Rogue Trader | Pulp Alley - Imperials v Space Pudding Cult

Optimus had been looking into 2 hour wargames material and talked about moving away from the 'I Go, You Go' wargame. The idea of playing a game not built on the warhammer chassis appealed. I'd read Cheetor's Get to the Chopper battle report using the Pulp Alley rules and figured this was a system worth trialling.

Imperial Loyalists - Militia man Toby (follower), Trooper Karl (ally), Eddie the dreadnought (leader), Astropath Stelark (ally), Trooper Di Vito (ally), Brother Boreal (sidekick)

Cult of the Space Pudding - Sniper Jean (ally), Lay brother Franz (sidekick), Preacher Schwartzenhelm (leader), Muppet the cyber-hound (follower), Claude (ally) and Tuco (ally)

Plot point: Shotgun hobo was once a scientist before going native. He knows the code which grants access to the Hellsreach bunker. Will he share it with either side?

Turn one - The Loyalists prepared to interrogate Shotgun hobo in the southern ruins while Eddie the dreadnought stalked Muppet the cyber-hound through the perilous woods.

Brother Boreal discovered a cache of data slates dumped in the forest. He used them to determine the code to access the underground bunker and soon he was piloting the Hellsreach Walker.

Given the walker's height the Space Pudding cultists were hard pressed targeting its pilot. They raced to the higher ground of the nearby ruins.

The ruins were perilous terrain and Optimus played several fortune cards to ensure the cultists had a bad time. Several booby traps were set off felling Claude and Muppet.

The cultists took the high ground at great cost and exchanged fire with the walker. They ignored the challenging plot point of Shotgun Hobo's female captive. While she knew the access code to the bunker it was too late now. The walker had been unleashed.

Brother Boreal couldn't steer and fire the walker's cannon so he picked up Trooper De Vito to act as gunner.

Eddie and the walker blazed away and felled Lay brother Franz momentarily. Luckily for the cultists he recovered. Trooper Karl had earlier been executed by Preacher Schartzenhelm as the cultist stormed the ruins.

Trooper Di Vito aimed the walker's macro cannon at Preacher Schwartzenhelm and let rip. Unfortunately for him, and thanks to a well timed fortune card, a round misfired taking him out of action.

Optimus was particularly proud of killing Muppet the cyber-hound. Muppet had dodged a hail of bolter fire from many sources before falling to a mine buried at the base of some ruins. 

While the Hellsreach Walker buggered off, Eddie stayed and exchanged fire with the surviving cultists. He tore up Jean the ratling sniper but found Brother Schwartzenhelm and Lay brother Franz harder to hurt. The Pulp Alley rules worked well in providing a pulp feel which ensured leaders and sidekicks were hard to take out of action.

Brother Boreal piloted the Hellsreach Walker off the board. The Loyalists had won.

Optimus and I agreed that the Pulp Alley rules worked well for a Space Opera | Rogue Trader style game. The rules gave each side a competitive chance through the entire game while our recent Rogue Trader games have seen one side dominate. The survivability of leaders and sidekicks did feel odd though perfectly fits the Pulp flavour. By the end of the game all allies and followers had been taken out of action leaving battered sidekicks and leaders still standing.

That's it as far as wargame reports go, at least for a good while. Optimus will be heading back overseas but while he was in Aus we got a decent amount of oldshool gaming in.