Weird Science

Have you ever had that frustrating experience where you're about to cook up your latest batch of mutated growth serum, but the agitator spindle in your vat gives out? There's nothing worse than insufficiently agitated growth serum. This is the unfortunate experience of Dr Otto Verückthaar.

Fortunately for him, the local nefarious cult, the Secret League of Intrigue, Mayhem and Evil (SLIME) are currently shipping out some black market industrial equipment. Verückthaar reasons that if he can intercept the shipment, he has a good chance of snatching a replacement part.

The action begins as SLIME wait for the arrival of a truck to spirit their illicit goods away. SLIME leaders stand guard over the crate, while cultists 'mind' members of their production team.

Major plot point - the crates - in the middle, minor plot points (manager in the foreground, pots hiding spare factory keys, engineer in pith helmet in the market).

The engineer shopping for wife's birthday present. The last minor plot point, the shirtless factory foreman, visible in the distance.

Dr Verückthaar's attack began badly. Giant rats and a henchman head for SLIME's engineer, but they are stymied by cultists.

On the other side of the village, Verückthaar and his robot push forward, engaging cultists as they advance.

Verückthaar's hunchbacked henchman attacks the cultists guarding the factory foreman.

However, the finer arts of interrogation are better left to the doctor himself.

In the meantime, SLIME has seen the threat that the robot poses to the shipment of crates. Their leader, Dr Grief, rushes the robot, along with two underlings.

The robot proves to be as threatening as it looks. The cultists are eliminated and Dr Grief goes down under a monsoon of  massive metal metacarpals.

As a result, the way is clear for Dr Verückthaar to scarper in to the crates and rummage around in search of his agitator spindle. He succeeds, but must survive a storm of gunfire from the four nearby SLIME agents.

It's Verückthaar's day though, and he dodges back through the storm of lead, entirely unharmed. The hunchback and the robot move in to ensure that Verückthaar can get away safely with his treasure.

To add a final insult Verückthaar spends the final turn pilfering the hidden backdoor key to SLIME's factory.

Another fun game of Pulp Alley. Possibly more so for me than for Mark. I looked to be in trouble for the first couple of turns as my rats were swept away. In the end, though, a clear win for my mad science league - 5-2. The win hinged on the robot's ability to absorb and dish out generous amounts damage. It was unstoppable. A machine, you might say! Verückthaar's charmed run for the major plot point helped too!

The scenario, by the way, is the Raid scenario from the Vice Alley expansion.