Fistful of Lead: Under the Blood Moon

 I finally got another demo game of Fistful of Lead going at my local game store, Harlequin Hobby, today. A guy was nice enough to drive out to Buffalo from Rochester for it, and in a few weeks' time I'll return the favor and drive out to Rochester so he can run a demo game of Test of Honour for me, which I'm looking forward to. 

I put on the scenario "Under the Blood Moon," out of the "Tales of Horror" expansion; I played Werewolves, and my opponent took control of Lefty LaRue and his band of intrepid Canadian monster hunters. 

As an aside, right after I got things set up, one of the Warhammer 40K players in the store came over, examined the table, looked directly at the cover of the Fistful of Lead rulebook, and asked me if this was Trench Crusade. I tried giving him the spiel of what Fistful of Lead was and how it played, but his eyes glazed right over and he wandered away pretty quickly. Ah well.

Half the hunters (in this case, Lefty himself, Sgt. Blaine of the RCMP, and a trio of stalwart but largely-ineffectual Mounties - a Grunt Group, in the parlance of the game) were in the cabin in the center of the table, while each turn after the first my opponent would roll to see if the remaining two (Quinn the Eskimo and Frenchie Sinclair) would arrive by the main road. Meanwhile, my werewolves would be trying to get into the cabin and eat the delicious hunters and lumberjack family inside. The game would end automatically at the end of the 7th turn as the sun rose and drove the werewolves away. 

The first few turns were a bit of a stalemate; the werewolves rolled abysmally while trying to break down the doors to the cabin, and my opponent rolled really high while trying to bring his reinforcements on to the board. Once Quinn and Frenchie arrived, however, they quickly started stacking Shock and Wound tokens on to the leader of the Werewolf pack.

I didn't take a lot of pictures during the game.

Two of the lesser werewolves ended up fleeing the table due to poor Recovery rolls while trying to shrug off the Shock tokens they were accumulating from the rifles of Lefty and the Mounties, and the pack leader actually succumbed to his wounds while trying to stand back up. With the sun rising at the end of the 7th turn, Lefty and Quinn finished off the last werewolf. One Mountie had fled the table due to a failed Recovery roll, and one had been eaten by a werewolf, but the named characters in the hunter group were all unscathed. 

All in all, a really good game. My opponent and I agreed that if I'd succeeded in breaking down a door into the cabin on turn 2 or 3, the game likely would have gone very differently and might have been a win for the werewolves. He had a great time, and said he'd likely be adding Fistful of Lead to his library. So a day well spent! 

Tales of Horror: The Beast in the Hills

 I wrapped up my holiday weekend with a second solo game of Fistful of Lead, this time using their "Tales of Horror" supplement. I pulled "Major LeDuc's Enfants Terrible," a ragtag band of French Foreign Legionnaires from Pulp Figures for my Hunter group; I envisioned them as a secretive group within the Legion, called upon to handle problems too outre for regular Legionnaires. For my Cultists, I pulled some Moroccan Explorers and Assistants from Brigade Games' first Cthulhu kickstarter; I painted these about a year ago, but yesterday I went back, touched them up, redid their bases. I designated them the Sons of the Black Pharaoh, and was ready to go.

Bloodied but unbowed, Major LeDuc approaches the altar where Ardath Bey completes his ritual

 

Scenario was "The Beast in the Woods," out of the Tales of Horror book; I subbed in hills and ruins for woods. I also managed to forget that the scenario is supposed to have a trio of ghosts moving randomly around the board; I think it's probably for the best, because the scenario worked out just fine as is. The Cultists had to perform the biggest summoning ritual they could within 8 turns (at which point, the Stars would no longer be Right), and the Hunters had to disrupt it.

 

Major LeDuc's Enfants Terrible (Hunters)
Group Trait: Loyal

• Major LeDuc (Leader; Veteran, Encouraging, Swordsman, Tough as Nails), armed with a Pistol, Saber and Holy Water
• Ibrahim (Specialist; Ranged Fighter, Sniper) armed with a Rifle and Blessed Bullets
• Peter, the Russian Bear (Regular; Brawler) armed with an Axe and Rifle
• Barker (Regular; Ranger), armed with a SMG
• Beni (Regular; Slippery) armed with Dynamite Bundles

 

The Sons of the Black Pharaoh (Cultists)
Group Trait: Ranger

• Ardath Bey (Leader; Veteran, Devout, Stealthy, Sixth Sense), armed with a Dagger and Ritual Tome
• Professor Andoheb (Specialist; Occult Expert, Deadeye), armed with a Pistol and Unholy Relic
• Hossam (Regular; Steady), armed with a Rifle
• Yousef (Regular; Coolheaded), armed with a Pistol
• Al-Hazrat (Regular; Brawler), armed with a Big Knife

 

The first turn saw Ardath Bey begin his summoning ritual while the Hunters and Cultists both fanned out, sticking to the cover provided by the ruins and hills, with a few inconsequential shots fired; between distance and cover penalties, none of them were successful. Turn 2 saw the summoning fail due to poor rolling, necessitating Ardath starting fresh on Turn 3. Meanwhile, LeDuc put Yousef out of action, and being shot at in turn by Professor Andoheb (no result) and Hossam (Wounding LeDuc).

Peter shot at Hossam, then moved towards the ruins on the right, where he was met and attacked by Al-Hazrat. The Russian bear was no match for Al-Hazrat's knifework; he was wounded, then wounded a second time while prone. Peter managed to struggle to his feet and swing his axe one more time, but Al-Hazrat's dagger found its way between his ribs a third and final time.

Beni threw a few dynamite bundles towards Al-Hazrat, leaving him shaken, but the cultist rallied and turned his attention to knifing Ibrahim, the sniper, killing him and then charging Beni. Beni slipped away and threw a final bundle of dynamite, which landed just short of Al-Hazrat. The two men stared at the dynamite as the fuse burned down; BANG! Al-Hazrat was put out of action by the blast!

LeDuc rallied to his feet and shot Professor Andoheb, who bled out immediately upon trying to stand back up. Moving forward across the battlefield as quickly as his injury would let him, he tried to shoot Hossam to eliminate the threat of rifle-fire; CLICK! A "1" on the die meant LeDuc went Out of Ammo!

Meanwhile, Ardath Bey spent turns 3,4 and 5 Summoning, and with what remained of the Hunters closing in, opted to call forth a demon there, instead of trying for one more round. A Veteran-level demon (with the traits Veteran, Large and Fangs and Claws) emerged onto the battlefield.

On turn 6, Ardath Bey turned his attention to the remaining Hunters; he cast "Dark Portal," flinging Major LeDuc across the battlefield into a wall, putting another wound (and a Shock token) on him. Barker opened fire with his SMG on the demon and Ardath Bey, putting a Shock token on the Demon and going Out of Ammo for using Burst fire. The Demon charged Barker, but failed to wound him.

 

On turn 7, LeDuc tried to stand but only managed to crawl a little bit; meanwhile Barker managed to beat the demon Out of Action using his empty SMG. Ardath Bey tried to cast "Dark Portal" on Beni but the spell failed, and instead, Beni got shot by Hossam. 

 

On turn 8, Ardath Bey cast "Dark Portal" successfully on Barker, hurling him into a rock outcropping and killing him instantly. Beni bled out from his wound, and LeDuc just couldn't get back on his feet. Seeing that the stars were no longer in alignment and satisfied with what he'd accomplished, Ardath Bey (and Hossam) slunk away into the darkness.