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Relief of Poona Mission - Part IV
Relief of Poona Mission - Part IV
A Player's Notes
Return to Part III
 Although a trifle odd at times, even for a Bungiwalliland game, the adventure was fun for all concerned. The scenario was entertaining, the terrain and figures were spectacular and the rules worked smoothly (more on this later). A lot of the figures and props were unveiled to the group for the first time by their respective owners. Well, just Kurt actually. Still, it's always gratifying holding a "Show & Tell" session. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of Kurt's colourful elite masked warrior regiment. Not surprising though. They tried to stop the maddened Posties, failed and routed off the table edge all in one turn. So much for that.
I must also say that Vidal and myself were somewhat confused when the Poonas began scaling the defense and then running into the Church. The sight of the organ (and many bad puns thereof) brought tears of laughter to our eyes.
Other notes of interest -
The "Apeman" rule. At any point a European player (me) could summon the Lord of the Jungle. Of course I had to do that by giving it my best "Tarzan" yell imitation. Although the judges were divided over the validity of my attempts, eventually Tarzan was allowed to be placed.
Vidal, commanding the Post Office Rifles, had to make a special "Going Postal" roll. He had a five percent chance each turn that his regiment would indeed go "postal". He actually managed to succeed three times! Hence the sight of the maddened postal Rifles diving into the river several times.
To even out the "Apeman" benefit to the Europeans (if that's what you want to call it) the Natives were allowed to cast spells. Yes, the Poonas were told that they were bullet proof. Damn me if my rolling didn't comply!
The character Major General Flunderton was given the attribute of "Pistol Sureshot". Despite this, he did not hit a single target all game. Evidently he is a crack shot only with his spectacles.
The momentarily deranged Colonel Ripperton was indeed hit several times on the noggin. Each time he made his luck roll, and bounced back to his feet. For some odd reason this poor casting takes a beating in whatever game we play.
The leader of the Mission Askaris, Courtney Selous, seemed to gradually acquire an increasingly somewhat, ah, effeminate reputation as the game progressed. Blame it on his pink shirt. (Bob feebly protested that it was originally red, but had long since faded to pink in the bright Bungiwalliland sunshine, but that explanation did nothing to deter the libelous remarks regarding Selous' suspiciously unmarried status).
For this game we decided to use Kurt's homebrew set of "Queen's Company" rules. Kurt had a hand in developing the Vietnam War set of "Charlie Company" rules. He felt that they would adapt well to Darkest Africa. Originally they didn't...but Kurt cleverly layered on a set of character rules. Given the colourful characters which inhabit our imaginary Bungiwalliland escapades and which are brought to life with some excellent Foundry and RAFM castings, the character rules work superbly and make "Queen's Company" work marvelously for this period and scale.
It gives the players a type of "cinematic" game. Special characters are rather robust and decisive, while the "extras" die like flies and run like dogs. Works for us at any rate.
 This scenario (and one other) are going to be presented as participation games in the upcoming Hot Lead convention. After playing my Pirates game in the morning, join us in our shared Bungiwalli delusions and play "Relief of Poona Mission" in the afternoon. Should be a lot of fun!
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