diff --git a/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/PlayScreen.cs b/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/PlayScreen.cs
index d87112a..a4dd9c6 100644
--- a/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/PlayScreen.cs
+++ b/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/PlayScreen.cs
@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ public partial class PlayScreen : Control
     private NpcActor? _interactCandidate;
     // Edge-detect F for the talk handler so a held key doesn't fire twice.
     private bool _fWasDown;
+    // M7.6 — most recent hostile NPC id that tripped the encounter trigger.
+    // Edge-detection: only fires the stub once per *fresh* hostile entering
+    // range, so walking next to the same wolf doesn't spam autosaves.
+    private int _lastHostileTriggerId;
 
     // M7.3 — save round-trip plumbing
     private readonly Dictionary<ChunkCoord, HashSet<int>> _killedByChunk = new();
@@ -162,16 +166,19 @@ public partial class PlayScreen : Control
         _controller = new PlayerController(_actors.Player!, _ctx.World, _clock);
         _controller.TacticalIsWalkable = (tx, ty) => _streamer.SampleTile(tx, ty).IsWalkable;
 
+        // Set the initial zoom BEFORE building the player marker so the
+        // counter-scale below picks a sane scale on the spawn frame.
+        _render.Camera.Position = new Vector2(_actors.Player!.Position.X, _actors.Player.Position.Y);
+        SetInitialZoom();
+
         // Player marker.
         _playerMarker = new PlayerMarker
         {
-            Position = new Vector2(_actors.Player!.Position.X, _actors.Player.Position.Y),
+            Position = new Vector2(_actors.Player.Position.X, _actors.Player.Position.Y),
             Rotation = _actors.Player.FacingAngleRad,
+            Scale = CounterScaleVec(),
         };
         AddChild(_playerMarker);
-
-        _render.Camera.Position = _playerMarker.Position;
-        SetInitialZoom();
         BuildHud();
 
         // M7.5/M8 will pick up _pendingEncounterRestore here once the
@@ -245,6 +252,44 @@ public partial class PlayScreen : Control
         else
             _interactCandidate = null;
 
+        // M7.6 — hostile encounter stub. The real combat HUD ships with M8;
+        // for now, an autosave + console log + toast on each fresh hostile
+        // entering range gives the player a heads-up and ensures M8 has a
+        // valid snapshot to wire combat-restore into. Edge-detected by
+        // NPC id so movement past the same hostile doesn't refire.
+        if (tactical)
+        {
+            var hostile = EncounterTrigger.FindHostileTrigger(_actors);
+            if (hostile is not null)
+            {
+                if (hostile.Id != _lastHostileTriggerId)
+                {
+                    _lastHostileTriggerId = hostile.Id;
+                    string tpl = hostile.Template?.Id ?? "<resident>";
+                    GD.Print($"[encounter] Would start fight with {hostile.DisplayName} "
+                           + $"(allegiance={hostile.Allegiance}, template={tpl})");
+                    FlashSavedToast($"Combat HUD lands with M8 — encounter logged: {hostile.DisplayName}");
+                    // NB: deliberately do NOT autosave here, even though the
+                    // doc proposes it. SaveTo → CaptureBody → FlushAll evicts
+                    // every loaded chunk, which despawns NPCs and respawns
+                    // them on the next tactical tick with fresh actor ids —
+                    // breaking _lastHostileTriggerId's edge detection and
+                    // looping the stub. M8 owns combat-start autosave; at
+                    // that point the combat HUD is pushed *before* FlushAll
+                    // happens, so the encounter snapshot covers the live
+                    // state and the loop can't form.
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                _lastHostileTriggerId = 0;
+            }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            _lastHostileTriggerId = 0;
+        }
+
         // F-press → push dialogue overlay. Edge-detect so a held key doesn't
         // re-open the screen while the previous one is still up.
         bool fNow = Godot.Input.IsKeyPressed(Key.F);
@@ -433,15 +478,30 @@ public partial class PlayScreen : Control
 
     private void MountNpcMarker(NpcActor npc)
     {
+        // Stamp the counter-scale at construction time. NPCs spawn from
+        // OnChunkLoaded inside _Process, *after* the per-frame counter-scale
+        // loop has already iterated _npcMarkers. Without an initial scale,
+        // the new marker would render at Scale=(1,1) for one frame — at
+        // tactical zoom 32 that's a ~307 screen-pixel-radius red blob.
         var marker = new NpcMarker
         {
             Position = new Vector2(npc.Position.X, npc.Position.Y),
             Allegiance = npc.Allegiance,
+            Scale = CounterScaleVec(),
         };
         AddChild(marker);
         _npcMarkers[npc.Id] = marker;
     }
 
+    private Vector2 CounterScaleVec()
+    {
+        if (_render is null) return Vector2.One;
+        float zoom = _render.Camera.Zoom.X;
+        if (zoom <= 0f) return Vector2.One;
+        float inv = 1f / zoom;
+        return new Vector2(inv, inv);
+    }
+
     // ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     // M7.3 — Save / Load
 
diff --git a/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/TitleScreen.cs b/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/TitleScreen.cs
index 77f914b..5fafb0c 100644
--- a/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/TitleScreen.cs
+++ b/Theriapolis.Godot/Scenes/TitleScreen.cs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ namespace Theriapolis.GodotHost.Scenes;
 /// </summary>
 public partial class TitleScreen : Control
 {
-    private const string VersionLabel = "PORT / GODOT · M7.5";
+    private const string VersionLabel = "PORT / GODOT · M7.6";
     private const string WizardScenePath = "res://Scenes/Wizard.tscn";
 
     public override void _Ready()