Level 3 - Game 3 - Session 11

Rather than pick up from the previous 'Paused' game... mostly due to the huge amount of time it has been from our last session, we decided just to abandon that game (Session 10, RIP) and start over.

Beer's were shared around and we got down to business. In no time at all and due to the ever increasing abilities of the marine players they stomped through the first few corridors, imps and zombies posing no threat. Having reached the first main room (Area 2) of the level, I, as the invader player, managed to get some frags against the weaker green marine, and the red marine. Blue marine now sporting 4 points of body armour is becoming a thorn in my side as even the heaviest hitters such as Demons or Hell Knights have trouble denting his health.

At this stage I realised that I'd forgotten to add the 'timer' stacks which count down the number of turns the marines have to achieve each objective stage in this level and announced that "in the next turn you have to reach the first scientist" perhaps a little unfair, but I had at least a good indication of how many turns had passed due to the number of invader cards I had in hand / had drawn.

It's worth pointing out that use of 'Earthquake' when combined with the 'Watchful' ability of Demons causes much annoyance to marine players, but all said and done the marines were still having a very good run at this stage.

Blue Marine (left) and Red Marine (right) enjoying the beer and chocolate on offer.

The slaughter of evil things continued as the marines seemingly without effort dispatched 2 Hell Knights as they went through area 4, and the spawning invaders and invader cards proving to be entirely ineffectual, the marine players went on almost unhindered.

Upon reaching the final room, the Cyberdemon looming over the wounded marines I had a gut feeling that this might be the time that the marines make it through, Red marine spawn-jumped to the back of the room by 'forcing' a death upon himself, the other two marines tied up the front half of the room and impressively managed not to die straight away to the Cyberdemon Green took the brunt of the damage and caused the marines last loss of this game but only their 4th frag...

With one of the marines now re-spawned and with full health, Green takes great pride in causing pain and death to the invaders while Red, hovering around the final trigger square tangles with 2 Mancubus and defeats both.

(Click to expand)

It was an almighty blaze of destruction in the final room, I genuinely believed that the invaders could win, but sadly due to a rather pathetic show by the Cyberdemon the marines had an easy run of it.

And so, we ended the session and tallied up the experience so that the marines could move on to Level 4.
What horror awaits them there?...

Beer!

Sadly due to a beer festival ... it appears there's no game!

Have a beer to enjoy... looking at while we've enjoyed ours real ones!

Level 3 - Game 2 - Session 8

So, here's the missing data-stream report from marsbase that you've all been waiting for..

Level 3 or "Inferno" as it is known is essentially a time trial level (I explained in my previous session write up about the timers involved) and this means that mostly the marine players are entirely concentrated on covering as much ground as possible...

The invader player (myself) is tasked with simply halting the progress, I thought I was doing well to do so on this play-through, using 2 earthquake cards and also making best use of the 'insanity' card to cause the chosen marine player to halt for a turn.

Sadly because of the fact that in most turns the marines were opting to run (except for the now far overpowered Marty... who can opt to make an attack and move which he can then follow with another attack and move, giving him running speed and twice the killing power)

The invaders were entirely unable to cause any slowing of the marines progress in this round and other than whittling away at the marines health which caused a few frags by the time the marines had found the 1st scientist (in the 3rd room) the marines chewed their way happily through even the largest targets that came their way, Hellknights, Cacodemon, Mancubus... each as ineffective as the last.

Due to the time we decided to put the game on pause until our next session, the marines had made their way into the 5th room and claimed their 2nd scientist. Unless the invaders can have a better 2nd half this level may be beaten sooner rather than later...

Wait... what?

It occurred to me I'm a little behind, I've been busy helping move in to my new house as well as tidying my current abode (rental) so I'll be updating last weeks game sometime soon (about to go round for the off-week shenanigans so I cant do it right now)

To those that visit expecting updates... sorry!

Good (or average...) things come to those that wait.

Level 3 - Game 1 - Session 7

This was a surprising round, starting with a little confusion which needed clearing up about experience awards and rewards.

We ascertained the following:

• Denz- needed to make effective payment for 'sharpshooter' sub-skill.
• Ace- actually had more exp gathered than she'd realised and purchased a new skill (Spec Ops)

This will be reflected as an 'end of level 2' addition to the game summaries.

Level III : Inferno

Level 3 commands the marines to play faster, as there are three distinct timers (other than the natural countdown of the card deck. As such the marines all made quick headway through the somewhat linear level easily avoiding game loss due to timer count out.

The speed at which the players went through this level leave little to report there was a snag in area 2 which forces the marines through a rather well packed room full of invaders. They lost 3 frags in quick succession. and an incident with a grenade bouncing around in the tight off-shoot of area 2 caused much laughter and annoyance.

The trio of battered, bruised marines and now somewhat weapon-less, due to an incredible bad run of weapon breaks, continued onward toward the end of the twisting corridor,

Another 2 frags as they entered into area 4 simply due to the three Hellknights blocking the way forward.

The remaining frag spent as Marty rushed through the teleporter into the final area greeted by an angry Cyberdemon which had a few friends with it.

Another of those fantastic 'rough' maps with lines n' stuff all over it... red skulls are supposed to show the approximate point at which a marine suffered a frag

Level 2 - Game 5 - Session 6

This game spanned a fortnight due to our group's dynamic we play DooM tbg only every other week, and on the off week indulge in other games or movies or rockband... whatever. This game lasted over the fortnight because of real life commitments (i.e some of us work!) which meant the first half of this game was played out then 'paused' as we took an early night of it, I'm sure if it weren't for our commitments beyond playing silly games we'd have stayed up all night to finish it there and then,

And so.. from hazy recollection... the first half..

As I recall the pushing was done by a reckless Marty with many shotgun rounds being expended, due to the turn order for this game (we cycle the order of players in each game..) Denz would open the round usually thwarted by several cards from (me) the invader, or softening up targets then Ace would go, uninterrupted due to the carefull skill card she'd pick up a couple of kills or further soften large targets and then Marty would do a mad rush into the frey using killer instinct to wreck havoc among the invaders that are in play.

This procedure basically got the players pretty safely through the first 3 area's even exploring the mysterious and as yet undiscovered vault room... the vault, still closed. The players smashed their way through what I can only say was a paltry effort by the invaders to stall them, seemingly via the tactic 'we'll stop them with our mounting corpses'

And so, with an Archville recently spawned into play, the players had reached area 4 and only two deaths to account for the game was called to a pause.

I took some pic's of the pause so if the board were disturbed we could set it back up.

 Left: this single Archvile taunted and followed Denz.

Right: the point at which the players reached as we decided to pause the game. with blue marine (Marty) about to get locked in and devoured



Left: this is what happens when Ace gets bored waiting for her turn... one of our pet bearded dragons becomes integral to a 'dice stacking game'

So to part two of this shenanigans.

With the aid of some beer and the promise of food after the game, the players launched into this round of play, through some trickery the invader quickly came up with a third kill almost straight away, using the lock-in card along with a few other bits to nail down a separated Marty and then separate Marty's body parts form each other.

This allowed a spawn which Marty (ab)used to spawn across the room sweeping up tokens as he went and getting the 2nd part of the unlock for the vault. With this new occurrence Denz went back via area 3 running for the vault room eagre to find what was inside, meanwhile Marty and Ace dispatched a wandering Mancubus and Hellknight, Ace taking great pride in nearly outright killing the HK in one shot... With Denz completing his mad rush back through the level only to be caught short by the Archvile and a lone Imp on his return taking substantial damage.

Ace and Marty were doing all the could to make entry into area 6 both of them very low on health this struggle ends badly as Denz comes running into Area 4 only to see the blood and viscera of his team-mates being liberally applied to the walls, the multiple Trites of area 6 weakened Ace to a critical level and Marty had once more re-spawned into action ever eager to be right at the front ready for his killer instinct ability to overpower whatever he chooses to get angry at.

However, in the furor of getting the red key, and trying to regroup the team It's all a bit too much the Invaders, mostly Archvile and Hellhights at this stage;  proving too strong to simply run past and ignore, and too tough to take down easily. The players enter into the corridor leading to area 5 with only a few points of health each and 4 kills stacked against them. In the battle of what has come to be known as 'the café of wooden benches' Denz decides that his SMG needs a break... and so, promptly breaks it while attempting to see of a Z-Sec Zombie which frustraitingly just refuses to die (even to the point that when he does kill the damn thing, I spawned another one in the spot where it had just died!!)

The card deck was perilously low at this point... and if the deck runs out its an immediate frag against the players, so they were all tooo aware that just 1 more death would be too much.

With Zombies chasing them and the corridor of area 5 stacked with even more ferocious Hellknights the marines put their game faces on... BFG time... a slight oversight of range meaning that in the flash of instatanious death that see's off a Hellknight and 2 archville, the blast is enough to remove half of the already damaged Marty.

This assault coupled with chain-guns all-round means that nothing can withstand the onslaught the marines now present. The amount of ammo being expended enough to reforge into a small monument to the marines, chain-guns wielded by Marty and Ace buzzing and spewing out death before them.

So the players jauntily wade through the sludge and gore that was once a corridor full of hell-spawned deamons and then...

Klaxxons sound, lights flash... The last card is drawn from the invader deck, and the 'timer' frag is added to the pile, that's now 5 frags stacked up, not a single one of the marines has more than 4 hit points remaining and they know all too well that the next room has a Cyberdemon waiting.

So, with BFG's drawn, the remaining chain-gun whirring a buzz of anticipation and a small discussion on how best to get through the teleporter, the marines make entry into Area 7.

Ace goes through, and shreds the Zombies that confront her upon materialisation followed swiftly by Marty who in swift and direct action rushes the remains of the mob and dispatches them with good old fashioned buckshot to the face at point blank range.

The team Commander then injects himself with the experimental concoction of steroids and adrenaline resulting in him entering a berserker mode.. and jumps through the teleport.

Thanks to the players being clever with their turn order ... Marty makes 'sight' on the Cyberdemon and promptly takes out the Hellknight in one attack with his chain-gun ripping through it like hail stones would go through paper its demonic form splattering its innards in a cone behind it and then evaporating into ash as its demonic form burns away from our reality. In this same moment the chain-gun sputters then explodes leaving Marty holding its smouldering shell stood directly in front of a blood spattered Cyberdemon.

From behind them bellows Denz roaring out as he runs in, not even slowing down he dives through the obscuring steam barges past the bemused Marty starring at the wreck of his chain-gun and the giant daemon now towering over him. Denze pushes out his fist and charges headlong into the things gut, and straight out the other side dripping with its blood as it literally tears in two at the force of his monumental attack bellowing triumphantly as the unknown drugs start to leave his system... Ace dashes past, and they quickly make exit as a flow of zombies begins filling the room behind them coming inn via the teleporter.

LEVEL 2: THE SHORES OF HELL - COMPLETED!!

Level 2 - Game 4 - Session 5

Sadly no pictures of the game, and more importantly, very bad recollection of the game but that's my fault (sorry)

The players were more aggressive in this round, Marty being exceptionally brave ... (foolish?) and spawn jumping from recent deaths into a no-hope situation which then led to another death, Interestingly however at every stage the players have become harder to kill, their skill cards now causing more interrupts and failed Invader attacks than I care to deal with.

The first couple of rooms were dealt with by shotgun and chainsaw seeing off everything, then area 2, the room which is considered permanently dark was slowly bunted into and a couple of cheeky kills taken on easy target players.

They entered into the largest room, (Area 4) with gusto even though I as invader played an entire stack of cards to bully them away. The Hellknight and Mancubi that dwell in the room were demolished by some eager Marine player moves, Marty getting stuck in with chainsaw and shotgun, Ace taking an incredibly powerful shot from distance and the well armoured Denz seeing off the smaller more Trite like invaders ... there were lots of Trites...

Having deftly dealt with one of the areas which until now had always been their demise the players moved onward, running through the last sets of corridor using the BFG to mow a path through all that stood in front of them and the 'teleportation station' which led them to the final room with the exit red security door... they didn't have the key, but the room did have a big and rather angry Cyberdemon and while the players made an excellent effort at making it 'less there' It had other idea's and decided to evaporate one of the marines, taking the last frag and ending the round.

After the game was done, Denz took a new skill card, pulling 'Crack Shot' allowing him to really exploit ranged attacks, Marty too had enough XP to boost his character, deciding to improve his base armour level.

It's gone awful quiet...

Either the demons have eaten all the players .. or we've been getting on with more important things..

Service will resume shortly.

Do not adjust your hell-portal.

Nope.. not yet

Our 'normal' eat-drink-game session was waylaid due to the sheer odd timing of things, its just not normal for 'games-night' to be on a Monday..

Instead, we ate-drank ... and watched movies. More DOOM the board game will follow, but for now, just chillax until the next installment

also(as point of interest.. or not...): films watched were:

A scanner darkly

and...
Tank Girl

Happy choclidays

This weeks game was planned for the normal time / place, but a silly pagan celebration got in the way! so enjoy the choclidays, eat all your choccy before a Mancubus finds it!

We will be continuing our campaign tomorrow (bank holiday Monday)

Level 2 - Game 3 - Session 4

As this game started it was clear exactly how it was going to play out, I was ever so slightly tipsy having been necking rum & coke all afternoon and although I could still think straight, It's fair to say the invaders were acting a little more irrationally than normal.

Coupled with the now powered up characters the invaders stood little chance, the starting area was cleared before the zombies and Daemon realized the marine players were there, the weapons that were scattered about quickly assimilated unto the players stacks of hardware.

The marines, led by a seemingly unstoppable wave of destruction; known as 'Denz' flushed the 1st area uncontested, the invaders scored a frag by focusing attacks on the weaker marine, the other two had increased armour levels, this meant I got some rather strong words and a stern look from Ace...

After having respawned, Ace then led the charge into the 2nd area, but as the door opened, an awaiting Archvile jumped around its concealing corner and got a 2nd frag on Ace. The team again headed by 'Denz the unstoppable' cleared out an impressive number of invaders via use of grenades and blow-through attacks. Even the perma-darkness of the 2nd area posed no threat and while Ace went toe to two with a Hellknight the other marines cleaned up any remnants of the smaller invaders. Denz felt the wrath of an overwhelming attack by a Zombie and a Maggot which unleashed an enraged attack rending armour from the beguiled Denz and then tearing a large and quite important section of his torso away leaving the marines remains to slump lifeless to the floor.

Even with Ace's new-found death dealing Assasin skill the Hellknight Nearly got the upper hand but failed to take enough health before it was filled with SMG ammo and reduced to a pile of smoldering demonic ash. Some tactical maneuver later and the marines made entry into the main room of the level, the 'Cafeteria'

The staggering size of this area, meant that the marines had to work together as best they could, staying together and creating a unified front, The massive invaders that dominate this room were splitting their attacks  between the marines, several smaller Trites and some Zombies managed to break open the defensive block of armour that was Marty, his extra armour shattering under repeated and constant attacks. As the marines attempted to make headway several ranged attacks took out the weakened Marty, a tirade of Imps and zombies had been pecking away at Ace's health and eventually she too succumbed to the numbers of attacks being made against her, leaving Denz the one true bane of the invaders backing away from three Cacodemons.

Ace respawned at the other end of the room, collecting a BFG, without ammo, she ran toward the seemingly doomed Denzil, he was carrying the all important plasma ammo which had been carried over from the 1st level, because of the turn order, Denz going before Ace, in the next round having avoided any significant damage from the closing Cacodemons Denz runs to Ace, hanging over the ammo, followed by Marty collecting several items around the cafeteria hall including a chain-gun which He immediately opens fire toward the Cacodemons; bullets raining out and chewing into their thick hides, Ace then slams home the plasma charge and incinerates the gaggle of Cacodemons.

The proximity to their remaining frag now weighing on there minds the marines entered Area 6 Ace holding the almighty Big Fucking Gun at the ready, Denzil ever vigilant for an extra kill with his Alert ability and Marty eager to kill everything he can get his chain-gun to point toward. All the invaders of Area 6 are met with swift and deadly greetings from the marines weapons, Ace obliterating a Hellknight and an Archvile in one blast, a crowd of Trites evaporate as a grenade from Denz lands among them, and running in after, the manic grin of Marty seen in the strobing flashes of his chain-gun tearing away the frail bodies of two other Archviles.

The marine players decide to attempt to push forward and onward their shattered and bloodied bodies nearing exhaustion and win or die state of mind keeping their feet moving, as they ran toward the locked Yellow security door, Denz calls over their communicators "run for it, I'm grabbing a health pack, I'll follow behind"

That was not a good idea, the brief spilt of the marines allowing the invaders to spawn in several Imps and Zombies... enough to ambush and defeat the very low on health Denzil.

Wrong time, Wrong place

This is somewhat out of place, we decided against our normal routine to play a game of Doom the board game this week instead of Battlestar Galactica or Risk... or just getting incredibly drunk.

This came about due to a lack of social interaction, probably caused by 'mothers day' So. Aside from the normal schedule we ran a one off game, Denz took the role of invader (just so he could have a go and see what it was like)

Myself (Rich) took a marine players role along with Ace (Amber) and codename:"That other guy we know" (Craig)

 Denz decided to run the 1st scenario and to help create a fun one off we chose to all start with three marine skill cards each;

Rich had:
Big Guy (tougher in melee combat)
Efficient Killer (better effect & use of certain guns)
Lean & Mean (capable of looking out for incoming attack)

Amber [Ace] had:
Killer Instinct (a literal killing machine)
Sniper (easier to get sight of targets)
Danger Sense (able to avoid being overwhelmed)

"that other guy we know" Craig had:
Prepared (able to interfere with negative game effects)
Front Guard (able to take on multiple targets at once)
Special Ops (able to deal massive amounts of damage)

 Being that I personally know the game quite well, and have been through level 1 many times as a player and as the invaders I tried to take a back-role, not wanting to spoil the game for Craig who had never played before.

 The game started well with a good rush through the main 'start route' [start room > corridor area 1 > area 2] and into what some would say is the pivotal corridor of the 1st level [Area 3]

We were working well as a group, dispatching the invaders that Denz was throwing at us and avoiding most problems. The the 1st frag then occured, followed VERY quickly by a 2nd and Denz found good use for two cards effectively locking doors and separating the team into different areas. (see the picture to the right -> )

From that point the marine players found that they were pushed trying to get any advance into the northern connecting corridor [Area 5]




Perhaps foolishly I decided to use a game mechanic I call 'spawn jumping' to overcome our stalled advance, essentially using the opportunity when spawning to spawn well ahead of where the character died. This led us to get into the final room, but in doing so, we sacrificed safety in numbers having spawned well away from our team mates and at the same time caused the invaders to have a huge number superiority over us, simply, we were drowning in demons!

We could see the red security door, we even briefly had the red key-card holder (which happened to be myself) in the same room as the red security door... but then several Daemons and Hellknights decided to introduce several of the marine team to what is known as 'a right royal ass whupping' It was a brave attempt at a late game rush, but Denz ... the all-mighty DM (Doom Meister) didn't hold back and once more defeated the marines of the UAC.

 Game Map: (click to enlarge)


[key]
black line = team progress
red line = red marine (Rich)
blue line = blue marine (Craig)
green line = green marine (Amber)











Approximately 14 bottles of beer and 3 bottles of cider were consumed in the making of this game session

Level 2 - Game 2 - Session 3

The Marine players began this round eager to get experience, the previous round having seen the most overpowered character gain a card, Marty's 'Killer Instinct' providing much anguish as he kill-steals, the addition of spec ops left the other marines feeling truly underwhelmed.

The game began with the invaders siding with this team animosity and heading straight for Marty, couple with an early Archvile spawn and 2 darkness cards before they'd even managed to open the door leading out of the starting area, when they did get this far a cacodemon was brought in behind the group to get another kill before they actually began moving.

The viciousness of the invaders coupled with the good spawn cards AND the darkness cards meant that the marines entered area 2 with 1 life remaining on their count.

The natural darkness of the area didn't even come to have any effect as yet another good spawn (Zombie+Imp+Trite) provided a simply overwhelming number of demons, even armed with chainsaws, grenades and Marty being able to effectively take out upward of 6 demons in his turn. The marines succumbed to the odds.

After the level experience was awarded Ace pulled the Assassin card as a new skill, Denz pulled Alert.

Level 2 - Game 1 - Session 2

So begines level 2: The shores of Hell

The opening of this game was one of anticipation on the marines part, and the start area provided a top up of weapons and plenty of demonic targets, the Marines had little trouble in the start and 1st area, only after fighting through area 2 (which the rules stipulate is subject to 'darkness') was it possible for the invader player to score 2 frags. the marines chose to enter area 4 to their effective left as they exited area 2. This area, coupled with several large enemy spawning and several well used imps to provide harassment sniper attacks meant that the marine players quickly suffered the 4 remaining frags ending the game.

Marty accrued enough experience to purchase an extra marine skill card, this was randomly chosen and it turned out to be 'spec ops' further increasing what is possibly the most overpowered marine players ability to cause damage.

The beginning... Session 1

Once we settled on how to actually play the game, we opened some beers and started level 1.

The 1st game, was quite introductory to the new-comers and I went moderately easy, offering more than just a few hints and pointers, the group consists of the following...

Captain Colonel Commandant Denz.
Skills:- Officer and Big Guy.

Lieutenant Leftenant Rightenant Marti(a)n base Marty
Skills:- Sniper and Killer Instinct

Very petty Officer Ace
Skills:- Careful and Perfect Aim

A nasty mix of skills and as the 'Invader' this team could be a high threat to my poor demonic minions.

The 1st game saw the team move through area 1,2,3 and get stuck and killed while maneuvering to/from area 4
(first game denoted on the map by a blue line)

The 2nd game (which involved a lot more alcohol than previously consumed...) was a lot quicker we fineshed a good hour earlier than the 1st game, and I lacked any really impressive spawn or effect cards which gave the players a fairly easy ride. they followed the original path again, passing area's 1, 2, 3, 4 and poking their noses into area 5 before a swift and hopefully painful re-adjustment of the marines internal organs as I got a triple kill in quick succession.
(2nd game shown on the map with an orange line)

The 3rd and final game on this level took the marines the same route they'd tried previously, this time ignoring the route through area 3 and ignoring area 4 completely, although I had some good card pulls, the players (which rotate each week to allow for different styles combo of skills to be used) were able to counter very effectively. 'Ace' having the skill 'careful' was 1st to play for each marine round in this game which eliminated a lot of my ability to create traps or negative effects.

There was a little 'house ruling' to complete the level as one marine escaped the exit the others played rear-guard, dying in the process... Officially the marines had 1 life left at the point when the green marine made a burst through the exit and by the letter of the rules ALL the marines have to escape to complete, in light of a little competitive shenanigans I've allowed this 1 marine wins so that we can continue the game onward.

The final scene saw the marines sandwiched between advancing Mancubus and Cacodemon from their rear, and the last room full of Hellknights and Mancubus. My eagerness to corner and kill the marines I advanced the door guarding Hellknight and the green marine (whom I cannot affect due to 'carefull') made a mad dash for the door.