Follow That Bird!

It was a terrible rainy day yesterday, so Catherine and I stayed in and had a go at one of the two-player Palaeo Diet scenarios. It was a good excuse to use some of my new figures as well.

In the centre of the table is a bid. It may not look like it but the bird's plumage is especially valuable to all of the tribes who live adjacent to its territory. The objective? Capture the bird alive and take it back to your chief. The problem? There's another tribe has the same idea.

Oh, there's another problem. The area the bird is in is also the territory of a couple of predators. In this case they are a massive cave-bear and an angry big cat.

We took four hunters each, dicing to see who got to choose their entry edge (the other player set up opposite) and then randomly placing the predators afterwards. Catherine took two bows, a spear and an axe, and ended up close to the cat's territory.

I took a bow, a spear, an axe and a fire-user, reasoning that whilst the latter was no good for catching the bird he would be good at keeping predators away from my hunters. And maybe driving them towards the opposition.

Catherine's tribe immediately startled the cat, which rushed into the attack. The bow hunter responsible dodged the attack and deftly put an arrow through the animal's heart, killing it.

However all this activity attracted the bear. Meanwhile the bird remained oblivious in its thicket. That is until one of Catherine's hunters got too close and ...

... out it came. It's classed as a herd grazer for reactions, so is prone to rapid and uncontrolled flight.

It ran straight towards my hunters.

Catherine's hunters moved around the thicket away from the curious bear. She used those with ranged weapons to attack my hunters, but failed to score any wounds.

One of her hunters wasn't fast enough and ended up attacked by the bear. He evaded it (lucky) and ran.

The bird also kept running, startled by all of the activity. If it leaves the table, both tribes lose, so we were keen to get it back under control as soon as possible.

My axe-armed hunter went on the offensive, and killed Catherine's slinger.

Meanwhile two of my hunters moved to head off the bird before it left the table and steered it back towards the centre of the table.

Back at the thicket Catherine's bow hunter avenged his companion, and the bear ambled towards what appeared to be two tasty treats laid on the ground for it.

However my hunters kept their eyes on the prize. The fire hunter rushed up to the bird, startling it and causing it to run directly away from the flames ...

... straight into the arms of another hunter, who scooped it up and exited the table, to win the scenario for my tribe.

The casualties in that scenario were one hunter each.

We set it up again with a new terrain. This time it was very open; just one thicket and some brush off in one corner. The bird was out in the  open. Danger roamed the area in the form of two apex predators - another bear and a giant lizard.

My fire-user scared off the lizard, driving it towards Catherine's hunters.

The bird also ran towards her hunters, but the activity attracted both the bear and the lizard. Both predators were very active in this game.

A scuffle on the other side of the field saw Catherine's bow wounded.

An overview of the early stages.

I can't quite recall what's happening in the background here. I think my bow hunter wounded one of Catherine's hunters, and that attracted the giant lizard, who finished him off. Before the lizard could settle down for a feed another hunter startled it and it ran away. Anyway, Catherine was down one hunter. In the foreground my bow hunter was wounded as well; injured by the stampeding bird! But the bird had fled right into my men, and one of them grabbed it.

However before the hunter could escape with the prize, Catherine brought him down with a slingshot. This attracted both predators. Things were looking hairy for my men.

But the fire drove them off. However the bird also fled back towards Catherine's hunting party.

Another hunter escaped injury at the paws of the bear. But things were pretty chaotic, with the majority of the hunters now wounded or dead.

One of Catherine's hunters grabbed the bird ...

... but my fire-wielder rushed up and downed him before he could escape with it. The bird fled.

Meanwhile my axe-user was attacked and injured by the bear.

The bird kept running, and the mostly injured hunters couldn't catch it before it left the table, forcing a draw.

This game was a bloodbath, with four of the eight hunters involved being killed and another two wounded. And neither side got the prize or even downed a predator.

This was a great pair of games for a wet Saturday afternoon though, with rapidly changing fortunes and plenty of chaos and action.