Monday, March 12, 2012

The Lost Legion of Venus by GASLIGHT at Cold Wars

Friday night at Cold Wars in Lancaster, PA, I ran my GASLIGHT game called, "The Lost Legion of Venus:

F-265 - The Lost Legion of Venus by GASLIGHT
Fri. 7:00 PM, 4 hrs, 6 players
GM: Chris Palmer and HAWKS
Victorian Science Fiction 28mm, Rules: GASLIGHT
A French column on Venus in 1889 takes a wrong turn and finds
themselves hopelessly lost in the steamy Venusian jungle. Can
they find their way back to camp, or will they fall prey to the tribes
of wild Parrotmen who haunt the tangled shadows.
Children under 14 only with a playing adult.

As the game write-up indicates, this game started with a column of French Foreign Legion and regular line troops, supported by two steam-walkers and a machine gun, lost in the Venusian jungles, and surrounded by Parrotmen and Lizardmen.


The goal of the French was to survive and continue off the table. The objective of the Parrotmen/Lizardmen alliance was to eliminate these pink-skinned strangers. The Parrotmen and Lizardmen were supported by a dinosaur which surprisingly became an early casualty of the French firepower. You can see him lying dead on the right hand side of the photo above.


I limited the sight distance to 18 inches due to the thick jungle and gave the Parrotmen an extra +2 modifier when shot at to reflect their natural ability to move quickly and hide in the undergrowth. the Lizardmen all got Saves, even the rank and file (the 'Extras,' in game terms) to reflect their tough scaly skin.


The Venusians quickly moved, from three starting positions spread around the table's edge, to engage the strange trespassers .


The Parrotmen were also equipped with large caliber guns mounted on beasts. These guns were capable of doing damage to the iron-plated French steam-walkers.


The game was a close fought one, with the advantage see-sawing back and forth between the two sides.

The Parrotmen charged the French lines again and again. Victoria Hawkes and her friend DuLivre, were there to lend their superior marksmanship to the aid of the French


The game ended with a duel between the Lizardman King and Victoria. They traded blows for a few turns as the battle swirled around them.
Finally the Lizardman Kind got the upper hand, and Victoria fell motionless to the ground. The Lizardman King grabbed her limp body and dragged it away into the jungle. Was she dead ? Alive by unconscious? Do I sense a follow-up rescue scenario?

In the end both sides had taken a beating, but the French were declared the marginal victors since they still had both their steam-walkers functioning and capable for firing their weapons.


All the players had a great time, and the game was a blast for me to GM. I'm looking forward to the next installment!

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