Scenario for Two Hour Wargames: Péter and the Wolves

Here is a little treat for some of you!  Lately, I have been ‘cleaning’ up my computer files, mainly reorganizing and renaming files, to get rid of duplicate files and find things more efficiently.  Today, I came across this scenario that I wrote up years ago and forgot about.  I cleaned it up a little, but it is mostly unchanged.  I might one day update it to the work with the current Two Hour Wargames’ systems.  I never play-tested it, so if anyone ever uses it, let me know how it went.  Unfortunately, I probably never use it as I sold off most of my 28mm figures that would be needed for this scenario. 

Sapper

Scenario: Péter and the Wolves

Chain Reaction v. 2

Combat de Jacques André Portefaix et de ses compagnons contre la Bête du Gévaudan

Opening scene:

“Péter!  Péter!” could be heard through the dark Eastern European forest coming from a band of men carrying torches and weapons.  Even with the full moon shining above, the low lying fog was so heavy that even the light of the torches seemed surreal.

As the boy shivered in the cold behind a tree, he was not sure if they were the Gypsies that chased him into the forest or if they were men from his local village looking for him.  All he could see was the glow of the torches from the path that they were on.  At first he wanted to run to them as he thought he recognized one of the voices, but then he decided to wait until he could see them better.  As he waited, the fear swelled greater and greater in him as they approached.  He decided to run away and try to find a better hiding spot where he could see them, but they could not see him.

As he settled in his new hiding spot, Péter saw something moving in the darkness, off to one side.  It appeared to be something big and furry.  It look like a wolf, but is looked much bigger then any wolf he has ever seen before. It was moving very stealthily towards him.  It would move a little bit and stop while hunching down.  As terror froze Péter in place, he watched in horror at the wolf slowly crawling towards him.  His eyes darted over to the band of men calling his name and back at the thing edging towards him.  That is when Péter noticed that there was more than one wolf!  They were all closing in on him.

Péter decided that the band of men, even if they were Gypsies, were not the worst of fates.   That is when Péter screamed louder then he has ever screamed before…

Summary and Objective:

A band of men from a village are looking for Péter, a small boy that has gone missing in the forest.  Fearing that wild animals or a band of Gypsies may have done harm to him, they are going armed.  The villagers were also able to get the local police to assist in the search.  The object of the villagers is to find Péter and exit the gaming table.

Gaming Table:

The table should be heavily wooded with some hills and a few open areas.  At least one foot path should be present.  A creek and some rock croppings could also be present. 

Villagers:

Depending on the number of players, up to four figures could be “Stars” with the remaining being “Leaders”:  The Huntsman, the Police Sergeant, the Blacksmith, and the Mayor.  These men have a mob of other village men to support them.

Huntsman:  Rep 5; Armed with an axe and a crossbow.

Police Sergeant:  Rep 4; Armed with a black powder pistol and sword.  He also carries a lantern.

Blacksmith: Rep 4; Armed with a large hammer and does extra damage due his muscles

Mayor:  Rep 4; Armed with a black powder pistol and sword.

Mob: This should be a band of 10 to 20 men variously armed with clubs, muskets, axes, bows, pitchforks, torches, etc.  I suggest that no more than a quarter be armed with the same weapon.  Their Rep will be mostly 3, but a small number could be 2.

Péter:

Rep 2 and Unarmed; Base move is 8”.  Peter has special Reaction Charts (see below.)  

Peter sets up randomly on the board but no closer then 16” from the villagers and 16” of the adversaries.  There should also be a minimum of two “fake” Péter counters that will react as the same as the “real” Péter for reactions.  These are to force the villages to decide on their search options. 

Péter’s Reaction Charts 

Insight Chart for seeing the Villagers

2d6 – Péter is convinced that is a band of men from the village.  He will start moving towards them when he has his turn.  He needs not to take another Reaction test to identify the villagers.  If the villagers are under attack, Péter will either try to run to the closest villager not in combat or wait were he is at if he is not able to reach the closest villager in one move. 

1d6 – Péter is not sure if they are men from his village.  He will wait where he is at “Hidden”, and watch them on next turn.  If they are within one move of him, he will move away from them, but will not be “Hidden” for the next turn. 

0d6 – Péter is convinced that they are Gypsies!  He will move away from them and will be immediately “Hidden” after his move.  He will get to roll again for making another Insight reaction test for the Villagers.

Insight Chart for seeing the “Wolves”

2d6 – Péter is scared, but has some sense about him.  He will scream (can be heard up to 24”) and will run towards the villagers, if he had already identified them, or away from both if he did not recognize the villagers.

1d6 – Péter is frightened, but has some sense about him.  He can’t scream, but he will run immediately away from the “Wolves”. 

0d6 – Péter is terrified!  He can not scream and can’t move!  He will remain “Hidden.”  This reaction overrides any reactions on the “Insight Chart for seeing the Villagers.”

The “Wolves” 

Who are the “Wolves”?  Well, as the Game Master, you can have several different options... 

The “Wolves” are the Gypsies!  A gang of Gypsy bandits spotted young Péter after they committed a horrible crime to some lonely travelers in the woods.  They are after Péter to kill him and prevent him from telling the local police about their crimes.  They are wearing wolves’ pelts to disguise themselves and cause fear to lonely travelers.  When the villagers showed up to find Péter, they decide to ambush the villagers to plunder them or discourage them from pursuing their murderous little band deeper into the forest.

Another option is that the “Wolves” are really a pack of wolves!!!  The wolves are very hungry and desperate for food as the forest has been over hunted by the nearby villages.  So the wolves have taken to hunting men for food.  They will try to find Péter, but when they spot the villagers, they will try to kill the “weaker” ones from the “herd”. 

Finally, the “Wolves” could be a werewolf or a small pack of werewolves that were prowling the forest on this full moon night.  The werewolves caught the scent of Péter and were hunting him down for a meal, when they caught the scent of the villagers.  They will not attack Péter as they are more concern about attacking the villagers to prevent them from discovering their lair and because they are armed, whereas Péter is not armed.  If they are successful in killing the villagers or forcing them out of the forest, then they can go back to hunting down Péter.  In this scenario, you could also have the Gypsies be either a secondary group that may be either “good guys” or “bad guys” as well.  Maybe the Gypsies still want to kill Péter but now the werewolves are hunting them as well, or maybe the Gypsies were actually killing a werewolf in human form which was what Péter saw and now they want to help save him from the werewolves too!  If you go this route, only the "Stars" have silver / blessed weapons that can kill the werewolves.  Everyone else can only stun or knock down a werewolf.

Inspiration:

I have been thinking about running a similar scenario of a mob hunting down a monster as that could be an interesting game after buying the West Wind’s Gothic Horror line miniatures of the Transylvanian mobs and Eastern European Police.  Matter of fact, this scenario was designed specifically for those figures.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!