Huntrep 3

[Maenoferren]

Well after Nik finished his batrep I thought I had better do another Hunting one :

We had three hunters out on this escapade, Percival Fanhard and his tracker/Gunholder N'goko. they were taking Victor Marachino and Delores de Syn a movie Star and starlett on a hunt to track and take down a male Triceratops.

The tracking phase took 3 days before they managed to bring the beast to bear. on the second day the party came across a frightened hunter and had to decide what to do with him. Fanhard ordered bearers and askari to escort him back to home base.

As we are using Savage worlds, I decided to run the tracking part of the hunt as a chase. there are 14 markers. the dino starts on the fourth and the hunters on the first. All chase rules apply, clubs mean a problem hence the frightened hunter on the second turn. The hunters use their tracking skills and the animals use their agility to move along the track. Each movement marker is a day, meaning up to a maximum of 14 days. After that the  supplies will run out and the party have to use their survival skills to get them back. in the play testing part of it the dinosaurs sometimes escaped and in others the hunters got them, so it does seem to work.
I will write it up over the next couple of days, and sort out the photos too.

[Maenoferren]

Target: Large Male Triceratops with a snapped horn

Hunters:
Percival Fanhard: Guide and tracker (Nearest the camera)
N'Goko Fanhard's Gun holder and friend (forgot to put him on the table)
Delores de Syn : movie starlett. (centre)
Victor Maraschino: movie star



The wind is blowing straight towards the party.

The table set up, with 5 markers one of which is the target, and the usual Brachiosaur, which is there to cause as much chaos as possible (well it has done in every game so far)



Turn 1:
Dinosaurs draw random event card
All three hunters move forward full distance and on the dinosaur turn the random movement of the markers moves one into the filed of vision for Victor and he realise that it is a big armoured one, you know the big one with armour and the tail!
Unfortunately victor also notices that the random event has also brought a big dinosaur into view. Even Victor knew that this one was a Tyrannosaurus Rex and it seems to be very hungry.



Turn 2:
The Rex went first and postured and let out a huge, terrifying roar.
Now although Victor always played the heroic type in his films,  he wasn’t as heroic in real life. All characters had to take a spirit roll, luckily Victor had drawn a joker and received a plus two bonus to his dice rolls, otherwise he would have shown his true colours.
Victor realising that this was his moment he snapped his rifle to his shoulder and fired. The heavy calibre round struck true, but failed to do any damage. Delores and Fanhard fired next, only to see their rounds hit the massive carnivore, but seem to have little effect.

Turn 3:
All of the party shoot and all hit the target, but unfortunately even the big Nitro Express of Fanhard fails to do any damage. Things begin to look worrying for the party as the big dinosaur suddenly leaps forward and breaks into a ground eating run, the huge jaws open, head down and tail held stiffly behind.

Turn 4:
The Rex rapidly closes the distance, its muscular legs powering its five ton body forwards at a surprising speed for its massive size.

Fanhard takes careful aim and fires, the heavy calibre round strikes the Rex in the chest, there is a fountain of blood and the beast staggers slightly.
Victor and Delores both fire, but fail to wound the dinosaur. Victor's fear is beginning to spread, and with a mighty scream his bearers and Askari, take one last look at the approaching dinosaur, then dropping all of their items they turn tail and flee.



Turn 5:
The Rex is now in charge range of the party. Everyone fires. Fanhard reloads and fires again. His round strikes true and again the mighty beast shudders as its internal organs are ruptured, seconds later Victor's bullet hits true and the mighty beast stumbles, it's legs buckle and with a final roar it crashes to the ground. Delores fires at the stricken beast and watches as her bullet thuds into the mighty head. A low rumble comes from the Rex as it struggles to breath, for this massive creature, its hunting days are over.



Turn 6:
Victor moves forward to pass by the downed Rex, whilst Fanhard moves forward and fires both barrels directly into the creatures eye. With a mighty shudder and a death rattle, the Rex dies. Delores moves forward and drapes herself across it's bloody head, whilst smiling at the camera one of her bearer has produced. As Fanhard reloads and Delores changes position, for a more interesting pose, Victor notices that a huge Triceratops with a broken horn has moved from behind an area of rocky ground

Turn 7:
The triceratops starts moving towards the party, as does the mighty Brachiosaur. Fanhard and Delores hold their ground, Fanhard rapidly reloads his weapon..  Victor takes careful aim, but holds his fire as even he knows that his bullets cannot get through the frill of the trike. Victor's bearers realising the Tyrannosaur is no longer chasing them take heart and begin to make their way back towards there discarded parcels and weapons.



Turn 8:

The Brachiosaur moves forward and gets between the hunters and their target, The triceratops moves forward, still not seeing the party. The dangerous animal is danger close and everyone crouches down and nervously stroke their triggers. The triceratops is still head on to the party and impossible to take down, however, the dinosaur could easily attack the party in a massive charge.



Turn 9:
Victor draws a joker and goes on hold, the Triceratops goes next and suddenly changes direction, moving directly away from the party. Victor has a clear shot and fires. His bullet hammers into the Triceratops and wounds it. Both Fanhard and Delores also fire,  Delores does no damage, but Fanhard manages to shake the mighty creature.

Turn 10:
Victor gets another joker and fires, he doesn’t wound the triceratops, but does manage to shake it, The Brachiosaur moves forward and Delores darts forward to fire at the triceratops, she nimbly dodges the feet of the Brachiosaur and lets rip but deals no damage. The Triceratops tries to unshake, and succeeds, but doesn’t manage to do anything else.. Fanhard jogs to the left of the Brachiosaur and fires but does no damage.





Turn 11:
Both Victor and Fanhard hit the triceratops and wound it. The creature collapses to the ground, blood spurting from three mortal wounds.

The hunt is a success and Delores and Victor pose for photographs beside the dead triceratops, this will look especially good on the promotional material.


A good game, it was particularly unfortunate for the Tyrannosaur to appear on turn one, but it was taken down, if in all honesty a bit too close for comfort. If Victor had failed his spirit roll, they would have been one gun down, and this might have had huge repercussions. The party were lucky that the triceratops appeared as close as it did. The random movement and unpredictability of the markers means that it could have been the furthest away

[Leon]

I just got chance to look at this properly, great read as usual! 

[Maenoferren]

Thank you I plan another hunt or two  over the hols 

[nikharwood]

Coolio - I've just given this a proper-read too with my coffee this morning top-notch hunt there M: looking forward to more...

Also makes me want to give SW a proper go: I played them years ago & remember them being pretty funky...

[Maenoferren]

Cheers Nik. Savage worlds works really well for this kind of thing. I am mates with Wiggy who used to do a lot of writing for Pinnacle (he wrote their pirates game as well as loads of other stuff), but now is creative Drector for Triple Ace Games, well woth a look.

I am planning a couple more forays onto La Isla Muerta over the Christmas, unfortunately a plane has gone down and Fanhard and the two movie stars are the closest to the crash site, which for Fanhard is not the party  he would have liked to have on a rescue mission

The second shall be something else, possibly a scientific foray to obtain some eggs from a dinosaur nest 

[Maenoferren]

Whoops I  just did a random choice on the type of eggs they are asked to collect and lo and behold - utahraptors - Whoops! why couldnt it have been something easy like a parasarolophus. Fanhard has decided the movie stars can stay at home on this one 

[nikharwood]

Fanhard has decided the movie stars can stay at home on this one 

He's such a decent chap, eh? If it was me - and I was going on a perilous mission from which I might not return - I'd want the totty up close & personal. So I could ensure their safety, natch 

[Maenoferren]

Yeah but Delores would be draped over some interesting log or something to be photographed whilst being stalked by a utahraptor
And as Fanhard has both the heroic and the loyal hindrance he would have to leap in and save her

[Pruneau]

Looks like that was a nice game, with people having a lot of fun!

[Maenoferren]

They are fun games, this one was a short one as the target appeared close to the party. normally there is more than one of the target dinosaur if they are herbivores, that means there is a lot more skill and stealth than taking down a lone animal .

[Pruneau]

Are the rules based on the Dinosaurs of the lost world boardgame in any way?  I love the chase rules in that game.

[Maenoferren]

Hi Pruneau,
THe rules are straight forward savage worlds role play system rule, the chase is directly from them too. I upgunned the dinosaurs a bit, gave them edges etc that they didn't have in the original rules, it basically makes them nastier. Any dinosaurs they didnt have rules for I made up stats for, I watched anything on dinosaurs that came on the telly, that is why myparasaurolophus
I also have sorted out various npc types too that means the game can be run very quickly

I went for 10mm figures for it due to weapons ranges, at least this way they wont be in close range on turn 2

[Blaker]

Maenoferren, would you be kind enough to identify all the minis you used and where the dinosaurs are from?

That was really a cool write up about the Hunt. I am gonna have to dig SW out of the barn now and have a new look at them with a great idea, generated from your story 

thanks

[Maenoferren]

Hi Blaker,
dinosuars are magister millitum, (Which as of yesterday need repainting, due to 2 year old tipping them everywhere  )

I have the following from Pendraken:
BW24 dismounted foot slouch hat
GEA1 Early Askari troops
NEA4 Native porters
also the delores is either the officer from the askari or the massai, I cant remember which. Hopefully this helps