Crikey, the island's about to explode!

We played Tusk ages ago and I have been meaning to post pics from it but never seemed to get around to it until now. The game involved two groups of Victorian explorers trying to get from one side of the board to the other, where their ship is waiting, before the volcano erupts and tears the island to pieces. Between the explorers and safety is a herd of Tyrannosaurs.

We both set out as fast as we could. I shot at the Tyrannosaurs in a bid to drive them towards Steve's group, but failed miserably in my goal of getting him eaten. He shot at the Tyrannosaurs and managed to kill three of them with his elephant gun, although brave Sir Harry did rather end up on the wrong side of one of them (its inside). As the countdown to doomsday continued, we both raced as fast as we could and managed to get two stands each off the table. My group consisted of hunters with my poor porters being left behind. I cannot remember what Steve's consisted of, only that I exited more points of troops. Still, it was a draw because we both got two stands off the table. Frantic stuff all round and great fun.

Figures: Irregular Miniatures 6mm

Tusk Junior

My wife and I have had her nephews to stay for the weekend (our weekend runs from Sunday to Monday). Yesterday we took them to the Walking with Dinosaurs live show at Sheffield Arena as a birthday present. It was a pretty good show, although I felt that the emphasis on the 'special effects' over story let it down a bit, but I am old and jaded, so what do you expect? The dinosaurs themselves were really good and the size of them was impressive too. It really gives you sense of perspective.

One of the boys has been pestering me to show him how to play wargames. They play Heroscape but are fascinated with the array of figures in my office/games room. So, one of them asked me last night if I would "show them my moves"!!!!! By this he meant, how to play the games, not anything else. Today I caved in and asked them if they wanted to hunt dinosaurs, to which the response was an enthusiastic "Yes". I dug out Tusk, set up a 2'*2' board, gave each of them a small party of cavemen and we set to. The table had one each of Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus and Triceratops on it. I explained how to measure moves and they set to with gusto, each charging his hero in as fast as possible. The Tyrannosaurus fell first. It was simply not as aggressive as a small boy. Then the other nephew brought the Stegosaurus down. Both boys were enthusiastically throwing rocks and spears at the other two dinosaurs and the Brontosaurus saw the writing on the wall first. It fled for the edge of the table and away to safety. The Triceratops was less savvy and stayed to fight, surrounded by cavemen. It gored and trampled one group of them but could not take on the full might of two cavemen tribes. The elder nephew slew it and took credit for the kill as well as winning the game with two dinosaur kills overall. The younger one had only killed one dinosaur but his tribe had been halved in size, so I think the food will go around well enough.

Both boys, who are 6 and 8 by the way, picked up the game really quickly. Even the reaction system for the dinosaurs, which confused them initially, became clear with play. Flushed with their first hunting success, they left the game very happy and I could bask in the warm glow of being a successful uncle and leading them into bad ways. I wonder what I should teach them next ...

A Mammoth Task - Tusk Battle Report

Og hunt big food. Big food drink. Og hunt big food while big food drink. Big man dead. If Og hunt well, Og be new big man. If Og not hunt well, Ug be new big man.

We played Tusk last night. The scenario was that the chief of the tribe had died and the hunter that killed the most mammoths would become the new chief.

Mammoths at the watering hole (Click the pictures for larger versions)


Ug know what to do. Ug send hunters forward fast. Og know what to do. Og keep hunters hidden. Ug's hunters drive big food towards Og's hunters. Og clever. Ug stupid.

The game began slowly with my hunters not wanting to move (low activation die rolls), while Steve's troops advanced quickly forward. The mammoths started having to take reaction tests. Most grazed, but one decided to withdraw quickly away from Steve's hunters and toward mine. I pretended that this was all part of the plan and moved my hunters up behind a low hill.

First contact


Og send dogs in. Push big food into swamp or over edge. Big food attack dogs.

While Steve was moving his troops forward I used my few activation points to send my dogs forward with a view to driving the mammoths into the swamp or towards the cliffs on the right of the table. The mammoths attacked my dogs, who fortunately survived. I think I must have had particularly irritating yappy dogs because every time I tried to drive the mammoths with my dogs, the dogs were attacked.

Hunters slow. Og lose patience. Og attack big food and kill it. Og do happy dance. Ug not happy.

With Steve's hunters advancing rapidly and low activation points I took a risk. Og is a hero and has a fifty/fifty chance of dying if he attacks a mammoth. I charged him in and he won, killing a mammoth that Steve's dogs were about to worry. Meanwhile my dogs were attacked by a different mammoth and Steves hunters were trying to bring a mammoth down with slings and bows.

First Blood!


Og happy. Og kill more big food. Ug very not happy.

While Steve's dogs worried more mammoths and my dogs irritated them more, Og attacked and killed another mammoth, and still survived! The rest of my hunters were still lurking behind their hill, refusing to come out, while Steve's hunters were advancing rapidly towards the watering hole.

Og 2, Ug 0


Og happy. Big food step on Ug hunters. Squish! Ug dogs squish too. Og not happy. Ug kill big food. Ug hunters kill big food. Og hunters still hide.

Then suddenly Steve's hunters started to get lucky. Well, sort of. First his slingers got too close to a mammoth, which killed them. On the same turn his dogs disappeared under mammoth feet too. But, shortly after that Ug, Steve's hero, and his spear-armed hunters both killed mammoths. The scores were tied and it was going to come down to the final mammoth.

Ug and his hunters hard at work


Og race Ug to last big food. Og swift as wind. Ug slow like mud. Og kill big food. Og new big man. Og make Ug cook dinner.

With only one mammoth remaining and the scores tied, our heroes were the closest to the last mammoth, so we raced as fast as we could. Og got there first and, wildly improbably, killed his third mammoth, while his hunters finally started to come out of hiding. Victory to me!

Last mammoth standing


Conclusion
This was a brilliant game. Although we got a couple of things wrong at the start, largely from not reading the rules properly, we did manage to get things sorted out and we had the rules working properly by the end. We both had a great time and the result was very close to the wire. The reaction tests for the mammoths worked well, although interpreting how they should be adjudicated sometimes required some thought because of the presence of lots of humans in the area. We shall definitely play this one again, but next time we plan to hunt dinosaurs!

Afterword
The game took about an hour and a half in total, so we had time for a game of Pirates afterwards, which Steve won. I did not photograph that because of the lack of a suitable seascape, but I plan to sort out that issue later and produce a battle report for Pirates next time we play. It was a good game and the rules were surprisingly subtle for a simple game. I definitely need more ships for next time though. Good job The Works in Beverley is selling them off very cheaply.

The Great International Christmas Pudding Hunt - A Tusk Scenario

I have been considering, but not getting round to doing yet, a Christmas game using Tusk rules. I then thought that if I posted it here, perhaps someone else might get it done. So, with apologies to the Goons, I hereby present a daring tale of mens' trousers in a far off land.

[plays stirring martial music]

[puts on pith helmet and shorts, revealing short fat hairy legs]

Gentlemen, I give to you:
The Great International Christmas Pudding Hunt
On the far distant island of Neringi-Baba roam the great herds of wild Christmas puddings. Every year fearless adventurers must brave the dangers of this island to supply families with their Christmas puddings. People have tried domesticating the Christmas puddings but they always die in captivity, so wild puddings must be hunted down every year to ensure that Christmas cheer is there for all.

Set-up
The table represents the plains of Neringi-Baba. It should be mostly flat with a few lakes of brandy sauce and a little intervening terrain (holly bushes, Christmas crackers, presents, etc.). Brandy sauce lakes are generally shallow but sticky. Figures may move through them at half speed for the turns they are in the lake and also one full turn after they leave the lake, because they are too busy licking the brandy sauce off themselves. Players should agree how to deal with other terrain before the start of the game.

At one end of the table is a small volcano. The volcano will spew out gouts of burning hot custard at the end of any turn in which two players roll a 6 for their APs.

Each player gets to place two pits anywhere onto the table, into which they will try to herd the puddings. They may also try to shoot or net the puddings if they prefer.

A herd of puddings is placed near the centre of the table. It should consist of one male pudding per player and two female/child puddings per player.

The Custard
Each custard splatter is the size of a CD. Randomly place it by any means you prefer. Anything that the custard lands on must roll a 6 or less on 2d6 to dodge the custard or be killed. The custard remains on the table for the duration of the game. Anything that moves into the custard splatter after it is placed is killed automatically.

Christmas Puddings
Christmas puddings come in two types:
Males - These are large and ferocious. They will savagely protect their herds against all comers, including other Christmas puddings. Male puddings use the T-Rex reaction tables and are treated in all respects as T-Rexes.
Females and Children - These are smaller than the males and more docile. They use the Brontosaurus reaction tables and are treated in all respects as Brontosauri.

Game End
The game ends when there are no puddings or only one player's figures are left on the table. Alternatively, you may set a time limit on the game; give it a couple of hours and plenty of brandy.

Winning
The winner of the game is the person that captures or recovers the most Christmas puddings. A player may only win if they have figures left alive on the table.

Puddings that land in a player's pits are automatically captured by that player as long as they have figures left alive on the table at the end of the game. Figures may also recover dead Christmas puddings by moving into contact with them. The first player to move into contact with a pudding automatically recovers it.

Other Rules
Players may not directly attack each other.
Players must wear odd socks for the duration of the game.

Final Thoughts
Depending upon the scale of your figures, you may be able to find cheap plastic Christmas pudding decoration thingies to use. Otherwise, it should not be too difficult to paint up some table tennis balls or polystyrene balls.

I am not sure about the size of the custard splatter. If a CD seems too large then reduce the size of the custard template to something you are happier with.