Escape From El Khazam

On Tuesday night we had a real slugfest of a game of Pulp Alley. This was our first 4 player game, with Dave bringing along his newly pigmented league, led by the indomitable heroine Lady Amelia Frinton.

This episode begins with Dirk Drake receiving a message from his agents that Lady Amelia Frinton has landed in Cairo looking for clues to the disappearance of a dear friend of her Uncle Monty's, namely Professor Barnabas Smythe. Drake manages to get a message from his hideout in El Khazam, past the prowling Nazi and Executive thugs to Lady Amelia that he is holding a Nazi officer prisoner who has information regarding the Professor's whereabouts. In a daring move, he agrees to deliver General von Krauch to her under the noses of his adversaries, but very little happens in Egypt that the Eisernen-Maske and Mr Stamper are unaware of!

In this game I decided not to have any Plot Point tricks or effects and instead concentrate on coming up with an interesting deployment and scenario. The deployment zones were laid out such that Frinton and Drake started from opposite sides of the board. In the middle were the Eisernen-Maske leading his Eisen Fauste strike force, and the Executive, trying to ingratiate themselves with the Nazis again. There were four minor plot points strung out across the middle and Drake's league started in possession of General von Krauch, the major plot point. The villains would score VPs for any plot points not in the hands of their opponents. The heroes would only score VPs for plot points they possess. And so, onto the action. Roll cameras!

El Khazam! Dawn! The Nazis and Executive are pouring from their hideouts looking for Drake. He can be seen entering on the far right table edge.

Looking for a vantage point to exercise his crack shot abilities, Billy Priest tries to climb up to the roof of a nearby mosque. But he really should have worn his other boots as he comes crashing down in a pile of dust, mortar and peril! :)

The Eisernan-Maske lurks while Hans Schleicher orders his troopers to fan out.

Lady Frinton and her stalwart companions leap from their truck, eager to locate Drake.

The Executive know that the key to the lucrative Nazi payroll is finding von Krauch first!

An Executive thug (I forget their names...there were so many characters!) spies Lavinia Love and her father and charges in. She dodges to safety, though, and the Professor has to dodge a hail of bullets that head his way!

The Germans form a firing line with the Executive.

With a woof and a snarl, Chomper charges straight into the action, but Drake's faithful bulldog fails to bring his quarry down.

Meanwhile, LAdy Frinton's Siamese cat, Mr Bigglesworth, sneaks up to the concealed Nazi radio transmitter. He sniffs the box and identifies that the radio is there (he got one success) but is unable to open the cabinet with his paws! (Dave never managed to roll another success! I love how the story telling just comes out of this game!)

Lady Amelia shouts to Johnson her butler as she spies Executive sidekick Janssen advancing. Johnson runs over and demonstrates his pugilistic heritage and cleans the villains clock with ease!

Cheyney runs over to assist his friend and delivers a hefty kick to poor Chomper who whimpers and scampers away from the fight.

However, Dirk Drake bursts from the mosque and Lavinia joins him. Together they are too much for the Executive goons and even the elite German soldiers pull back to better cover.

With supreme self-confidence, Der Eisernen-Maske walks out amidst the gunfire and engages Lady Frinton's family friend, Reggie. Overcome by his ominous visage, Reggie is ineffective and Lady Amelia runs over to assist him.

But Der Eisernen-Maske's advance is relentless and even the courageous heroine falls back!

Distracted by the twanging of bullets on the truck, Johnson and Uncle Monty don't spot Hans Schleicher charging and, with one ferocious blow, Uncle Monty crashes to the ground and stays down.

Attempting to get the General to the truck, Drake's men suffer fearsomely accurate fire from the German troops and the General slips from his bonds.

In a dazzling display of athletics and derring-do, Dirk Drake avoids all the fire from the Germans and closes in on the last of the troopers.

But it is too late! Professor Love recovers his wits and grabs the General (although he didn't have time to complete the Plot Point I consider the General to still be a captive). The sun has risen high in the sky and the rumble of trucks signals the arrival of Nazi reinforcements, so Lady Frinton gathers her companions and make off in their truck. Drake returns to his hideout and starts plotting his next move to get the General out of Africa and to uncover the secret Nazi plot!

This was a really good game. Dave and Nick, playing the Frintons and Drake respectively, didn't really communicate enough before starting (though I admit they didn't know the scenario until late on) so they ended up with no-one on hand near the end to hand the General over. Instead, we had quite a bit of gun play and fisticuffs, which played nicely into the villain's plans. In the end, no plot points were secured by the heroes, so the Executive and Eisen Fauste took all the VPs.