One Night in Cairo - A Chaos in Cairo Battle Report

It was a dark night on the streets of Cairo and few were abroad. Cordelia Case, Action Girl(tm), was grateful for this. Her sources had told her that a Shard of the Nameless One had been recovered by an Arab labourer during a recent dig and hidden in a relative's house. She had also heard that her arch-nemesis, Tutancomein, was hunting for it too. She rousted out her companions and headed for where rumour told her that the Shard was. As she approached this small suburb of Cairo, she realised that the evil mummy was already there too. This time he appeared to have a human guide with him. So that was how he had learned so quickly of this Shard! (Click the pictures for larger images)


Steve took a Mummy Warband while I took an Archaeologist Warband. We rolled for scenario and got 'The Package'. There would be six packages on the table.. One contained the Shard, but we would not know which one until the end of the game, so we needed to collect as many of the objective markers as possible. For a sub-plot we rolled The Traitor. One of us would receive an additional figure, but if we ever rolled no successes for initiative then the traitor would join the other side. We diced and Steve got the extra figure.

Cordelia and her companions advanced quickly towards the buildings where the Shard might be hidden. A shout from her left told her that her brash American companion, Colin Fraser, had found a package that might be the Shard. Fraser was a useful man to have on an expedition, not too bright, but good with a gun and his fists.


Fraser ran from the building with the package as Professor Bartholomew Bennett, Cordelia's research associate, found another package. Randolph Dacre, the expedition's backer had also found a package by now. He ran from the building where he had found it and passed it to the Professor. With both packages, Bennett headed for home. The others could deal with the situation that was developing. There would be fighting soon, because the mummies were closing on the heroic archaeologists of the Riverview Antiquarian Expeditions Society. The professor was not so handy in a fight, so better that he get the packages home and start checking them out.


Dacre and Fraser advanced to join Cordelia and Geoff Grimes, the final member of the team, just in time for Dacre to help Cordelia knock out one of the mummies that had shambled forward faster than its fellows. Grimes had climbed to the roof of a nearby building, from where he had a good field of fire with his rifle. He also found a package on that roof, which was an added bonus. Stuffing it into his pocket he began to lay down covering fire. The fight now developed in earnest. Fraser blased away at the shambling henchmummies with both pistols. Cordelia ran up behind them and blasted them with her shotgun. The mummies were soon a pile of rotting wrappings on the floor. Meanwhile Dacre shot down the human traitor, serving the mummies for his own profit and to the detriment of all humanity. Unfortunately, some of the other mummies had found more packages and were escaping with them. Time to give chase.



Cordelia and Dacre chased after them and were soon engaged in a close combat that saw the pair of them knocked out, but not before wounding the one remaining mummy. Geoff took aim and finished it off with a shot from his rifle. The silence that suddenly broke out was deafening. The remaining mummies had fled with their packages. All that remained in the streets of Cairo were the unmoving bodies of the wounded. Geoff moved forward and helped bring round his companions, more worried about helping them to safety than dealing with the mummies and their human stooge.



With the group home, they checked their packages and found the Shard. Success! They had won, but at a cost. Cordelia would be bed-ridden for a while (casualty check resulted in her missing the next battle), while Dacre was limping badly (-2" movement during next scenario). They hoped that the mummies would also have suffered equally (as it happened, Steve permanently lost a couple of henchmummies, but all of his character mummies will be present unhurt in the next scenario. Boo!). At least Cordelia would have time now to focus on her next action-packed book. The night's adventure had the makings of a great story and she was sure it would sell well.

The scenario played quickly for our first playing of Chaos in Cairo. It was very enjoyable and the only thing that we changed was the Coup de Grace rule. We agreed not to use it because of the increased possibility of permanent character death, which was just as well. Had we used it and had Steve had time to do so, Cordelia would have been dead dead dead, and, if I recall correctly, so would Dacre. In terms of experience, Colin Fraser gained enough to gain Combat Attack as a new skill. The others all gained some experience and should see advances after their next battle, if all goes well. Our next game will feature the Servants of Set (me) versus the Swords of Ra (Steve). Next time I get to be evil, bwa ha ha ha ha! I think that we shall be playing this system quite a bit more.