Lunchtime Hunts

I set up some Palaeo Diet on my lunchbreak, and ran a couple of hunts.

In the first a group of three hunters (Axe, Spear and Bow) were after some big birds who were grazing in a wood near a stream.

The skittish animals needed to be staked carefully. Axe went into the woods to flush out the one there, whilst Bow and Spear teamed up; Bow would shoot at one and drive it towards Spear for rapid dispatch.

Bow startled the birds with his shot, but nothing more and the animals fled towards Spear.

Spear also managed to miss the target, and the bird turned on him!

Meanwhile the other birds milled around in confusion.

The noise attracted some Outfolk hunters, who were looking to steal whatever kills my party made.

Eventually Bow and Spear managed to wound a couple of the birds, and the two hunters now tried to finish them off. Axe continued to blunder around in the woods.

The birds started to flee towards the table edge. If they got away the hunt would fail.

Spear intercepted them, and finished off one of the wounded ones. In response two of the birds attacked him. 

The birds were getting dangerously close to the edge now.

Fortunately the hunters managed to split one off from the group and bring it down, to give them the two kills they needed. The Outfolk seemed content to watch.

I set up a second game with different terrain, fewer Outfolk, one extra spear-armed hunter and three mammoths instead of the birds.

The hunters spread out to try an break up the mammoth group and isolate one of them, but one of them became enraged almost immediately, attacked a spear-armed hunter and wounded him.

Axe wounded the mammoth as did Bow, but Axe got wounded in return.

All this activity had brought the Outfolk close to the hunt.

The watched as the very angry mammoth killed Axe. 

And then killed one of the spear-armed hunters.

Amazingly it was Bow who killed the mammoth, with a critical hit to its vitals.

But the Outfolk were still hanging around - I don't count a hunt as successful until there are no predators within one Long of any kills, and the Outfolk count as predators.

The hunters tried to scare them off with shouts and wild gestures, and this caused a couple to back off (especially after Bow wounded one as well), but one was bolder than the rest and ran into the attack.

The Outfolk hunter wounded Spear, but then went after Bow, wounding him too. His friends watched and edged closer.

With two of my hunters dead and two wounded I felt that I couldn't really take on the Outfolk, and had to abandon the kill to them

So this second hunt was a total disaster. But that happens sometimes. And it all made for an entertaining lunchbreak.