IHMN AAR : The Lion Bow of Ramses

Akhenaton is on a sacred mission to recover the Regalia of Ra. He has learned of the location of the Lion Bow of Ramses, set in an unlikely place: some ruins in the countryside of England. As he sets out to recover the artefact, Lord Curr has been given the task to stop him.

The Lion Bow is well hidden by magic. Hence the seekers must find a mystical clue that will open the way to the hidden artefact, represented by the 2 barrels. One barrel is a red herring. The other contains the clue. Upon reaching the barrels, the character will roll a d10 during the Shoot or Fight phase (foregoing the mentioned action). Even = success. Odd = Red Herring. If the roll is a success, the character can pick up the clue during the following phase. If it’s a red herring, the character needs to move to the other barrel (during a move phase). Can pick up the clue in the subsequent Shoot/Fight phase.

Upon reaching the final hiding place of the artefact (the treasure chest), the character holding the clue must be in base to base contact with the chest, and make a pluck roll during the subsequent Shoot/Fight phases. The character needs to pass 2 Pluck rolls in order to successfully retrieve the artefact, then carry the artefact and exit via their deployment zone.

(Note: characters carrying items cannot run, although they may still fight and shoot).

Lord Curr's Incorrigibles

The Servants of Ra

Turn 1 : All move to objectives. Curr’s group made a basic deployment error. Too far to reach objective now. Arghh!

Shooting phase. Some hits (lucky 10) but also pluck saves. Mohan Singh’s weapon malfunctioned, blowing up in his hands but managed his pluck save. Argghhh!

Turn 2 : Prof. Abir managed to Mesmerise an incorrigible who then went on to fight his comrade but he passed his Pluck roll. One Cultist was knocked down, and Lady Felicity killed another. Meanwhile, Akhenaton successfully got the clue that would allow him to retrieve the artefact in the centre. Meanwhile, Lord Curr is engaged in combat with the Mummy. Neither managed to hurt each other. Mad Mick managed to repair Singh’s machine gun.

I stopped the game in-between turns 1 and 2 to make some marker tokens...

Turn 3 : Not much changed. Lady Felicity still locked in combat with a cultist. Ditto Lord Curr and the mummy. Meanwhile Singh’s machine gun is back in business. The mummy used up its Numb. Sairah used up her Fanatic thanks to multiple shots from the Incorrigibles. Meanwhile Prof. Abir is making a nuisance of himself with Mesmerise, tying up 2 Incorrigibles per turn (am assuming the non-mesmerised Incorrigible cannot fire at anyone else as he’s locked in combat with his comrade and he doesn’t want to shoot or fight his own side.) Akhenaton meanwhile has made off (but not run, thanks to an FAQ from one of the game’s authors) with the clue, headed towards the artefact.

You can see the two Incorrigibles still stuck at the top left, courtesy of Prof. Abir

Turn 4 : Finally some movement! The Incorrigibles managed to get rid of the Mummy and another cultist. But the others remain locked in combat. Akhenaton reached the artefact but needs 3 successes on Pluck and failed his first roll!

Downed Cultists...

Mad Mick desperately trying to stop Akhenaton...

Turn 5 : The logjam has broken! Both Sairah and the last cultist went down during the shoot phase, having failed their Pluck rolls. Worst was Akhenaton, who attempted to disengage from Mad Mick and got a roll of 1 for his troubles, thus ending his movement and ensuring he’s stuck in a fight. Akhenaton attempted a Dragon’s Breath but Mad Mick passed his Pluck roll. Should’ve just done a straight attack. Prof. Abir did nothing these last 2 turns as the Incorrigibles managed to pass their Pluck rolls. Perhaps they’re getting wise to his tricks?

Lord Curr rushing to the artefact ...

Turn 6 : Akhenaton keeps flubbing his rolls! He managed to disengage from Mad Mick... then flubbed his Pluck roll for Cloud Minds. Mick and Lady Felicity managed to hit him, but he passed his Pluck. Then Lord Curr came in with the other clue ... so it’s down to each side managing to achieve the required 3 successes (from Pluck Rolls) to grab the artefact.

Insane scrum... 4 vs 1!

Akhenaton flubbed his roll again! Lord Curr didn’t. 1-0!

Meanwhile Prof. Abir made a nuisance of himself when Mohan Singh failed his Pluck roll vs Mesmerise.

Turn 7 : And Lord Curr achieves the goal of 3 successful Pluck rolls! Akhenaton, beset on all sides by the plucky Incorrigibles, did not manage any successes at all! He managed to put down one Incorrigible, but Lady Felicity, though not a brawler, hung in there tenaciously.

The Incorrigibles go for revenge...

Prof. Abir made a nuisance of himself again when Mohan failed his Pluck vs Mesmerise for the second time in a row!

Turn 8 : And Lord Curr runs for the exit with the artefact! Akhenaton disengages from Lady Felicity and chases after ... but he cannot go base to base with another model the same phase he disengaged, thus allowing Mohan Singh to catch up! The ensuing combat ... well let’s just say despite rolling a 10, Akhenaton made his Pluck roll.

The futile pursuit

Meanwhile, Prof. Abir, sensing all was lost, decided to leg it for the exit as well, hotly pursued by the Incorrigibles.

Turn 9 : Prof. Abir makes good his escape!

Nyah nyah nyah... can't catch me...

And at last, with no ranged weapons and no hope of catching up with Lord Curr, Akhenaton throws in the towel.

Some thoughts: This being my first game, it took something like 4 hours! I had to stop after the first turn to make some counters. Had to read the rulebook several times and watch some game play videos in a futile effort to learn how does a character pick something up? 

But overall, I do like the Move, shoot, fight sequence as it does away with all the usual "this model gets 2 actions when it activates" rules. So what you do in the movement phase has an effect on what you can do in the shooting and fight phases. Nice!

Not a fan of: the modifiers! Oy! A cheat sheet is definitely needed! The one already available from the IMN website is incomplete, so I've made my own. Will show it in my next game.

What next? I'm going to paint all the models to get them ready for their next game!