(SAVAGE MICE) #2 The Olde Farm

After ridding a local Mousling town of a meddlesome giant, the three most eager warbands in the realm were looking for most adventure and more look.

There chance came with rumors of a handsome bounty on a dashing rogue gnome wizard, all three were ready to head to an oddly abandoned hobbit farmstead.

The conquering heroes, Robin Mouse and his Merry Mice were still excited from their last successful mission, and with the additional of the heroic Friar Buck to their band, success was assured.

 The mice bandits, The Snakes, had found some selfish treasures last time, but between Pinky and Wakana Forever, their relationship with a magic frog wasn't a guarantee success.

Plus the goblins were sure to be there!  G'ba had recovered from this wounds in the last raid, and this time they had a new friends, Wipes the Troll!  He was a hulking brute, but he was only a minion, so a a single would could take him out permanently from the band.

 There were four minor objectives:
A) Gnomar the Relentless - Gnomish Wizard (Hostile Objective)

B) A Random hunk of stone in the field

 C)  A lost pig (at least on the wrong side of the stream)

 D) An abandoned raft

E)  Two "lost" hobbit archers.

TURN ONE:  Everyone rushed towards an objective, but only Wipes had the right strides to rech the big hog.  One quick roll and we don't talk about what happened to the future pet/future bacon.

TURN TWO:  Robin Mouse checked out giant rock in the field with success, by no special modifiers.

Wakanda of the Snakes also dodged a few warning arrows and befriended the two female hobbits.  They had expected the hobbit farmers to be here to help with some great commotion at a halfling village upriver.

Uncovering the minor encounters allowed for the Gnome Patrol arrived.  Gnomar was a wanted gnome and the Patrol was going to bring him hoe no matter what.

TURN THREE: It took a great deal of searching but two of the Merry Mice found the Gnome Wizard and convince him to follow them with surprisingly little effort.

You or the Gnome Patrol?  I'll take you guys for now....

 G'ba finally reached the abandoned raft.  He might have been pre-occupied by the Gnome Patrol moving up the alternate side of the river, as a small individual got behind him and *KER-KLANGED* him in the back of the head. 

No Guacamole Dip for you! 

 G'ba rolled a double botch on his challenge roll (1 on the attribute die and 1 on the wild die).  An ignominious end for the second game in a row!

TURN FOUR:  The Friar snuck downriver to look into the raft, or perhaps the Gnome Patrol.  The goblins had forded the river to chase something mouse-shaped, but a number of them were aghast to learn that their arrows had been dumped downriver in their crossing. 

One goblin without that problem was the second-in-common, Patches.  He charged the mandolin playing mousling and wildly missed, crashing into boxed (yet another botched die roll.)  He was stunned but not out. 

The dottering Gnome Patrol took its time across a field, and taking pot shots against one of the Merry Mice sitting on the farmhouse roof.  

TURN FIVE:  Considering the hobbits' plight a bigger challenge than the Gnome Wizard, the Snakes high-tailed it off (or nearly off the battlefield). 

Robin Mouse struck one of the goblin minions and then realized the rest of his gang were already near the edge of the battlefield, gnome wizard in their arms. 

Patches the Goblin recovered from his embarrassing performance, cold-cocked the mandolin player to he wouldn't be the recipient of the mouse's bardic tales, and ordered the retreat.  

The Gnome Patrol split up, two futilely pursuing the wizard, one continuing shooting at the housesitting mousling, and two swinging over to confront Friar Buck!

The sounds of their guns only confused the Friar as they engaged the futile melee.

The mouse on the house had a different plan, leaping off the building and drop-kicking the Gnome Patrolman.!

TURN SIX:  With most of the warbands off the table, and no one interested in the last minor objective, it was some minor mop-up activities. The free-falling mousling jumped back on the stunned gnome and took him out of action, before skittering away.  Despite the two-on-one battle,  the Friar held his own, but was still engaged as the turn finished.

Using the Pulp Alley Rules, the Merry Mice won with 4, followed by the Snakes and Goblins with one apiece.  Definitely need the objectives to be closer to the center of the board, and the girls are not cutthroat with the mice, preferring to seize an easier objective and calling it quits.  Might need to get back to Pulp Egypt and see if that translates into a far-bloodier game.  

I had much grander and expansive plans for Father's Day, but sleepovers, swimming, and a neighborhood reggae party threw everything off.  But we still got out annual game in, and the 8th(?) year of our Tea Party.  

Another session inspired by The REALM of JiNNai: Battle Report: The Farm

Next Up:  The Deserted Hobbit Village, some Planet 28, and perhaps a final return to Pulp Egypt.

(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