THE BATTLE OF PARADISE PLATEAU
On the night of April 14th, 1924 (by Earthling reckoning) Aliens from Planet X assembled a Disentegration Ray Cannon on top of Paradise Plateau. The location was carefully chosen, being in easy range of a nearby Army Airforce Base. Also there was a nearby spring to cool the cannon, and it was located on a plateau that had no trails or paths up it, it was completely isolated. In the morning the Aliens would begin firing at the primitive aircraft of the planet, in order to determine how effective their weapons were vs. the earthlings. If all went well the invasion plans would progress.
That same night the cowboys and vaqueros of the BarBQ ranch notice all these funny lights around Paradise Plateau. Lights came down out of the sky, landed and then took off again. They had never seen anything like it. Being curious they decided to climb the plateau in the morning to see what was going on. They knew, from an old indian that used to live around those parts, that there was a way up to Paradise Plateau, at least for people. You went in one cave, climbed a hundred foot cliff (where Indians hundreds of years ago had cut handholds), and then went up a sloping tunnel and crawled out a small hole in the middle of the Plateau.
The Opposing Sides
That same night the cowboys and vaqueros of the BarBQ ranch notice all these funny lights around Paradise Plateau. Lights came down out of the sky, landed and then took off again. They had never seen anything like it. Being curious they decided to climb the plateau in the morning to see what was going on. They knew, from an old indian that used to live around those parts, that there was a way up to Paradise Plateau, at least for people. You went in one cave, climbed a hundred foot cliff (where Indians hundreds of years ago had cut handholds), and then went up a sloping tunnel and crawled out a small hole in the middle of the Plateau.
The Opposing Sides
The Aliens from Planet X
Lead by ZOLTAR THE GREAT DARE 3 GATS 8 FIST 3 MOXIE 10 TWO-FISTED DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS BULLETPROOF VEST DISINTEGRATION RAY PISTOL (2) Also including ZONTAR THE SCIENTIST DARE 3 GATS 7 FIST 3 MOXIE 11 BULLETPROOF VEST DISINTEGRATIONRAY PISTOL ROBOT CONTROLLER ROBOT MINUS 2 IF USED AS COVER DARE 2 GATS 6 FIST 8 DISINTEGRATION RAY RIFLE (LOCATED IN EYES) ARMOR MINUS 3 AP MOVE 6 And ZOLOFT, Captain of the Guards DARE 4 GATS 8 FIST 3 MOXIE 10 DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS LARGER THAN LIFE BULLETPROOF VEST DISINTEGRATION RAY RIFLE And supported by Three Cannon Crew DARE 1 GATS 5 FIST 5 MOXIE 8 ARTILLERY GUNNER USE CANNON BULLETPROOF VEST DISINTEGRATION RAY PISTOL POLEARM With a DISINTEGRATIONRAY CANNON Two Guards DARE 1 GATS 5 FIST 5 MOXIE 8 DEADEYE BULLETPROOF VEST DISINTEGRATION RAY RIFLE |
The Cowboys
Old John DARE 4 GATS 8 FIST 3 MOXIE 10 TOUGH AS NAILS DEADEYE LARGER THAN LIFE MAN OF THE WILD RIFLE CUSTOM PLUS 6 RANGE, PLUS 1 ROF KNIFE BIG JOHN DARE 4 GATS 7 FIST 8 MOXIE 10 DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS MAN OF THE WILD BRAWLER CODE OF HONOR LARGER THAN LIFE CAST IRON ARM BUM RUSH KNIFE PISTOL BIG JUAN DARE 4 GATS 7 FIST 8 MOXIE 10 ACE WITH BLADE LARGER THAN LIFE BUM RUSH MAN OF THE WILD PISTOL KNIFE DUSTY DARE 4 GATS 8 FIST 3 MOXIE 10 MAN OF THE WILD PISTOL CUSTOM PLUS 6 RANGE PLUS 1 ROF KNIFE THREE PISTOLEROS DARE 1 GATS 5 FIST 5 MOXIE 8 DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS KNIFE PISTOL FOUR PISTOLEROS DARE 1 GATS 5 FIST 5 MOXIE 8 DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS KNIFE PISTOL FOUR RIFLEMEN DARE 1 GATS 5 FIST 5 MOXIE 8 DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS KNIFE RIFLE THREE RIFLEMEN DARE 1 GATS 5 FIST 5 MOXIE 8 DEADEYE TOUGH AS NAILS KNIFE RIFLE |
The cowboys and vaqueros of the BarBQ ranch climb to the top of Paradise Plateau and see a bunch of funny-looking fellers working on some kind of thing-a-mi-bob.
A big twin engine biplane bomber from the nearby Army Air Force base appears in the sky. A beam of light leaps out from the device the funny-looking fellers were working on and the plane explodes in mid-air. The funny-lloking fellers jump up and down and slap each other on the back.
Zoltar the Great says to Zontar the Scientist "What a great victory over these puny earthlings. Hand me the communicator, so I can report our success".
Zontar replies "I thought you had the communicator".
Dusty says "Let's get those bushwacking owlhoots".
Zoltar the Great says to Zontar the Scientist "What a great victory over these puny earthlings. Hand me the communicator, so I can report our success".
Zontar replies "I thought you had the communicator".
Dusty says "Let's get those bushwacking owlhoots".
Zoloft investigates a Dare location. Maybe it is the communicator. No, it is some kind of long legless creature that rattles and tries to strike at him. A quick smash with the butt of his Disentgration rifle takes care of it
Half the Cowboys, lead by Dusty and Big Juan, move to the woods to the left.
While the rest, lead by Old John and Big John, move around a hill towards some more woods.
The disentgration Cannon crew turn the cannon around.
Dusty and Big Juan led their men in a rush to take cover behind a hill...
But a cowboy was reduced tonothing but smoking boots by a blast of the disintegration cannon.
A bunch of the cowboys made it through the woods and began firing on the guards.
Big John charged Zoloft and engaged him in hand-to-hand.
While Old John took out a guard with an accurate shot.
Big Juan dodged a shot from the disintegration rifle and charged the last guard, swiftly brining him down in hand-to-hand.
Big John took out Zoloft and charged Zontar while a bunch of cowboys with rifles opened fire on the robot.
After felling Zontar Big John was dropped by the combined fire of three disintegration pistols and the cannon. Badly outnumbered the surviving aliens leaped to their deaths off the plateau rather than be captured by the earthlings. They left behind their cannon, three rifles, a pistol, the communicator and two captive aliens (remember Big John had a Code of Honor so tied up rather than killed his captives). The Masters of Planet X, having heard nothing from their advance party, put the invasion on hold, at least until they learned more about these Earthlings.
THINGS LEARNED
This was my first WHERE HEROES DARE game and I learned a number of lessons from it.
1. Numbers count
Even though the Aliens were worth more points than the Cowboys, their fancy gadgets (disintegration ray weapons and bulletproof vests) couldn't make up for the combined fire of alot of rifles and pistols.
2. Cast Iron Arm, Bum Rush, Tough as Nails, and a good Moxie makes for a great combination.
3. Armor your robot as much as you can. I only had him at -3 and a shot got through. Because he then had to roll on the Mad Science table, he blew up real good. Don't bother with a robot without maximum armor.
4. Because Big Juan kept outrunning his men (he had Bum Rush and they didn't) I made a quick rule that if he is 6 inches in front of the group he leads, he doesn't get to put hits on them. He took one hit from a disintegration rifle but kept coming.
5. One thing I found, that the game ran like when I played played in a Gorkamorka or a Mordheim campaign. Sure there was loot (treasure, scrap, dare locations) on the board, but people ignored them to instead work first on defeating the enemy (you can always pick up the loot after the battle alot easier than during it).
1. Numbers count
Even though the Aliens were worth more points than the Cowboys, their fancy gadgets (disintegration ray weapons and bulletproof vests) couldn't make up for the combined fire of alot of rifles and pistols.
2. Cast Iron Arm, Bum Rush, Tough as Nails, and a good Moxie makes for a great combination.
3. Armor your robot as much as you can. I only had him at -3 and a shot got through. Because he then had to roll on the Mad Science table, he blew up real good. Don't bother with a robot without maximum armor.
4. Because Big Juan kept outrunning his men (he had Bum Rush and they didn't) I made a quick rule that if he is 6 inches in front of the group he leads, he doesn't get to put hits on them. He took one hit from a disintegration rifle but kept coming.
5. One thing I found, that the game ran like when I played played in a Gorkamorka or a Mordheim campaign. Sure there was loot (treasure, scrap, dare locations) on the board, but people ignored them to instead work first on defeating the enemy (you can always pick up the loot after the battle alot easier than during it).