MEST :: Sacrificing Mary

Overview

This was a short MEST Tactics session between two players within the Mythos genre. I used the opportunity to prototype a new scenario and kept the number of figures low.

Setting

The year is 1928 CE. Young Sister Mary has been selected by the Abbot of the Church of Divinity to be a vessel for the Outer God Yog-sothoth and has recruited members of his other "religious" following among the Cult of Charazon to forcefully take her. Among the aide to the Abbot is a local Crazy Cat Lady with psychic powers. Stern Sister Susan of the church has discovered this and wants to prevent Mary from being sacrificed and has initiated a rescue mission.

However, this information as to when and how to prevent such an occurrence is scattered across the Eastwick Village at five different locations. The Abbot and Sister Susan need to collect that information and either use it to summon Yog-sothoth or to defeat its arrival.

Play-aides

Provide 5 Objective markers [ OM ].

Layout

Arrange the buildings and terrain into the four corners of the battlefield. Place one OM at the center of the battlefield adjacent to a terrain element. Place one OM within each of the small buildings. Doors are unlocked, windows are locked. Opening a door, locking, or unlocking it is 1 AP each.

2' x 2' battlefield area

4 x small buildings
6 x walls and other terrain

Environ

Visibility OR 4; it is "Night, Full-moon".

Assembly

Each side receives just four models. Each side receives a model with a Light Revolver, and another model with a Light Source. For sake of simplicity, each receives another Light Revolver but "psychic" which behaves like an assigned weapon but doesn't need to be sculpted on the model.

The Church of Inner Divinity
Sister Maria receives a Light Revolver (30 BP), and Sister Primin receives a Basic Lantern (14 BP) with Light OR 6. Sister Mary receives a "psychic" Light Revolver (30 BP). Total 203 BP.

• Sister Susan 222|222|223
  Average Leader
  Leadership.
  39 BP.
• Sister Maria 222|222|223
  Average Shooter
  Shoot. Brawn.
  35 BP. 65 BP with Light Revolver.
• Sister Primin Proctor 222|222|223
  Average Brawny
  Brawn.
  34 BP. 48 BP with Basic Lantern.
• Sister Mary the Innocent 222|222|223
  Average Coward 222|222|223
  [Coward].
  21 BP. 51 BP with Psychic Light Revolver.

The Cult of Charazon
Spotty McGee receives a Large Basic Torch (14 BP) which is Light 6 (Flicker). Maury receives a Light Revolver (30 BP). The Crazy Cat Lady  receives a "psychic" Light Revolver (30 BP).Total 229 BP.

• Abbot Price 222|222|223
  Average Leader
  Leadership.
  39 BP.
• Spotty McGee 222|222|223
  Average Coward Cultist 222|222|223
  Insane.
  49 BP. 63 BP with Large Basic Torch.
• Maury
  Average Outsider 222|222|223
  [Solitary].
  27 BP. 57 BP with Light Revolver.
• Crazy Cat Lady
  Average Sneak 222|222|223
  Sneaky.
  40 BP. 70 BP with Psychic Light Revolver.

Deployment

Forces start within 8 MU of opposite corners of the battlefield, with the Cultist setting up first.

Victory Conditions

The game-length is 4 Turns. 

• Collection (+1 VP to most OMs collected)
• Elimination (+1 VP if have fewest KO'd or Eliminated models)
• POI (+1 VP if Sister Mary is in Cohesion of only Friendly model)

Start of Turn 1. The Abbot is at the top-left, and Sister Susan at the bottom-right.

This is the start of Turn 2. Sister Primin leads the exploration with Sister Susan and Sister Mary in tow. Abbot Price and Spotty McGee are out of LOS but not Hidden. The Crazy Cat Lady is in position to perform a "psychic Revolver" attack.

Another perspective. Maury is Distracted having run to the side of the house; his job is to acquire as many of the OMs as possible. Within the building at the right one of Objective Markers is seen under the fire-place.

A shot of the Crazy Cat Lady from Spotty McGee's perspective. Sister Primin is in the distance.

This is the start of Turn 3. Each of the buildings have interiors and their roofs are exposed. Many OMs are shown. Maury is at the bottom right, Sister Susan at the left, and Abbot Price at the top. Sister Primin is facing The Cat Lady and Sister Mary the Innocent is near by.

This is the end of Turn 4. Every one is Done and there's been some exchange of weapons fire. Sister Maria is Wounded, and so is Abbot Price and Sister Primin. Sister Mary the Innocent is in the house at the bottom. The Church of Divinity wins!

MEST :: Mythos ~ A Fungi from Yuggoth

Overview

Lord Malik is Defender. Prince Anton is Attacker.

This is a 1000 BP MEST 2.x scenario I played recently with my nephew and my brother. It is part of
the Mythos genre with a scenario name "A Fungi from Yuggoth". There's 10 models on each side, and so this qualifies as a "Large Battle" per the terminology used in the game. It resolved in about 2 hours, which isn't too bad for three players and that many minis.

The scenario is available for download at the MEST Tactics Google Site here;
https://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/downloads/8.5x11.mythos.migi-yuggo.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

The Situation

This is from the scenario background;

In the upper heights of Cairo, Lord Malik, wanted for murder, and his noviatiate cultists are at the Temple of Charon. They are attempting to signal a Mi-Go emmisary in order to establish a base within the area. Unbeknownst to them, one former cult member, very concerned by the turn of events after witnessing human sacrifice by Lord Malik, has warned the local constable. News got out to action-hero Prince Anton. He plus a reputable field scout from Britain by the name of Neil Dunsany the Third take with them 8 Ruga-ruga to investigate.

After Action Report

I'd say this was a very interesting turn of events. Neil Dunsany and 4 Ruga-ruga were controlled by my brother, and Prince Anton with the other 4 Ruga-ruga were controlled by my nephew. They split their forces at the frontage road before the Temple of Charon and started down the precarious terrain towards the Fountain where a Cultist with a Prayer Book is summoning the Mi-Go.

Visibility was 8" because it is Sunset, Clear. A model in Wait status allows LOS to be traced up to 24".

Lord Malik tried to stay away from Line-of-Sight but near the Fountain in order to control long-term Situational Awareness. His two Cultists with Shotguns took a high vantage behind some trees at either side of the corners near their battlefield edge in order to cover the lanes of fire coming towards the Temple grounds.

Four of the eager Cultists rushed towards a Ruined House in order to try and halt the on-coming Ruga-ruga. Two got KO'd. One of the Cultists, armed with a Semi-automatic Pistol, took to the partition wall near the Ruined House and the other went into a Tree Cluster across the way. 

Prince Anton rushed to the blind alley before the Ruined House and took some Reaction Fire from the Cultist at the Ruined House. He successfully ignored the Suppression marker and KO'd the Cultists in the Cluster.

At the other side of the battlefield, Neil and his Ruga-ruga made some way past the frontage road beyond the row of parked vehicles. There's ever so-little room for maneuver except across a large patch of Rough-going terrain. Across two precious Turns they moved towards a large outcropping of boulders while maintaining Hidden status.

Three Turns have passed, and there are two KO'd Cultists, and two Eliminated. One of the Ruga-ruga under control of Prince Anton got bloodthirsty. The constable will hear of this; it cost the Attacker about 90 BP. Not good. At this time, all of the Attackers have crossed the mid-line of the battlefield garnering them 1 VP, plus another for having downed the most BP worth of Opposing models.

However, the Defenders have completed their ritual and the Mi-go known as F4G2 arrives and sets up within 8" of the Defender's battlefield edge. It has Flight and Fear 2, plus it is armed with a Beam pistol. The arrvial of the Mi-go awards the Defender 1 VP. 

Now it is Attacker 2 VP vs. Defender 1 VP.

At the start of Turn 4, the Attackers have lost their Situational Awareness because they've divided their forces too much. The Defender's Lord Malik still maintains LOS to at least half his forces, and so wins the Initiative Test with 4 Initiative Points to Lord Anton's zero. Ouch.

As a result, there's an amazing firefight exchange with Lord Anton, and two Ruga-ruga near the Ruined house against two Cultists. Lord Anton goes KO'd and so does one of the Ruga-ruga. This awards the Defender 1 VP for the KO'd Grizzled Hero and another 1 VP for having the most Opposing models KO'd or Eliminated; Lord Anton is 260 BP ... so that was a big win.

Now it is Attacker 2 VP vs. Defender 3 VP.  My nephew was wailing at this point (he's just 10) but my brother insisted giving it a chance.

The only way for the Attacker to win is to either force Lord Malik's forces to Bottle (unlikely) or to take out the Mi-go. Unfortunately, the Defender still had one last remaining Initiative Point to spend and maneuvered the Flying Mi-go into range of Neil and two of his Ruga-ruga; all were in Hidden status. As a result, they repositioned out of Fear range though becoming Revealed. 

And here's the mistake. As its last Action Point, the Mi-go decided to gain some distance from them instead of using its feeble Beam Pistol (Damage is 2 + 2 Modifier dice). When the Initiative passed to Neil Dunsany, he rolled an amazing Range Hit Test with the Mi-go scoring zero successes. The same occurred for the Damage Test; the Grizzled Scout's Rifle does 5 Damage and the Mi-go became KO'd and fell from the sky.

Per the Victory Conditions, the Mi-go when KO'd awards the Attacker +1 VP. So it is 3 VP vs. 3 VP. However, the Mi-go is itself worth 285 BP which flipped the award for having the most Opposing models KO'd or Eliminated to the Attacker.

Final Score; Attacker 4 VP vs. Defender 2 VP.

It was a close game. Ended in 4 Turns.

The Photos

Alas, I forgot to take many pictures during the game-play but my brother did snap a few good overlooks on the battlefield.

View from the Neil Dunsany's perspective. That's a smoke beacon billowing at the left. There's a Cultist with a Shotgun in Wait status at the top-right tree. Neil and his fireteam needed to maneuver sharp-right across the Rough terrain because anything from the storm-cellar doors to the wall is in the LOF.

View from Lord Malik's perspective. This is one of two hills guarding the Fountain.

Mid-battlefield. The Ruined House has a lot of activity, with one the Cultists KO'd at the Tree Cluster. A Cultist with a prayer book is busy and needs two more Turns at summoning the Mi-go. He's got help, but they are falling quickly to the Ruga-ruga Soldiers coming down the side of the Temple.

Download

Direct download here

Scenarios Page here

Chokepoint Scenario

Overview

I've been preparing for the Dunjon of Death genre for MEST, and so I've been trying out new ideas. I've created a scenario that allows me to play-test within a congested environment to see if the corridor terrain of a dungeon for a free-form game could work.  This is something different than Advanced Hero Quest or Descent with its tiles and regulated grid; the flow is different and the tools for game-play are different.

The Last Stand

The scenario I created is known as "The Last Stand" but I refer to it as the "Choke-point" scenario because that's what I'm really testing. It is an assymetric battle between two sides; the Heroes versus the Horde.  The Horde outnumbers the Heroes by 4-to-1.  I have it written up on my Google Drive and I continually adjust it after each play-test session.

You can see this as a living document here;

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1iURgWaJseCwypaonoyRQhniWHgZxwNKFHRw2Be8efnM/edit?usp=sharing

For those of you that can't see the living document - "living" because I'm always liable to tweak it - take a look at the PNG file here:

The "Choke-point" Scenario. Brutal. Very brutal. Basically it is 3, 4, or 5 Heroes as defenders protecting a central location against a Horde of 4 times their number. So a Small game is 3 versus 12.

Findings

When I can't directly game with Aggro, I'm sending copious notes and we exchange lots of ideas. Then we play-test solo.  Here's my solo notes to give you guys a sense of what the results have been thus far for the "Choke-point" scenario.  The goal of course is to have the scenario be balanced and challenging:

Intro

(To Aggro) This is the mission that I have been play-testing. I think it needs some tweaking, but it is pretty interesting with ... choke-points. I'll continue playing it to refine the scenario. I've been using non-Ranged characters but I'll try mixing it up.

Solo #1

(To Aggro) I finished a 500 BP play-test with 3 Heroes vs 10 Dogs + 2 Average.  Dogs really suck vs. Heroes because they have Bite which includes [Stub]; with the Heroes' Armor, Parry, and Shield that's +4 Modifier dice whenever a Hero is defending; more if using the new Defend option.  Since the corridors are very narrow, even with the Melee Range Tweak, the Dogs really don't get to Outnumber the Heroes that often.  

I've tweaked the mission to make the Heroes defensive position more accessible and to have more of the Horde initially deployed.  

The start of a Small game; 500 BP. 3 Heroes versus a Horde of 12 Dogs. Here I'm using some GW Choas Warhounds.

Solo #2

(To Aggro) I finished the Choke-point scenario play-test #2.  It was a lot closer.  

Started with 12 x Average + Saber vs. 3 x Heroes with Small Shield, Medium Armor, Greatsword.  Lasted until Turn 7 at which point the game ended with the Heroes winning by default. 1 Hero KO'd, 2 Heroes remaining with 1 Wound each.  8 Eliminated Horde. 2 KO'd. 2 left standing. Horde never made it atop the dais but did get past the choke-points a couple of times.

I altered the Choke-point scenario to allow four staircases to the dais.  Maybe this will make it tilt in favor of the Horde. 

I will try another play-test soon.

Solo #3

(To Aggro) I finished the Choke-point scenario play-test #3  It was close but no cigar.  Essentially the same as the last configuration.  At the end of Turn 4 a Horde model was on the dais but could not perform the requisite Fiddle action. The four staircases to the dais helped a lot to balance the game.  The heroes are quite tough.  I played using these new concepts:

Leadership tweak using Solution #2 + Variation. 

I like the Leadership tweak. Makes sense to choose the leader in this manner.  

The Guarded position tweak I need to try again.  I want to streamline it as well from the proposal.

I will play-test again but this time give the Horde some spears.

This is Turn 5 of my fourth play-test of the "Chokepoint" scenario.  The Horde is being smashed yet again.

Solo #4

(To Aggro) Turn 5. Choke-point play-test #4. Horde had one Unlock at the dais but most of them have been KO'd. Just 4 of them remaining, two of which are at the board edges.

Turn 6 had the Heroes get lucky on the dice causing two more KO'd. At that time I called the game in favor of the Heroes.

So the scenario is much more even. Having Spears for the Horde helps a lot.

Summary

I've probably got another two sessions at the 500 BP level and then I'll bump it up to 750 BP and bring in the ranged weapons.