(SAVAGE MICE) #1 - A Giant Problem in the Center of Town

Thanks to a quarantine canceling all our functions on my birthday weekend, I actually played a miniatures games!  After four years since our last foray into the topic, "Savage Mice" are back!

Mousetown, with the loitering giant in the center and the gentrified gnome neighborhood to the south.

Mousetown has an unwelcome guest!  One morning a giant strolled into town, and for some reason, he doesn't want to leave.  Mouse-folk are terrified to leave their house, can someone save them from their large pest?

Our Mousling heroes:

Robin's Band of Merry Mice:  Robin and Lady Mouse are the two heroes, with the other four being minions armed only with swords... and musical instruments.  (Played by Millie)

The Snakes: an edgy band of Mousling brigands, they'll steal from the rich or the poor, and give to themselves.  Saving villages isn't their vibe, but there might be a handsome reward for this saving the town gig.  Pinky and Wakanda are the heroes.  Run by the "edgy" 10-year old Maja, who didn't want to play the "bad guy goblins," but didn't want true-blue good guys.  I dig that.

The Blue Goblins of G'ba:  G'ba is a power-hungry shaman, and convincing to the giant to join his tribe would shift the balance of power in the area to him.  G'ba and Patch are the heroes and all the minions are armed with poor bows (d4) and shoddy shortswords (d6-1)

Set-Up/Objectives:  Maja and Milllie set up their bands in the open area to the east of the giant.   That left me on the west side, with plenty of cover, but fewer immediate objectives.  

The other four objectives (in addition to the giant):  

 A:  Friar Buck - a mysterious Mousling in sackcloth is the only other Mousling brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to wander the town.

B - The arguing treefolk.  Two treefolk are arguing loudly that the new mushroom in town by the gnome homes doesn't match with the "Cultural History" of the community.

C - A talking frog.  What's he got to say?

 D - The Outhouse.  Is someone inside?  Did they wash their hands?

Main Objective: The Giant

Turn One:  The Snakes and the Goblins cautiously maneuvered over towards objectives.  The Merry Mice, however were full of intensity, scattering to the winds, Lady Mouse dashing towards the Giant, the Merry Mice running in-line towards the strange Mousling, and Robin holding up the rear.

Turn Two: The Snakes' hench-mice walked up with trepidation towards the giant in a single-file line.  They would take a deep breath and engage next round, but then a *zot* could be heard through the air and lead mousling was DEAD!

 The shaman G'ba has hustled out from the buildings and leveled his magic staff.  One down, hopefully many more to go, and the giant was simply ignoring all of this.

Turn Three:  Patch the goblin waited patiently for the person to exit the outhouse.  It was a hulking troll, who was surprised by the small-skinned man, and even more taken aback by his proposal.

 Meanwhile, Wakana reached the Talking Frog, and after a short conversation about the weather, picked up some legends and lore that would be useful for another day.

Back by the giant, the Snake's leader, Pinky was shocked that the Shaman had killed one of their hench-mice, but pleasantly surprised to fine the Shaman in the middle of the field.  One quick arrow lodged into the goblin's heart so fast, that he could do nothing but die....

The death(?) of G'ba

Turn Four:  Robin finally meandered over to the Treefolk and engaged in a long conversation over the merits of magical mushrooms, even if they were so bright and colorful that some could deemed them obnoxious.  The Treekfolk agreed to disagree.

Patch might had lost his leader, but recruiting Nelson Privy as the new muscle of the goblins might help him became the new leader.  Plus the Troll had keen sense of personal hygiene, that might take the goblins even further...

The surviving hench-mice inched up toward the giant the tried a polite greeting.

*WHAM*

Even in his superior armor, the Mousling was no match for the giant club.  And the giant appeared perturbed.

The Merry Mice finally reached the strange Mousling walking around.  He introduced himself as Friar Buck, and was willing to tag along with the group.

Turn Five:  The Snakes fled from the giant, but not as fast as some would suspect.  The giant seemed flummoxed from noises from around the town.   

Once Friar Buck became an honorary Merry Mouse, the remaining minion goblins started firing upon them, killing the mouseling he was just talking two.  Lady Mouse returned fire and ordered them to flee.

Of course the Merry Mice fled right into the direction of the giant, who squashed one quickly, and completely forgot about the Snakes.

Turn Six:  As fast as they appeared, the other Merry Mice sprinted away from the giant, but not too far away.

 The goblins charged Friar Buck, but no one could land a blow.

 The Snakes picked up speed and sped off the board, with only some new knowledge as their treasure.

Turn Seven:  Lady Mouse picked off the last goblin not engaged in combat, and Friar Buck escaped melee with a scratch.  Down to two, and without a leader, the goblins would most certainly route and catch up to Patch.

The other Merry Mice came out of hiding and engaged the giant.... with a playful tune.

And by some magic, these musical hangers-on of the Merry Mice managed to modulate the machismo of this massive man.  In return for a few watermelons for the road, the giant would leave Mousetown, in the opposite direction of the goblins.

Final Score:  Merry Mice (Millie) 23,  Snakes (Maja) 9,  Goblins (Me) 8.

A fun game, I finally got to use my gnome/mouse village, plus it used a lot of what we've painted up recently.  We'll be using Pulp Alley in its full form in the near future, but using a part of the PA cards for objectives always seems to work.  Might, Finesse, and Cunning don't match up perfectly with Agility, Strength, and Heart, and I might avoid/adapt the use of Bennies/Wild Dice on the checks, but it was a great time for all.

Next Up:  Some Pulp Alley, Last Days, and Medieval possibly before we officially return to the Egypt Pulp game.

A lot of the inspiration for expanding the Mousling game came from the numerous awesome AARs from The REALM of JiNNai.   I'll link all the cool scenarios they ran with each one of my write-ups.  Not all are direct inspiration for games ("The Fugitive" was not).

Next for Savage Mice: #2 - The Olde Farm