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!