For into the interior of Siam lies the old temple city of Angkor. Who knows what treasures its ancient ruins hold for someone bold enough to risk the wrath of the neighboring tribes and wild beasts. However, with the finding of the tail of the Jade Buddha in a Puhket monastery, the time has come to cast off all the risks and seek glory! Unfortunately, news of riches travels quickly in this part of the world and every nation is sending their best adventures to find the Jade Buddha. The race is a foot, can your team avoid the locals and indigenous wild life and get the Jade Buddha first? It’s time to crack on and show the world what for!
This Pulp Wednesday gave me a chance to use my recently finished jungle terrain and previously acquired temple ruins (thank you aquarium story!). This fit well with my Cigar Box Battles jungle ruins mat. The game included four teams, each entering the table from the sides of the table.. As game master, I ran all the non-player characters (in this case crocodiles and snakes). I set up six clue markers. Three were markers that would point to a spot on the board when the third was located (the third marker was the last clue by design). The other three markers were traps. One was a giant anaconda and the other two were up to D10 crocodiles (a mix of large, medium and small and capped to the figures available). Each team rolled for secondary objectives. Once the last clue was found, the Jade Buddha would be revealed. The player that could take it off the board edge would gain 20vp. Players also received 10vp for achieving their secondary objective, 2vp for killing a creature or other player model and 5vp for killing other players leaders. Highest scoring player would win. Once the Buddha was discovered, the local tribes would sweep onto the board as a wave from the rear edge moving D10 inches a turn. If touched by the wave, the player figure would be lost (captured) for the game.
The game played out over nine turns and ended with a lone character getting off the board with the Buddha and everyone else getting either killed or captured. All the players worked the table, fighting crocodiles and snakes along the way. No one wanted to be the one to lift the final clue, until they had thinned down the opposition. This resulted in one group being knocked out. One player managed to find almost all the crocodiles by themselves. This turned out to be a blessing. As everyone laughed while he lost team members to the never ending swarm, they ignored him to focus on each other. When the dust cleared, he had tallied up an impressive tally of crocodiles (his next adventure will be opening up a boot store!) and was able to snatch the Jade Buddha and make a hasty retreat!
Check out the photos from the game!
