Quantum and mechanics.

I've been joined by renowned physicist Richard "Quantum" Feynmann for the next mission! Jane, Tari, Mandy and Sixth Doc are here too, we're going to raid a supply train!

Ooh, looky here! A snake woman! They are not too nasty if you take care, but can be really dangerous if you aren't careful. They have amazing dodge stats, so are tricky to hit, can spit poisonous clouds and, worst of all, they can flick their tongue out across the map, pull you out of cover and wrap you up in a crushing embrace! Also snakes are creepy.

Oh. And "Quantum" took a leap and was killed. Well that's not a great start to the mission! Sorry about that, Team Physics!

Time for the rest of the mission to be all about revenge. We have snipers...

And grenadiers! As you can see, the Sixth Doc has pulled out a last second save as this Advent troop was just about to whack Tari with his big stun-stick!

Not my finest mission by any stretch of the imagination. Still, the mission was a success and the troops know that the mission comes first. The train was loaded with strange cargo crates. Some "special sauce" and some frozen Advent chips. I've got the Doc thawing things out and we'll analyse the results later. Also taste testing is important.

There's a chance that getting wounded and having a stressful mission can "shake" your soldiers. They lose all their will (making them more prone to panic and psychic attacks) until they perform well in a successful mission without taking too much damage. If you manage this recovery they get a bonus to their will in the future!

Jane Kelly was promoted to sergeant and was given the nickname "Cowboy", so I've changed her outfit to add an appropriate hat. I think hats are important.

We also rescued an engineer, it's Peter "Twelfth Doc" Capaldi! He'll be doing a lot of construction work around the place now! In my last playthrough he was an awesome pistol-toting sharpshooter, this time he's fixing things.

Speaking of Doctors, the First Doc has joined us! He's a specialist and plans on becoming an awesome medic with a bit of gun-toting on the side!

Here the crew is awkwardly rappelling down to the next mission. When it's in video motion it looks quite fluid, but this screen grab looks a little awkward!

Taco has a bead on that psychic sectoid there and pulled off a nice headshot!

First Doc began the mission by hacking a locked door on a van...

Then piffed a grenade that blew up a car and two Advent troops! One very useful Doctor to have around!

Speaking of Doctors, Eleventh Doc has the greatest facial expressions when slashing things with his sword - I think he's after some sort of acting award.

And who was it in the locked van, I hear you ask? It's my dad! That's engineer Keith Turner there, crouched behind the door of the future looking car as we head towards extraction past the dead alien bodies and building on fire.

When you first load up the game it has a nice little video background. At first I thought it was neat, it's always a different scene showing an XCOM troop in the foreground and some Advent in the background. Then I noticed that the troop in the foreground isn't just some random model, it's one of your soldiers! It almost feels like they've been still working and going on missions in the background while you're not playing. Hopefully nobody notices that they never seem to get injured or killed while I'm not around, otherwise I'll be out of a job!

It's not all doom and gloom on planet Earth. Here's Mandy in a playground. A slightly overgrown playground, sure, but it looks fun, right? Right?

Near the playground was an Advent robot and a stun lancer guy. These guys are the bane of my life in the early missions. They can run and attack like my own rangers, but their stun lance can be devastating, from knocking unconscious to stunning and disorienting. Last game I lost three troops in one mission to unconsciousness. To save them you have to pick them up and carry them to extraction, but of course, you can't shoot back if you're carrying another troop. Really hard decisions to complete missions, extract troops, fight on...

Eleventh Doc ran a little too far forward and spotted two sectoids and an advent trooper. Uh Oh! Fortunately he has some specialist friends! Ada sent her Gremlin to "aid" him, giving him a nice defensive buff until the next turn.

Then she pulled out her gun and blew a sectoid away! You go girl! In the end the mission was a success and I didn't lose any troops! Woohoo!

Of course, I've spent time building my sick-bay so that the troops who are injured can get back into the game more quickly! Funny how I needed to prioritise that =)

Well, a famous physicist dead, my dad rescued and a few more recruits added, I'd call this session, if not a win, then at least not a loss! Next time I finally get some upgrades and uncover more of the nefarious alien plot. Dun dun duuuuuuh.