Bonus Actions in Action

Here's a sample 2 vs. 2 battle between some hapless investigators (an Agent and a Mystic) and two Deep Ones to demonstrate how the use of the Bonus Actions feature in MEST makes for dynamic battles.  I've decided to keep the dice rolling for determining which side gets the Initiative and how well the dice score out of the examples so that we can show the results of the combat tests.

Turn 1: Begin. Deep Ones have the Initiative.

Fish-eater Charges in and gets free Close Combat Attack. Also receives bonus for cornering target. This will be a Concentrated attack.

Fish-eater scores just a single Wound against the Agent and is done. Foolishly, did not use a Bonus Action and so maintains position. Agent passes Morale Test; therefore no Fear tokens assigned.

Agent performs a Concentrated Attack with Pistol in Close Combat Hit Test (it has Melee trait) and succeeds! It uses the Bonus Action "Disengage" and moves back.

Agent scores a Wound against the Deep One for the Damage Test and is done.  Characters are typically allowed at most a single Bonus Action for each AP.

The second Deep One Charges the Mystic and receives a free Close Combat Action with the charge bonuses.  Note the position of the Deep One will not provide the Cornered bonus against the Mystic.

The Deep One uses the Bonus Action "Push" to move the Mystic towards the Agent.  During its Damage Test no Wounds were scored against the Mystic.

Now it's the Mystic's activation and it does a Mind Blast which takes 2 AP.  For the Hit Test it succeeds and uses the Bonus Action "Reversal" to switch positions with the Deep One.  The Mystic fails to score any Wounds for the Damage Test.

Turn 2: The Investigators have the Initiative.

The Agent opens fire with a Concentrated Attack with full ROF.  It is of course penalized -1 Modifier die for being Wounded.  The Fish-eater is KO'd.  Player opts to not use a Bonus Action here because the Agent is in the ideal position to set up a Flanking penalty against the Deep One.

The remaining Deep One's activation. Another Concentrated Attack that succeeds! Deep One employs the Bonus Action "Reversal" as well and gets out of the potential Flanking situation.  Damage Test comes next ...

The Deep One succeeds in causing a Wound against the Mystic.  For the Morale Test, the Mystic fails by 1 and so receives a single Fear token.

On the Mystic's activation, the player decides to give his Agent character a clear LOS to the Deep One so that the Friendly Fire rules won't take effect. Mystic is Done for the Turn.

Turn 3: Things look grim for the Investigators.  The Deep One player receives the Initiative.

Surprise!  The Deep One player goes after the Mystic!

Needless to say; the picture says it all. 

The Deep One utilizes the Bonus Action "Reposition" after scoring a KO on the Mystic to move into base-contact with the Agent.  This provides the Cornered penalty against the Agent when it activates. Combined with the Agent's Wound token it will be penalized 2 Modifier dice.

However, upon activating, the Agent player succeeds in its Hit Test even with those penalty dice!  It uses the Bonus Action "Reversal" to once again switch positions with the Deep One.  As can be seen; these Bonus Actions certainly make the play-field very dynamic.

 

The Agent scores 2 Wounds against the Deep One during the Damage Test and is done for the Round.

Turn 4: A duel to the death! The Deep One player again receives the Initiative. It is Cornered and will be penalized. No penalty dice are received for being Wounded as both characters have Wound tokens.

The Deep One succeeds in the Hit Test and uses the ever popular Bonus Action "Reversal"; the Agent is again put into the corner next to the wall.

For the Damage Test, the Deep One scores an additional Wound upon the Agent character.  Time for a Morale Test!

Agent fails the Morale Test by 2 misses and so it receives 2 Fear tokens.  This makes the Agent become disordered and it must immediately perform a Disengage action and move away from its opponent.

The Agent succeeds in passing the test for the Disengage action and moves off the board.  The Deep Ones win!