Big Game Hunters' Safari on Venus: Battle Report

If you didn't see the game rules and hunting party construction guide, you might want to read that post first.

Motivated by the potential publicity, and the prize purse, offered by the Zoological Institute of Progressive International Taxonomists, four notable Big Game Hunters set out to claim the prize.



A Cytherian Parrotman hunter and his faithful companion, accompanied by a menagerie of fighting men from various tribes and races. These two have names unpronounceable, due to the fact they have a kinetic language, so to learn their language you'd have better luck signing up for a modern dance class than a language class. 

Allan Quartermaine and his followers, bolstered by a semi-submergable clank.  
To not scare off any camera shy natives, his camera was cleverly hidden in a tusk. 

The Swedish Hunter, two assistants, homeguard troops and offworld warriors. 
Svanhilla won several awards for photography in Oslo, and is determined to give viewers back home 
'a woman's perspective' of Venus. 

A companion of Kneemo's expedition, it wasn't surprising to see a clank among this hunting party. 

Venus awaits, but will not yield her secrets willingly. 
The entire table is considered dense vegetation, with visibility no greater than 20" unless looking down the river or if a clearing is discovered. 

The safaris begin as the parties head toward Thunder Valley.

Quartermaine is one of the first to spot some natives, partially obscured in the jungle: the fierce Draniki. 
His clank takes point, thrashing through the foliage, flailing his arms...wildly.

The Draniki take aim and fire, but to little effect. 

More Draniki on the move. 

Meanwhile the swedes are alerted by a piercing shriek, but the steely-nerved hunter brings the beast down. 

Quartermaine spots the strangest creature they have seen yet, looking like a big brain and tentacles. Not taking any chances, they fire. He finds his vision unaccountably blurred, but the creature's mind tricks are no match for his skill and a mess now decorates the underbrush.  A photo is taken, titled 'Linguine & Leaves' but it is not to be well received.  
   
Kneemo's men find trouble as well. Investigating an eerie blue glow, they find it's source. And open fire.

The Parrotman's expedition makes its way inland, following the river.

Approaching the remains of the brain, Quartermaine's men are attacked by walking trees!
A prolonged combat ensues with the treacherous trees.

The Cytherian company's rear-guard is attacked by a fair sized predator.  Soon after a larger one of the species comes to its aid, and when it is gunned down, this young one fights all the more fiercely, bringing down several of the diminutive warriors.

Meanwhile, their native primate allies move up to investigate a sinister looking cave.

Who's that knocking at my door?

The enormous quadrupedal hunter comes out for a meal, but while distracted, is hit by several well aimed shots.

 
Another brain creature emerges from the murky swamp. The primate warriors are on their own for now.

They manage to finish the beast off!  
Enjoy it while you can lads, because your employer is sure to take the credit for himself.

After dispatching the tree-people, the noise has attracted a hunting pack of Grishak: small, fast & hardy. 

Not content like Quartermaine to fuss with small prey, Kneemo's man spots a gigantic beast.  
Could this finally be the mythical Thunder Lord?

The Swedes run into an even larger brain creature, which is soon joined by two more small ones! 
Wounding the big one, it responded by inserting a tentacle into a man, draining him of life and the rest of the men watched in horror as the creature's wounds began to heal. Poor Svanhilla would not survive this day.

A thunderous roar erupted, accompanied by the ground shaking.  The true Thunder Lord entered his valley to meet his unwelcome guests. 

Few were not terrified at the sight and sound of this nightmare.

Brave or foolish, the little Grool, those who had defeated the cave-dweller charged forward in blind courage.

Grateful for the larger carnivore being distracted, the smaller, but nevertheless formidable Alice charged the shiny creature before her as the men opened fire. In an amazing display of skill (6 goals out of 7, with a couple 6's in there which count double) she ripped the clank's head from it's body with her jaws as her slashing toe claws ripped the metal of it's chest, to settle her weight on the clank, crushing it.  
Two myths were dispelled this day: Dinosaurs are not extinct, and there is no such thing as canned food. 
She will finish off the soldiers, who die in defense of their employers. She is mightily wounded, yet the hunters are close to her jaws. Their story remains unfinished, perhaps someday their tale will emerge from the jungle. 

Quite proud of his trophy of tree-creature, much to the amusement of his men, with their muffled remarks of the 'Brave Bushwhacker', Quartermaine sees the great Thunder Lord itself, and readies his rifle for a kill shot. 

His clank will be no help in this fight with the mighty dinosaur, for it has been ambushed by a Draniki hunting party. 

With his inadequate eyesight, the mighty lord peers into the jungle to spot his foes.  He can not see them, but their scent is strong: smells like chicken.
The great beast is wounded by several shots and spear-thrusts from the foolhardy Grool.  
Quartermaine is readying his rifle to steal the kill shot, but the notable Parrotman hunter, 'hippy-hippy-shake' (or something to that effect) was just a moment faster and brought the great beast down.

A victory celebration ensued for the native expedition. Many photos were taken.  
The photos will be studied by earth scientists, though reports in newspapers in every country seem to have omitted this last part. 
But the parrotmen know the real story and for them, it is enough. 


Afterword


Each player got 1 point per vitality loss it inflicted, and for beasts of 3 vitality or more, they got the full vitality points for the killing blow, since for hunters who gets the actual kill is where much of the bragging rights are. 
Players also got 1 point for a photo, and 2 points for photos of formidable creatures.
For physical specimens, players got 1 point per porter carrying 1 vitality creatures, 3 for each carrying parts from 3 vitality creatures and 4 points for each porter carrying parts from vitality 4+ creatures.  So it taking 2 porters to carry the rex skull, would be worth 8 additional points.  It didn't take precise math to see the parrotmen had the lion's share of the points. 


If there was one thing I'd change about this, it would be to make the initial encounters stronger. I imagined this like designing an RPG dungeon crawl: it's a balance of attrition: you want to weaken a party as it goes along, but not so much they have no chance against the final encounter.  There wasn't enough attrition, but still the big beasts were tough nuts to crack. Also, the rules we used have close combat only allowing 1target in a henchman group to die from one attack. Some of these beasts should be able to kill more than one so for the biggest I modified those rules on the fly to allow them to kill up to 2. Only taking down 1 henchman in a group at a time put the medium threats: devanu hunters, brains, will-o-wisps, etc at a real disadvantage compared to the parties' numbers,which limited the attrition they took. Still, it was a fun game, the players seemed to enjoy it and I know I did. 


Thanks to the players and you can see Mike 'shimey-shimey-shake' Parrotman's write up and excellent pictures (some of which I used here) at his site  Rot and Drivel.  Vegetation provided by Alfrik, with many tutorials on how to make them on his site Armored Ink.

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: 

______________________________________________________________________________________

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... 

Draniki Scouting Party Sighted

The Draniki arrive! Well, a scouting force of them at any rate.

This is a project over 4 years in the making. I'm such a procrastinator.

How it started:

Long long ago I started making a Lizardmen army for WHFB. I liked the models. But when the saurus get all tightly ranked I didn't like them as much. The minis are very characterful, but when they're all in the same pose, same facing, packed in tight together it just doesn't look like much. I wanted something different.

Fast forward several years finds me revisiting a pulpy-sci fi fluff background I had in mind, I was calling 'Planets in Peril'.  I played 40k long ago, and still keep an eye on what is going on with it, but it isn't a great fit for me: the fluff is a bit too dour and the rules a bit too *cough* simplistic? (Though I love Orks!) But I am addicted to creating armies. I grew up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, so that explains a lot of what I am drawn to in gaming genres. So I came up with the Planets in Peril background with the intention of having many races that could be represented by easy to obtain miniatures from various companies. The one I was most excited about was the Draniki.

The Draniki weren't called that then, they were just called by their earth-name, "The Lizardmen of Venus". "Draniki" would come later after hearing it and knowing it must be their name. Any phonetic similarity between their word and an earth-language name for a potato-based food is purely coincidental.

I'm a big proponent of 'double dip' miniatures: minis that you can use as more than one army, or in more than one game system. Get more for your effort! So I intended to have the Draniki be usable as a 'counts-as' 40k army of some type: first trying necrons, then later deciding orks would be more likely.

I started building them. What a joy! Freed from the tight confines of ranked square bases, it allowed for angling heads and giving more movement to the miniatures.  I've also made cavalry, shock-troops and komodos (commandos), a couple small fliers and a couple 'tanks'. All in all I have over 120 miniatures to paint. A year later I scraped off the basing material and redid the bases with light texture & small geysers.

4 Years later I finally found some time to begin painting. In my defense I should say that this isn't a showcase-level project. This is a 'fast paint' project, or with the time I have for hobby it would never get done. A mass army like this I'll just be relying on the conversions and overall impression to carry it. The only way I found time to start it was using them as Askari allies for my Quar in the Venus campaign!  Starting a project as a portion of a different one is a great way to make a new project happen.

So, that's more than you ever wanted to know I'm sure, so on to more pictures!


These are Draniki warriors. Or, if I ever play 40k these would count as shoota boyz.

Draniki warriors take a tooth from the first thunder-lord they kill. Many have it mounted in their rifle, making it a formidable weapon in hand to hand fighting.

Here are some with double barreled radium rifles (angle of the picture makes it hard to see, but they are double barreled) These would count as 'big shootas' for orks.

A Draniki alongside a Quar. The Quar are grateful for both the great strength of their allies as well as the knowledge of Venus they can share.

The Draniki so far:

A small start to a big project.