Back of Beyond: "By God, That's an Angry Yeti!"

 "I say, Mac, did you see this piece in the Gazette?" Blinky Alsop looked up from his paper. "One of those Abominable Snowman-types is being blamed for raiding a traveler's inn outside Kashgar and stealing kegs of the local lager. Might be jolly good sport to go bag one of these slobbering, hair-covered, knuckle-dragging brutes and bring it back to the Museum, eh?"

MacCurdy, Alsop's batsman, paused before responding. "No need to go all the way to Kashgar, sir," he said. "I've got a brother-in-law in Aberdeen who fits that description well enough."

"Always quick with a joke, aren't you Mac? I thought you Scotsmen were all dour types. Regardless, I could use a month or two of fun. I'll call Barton and see if he's bored with hunting tigers yet, have the staff make our travel arrangements."

***

"I'm sorry, sir, what was the assignment?" Captain Jonathan Hyde-Whyte blanched. He hoped he'd misheard.

"I don't care for it any more than you do, Captain." The Major frowned into his tea. "The fact of the matter is that Winfield 'Blinky' Alsop is here to hunt Abominable Snowmen, and his uncle's got pull in Parliament. I'm assigning you and some of the lads as Alsop's escort through the region. Try to make sure that young fool checks his boots before putting them on, won't you?"

The Major sipped his tea.

"Our boys in the field have reported that Richard Schweinhunde, a German air-ace who's been selling his services all over the East, was shot down over the region Alsop wants to check for Snowmen. See if you can't root out that Jerry weasel while you're there, eh?"

***

The Benevolent and Honorable General Chun Zhao looked up from the report he'd been given. "A British hunting expedition in search of the wild ape-man? They really do think we are fools, don't they?"

"This is clearly a farcical attempt to disguise a planned espionage mission," the General continued, "but in my wisdom I have seen through the British lies." The man seated opposite him said nothing. He hadn't been encouraged to speak.

"You will take your band of hired killers, Zhancang, and ensure that the Gobi swallows yet another unprepared group of Westerners." Still silent, Zhancang nodded understanding and rose from his chair.

***

I had another very enjoyable solo game of Fistful of Lead today, this time breaking out some Copplestone Casting and Pulp Figures for a Pulp adventure in Central Asia, somewhere between 1921 and 1936. I played around a bit with assymetrical deployment and hidden objectives, which was fun, though may need more fine-tuning. 

I designated five searchable areas, four of which might contain a lurking Yeti, and one hiding the German spy. Searching each area could be done once, utilizing one or two actions; a Task roll of 8+ revealed whatever was hiding in the area, with a bonus to the roll for using both actions. A roll of "1" meant something bad happened, and once an area was searched, pass or fail, it couldn't be searched again by another figure. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that nobody would find anything!

The Brits got one free turn to spread out and begin Yeti-hunting before Zhancang's mercenaries arrived on the table. 

Our crews were as follows:

The British Yeti-Hunters (Group Trait: Coolheaded)

• Winfield "Blinky" Alsop (Leader; Dodge, Sixth Sense, Eagle-Eyed), armed with a Pistol
• Barton (Specialist; Sniper, Deft), armed with a Rifle
• MacCurdy (Regular; Steady, Ranger, Drunkard), armed with a Shotgun
• Captain Hyde-Whyte (Regular; Deadeye), armed with a Pistol
• Tommies (Grunt Group; Loyal), armed with Rifles

The Renegades of Kashgar (Group Trait: Killers) 

• Zhancang (Leader; Veteran, Encouraging, Lucky), armed with a Bren LMG
• Piers Buckley (Specialist; Brawler, Determined), armed with a Pistol and Saber
• Major Baumgartner (Regular; Deadeye), armed with a Pistol
• Dr. Herge (Regular; Medic), armed with a Rifle
• Mrs. Mainwaring (Regular; Steady), armed with a Pistol

 

Things got off to a spectacular start as MacCurdy approached the first search point and rolled a "1" on his search; Something Bad had been triggered, and the sands shifted beneath the Scotsman's feet as a Mongolian Death Worm reared up! 

 

"I've eaten haggises bigger than you," MacCurdy growled as his fist connected with what passed for the Death Worm's chin. Blinky went to fire at the creature with his pistol and - rolled a "1"! Out of Ammo! Barton fired on the writhing horror, and then at the beginning of Turn 2, MacCurdy finished the creature off with a double-barreled blast from his shotgun. 

Meanwhile, Captain Hyde-Whyte searched the inn at the center of the table, coming up empty-handed. Major Baumgartner arrived on the table and searched the Woods, flushing a Yeti out of hiding, and the Tommies flushed out a second one hiding near the Roadside Shrine. 

Zhancang's mercenaries began to spread out across the board, with Piers Buckley making a bee-line for the Ruins that were the final searchable location, with Zhancang .himself and Mrs. Mainwaring following behind. Unaware of the Yetis on the far side of the inn, Alsop moved up towards the Ruins as well, with MacCurdy following.

Zhancang paused to address the Yetis in his immediate vicinity, getting charged by one and clubbing it with the stock of his Bren. Two of the Tommies took Shock markers as the other Yeti threw rocks at them. Barton and Hyde-Whyte joined in the shooting, as did Baumgartner and Herge, alternating between shooting at Yetis and each other. Hyde-Whyte rolled a "1" and went Out of Ammo pretty quickly trying to shoot at Zhancang. Despite each being wounded, both Yetis kept getting back on their feet, at least for another turn or two; the one that had attacked Zhancang charged Baumgartner and got pistol-whipped for its trouble. With the Yeti down, Baumgartner got shot at by the Tommies, wounding him.

Baumgartner got to his feet and shot one of the Tommies, and was immediately shot in turn by Hyde-Whyte, going down with another wound; the Yeti staggered to its feet and went running.

Meanwhile, Alsop spotted Buckley and shot him, killing the mercenary instantly; Zhancang, stunned by his encounter with the Yeti, attempted to shake off his shock, but seeing Buckley's body hit the dirt, Zhancang shook his head and decided discretion was the better part of valor (he rolled a "1" on his Shock Recovery test, I used his Lucky reroll, and got another "1."), and fled the scene.

Barton fired at the fleeing Yeti, killing it; Herge shot at the other Yeti, resulting in it having more Shock tokens on it than remaining wounds, causing it to route off the table. Alsop searched the Ruins, but came up empty-handed. Furious at Buckley's death and Zhancang's desertion, Mrs. Mainwaring fired a few shots at Alsop, missing on all of them; in response, MacCurdy charged into range and gave her both barrels of his shotgun, sending her Out of Action. 

Dr. Herge performed first aid on Major Baumgartner, getting the Major back on his feet; another bullet from Barton sent the Major Out of Action, and Dr. Herge surrendered. Barton and Alsop collected their Yeti carcass, pausing to be photographed posing with it; their return trip to the British Embassy would be spent entirely in arguing over whether the Yeti would be turned over to the zoologists of the British Museum, or stuffed and mounted in Barton's smoking lounge.

Once everyone had left, Captain Richard Schweinhund, formerly of the Imperial German Air Service, popped out of his hiding place. "What was all that?" he wondered, gagging down another mouthful of fermented yak's milk (he'd trade military secrets for a decent doppelbock, he thought to himself) before disappearing back into hiding.