{"id":4718,"date":"2016-01-02T14:58:04","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T14:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=4718"},"modified":"2016-01-02T14:58:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T14:58:04","slug":"hawks-ring-in-the-new-year-with-gaslight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=4718","title":{"rendered":"HAWKs Ring in the New Year with GASLIGHT"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A long shot of the table before the game began.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As has been our tradition since 2008, I hosted a New Year’s Eve gaming event at my house for members of the Harford Area Weekly Kreigspeilers<\/a>. \u00a0We began at about 3:30 in the afternoon with a 14-player GASLIGHT<\/a> free-for-all set in Egypt. \u00a0My New Year’s Eve pulp games typically feature Duke Morrison and his buddies (“Wrench” Web, “Boats” Morgan, and “Struts” McPherson), often trying to rescue Gianna Nannini or her genius scientist father, Dr. Serafini Nannini. \u00a0This year was the same, with the added bonus of Indiana Jones, Salla, Short Round, and Marion hunting for artifacts. \u00a0A hapless archaeologist had uncovered several valuable and mystical artifacts in a remote pyramid near two Egyptian desert towns. \u00a0Once news leaked out, Nazis, Duke, Indy, Russians, Turks, Indians, Highlanders, Australians, mercenaries, and Arabs all converged on the area with competing goals of either capturing the artifacts or ensuring they stayed in the valley. \u00a0In addition, Sergeants Cutter, MacChensey, and Ballentine leading a group of Indian infantry sought to rescue the colonel’s daughter. \u00a0The sailors and others also heard a rumor of a lost keg of rum being hidden in one of the towns and had an objective of capturing this rare and valuable shipboard commodity. \u00a0A renegade group of French Legionaries had the mission of blowing up the platypus idol (Why? \u00a0How cares? \u00a0It was fun.). \u00a0Finally, a secret Papal group, the Order of the Blessed Crucifix, had the mission to retain possession of a religious relic with mystical properties.<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/a>
Soldiers and sailors (dock workers) emerge from Duke's plane, Anything but a Twenty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can imagine that with all these competing missions the game was a wild and woolly affair, just the kind of light hearted romp you want on New Year’s Eve.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A shot of the table showing both the older (foreground) and newer towns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first two turns didn’t see a lot of shooting. \u00a0I deliberately set groups with competing goals far enough apart that they needed to move a little first. \u00a0One player with two units (cultists and Indians) got the missions of his two forces confused, so the cultists began firing erroneously on the Germans defending their flying wing on turn 2. \u00a0It did make for a lot of excitement. \u00a0The German defenders included a handler for a pack of guard raptors. \u00a0These quickly made a snack of a group of US soldiers, but then the cultists began blazing away at the remaining German defenders.<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers,<\/a>
Soldiers, Arabs, Australians (allied with Indiana Jones), and others began the game in the newer village.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were two towns on the table, an “older” one (made of Miniature Building Authority<\/a> buildings) and a newer one (made from Crescent Root<\/a> buildings). \u00a0The newer town didn’t see a lot of action. \u00a0The Order of the Blessed Crucifix (OBC) brothers were hidden in one of the buildings. \u00a0After a brief skirmish between a group of Arabs and the OBC, the Arabs got bloodied and decided to focus on other objectives. \u00a0The Americans who started in the village headed for the German flying wing. \u00a0The Gestapo (right of the picture above) bypassed the town to try to kill or capture Duke Morrison.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Nazi "cavalry" on raptors were the most mobile force on the table.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were four groups of Nazis, each with slightly different but not opposing missions. \u00a0The Nazi cavalry <\/a>with submachine guns entered the older town, battled for a while, then went to help the She Wolves maintain control of three of the four artifacts they had “acquired” from the archeologist.<\/p>\n

\"Girly<\/a>
Girly Girls, Arabs, Indian infantry, and Nazis fighting for control of a truck in the older town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A group, calling themselves (inappropriately) the Girly Girls, had the mission to settle and old (romantic?) score with Duke Morrison. \u00a0I say “inappropriately,” because the group was composed of tough-as-nails women like Lara Croft. \u00a0They decided to steal a truck in order to get to Duke’s entourage more quickly. \u00a0This began a major kerfuffle in the village that eventually involved Arabs, Nazis, Indians, and the “Sergeants Three.” \u00a0The Girly Girls eventually sped out of town with a truck. \u00a0Later in the game, they made it to Duke Morrison, but by then the Gestapo had incapacitated him, and the Russians were dragging his body off the table.<\/p>\n

\"David's<\/a>
David's Arabs fight with Tom's Order of the Blessed Crucifix brothers for control of a valuable religious artifact.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile the French Foreign Legionaries and their Wild Bunch mercenaries made their way toward the platypus idol. \u00a0They stole one truck easily enough, but then they got greedy and tried to steal a second one. \u00a0They thought a Model T on the table had just a single Arab driver and attacked it, only to discover it was full of Arab soldiers. \u00a0In the ensuring melee, all of the Legionaries attacking the car were killed.<\/p>\n

\"She<\/a>
She Wolves, a Mummy, and US Soldiers battle for control of the valuable artifacts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While this was going on, the She Wolves easily “acquired” three of the four artifacts from the archeologist, but then inherited the pyramid’s curse and were attacked by a mummy. \u00a0Despite his excellent Save<\/em> number, the mummy was eventually vanquished. \u00a0He took down two She Wolves and two U.S. soldiers before turning into dust. \u00a0The She Wolves then spent the rest of the game holding out against enraged dock workers (commanded by “Boats” Morgan) and U.S. soldiers (commanded by “Crusty” Philpott). \u00a0Toward the end of the game, the Nazis on raptors provided reinforcements for the She Wolves, Arabs fired at everyone, and the Foreign Legion showed up to plant explosives on the platypus idol.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A long shot of the table showing the Crescent Root village.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Duke<\/a>
Duke Morrison and his buddies fend off Arabs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Duke Morrison began the game in a building with a truck parked next to it. \u00a0The cards didn’t come up in Duke’s favor, so he immediately had to fight a group of Arabs who were trying to steal the truck. \u00a0While Duke knocked off many of the Arabs, eventually one drove off with the truck. \u00a0His victory was short lived, because the Wild Bunch jumped on it and eventually killed the driver and hijacked the truck themselves. \u00a0The Foreign Legion used this truck to transport themselves and their explosives to the platypus idol to complete their mission.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A long shot of the table about the mid point of the game.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cultists<\/a>
Cultists and Nazis fight for control of the flying wing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, how did all the carnage end? \u00a0Duke Morrison was incapacitated with the Russians and Girly Rights fighting over his limp body. \u00a0Indy, Salla, and Short Round were eaten by Nazi guard raptors while Marion fled into an oasis to hide. \u00a0The Cultists retained control of Gianna Nannini in the oasis near the flying wing and were preparing to sacrifice her. \u00a0Someone had crushed one of the artifacts by driving a truck over it. \u00a0Most of the Arabs were dead, as were the majority of the Nazis, sailors, and soldiers. \u00a0The Indians rescued the colonel’s daughter. \u00a0The Highlanders and Australians had mopped up the remaining defenders around the flying wing and had it firmly in their control. \u00a0The Golden Skull, a mysterious Nazi leader, was dead. \u00a0The French successfully blew up the platypus idol, but the explosion killed most of the remaining Legionaries. \u00a0The big winners (with 30 victory points) were the OBC, who held onto their religious artifact and did enough damage early in the game to the Arabs in the new village so that no one thought to attack them the rest of the game. \u00a0The U.S. soldiers (aligned with Duke Morrison) were the big losers, with negative<\/strong> 57 victory points.<\/p>\n

\"Geoff<\/a>
Geoff battles a mummy, dock workers (allied with Duke Morrison), and Arabs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bloody<\/a>
Bloody chaos in one of the villages.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Indy<\/a>
Indy and a Nazi raptor battle on top of a German flying wing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The game was a hoot. \u00a0It lasted just over three hours, with everyone fully engaged throughout. \u00a0We had one player who had never even seen tabletop miniatures before, but he seemed to have an excellent time.<\/p>\n

\"Santa's<\/a>
Santa's attack on the evil Goblins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After putting away the pulp figures, Kurt ran another GASLIGHT game on the same terrain. \u00a0Traditionally New Year’s Eve gaming sessions have included a Santa Claus game. \u00a0This year Kurt ran a game that featured Santa, his Elves, Moonraiser’s Marauders (misfit toys who parachute in with umbrellas), Rudolph, Yukon Cornelius, teddy bears, and others launching a raid on the stronghold of the evil goblins who have repeatedly attacked the North Pole in previous years.<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/a>
Santa rescues a child.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Santa forces had launched their raid to rescue a bunch of snowball throwing kids and carolers who had been captured by the Goblins. \u00a0I was a goblin defender and held on reasonably well, having defeated a teddy bear unit, their artillery, a bunch of elves, and most of a unit of fish-throwing penguins before losing my last goblin. \u00a0Since all the defenders had been destroyed, Kurt determined that Santa and his forces could search all the buildings and free the prisoners at their leisure, so the game was a resounding victory for Santa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We finished the evening with a game of Five Year Mission<\/em> (a cooperative Star Trek dice and card game) and a strange game of Red Dragon Inn<\/em>. \u00a0We play this game frequently, but this time, a couple of players had a lot of gambling cards while most of us did not. \u00a0After two rounds of gambling, and before I even took my first turn, only four of the original 12 players were still in the game. \u00a0Tank (with the beard in the picture below) eventually bested my daughter to win the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As is also HAWKs tradition, soon after midnight we old fogies poop out. \u00a0By 1 AM everyone had gone home, ahead of the bar-closing traffic. \u00a0It was a fun evening and a nice way to ring in the new year while avoiding crowds and slobbering drunks.<\/p>\n

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