The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu! (part 2)
In my previous blog I discussed our ‘Let’s Play’ series and our run through of A Fistful of Kung Fu on Friday January 10th. So how did it play? Pretty well… so well, in fact, that the game will cover two blog entries. Enter the evil Tongs, ruthless Yakuza, shadowy Ninja and of course the brave men of The Law. Four factions vie for the mysterious ancient artefact…
The Lotus Tongs (led by the mysterious Guru) and the Yakuza (led by Yu Hung Lo) both had to break into a bank in the middle of the table and steal the infamous ‘Jade Dragon’, an ancient artefact which was rumoured to have mystic powers (shiny! The players just pretended it was a new range of miniatures to make them really eager…). Trying to stop them were the Cops (led by Detective Hero Johnny Chou) and the mysterious Ninja clan, sworn to protect the Dragon. Each faction started from a corner of the board and was ‘bought’ for 300 points.
We went clockwise with our turns. Rossco (playing the cops) started first and Johnny soon left his police buddies far behind as he raced to the bank. Next were the mysterious Ninja, played by yours truly, an elite force of only four models (a mistake I’d soon lament!). Casey (playing the Yakuza) took his time and marshalled his forces, moving forward as one, with his boss taking his time. The Tongs (played by Pat) moved last.
Both Rossco and I moved our heroes far in advance of our main forces to reach the bank, leaving our support far behind. Casey was far more cautious with his Yakuza, careful to move his leader up with support. Pat tried to move his forces up, but bad luck (or bad risk taking with his activations) meant his forces were lagging behind, with only the Guru in front.
Gunfire soon erupted (when players realised that they could shoot at anything in line of sight!). Johnny Chou managed to wing the Tong Guru, who fell back wounded into a building. Meanwhile the Ninja Jonin climbed a nearby building and waited to pounce on the Yakuza leader. On cue, Casey moved Yu Hung towards the bank and in my next turn, I launched a devastating ambush – only to find that Yakuza bosses are immune to being ambushed! In a rather too brief fight, my Jonin managed to kick the boss out of an alley (hoping if he was in the middle of the street, other players would shoot him), but he dodged the incoming shots and then knocked down my Ninja leader and then finished him off with a series of low kicks! Ow! Ow! OWWWW!
With the Ninjas effectively out of the fight and the lone Johnny Chou the only thing between the bad guys and the bank, things were beginning to look bleak…
Stay tuned for the final part on Friday…!
(Models painted by Mystic Spirals).
