February 1934
Travelling with her trusty gang of adventurers and compatriots, Professor Winthrop led an expedition to Arabia to determine what has happened to her colleague's expedition. Professor Betmead's archeological expedition almost a year ago to explore a lost city rumoured to be recently uncovered by the shifting desert. No one has heard from them since they put ashore at Tyre and signalled to say they'd arrived and plans were moving ahead.
They set off in Erin Updike's trusty Fokker F.VII, making rest stops at Tours, Milan, Bari, Heraklion and Tyre to refuel and resupply. At Tyre they took on extra cans fuel and supplies and checked with local contacts to determine more precisely where Betmead's expedition was headed, before heading southeast towards Arabia!
Along the way, they'd picked up an ally, who thought he might be helpful in finding lost souls in the deep desert of Arabia...
None other than Colonel T.E. Lawrence!
Following rail lines then bedouin trails and then a compass heading... they eventually ended up at what they thought might have been Betmead's site. Setting down on some more stable sand, they group continued on foot. Arriving at the ruins there was no immediate and obvious sign of Betmead's expedtion, but as they continued to move in to explore more thoroughally, they realized they were not alone!
A shot rang out! Colonel Lawrence tried to get the attention of the locals, thinking he could "clear things up", but they did not seem interested in parlay and fired a few more shots at him!
The Adventurers approach the ruins of the Lost City and a shot rings out!
The boss thug and his lieutenant watch from a rise off to the west.
a mix of Thugs and Bandits approach from the south.
Our heroes ducking for cover hehind a sand dune at the North end of the ruins.
Starting off, Joslin Humphries took an aimed shot at one of these two Thugs on the outcropping...
POW! Wow... what an opening shot...
And just like that, one was Dead and his fellow next to him Shaken!
The rest (that I could activate) moved up and blazed away with with pistols and shotguns - well out of range, but even so, they can roll a shock die... and one of them caused the Thug to Flinch and climb down off that outcropping and cower behind it...
So my first activation for the Hostiles was to rally the Shaken Thug, and...
He remained shaken and retreated another 6"... and that took him off the table...
The rest of the activations were used to move some of the Cretins up...
On the Heroes next move, Neville Stirling rushed forward to cover and blasted at the Cretins with his shotgun. One was shaken.
Then Lawrence charged up and shot at another one, who flinched and ran a short distance away.
Professor Winthrop moved up as well.
I tried to rally the Shaken Cretin... and it routed... and when a Cretin leaves the table for any reason, you roll a d6 for the closest Cretin, on a 5+ they leave as well...
I didn't roll a six for THAT one... I rolled a five, and another one left the table.
The rest of the activations involved the remaining Cretins shooting at Colonel Lawrence, and missing...
Rushing up Lawrence blazed away with his Webley... missing...
Neville blasted with his shotgun..
BLAM! One Cretin died... rolled a die to see if the other fled, and on a six it did...
Which left only the Boss Thug and his lieutenant.
Lawrence charging the Cretins brought him in range and view of the Boss, who took a shot and Lawrence went Down!
The other thug started down off the rocky outcropping... just as Joslin made her way to the corner of the ruins.
BLAM!!
Another well placed shot from Humphries downed the Thug and obliged the Boss to flee a few inches off the Rocky outcropping to cover....
Ramona went to check on Lawrence...
Turns out he was just fine, bullet caught him in the flask he keeps in his shirt pocket!
The Boss Thug rounded the outcropping and took a shot at Professor Winthrop.
.. and she Flinched and ran away a bit.
Neville shot back with his shotgun..
... and Shook the Boss!
With the Boss cowering, Lawrence decided to rush him!
Unfortunately he recovered very quickly on his turn and shot at the mad dog Englishman, causing Lawrence to be shaken...
The following turn, everyone advancing...
Lawrence took a shot at the Boss Thug... and missed...
Whoopsie! Got a bit cocky...
The boss charged Lawrence with his sword and cut him down!
Professor Winthrop charged forward pistol blazing... and missed....
Neville rushed up and blasted at the Thug with his shotgun and took him out!
Archibald Allcock charged the Downed Thug and gave him a rather stiff prod with his umbrella and took him out of action!
Erin Updike was still taking cover at the north end of the ruins.
She's an amazing pilot... not so much of a fighter!
This was a solo game of FiveCore Pulp Adventure!
Earlier this week I had rolled up the adventuring party:
Party of Five
- Hero
- 2 Adventurers
- 1 Hanger-on
- 1 Follower
Details can be found on the Campaign Page here:
FiveCore Pulp Adventure Campaign
There I rolled up this First Encounter...
Looking for: Lost Expedition in the Middle East
Research and Preparation - Ally - An Ally with a pair of pistols joins for one encounter - Colonel T.E. Lawrence!
THE ENEMY - Bandits and looters (8) 1 Boss, 3 thugs, 4 Cretins
Boss has: +1 Brawling
The Setup - Searching the area of the location of the Lost Expedition - Set up on opposing, random table edges, at least 20” apart. Determine randomly who sets up first.
It's strange that there isn't more guidelines for success in the scenario... I guess it's just last one standing wins...?
In the post game sequence, between Loot and Scraps, the party gained Two Fistfulls of Dollars (2F$) (coinage and weapons taken from the thugs, I guess...?). I'll probably use that to just hire two new followers at some point...
The Campaign even was "Not Feeling It" a random Follower leaves the group! Joslin Humphries is the ONLY follower... perhaps she felt like she signed on to be a mechanic, not a murderer (feeling somewhat bad about blowing one thugs head off and seriously injuring another - that was finished off by Allcock)
Luckily, Archibald Allcock has the Motivator Skill! If a character would leave the party, he can attempt to roll a 5-6 on 1D6 to deter them.
After a stirring speach and rolling ANOTHER SIX Humphries was convinced to stay on!!
(and here I thought that was a stupid skill when I rolled it up! I didn't really GET what it was supposed to do!)
Checking on Lawrence, it turned out he was injured and will not be available the next game (should an ally be rolled for bonus stuff!)
There were NO LEADS gained... searching the ruins and the bodies of the Thugs and Bandits, there were no clues as to what might have happened to the Expedition...
So... I wasn't entirely sure where to take this narrative... Thinking on it a bit, there were Thugs and Cretins that escaped, so perhaps they tracked them back to their camp, hoping to take prisoners and interrogate them as to why they attacked and/or where their friends had gotten to!
I picked up Sandbox - Infantry Patrols in Occupied Territory - which, as the titles suggests, are advanced rules for FiveCore Skirmish rules for modern day campaign of patrolling in an occupied area... and that gave me ideas... Stay tuned for the next episode to see what I've dreamed up...
Later this week, I will be playing another game in our Fourteen Men in the Solomons Campaign, running the in-person Soulbound game, and playing through another Journey in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City!
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Oh, looking great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal!
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