Space Weirdos Solo AAR - "Tyranid Rampage..."

"Space Weirdos" is a man to man (or whatever you want) skirmish set of rules from Garske Games.  It is available for download from various places on the internet.  Easy to pick up but with some mechanics that take a little bit to master the use of.  When you buy the rules you also get a 4 page Solo module that is a breeze to use and gives a really good solo game.  They will tell you what each opposing figure is going to do, and there are a few guidelines as to how the figures should act, but you may have to decide exactly how it executes the order.  The solo rules gave me a really tough game that didn't go so well for me...

 My wife was out of town and I had a Friday night to kill...so I made up a squad for me, put together stats for my opposition and off to the planet Lewis 8814 I went.....

The setting for tonight's struggle of Man vs. Tyranid.  The red poker chips mark the boundaries of the 3x3 board.  The MDF disks represent the 3 "Areas of Interest" my Squad has been tasked with checking out.  I forgot that Space Weirdos comes with objective markers, hence the disks.  They will soon be replaced with the appropriate markers.  The game is supposed to last 4 maybe 5 turns.  The large d6 is my turn marker.

 
Once I had the board set the scenario calls for a pair of "Goons" to set up near each marker.  Since I was using Tyranids for the bad guys the "Goons" were Termagants.  The set up also called for a "Big Shooter" to be 5 inches from the middle, top edge.  The role of "Big Shooter" will be played by a Tyranid Warrior.  Notice the proper objective markers.

Two more Termagants are placed by the 3rd objective as my tracked transport rolls to a halt.

As the track comes to a halt my Squad exits the rear hatch.

Sgt. Wigglesworth, armed with a Laser Pistol.

Riflemen Mike, armed with a Laser Rifle.

Radioman Rutherford ("Arr-Arr" to his Squadies), armed with a Heavy Rifle.

"Scott the Knife", armed with an Auto-Pistol, but he prefers his Combat Knife.

Turn One

Arr-Arr advance and lays down effective rifle fire killing a Termagant in the upper right corner.  Rifleman Mike advances, aims, but only staggers the remaining one.  (I forgot to put down his movement marker).   Scott the Knife moves around the rocks and since he could not engage in close combat opens fire, staggering one (left corner). Sarge advances and with more accurate shooting kills one.  (Again, I forgot to put down their movement markers...)

 

In the Tyranids move the forces that were out of the previous picture move to get positions (top of this picture).  The other two termagants shake off their staggers and move into contact; but lose the combats for no effects.  (Notice everyone now has movement markers 😀)

It was at this point that I realized that I had made a tactical mistake.  Sergeant Wigglesworth had moved to a position more than 5" away from Arr-Arr.  This meant that in the next turn Arr-Arr would move AFTER the Tyranids activate and not with the rest of his Squad....

Turn Two

Scott The Knife kills the Termagant he is fighting, then moves to cover the objective and returns to Sarge. Sergeant Wigglesworth shoots forcing a Termagant down. Rifleman MIke disengages and shoots forcing the Termagant back. Before Arr-Arr can act the Tyranids go.  The  Tyranid Warrior blasts him with his Bio-Cannon (Yes, it is as nasty as it sounds) knocking him down and staggering him. A Genestealer appears behind my Squad but does not activate this turn. (Whew!)  The off screen staggered and down Termagants recover.  Arr-Arr was severely stunned (I rolled really badly to recover) and it takes the entire turn to shake it off so he is still down. 

Turn Three

Scott the Knife moves and engages a Termagant in hand to hand, killing it.  He then makes another move and uses a "Command Point" to take a shot.  His fire goes wild, missing a staggered Termagant. Sergeant Wigglesworth takes a shot at the staggered Termagant, also missing.  He moves and takes another shot at Tyranid Warrior but misses again.  Rifleman Mike moves, aims and shoots at the looming Tyranid Warrior, but he misses too.  Arr-Arr starting his turn out of command range doesn't get to active yet.  Not a good turn for me...

On the Tyranids turn the Tyranid Warrior shoots at Rifleman Mike hitting him in the chest and knocking him down. It adjusts it's aim to shoot at Sergeant Wigglesworth but it's fire goes wild and misses.  The Genestealer moves into contact with Arr-Arr but it used all it's actions and cannot attack. One Termagant cowers; the other Termagant moves behind trees trying to flank the group of humans.

Turn Four - the End comes...

Back in command range, Arr-Arr stands and disengages from the Genestealer.  He moves away from the Creature to a position behind his Squad-mates.  Sergeant Wigglesworth takes three shots at the Genestealer. The first shot forces it back a move, second and third shots bounce harmlessly off of its exoskeleton.  Rifleman Mike stands.  Readying his Laser Rifle and taking aim he fires and horribly misses the Tyranid Warrior. The Alien Creature levels it's Bio-Cannon and fires.  One of the plasma bolts strikes Rifleman Mike square in the face plate, blasting through it and blowing his head apart and it's shower of blood and brains. 

Scott the Knife screams out "HE OWED ME FIVE BUCKS!!" as he sees Rifleman Mike's head disappear in a red mist.  He charges across the field of fire dodging plasma bullets left and right.  Leaping into the air off of a rock in a manner not seen since Achilles fought Hector outside the walls of Troy he buries his knife deep into the armored Cranium of the Genestealer. Twisting the knife it splits the Skull open; the brain spilling out in a deluge of blood and ickor. 

 

An almost perfect attack roll...

Walking back into command range of Sergeant Wigglesworth, Scott the Knife wipes the gore off his combat weapon.

The Tyranid Warrior takes shots at Sergeant Wigglesworth, the plasma bolts going wild right and left. The Termagant that flanked the group has a clear line of sight at the Arr-Arr.  It takes three shots, the hail of bullets strike all around Arr-Arr, but he dodges and goes to one knee. The Termagant that has been cowering steps out from his hiding spot throwing two shots at the back of the fleeing Scott the Knife. The shots bounce harmlessly off of his armor leaving him unscathed.

At this point Sergeant Wigglesworth grabs a hold of the body of the dead Rifleman Mike and he orders his team back to the safety of their Rhino.  "Let's get out of here..."

What a GREAT game and set of rules.  I highly recommend them for solo or competitive play.