Tumissa Nights pt 2

As I was saying: The event was a palanquin race/scavenger hunt in the market of Tumissa. Each player was to prove their worth as a noble by managing their bearers, guards and runners to find the most valuable items in the market, There were six players, each with a palanquin.. They also had 4 guards, and 2 runners. The task was simple. At each merchant site I had a pile of cards representing goods of interest. They fell into a few categories. 

Spirits

Drugs

Artifacts

Texts

And they also had to acquire buttons, from soldiers of various levels of status. The value of the cards was generally based upon their rarity. The players were given 20 coins (chips) and they were the limit of their spending. Their Victory points were the total of all items they acquired. 

The market had terrain, but also a number of NPCs of various social rank. The players were all of High clans and each had a bit of background telling them why they were competing and what their personal stakes were. 

I used SOBH rules. They are a very simple and elegant miniatures skirmish rules set, but not really meant for a race. Normally there are only two stats per figure, plus special rules. They are Quality (Q) which determines how easily the unit can be activated, and how well it does non combat stuff, and Combat (C) which determines how good they are at fighting. I added a stat for Status (S) for social challenges, making it possible for them to stair down a superior, or be ignored by an inferior. I was surprised that the figures that used it most were the guards.

The role of the figures was intended to be

Guards could clear paths by moving NPCs along, they could be used to defend against, or attack others, and some players tried to use them to negotiate with NPCs.  The guys with purple bases left, are guards. In this shot, they just killed a dog that wouldn't move. Dogs don't care much for social status. 

Runners had a singular use, which proved a bit less valuable than I expected. They were intended to scout various piles of cards, and report back on the relative value of items in the pile. When a runner reached a merchant, they would leave a token, representing the fact that they had been there. Then when they returned to the palanquin, the player could look at that pile and decide if they wanted to go over there to buy something.

Palanquins represented the player. They had to travel to merchant shops or stalls to acquire goods. They were the highest status figure in the players  retinue. To the right  was the player who worshiped Dilinala. You can also see a wooden token indicating that her runner (blue) has been here, and her runner on a blue base. 

Tumissa Nights pt one

It has been a while. Last year I signed up for a 2 year degree program, with the intent of getting skills for a retirement job/career. About Last fall I committed to trying to run a miniatures event for the Tekumel Track at Con of the North. Those two actions - piled onto my current home life and job - have controlled and obliterated most of my free time this year. But I am managing excellent grades, and I did put together what I will modestly say was a successful miniatures game. It had been my intent to document the process, but, life didn't allow much documentation, between homework, and panic painting, and trying to not ignore my lovely SO in the process. I am, needless to say, way behind on TV.

I will try to put this out in a few short posts. The first, I will show some of the terrain I tossed together. It was not my finest work, but it was passable, and, when put together, actually worked pretty well.

Let's see if I can remember how to link in a pic.. the table setting wasn't perfect. Two smallish round tables butted up against each other. Green fleece for some grass.  The large building in the back is a temple of Sarku, lord of worms, but currently doubling in as the Palace of foreign lands. It is made with the simple expedient of turning a styro cooler (I got this square one at a fish store) up end and painting to suit. I added a arch at the entrance, and a couple fires burning on the roof. I gave the Palace a gate way by taking two copies of the big Ben tower wooden puzzles and building one in reverse.

This pic is during set up. That is my tubby frame in the back of the shot.. not my most elegant picture. 

The nearest building is a dept 56 village item repainted. snow has been turned green for moss. when I have time I will toss some flock on it. Just behind the near wall is a market stall made of fabric and wood on Styrofoam base with sawdust flock. In the far end is another resin cast adobe style thing I picked up at a garage sale. The large building that looks like a crypt.. kinda is. At Halloween the local dollar store had these season themed boxes.. you can see some here a few pics down. add paint and Styrofoam and it makes a simple building. Nothing that is gonna rock the world, but serviceable.

The other end of the table was similar..

again, a temple, this time to Avanthe, Goddess of Fertility, as an anchor. The far end has another small building that was a garage sale find and another building made from the dollar store boxes next to a large brazier for burning sacrifices. Near is a small blue puzzle house I picked up at Micheal's craft, next to a ceramic gazebo. There are two more vendor stalls. The central statue is another garage sale find, and generally sits in my living room..

There will be better pics of the terrain in the action shots to come. Finally, we break from terrain to look at the key models for the players..

I apologize. not the best shot.. there are close ups of a few in future posts..

The event was a palanquin race/scavenger hunt in the market of Tumissa. Each player was to prove their worth as a noble by managing their bearers, guards and runners to find the most valuable items in the market, There were six players, each with a palanquin. I will try to add links to the sources for the models when I can figure them out. But two are worth noting as the sources are me. Well, one all me, one me and this guy..  I cleaned up his model and 3d printed it. It is the dark one. And then I built a design from scratch. That is the big model with 6 bearers. Honestly, mine turned out better, but that is about the printers, not the models.

OK, enough for tonite. need sleep. doing homework in the morning.