Monday 21 December 2020

Gaming in Lockdown: Pulp Alley - Arctic Adventure

 My next trial of gaming with Zoom was using Pulp Alley (and thus a smaller table) but with a slightly different webcam set up and a different opponent.  As he also owned a copy of the cards he drew from his deck for his hand and any perils etc. for me whilst I did the same at my end.

I deployed a team of Nazis (“I hate these guy’s…”) under the sinister Dr. Stalhelm accompanied by a team of Gebirgsjaeger.  My opponent fielded a team of “stiff upper lip” Brits from the Long Range Arctic Survey Group (LRASG). This had a couple of unusually tough academics, the Leader, Professor MacInnes accompanied by Dr. Kennedy with two military types and a couple of Inuit guides.  Our tale continues from their perspective...


Scenario 1: The Crash Site

Some unusual rumours of strange lights in the sky have been emanating from sources in the arctic circle. The LRASG have been dispatched to investigate. Aided by two local guides, Kallik and Allatok, the team approach a site of possible significance...


MacInnes reaches one wreckage site but slips and tumbles into a crevasse. However, he managed a soft landing so no damage done. Meanwhile the first Nazi minions reach some wreckage, but can’t seem to explore without experiencing serious hazards which prevent the search.

Dragging himself from the crevasse, MacInnes successfully negotiates the wreckage and locates something of interest a short distance away. The Inuits move toward the Nazis while the rest of the LRASG spread out between the two closest wreckage sites. The Nazis continue a very unsuccessful search and Stalhelm has to jump away from some falling wreckage.  The Inuits move in on them. One of the Nazis, Weber, exchanges fire with Allatok.

MacInnes moves towards the item he identified in the snow and ice. He successfully negotiates the treacherous ground and shifting visibility. He is loosening it from the ice… 

At another site, Dr. Kennedy gets a bit disorientated in the swirling snow. Nearby while the Nazis continue with a frustrating search, Allatok and Weber exchange fire again and both are hit and injured. Another Nazi, Schneider, opens fire on one of the LRASG’s military types, Lt. Baylis.

MacInnes keeps working to free the item from the ice. Suddenly, he takes a hit from Nazi gunfire and is stunned. Baylis fires back to no effect. Meanwhile Dr. Kennedy finds his way back to the wreckage, makes a search and the ice shifts under the wreckage which is in danger of falling through into the lake below. However, Lt. Booth, (the Brits’ other military type) successfully locates another item of interest himself. Another of the Nazis, Muller, shoots Kallik who fires back, but he goes down too. Baylis shoots Schneider, but he dodges.

MacInnes finally frees the item from the ice. It’s a cache of “Top Secret” documents! But the Nazis also have some luck with Schmidt successfully discovering an injured crewman. Booth and one of the Gebirgsjaeger, Fischer, exchange fire. Baylis brings down Schneider while MacInnes and Stahlhelm exchange fire. Elsewhere, Kennedy successfully discovers an experimental bomb sight. Booth closes with Muller and gets into a punch up, but Booth gets knocked out cold (quite literally).

At this point the two sides disengage as the wreckage shifts and slips below the icy surface the frozen lake. A success for the Brits who recover two key sources of information but the Nazis leave with the injured crewman.

Having retired to safety the LRASG review the material they recovered and discover something interesting...

Scenario 2: A Secret Nazi Base…Where Else?

The recovered documents lead to the LRASG being tasked with recovering the aircraft’s inventor and destroying the Nazi base testing the new aircraft.

Approaching from some woods the Brits use the trees to mask their approach and their smoke grenades in order to reach the gate, allowing them to despatch the sentry. Miraculously, the remainder of the base remains oblivious. However, it all kicks off when MacInnes is forced to shoot a guard dog which attacks them and Baylis shoots his sentry/handler. They move toward a group of huts while Booth and Dr. Kennedy move along the fence to discover something interesting. The alerted Nazis get out of a truck and move toward the nearby huts.



Kennedy and Booth successfully locate a wire cut hole in the perimeter fence. Someone else has already broken in! Then both the LRASG teams converge on a stack of supply crates. 

Two Gebirgsjaeger, Fischer and Muller, push toward a plane on the airfield while Schmidt and Booth exchange fire in the location of the huts and crates. Both shrug off the near misses.

MacInnes discovers explosives already on the crates and lighting the fuse, sprints away.

Then the LRASG spot something interesting in a hut near the gate whilst the Nazi, Fischer, attempts to deal with a bomb on the fuel drums near the plane, but fails.

Fischer is electrocuted as he tries, inexpertly, to deal with the booby-trapped explosives on the plane. Fischer goes down! Meanwhile MacInnes and the remaining Nazis exchange furious fire. Muller is trying to disarm another bomb in the far corner of the airfield, at a fuel dump. About to attempt it he suffers misfortune and Muller falls injured.

Fischer recovers to disarm the bomb on the plane, but unfortunately for the Nazis Muller again fails. Fischer however gets up and removes the explosives from the plane. MacInnes blazes away at Schmidt, who goes down and joins Bush and Kennedy in cover close to the gate. Kennedy moves to a position near the gate to get a better view and sees the inventor! Dr. Stalhelm lurks in the proximity…but Booth engages him in fisticuffs.

Finally Booth manages to land a blow on Dr. Stalhelm and rushes to the gate. Both MacInnes and Dr. Kennedy both open-up on Dr. Stalhelm and also escape. While the Nazis try in vain to deal with the explosives, they detonate, destroying most of the secret Nazi lair!



2 comments:

  1. Wonderful stuff Al and with Snow this morning a great read.
    Cheers
    Stu

    ReplyDelete