Merry Christmas to you and yours! It’s been a great year for Dinosaur Cowboys since I got the final rules out, had tons of fan interest, wrote a bit of fiction for the game, and generally really enjoyed making this game.
To add a little Christmas-y feel to your games here is “The Spirit of Christmas” posse lead by Santa himself. They have a bunch of special rules and are meant for a fun, light game. You could match them with a single posse or team up with your friends and try out two vs one.
Posse: The Spirit of Christmas
This posse bends and breaks all kinds of rules, but that’s the fun of customizing! I’ve added and re-themed a bunch of weapons and equipment and fit in a whole slew of Santa’s “reindeer” (Thickskull’s in this case). Think of it as a chance to fight multiple dinosaurs at once!
For matching this posse with standard posses use 200 IP, $2,200, and 6 Traits. If you want to make the fight easier use $2,500 and 8 Traits.
Santa Claus
Leader, MV 5, AR 4, RMC 6, MMC 8, BRV 12*, HP 14, Lucky, Get Up!, Escape. Heavy Repeater, 400kW Six-Shooter, Santa's Suit**, Santa's Bag***
* = Santa never needs to take Bravery Tests.
** = Santa’s Suit is equivalent to Dinohide Armor (+3 AR), and also reduces incoming damage by 1 (to a minimum of 1).
*** = Santa’s Bag is full of surprises. At the start of each Activation roll a D6 and check below to see what Santa grabbed from his bag. On the Activation it was drawn Santa can choose to use each Grenade, if he does they are treated per the standard rules. Santa’s Bag never has to be Reloaded.
1-2: Stun Grenade
3-4: Tangle Grenade
5-6: Boom Grenade
Elf
MV 8*, AR 1, RMC 7, MMC 7, BRV 8, HP 10, Whirlwind, Sneaky**. Candy Cane***
* = Elf likes to hop around with his jingly shoes. Elf ignores all Difficult Terrain, treating everything as flat plains with no Movement penalty. Elf cannot be Slowed or Stopped.
** = Elf can deploy anywhere on the board after everyone else has setup. The only restriction is he cannot start within 8″ of an enemy.
*** = Candy Cane is a 5A-3D Small Melee weapon that causes Slowed on hit.
Rudolph the Red Nose Monoclonius
Horned Dinosaur, Medium size, MV 7, PMV D8, AR 1, MMC 6, DIS 8, HP 18, 4A-2D, Shake it Off, Red Horn*
* = Rudolph’s glowing red horn blinds enemies trying to shoot at him. Treat ranged attacks against Rudolph as In Cover (-1 damage) all the time.
Dasher and Dancer
Thickskull Dinosaur, Small size, MV 7, PMV D8, AR 1, MMC 7, DIS 7, HP 18, 4A-2D, Onslaught, Lifelong Mounts*
* = If Dasher or Dancer are within 8″ of Santa they gain +1 MV and +1 AR.
Scenario: On a Wintery Night
A special posse deserves a special scenario. In this case a gang of citizens have stumbled across Santa as he delivers gifts. For any number of reasons a fight breaks out (perhaps the citizens were greedy and wanted to take the presents, or Santa wanted to remain secret, or his mounts got spooked and confusion ensued, etc.).
If you have access to winter terrain all the better. Otherwise maybe buy some cheap fake snow from a craft’s store and shower your usual table with it. Some small (1cm wide) fake presents would be perfect for some of the objectives.
Setup
– Use a 4′ by 4′ table if possible. Cover it with terrain, including any tacky Christmas ornaments, model houses, snow, etc. you can dig up.
– Place Presents as outlined below. These were dropped by Santa accidentally.
– Deploy The Spirit of Christmas posse first, 8″ from any table corner (not edge).
– Deploy any opposing posses next, 8″ from the table corner opposite The Spirit of Christmas.
Presents
– Get one Present objective per entity facing The Spirit of Christmas posse. For example if I had a leader, two members, and a dinosaur I would have 4 Presents. Randomly place the Presents on the table, most easily achieved by rolling 4D12 for X and Y coordinates (for example if 18 and 4 is rolled place the Present 18″ from the left table edge and 4″ from the top table edge).
Only entities from the non-Santa posse can interact with Presents. To open a Present simply Move adjacent to it and roll a D6 on the table below:
1: Surprise! - The Present explodes! 2" Explosion, 1 Damage.
2: Eggnog - The opener stumbles 6" in a random direction. This does not provoke Snap Attacks and can't move them off the table.
3: Candy Cane - Can be thrown once. 2A-8D, 2" Explosion, 1-18" Medium range.
4: Been a Good Boy - Instantly improve a weapon of the opener's choice by +1D.
5: Gingerbread - Can be used like an IRP. Add +5 MV and -2 RMC and -2 MMC until the end of the Activation it was used on.
6: Warm Cider - Can be used like an IRP. Instantly restores ALL Hitpoints.
Victory
Win by defeating The Spirit of Christmas!
Dinosaur Cowboys - Tabletop Skirmish Game 