Playing Quest for Makuta - The Bionicle Adventure Game, played at last!

This afternoon, we finally got around to playing the Bionicle game that we bought back in 2022.

The Bionicle Game.

 

The rulebook is not particularly well laid out, and our initial attempt to play didn't really work.  I takes quite a while to set up because of all the little counters you have to set out.  Now 4 years older and wiser, Number One Son decided he wanted to give it another try.  The rules say that you begin with only the start tile, and draw a new tile to put out every time you get to a "portal" marker on a tile edge.  Number One Son decided he wanted to build the whole of the island of Mata Nui before we started.  Note that if you play by putting out tiles as you explore, the initial set-up time will be much shorter!

Mata Nui.

The game is for 2-6 players, each of whom takes on the role of one of the Toa, the saviours and protectors of Mata Nui.

The Toa.

 I took the part of Onua, Toa of Earth.  All the Toa play identically, there are no special abilities for any of them.  Each Toa has a character card, on which you place counters that you collect as you explore the island.  Each Toa can have up to 4 Kanohi masks (which give extra powers/abilities), 2 Turaga village chiefs and 3 keys. 

Character card.

Movement is by rolling a D6 and moving that number of spaces around the board.  The hex tiles have various paths to follow, and as you explore, you have to confront Rahi - fierce creatures that roam the island.  You roll a D6 and add any bonuses from Kanohi masks and/or Turaga that you have collected.  Turaga give you a bonus of +10 to your die roll if they are your tribe (i.e. the colours match), or +5 if a different tribe.  The counters aren't hugely clear, it's assumed that you know which Turaga is which tribe, but a coloured background would make it more obvious how they match.

The Turaga.

Rahi come in 3 varieties, when you turn the counter over, you find out the strength of the creature. Roll a D6, add your bonuses and beat the strength score of the Rahi.  Draw and you are pushed back 1 space.  Lose, and not only are you pushed back 1 space, but you lose one of the masks, keys or Turaga that you have collected.

Rahi counters

 

The game hex tiles come with Rahi marked onto them, where you place the counters.  These give you an idea of the rough strength of the foe, so you know how much of a risk the attack will be.

Rahi 

It's a shame that the rulebook doesn't have any additional pictures of the Rahi.  Again, it just assumes that you know what they are.  You don't need to know what they look like to play the game, it's just that it would have been a nice feature to add.

Nui-Rama

 

Nui-Jaga

 

Muaka

As well as collecting Turaga as you explore, you can pick up Kanohi masks.

 

Some of the Kanohi mask powers.

These give you various powers, such as being able to roll a D8 or D12 instead of a D6 for movement, a bonus of +5 or +10 when fighting, the ability to steal a counter from another player, the ability to travel to any other point on the map.  The latter 2 abilities are single use, after which the mask disappears and re-appears on the starting space, from which it can be collected for (re-)use.

Character board in play.

The final items you can collect whilst exploring are keys.  These are required to open the temple to confront the evil Makuta.  Laura was the first to gather the necessary keys.  There are 9 lock counters, 6 are selected at random and placed on the 6 portals around the sides.  Moving onto the portal allows you to flip the counter over to discover what 3 keys are required to open it.  Some of the keys are wildcards, which makes the task easier.  Once the portal is opened, a D6 is rolled, and the temple rotated that number of sides.  The colour of the strip round the base of the temple tells you how strong Makuta is - so you can never be sure how much you need to beat him until the battle occurs.  Fortunately, Laura had more than enough power to defeat him and save Mata Nui.

Tahu enters the temple and defeats Makuta.

We decided to keep playing - I was next to finish, thanks to my masks and Turaga, and having 2 wildcard keys to help open the portal.

My finishing character card.

The rulebook isn't very well written or laid out.  I don't know whether the original game was written in English, perhaps it's a problem with translation?  Some of the mechanisms could be improved, I think.  Fighting the Rahi becomes an automatic success later in the game - collecting the right Turaga and masks could give a combined bonus of more than 20, which is the maximum strength of the Rahi Muaka.  Rather than the masks adding +5 or +10 to your score, it might be better to do the same as movement - roll a D8 or D12 in battle instead of the usual D6.  This would keep the element of risk when fighting Rahi, but significantly increase your chances of success, especially against the smaller ones.  Without this risk, it just becomes a bit of a slog around the board hunting down keys.

Counters and playing pieces are good quality, thick cardstock, but could be much clearer.  As mentioned earlier, the game assumes that you know a lot about Bionicle, and more pictures/information is needed for casual players.  It's not very easy to distinguish between the Toa, the pictures are quite small and the colours not all that obvious.  You'd think they could have produced some sort of small 3D model instead of just a picture in a plastic stand, even just a microfigure of the appropriate colour would have helped.  There are a few 3D models of Toa floating around the internet, so I might try printing some replacement pieces.  I have found some nice ones, they're the upgraded Toa Nuva versions, but they will probably work OK, especially when painted appropriately.  Some sort of key for each player would also help, showing which Turaga is linked to which Toa and what the different masks do.  Having to look up "Kanohi Pakari" and "Kanohi Miru" in the rulebook every turn to work out which does what is a pain.  Having a simple "+10 Strength" note on a quick reference card or even printed on the mask counter would be a big time-saver.

Nope, no actual Lego included.

There are some problems if you run into too powerful an enemy early in the game.  Your route can be blocked by something that you don't have the power to defeat.  We had this issue, with a very strong Nui-Rama that took the mask from the first Toa to fight it due to a very bad die roll.  It took a very long time to fight our way through!

We will play again, but may well tweak the rules a bit to see if it makes the game more interesting. 

Play time in Flatline City.

 Number One Son's friend came over to spend some time with him this afternoon, and I was asked to get out "Your 3D printed buildings for us to play with, please."

Out came Flatline City, lots of 3D printed scatter and some Alternative Armies Ion Age figures... 

Retained Knights and Muster clash.

"Simply messing about in boats..."

Ship under attack.

Fighting for control of the ship.

Muster defending the base.

Combat Robots join in the action.

 

International AK47 Republic Day

25th May is International AK47 Republic Day, so I dug out my forces for a parade.  Who knows, one day I might even get around to playing a game, but I need more infantry first.

Army number 1 is the Grand Army of Kalembeland, well-supplied with old Soviet surplus equipment (T-55 tanks, BTR-40 APCs), plus a few other oddments (Autoprotetto S,37s and a Toyota Hilux).

There are lots of reinforcements on the way, with just a few finishing touches needed - various transport vehicles (BTR-152s, BTR-70 APCs, BMP-2 IFVs, an MTLB) and scout cars (BRDM-2s and an anti-tank armed BRDM-1).

The BMPs and MTLB have plenty of stowage, 3d printed rucksacks (painted as civilan items), fuel cans, sculpted milliput tarpaulins and camp net.

The BTR-152s and BRDMs also have lots of stowage.  Wheels still need to be painted.

My other army is a former colonial settler force, equipped primarily with old WWII British/Commonwealth vehicles, but with a few modern (i.e. 1960's) upgrades,

Morris CS8 15cwt trucks and Landrovers, plus a Toyota Hilux provide transport.

Well-armed jeeps act as technicals.

Centurion and Humber armoured cars provide some anti-tank punch.

Mortar crews.

 Some added firepower that still needs another lick of paint - a pair of Staghound armoured cars.

 

Five Parsecs From Home: The Millennium Chicken - Battle 2 - Starship Wreck

Number 1 son's crew continue their adventures on Coldwater...

  Pre-battle:

The crew pay 1 credit for their upkeep and once again put all their remaining cash into paying off some of the ship debt.  12 credits - 9 payment = 3 +2 interest = 5 credits debt remaining.

As on the previous turn, James Bond will explore, taking Destructionator with him.  James Bond knows a good deal when he sees one and ends up bartering to obtain a camo cloak for a knock-down price.  Destructionator accepts some cargo that can be delivered off-world for 3 credits - assuming he's still with the crew at that time.

Blaze Westerfied and Lifter decide to trade.  Blaze spots something interesting ("don't usually see these for sale") but isn't going to spend any money on it.  Lifter locates a ship part worth 1 credit, bringing their total value of ship parts to 5 credits.

Frost and Flame set out to look for a patron.  They are successful, finding a Private Organisation, not linked with any of Coldwater's factions.  Danger pay is +1 credit, and the mission needs to be completed this or one of the following 2 turns.  There is a connection to their quest (+1 rumour if mission successful).  There are no hazards or conditions.

The newest faction on Coldwater, Nelor Brand the Charismatic Individual also makes contact with an offer of employment.  There is no danger pay and there are no benefits, hazards or conditions either.  The job needs to be completed this turn.  There's a starship that has crashed, Brand requires someone to get to the crash site ASAP and hold it until loyal forces can move in and secure the area.

 Nelor Brand's offer piques the crew's interest.  They're feeling nosy about the starship, so agree to secure the crash site.

None of the crew's rivals track them down this turn, so they set off to the crash site.  This time it's in the uplands, not slippery like the shore and there are no deployment conditions or notable sights.  The mission will be a fight off.  But who is the enemy? 

The crew and their transport.

A roving threat - Giant Bugs!

There are 6 +2 = 8 bugs.  As luck would have it, I had just about finished repainting some GW Tyranid Ripper Swarms, which I had split up and based individually.  I found 8 that were finished apart from the edges of their bases and quickly broke out the Humbrol 33 matt black to complete them.  

Bugs!

All 8 bugs have an identical profile: 

Giant Bug: Panic 1; Speed 5"; Combat skill +1; Toughness 5; AI Rampage; Mandibles (damage +1).  They are Easy Targets (+1 to hit) and Stubborn (ignore first casualty of battle when taking morale check)

 The battlefield: Nelor Brand provides an all-terrain transport vehicle to get the crew to the crash site.  Despite the hydropneumatic suspension, the journey cross-country is rough, and the crew are glad when they are finally able to debus and view their destination.  A ruined building occupies the centre of the battlefield, with a large piece of wreckage nearby.  Scattered around are 4 areas of smaller wreckage, some craters, clouds of smoke, and a few open areas with scattered crates and other detritus that has been thrown from the crash. [We rolled a D8 clockface, starting from 1 centre bottom, round to 8 bottom right.  6 = top right for the crew, with the bugs starting opposite them in the bottom left corner.]

The crash site: bugs in red, crew in blue.

Captain Bond gives a brief pep talk and issues instructions to the crew.  They'll need to walk from here, so that they can search the wreckage properly as they go.  Hopefully no-one was in that building that was demolished by the starship crash.  They check their gear, frakk grenades are issued one each to Destructionator, Blaze and Flame.  James Bond hopes that his nerve adjuster will work this time.  Flame and Frost make sure their stimpacks are easily accessible.

Captain briefs the crew.

The Battle:

Concealed by smoke from burning wreckage, and unseen by the crew, a swarm of giant bugs is bounding towards them.

The bugs approach...

 
 The crew move cautiously past some of the cargo tossed clear on impact, towards the main body of the wreckage.  Whatever Nelor Brands wants from the crashed starship, it will be a surprise if it's intact.  

The crew move warily towards the wreckage.

Suddenly, purple-blue forms burst through the smoke on the far side of the ruined building, heading directly for the crew, accompanied by the sound of skittering claws and gnashing mandibles... 

Bugs appear through the smoke.

 The bugs bound rapidly across the ground, slowed only slightly by the craters. [We assumed these were difficult terrain, reducing the bugs' move from 5" to 3.5".  The smoke clouds would reduce weapon ranges, but this never arose because the fignting took place well clear of them]

Bungs come bounding over the craters.

 The crew move on, keeping to single file as they wind their way between spilled cargo and craters.

The crew march forward in single file.

At the end of turn 2 we roll a Battle Event.  94: Looks valuable!  Frost (3rd in line) spots something glinting in the light, off to the right.  Something is partly buried under churned up gravel and fragments of wreckage.

What's that gold counter over there?

The captain moves forward, Lifter close behind.  The others are falling slightly behind due to the rough ground.

The crew start to spread out.

 Clear of the craters, the bugs surge forwards, now nearly at the ruins.  Their initial compact swarm has spread out slightly, will the crew be able to pick them off one at a time?

Bugs approaching the ruins in the centre of the table.

Frost carefully picks his way between smashed cargo pallets to a broken crate.  Inside are some small ingots of gold and some rare earth metals, which will fetch a tidy sum!  They'll be worth 3 credits.

Frost picks up the goodies - worth 3 credits!

 Flame and Blaze cut across the far side of a crater, ensuring they maintain overlapping lines of fire towards the bugs that they can hear approaching.

The crew spread out through the craters.

Destructionator is going to move to cover the crew's left flank.

Destructionator gets to move first.

The bugs come thundering into the ruins, bounding over the low walls and making eerie screeching sounds as they close with the crew. 

Bugs flow through the ruins.

The crew ready their weapons - this is it!

Firing positions!

We roll for the second battle event.  53 - The clock is running out!  Nelor Brand's people are arriving sooner than expected to take over the crash site.  We roll a D6 at the end of every turn, and on a 6, the game ends immediately.  STORY POINT! The crew haven't even made contact with the bugs yet, and it's unlikely they'll kill them all before the end of the game, so we spend a story point to re-roll the battle event.  45 - a cunning plan.  Turns out there was confusion, Nelor Brand's team are arriving at their jumping-off point, but they won't be here for some while yet.  Instead, the crew can all choose to act in the quick phase if they want - a much better result for them!

The captain scores a hit with his beam pistol, but just stuns the lead bug. 

Captain James Bond fires the first shot of the game.

The others will have to move forward if they want to get a good chance of taking out any of those bugs.

Not a brilliant line of fire for the rest of the crew.

Destructionator moves forward and launches its grenade.  The explosion is quite literally bang on target, the explosion blowing two bugs over the wall and knocking another sideways.  Thanks to their tough carapace, none of the bugs are killed, but all are stunned, which will delay them and buy the crew some time.

Grenade!

The stunned bug still in sight is hit by another shot and crashes back against a freight container before collapsing to the ground, leaking sticky ichor into the charred ground..

First casualty.

Despite the damage caused, the bugs surge forwards.

Here they come!

Bad rolls the next turn mean that none of the crew get to act in the quick phase - and the bugs are on them!

Aaaaaagh!

One attacks the captain, but he thrusts his beam pistol into its slavering jaws and blows the back of its head off.  [First casualty caused by the crew = +1XP for the captain!]  Another is thrown back by Destructionator, though stunned rather than dead.  Lifter isn't as fortunate with his bug.  As its freight claws crush and splinter the creature's carapace, its death throes knock the cargo bot to the ground.

Casualties on both sides.

Frost hurls his grenade, but alas!  It bounces off the rearmost bug, landing on one of the lead bugs and lodging in its carapace.  The explosion tears the bug to pieces, but both Destructionator and the captain are caught in the blast, knocking them backwards.  James Bond's nerve adjuster fails once again, and he is stunned.  Destructionator's sensors are temporarily knocked out of alignment and need a few seconds to recalibrate.

Grenade.... oops!

Dropping her military rifle on its sling, Flame smoothly draws her scrap pistol and puts a hole through the nearest bug before it can shake off the stun from its fight with Destructionator.

Bugs are going down.

Blaze levels his colony rifle at another bug.  The bullet ricochets off the tough chitin, but the impact is enough to stun the creature.  Destructionator fires an autorifle burst, but fails to hit any targets, his sensors still misaligned.

Keep shooting!

Flame throws her grenade at the remaining cluster of bugs, but with similar results to Frost - hers also bounces off them and lands right between the bug, Destructionator and Blaze.

Another grenade mishap.

Both Blaze and one of the bugs are stunned by the explosion, though Destructionator is unscathed on this occasion.

Don't stop shooting!

The other bug has recovered from the previous attack and lunges back towards the captain.  They crash against each other, and both reel back from the impact, stunned again.  Flame's scrap pistol barks again and another bug goes down.

Frost leaps in to protect the captain.

Frost charges the bug, hoping to eliminate it and save the captain.

Take THAT you nasty bug!

Unfortunately, despite the bug being stunned, Frost's clumsy attack is totally ineffective and he is knocked to the ground.

Aaaargh!

The remaining 2 bugs aren't running away yet, but they dart back out of sight of the crew to shake off ther stuns.

Bugs regroup in cover.

Destructionator climbs the wall and fires down on the bugs, but the angle is wrond and his aim is way, way off.

Poor shooting from Destructionator.

The bot is rather exposed now... could do with some backup!

Destructionator goes for a climb.

Frost's shaking fingers manage to find his stimpack and the rush of drugs steadies him and give him the strength to climb back to his feet. [We originally planned to use a story point for him to reroll the earlier injury, but then remembered that we had forgotten about the stimpacks!].  He's still stunned, but at least he's mobile.

Frost recovers thanks to the stimpack.

The crew start to close in.  Blaze clambers up the wall alongside Destructionator, and his colony rifle finds the weak spot in a bugs carapace, knocking it sprawling on the ground.

Only one bug left.

James Bond gets to go first in the quick phase of the next turn.  He's going to be in charge range now.

The captain will go first.

He rushes in and strikes a mighty series of blows and beam pistol shots against the bug, which is unable to resist the furious onslaught.

Chaaaaarge!

At last, the bugs are defeated. [A critical hit with another two stuns, but on top of the stun already received, enough to take the bug out of the fight.] 

Critical hits!

And so ends the Millennium Chicken crew's second battle.  Smashed and broken bug carcasses dot the crash site, but several of the crew are nursing new cuts and bruises from the battering they've received, and now they need to check on Lifter.  The crew discuss the fight - there are no large predators on the surface of Coldwater, which means that those creatures arrived with the ship.  Did they cause it to crash, or were they released when it crashed - and what is Nelor Brand's connection to it all?

Victory!

Post-battle:

 Rivals: Bugs are just bugs, and don't hold a grudge.

Patron: +1 Loyalty to Nelor Brand for the succesful mission.

Quest progress: None

Get paid: The crew are paid 3 Credits + the 3 Credits worth of valuable metals that Frost found = 6 Credits total.

Battlefield Finds: A quest rumour.  As the dust settles and the crew recover, they intercept a transmission.

Faction Activities: Day to day operation: Charismatic Leader Khorekk Tao has a job offer for the crew.  He must have heard that Nelor Brand was pleased with their work and has a similar task for them, if they'll take it... 

Loot: damaged weapons: Sifting through the starship wreckage, the crew uncover a broken Ripper Sword and a crushed crate containing 3 Frakk Grenades.  They'll need to check over those grenades before they can be certain that they're safe to use, and the ripper sword obiovously needs repair.

Injuries: Fortunately, Lifter was just knocked over and has a few dents.  No repairs are needed apart from a touch of paint.

Experience:

Once again, James Bond claimed the first casualty (+1XP) and survived on the winning side (+3XP).  He gains 4XP in total.  He spends all these plus 1XP saved from the previous turn to exercise, improving his speed to 6".  He has no XP left to carry over.

Destructionator and Lifter, being bots, don't earn any XP. 

Blaze survived on the winning side, gaining 3XP.  Combined with 3XP saved from last turn, he's also able to improve his speed, in this case to 5".  He carries over 1XP to turn 3.

Frost survived on the winning side, gaining 3XP.  Combined with 5XP saved from last turn, he studies hard and improves his Savvy to +1.  He carries over 3 XP to turn 3.

Flame survived on the winning side, gaining 3XP.  Combined with 5XP saved from last turn, she trains in hand to hand combat with Frost and on the range with her military rifle and scrap pistol, improving her combat skill to +1.  She carries over 1XP to turn 3.

Campaign event: A chance meeting turns into a new ally.  The crew consider adding a third robot to the crew, but eventually decide not to.  They receive one additional story point instead.

Character event: Lifter makes use of its powerful freight claws to help out on a few odd jobs transferring cargo around the starport and earns an additional 2 Credits, bringing their total stash to 8 Credits.

Faction Event: The merchant cartel has an internal struggle.  Thalassa Diversified and Marine Biosystems disagree over enforcement of fishing quotas.  Marine Biosystems withdraws some of its enforcers from the operations, resulting in the faction's power dropping to 1.