Crispy Critter Control in Downtown 'Chilly'

    Two members of 'Critter Control', my alien-hunting team in solo games of Majestic 13, on the roofs

Team leader Boone MacDonald, couldn't believe it when the call came through from Agricultural League HQ of Majestic 13. Critter Control was needed to respond to a nearby priority mission. Boone asked, "Can Waylon be released to respond with us? We're down one man!" Unlikely, his superior replied, but he'd see what he could do to get them some help. Shaking his head in disbelief, Boone hurried to collect Mabel, Buck, and Silas. While they drove at high speed towards downtown Chillicothe, OH, he shared what little he know about the alien they'd likely encounter on the way. "Mabel, what do you know about a Helion Beam Chaser, since your daddy told you so much...?" 

    The Helion Beam Chaser in the smouldering woods behind a VW bug that it torched earlier

She whistled and pulled off her sunglasses to catch Boone's eyes in the rear view mirror. "Y'all know what plasma is?" Some heads nodded yes, others shook no. "Think of the coals in your grill about 10 times hotter. Well, this nasty space polecat is made of that stuff. And he can shoot it towards you in twin jets with both arms!" She sat back in the seat as they bumped along rural Ohio's less-than-well-maintained roads. "Daddy had a scar all along his back that looked like his flesh was just melted like wax. He said it was from one of them Beam Chasers." She shook her head. "Boone, if you want to just pull this SUV over to the berm, the four of us can say we got a flat tire. Let a full-strength team handle this one..."

    Critter Control's deployment, mostly on the rooftops with good lines of sight, and the alien's location

Boone kept driving, relaying his instructions. They would infiltrate quietly and quickly. Go to the rooftops nearest the smoke -- that was where the Beam Chaser should be. "Take the elevator or stairs, then find positions along the parapets. Report back to me on comms when you're in position. We will open fire on it until it runs away or goes down." He met each of the other's eyes briefly, while driving. "It likes to do a Heat Wave attack when multiple enemies are close. Always keep a wall or something that absorbs heat between you and it." He sighed and took a breath. "Mabel, I know how you feel about the team being under strength. But we can't let our neighbors in town down. We signed up with Majestic 13 to defend the Earth from aliens. And though it may not always seems that way, Chillicothe is part of Earth...!" The others chuckled and nodded, then sat back, alone with their thoughts.

    Beam Chaser preparing to launch jets of plasma at Mable in the top left of the picture

It had been since February since I played my first game of Majestic 13. I've been busy in the intervening months with other projects. Reading about the exploits of my friend Bill's solo, Majestic 13 campaign on his Dice, Doubloons, and Random Musings site has kept me wanting to do a mission. I just never seemed to find the time. With Origins concluded last week, and Surviving 'Nam just about ready for print, I finally had a free evening. I'd previously rolled up Mission 02, knowing our foe would be a Helion Beam Chaser. I even picked up a 3-D printed fire elemental for $3 at Origins to paint up as it. I set up the terrain for the mission and rolled randomly to see which edge Critter Control deployed on. 

    Taking damage, the fiery (and newly painted!) Beam Chaser advances towards the team members 

Since Critter Control's defeat in the last game, I had done some thinking. With a five turn limit, and only five characters, you will get only a limited number of shots at the alien. You need to minimize turns spent moving around and not shooting. So, I placed Buck, Silas, and Mabel on the rooftops of the highest buildings on our side of the table. I left team leader Boone in cover near a flaming wreck of a car that the alien had doubtless torched before our arrival. He would be our quick reaction force, able to move to get line of sight if the alien momentarily moved out of the other's field of view.  With the Beam Chaser having 110 hit points, we needed to average 22 per round. Our weapons inflicted 2d6 or 3d6 per shot. Perhaps attainable on the first turn with four shooters on the table, it would become harder and harder if it took some of team members out.

    Long ago, her daddy was wounded by a Beam Chaser, now Mabel falls to its fiery attack

The other key aspect in Majestic 13 is cover. If the target is in cover, you have to roll 2d20 for your attack and take the worst roll. The goal would be to always be in cover and to use our height and various positions to make it so the Beam Chaser was not. Turn 1 opened with the Beam Chaser firing at Mabel in her rooftop sniper position twice, but missing both times. Figures activate in Acuity Order. The Beam Chaser would activate first and third, while Buck Smithers (our Iraqi War vet) would activate second. After that, it would go Boone, Mabel, and Silas. The Beam Chaser would get a bonus activation if anyone fired at it and missed. So, our shots had to count or this would be a very short game!

    Silas lines up a shot, but misses the alien as it scampers down the street towards Boone

After the Beam Chaser's miss, Buck let loose with a burst from his light machine gun, striking the alien in the upper part of its fiery torso. Rolling 3d6+1, he did only 9 damage. We had a long way to go if we kept rolling below average on damage! The Beam Chaser seemed strangely drawn to fire at Mabel, and shifted his position so he was out of Buck's line of sight and fired again at Mabel. Once again, she ducked behind the brick parapet in time. Still, the hot June evening got even hotter as the side of the wall began smoking. Team leader Boone shifted positions from one car wreck to the next and let loose a burst with his assault rifle. A better damage roll -- 11 points with 2d6+1! Mabel popped up and aimed with her sniper rifle. The heat from the seared building made her sunglasses fog up a bit and she missed. The Beam Chaser fired back with its special ability and Mabel screamed and went down, her clothes smoking.

    The creature proves it's clever & moves so that Boone no longer has cover behind the smoking wreck

Silas switched positions to have better line of sight. He fired his light machine gun and missed. Thankfully, this alien could activate a maximum of three times in a turn, so couldn't return fire on him. Turn one was over, and we were down from four to only three figures! With black smoke rising all over downtown Chillicothe, things were NOT looking good for Critter Control. The Beam Chaser shifted his focus to the team leader, moving to where Boone was no longer in cover of the flaming vehicle. Thankfully, he missed at least once on both his pair of d20 rolls. Buck squeezed off another long burst at it, but once again, a low roll, doing only 8 points damage on 3d6+1. Where did Critter Control get its ammo from? The local Walmart?? The Beam Chaser didn't seem to notice the hit and fired again at Boone. This time, the team leader wasn't so lucky and he was burned badly -- down to a single hit point! Boone returned fire and then darted for cover behind the closest apartment building. Luckily, he struck the alien, but once again the damage roll was below average.

Reeling from the pain of his burns, Boone returns fire & scurries for cover behind a building

Silas, knowing the alien would get cover from his vantage point, decided to call HQ for aid instead. He rolled well, and sooner than expected, the sound of an approaching chopper drew near. Silas looked up at it hovering over the neighboring building and blinked and shook his head in disbelief. The dust kicked up by the rotor blades must be making him see things. His ears confirmed it, though, as with a loud "Geronimooooo!" Waylon -- their missing team member -- leapt from the hovering chopper and landed on the roof next to Mabel. The craziest and bravest member of the team was back! In Majestic 13, one of the options on a successful call for aid is to receive a "robot"version of a team member. I thought it made more story line sense that Waylon convinced the Agricultural League that he was fit for duty and flew him out to be ready if the team requested assistance.  

    Help arrives as Waylon (top of photo) drops from a helicopter to assist his friends against the alien

Waylon immediately opened up with his assault rifle on the alien in the street below, inflicting 8 points of damage. "That one's for Mabel, you sonofabitch!" The alien moved towards the sound of Waylon's voice, positioning itself just below Waylon and Silas. It turned to face Silas, raised both its arms, and sent a massive jet of flame that engulfed the parapet where Silas was standing. There was a cry and he fell backwards and out of sight. Waylon called over, "Silas...you okay?" There was no reply. "DaYUM! Two of us down," he said, glancing over at the unmoving Mabel. He shouted the information out to Boone and Buck, since he did not have a communication device linked with the rest of the team. 

    Silas goes down as the alien accurately times his plasma jets, catching him lining up a shot

Buck had seen the chopper deposit Waylon and also saw Silas go down. The alien was clever and had moved in close to the buildings, cutting off his line of sight. He looked down at the roof of the Quickie Mart one story below him. "Aww, Hell! My knees are getting too old for this shee-yit!" With a running jump, he cleared the parapet, landed on the Quikie Mart roof, rolling forward to reduce the impact. He got up immediately and sprinted along the ledge eyeing the gaps between the buildings until he saw the Beam Chaser. "There you are...got you!" He fired again, the bullets impacting across it flaming body. Despite his heroics, the damage roll was -- yes again -- below average! The alien seemed confused where the shots came from, and looked up at Waylon, who was lining up another shot at him. He sent a wall of flame up at the moonshine distiller and made him fall to the ground, only 3 hit points left.

    Buck continues to fire at the alien from the rooftops, this shot passing over Boone's head in the alley

Boone, hearing the screams from Waylon, lowered his head. That pain was intense. He was clinging to consciousness, and knew the heat from a near miss might finish him off. He took a deep breath, and ran down the alley way towards the alien. He stopped at the corner of the building, poked his assault rifle around and fired, striking it solidly. The alien raised its fiery arms above its head and Boone ducked just in time to be missed by an almost-solid wall of heat billowing out from its body. Above him, he heard Waylon cursing, so he too must have avoided the Beam Chaser's attack. Boone heard the snap of Buck's rounds passing over his head as the veteran continued to hammer away at the alien. Their bullets seemed to be having little effect on it, though (yes, another way below average roll...sigh).  

    Despite being down to 1 hit point, Boone continues to pursue the alien and shoot it up

"Dammit!" he ducked back around the corner and emptied the clip into the creature. Waylon was also firing at it from above. For the first time in the battle, the creature made a crackling, roaring sound. "Extremis!" Boone thought. "We're finally getting through to the creature!" He didn't see the jets of plasma shooting from its arms in time, though. The world turned red, he heard someone screaming in what sounded like his voice, and then he felt himself falling and things going from red to black. 

    Boone watches in despair as his friend and team leader is engulfed in flame and goes down

"BOONE!" both Buck and Waylon yelled as one. They fired off a volley, and the creature turned and sprinted away, across the street, vaulting the park wall, and disappearing through the trees. It was gone, but they had failed to kill the alien. Again. And this time, three of their team lay senseless and possibly dead.

    Team Leader & heart and soul of Critter Control, Boone MacDonald goes down

On the final turn, I had an opportunity to kill the Beam Chaser, but once again, incredibly poor damage rolls kept me from achieving victory. Waylon rolled a "3" on 2d6, the alien suffered only 6 points from being in "Extremis", and Buck -- despite hitting every turn -- never rolled average or higher on his five damage rolls. Whew! Maybe this game wasn't meant for my bad die rolling...ha, ha! My Sunday evening gaming friends would NOT be surprised, that's for sure. With the game over, I consoled myself with a beer and rolled on the tables to see what happened to my fallen team members. Mabel got away "all clear." Silas suffered permanent damage, which intriguingly would give him Psionic powers. However, he would be out for the next mission. Boone also would be out, his wounds being "Questionable."

    Waylon curses as he looks around, seeing the alien disappear into the woods & 3 friends down

Am I really supposed to do a mission with three team members? I may just skip a mission for them. I had my doubts about how I could be successful with four characters, and my worries proved true. Three is just simply suicide! Continuing the post-game process, my characters received only 1 experience point apiece, since we did not complete either our primary objective (killing the Beam Chaser) or our secondary one (coming into contact with all the terrain pieces -- not likely, starting on the rooftops and with 11 separate pieces!). Still, +1 point each was enough for one of my characters to raise a stat, so that was good. I requested the same equipment as last time, a Medkit and Stimulus Kit. I was successful on the MedKit, so gave that to Silas. Even better, I got the Emergency Medical Facilities upgrade (are you seeing a trend here?). So, next time I will be able to re-roll an unfavorable result after a character is out of action.

    Another look at the 3'x3' tabletop for my latest Majestic 13 game

What's next for Critter Control? We are definitely skipping Mission 03! So, next game, we will be back to full strength. Maybe this time we'll get our elusive first "successful mission!"

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 134

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59