And this run was doing so well, too...
Abduction mission in the UK. My last mission, a downed medium UFO, opened with a Muton encounter, and ended with two dead rookies, two injured vets, 3 dead Mutons, and a hasty retreat. So I wasn't exactly ideally prepared for the abduction mission that followed.
I immediately discover that I only have 5 soldiers uninjured. So I have to deploy with 1 rookie and 3 Snipers, one Squadsight and the other two still squaddies. That alone was a very bad sign.
First turn: run into 3 Floaters. I've got almost no good cover, so I try grenading one Floater's cover. It works, and I successfully kill him with a follow-up shot. Unfortunately, I
also revealed two Thin Men behind a wall. Nothing to do but pop smoke and hope for the best.
Second turn: one sniper dies to a well-aimed plasma blast. The rookie panics, moves two steps, and begins cowering. The other Floater launches into a flanking position, while the Thin Men dash into cover... one of them into my smoke grenade.
Third turn: everybody misses. Basically every cover position is flanked - I can't pull back, because there's empty space all the way back to the Skyranger, and between the Thin Men and the launched Floater I'm surrounded. I try the desperation tactic: kill the guys flanking me. My guys miss every shot.
The aliens respond by killing
four guys. Literally, 4 aliens each fired a shot and killed somebody. I was left with the one rookie, who somehow had recovered from panic, surrounded on all sides by aliens.
I ended up with both North America and Europe at full panic, Asia averaging ~4 bars, and Egypt about to leave the council. I ragequit instead.
X-Com: Enemy Unknown, in case it wasn't obvious.