A Bear in New Hope City -- Long Rifle AAR

With thanks to Sean of Sean's Wargame Corner

I was the lucky recipient of a copy of Long Rifle from Sean of Sean's Wargame Corner -- and I won the raffle on my birthday!  This is the tale of my first attempt at using the rules.  Please note that I made a critical error, which is noted in the AAR.  I decided to post it as is since making mistakes is part of learning the game.  So without further ado, Colony 13 presents:

A Bear in New Hope City

Presenting Mary Ann and Gorgo - two brave Irregulars who are about to go hunting in the wilds outside New Hope...errrrr....that is, Colony 13. :-)   (Several people have asked -- the miniatures are from Excalibur Miniaturen from Germany.  Expensive but they look like nothing else on the market!)

Setup

My group starts in the middle of the table.  The PEF layout is randomly generated to be sections 4, 5 and 6! (The blue dice in the picture at left)

A solid line of PEFs directly in front of my intrepid hunters -- this could get interesting if any of them are Mountain Lions or (gulp) Bears!

TURN ONE
Activation Rolls.  Humans: 3 Animals 6

Mary Ann and Gorgo move through the long grass and enter the jungle proper. 








TURN TWO
H: 5 A: 1

Oh dear!  PEFs move first and all 3 PEFS charge forward.  The PEFs from Section 4 and 5 charge and the PEF from Section 6 moves toward the nearest PEF, leaving it just out of sight.  Time to resolve PEF 4 and 5!

PEF 4 is a stampede of Brain Worms! (Small Animals)  Something has them spooked!





 

Oh, no -- it's a Dread Baralanth!  Errr, Bear-alanth!

In-sight tests are taken.  Mary Ann and the Bearalanth score 4, the Brain Worms score 3 and Gorgo, obviously stunned by the psionic static discharge as the Brain Worms go by, scores zero!


OK, pay attention here because here is where I make a critical mistake that was later sussed out on the Two Hour Wargame Yahoo group.  The Bearalanth and Mary Ann take their actions simultaneously because they have scored identical In-Sight scores.  Mary Ann fires and wounds the Bearalanth, reducing him to Rep 3. . This SHOULD ALSO have knocked him down.  The Bearalanth's charge test result then becomes irrelevant because as soon as he starts to charge he gets knocked down by Mary-Ann's shot.  

HOWEVER, the way that I played it at the time left the Bearalanth wounded but standing and able to charge.   Here is how it happened:

Mary Ann fires and wounds the Bearalanth.  Uh-oh! That only made him mad!  The Bearalanth easily passes the Charge test.  Mary Ann scores well enough on the Charge test to have a chance to fire but is unloaded.  (Note: Next time I will use the Radium Rifle rules from the John Carter rules Ed released for free recently) 

The Bearalanth swipes at Mary Ann with one huge claw and hits with one success.  The blow is to the chest -- ripping out her heart!  Mary Ann is Obviously Dead. 

The Brain Worms scatter.

And SOMETHING is attracted by Mary Ann's musket shot -- a new PEF appears in Section 1.  And it's NOT an animal....


TURN THREE
The psionic residue of the Brain Worms causes Gorgo to catch a glimpse of some alternate universe where he fails his Man Down and Cohesion tests and runs away.  He shakes his great head -- that result would make a lousy AAR!  Instead he stays put and rolls In-Sight against the Bearalanth.  :-D (Yep, I cheated)

With the Bearalanth wounded, its on even footing with Gorgo's Rep 3.  Gorgo manages to score 1 more and charges.  He inflicts a second wound on the Bearalanth, which I rule kills the beast. 


Now can Gorgo pack the carcass for transport before the other PEF arrives?


TURN FOUR
H: 5 A: 6  - no activity from anyone.

TURN FIVE
H: 2 A: 4
4 more turns of work for Gorgo.  It's not easy to skin a Bearalanth while wearing power gloves!

TURN SIX
H: 2 A: 4 again.  3 more turns.  Is that native drumming in the distance?

TURN SEVEN
H: 1 A: 3 PEF 6 moves up.  Remember PEF 6?  It resolves to Elk tracks.  No way is Gorgo going hunting Elk at this point!. 

The new PEF from section 1 moves forward -- Gorgo hears native drums.  2 more turns

TURN EIGHT
H:3 A:4
1 more turn!

TURN NINE
H:2 A:3
Gorgo is done!  And those are DEFINITELY native drums growing closer.  The last PEF is just out of Gorgo's sight.

TURN TEN
H:1 A:5
Gorgo grabs Mary Ann's Body in one great hand, grabs the packed Bearalanth carcass in the other, and books it toward civilization!

Behind him, 3 pairs of eyes stare out from the jungle undergrowth and then silently disappear back into the jungle.  (I rolled for the PEF and it was Enemy Indians!  That would have been Gorgo's doom)

So Gorgo makes it back to New Hope....errrr.....Colony 13 with 12 fur bundles and 10 Fame Points.  Maybe he can get Mary Ann's clone out of the freezer for the next game!