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Thursday 21 December 2017

Soerabaja Manhunt, Pulp Alley Solo AAR

                                            NICKEL & DIME PRODUCTIONS PRESENT
                                                              Perilous Island
                                                             A story by Dave Phipps at Pulp Alley
                                                                Chapter 4  Soerabaja Manhunt

Returning from the warehouse empty handed the Blue Blooded night went from bad to worse, as arriving back at the hotel they find Harriet's room a mess & no Harriet.
Collins "Can this night get any worse ? we failed to get the package & now by the looks of thing Harriet's been taking, I would guess this is the handy work of the Germans, looks like she was right I should have let her come along"
Grace " Don't blame yourself Delbert you only done what you thought was best, & besides the night wasn't a complete waste as at least we know where that package came from"

Moore "That's right while I had it I noticed it came from a place called Soerabaja, its a town on the coast in Indonesia if my memory is right & that's where we need to head next, it might give us a edge over Jerry"
This was not to be the case as Helga had also learned the same thing from the ledger in the warehouse.
Two of the PP's left the lady selling her wears & right the gent at the door of the customs building
This time I didn't forget about Harriet (Elaine) but as the Germans won the last time she's added to their league for this game, but in keeping with the story which has her allied to the BB league, I instead of having her in the German league I just added another German with her stats.
PP Fryer  standing in the corner fixing the window, I've found that when playing PA that perilous terrain is something that is hard to make work as why would a player ever go into it if he doesn't have to, so the dog  is perilous meaning that  to get to the PP you either have to face the dog or do a perilous action to jump the wall.
The game has the two leagues trying to find an old sailor the last know survivor of Forbes expedition somewhere in the town, for this scenario there are 5 PP's on the table with 7 reward cards two of which are red herrings, the +1 experience card will earn the league who draws it the MPP (old sailor) but this will only be in the deck if your league has already completed another PP.
Two more PP's left the lady in the doorway & right the old man trying to get ride of the rats, the rats like the dog are are perilous terrain. 
The random events table seen the BB's shift their dice up to a d8 for the initiative roll off, while the Germans got to place two areas of perilous terrain, in solo play you don't use initiative but I find this roll off handy for who goes first in deploying.
The Germans up to no good create two explosions, these are the two areas of perilous terrain they got on the random events table, to ad to the mayhem I've a car that will move 2d6 around the road, this will cause a perils if it should hit anyone.
Deployment is done by each side placing one character at a time anywhere on the table as long as its not within 6" of a PP or an enemy.
Dowl up on a roof see some Germans on the road & opens fire.
Misses, gets hit by the returned fire & goes down
On the other side of town there's plenty of shooting in which Collins is wounded.
Collins heads over to the man at the door while Moore keeps Helga busy
Hess runs up the steps to talk to the lady
Brown , Eder & Fritz  get off the road & head for the building  Dowl is on.
Just as Grace is  about to cross over the road a car comes along stopping her in her tracks.
Turn 1 Grace card held in place so can't move & had no one to shoot at, Dowl failed a card challenge so can't run but didn't need to & shot at Edar who returned fire putting him down, Collins card surprise twist meaning that the activation switched to the Germans.
Helga shoots Collins both save, Gloup shoots & wounds Collins, Eder, Brown & Fritz run while Muller moves & fires a long blast blocking line of sight to both him & Gloup.
Collins runs to the PP while Moore rushes Helga, recovery Collins & Dowl both fail, so Collins still wounded health dice down to d8, Dowl out of the game

Helga might have a pretty face but she's a bit more then that as Moore finds out, while Muller moves to support her.

As the car passes by Brown spots Grace & opens fire
Grace take a wound as Brown goes down.
Gloup fires on Collins but with all the smoke can't get a clear shot at him.
Eder rounds the corner & stops dead, rats why did it have to rats he thinks.
Yes I know the man your looking for, try the inn around the corner he's found of the drink.
She tells Hess before going inside
Fritz see's Brown go down & moving up shoots Grace who goes down.
I don't know who your talking about, the man tells Collins,
before moving off
Turn 2 Helga card held in place, shoots Collins who fires back both unhurt, Brown card foul play which Grace  takes a perils from fails & takes a wound, Brown then runs & shoots Grace & goes down in the return fire, Fritz card move along runs & shoots Grace who takes a wound & goes down, Gloup shoots Collins who shoots back both make saves, Eder moves into perils area fails pails & goes down, Hess completes PP reward +1 back up, Collins completes PP reward red herring, Moore rushed Helga & wounds her but goes down. Recovery Collins pass health d10, Grace & Moore both fail & are out of the game, Eder also out of the game, Helge failed & is health d6 while Brown made his.
Helga you wouldn't hit a lady would you ?
Collins no so pushed her down the steps, as Muller moves back & fires at him.
but gets hit in the return fire & goes down
Gloup slips on the steps.
Hess heads for the old man but stops at the sight of the rats.
Brown & Fritz make their way up the street towards the sea front.
Turn 3 Collins card move along, rushes Helga knocking her down, Muller card make it count moves back from Collins to remove his close range shoot bonus while keeping his own, wounds Collins & goes down, Gloup card double down which means Collins has to take two cards, first one hesitation has no effect, second one double down which means Gloup has to take two cards, the first one is a perils which Gloup fails & goes down.
Hess moves down the step to where the rats are, Fritz & Brown run. Recovery Collins past Health d10, Helga pass Health d6 Gloup pass, Muller fail out of the game.
Helga gets back to her feet & says that wasn't very gentleman like of you. 
Gloup tries to get back on his feet & slips again.
Hess walks carefully around the rats to the old man & asks about the sailor, I'll help you if you help me get rid of  these rats he replies.
Brown & Fritz arrive just as Collins downs Helga with a sharp right, I guess that's ungentlemanly to he says
Both Brown & Fritz fire on Collins but he drops both of them with return fire, playing the part of the hero with aplomb. 

Turn 4 Collins card sprint, rushes Helga both save, Helga card hesitation brawls with Collins & goes down, Gloup card perils fails goes down, Hess movers to PP rats perils auto pass PP perils pass PP challenge makes one success needed two, Brown & Fritz both ran & shot at Collins & both went down to return fire. Recovery Helga, Brown Fritz all pass, Gloup fails & is out of the game.
Helga staggers back to her feet & tries to claw Collins, but he's to fast for her, Brown & Fritz heads for the PP. 
I'll tell you nothing until the rats are gone.
 
Collins faints a blow at Helga & moves away from her saying this dance is over sweetheart. 
Turn 5 Helga card gives +1 to her brawl, brawls Collins takes 3 hit but she saves them all, Brown card quirk of faith runs, Fritz card all clear runs,Hess auto pass rats peril but fails PP peril but saves, Collins brawls Helga but dodge away from her. Recovery Helga pass health d8

Collins now in full hero mode braves the flames to to rescue the woman.
Brown unable to get a shot at Collins  tries to make his way through the inferno but is beaten down by the flames.
Fritz does however manage to make it to Collins
but Collins floors him with a quick one two.
Helga runs after the man who'd come out of the customs office, but her womanly charms have no effect on him, might be something to do with the black eye & thick lip she got from Collins. 
Well if your not going to do anything about the rats I've no more to say to you the old man tells Hess before wondering off.
The sailor staggers down the steps 
& Collins runs towards him but just as he reaches him.
The sound of a shot rings out & the sailor falls to the ground, here my logbook take it the old sailor says to Collins with his final breath . 

Turn 6 Collins card missing clue pass, perilous area pass, PP peril pass, PP challenge pass reward +1 tip, Brown card perils fails goes down, Fritz card when it counts, perilous area pass rushes Collins but goes down in the brawl, Helga runs to the PP, Hess rats perils auto pass, PP perils pass & completes the PP challenge reward red herring. Recovery Brown fail & Fritz passes
Harrowing escape Muller fails & loses his league 1 reputation, Moore passes so BB roll d8 in the roll off at the start of the next game.

Designers note, well after the events in the last game & with Collins the only one of the BB's left after two turns I was fearing the worse, but Collins turned into the kind of hero that makes price of the ticket worth it, you did pay on the way in :) 
The game ended 1 vp each so a draw, the little bit at the end with the old sailor like the bit at the start with Harriet gone missing was just added to help build the story, so four games in & what is called act 1 over things are fairly close with the Germans slightly ahead by 8 reputation to 6.
I have to say that so far the solo rules have worked very well & still give things the right kind of feeling, also been able to play the games so close together is great as it keeps everything feeling fresh.

Well that's it for this post, my thanks to Dave https://store.pulpalley.com/  for the script & as always to you guys for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed. :)

8 comments:

  1. Excellent! THANKS for posting.

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  2. Another brilliant post Frank! And again I came in for lunch and got enjoy another exciting chapter of the game :) Are you playing on a 4x4 table?

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    1. Thanks Ivor, so it the matinee show you get to see :)
      No mate it was a 3x3 whats making it look bigger is the buildings around the edges that are only there to bloke you seen something off table & to add more detail to the set :)

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  3. Another great report! I love the minis and terrain and all. Brings it all to life very well. I was worried it was going to be another failure for the "good guys", then it was good to see Collins step up and keep it from going too badly. I think the BB need some more luck!

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    1. Thanks Fitz, I'd the same fears myself, the Germans league perk has them have good at shooting inside of 12" instead of 6" & the other 3 games all had low visibility, this one hadn't so if I'd have been tabled again I might have needed to look at the two league's to see if there was a problem there, I think when playing solo it's not harm if the bots are slightly the stronger of the two league's.

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  4. Sometimes a Pulp Alley game disperses the action where it is difficult to convey all the different parts of the game. Your batreps do a great job of tracking the action. I had fun reading it.

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    1. Thanks Will, Yep depending on the scenario terrain etc the action can be spread all over the place, I'm glad you fun reading it as I'd fun doing it :)

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