Her Majesty’s Government has caught a break! Local spies in Cameroon have identified the notorious arms smuggler and enemy of the crown Baron Maxim Volkov. He has been found hiding out in a Hacienda outside of Yaoundé . If the information is to be believed, he is planning on a new arms deal that will set West Africa ablaze. As luck would have it, the information is timely. However, with France being an ally, Her Majesty needs plausible deniability. Warrants have been issued and independent contracts in the dark arts have been brought into confidence. Which ever team is successful will be handsomely rewarded. The game is afoot!
Time for another In Her Majesties Name Pulp game. I pulled out my Crescent Root Villa set and a lot of ground cover accessories. The scenario design was everyone for themselves. The mission was locate Baron Volkov and exit him on the players board edge. In addition to the primary objective, each force rolled up their own secondary objectives. There were ten markers on the table. One of these was the Baron and the others either traps or false leads. The markers would be activated when a figure moved into contact and exceeded a pluck test. Followed by a roll of a D10 for effect. On a roll of 1-4 a poison trap was sprung and the player would have to take a Pluck test or get knocked down. If they failed, they would have to take another pluck test to survive. On a 5-9 they would find a false clue, which had no game effect. On a result of 10 they would find Baron Volkov. If he was not found, the last objective would end up being him. The two closest objectives would automatically not be him, unless they were checked last.
The table had the villa in the center, with the game starting at night. Max visibility at night would be 18″ Starting on turn 6, the players would roll for day break. A die roll of equal or under the turn number would result in daylight and visibility would be fully restored. The Villa would be guarded by five soldiers and a guard dog. They would move randomly, until the alarm was sounded. The alarm would be sounded once the guards saw an enemy figure. In addition to the guards, the bands would have to deal with a pride of Gorillas that had entered the area looking for food!
Three turns after the alarm was sounded, the GM would randomly determine which marker was Baron Volkov. He would make his way to a the waiting pick up truck and then be driven off the table to escape capture. The guards would do their upmost to protect him and help him to excape.
We had two forces, with each deploying on opposite short board edges. Due to fear, each moved at full speed toward the board edge. Two groups circled around the compound towards the pride of gorillas. Unfortunately, they angered the animals, causing them to charge Lord Huffington’s team, who triggered the alarm trying to defend themselves. Professor Esterhazy tried to use the opening to get some easy points (along with some gorilla pelts), as the two groups then tried to break into the compound. Baron Volkov heard all the commotion and made his way to the waiting pick up truck and was whisked away to safety. The mission proved to be a failure, so each team tried to pick up whatever secondary objectives and loot they could to come away with a minor win. Lord Huffington, was caught between a rock and a hard place, dealing with the most enemies, but almost pulled it off. However, Esterhazy managed to squeek by with the win…
Esterhazy managed to get the most men off. However, Rosenfeld managed to find the most gold and came away with the highest points!
- Manteuffel