The scenario was very similar to a game I ran for the Local Savages back in January (The Lost Temple of Bo-Nong). I had about seven pre-made characters for the players to choose from (each with an appropriate hat for the player to wear). The participants all played members of an archaeological expedition Racing against time to recover the mystical Golden Idol before the evil Nazis (played by myself) found it or the volcano, Mt. Wannahawkaloogie, erupted.
Scattered around the jungle and ruined temple were gold and green tokens. The gold tokens marked “searchable locations”. A character (or group) that spent it’s entire turn within 2” of a gold token could, as an action, search the area. A Notice check at -2 meant they could draw a chit form the treasure cup. One chit had “idol” printed on it, the rest had “no” (there were actually slightly less token than there were golden token on the table – just so they wouldn’t have to search EVERY location to find the idol – but I didn’t tell the players that…).
Paired with each of the golden tokens outside the temple were green “encounter tokens” (there was also a single encounter token in the temple). Whenever a character or group entered the area it triggered a potential encounter. The player would draw a chit out of the encounter cup – some had “nothing” printed on it, others had the name of a critter or other encounter. There were dinosaurs, giant snakes, large jungle cats, angry natives… you name it!
After the play-test I decided to give all the players five bennies – just to make them a little bit more “over the top” good.
The Players and Characters
John Burt returned in his role as Marcus Andres, first mate of the SS Persephone (he also controlled the single group of extras the players had – four crew from the ship).
Will Bailie played Jonathan (“Jock”) Hamish MacDonald, the famous Scottish Antiquarian. A bury Scottish gent with a fiery temper!
Kurt Bertam was roped into playing at the last minute and took on the role of Professor Donald K. Stephenson, armed only with his vast knowledge of ancient languages and architecture and a rather sharp umbrella!
Jerry (uh…. Aw dang, I’m sorry I totally forget his last name…) played Captain Charles Longstreet, Ace Pilot!
Opposing them were Karl Von Kindershisse, Gestapo Agent, Der Ubersturmfuhrer, SS Superman, Mason R. Roberts, American Collector of Antiquities, Gunter and Hans, Gestapo Thugs, and a section of German Army Grenadiers.
I told them they had 20 turns to get off the island before the volcano blew. The lads in the play-test didn’t make it…. Could this bold new group of players…?!
(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)
Will, left, and Jerry, right, getting into their roles…
A view of the table with the jungle surrounding the Lost Temple of the Golden Idol.
(L to R) John, Kurt, Will, and Jerry…. and, of course, another view of the table.
Early in the game, on the first of second turn, Der Ubersturmfuhrer triggered an encounter; a TRICERATOPS!!! After unloading his machine-pistol into it with no effect, he, and the other Nazis, decided to RUN!!!
After a turn of that though I realized that they a) weren’t going to outrun it and b) it would kill them all rather quickly if allowed to run wild. So I thought I’d sacrifice Der Ubersturmfuhrer and maybe he’d hold it up long enough for the others to get some distance between them. So Ubersturmfuhrer stopped running, turned around and punched it…. killing it dead. I’ve never aced so many times before in my life….
That’s me, Tim Brown, playing the evil Nazis.
This group of sailors sen three turns searching this stand of jungle – it was worth it, because when they finally passed their group notice check they drew the idol chit! John yelled “BOO-YAH!!” so loud that everyone in the convention hall turned to look out way. Afterwards there was a steady stream of people wandering by to see what was going on as, evidently we were having a lot of fun!
The shoot-out in the temple. Marcus Andres, Professor Stephenson, Captain Longstreet, and “Jock” MacDonald (hiding behind one of the Buddha statues) all entered the temple to search for the ruins about the same time as Von Kindershisse and mason Roberts (who were just off to the left of this picture). A short gunfight erupted until everybody the jubilant shouts of the sailors (yelling “BOO-YAH!”) at which point they attempted to break contact and head for the beach.
In the top right of the picture above you can just make out the tail of the Triceratops lying dead in the jungle… or maybe he was just punched out…whatever…
Here you can see Gunter and Hans sneaking around the outside of the temple, as well as the positions of von Kindershisse and Roberts during the gunfight.
Again Kindershisse and Roberts in the temple.
The German grenadiers rushed to the beach to try and block the heroes’ escape.
Professor Stephenson would have none of this, so he dashed out of the jungle and poked one of the Nazis in the eye. Jock MacDonald has beaten down Roberts and Hans with his big stick and is about to do the same to Kindershisse. Andres had shot Gunter earlier.
Will, John and Kurt.
Jerry.
After bashing another Nazi in the head with his umbrella, Professor Stephenson dashed into the cover of the jungle only to find a Giant Constrictor already occupied it. The mighty umbrella was no match for the enormous snake and the professor quickly found himself… well… constricted. Captain Longstreet and Marcus Andres came to his aid!
Around this time Der Ubersturmfuhrer made his way to the beach. Firing full auto into the melee between the snake and the three heroes he was bound to hit someone! He did. The snake. Three times. Killing it…. Der Ubersturmfuhrer was then, in turn, gunned down himself.
All the heroes then dashed to the boats, loaded up and were away!
All by….
Turn Twelve!!!
(well, okay, it was actually turn twelve when they gunned down Der Ubersturmfuhrer - the last nazi standing in their way - it probably would have taken them two more turns to get to the boat and another turn to get it underway... still well within the 20 turn limit...).
A fun and exciting game! I don’t’ remember how long it took to play out but it seemed "about right" (not too long, not too short). Everyone stayed involved (and at the table!). I think the changes over the Mayday game made a big improvement. The most notable difference being that, for the most part, participants only ran a single wildcard (instead of a wildcard plus a unit each). This sped up the game a lot as there were less players acting on each initiative round – as well as fewer bad guys going each round – as I didn’t need as many opponents to create a challenge for the players.
Next up: Part Three – My Contemptible Little Armies: Back of Beyond game.
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