My lovely wife and I played our first game of Pulp Alley this past weekend (She's not really a gamer, but she humors me). Since my normal gaming room is currently undergoing a transformation into a nursery, I set up a small table in my new (much reduced) gaming room. Fortunately, Pulp Alley doesn't require a large playing area.
My wife took the part of the Good Guys, a league by the name of Tennessee Smith and Antiquities Incorporated. This was a small league of four stalwart adventurers built around the "Company of Heroes" league perk. I played the Bad Guys, in the form of the foul Cult of Evil Spiky Death. I took the league perk of "Mastermind", which meant that the leader of my league would not take the field. The group would be commanded by his second-in-command, Wilbur the High Priest of Spiky Death. The Mastermind perk allowed me to take additional henchmen, which meant I outnumbered my wife's league, though with troops of a lower caliber.
We set up the table for the Smash and Grab scenario, the first scenario in the Pulp Alley rulebook. This is a simple scenario, revolving around collecting "plot points" from around the table. The game was a bit off-the-cuff, so my defining of these plot points was a bit weak. We used some plastic skulls I bought last Halloween as plot point markers.
I am afraid I didn't take enough pictures to recreate the battle as a full report, but I do have a few to share.
Being our first time playing, the game didn't flow perfectly, with much consulting of the rulebook. That is not a reflection on the rules themselves, which I found enjoyable. I particularly like the "fortune deck" mechanic, which allows the players to influence events during the game by playing fortune cards. The rules are simple enough to prevent bogging down, but with enough crunch to be interesting. That's all for now, so thank you for your kind attention, and until next time, carry on gaming!
