Colonel Throckmorton P. Gladiolus XLII, President for Life of the Republic of Bwendi, leaned back in her wing-backed leather armchair. On the small table beside her was a steaming mug of cocoa and a plate of Jammie Dodgers. On her lap was a somewhat tattered cat of uncertain ancestry. The cat purred like a two-stroke motor. Throckmorton released a satisfied sigh and settled even deeper into her chair as the announcer on the holoview declared:
"And now on BwendTV, we present the premier of the newest film from Codding Studios: Juvenile Gene-spliced Catastrophic Kittens: A Purrfect Storm!"
The Colonel knew that the plot was not an original one. It was the usual fare for the genre. Experiments from the bioweapons labs of the Democratic Peoples Kingdom of Albion would escape and wreak chaos on Kingstown. There would be an hour and a half of the Albion Defence Force fighting to stop them. A soldier and a civilian would fall in love in the midst of the battle, only for one or both of them to die in a scene where they reach for each others' hands but cannot quiet manage to touch. Then either The Republic of Bwendi would send in special forces to save the day or Albion would descend into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. It was a simple formula but well liked.
Foreword
I have had Techno-Fantasy Adventure from Four Color Studios for an absolute age. This is my first outing with the 1st edition. A 2nd edition has since been released, but I need to play 1st edition before I even think of buying that one.
This scenario was played with Battletech and Zoontalis miniatures. The concept of framing games as TV series or movies within my sci-fi imagi-nation gives a tonne of leeway for this type of thing, and is something I hope to return to the future.
The Cats' goal is to destroy the Capitol Building. The ADF must prevent this. The game ends when the Cats are out of action or the building is destroyed.
To The Fray
The cats stood 15 metres tall and carried weapons sized to match their huge frames. Albion scientists had mutated four rescue kittens, called Verity, Jasmine, Hamish and Strongbow, in unspeakable ways. They had been thinking so hard about what they could do and how it might win the war against Bwendi, that they never once stopped to think whether they should do it. And now the massive kittens were marching through the streets of Kingstown towards the Capitol Building. Their purpose was inscrutable. Who knew why they had focused on this particular building? All that Captain Algernon Biggleswade-Maldon knew was that he and his detachment of the Albion Defence Force were the closest force available to try to stop them. He kissed his girlfriend Tiffany goodbye, powered up the fusion turbine on his Ettin ETN-10A and ordered his troops to move out. It was time to do or die.
"You know," he thought, "when this is all over, I am going to marry that girl."
With a warm heart pumping in rhythm to the thunderous footsteps of his Ettin mecha, Algie checked his weapons systems. Despite his coolsuit, he felt warm inside. His display showed two Champion-class jetcopters keeping pace with the tanks and infantry of his ground forces. He ordered the jetcopters to attack the cats on the right flank while the ground forces moved up under cover of the buildings on the left.
Meanwhile, Strongbow and Jasmine were moving towards the ADF ground forces. Verity and Hamish were distracted by the jetcopters.
"Fire at will," Algie announced over comms. He lead by example and soon missiles were exploding all around the cats.
The whine of rotary cannons filled the air as the jetcopters followed orders. The Destructor tanks' ion cannons soon followed suit. The cats' ears flattened back against their skulls as fur began to fly. Hamish took cover behind a large building. The air around him turned hazy as he concentrated his single orange braincell on the first jetcopter's pilot. The pilot screamed and then slumped over the controls. The jetcopter plummeted to the ground and exploded.
As Strongbow bounded towards one of the tanks, its commander called on his crew to fire everything they had at the giant black cat. It was not enough. Strongbow lifted the giant sword he carried and sliced the entire tank in two with a single blow.
Jasmine was hurt as she approached the Capitol Building. The ADF infantry had closed with her and blood was flowing from several wounds. She had batted some of them into the air, but they were taking their toll on her too.
Verity flung acid bombs at the second jetcopter. It took three of them, but soon the jetcopter itself was a smoking pile of wreckage on the floor.
Algie steered his Ettin mecha onto the MagLev track and hit the firing stub for all his weapons. Strongbow was too quick and the shots flew wide, slamming into the museum building over the road.
Three of the cats were bleeding now, but the ADF force was halved in number. The remaining tank had retreated to try to make best use of its ranged weapons. The infantry were engaged with Jasmine and winning. Things looked bad for the queen of the clowder as she gulped down Dreamies to restore herself a little. It was not enough.
The infantry renewed their attack and felled Jasmine. The tank went after Hamish and Strongbow went toe to toe with Algie in his Ettin. Hamish was using the power of his orange braincell to blast the tank, but it still kept coming. He dodged behind the nearby exhibition centre as Verity finished off the infantry. She raced to attack the tank, but Hamish finally locked in on the minds of the crew and burnt their brains. As he did this, Strongbow cleaved the final pieces of the Ettin apart.
Algie hit the broadcast stub as blood flowed freely in his cockpit, "Tell Tiffany I love her!" He collapsed over the remains of his mecha's controls and lay still.
With the enemy defeated, the cats clawed the Capitol Building to pieces. Then they curled up together and settled in for a quick catnap.
That was fun and played out quite quickly. The rules are simple enough, while also providing enough meat to make the game interesting. I like the 3d6 roll for everything better than the d20 roll in Frostgrave and its clones. Next time I am going to try to get all the rules right.
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