Jungle Safari

It's been a long, slow Autumn for gaming.  Work and family functions have been eating into any available time, so much so that I can't get a good hour to set up and play a game with my kids.

The stars finally aligned this week as I needed to pick up the kids at dance while my wife ran off to her own dance class (Zumba).  After reheating leftovers and plotting what I needed to get done before Mepacon this weekend, I pulled out a few things, cleaned off the dining room table, and set up a caveman hunting game.

With a few Fisher-Price animals and some Melanesians from Pulp Figures, we created a world of oversized mammals... and the hungry people who wanted a snack. 

Using my Toddler Interactive Adventure Resolution... Adventure! (TIARA) that I've been tweaking since Maja was two, we set up two human hunting parties at opposite ends of the board.

Maja spying a giant leopard

The giant bunny was added later, and successfully eluded the hunters

Maja's Blue Team reached a giant kangaroo first, and the whole hunting party concept was thrown right out the window, "Daddy, can my guys try and take the the kangaroo home with us instead?"

The blue team scores some hits on the kangaroo...

Despite getting a few rolls to "capture" the creature, and the kangaroo fleeing very slowly on its escape roll, the hunters spied the giant bunny, and sprinted past the kangaroo to reach it!  Alas, the bunny was very quick and dashed off the board and out of harms way.

... but get distracted and try to capture the bunny!

On my end, the Yellow Team spooked a zebra and then rolled poorly against a giant leopard.  The leopard busted through the wall of men,  killing one in the process, before working its way the the hill on the table that was designated "safe."  Despite the two teams meeting, putting aside their differences, and working together to surround the jungle cat, the leopard escaped!

The combined parties try to circle the man-killing leopard, but it evades capture.

I'm amazed at how much three months of kindergarten has affected Maja's math skills.  She was rolling for movement on 2d6, measuring out the distance, and adding up her multiple d6s for combat like a magic-user casting fireball in D&D.   I think she'll be fine at the con

And in a week or so, I hope to expand the game to include a few bigger blokes..

Oh boy... next week?