Where Drakes Dare

Last night we played the final club game of the year as the G3 club is closed on the 24th and 31st. To give a wintry feel we decided to play the next installment of the Dirk Drake adventures!

The scene opens on a castle high in the Austrian Alps. Having extracted the location of Professor Barnabas Smythe from General Von Krauch, Dirk Drake has assembled a crack team of operatives to storm the castle and retrieve the Professor. Also, the team has firm intelligence that the Nazis who have the Professor captive have been busy processing a new element that Smythe has found - Perilium. In a daring assault, Drake embarks his crew on an aeroplane while Lady Frinton leads her band in by land. Also, discovering the entrance to the dungeons under the castle, The Rocketeer sends his allies into the gloomy depths while he personally assists the above ground assault, where his rocket pack will be more useful! But the Schloss is not lightly defended! The Eisen Fauste is there in force and are backed up by the Executive. The scene is set, so let's cut to the action...!

Parachute Rules

• The drop point travels 6" each turn across the table from the middle of one table edge to the other. So on the second turn the drop point will be 1 foot from the edge and the third 18".
• Each turn, when a character on the plane activates they have the option to jump. To do so they must pass a Cunning check with 1 success.
• They are then placed on the table at the drop point. They may now move 6" in any direction for each die of Finesse they have. They are then finally scattered D6 inches.
• To land safely, the character must get 1 success on Finesse, but with a penalty of -1D for each 6" move they made, or suffer 3 hits!
• For example, Dirk Drake passes his Cunning check and jumps with 3D8 Finesse. He opts to move 6" inches from the jump point and scatters a further 3". He must then pass a Finesse check with 2D8 or take 3 hits!

The walls of the Schloss are high, but not impenetrable to the daring heroes! But who is that patrolling the walls? The Executive are clearly back in the Nazi fold!

And under the castle, the gloomy dungeon is a suitable environment for the sinister Eisernen-Maske. 

The castle as it appears from Lady Amelia Frinton's vantage point just before the assault.

The Rocketeer zooms towards the walls, while Billy Priest descends from above to execute a textbook landing.

The Eisen Fauste patrols the dungeon. Hidden alarms have alerted them to an enemy incursion.

The Rocketeer's companions move into the dungeon. The narrow passage definitely looks perilous! 

The Frintons move into the treeline and start laying down fire on the Executive.

One of the Executive goons responds and decides to move to the gatehouse. Those steps haven't been salted, though, and he slips down them and bumps his head! He's out cold for the rest of the fight!

From the shadows of the main keep comes a clanking and whirring! The Nazis new secret weapon is revealed! A Perilium powered Uberjaeger Ausf A and it's creator, Professor Klaus Sonderbar! The allies now know they must bring this monstrosity down and destroy it's Perilium core!

Mr Simpson forges through the passage, but he doesn't spot the traps laid by the castle's builders. Suddenly blades come whirring out of nowhere and he is down!

Meanwhile, one of the Eisen Fauste's troopers attempts the stairs, but the Gestapo Health and Safety Committee has not been doing it's job and these stairs prove a bit slipper too! Another one out for the count!

Billy Priest runs into the lee of the castle walls and starts strapping his crampons on! No mucking about with gates for him! It's straight up and over!

Hearing the grunt of Mr Simpson going down, the Prof follows in warily, but things have gone from bad to worse! The tunnel is now a deathtrap of swinging blades and buzzing saws!

Stamper spots his nemesis, Dirk Drake, in the open and opens fire. Drake is too nimble, though, and the snow is merely kicked up around his feet.

And Morgan puts down fire on the Frintons in the trees. Morgan would be the target of a ridiculous amount of fire in this game, but somehow the walls kept him safe!

The Rocketeer decides to show Billy Priest how things are really done and ignites his rocket pack. With a whooosh, he flies up and careers into Chaney, an Executive ally. With his momentum there is an almighty thwack as The Rocketeers fist connects and Chaney crumples to the ground! Billy Priest looks up in envy; "I gotta get one of them!"

The Daredevils are now dropping from the skies in numbers. Both Professor Love and his daughter, Lavinia, land near Drake, but an exchange of fire with the ruthless Stamper knocks Lavinia to the ground. Fortunately her locket with a photo of Dirk takes the brunt and she is only winded.

The Uberjaeger clanks forward and shoots at the Rocketeer. The hail of bullets catches him and, sensing an opportunity, Chaney leaps to his feet and rushes him! Puffing and panting at the exertion, Billy Priest manages to finally climb a wall without falling off!

Meanwhile in the dungeon, some of the Rocketeer's allies finally dodge through the traps, but they are met by fierce resistance, led by non other than the Eisernen-Maske and Hans Schleicher. The ensuing melee was a bit of a bloodbath!

Another Daredevil descends from the plane, but a gust of wind catches his 'chute and he ploughs into the stone walls and falls to the ground, stunned.

Dodging the attentions of the Executive, the Rocketeer swoops down on an Eisen Fauste NCO and knocks him down. He grabs his opportunity and sets an explosive charge on the remaining Perilium reserves.

And on the walls, Billy Priest engages in a brutal struggle with Chaney. Wounded by the full auto fire of the Uberjaeger, this fight isn't as one sided as Priest is used to!

With the defenders thinned out on the walls the Daredevils and Frintons race towards the gate! Lavinia Love watches as a crate bumps to the ground on a parachute and runs over. She unlatches the lid and out bounds Chomper, Drake's faithful bulldog companion!

The violent struggle in the dungeons ends and Mr Johnson surrenders to the Nazis! What will the Rocketeer do now that his financial backer is in the hands of the enemy?!?

As dusk falls across the Alps, the Daredevils and Frintons burst into the courtyard, but the Uberjaeger is a relentless killing machine! Along with the firepower from the Executive, the Uberjaeger knocks down the Rocketeer and wounds both Drake and Lady Frinton's butler, Johnson! So close to victory, the Daredevils retreat, fearing a Nazi counterattack in the dark. But they will be back to finish what they started!

Another fantastic game of Pulp Alley! This was our biggest yet at 5 players, but the various routes into the castle kept things interesting and, although we ran out of time, everyone had a great time. And now we have a couple of real grudge matches starting, so we can fork the story line a bit. Stamper and Drake are long time nemeses, but the Rocketeer now has a real issue with Nazis, who are, in turn, really interested in the rocket pack!

Great fun and I hope you enjoyed it! Tune in for the next thrilling installment...!