84th Mission: Mutons in Britain
The EU COM Skyranger slices through the mid-afternoon sky on route to the large, Muton scout in Northern England. We’ve been following this craft for two days now, and this is EU COM’s third attempt to attack the thing. We’re racing against time: the UFO has landed of its own power and we want to get to it before it takes off again.
The men inside the Skyranger today are some of our finest veterans. Kodos and Jfbbis are sitting this mission out, so Revrew gets his first command.
The green light goes on. The Skyranger begins a fast, bumpy descent to the countryside below. Looks like we made it in time. It’s party time.
Our troops today:
Left Side:
1. Blade III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Wolfpack (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Real Deal III (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
4. Tasan (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Sachmo III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
Right Side:
1. Revrew (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Japherwaki II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. The Time (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Swaggs (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Chuck U Farley (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
The Skyranger drops quickly through the cold grey skies of northern Britain. Strong winds buffet the craft. The men try to get a glimpse of the battlefield. We appear to be coming down on the southeast corner of the zone, which as usual is typical British countryside. We can’t see the UFO or any other structures. The only distinguishing features we can make out are two small groves, one to the immediate right of our exit, and one about 20 yards off to the left rear as we exit the craft. We’ll be coming down on the southeast corner of the battlefield; most of the areas to our exit’s right and to the nose of the craft are secure ground. The action will lie dominantly in front of our exit and to its left.
The Skyranger slams hard into the ground and bounces. Everyone inside falls hard to the floor of the craft. Equipment tumbles everywhere. The craft comes down again, this time a bit softer, and then the ramp drops away. As the men pick up weapons and scramble to their feet, the red alarm flashes! Hot landing!
There is a Muton in a field off to the right rear of our Skyranger, about 30 yards away. Our tank rumbles down the ramp. Revrew and Blade race to the edge of the exit. Once there, they drop to a knee and open fire. The Muton drops to a knee to return fire, but Revrew hits it twice to send it tumbling over onto its back. We hear no scream however, and can see from here that its chest is still moving. It’s still alive.
Our tank makes it to the bottom of the ramp, where it spins and searches for more aliens: nothing. However, we can now see a line of what looks like three two-story buildings about fifty yards in front of our exit. We quickly start to deploy.
Blade and Sachmo head out of the Skyranger and go slightly right, into the small grove that lies over there. Tasan and Japherwaki II exit and head slightly left. These four men, with our tank now in front of them, form a line and start advancing on the buildings in front of us. Chuck U Farley heads out and left, to cover our left flank. Real Deal heads out and back up towards the nose of the Skyranger, where he sets up a firing position with the Blaster Launcher. The rest of the men wait for the exit area to clear.
X-COM troops advance across British farmland. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
As the men advance on the buildings, they can hear doors opening and closing. This is not a good situation, as we’re moving through open fields on a concealed, dug-in enemy. We need to shake things up a bit. Real Deal fires a Blaster missile up over the Skyranger and into the brick wall of the building on the right. The entire wall goes up in a mighty blast that devastates the building and sets the field in front of it aflame. Ooops. So much for that stunned alien. He’s gone up in flames too. However, we hear no screams from inside the building, and catch no sight of alien movement. The men continue to advance. The tank weaves in front of them, trying to draw fire. X-COM 1, Aliens 0.
Suddenly, two Mutons approach from in front of the left building and open fire on our tank. One shot clangs off the tank, damaging it slightly. The tank returns fire and nails a Muton in the side of the stomach, but the thing stays up. Our line of men all open fire at once. Plasma tracers tear across the fields. Errant shots tear up the grass near the enemy and punch large holes in the wall of the building. Sachmo catches the right Muton with two quick shots that topple it over. Immediately after that, Tasan catches the other one with a shot that rips its leg off at the knee, and then Japherwaki catches it in the head with a shot that decapitates it. The body drops to the ground. Good shooting men! X-COM 3, Aliens 0.
We expand our position. The Time exits the Skyranger, heads left, and joins up with Chuck Farley. Together the two of them begin a slow advance left into the fields on that side of our Skyranger. As they do this, they spot the enemy UFO—a bulky three-story craft—concealed behind the grove to our left. From our position, the craft is about 50 yards away.
While Swaggs, Wolfpack, and Revrew wait at the exit ramp, the rest of our men resume their advance towards the buildings. On the far right, Blade catches movement through the smoke coming from the building on our right. There’s something on the roof, about 50 yards away! There it is! An enemy sniper is sneaking into position. Swaggs and Revrew, at the top of the Skyranger exit ramp, actually have good long shots at this Muton. The two men drop to a knee and let rip on full auto. Plasma blasts race across the fields. The Muton drops to a knee, but Swaggs nails him in the chest and blows him backwards to the surface of the roof. The creature howls and dies. X-COM 4, Aliens 0.
A Muton sniper waits for targets. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
Just as suddenly, Chuck U Farley catches movement in the grove in front of the UFO. Chuck and The Time train their weapons on the swaying trees as Japh and Tasan—much closer on the left side of our advancing line of men—toss grenades into the shadowy trees. Just before they go off, The Time spots the Muton moving between two trees and gets off a quick shot. The single shot sails into the woods and hits the Muton in the stomach, sending it howling to the ground! Nice shot, The Time! Wow! The two grenades go off a fraction of a second later and a chunk of the grove goes up in two crashing explosions. X-COM 5, Aliens 0.
Although we hear the whirring of internal UFO doors, things go relatively quiet for the next few minutes. Chuck and The Time explore the area to our left a bit, and then swing right towards the UFO. We can now see that the UFO is a square craft, with exit doors on the east and south sides, both of which face us. Chuck and The Time set up a firing position at a low stone wall that overlooks the craft.
X-COM troops wait in ambush for aliens trapped in their UFO. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
On the east side of the UFO, we shuffle our personnel a bit. We get Wolfpack out of the Skyranger, and then send him, our tank, and Blade on a slow advance towards the east side of the UFO. They make it there without incident, and set up a firing position, using the tank for cover, about 10 yards from the east door. Japh, Sachmo, and Tasan resume an advance towards the half-destroyed right building. They make it their without incident as well, then begin to sweep through the smoky building toward the one to its immediate left. Real Deal waits in the field for targets of opportunity. Revrew and Swaggs stay in reserve in the Skyranger. After a bit, Revrew exits the Skyranger and heads for a hedge that overlooks the south UFO exit. He’ll add his firepower to that of The Time and Chuck.
After a few minutes, the east exit of the UFO pops open and a Muton steps out in front of Wolfpack and Blade. The two men open fire and tear the thing apart. The lifeless body drops to the ground in front of the exit! X-COM 6, Aliens 0.
A couple of minutes after that, our tank spots a Sectoid coming around from the back side of the UFO, about 40 yards away. The Muton twists away and heads back out of sight. This is the perfect shot for Real Deal, and he quickly plots a firing course for the open field behind the UFO and pulls the trigger on the Blaster Launcher. His rocket soars over the Skyranger, across the fields, around the UFO, and then slams into a small tree on the far side. A massive plume of smoke and fire shoots up from behind the UFO, and we can hear the screams of a dying Muton! Finally! Real got himself a kill! X-COM 7, Aliens 0.
The war-torn British countryside. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
Before we can catch our breath, a Muton charges out the south exit of the UFO. Revrew opens fire and hits him in the arm, but the Muton is able to spin away and make it back inside the UFO before The Time or Chuck can get a shot off. Then another alien comes around from the backside of the UFO, this one only about 30 yards away. Our tank and Wolfpack open fire as the Muton lines up our men. A tank round rips off an arm at the elbow, and then Wolfpack hits it in the chest, killing it instantly in a puff of green. The body crumples to the ground. X-COM 8, Aliens 0.
Meanwhile, Japh, Tasan, and Sachmo work their way into the middle of the three buildings. So far, no sign of aliens over there.
Back at the UFO, “no aliens” is not a problem. As Swaggs leaves the Skyranger and jogs to add his weapon to those trained on the south exit, the alien Revrew hit springs out the exit again, and this time it knows exactly where Revrew is. It opens fire before anyone can get a shot off, and sends a plasma bolt right at Revrew. The shot blows apart the low hedge in front of him, but Revrew is ok! As the Muton twists to run back inside, Revrew returns fire, hitting the alien in the back and dropping him to the ground, dead! Almost as quickly, another alien comes out the exit! This time Chuck Farley gets off a shot, and it’s a good one. It slams into the alien’s torso and slams him back against the wall of the UFO, where the alien slides to the earth and dies gurgling in its own blood.
At the east exit, another alien exits! Once again, Blade and Wolfpack open fire from point blank range on full auto. Multiple shots rip apart the Muton, and it twists wildly as it falls and dies. X-COM 11, Aliens 0.
Things go quiet again. Japh, Tasan, and Sachmo methodically clear the last of the three buildings and quickly search the field behind the UFO. Nothing. Whatever aliens are left have to be inside the UFO. We wait for a while, and then decide to bust the UFO.
Tasan and Swaggs will lead the way in. We’ll go in through the east door and take it from there. After a few minutes the two men are in position. Tasan heads up to the door, pops it open…
X-COM agents prepare to assault a UFO. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
Nothing. There is a wall in front of him and to his left, but a passageway opens onto a room to his right. He heads into the room. In the center is the mutilated corpse of a large cow sitting on some sort of an anatomy table. Ye gads. There are no signs of aliens, however. Swaggs joins Tasan inside the UFO, and together the two of them begin a search of the first floor. The room they are in wraps around the outside of the UFO, but apparently there is no access from this entrance to the rest of the craft and the grav-lifts up to the higher floors. Damn. We’ll have to send men in through the south exit.
Wolfpack and Revrew make their way to the south exit and prepare to enter. After a minute they are ready. Wolfpack takes a deep breath, pops the door…
Muton, in the corridor right in front of him! Wolfpack has the element of surprise and pulls the trigger on his heavy plasma first. Three shots slam into the Muton and it topples backwards to the floor of the UFO, dead! Whew! Way to go, Wolfpack! X-COM 12, Aliens 0.
X-COM agents come face-to-face with a Muton. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
And that’s the last alien! Well done, men! That was a tough one.
Kills: Revrew, 1; The Time, 1; Real Deal III, 1; Blade III, 2; Wolfpack, 2; Japherwaki II, 1; Swaggs, 1; Chuck U Farley, 1; Sachmo III, 1.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Everyone! Yippee!
Final score: 466.
Mission Notes:
Fun mission. Lots of aliens to kill and no PSI stuff to have to deal with. Good feeling when everyone gets experience. We still haven’t had a mission where no one dies and everyone gets a kill. The only one that came up short today was Tasan. I thought we could make it by sending him into the UFO, but alas, it was not to be. We sent him in the wrong door.
We only get credit for 11 kills. The game doesn’t count unconscious aliens killed by grenades as a kill for the soldier who throws the grenade.
Revrew is consistently racking up kills, and gradually closing in on the X-COM leaders. He’s one behind third-place Jfbbis, and only three behind Kodos and Wade Moore for first place.