Pulp Alley- Ep. 23: the Treasure of El Kabong (or the Curse of the Crate)

In a small Mexican village of no consequence the hidden treasure of the fabled hero El Kabong has been found by renegade archeologist Robert "Arkansas Bob" Rudebaugh. Amongst its treasures is the Sword of El Kabong, rumored to have mystical powers.

Curtis, Ally of the Raptor, hops a wall followed by Roxie Rocket

Arkansas Bob seems to have gone missing, and along with him the exact whereabouts of the treasure. Four Leagues have converged on his last known whereabouts to claim the riches.
First is Pecos Pete and Giddy Up Gang. Posing as everyone's favorite Saturday Matinee idol, Pete is really an secret agent of the US government. He uses his start status to get in places others can't.
The Royal Archeological And Mystic Society wants the treasure for purely scientific study, while Virginia Dare and Danger, Inc. has been hired by a wealthy businessman to claim it.
And finally, the enigmatic Red Raptor has his own reason for the treasure.
All teams had to claim at least one minor Plot Point before moving to the Major one, the treasure itself.

 Pecos Pete claims a Plot Point

 Lefty grabs a a crate

The Royal Archeology and Mystic Society question a local

Danger Inc, moved fast and Virginia's right hand man Lefty claimed large crate that had a dislodged grave stone in it. Aha! The treasure was in the grave yard, very close to their present position.
Meanwhile, the others snatched up their own Plot Points, leaving the game tied.
The Major Plot Point, the grave proved a tough one. The place was over run with scorpions and other nasty desert critters.

 The Raptor's crew move in

Ace, Sidekick to the Red Raptor tears apart poor Wellington, Dare's dog

After it was finally claimed by Dare herself, instead of leaving the board with the winning points she decided to hang around. Oh, greed.
The game turned into a slugfest with whomever grabbing the crate quickly getting eliminated.
In the end, turn number 6 happened and Dare escaped in a very dramatic fashion.
Good time.

First stab at the new Fistful of Lead cover

That is all.

Rivet Wars playtest: Now the student has become the master

Got to try my Father's Day present yesterday, playing against the Boy. My 13-year-old beat me

4-1 in the first 5 scenarios. We have one more to play, then we're going to switch sides.
Rivet Wars is a great little game. I'm learning the subtleties of each faction.
I again wish I'd have backed the Kickstarter for all the extra bits. I'd have to sell a kidney to afford the exclusives now.

Belated Father's Day present

Despite working for 20+ years for a certain greeting card company who makes all their money of such things, my family is kinda bad about remembering holidays. I have often surprised my wife with a birthday gift, simply because she forgot it was her birthday.
No so this year. I lost my Father this past Easter and this was the first Father's Day without him. Combine this with losing my job and it has been a tough year for the Barony.
So it was a bright little ray of sunshine when a package arrived at my door today.
Rivet Wars! Something I wanted to back on Kickstarter but didn't have the money to do at the time. Amazon has it waaay cheaper than my local shop. The only bad thing is I'll have to wait for all the cool extra minis that other people got by backing.
Can't wait to play.

Saturday, High Noon

Had a chance to get some more gaming in the week when two out-of-town guests came by. I quickly threw together a a 5 player scenario. Each player had an objective that roughly translated into Side A goes after Side B, who in turn is after Side C, etc. Makes for great mayhem.
The Society of Gentlemen Gunfighters did a very ungentlemanly thing and robbed the Mining Company. They were then headed south of the border.
El Guapo and his banditos wanted said gold. Meanwhile, Ed Harley's gang wanted revenge on the Marshal, who in turn was headed towards the Dixon gang across town.
Here's some shots:

 The fate of all our gunfighters

 Long range kill

 A frightened citizen's desperate cry for help

 Blood Alley (there's always one) south of the border.

 Deputy Dan takes care of business.

Battletech: Alpha Strike Pt. Deux

Last time we played Alpha Strike, the quick play mini rules for Battletech, it was December. I vowed to add more mechs. Most of my stuff is repainted MechWarrior clix. I'm not a fan of the newer Battletech mechs. There's just dumb. I prefer the ripoff Robotech ones of my youth.
So, I ordered some CAV models from Reaper. They fit my aesthetic of what Mechs should look like.

They're a bit smaller than the clix, but they'll do double duty as 15mm battlesuits.

The game it self played pretty flawless again. Tons of models on the table and over in 2 hours. It actually gave me some ideas for a game of my own.
I got all the stats from the Alpha Strike website. That was my only problem. Some of the bigger mechs seemed underpowered while others were too powerful. One of the toughest pieces on the table was APC. It took all kinds of damage while having a speedy 20" move. Some tinkering is in order.