Butch Sullivan and the Lost Idol - A Pulp Alley AAR

Our fortune hunters find themselves in French Indo-china, Butch and his party have been third by a local tribal elder to recover a ceremonial statue lost deep in the jungle. After many days hacking through the bush it would appear that Butch and co are nearing a possible resting place for the revered idol. Two local guides lent to Butch have followed a trail of old clues to this point, they however have reported of another group in the area who appear to be looking for the same statue.

Captain Jerome has been summoned by the local regional Governor to ensure that the dastardly Americans do not remove the idol from the country.

Our heroes must follow a train of clues to discover the Ceremonial Statue, tracks in the ground would seem to indicate that there is a stolen baggage train in the area and there is rumour of hostages lost in the jungle, this local knowledge could be invaluable.

Butch and his crew make the first move, splitting their group Butch heads off with Indiana, whilst Lauren and Kazim follow the two local scouts.

Meanwhile the French group move up, heading towards the missing hostage.

Andre struggles through the thick jungle leading the pack but the effort seems too much and he becomes tangles in vines, sustaining light injuries escaping from the perilous area.

His struggle was not in vain as he stumbles into one of the hostages, the man appears to have knowledge of some papers which were stolen in the raid against the baggage train, the chest of documents included several cryptic papers which talk of the legends in the area.

Jerome investigates the lost baggage train, the donkeys are not impressed with the disturbance and lash out. The French captain narrowly escapes the dangerous hooves as he moves to calm the beasts. Stashed in the equipment is a journal detailing an ivory skull carved with texts describing the now abandoned temple where the Statue was housed. Perhaps it may also detail its fate.

Kazim rushes Captain Jerome knives drawn, he almost takes a tumble but manages to regain his footing before going toe to toe with the ex-military man.

Not so far away the Captain's not so brave hound tries to escape from the deadly jaws of Indiana.

In the centre of the old temple complex one of the local guides let's loose a hail of arrows and wounds old Gerard.

Lauren moves up to a vantage point to help out but once again appears to be out of ammo.

Gustav charges towards the local to avenge his fallen comrade, whilst in the background Jerome and Kazim trade blows.

Andriy investigated a hidden chest, deadly spikes shoot out causing lacerations across his hands and face, unperturbed he opens the chest and draws out the Ivory Skull, reading the ancient inscription Andriy has discovered the whereabouts of the missing statue, he better retrace his steps and try band locate it.

The race is on to get to the giant statue first, but the Captain sprints ahead of Butch and Lauren to clam his prize. The French Governor will be pleased, Jerome hopes the reward will cover the trouble his crew have been through.

Post game comment.
Another great game, it would seem that the scenario was against Butch and co, the French group steamed through the plot points leaving little for the Americans to do but try and chase them down.

Some good use of the fortune cards on either side this game, none of the uses seemed overpowered and all weekend to play out quite well. I really like the duel mechanics of the fortune card/challenge, it adds a neat unexpected level to the game whilst also powering the storyline and character development (see Lauren "empty chamber" Stone.)

We also used more perilous areas in this game, the larger jungle bases were uses to represent particularly thick jungle and it was goods to see some characters power through whilst others had to take the long way around.

Overall really happy with the game, and now my printed cards and paper rules book have arrived up from the other side of the pond to added another level to the game. The cards are particularly nice, on decent weight card and in their own box to keep them in good condition.