Rippers Playtest, part 2

Continuing on from the previous session, the Rippers, under the leadership of Count Ernst von Hemming are battling to save the people of Guntersdorf from the Cabal.

Things began to go wrong for the Cabal. The Inmates, seeing the Professor on the roof of the town hall, decided against further investigation of the the northern side of the village, and went for what they saw as the easy kill - an academic and two villagers cut off from the rest of the Rippers. They entered the building and confronted the Professor on the roof. Pruzt and the Innkeeper battled to save the Nun from the Inmates.

Professor Pruzt is trapped on the roof!

Meanwhile, the last Wolfman resolved his Shaken condition and made one last effort to break down the door of the cottage, in which cowered three villagers, before he was gunned down at close range by the Wolfen Jaegers. The Jaegers entered the building and rescued the villagers.

Veneticus in the foreground leads a young damsel to safety.

In the central section of the village, two soldiers and Count von Hemming put down the Wolf they were fighting, and the marines now proceeded into the central alleyway. The surviving Wolves attacked the last two villagers hiding in the cottage nearby, killing one (Cabal 3, Rippers 0). Shortly afterwards, two marines fired through the window of the building, and both Aced, killing both Wolves (Toughness 5).

Two Jaegers guard the door to the cottage as a third goes upstairs to rescue the villagers.

As Father Veneticus and the Wolfen Jaegers retreated with four villagers towards the board edge, it became increasingly obvious that the battle on the roof of the town hall could become important. Count von Hemming joined the action, tackling the Inmates, and killing one, but after that his combat rolls seemed to be jinxed, and a string of bad luck followed for the Hero in which he burned up all his bennies to no avail.

The Jaegers leave the cottage with the villagers: things begin to look dour for the Cabal.

The inn was empty!

The Rippers decided to split up again - Father Veneticus checked the inn, but found nobody there. The Wolfen Jaegers took charge of the existing posse of six villagers and began to move them towards the eastern side of the village and safety. This freed up the marines to join the battle on the rooftop.

As the marines burst onto the rooftop, Pruzt killed another Innmate. Both he and Hemming had now burned through all their bennies, the Professor desperately soaking hits as his d4 Fighting was making little headway against a violent lunatic with d10 Fighting and no requirement to make Spirit checks.

At this point the Cabal player conceded, as we were already running out of time. The Innkeeper was Shaken, but not down, and the remaining two Inmates were facing off against the marines, Hemming and the Prof. Game over. The Rippers won 8-3.

The end of the line for the Inmates...

Post game analysis:


I was really just wanting to try out some new scenery and test-drive the Rippers rules. Although the groups were roughly equal in points - the Cabal brought three units to the party, while the Rippers had two, it was the Wild Cards that made the difference. I don't think enough was made of the Professor's Local Knowledge ability, and it was a tactical error for him to get himself trapped in the town hall. Luckily he had Count von Hemming nearby. The buildings proved harder than expected to break into, and the Wolf Men were weaker than anticipated. I'll need to look more closely at that.


NEXT: Having rescued the villagers, the Rippers now discover that the Inmates were sent by an evil vampire and Cabal leader, Baron Konig. Professor Pruzt hypnotises one of the Inmates to discover the whereabouts of the vampire's lair in nearby Bohemia. However, the vampire realises what is happening, and sends some of his acolytes to assassinate the two prisoners before Pruzt can make more use of them... 


Meanwhile, the Rippers being Rippers, will be using the bodies of the lycanthropes to make certain...unguents...to aid them in their struggle with the evil Cabal. Tune in next time for the Battle of the Gotznerhof!