birchbeer
New member
Hey all!
I ran this idea by Ted and he thought it was good enough to post here.
Whenever I think Red Baron I automatically think of Snoopy as the "World famous WWI Flying Ace" battling his nemesis, the Red Baron. "Curse you,
Red Baron!"
View attachment 30875
I think RW needs Snoopy! But for copyright reasons I would suggest an alternate spelling, "Snuppe" and "Herr Snuppe"
My idea is for there to be two versions of Snuppe, one as the "World famous Flying Ace" and the other as "World Famous Spy" or "Double Agent." They act together as a progression of one unit, i.e., first one is in play, then the other comes in after certain events occur. Each one has their own set of abilities printed on front/back of the Snuppe card (or maybe separate cards, either way...).
Phase 1: WORLD FAMOUS FLYING ACE
Snoopy could either be built-in to his own doghouse styled Sopwith Camel (like Reme), or as a plug that can fit one of the Allied biplanes. I think his plane should be unique though, with a fuselage that has some dog house properties. I had actually started work on my own sculpt for this, but it met with an unfortunate accident involving a book falling on it. But here's an early version--and very rough stage, so be nice--of what I was building:
View attachment 30876
View attachment 30877
View attachment 30878
Phase 2: WORLD FAMOUS SPY, a.k.a., von Snuppe
A stand alone Snuppe hero unit dressed in "disguise" in a Blight uniform and a Kaiser helmet. And of course, the mustache (See attached photo from comic).
This spy theme needs some explanation. Any follower of Schultz' Peanuts comics will be familiar with the long series of WWI based strips where Snoopy fights the Red Baron and inevitably gets shot down. His plane often crash-lands "behind enemy lines" and his adventures continue as he tries to avoid detection. To do this he wears a disguise, which is little more than a Kaiser helmet with a thin mustache, but evidently effective. He then goes about spying on the enemy, stealing kisses from admiring lasses, and gaining intel as he tries to find his way back to his unit.
View attachment 30871
Here's the gist of how it might work:
When the Red Baron is in play, the Allied side may use deployment points to bring Snuppe "WWI Flying Ace" into play. Just below it reads "Curse You Red Baron!"
Although labeled an "Ace" he's really not that great a pilot. In fact, he's pretty bad (dog houses aren't exactly aerodynamic). As long as the Baron is in play Snuppe's full attention is on him. Where the Baron goes, so does Snuppe, other orders be damned (if the Baron dies somehow then Snuppe will follow other battle orders, but not until then...). However, it is EXTREMELY difficult for Snuppe to actually shoot down the Baron (as it should be, so the dice odds should reflect this in play). Conversely, the Baron gets a small bonus against Snuppe, making him slightly easier to hit, but he's not a sitting duck either. He's armed with two good defensive maneuvers, the "roll over" and the "play dead" bluff.
So, if he's not that great a pilot, why waste time with Snuppe at all? Two reasons (well, three, counting his "world famous ground crew," Woodstock):
1) If Snuppe ever does land the 'miracle shot' and takes down the Baron he will score a devastating psychological blow to the Blight forces. This could be either a big VP score (4 points?) or some severe penalty for Blights, or a combinaton thereof. (not sure what is appropriate for game balance, but open for suggestions). If nothing else, it will give the Blight something to think about.
2) When Snuppe gets shot down he does not actually die, but rather crash-lands "behind enemy lines." Here you flip over his character card to reveal the "World Famous Spy" side. The image on the card shows Snuppe in disguise, wearing a Kaiser helmet and thin mustache, which is the image shown on the other side of his card (or on the alternate card).
Snuppe is now under cover, and while his game mini moves on the actual field of battle with all the other units, it is invisible to the Blights (because of his ingenius disguise!) until they REVEAL him through a successful dice roll or special 'Counter Intelligence' tactic card (Snuppe is very susceptible to beautiful young lasses (in one Schultz comic I recall Snoopy imagines Lucy as being a female spy on his tail). If the Blight are successful in revealing his location then Snuppe still has a chance to evade capture (less chance if it's a female counter intelligence card in play) by making his own dice roll, or playing a special 'Counter Intelligence' card himself. If he succeeds, he continues on his mission. If he fails then he is captured, his mission thwarted, and he is hauled off to a POW camp, and the Blight scores 2VP (?) for their efforts.
If Snoopy is successful in reaching the objective location he scores 1 VP for the Allies. He then rolls three dice and exposes ONE enemy secret mission card for every die roll of 4+. If he has a "Counter Intelligence" card to play he can succeed on rolls of 3+. If he does not have the Counter Intel card but the Blight player does (and plays it), then Snuppe will succeed only on rolls of 5+. Regardless the results, Snuppe is then returned to the Allied homefront stock pool where--because Woodstock has salvaged his plane wreckage and returned it to working order!--he may be deployed again (paying the deployment points) as a pilot if the Red Baron is still in play, and repeat the process.
This hasn't been tested and I haven't even begun to work out the variables, but I think it could make for some interesting strategic decisions on both sides. If a Blight Spy version is created then you could also get a sort of spy vs. spy thing going.
Cheers,
Bruce Monson
I ran this idea by Ted and he thought it was good enough to post here.
Whenever I think Red Baron I automatically think of Snoopy as the "World famous WWI Flying Ace" battling his nemesis, the Red Baron. "Curse you,
Red Baron!"
View attachment 30875
I think RW needs Snoopy! But for copyright reasons I would suggest an alternate spelling, "Snuppe" and "Herr Snuppe"
My idea is for there to be two versions of Snuppe, one as the "World famous Flying Ace" and the other as "World Famous Spy" or "Double Agent." They act together as a progression of one unit, i.e., first one is in play, then the other comes in after certain events occur. Each one has their own set of abilities printed on front/back of the Snuppe card (or maybe separate cards, either way...).
Phase 1: WORLD FAMOUS FLYING ACE
Snoopy could either be built-in to his own doghouse styled Sopwith Camel (like Reme), or as a plug that can fit one of the Allied biplanes. I think his plane should be unique though, with a fuselage that has some dog house properties. I had actually started work on my own sculpt for this, but it met with an unfortunate accident involving a book falling on it. But here's an early version--and very rough stage, so be nice--of what I was building:
View attachment 30876
View attachment 30877
View attachment 30878
Phase 2: WORLD FAMOUS SPY, a.k.a., von Snuppe
A stand alone Snuppe hero unit dressed in "disguise" in a Blight uniform and a Kaiser helmet. And of course, the mustache (See attached photo from comic).
This spy theme needs some explanation. Any follower of Schultz' Peanuts comics will be familiar with the long series of WWI based strips where Snoopy fights the Red Baron and inevitably gets shot down. His plane often crash-lands "behind enemy lines" and his adventures continue as he tries to avoid detection. To do this he wears a disguise, which is little more than a Kaiser helmet with a thin mustache, but evidently effective. He then goes about spying on the enemy, stealing kisses from admiring lasses, and gaining intel as he tries to find his way back to his unit.
View attachment 30871
Here's the gist of how it might work:
When the Red Baron is in play, the Allied side may use deployment points to bring Snuppe "WWI Flying Ace" into play. Just below it reads "Curse You Red Baron!"
Although labeled an "Ace" he's really not that great a pilot. In fact, he's pretty bad (dog houses aren't exactly aerodynamic). As long as the Baron is in play Snuppe's full attention is on him. Where the Baron goes, so does Snuppe, other orders be damned (if the Baron dies somehow then Snuppe will follow other battle orders, but not until then...). However, it is EXTREMELY difficult for Snuppe to actually shoot down the Baron (as it should be, so the dice odds should reflect this in play). Conversely, the Baron gets a small bonus against Snuppe, making him slightly easier to hit, but he's not a sitting duck either. He's armed with two good defensive maneuvers, the "roll over" and the "play dead" bluff.
So, if he's not that great a pilot, why waste time with Snuppe at all? Two reasons (well, three, counting his "world famous ground crew," Woodstock):
1) If Snuppe ever does land the 'miracle shot' and takes down the Baron he will score a devastating psychological blow to the Blight forces. This could be either a big VP score (4 points?) or some severe penalty for Blights, or a combinaton thereof. (not sure what is appropriate for game balance, but open for suggestions). If nothing else, it will give the Blight something to think about.
2) When Snuppe gets shot down he does not actually die, but rather crash-lands "behind enemy lines." Here you flip over his character card to reveal the "World Famous Spy" side. The image on the card shows Snuppe in disguise, wearing a Kaiser helmet and thin mustache, which is the image shown on the other side of his card (or on the alternate card).
Snuppe is now under cover, and while his game mini moves on the actual field of battle with all the other units, it is invisible to the Blights (because of his ingenius disguise!) until they REVEAL him through a successful dice roll or special 'Counter Intelligence' tactic card (Snuppe is very susceptible to beautiful young lasses (in one Schultz comic I recall Snoopy imagines Lucy as being a female spy on his tail). If the Blight are successful in revealing his location then Snuppe still has a chance to evade capture (less chance if it's a female counter intelligence card in play) by making his own dice roll, or playing a special 'Counter Intelligence' card himself. If he succeeds, he continues on his mission. If he fails then he is captured, his mission thwarted, and he is hauled off to a POW camp, and the Blight scores 2VP (?) for their efforts.
If Snoopy is successful in reaching the objective location he scores 1 VP for the Allies. He then rolls three dice and exposes ONE enemy secret mission card for every die roll of 4+. If he has a "Counter Intelligence" card to play he can succeed on rolls of 3+. If he does not have the Counter Intel card but the Blight player does (and plays it), then Snuppe will succeed only on rolls of 5+. Regardless the results, Snuppe is then returned to the Allied homefront stock pool where--because Woodstock has salvaged his plane wreckage and returned it to working order!--he may be deployed again (paying the deployment points) as a pilot if the Red Baron is still in play, and repeat the process.
This hasn't been tested and I haven't even begun to work out the variables, but I think it could make for some interesting strategic decisions on both sides. If a Blight Spy version is created then you could also get a sort of spy vs. spy thing going.
Cheers,
Bruce Monson
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