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Denziens Bughunt
Recommendations: 156
About the Project
An attempt to battle through a campaign of the bug hunt rules for five parsecs from home. A solo attempt at not dying horribly
Related Game: Five Parsecs From Home
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Completed
Meet the squad
Bughunt is an alternative way of playing five parsecs from home. It pits squads against various alien nasties. So I'm pulling from my Alien IP collection to have a go at this solo wargame. The first thing is to roll up three characters. They all start with the same base line stats before rolling on three background charts which can add experience and bonuses. You can then choose a load out.My three marines consist of Sgt Beck who grew up on a military outpost to a family in the service. He was seconded to a special corporate project before going on a patrol Duty along the frontier with UPP space. He starts the campaign with 3 missions already under his belt. He enters play with a shotgun.
Our second hero is young Lt Voce. She grew up on a scientific outpost and got an office Job in fleet command and internal security. She carries a hand cannon
Lt Armstrong grew up on a struggling colony before joining the marines and worked on the same corporate project as Sgt Beck. They then spent time patrolling the core systems and have one previous drop (not simulated) experience.he has a pulse (military) rifle.
Before the mission roles can be made for additional forces. Command refused, claiming the mission was not of high enough priority. Only four grunts are to accompany our heroes. Next step is to role up the missionScenario one The comms tower
Comms have gone down on the tropical world of LV4-76 known as Brierleys world. The planetary Marine garrison has sent a squad to survey Comms tower ten. For a game of Bughunt 6 dice are positioned around the board numbered 1 to 6. Three dice are rolled to indicate which ones are objectives. Each objective is rolled for to discover mission parameters. Command want the hill scouted. The cargo stack needs securing and ghe beacon reactivated. Also on the board are 6 random locations which can be discovered. Unfortunately there are motion blips on each objective that may reveal something nasty.
The squad deploy on the north side and head on to the hill scouting location before planning to hit the beacon and finally the cargo. During the enemy phase the blips are controlled by two dice. Depending on which one is higher indicates if they act aggressively or nit. On a double roll another blip appears. This happened thus turn.
Turn 2 has aliens get revealed but are caught in a cross fire from both sides of the hill allowing one objective to be secured.
The counters and dice I use are all from the Alien rpg so they fit the theme. The marines move on to an objective which when rolled up crested a distraction which prevented any alien models within 18 inches from moving. This was useful as I kept rolling doubles bringing more on the board. Whenever a blop was neared a roll indicates if its a false alarm but I was getting D3+1 aliens everytime 
The spawning aliens started to build up which made moving on the cargo stack very dangerous. Sgt Beck goes down shooting
Can our marine save Sgt Beck
With hero's falling to the weightvof numbers our gallant marines try a tactical retreat but are pursued and cut down. Perhaps command should have taken the threat more seriously and given me more forces. Or perhaps I should have had better luck with spawning critters that just kept coming. Everyone died. I think a replay is in order as this was on a low difficulty setting at the start of the campaign.
Let's try again
Let's reload and play again. Voce, Beck and Armstrong are a bit better with their roles acquiring aid. Their team is bolsted by a marksman and machine gun. With Improved firepower they head back to the comms tower.
This time I rolled up a different table edge to start from and a couple of different points of interest.
Armstrong takes the lead as extra contact markers appear close by. Hus proximity triggers the xeno spawning giving the rest of the squad some targets 
With xenos building up the fireteam kill three before moving up either side of the comm control room.
Sgt Beck gets close enough to activate a cargo hauler which moves back and forth distracting the xenos from approaching 
Once it was dealt with Lt Voce checked comms control and discovered a clue. It looks as if someone has sabotaged the comms. Who would do duch a thing?
On the other flank Armstrong spots movement in a colony vehicle and inside are three locals dispatched from the nearby colony complex to get help. Telling them that the cavalry has now arrived he leads them to the dropshot pick up point.
Sgt Beck secured the supplies as out of the jungle the creatures spproach. 
Forming a tight circle all the marines have to do is wait for pick up. Mission successful command assess the situation. The rescued colonists talk of their habitats being over run but they were unable to call for aid. The colony will now need to be investigated Scenario two: Brierley's Post
Lt voce was taken to the med bay after the first mission. A grunt tried it on with her in the mess hall and a fight broke out. Armstrong and Beck go on without her. This time they take a recon unit.
After receiving Intel from the previous mission it's decided a scouting mission to the jungle settlement of Brierley's Post might shed more light on the infestation. A number of signal tokens beep up on the recon teams motion trackers. The first they near is a member of the security team based at the post. He's found hiding in vegetation begging for help.
Private Gallagher approaches the settlements outer gate triggering a number of encounters which spawn an overwhelming number of bugs. Gallagher life signs soon flailing.
The security officer knows what's coming as the horde erupts towards him. He falls back with his saviours laying down a suppressive fire. Private Jenkins desperately tries to hack the colony manifest. He repeatedly fails and only succeeded after beating back a xeno.
With the manifest secure the team head towards the colony entrance. Signals beep behind them encouraging them forward.
Out of no where motion trackers warn of approaching xenos. Before Sgt Beck can fire a round he is knocked to the ground and incapacitated. Armstrong saves his comrade and orders his men to carry the Sgt to safety 
Armstrong leads from the front. His orders are to scout the observation platform on the walls while his men check the navigation computer on the parked ambulance 
Let's move 
The beeps get closer. Armstrong mounts the wall and calls for extraction as his men complete their task. 
Armstrong is Wounded by acid blood as he defends the walls. His men pull him to safety as the dropshot arrives for evac. They know have information on what was in the outposts manifest and where the ambulance had come from. But why was it here? Armstrong and Beck both survived but need medical assistance Pre game prep
Before my third mission I did a little video of my thoughts so far. Thought I'd share it. Mission. 3 sees the threat level Increase and I realised I have been doing our thing wrong. If one of my characters I'd recovering from injuries I can replace them with a new character. I played this next mission forgetting this. My force has two characters and two fire teams with one machine gun. 
The next mission is in a medical facility and I rolled up just two objectives but one is worth two points. The rest are signals that I can explore. Now the threat level is higher there will be a spawn point for extra xenos. These xenos gave learned from their experience tackling me so I will be rolling up on the variant table to see what makes them different. So I gavevho go in and activate both objectives...easyScenario Three The Massey Medical Facility
Turn one and Lt Voce and Sgt Armstrong lead their fireteams into the Massey medical facility in search of records that might explain the origin of the break out. They detect no real movement and on turn two interact with security cameras that reveal one potential blip to be a false reading. But a spawn point is detected in the clinic. But sll remains quiet as the two teams split up each with its own objective to reach.
Both teams near their objectives whole trackers remain quiet. Too quiet. The spawns increase but don't move. Voce and Beck both download the information they need. The sgts is the most important revealing an infected patient came from the nearby Coney ops centre. They now gave a new target ho investigate. 
Just as they completed their mission it all started to go wrong. The threats closed in and the creatures had learned to ambush so appeared around the corner so couldn't be targeted. Beck put his shotgun to work as he retreated to his squad. Voce called for evac. All they had to do was reach the north exit.
Using an ability that can only be used once the whole campaign Beck seals the door barricading the corridor. The xenos turn and start racing the long way round to their prey. Beck then makes short eofk of the xenos that appeared through a spawn point vent shaft in the clinic. His squad race towards the exit but on doing so find a civilian hiding in an office. Extra reputation points can be earned if they get her out.
The Alien horde continues its pursuit as others spawn right near the extraction point. Waisting no time Beck leafs his squad and the civilian to safety but Voce is left behind with aliens in pursuit behind her and others spawning chocking the escape route.
Voce sends her squad ahead but with the worse rolls ever they miss all their targets and she watches them get torn apart one by one. Last woman standing she hears the drop ship leave without her. They won't be back for three turns. Unfortunately she is Wounded by the surrounding aliens as the game ends. In my head cannon Sgt Beck returns with his squad and rescues her. She will opens one game in recovery. Beck will also have to spend the next mission in the bright for disobeying orders to rescue his friend. It will be up to Lt Armstrong to investigate Coney operations centre. Either two replacement characters.
Pre mission prep
Armstrong was back but with his fellow hero's out of action command send in two new marines to lead the mission. Sgt Brammer who has seen lots of active service with the line infantry and Lt Hearson from a tech heavy world with a background in colonial militia
With them on this mission comes a fire team, sniper and colonial militia who have knowledge of coney colony 
The outskirts of Coney colony. The marines need to find the pass keys to the ops centre and activate a distress beacon. The map has a spawn point gor enemy encounters and just the two objectives. Three tactical locations to help the team and three signals indicating something worth investigating. Will the marines find the pass keys to operations? We will have to see.
As long as these working Joe's don't cause trouble we should be fine.Scenario four: the entrance to coney colony
The team enter the outskirts of coney colony in search of the corporate passkey to the ops centre 
The colonial militia intercept a signal that leads them to a lone survivor boosting our force
Sgt Brammer users herself as bait to investigate movement on her tracker but it turns out to be just rodents. Not believing her luck she finds the passkey 
Not so lucky in the middle of the field where xenos are detected of the acid spitting variety. Luckily they appear in the field of fire and quickly disposed of
As the team moves up all movement from potential enemies move away leaving the area strangely quiet while blips continue to ping on the trackers.b
Brammers team head towards the mess hall and discover another survivor looking for extraction. The colonial militia do the same on the opposite side of the colony only to be ambushed by spotters. One man is melted in front of his terrified friends. They pull back and are given covering fire from the sniper.
Lt Armstrong calls for puck up as Sgt Brammers team head with the pass key to the extraction point. At this point more spotters arrive. Despite being bad shots the xenos close in to melee range and the sniper is overwhelmed. Luckily the dropship gives covering fire when it arrives giving the survivors time to escape. The mission is a success and with the passkey secured the op centre can be breached.
