So, I ran a game of In Her Majesty's Name for a group of about eight players at Kubla Con.
The setting was Fazeley Junction. On the previous day two armies on unknown origins clashed in a pitched battle that left much of the town in flames. It was later determined that one of the armies was led by the American criminal mastermind, Dr. Miguelito Loveless, who had escaped American attempts at capture by fleeing to the Britain. Setting up shop in Fazeley it would seem he drew the attention of another overlord of the criminal world who took offense at Dr. Loveless' presence and took action to remove him.
Sherlock Holmes was investigating the presence of this new criminal when he was captured by Loveless, who then proceeded to use Holmes as a Guinea pig in a supposed aetheric transportation device he stole from the labs of Nikola Tesla. As far as a new form of transportation, Loveless could tell the device was a total failure as Holmes remained in the machine no matter how much electricity was sent coursing through the device. It did seem it might have some use as an interrogation device as it seemed to inflict a great deal of pain on the subject without causing any obvious physical damage.
Unbeknownst to Loveless, every time he activated the device it a doppelganger of Holmes appeared in some random location nearby. The doubles had all the genius and talent of the original Holmes but had also taken on the aspect of mad men attacking anyone they got close too.
So this is the setting that the Companies found themselves in. Their primary objective was to scour the area for information about the identities of the two criminal generals as well as obtain any of the advanced technological devices that forces on both sides seemed to be equipped with.
There were five Companies:
A unit of Royal Marines
A section of constables from the Special Branch of Scotland Yard.
The gentlemen from Torchwood
A group of Bow Street Runners acting for a private, unnamed party.
A collection of American Secret Service agents led by James West.
A pair of American big game hunters, Theodore and Seth, on a stopover to a hunting trip in Africa their assistance was requested by the American ambassador.
Finally Dr Watson and Mycroft Holmes, commanding a force of Baker Street Irregulars in search of the missing Sherlock.
The game went very well and everyone there was quick to pick it up. The only real modification I made was to have each group do all of their movement, shooting and combat at the same time on their initiative. I don't think it changed the balance of the game much and I felt it would have been impossible to keep a group of players that large on track if they were all moving their groups one figure at a time.
I placed minor objective markers around the board and a major marker on each of the two large bridges. The minors could be picked up and carried and were worth one victory point. The majors had to be held at the end of the game to award five victory points.
There were several random events that could occur at the start of each turn: an artillery shell could fall randomly, a sniper could attempt to pick off a randomly selected Officer, a building could collapse and cause damage to those inside or nearby. Finally there was a check every turn to see if a Holmes Doppleganger appeared. The dopplegangers had the same stats as the consulting detective in the rules and were controlled during the turn by the player having the lowest initiative roll.
On to the pictures:
The table layout.
The Royal Marines assault a breach in the wall of Loveless' Satanic Mill.
Some of Loveless' cronies prowling the streets.
The first, and only Holmes doppelganger to appear. (Obviously I need to stack the deck in favor of Doppelgangers over stray shells next time)
Bow Street establishes a presence on one of the large bridges.
After defeating Lo-Pan and his Jade Golem the Secret Service agents made quick work of the Fazeley Tong, one of the criminal forces on the table.
The Royal Marines push into the courtyard is stopped cold by Loveless' bodyguard, Volataire, and a force of violent, clockwork toys.
Some of the Irregulars take on the Holmes doppelganger...
while the rest patrol the opposite side of the canal.
As things started to look bad for Loveless he attempted to escape via a secret tunnel leading to an armored, mechanized walker hidden in the churchyard.
The walker took heavy fire from the Irregulars and the Gatling gun of the Bow Street group and was quickly immobilized. Loveless was able to leap free and did manage to make good his escape.
I had a great time putting this together and running it. The rules a really a treat to play. Hats off to Messrs Cartmell and Murton.
Thanks,
Mike
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April 27, 2024, 10:51:36 AM
March 03, 2009, 10:22:18 PM
