The battle started off with a race to the
octagon, aptly named for its eight sides, it
is a two story tower with plenty of protection
both inside and in the surrounding area.
Near the center of the field and virtually
standalone it becomes quite the attraction.
Humans occupied the octagon. Humans
for rescue, humans for taking or humans for
incubation, that was up to one of the three
teams to decide. The Predators and the
Marines ended up in a fierce contention for
ground as the Aliens seemed to swoop in and
take the much sought after points. Effectively
turning the humans into alien baby-making
factories. This is exactly how most of Day
One unfolded according to the Mission
Masters team. They would watch Red and
Yellow war with each other as Blue continued
to gobble up all the points. Missions went
to the Church and Graveyard, control of both
buildings was absolutely necessary to relay
messages between satellites, to a nearly
50-foot-tall mound of dirt for a king of the
mountain excursion with points on top for
the victor! All day was the same story as
Predators and Marines would continue to
pound on each other and allow Aliens to
sneak out a sizable lead, much like the AvP
movie. Beaten and battered, but undeterred,
at the end of the day, Red and Yellow walked
off the field behind Blue in points. The score
for Day One was 111 (Aliens) - 46 (Predators)
- 33 (Marines).
Whether it be by coincidence or by
intervention it is always interesting to watch
the universe unfold. Some had predicted
the events to come and some even dreaded
what may happen on the Second Day, but
absolutely no one could stop it. Between
the first and second day an alliance arose, an
unholy alliance. Anyone who has seen the
movie, if you haven’t then enjoy the spoiler,
knows that the Humans eventually join
forces with the Predators to eradicate the
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Aliens. As such Red and Yellow combined, in
what some called the Orange team, to take
down the Blue horde. With two missions
and a Final Battle left it was conceivable to
overtake the Aliens. The combined forces
stopped the Blue team at every angle,
allowing them to gain only minimal points
and hardly any territory. The unholy alliance
met in the middle, in what most thought
would be another 2-sided contest, to turn
their attention on the Aliens and drive them
back to their base. Within 2 missions they
had successfully brought the Predators to
within 30 points of the Aliens. After two of
the greatest firefights of the weekend and
fierce action a new dawn had risen. Final
Battle could potentially crown a victory other
than the Aliens.
One of Dean Allen’s, creator of Mission
Masters, biggest pride points is their Props.
Props can make or break a scenario game. It
goes along with the Be The Game mission
statement that the MM team lives by. How
better to immerse yourself in different
universes than props. A new toy that MM
brought out for this three team event was a
flip triangular pyramid as opposed to a two-
sided disc, allowing all three teams to display
ownership of a territory. Simply make sure
your team’s colored tip is up at the ending
horn and you score. To go along with the
theme of this event there special handcrafted
weapons, AVP hieroglyph puzzle, a predator
mask, multiple handcrafted “face huggers”
and even a life size Alien replica. Every one
of their themed games has new and specific
props to match the theme. The best part
is that they are never done creating more
props, more ways to enhance the scenario
experience.
Final Battles are usually the epitome of
ancient war. One side meets another at the
middle of the field and they duel to the death
or ‘til you’re out of paint.