AVP: The Hunt Begins BattRep/AAR...

Recently, my daughter has really enjoyed playing AVP: The Hunt Begins with me, and at the request of one of the regular visitors to my blog, I decided to record the game and do a little bit of an AAR/Batt-rep.  I recently discovered that we had been making a few rules mistakes, which I hopefully have hammered out.  That said, there were still a few rules hiccups here and there... Namely, I always seem to forget the modifiers for the marines/aliens that get granted by tiles.  Just keep that in mind while you read, I've done the best I could to get the rules down, given the slightly confusing layout of the rulebook.  Also note, that the game comes with faction-specific strategy cards, meant to add further bonuses and modifiers, but seeing as my opponent is 6 years old, and reading isn't her strongest suite, we've not been using them in our games.  Anyway, on with the report!

So, here's our set up.  My daughter (playing as the Aliens) placed 16 hidden PING tokens on the board, with 8 in the Hibernation Chamber (or "Hatchery" as I like to think of it) and 8 in the Escape Pod.  She had 5 Stalkers and 11 infants total.  I placed my 5 marines on the bridge.  I had 1 smart gun, 1 flamethrower, 2 with pulse rifles and 1 with a pulse rifle and scanner.  We flipped objective cards next.  Her objective was to destroy the bridge (or maybe just the comms?) and we marked the room with an objective token, while I had to drag a bomb down to the "hatchery".  This was also one of the first hang ups in the game, my objective literally read "Target tile.  Deliver" and after reading through the missions, and coming up short on what exactly that meant, I decided to just play it out as I mentioned.  Honestly, I've only had the objective comes into play once, so I figured it wouldn't matter anyway.  Also note,  we started with a hatch located to the left of the bridge, which we took out at the start of the game.  Reason being, I could pop out of the hath, and start firing upon 1/2 her army right away, which didn't seem very fun, plus it would give her a straight path to her objective, which also didn't seem very fun either!  With all that finished, we started our game!

 

Round 1

Environment Card - Damage to models in vents

Winning the initiative, I opened the hatch and started to drag the bomb towards the target room.  My daughter forced open the doors, and started to move her aliens out into the hall.

Round 2

Environment Card - Doors won't open

I won initiative again, and this time the environment card for the turn really boned the aliens, as the hatch that blocked them off would not be opening at all this turn!  I sent out a basic marine on sentry, to act as bait, in the hopes that she'd go after him, and the rest of the squad could open up on whatever came around the corner.  She ended up splitting a couple off to move up to the larger group, while a couple others scattered about, and I honestly thought it things were going to turn out easier for me, fully expecting to encounter aliens 1 or 2 at a time.  **Note:  I'm using the light blue gems to show the last models activated, and they cannot be activated first next round.

Round 3

Environment Card - A model opening doors takes a Strength 10 hit on a roll of 1-5.

Ouch, another potentially rough card for the aliens located behind the door!  Once again, I also won the initiative. I started out by blasting one of the aliens, and my daughter responded by rushing in one of her stalkers. I then activated the smart gunner, blasting apart the stalker, but the regular marine went down in the ensuing acid spray.  I moved up the smartgunner to slow down anymore  incoming aliens, with the plan that I could always pull him back.  As more rounded the corner, I ended up not advancing at all, as I attempted to clear the way ahead, and maybe I should have advanced instead of being pinned down in a hall.  Meanwhile, the aliens really struggled to open the door, taking several attempts, despite all the assists, before finally breaking it down, and starting down the hall.

Round 4

Environment card - all CC test get +2

Now the initiative shifted to the Aliens, and the Marines wouldn't see it again for the rest of the game!  The aliens started to pour into the hall.  I took out stalker, but likewise, the smartgunner went down via acid spray.  I once again sent up a sacrificial marine, with the plan that I could back him out, and open up a fire-lane.  The aliens just kept piling in!

Round 5

Environment card - LOS is 1 tile

In a cheeky move, I tried a "burning inferno" action with my flamethrower, fully knowing it may cost myself a marine, but he must have heard the call to take cover, as he passed his armor save... Likewise, so must have the aliens!  I pulled back, and they rushed in.  A stalker, even made a test to move past the ensuing combat to engage my flamethrower marine.  (Must have been mad at him).  The aliens truly piled in on the marine that took point, and he went down quick!

Round 6

Environment card - models carrying objects move max of 1

I used burning inferno to try and nuke the aliens that were all grouped up, but I didn't get near enough.  The aliens then took out the marine with scanner before he could attack, and moved in further.

Round 7

Environment card - ???

I think we forgot to flip the card this round, but it didn't matter.  While against the rules (as I found out afterwards) my flamethrower marine went out with a BANG, burning inferno-ing himself but taking out a few aliens along with him!

So, there you have it!  All in all, despite some still remaining quirks with the rules, it was still a really fun game.  Eventually, I hope I'll get the rules down, but as I'm really only playing AVP either solo or with my daughter, it's not the end of world if I make rules mistakes as long as I have fun in the end!  Still, I'll have yet another read through of the rules, maybe try and find an FAQ or something, and give it another go sometime!

Thanks for reading... "Game over man, GAME OVER!"

- WuhSawBe -