Strontium Dog : The Mutie!

Now that I’m reunited with the majority of my minis, I can finish off several pending campaigns that I began last year. The first to get crossed off the list is the 3rd and final act of the Strontium Dog intro campaign with its pre-set scenarios of Johnny Alpha and Wulf (+ Gronk) vs Max Bubba and his gang. Part one, The Good, is here. Part two, The Bad is here. This final act has Johnny all alone and holed up in a shack after Max Bubba killed his faithful sidekick Wulf. It’s do or die time as Johnny and Max face off. Only one will leave the field of battle alive! 

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Johnny Alpha waits in the shack positioned at a window. Max Bubba and gang are in place. Brute makes a double move (should have Sprinted).

Johnny activates and shoots Brute via his Weird Eyes. Brute goes down. But Johnny doesn’t manage to go for broke. Gah. (Forgot to pin Johnny). 

O’Phee moves to the right and Impetigo and Skull to the left. Max remains in cover and in range of his Blazooka to fire on Johnny in the shack (via the windows). Max shoots Johnny. Johnny evades. (Forgot to shoot back). Max doesn’t go for broke as his is the last chip in the bag and it's tricky to do with only 2 dice. 

Johnny exchanges fire with Skull and kills him. 

O’Phee runs closer, keeping to cover. His shoot of 2 isn’t all that hot and his weapon is only effective at 8” hence the need to get up close and personal. 

Impetigo flanks Johnny then fires at him. Johnny fires back. Both sides don’t do any damage but Impetigo is pinned. 

Then Max unloads. The star chip gets in and out of the bag 4 times!

Johnny is stunned. Then takes 2 wounds. He's in bad shape! Luckily he manages to evade the final shot and Max fails to go for broke. (I also forgot to pin him for the failure but it evened out as I forgot to pin Johnny earlier on). 

O’Phee and Impetigo move closer to the shack to flank Johnny. 

Johnny Hunkers Down and bails out of the shack that’s become a death trap. He removes 1 wound and manages to get his chip back in bag and activates again. He removes the stun then kills Impetigo. 

O’Phee shoots at Johnny. Johnny evades. Phew!

Max jet packs his way to shoot Johnny in the back. But Johnny plays the Local Fauna Chicanery card which stops Max dead in his tracks. He doesn’t take damage from the attack but has to waste another activation getting into position to back shoot Johnny. Max then fails to put the star chip back in the bag (unlike his earlier bravura performance) and is pinned. 

Johnny shoots down O’Phee … then uses the Sneak Attack Chicanery card to reposition himself behind Max but out of LOS. 

Johnny then plays the Wrong-footed Chicanery card to remove Max’s chip from the bag ensuring Max doesn’t activate this turn. (Should’ve done that earlier when there were more enemy chips in the bag, but it worked out in the end). 

Johnny moves out of cover and shoots Max in the back dealing him 3 wounds! Max has 1 wound left. 

Johnny decides not to go for broke with only 2 dice. 

Both chips go in the bag. The next turn’s activation will be crucial. 

And Johnny goes first! It’s all over as Johnny takes Aim and using 4 dice (2 from Aimed Shot) manages to hit Max. Johnny's Termination Warrant Chicanery card (re-roll misses for damage) and No. 3 Cartridge Armoury card (+2 Power) ensure maximum damage. 

Rolling 8 Power dice (6 from gun, 2 from card) nets 3 damage. As Max cannot roll any Resist dice (his Jet Pack has a -1 resist penalty) he goes down and Johnny avenges Wulf!

AAR

I’m so glad to be reunited with my minis again. The SD/JD system is a lot of fun to play. 

And what a near run game! My initial mistake was to hunker down in the shack trusting in its +1 soft cover (don’t think it rated hard). Max having 4 shots at Johnny with Power 5 was a rude surprise! And failing to roll ANY shields even with 4 dice didn’t do Johnny any good. After that I had to get Johnny out of the death trap and take advantage of the terrain and ALL of Johnny’s skills to win. 

A fun and fitting finale to the saga of Johnny Alpha and Max Bubba.

I initially thought Johnny had lost when Max rolled those 4 Go For Brokes in a row, dealing him so much damage in that final salvo … but I forgot that blast weapons give +1 resist and what do you know … that bonus die did the job! Johnny evaded the 3” blast and went on to win the game.

I also re-played the game correcting the many errors in this one. It was so one sided! Johnny steamrolled over everyone and the game was over by turn 3. In turn 1, Johnny killed Brute, Skull and Impetigo (who had sprinted all the way up to the shack). Turn 2, he jumped out of the shack and killed Low Down O'Phee... then ran around the shack and shot Max Bubba with the Termination Warrant, No. 3 Cartridge and and aimed shot. That got him 7 hits on Max, and only 2 were blocked. Shows how much dice can change a game, even when paying the same scenario.