Reign in Jotunheim (Hell) 2

 Ross and I played the second game in our Jotunheim campaign using Reign in Hell rules from Snarling Badger Studio. I rolled the Relic Hunt scenario, where we both have to collect as many relics as possible in 5 turns.

The table set up, Ross' Lords of Hell are on the left and my Demented cabal opposite.

The Demented Leader and Devout advance on the closest relic.

The faster moving Lords of Hell rush forward, their leader reaching their closest relic and collecting it.

As the Lords of Hell close in on another relic, the Demented Leader leave his relic for the Devout to collect and advances. In the background the two little Mephet Demons can be seen in aerial combat over the last relic.

Too late, a Tentacle Demon collects another relic for the Lords of Hell.

The Demented Spiked Demon uses his impaling charge to crash into the Tentacle Demon, inflicting a lot of wounds!

The Lords of Hell Mephet, despite his wounds, manages to break off clutching the relic.

At this point Ross could have pulled back and consolidated his position, holding three of the four relics. Instead, he tried to be clever. His leader has the ability to activate another demon after his round, potentially jumping ahead of the usual activation sequence. He decides to charge his Leader into the Demented Leader, then immediately follow up with his Devout Demon, hopefully killing my leader with the double attack. I good idea....against anyone except my leader! The Demented Leader has a Poisoned Soul, which means any 6s rolled in defence not only remove 1 of the hits on himself, but also inflict 2 hits on the attacker. So after the first round of combat, the Demented leader had taken 2 wounds and the Lords of Hell Leader took 4!

Now the Devout Demon charged in and inflicted a further 3 wounds.

But I rolled three 6s in defence. this removed all the wounds I had received and inflicted 6 wounds on the devout. Additionally the Demented cabal have Unpredictable Defence, if any demon rolls a triple on defence combat roll, they inflict that number of wounds on the attacker. This meat another 6 wounds on the Devout, killing him outright!!!!

My leader then attacked Ross' leader in my next activation , inflicting more wounds. I had the next activation, so my Devout charged into the fray.

With only 2 life left, the Lords of Hell Leader fell to the onslaught. Ross had forgotten that the Leader was carrying one of the relics, which my leader now picked up from his mangled carcass.

With 4 of his warband now killed, to no loss on my side, Ross decided to pull back the demons carrying his other two relics and pushed forward his Slaughter Fiend to caver their retreat. He fell to the impaling charge of the Spined Demon, but the delay he caused prevented the Demented from closing with the survivors before the game end!

Another great game and a lot of fun. Much laughter on both sides, especially when I rolled that triple 6 in combat!😂

We are both looking forward to the next game.

Painting in August

 Here are my offerings for August. I am really pleased to keep the flow going, although I didn't get as much actual painting done this month. I have started on a grand rebasing project on my 28mm collection. This is primarily so that the armies look better when playing Midgard using sabot bases.

First up the painting.

Some more demons for my Jotunheim/Reign in Hell games. Two little flying critters...

...and a big horned beastie.

Then some wood elf cavalry. Nice looking resin figures but a real pain. They were awkward to assemble, the bows snapped off at the lightest touch - I broke one off just trying to paint it!. Then the resin itself was a bit odd, with shiny patches in places. These shiny bits did not take acrylic paint well, so I ended up giving them an extra coat of enamel spray paint to be able to paint them.

Then on to the grand rebasing project. I started with the Late Roman and Saxons/Franks infantry. The bulk of the armies are Gripping Beast  minis, painted nearly 20 years ago. Since then I had added bits, some pre-painted from Bring and Buys, so they were looking a bit hap-hazard. As I have been getting use out of them again with Midgard, I wanted to fix the bases so that they all tied in better when using sabot bases.

The Roman Infantry.

And the Barbarian hordes.

Reign in Jotunheim (Hell)

 When I visited my mate Mark, in South London last month, he introduced me to the Reign in Hell rules from Snarling Badger Studios. I was quite impressed with this little rule set (63 pages), so I picked up a copy for myself.  It's a neat, very simple set of rules. The actual battlefield rules are only 8 pages, the rest of the book is building your Cabal, campaign rules and scenarios.

Although I don't have a collection of GM chaos types, I was sure I could find a wealth of usable minis in my various armies. I don't really have any suitable Hell-type terrain, but I decided to set my games in my (slightly Norse influenced) Jotunheim setting. 

Ross was happy to give it a go and we have started a campaign with Ross playing the Lords of Hell and I played the Demented.

Our first game was the Desecration scenario, The Lords of Hell were offended at some relics and wanted to destroy them, so the Demented decided to defend the same relics, more to piss off the Lords of Hell as for any other reason!

It was a great game, a lot of fun and laughter was had by all. Although I slaughtered all but two of his demons, Ross won the game by destroying more relics that I saved. Keeping you eye on the prize is good!!!

Here are some pictures from the game.

The opposing warbands spread across the table. The blue crystals mark the relics.

The Lords of Hell, or most of them, two minis are out of shot.

The Demented leader and his Devout (lieutenant).

My Spiny Demon inflicts his impaling charge on Ross' Devout.

Opposing Slaughter Fiends clash!

My flying Mephit scans across the battlefield from his vantage point.

My Armoured Demon engages Ross' Corpulent Demon. 

And a few shots of the swirling final melee around the last relic.

Great campaign rules, the after game effects are well thought out and interesting. We are looking forward to the next game.

Painting in July

 I was really pleased to be quite productive in July, after June's hiatus.

First up a Balrog/Fire Demon. These are a pair of 3d prints i picked, part of a batch of demons/devils. My first attempt make the fire too bright, I wanted the impression of oily flames, the sort that would be producing a lot of dark. black smoke. 

I based one for the dungeon/underground, but I'm not sure how to base the other one yet.

Another big demon with an axe from the same set. This will be joining my Jotunheim Norse-myth based armies for Midgard.

Two smaller devils from the set, these will be summoned bodyguards for a Chronipia sorcerer.

A unit of wood elf bowmen/rangers for Midgard, that I got from a supplier on Etsy.

A pack of frost imps/ Again these were in the set of 3d prints, they will be a flying skirmish unit in Jotunheim.

Sone fiery spirits/ghosts, again for Jotunheim.

A Giant Snow Eagle, another flyer for Jotunheim.

A change of direction, some of Ironclad's new VSF releases, southern colonial types, perhaps?

Finally for July, I expanded by Barrow Downs terrain with some 3d printed stuff. Three small barrows, some ruined causeway roads and walls. These are really nice prints and so, soooo much lighter than my existing solid resin pieces.

Let's hope August goes as well. Probably not a lot of painting as i am planning to revisit the basing on my 28mm historical armies to tie them in better for Midgard games. Starting with Saxons/Franks and Late Romans.

Jortunheim with Midgard 2

 Colin and I got another Midgard game in, once again journeying to the icy wastes of Jortunheim. Once again, Colin had the Heroes of Jortunheim against my Hordes of the Ice Witch.

This time I managed to get some early charges in, which helped to boost my Reputation points.

Unfortunately not all my units passed their attempt at a second move, resulting in my charge breaking up my nice neat lines.

I had a bit more success on the right flank, although the unit of little Myrkalfar failed to charge the Frost Giant (and who can blame them?).

The Frost Troll pushed (Army Commander) Sigurd and his Jortun bodyguard back with heavy casualties. 

My Ogre champion led the Frost Wyrms in a flanking movement. The Issalfar skirmishers charged them in a vain attempt to stop their advance....it didn't work!

The Jortun died heroically, leaving Sigurd in a rather desperate situation! 

Elsewhere the Issalfar and Ice Knights enter into a bloody slogging match.

The Valkyrie vainly try to protect their sorcerer from my angry Frost Giant.

It doesn't look good from the sorcerer's perspective!

Having digested Sigurd, the Frost Wyrms fancied a Frost Giant as main course.

But is didn't go in their favour!

The final result at the end of turn 5, 1 Reputation for Colin, -1 for me. A very close game, but the Heroes of Jortunheim just won by a whisker. A very bloody encounter, both sides lost their Army Commander. A lot of fun!

I didn't get it in time for finish painting for this game, but I picked up this little 3d print for when my giants are lobbing boulders around.