Saving Lady D.

Or When Landing, Don’t Forget To Party!

By Norman MacKenzie

Lady D, wife of the High Commissioner, has been hoisted by natives. You are sent on a punitive expedition to search her out. The punitive part is of course to take Villagers as hostages and shoot some local hard men.

Campaign:

Most likely it will take several games (Weeks) to rescue or even locate her. You start with only one Captain, three Lieutenants 10 Marines and 20 sailors available for landing parties. Each campaign Week, form surviving troops into a Main Party, and an optional Scouting Party and throw on the Campaign Table. Splitting your force reduces its strength but doubles the chances of meeting the natives…

Weekly Campaign Table
Die Roll	Outcome
6	Main Party engages natives!
5	Scouting Party engages natives! (If no Scouting party then no engagement!)
3,4	Encounter dense swamp. No action. Crocodiles eat one Sailor.
1,2	Bugs. No action. One Marine dies of fever.

Play an on table action whenever natives are engaged. Roll each Week on the Campaign Table until the Party is too weak to continue or Lady D is rescued. [It is of course bad form to give up while there is an officer left standing!]

If the natives wipe out an entire Landing or Scouting Party, for the next game, the Native player can include a number of gun armed Warriors figures equal to the killed colonial force. [Simply exchange normally appearing figures with gun figures - their fighting range goes up to 12”. The natives have no ammo supply so can only use the guns for the next game.] Obviously if there are no Imperialists left the Campaign has ended in disaster!

The engaging Party starts within 6” of a table-side of their choice and ends when the last of the Party leaves the opposite table side.

Game Turn Sequence.

· Party Moves (and captures Villagers in contact);

· Reveal any Cards spotted by Party;

· Party Fights at Sighted enemy in Range.

· Native draws a Card and places it on table and if wished replaces any Cards on table with what they represent.

· Throw for Native movement (throw once for all the Natives / Villagers / Cards together).

· Native Moves (then Fights).

Repeat until the expedition leaves the table or until all cards have been played (nightfall).

Type	Move	Fight Range	Attacks	Spotting	Notes
Captain	6”	6”	3	24”	Officer
Lieutenant	8”	6”	3	18”	Officer
Marine	6”	24”	1	12”
Crewman	8”	18”	1	12”
Native Warrior	D6+2”	3”	1	12”	Special types of warrior include Chief, Witch-Doctor and Drummer.
Villager	D6”	-	-	-	Old men, women and children.
Unspotted card	D6”	-	-	-	Place items when spotted.
Big Stupid Animal	0-6”	1”	5	-	Will attack nearest figure moving to within 6”. Thick hide means it always counts as in cover.
Small Furry Animal	0”	0”	0	-

Fighting.

All Fighting requires a 5 or 6 to hit, or a 6 against enemy in cover, with some figures having more than one attack per turn. Figures partially behind mud wall’s, stockades, ant-hill’s, etc., can claim to be in Cover. You can only Fight against targets within Fight Range and Line Of Sight (LOS) of the firer AND in Spotting distance and LOS of at least one friendly figure. So if there are natives 20” away from some Marines, who can only see 12”, they cannot engage. If the Marines have the Captain with them the enemy are pointed out and they can blast away as their range is 24”.

Hits kill any figure except the Officers and Native Characters (Chief / Witch-Doctor / Drummer) who are diced for as below:

Throw	Effect on Character
1,2,3,4	Sneers at Death! No effect!
5	Wounded and cannot Fight anymore. Can only move when assisted by another friendly figure in contact. An unopposed enemy in contact can carry / lead away the wounded figure! Move rates as “carrying” figure.
6	Dies Heroically!

Captured Villagers / Characters.

A Party member in contact with a Villager (or a string of Villagers with one touching the Party member) has captured them. The Captives will follow around the party member who can act as normal otherwise. Once back at the Boat the Villagers / Wounded “disappear” onto the Ship. Natives can lead Villagers / Wounded to any table edge and off into deep jungle, while the Party can only leave from the Boat side.

Topography.

The table should be empty except for a few patches of scrub and the occasional (Early Learning Centre) Acacia tree. The Landing Party will encounter rougher terrain from the native Chance Cards...

Jungle terrain blocks spotting through it. Landing Parties may never Move through it, and natives may only Move through it after the Jungle Paths Card is drawn. Natives never stop in jungle.

Have six Jungle pieces, roughly “L” or “T” shaped, about 2” deep and 8” long. Terrain pieces must be placed with at least a 3” gaps between pieces or the table edge.

Huts.

When first touched by a Party member throw on the table below:

Throw	Find
1	Nothing so you set fire to the hut!
2,3,4,5	Capture that number of villagers (i.e. 2,3,4 or 5). Then burn the hut.
6	Find Lady D! (The hut still gets it.)

Lady D.

Lady Froglabia Damp-Gusset (of the Essex Damp-Gusset’s) is constantly fainting through lack of gin (“which prevents malaria you know”). She can only be moved when a Warrior or Party member is in contact and no enemy are. Amazingly she is entirely impervious to any attacks (even by Big Stupid Animals, who recognise her Purity and ignore her).

She fell from a steamer after a fainting bout, and thus into the hands of the Natives. After she resisted their attempts to re-clothe her for a honourable journey home, they assume she does not want returned to the outside world. Thus the natives will attempt to stop her falling into the hands of the Expedition…

Success Parameters:

	Value
Per Dead party member (except Officers)	-5
Per Officer who dies a Hero!	+150
Per live Officer Carried off table by the natives	-150
Per Animal (Big or Small) killed by an Officer	+20
Per Villager Captured	+5
Per Villager killed (“Buffoon – capture them not kill them!”)	-1
Per Warrior killed (“potted another of the Bounders!”)	+2
Per Chief killed	+50
Per Chief Captured	+100
Lady D is Rescued	+1000
Each Week Lady D has been in Native clutches	-50

Count up points until the end of the campaign if you feel you must.

The Cards.

Some of the cards can be held and played in a later Card phase while others must be played. Figures can be placed on table to replace the cards as required or just place the cards face down (as long as they remain unspotted) to add an air of uncertainty. Cards should be based on your available figure and figure collection.

D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 12”.	D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 12” of Party or keep in hand.	Place a Hut up to 6” from the Party.
D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 12”.	2D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 18” of Party or keep in hand.	Place a Hut up to 6” from the Party.
D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 12” of Party or keep in hand.	2D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 18” of Party or keep in hand.	Place a Hut up to 6” from the Party.
D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 12” of Party or keep in hand.	2D6 Native Warriors – place beyond 18” of Party or keep in hand.	Ant-hills, big rocks, mud walls – a terrain piece that can provide some cover is placed 12-18” from the Party.
Tribal Chief. As Warrior but adds one to fighting dice score for Warriors in line of sight.	Jungle terrain – place a Jungle piece 6-12” from the Party.	Ant-hills, big rocks, mud walls – a terrain piece that can provide some cover is placed 12-18” from the Party.
Place a Drummer on table. From next turn, beating the bongos allows the draw two Cards not one! Until killed…	Jungle terrain – place a Jungle piece 12-18” from the Party.	Ant-hills, big rocks, mud walls – a terrain piece that can provide some cover is placed 12-18” from the Party.
Witch-doctor. As Warrior but all Warriors add 3” to movement for Warriors starting in line of sight.	Jungle terrain – place a Jungle piece 12-18” from the Party.	Fiendish Trap! Place beyond 12” of Party. When revealed, it makes an attack on the nearest Party member! Throw 1-3 figure trapped for next turn; 4-6 killed.
Jungle Paths – natives may now move through (but not stop in) Jungle terrain.	Jungle terrain – place a Jungle piece 6-12” from the Party.	Place a Big Stupid Animal 8-12” from the Party. After each side’s movement, it rushes and attacks the nearest figure within 6”. If none then stands still.
Jungle terrain – place a Jungle piece 12-18” from the Party.	Jungle terrain – place a Jungle piece 12-18” from the Party.	Place a Small Furry Animal 8-12” from the Party.

Options.

Change the cards to suit available models. If you don’t have enough Villager figures, have fewer but make them worth more in Value. Add more Animal Cards and you’ve got a hunting game too! You could let any animals wander a bit, using the Games Workshop “scatter” dice for example.