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Saturday, 28 March 2020

The Tribe of Gong - Winter

The first snows of winter are here, and temperatures are falling in the lands of the Tribe of Gong. Beasts are moving south looking for food. It's time for one last hunt as the herds depart, in order to secure the tribe's food stocks for the winter.

I set up two mammoths (large grazers) and three bovines (herd grazers). I also had the critters rule in play. There were five hunters, but I gave them a pit at the far side of the table. Since this represents the expenditure of effort, I classed it as a sixth hunter for the purposes of target bulk. The target was 1.5 times the starting number of hunters, so nine bulk in total.


The tribe entered from the corners, flanking the bovine herd.


In the distance, off-table, you can see the final part of the setup - a giant wolverine is lurking in the area, also looking for one last kill before the winter. It would appear on one of the three unused board-edges the moment any model was first wounded.


Frun got off to a good start; as he started his ascent of a low hill, he flushed out a critter. The hill prevented him from getting at shot at it though.


The hunters moved in on the herd, using their hounds to try and control it. Frun's hound ended up chasing a wild pig. Vikk startled a bovine, which turned and attacked him, wounding him.


The wolverine appeared. It's classed as an apex predator.


Ron and Vikk got in close on one of the bovines, which, amazingly, kept responding by trying to attack the hunters. It was totally outclassed, however, and the hunters quickly finished it off for their first kill.


Of course this attracted the hounds, who had to be coaxed back into action.


Grub brought down one of the critters with his spear. On the same turn Frun put an arrow through another. The advantage of this is that it drew the hounds away from the killed bovine, and prevented them from eating any of the choice bits.


All this activity attracted the attentions of the mammoths. One seemed content to remain cautious. The other was more aggressive, and charged at the hunters, wounding Grub.


It was all too much for Ron's hound, who failed three activations, and simply howled, creating chaos amongst the beasts around it. The mammoths backed off, whilst the wolverine roared in response, causing some of the hunters to back off as well.


The hunters retreated. But Frun's hound didn't, and moved in on the massive wolverine. Rolling three actions, it attacked the giant predator, wounding it. The predator returned the attack and missed. The hound attacked again, causing another wound. The wolverine failed to wound the hound again. And the hound's final attack tore out the wolverine's throat.

The hunters had scored three bulk-worth of food at no danger to themselves, thanks to the actions of a brave little dog.


The aggressive mammoth even drove Frun's hound off its kill, preventing it from eating any nice bits before the hunters got to it.


With one bovine, two critters and the wolverine in the bag already, and no danger of the predator stealing any kills, the hunters were now in a good position. They had seven of the required nine bulk they needed.

Grub saw a chance. The other mammoth - the one that wasn't simply charging every hunter and hound in its immediate vicinity - was within fleeing distance of the pit. Grub ambled up behind the mammoth, then let out a fearsome yell.


The mammoth took flight! And ran straight into the pit.


So that was it. The hunters had twelve bulk - far more than they needed. The tribe would be well set up for the winter.


Here's the tribe with their kills.


Grub was deemed the best hunter amongst the humans (Frun's hound was really the top-dog), and recovering from his wound gained the Calm trait, which makes him better in ambushes. The wounded Vikk lost his Alert trait, and his wound made him Lame. Brell, who was Lame for this hunt, lost that temporary trait.

So this is the state of the hunters after one year:

Grub - Spear - Calm
Frun - Bow - Alert + Hound
Ron - Club - Hound
Vikk - Club - Lame
Brell - Club

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