Operation Zero Tolerance - Chapter 4: Rescue

Time to take no prisoners! But also free some prisoners.

+++ Cerebro Strike Files 0260897 +++ Survivors are now secure +++ Captives have been located +++ Their safe return is paramount +++ Despatch rescue team +++ Secrecy imperative to maintain tactical surprise. +++ Do not fail. +++

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Chapter 4 of our Marvel Crisis Protocol narrative campaign. I, Stylus, will be taking the mutant special ops into battle. My opponent, Grasshopper, remains with the robots.

Over the campaign, I've been losing precious X-Men to capture, and this mission is my one chance to get some of them back - jailbreak!

X-Force

X-Force are the ultra-violent, no-nonsense, in-your-face faction of the X-Men (can you tell they were created in the 90s?) That gives me Cable in command, who is pricey at 5 Threat, but pretty handy with long range attacks, teleports and defensive buffs.

Adding to the firepower is Bishop and Deadpool (Hi fans! I see we're doing the post-ironic meta-commentary thing.), while Sabretooth provides an extra helping of close-up violence.

The only non-affiliated character here is Nightcrawler (who's far too nice to be part of X-Force). I haven't used him in the campaign yet and narratively, I reckon he'd be a good choice to infiltrate a prison (now that my first choice, Magik, is behind bars).

Squad: Sabretooth, Nightcrawler, Cable, Deadpool, Bishop

Tactics: Cat and Mouse, Preserve the Dream, Pretty Sneaky Sis, Indomitable, Sacrifice

Threat: 20

Sentinels

Bastion and Omega Sentinel return, after their somewhat lacklustre showing in Chapter 2. Bastion's leadership (which denies power to your opponent) can be very debilitating, but since your opponent is feeling it more that you, it maybe feels less powerful than it is.

Someone who is never less powerful is Sentinel Prime, who's become a staple of the Sentinel list. Additional cannon fodder come in the shape of a Sentinel MK4 and a Prime Sentinel (henceforth 'Johnny5').

Squad: Omega Sentinel, Sentinel MK4, Bastion, Sentinel Prime MK4, Prime Sentinel

Tactics: Online and Operational, Scrap Metal, Extinction Event, Patch Up, Recalibration Matrix

Threat: 20

Mission and deployment

Extract: Jailbreak Leads to Mass Mutant Escape!

Secure: Lockdown! Security Systems Stymie Breakout

The Extract objectives are placed really far apart for this crisis, and reset every round, so that may keep us apart for a while. A character also drops an extract if you end an activation within Range 5 of the edge - so you basically have to remain inside the box of red objectives.

The Secure objectives simply require a character to contest them, with the twist that one of them randomly deactivates each round and can't be scored.

Our clash takes place in the frozen heights of the Canadian Rockies, the perfect place to hide a secret miliary installation to imprison mutants. X-Force have to disable to security systems and free as many mutants before the Sentinels can shut them down.

As a campaign bonus, for every Extract objective (which represents an escaped prisoner) grabbed by X-Force, I can roll a die. For every critical result, I free one of the captured X-Men!

Nightcrawler, Cable and Sabretooth take the left flank. Cable uses the Cat And Mouse tactic to bump forward onto the objectives before the game begins.

Bishop drew the short straw and pairs up with Deadpool on the right flank. (I object to that remark - Timecop Lionel Richie loves me!)

The Sentinels deploy centrally: Johnny5, Sentinel MK4, Bastion, Omega Sentinel and Sentinel Prime.

X-Force win the first turn, and we're away!

Round 1

First turn may be a mixed blessing, as I'm not sure who I want to send into the kill zone to start with. I play conservatively and park Nightcrawler on the bottom left Secure.

Sentinel MK4 picks up an Extract and takes his left Secure, and I risk sending Sabretooth forward to contest it. Johnny5 steps up to claim it back, but I'm committed now.

Bishop picks up his Extract and moves on his right Secure, but Omega Sentinel plays the same trick and dives forward to contest it.

Sentinel Prime collects his Extract and right Secure, while Bastion moves into the middle.

Cable is left in a pickle - due to the Sentinels' positioning, he's a fraction off getting into Range 3 for his Plasma Rifle (which gives him rerolls) and while he can teleport, that would take the power he needs to pick up an Extract.

In the end, Cable goes for violence over rescuing mutants (did he read the briefing?). With Bodyslide By One, he teleports into close range and pops off a couple of shots at Johnny5, doing some damage and inflicting Incinerate.

That leaves Deadpool to run horizontally across the battlefield to pick up the extract that Cable neglected (All these steps and I forgot to wear my Strava).

With everyone grabbing points, and Omega Sentinel neutralising one objective, puts the Sentinels one ahead.

The first Secure to be switched off is that same bottom-right one, so Omega Sentinel must have done something to it.

Score - X-Force 3 : 4 Sentinels

Round 2

I start the round brightly, as Sabretooth makes a Claw Slash, boosted by No Mercy, into Johnny5 and dazes him.

Nightcrawler teleports in to context the top-left Secure, but gets hit by Bastion's Disintegration Blast. Then Sentinel MK4 dazes Nightcrawler with a Plasma Blast.

Cable continues the exchange by pumping Plasma Rifle rounds into Sentinel MK4, then using Omega Level Threat to throw an oil barrel and daze Sentinel MK4.

I leave Deadpool where he is, since he's on both Extract and Secure objectives and I need the VP. (Aww, take me off the bench, Coach! Let's win this one for the Gipper!)

On the other side of the field, Omega Sentinel lays into Bishop with her Dynamistic Bio-Blast, reducing him to a single point of damage.

Bishop hits back, only not as effectively. Omega Sentinel is given Slow, Incinerate and pushed towards the edge, but still on a health amount of damage (and the push doesn't force her to drop the objective, as it wasn't her activation).

Having already been bumped forward by Bastion's Advanced Teleportation Matrix, Sentinel Prime tries to drag Bishop off the objective with Restraint Cables. Bishop uses the Indomitable card to stop that plan, so it just dazes him with a Suppression Protocols Mk 2, then walks back onto the top-right Secure and grabs an Extract. 

Sentinel Prime has also been spending freely to give everyone in range all the rerolls they need, which has been a delight.

We score 3VPs each, but attrition is already building up quite alarmingly. For the next round, the back-left Secure is deactivated (I swear, I barely touched it).

Score - X-Force 6 : 7 Sentinels

Round 3

Having wrested priority from me, Bastion begins by lining up Sabretooth, Cable and Nightcrawler and hitting them all with a Tolerance Is Extinction beam. 

Nightcrawler is left clinging to two wounds, Cable avoids most of it and Sabretooth, who was all geared up to return the favour, gets dazed (thanks to a Sentinel Prime reroll!)

It may not be the most courageous, but Nightcrawler is getting out of there. It doesn't help that he was given Root by Bastion, and all of his low-cost abilities that fuel his attacks just became more expensive. 

So Nightcrawler shakes the Root, teleports back onto the home Extract, landing next to Deadpool in a puff of brimstone (Chimichangas, much?)

Continuing their single combat, Omega Sentinel blasts Bishop with an Engineered Extermination, which tears through his defences and brings him down to a single wound, before throwing him into a gun turret, which KO him.

Having lost one of his squad, Cable has no compunctions about retaliating, and KO Johnny5 with another Plasma Blast, followed by a thrown gun turret.

That does leave Cable open to get blasted by Sentinel MK4 and Sentinel Prime, which is more than even his Telekinetic Shield can cope with, and Cable is dazed.

Coming off the back point (Finally!), Deadpool fires a couple of ineffective shots at Bastion (Keep the change, ya filthy animal!) and uses the power to You Can't Spell Legendary Without Leg Day and teleport to take the top-left Secure (I'm helping!).

Scores are still slow, but the Sentinels nudge ahead in the VPs. The next Secure to switch off is the top-right one, so maybe Sentinel Prime will actually have to exhert himself.

Score - X-Force 8 : 10 Sentinels

Round 4

Loaded with power and a bloodthirsty attitude, Sabretooth starts proceedings with a Savage Predator into Bastion. It generates a massive amount of hits (around 14 of them), but somehow fails to get a Wild, which would have triggered his finisher attack and given him a free hit. Either way, Bastion is dazed and the next attack puts big claw marks into Sentinel MK4.

Sentinel MK4 takes aim at Cable, but Sabretooth uses Sacrifice to take the hit instead. This very sporting gesture immediately backfires when Sabretooth is KO in a single hit (these dice!).

Cable gets hurt by the second Sentinel MK4 blast, attempts to heal the damage using his Askani'Son attack on Sentinel Prime, only to fail to do any damage because of the Sentinel Programming counting Wilds as doubles against mystic (it nailed that Wild with a last-ditch reroll too).

Deadpool seizes on the chance for glory with a Stab (followed by a Stab, Stab) attack that KO the Sentinel MK4 (Take that, Iron Giant! That's for all the tears you made me cry!)

But Grasshopper isn't done yet. Using the Scrap Metal card, Sentinel MK4 explodes and dazes Deadpool at the same time (Oh, COME ON!)

On the other (and far quieter) side of the battlefield, Omega Sentinel stays on her two objectives on the right, while Nightcrawler does exactly the same on the left.

These two get the only points of the round, and the scores creep up two apiece. The same top-right Secure remains deactivate for the next, and possibly final, round.

Score - X-Force 10 : 12 Sentinels

Round 5

Bastion somehow has priority again, and puts it to devasting use. Another Tolerance Is Extinction beam KO Cable and then does the same to Deadpool (That's all, folks!)

That double-KO seals the game for the Sentinels. I only have one character left, and he were smart, he'd head for the hills.

And so of course Nightcrawler teleports back into the fray, finally able to use his Brimstone Blitz to pummel Bastion from every direction. The Sentinels' boss is KO, which is small comfort, as it leaves Nightcrawler looking at the business end of Sentinel Prime.

Dutifully. Sentinel Prime KOs Nightcrawler with a Plasma Blast MK2. I hope they've got space in the detention cells.

Removing all the opponents' characters is a auto-win, so it doesn't even matter that Omega Sentinel is still free to hoover up more VPs, ending the game with a crushing win for the Sentinels.

Score - X-Force 10 : 15 Sentinels

To add insult to injury, we rolled for every Extract that X-Force had managed to liberate before they all got pulped. Not a single X-Man among them. So it was all worth while then.

Back in the X-Mansion

Well, I've seen some military disasters in my time, but that was like someone went a bridge too far over the river Kwai and than dropped a Black Hawk helicopter onto it!

In defence of my (rather mangled) team, some of them did put in a good shift. They were let down partly by bad dice (I had a run of good luck earlier in the campaign, so it all evens out) and by me not really having a game plan. I prevaricated too much over whether I should be scoring points or cracking skulls, and left both jobs half-finished.

Leaving Bishop to hold down an entire flank, because I had to hastily redeploy Deadpool, was a clear sign I was getting muddled. 

By contrast, Grasshopper stayed locked in to his Sentinels' core strengths, and punished me mightily. He was certainly good for the win and, as a result, has stuffed the detention pens with mutant captives. Whatever choices I have for the final game look a lot slimmer now.

+++ Cerebro Strike Files 0260897.1  +++ Total mission failure. +++ Cable captured +++ Bishop captured +++ Nightcrawler captured +++ Sabretooth captured +++ Deadpool captured +++ I'll never let you go, Jack! +++ Prepare for final mission +++ All hopes now rest on this last chance +++