I have added a selection of pics for those who will appreciate where they go in the story
Thanks to everyone for a great game, Rex out done himself with his terrain and keeping the supense up until the reveal, Master Sam made sure the monsters kept us busy all day, my new Irish sailor gang done ok but failed to do a lot really
cheers
Matt
here's the story:
It is 1938 on the shores of Lake Baikal. It is a dangerous time.
An expedition in force has landed with the permission of an influential faction within the Soviet politburo. Their mission is to determine what happened to an earlier expedition into the Gobi Desert. As the Gobi is officially closed to Western expeditions, our heroes are infiltrating from the north.
They land at night to find a small fishing village with street lighting and a strange Orthodox shrine that self illuminates. The expedition is "attacked" by giant cockroaches and other aggressive wildlife. In their panic, they blast past their Bolshevik hosts and plunge into the night without thought of safety. Finally they laager the vehicles, set sentries and wait for dawn.
Dawn break likes thunder in this part of the world - the thunder of an attack by gigantic desert scorpions. After some horrific deaths from pincer and sting, they drive the scorpions away.
They set off in convoy but after only a short period they encounter something strange in the distance. A group of Bolshevik soldiers are clustered around a derelict yurt encampment. They seem frightened but determined. And they have a flamethrower. They are burning the yurts as our heroes arrive cursing the occupants as "bourgeois individualists". As the convoy arrives, the occupants boil out of the yurts. Omigod, they're zombies (I think). A panicked firefight ensues with overshoots and danger everywhere. Grenades are thrown and bounce off the hide walls. Professor von Buggarov suggests detaining and questioning one of the zombies. The Bolsheviks tell him where to go with that suggestion. The convoy moves on with the Bolsheviks in tow, leaving the burning camp behind them.
The Bolsheviks are keen to take them to VaskhNil- a experimental farm deep in the south. There they will learn the fate of the previous expedition. Some of the convoy are aware of a strange glow on the horizon and some claim to have seen strange creatures in the half-light.
They arrive at the station. A tower with a ghastly green light is shining down on the factory building. A strange hum fills the air. Princess Louisa's flunky, Max, spies a cage filled with strange creatures. They are almasy (Mongolian yeti!). He tries to communicate with them and goes so far as to open the door of their cage. The almasy leap out in panic, slamming Max against the mesh like a blowfly on a swatter. A sixth sense persuades the Louisas not to open fire as the panicked creatures run away from the tower as fast as they can go.
All the commotion brings out two of the feared schneejager mercenaries. They demand an answer to that eternal question, "Who let the yetis out?". After a long discussion, the Louisas are issued I.D. cards and taken on a tour of the farm. They reward the hospitality of their hosts by opening fire on them, killing all the schneejager and most of a visiting delegation of Chinese communists. A determined Louisa shoots the flamethrower who explodes. The shockwave wipes out a huge chunk of the factory and its occupants.
Von Buggarov meanwhile has taken his Leica camera around to the other side of the factory. There he photographs mutants, giant lizards, zombies and bizarre machinery. The twelve-foot tall green alien is particularly memorable. Von Buggarov then lives up to his name and flees (it's called British Intelligence work).
In the chaos, the Bolshevik commander who had been accompanying the group slips into the factory. He is determined to expose the factory as a dangerous nest of monsters and a threat to Modern Socialism. He breaks into the secure section of the lab and finds its terrible secret. Tomri Lysenko has authorised the production of gigantic tropical fruit for the pleasure of Comrade Stalin! He has enlisted the aid of a stranded alien with his own agenda.
The alien, Bob Spriggs, the tall green guy needs to manufacture fuel to power his transporter. He has directed the construction of a giant Tesla tower using some of the distinctive mineral power sources in the area. This has the by-product of inducing gigantism in plants. It's particularly good at insects and fungi (there are a lot of giant mushrooms involved). Awkwardly one of the other byproducts is the gradual conversion of zoological lifeforms by turning them into zombie-like creatures or teratological horrors.
As the Bolshevik watches in horror, the alien disappears from the transporter. He has won and he didn't care what happened to the planetary lifeforms on this backward world. The Bolshevik is even more terrified as he realises that Comrade Stalin will not be pleased when he discovers that his favourite dessert, fried bananas, is on the menu rather prematurely.
The expedition flees discreetly.
