While several our members were having fun at Historicon, four of us met at Bill's, first for an Aeronef game (see separate report) and then for a play test of Mexican Jack Squint Presents The Lion Eats Tonight from http://www.brigadegames.com/The-Lion-Eats-Tonight-by-Mexican-Jack-Squint_p_3150.html.
Each of us (Bill, Ed, Sean, and me, Col Campbell) had a bushcraft 4 rated hunter, a gun bearer, and a porter in our hunting parties. We also each controlled two animals or groups of animals. In addition there were four herbivore herds on the board which move randomly as their action cards came up. With each hunter having four action cards and the"trophy"animals having two to five cards, plus a wind change/end of turn card, it promised to be a "lengthy" turn sequence. In fact I think we only went through the deck two times since the wind change/end of turn card was almost at the bottom on both shuffles.
A herd of giraffe move slowly through the African bush, looking for tasty vegetation upon which to munch.
Baron Potzdorf (my hunter) has drawn a bead on a rhino. I wounded him with my first shot but he decided that he would just move away from me. So I took a second shot. And my expensive double express jammed! [I rolled more 1s than 6s (hits).]
Suddenly a lioness bursts from the bush and grabs Mr. van Huysen's (Ed) porter. Van Huysen couldn't get a shot off and the poor porter was dragged back into the bush for a snack by the lioness.
The lioness reaches her lair with the porter's body and commences to "chow down." Ed's character tracked the lioness down and killed her. After all, one mustn't let the help be eaten without revenging them!
Baron Potzdorf needs a new gun or better ammunition—another misfire as the female rhino charges him! But she can't quite get to him yet. You can bet that the Baron will have something to say to his gun maker upon his return to Carpania!
Suddenly a lion charges Baron Potzdorf from the bush. He turns to meet it, raising his gun.
One shot later he kills the lion. Of course he had taken his secondary weapon from his gun bearer for this shot and didn't have to worry about his malfunctioning double express.
But then Mrs. Rhino completes her charge, knocking poor Baron Potzdorf on his keester! With unloaded guns and an enraged rhino right on top on him, the Baron didn't have a chance.
Young Mr. Stanley (Bill) makes a perfect shot (three 6s) and fells the lion with a shot between the eyes!
Finally Herr Schneider (Sean) gets into the hunt, startling a female elephant who charges them, protecting her calves. Schneider froze on his "morale" check and the elephant crashes into the party, but doesn't do any damage! As game master I then ruled that she continued on through with her charge past Schneider and his party.
After the elephant had gotten past Scheifer, he recovered his composure and took careful aim. A double hit (two 6s) from his excellent hunting rifle put paid to the elephant. Schneider will have a tale to tell and some ivory to show for his efforts.
While all this was going on, young Mr. Stanley was able to make two successful long-range shots, getting both rhinos that Baron Potzdorf had stirred up. Stanley ended the game as the clear winner, with a lion and two rhinos. Each of the others (Potzdorf, van Huysen, and Schneider) each got one animal (lion, lioness, and elephant, respectively).
It was an enjoyable game although a little slow what with the large number of cards we had to go through. A couple of us spent some down time waiting for our hunter's or animal's cards to turn up. I think that we can up the speed by trying to get through the cards quicker, turning several of them when they won't interfere with another hunter or wild animal. We are going to try this game again later in the year.
Pictures were taken by Bill, Ed, and me. The terrain was provided by Bill. All the hunting parties and animals are mine.