Here’s the first of the four Poldercon game reports. It will take me a while to do all four, but we’ll get there!
The first game was between Luuk & Johan (Gunbird). Luuk controlled Captain Wolf and his salty dogs, while Johan was the mastermind behind Minerva and her fiendish Nazis.
Luuk drew the “Danger! Danger!” card (all Perilous areas on the table are extremely Perilous) and Johan the Familiar Area card (shift die-type up for Initiative). Both players decided Luuk would start as it was Johan’s first game.
Scenario: The Eyes of Quatzacutl
Both leagues are in South America in search of the ancient Eyes of Quatzacutl, two giant pink rubies. They have entered the area around the ancient temple of Quatzacutl. They know the Eyes must be somewhere in this location, but they don’t know where.
The game starts with three Plot Points on the table; two are close to the leagues and one is right in the middle of the table. Once a league completes a Plot Point, they will find the location of the Major Plot Point: the Eyes. The gems are either in the temple, in the Crystal Skull’s eye sockets OR they are hidden in the gigantic hollow tree. Once the other player also completes a Plot Point, both players will know where to go.
So the race is on for the Eyes of Quatzacutl…there is not much daylight left and the two leagues must hurry to find the treasure. The game lasts 6 turns and at the end of turn 6 night has fallen and both leagues retreat to the safety of their camps.Deployment
The sailors deploy in two groups…Captain Wolf, Bosun Hayes and Deckhand Sam go north, while Seadog Kerry and Mr. Grumpy go south.
Minerva and her retinue deploy in the centre (and advance towards the first Plot Point)
The game starts…
Wolf and his two companions move carefully forwards, staying in cover of a large rock, while Kerry climbs the hill for a good view. He readies his shotgun…
The sour monkey scuttles towards the nearest Plot Point, hidden in a dangerous grove…
The Nazis converge on the first Plot Point, an ancient crumbling bas-relief. Herr Stahl goes first and fortunately for him, he’s wearing his heavy steel helmet because…*CLUNK!* a large rock falls off the bas-relief on his head. But thanks to the 1” of steel, it doesn’t bother him. He starts interpreting the drawing, but finds it hard to understand.
Dieter joins in, but he is no help AT ALL. Wanda sees them stare at the picture and thinks her quick wits will solve it quickly…but she’s mesmerized by the creature’s…tail.
Even Franz tries his luck, but his attempt is also ridiculous. Four Nazis staring at a picture and not one solving the puzzle. So Minerva moves up, shoves them aside and shows why she’s the boss! With quick thinking she easily solved the puzzle and found out the location…the Eyes are in the temple!
Mr. Grumpy sees something shiny in the grove and goes for it. But the treasure blinded him and he missed the poisonous stinger plants. The plant stung him severely and he went down screeching.
Time for action! Franz moves up and sees Kerry in the distance. Shotgun against MP40…BOOM against dakkadakkadakka…bullets fly, ricochet…but basically nothing happens!
But then Minerva joins in the fray. She aims her Luger and shoots Kerry down. He tries to blast her with a slug, but misses again. Minerva’s shot hit Kerry full in the chest and the Seadog goes down. Two sailors down!
Bosun Hayes quickly goes for the evil grove to find the location of the Eyes. He stomps his way through the venomous plants and grabs the golden idol. Aha! “Boss, the temple!” he yells at Wolf.
At the end of the turn both Mr. Grumpy and Seadog Kerry go unconscious and are out of the game. Oh oh…
Deckhand Sam quickly goes for the temple and uses his hook and rope to good effect to climb the treacherous temple. His Captain follows suit and scrambles into the temple. His experience with the rough seas and vicious ports makes the perilous temple easy for him. He jumps through the window and now stands next to the huge crystal skull…
But then the Germans push forward and Franz and Dieter fire at the old man. Several shots later Sam is down. Dieter throws one of his home-made grenades at Wolf, who can narrowly dodge the blast behind the skull. The going gets tough for the sailors! Can Wolf claim the rubies before he and Hayes are overwhelmed?
Minerva joins her men and starts peppering Wolf with shots. Wanda follows her leader, but stays at a distance…combat is not really her forte.
Seeing his Captain is besieged by four Germans, the Bosun moves up and shoots at Franz. Although the Nazi tried to shoot back, he wasn’t fast enough. The first Nazi goes down!
Wanda had a secret crush on Franz and was infuriated when she saw her hunk going down. Although she loathes combat, this was too much! “SCHWEINHUND!” she creamed as she rushed the Bosun. The gruff man simply batted her pistol aside and backslapped her hard. “…and stay down, doll”.
The combat became wild and chaotic then. Dieter moved up the temple, dodged the hidden stake trap, and threw another grenade at Wolf. Although the Captain dodged it again, it slowed his progress with the skull down. But still…with some hard effort he managed to pry the rubies from the skull and shoved them in his coat. Wolf is in the lead now!
Minerva tried to assist Wanda by rushing Bosun too. She dodged his fists and smacked his jaw hard.
Deckhand Sam, Franz and Wanda are all too heavily wounded to join in again and go out.
Wolf knew Hayes was alone against three Germans now, but he trusted his right hand to save his own skin. The Captain decided to go for the crafty route (or cowardly if you are a Nazi) and he jumped out the back window of the temple. The Germans tried to put the pressure on Wolf so Minerva can finish the job. Stahl moved up and hoped to get a good view on Wolf, but alas.
Seeing the Germans convergence on Wolf, Hayes tried to counterattack. He went for Minerva, but the agile Nazi easily dodged his blows and rolled away. To make matters worse for him, she shot him from close range and wounded the Bosun! Herr Stahl saw the man stagger and quickly rushed in for some clobbering time. He blocked the Bosun’s jabs and head-butted the man with his steel helmet. *THUD!* The Bosun went down and dropped the idol!
As the light slowly faded into darkness, the Germans knew that Wolf had escaped with the main treasure. So instead they settled for the golden idol. Dieter moved up towards Minerva and Stahl grabbed the idol for the Reich.
End of game: Captain Wolf 3VP – Minerva 2VPWhat a game! Although Wolf was the only sailor standing at the end of the game, he won by focussing on the main objective. The Nazis did a hefty blitzkrieg in the centre of the board, but focussed a lot on combat. The effect was clear (the sailors dropped like flies!), but it didn’t ensure victory.
Both Luuk and Johan had a great game. For Johan it was his first Pulp Alley game ever and he picked up the game very fast. So game 1 was a success!
Game report 2 will follow soon!
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April 25, 2024, 02:47:04 AM
February 13, 2015, 07:56:28 AM