GWONG ISLAND RESCUE (SW-Pulp)

This is a report of the New Years Eve edition of my Savage Worlds: Pulp Adventure game. It took place (SAVAGE) Sunday, 31 December 2006 between noon(ish) and (about) 4pm (planned that way so we could wrap things up in time for everyone to head home and get ready for their respective New Years Evening Shenanigans).

GWONG ISLAND RESCUE

Starring
Darren Morris as Oscar Carson, Private Investigator, and Charles Willington of Foreign Office
Joe Westfield as Harold Green, Eccentric Inventor and some of the crew of the S.S. Persephine
Amanda Plante as Josephine Pink, Acrobatic Aviator, and Henry Daventhorpe II H.M.S.S.
John Burt as Marcus Andres, first mate of the S.S. Persephone and some more crew members.
J.C. Barrett as Captain Lance Strongarm of the US Rocket Corps (and his trusty Rocketeers!)
Cory Loshney as Karl Von Kindershisse of the Gestapo, his agents Der Ubersturmfuhrer and Ilsa, She-wolf of the SS and their She-wolf minions.

… and of course myself, Tim Brown, as the rest of the bad guys General Wang Fu, Captain Harry Chang, and the Chinese Soldiers.

December 31st, 1936.

Dr. Rupert Von Liederhosen has gone missing from his expedition to study the ancient ruins of the Cham Peoples in the central highlands of French Indochina. It is thought that he is being held prisoner on Gwong island by the exiled Chinese Warlord General Wang Fu. General Fu may also be holding Dr. Liederhosen's beautiful niece, Dr. Clara Johansen, hostage and forcing Dr. Liederhosen to build some sort of super-bomb. He would probably use such a device to make the quarreling Warlords of China to recognize him as the new emperor of China. Then, perhaps, he might try to force the leaders of all the world’s nations to recognize him as ruler of the world! (BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!)

Dr Francois Petitpoison, Dr. Liederhosen’s partner in the French-Indochina expedition, has informed their mutual friend Montana Black of the Doctor’s disappearance. Black set off to find with his intrepid group of adventurers; Oscar Carson, Derrek Braun, Harold Green and Josephine Pink, as well as Captian Joe Blackwell and the crew of the S.S. Persephone. On the trail of Dr. Liederhosen and General Fu their adventures took the Persephone to Hanoi, Shanghai, Kowloon, Luzon, and finally GWONG ISLAND! At Kowloon they met up with Henry Daventhorpe II of His Majesty’s Secret Service and Charles Willington of the Foreign Office who joined them on their hunt for the doctor.

They are not the only ones on the trail of Fu and Dr. Liederhosen. Captain Lance Strongarm, from his secret US Rocket Corps base on the Phillipines, has been monitoring the situation through listening posts and informants. His concern for the situation has grown considerably since he learned that Karl Von Kindershisse and his ultra-secret U-boat (U-666) has been sighted in the area.

Von Kindershisse had, in fact, provided funds for General Fu’s operation. Enough to set up a secret base and hire a personal army, as well as expenses arising from the mission to kidnap the Doctor and his niece and provide raw materials for the doctor’s experiments. This was all done with the understanding that the technology for the new super-bomb would be shared with his “investors”. Unfortunately General Fu neglected to inform his Nazi backers of the location of his secret base and simply disappeared with the money. Having located General Fu, through their own ring of informants and spies, the Nazis, too, are heading to Gwong Island to terminate General Fu (with extreme predjudice!) and recover any of their original investment that they can (i.e. The Bomb!).

THE GAME

As with most of my skirmish/adventure games of late I used Savage Worlds: Showdown skirmish rules. I made up a whole bunch of setting specific Freak Events from a rampaging Diplodicus to a volcanic eruption, or attacks by natives, large jungle cats, or swarms of Vampire Bats. None of them showed up however. I’ll keep them safe for next time….

The Island

The table was set up with General Fu’s secret base in the center. This consisted of six buildings/huts, one of which was surrounded by barbed wire. This is where Doctor Liederhosen and his device were being kept. Four of the huts each housed a squad of the Warlords regular troops. The remaining hut was General Fu’s HQ which also housed his personal bodyguard of special assault troops armed with SMGs and his trusty lieutenant Captain Harry Chang. Clara Johansen was also being kept in General Fu’s HQ where he could keep an eye on her.

Surrounding the compound to the south, east and west was jungle. Further into the jungle to the South were mountains (one of which was the not-so-dormant volcano…). On the north side was a beach and the ocean. Guarding the approach from the sea, at the north end of the compound, was a machinegun emplacement.

The Adventurers from the S.S. Persephone had rowed ashore during the night and secreted their rowboats in the jungle just off the beach. They were set up to approach the compound from the Northeast. Montana Black, however, was not with them. After leading this expedition from the outset, he was denied his chance to free Dr. Liederhosen and his beautiful niece personally. He severly stubbed his toe while climbing down into the row boats rendering him unable to walk and thus had to remain behind aboard the S.S. Persephone! (Curtis, the fellow who usually plays Monatana Black, phoned just before the game to inform me he wouldn’t be showing up….).

The special detachment of Nazis had paddled to shore from their U-boat on the other side of the island and trooped through the jungle approaching from the Southwest.

The U.S. Rocket Corps would fly in on the first turn from an aircraft carrier some distance off. Because they would be too short of fuel to return and likely wouldn’t be able to carry any bomb or hostages they recovered a small craft with a naval landing party was floating just off table awaiting Captain Strongarm’s signal.

At dawn the parties converged on the General’s compound…

(you should be able to click on the pictures below to se a bigger version... hopefullly)


Here's a bird's eye view of the island. To the right is the north end of the compound with the MG emplacement looking out over the beach. On the left is the prison hut surrounded by barbed wire. In the bottom right you can see some of the Crew of the Persephone lurking in their starting positions ar the edge of teh jungle.


Here's a close-up of that MG team.

Turn One

The Rocket Corps flew in high and fast from the Northwest. Hovering abouve the compound they made a quick aerial recce of the area.

This briefly caught the attention of the MG crew (which had been nearly sleeping at their post) and the sentry outside the prison hut. All of the other Chinese started off in their huts and “shaken” as they were all sleeping or just waking up. They spent their actions this turn trying to recover.

Most other characters and the Nazis spent the turn stealthily maneuvering in the jungle and observing the compound. Except for Marcus Andres and the four crew of the S.S. Persephone he was leading. They dashed out of the jungle to the nearest hut and started firing in the open windows at the bewildered Chinese. This caused the MG crew to wheel about and fire at them, with little effect however.

A couple of the Chinese units which were last to go had troops recover from their shaken status well enough (with a raise) to act. Three from one unit ran out of their huts and shot at the Rocket Corps above, and one of the Assault Troopers leaned out the window and let off a burst at the other group of Persephone crewmen (played by Joe) killing one!


There's some of the crew of the S.S. Persephone assaulting the Chinese barracks.


From left to right; a Tommie-gun armed crewman half off the picture, Josephine Pink (in the distance wearing a pith helmet), Harold Green (with another crewman hidden behind him), also quite hidden by foliage in the distance you can just make out Oscar Carson's fedora and the bottom of his trenchcoat, Henry Davnethorpe II, Charles Willington, and some more crew, including Marcus Andres hidden in the foliage.


She-wolves of teh SS lurking in the foliage.

Turn Two

The Rocket Corps slowed and maneuvered about. One group preparied to land at the Northwest end of the compound, the other, with Captain Strongarm, at the Southeast end behind the prison hut.

Chang joined the Assault Trooper at the window and also fired upon the Persephone crew shaking one.

Oscar Carson dashed out of the jungle. Taking cover by the corner of the HQ hut he shot at the Sentry by the Prison. The sentry, in turn, sought cover within the prison hut itself.

General Fu then leaned out one of the other windows of the HQ and shot at Carson causing two wounds (ouch!). Carson successfully soaked both of them, but burned two bennies in the process (one for the soak, one to re-roll his vigor test). Harold then charged forth and gave General Fu a blast from his G.N.O.M. (Ghost Neutralizer-o-matic). Harold had brought along this invention of his, which he believes will neutralize ghosts and other paranormal or supernatural beings, just in case he happened to run into any…. I does this by shocking them with a high power bolt of energy, so he figured it might do something to General Fu as well. He caused two wounds, but Genreal Fu soaked them and thus it left him with his hair standing on end and slightly smoldering, but no real damage.

The Machine gun teamed wheeled about again to fire at the Rocketeers, that were about to land right beside them, shaking one prompting a piloting roll, which he passed.

One of the Chinese in the building being attacked by Marcus recovered from their initial shock well enough to charge to the window and try and jab a crewman with his bayonet. He failed. Marcus then joined in this close combat and shot the Chinese soldier in the face with his pistol.

More Assault Troopers ran to the windows and started blazing away with their Bergmans. Another crewman went down and Billington was wounded (though he soaked it). The remaining two crewmen in the group were then shaken, due to a failed morale test. The crew recovered slightly later in the turn but failed to do anything productive. Willington, however blasted an Assault Trooper with his shotgun!

The Chinese in the hut at the Northwest corner of the compound stormed out of their building and shot at the Rocketeers preparing to land, killing one and shaking another.

The SS continued lurking in the Jungle.


The Heroes attack the HQ Building.

Turn Three

Captain Strongarm landed by the back window of the Prison hut and had a glance in the window. Spotting the shaken Chinese guard cowering inside he filled him full of lead from his Tommie-gun. Further investigating the room he spotted an elderly gentleman sitting on a chair. He fished the picture of Dr. Liederhosen out of his flight jacket and compared it to the gentleman within for a moment. Then, shouting to his troopers he bellowed “In here boys, I’ve found the Doc!”

Meanwhile, Marcus, at the other end of the compound dispatched another Chinese soldier within the building they were attacking while his crew shot at others unsuccessfully. One of the crew fired upon the MG crew killing one however.

The other crewmen attacking the HQ shot Captain Chang, who soaked.

One of the She-wolves tried to dash out of the jungle and toss a stick grenade into the building nearest them. She fumbled. Miserably. The grenade bounced of the sill and blew up at her feet killing her. The shrapnel, tearing through the soft walls of the bamboo hut, killed one Chinese soldier and shook the will of another. The rest just fired their MP-40s into the hut killing a second Soldier and causing the rest to be shaken by a failed morale check.

Chang shot another crewman and the remaining one in that group failed a morale check.

The Rocketeers at the North end of the base landed and opened up with the Tommie-guns. They wiped out the rest of the MG crew and two other Chinese soldiers.

The second group of She-wolves attacked again suffering casualties from grenade accidents. The remainder of the squad charged to the windows and gunned the remaining Chinese soldiers down full-auto style!

Harold zapped General Fu a second time causing a great build up of static electricity. Fu’s pants stuck to his legs uncomfortably for the rest of the game!

The Chinese soldiers in the middle building on the west side, finally got their wits about them and fired upon the She-wolves assaulting their brothers in the neighboring building, killing one.

Having had enough of watching the strange foreign devil zap his boss with electricity, one of Fu’s Assault Trooper bodyguards gives Harold a bit of the rata-tat-tat shaking him. The others exited the building and took cover at the corners to bring fire on some of the others entering their compound.

Willington let off another blast from his shotgun this time blasting Captain Chang. Captain Chang soaked it.


Rocketeers land at the North end of the compound and engage the HMG and Chinese Soldiers exiting the buildings.


The Adventurers and crew of the S.S. Persephone attacking the buildings along the east side of the compound.


Captain Lance Strongarm and the U.S. Rocket Corps to the rescue!


She-wolves attack the Southwest of the compound.

Turn Four

The Crew of the Persephone under Andres finished off the Chinese soldiers in the building they first attacked.

The Rocketeers with Captain Strongarm entered and secured the Prison hut. One fired a burst out a window at the Chinese Assault Trooper hiding around the corner of the next building, only managing to make him duck back temporarily. The Sergeant asked if the Doctor is indeed the Doctor and where The Bomb was. Liederhosen indicated that he was indeed himself and the bomb was, in fact, neatly packed away in the crate sitting in the middle of the room. The Sergeant asked Dr Liederhosen to leave with them and the good Doctor said “Not vitout my niece!”

Carson exchanged shots with one of the assault troopers hiding around the opposite corner of the building. Both missed each other. One of the other Assautl Troopers bursts found it’s mark causing Davnethorpe two wounds he was unable to soak!

General Fu decided things were getting a little hot, especially by the window. He grabbed for Dr. Johansen, giving her a few static shocks as they wrestled. Eventually he got his arm around her neck, held his gun to her head, and whippered in her ear; “It’s time we got out of here, you and I…”

Willington let fly with another blast from his shotgun at Chang, striking him soundly. Chang no longer has bennies to soak and was wounded. Chang however went next and recovered well enough to shoot back and Willington and wound him!

Marcus dashed out from between two buildings to shoot an Assault Trooper point blank. He rolled ones on both his shooting die and wild die. Not so good. Deciding that was worth blowing a bennie on a re-roll he managed to only upgade the shooting die to a two and rolled another one on his wild die… things were suddenly looking a little grim for Marcus.

The Chinese Soldiers in the middle building on the west side of the compound charged out of their hut to attack the SS troops in the neighboring building. They faltered a moment and rolled a 1 for their running. They didn’t quite make it there. Josephine Pink then shot one of these soldiers caught out in the open, shaking him.

The She-wolves started shooting and tossing grenades at the Rocketeers which had maneuvered around the building at the Northwest end of the compound. They killed one and wounded another.

At the other end of the compound their commander, Captain Strongarn fired the signal flare to call in the naval landing party.


Rocketeers shooting up the remaining Chinese Soldiers in the Northwest building come under fire from the She-wolves.

Turn Five

Darrin had to go home and start cooking for his New Years party and Amanda had to go pick up our daughter Keira from Grandma and Grandpa’s. So we said that their main characters (Carson and Pink), still being quite close to the jungle, retired along with their respective wounded wildcard extras (Billington and Daventhorpe II) to administer first aid… or something like that.

Harold finally got the G.N.O.M. dialed in and roasted the Chinese Assault Trooper around the corner of the HQ building.

Der Ubersturmfuhrer fired at the Chinese Soldiers in the open charging towards the building he now occupied. I think he killed at least two…

Pink finished off the Chinese soldier she had winged the previous turn and then faded into the Jungle with Daventhorpe.

Captain Strongarm bounded into the Prison hut and took up a position at the window opposite. While making a quick assessment of the situation he spotted the She-wolves of the SS in the building opposite and quickly let off a burst from his Tommie-gun…. She had dodge (-1), was at medium range (-2), and had full soft cover (-2), and he was firing full-auto (-2)…. so… he only needed an 11 to hit… on a d8… well he aced and hit her with a raise and then killed her deader than free expression in her fatherland…! BOO-YAH!

The dead She-wolf's comrades unleashed a torrent of automatic small arms fire back at Captain Strongarm, but failed to cause a scratch.

The Rocketeers at the North end of the compound rallied and regrouped behind the building. They then made their plan to move up building to building along their side of the compound as thing looked well under control along the other.

Dr. Clara Johansen struggled and broke free of Fu’s grasp and fled to the opposite corner of the building. Fu gave chase and thne grappling began again, but this time Clara was determined to fend off Fu.

Marcus lucked out and went before the remaining SMG –armed Chinese Assualt Trooper standing right in front of him. This time he shot him dead.

Karl Von Kindershisse attempted to intimidate the Rocketeers with a torrent of heavily accented verbal abuse and treats of the dire consequences of not surrendering to the might of the National Socialism. The Rocketeers sneered, snickered and shrugged and said; “who does that dumb kraut think he’s talkin’ too?!”

Insulted by the jeering retorts and catcalls that emanated from across the way the She-wolves unleashed another volley of automatic fire. This time, however, they took down two of the Rocketeers! GAH!

Moving on to the HQ building next door, the Crew under Marcus shot up the building but failed to hit any of it’s occupants.


A good, though slightly out of focus, overhead view of things around turn five. North is in the top right. The shiny spot in the top center of the picture by the Northwest building is the downed rocketeer. Betweem the Northeast building and the HQ building (center east) you can see marcus Andres that charged out to shoot the Assault Trooper point blank, while the rest of crew he was leading are still behind the Northeast building along with the injured Daventhorpe - who was about to leave. Littering the ground to the east of the HQ building are three other crew memebers, that Joe controlled, the fourth is cowering in cover between the two windows of the building. Standing in front of one of the windows is Harold trying to dail in his G.N.O.M. Beside him is Josephine Pink about to finish off one of the wounded chinese in the open. Two of those Chinese are already down, having just been shot by Der Ubersturmfuhrer. Captain Strongarm is still outback of the Prison building after firing off the signal flare.

Turn Six

Marcus and General Fu both got dealt Jokers. Marcus got to go first, though. Stepping over the dead trooper he ducked into the HQ building. There he saw Fu and Clara wrestling in the corner. He took a couple of steps over and joined the melee by shooting Fu in the head - he hit him and when he rolled for damage he aced again and again and again. The grand total was 36 damage. 7 wounds. Fu, still having a few bennies, tried his darnedest to soak. He soaked two of them. Not enough. His head exploded in a pinkish mist.

The rest of the crew under in his group charged into the building Tommie-gun and rifles blazing SAS-style! They took down the remaining hostiles… which, at that point, was actually only the wounded Captain Chang... who lacked bennies to save himself and so died in a hail of bullets… but still it looked like a remarkable feat of martial prowess.

Clara, covered with Fu’s brain bits, shocked by the sudden silence after the final burst of extreme violence within the headquarters building, fainted.

The Rocketeers at the north end started their house-to-house clearance by entering the building they were taking cover behind.

Joe also had to go at this point so he dashed Harold out into the open – to be sure of his shot – and let fly with another electro-blast. He hit Der Ubersturmfuhrer melting and fusing his shiny steel helmet to his head! He caused four wounds, but Der Ubersturrmfuhrer soaked one of them and thus remained in the game, though severely wounded!

The remaining Persephone crewman in the group that had been controlled by Joe, who was covering in cover just outside the HQ building, simply joined the rest of the crew under Marcus.

The She-wolves decided it was time for action! The group still in the jungle charged out MP-40s blazing! All three were shooting at Captain Strongarm! The first hit twice totaling two wounds after all soak rolls were worked out. So he, like his opposite across the way, was still in the game albeit severely wounded. The second She-wolf, however, finished him off.


Marcus Andres is the one on the left of the three crew pictures inside the HQ building here. He is standing over the headless body of General Fu. Dr. Clara Johansen, standing next to him, is about to faint.



Two shots of the last moments of Captain Lance Strongarm (the rocketeer not wearing a helmet). He is standing at the window Tommie-gun dueling with a half dozen SMG armed She-wolves.

Turn Seven

The remaining Rocketeers in the prison retaliated! They shot down two of the She-wolves and wounded the other.

The other Rocketeers stormed into the next building in line, capturing the only two remaining uninjured Chinese soldiers. They had been cowering in there for a turn or two having been shaken by a failed morale test after their aborted charge into the next building occupied by the SS.


Rocketeers moving up to do their house-to-house sweep.


The remains of the SS Special Detatchement. A Severely wounded Der Ubersturmfuhrer, Karl Von Kindershisse, and a wounded Shee-wolf. I think there was another She-wolf still standing in the part of the building cut off in the picture and Ilsa was still hiding in the jungle to the rear of the building.

Cory, at this point, decided to call it quits.

The remaining SS climbed out the back of the building and faded into the Jungle. Von Kindershisse, Ilsa, and the mangled Ubersturmfuhrer high-tailed it, along with the couple surviving she-wolves, overland to rendevous with their U-boat. They would have to console themselves with the fact that, though they didn’t get to kill him themselves, they were pretty sure General Fu didn’t make it out of that battle alive. Something about his hat flying out of the HQ window followed by a pinkish mist and globs of brain-like goo... They also did manage to take down their nemesis Captain Lance Strongarm. Without him to defend the free world they would get surely get another chance to recover the super-bomb technology! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!

The Rocketeers finished their sweep of the base just in time for the naval landing party to arrive and cart away the bomb, the injured Rocketeers, and the body of their dearly departed Captain.

Dr. Liederhosen was reunited with his beloved Niece and they joined the remaining adventurers and crew aboard the S.S. Persephone for passage home to New England (their adopted home after fleeing their native Germany), abandoning the Indo-china expedition as it was clearly too dangerous a place in the dark and foreboding times.

The Figures

The all of the U.S. Rocket Corps, Dr. Liederhosen, Harold Green, and most of the SS are from Pulp Figures. The exception within the SS ranks was the Gestapo Agent, Karl von Kindershisse which is made by Artizan Designs.

General Wang Fu, Captain Harry Chang, the SMG Assault Troops, and the HMG team are all from Coppelstone Castings.

The rest of the Chinese are of my own making (See other posts on this blog).

The rest of the Adventurers; Carson, Pink, Daventhorpe II, and Willington are also from Coppelstone.

Marcus Andres and the crew of the S.S. Persephone were a mix of Foundry and Westwind WW2 French Resistance.

Thanks to everyone that showed up and participated.

Though Savage Sunday will carry on as usual most every week the next BIG EVENT Savage Pulp Adventure game will probably be the third annual installment of Tim’s Wargaming Birthday Bash, 25 February 2007. I’m thinking Egypt. Perhaps we’ll see the return of Colonel Dr. Deitrich Von Ravenhoff and his beautiful but dangerous assistant/daughter Heidi!?

Cheers!

Does this suck or does this rock? Please feel free to leave your own comments by clicking on the "# comments" link below. Thanks!

"Old" Minis

These aren't really THAT old, really. They're just not the newest ones I've made (which I posted pictures of yesterday). All of these were modelled, cast, and painted earlier this year. Mostly in September and October. I thought I'd post them here as well for anyone that hasn't seen them yet.

First is a 28/30mm British Infantryman advancing in tropical kit.


Front


Back


Here's two battalions of them. The officers are from Coppelstone Castings.

Next are some more pics of my 28/30mm 1920's Chinese Warlord Troops.


The front of the two original infantrymen (I've added a third one, you can see it in the post before this one)


The back of those same Chinese infantrymen


A Regiment of four battalions (again the officers are from Coppelstone Castings).


Chinese Cavalrymen. The horses are 25mm Hinchliffe from the Colonial Connection and the officer and his horse are, once again from Coppelstone Castings).

Next are a bunch of 1914 British. They're a bit smaller, more of an "old school" 25mm (1/72). Here is a pic for size comparison:


From left to right: a British Officer from Coppelstone Castings), my own 1914 Highlander (see below), my own British Infantryman in tropical kit (see above)


The 1914 Highlander.


Another view of the Highlander. Can anyone guess what Tartan I was trying to paint?


A battlaion of Highlanders.


1914 Naval Brigade. I have since repainted his hat to be the correct navy blue...


Fronts of the 1914 Tommies


Backs of the 1914 Tommies


A battalion of 1914 British Infantrymen.

New Minis

Two weeks ago I made some moulds for some new masters I finished up. These are five Canadian Great War Infantrymen plus an officer and another Chinese Infantryman.


These are the Canadians.


Here they are again without the barbed wire.


Here is a size comparison with a few figures from some of my other favorite manufacturers. Left to right they are; a British Officer from Coppelstone Castings, one of mine, a British Tommie from Renegade Miniatures, a Highlander from Old Glory Miniatures.


These are the Three Chinese infantrymen I have made. The new one is the one on the right, marching with his rifle slung.


This is the state of the work bench these days. Lots of new masters on the go in various stages of completion. Some will become Great War Germans, some Canadian Highlanders, some more regular Canadians (lewis gunner, bomber, etc), and I'm even thinking about a few Pulp Adventure character type figures just for laughs. The Great War figures are the priority right now, though, as I have to get a bunch ready for the Vimy game I'll be running at May Day in Edmonton.

Lost City of Chin'lin (SW-Pulp)

A couple of you may have read this report. Now that I have this blog I thought I'd post it here as well.

It is a report from a Savage Worlds Pulp Adventure skirmish game I ran a couple of weeks back.

The Lost City of Chin'Lin

Staring:

Darrin Moris as Arnold Smith, Archaeologist (and Chalie Davis, Explorer)
Curtis Tessmer as Seth Blackmore, Head Digger/Foreman (and his crew of diggers)
Lloyd Sisk as Professor Henry Daventhorpe (and Penelope Smith, Archaeologist and wife of Arnold)

(these are the players, each had a Main character and either a supporting character/actor or a group of extras)

and, of course, I (Tim Brown) played all the bad guys...

Capatin Lee Feng, corrupt officer of the local warlord (and two squads of Chinese soldiers)
Baron Vladimir Smirnov, Officer of the russian army posted to the Tashkent garrison and collector of Central Asian antiquities (and two squads of Russian Soldiers)
Abdul Mohammed Yang, leader of the ruthless "Orange Gang" a mob of chinese muslim bandits.

23 September, 1912. Sinkaing Province, North-West China.

Professor Daventhorpe is leading an expedition to Sinkaing funded by the Royal Geographic Society. They have criss-crossed the Gobi several times over the last year. A month ago they stumbled upon what Proffesor Daventhorpe believed to be the Lost City of Chin'Lin, where, legend has it, were incredible riches before it was mysteriously "swallowed by the desert" in about 1272 AD. Being low on supplies one of the trucks was sent to Kashgar to aquire provisions. Unfortunately, during their brief stay, one of the local hired hands told a friend of his about thier discovery. Said friend, lacking any sense of discretion blabed the news all about town. A week later all were back at the dig sight and just sitting down to tea after a hard afternoon of work when they spotted a group of soldiers approaching form the east...

Captain Feng entered their camp and informed them that they were all under arrest by order of the Governor of Sinkaing for thievery, grave-robbing, sedition, murder and a load of other trumped up charges. They were to hand over all their arms and tools immediately. Daventhorpe doubted that Feng was really acting under the orders of the Governor and figured if they handed over their equipment they'd shortly end up in shallow graves. The riches of Chin'lin would make Capatin Feng a very wealthy man as he sold them on the black markets to private collectors. They would certainly never end up in a museum where they belong! So the members of the expedition stood their ground.

The stand-off was broken when Captain Feng spotted some movement beyond the other side of the ruins. Peering over Daventhorpe's shoulder he cursed; "DAMN YOU BARON SMIRNOV!" Looking back Daventhorpe spotted another group of soldiers approaching from the west.

These were Russian soldiers lead by Baron Vladimir Smirnov, an officer of the Russian Imperial Army posted to the Tashkent garrison and collector of Central Asian antiquities. His spies in Kashgar had informed him of the discovery and he lead a group of trusted soldiers covertly across the border into China.

Unknown to any of them the entire encounter was also being observed by a group of bandits hidden on a nearby hillside.

This is where everyone was dealt in. Unknown to the players there was also a yeti sleeping in his cave on one of the nearby rocky outcroppings. Any time a Joker was dealt I had them roll 2d6 on a 2 or a 12 the yeti would be woken by the commotion and would charge down off the hill and attack the closest figures.

Turn One
Arnold was dealt a joker but, being the ever cautious one, Darrin put him on hold. His wife penelope, going next with an ace, tried to shoot Feng (and missed) and made a run for the boxes of supplies!

"Well that's torn it" says Arnold Smith and blasted Capatin Feng with his shotgun (who, in turn, soaked it...) then ran for cover behind one of the trucks.

Abdul and his bandits opened fire and took down half of one of the squads of Chinese soldiers! The Chinese soldiers then all ran for cover. One squad sought cover behind a ruined building and fired upon the diggers, taking down one of them. The other squad, or rather the REMAINS of the other squad, took cover behind a wall and returned the bandits fire with little effect.

Then it was Blackmore and the Diggers turn to head for cover! They then started working their way around the building the chinese were hiding behind (on the other side).

Feng finally went and took a shot at A. Smith as he dove for cover around the oposite end of the truck Smith is behind.

Davis and Daventhorpe both shot chinese soldiers then split for cover in different directions. Daventhorpe joined Smith by the truck and Davis dove behind a wall of the ruined building opposite the group of Chinese soldiers.

The Russians all advanced towards the ruins. One squad trying to flank around to the South.

Turn Two.

Another Joker helped Professor Daventhorpe blast another Chinese soldier. The shotgun helped too. You need all the help you can get when your shooting is d4.

Davis and Feng, though in cover from the bulk of their respective enemies, realized they were in plain view of each other! Davis went first shooting Feng (who soaked but was rapidly running out of bennies!). Feng then maneuvered for better cover and shot back at Davis, missing.

The Chinese and Bandits exhanged fire once again. Vladamir and the Russians dashed from cover to cover as they advanced upon the ruins.

Arnold maneuvered around the truck and shot Feng, causing a wound! Penelope then joined the Professor behind the truck and fired her pistol at the Chinese behind the building, missing.

Around the other end of the building Seth hobbled up to one of the Chinese soldiers and tried to bash him with his shovel. The soldier ducked. The rest of the diggers joined him, mobbing the remaining soldiers.

Turn Three.

Davis shot Feng causing two more wounds.

Feng was in a bad way! He did, however, miraculously recover from being shaken (at -3!) but couldn't manage to do anything else.

The Chinese soldiers in the melee by the building fought back! Their kung-fu and bayonets was no match for Seth or the diggers with shovels, however, as the turn ended with two shaken Chinamen!

Smirnov finally maneuvered to a position behind the stacks of supply crates. He stood up tall and leveled his pistol at Daventhorpe and shouted "Give up proffessor, you can not hope to win". Daventhorpe, however, is unintimidated by this (both rolled 11 in their contest of wills!) and climbed into the truck and started it. Penelope climbed in the other door after loosing a shot off at Feng. Arnold also tried blasting Feng again but missed.


Feng hiding behind the truck, surrounded by the bodies of his soldiers that have been picked off by the bandits. Daventhorpe and Smith are around the other side. Russians can be seen on either side at the top of the picture. One injured Digger lies out in the open where all the Heros started.


In the immediate foreground is one of the Chinese from the squad that was shot up by the Bandits. He has taken cover behind the wall and is returning fire. In the background are the Diggers, along with their Foreman, Mr. Blackmore, fighting the other Chinese hand to hand. The Dead Chinese near them were shot by Daventhorpe and Davis.


The Bandits on the hill.


The flanking squad of Russians.

Turn Four.

The flanking Russians continued their trek while their leader, Vladamir, on the other side of the ruins shot at Davis, shaking him. Later in the turn the other squad of Russians (the ones with Smirnov) were finally in position and also fired at Davis. This time he took a wound he was unable to soak! Davis however super-recovered from being shaken sliped around the side of the building he is up against and pumped of a shot at the flanking Russians causing one to reconsider this foolish adventure ino China (shaken).

Meanwhile Seth bashed in the head of a Chinese soldier with his shovel. The diggers finished off the other after the Bandits, firing into the melee, killed one.

Daventhorpe threw the truck into gear and tries to back up over Feng. Feng rolled out of the way. Arnold pumped another shot into Feng as their respective cover rolls away, shaking Feng, then backed up to get some cover behind the pile of supplies. Feng couldn't recover this time. Penelope picked up Daventhorpes shotgun and reloaded it.


Left to right: Flanking Russians, one shaken by Davis, Davis in the hat shooting at the Russians, Mr. Seth Blackmore brandishing his shovel over the body of the Chinese soldier he has just brained, and Diggers finishing off the other Chinese. In the background can be seen the other Russians behind the stack of crates and in the ruins.


There's a better shot of what's going on in the background with the Russians. Smith is behind the tent.

Turn Five.

Penelope leaning out the window of the truck blasted the remaining Chinese soldier. Daventhorpe having stopped the truck, gunned it forward to crush the shaken Feng against a wall. The truck, Davnethorpe and Penelope escaped injury in the collision.


Feng Crushed between a ruck and a rock wall.... I guess he won't be a reoccuring character....

The Bandits lacking chinese to shoot at, killed two diggers!

The flanking Russians charged Davis. He was stabbed with a bayonet but soaked it. Davis fought back with little effect. The two remaining diggers and Seth joined the melee with the Russians. Seth took one down as did the Diggers.

Arnold draws his machete (handy those, in the desert...) and charged around the pile of crates and whacking one Russian soldier good. Two other Russians turned and joined in the melee, while the remaining three shot at the truck. Smirnov drew his sword and brandishing it above his head shouted: "You will die now, Smith!". Smith was not intimidated. The Russian's ego was seriously undermined and he decided not to persue this tactic of intimidation in the future.

Turn Six.

Smith (A.) took down one of the three Russians fighting him. They fought back while the others, again, shot at the truck. They must have gone to the Imperial Stormtrooper School of Armed Combat. Couldn't hit anything.

Seth bashed another Russian with his shovel. The Diggers took one down. The Russians, fighting back, shook Davis.

The Bandits shot up the truck as well, shaking Penelope.

Smirnov jumped into the melee with Smith. He slashed Smith, shaking him.

Daventhorpe backed up the truck.


Smith battling Smirnov and Two Russians.


Davis (right), Seth (center) and Digger (left) battle Russians.

Turn Seven

Seth took down ANOTHER Russian, the remaining two failed a morale check and were shaken. Davis took out one of them and the remaining one tries to surrender to the Diggers.

Smith recovered from being shaken and took off Smirnov's head with one slash from his machete (SIX WOUNDS, only managed to soak one...). Another character that will not be returning. The other two Russians gave Smith a jab though, shaking him once again... The others shot at the truck.

Daventhorpe drove the truck at the three Russians shooting at him from behind the wall...

The Bandits shot into the melee with Smith and killed one of the Russians.

Turn Eight

The Digger decide they no time for tying up Russians and thus give no quarter. The bashed him to a pulp with their shovels.

Davis dashed for some cover, followed by Seth.

Davnethorpe braked at the last moment deciding the wall might be a tad sturdier than the truck...! The Russian vacated the area anyway, going to the aid of their last comrade fighting Smith. Penelope leans out the window and fired at the melee HITTING HER HUSBAND!?! (ooops...)

Turn Nine
Bandits shooting into the melee finished off the last three Russians entirely missing Smith!!!

Over the next couple turns all the heros loaded up into the trucks thinking they would drive out to the hill and face the Bandits. Smith even did a spectacular leap onto the truck driven by Daventhorpe as he lumbered by. On Turn 12, however, Abdul got a joker and shot Daventhorpe good through the front window of the truck. He took a wound and had to do a driving test to see if he could keep control of the truck. He failed. The truck veered right and crashed into the side of the wall they were just about to pass through. The truck was damaged, though the Smiths and Daventhorpe escaped further damage.



Truck crashing into wall.

We decided to call the game at that point. Curtis had to go.... I was getting tired.... Finnegan was causing havock for his mother upstairs... and it would have been a few more turns to get that truck started up again, back it up, and drive it out to the hill (followed by the other truck who's path was blocked by the crashed turck) and fight off the Bandits.... Had they just hunkered down behind cover I would have had the bandits come to them and they could have shot them up in the open and sent any survivors scurrying back off to the hills.... so that's what I'm saying happened....

Brownville Gold (LotOW)

Last Friday's SHMW Game Night I ran a little Legends of the Old West game at the Den. I ran it for a couple of reasons. One was so that all the games for Novemeber and December didn't end up being WW2 games. Also I had recovered a bunch of my old west figures from Mr. Burt's basement when I went I was in Calgary for Fallcon and wanted to make use of them.

These old west figures I speak of have a bit of a (boring) history. I ordered them all from England about 17 years ago. I think a couple were from Britannia Miniatures, the rest I haven't a clue. If anyone out there can tell from the pictures let me know. Anyway, I painted them up with intentions of playing some sort of old west shoot out game. I know John ordered Once Upon a Time in the West, and at some point I picked up some I.C.E./Rolemaster old West type game. But we never, ever got around to playing with them! At some point, over a decade ago, I was purging miniatures and John took them and stored them in his basement until I came to my senses and asked for them back.

I decided these guys really needed to see some action so I said I'd run a LotOW game for the game night on 15 Dec 06. In the last couple weeks I rebased all and touched up some of the figures, and finished painting a few that weren't finished. Then I had to reread the LotOW rules as I hadn't even looked at them since I bought them when they first came out. Luckily Jeff showed up for Game Night as he has played it a few times and helped out when I forgot things (which was just about everything...).

The scenario I cooked up was that the Brownville's, some hicks that live up in the hills near Snake River, had found some gold on their property. Now the Brownville's aren't trusting folks and usually hide all their money in old coffee cans but there was a significant amount of gold in the vien they discovered so they made arrangements for the Bank in Snake River to hold it for them.

Well word kind of got out and a couple of interested parties set out to ambush the Brownvilles on their way into town and make off with their gold.

I played the Brownville's; Ma, Pa, Billy-Ray, and Jethro. These are more recent additions to my old west collection. They're Coppelstone Castings "Sharp Shooting Hillbillies" from the Gangster line. I used the cowboy list to make them up, I didn't buy them wilth points/dollars, I just used the list for the stats. Their goal was to lead the mule laden with gold into snake river and turn it over to the Sheriff and his deputies that were waiting at the bank.

I also played Sheriff Johnson (one of the ones I think I got from Britannia Miniatures) and his two deputies (a couple more recent additions; Artizan's "Gothic Gunfighters").

I made up a couple groups of outlaws with my older figures but only ended up using a one of them which Gary played.

Jeff and Dylan played posses that Jeff had brought along. Dylan had outlaws, Jeff had some (corrupt) US Marshall's(?) or Texas Rangers or something like that....

Here's a bit of how it went down:



Dylan (left) and Gary (right) check out the lay of the land, and are setting up their posses. The Brownvilles started at the table edge furthest from Snake River, which can be seen in the distance. Jeff (hiding behind Dylan) later set up his posse on the same side as Dylan, but closer to Snake River.


Here is Ma and Pa Brownville. Jethro and Billy-Ray are trailing behind as they've been shooting up some of Dylan's Outlaws (seen in the background).



Now these are some of those ancient Old West figures of unkown origin played by Gary. Gary maneuvered them through the gullys and tried to make best use of the cover available (and let Dylan and me and jeff shoot each other up a bit before jumping in!).


Sheriff Johnson of Snake River and his Deputies. They didn't play much of a role in this scenario. armed only with six-guns their sole purpose was to distract Jeff for a turn or two while catching a few bullets from his rifles. Jeff's Rangers shot down the two deputies then Sheriff Johnson decided to head for the hills.


Some of Jeff's Rangers. Some look like Mexicans to me.


At this point Ma's been shot down and Pa's grabbed the mule. Snake river is in sight (as are the Lawmen just beyond the Snake River sign). Jeff's Rangers are up oon the hill. I think Dylan's Outlaw's (not in this picture) were already making "Head for the Hills" checks and passed them for about 6 turns in a row before finally calling it a day. The turn after this picture was taken the rest of the Brownville's went down.


Jeff's Rangers on the hill looking across at Gary's Outlaws that have recovered the mule. Gary had been going dead last every turn up until we had to check for where the mule went. The player with "the drop" determines where bolting animals go. So of course Gary got the drop, the animal bolted, and headed straight for Gary's group. At this point Jeff and Dylan forged a (temporary) alliance, otherwise Gary's Outlaws would turn and head off the table while they continued to shoot each other up.

Jeff then shot the mule. The mule was replace with four gold tokens. Where the mule could be lead at a walking pace, each gold token had to be carried by a different figure, which could onl move at half rate when carrying said gold and could only use single handed weapons. So Gary picked up a few of them and headed for his table edge.

Jeff and Dylan's guys chased him across the table shootin' as they went. Eventually Dylan's guys decided they'd had enough and called it quits.




A couple shots of the final shoot out between Jeff and Gary's posses. There was a lot of fanning of six-guns going on and guys dropping like flys. In the end both were below half strength and I think it was Gary's guys that head for the hills first.

Another fun game. Thanks to Gary, Jeff and Dylan for coming out to play!

If I were to do it all over again I'd probably've used Savage Worlds. I'm far more familiar with the system and could have tweaked things a bit better to make the Brownvilles a tad more survivable. Each would have been a wild card (or at least Ma and Pa and Jethro and Billy-Ray would have been really tough extras), whereas the players would have had a single wild card leader and a group or two of extras.