(Fistful of Lead) The 39th Annual Holiday Cat Wrangle

It's a weekend with the kids, so among their requests to see friends, sporting events, and their former classmates in the school musical, I did manage to get a quick holiday game in with them.  

I've got a host of cool holiday scenarios hiding in the dark recesses of the blog, but with the kids' love of animals, and my recent creation of cat objective markers, a good ol' fashioned cat wrangling using Fistful of Lead was set into place.  

I have a small bin of Christmas terrain I've accumulated over the years, and the kids put everything on the board. 

The girls picked from my Gnome Wars and Mousling figures and the objective was easy.  Wrangle up the cats and lock them in a building (or Taco Truck) so the outside trees could be safely decorated.  

1. During the cat initiative each feline would roll on the Cat Random Movement chart
2. If a cat was inside a building and the door opened each cat would escape on  1 or 2 on 1d6.
3. If cats do need to fight, they roll a d8.  All gnomes and mouslings roll d10.  

The chart was pure unadulterated chaos.  One gnome was inches away from the cat, only to have it bolt up the water tower, while on the same turn, a cat on a roof just gently dropped down a rubbed up against another gnome's trouser leg.    Another gnome ran to a cat, minding its own business, startling it, making it not only run off, but be a case of the zoomies for two rounds. until finally stopping in front of the Princess Gnome.

The cats were also collecting candy canes, we didn't determine victory conditions. 

Things seemed to be going quickly, with enough time to reset and playtest it against, until the evil creatures the cat was staring at finally emerged.    The evil mechanical beasts wrecked havoc (except for the one the cat tripped up), but were dispatched with great fanare.  

Cats were wrangled, cats were stolen, snowballs were thrown ineffectively (using Wiley Games Snowbrawl rules we played last year. 

It took me awhile to recognize my daughter Millie was wearing the perfect shirt for the game....

In all, Millie won, 4 cats to 2.  The evil mechanical creatures were vanquished.  We decided I should venture out for another six cat ornaments, at least, as well as setting them up further into the table.  

All of Millie's cat congregated at the tower (aka the Kitty Hotel)

Random Kitten Movement Chart (ChatGPT), with some adjustments and modified for random movement in inches.

1. Nap Curl – The kitten circles twice and flops down wherever it is. Does not move for several minutes.

2. Sudden Dash – Bolts 2d6 inches in a random direction, stops abruptly, looks offended.

3. Investigate That – Walks 1d6 inches toward the nearest small object, sniffs intensely.

4. Underfoot Menace – Weaves between the nearest creature’s legs; that creature must notice or risk stumbling.

5. Tail Chase – Spins in place, attacking its own tail. No meaningful movement.

6. Climb Attempt – Tries to climb the nearest vertical surface (leg, curtain, chair, pack).

7. Box Magnetism – Moves directly to the nearest box, crate, bag, or open container.

8. Freeze and Stare – Stops moving and stares at something no one else can see. (Second result for cat means that thing is real!)

9. Pounce Practice – Crouches, then hops 1-6 inches toward a shadow, dust mote, or imaginary prey. (Second result for cat means that thing is real!)

10. Affection Drift – Pads over to the warmest or friendliest creature nearby and leans against them.

11. Retreat to Safety – Moves 2d6 inches toward a familiar or sheltered spot.

12. Chaos Zoomies – Runs in a loose circle around the area for 1–2 rounds before collapsing.