Pulp Alley: Forbidden City (Perilous Island, Game 9)

Introduction

It has been nearly 2 years since the last installment of our Perilous Island campaign.  You all know why this delay has occurred: Covid 19.  Well, I'm pleased to say that things are opening back up where we live and this has permitted us to meet up again and play another episode.

For those who cannot remember anything about the campaign at all, I suggest you start at the beginning: Tarzan and the Lady.

If you just need a quick catch-up on the last episode then it is here: Blood Sacrifice!

Otherwise, continue reading here for the next part in this thrilling tale!

The Scenario

In their search for Lord Darrow (the missing archaeologist), the leagues have followed the trail of clues (or each other!) across Perilous Island.  Now they have reached the entrance to the Forbidden City - the semi-derelict city of the ancient Enocheans.

All the signs tell them that they must enter the city, but there are several problems:

• Firstly the gate can only be opened by performing a complex ritual on three separate altars simultaneously.
• Secondly, the gate is guarded by a huge, animated bronze statue.  How will our adventurers cope with this?
• Thirdly, the scenario only lasts 6 turns before the ground shakes, meteors and lightning crash down and the tunnel entrance is reduced to rubble!

The Leagues

The Snake Cult

In the red corner, we have Al Masudi and his giant pet snake, followed by various devotees.  Since the last game, he has spent some experience points to gain the Commander skill, which gives him even more level-2 followers.  One of these is a cheetah (Al Masudi has a fondness for exotic animals, as can be seen in several earlier episodes of this campaign), whilst the other is another marksman.

In addition to the regular crowd, the cult has obtained the services of a local Nghai hunter, just for this mission (he's the guy dressed in the red fez.  I was running out of suitable models as we were playing away from home and I hadn't anticipated the need for quite so many native models).

Tarzan's Jungle Alliance

Marked by green are Tarzan, Koko the gorilla and various simians (small apes).  Again, Tarzan has expanded his roster a little by virtue of experience or reputation (I forget exactly which) and there are more simians than previously.

Tarzan also has a Nghai hunter in his party and in addition to this he has Lady Elaine Darrow, the missing archaeologist's daughter.  She seems to think that this party has the best chance of tracking down her lost father, at least for now.

Sir Henry's Safari

Finally, in blue, we have Sir Henry, Alain Quartermain, Captain Goode and a bunch of ascaris, plus Lady Constance (Sir Henry's niece, I believe).  As with the leagues above, Sir Henry has an extra ascari follower and he also has a Nghai hunter attached to his party.  [I was astonished to find out that all the leagues had made friends with the Nghai; they must be a very trusting tribe].

The Opposition

The table is set up with 2 types of danger:

• The Golden Guardian is a giant, mechanical man.  He will try to protect the gate from all who seek to pass.  Whether this is because they haven't got the correct identification or whether the guardian has malfunctioned after eons of wear and tear is left to the reader.
• There are a couple of nests of giant waspquitos near the gate.  Initially there is just a single lookout insect at each location, but they move in a semi-random manner towards the closest player model.  If they contact a figure then that contact is perilous and another wasp exits the nest to take up the lookout position.

Turn One

Out of the initial hands dealt to 3 players, we had three "Play Immediately" cards.  This is quite unusual, though something like it has happened before in one of our other games (Swamp of Terror).  Still, it looked as if the winner of the scenario would gain some extra resources in addition to the glory of being top!

Predictably, the leagues moved towards the gate in turn 1.  There were a few variations in this, though:

• All three players moved their main character towards the altar nearest to them.
• Since Tarzan didn't need to run this turn, he spent an action to exercise his new Summon skill.  A couple of baboon swarms answered his ululating call.
• The Safari moved several ascaris onto the top of the nearest cliff.  This server 2 purposes: they were relatively close to the gate and might be able to rush it when (if!) it opened and also they had good visibility to much of the table (i.e. they could shoot things!)

Maybe the ascaris were a bit too close to the gate, though?  The guardian rumbled over and stomped one of them into the ground.  First blood to the monster!

Turn Two

Another "Play Immediately" card was drawn.  The stakes were rising quite high for this game!

The cultists all formed a line as they marched forwards.  In a spoiling move, Koko the gorilla ran to the tail end and roared [he has the Shock skill].  This manoeuvre was intended to scare some of the lesser cult members into the farther wasp's nest at the top of the picture, where they would be stung to death.  It was partially successful in that several cultists (including their highly-strung cheetah) were indeed startled by the sudden commotion and they did all pile forwards into the wasp's nest - but the wasps failed to injure anyone.  Oh well...

The rest of the turn played out like this:

1. Tarzan activated his altar with ease.
2. Al Masoudi also activated an altar.  This was all going swimmingly.
3. Sir Henry decided to throw a spanner in the works by refusing to attempt his part of the ceremony this turn.
4. Various cultists and ascaris engaged in firefights from the opposite sides of a small rock.  Many bullets were expended, but all of them pinged and whined off the cover without doing much damage.
5. The ascaris on the cliff pinned down the cultists in the wasps nest, though once again the amount of cover prevented any injuries.

This time, the guardian strode towards Hurkey (one of Tarzan's followers).  It didn't quite reach the monkey so it shot beams of searing light at him instead.  The little animal dodged aside nimbly and avoided any harm [against the odds, mind].

Turn Three

Sensing that everyone was somewhat annoyed with him for his spoiling tactics, Sir Henry quickly lit the fire at his altar.  He then played Buy Some Time to extend the scenario to 7 turns.  Well, that should be enough, right?

Having scared half the cultists last turn, Koko returned to investigate the grave (minor plot point).  He used a Secret Path to avoid the increasing number of wasps that had now emerged from their nest [perhaps he swaggered in a hypnotic manner that made the wasps drowsy?  Or he managed to convince them that he really didn't have any jam sandwiches?  Who knows the ways of a gorilla?].

Without being pestered by the giant bugs, it was relatively easy for Koko to collect evidence of the demise of yet another member of the ill-fated Darrow expedition.

In past games, the cult's giant snake has dispatched a number of monkeys with ease and it was no surprise when it slithered forwards and engulfed another one.  However, this time the simians fought back!

First, in an act of desperation, Caesar took on the serpent and - amazingly - landed a hit on the monster without receiving any injury himself.  Encouraged by this, Kobo ran in to the fight and landed a couple of blows.  This turned out to be on a vital spot (Lucky Strike card) and suddenly Kobo's decent 2 hits turned into an unstoppable 4 hits.  Both simians pummeled the snake with rocks and sticks and bit & tore at it until the creature stopped moving!  [The snake lost 2 successive fights, failed all its health checks and then fluffed the necessary recovery roll at the end of the turn.  This was the Day of the Monkeys!].

Of course, the simians have another nemesis: the cultist grenadier is very fond of blowing up small, furry animals.  He threw a bomb into the melee and the explosion caught Caesar by surprise, tossing the monkey aside like a rag doll.  Oh, well...

Otherwise, in turn three:

1. Sir Henry performed his part of the ceremony flawlessly.
2. Al Masoudi attempted to light a fire on his altar and failed!  Worse than that, he injured himself in doing this.  None of the other cultists were free to aid him, either.
3. Tarzan, noting that the ceremony was already lost for this turn, didn't bother to attempt his part.  Instead he used Summon to call more swarms of jungle creatures [more baboons - some had been lost in skirmishes with Saeed, the cult's brawling specialist, and some snake swarms as well.  Note that all of these swarms had the same capabilities, even if the model was represented by baboons or snakes].

Hurkey continued to dance around the metal guardian.  The huge, living statue made multiple attempts to crush the presumptuous beast, but once again the monkey dodged aside [truly, this was heroic stuff from little Hurkey!].

Turn Four

1. Tarzan lit the fire on his altar [again?  These flames just wouldn't stay alight; they went cold at the end of every turn].
2. Al Masoudi lit the fire on his alter.
3. Sir Henry couldn't strike a light to ignite his altar.  In desperation, both Alain Quartermain and an ascari tried to help him out, but neither of them managed either.
4. Various minor league members ran around the field screaming, followed by the ever-growing number of angry wasps [these were all attempts to lead the wasps into someone else's "territory", usually with only partial success]

So, once again the gate-opening ceremony failed.  It's only turn 4, though - there should be enough time yet, shouldn't there?

This time, the guardian pulverised an unwary cultist.

Turn Five

OK, let's try again.  Sir Henry and his cohorts tried to light a fire on the altar, again without any success.  There were massive groans of despair from all the players at this!

Again, Tarzan didn't waste time in attempting the already-failed ceremony, but instead summoned more jungle swarms.

Much squabbling was done by various minor league members, which served mainly to rouse even more wasps.

Seeing no need to attempt his part in the ritual either, Al Masoudi left his altar and attacked the gorilla [who was busy trying to pull the arms off the cult's Nghai hunter].

It seems as if the cult leader had bitten off more than he could choose, though: Koko won the fight and then used his Savage skill to fight again - winning that too.  Al Masoudi was left battered and down in the dirt!

The guardian continued to pick off one model per turn.  This time one of Tarzan's many swarms was the closest model to the gate and therefore the focus of the behemoth's wrath.

Turn Six

OK, this is getting desperate now - can nobody open the gate?

Tarzan was first to attempt the ritual this turn, but this time he failed it.  Lady Elaine, having retrieved the ancient sword [minor plot point] came to assist despite being pestered by Captain Goode and a giant wasp.  She couldn't light the fire either.

Since the ritual was already compromised, the rest of the ever-diminishing crowd of characters squabbled among themselves and tried to avoid the attentions of the ever-growing number of giant waspquitos.

One cultist couldn't take the strain any more and made a break for the still-closed gate.  He screamed at it to open [perhaps "open sesame" or some such phrase?], but the doorway remained stubbornly shut.  Then the guardian picked him up and crushed him to death.

Turn Seven (extra time)

Do you remember that Sir Henry had played a Buy Some Time card much earlier?  That event caused the game to extend into a seventh turn - but this would absolutely be the last turn possible.  Could the remaining leagues sort out their differences and force the gate open?  Even if they did complete the ritual and the portal opened, would it be in time for anyone to enter the Forbidden City?  Let's find out...

First to go was Sir Henry.  He lit the fire on his alter without too much trouble.

Next up was Al Masoudi.  He had recovered consciousness after the beating he took from Koko, but was far from at his best.  Even so, the cultist leader dragged his battered body over to the nearby altar and completed his part in the ritual, under the watchful eye of the gorilla.

Could Tarzan finish the ceremony and cause the gate top open?  He could - he did!  With the last altar alight, the gateway to the ancient city groaned and creaked as the barrier withdrew.  The path was now open!

Now for the difficult part - was anyone close enough to make use of this success?

The cult's cheetah darted like lightning, raced past the guardian before it could react and vanished into the dark tunnel.

Behind the big cat, the two ascaris from the cliff top came huffing and puffing along.  They just made it into the doorway as well before the ground shook and started to split apart.  All the other characters were forced to beat a hasty retreat as an earthquake split the ground, demolishing the entrance and burying the guardian in a newly-formed crevasse.

Victory

Who won?  Well it's something of a technicality, since everyone had fun and since all the leagues can progress.  Still, for the record:

• Tarzan and his followers had 3 minor plot points (the altar, the grave investigated by Koko and the ancient sword picked up by Lady Elaine) and therefore scores 3VP.
• The Safari held 1 minor plot point (their altar).  Although Captain Goode had taken the pile of skulls minor plot point early in the game, he was knocked down later in the game and lost this.  So, just 1VP.
• The Cult also achieved an altar plot point, but didn't even attempt any others.  I think they were so focused on escaping through the portal that they weren't interested in such distractions.  Again, just 1VP.

Nobody went after the Guardian - the major plot point.  Even Sir Henry, who seems to like facing off against huge monsters, decided early on that this construct was nigh impossible to injure.  Indeed, all the players rapidly figured out that the guardian could only attack (and defeat) at most one character per turn,.  The rather callous tactic employed was then to present it with a new minion to squash once per turn and otherwise try not to provoke it too much.

Conclusion

Well, that went down to the wire, in extra time!  By the end all the players were rooting for each other's heroes as they struggled to light the altars and complete the gate-opening ritual.  They barely did it, but a few characters managed to get through before the gateway was closed forever.

These few who entered will allow the rest of the leagues to proceed to the next scenario.  Mind you, those characters who didn't go through the gate [i.e. almost everyone!] will be delayed and won't join the next game until its turn 2.  Presumably the cheetah and two ascaris lower ropes over the wall, switch off the city's defensive mechanisms, find another way in or otherwise use their presence in the city to help those who are left outside.

The wasps were interesting.  We made up their behaviour on the fly and that wasn't great - the rules for deploying and moving them were poorly defined.  Still, we worked around this and by the end they had changed from being a minor nuisance to a considerable irritant.  Which is how it should be for such creatures, I think.

Man of the Match

I'm really not sure how to decide this, as none of the characters performed exceptionally above their expected behaviour.  Possible candidates:

• The cult's cheetah, which was knocked down a number of times.  Each time, it just got back up quietly and continued doing its master's bidding.  Nothing dramatic, though it was first through the collapsing gate.
• Tarzan's simians.  As a group, these tend to be picked off quickly by other leagues or by hazards.  In this game they did a bit better.  Although they all succumbed in the end, Hurkey evaded the guardian's attacks for 2 turns and Caesar & Kobo turned on the giant snake and beat it senseless.
• Koko the gorilla.  He frightened half the cult so that they ran into a wasps' nest, he beat the cult leader senseless and he tied the arms of a Nghai hunter into knots.  And dug up a shallow grave.

Most Useless

Again, I don't think there are any truly obvious candidates for this title.  Still, here are a few suggestions:

• The cult's snake.  Normally this thing is a monster; it goes where it pleases and does what it likes.  Today it was stopped early in the game by a couple of monkeys.
• All the league's leaders.  Each of them failed to light their altar in a different turn, thus causing the ritual to fail time after time until it was almost too late.
• Tarzan's swarms.  Although they looked impressively numerous, they had little impact since Tarzan quickly ran out of Fate cards to play for them and without this boost they were easily seen off.

Congo: Mungo Mah Lobeh, Game 2

Introduction

On to our second game of Congo in the Mungo Mah Lobeh campaign (if you haven't already done so, then I suggest you read all about the start of the campaign before continuing with this account).

So, after failing miserably to make any real money in trading native masks, Mary Kingsley has decided to seek help from some local elders: a guide, a witch doctor and a wise man.  The trouble is that her enemy - Ujuwa - has heard about this plan and is determined to stop this interfering foreigner once and for all!

The Setup

There are 3 huts down the centre line of the table; each contains one of the local savants.  There's plenty of elephant grass and termite mounds (high, dangerous terrain) as well.

Ujuwa's ruffians, ready for action.

Mary's usual column; a mixture of disciplined soldiers, European adventurers and African mercenaries.  Also, 3 young boys (scouts) who tagged along from the last village, claiming that they knew the way to the wise men...

The Game

Almost immediately, a group of pesky hyenas appeared amongst the termite mounds.

As the player who drew the "animal" token and therefore had to place the beasts, I was torn.  On the one hand, the creatures were potentially dangerous and might hurt my enemies.  On the other hand, as the controller of Mary's expedition, I would score a bonus campaign point if I could kill a hyena and brag about it.  I was also conscious that dead hyenas would turn into loot tokens, which were worth victory points and might therefore contribute towards victory or defeat in this game.

In the end, I decided that they were too dangerous to place near my own troops; I'd let them eat some tribesmen first before I shot one 😁.

My 3 young hangers-on got lost in some tall grasses and were struck with terror!  They did make a useful discovery, however (Token no. 3).

Meanwhile, Ujuwa was trying to impress the locals.  It wasn't really working very well, though; his reputation as a powerful spiritualist took a bit of a knock when he failed to save the local chief's wife.

It turns out that this pack of hyenas was all bark and no bite; they weren't dangerous at all.  The native hunters slew one of the beasts effortlessly, though the other pair continued to snap at their heels.

After a few turns, this is how things stood:

• Ujuwa and his thugs had hustled the guide from the furthest hut and were making off with him.
• Mary's soldiers quick-marched up to the central hut, knocked politely and invited the wise man to come with them for his own safety.
• Since they were under no immediate threat, the soldiers then opened fire on the remaining pair of hyenas and managed to kill one of them.  I think this apparently magnanimous act took the natives by surprise!
• Mary's Ruga Ruga ruffians ran up to the home of the witch doctor [nearest hut].  They shouted and jeered for several turns, but the doctor wouldn't come out.
• Most of the remaining tribesmen were advancing cautiously, en masse - whilst many of Mary's other followers were lost in patches of elephant grass.

The soldiers shot again, but this time at a group of natives who had carelessly left cover.  The rifle fire was deadly - however there were many more warriors now thirsting for revenge!

Amongst the termite mounds, the native archers finished their game of "hide and seek" with the hyenas by shooting the last of the beasts.

Meanwhile, the Ruga Ruga clashed with a group of spearmen who charged out of the tall grass towards them.  A short series of melees ensued which caused some casualties on both sides, but eventually the Ruga Ruga managed to grab the witch doctor from her hut and break off.

It seems that the native bowmen were all fired up now.  A volley of arrows caught the soldiers as they prepared to retire with their prize (the wise man); this turned an orderly retreat into something decidedly more hasty!

Meanwhile [in the background], Mary led her ascaris in pursuit of Ujuwa and the kidnapped guide; it didn't seem likely that the guide's best interests would be served by remaining in the hands of the tribesmen's fanatical leader and Mary was determined to save him if she could!

Ujuwa had left a small group of scouts hidden in the long grass to discourage such a pursuit, but the ascaris fired a close-range volley into the dense foliage.  They only hit one man, but the sound of the guns and the thick smoke so terrified the others that the remaining tribesmen ran away.

Still, even this brief action had slowed Mary down.  By the time she re-organised her ascaris and set off in pursuit again, Ujuwa [and the guide] were gone.  No doubt the poor man would spend the next day or so staked out on top of a broken ant hill...

Another group of hyenas appeared from the thick vegetation near the tribal warriors.  This pack were definitely more ferocious, as they killed more than one of the natives over the next few turns - and the threat they posed effectively prevented the tribesmen from taking off in pursuit of Mary's retreating forces.

Despite their losses, there were enough warriors around to surround and kill all the beasts, eventually.  However, when the survivors looked up after finishing this grisly task, they discovered that they were alone on the savannah; everyone else had departed.  At least they had 6 loot counters - there would be quite a feast tonight on hyena meat!

Winners and Losers

Victory points were added up at the end of the game thus:

Mary's Expedition

• 2 rescued teachers/wise men: 8VP
• 1 loot [a rather fine elephant-hair bracelet obtained from a wandering trader]: 2VP
• 3 discoveries [in fauna, flora and geology]: 12VP

...for a grand total of 22VP

Ujuwa's Tribesmen

• 1 kidnapped teacher/guide: 4VP
• 6 loot [hyena carcasses]: 5VP
• 1 discovery [ritual object]: 4VP

...giving an end result of 13VP.

This game went very much Mary's way; her victory was decisive.  However, note that Ujuwa scored exceptionally poorly for his large collection of loot, only gaining 5 out of a possible 18VP for it.  I guess that Hyena meat isn't very good eating after all!

Conclusion

Once again, this game was much more about objectives than about fighting.  There were some squabbles, for certain, but these were relatively muted affairs - typically short, sharp exchanges with both sides then withdrawing.  In many ways, the exploration and role-playing aspects of this game made it more interesting, in my view.  Here are some highlights/lowlights:

• Several of Mary's groups became lost in the tall grassland.  Both the small boys/scouts and the white men/adventurers just vanished into such terrain and pretty much stayed there all game [mainly because I couldn't spare any activations for them, but still...].
• Ujuwa's attempts at magic fell very flat in this game.  He failed almost all of his attempts to cast spells, and the few which did succeed were quite low-level affairs.
• On the other hand, Ujuwa's soothsayer, Komboso, finally guessed a [single] totem card correctly!  He was acquiring quite a reputation for incompetence as he had never succeeded in such a prediction before, but we can no longer accuse him of being a complete idiot.  A half-wit, perhaps...
• The polite, disciplined soldiers succeeded in their mission to rescue a wise man very easily, whilst the rude, ruffianly Ruga Ruga had a much harder time making friends with their assigned target.

In the after-game wrap up, Mary acquired a pair of strong brothers as bearers, whilst Ujuwa was joined by another mysterious sacred warrior.  He still shudders whenever anyone calls his band the "hyena men", though...

==> Game 3 is this way

Congo: Mungo Mah Lobeh, Game 1

Introduction

What better way to start the new year than to fulfil a long-cherished goal: to play through the Throne of Thunder ("Mungo Mah Lobeh") campaign for one of my favourite miniatures games: Congo?!  Steve came round to visit yesterday, so we launched into the first game.

Pre-game

We decided that I would take the White Man Expedition, headed by the late Victorian adventuress Mary Kingsley.  In the brief pre-game sequence (2 dice rolls), I achieved the following:

• A slightly disreputable medical man ("Herr Doctor Heineken") agreed to join the party.  Despite his name, I suspect that his problem was schnapps rather than beer and that it would suit him very well to disappear into the interior of Africa for a while.
• A group of enthusiastic ascaris decided to come along for just the first mission.  Sadly, this second bunch (the expedition already had one band of ascaris hired for the entire campaign) proved to be absolutely useless in the game and Mary might as well not have bothered with them!

Steve would be in command of Ujuwa, the xenophobic witch doctor.  As well as his band of acolytes, the pre-game rolls gained him the following benefits:

• A village elder offered Ujuwa a charm.  He was unable to give anything more direct ("You know how it is, Ujuwa - we're so busy at this time of year; no-one can be spared.  I won't get a day off work for at least a couple of months.  And it's my daughter's birthday next week - I can't miss that or I'd never be forgiven.  Here, take this lucky hyena's foot instead...").
• Komboso, an elderly soothsayer, did decide to join the witch doctor's column.  Given how completely useless his predictions were during our first game, I'm inclined to believe that Komboso is either too deep a thinker to be practical for Ujuwa's crusade, or else he's simply senile.  Either way, perhaps his relatives encouraged him to join up and were secretly delighted to be relieved of the burden of care?

The Mission

Starting from opposite corners of the board, both forces would visit the village of Maskouii, where they would attempt to make money by trading with the natives for carved, wooden masks.  There were also a number of areas of dangerous terrain (the mealie plantation, the wooded hill, the cattle enclosure, the large trees, the rocky circle) where discoveries might possibly be made.  Of course, it might be easier to achieve some of these objectives by eliminating the opposition first...

The Game...

Right from the start of the game, the witch doctor's followers scouted all the dangerous terrain areas they could reach, looking for useful discoveries.  In the field of mealies, they came across a government official who needed assistance.  Rather than just assegai-ing him on the spot, they helped the man to his feet and escorted him to safety (thus earning 2 easy-to-come-by victory points!).

Seeing that the forest tribesmen were concentrating on the outlying areas, Mary and her escort ran for the village.  If they could reach the huts first, maybe she could buy up all the masks?  Perhaps this was a bit optimistic, but it seemed worth a try.

In parallel, her kirangozi (local guide) led the expedition's full-time ascaris through the cattle enclosure.  They didn't find anything useful there, but couldn't help feeling that there was something creepy about the place...

In the dash for the masks, Mary and her group reached the furthest hut before any of the tribesmen.  They seemed somewhat isolated, though - in his haste to join them, the kirangozi used his special ability to extend the move of the ascaris, but one of them sprained an ankle and brought the group to a halt (in other words, they drew a stress token for the extra distance - and the counter was movement stress.  This group suddenly went from being the fastest bunch in the game to the slowest, much to my chagrin).

Now that Mary had obtained her first mask from the seller at the hut, her soldiers fired a warning volley at the approaching warriors.  At least, Mary ordered her men to fire over the heads of the natives; it seems that the soldiers had other ideas!  Despite throwing themselves to the ground in a last minute attempt to avoid the bullets, three of the tribesmen were killed.

This seemed to annoy Ujuwa and his followers intensely.  Firstly, the witch doctor and his bodyguard charged into the back of the soldiers, screaming war cries and insults.  When the soldiers retreated in disarray from this assault, another group of warriors attacked them.  Despite Mary using every trick she had (pacifism and barter) 2 soldiers fell and the remainder were chased out of the village.  Worse (for the white lady), Ujuwa now had the mask as well as handfuls of trade goods...

No help for Mary was forthcoming from the kirangozi and his ascaris.  As well as the twisted ankle, these stalwarts decided that this would be a good time to quake with terror and wail at the vagaries of fate (a successful terror attack by the forest tribe saw them draw a red 'panic' stress token).

Mary was determined not to leave the village empty-handed.  One of the villagers decided that it was too hot to sell masks today (I'm sure that the aggro on his doorstep had nothing to do with this decision!), but the third vendor was still there.  Mary and her last 2 soldiers ran past his front door, threw some trinkets at the seller, grabbed the mask and hightailed it out of town.

Ujuwa was happy enough to leave as well.  After all, he had one of the available masks (taken from Mary at spearpoint) as well as a goodly lot of trade goods - and his followers had showed the white imperialist and her lackeys that they weren't to be taken for granted.  The warriors covered his withdrawal, but there was no more fighting anyway and this turned out not to be strictly necessary.  Shortly after this, Ujuwa met up with the European mask collector and sold the trophy to him.

Just then, a lion appeared in the cattle enclosure.  No wonder that Mary's ascaris had felt unsettled when crossing there earlier!

Since they were otherwise unoccupied, half of the white men column formed a firing line around the livestock pen.  However, despite the intense fusilade, not a single bullet hit the lion.

The animal, tired of the noise and irritated by the heat of the day, finally decided to charge.  The white hunder/adventurer types were struck with terror when the beast bounded at them, but it backed off without maiming anyone.  It then charged into the Ruga Ruga, but these fellows were stout of heart - they slew the lion easily with their knives.

We called the game at this point.  There was no realistic prospect of either side catching and defeating their opponent's (single) mask-bearing group in order to claim a second mask.  Additionally, all the discoveries had been claimed or found out to be dummy markers and no units were engaged with hostiles or even close to any enemies.  In short, there was no reason to fight any more.

Conclusion

Final victory point total were as follows:

Mary

Most of Mary's forces never even made it near the village.  In particular, her hired young warriors never moved at all and her 2nd group of ascaris barely did so.  Doctor Heineken didn't have anything much to do and the kirangozi proved to be a poor guide.

• 2VP for the carved mask.
• 3VP for the loot (it was a very fine lionskin)

Total: 5VP

Ujuwa

Like Mary, many of the tribesmen barely moved during the game.  Those that did were sufficient to take the first mask from Mary at spearpoint, though.  Ujuwa's attempts at witch doctor magic mostly failed miserably and his soothsayer provided much cryptic, useless advice from the sidelines.  His big man/chieftain (and he was a very big, fat man) seems to have decided that the day was too hot to walk, let alone fight.

• 3VP for the blessed mask
• 4VP for selling the mask to the collector
• 4VP for a discovery
• 2VP for loot (the trade goods scattered by Mary in an attempt to save her soldiers)
• 2VP for rescuing the wounded government official

Total: 15VP

So, it looks as if Mary's column was thoroughly whipped.  It was a significant victory for Ujuwa and his native followers.  No doubt word of his deeds will spread like wildfire across the region and ferment more unrest!

Two things strike me as noteworthy about this game:

1. There was very little in the way of fighting.  This scenario was much more a race to make discoveries and/or buy masks - and the two players had to decide how best to priorities these two different activities.  Reading the scenario setup made me wonder whether some of the further objectives were even theoretically achievable in the timescale allotted (especially the 3rd mask, which would almost certainly become unavailable before anyone was in a position to acquire it).
2.  I wonder if there's a touch of hypocrisy about Ujuwa?  For all his claimed hatred of foreigners, he was happy enough to sell his mask to a European collector and for his followers to assist a waylaid government official.  Hmm, perhaps his principles aren't allowed to get in the way of pragmatism?

The second game in this campaign can be found ==> here