GURPS Conan: Beyond Thunder River playthrough session 1

I will play through GURPS Conan: Beyond Thunder River in short sessions until I've completed it. I have about 40 minutes today, right now, so I'll begin play and log it as I go.

I will run Conan of Cimmeria as written up in that supplement, as a 40-year old, 521-point character. I am using the 1st edition GURPS rules from my original boxed set, as written.

Plot Words:
Triumphant
Intrepid
Valorous

Entry 1 lets me sleep in or wake early; I wake early. Conan isn't lazy. Current time: 6 am

I wake and go talk to Purenius the quartermaster and learn about Ligureans and Atlanteans and then he sends me on my way. Current time 8 am.

I go talk to the scouts I command and reassure them the fort is defensible, even though I read "Beyond the Black River" befoe this. +1 reaction from my scouts. Add 1d6 to time, +2 hours, so 10 am.

I leave the fort to scout around. I scout the woodlands this side of the river. I smell smoke and head toward it - and then choose to rush in at full bore to catch any potential Pict raiders before they go. I see them and rush into their midst. They are Mentally Stunned. I roll a die and they're from the Otter tribe, one of the backwoods tribes.

It's Conan vs. 3 Pict raiders, who are attempting to tie a settler woman to a stake for nefarious purposes. I'm essentially in the middle, with two to my right and one to my left. (The book says I'm at location J, but the map only shows A-I. So I ruled I'm at I.)

Turn 1: I throw my axe at the solitary Pict at E. He's 6 hexes away, and my axe has INC 2 so that's a -3 to hit; I aim at his Body (-0). Throwing-15 gives me a 12. I roll a 10. He has Dodge 5 and -4 for being stunned. He rols a 7 and gets hit. 3d+3 cutting, roll 12 = 15 damage. He takes 15 x 1.5 = 22 damage and has HT 9, putting him to -13 HP. He fails his HT roll and dies.
The Picts roll IQ to recover from mental stun. They have IQ 8, but roll a 6 and a 7 and are no longer mentally stunned.
Per the encounter description, I roll 2d but don't hit the numbers needed for a page flip. I downed one Pict, so they might run - I roll a 3 and they stay and fight. Good.

Turn 2: I try to Fast-Draw my sword and then rush them. Made it, and I run 5 yards into one and slam him. I roll a 6 and hit, he fails to Dodge and we roll a Quick Contest of ST, 19 vs. 11. I made it by 11, he failed by 3. He is knocked down.
The knocked down Pict gets to kneeling. The other steps and attacks. He has a 15 and rolls an 8, a hit. I try to Parry with my sword for a 9, location is Body and I had PD 3 there for a 12. A 9 does it. I roll 2d and get a 12. I flip to page 315, and Slasher the Dog jumps out of the woods! He'll stick with me until I hit the river, fort, or Velitrium. Nice.

Turn 3: I hit the kneeling Pict, aiming for the Head (-5), for a net 14 skill. I roll a 13 and hit. His Dodge is 5 and his Parry is a 7, he can't Retreat while keeling, and he rolls a 10. Whack. 3d+3, double damage. I roll 15 +3 = 18 damage -1 for skull DR, doubled to 34, and he has HT 9 and goes to nearly -3xHP in one blow. He automatically knocked out and actually is dead anyway (I rolled a 12 on his HT roll.)
Slasher charges inte Close Combat with the Pict.
Standing Pict has a hatchet and spend his turn readying his weapon and steps back.

Turn 4: I step and hit the standing Pict, aiming for the Head (-5) on this one, too, and roll an 8. He has Dodge 5, +3 for Retreat, for an 8. He rolls an 8.
Slasher bites the Pict in close combat, and hits with a 12. The Pict can't Retreat again and has a 5. He fails (12) and takes 1d-1 = 1 cutting damage to his body. Slasher holds on.
The Pict can't use his weapon in Close Combat so he tries to break free, rolling ST vs. ST. He fails and Slasher makes it. He's stuck.

Turn 5: I hit the standing Pict in the Head again, roll a 10, and hit. The Pict can't Retreat or Parry, so he has a 5 Dodge. He fails. I roll an anemic 6 +3 = 9 damage, just winging him, but that's still 9 - 1 = 8, x2 = 16 damage, for an automatic knock out. He drops.

Fight's over. Let's see what happened with this woman.

Oops, she's not a woman, but a young man in disguise. Plot twist! His name is Owen. He's unarmed, so let's give him a bow and pair of hatchets from these Picts. I recovery my axe and a hatchet.

Current Time is now 2 pm.

That's all the real-world time I had tonight. Lots of page flipping because I couldn't be bothered to photocopy pages or take serious notes. Also, I couldn't find my Basic Set for a few minutes. Luckily I could remember almost all of the rules . . . we really did play a lot of 1st edition GURPS.

Notes:

The solo version of Danger Sense is pretty nice. Whenever you fail a Vision or Hearing roll, you can roll Danger Sense. If you make it, you treat it as a success on the sense roll. I kind of like that - it's a permanent one-reroll Luck for sense checks.

I honestly like the low defenses . . . hits mean something more often. These Picts in 4e would have 8-9 Dodge and roll an 11-12 every time, and I'd need to give up a lot of attack skill to drive it down with Deceptive Attack. Conan's 19 in Broadsword is overpoweringly high, just like it appears in the stories, because there isn't much defense to be had here.

Fun stuff. If any rules seem odd, remember to reference 1e, not 2e or 3e or 4e, before you tell me just how wrong I am. I'm going for the full "Me playing this through in 1988" effect here.