Bug Hunting – Ep04
Since I have the table space available these days, I returned back to a physical format. I found the opportunity to address some issues I had with my rollable mats. More specifically they had immense shedding. I took each of them outside, did a thorough scrab with themselves, and shook them vigorously. After that was done, I did a layer of mat sealing spray, but because this wasn’t enough, I went ahead and coated them generously with my floor polish. It even fixed my desert mat issues (which I’ll display in a future post perhaps). I decided to use my gray rubble mat for this next game. Without further ado, let’s get to the game.
Special Assignments
Jake: Marksman Training: Failure
Fight a Tabletop Battle
For the objectives I rolled up one Critical Objective: Scout. For mission difficulty I choose Mess Me Up, which is Moderate.
I rolled for the Priority Rating and it was 3, modified to 5 due to the Critical Objective. That’s a high Priority Rating, and the Spawn Rating goes to 3.
For the loadout, I give Jake a Hand Cannon and Boarding Sword.
Let’s see what force we’ll field. I have 5 Support Points (equal to the Priority Rating) and start with one Fire Team as standard. I managed to get only a Sarge, Grenades and Sharp Shooter (even spent a Reputation Point because I got many failures).
I placed the Tactical Locations, and decided to use the Signals optional rule, rolling 2 Signals. Also added one Contact Marker to each objective and one at the centre of the table.
Finally, I rolled the battlefield edge, and had to push back one of the objectives as it was too close to my troops.
Jake was crouching in the scrapyard. He looked to his right. The sarge. He then looked over to his left, behind the fence, Fire Team Alpha. Providing covering fire to all of them, was a sharp shooter, conveniently staged on top of an energy generator.
Colony Warren in planet JK-485 seemed abandoned, but there were blipping signals on his scanner at 12 o’clock. The objective was right ahead, they had to scout the area near the communication tower.
Jake was nervous. His assignment on USS Astral Monarch was less than ideal. Other regiments would face the same foe over and over until they had eliminated the threat, but the Red Coyotes were more like firefighters jumping in to do a mission, then leave and go to another front as needed. He had faced berserk robots, shambling reanimations, and slithering horrors, he had no clue what would lie in wait here. He’d be lucky if it was just space rats. His companions were in sick bay, yet he felt like they were the lucky ones.While writing the after action report, I came to the realization that the Roll for Operational Progress (see Post Battle Report) doesn't really make much sense to my games, as the wording is relevant to a single front over a planet against what would seem, the same foe. This contradicts the Enemy Tables text which states that for each mission you roll on the table when you reveal the first Contact Marker. As explained to me the idea is to also cater to gamers who want to paint and fight a lot of different enemies, but the campaign would make sense against a single enemy type (with variants) until you roll over 100 on the Operational Force table. (Which also means I didn't need to print and paint over 100 different bugs of 6 types, but what's done is done.) All of this is why I wrote the explanatory narrative above, so that I could tie it all together somehow. I'm thinking that if I happen to face the same enemy twice, then I can make a campaign out of it. But so far, I'll consider the rolls for Operational Progress against random threats in a sector, so that they can still hold a parade if they win!
Battle Round 1
Troopers move East
Both Contact markers stay put and double
Contact! 9 Face Rippers
Sarge and Jake lob grenades killing 4, wounding and stunning the rest
Sniper stuns one
Spawn point at countdown 4 at West
No alertness
During my after action report I also realized I failed to establish the Pack Leaders rule (that's a rule that goes into place after the first two missions, and gives a chance for a stronger bug to appear along the regular ones - will need to remember to do it from the next game on).The Red Coyotes move in unison. Jake knows there’s no chance they’ll avoid the blipping signal, and as he emerges from the scrap yard he comes face to face with several beasts straight out of nightmares. Thick carapace, multiple insect like claws that could rip your face to pieces. He looks at sarge then draws the pin on his grenade and lobs it at the group of creatures, as the sarge does the same. The blast kills almost half of them, and leaves the rest disoriented. As he does, he knows the noise won’t get unnoticed, and and incoming message appears on his data pad. “Be advised, increased activity detected from 0.270.” This mission doesn’t bode too well.
Battle Round 2
Beep… Sir? No contact
Jake lobs another grenade kills another 4, last one is killed by Sarge
A contact marker closes to Sarge aggresively, the other doubles
Contact marker is revealed: stay frosty. A new one appears at East edge.
A trooper dashes to Scout the objective but he’s in contact. 9 more Face rippers!
A trooper goes to investigate the signal 3 Civilians!
A trooper moves and lobs a grenade to the face rippers killing one and stunning two
Last trooper dashes to keep squad in formation
Sniper shoots and stuns another ripper
A new spawn point appears to the NE corner at countdown 2
He pulls another grenade and throws it in the group of reeling face rippers, killing almost all of them. Sarge fires his shotgun to finish of the last one. The way to the objective is now clear. Fire Team Alpha runs forward, but their scout barely approaches the fence, when he sees another group of face rippers of similar size.
His teammate has detected a signal coming from the little guard house, and as he goes there to investigate, he finds three civilians shaking from terror. “Help us please! Save us! These things have slaughtered everyone.” The troopers tell them to take cover behind them. They lob a grenade into the yard, killing a beast, and take positions to hold a formation. Meanwhile the sniper keeps shooting and suppressing the creatures from afar.
Jake sees a new notification on his data pad. “Be advised, increased activity detected from 0.45.” He swears between his teeth and returns his attention to the battle.
Battle Round 3
Beep… Sir? A contact marker at SE corner
A trooper lobs a greande, another shoots at a ripper stunning it
A trooper lobs a grenade stunning a ripper and the last trooper shoots but misses
Face Ripper attacks a trooper who’s saved by his armor
Jake moves and lobs a grenade, doing no damage
Sarge moves and fires his shotgun wounding & stunning a ripper
Sniper stuns another ripper
Civilians run to the generators
A new spawn point appears to the south edge
Countdowns: W(2), S(2), NE(1)
The Red Coyotes assault the yard, lobbing grenades and shooting at anything that moves. The creatures scream and scatter all over by the explosions and chaos. One of them jumps from the chaos onto a trooper, but the squaddie’s armor saves him from the sharp claws.
Screaming in horror, the civilians run back towards the sniper providing cover. The objective has been scouted, but it’s still to early to shoot the Evac flare, as noone will see it yet.
Battle Round 4
Beep… Sir? Marker at S edge
Fire Team shoots at rippers, wounding one, and stunning 4
Jake moves and shoots his hand cannon at a stunned ripper, stunning it again before Sarge finishes it with his shotgun
A contact marker starts approaching
Another moves away (E)
Another doubles (S)
Sniper shoots and kills a ripper
Countdowns: W(1), S(1), NE Spawns (-)
In coordination, the fight continues. The Red Coyotes keep shooting at any of the wounded creatures that keep moving, suppressing them, and killing a few.
Battle Round 5
Beep… Sir? No contact
A Trooper lobs grenade but misses
A trooper lobs a grenade stunning two rippers
3rd and 4th troopers delay
Jake calls Evac: Failure
Here's an important thing I asked about in the discord about how Evac works. According to Ivan, the correct way is the following: A character of choice at any time from Round 5 onwards can request Evac provided they're stationary and don't ake any other actions. Objectives completed and Savvy of the requesting character (as per rulebook) add to the Evac roll. If the roll is failed, you roll again next round, but do NOT perform the request again. Also, any updates to the Objectives do NOT count either.
In other words you get one call for Evac to explain why you should be evacuated. When they come all depends on how well you were doing when you contacted HQ. I'll be running it this way in this game and onwards, and we'll see how it performs. Jake gets no Savvy bonus, but we have completed a Critical Objective which is a +3 bonus.A ripper dashes but is snapped fire upon first and is wounded and knocked back
A contact marker that was approaching moves away
S contact markers close in
Others move around
Sniper shoots and misses
Sarge shoots and kills a wounded ripper
W(4) Spawns, S(1) Spawns, NE (4)
Just a few face rippers remain. The troopers lob grenades at them. Among the explosions Sarge calls out to Jake: Call them! Mission accomplished, let’s get out of here!
Jake pulls out the flare gun, and fires straight up. The red flare illuminates the battlefield. A notification appears on his datapad. “Evacuation protocol request received. Please standby for extraction.”
The fight rages on with the last of the creatures as they try to kill the troopers, but they’re in position waiting at the ready. They open fire sending the rippers back under a hail of bullets, only to be killed by the Sarge’s shotgun afterwards.
Increased activity is flaring up all over the scanners.
Battle Round 6
Beep… Sir? Contact Marker at NNE
Fire Team shoots and kill a wounded ripper
Sarge delays
Face ripper charges at Sarge, Sarge snap shoots, wounding, stunning and sending the ripper 2″ back
All markers except one at NE move either aggresively or randomly towards the Red Coyotes
Jake shoots his hand cannon and stuns a ripper
Sniper shoots and stuns the same ripper
Civilians move back towards the fire team
W(3), S(3) Spawns, NE (3)
Evac: Failure…
The Red Coyotes have taken defensive positions at the fence. Their weapons lined and shooting at all hostiles, eliminating, disabling or suppressing them. They order the civilians to approach, as they expect Evac soon. Jake looks to the sky, but sees no sign of any dropship.
Battle Round 7
Beep… Sir? Contact Marker at E
Fire Team shoots and eliminates the two wounded rippers in front of them
Contact marker moves to sarge. 5 rippers appear in front of him! and 3 more!
Movement all over the place, appearing in front of the sarge then disappearing, then appearing W est of the sniper! more movement! 6 Rippers!
The other contact markers keep closing in
Sarge retreats and lobs a grenade into the rippers. They’re exploded to bits: 1 dead, two wounded, 3 stunned
Jake lobs another grenade to them
Sniper moves towards the Red Coyotes and shoots at the swarm behind him and kills one and stuns another
W(2), S(2), NE (2)
Evac: Failure…Again
As the Unity troopers eliminate more of the face rippers, they notice that their scanners are full of activity. All over the place. Signals approaching them, and soon they hear the growls and screeches, and more than half a dozen come to take the place on the corpses of their fallen. The Sarge and Jake don’t waste any time, they immediately lob grenades at them, and the group disperses, their multiple limbs blown to pieces.
Another half a dozen appear right behind the sniper. “Tangos on my six!” he radios in and starts retreating towards the rest of the squad. With a snap shot he kills one of them, the bullet flying straight through its head and grazing the one behind it.
Jake looks at his datapad “Extraction pending…”.
Battle Round 8
Beep… Sir? No Contact
Sarge moves to support the sniper and lobs a grenade into the swarm of rippers, stunning a couple of them, he’s out of grenades
Fire team shoots at the rippers killing one of them
Two rippers dash at sarge and he stuns them
There’s movement all over the place, some markers close in, one makes contact, 3 more rippers near the fire team
Jake lobs a grenade to the new swarm, stunning one and killing another
Civilians scream to scare the rippers away
Sniper moves back and shoots but misses
W(1), S(1), NE (1)
Evac: Failure! (REALLY?)
The troopers keep putting up a fight, retaining their composture and holding ground, as the civilians try to stay as safe as possible. Their combat rifles are smoking from the constant shooting, and they kill more of the rippers. Two of them charge at Sarge, who uses his blade with skill, slashing at them and keeping them at bay. Three more face rippers approach, only to come in contact with Jake’s grenades.
“Where the damn dropship?!” He shouts to Sarge as he sees the head of one ripper blown to pieces by the grenade fly over.
Battle Round 9
Beep… Sir? No Contact
Fire Team shoots and stuns a ripper twice
Jake lobs a grenade at the mob of rippers wounding one and stunning another
Two rippers attack Sarge but his armor saves, and he stuns one of them
Contact! 9 rippers in the comm tower yard
Sarge shoots his shotgun and kills a ripper
Sniper shoots and stuns a ripper
W(1) Spawns, S(-) Spawns, NE (2) Spawns
Evac: Failure! Unbelievable!
The Red Coyotes hold their positions as the creatures approach from both East, West and South. They shoot rifles and shotguns at them, throw grenades, and move around tactically to keep them at bay, but it all seems pointless. They kill one and ten more arrive to take his place.
Jake looks at his datapad, ready to start smash it to pieces. “Extraction pending…”
Battle Round 10
Beep… Sir? Contact marker West
Jake dashes North (I’m outa here)
Sarge defends against the swarm from the west, surviving one attack and saved by the armor against another
The horde of face rippers overrun the fire team, killing all of them and a civilian in the way, and losing only one of their number in the process
Contact markers surround Jake!
We’ve got movement all over the place & Contact: 5 rippers on the Eastern Generator!
Civilians dash North to escape
Sarge moves after them and shoots the rippers to his right, wounding and stunning one
Sniper moves in formation with them, stunning another ripper
W(-) Spawns, S(-), NE (1)
Evac: Success (Now? Really?)
Assessing the situation, Jake realizes they can’t hold for long. “We must retreat North!” He shouts, and makes a dash for it.
Sarge moves North behind him to cover the civilians from the swarm of rippers approaching from the west, and he is the barrier that holds them off.
From the east and south the rippers are an unstoppable wave. The troopers try, but they’re not enough. They’re overrun, cut to pieces by the beasts claws, a civilan that was too close to the carnage dies as well. The rest run behind Jake. Sarge and the Sniper try to cover their escape, shooting at the rippers surrounding them from all sides.
Jake listens to a ping and notices the datapad going to “Extraction imminent. Please hold.”
Battle Round 11
Beep… Sir? No Contact
Brave Sir Jake Bravely Runs away out of the North battlefield edge
Sniper is overrun and dies
Sarge fights bravely, but perishes; he manages to fend them off enough for the rest of the civilians to only be attacked by two rippers
The civilians fight back at the rippers stunning one and wounding another, they have all closed in on them, when wooooosh! the dropship arrives and picks them up!
Jake takes a look at his datapad. Then he looks to the rippers on the generator, and the colony behind him overrun with them.
“Bradley! get back here!” Sarge yells at him.
He’d rather take his chances with the unknown planet than stay there waiting for the dropship any longer. With a dash he’s gone, not to be seen.
Sarge and the Sniper fight bravely to protect the civilians. The dropship appears in the distance. The troopers fight, but are no match for the enemy’s numbers. They fall. The civilians basic insticts kick in, and from fight, fright and flight, they choose fight. To their accomplishment they manage to kick the face rippers to the face, buying them just enough time.
The dropship lands, the fires from the engine burning the creatures away. The civilians jump in, and the pilot takes the craft away.
Post Battle Report
Determine Casualties and Lost Marines
Jake: 31: Knocked out! (I saw the 3 on the first d10… and then the roll on the second… just barely)
Kato is out of the Sick Bay
Update Completed Missions
Jake +1
Check for Mustering Out
No Chance
Determine Reputation
10 Reputation, +3 (Objectives), +2 Civilians (Signal), -1 (Support): 14 Total
Experience and Leveling
Jake: +3 XP
Roll for Operational Progress
63+5= Gaining Ground: Future Rolls +5 (+10 total)
Roll for Military Life
Kato: You made a friend. Hurray!
Check Entitlement to R&R
We are entitled to R&R: Ariana is out of Sick bay
Roll for Military Life
Kato: Time flies when you’re… just playing cards in barracks.
Ready for Another Campaign Turn
Here’s the Hall of Fame and Roster
Lt. Thompsanch is on board the USS Astral Monarch waiting for the squad to unboard the dropship. He sees only three strangers in civilian clothings. He makes eye contact with the pilot who shakes his head, gesturing that there’s no one else on board. The hangar crew helps the civilians to the med bay.
Immediately he runs back to mission control. “Officer, give me any readings on the surface. If anyone is still alive I want to know it. Have the shuttle refill and ready to drop back.” He orders them and waits.
“Lt. Sir! I have a reading. A single reading. It’s faint, immobile, but still there.” the naval officer reports.
“Get a fire team down there now! Whoever that is, I want them back. Alive.” the Lieutenant orders.
Down on JK-485 the fire team finds an unconscious Jake Bradley in a creek. His vitals are steady. They load him up and return to the USS Astral Monarch.
Once medics have cleared him, Jake heads to the Lieutenant’s office for debriefing.
“Lt. Sir, I understand I am to thank you for getting me back here alive.” He starts explaining.
“It’s not personal Bradley. I’m not in the habbit of leaving people behind. Now the civilians say you fled North right before the dropship arrived.” Lieutenant demands a different explanation.
“Sir it was a calculated tactical choice. We had already completed the mission objectives, and requested evacatuation. We held as long as possible, but were about to be overrun. The dropship arsehole was nowhere to be found. We retreated North before our formation broke and I went off grid. I take full responsibility for my actions Sir.” Jake responds.
“Of course you do trooper. We all do. We’re in the Army after all. Don’t be confused by those Fleet dudes who can’t make a call on where to divert resources. Getting those civilians safe was not the objective. It’s good that two of them made it out alive, but the priority is the mission, and you did this. I’ll take a look at why this dropship took so long to get you out. We’d have many more troopers standing here today if it weren’t for this. Get some rest Bradley. Dismissed.” the Lieutenant was more understanding than usual.
The days passed quietly Kato was out of the Sick bay, rejoining his battle brothers and sisters.
Soon an order appeared for a much needed shore leave. The station they were attached to wasn’t great, but they were entitled to some much needed R&R. Ariana recovered from her wound as well.
She joined her mates playing card on board the barracks on Tumulus station. Jake, Kato and someone new.
“Who’s your new friend Kato?” she asked. She noticed that her new scar on the left side of her face was prominent, and she shook her hair to the side to cover them.
“Vikto” the young man responded. I’m not a hot shot like you, but if you need any extra ammo, I’m your guy.
“Vikto is assigned to the recquisitions.” Kato responded. “He’s alright.”
“So Jake… tell us who did you piss off this time and they left you stranded on Warren?” Ariana started showing a different personality. The battles against space horrors and getting close to dying would do that to a trooper. They’d need to joke around to scare the fears away.
| Name | Reactions | Speed | Combat Skill | Toughness | Savvy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Bradley | 1 | 5″ | +1 | 4 | +0 |
| 1 | 4″ | +0 | 3 | +2 | |
| 2 | 5″ | +0 | 3 | +0 | |
| Ariana Raschke | 1 | 5″ | +0 | 3 | +1 |
| Kato Minoru | 2 | 5″ | +1 | 3 | +0 |
| Name | Completed Missions | XP | Origin | Basic Training | Service History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Bradley | 3 | 6 | Prison Planet | Planetary Militia | Garrison or patrol duties |
| 2 | 2 | Scientific Outpost | Naval forces (Ships Crew) | Extended campaign | |
| 1 | 0 | Core Systems World | Ground forces (Scouts) | Police action (Commendation) | |
| Ariana Raschke | 3 | 8 | Trade Hub | Planetary militia | Anti-pirate operation |
| Kato Minoru | 3 | 6 | Military Outpost | Ground forces (Scouts) | Police Action |
| Name | Special Assignments | Missions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Bradley | Ep01, Ep03, Ep04 | Minor Injuries Ep03 (0) Knocked out Ep04 (0) | |
| Ep01 | Death Ep01 | ||
| Ep01 | Gruesome Fate Ep01 | ||
| Ariana Raschke | Technical Training Leadership Training | Ep02, Ep03 | Minor injuries Ep02 (0) Head Wound Ep03 (0) |
| Kato Minoru | Ep02, Ep03 | Leg Wound Ep03 (0) |
Session Summary
Sometimes the dice want to have their own way. I had 5! failures for Evac where I essentially needed 7 or greater on 2d6!
Bug Hunt is a lot more “heavy” than the core Five Parsecs from Home game. There’s so many more Markers, Miniatures and things to monitor, and also the game can last many more rounds. A full fledged game on its own. On the other hand it makes for so interesting games.
As explained in my comments above I would have liked to have realized the option to run this against a single enemy type for a more robust narrative for the campaign, as it would make for a more interesting backstory when (if) they’d muster out, like “this dude survived several missions fighting face rippers”. If I manage to finish this “random” campaign, I’ll see if I can switch gears later.
The table worked fine, and it’s abundantly clear that the recommendation for 15 bugs minis as a basis and that you’ll need more, is absolutely spot on. For a VTT that’s no problem of course, but for this game on a physical table I had 24 minis! for face rippers, which weren’t enough. I made the call near the end to just pick up any wounded bugs, leave their tokens on the table and recycle them as new enemies. After all wounded bugs can’t move, and the way the game was going, there was no possibility for my troopers to head their way.
This makes it quite clear my recommendation for Bug Hunt: it’s best to decide beforehand one kind of enemy and get and paint about 30 miniatures for them, running a campaign against this enemy and their variants. Of course due to the naming scheme you can roll between a few different types suitable for your minis. Vent Crawlers and Face Rippers can use the same miniature. The two types of Converted also, etc. So choose one miniature set of bugs, get plenty, and when the first Contact Marker is revealed, you can roll between what can apply.
A careful reader may notice that I have not spent any XP to advance my troopers stats. The reason is that the Special Assignments have requirements. Which means if I advance some stats I won’t be able to get the free attempt to advance them via Special Assignments. It’s a risk though as I end up having my troopers on lower stats. For stats which I can’t advance with Special Assignments anymore, I’ll advance them via XP.
Onibaba are discussing. 
Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice 
Onibaba 2:40 pm on July 16, 2025 Permalink |
Amazing as always, thx for the effort! At least Jake managed to get out of it in one piece
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giorgis 3:55 pm on July 16, 2025 Permalink |
Thank you! Glad you enjoy it
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