CapnJim's Pulp Stuff (2nd Matewan Convention Game AAR - Pg 15...08 Nov 23)

[CapnJim]

I'm not 100% sure this thread goes here, but since it's essentially just modern(ish) gangsters, I thought it better here than the "Conflicts That came in From the Cold" section.  Of course, the moderators may move it if it fits better there.  But, in any event here we go...

I built and painted up some modern armed civilians using Wargames Atlantic bodies, and various heads, arms, and more modern weapons.  Pictures of them can be found here:  https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=131442.60

I haven't played with them yet, but we took care of that little problem Wednesday at our weekly gaming group.  Ted and I played a game using some of these figs and some Spectre Miniatures civilians.  We used Fistful of Lead (the newer version).

The basic premise of the game was that 2 gangs, in an undisclosed small European town, had captured members of each other's gang.  They had agreed to meet on one of the gang's home turf to conduct a prisoner swap. At high noon.  We picked 6-man gangs from my figures, and did up our character sheets.  Our gang Boss could have the "Leader" trait and one more trait, while his Lieutenant could have one single trait.  All d10s.  The prisoners had matching armed figures, who (once freed) had to go to a logical place too retrieve a firearm, and could join the fray as a d8 figure.

By random determination, Ted played the local gang.  While I stepped out of the room, he chose one of the buildings as his home base (the one with the red car parked at the curb).  At least 2 of his 6 men (and his prisoner) had to start there.  The rest could be deployed anywhere on the board.  Also via random determination, I was to enter, in 2 vehicles, from the southeast road.

We decided that no shots could be fired until at least one of the prisoners was freed for the exchange.  After that, a player could use a joker as a wild card to open fire, or could open fire on any other card after passing a difficult task test (replicating that figure losing his cool).  That built a little tension and drama into the whole affair.

We also use jokers in 2 ways.  1.  It is a wild card, with an extra advantage for the activating player (an extra move or fire action, for example).  OR, 2. While forfeiting one figure's action, it could be used to disadvantage an opponent's figure (low ammo, falling down, flat tire, etc.).

With all that out of the way, here we go with the battle report.  I will tell it from the perspective of the owner of the Chinese restaurant (a Spectre Minis fig, he's on the sidewalk in Pic 1, far left, behind the green car).  Perhaps this is the statement he gave the police when they showed up after the gunfight...

I just went out on the sidewalk to grab a cigarette before my lunch customers came in.  In fact I could see 2 of them walking up the sidewalk toward me.  They had parked their black Mercedes in front of the town hall.  That's when I noticed him.  One of our local thugs that shake me down each week, standing right in front of the town hall, holding a rifle.  Then I saw another one across the plaza at an alley between 2 shops.  I figured something was about to go down, so I motioned to the couple coming toward me to hurry up.

Then I heard the sound of tires thup-thup-thupping on our cobblestone streets, coning from behind me to the left.  Just as an orange sedan came into view at the corner of my restaurant to my left, I saw a guy with a rifle get out and look at the front left tire of his car.  He yelled something to another guy in the car.  That guy got out of the passenger side front, and pulled yet another guy out of the back seat at pistol-point.  He shoved him along toward the fountain at the center of the plaza.  Just then, 2 things happened.  A pick-up truck passed the orange car, and pulled into the plaza a bit.  2 guys got out - one with a rifle, and the other a shotgun.  They both got behind the truck, pointing their guns toward the center of the plaza.  Also, one of my kitchen staff yelled out that there were 2 guys with rifles moving through the back garden of our building.   

Then I saw 2 guys come out of the alley across the plaza, one with a submachinegun and the other with a rifle, pushing another tied-up guy toward the fountain.  As he ushered the couple into his restaurant, he saw 2 guys with rifles pop out of the ally between his buildings and the town hall, one looking toward his direction and the other toward the local guy standing in the doorway of the town hall.  I also saw one of the guys who got out of the pickup run over and get behind the red car across the plaza from my restaurant.

Just then, the out-of-town guy with the pistol untied the hands of the guy he was pushing, and shoved him toward the local guys coming from the other direction.  I didn't like the looks of this.  Both the local guys I recognized, and the guys that drove into town - they all looked nervous and tense.  I figured something was about to happen.  And I was right...

Too be continued....

[has.been]

Fistful of Lead does give a good fun cinematic game.
It also lends itself (easily) to scenario specific rules,
such as your use of the Jokers. I really like that.
Nice set up too. I look forward to the conclusion.
I think it might involve gunplay.

[Elk101]

I can see why you went with Pulp, it's not really a modern conflict and with the cars it has a cops and robbers vibe.

[carlos marighela]

Nice set up. Good to see that Dodge Power Wagon. I have one waiting to be transformed into a Russian truck.

[Kourtchatovium104]

I'm a real fan of reports like this one 

[CapnJim]

I'm a real fan of reports like this one 

Thanks!  I like to do my AARs in a narrative manner, usually told from the perspective of one of the participants.  I enjoy telling the stories of our games like that...

Nice set up. Good to see that Dodge Power Wagon. I have one waiting to be transformed into a Russian truck.

Thanks!  I thought about transforming that truck, but decided to leave it as is.  It's appeared in several of our games...

I can see why you went with Pulp, it's not really a modern conflict and with the cars it has a cops and robbers vibe.

Thanks!  Well, robbers-n-robbers is more like it.  But, I'll get to the possible presence of the local constabulary in a bit..

Fistful of Lead does give a good fun cinematic game.
It also lends itself (easily) to scenario specific rules,
such as your use of the Jokers. I really like that.
Nice set up too. I look forward to the conclusion.
I think it might involve gunplay.

Thanks!  We really like Fistful of Lead.  I had the opportunity to visit Wiley Games HQ on vacation in June - Jaye and Robin are really nice people...   And why would you think gunplay might be involved?     

And now, on with that gunplay....

The owner of that restaurant took a break from his statement to have a cigarette or 2.  Then, he continued...

And I was right.  That's when all hell broke loose.  I'll try to get this right - it all happened so fast.   

I saw that out-of-town guy by the pickup suddenly raise his rifle and fired several shots at a window on the top floor of the shop building right across the plaza from my restaurant.  I too had seen someone with a rifle at the window.  The out-of-town guy must have seen him too, but I think he missed.  The guy in the window fired at the chap by the truck, and he went down behind that truck.  I never saw him get back up.  After a moment of stunned silence, the two local guys with the prisoner fired at the out-of-towners, dropping their prisoner and the out-of-town guy with the pistol.  And the local thug in front of the town hall fired at the 2 out-of-town guys who had appeared from the alley there.  I think he missed.  The guy that the out-of-towners let go starting running across the plaza, toward the buildings across the plaza from my place.

I had that couple get inside my restaurant, and i followed them inside.  But I kept watching out the windows.  I knew someone would have too tell you guys what happened when it was all over.

It didn't look good for the out-of-town bunch.  But it seemed like everyone kept having to fiddle with their guns.  I don't know whether they jammed, or they were reloading, but guys on both sides kept having to do it.

Then, things started to go south for the local guys.  The 2 out-of-town guys shot up the local thug by the town hall.  I think they killed him.  The out-of-town guy with the pistol got back up, and he and a guy he was with traded shots with the 2 local guys who had just killed their prisoner.  The local guys game up on the short end of that stick.  A local guy had gotten behind that red car across the plaza, and he and the out-of-town guy at the same car traded shots.  The local guy went down there too.  Now it didn't look good for the local gang. 

Then, a local guy I recognized came out of that alley across the plaza with a pistol, and started shooting at the out-of-towners in the plaza.  The unarmed guy ran into the building across the plaza, and that guy in the top floor across the plaza wasn't shooting anymore.   It looked like all the local goons in the plaza were down, and they weren't moving.  And there were still 5 of the out-of-towners still shooting.

Then something weird happened.  A yellow car that had been parked by the church just drove right through the gunfight and left town.  I don't think it suffered a scratch. Why they drove through all that, and how they didn't get hit, I'll never know... 

Then, someone started firing from inside the shop across the plaza.  That surprised a couple guys from the out-of-town bunch.  My guess is the guy that the other guys had let go had gotten in there and had grabbed a gun from inside that shop.  He didn't last long.  The out-of-town bunch lit up those shop windows, and the guy inside soon wasn't firing back anymore.

It looked like 5 to 1 now.  The only local guy I could see was the guy with the pistol, and he had gotten in behind that red car.  The 5 out-of-town guys were closing in on him, and their guy with the pistol yelled him to surrender.  He only yelled obscenities back.  They all 5 fired at him then, apparently wounding him pretty bad, and a guy with a shotgun just walked up to him and finished him off.

Then it got really quiet.  The out-of-town guys looked around, scooped up 2 of the bodies, got in their vehicles, and drove away the same direction that they had come from.  They left 5 local thugs laying shot up in the street, and I'm guessing there are 2 more bodies in that shop across the plaza from my place.  One on the ground floor in the shop, and one in one of the rooms on the top floor.  And that red car is all shot up. 

That's what I remember.  If you need anything else, I'll be in my restaurant.  It's lunchtime, and I have customers.  Jeez, I moved here too get away from this kind of stuff...

That's it.  Once shooting started, it gut ugly for the out-of-town gang right off the bat.  I though Ted might take advantage of me letting his guy go first, and he tried.  He had a guy with a scoped rifle in the top floor of the building in front of which the red car was parked (it turns out that building was his home base).  He made his difficult task roll (losing his cool), and tried to shoot my guy att the pick-up.  I had put him on Ready (essentially overwatch, borrowing a rule from Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles).  They both missed their first shot (just because you have a sniper rifle doesn't make you a sniper!), but the local guy's aim was true the second time he fired.  And my leader and my prisoner of theirs went down early too, while their prisoner of mine was free to try to get in the fight (which he did). 

But things went south for the local guys after that.  My wounded leader shrugged off his wound, and I slowly picked off Ted's guys, one by one.  And the grand finale saw 5 of my guys closing in on Ted's leader by the red car, with my shotgun-armed guy putting in the coup-de-grace.

All in all, it was a hoot!  Very gangstery, but with mostly modern(ish) weapons.

The civilians moved on their own card (all on one card).  As you can see the couple walking towards the restaurant, and the owner of it (Spectre Minis), ducked inside once shooting started in earnest.  There was a guy working on a tractor by his garage, but he wisely stayed out of this mess.  And that yellow car? When they left the church, we decided to decide their direction of travel randomly.  Of course, it took them right through the gunfight  ...and nobody shot at them...

Again, it was a blast.  I may even use it as a participation game at a relatively local convention at Fort Meigs (Perrysburg, OH, US) in November.  But Ted and I talked about having the local constabulary show up randomly, and have their quality decided (d12, d10, or d8) randomly, as well.  Of course, their quality would help determine their response to all the hubbub...I have 2 non-US police cars, but I'll have to paint up a few non-US police (which luckily I have).  That couple throw a wrench in somebody's gears...   

[CapnJim]

By they way, the white microdice indicated shock.  the red ones indicated wounds, and the blue ones indicated "Low Ammo".  The white crosses indicated "Out of Action".

[Johnny Boy]

Good looking set up and a game that looks a lot of fun. May I ask where the buildings are from and is that a terrain mat of cobbles? It all really looks the part.

[has.been]

Well done Capt. my Capt.

[CapnJim]

Good looking set up and a game that looks a lot of fun. May I ask where the buildings are from and is that a terrain mat of cobbles? It all really looks the part.

Why, yes, you may!  Many of the buildings are from Crescent Root Studio.  The exceptions are the church (Mad Bob's Miniatures folding terrain, obtained through his Kickstarter), the white building across the street from the cemetery (4Ground), the town hall (I don't recall the manufacturer  - I got it at a convention several years ago...), the lone building at the head of the plaza (Miniature Building Authority), and the crypt in the cemetery (WizKids). EDIT:  That is indeed a terrain mat.  A fleece one from Cigar Box Battle Store, available here: http://cigarboxbattlestore.bigcartel.com/product/midieval-city-fight-4-x6-plus-340     

Well done Capt. my Capt.

My pleasure, my good man!

[Doug ex-em4]

Looks great; very enjoyable AAR. Love it😀

Doug

[mikedemana]

Ted's bad die rolling continues...! Great AAR, Jim. Sounds like a fun game. I love the way your building's bases blend in with the mat and create sidewalks. That's been something I am trying to tweak - a cohesive look to a modern city.

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

Thanks, Doug.  Appreciate your comments.

And, Mike, Ted had been on a bit of a win streak.  Oh well...
As for the sidewalks, they are separate pieces (except around the town hall).  4Ground made a set of them, with 6", 4", 2", and 1" sections, as well as 1" corner sections.  I got a few sets, and they are VERY versatile right out of the package... and thanks for your comments.

[BaronVonJ]

Looks and sounds like a great game. Always nice to see FfoL in a new genre. We did a Wasteland Warriors game where we used the Jokers in a similar way. Give yourself 3 actions, or use on opponent where they only get one.

[CapnJim]

Thanks, Jaye.  We even used official Wiley Games tape measures and dice trays!  Not that it helped Ted....