Matakishi's Tea House
A simple little site...
Xenomorphs Game 1
Click on the picture for a bigger version.
This was the first in a series of games to check that the modifications to basic Crossfire I wrote to enable Xenomorphs to be involved actually worked.
The table was set out as you can see above with the Xenomorph hive in one corner (top left) and the human colony diagonally opposite it (mostly). The pyramid watcher plays no part, he just wanted to see the action.
There were no real victory conditions except the standard 'killing the Queen' human win, if the Xenomorphs killed all the humans then they'd win by default.
All four Xenomorph units were deployed, 16 stands of warriors and 4 command stands. The Queen was safely inside the hive but was placed on table in a corner to watch.
Because I wasn't sure how nasty it was going to be for the humans they deployed all their forces except the main battle tank. Two Ranger units, a single Delta Force unit and an HQ section; 10 troop stands, 3 vehicles and a couple of command stands. Medics were assigned to all units.
The 5 stands of colonists were placed one to a building and the troops were spread out to cover the landing pad, solar generator and satellite uplink on the right flank and the colony buildings and gas collecting tanks on the left.
Delta Force were kept in reserve in the centre.
The Xenomorphs began the game with the initiative and began to move forward en masse.
Once they were as far forward as they could be without being seen and fired upon they paused to consider their options.
The first group crested a hill on their left and scuttled into the long alien grass. The Rangers responded with some heavy fire that destroyed two stands and suppressed the others.
Having gained the initiative the humans took the opportunity to group the colonists in fewer buildings and redeploy their line a little. Once everything was set the humans began to lay down more fire on the visible aliens. Although this began well with another stand destroyed, misses eventually returned the initiative to the aliens.
The Xenomorphs probed forward on the other flank with the same results, losing two more stands to heavy fire from the Rangers deployed on the colony roofs.
But, once again, the humans tried to inflict more casualties in their go and gave up the initiative with poor shooting dice.
The Xenomorphs broke cover and skittered along the pipeline, eager to get to grips with their prey.
The humans responded with a whole squad crossfire, four lots of four shooting dice began to chew chunks out of the swarming aliens. Although the no-fire markers began to appear along the line as guns jammed or overheated there was never any real doubt as to the outcome.
Silence descended with not a single live Xenomorph to be seen.
The Rangers saddled up and roared out of their compound in the Humvees. They de-bussed on the hill that the Xenomorph attack had been launched from and began to fire into the massed ranks of bugs.
Delta Force took the centre ground and started inflicting their own particular brand of carnage on the hapless bugs.
Having learnt what concentrated fire could do at the colony perimeter the humans were careful to keep each other supported and moved forward steadily, clearing the ground ahead of them relentlessly.
After a relatively short time all the Xenomorphs had been destroyed and the humans stood poised to attack the hive and the Queen herself.
Conclusions
Well, that was easy. A walk-over victory for the humans, what could the alien player have done?
There are two differences here to a standard Crossfire encounter:
The humans have a major disadvantage in close combat and need to avoid this at all costs. This is at odds with a standard Crossfire game where the decisive move is usually hand-to-hand as this gets the results.
The Xenomorphs need to get to close combat as this is the only way to kill their enemy but cannot suppress their opponents with firepower beforehand so will always be charging into bullets unless they are very careful.
The tactic that gives the humans the best chance of a win is to keep their forces grouped, mutually supporting stands and being able to respond with maximum firepower to a threat keeps the aliens at a distance and them alive. Movement-blocking but not LOS-blocking terrain is their friend. Fences, pools and depressions stop Xenomorphs from reaction charging and allow the humans some freedom to manoeuvre. If the aliens can see you (across a sulphur pool) but can't reach you in a single move (they would have to stop at the pool because it's a terrain feature even though they can swim through it) then they cannot reaction charge and you can go about your business unmolested.
Xenomorphs need to be cunning. They need to make the humans spread their deployment by threatening to attack from multiple angles. Single probing stands can force a no-fire which leave the humans vulnerable to an assault. Moving humans are the most vulnerable and constant probing and pushing can 'encourage' them to move around. Colonists are a real hinderance to human troops, rather than going straight for the juicy civilians, use them as firing blockers to get into a better position. Divide and conquer, four human stands shooting at you and you die, three is touch-and-go for both sides, two and you're probably on to a winner. A single human stand is just lunch.
For a good balanced game where both sides have a chance and the outcome will be determined by skill, the aliens should outnumber the human combat stands by two to one.
Game two had the humans more outnumbered...
The rules for using Xenomorphs in crossfire are here:
There are two differences here to a standard Crossfire encounter:
The humans have a major disadvantage in close combat and need to avoid this at all costs. This is at odds with a standard Crossfire game where the decisive move is usually hand-to-hand as this gets the results.
The Xenomorphs need to get to close combat as this is the only way to kill their enemy but cannot suppress their opponents with firepower beforehand so will always be charging into bullets unless they are very careful.
The tactic that gives the humans the best chance of a win is to keep their forces grouped, mutually supporting stands and being able to respond with maximum firepower to a threat keeps the aliens at a distance and them alive. Movement-blocking but not LOS-blocking terrain is their friend. Fences, pools and depressions stop Xenomorphs from reaction charging and allow the humans some freedom to manoeuvre. If the aliens can see you (across a sulphur pool) but can't reach you in a single move (they would have to stop at the pool because it's a terrain feature even though they can swim through it) then they cannot reaction charge and you can go about your business unmolested.
Xenomorphs need to be cunning. They need to make the humans spread their deployment by threatening to attack from multiple angles. Single probing stands can force a no-fire which leave the humans vulnerable to an assault. Moving humans are the most vulnerable and constant probing and pushing can 'encourage' them to move around. Colonists are a real hinderance to human troops, rather than going straight for the juicy civilians, use them as firing blockers to get into a better position. Divide and conquer, four human stands shooting at you and you die, three is touch-and-go for both sides, two and you're probably on to a winner. A single human stand is just lunch.
For a good balanced game where both sides have a chance and the outcome will be determined by skill, the aliens should outnumber the human combat stands by two to one.
Game two had the humans more outnumbered...
The rules for using Xenomorphs in crossfire are here:
