Yesterday me and my mate played a test game for Poldercon, so a regular Pulp Alley game to see if I got everything right for the event. I shot some photos and here's the story...
Rumble in the Jungle"An old friend of Wolf had given them the tip to check out this part of Guatemala. There were rumours of an ancient Mayan temple, ruines and mostly lots of treasure to be found. The main prize would be the "Eyes of Quatzecutl", two enormous gems worth an absolute fortune. Wolf sailed the Anarhichas as close to the location as he could and then the crew continued by foot. The jungles were almost impassable and it took them two hours to travel two miles. But then the vegetation became less dense and the journey went a lot faster. Just as the sun was about to set, Wolf and his men saw the temple in the distance. But instead of hearing the typical jungle noises, they heard...Germans? Wolf knew straight away who would be so savvy to find her way to the temple too: Minerva and her cronies! Curses! Wolf looked at his men. "Quickly men, gather the goods and find the Eyes. Get me the Eyes!"The jungle before the action started...
(I'm quite happy with the general layout of the scenery! Lots of blocking scenery, high treetops, lots of colour and vegetation. I have ordered a 3'x3' cloth by Deep Cut Studios, so the final layout will be even better. The temple, the huge tree and the areas within 1" of two vegetation pieces were noted as Perilous areas. In the report you can see three Plot Points denoted by glass beads. For the Major Plot Point I thought that the player who obtained the first Plot Point would roll a d6. On 1-3 the Major Plot Point would be in the temple, on 4-6 it is hidden in the huge tree)
Wolf and his men approach from the south...
Minerva advances from the north...
Minerva has Initiative!
Turn 1Wolf's men advance first. Bosun Hayes quickly goes for the first treasure hidden in a thick piece of vegetation. It seems to be tucked beneath a large rock...
The old deckhand Sam runs towards the temple, thinking it might be a logical spot for the Eyes. As he nears the temple, he sees Minerva rounding a large fallen tree. She grabs her Luger and shoots at Sam! He tries to dodge, but the lady fights dirty (Fortune card) and shot him before he could dive away. The shot took poor ol' Sam out of the fighting straight away!
Next, the hidden seadog Kerry moved up and wanted to take a sneaky shot at the devious Minerva, but the setting sun reflected on his shotgun and she quickly rolled away from sight before he could take a potshot.
Minerva's right hand Herr Stahl moved up with Dieter towards a Plot Point, and ancient rock carving. Wolf's pet monkey Mr. Grumpy ran towards the big tree...the ape smelled shiny stuff! Wanda and Franz ran forwards and hid behind the thick jungle. Finally, Wolf moved up and changed shots with Stahl. Both men missed their targets. The first turn ended with Sam failing his Recovery check.
Turn 2Still having Initiative, Dieter inspected the rock wall to see what treasures he could find. As he explored the carving a chunk of stone fell down and he quickly stepped aside. Pfew! He did find a peculiar hole in the wall though...
Wanda, Minerva's secret agent moved to Dieter and helped him to retrieve a second treasure from the jungle! A topaz winged snake... Franz moved up and opened up with his MP42 on Captain Wolf. The grumpy captain fired back and both men were hit multiple times. Franz went down and Wolf also took a wound. First blood on a Leader! Wolf quickly responded by running into the cover of the temple.
Bosun Hayes moved through the bushes to get to the treasure as something hairy and teethy jumped towards him. Hayes stopped it with a fist and then stomped down on it. "Damn critters!" he grunted as he lifted the big rock. Underneath was a small golden idol of the nearby Temple. In the idol Hayes saw a skull with two engraved crystals. It was clear, the Eyes of Quatzecutl were inside the temple! "To the temple people, the Eyes are in the temple!!"
Kerry tried to shoot Minerva but his shots missed but he was downed himself. Oh dear, a second sailor down! Mr. Grumpy raced towards the huge tree. Minerva moved to run towards the temple, but tripped over a thick gnarly root!
Like Wolf, Stahl ran towards the temple. The two would probably meet near the Eyes....
At the end of the turn both Franz and Kerry stood up again for more action. Wolf recovered his wound!
Turn 3A rather uneventful turn. Minerva moved closer to the center and traded some shots with Wolf without effect. Stahl moved towards the temple, Wanda stayed behind the thick jungle to inspect the topaz snake and to use her quick-thinking for some benefit for her colleagues. Both Kerry and Mr. Grumpy ran forwards and jumped through the thick vegetation and into the hollow of the tree. Inside he saw glittering treasures...
Hayes ran up, carrying the gold idol, and fired wildly at the approaching Dieter. Both men traded shots but neither hit. Dieter responded by throwing a grenade (Burst marker) but the Might check was easy for Hayes. Franz also moved up and fired his MP42, but all shots missed.
Turn 4The turn started by Wolf scaling the temple and running towards the eyes. He was standing before a giant crystal skull. In the eye sockets were enormous pink diamonds. They would be worth a fortune!
Wolf heard Stahl scrambling up the temple and although the Nazi encountered a stray scorpion he pushed on and charged Wolf into combat. Wolf slammed back hard and both men wounded each other.
Kerry saw an oppertunity and flanked both Minerva and Franz. He wanted to blast both of them with his shotgun...but Minerva reacted like lightning and shot him before he could blast them (she could shoot before him with a Fortune Card...sneaky girl!). The man went down. Minerva then ran towards the temple.
Then Bosun Hayes charges Dieter. Although Dieter knew how to use a knife, he was no match for the skilled Bosun and his quick jabs. Several punches later, Dieter is down. Hayes is on a roll and goes on like a champ (Fortune card that lets him ignore the Multiple Combat penalty), shooting down Franz too! Two down!
Finally, Mr. Grumpy went for the glittering treasure...but he was so focused on the the treasures he didn't see the spider web in front of it. The poor monkey stumbled through the webbing and was bitten by multiple spiders. Wolf heard his pet scream several times and then it all went silent...
Seadog Kerry was also wounded too gravely by Minerva and was out of the game! It was down to the Bosun and Wolf to get the Eyes of Quatzecutl! Of course, both Franz and Dieter recovered from their injuries...
Herr Stahl and Wolf didn't recover their wounds though...
Turn 5Herr Stahl recovered his wound with a Fortune Card (sneaky git!) The turn started with Dieter attacking Hayes...stupid move as Hayes simply stomped him down again. You don't want to mess with the Bosun! The Bosun then moved to the ruined statue and plucked a big gold nugget from its mouth. Hayes is carrying two treasures now!
In the center the struggle between Hayes and the allies intensified as also Franz and Wanda moved in to fight the Bosun. Hayes managed to shoot Franz down too and dodged away from Wanda, evading her shots. As he rolled away, he saw the topaz snake in her hands...
Then comes the epic fight again. With Minerva closing in, Wolf feels it's time to get rid of Stahl. He moves in for an uppercut, but Stahl rolls away with cat-like reflexes (my mate played a card, which let Stahl win the dodge move automatically!). This gave Minerva the chance to move in and rapid fire her Luger at Wolf. The captain was hit and wounded and was now down to a health of d6! Stahl's evil laughter boomed from his metal mask as he charged back into Wolf. Minerva grinned and screamed "FINISH HIM!"
Stahl bull rushed into Wolf and the captain was thrown out of the window, crashing down the temple and going silent...
So this turn we have Wolf out of the game and Dieter FINALLY also staying down. Franz on the other hand, rose again. AGAIN! Hmmm, I guess that sun burn must have raised his pain threshold a bit...
Turn 6The final turn! It was almost dark now...
First Stahl went for the Eyes of Quatzacutl and tried to remove them. Not being a really smart man, he just went down to bashing at the skull. A hard blow of his pistol cracked the crystal! This gave Minerva a chance to pry them from the sockets and to claim the diamonds!
But the race was still on! Franz fired at Hayes, but he sneakily dodged the shots...and instead charged Wanda! A hard jab took her down and she dropped the topaz snake. Just as he wanted to grab it, the statue rolled away into the darkened bushes. Drat...where did it go?!
THE ENDSo the game ended with the Nazis having the Major Plot Point and Hayes carrying two Plot Points and standing next to a dropped Plot Point. So a narrow win for the Nazis...but a very cool win nonetheless!
Great game with lots of action and some nice use of Fortune Cards by my mate. He totally caught me by surprise by first dodging away from Wolf, then shooting Wolf, then charging back and knocking him out with a Fortune Card. Really epic.
So all in all I'm happy with the layout and how this scenario works. I think we played the game within 90 minutes, so we're good to go for Poldercon!
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April 19, 2024, 11:16:57 AM
May 23, 2011, 01:22:54 PM