Hunt for the Mad Trapper of Rat River

St Matthew's church and cemetery in Fort McPherson, NWT.

Arthur and I learned the story of the Mad Trapper of Rat River during our recent Epic Arctic Adventure of Epicness.  We even bought a book about the event from Maximilian's Emporium in Dawson! Coincidentally, Dan Mersey wrote a series of scenarios for gaming the events of the chase in the January 2025 issue of Wargames Illustrated.  All of this came together, and so we decided to put on our own version of the hunt as a tabletop game at the August Bonsor meeting of the Trumpeters.

The background for these games is that in December 1931, First Nations trappers complained to the RCMP detachment in Arctic Red River (now known as Tsiigehtchic, NWT)  that their traplines had been torn out.  This was serious to the trappers, as their livelihood depended on them.  The available evidence pointed to a white trapper, Albert Johnson, who had arrived in the region the previous summer.  Constable King and Special Constable Joe Bernard were dispatched to Johnson's cabin on the Rat River to find out more. Johnson refused to speak to the constables, so they went to Aklavik, NWT obtained a warrant from RCMP Inspector Alexander Eames.  The patrol was increased to four RCMP constables plus Special Constables Joe Bernard and Lazarus Sittichiulis. When Constable King approached the cabin this time, Johnson fired through the door, seriously wounding the constable. Special Constable Bernard dragged King to safety, and the patrol rushed him back to the hospital in Aklavik, where Dr Urquhart found that the bullet basely missed King's heart.

The Mounties now had a much more serious matter to deal with than vandalism of traplines.  Inspector Eames organised a patrol to arrest Albert Johnson, consisting of himself and Constables Millen and McDowell; Special Constables Bernard and Sittichinli; Knute Lang, Ernest Sutherland and Karl Gardlund; and First Nations guide Charlie Rat.  This is where we started the first scenario.

As these scenarios each featured a single character (Johnson) against multiple police and their associates, it was necessary to buff up Johnson much more than normal for a single figure in a skirmish game.  In Fistful of Lead terms, Johnson is rated as a Veteran (rolling d12 instead of the d10 used by standard characters).  He has the 9 Lives trait, to prevent the scenario ending prematurely as a result of a lucky shot.  He is Steady, allowing him to ignore the effects of wounds or shock on his shooting rolls.  As he was noted to be carrying multiple weapons and lots of ammunition, he has the Loads of Ammo trait so he can ignore the effects of an out of ammo roll.  Finally, in Scenario 1, he was inside his small 8' by 10' cabin, which was basically a tiny fortress, loopholed to allow him to shoot out in any direction.  To account for this, as long as he was inside the cabin he got both heavy cover (-2 to shoot at him) and heavy armour, which gave him a 6+ save on any successful hits.

The cabin in the woods.  Felt marks areas of difficult terrain, where movement is halved.  Open area around the cabin allows normal movement.

Against Johnson were Inspector Alexander Eames (veteran, leader, pistol), Constable Edgar Millen (loyal, nerves of steel, modern rifle), Constable R.G.McDowell (loyal, modern rifle), Special Constables Joe Bernard and Lazerus Sittichiulis (loyal, modern rifle) and three trappers, Ernest Sutherland, Carl Gardlund and Knut Lang, all with modern rifles.  

Lang also has two charges of dynamite.  The dynamite charges are thrown as grenades.  If the centre of the blast lands on the cabin, make a wound roll.  On a shaken result, the cabin shakes but remains intact.  On a wound, cover is reduced from heavy to light (and Johnson's save is reduced from 6+ to 8+).  On out of action, the cabin is destroyed and there is a wound roll for Johnson.  If the template only touches the wall of the cabin, then on a wound or out of action roll, cover is reduced only on that side of the cabin.

Inspector Eames and his men arrived at the cabin on 7 January, 1932.  Temperatures had dropped to -40C. To reflect the limited time that the men could work in the cold temperatures, the game is limited to 8 turns, after which the police will withdraw to warm up.  I added another consideration - the police are not fanatics, and this is not a 'do or die' military solution.  The police rate their own lives and those of their colleagues.  To measure this, every turn after the police have taken casualties, the leader must roll a d10.  If the number is equal to or less than the number of casualties, the police will withdraw to tend to their casualties.

Mad trapper at his cabin.

Inspector Eames and his Mounties move into position.

Trappers on the far side of the clearing move up.

Special Constable Joe Bernard prepares to fire.

Trappers get ready to attack the cabin.

Lang readies his dynamite.  Gardlund however is out of ammo!

Oh, no!  Special Constable Bernard is hit!  The Mounties test their determination, needing a 2 or better on a d10, but roll a 1.  They withdraw to tend to Bernard's wounds - fittingly, as he was the one who saved King's life.

After regrouping, the Mounties returned to the cabin, but found it deserted.  This was the beginning of the manhunt.  Johnson was a very experienced woodsman, and tracking him in the dead of winter was very difficult.  The RCMP posse was joined by Quartermaster Sergeant R.F.Riddell and Staff Sergeant Earl Hersey of the Royal Canadian Signal Corps outpost at Aklavik.  These men brought their radios - marking the first time that the RCMP used radios to coordinate a manhunt.

After weeks of tracking Johnson through the wilderness, the next encounter with him happened on 30 January, when Constable Millen, Carl Gardlund, Noel Verville and Sgt Riddell came across Johnson's camp.  The camp was hidden among boulders and fallen trees, allowing Johnson an 8+ save as long as he remains in the camp.  Another special rule is that Johnson must stay in the area for 6 turns before fleeing (this is a bit arbitrary, to give the Mounties a chance to engage Johnson and not just have him leave the table on the first turn!).  

One more special rule is that Sgt Riddell has his radio.  Each time he activates, he can attempt to call for reinforcements.  Due to the cold, the radio is unreliable, so he needs to pass a normal (5+) test to get a message through.  If he succeeds, then in two turns, Sgt Hersey and Special Constable Sittichiulis will enter the table.

Johnson at his camp.

Millen and Verville advance toward the camp.  Riddell, in the centre with the binoculars, calls for reinforcements.

Johnson moves into cover.

Verville and Gardlund move in the forest.

Millen gets the drop on Johnson.

Vervilles advances toward the fugitive.

Gardlund is out of ammo!

Johnson fires on his attackers, taking down Verville and wounding Millen.  The Mounties fall back to tend to their wounded.

Johnson then disappeared back into the wilds.  Canada's most famous bush pilot, Wop May, was recruited to provide air support, another first for the RCMP. He flew his Bellanca CH300 Pacemaker, assisting the hunt by looking for signs of Johnson's movement through the snow. as well as ferrying supplies and men back and forth from Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchik and the men in the field.  Finally, on 17 February 1932, the hunt caught up with Johnson on the Eagle River in Yukon Territory, approximately 145 km west of his cabin on the Rat River. He had covered the entire distance on foot in the dead of winter, in temperatures below -40C, with almost no supplies, living on small game, unable to light more than the smallest fire in case it was seen by his pursuers.

For Scenario 3, Johnson starts in the middle of the Eagle River, without cover.  He can move full speed on the ice, but must pass a difficult test (8+) to climb the banks, which he needs to do to exit into the woods away from his pursuers.  He retains his 8+ cover save, without any particular justification, except that he needs any advantage he can get in order to have a chance!

There is no turn limit.  Either Johnson leaves the table or he is killed or captured by the Mounties.  The pursuers arrive in different turns throughout the game.  In turn 1, Sgt Hersey arrives on one of the river table edges.  In turn 2, Trapper Noel Verville and RCMP Constable Sidney May enter on the opposite river table edge.  No new arrivals in turn 3, then in Turn 4 Special Constable Sittichiulis, Trappers Gardlund, Lang and Sutherland arrive on one of the riverbanks.  Turn 5 sees Inspector Eames, Sgt Riddell, Special Constable Bernard, Trapper Constant Ethier (a former RCMP constable) on the other river bank.  Finally, on turn 6 Constable McDowell arrives on the river.

Turn 1 - Sgt Hersey finds Johnson on the river and manages to wound him.  Note the broken styrofoam representing broken ice on the riverbank, requiring a test to scramble across it.

Constable May and Noel Verville approach Johnson.  He shoots at May, but only startles him (smoke marker signifying one point of shock).

But another shot takes May out of the fight!

More pursuers arrive on the riverbank.

Johnson manages to wound Sutherland, but takes another wound himself.

Beset on all sides, Johnson struggles to hold off his pursuers.  Finally a higher-level photo giving a better view of the table!

But the numbers are against Johnson.  Wop May's Bellanca lands on the Eagle River to pick up the wounded for transportation to the hospital in Aklavik.

The models I used in this game were already in my collection - mostly Pulp Figures Yukon Peril, with a few Tiger Miniatures Mounties and 1919 Winter War figures to make up the numbers.  The orange airplane is new, it is a Sarissa Precision light airplane.  It is a more or less generic light airplane from the early- to mid-20th century, and is certainly a near-enough match to the Bellanca CH300 Pacemaker that Wop May flew.  I painted it orange with the CF-AKI markings of May's Bellanca.

The games played out pretty fast, much quicker than I had anticipated.  In the end, we ended up with the same result, with the stubborn and mysterious Albert Johnson dead on the Eagle River - although in our two playtest runthroughs, we had different results, with Johnson escaping in Scenario 3 in the first attempt, and being mortally wounded in Scenario 1 in the second attempt.  Fistful of Lead gave us a fast and dramatic game, and kept all the players involved.  Thanks to Arthur, Craig, Peter, Oliver, Tyler, Robert, Chris, Lisa, Cameron and Grace for playing!