Paleo Pulp

Oh, I've been waiting forever for this update, and I finally got it.  Paleo Diet is a great solo game.  Pulp brings it out of the stone age.  I took it to another time period and mixed in one of my favorite movies.  

Where to get it

 The tiny town of Not-Quite-Perfection is almost deserted, with only

our 4 brave (foolhardy?) adventurers left.

 By the end of today they'll need more than one hole.

Our Heroes.  Although I have a ton of 28mm cowboys, I had to use these 30mm folks just because of Jose's dynamite.

I rolled for traits, hoping for 1.  All 4 got traits, 2 good, 2 bad.

Randi Red-dress, Egotist with pistol

Sheriff Wayne, Big game hunter with rifle

Jose the engineer, pistol and lots of TNT

The Gambler, Loner with a pistol

That's the last time you'll see the Gambler near anybody else

 The monsters terrorizing the town.  Ended up only using 1.  They have both surfaced and subterranean markers.

King Carnivore stat from Pulp.  More rules below.

(3D printed file from Thingiverse, scaled down quite a bit to fit)

-all movement is underground

-will normally go around buildings

-will surface if end of move is within 1 short of any other living creature

-"Flees" and "Rests" will end underground.  "Move Away" and any hunting action will stay up.

(this was the final edit during the game to keep them on the surface more)

-won't attack hunters on top of buildings or on rock outcroppings

-1 to hit if underground (basically, need a 6)

-no insides of buildings are safe / useable

-grazers will treat graboids as hunters for reaction

 Randomly rolled all starting locations, for some reason everybody started out on one side of town.

Randi is just visible peeking around the back side of the livery stable.

Jose is oblivious to the sneaking menace behind him. 

Gambler and Sheriff are across town.

The first turn started with a bang, literally.  Randi got great rolls and climbed like a spider to the roof of the livery stable.  I guess it's easy to climb when you're not wearing many clothes. 

Jose spotted the approaching monster and lit a stick of TNT.  He rolled to see where his throw went:

 Yes, it did.  

It bounced right in the open door of the stable and exploded under Randi's feet.

The graboid raced away unhurt.  Randi took a wound from the blast, and another from falling 2 stories into the now burning stable.  Bye Randi.

 Oops.

 The Gambler successfully climbed on top of the hardware store, and managed never to fall off.  (Great rules on slippery roofs!)

The Sheriff tried to climb on some rocks, but fumbled his roll and stampeded Momma cow and baby calf.

Turn 2

No more Randi.

Jose tries 3 dice, passes 2.  Nearest beast is a horse.  Still alarmed by the burning stable, he flees.

Brave but foolhardy, Jose moves towards the graboid in the street.

Sheriff Wayne fails 2.  There is a hunter in medium range, so he pops up and Roars.  Jose backs away.  Cow rests.

The gambler passes 2 but can only carefully move to the edge of the roof.

Turn 3

Gambler wants a shot, but fails 1, passes 1.  the Graboid stays up and moves towards a cow, it stampedes.  No shot for gambler.

Sheriff passes 1, fails 1.  Cow rests. He climbs on rock.  

Jose passes 2.  He moves closer, keeping quiet.

 Turn 4

Sheriff wants a shot before Jose messes things up.  Passes 2!  Aimed shot with rifle.  Hit!  

Sorry about it cracking right past your ear, Jose...

Oops.  Graboid is mad, Dashes towards nearest hunter.  He attacks Jose but misses!

 Jose passes 3.  He skulks away, then tosses a stick of TNT right into the monster.  But it misses!  And fails to wound. Graboid runs.  

He can sense the Gambler on the roof, so he stays up.

Gambler passes 2.  A lucky roll, he hits! 2 wounds now.

The beast roars.  Gambler fails 2 and skulks to the back of the roof, luckily not falling off.  Jose and the sheriff both fail 1 and back away.

Turn 6.

Sheriff moves out to get a better shot.  

Gambler tries a shot from the roof, misses.

Jose?  Well, you know what he's going to do.  Kaboom!  But it doesn't hurt the graboid, he just runs away.

 How much TNT does that guy have, anyway?

 Sheriff, wanting to kill Jose, just moves closer.

Gambler tries a shot, misses.  But that triggers a Dash on the graboid.  He doesn't quite reach the Sheriff.

For once Jose remembers his pistol and shoots at the beast.  Another hit!  The graboid is Alarmed and moves away.  That puts him too close to the fire, so he flees back the way he came.

The Sheriff tries to skulk away, but trips over some horse dung in the street.  (The Sheriff never could roll in the middle.  He always got great rolls or terrible ones.) 

The graboid triggers, Dash!  Random die roll says he goes after the Sheriff. 

 He erupts at his feet and munches on the Sheriff!  One wound.  The Sheriff clubs the graboid with his rifle but misses.

Gambler tries 2, fails 1.  Graboid gets a Lunge and crunches the Sheriff.  Two down.  Gambler's shot misses.

With the Sheriff down, Jose sees his chance.  The throw is off again, but it hits!  That's 4 wounds on the beast.  

Gambler aims and misses.  

Jose tries 2 dice and fails both.  Graboid gets a Dash and attacks Jose.  Jose is wounded!

Jose passes 1, fails 1.  Graboid Lunges again and Crunch!  Dead Jose. 

With Jose out of the way, the loner Gambler can now get closer.  He moves to the edge of the roof.  A clear shot! 

Gambler passes 2 and fires into the bloody maw.  A final hit!  Dead Graboid.  

Final Thoughts:

-One King Carnivore per party is quite enough

-Graboids still need some tweaking.  They're too hard to hit when underground

-Explosives are never your friend.  Since they take 2 actions to throw, maybe add an "aiming" with a 3rd action that gives you a +1 to the throw.

-I need more cows and horses

Next time:

What happens when a voodoo sorcerer comes to town?

Battle of Isher

 The small, almost-defenseless town of Isher was madly ravaged by the TOG hordes.  The brave weekend warrior guardsmen rushed out to defend their homes.  Racing to pre-planned positions, they quickly dug in on a prominent ridge outside of town and waited for the worst. 

They were soon to receive even more than they bargained for.  The TOG war machine ground closer and closer.  At point-blank range, the stalwart defenders rose up and began launching missile after missile at the attackers.  But there seemed to be an endless supply of the attackers, disgorging squad after squad of faceless infantry.  There were so many attackers the TOG leader had to borrow rebel trucks to haul them in (or he forgot some of his vehicles, whatever...)

Hearing the town's desperate cry for help, Task Force Bravo reversed their previous course and raced to attempt relief.  Both commanders agreed that Bravo didn't get to start in prepared positions as they were moving in the same turn.  A Liberator medium tank, Wolverine light tank, and 4 Viper light APCs were a small pittance against the TOG mob.  

The Wolverine lost all his front armor but managed to set up for a return volley.

 As the horde continued their advance, the second layer of defense popped out of their holes and engaged the attackers in the flank.  But what's this?  Or rather, what isn't?  The mainstay of city defense, their heaviest unit, missed the rally call and stayed hidden.  See him on the ridge below?  Nope, me neither.  His firepower probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway. 

The poor Viper is painted by a gazillion units and undergoes heavy incoming fire. 

Despite all the missiles raining down on the TOG, none of them die.  Oh, they'll have a lot of armor to repair, but they're still alive.

Not so for the valiant defenders.  In just the 2nd round of shooting, a Fauchard took only 2 hits.  Oh, 16 missiles were targeted on him, but it was the 2 laser hits straight down the turret that killed him.

In that same round, a similar fate befell the lone Liberator medium tank.  Another lucky laser shot into the turret and the vehicle was destroyed, taking out the Rebel Centurion.  

With their commander out of action, the remaining grav forces beat a hasty retreat.  Seeing half their defensive force leave caused the rest of the town's defenders to lay down their arms and sue for peace.  

Isher now belongs to TOG.

You heard of the lucky dice of the TOG.  This is the dice of the rebels.  Yes, 4 TVLG missiles rain down onto the unprotected stern of a TOG APC.  

Pretty much 4 wasted shots right there.  And that's how the day went for the defenders. 

Helen visits the beach

gladiator hitch install

Renegade Legion Liberator in multiple scales

Back to front is 28mm, 15mm, and 6mm

rack install

Five Parsecs From Home - First Crew

Say Hello to the crew of the Free Ship Jules Verne.  From left to right:

Captain Nemo - supposedly in charge of this band, his authority is widely ignored.  No one knows how he came into possession of this retired troop transport ship, but the armory is surprisingly well stocked.  He tries to affect a piratical air with a robotic parrot on his shoulder, but he's really in it for the discovery of new stuff.

Gronk - This giant alien speaks through a translator.  He seems to be on a mission understandable only to him.  The most common words are "justice" and "laws", but his rules don't match ours.  He carries (in addition to all the goodies in the weapons locker), a bit of ancient alien technology.  Shaped vaguely like a pistol, he calls it "Thunder of Justice".  When he fires it, you notice.

Ivan - Raised in a bizarre militaristic cult, Ivan has trained his whole life for combat.  (All males in the cult are called Ivan.)  He had a realization that money is good, and left the cult for personal monetary gain.  He has a patron willing to support his monetary efforts.

Ivanka - When the love of her life left the cult, she chose to follow.  No-one knows if the love is reciprocated, or even consummated.  But where Ivan goes, Ivanka follows.

Flounder - The vagabond.  A dirt-grubbing peon on a backwards world, he was hired to sweep floors at a modern research facility.  Driven by his lust for adventure, he taught himself enough tech to ship out into the universe.  He brought along an old sword that he insists on attaching to any modern, hi-tech weapon he carries.

**********

I just got Five Parsecs, and haven't played a game yet.  But the simple mechanics of rolling up a crew were very enjoyable and took up an evening!  My crew is very well armed, has a patron, and is ready to start on their first campaign.

All the background fluff above was generated by rolling against the tables.  For example, "Ivan" got "wealth" as his motivation, with a background of "Religious Cult".  "Ivanka" got "Religious Cult" also, but then rolled "Romance" as her motivation.  Instant story!

Flounder rolled an interesting combination of primitive class, adventure motivation, and research outpost background.  The mop-pusher ended up going to the stars.

Massacre at Crater 47

My small liberation force approached the city of Crater 47, intending to free them from their shackles.

Commander Suremann sped out ahead in his Wolverine light tank, as the Viper APCs moved off to the left.

But as we crested the first ridge, what did we see?  Hordes of enemies in armored trucks!  They had so many troops they hung off the sides and tops!

Turn One, the Wolverine wisely drops down into a rubble field (not water).  The Liberator took a high point on the ridge.  This was a costly mistake, as every mortar on the board ranged him.  In one turn all his front and side armor was wiped away.

Turn Two (or three?) saw Commander Suremann's heroic stand.  After a daring tree-top level race across the front of their position, he charged the flank of the enemy.

 ...Only to have his targeting systems fail him.  One TVLG hit a truck, the SMLM, cannon, and AP laser all missed.  He did not survive much longer.

One Viper hid in a gully.

His companion, further out in the open, did not fare so well.  He was eventually destroyed by a rain of mortar fire.