IHMN: Tintin vs. The Black Brotherhood AKA the Cult of Doom!!!, Part 1 (Episode 5.13.1)

"Gee Snowy. How do we get out of this one?"

Once again, inexplicably, North Piddle, England is the center of the horrific secret War of 1895, "The War of the Witches." It has been discovered in the ruins of the Tamblin-Goggin manor house, next to Piddle (snicker) Brook and the British Railway line to North Piddle is the secret headquarters of The Black Brotherhood AKA the Cult of Doom!!!

 The outskirts of North Piddle along Piddle (snicker) Brook as it forks near the ruins of the Tamblin-Goggin manor house. To the left is the entry point for the Teddy Roosevelt and Friends aboard the famous African Queen.

Converging on this evil are Teddy Roosevelt and Friends and The Knights Templar - both determined to destroy this evil. But not all is as it appears to our stalwart heroes . . . 

For me tabletop gaming is a social activity (we won't talk about the grilling that took place after the game) but here are the great guys that played the game.  Left to Right, Damon (The greatest fisherman alive) was the Cult of Doom, Tom (The best TIE fighter pilot in the Imperial Service) was Teddy Roosevelt and Friends, while Michael (The designer of Starship: Dogfight Edition) led the Knight Templars into battle.  

 The Black Brotherhood AKA the Cult of Doom!!! with Arc Cannon. They also have a flame thrower, an arc rifle, various caliber of handguns, cigarettes and evil reading material. The leader, The Grand Pooh Bah is the one with the book trying to fist bump everyone.

 The ruins of the Tamblin-Goggin manor house, next to Piddle (snicker) Brook and the British Railway line. This will be the set-up point for the The Black Brotherhood AKA the Cult of Doom!!!

Objectives:

1. Kill the Grand master of the Templars:  20 Victory points.

2. Kill any other Leader:  5 Victory Points.

3. Kill any other enemy figure: 2 Victory Points.

4. Keep Ann Darrow in custody:  5 Victory Points. (Yes they kidnapped her for nefarious reasons)

5. Keep relics under your control:  5 Victory Points per relic.

 Teddy Roosevelt and friends. Left to Right: The African Queen, Tintin, Teddy Roosevelt, Deputy U. S. Marshal Grant Johnson, Snowy (classified as a War Poodle), and Ntando of the High Temple from the hidden African Kingdon of Natagala.

Objectives:

1. Rescue Ann Darrow: 20 Victory Points. (Bully. She's an American after all.)

2. Kill any other Leader:  5 Victory Points.

3. Kill any other enemy figure: 2 Victory Points.

5. Recover any relics:  7 victory points per relic.

 The hapless (again) Ann Darrow.

 The Templars.  Left to Right: Sir Ralph, Chaplain McDonald, Grand Master Hughes, Sir Jebediah and Sergeant Clayton.

 Objectives:

1. Kill the Crawling Chaos:  20 Victory Points. ("The Crawling what?" That was the actual quote during the game brief to the leader of the Templars.)

2. Kill any other Leader:  5 Victory Points.

3. Kill any other enemy figure: 2 Victory Points.

4. Rescue Ann Darrow: 5 Victory points.

5. Recover any relics:  5 victory points per relic.

The farm of Farmer Jeremy Silberston near the ruined manor. The Templar Knights will enter on the north side of of the table using an "acquired" Edison Inter-dimensional Beam Translator. They would place the marker and then roll for the accuracy of the entry point.

 I was the British Rail System. My job was to block line of sight, run over characters (gotta love physics) and most importantly, provide unpredictability for character movement as they never knew how far I would move (2d10 - 2" at the end of the movement phase.) 

On with the adventure! 

 The Templar Knights win the initiative and the Edison Inter-dimensional Beam Translator brings them exactly to the spot they wanted.

  The Black Brotherhood AKA the Cult of Doom!!! reposition their flame thrower and arc cannon due to the threat of the Templar Knights. The tile markers are for the relics - three dummies and three actual relics.

 Toot toot and chugga-chugga choo-choo.

Teddy Roosevelt says to his companions “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." He aims from the moving boat and plugs a cultist.  

The Black Brotherhood AKA the Cult of Doom!!! win the initiative for Turn 2 . . . and what the heck is that crawling out of the well? It's the inter-dimensional alien being known as the Crawling Chaos - yikes! 
 

 Toot toot! Can this boat go any faster?

 Sergeant Clayton takes cover in the marsh.

A monster to slay. The Grand master is giddy with excitement.

 The arc generator, the Grand Pooh Bah and poor Ann Darrow. The Grand Pooh Bah moved when a bullet whizzed through the window he was standing next to last turn.

 Teddy orders to stop the boat (it will move another 4" next turn before it completely stops.) The brave Snowy leaps from the moving craft (rolls his pluck) and successfully lands on dry ground.

"Look a goat! exclaims the cultist with the arc rifle. "A goat! A goat!" responds Snowy,"You dare call me a goat! This is too much! You're not getting away with that!"

 The Crawling Chaos engages Chaplain McDonald. Dang it's fast.

 FOR FRODO!!! I mean, get those cultists! Sergeant Clayton, hiding in the marsh, plugs the cultist with the flame thrower and Marksmen talent.

 Unfortunately he is boiled like an egg by the arc cannon.

Chaplain McDonald is no match for the numb less fear and ruthlessness of the Crawling Chaos from outer/inner space.

 "We must rescue Miss Darrow Snowy."

"Grand master look out!"

Deputy Marshal Grant Marshal moves up on Tintin's right for support . . .

 . . . while Teddy Roosevelt moves up on the left.

 The Crawling Chaos grabs the Grand Master hitting his armored body multiple times.

"

 "Look what I found!"

 The Grand Pooh Bah sneers as the mere humans face the fear of the Crawling Chaos and his superior intellect.

 Prepare the arc cannon to kill that fool of an American Teddy Roosevelt!

Cliffhanger!

In the next Episode:

1. More Teddy quotes.

2. Monsters are fearsome . . . but so are heroes.

3. No, the train is not named Thomas.

4. Ann Darrow still in peril.

5. A hidden villain causing strife!

IHMN: The Black Brotherhood AKA The Cult of Doom Arc Cannon

 Though not the brightest bulbs in the package, The Black Brotherhood AKA The Cult of Doom does gets some fancy weapons.

The arc cannon was put together with left over bits primarily from old Warhammer, Warhammer 40K and old Space Marine Parts - save those extras and bits!

Rules for the arc cannon are located In Her Majesty's Name.

IHMN: Last Man Standing, Part 2 (Episode 5.12.2)

In our last episode, General Ronglu had dispatched is old foe, Kwai Chang Caine (and his 2+ Leadership rating), and the Martial Monks of Justice were starting to take heavy losses.

General Rongluis no match for the team up of the master and the monk. Now the Imperial Chinese lose Ronglu's Leadership of +2 and must rely on the Imperial Sergeant's +1.

The melee goes back a forth as blows are blocked, kicks are made, and Hollywood maneuvers are attempted.

Time to take out the last men with firearms.

"Hello? I just can't seem to get in the fight with my Arc Rifle that reduces armor to 7 and all of you monks only have an armor of 7."  (Whoops)

The sergeant is killed by the Master with the classic two fingers up both nostrils poke that paralyzed all of his nerves and exploded his nose at the same time. The last Imperial leader is down.

But the Shaolin takes a .45 right between the eyes.

Bao is knocked down, but not out of the fight by Yu Niu.

Lü Bu, The Harmonious Fist of Wrath, engages Yu Niu again as the epic struggle (definitely an Oscar nomination for choreography) continues. Oh, and yeah, the Karate Kid takes out the Yeti with a combination of "Cannot Defend" talent and a remarkable die roll.

"I'm back!"

Using the "Path of Shadows" Bao engages Yang Wei while Sun Kai, General Ronglu's loyal bodyguard and strong man attacks Lü Bu, The Harmonious Fist of Wrath

In a smooth move, Yu Niu blocks the Master (disengages) and attacks Lü Bu, The Harmonious Fist of Wrath from behind with her ssword while Sun Kai peppers him with bullets from the front.

In revenge, the Master uses the "Wet Willie" move which instantly freezes Sun Kai's brain and knocks him down.

 Discretion, being the better part of valor, the Karate Man decides to disengage.

Our three heroes regroup . . .

. . . while the last three of the Imperial forces look on.

"Dang it!"

 With a blur of speed the battle the last fight commences! (and that's the story I'm sticking with for the fuzzy picture.)

The Master, exhausted, falls to Yu Niu's blade of fury.

The Karate Man "boinks" Sun Kai in the eyes and takes him out while Bao blocks Yu Niu's attack.

The final stage is set.

"Dang it. I never got to fire my arc rifle."

Legend tells of a legendary fight of legendary warriors whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend against the legendary legend of the Chinese swords woman who was a legend in her own time.

Bao makes one bad move and . . . arrghhh.

 The last two standing. There can only be one.

  . . . and speaking of one.

Talk about a game that ebbed and flowed as one side then the other side had the advantage. The scenario was "Last Man Standing" from In Her Majesty's Name which we felt would be appropriate for a Hollywood or Hong Kong martial arts epic. Both sides were evenly matched, but the big mistake I made (I was the martial monks) was continuously using the Master's Meticulous Planning talent to take Yang Wei out of the game with his arc rifle. My opponent (after laughing I might add) pointed out after the Master left the game, "you know all of your figures only have an armor of 7. The arc rifle is useless in this game. You should have moved Yu Niu (the great swords woman)." You should have seen my jaw drop.  Looking forward to that rematch!

Yu Niu ponders, "Was it worth it?"

"BWAH HAH HAH! It was worth it and all goes according to my plans!"