"Giglamps and The Prince"
A Scenario for Two Hour Wargames Reaction System by Craig Andrews
Set in Valon, the World of Alternative Armies' Flintloque.
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In 2016, as a reward for people who supported Orcs in the Webbe during it's funding drive I offered to write something for each of the kind folk who donated. They could pick the game / system / character etc. and see what I came up with.
One such tale follows...
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Introduction
Giglamps is out of his element as he is summoned by Kyng Gorge of Albion to partake in a tale of babysitting antics. He has been tasked with protecting Prince Gorge on a diplomatic expedition to Afri. The journey to the mysterious Dark Continent went well. However after a night sampling perhaps a little too much the local alcoholic beverage both Gorge and Giglamps awoke among unfamiliar jungle surrounds having forgotten most of the previous day and haven’t a damned clue as to where they are or why they are wearing nothing but what Sentinel gave them and female Afri dress on their heads. Giggers, having been in similar situations on more than one occasion before is not perturbed. Sadly for Prince Gorge not only is he missing his clothes (and one assumes a large chunk of his dignity) he has also mislaid the State Crown of Gorge I that he had brought along to Afri to impress the Native Ladies...
He and Giglamps must retrace their tracks and hopefully recover the lost crown, their clothing and their weapons.
Rulesets
This scenario is based in Alternative Armies Flintloque setting in the as yet officially unexplored continent of Afri. However the scenario is presented for use with Two Hour Wargames rulesets, in particular their Napoleonic Skirmish rules, The 95th with the unofficial Flintloque Conversion Expansion, Flintloques & Muskets. You can however use it with any of THW rulesets with a bit of tweaking or if you prefer as a framework for a Flintloque 3rd Edition scenario.
Setting Up the Table
As mentioned above this scenario was written for use with any of Two Hour Wargames excellent rulesets. Each of them has a cracking section on how to randomly generate terrain. As this adventure is set in the Flintloque setting of Afri your scenery should be suitably jungle-y. You can use the tables in Colonial Adventures 2nd Edition p.32 (which add a bit of flavour with gullies and rocky terrain), however, if you do not have access to that book you can use the tables in the free ruleset Swordplay 2015 p.23 using the overall terrain type Wooded. (You can use Chain Reaction 2015 but I’ve found that Swordplay’s use of melee and missle NPCs works better for skirmish games in Valon). In either case you should treat the overall terrain type as Wooded.
Giglamps and the Prince start in the centre of the table (in section 5).
Our Heroes
Major Giglamps
In Flintloque Giglamps is the Section Leader and is an Experienced Mounted Infantry Orc normally armed with an Orc Artillery Pistol and Exquisite Sword (although both pistol and sword are missing at the start of the scenario).
In Two Hour Wargames using The 95th and Flintloques & Muskets this equates to:
Rep: 5
Move: 6 inches
Tough: 0 (subtracted from a weapon’s impact when testing on the Ranged Combat Damage Table).
Save: 1 (When a figure has suffered damage, it may roll 1d6 versus its save value, to try and lessen the effect of that hit. A success will reduce an OD to OoF, OoF to Knocked to the Ground, and a Knocked to the Ground to no effect.)
Melee: 1 (added to its Rep when conducting hand to hand combat.)
His pistol has Range 12, Target 1 and Impact 2.
However as mentioned above Giggers does not have his pistol (or sword) at the start of the scenario. He was a Boy Sprout though and has fashioned a damned effective slingshot out of the mysterious female Afri dress that he and the Prince found upon their heads. It’s only Range 6, Target 1 and Impact 1 but does not need reloading (i.e. can be fired every turn) however the Chain Reaction ‘Tight Ammo’ rules should be used (roll an extra die, if one or more 1s are rolled then the weapon is out of ammo and cannot be fired until Giggers has found more stones – a full turn not moving. The Prince cannot perform this action for Giggers as he just doesn’t know what stones will work well).
The Prince
In Flintloque the Prince is an Average Civilian Ogre.
In Two Hour Wargames using The 95th and Flintloques & Muskets this equates to:
Rep: 4
Move: 4 inches
Tough: 1 (subtracted from a weapon’s impact when testing on the Ranged Combat Damage Table).
Save: 2 (When a figure has suffered damage, it may roll 1d6 versus its save value, to try and lessen the effect of that hit. A success will reduce an OD to OoF, OoF to Knocked to the Ground, and a Knocked to the Ground to no effect.)
Melee: 2 (added to its Rep when conducting hand to hand combat.) In addition The Prince gets -1d6 in charge test. He would normally get -1D6 in melee for being a Civilian but due to his upbringing he is quite good in a punch up (and with a sword) so actually gets an additional +1D6.
The Objective
Giglamps and the Prince must locate the missing crown, clothing and weapons by searching the surrounding jungle. This is achieved using the excellent PEF mechanic found in all Two Hour Wargames rulesets. (Colonial Adventures 2nd Edition p.35 or Sword Play 2015 p.24). PEFs represent the intelligence the player has before and during the Encounter. They are objective tokens that can move and resolve as either enemies, objectives or set-pieces as the scenario dictates.
As our heroes begin in the centre of the table the initial PEF placement should be determined by rolling 1D8 instead of the usual 1D6 counting the areas around the centre as:
1 2 3
4 X 5
6 7 8
Number of PEFs
As the jungle is rife with terrifying and exciting things you should roll for 6 PEFs (instead of the normal 3) before the game begins.
Resolving PEFs
In this scenario the PEFs move as per the normal rules however when a PEF is resolved it could be:
1-3 An Article of Clothing/Equipment
4-6 Enemies.
If at any point there is only 1 PEF remaining it is the Crown. Should it split into two PEFs as you make your way towards it then you must roll for resolution as normal.
Articles of Clothing/Equipment
“Sentinel be praised! There it is! And no bally blighter in our way either!”
Amazingly Giggers and The Prince have discovered on of their lost items simply lying on the ground.
When one of these is encountered determine which it is by rolling below. Re-roll for any previously found items.
1: Gigger’s Pistol
2: Gigger’s Sword
3: Gigger’s Uniform
4: The Prince’s Suit
5: The State Crown of George I
6: Roll twice again above ignoring found items or another roll of 6.
Enemies
In the Flintloque Afri setting these could be dangerous creatures or unruly Halfling tribes. Use the normal rules to determine how many enemies the PEF represents. Do note just how deadly some of the animals are and consider the age old discretion vs valor argument...
Roll below to determine the type of enemy:
1-3: Afri Native Halflings
In Flintloque the Native Afri are Halfling Irregulars of varying experience.
In Two Hour Wargames using The 95th and Flintloques & Muskets this equates to:
Rep: [Roll a die; 1-3 = Average (Rep 4), 4-5 = Experienced (Rep 5), 6 = Veteran (Rep 6)]
Move: 7 inches
Tough: 0 (subtracted from a weapon’s impact when testing on the Ranged Combat Damage Table).
Save: 0 (When a figure has suffered damage, it may roll 1d6 versus its save value, to try and lessen the effect of that hit. A success will reduce an OD to OoF, OoF to Knocked to the Ground, and a Knocked to the Ground to no effect.)
Melee: 2 (added to its Rep when conducting hand to hand combat.)
They are armed with a variety of fiendish Afri melee weapons but for ease of play they are all treated as 1 handed weapons.
4: Jungle Cat
Rep: 5
Class: Melee
Move: 16 inches
AC 2
Nasty Bite - Counts as One Handed Weapon
Vicious – Jungle cats get +1 automatic success in melee
5: Giant Spiders
Rep: 4
Class: Melee
Move: 16 inches
AC 4
Nasty Bite - Counts as One Handed Weapon
Climb – Giant Spiders can move up into the trees in the Afri Jungle. They always get the Target Charged to Rear bonus on their first round of melee. Anytime they Duck Back go up into the trees and cannot be engaged in melee. They also count as Fast Moving when in the trees.
Terror – Characters facing Giant Spiders get a -1D6 modifier in the Charge Test.
Poison – If a Giant Spider in melee has more successes than its enemy they test to see if the poison has been administered. Roll on the Ranged Combat table before rolling on the Melee Damage Table as normal. A ‘hit’ means the defender is poisoned. A poisoned character suffers -1D6 to Melee and Firing tests. They also must make a Melee Damage roll every time they activate (ignoring the immediately fight another round sentence).
6: Giant Snakes
Rep: 6
Class: Melee
Move: 12 inches
AC 6 when hit only (representing how quick they can move out of the way)
Vicious Bite - Counts as Two Handed Weapon
Terror - Characters facing Giant Snakes get a -1D6 modifier in the Charge Test.
Poison – If a Giant Snake in melee has more successes than its enemy they test to see if the poison has been administered. Roll on the Ranged Combat table before rolling on the Melee Damage Table as normal. A ‘hit’ means the defender is poisoned. A poisoned character suffers -1D6 to Melee and Firing tests. They also must make a Melee Damage roll every time they activate (ignoring the immediately fight another round sentence).
Scenario End
The scenario ends with the Prince escaping off any table edge with the State Crown of George I.
However, he has more to think about than saving his skin. He has to uphold the reputation of the Albion Crown (see below).
The Prince’s Disgrace
Making things a little bit trickier for him, Prince Gorge cannot afford for any news of his errant behaviour to make it back home. He is already in trouble what happened at Mrs Migorc’s Pie shop last month.
So, how does this affect gameplay.
Each time the Prince is seen to be doing something unbefitting the actions of a foreign royal on a diplomatic mission he receives Disgrace Points. These represent rumours of his inappropriate behaviour filtering back through the gossip network and ended up on the society pages of the Londinium Times.
If the Prince moves into the Line of Sight of any figure whilst he in undressed, one point is added to his disgrace rating. Mark the figures that saw him. If the Prince (or Giggers) is able to beat that figure in melee then you reduce the Prince’s disgrace points by one as they are unlikely to spread rumours having been given a good kicking. Note that the Prince cannot wear Gigger’s clothes as he’s too big (being an Ogre).
At the start of each turn you roll 1D10 and each time you roll under the Prince’s current disgrace level make a note, things are going to be somewhat trickier for the Prince on his return to Albion (a tale for another time). The more immediate effect is that the news of his antics have spread locally and more people come to have a look, add one new PEF using the PEF rules at the start of the scenario.
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Webmaster's Notes
"Giglamps and the Prince" was written exclusively for the Orcs in the Webbe as was intended to be published on the 19th December 2017 as part of the 2017 Advent Calendar but an oversight in statting the halflings meant it was actually published on the 20th December.
Note that Giggers is used with kind permission from his creator, Bob Minadeo ;)
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