Free For All
in the Philippines

Scenario

by Ron Vaughan


Somewhere in the Philippines a Spanish company was escorting a large payroll. The column stopped for the night at a small outpost, where they became surrounded by a unit of Filipino Insurrectos. The main Insurrecto force will arrive from the north soon to destroy the Spanish and acquire the gold for their cause. A Spanish relief column is enroute from the west to help.

Meanwhile, marching westward on the trail is an American landing force, which was attempting to cripple the Spanish war effort by capturing the gold. Roaming the hills to the south are groups of Moro bandits. Fierce Igorot hillmen are in hiding all around.

This is my favorite type of game--a free for all. The idea of this game scenario is that you do not have a standard two sides game. Each of the five players are out to win at the other's expense. To win the player must use more than superior tactics. He must also negotiate with the others to form alliances, make deals, and maybe 'backstab.' This interaction can be more than half the fun of the game!An optional rule for those who desire less chaos is for each player to have a 'sworn enemy' and the others are regarded as lesser enemies or rivals. These are listed below:

NATIONALITYENEMY
Spain vsInsurrectos and US
US vsSpain and optional Insurrectos
Insurrectos vsSpain and Moros
Moros vsAll
Ingorots vsInsurrectos and Moros

Note: One cannot ally with an enemy.

The winner is determined by the following point schedule:

    50: possessing the gold at the end of the game
    2: for each enemy (see list) casualty inflicted
    1: for each casualty against others
    1: Moros and Insurrectos for each rifle captured
    1: Ingorots for each head taken

Forces

Spain:

    At outpost: 1 infantry unit
    Relief: 2 infantry units and 1 machine gun

US:

    Filipine Scouts, Marines, Inf., 1 m.g.

Insurrectos:

    Around outpost: 1 infantry (all with rifles), 5 infantry (half with rifles, half with barongs)

Moros:

    6 infantry (half with swords, quarter with rifles, quarter with javelins)

Ingorots:

    6 infantry (one third with bows/poison arrows--can fire without revealing position).


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© Copyright 1997 by Richard Brooks.

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