Captain Nemo - Unleash . . . Tickle?

August 23, 19-

It's been ten years since Captain Nemo gave me command of his vessel, the Nautilus.  Since then, my friends and I found an island and turned it into our base.  The natives, we befriended, and I ended up finding a wife, a lovely and intelligent woman who picked up my language far quicker than I could learn hers.

We also discovered a baby creature resembling the ones who attacked our vessel years earlier.  This one, the offspring of a much larger beast, watched its mother get slaughtered by British naval ships.  Despite its species' propensity for violence, this little guy attached itself to us once we rescued it.  I named him Tickle, since he liked to tickle my arm with his tentacles.

Now he's fully grown and seeks to help us guard our island from outside threats.  I believe the time has come to put our little friend to the test.

Captain Nemo is a roleplaying game from THW Games Design.  In the base game, Nemo loans you command of the Nautilus and sends you on a series of missions.  If you prove yourself, if ultimately gives you his ship and retires.  These missions vary from collecting food, to fighting opponents, and even attacking naval vessels and sea monsters.

Not long ago, I had finished the missions and got the Nautilus.  However, the game doesn't have to end, and I decided to run the missions as post-quest encounters.

"Captain!"  Mr. Mars motioned for me to look through his binoculars.  "Ship approaching and rapidly!"

I looked through and saw it, a British Cutter.  The natives had told us about soldiers who assaulted other villages and kidnapped their people.  The natives here were our friends, and I wasn't about to leave them to the mercy of the British military.

Perhaps it was time for Tickle's first test.

Captain Nemo contains two types of table for Naval Battles, one for ships and one for sea monsters.  I used the sea monster one with the enemy vessel in place of the Nautilus.  Since this was Tickle's first test, I started him at Rep 3.  Unfortunately, I generated an enemy ship with a Rep 5 captain.  Tickle's first challenge was going to be a tough one!

"Open the gates!"  I called to my crew.  Tickle spent most of his time resting in the giant cave that we converted into the Nautilus' hanger.  With the gates opening, the giant creature sawam out.  Noticing the enemy ship, he bee-lined straight for it.

Despite having the lower Rep, Tickle gained the advantage and struck the enemy ship, causing minor damage.  The ship attempt a ram but missed.  The battle went back and forth for several minutes (real time) until Tickle finally gained the advantage.

Finally, the ship failed its final roll and keeled over (See what I did there?).

We could hear the screams all the way from the shore as the great beast dragged the ship and its crew to the depths.  An hour later, he returned to the cave and slept for several days straight.  We don't know the details of what happened, but I dread the thought.  And although what he did to the ship and its crew may have been horrifying, what those men would do to the natives, I fear, would be worse.  As far as I'm concerned, they're the real monsters!


That ended the encounter with Tickle winning.  Awarding him Increasing d6 (1 for the ship kill and I decided on 2 more for completing the encounter against a tougher foe), I rolled 3d6 and scored 1d6 higher.  Tickle gained experience and increased to Rep 4.


"Captain, soldiers on the beach!"  Mr. Toad pointed and I saw a small group of soldiers appear on the shore with weapons drawn.  Quickly, they vanished into the brush, heading straight for the nearby village, and we hurried to intercept them.  Whether they survived the attack or were dropped off before mattered little.  They sought revenge, and I determined to deny them all.  


I chose a Confrontation encounter for this one, with my group consisting of myself, Mr. Toad, and Mr. Mars.

Rolling for the enemy, I got 4 opponents, Rep 5, 5, 4, and 4 from the British Navy.  Now, usually you don't face the Naval soldiers on a Confrontation encounter, but I decided to make them the enemy after the previous encounter.  That's the beauty of THW games, it only takes a few tweaks to change the variables as you see fit.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the entire battle, so I'll summarize.  We won on the Action table and opened fire.  All of us carried weapons that fired more than one shot, and everyone scored a hit with at least one of their shots.  I hit once and missed the second.  Mr. Toad missed his first and scored with the second.  And Mr. Mars scored with both of his shots.

The numbers represent what I rolled for damage.  We scored kills or incapacitating shots on the first 3 opponents.  The 4th took off running, though I heard the natives found him, and although they didn't volunteer inf on what occurred, I chose not to ask.

My characters were already Rep 7 and above so instead of rolling our Increasing d6, I just kept them to go toward our retirement. 

A short game, but a fun one, especially with my first test of playing as the Sea Monster.

Re-introducing Chain Reaction!

Two Hour Wargames has just upgraded its Chain Reaction rules.  Chain Reaction are a set of sample rules to show you how THW titles are played.  Although THW titles range from wargames to roleplaying games, they all have one thing in common; no Game Master is needed.  You can play each of the games single player, same side, or even head to head.

Here is some sample game play from CR 2018:

While the previous version of CR used a 3 x 3 map for its games, CR 2018 uses a Battle Board, which is an 8"x 10" board.  This can be anything from a printed out map to an ordinary sheet of paper.  You can even buy a set of Battle Boards from THW.

Unfortunately, my printer ran low on ink, so I couldn't print out the Battle Board that came with the game and instead threw together a board from some game tiles.

My group of soldiers are ready for battle.  

Since there's no game master to tell you what's going on, games use Encounters to give you an objective.  I'm playing a Raid, in which my soldiers are attacking the enemy.  The details can be anything I wish.  In my case, my troops are livid after the enemy hijacked a shipment of bathroom supplies that we were expecting.  And if there's one thing I learned, it's never to come between a killing machine and his loofah!

Here's the game board.  It's a little bigger than an 8x10, but it does the job.  Since the enemy is defending, they'll be placed in the building.

In THW titles, your enemy is created using PEFs, or Possible Enemy Forces.  These create a sense of uncertainty for your adventures.  Maybe we'll encounter nothing at all, or maybe we'll face an entire army!

With the 3x3 game maps, PEFs would be placed in random positions, but for the Battle Board, you simply resolve them one at a time.  When one resolves as Contact, you place the opponents on the board.

The first PEF resolves as "Something is out there!"  Nothing appears right away, but my troops see movement in the building and know for sure that it's not empty.  This increases the chance of a later PEF resolving successfully.

Sure enough, this one resolves as contact.  Rolling for how many, versus my group of 4 results in 6 enemies.  Rolling for Who are they results in Mercenaries.  Someone paid these guys to steal our loofahs.  I bet they're holding them hostage in that building!

Now, I line everyone up for battle.  Normally, your Star (the character you control) is in the center and lined up with the enemy leader, but I forgot about this and instead lined them up on the side.  The numbers on the dice represent the characters' Reputation (or Rep).  Rep represents your character's experience, combat skill, health, and (depending on the game) non-combat ability.  Each character also carries certain weapons and has attributes based on their classes.  My troops, who are Military, get a bonus when shooting.  The Mercenaries get a bonus when rolling on the Action table (which determines who moves first).

Despite their bonus, we win on the Action table and go first, with my character starting.

My Star goes first and opens fire on the enemy leader (2 shots) and the soldier closes to him (1 shot).  I kill the leader and incapacitate the soldier.

The next soldier in my group opens fire, missing twice on the enemy before scoring a vicious hit with the third shot.

My third solider scores a hit, but it results in Duck Back, meaning the enemy soldier ducks behind cover, ending his turn if he hasn't acted yet.

My final soldier shoots at the two remaining opponents, causing one to Duck Back and missing the last one.  The last soldier, meanwhile, is now able to return fire, and he causes my soldier to duck back.

He now attempts to shoot again at the same soldier, but luckily he scores another duck back result.  

Now that this round is over, we roll for Will to Fight.  This is a morale test taken by any side that loses troops.  Since they lost teammates, the  two opponents have to take the test.

And they fail, resulting in one opponent fleeing and leaving only one to deal with.

Now it's our turn again.

I let the closest soldier in my group open fire and he scores a direct hit, dropping the last mercenary and ending combat.

But wait, that was only the second PEF and we're supposed to have 3 . . . 

Whew!  Lucked out as nothing else appeared.  We win the encounter and my team goes home knowing their loofahs now safe and sound!

This is a sample of game play that you'll find in other THW titles.  In most games, you'll have a wealth of other options.  Not all encounters will end in combat.  Sometimes, your group will simply wander the town and chat up the bars.  Or maybe they'll stop in and gamble a bit.  but don't drop your guard because a possible brawl is always around the corner!  Other encounters have you defending your group against an enemy attack; possibly a burglary or a fight on equal ground.

In addition, different games give your characters more options.  Maybe they're not soldiers.  Maybe they're knights defending the kingdom from enemy bands or monsters.  Maybe they're pilots flying space ships across the galaxy.  Or maybe they're just average Joes trying to get through a normal day . . . until the zombies attack!  More character classes, attributes, and skills allow you to create all types of characters.

Want to keep playing your same characters?  Most THW titles include campaign rules where your characters get stronger and more skilled as they progress.  Or they might lose a skill if games end badly.  

THE titles cover all sorts of eras.  Talomir Tales cover fantasy worlds of warriors, wizards, and monsters.  5150 covers the future, with space ships and laser guns.  Nuts covers World War II, with supplements and rules to let you play every inch of the war.  And All Things Zombies covers, well, guess!

But if you want to try out the THW rules first, check out Chain Reaction, which you can download for free, at www.twohourwargames.com.

Chain Reaction rules can be found here:

http://www.twohourwargames.com/free.html.

Happy gaming and hope your characters survive!