With the opening up of stores and friends getting vaccinated, the time had come for me to dust off the 7TV Pulp rules and finally give them a try. When I first read them, I was quite excited to try them out. However, I was unable to get a game together before the lockdowns in my area, so they sat. So, I pulled out the rules and did a quick re-read to get myself re-familiarized with the game.
To keep things simple, I just pulled out one of the standard scenarios and created small forces for a two player game. To test different abilities, game each side some random characters and some troops. I decided to go with a simple build up table with a decent amount of cover.
The scenario was a basic face off that included four objectives and one special objective (the maguffin). The victory conditions are based on capturing objectives and taking out star and co star figures on the other side. Each force set up on the opposite sides of the table.
These rules are a little more complicated than what I was running earlier, in that the units have multiple ratings. In reality, you do not use half of them (except in specific situations). Each model has its own special rules, so players had to keep those straight. However, all the rules are written on the unit cards, so there is no flipping around. As the mechanics are straight forward and rely on rolling combinations of D6, both players picked things up by turn two. It was just a question of checking the model special rules, particularly those that effect multiple models. As I wanted to check everything out, I made the forces more complex than I probably would normally. I think for standard play, more similar “extras” makes sense.
Even with that, the turns went quickly. The attacking player took the early lead by initiating some deadly fire. It looked like the defender was doomed (each side has an attacked and defenders for determining play order). I continued running the game feeling it was going to be one sided, but wanted to see us go through the whole action deck.
The action deck is interesting, as it is broken down into three acts. The first facilitates movement, the second combat and the last ending the game. These work well, with the players deciding to advance the plot by taking two cards or just grabbing one. Both players played it conservatively until the final act and advanced the deck (which ended up being a mistake by the attacker). At the critical time that both sides had figures close to the maguffin, the defender took their option to “Steal the Scene”, which gives the player the ability to move a second time. This worked perfectly, as he was able to grab the maguffin and get out of a death trap. The attacker was then left with the challenge of catching defenders unit leader and stealing back the maguffin. However, the earlier card advance ended up shorting the game just enough to let the defender get away. When we did the points, the attacker was ahead on model points, but the maguffin game 5 points (roll of a D6) and made it a win for the defender.
The game flowed well and we got to a conclusion. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Watching as the game master, I was very happy with the interactions and mechanics. The rules cover what I want, so I think they will be my new go to rules for my Pulp games going forward!
- Manteuffel