Venus Skirmish Game: Big Game Hunt

The Venus campaign continues, though last week the French army hid from the Phobosian Quar army which pursues it, so we took a break and continued testing for the early Weird World War II skirmish setting (maybe too light of an approach to call it a campaign) that we'll be playing concurrent with the Venus campaign, and the next, which will be on Earth's Moon.  The early WWWII setting will be using the Goalsystem Chaos in Cairo/Carpathia that we're adapting for the purpose.  It's looking to be fun, so I decided not to switch gears, and the Venus Skirmish I'm running on Friday will be with these same rules, with some minor tweaking for the VSF setting. 

I'll be trying to take pictures of the game and do some reports, 

so to make that more clear, here is the background for the game: 

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The Zoological Institute of Progressive International Taxonomists (Z.I.P.I.T.) is offering a reward for evidence and samples of the flora & fauna of Venus: the bigger and more dangerous the better, as that sort of thing drums up public interest, and therefore, donations.  The lions share of the prize is for evidence of the mythological 'Thunder Lord' of the jungle: a picture would suffice, but bringing back the skeleton would be ideal. 

Cooperation (or confrontation) between nations is up to the nations themselves. 

Players will be awarded victory points for kills, photos and samples taken. Any hunting party without a character alive at the end (Leader character or assistant) only scores half victory points, since without a character's experience of the system, some ladder-climber at ZIPIT is bound to find a way to take the credit for themselves.  

Each party has 1 camera which must be carried by a model, which encumbers that model (may not shoot ranged weapons and has -1 to all dice in physical combat). It takes one round to take a picture. 

The game system used will be the Chaos in Cairo rules we've been experimenting with for eWWWII.

Hunting Party choices:

You will select 1 Commander in Charge for free and may take 5 porters for free.  You will then have 4 points to select the rest of your party. 

Note:  Some skill and equipment entries will list "something *or* other-something" in which case you may chose which one, but your choice is final, you can't change once the game is started.  

Your party should be lead by one of your characters from your banners.  This does put them at real risk, but there is also real potential reward. If you do not have a character of one of these types that you can use from your banners, or are unwilling to risk them, then you may take 1 free assistant instead of a Commander in Charge to act as leader.

Commander in Charge character choices: Chose 1 from the list below.  The Commander in Charge may chose 3 additional skills from the list at the end (but may not chose the same one more than twice).

* Big Game Hunter*  (I kill things with great skill. Let me do my job and you do yours)

Strength 3  Agility 3  Mind 3  Resolve 3  DR Pool 4  Fate 3   Vitality 3

-Equipped with Elephant Gun DN7 & Knife DN4

Skills:

Crack Shot 3

Sharp Senses 1

Stealthy 2

Solitary (does not benefit from help in close combat)

Dead Eye Shot [ ] (1 use: May reroll a ranged attack, and take whichever result is better) 

* Explorer * (I am a decent hunter, problem solver & very good at finding hidden destinations)

Strength 3  Agility 3  Mind 3  Resolve 3  DR Pool 4  Fate 3   Vitality 3

-Equipped with Rifle DN6 & Knife DN4

Skills:

Combat Attack 1

Crack Shot 1

Sharp Senses 2

Stealthy 1

Scholar 1

Pathfinder (on successful mind check may lead party through rough terrain at no penalty, he must be in the lead, others no more than 3" away from him on the sides, or within 12" behind him)

* Officer * (I am a decent hunter and very good at leading others into battle)

Strength 3  Agility 3  Mind 3  Resolve 4  DR Pool 4  Fate 3   Vitality 3

-Equipped with Rifle DN6 & Knife DN4  *or* Equipped with Pistol DN4 & Sword DN5

Skills:

Combat Attack 1

Combat Evade 1

Crack Shot 1

Dodge 1

Leader 2

Inspiration [ ] (one use: all models within 5" get 1 extra die on their attack & defense)

Tough 
Boss

* Spark * (My intelligence and inventions are a match for anything I may encounter)

Strength 2  Agility 3  Mind 5  Resolve 3  DR Pool 4  Fate 3   Vitality 3

-Equipped with Rifle DN6 & Sword DN5  **special: apply 2 dice however you wish to increase a weapon's dice rolled to hit or damage. example: very accurate rifle: +2 dice to hit, or a very damaging sword: +2 DN.. then give it a suitably quirky name. 

Skills:

Sharp Senses 1

Iron Will 1

Leader 1

Solitary

Hunch [ ] (one use: reroll a failed Mind roll)

* Glorified Assistant * (Golly! Thanks for this opportunity! I, I won't let you down!)

- Assistant as below, but may select 3 skills just as the other commanding officers.

Commander in Charge Skill Selections: Chose 3 (may not chose the same one more than twice, or Tough more than once)

Combat Attack, Combat Defense,  Crack Shot,  Dodge,  Healer,  Leader,  Scholar, Sharp Senses,  Tough.

Hunting Party: Your party has 4 points to spend on selections below.  
Note: Every party has 1 group of Porters for free. Additional porters cost 1 pt per group. 

Henchmen groups function as a unit, you may not create a unit of 10 by spending 2 points (spending 2 points on soldiers would create 2 units of 5 henchmen).

Assistant: 1 point

Strength 3   Agility 3  Mind 2  Resolve 3  DR Pool 4  Fate 2   Vitality 3

-Equipped with Rifle DN6 & Knife DN4  *or* Pistol DN5 & Sword DN5

Skills:

Crack Shot 1

Combat Evade 1

May select 2 different skills from the Commander in Charge Skill Selection List.

Clank: 2 points

Strength 5  Agility 2  Mind 2  Resolve 5  DR Pool 5(2)  Fate 1   Vitality 3

-Equipped with Rifle DN6 & Heavy Fists DN5

Skills:

Tough 2

Combat Attack 2  *or* Crack Shot 2

Crushing Blow [ ] (one use: add +1 to the close combat DN)

Soldiers: 1 point

Strength 3  Agility 3  Mind 2  Resolve 3  DR Pool 3  Fate 2   Vitality: 5 Henchmen

-Equipped with rifle DN6 & Bayonet DN3 (+1 DR when charged)

Skills:

Combat Evade 1

Crack Shot 1

Askari Warriors: 1 point

Strength 3  Agility 3  Mind 2  Resolve 3  DR Pool 3  Fate 2   Vitality: 5 Henchmen

-Equipped with Shield (Increase DR +1) & Spear* DN 4 (+1 DR when charged)    *or*      Knife DN4 & Bow DN3 effective range 10"

 **Spear: may be thrown once, for DN5, effective range 8". After thrown the unit uses knives DN4.

Skills:

Combat Attack 2

Combat Evade 1

Porters: 1 point (Note: your hunting party begins with 1 free group of porters as described here, but additional groups must be bought if you want them). 

Strength 3  Agility 3  Mind 2  Resolve 2  DR Pool 4  Fate 2   Vitality: 5 Henchmen

-Equipped with improvised weapons DN3. 

Skills:

Pack Mule (carry 3 times their strength instead of 2)

Combat Evade 1

Dodge 3

Not in the Face: Will not enter into combat, but will defend themselves if attacked. 

What awaits them in the jungle?  Will they find the Thunder Lord?  Does it exist at all?  

Will there be even worse dangers?

Whatever dangers await, remember the wise words of one of the most famous of earth's hunters:

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

Stay tuned...