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| Hunting aliens in a trailer park - Critter Control's 1st mission in a solo game of Majestic 13 |
Boone MacDonald gathered his team together as they crept within sight of the trailer park, eying the thick black smoke hanging over it. "Okay, this is what we've been training for, Critter Control...our first mission." He paused to look in each team member's eyes. "We're here to protect our community, our country, and our planet. You're no good to them if you're dead, though. Stay in cover. Pour fire onto this bastard till
he's dead." The other four nodded, with Waylon giving an "Oo-rah!" and grinning.
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| (--Redacted--) Trailer Part in southern Ohio where a Yvenian Shocker alien is on the loose! |
Mabel spoke up, "A Yvenian Shocker is the fastest damned gator you'll ever see. Don't underestimate its speed! Just when you got a shot lined up, it's gone." Boone marveled at the woman -- she knew much more than she was letting on about Earth's struggles against alien invaders. As the team crept closer, Boone pointed out positions for each to take. They could hear the sound of the alien's weapon firing and a high-pitched crackling of energy from the far side of the trailer park. Buck climbed the first trailer and took position atop its roof. Waylon dashed past to the corner of the next trailer raising his weapon and steadying it against the wall. Mabel ducked next to a set of smoking ruins -- some small structure that the alien had already destroyed. Boone took shelter at the corner of another trailer that gave a good view of the lane between the two rows of trailers. Silas took off running down the right side, stopping inside a small grove of trees.
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| Waylon Jenkins takes cover and peers around the corner for signs of the alien's approach |
There was another blast from the far side and suddenly the Yvenian Shocker appeared between the rows of trailers. A huge, long weapon with energy arcing along its barrel grasped in its claws. Mabel was right -- the damned thing did look like a gator, though one with red skin that glistened as the sunlight peeked through the clouds of black smoke hanging over the trailer park. It spotted Waylon, who was closest of the team, and raised its weapon, firing twice. As the electricity coursed over his body, Waylon grabbed his face. "I'm blinded, y'all!" Mabel shouted over to him to focus -- the creature's weapon was scrambling the electrical signals his eyes were sending. She told him to picture something in his mind he could remember clearly. "Like my moonshine still?" his voice cracked with his laugh, though.
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| After blasting another dwelling, the gator-like alien appears and scents the air...humans?? |
Meanwhile, the team opened up. Buck sighted his light machine gun and squeezed off a burst of fire that stitched along the alien's gator-like scales. Mabel moved up to the next building and sited along the barrel of her sniper rifle. She squeezed off a shot, which hit, but she immediately growled at herself for such a piss-poor hit. Daddy would have swatted her for that! Hearing the firefight going on, but out of his line of sight, Boone sprinted up the row of trailers, leaped, and pulled himself up onto the roof. He cursed as he still couldn't see the damned thing. Mabel called out that it was moving and Boone caught sight of it zipping forward smashing down the door of the snack shack. He watched it move into the shadowy interior and the barrel of its weapon protrude across the counter. An arc of energy zapped towards Waylon again, who yelled in pain. "Damn it! Someone shoot that son of a bitch!"
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| The alien darts between buildings, lining up a shot on Waylon, who was closest to him |
Meanwhile, Silas was completing the team's side mission. The Agricultural League had dropped two beacons in the trailer park to help coordinate a drone strike to help out its newest team of alien hunters. Silas followed his tracker in between two trailers and spotted one of the beacons. He raced forward and snatched it up. Meanwhile, the alien stayed inside the snack shop and fired at Waylon again, who went rigid and crumbled to the ground. Buck adjusted his aim at the alien through the window and fired. Pieces of the building went flying, but the veteran was fairly sure he'd missed. Mabel seeing where the fire was coming from climbed onto the roof of a nearby trailer, took a knee, and fired, also missing. Boone shook his head. It had too good of a firing position inside there! Screw it! He leapt down from the roof and ran up to the snack shack and blazed away at the creature from the other side of the counter, his assault rifle on full automatic. It swiveled to face Boone and fired. The lanky farmer ducked in time and the shots arced over his head, making his hair stand up but doing no damage. He heard the creature make an angry sound and its claws clattering on the floor as it exited the shop.
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| Silas completes his 'end run' around the alien and locates the drone targeting beacon |
"Critter 5 to Silo One, follow this transmitted location. Target in sight -- a red, scaly, gator-looking bastard. Can't miss him!" Silas chuckled as the drone operator on the other end of the transmission reprimanded him about radio protocol. Still, it was only seconds later that the whoosh of a rocket over the trailer park made everyone on the team duck. There was an explosion and more of the alien's angry noises. It had been hit, but not fatally. As if it knew who was responsible, the alien circled the trailer and peeked around the corner behind Silas, zapping off two shots. The first hit him and Silas also clutched his eyes, blinded by the electrical charge. Buck leapt down from his perch atop the trailer and sprinted towards the opposite corner of the trailer park, where the battle had moved. Mabel edged along the roof till she had line of sight and fired, but missed. Boone, who could saw it appear behind Silas, fired and hit it again. "Damn! That thing won't go down," he cursed. The Yvenian Shocker swiveled again and fired at Boone, who ducked behind the trailer quick enough that the electrical bolts missed him.
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| Agricultural League drone appears & launches a rocket attack, wounding but not killing the alien |
Silas shook his head, blinked a few times, and as his vision cleared, darted into the woods for cover, firing his machine gun at the beast as he ran. His shots missed, as well. The alien saw Silas on the run and fired at him twice, but the speedy hunter ducked behind the tree trunks. Everyone heard the sound of Buck's machine gun ring out, and those watching saw the impacts against its incredibly hard scales. The beast roared. Mabel ran along the edge of the roof and leapt across the gap between it and the trailer park's administrative building. She pumped her fist as she landed solidly on the roof. Whew -- she'd made it! Mabel knew she wasn't as young as she once was and wasn't really sure she could do that. She snapped her rifle up to her eye, sighted through the scope, and squeezed off a shot. Miss! Damn!!
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| Constantly changing positions, the Yvenian Shocker frustrated the team's attempts to line up a shot |
The team leader, Boone, knew his group was frustrated by the constant movements of the alien as it changed locations among the buildings to block line of sight from all but its target. "Two can play at that game, gator-breath!" he snarled and chased the alien until he had it in the open, again. He fired off another burst, striking it in the back. Angrily, it whirled and fired at Boone. With no cover, the farmer was hit and his vision went black. "Damn it -- blinded!" he shouted to his teammates. Silas broke from cover of the trees, spraying the area of the alien with his machine gun, but it was in movement again, and he missed. He followed it only to have it suddenly appear on his left between two buildings. Silas hit the dirt and most of the energy passed over him, and he received only a mild shock -- like touching a farmer's electric fence.
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| Hungry for a snack? The alien ducks inside Swingle's Shawarma Shack for a shooting spot in cover |
From behind the alien, Buck appeared in point blank range. He let off a long burst into the creature's back, amazed to see some rounds just ricochet off its scales. Some got through, though, and there was a new note of pain in its angry howls. Mabel moved into the open to his right, firing several times. She shouted, "It's in Extremis -- watch out, they get very dangerous in their last gasps!" Boone suddenly appeared, completing the box around the alien, aiming and firing bursts carefully to not hit his teammates. The gator-like creature howled in pain again, but ignored Boone to spin around and fire at Buck. The veteran ducked behind the corner of a building and watched the bolts of energy zap past him.
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| Team leader Boone, frustrated with his team's misses, dashes up to point blank range, "Eat this!" |
"Now!" Boone shouted, "all at once, let's finish it...what the Hell??" Suddenly, the alien was gone. Like a blur, it disappeared between Boone and Silas and behind a trailer. The team gave chase, but it must have kept running. Through the trees, they heard the sound of vegetation being slapped aside in its haste to escape from the humans. "Aw, Hell...we had it!" he muttered, then held his hand over the ear piece he was wearing. "We're being ordered out of here. Civilian fire and rescue are on the way -- we can't let them see us and be compromised. Let's go!" The team jogged back to where Waylon lay, each grabbed a limb, and ducked under the trees. When the sirens grew louder and the emergency vehicles arrived, the only signs of the battle were bullet holes and scorch marks on smoking buildings, shell casings, and lots of footprints. The police investigators would ponder what happened here and end up labeling it as criminal arson by heavily-armed hooligans.
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| With phenomenal speed, the alien would circle around behind team members for unobstructed shots |
And so ended my first game of
Majestic 13, a solo alien hunting game from Snarling Badger Studios.
Critter Control began its career with a big "L" -- a defeat (the goal being to kill the alien by the end of the 5th round). We had the Yvenian Shocker down from its starting hit point total of 130 to 29 remaining. We would have likely needed at least a sixth turn to take it out, but missions stop at the end of turn five. The alien hunter teams need to exfiltrate to not be seen by the public so they can continue with their secret mission. See? There IS a conspiracy to hide evidence of aliens from the public -- or at least the game's storyline says so.
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| Boone finally figured out the proper tactics - chase it around and appear where IT had no cover! |
Trying to figure out what the enemy will do each turn in a solo game is usually quite the challenge.
Snarling Badger includes an "A.I." for each of the three types of aliens that players might encounter. It did a decent job of giving basic suggestions, "If this, then this...", but it was hard to translate that into the specifics of the tabletop. Perhaps I played the alien in too wily of a manner? When the A.I. said the alien would move up to its full movement into cover and fire at the closest target in range, I translated that to also mean it would actively attempt to ensure the other members of the team wouldn't have line of sight on it. The alien's move was phenomenal -- 23" on a 3'x3' board. So, I had it circle around into new firing positions so that most of the hunters' view of it was blocked by the buildings. This meant we sometimes didn't have a shot. Boone caught on quickest and began to simply chase it, taking up a firing position where he had cover and it did not.
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| Buck lights up the alien with his machine gun from behind! Startled, the angry alien turns to face |
My rolls were also fairly bad for damage, seemingly just under average each time. They were even worse for my checks to avoid being blinded. Silas had to roll only a 4+ on d20 to avoid being blinded and failed twice. In fact, I think everyone who was hit ended up being blinded. They would get a chance to clear it at the start of their next turn, but it shows my rolls were likely subpar. I also deployed too far away and toward the edges of the battlefield. The Yvenian Shocker has no melee attacks. So, I should have started closer to the center instead of the edges.
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| Everyone pours in fire, but it is still not enough to take down the alien with its armored scales |
Still, it was my first game and Critter Control's first mission. So, it could have ended worse. When rolling for injury, Waylon survived but had "Questionable Wounds." I interpreted this as his vision still hasn't 100% recovered, so he will be held back next mission. We will be going in to the next fight one man short! All but Waylon received 3 experience points, with Waylon getting only two. This allows them to increase a stat by one. Certain levels give you an extra bonus, such as +1 on Damage or -1 to enemy damage on you. I decided to increase Buck, Silas, and Mabel's Combat stats (so they hit one better), and Boone's Acuity by one, which means he activates sooner in the turn. We requisitioned two pieces of equipment, another Med-Kit and a Stimulant Shot. Both requests were lost in the bureaucracy of the Agricultural League, apparently, as we received neither. We also requested improved medical facilities for Critter Control's base. Apparently, the Agricultural League has little faith in this newbie team's worth, as that was disapproved, as well.
Stay tuned for further (and hopefully more successful) missions of Critter Control and Majestic 13!
MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026
- Miniatures acquired in 2026: 95
- Miniatures painted in 2026: 42
TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026
- Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
- Terrain painted in 2026: 21
SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026
- Scatter acquired in 2026: 2
- Scatter painted in 2026: 24
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