Aliens: Finding Newt battle report

I decided to jump straight into learning how to play Aliens: Another glorious day in the Corps by starting with the full campaign. Ripley, Gorman, Vasquez, Hudson, Hicks and Frost land on LV-426. They have to search the compound for Newt, the sole surviving colonist, and escape.

The Marines disembark from the dropship and advance to the compound.

Hudson runs a bypass to open the door...

A lone alien is easily gunned down.

The Marines advance deep into the compound.

Frost finds Newt.

Ripley tries to calm her down by waving a pulse rifle at her.

... but then aliens drop from the ceiling and kill Ripley.

Simultaneously, aliens pour from everywhere and destroy the Marine squad.

So, I was making reasonable progress (somewhat burdened by Ripley suffering a 'Blinding Rage' ongoing event) when I drew a very nasty card that erupted aliens in my face. I have decided to scrap this campaign and restart... Next time I'll get better, less cinematic lighting!

The board and figures are lovely. The gameplay is a little fiddly compared to the simplicity of Space Hulk, but leans into the movie details. Replaying this, I would make better use of the motion tracking tools that allow you to preempt upcoming dangerous swarm events. I wouldn't tool up with as much body armour or helmets either.

I got some friends together later and we played a 'Bug Hunt' mission, a non-canonical gun crawl. We barely advanced 20 metres into the atmosphere processor before we got absolutely swarmed, but were able to make a fighting withdrawal to a choke point where we mercilessly exterminated the hive.

Somehow, we survived this.

Aliens- Colonial Marines

I really flamed out on painting these. Ripley et al. were painted in March, but the thought of painting two types of camouflage and trying to interpret all the kit they’re wearing, without great reference material, was quite intimidating. Plus, the Analogue Challenge does tend to leave me a little drained for a few weeks afterwards. There are, nevertheless, only ten marines- so I knuckled down and got them done. They do look like a coherent unit now.

Colonial Marines

Gorman’s big Stars and Stripes on his left shoulder was painted with a pink and blue rectangle. The pink replicates the effect quite well. I first came across this trick from someone doing 15mm US paratroopers.

Lt Gorman

I think Gunny Apone has a stogie in his mouth.

GySgt Apone

Hicks has his shotgun- for close encounters.

Cpl Hicks

I painted some blips on Hudson’s motion tracker.

PFC Hudson

I opted out of painting the graffiti on the various characters’ armour. I did put spots on Vasquez’ bandanna though.

PFC Vasquez

PFC Drake

Cpl Dietrich

PFC Crowe

I always thought they were shouting, "Where's Bowski?"

PFC Wierzbowski

PFC Frost

The figures have names sculpted on the bases- which is good, because I’m not going to pretend I can tell the difference between a lot of the redshirts!

There are two Sentry Guns.

UA 571-C Automated Sentry Guns

And some crates and terminals.

That's this project completed!

We got nukes, we got knives, we got sharp sticks!

I distinctly recall the first time I saw 'Aliens'- I had recorded it on VCR because it was on in the middle of the night- it was the extended version with the sentry guns. I was on the edge of my seat with this awesome film. Ripley has saved Newt but is being chased by the Queen. Ripley gets to the landing pad- but the dropship has gone! The Queen comes up the lift, the doors open- and the video ran out of tape. I swear it was a year or two until I saw what happened next- talk about a  cliff-hanger! It's still one of my all-time favourites.

Khurasan's Exterminators. These were an instant must.

If, perchance, you chose to paint them like the 'Aliens' USCM, there's a lot of helpful pictures on the web and the double-disk DVD.

Uniform: basecoat khaki, Y-stripes in dark grey and dark sand

Armour: Olive green, y-stripes in dark brown and sand, stripes in cream and black

Still working on taking better photos. The quick example of the camo pattern above is a little bit lighter in the flesh- the palette is white. Camo is hard in 15mm- you want to get the effect, but not at the expense of a drab mini on the tabletop.

I love these miniatures, I really hope the range of infantry expands to give more variations, support weapons and higher command options.