Sir Rupert Utterley-Barkinge's mood was beginning to mellow. A little. They had successfully held Wurts Ranch against the Dragon Lady and her Tong. And whilst the only question that should have been on their lips was why the Chinese were so interested in Dirk Beauregard instead of building the next railway, too much effort was being spent hunting for a decent cuppa. So while the Secret Agents were enjoying their coffee and Sir Rupert was hunting high and low for a teapot, Count Otto Von Wahnbildt was left fiddling with the small box they had found in the desk drawer. It had no visible keyhole and was adorned with the intricate carving of a Chinese Dragon. It wasn't long until the Count's inability to find a way inside led to a string of choice words emanating from his lips that turned the air blue. The air was of a similar shade in the kitchen where Sir Rupert's search for a teapot was producing similar results.
Count Otto slammed the box down onto the desk in frustration. Somehow it made a section click loose. Out slid a tray lined with red felt. On it lay the strangest clockwork device and a slip of paper. Written on it was inscribed "The First of Four."
"Vere ze hell are ze ozer three!" Otto exclaimed.
"What are they anyway?" asked Sergeant Reynolds. Private Gathering just shrugged his shoulders.
"There's a receipt here for three packages," one of the agents said, lifting a sheet of paper from the desk. The postal service stamp was from Windy Port, just a few miles away.
"Thank goodness there's no time for a coffee then," said Sir Rupert as he snatched his Hunting Rifle and put his fedora on his head. "Well? What are we waiting for?" he asked as stood in the doorway. "Let's see where these packages are!"
Our game would take place in Windy Port. We were playing 9.1.1 Objectives. We added in the complications 9.2.3 Collateral Damage and 7.3 Armed Villains from Heroes, Villains and Fiends. We took it in turns to set up six objectives around the board, choosing each one to be no more than 12" from the centre point of the table. We decided that a model must forfeit a shoot or fight action to be able to check the objective. A missing item would be found on a successful dice roll. This would be on a 6 for the first check, then a 5+ and so on until the three places were finally revealed. To claim the item the character finding it must successfully escape the table from the side they entered from at the start of the game.
Civilians were added at various points around the board.
And Sir Rupert and his allies from the Secret Service appeared on the table behind the row of shops.
The Black Dragon Tong were taking the more direct approach down the main street. And look, they had one of those frozen Sasquatch things again...!
We were all set for a fantastic evening of gaming. Here's the tale of what happened...
Both sides began to make a move into Windy Port.
The Dragon Warrior reached the first stack of boxes. He rolled a 4, so had found nothing. Sir Rupert reached a large pile of crates. He needed a 5+ but managed to roll another 4. Then a Boxer made it to another set of boxes. He needed a 4+ and rolled a 5, so the first piece belonged to the Tong, who were a long way away and out of sight of our brave adventurers. Sigh.
Unperturbed, the Dragon warrior moved between the stable and a simple dwelling to reach a large crate. Rolling a 5 on a 3+, he had successfully found the second piece of the contraption. These Dragon Tong clearly knew what was happening. All hopes of ever finding Dirk Beauregard alive were clearly desperate ones...
Here we made use of Derek's wonderful laser pointer to check line of sight. You can see this in the next photo. Way too much fun was had using this, I have to say! Sergeant Reynolds took aim at the Dragon warrior and fired. He hit, and the Dragon warrior failed his Pluck roll. Of course, the Dragon Warrior is a fanatic and so gets to reroll the first failed Pluck roll of the game. What do you mean? Of course he passed. Sir Rupert got a clear shot at him, but the Pluck was with the warrior and he didn't go down.
Meanwhile, the main street definitely belonged to the Tong. Not even the civilians were bothered by the Yeti disguised as a blue sasquatch.
As Sir Rupert's expeditionary company began to spread out, one agent and Goonda made a dash towards the Dragon Warrior under the cover of a nearby building.
The Dragon warrior stood his ground defiantly.
Some of the Secret Agents were trying to get to the main street to contest the remaining crates.
Things were clearly going to end in fisticuffs at any moment. The gringo in the great sombrero seemed utterly uninterested by all that was going on around him.
Two Agents made it to the remaining crate which had to have the final part in it. I felt good to deny the Tong one part of the mechanism at least.
Sergeant Reynolds failed to kill the Dragon warrior with another well placed but pluck-denied shot. A Boxer tried to shoot the Secret Agent hiding in the shadow of a building. He missed entirely. The gringo with the giant sombrero wasn't having any of this nonsense in his town. Thanks to the Armed Civilian complication, he drew his gun and fired at the Boxer, who failed his Pluck roll and was killed. (Thanks, Craig and Charles for such a wonderful rule. It put such a smile on our faces, as we love a good narrative.)
Sir Rupert and his friends now had to come to the aid of an over-enthusiastic agent and Goonda, who had gotten themselves into a bit of a fix.
Their attempt to catch the Dragon Warrior had gone pear-shaped. They were now surrounded by a load of Tong members who weren't in the most convivial of spirits.
And things were looking equally bleak for another agent...
Private Gathering took aim at a Tong member. he needed a 10 to hit, which he managed! The Tong member failed his pluck roll and was killed. Count Otto fired at the assailant at Goonda's back making full use of his Hunting skill. The shot felled him. Goonda took out his remaining assailant. The Agent killed his opponent, and Goonda began to dash after the Dragon warrior, desperate to deny him the opportunity of escaping from the board with his part of the mechanism.
Meanwhile the two Agents were making their way towards their own table edge with the part of the mechanism they had recovered. Unfortunately for them, the Dragon Lady managed to charge him. The Agent managed to pass his pluck test and escape her evil clutches...well, talons. Poisoned talons. The stuff of nightmares to be honest. His chum stayed to hold back the Dragon Lady and Master Wu-Jen.
Goonda found himself charged. He made a Pluck roll...and passed! Escaping from this delaying tactic, he charged headlong into the back of the Dragon Warrior. It looked as if Goonda might come to the rescue once again!
Sadly, just after this moment was captured on film, the Dragon Warrior managed a similar Pluck roll. He disengaged from Goonda's clutches and dashed off the board. The Dragon Tong had two pieces of the mechanism.
Time for shooting. Sir Rupert on the far left of the next photo wanted to shoot at either Master Wu-Jen or the Dragon Lady herself. He wanted to help the hapless Secret Agent who had gotten himself into to a bit of a fix. Sir Rupert has the Hunter Talent which reads, "With a hunting rifle, the Hunter can pick his target from a group of figures in base to base contact with each other. He does not suffer the usual - 4 penalty on the attack roll and if he misses there is no chance of him hitting other members of the group."
When Sir Rupert has done this before, his target has always been the closest model. In our situation Sergeant Reynolds, one of his own men, was in front of the target. We weren't sure if this was allowed or not. We decided to roll a dice for it, which allowed us to go ahead and Master Wu-Jen was shot and killed.
We checked this out on the In Her Majesty's Name Facebook Group where both Charles Murton and Craig Cartmell agreed that the dice roll had gone the right way. A character with the Hunter Talent can choose any target in a group of figures in base to base contact as they are all moving in a melee. I might also add that they did say the shooting rules were tighter in their later rule sets. Mr. Murton even mentioned the possibility of an IHMN version 2... (And if that day ever comes, please remember you heard it here first, folks!!!!)
And as Private Gathering got another bump to the head, the Secret Agent managed to get off the board with the solitary par of the mechanism.
Sir Rupert's mood was blackening by the minute. Having made sure that Private Gathering was okay, he set off to enquire about a teapot at the general store...
Comments
Post a Comment