A FISTFUL OF KUNG FU: THE FU YU STUDIO RAID.

This Wednesday's game saw my Cops faction raiding the Fu Yu Studios, the plot being to discover a secret held by Del's supernatural creatures, led by his Taoist sorcerer.

Two views of the Fu Yu film studios. Note the varied styles of the buildings and the generic markers to show that the 'crowd' trait was in force. This slowed movement and raised the possibility of bystanders being shot. This would mean the loss of one Chi for my Cops, as the nominal 'good' side.

The plot complication was 'monsoon'. This gave a -1 to ranged attacks and generally made things more slippery. To extract the secret, my cops need to grapple an enemy and spend a full turn 'milking' them for information. Then a d6 is rolled. I find the secret when I have a total of eight points.

The cops enter in two groups to try and find the dispersed demons. The Taoist sorcerer has taken aup position in the tower.

An early loss: the Taoist sorcerer casts a fireball. My veteran cop valiantly sacrifices himself to save his colleagues. Sadly a bystander is also incinerated, this scatters the crowds and eases movement.

My heroic cop Chi jumps to attack and successfully grapple a flying demon. The other cops move to protect him during 'questioning'. One rookie cop fires off all his ammo at the hopping vampire. The glass beads show which figures have activated, The red markers show effects on figures.

The flying demon gives up five points of secret. The hopping vampire knocks down the rookie cop, but is in turn cut down by the SWAT team. The monkey demon has ensnared the other rookie cop, to make him easier to attack.

With no more info to give up, the flying demon is dispatched. Another flies in to support the sorcerer, who has come to intervene.

In an effort to stop some cultists intervening, the SWAT sergeant attacks. He knocks one down, but is killed in the end.

The sorceror transfixes the heroic cop, interrupting his milking of another flying demon. The SWAT team try to break the sorcerer's hold.

The monkey demon takes out the rookie cop.

The sorcerer is driven off. Questioning continues.

The demon breaks free, briefly, but is grappled again. Will the delay allow rescue or death?

Careful milking generates the three points required to discover the secret. The cops are successful.

Once again, a great narrative game that gives the atmosphere and feeling of the type of film the game is inspired by. The mechanic allowing protagonists to react to opponents failed dice rolls means that the emphasis is on them and allows them to recover from potentially disastrous situations.

As can be seen from this report, the game took place in a very small area. There was constant action and the other player is always involved; waiting for failed activation rolls!

The monsoon complication added to the game. It meant a -1 for shooting, which reduced my cops' long range advantage. It also added to the narrative, as an explanation for weapon malfunctions my SWAT team experienced as a result of negative gun fu rolls.

A FISTFUL OF KUNG FU: DEMONS VERSUS MONKS.

Here are a few photos of a recent game of AFoKF involving David's Shaolin monks and Derek's Demons. The scenario objective was for David to find a piece of information by grappling and questioning the opposition. Each enemy could only be questioned once.

Overall view of the battlefield. Demos of the left, The Order of The Smoking Fist* on the right.

Early moves.

A couple of clashes between the foes.

Another demon is knocked down.

The sorcerer keeps the monks at bay, but cannot stop the master monk from obtaining the information.

This was an interesting game. Both sides were dependent on hand to hand combat. The monks' 'Dashing' trait was a great advantage and soon saw the Demons overwhelmed. The sorcerer was able to  use his spells to keep the monks at a distance, but could not effect the result in the end.


* The faction name is a bitof a smokescreen. David had only been able to undercoat his monks,

RECONNAISSANCE IN THE CLOUDS.

Our Thursday Game was the latest battle in our series of linked battles of WW1 Wings of War/Glory.

This saw Rick face a mission where a Bristol F2B, escorted by a Sopwith Camel had to photograph a terrain feature and get off the table. Rick had organsied some fluffy paper clouds at various levels for the planes to hide in. My German force was Three Albatross. Two were on the table to start with, the third appearing once soa plane had suffered special damage. 

After a few moves where nothing happened, battle was soon joined.

An Albatross manages to get a burst off at the Camel. The other heads for the F2B.

 

The second Albatross is caught in a crossfire between the Camel and the F2B's tail gunner. It does get a long burst at the Camel in return.

The third Albatross appears. The F2B has almost completed it's mission without being intercepted.

The Camel fills an Albatross' sights. Great use of the Immelmann!

A close shave for the F2B.

A damaged Albatross limps back to base, to fight another day. The F2B escapes into cloud, evading the two remaining Albatross.

A second Albatross breaks off, not wanting to risk any more damage. The other Albatross manages a long range shot at the Camel.

After an Immemann, the Camel turns the tables on the Albatross.

wait for the 

The  Camel then flew off to avoid further damage. The remaining Albatross, although damaged, gains the Germans a victory point for being the last plane on the table.

By completing the mission, Rick scored two victory points. They will go on the records of the pilots. What I did not know at the time was that I had wounded both Rick's pilots. This means that they will be unavailable for the next game. Two of my pilots had been involved in previous actions, so there was an incentive to keep them, and their accrued victory points, safe. 

All the pilots landed safely, despite two Albatross and the Camel having taken over 50% damage.

We started with a roster of 20 pilots, there are now some gaps, but the mission is the the priority in these games, not taking risks to shoot down the enemy at all costs, as might happen in a on off game. Can't wait for the next mission, which will be a German dawn patrol.

A SPORTING DIVERSION. OR WAS IT JUST NOSTALGIA.

What to do when your game ends early? As a filler, after we managed two games of Memoir '44 in just over two hours, we tried an old (very old!) favourite. 

Kick Off is a card based soccer game.

Rick took a two goal lead.

I managed  a comeback. Through two penalties. Here is my equaliser.

A great way to finish the evening. This is not my original set. That has a record of every game played with it, and is somewhere in my flat. Brought back memories.

MEMOIR 44: EASTERN FRONT.

During my never ending attempts to de-clutter my flat, I came across my Memoir '44 collection.I keep a notebook with the results of past games. It showed that the last time I had played was 8 December 2011!

To put that right, our Thursday game a couple of weeks ago was the Suomussalmi scenario from the Russo - Finnish war (scenario 38). This saw a Soviet held village being attacked by Finnish ski-troops, with a Soviet relief force trying to break through the Finnish defences. We managed to play the game twice during the evening. I took the Soviets first.      

The set up. The Soviets hold the village. The Soviet relief column is at the bottom left.

Early in the game, the Finns attack.

The Finnish attack, well under way. 

The Soviet forces whittle down the attacking ski troops whilst keeping pressure on the roadblock.

The first game ended 6 medals to 2 in the Soviet's favour.

For the second game, I took the Finns. 

The Soviets got good cards and my dice rolling was poor. I managed to whittle away at the Soviet units, without getting decisive die rolls needed.

In the end the Soviets ran out winners by the same score as in the first game: 6-2. 

It was good to get back into the game. This scenario was a bit of a challenge. After game discussion came to the conclusion that the only way for the Finns to win would be for them to concentrate on getting medals, rather than taking the village. The results recorded on the website seem to fall 50/50, which does not bear out our experience.

However, I think it has inspired us to continue playing. There are a lot of scenarios and expansions to get through!

A FISTFUL OF KUNG FU:FIND THE SNITCH!

Last night saw my Cops taking on David's Shaolin Monks. The plot was 'capture someone'and saw my corrupt Heroic Cop and his henchmen trying to track down a witness in hiding. The monks were trying to stop them. 

Early in the game. The SWAT team approach a ruined building to search it, unaware that a monk has already beaten the to it.

SWAT begin their search. In the background a rookie cop stands guard, while the Heroic Cop searches another ruin.

Several views of the game- long battle between the two protagonists. It's progress measured by the number of counters! 

The game was dominated by a fight between the two protagonists. During the clash, which was sustained by use of reactions to failed activation rolls by other figures, both characters took wounds, My cop took a wound from a successful Quivering Palm. As wounds reduce combat ability, the good monk began to get the upper hand. Eventually he wore down my corrupt cop, who was knocked out and then dispatched. The ensuing morale check saw the remaining cops beat a hasty retreat as the corrupt cop's hold on them died with him.

The battle between the protagonists was really like what would be seen on screen. It really brought home the atmosphere of the genre the game portrays.