Vice Ally - AAR: Something brewing in hell's kitchen (picture heavy)

[gnomehome]

Yesterday we tried a 4 player Vice Alley game - the Crime Wave scenario.

The following leagues participated (you should be able to click through for a readable view if you're interested.

Female gangsters - trying to invade the terrotory of


The Male gangsters


The neighbourhood people got stuck in the middle



While the cops waltzed in to clean the mess up

[gnomehome]

The table looked like this



There were wandering innocent bystanders, we also decided that the cars would move a random distance at the end of each turn. The 4 minor plot points were neighbourhood people (which got confused with a plot point at one time). The major plot point was the contraband operation going on (truck on the left). Undoubtedly there were supplying Lee Ho Fook with another supply of the highly illegal 'beef chow mein'.



The first turn saw people manoevring into position, with very little action. The second turn was a bit more eventful

The boys in blue confronted Lee Ho himself (minor plot point) with the illegal activities taking place in front of his establishment (and probably trying to get in on the deal...)



Meanwhile the gangsters tried to hire a new driver (innocent bystander who was initially meant to be a minor plot point, oops)


The gangster girls were busy pumping the local bum for information (minor plot point) while 'persuading' an innocent bystander to do them a favor, which he agreed to do 'willingly' (another practical use for a shotgun).



The locals decided to took out their frustration on the boys in blue, who only show up when there's a possible bribe to be had. One of the blue brigade decided a reporter had no place being there (and the 'raid' didn't need reporting anyway, so he decided to arrest him in this gaining a minor plot point)



At the end of turn 2, the Boys in blue held three plot points (2 minor, 1 major)

[gnomehome]

Turns three and four saw a lot of scuffling.

The local met the gangsters head on, who were extorting the small pension from Old Ma Baker (minor plot point)



While the Gangster Girls downed some of the cops thus losing the plot points) and a local moved in to help out Lee Ho



Distracted by the brawl, some drivers collided. The paperboys used the confusion to bring Old Ma Baker into safety



At the end of turn 4, each league lost one member except the locals who lost two. The innocent bystanders who teamed up were also taken out.



Some more casualties in turn 5

IMG_2764

In turn 6 the gangsters finally confronted the cops



On the other end of the table some more cars added to the pile-up


After turn 6 quite a lot casualties



A 7th turn got added (with a reward card) but nothing much happened there. In the end

locals, girl gangsters & gangsters: 1 minor plot point each
cops : major plot point

1 minor plot point unclaimed at the end.

All players agreed that the best thing about the rules is the initiative system, which means the action can shift a lot. Some minor rules issues, but nothinh a slightly better reading of the rules and some more practice won't take care of.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

A great looking set up. Looks like a very enjoyable game and I like your leagues. The pile-up with the cars and trucks looks like fun!

[Murmel]

Great game, but you got the final scoring wrong

Nobody scored the Major plot point, cops held it for most of the game but dropped it on turn 6, unable to pick it up again in turn 7

Male gangsters did not hold any minor plot points and the cops held two. Female gangsters and locals held one.

't was a great game, with lots of action and few running about. The rules for PA are simple and accommodating and as said the initiative (and the dice matching combat) are the most innovative, well though of parts.

Some questions we had:

• Can you activate an engaged character and choose to dodge, aiming for a dodge move to get out of combat/melee? (We established it was allowed)
  
• Can you shoot into a bunch of characters that are engaged in melee (We later found you can't)
  

[shadowking1957]

fantastic iam so now really in to this game

[d phipps]

Fantastic! I'm so happy you shared this with us. 

And for the record...

Can you activate an engaged character and choose to dodge, aiming for a dodge move to get out of combat/melee?

Yes, this is perfectly acceptable.

Can you shoot into a bunch of characters that are engaged in melee?

Yes, you can -- if none of your characters is in that melee. The attack roll is unopposed and each hit is randomly assigned to one of the characters in that fight. Also, it is considered proper etiquette to say "Shoot zem both!" whenever you do this. 

[Murmel]

Yes, you can -- if none of your characters is in that melee. The attack roll is unopposed and each hit is randomly assigned to one of the characters in that fight.

Three of us missed this in the rules, can you tell me which page it is on?

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

"Shoot zem both!"

    

[Goshawk]

Thanks for posting - great stuff!  We've had a couple of 4-player Pulp Alley games and both were awesome fun.

[d phipps]

Three of us missed this in the rules, can you tell me which page it is on?

It's on the bottom-left corner of page 18 > a gray box titled "Shooting into a Brawl".

Please note, if you see a lovely rendering of a Colt 1911 in the aforementioned corner, then you are the proud owner of a first printing and the box would read something like this if I had not missed it...

Shooting into a Brawl
Characters engaged with the enemy may not normally be targeted by shooting attacks. However, you may shoot into a brawl if none of your characters are engaged in the same fight.
This is an unopposed attack, as the combatants are unable to react to the shots. Each success counts as a hit and is randomly assigned to one of the characters involved in the fight.