Ensign Alex and the Missing Archeologist -Chapter 1 The Girl!

[Amalric]

Ensign Alex of Harbor Patrol and the Missing Archeologist -Chapter 1 The Girl!
A Larger Than Life Batrep!

Shang Kong Harbor, 1937

Well after midnight, Ensign Alex and the crew of the USN Barracuda, patrol the dangerous waters of Shang Kong Harbor. Seaman 1st Class Jones spy's two sea worn Junks with lowered sails well out of the major shipping lane.  


"Heave to and prepare to be boarded!" Chief yells!

The Pirates reply with lead!

A flurry of gunshots ring out and Seaman Smith yells in pain. The Chief guns the engine to bring Barracuda alone side the smaller Junk as the Sailors return fire, dropping 2 pirates, while Alex guns down one.



The Pirates Captain aims carefully and drop Seaman Jones.


The Sailors take cover in the wheelhouse.


A female scream tears the night and Ensign Alex and Chief jump onto the smaller Junk amidst a furious fusillade of fire, causing the Pirate aboard the small Junk to take cover!


The Pirate spear man guarding the ladder onto the main junk steps forward, as his fellows provide covering fire dropping poor Seaman Smith, and the Prate thrusts down at Alex. Alex grabs the shaft and smashed it back into the pirates face, sending him sprawling senseless! Sorry but I forgot to take this picture.

Clambering up the Junks side, Alex charges the Pistol Packing Pirate and shoots the villain down!


The Pirate Leader shoots Alex in the back!

But it is a mere flesh wound!

Enraged, the Pirate Captain jumps down and charges Alex, swinging the rifle wildly, smashing Alex in the face!


Alex stumbles back,

as chief climbs aboard and puts some American lead into the Pirate!
Sorry but I forgot to take this picture.

Alex bravely steps back up to the viscous Pirate Captain and delivers the left hook that won him his letter at Annapolis!


Dropping the Pirate like a hot potato!


Rushing the Cabin, Alex and Chief find...  


Why were the Black Pants Pirates in Shang Kong Harbor?
What were the  Pirates doing with Ms. Helen Schiffer of Toledo Ohio?
Where is the location shown on the mysterious river map Alex found in the Pirate's Cabin?
Will the wounded Seamen recover or enjoy a long holiday with some pretty Nurses?
Stay tuned for Chapter 2 -The Idol!

This was an enjoyable solo game and a start to a long planned series of games [I hope].
It started off well with the sailors dropping 3 pirates, but quickly turned sour with 2 sailors going Out of the Fight and a 3rd down to a rep of 2. Alex was saved by his Star Power twice. The fights with the Captain were a real hoot! Alex lost the first fight by 2 dice, thanks Star Power for the save. But when he stepped back to fight the Captain again, who was down 1 rep thanks to Chiefs shot, Alex clobbered him handily by 3 dice for the win.

Thank for looking.

[Prof. Dinglebat. Phd.]

This is going to be a must view. I'm already hooked. 

[Traveler Man]

Jolly fine, sir! I'm looking forward to more reports. 

[d phipps]

Beautiful terrain! 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

This is great! Lovely to see all your boats from various threads in one action. As you know I've already copied the USN Barracuda and I love that junk. Looks like a great game, looking forward to Chapter 2.

[Braz]

Great AAR. Lovely to see these boats in action.

What rules did you use?

[von Lucky]

Looking forward to more - keep it all in one thread for us who like to watch

[BlackSmoke]

@Braz - The 'Larger Than Life' in the tagline is the name of the rules, from Two Hour Wargames.

[Braz]

Thanks BlackSmoke! Of course it was right there, I'm blind, and didn't recognize it as a ruleset. Will have a look at those.

[BlackSmoke]

THW produce some nice rulesets and are probably the optimum ones for solo play. Some of them I find don't suit the period as well as others, like Nuts!, but I imagine pulp settings would suit them quite well. Their All Things Zombie rules suit the Chain Reaction system down to the ground.

[Amalric]

Blacksmoke is correct, I used Larger than Life by 2hour wargames.

I love 2hour wargames, because mostly i only get to play solo right now and they play solo so well. I have played and enjoyed many a campaign of ATZ and Nuts, have a campaign of 5150 on the back burner, and this was my start of my pulp one and my first game with Larger than Life. LtL plays a bit different then other 2hour games. The combat is a bit simplified and a bit more cinematic than ATZ or Nuts. LtL is really geared to a campaign and not so much for 1 off games. The campaign driving mechanisms are a ton of dice rolling charts that lead you to the show down with the big bad guy at the end of the story, ie The Climatic Miniatures Pulp Battle Extraordinaire! There may only be a couple of miniature games played before you get to that showdown with most of the clue finding that leads you to the showdown being off board dice rolling.

Thank you all for your kind words.

I was asked over on TMP about making the ships.
If you missed the WiP, here are the links;

Barracuda Glamor pics
TMP link

Barracuda WiP
link

A similar boat by the Mad Lord Snapcase that was inspired by Barracuda with great detailing!
link

Chinese Junks WiP
link

[Sinewgrab]

I don't recognize the girl mini - where is she from?

[Amalric]

I don't recognize the girl mini - where is she from?

She is from the Blue Moon Minis set Damsels in Distress.



The set's faces are a bit rough, even before I put paint to them. But they serve the need for damsels to rescue in a game.

[Braz]

Thanks for the primer on Larger than Life. Much appreciated. Another ruleset to acquire (sigh). And another damsel (sigh).

[Prof. Dinglebat. Phd.]

Thanks for the primer on Larger than Life. Much appreciated. Another ruleset to acquire (sigh). And another damsel (sigh).

EBay..Two Hour Wargame Mini Rules Larger Then Life-The Game of Pulp Adventu SC MINT 

Seller is NobleKnight games.