Pulp Alley AAR - jungle boogie (picture heavy !)

[gnomehome]

Last weekend, we tried out the PA rules in a 3 player game - as suggested on the Pulp Alley forum we went for a modified version of Hidalgo fire.

This is the table setup with 5 plot points
- tents
- large statue
- Lady Elaine (under the huge central tree)
- her luggage (top left corner)
- her inland guide (top right corner)



The three leagues were
- Lebensborn - female 'Nasties' with a huge ape
- The League of Extraordinary gentlemen (LEOG)
- Artemis Fowl inspired league (see picture - AF) - I made up some cards which are very usefull. It's easier to keep track of who has been activated. I found the template of the cards on the Pulp Alley forum (powerpoint format).



We marked perilous areas with small tokens (from the Rafm CoC line). The dead giant tree was perilous, indicated by the skull on top (the Nasties are visible as well).

As was the giant tree...

and the tents (snakes, why did it have to be snakes)


Visibility was limited and all perilous area were extremely perilous (due to scenario events).

1st turn

The nasties tried to convince the inland guide to escort them to lady Elaine....

...while Captain Nemo (LEOG) failed in removing the sacred stone from the large statue and fell down (failed peril check)

One of the Nasties clambered up to higher ground...

... and took out Mulch Diggums (AF) who was automatically out (being a follower)


Mina Harker (LEOG) defeated Holly Short (AF)...

...and  Julius Root succumbed to return fire from the Nasties leader


Foaly (AF) tried to chat up Lady Elaine...

...but got clobbered by Mr Hyde (LEOG) and was taken out...

...while Domovai Butler (AF) attacked Mr Hyde in return.


After turn 1
AF lost three of its number (two followers and one ally who did not recover) but Holly Short recovered, while LEOG lost Captain Nemo to a failed recovery. The Nasties were doing swell.


Turn 2

Holly Short shot down the ape,

but Domovai Butlerd failed to persuade Lady Elaine who wandered of.



The nasties came down on Domovai, he took one out but got tangled up with a second.


The Nasties leader did not manage to persuade Elaine, not withstanding the help of the local guide they convinced to help them earlier on


Artemis (AF) snook into Lady Elaines tent and managed to swipe her diary


Turn 3
The third turn saw a loot of shooting by Alain Quartermain (LEOG) and the NAsties. LEOG also managed to lay hands on the sacred stone. Domovai finally succumbed to the nasties and the LEOG lost antoher of their number. All the nasties made their recovery rolls, Domovai did not which meant that in

Turn 3
AF started with 2 of their number up and about, LEOG with 3 and the nasties with 5.

Turn 4
Nothing spectacular happend, apart from Holly Short being taken out (and not recovering). ARtemis Fowl was last man standing...


Turn 5

The Nasties finally convinced Lady Elaine. They must have let the local guide out of their sight so he wandered of again, maybe under the spellof Mina Harker (LEOG)


Turn 6
Sadly enough Mina got taken down by one of the Nasties, which gave Artemis Fowl the opportunity to convince the guide to join him while Dr Jekyll (LEOG) was busy looting Elaine's luggage.


Turn 7
In the extra turn, nothing spectacular happened

In the end AF got two plot points, LEOG another two and the main plot point was taken by the Nasties


For a first game, everything was relatively clear. No major discussions or unclarities in the rules. This ruleset will most certainly be played again.

[Traveler Man]

A cracking good AAR! 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

What a great game. You must have really enjoyed that. Nice photos and report, thanks.

[Legion1963]

Rather interesting combinations. A huge ape with some female 'nasties' together in a league called 'Lebensborn? Hmm.....not quite sure what to think of that 

[Wolf Girl]

I really like how the character cards turned out. I'm glad everything went smoothly. Where are your idols from?

[FramFramson]

Looks like loads of fun! Great jungle too.

[gnomehome]

Rather interesting combinations. A huge ape with some female 'nasties' together in a league called 'Lebensborn? Hmm.....not quite sure what to think of that 

No need to worry - the ape was female as well. Otherwise they would have been the 'Extremely Nasties'

I really like how the character cards turned out. I'm glad everything went smoothly. Where are your idols from?

The large plot point idol is scavenged from the board game 'Forbidden Bridge' http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3945/forbidden-bridge

The smaller idol underneath the central trees is also RafM. Their call of Cthulhu line has lots of 'extras' included which are almost all usable as plot points (idols, skulls, tombstones,...)  I'll take a overview picture of those I've got.

[d phipps]

Fantastic AAR! THANKS for sharing your photos. 

I'll have to look around for that 'Forbidden Bridge' game.




HAVE FUN

[magokiron]

Nice AAR.

Seems like a fun game, and all groups managed to grab some plot points!

Seems very equilibrated for a first game.

Waiting to read more.

Thanks for sharing.

[Legion1963]

Looks like loads of fun! Great jungle too.

Indeed. 

[Murmel]

I took part in this game, hosted by gnomehome who generously provided a place to play, scenery, miniatures, beverages and food!

The AAR pretty much tells everything. I was playing TLoEG and the player playing the Lebensborn league was considerably luckier than the both of me and gnomehome combined, and even though he was playing it smart on top of his luck he wasn't able to dominate the game and only won by a single point. I like that about the ruleset. Even though I did not win I still had fun watching Alain Quatermain return fire and blast away every single one of the nasties who tried to put him to rest. My Leader ended up running around a lot and being useless, just as most of my allies and follower. Allies and followers do die easily, perhaps a little too easy. I think a couple of them across the game did nothing at all except keel over and die (horribly).

What I liked most about the game is the dice matching combat system, none of that you shoot first and then I shoot if I am still alive then you can dodge then... everything happens at the same time and every player is involved even if all of his guys have finished their turn. Speaking of which, I rather liked the turn order mechanic as well, lot's of interesting choices once the characters are in each others hair.

What I disliked is the lack of storytelling, but that could be attributed to us making sure we got everything right by the rules instead of really getting into the game. Speaking of which (again), the rules are laid out well and simple. There was few discussion and no rules lawyering even though it was our first game and by the end I'm fairly sure we'd be able to put the rule books down and play by heart. In that regard, you could say the game is light, but there are interesting choices to be made, and it's fun to see how the characters move (and die) across the table.

I'm certainly interested in playing again.

[d phipps]

...What I liked most about the game is the dice matching combat system, none of that you shoot first and then I shoot if I am still alive then you can dodge then... everything happens at the same time and every player is involved even if all of his guys have finished their turn. Speaking of which, I rather liked the turn order mechanic as well, lot's of interesting choices once the characters are in each others hair.

Oh yes!

With other games, I grew so tired of "Okay, you stand there while I attack. Okay, now I'll stand here while you attackl." It's disappointing to see I-Attack/You-Attack accepted as the norm, when it is so counter-intuitive to real world fighting or even pulp style fights.

I think it's really cool that you guys are seeing these tactical choices already in your first game.

Its not too surprising there wasn't a lot of storytelling in your first game. That will come as you learn the rules and can focus on the story.

...the rules are laid out well and simple. There was few discussion and no rules lawyering even though it was our first game and by the end I'm fairly sure we'd be able to put the rule books down and play by heart...

I think I mention this somewhere in the rulebook -- "The action is on the table, not in the rulebook." Personally, I hate having to look up rules and charts in the middle of a game. 



Oh, are you aware of Mila's Phantom Agent promo? Check it out, send Mila an email, and maybe you'll get some cool Pulp Alley goodies -- http://pulpalley.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=718&sid=af2c12d0905391f1cb83501d171561cf






HAVE FUN