Robert earned £30
in eM-4 credit

 
  AN ONGOING NEWSLETTER 2008


Claim the Prize
A multiplayer game suitable for club or convention play
by Robert Provan

I ran this scenario for the group of 10 to 13 year olds who make up the bulk of the local club, although one dad did join in (and just snatched a win).

Each player gets one elite leader and two green henchmen, as I ran it these were spies seeking secret documents but treasure hunters after Nazi gold or paranormal investigators seeking items of occult significance would also work. It’s all a matter of what figures you have and what gets your players moving.

I wanted a strong pulp/comic feel so I ruled that all killed figures were simply unconscious for a turn after which they stood up and continued. This reduced a lot of the protectiveness that younger players often show towards their figures and encouraged the players to get stuck in.

All figures started with no weapons or equipment apart from comms units.

Click here for counters! I covered the board liberally with counters from the attached sheet, including 4 victory counters representing the secret documents.

While this could be done at random to allow the person doing the set-up to play I recommend applying some thought to the process, make sure the victory counters are well spaced to give everyone a chance.

I placed the rifle counters on top of buildings to encourage sniper duels but force the players to choose between leaving the fast moving elite stuck in one place or use an inaccurate green as sniper.

My Chinese restaurant model (The Unlucky Duck) contained a lot of knives but no firearms etc. It’s the little touches that most players won’t notice but every so often a face will break into a grin as someone gets the joke.

To pick up a counter cost 2AP and each figure had a limit of 3 counters regardless of what the counter represented.

I spaced the teams around the board told them they had ten turns to be the one with the most victory points (awarded for victory tokens only) and had them roll initiative, then the game was on.

After a couple of turns scrounging for equipment the players began to run into each other and things got bloody fast, since downed figures could be looted for equipment choice items changed hands several times.

After the usual cautious sit back and shoot play style of most of this group the amount of close combat was staggering and kept everyone poised over the table, feuds developed and at least one player sacrificed a chance to go after a victory token to revenge himself on a fellow.

One player quietly picked up a victory token without mentioning it then lurked in a corner all game, I would defiantly make it a rule that they must be announced as the rest of the group had much more fun.

With the ten turn deadline looming we saw a frantic race up an apartment building and across the roof tops to allow the winner to claim a second token from his luckless victim while those too far away to join in ruthlessly shot at both sides in an attempt to ensure that if they couldn’t win neither would anyone else.

Finally it came down to the roll for the actual point value of the documents, the stealth player revealed their ace and rolled a 6! The holder of 2 tokens managed a 3 and a 4 to scrape a win.

The game kept 6 players and one referee enthralled for 2 hours with everyone continuously involved (no “sorry all your figures are dead and you’re out of the game on turn 2”) and all on a 3½’ square board.

At only 18 figures this is an easy game on the pocket and even the newest player should be able to join in with their own figures if they wish to.

I would however say that this is a game that demands a decent set of dense scenery (preferably multi level) to get the most out of it.

My original token set did not include a shotgun but after seeing the close ranges involved everyone agreed it would be a well fought over prize.

The rifles were considered bolt action ROF 1D6 weapons, otherwise use assault rifle stats.


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