Return of the XCOM War Logs – Part 5

After all the excitement of last time, it’s time for a trip to Mexico to foil some dastardly alien abductions again! Leanne, Ben-droid (aka ‘Data’), Paul (aka ‘Vampire’), Rich, Tim (aka ‘Richter’), and Heather (aka ‘Doc’) get ready for action! We find a couple of Floaters doing a bit of shopping in the local supermarket. Rich decides the best course of action is to shoot a hole in the wall to allow Doc to destroy one of them. The second attempts to fall back but meets a similar fate. The eternally annoying Seekers turn up next and immediately vanish into thin air. One quickly tries to latch onto Leanne, but Doc makes the rescue. She seems to be the MVP of this mission already. The other manages to find Vampire in a vulnerable spot (you know how it is with Snipers and hiding away in hard to reach areas). Richter attempts the save but misses the shot. Mercifully, Rich has some talent for closing gaps with distant enemies and does just that to take out the threat. Data makes a run for a newly arrived Mectoid but takes some serious damage in the process. Leanne provides him with smoke cover and the threat falls back. Doc presses forward and runs into or retreating friend and some buddies of his own in the form of two Mutons. She finds cover and allows Data and Leanne due take down the mechanical threat and expose one of the Mutons for Vampire to take down. Data finished the task by railgunning (it’s a word, I swear) the final threat. Leanne earns the nickname ‘Angel’.

Looks like a tough shot, but Paul can manage it.

Looks like a pretty big threat in Russia now. Either the aliens are increasing their activities or we’re just spotting more of them. Either way, the majority of the previous team roll in. Ben-machine (aka ‘Data’), Heather (aka ‘Doc’), Rich, Paul (aka ‘Vampire’), Rod (aka ‘Mack’), and new signing Reuben roll into battle. We quickly end up with some problems with Rich shoots the wall off another building, causing a group of five Cryssalids to head our way! Combined fire puts down one of them quickly, Vampire a second, and Rich and Doc another. Three more turn up with a Cyberdisc and Drone in tow. This is getting messy. Data decides that the only thing to do is throw a grenade in the mix. Reuben rescues a civilian and takes down a Cryssalid, whilst Rich does the same. Doc takes out the Drone, but the threats are many. Two dead civilians come back as Zombies (why not?) and the Cyberdisc causes catastrophic damage to Data. He survives, but barely. Reuben puts down another Cryssalid, whilst Vampire handles a Zombie. Rich handles the second Zombie, but we’re running low on ammo. Mack reloads but takes a barrage of plasma fire in the process. It’s too much for him, and he falls in battle. If only he’d found better cover where that wall used to be! Who shot it off again? Rich gets in close to destroy the threat, and allow the survivors to head home. Reuben is promoted to Heavy.

Not enough explosions.

After her success earlier in the campaign, we send Leanne (aka ‘Angel’) on another covert mission to discover the location of the EXALT base. Good luck!

We’re being sent to India to investigate a supposed alien staging area. No idea what to expect, but I do know that Josh (aka ‘Smokes’), Tom, Paul (aka ‘Vampire’), Rich, Tim (aka ‘Richter’), and Nick, who makes his first appearance. Turns out this isn’t a staging area. There’s an alien bomb ready to detonate! After some quick scouting, we find a pair of Thin Men! Haven’t seen them for a while. Smokes quickly shoots one right in the face, before rushing down the other one and shooting it right in the face too. Sweet face shooting! But it’s not to last! Tom locates another pair of Thin Men, who quickly flank Smokes. Vampire attempts a rescue shot but misses the mark. Smokes quickly finds himself overwhelmed and falls in battle like so many others. Richter takes revenge on one, Vampire the other. Two more run into our line of fire, allowing Tom and Richter to rack up some more kills. The team find the bomb, with very little time to spare. Rich makes it with seconds to spare, defusing it and saving the city. Now to clear up the remaining hostiles. For Josh! A group of Thin Men don’t stand a chance against Richter, Rich, and Vampire, with the last pair being taken down by Nick and Tom. A tough job, but we head home with a victory. Rich will now be known as ‘Caper’, and Nick has been promoted to Assault.

Defusing that bomb the turn before it would explode was pretty fantastic.

Didn’t take long for Leanne (aka ‘Angel’) to get back to us about her search for EXALT. Time to suit up some soldiers! Lorna (aka ‘Spectre’), Heather (aka ‘Doc’), Tim (aka ‘Richter’), Rich (aka ‘Caper’), Tom, and Faizan are heading in! Spectre jumps straight onto the top of a building and sports EXALT trying to hack our transmitter. Time is short if we want to keep this mission active. Richter figures the best thing for this sort of situation is a rocket to the face, and deals with two threats immediately, allowing Faizan to flank and take out a third. A group of five EXALT turn up to cause trouble, and Caper makes a very risky run into the middle of them to protect our transmitter. He puts one down with no trouble at all. Angel and Faizan work together to take another out. Spectre and Doc both manage to take one each out too, before Tom blasts the last one with plasma fire. A handful more roll in, but we really don’t know why. Their equipment doesn’t even come close to ours, and we make short work of the enemy. Home time! Faizan is promoted to Assault.

We missed a whole lot of shots, but the ones that landed mattered!

Surprisingly, we find another EXALT cell due to the intel we collected. Claire is sent in so Leanne can have a break!

Looks like she won’t be getting much of a break after all, as Leanne (aka ‘Angel’), Karl, Tim (aka ‘Richter’), Dave (aka ‘Chip’), Lorna (aka ‘Spectre’), and Faizan head for a UFO that has landed in the middle of nowhere. It gets messy quickly, as Chip finds a pair of Mectoids, a Sectoid Commander, and some Sectoids. He quickly dispatches a Sectoid, but they were hardly the biggest threat. Spectre destroys the Sectoid Commander with her newly developed plasma sniper rifle, freeing up Angel and Karl to take down a Mectoid. Chip presses forward to take down the other Sectoid whilst Angel, Faizan, and Richter work together to take out the final threat. Oh look, another Mectoid with its Sectoid entourage. A couple of Seekers too! This could be trickier. Chip comes equipped with the latest in grenade launching technology, making it easy for him to deal with the Sectoids. Faizan gets a friendly visit from a Seeker and requires a quick rescue from Angel. He more than makes up for it by bravely running into Mectoid fire to take down the droid. Richter gets to hang out with the other Seeker before Karl steps in. Heading into the UFO, we find little resistance. Everyone stacks up at the entrance to the command room and finds three Sectoid Commanders inside. Chip rushes in and destroys their cover! Karl and Spectre take out one each, but the third mind controls Faizan! Rather than subdue him, we head straight to the real threat and allow Spectre to finish the job. Karl is promoted to Heavy, which he deserves considering all the damage he took during that mission.

Those Plasma Sniper Rifles look pretty impressive.

Another quick call back! Claire wants to be collected from her covert mission! Time to send in the pros: Heather (aka ‘Doc’), Dave (aka ‘Chip’), Tom, Nick, Paul (aka ‘Vampire’), and Tim (aka ‘Richter’) answer the call! It seems that Claire needs to hack some EXALT data thingies! To action! It doesn’t take long for Chip to find our first threats. He launches a grenade in to leave one vulnerable for Nick to take out. Vampire lands a sweet shot through a wall to take out another, but it seems EXALT have been learning. They put a rocked into Chip and Richter, causing massive damage. Chip takes some revenge by way of railgun to the face, taking out another threat. Doc demolishes a wall by way of grenade and leaves an opening for Tom to claim a kill and a wall intact for Nick to take cover. Claire uses the chaos to reach the first hacking station and deals with it undisturbed. This attracts some attention, but she manages to reach the second one thanks to good covering fire from the extraction team. Claire suddenly becomes very popular as EXALT send a large group to hold us back. Tom takes one out from a vantage point whilst Vampire handles another. Low on ammo, the team make a hasty retreat rather than try to fight them off. Discretion is the better part of valour, and some incredibly brave running away means everyone lives to fight another day!

There are a few more enemies than we can realistically handle here.

Well this doesn’t look good,. The aliens are attacking XCOM HQ! We’re not really prepared for this, but it just so happens that Heather (aka ‘Doc’), Lorna (aka ‘Spectre’), and Dave (aka ‘Chip’) were in central command, so they’ll be holding off the onslaught. There are a few nameless security guards with basic weapons here too, but I don’t think they’ll be making it. A hell of a lot of aliens turn up in command, but luckily Paul (aka ‘Vampire’) heard the noise and has come running to join the fight. He bursts in and quickly takes out a Sectoid with his pistol. Chip and Spectre team up to deal with a Mechtoid, but another takes out a member of security. Some concentrated fire from the rest of the team put it down, but we know there are more nearby. It’s like Noah’s Ark in here, with two of every alien turning up. The Sectoid Commander is causing a problem, but is it a greater threat than the two Cyberdiscs that have appeared? Vampire decides it is and takes it down from long range.

Lorna’s out of ammo. Thankfully, that pistol isn’t just for show!

Another blast door opens and Ben (aka ‘Data’) piles through to join the fun! Two Mec units should help a lot here. Spectre runs out of rifle ammo, but turns into a temporary gunslinger with her laser pistol! Take that, Sectoids! Data protects Doc by taking out a Cryssalid that would have taken her down without a doubt, whilst security deal with a Floater. Vampire makes an incredible shot from range to take down a Cyberdisc in a single hit! I’m glad we invested in that Plasma Sniper Rifle for him. A Seeker turns up to give Doc a hug, and then five (count ’em!) Mutons turn up to crash the party. Spectre makes the save, but we’re very vulnerable now, with aliens on all sides. Data crushes a Cyberdisc with his Railgun to reduce the immediate threat. Literally everyone teams up to take down a Bezerker (an especially dangerous, melee-focussed Muton), culminating in Spectre making another pistol kill. She gets a Seeker hug for her troubles, but Chip is standing mere feet away to make a swift rescue. Cryssalids are the next bunch to turn up, and we haven’t even dealt with all the Mutons! Pax (aka ‘Wolverine’) comes crashing through a door to help out, but it looks like that’s the last help we’ll be getting. A Cryssalid rounds the corner and gets a face (do they have faces?) full of laser from Wolverine, whilst a second gets shot by literally everybody at once. Teamwork!

Looks like something of a last stand for us.

Spectre takes out a Cryssalid before it can be a threat, whilst Wolverine charges forward to face a Muton. He misses an 88% chance-to-hit shot and is left incredibly exposed. He doesn’t make it. Vampire takes revenge, but it won’t bring Wolverine back. Chip punishes another Muton from close range but finds himself under fire from another Mectoid. Vampire and Spectre take out a Sectoid Commander to free up the rest of the team to hammer down the Mectoid. In a risky move, Chip punches the Cyberdisc and takes it down, but the resulting explosion causes him some significant harm. Luckily, that was the final threat, and victory is assured! We held off the alien assault and will start taking the fight to them!

Part 4 can be found here.

Current team

Kerry ‘Xeno’ C – Sniper – DECEASED (9 kills, 6 missions)

Rob C (me) – Assault – DECEASED (5 kills, 4 missions)

Heather ‘Doc’ D – Support

Josh ‘Smokes’ P – Support – DECEASED (15 kills, 8 missions)

Stuart D – Heavy – DECEASED (5 kills, 4 missions)

Rod ‘Mack’ J – Heavy – DECEASED (30 kills, 13 missions)

Pax ‘Wolverine’ G – Assault – DECEASED (10 kills, 8 missions)

Emma S – Sniper – DECEASED (6 kills, 5 missions)

Eugene V – Assault – DECEASED (9 kills, 5 missions)

Dave ‘Chip’ L – Heavy MEC

Tim ‘Richter’ P – Heavy

Paul ‘Vampire’ C – Sniper

Bobbilyann C – Support – DECEASED (3 kills, 2 missions)

Ben ‘Data’ S – Support MEC

Andrew L – Support – DECEASED (4 kills, 3 missions)

Lorna ‘Spectre’ B – Sniper

Claire R – Sniper

Rich ‘Caper’ H – Assault

Tom G – Support

Leanne ‘Angel’ B – Support

Reuben R – Heavy

Nick S – Assault

Catherine V – Support DECEASED (7 kills, 3 missions)

Caroline G – Support

Faizan R – Assault

Karl P – Heavy