This report has been around unfinished for over a month so I am sorry for the delays in getting it to “print”.
“The adventure of my life started when I purchased an African pottery artifact of unknown origin for my collection.
When placing the piece on a shelf in my study I accidentally dropped it shattering to pieces. What I found amongst the shattered shards was a strange parchment written in a language I could not understand. Suddenly the words on the paper changed so that I could understand it. Amazed I was later to find that the parchment would change to whatever language the reader could understand.
The parchment talked of jewels located near a large Mopane tree, but warns the reader that any adventure would be dangerous in extreme.
I mistakenly shared my desire to mount an expedition with a colleague Manfred Mettlewane who decided to conduct his own search in opposition to mine.
Crossing paths many times Manfred and I finally found ourselves again together on the same riverbank opposite the town of Nokandoo.
Local natives had spoken of a large Mopane tree in the middle of jungle, but also warned of the “Black God” also lurking in the dense jungle. Dismissive of their superstitions we were both determined to reach the treasure first and claim it for ourselves.”
Lord Archibald Thurston 1872.
And so the game begins!!!
Both expeditions were of similar size consisting of a few characters (heroes), former military personnel and some trained Askaris. The British forces were lead by Andrew W and the Germans by David K.
The black God and other jungle nasties were controlled by myself. These consisted of the Black God, various jungle animals, “The Ghost who Walks”, and if enough jungle animals were killed, the “King of the Apes” and his retinue. At the start of each player turn they would roll two dice and on a roll of a 7, 11 or a double a “nastie” determined by myself would arrive. On a roll of “box cars” the “Ghost who Walks” would arrive and once six animals were killed Tarzan, Jane, and Cheetah would turn up to protect the jungle.
Un-be-knowns to the players wild animals would only attack if a unit “ran” (moved at the run) away from them or moved towards them.
Movement was made unpredictable by the dense jungle and the many and varied paths.
Each time a unit moved to a fork in a path they needed to roll a dice to determine which direction they travelled in. If accompanied by a hero they did not need to dice as we all know that heroes always know in which direction to travel.
Initially both sides acted quite independently trying to find the Mopane tree and the treasure. Several units were travelling around in circles due to the random movement rules.
Not long into the adventure Lily Mettlewane found her Askaris running quickly back towards her, closely followed by a charging Rhinoceros. She aimed, she fired, she finished her cup of tea, and she watched the Rhino collapsed at her feet!
A pity that Manfred was not as skilled as he found himself lost in some ruins.
Lost beyond belief some British Askaris accidently found themselves in the German camp. Finally the fragile truce was broken as the “stoned” Schultz, the German guard, was quickly overran and continued to deny knowing anything!!
At last both sides were working their way through the jungle to their objective but still fearing what might await them they continued to refuse to fire on each other.
The British were the first to break through the final clearing to be confronted by the Black God.
While the massive ape studiously ignored them the British moved stealthy toward the piles of jewels under the shade of the Mopane tree. As soon as they had filled their sacks with jewels and started moving for home the “Black God” attacked.
They valiantly tried to resist but were quickly dispatched by the huge creature.
At the same time as the British were being dispatched the Germans arrived at the Mopane tree and were just about to make their escape when the “Black God” leapt upon them. One by one the Germans fell but were inflicting suppression markers on the creature. Finally both Herman and the “Black God” were down to their last suppression markers. Just as he raised his shotgun to finish off the ape Herman was thrown across the clearing and fell in a silent heap.
With the creature finding it hard to activate with maximum suppression markers, first Lily Mettlewane and a German squad and then the British were able to sneak away with handfuls of jewels.
The race was on to see who could get the most jewels back to their camp, however the Germans were not aware that their camp was being held by British Askaris.
Up until now there had been little or no “nasties” appearing on the scene. Suddenly first one, then two then three and then four elephants appeared to surround the German troops. Fortunately for the players no jungle characters had yet appeared.
Meanwhile the British continued unmolested towards their camp on the river.
The Germans thought they were finally home when the “Black God” finally activated getting rid of all of his suppression markers and started charging down the pathway to collect his jewels.
The result was inevitable.
The German expedition was now in tatters with only Lily left. Vainly trying to re-capture her camp so that she could escape with the few jewels in her possession she engaged in a long range fire fight with the British Askaris. After first one and then a second Askaris fell to her expert shooting, but her luck finally ran out leaving the British and the jungle to the spoils.
The British had the luck with not having to deal with many jungle nasties, but also used their heroes well in a supportive roll to assist with activation and movement.
Another great Fubar scenario showing the flexibility and fun the rules possess.
The score was British seven jewels, the Germans zero, but they did have one rhino and two elephant trophies. The Germans were very unlucky not to have destroyed the “Black God” which would have given them an overwhelming victory.
David S.
