Turkey Substitute

 For the Xmas game each year, the Bramley Barners* like a game which is:

• Fun

• Different

• Quick’n’easy

(* a loose federation of likeminded souls that have played together in Bramley, Leeds and still play in a Nidderdale barn conversion amongst other places.)

The different is right up my street and I’ve arranged a good few of the Xmas games recently with a generally high level of success. 

The game I have planned for this Xmas, and it’s been in my head since before Covid, is not only VERY different for this group, who favour big, proper Napoleonic and WW2 games, but it’s the first one for which I’ve built a collection from scratch! Scratch and peck…

I’m not sure what my inspiration was to be honest, but the game I have in mind is “terror bird” hunting! Victorian hunters lugging around shotguns, stalking prehistoric giant flightless birds. Sorry not even I understand how my mind works sometimes!!!

I’ve scoured the market and believe that I have every terror bird available. 

Eggs and newly hatched chicks from a variety of manufacturers. The eggs still need a satin varnish. 

I found these 3D printed resin Kelenkens at Partizan 2 when I 1) believed I’d found every terror bird and 2) didn’t really need anymore! They were too great to resist. Nice variety of poses. A genus of Phorusrhacid. As you can see these are carnivorous predators. At least for the purposes of my game, I’m happy to believe that is what terror birds were. 

A colourful batch. In all likelihood there will be two types of terror birds in the game, Phororacos and Diatryma. Though I’m tempted to do something special with the angry parrot-looking monster in the centre. It just looks so fierce and cross!

A less than colourful batch, but still nice looking critters. 

A family group encounter. Might the hunter want to capture a chick, or gather a milliner’s delight of coloured feathers? I’ll add interesting objectives like that so the players aren’t just indiscriminately blasting everything they track down. 

As well as the birds being a bit of a dangerous creature to hunt, I’ve added a few other prehistoric creatures for the big-game hunters to encounter. 

This group are likely to be passive encounters. Left to right are a Macrauchenia, a Platybelodon, a Brontotherium and a Glyptodon. These critters are unlikely to harm our hunters. Unlikely but possible… 

These nasties are far likelier to have a go at our hunters. They are predators and scavengers. Front row we have two Smilodons (“Sabre Tooth Tigers”) and two Gorgonopsids (not lizards or dinosaurs, these are proto-mammals!). In the back left to right are an Andrewsarchus and an Entelodon (also known as a Hell Pig!). 

And just in case that’s not enough variety for the hunters, there’s two groups of “guardians” to avoid. I’ve used Aztec Eagle warriors to represent these anti-poaching rangers who will lay down their lives to protect the angry big birds they revere.

They look barmy! Very colourful adversaries for the players. 

I have allowed for ten player-hunters. Each one will be slightly different in their abilities and objectives (and sanity!), but this will be briefly and clearly presented to the players in character cards I’ll prepare for each figure. There may be some element of role playing.

And just in case there’s more players, someone can control the group of local poachers - cavemen out looking for tomorrow’s dinner! It’s definitely an odd Land That Time Forgot sort of place where these terror birds hang out. 

The cavemen hunting party can also be fielded as another encounter. I expect that ten hunters is ample and I’ll definitely need a couple of volunteers to help me run the non-player encounters. 

I’ve gathered a few terrain pieces to dress the table and make it more interesting than just jungle and clearings. As well as blocking line of sight, the terrain pieces will hopefully give the game a somewhere-in-South-America feel. 

I can sort of see a bird in that last piece. That and the other two in the front row are 3D printed by mate Glen. Isn’t technology marvellous…?

I looked at a couple of rule sets. I’ve chosen to use Chris Peer’s Tooth and Claw rules. This fella never provides playsheets, but it will help me fully understand the rules as I develop a summary playsheet, character cards for each player and a data sheet of all the critters. The game needs to be something the players can jump straight into, so my preparations are crucial to the game’s success. 

The rules are based on percentages, using two D10s, so for example a basic to hit chance is 80%. There’s scope for anything happening. Fingers crossed that everyone will have a good laugh. And that they’ll all stagger back to camp intact. 

So there you have the premise for the game and the entire collection for it. Pure craziness I hope you’ll agree!

I’ll let you know how it goes. 

Cheers

Chris (Westerhope Wargames Group ambassador to Yorkshire)