93. Undead In Search of a Good Time

I'm back to using Feudal Patrol, scratching a "D&D"-style itch.  I played a fairly quick game pitting some Adventurers against a dread Necromancer and his ghastly hordes (although there were no actual ghasts in the horde).

I allowed each of the four Adventurers (Cleric, Fighter, Wizard, Thief) to use their own Activation die, whereas the Necromancer's army was more standard Feudal Patrol (each "squad" got its die, etc).

Here are some pictures of the solo game.  I did not utilize the published solo rules, I simply played both sides (as intelligently and honestly as possible).  If you click on the pics, they should enlarge.  Some of the color is odd, I am using an older camera, so, sorry about that.

An aerial magical eye in the sky shot (those wizards are amazing!), showing the general lay of the battlefield.

The Undead walk.  "Alright, everybody, line up for the photoshoot!"

Four brave Adventurers!  Look at the bravery!  So.  Much.  Bravery.

The evil Necromancer.  Boo!  Hiss!  "Hey, I'm just a guy, y'know."

The start of Turn 1.  Our brave Adventurers, having heard rumors about Undead running amok at a nearby homestead, move to investigate.  It's true!  The Dead do walk, and have already set fire to the houses.

The Mummies move into melee with the Heroes...

...leaving the Heroes a little worse for wear.

More melee evens things out a bit, especially with the Wizard zapping one of the Mummies to dust.

The Necromancer advances with his elite Skeleton guards.

More hand to hand combat, more wounds, more Morale Checks.

The Necromancer calls more Skeletons to do his bidding.

Morale markers are cleared, and while the Thief makes a break for some cover, the Necromancer charges ahead.

The turn ends, and the Necromancer get the first move of the next turn, launching a magical attack against the Wizard.  Luckily for her it misses.

The Mummies shamble into melee again, but the Heroes mostly keep the upper hand.

The Necromancer continues his irresistible advance.

The Wizard, thinking it better to get out of potential melee, follows the Thief, and blasts a potent magical spell at the Necromancer, felling him.

And thus the Undead menace was ended, with the killing of the Necromancer.

I felt this was a bit too abrupt for what I actually wanted to have happen, so I set it up the same way and played it a second time.  Just to see if things went differently.

Here we go again.

The order of Activation can make such a huge difference in how things turn out.  This time, the Fighter takes the initiative and moves into melee with the Mummies, to try to stop them from getting so close so early.

Unfortunately, he does no damage to them, but neither did they harm him.

Next, the Cleric moves up to the left to help, and the Thief heads for a flanking side, and cover.

The Necromancer and his elite Skeleton guards advance.

And the regular Skeletons also advance.

I don't know why I included the card in the picture, but the 6's activate.  The Cleric cast "Web" successfully at the Necromancer, thereby slowing him down greatly; and the Thief continued her flanking movements on the right.

The second 6 card came up, and the Thief moved ever closer to being where she wanted to be; and the Cleric moved only a couple of inches towards the Mummies (out of the frame).

The Mummies and the Fighter have once against tussled with little result, but the Skeletons have moved much more threateningly closer.

The turn ended, and with the start of the new turn, more Mummy vs Fighter melee occurred, with little change; although the Fighter holding his own against 5 Mummies should be thought of as a big deal.  (I do realize the Mummies could have separated and moved 3 or 4 of them past the Fighter, but I liked the idea of "dumb" Undead:  they were created as a group, and simply do what they're told.)

The Wizard, who had done such yeoman-like work in the previous game, so far had not been activated (such are the vagaries of the card deck).  Now her opportunity came up, and, not liking the look of those approaching Skeletons, she cast a spell to block their way.

4s activated, and there were several.  First, the Mummies attacked the Fighter, causing a wound; the Thief continued her sneaky movement, hoping to get to the Necromancer while he was still Webbed up; and the Dwarf Cleric moved to smash some Skeletons with his mace.  (There isn't a "Turn Undead" spell, per se, in the rules; and in a battle like this, I like not having it; and didn't feel like "making something fit," although the spell "Tanga Beehive" would probably work just fine.)

The Fighter activated but could only "unstun," but successfully removed his Morale Check token.  Meanwhile, the Skeletons pushed through the barrier at half speed, seemingly intent on coming to grips with the Wizard.

The Thief managed to make it into close combat with the Webbed Necromancer (who counted as Stunned)...

...but fighting for his (un)life, the Necromancer successfully repulsed her attack!

The second '4' card came up and the Cleric swiftly changed direction and smashed into the Skeletons, downing one right away.

The Thief, a determined individual, slipped into melee again with the Necromancer, deftly eluding his Skeleton guards.  He had not been Activated yet, and so still remained Stunned in the Web.  Her attack was more successful, especially since the Necromancer broke his weapon in defending and took a wound.

The Fighter and the Mummies continued to hack at each other, with the Fighter blocking their path with relative ease, although actually destroying the monsters proved beyond his skill.

I tend to play these games out over several hours (and sometimes even days), and I don't completely recall what happened here.  It seems like the 4's have had their two activations (and I don't think it's the next turn), so the Thief should not have been able to attack, and at the same time I don't think I would have had the Necromancer attack the Thief either (without a weapon), so I'm guessing I forgot the tactical situation when I returned to the game and had the Thief attack.  Which is what you see here.

And here is the result of that attack:  one dead Necromancer, and one wounded Thief.  Naturally, the Undead all dropped "dead" to the ground after this, and the Heroes saved the day yet again!  Yay!

The game continues to be fun and easy to play.  Turns happen so quickly that it's difficult to document the game without slowing it down tremendously.

After this game, I had some discussion with the author about adapting the Feudal Patrol weapon damage ratings and melee aspects for a more modern, firearm-based fight; because I wasn't quite as fond of the rather-a-bit-more-vague close combat method in Combat Patrol (his modern rules title).

The next game I will post about is the result of that line of thinking:  the French Foreign Legion in the desert of North Africa!

Thanks for reading!