I have been running games of Crooked Dice 7TV Pulp rules for a while now. I like how they cover the various mechanics in a simple form. I had been interested in expanding pulp into other genres and was thinking about ways to use those rules to do it. So, when I saw that Crooked Dice came out with their Fantasy rules, I was intrigued. The one challenge with the rules is the cost. However, with the recent financial “challenges”, the pound to dollar conversion rate made purchases quite favorable (I actually went on a figure spending spree with all my favorite British miniature companies to take advantage!). So, with the price more in reach, I ordered the rules.
They finally arrived around Christmas (nice present to myself!). I did a quick read of everything (I will post my rules review soon) and decided I would like to give them a whirl. Do to other commitments over the holidays, it took a few weeks to get my act together.
I finally planned the game a week ago with a couple of my gaming buddies at my place. I asked them to bring a handful of their own miniatures (I think people are more interested when they use their own minis). I figured two heroes (one could be a mage) and about ten troopers of their desired race.
They showed up and I pulled out cards to match their army choices and let them organize a force of thirty points. My one buddy had orcs and he chose one Star Orc and a bunch of extras. The other force was a human knight force and he chose a star, co-star (mage) and a few extras. There was only one archer, so this game would get close a personal. To keep it simple, I did not allow any mounts, just troops on foot.
I set up the table to be a fight in a village, so I pulled out some fantasy buildings I have had forever (which have been in their boxes since I bought them) and put down a whole bunch of scatter terrain to break up the table.
I went with the first generic scenario and set out six objective markers. I also opted to use the booklet that includes various random effects. Basically, whenever a model uncovered an objective, I would roll on the table and apply the result. This is an add to this version that I like a lot, as I like random events in these types of games. If you are not laughing while playing pulp, you are doing it wrong!
We rolled of for table side and rolled of who was the attacked (who moved first). The Orcs one the roll and we were off. The game started with the first couple of turns going fast with each side taking only single act cards and moving to the center of the table. Each side grabbed the two closest objectives and triggering some minor events against their statistics. Nothing to exiting and the game kept going, with each side testing out their abilities. The orcs successfully cast their reposition presence ability to move their troops around, while the single archer slid all around the table using their shield slide ability to scoot around and shoot at various orcs.
When we got to the third objective, the orc started a rock slide (I die roll of four on 2D6). I found some rocks and put them on the table to add effect. The knights then grabbed an objective and another four was rolled (more rocks). What are the odds! Well, clearly not high enough, I rolled another four on the next objective! I was running out of rocks. Clearly this encounter was taking place during an earthquake!
Things started to get interesting during the second act with both sides entering into close combat. The knights were tough, with their two wounds and shields, but the orcs are not schleps either! The orcs managed to get the upper hand early and pushed their advantage. The knights tried to turn the tied by gaming up, but the dice were not with them.
The fighting stepped up when the game entered the final act (the movement deck is broken into three acts). At this point, the orc player decided they needed to end the game faster, as he had the points advantage, so he started pulling two cards each turn to get the game to end faster. The strategy worked and we wrapped things up.
We tallied up the points. The orcs had one more objective token. However, they also caused the knight caste to be “axed” (fifty percent casualties) and killed the knight co-star. With the total giving a orcs a clear victory!
The game took about two hours (we had plenty of breaks and banter), plus I had to double check some rules along the way…. We all liked how the game flowed and had a good time. This is definitely a keeper and I will be running it again on our next Tuesday pulp night.
- Manteuffel