Quick, let's play Pulp Alley!

Saturday saw what Reggie's brother-in-law from The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin would have called "A bit of a cock-up on the communications front" when my feeble attempts not to play a Saturday Afternoon WargameTM to allow time for shopping and the watching of the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final, failed miserably.

Faced with four players (self, Jamie, Andy and Richard) I dragged out the Pulp Alley rules and we played a hasty four-player game.   We may not have had the most considered and logical plot justification but we did demonstrate Pulp Alley's ability to give an enjoyable game with virtually no preparation.

I have pre-prepared sheets for all of my Pulp Alley leagues in the ring-binder that contains my copy of the rules.  Jamie chose to play the Atlantean Guards whilst Andy took on the Pirates of Pan Tang.  Richard played the 1920s version of UNIT and I took on the role of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I think I can carry it off).

We played the simplest "Smash and Grab" scenario on a board depicting a ruined Atlantean city.  The cyclopean walls gave plenty of opportunities to position Plot Points and characters in precarious positions.  As I found to my cost when Willow was gunned down by UNIT troops on turn one!

Jamie found the Atlantean Guards hard to play.  Just as when I'd tried them out, they lost Guardsmen (rated as Followers) at an alarming rate.  However, their leader, Polemarchos did manage to take on Buffy in an attempt to challenge for the secret of the giant bronze cup.  Here Buffy holds him off whilst Giles studies his books.

Andy took an early lead, picking up a couple of plot points, one of which was the treasure hidden beneath the mysterious scarab statue, which happened to be the Major Plot Point for the scenario.

Andy dons the I-have-the-inititive hat

This gave Andy a 4:1:1:1 lead, which meant everyone, not least his own son, was incentivised to gang up on him.  UNIT bullets proved most effective against tigers and Pantangian armour did little to protect its wearers.

By the end of the game, Lt Lethbridge-Stewart had seized the treasure of the scarab from the Pantangians.  Xander Harris had just failed to prevent an Atlantean guard lugging away a mysterious, chained coffin but Rupert Giles did at least have the secret of the bronze cup.

We ended with Richard the clear winner.  He had the major plot point and everyone had one minor one each.