"Twin Shotte"
A Solo Flintloque Micro Scenario by Gavin Syme
Photograph, Miniatures and Terrain by Alternative Armies
The Ferach Elf Lamond de Aramis is dead. Can the fleeing twins Henri and Kalis honour their fallen fellow and fend off the Undead with mere pistols in this micro scenario that is the tail end of a bigger scenario which precedes it...
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The tree was dead. Had it ever actually been alive? Such thoughts played through the mind of Captain de Aramis as he slammed into the frozen trunk and slid down it. Pain was almost all he could consider but the cold still bit at him and the three musket balls lodged in his flesh were hot and blood slick. It was a poor way to die he thought but then the Vampyre Retsikov was vanquished and his house shattered by the actions of the 120eme de Ligne. He was being followed; he knew that.
Trying to rise he found his legs just would not respond no matter the will he forced upon them. His grievous wounds were too great. So this was it he thought. It was in his soul to resist so rather than final despair he carefully extracted his previous pistols from four coat pockets and also four more from his pack. Taking powder horn and ball he loaded each gun with exacting skill. He slowed as he worked and in the distance he could hear mortal voices shouting and the report of musketry. Slowing further, his hands numbing, managed the last ball into the rifled barrel and pushed it down with the silver ramming stick. A long career and great honour in duelling with sword and then with pistol had led him here. He smiled as without feeling he dropped the last pistol next to its seven identical kin in front of him on a leather cloth. He died a soldier of Armorica.
“Henri they are nearly upon us! Run mon frere. Come on!”
The two Elves roused themselves once more to a trot. They were so tired and only the brothers now lived out of their company of the 56eme de Ligne. Zombies were everywhere and the battalion had been separated and then overrun. They had fought, fired and loaded, spat and rammed. But the chaos was near total and when the end came and the sun rose Kalis Garout had grabbed his twin brother Henri and they had fled before the trap closed. They had lost their weapons and were now unarmed.
“Kalis I can go no further. What can we do? There are at least six of them after us.”
Ahead a sole long dead tree. The twins halted as they saw a figure sitting at the base of its trunk. Thinking it another hideous creation of the Dark Czar they approach warily. Soon it was plain however that this was a solider of the Emperor, that he was dead and quite recently too. No snow nor ice covered him and in front of him a carefully placed leather cloth with eight of the finest duelling pistols Henri Garout had ever seen.
“I think we might have a chance. Yes. Tell me brother how are you with a pistol?”
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The Micro Scenario
This is a quick game of Flintloque meant for one player and about twenty minutes of fun. Can the brothers use the pistols of the dead Captain to live on or will the Undead claim them? The stakes are simple. Live and survive to win. The player wins if one of the Elves is the last character in play and a major victory if both of them remain.
Set Up and Game Conditions
This is a small playing area of 60cm by 60cm square. Set up the two Elves within 5cm of the big Tree. Set up the Zombies at the opposite edge of the playing area spread out with 5cm between them. The Liche is in the middle of this spread. There is no Vampyre present. Use 5026 Death in the Snow to generate two Armorican Elves of Average experience level, regular type. They have no weapons of their own but each now possesses four Ferach Duelling Pistols (pg 88). Use the book to generate an Undead section of 1D6+3 Zombies led by a Liche. Half rounding up of the Zombies are Rotten level and only one is Fresh maximum. The Liche has a sword and the Zombies each roll 1D10 and on an even result they have a standard musket and on an odd they have an Axe only.
Scenario Special Conditions
This adventure takes place in daylight and the solo play rules take the part of the Zombies and their Liche leader. Play proceeds as normal as outlined in Death in the Snow. There is no turn limit for the micro scenario and it ends when only one side has characters left in play. The motivation of the Undead is simply for the solo engine it is to attack and close as quickly as possible.
There are some special conditions for the game as follows.
Loaded with Care: With his last breaths Captain de Aramis used a lifetime of experience to load each pistol excellently. There is no chance of a misfire on the first shot of each pistol and its accuracy increases by 10% at both range bands. All subsequent reloads are as normal in play.
Sole Operator: There is only one powder horn and bag of shot which came with the pistols which means the player must choose which of the brothers has possession of these. Only that brother may reload pistols as normal.
Miniatures for this Scenario
You can use suitable Flintloque miniatures from your collection for this micro scenario. It is helpful to have the two pistol armed Elves from 51049 Revolutionary Elf Duellists but any pistol armed Elves will suffice. You can place a prone or sitting or dead Elf at the tree (I used the long sold out LE007 Winter Moskova Road prone Elf). For the Undead a set of 55508 Zombie Line and 55005A Latrinslav Liche will be enough from your collection.
Authors Notes
I play tested this short game over a weekend three times with two wins for the Elves and one loss. What makes the most difference? Well in my own play it was reloading. Keep the brothers together and use one of them to load later in the game. A lot hangs on the Undead force size die roll and it can be tense facing eight shamblers. Overall it is great fun. You can actually transpose this micro scenario into any place on Valon against the Othari or perhaps Albion Orcs against Elves though make the pistollers more experienced for this. Enjoy!
Gavin Syme (GBS)
December 2022
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Webmaster's Notes
An Orcs in the Webbe Original! The above scenario was written for Orcs in the Webbe and was first published here on the 23rd December as the twelfth entry of its 2022 Advent Calendar.