NORTHOP 2006: Return to the Pole*

As some of you might remember from next year, Harry Morris and I ran a Christmas game for our TNGG club at the Game Parlor, Chantilly Va. I really enjoyed that one and wanted to put together a sequel of sorts. So here it is, NORTHOP 2006: Return to the Pole*.

As you might recall, last years' game ended with a decisive North Pole victory due to Sam Walton underestimating his opponents in an uncharacteristic fashion. This year, he hopes to put that behind him by doubling his forces and bringing in the Chanukah Gang as Allies. Walton's primary target will be taking out Santa's toy factory with ancilliary targets of taking as many presents with him when the raiding force exfiltrates (industrial espionage, of course)

Design Notes:

We will likely be changing from TRWNN (which worked after a fashion but proved to be somewhat unbalanced) to BLOOD AND SWASH, heavily converted. Here are some conversion and scenario notes for next week.

NORTHOP 2006: RETURN TO THE POLE*

Walt has:

For the North Pole Force:

Several Armed Elves from the Amazon line
A decent (unarmed) painted Father Christmas (acts like a leader)
2 Mounties (reserve figs.. they have rifles)
Professor Marvel and the Naughty Elf (controlling snowmen)
A couple of unpainted Copplestone evil snowmen
more Elves from Amazon (recent purchase)
About a squad (12 figs maybe) of the new Eureka toy soldiers, unpainted
A Horde (dozens) of gingerbread people, wielding candy canes


For the Wal*Mart Force:
Two squads unpainted hassidic gunmen (The Channukah Gang)
TWO Wal*Mart trucks this year
One large batch (approx 20 figs) "Longshoremen's Union" figures

Terrain:

Many many gingerbread houses (ceramic)
miscelaneous presents and such
some hills


Harry has:

For the North Pole Force:

Evil Snowmen from Copplestone
Teddy Bear troops?
Santa with a bazooka
2 "Bumbles" or abominable snowmen, from the Rudolph show (souveniers).

For the Wal*Mart Force:

About three squads (maybe four) of SWAT figures, in different colors.

Terrain:

A nice white felt groundcloth with sparklies in it.
Some christmas packages in scale.
A nice large Ruined Factory
Diverse little hills and snowbanks, styrofoam

Steve Gibson has:

The new glacier terrain bits from Heroscape
(more SWAT Guys?)

Combining this all together, we get a force that looks like this:

NORTH POLE FORCE:

Santa (Commanding) Santa can move independently or stop and command any North Pole Force on the board, including the beasts and snowmen.
Sherman, Lead Elf and Executive Officer (Commands , 9" radius)

About 15 Armed Elves. Each Elf can command up to 3 stands of gingerpeople previously dormant (not commanded this turn) Gingerpeople stands. Once a gingerperson stand is commanded, a bead is placed upon it to show that.

Professor Marvel, Naughty Elf and the Evil Snowmen. The Professor commands Snowmen to do things in his turn. He can move and command up to 4" radius. Naughty Elf (a girl) can beguile once a turn, which means the opposing unit rolls versus save or loses an action this turn. She works in tandem with the professor.

Mounties: two Canadian Mounties, 1 mounted and 1 not. Both with rifles. Use as reserve.
Bumbles: Abombinable Snowmen toys. Large Beserk Melee beasts. can be commanded by Santa, Sherman, and Professor Marvel. Use as reserve.

The Ginger Horde: Dozens of stands of gingerpeople, in single, double and triple stands. They wield melee weapons only and have to be controlled by elves or Santa.

Toy Soldier Platoon: Act like ordinary unit, but don't take morale checks for unit losses (other than leader).

Teddy Bear Unit: Act like ordinary unit, but they ignore the first hit of the game.

WAL*MART FORCE:

Leader: Ebenezer Walton
Captain Diaz: Executive Officer.

Grey Squad: About 5-7 guys with modern weapons.
White Squad: Ditto
Blue Squad: DItto

We may need more of these.

Longshoreman thugs. About 15 to 20 gangs of melee thugs. Can be split into two groups if neccesary.

Conversion Notes for Blood and Swash:

Changing Character Labels

Swashbuckler = Mythic Hero
Hero = Hero
Swordsman = Veteran
Man-at-Arms = Stooge
New Category = Drone
New Category = Berserker

A Drone has stats similar to the other categories, but has to be directed by OTHER characters to take actions.
E.G., Gingerbread people

A Berserker requires a controller.. but when it isn't being controlled it can act in a random (often vicious) manner.

Characters:

Good Guys

Santa: Mythic Hero
Sherman: Hero
All the Elves: Hero
Professor Marvel: Veteran
Wooden Soldiers: Veterans
Teddy Bears: Veterans
Naughty Elf: Veteran
Mounties: Hero and Veteran
Bumbles: Berserker
Snowmen: Drone
Gingerbread Men: Drones

Bad Guys

Ebenezer Walton: Mythic Hero
Captain Diaz: Hero
All the SWAT guys: Hero
Longshoremen: Veteran
The Chanukah Gang: Veteran + Hero



Battleplan: One factor that hampered Wal*Mart's progress last year was the terrain stopping the truck outside of the village. Walton has doubled the trucks, and plans on penetrating as far into the perimeter of NPV before deploying his teams. IT should be interesting, and a lot bloodier for the Santa side!

* ..

NOTE: Steve rightly pointed out that NORTHOP 06 didn't sound macho enough, so we're changing this to OPERATON POLAR VENGEANCE: The Battle of the Factories