Running With Wolves

Tucked away at the back of Palaeo Diet is a fun little scenario where you get to turn the tables on the hunters, playing a pack of predators who are looking to munch some of those delicious looking bipedal apes. Yesterday I gave it a go.

The predators are basically run as club-armed hunters, but have the Hungry trait to reflect their less controlled predatory behaviour. This means that they will make uncontrolled moves towards wounded and killed things.

I ran a pack of four wolves. The objective was to lose no more than 1/3 of the pack (one wolf in this case), whilst killing hominids equal to the number of survivors (so at least three and possibly four).

I put a group of four bipeds in the centre of the board.

The wolves approached their prey in two groups. One hominid reacted by rushing towards a pair of wolves. These wolves were approaching from beyond a hill, as a lot of the mandatory reactions the wolves have are based on line of sight, so it was best to stay hidden for as long as possible.

The other three hominids were more wary as the second group pf wolves closed in.

The wolves rushed the nearest biped, wounding him ...

... and then killing him.

The other bipeds ran off.

The second group of wolves now attacked, bringing down a second biped.

One of the wolves went wide to steer the hominids back towards the rest of the pack. The hominids obliged.

A third hominid was brought down.

One of the wolves chased after the fourth biped

He turned and fought back, wounding the wolf!

But then he ran off at top speed, leaving the board. 

I had killed three prey items, but with four wolves to feed it wasn't enough. My first hunt was a failure.

I set up another game. There was less terrain this time. The wolves approached the hominids in one group.

That said they spread out to approach the hominids from multiple directions.

A lucky kill with the first attack.

Of course this caused the other wolves to make uncontrolled moves towards the fresh meat.

However they quickly sorted themselves out and attacked the hunters again. Or, in this case, found themselves attacked, which was a golden opportunity to get another kill.

Three wolves chased down one of the bipeds.

He could run ...

... but he couldn't hide.

There was one hominid left now, and he'd fled to the edge of the board. The wolves moved in cautiously, aiming to use one of their number to drive him into the other three.

Then I took a closer look at the charts. The hominid was more likely to run if the wolves did something like howl whilst a distance away. If they came in close, and quickly, he would be more likely to stand and fight, even outnumbered.

So one of the wolves did just that - rushed into an attack.

The hominid fled!

So another failed hunt - three kills but four wolves to feed. 

I might try five hominids the next time.

I used the hominid reaction chart in the main rules for this scenario - it's the one provided. But it's similar to the Outfolk one from the first supplement and the latter offers some more interesting extra reactions, so I may try that the next time too.