Pirates! - A Valhalla Society Adventure

In anticipation of Our Gang's October playdate (10/15), and inspired by a recent discussion of the subject in the forums, chas and I have created the following scenario:

Pirates!

The Iron Brotherhood had successfully completed looting the fabled Hoard of Dragons in the City of the Undead on the Island of Eternal Sleep, and were sailing for home. In spite of the Covenants, signed in blood by both Captains, that prohibited violence, the long-standing enmity between them, and their fanatically loyal crews (as well as their unalterable greed), it was not surprising that they turned on each other the moment the Island disappeared beneath the horizon. After a day and night of dancing death, the mighty Ships were now entwined in their final embrace, and only one crew was destined to survive . . .



Teams: 2 Teams of 2-4 players, each to bring 500 point armies within Valhalla Society restrictions (no firearms), delineated in the link below.

http://www.heroscapers.com/community...lhalla+society

To summarize the above, for this scenario, only unique and uncommon heroes are permitted (no squads of any kind and no common heroes). Only one of any unique hero is permitted per Team. Also, no Dragons (no Su-Bak-Na), no Soulborgs, no Undead, no Agents and no other units bearing firearms (including Me-Burq-Sa and Drake SotM).


Map: 2 ships (totally dismasted, wreckage on deck (chas' idea ), separated by 3 hexes of water, connected by 3 Gangplanks (1 hex wide), and 4 Rope Swings (each represented by 2 glyphs, 1 on each Ship). Only medium/small may use the Swings, must roll a 20 sider, a result of 1 and you fall into the sea (and die ). Note: if you happen to be carrying Treasure when you fall, it is lost, too! To perform the swing, a unit moves onto the Rope Swing glyph on the Ship it is on, and ends its movement on any space adjacent to the Rope Swing glyph on the other Ship. No unit may end its turn on a Rope Swing glyph. Any size figure may assay a Gangplank; however, upon their first step onto the Gangplank, large figures fall (destroying the Gangplank in the process) on a 1 (20-sider), and huge figures fall on 1-2. Gangplanks are destructible objects, with a defense of 3, and 3 lives. chas' latest Map description (from his comment below):

"PIRATES: BUILDING THE MAP

General Description

This unusual map is made with two 24 x 6 hex terrain rectangles (the Ships), separated by 3 hexes of water (two lexan maps under and between work very well). The hex "grain," or straight row hexes, must be oriented along the Ship's length, so they can lie parallel next to each other on their long sides. I use sand pieces in the top layer of all Ship decks, to best simulate the look [of wood? I'd use dark green .].

The Ships are pointed in opposite directions, so the Aft Deck of one is next to the Fore Deck of the other. The three Gangplanks (bridges without their side walls work well) cross diagonally between each of the Ship's three deck sections (see below). The Rope Swings (purple glyphs symbol side down) are placed in four pairs, one on opposite inner edge hexes of each Ship. Place two pairs one in each area in between the Gangplanks, and two outside them, one each between a Gangplank and one end of the Ships. In addition, three 7-hexers representing below Decks are placed on the outside of, and unconnected to, either Ship. Start the Treasures on the central hexes of the central pieces.

The Ship Hulls

Each is made of three vertical stacks of what I call a Building Unit (BU). This is a pair of 24-hexers of the same color fit together in mirror image to form an 8 x 6 hex rectangle of 48 hexes. Three of these stacks are fitted together on the ends in a straight line to form a Ship (24 x 6 hexes). Each Ship is, therefore, made of 12 BUs, but you can get away with using only six if you want to cut down the height.

These decks are, to simplify the proper nautical terms:

Main Deck which is three levels high, forming the middle of each Ship. If you don't have enough terran you can make it only one high, but a bit of height looks nice. (Of course, if you have tons of terrain, you can double all deck heights. Two one-rung ladder pieces are hung on the first hexes of the Fore and Aft Decks on their middles opposite each other, while both connect these decks with the Main, and lead down into Below Decks. I use Rock Terrain to represent all three shattered masts [I'd use Sand .]. The Mainmast is four levels of of one hexers high, three hexes forward of the Aft Ladder, with two more one hexers lying toward the Fore Ladder. There is another one hexer two hexes away at 5OC (Five o'clock with the clock facing toward the other ship).

Fore Deck which is four levels high, forming the front of each Ship (at opposite ends from each other, remember). The is a 7-hexer (Black Marvel) with a Sand two-hexer atop in the center pointing forward. The Foremast is two one-hexers high, 3 hexes forward of the Fore Ladder, with another at 7OC and one more two hexes away at 5OC.

Aft Deck which is five levels high, forming the rear of each ship (on opposite ends, so the Aft Deck of one Ship is opposite the Fore Deck of the other). A 7-hexer (White Marvel) stands with one full hex between it and the rear end of the Ship. A Rock one-hexer is atop its central hex, forming the ship's wheel Helm. The Aftmast is three one-hexers high, 3 hexes aft of the Aft ladder, with one more 1-hexer at 7OC.

Below Decks In addition to the description above in the General section, an extra one-hexer is attached to each of the two middle opposite outer hexes of each outer 7-hexer piece. Three Rock two-hexers (not enterable) are stacked over two "extra" hexes and the hexes connected to them (again, on the outer two 7-hexers). These support a two-rung ladder (both Fore Ladder and Aft Ladder) leading down to the centers of both outer hexes. These two rungs connect to and are directly below the one-rung ladder placed over the Main Deck. Note that they give access to the Main and Fore Deck (Fore Ladder) or the Main and Aft Deck (Aft Ladder)."

Recently, Paronychodan came up with a cool ship map called Ship of the Bitter Sea, which should be easy to adapt for this scenario (link below).


http://www.heroscapers.com/community...44&postcount=5

Note: Ships are becalmed, so flying units cannot fly in this scenario (no wind for lift).

Setup: A Team's start zone is its entire Ship. 2-space figures cannot set up on the Gangplank; single-space figures can set up on those on each end of the Gangplank (that are on the Ship, not over water).

Second Wind: To simulate pre-boarding carnage, before setup, each Captain rolls dice for all enemy units = to their total number of lives minus 1, any skulls count as wounds (similar to RoB Second Wind rules) received prior to boarding.



Captain: Each Team shall designate a Captain, after the setup, just prior to Second Wind. The Captain shall be any single spaced, medium/small hero (subject to the scenario figure restrictions). Captains are not subject to Second Wind. If a Captain is killed by an enemy action, the dead Captain's Team adds 1 to the offense and defense of all its units (Death Bonus). If a Captain is Captured (Mindshackled or otherwise controlled (Werewolf Lord, Mindflayer)) by the other Team, his/her Team immediately surrenders, and the game is over.

Treasure: Each Team shall possess a Treasure, which must be placed Below Decks before setup. If a Team obtains the enemy's Treasure (Treasure Glyph rules apply), carries it to its own Ship, all enemy units on board have been killed, and its own Treasure is still on board its own Ship, the game is over, and that Team wins. Heirloom's Mage Hand cannot move the Treasure, as it is too heavy.

Order of Play (Gang of Four NYC rules): Order Markers are placed. Captains roll for initiative. Captain decides the order of play for the Team. Play alternates between Teams. For example, Team A (consisting of Players X, Y, and Z) wins initiative. The Captain of Team A decides that, for this round, the order of play shall be Y, Z, X. Team B (Players U, V, W) decides his Team's order shall be V, W, U. The Player order in this round will be Y, V, Z, W, X, U. The order of play is thus subject to change before each new round. [We generally use over-sized dice placed on each Player's army to keep track of the current order of play.]

Additional Victory Condition: If no Captain has been Captured, and no Treasure is carried off, after 10 rounds, the game is over, and the Team with the most points remaining wins.

Romance Variant: Each Team may designate two (110 point) figures as a Pirate Couple. Each may add 1 to its attack and defense, but if either of them dies, the other immediately [dies as well (to join his/her lover in the next Valhalla)][receives two wounds].

Squad Variants: For all common squad variants, the maximum number of squads of any one kind is 4.

Musket Squad Variant: Musket-bearing minions (10th, 4th, Mohicans, Harquebus) may be drafted. Second Wind applies on a per squad basis. For example, if you draft 2 squads of the 10th, you would roll 4 dice (1 for each unit of a squad) minus 1 for each squad. For the Mohicans, you'd roll 3-1 for each squad.

Bow and Arrow Squad Variant: Similar to Musket Squad Variant, for Arrow Gruts, Aubrien Archers, and Tagawa Samurai Archers.

Unique Squad Variant: The unique squads with a range of 1 (the Tagawa Samurai, Ninjas of the Northern Wind, and the Kozuke Samurai) may be drafted. Second Wind applies as in the Musket Squad variant. The unique squads, however, may be healed; that is, a healer may attempt a heal on a member of a depleted unique squad as though it were a wounded hero (with 1 wound per killed squad member). If the heal is successful, the number of wounds healed is the number of squad members restored to life, which are immediately re-placed on the map, adjacent to the "healed" squad member.

Other Variants: Feel free to modify or eliminate the unit restrictions, Second Wind or the Capture rules (or make any other changes you desire ).
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