Terror at Devil's Bay August 2019

I ran the Terror at Devils Bay scenario again with two players (Ted and myself) on August 5, 2019.

Introduction

 The Master is attempting to find his TARDIS component hidden on the base HMS Sea Spite, and has persuaded the Sea Devils to attack the base to divert the defenders.  The Master has disguised himself ad a Naval Captain so gets to use the DWMG infiltrator rules (he can't be attacked unless he makes a hostile action or is identified by Jo, the Doctor or Benton who must be within 6" to do this.  The Doctor is on the scene to help the base defenders but he and Jo are not aware the Master is on the base.

The Base is defended by Captain Hart's HQ squad, Lt. Bakers Duty Watch, Sgt. Benton's UNIT squad, plus the Doctor, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and the base scientist.  The Sea Devils have 3 squads of Armoured Sea Devils, two of which include Myrkas

40mm Bofors gun

Turn 1

The Defenders in the Duty Watch, the only active human players on turn 1, manage to spot the invading Sea Devils early on. They are on Over-watch.

Overview of the base: HMS Seaspite

The Master is near Bessie, the Doctor's car

The Master moves towards the first floor of the HQ building.

Top floor of RN HQ and its defenders

The Armory defended by the Lt., CPO and Medic.

The 40mm Bofors and LMG in bunker stand ready, 
a trooper with LAW advances

We used new Litko yellow over-watch markers for the Duty Watch allowing them to fire on turn 1 at the most beneficial time.

Sea Devils land on the beach

Defenders fire on the Sea Devils from cover

Most of the rifle and SMG fire can't penetrate the Sea Devils armour, other than a few lucky shots.

The RN rating on the Jetty is feeling surrounded 
and eventually retreats

One of the defenders scores a hit on the Myrka, 
but it has 2 more!

Armoured Sea Devil group moves onto the beach

Turn 2

The Master manages to locate his TARDIS component on turn 2 in the RN HQ building on the first floor, rolling a lucky 5.

The Doctor, Liz Shaw and base scientist work on 
converting the proves into weapons.

The advancing Sea Devils take casualties as 
the Duty watch open fires on them

Two RN ratings stand guard at the main gate

The 40mm Bofors takes a hit from Sea Devil fire

RN troops leaving their buildings to 
confront the invaders

Armoured Sea devils advance on the Hangar

Turn 3

The Doctor and his fellow Scientists 
continue working on the probes

Sea Devils advance on the Bofors, 
having silenced the LMG below

Sea Devils take casualties but over-run 
the Hangar perimeter.

The Bofors is in Danger, the LAW trooper misses

The  Sea Devil unit in the centre fail their morale test and retreat towards the Jetty.

A UNIT trooper almost hits one of his 
own vehicles with a Grenade.

UNIT troops throw grenades which are very deadly,  but a lot of them miss their targets. The new Litko green grenade markers were a good way to track the limited quantity of grenades.

 

 Turn 4

The Sea Devils manage to silence the 40mm Bofors and continue to advance on the Hangar.

Sea Devil fire put he Bofors gun is out of action

Fighting near the Hangar is bloody

The Naval ratings move the Land Rover with the .50 HMG up towards the hanger, but it won't be able to shoot this turn.

The Master, disguised as a Naval Captain, commandeers a UNIT truck and drives it to the gate, hypnotists one of the guards to open the gate  Jo Grant is suspicious about this unfamiliar Naval Captain leaving the base but she can't get to the gate in time to identify him as the Master and raise the alarm before he escapes.

The Master hypnotizes the guards to open the gate

The Master has escaped from the base.

Since the Master has escaped with his TARDIS component, the key objective, this ended the game.

Conclusion

This was the third game where the Master managed to find the TARDIS component at the first possible opportunity causing the game to end early.  In the future I think the scenario rules will have to be changed to prevent this as the game is pretty much a victory for the Master if  he finds his objective this early on. Possible options:

1. The Master will not be allowed to use the infiltrator rule - he will appear as the Master (this is how it is stated in the original scenario "For Whom the Diving Bell Tolls" in the DWMG rules.

2. The Master will need to roll a 6 to find the component in the first building he searches, 5+ in the second building, 4+ in the third building etc.

3. The Component could be divided into 2 parts.