"Unleash the hound!" Topic

Do you ever use tracking animals for pursuit or as a part of your scenarios? Also, if you do are your players able to effectively deal with hot pursuit?

I haven't played much pulp, but I have a couple of USMC war dogs in my WWII units.

I don't do much pulp either – I have a couple of my SYW commanders (oddly enough, all British) with pet dogs on their command stands

I like dawgs better than people …

I play Burrows and Badgers, in which all the characters are animals and there is lots of "hide-and-seek" action. So in that sense, all the time.

How well we deal with it varies. A sneaky black rat can usually escape detection just fine. A big old badger on the other hand… youtu.be/8n3ZiFHluMs

But then, a big old badger usually doesn't need to hide.

I have a lot of dogs for my various armies and warbands…

I have some dogs painted up for the Seminole War but still have to work out how to use them.

In my 40 years of D&D RPG, I've never used scent-tracking dogs. I may need to change that… Thanks!

I've used War Dogs, and Guard Dogs, quite often. A pair of War Dogs, with barding, when the owner can afford it, is fantastic for putting an offensive, biting, meat shield between them, and the monsters.

For a Mage character, I tell them that they should buy a pair of War Dogs, as soon as they can: the Dogs will allow them to participate more, in combat, by rolling for, and controlling, the two Dogs; the Dogs can attack, far better than the Mage, as they attack as 2 HD monsters; they do far more damage (2d4, for each Dog) than a Mage can (typically 1d4 or 1d6); the Dogs will likely take the damage, rather than the Mage character, if the Dogs get hit; the Dogs are easy to replace, should they be killed…

When the Mage characters get to higher levels, the Dogs are not so much help, but at lower levels, they should be Standard Operating Procedure. Cheers!

My dog, Muckart, does not approve of your attitude. He informs me that dogs are NOT to be regarded as expendable "cannon fodder". He also reminds me he has sharp, and very dirty teeth. Cave Canem!

I did use a Russian mine dog in one scenario.

Muckie also has an excellent sense of smell, Marc 33594. In fact, he has a very special set of skills….

Are you listening for the scritch scritch scritch of claws?

I have a few dogs mingled in the Serbian hordes for DBM; I was inspired by a fellow player who added Rupert's dog to his ECW command figure.

Ah Robert, in real life very much a lover of dogs. In fact have two which are therapy dogs which, in normal times, volunteer in a children's hospital. And both are Golden Retrievers, a breed developed near Glen Affric in Scotland so you can call Muckie off. :)

The Wee Fella has been mollified, with a couple of Dog-biscuits and a rolled-up newspaper. He loves wearing this kind of "pokey-hat" because he has a Napoleon complex. He holds that his breed originates near to Castle Doune, though his claim to be descended from Irish Wolfhounds sat uneasily with this until he went to fetch John Prebble's "Culloden" and, with a mud-encrusted claw, carefully indicated in the Index "Irish Picquets in French service". Apparently an ancestor undertook vital scouting missions during the march South to Derby. As Muckart concludes the story, "I, Muckart, fink I have lotsa cousins doun in England, Big Dug. They're whit ye might call 'distant relations', ken whit I mean?"

Woof!