| In a scenario game, goals, points, and scoring can be simple or complicated. You don't have to understand the game's point system to have fun, but the more you get into scenarios, the more the points will catch your attention. |
At Castle Keep, an annual scenario game at Skirmish USA in Pennsylvania (www.skirmish .com), the Red Army (Russians) fought the German Army in Romania with Dracula's Castle nearby. We received and completed many missions, including taking certain objectives, occupying parts of the field for a specified period of time, or finding and returning specific props.
1 The fuel dumps could be played two ways. They could be kept in place and guarded by a team for points at the top and bottom of the hour. This was a good way to earn continuing points, but could be risky because the fuel dump could be taken over by the other team. Also, if a fuel barrel was shot, it would "blow up," taking nearby players with it.
The instructions given to players guarding fuel dumps were to "blow" them by shooting one (from a safe distance, of course) if they were in danger of being overrun.
 A two-player German recon squad gets its final mission instructions from the squad leader. Completing the mission scores points for the team. Photos by Skirmish.com.  Fuel drums have points associated with them. Players who know the points rules will help score for their team.  A mission could call upon you to find the burger king referee!  To control the Castle for points might involve making a deal with the Angel of Death. |
The other way to play the fuel dumps was to take possession of them and carry them back to the Central Command post for points. Of course, players could choose to play them both ways-guard them for a while, then carry them back for more points if they felt their luck was running thin.
2 Then there was "Bob." Bob was a Gypsy who was abducted by the undead before the game started, dismembered, and his parts scattered throughout the field. Some of the body parts found by players belonged to Bob, and the Gypsies were very interested in recovering their missing comrade, piece by piece if necessary (which it was).
When all his pieces were recovered, along with the DNA, The Mad Scientist could reanimate Bob and get him back in one piece to his Gypsy brethren. Unfortunately, although the DNA was delivered to Herr Von Krause, and most of his parts were found and returned to the Gypsies, his head was never recovered and the Gypsies remained without their brother.
3 At points throughout the day, there were "aerial insertions" of players behind enemy lines. This was accomplished by a judge collecting players from one team or another and leading them via a rope to a point on the field for insertion.
Once deposited on the field, they began or joined missions, reinforced weakened units, or initiated an attack on an opposing position. It was a neat twist on the game, and a great way to suddenly position a small team in an advantageous-or potentially dangerous-position.
4 Early in the day, our two intelligence operatives got set up to infiltrate the German team-with green hopper tape and German credentials, in addition to their Russian credentials-and did a fantastic job. They gathered valuable intelligence and passed it back to us at headquarters, volunteered to lead German missions then led them astray, and escorted some of our players-posing as captives-through enemy-held territory on their way to accomplish missions.
Their biggest problem seemed to be being misidentified by our team when they weren't interfering with the Germans, due to their green hopper tape. We, at Headquarters, quickly learned to identify them by sight-ultimately they ended up hanging out close to headquarters when they weren't on a mission, so we could tell our other players not to shoot them.
5 Many of our players stepped up without specific instructions from headquarters, leading offensives and reinforcing positions, and generally keeping the Germans occupied so other players could accomplish objectives and missions. Some with radios, such as Associator, kept in communication with headquarters throughout the day, keeping us informed of developments on the field during the game. Mad props to all of them for gettin' 'er done.
6 Fairly early in the game, our command post was attacked by a squad of Germans who had managed to sneak around from behind and come in from our rear quarter. We bravely moved to counter the attack, and although there were only three of us (apparently we'd sent our perimeter security all out on missions), we made a good stand. I had no idea there were only three of us, and neither did the Germans.
We caught them in such an effective crossfire that they ended up shooting at each other. During this skirmish, a small band of Gypsies walked into view and announced they were there to help our team. I yelled, "Excellent! We have Germans there, there, there, and there (pointing wildly). Shoot them!" A few seconds later I got gogged, and didn't get to see the conclusion of the battle. As luck would have it, I hadn't received my XO credentials yet, and therefore wasn't yet worth 50 points. From the reports I received, with the help of the Gypsies we successfully drove off the attack, and our headquarters was saved-for the time being, anyway.
7 During one of the sieges of the Castle, my judgment as a leader was put to the test, and I definitely came up wanting. Bill was off taking a break and acquiring more cash for bartering with. Meanwhile, I was offered a deal from the Gypsies to have an undead player play for our side for 15 minutes for every three human sacrifices I could produce, up to a total of four undead players, which meant a total of 12 potential human sacrifices.
Just after the Gypsy messenger left, we had a number of players reinsert. I panicked, and made my loyal team take the brunt of a very poor leadership decision. I asked for six volunteers, not wishing to push my luck too far. When six people stepped up, I told them to go out to the Gypsies' headquarters tent near the picnic area, and only then informed them of the situation.
The next few moments showed me how fantastic my team was. In spite of the fact that I'd pulled a dirty trick like that on them-they'd just come back into the game and I asked them to go right back out in such an underhanded way-they took it in stride. Instead of the grumbling they would have been more than justified in doing, they made comments about being hungry, needing some water, getting tanks topped off, etc., and six more volunteers stepped up for a total of 12 human sacrifices, maxing out our potential complement of undead players!
They illustrated my mistake by showing me how I should've done it, rather than just complaining about how I did it wrong, and I couldn't have been more proud or grateful. Guys, my sincerest apologies for my error in judgment, and many, many thanks in showing me, by your example, how to do it correctly. I won't forget.
Kevin "Sculli" Scullin writes from Elmira, New York; he served as XO to Russian General Dermody at Castle Keep 2004. Information for the next Castle Keep: www.skirmishusa.com. What is your best scenario game secret? E-mail co2@actionpursuitgames.com. 
