Space Station Zero Mission Eleven: The Weapons Locker

Two Muppets. Two drones. As a much more famous space pirate once said, "I have a bad feeling about this".

Leaving the Greenhouse behind, Packman and Axon enter the next room. It's lined with containers which Axon recognizes as weapons storage lockers.

"We could pick up some useful stuff here," he says to Packman.

"Never mind that," replies Packers, "how are you back to normal and what was it like being a plant?"

"That mutagenic gas must have worn off. As for being a plant, it's pretty much all a blank. Where's DeeDee?

"Er... she was killed by a chemical spray a couple of rooms back."

"Ah." Axon looks at the ground for a moment. "Shame. She had great... piloting skills."

The door slides closed behind the Muppets. They hear a low hum at the other end of the room and spot a yellow drone moving across the room. Suddenly it stops and turns to face them...

OK, so I could have got some weapons racks off Etsy and painted them up for this mission, but that would have meant shelling out about $30 on scenery for one game and having to wait a month to get it. The weapons lockers are represented down the sides of the mat by my trash terrain, with a bunch of scatter bits in the centre to provide some cover. The Muppets start on the right side of the room.

For those of you who enjoyed the shoot-out with mutant plants in the last mission, then you should like this one too as it's just a battle between our two remaining Muppets and two guard drones, which I've named John and Jeff. There should be four drones but they're so powerful that the game would probably be over in one turn, so I made an executive decision to halve their number.

The drones have eight lives and get an extra dice when in close combat, taking their skill to 5. But it's shooting and defence where the real scares lie: they're armed with fusion ion cannons which give them an extra four dice, taking their ballistic skill to 8, and they have defensive energy shields that negate one success by an attacker. They can also move 5", which is more than our duo of space pirates.

The aim of the mission is to defeat the drones. No problem, right? If both or either of the Muppets survive, they each get to pick up an Energy Missile Weapon, which will make them better in shootouts. They also get the chance to remove and keep one of the drones' fusion ion cannons.

Oh, and I've also changed Axon back to his regular mini, not only because it looks less stupid but also because I'm not 100% sure where the plant mutant figures are.

Anyway, let's roll some dice in Turn 1!

Packman kicks off by moving 4" towards a stack of barrels. He can see Jeff across the room, and aims his weapon. Six shots head for the yellow drone, and four hit! The drone's energy shield negates one and the other three are saved with a good roll.

Initiative passes to the drones. John moves 5" towards the centre of the room and fires at Axon. Only three of its eight shots hit, and Axon saves them all! It's the black-clad soldier's turn and he doesn't hang around, taking careful aim and pulling the trigger of his energy weapon. It's a pretty terrible shot with three of eight shots hitting home, but John only saves one and drops to seven wounds! Axon's second shot is just as bad, and John saves all the hits.

It's Jeff's turn and he moves 5" straight down the room. Thanks to the scatter cover he can't see either of the Muppets so moves another 5" further towards our space pirates.

We're into Turn 2! 

Packman aims at John and opens fire. Three shots hit the drone, one is stopped by the shield, and Jeff rolls well enough to save the other two. We could be here for a while, guys. Packers moves up behind the yellow crate, but unfortunately John can still see him. He moves between the medic and Axon and opens fire at the yellow-helmeted human. Only three shots hit, but Packman only saves one. He's down to two wounds!

Axon decides that shooting the drones isn't the best idea given their defensive shields, so he just charges into John and starts smacking him about. He only manages to land two punches but the drone fails all its saves and drops to six wounds! But now it gets to punch back and in an ongoing theme only manages two hits. Axon saves them all!

It's Jeff's turn to get krumpin'. He moves further down the room between the stacks of pipes and opens fire on Axon. Five shots slam into the soldier, and he saves three, taking him to two wounds!

What a way to kick off Turn 3!

Like a bystander in a rural pub, Packman decides to join the punch-up happening just feet away. He moves up to John and lays into him. And what a fighter he is — with a roll of 4, 8, 12 and 12 he manages a critical success! The four hits are doubled to eight and John can only roll 7, 7, 9 and 11! It's a total failure, all eight punches hit home and John is smashed into bits of metal!

Axon looks at Packman in disbelief. "Where did that come from?" he asks.

Packman shrugs. "I'm just done with this place," he says. "It's pissing me off."

"Remind me never to get in an argument with you," Axon replies.

Initiative goes to Jeff. He moves closer to the Muppets and opens fire at Packman. Four balls of ionic energy (note: I have no idea if that's a thing) blast the medic! Packers can only save one and is knocked out!

Axon, who is probably having flashbacks to the last mission, knows he has to take out the final drone. Finally he rolls well, with six of his eight shots slamming into Jeff. With one blocked by the shield, Jeff only saves two and suffers three wounds! He's down to four!

Axon lines up his second shot and pulls the trigger. Four more balls of plasma hit Jeff, dropping to three thanks to the bloody shield. Jeff only passes one save! He's down to two wounds!

We're into Turn 4 with the final participants on two wounds each! Strap in, kids!

Axon has to choose between shooting at Jeff or going mano-a-mano on the yellow drone. He decides to fire, four of his eight shots hitting Jeff with one cancelled out by the shield. Jeff rolls, the dice bounce around the tray and don't go his way! He's down to one wound!

Axon takes his second shot. Five hit, one is discarded, and Jeff rolls four 8s! Again he's fine, and Axon is suddenly in the shit!

Axon's shoulders slump. He looks Packman, who's lying unconscious on the floor.

"I'm in the shit," he says to the senseless medic. 

Jeff's engine whines as it increases power and the drone flies into Axon! It lands two punches on the soldier, and Axon rolls his four dice. A double-six means he's OK! Axon gets to slap back, managing a pretty pathetic two hits on the drone. But those two hits make all the difference as Jeff totally fails his saving roll. Needing only one even number on four D12s, he gets 3, 5, 5 and 11! He joins John as a scattering of metal and electronics on the floor. Axon's saved the day again!

I roll to see what happens to Packman. He gets a total of 12! The medic makes a full recovery and will be back for the next mission!

As an added bonus, Axon passes his initiative test and gets to remove and keep one of the fusion ion cannons from a drone. This ups his shooting stat to 12! Packman picks up an energy missile weapon and his shooting stat rises to eight. Both Muppets might have a better chance in combat from now on.

I cannot believe the Muppets made it through a shooting match AGAIN! I realise that cutting the number of drones in half upped the pirates' chances, so after finishing the mission I played it again with all four drones. By the end of the first turn Axon was KO'd and Packman was down to one wound, with the drones suffering a total of four wounds out of their combined 24. So I think I was right to use two drones.

There's only one exit from the room. Next up: The Barracks!