryden’s Ditch is a fairly open space. Ruined buildings, hedges and walls offer plenty of low cover and obstructions but not a lot of opportunity to stay unseen for long. So the ‘stealth option’ goes right out the window. Corporal Ortiz unclips one of his grenades and creeps forward. Pull the pin, lob the green egg and pop goes the interstellar weasels by the crystal.

Gravel and dust settle. Gene “Trip” Trippits joins the Corporal and they move forward to loot the car and check out the weird space rocks.

Meanwhile, Jasper and Ms. Ellen cut across the road toward what’s left of the farm. It’s mostly scorched brick and splintered wood, but the survivor is somewhere around here. And who knows what Old Man Dryden cached away when the aliens arrived? (he always had that ‘prepper vibe’ about him)

Ellen veers off toward a rusty sedan. Jasper sees what looks like a half-buried crate out behind the first outbuilding. He gleefully whips out his multi-tool and starts prying. Look, food supplies!

And a pipe bomb. Oops. Hillbilly Home Security, at your service.

(players elected to use the dice roll tables rather than the POI card salvage method. With the dice tables, you get both items and trouble whenever you search a POI)

Miraculously, Jasper suffers no more than singed eyebrows and staggers away clutching cans of tuna and beans.

He’s still a little hard of hearing when the Sector Patrol arrives on scene a few hundred meters away. (Per the standard rules, the alien’s Sector Patrol rolls a D4 for their entry point after the Resistance phase finishes. Just so happens this unit of drones comes in right by our boy)

Jasper’s in clear line of sight, so they forego Detection and promptly advance. A quick jig of ‘Fire and Maneuver’ plays out as Jasper, Ms. Ellen and the Sector Patrol exchange rounds. They open fire and hit the still dazed Jasper three times. Ouch.

Three hits on Jasper. Jasper makes three saves. Unbelievable! The good ole boy’s Improvised Body Armor is doing the trick. Next turn, he and Ms. Ellen return fire and drop them. Stackin’ bodies at Dryden’s Ditch. Still no sign of the survivor tho…

Alien Rapid Response

While that little tete-a-tete is happening, Trip moves past the crystal and angles in on one part of the main house. There’s salvage in there and it’s one of the survivor’s possible hiding spots. Corporal Ortiz sees a pick-up truck with a tool box in the bed and a gun rack in the back window. Gotta be valuables there, right?

Thing is, they forgot that engaging alien units in combat triggers a call for reinforcements. So while they’re intent on loot, an invader Rapid Response team is prepping for drop.

Corporal Ortiz scrounges up some valuable components but triggers another booby trap. Apparently dynamite was Old Man Dryden’s way of saying ‘Git offa my lawn!’ The Corporal’s military body armor saves him from the worst of the blast and he steps back just as the Alien reinforcements arrive.

Near the road, Trip pops off three rounds with his pistol to no effect. It’s up to Ortiz and Ms Ellen to take these things down. These xeno-beasts are melee-specialists but our heroes are getting incredible Dodge Defend rolls against their attacks. (really. their luck was astonishing.) The Resistance turn comes around and the Corporal and Ms. Ellen perforate the Big Uglies.

Ms. Ellen wipes alien gunk off her jacket and turns her attention back to the sedan. More supplies and yes, you guessed it, another booby trap. This one injures our heroine. She takes a wound and loses 1 Action/her D10 Action Die.

Good Luck, Bad Luck

While all that excitement is happening, Trips finally makes it to the main house and starts searching, first the POI, then for the survivor. The POI yields more components and an air horn alarm (quickly silenced) and also the woman on the radio; Old Dryden’s niece. She’s got a baseball bat and a Smith & Wesson revolver but she’s too frazzled to think straight. (aliens invaded the planet and burned her uncle’s farm to the ground with laser beams. a little shock is understandable) Trip elects to escort her to safety. A wounded Ms. Ellen joins them and the three head for the nearest corner.

Seeing them head off, Corporal Ortiz decides it’s time to bail too, so he cuts through the house toward another corner. (Players can exit the game via any corner they choose) “I’ll just check the dumpster on my way out.‘ He finds medical supplies but it turns out to be empty boxes.

Jasper sees everyone leaving but opts to search just one more POI before he calls it quits. He figures his extraordinary luck will hold and he’ll meet them back at their hideout later. (he heard Old Man Dryden had a corn whisky still somewhere on the property)

How many pipe bombs did Farmer Dryden make? One too many, as it turns out.

Jasper staggers back, wounded. At that moment, more invaders arrive. This time in response to the team being picked up by an Surveillance satellite. (how quick good luck turns to bad luck)

A pair of Murder Marbles drops in right behind him and opens fire.

Alas, poor Jasper. I knew him well…

It’s all fun and games until someone gets a sucking chest wound… Ms. Ellen, Trip, and Dryden’s Niece had already departed. The Corporal was one move away from his exit.

Seeing Jasper go down, those alien machines hovering over his body, Julio Ortiz realized there was nothing he could do. Muttering something about ‘Grabthar’s Hammer’, he turned away and ducked into the underbrush near Route 17.

One down, one gained. Mission over.

***

That’s Mission 4 for the Rowville Resistance Cell. Time to tally the salvage, fabricate some gear, turn hard-won experience into character advances, honor a fallen friend and welcome a new one. All in a week’s work to take back our planet.

Interested in fighting aliens? Insurgent Earth is currently available in PDF at WargameVault. Print version will arrive at Amazon soon.

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