Loops Heroes Campaign Pt 4 - The Psychos

Hello and Welcome Back,

Time for the next installment of my 5 Parsecs from home campaign with Loops Heroes. I can't believe it has nearly been a year since my last game.

After paying the crew, Loops coffers stands at 10 Credits.  Loops decides to take on the Dockside Association job which was generated in the last campaign turn. 

In the in-between missions Lem Bulla goes training and gains 1XP. T- Bone and Maya go out to act as decoys in case the Iron Ladies gang are looking for the crew. Shorty decides to try and fix the snooper bot but fails. 

There are no battlefield conditions but only because I forgot to implement them.DOH! 

The Dockside Association is paying the Loops Heros to deliver some parts to a stranded work crew. The work crew became trapped in the dark zones when the transport tube they were using broke down. The primatives living in area have killed two of the work crew, trapping the others in the vicinity of the transport tube. When they fix the transport tube the work crew and Loops heros will return to the inhabited zones together. To get to the stranded work crew, Loops Hero's will have to move through the primitive occupied zone. This band of primitives call themselves "the Psychos". The Association has informed the team that a Psycho Chieftain may also be in the area and there is a 3 Credits bonus for taking the Chieftain out. 

The field of battle, deep in the dark zones of Wreckage Station.

Loops Hero's approach cautiously. Joey misses this mission as he is still in the sick bay. Maya and Shorty team up to the left, Captain Loops takes the centre while Lem and T-bone take the right side.

The Psychos notice the intruders on their turf. The Chieftain is the big guy in the centre and weilds a brutal melee weapon. The Psychos are all armed with rusty blades apart from the red mochican Psycho who also sports a brutal melee weapon. 

The Crew don't manage to gain the initiative over the Psychos. Loops is the only crew member to get a fast reaction. He moves ahead of the crew. Leading from the front has always been his style. 

"Raaahh! I am going to eat you!!" Screaming all manner of terrifying and sometimes just plain weird, threats and insults the Psychos rush towards the intruders. Psychotic primitives they may be but they split to stop being too bunched up. These guys have been shot at before. 

The rest of the crew move forward to meet the threat. Shorty rushes towards a place where he can get a height advantage. 

T-Bone gets behind some barricades and considers turning off the laser fence. "Come on man, we got Psychos to kill" Lem shouts as he rushes past. 

"Kill, Kill, Kill!" "I'm gonna mash you like a nana!" The Psychos keep moving eager for blood. 

"Wibble!" The Psychos on the other side are also getting closer. 

Loops moves behind a vent and takes a shot at the approaching Psychos with his Military Rifle, missing his targets. 

Lem rushes up a ramp, trying to get a height advantage. He takes a shot with his new needle rifle at the two approaching Psychos missing them. Freelancers they may be, but they wont make decent mercenaries.

"Aw kak, I am missing the fun". On hearing the shots T-Bone leaps the barricade and moves to support Lem. 

Maya moves to a barricade and fires at a psycho with her Colony Rifle, missing. 

Shorty finally gets into position. 

"Lampost! Banana!" "Kill!" The Psychos are starting to get uncomfortably close. 

Lem fires his needler at the Psychos missing. 

"Heerreees T-Bone!" T-Bone yells as he turns the corner of the laser fence firing his plasma rifle wildly. 

"Eat it!" T-Bone yells triumphantly as a Psycho drops to the ground screaming. 

"I am gonna chew on your innards!" The Psychos are getting too close for Maya's tastes. 

Maya's colony rifle barks and the Psycho falls to the ground screaming. 

Shorty spots two Psychos flanking Maya. 

A hail of needles pushes one of the Psychos backwards, the pins sticking obscenely out her body. 

Shorty triggers the needler again dropping the Psycho with the brutal melee weapon. 

Loops shoots at the Psycho Chieftain hitting him, pushing him back. 

With a roar the Chieftain rushes Loops, while the remaining Psycho dives into cover to avoid getting more piercings. 

"YYEEHHHAAA!" Over the other side a Psycho charges T-Bone. 

The Chieftain and Loops exchange blows. 

But the Chieftain is too strong and Loops drops to the ground injured. 

T-Bone's ripper sword makes short work of the Psycho trying to bite him. 

Before Maya can respond the Chieftain leaps at her and the two are locked in mortal combat. Maya has to use her colony rifle as a makeshift club to protect herself. The other Psycho leaps the wall and runs towards Shorty's position.

Shorty spots the other remaining Psycho rushing towards the vent riser he is standing on. A hail of needles forces her back. This nutter is starting to look like a pin cushion. 

"A little help!" yells Maya as she fights off the Chieftain. T- Bone and Lem rush to help her.

"Your gonna be my meat poppet!" The pin cushion Psycho makes it to the ramp. 

Maya and the Chieftain are still locked in deadly combat. 

A glancing blow pushes Maya backwards, stunned. 

"Ello pinhead!" Shorty chides the approaching Psycho.

Coolly Shorty triggers the needler. With a scream finally the Psycho drops. 

Maya staggers backwards trying to put space between her and the Chieftain. 

"Oi, ugly!" T-Bone yells at the Chieftain as Lem arrives to support him. 

A stream of plasma bolts smash into the Chieftain killing him. 

The team quickly apply first aid to their Captain, grab some loot and head onwards to find the trapped work crew. Soon they are all back in Wreckage Station's inhabited zone. 

Post Battle: 

The Psychos have not become rivals of the crew, without their leader they have fled deeper into the dark zones. The Dockside Association are pleased at the success of the crew and have become a new patron. 

The crew receive 5 credits for their mission success plus a further 3 credits for killing the Psycho's Chieftain. Not a bad payday. 

A brutal melee weapon was found on the battlefield and another was looted from the Chieftain. Lem and Maya received these weapons as they don't have any melee weapons. Hopefully it will make them more effective in future fights.

Loops has a serious injury, the crew deicide to utilise the Nano Doc in the ship's stores. Loops is fighting fit in a couple of hours. Sadly the Nano Doc is used up. 

Shorty uses his XP to boost his Toughness. 

This mission showed how poorly equipped the crew are for Melee. So a couple of blades were purchased and given to Shorty and Joey. 

The crew are making a name for themselves and a new patron has shown some interest in the crew. The Wreckage govt are asking if the crew can work for them. 

Joey has announced that he has business elsewhere and will be away from the crew for the next two campaign turns. Stay safe kid and don't get into too much trouble. 

Thoughts: 

This mission could have been a walk in the park, execpt the Psycho primitives have a much larger movement stat which makes up for the lack of ballistic weapons. Poor to hit rolls plagued the crew early on which allowed the Psychos to get too close. Maybe I should get them all training to improve their combat stats? T-Bone was the hero of the mission. He got first blood and accounted for three of the kills including the Chieftain. The plasma rifle and ripper sword is a good combo. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Milki Tours Expedition Vehicle.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

"Hello Traveller, I am Milki! Want to get further out in the Rust lands looking for the good loot but don't want to spend days yomping across the wastes, camping, fighting off angry tribals and the various monstrosities trying to eat you? Then you need Milki Tours! For a reasonable price, I can run to were you want to go. Saving you time and inconvenience in Big Milki there. Ain't she a beaut?"

"For extra cost you can camp in Big Milki overnight, yup she is that big or ride up top for that safari experience. You can even haul cargo up top. Now dont get ideas about bumping old Milki off and stealing his ride. The cockpit is sealed and there is a hidden anti theft system. No one messes with old Milki"

"What's that? Where did I get this fine Expedition vehicle? Well no one makes these things, ya know. Big Milki started life as a wreck I found out in the Rustlands. In a previous life it was an ancient Neta Corp Mu light transport ship. Little wonder the old empire dumped it here, it was an antique when they ditched it. Probably couldn't find the parts to keep it spaceworthy. The engines were totally shot. At some point some clowns had ripped off the rear hatch and looted what ever the empire stuffed in it. Judging by the damage I am guessing they used a very bog bot. Anyways, I got the under deck plasma reactor with a little work and a few cusswords."

"For some reason the old empire hated old Arla class cargo transport cars. There are loads of them dumped on this rock. Well, I salvaged the wheels and electric motors from a couple. They needed a fair bit of cleaning up but they work well. Plus spares are easy to come by. The old Mu plasma plant runs them happily. Lots of plates where added to the hull to armor it up cos the rust wastes are a dangerous place. I even managed to add a twin laser cannon from the wreck of a Hornet class drop ship, although the fire contol system is a converted holo game contoller. The military one had been wiped before it was ditched here. The game comp does the job nicely instead he he. A huge plow was added to move obstructions out of the way. You know the kinda thing, rocks, plants, tribal huts, big monsters, that kinda thing."

Big Milki was the product of a Billmakingstuff pateron challenge. For some time I fancied building a Crawler for an expedition team. I decided that I would go for trashbashing as much as I could for the model. Mainly to see what can be done with what's laying about.

The hull was made from a Ferro Rochia box and the bridge section was built from a quarter of a Pot Noodle pot. The rest of it has been squirreled away for a future build. The wheels are made from milk bottle tops, 16 of them. I like these bottle tops as they are so useful for sci fi trashbashing and collect them from time to time. The hull was armored up with EVA foam sheets. The plow was made from plastic tube frame and cut up gift cards. 

The roof had platic mesh added as decking. The rear door is made from corrugated card, the ladder is a cheap razor handle and the rear steps are made from razor covers. The rest of Milki was built from a deep bits box dive. I am lucky that decades of model making and wargaming has given me quite the bits box. The mantic laser cannons were fitted to a couple of bases from various sources. The lamps and cannon lens are made from beads and stick on pearls used for card making. 

I have always fancied a Crawler land train. In future I hope to make a trailer car and flat bed trailers for Big Milki. They should be easy to make and the bits are plentiful to salvage. 

The Big Milki name grew out the nick name the other Discord group users gave it when I shared wip pictures. Now I plan a 28mm figure for the character of Milki. No doubt he will be joining my planned crew of colonists for the world of Corrosion (and showing up in my Skirm games).

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.