An Impulsive Purchase?

 I made the classic error of, having seen someone's painted minis online, searching for the game! Anatoli posted their superbly painted miniatures for Darkest Dungeon the Board Game on the Lead Adventure Forum. While I wasn't really taken by the hero models I did like the monsters, so I had a quick browse. At over £100 quid for the game, this wasn't something I was going to buy into, but I did see one of the expansions that really caught my imagination. The Crimson Court depicts a Versailles-style 18th century court mutated into blood-drinking insectoid monsters. Brilliant! 

I found a copy cheap online and bought it, less that £30 including postage for 41 minis, seemed like a good deal. I really like the minis, the original set looked a little bit cartoony for my taste, but these are mutated insects, so no problem there.

They are a bit big compared with my 28mm minis (so-called "Heroic" 32mm I guess), but these are mutated, so who cares!

Of course, having bought them on a bit of a whim, what to do with them now? 

I've a few ideas, a couple of warbands for A Song of Blades and Heroes, once they are all painted I can see an entire campaign for Sellswords and Spellslingers.

It will fit in a number of settings, a jungle-like overgrown pleasure garden, alternative 17th/18th century Venice or a combination of the two!

Just so long as I do get around to painting it!

Watch this space, or will it disappear into the Cupboard of Shame with other good ideas/unfinished projects??

Painting in August

I didn't think I would get much painting done in the hot weather (paint often drying before I could use it!). But in the end I did get a few minis painted, considering  the heat, which was nice!

Looking for other "different" units for our upcoming Iron Valley Midgard campaign, I can have goat riders in my Dwarf army. I don't have any minis for these, but I did have a few of the old Grenadier Fantasy warriors Dwarf bear riders. I picked up a couple of extras from Forlorn Hope (who still carry quite a lot of the range in the UK) and gave them a quick paint job with Speedpaints and acrylic paint pens. I don't suppose it really matters in the rules whether the dwarven mounts bite the orcs, or gore them, they are dead either way!

I have been asked about the size of the Dwarf rangers that I posted last month (also Grenadier sculpts). Here's a photo with some of my other dwarves.

L-R 2 x Colin Patten sculpts (Vendal or Conqueror), Grenadier, Asgard (Jez Goodwin sculpt), Grenadier, Mythic Worlds (originally Lancashire Games, them ERM) and Games Workshop Middle Earth (one of only 2 GW dwarves in my collection!).I don't have any of Colin Patten's newer Ragnarok Miniatures, but I think they would match the Vendal/Conqueror models for size.

A Reaper Bones Nagengra/snakeman champion.

Getting back to the Wildspire Realm Reforged set, another giant snake.

A couple more for my urban games, an apothecary and a female bandit.

A Deep One type-thingy to crawl out of the sewers and a hobgoblin mercenary.

Alternative Victory Conditions for 4-player SOBAH Campaign

One of the problems we found with A Song of Blades and Heroes (SOBAH) is that the Victory Points were really dependant on killing other Player Characters. In fact, one player pointed out that it was to his advantage to completely ignore the scenario conditions in preference to killing as many other PCs as possible, because he would end up with at least twice as many VPs.

So, I decided to revamp the VP system and increase the VPs that the scenario objectives rewarded players.

Firstly, VPs from Kills: a player gets 2 VP for the FIRST kill from each opposing warband, regardless of points value.

VPs for Scenario Objectives: I am going to increase the number of VPs for succeeding in achieving the objectives and, with four players, add addition possibilities for gaining VPs. We will also be using a time limit for our games, usually about 2 hours.

For example, for the Treasure Hunt scenario in the rulebook, I would place 8 treasure tokens instead of 3. Four tokens are dummies, two are worth 2VPs and two are worth 5 VPs. Carrying a token off the table gains the full VPs, if a PC is carrying a token but still on table at the end of the game, they are worth 1VP.

In some games I’m going to add in Personal Objectives to gain 3 VPs (claim immediately that the task is fulfilled).

ACE	Assassinate Player 1’s leader
TWO	Assassinate Player 2’s leader
THREE	Assassinate Player 3’s leader
FOUR	Assassinate Player 4’s leader
FIVE	Your first melee attack must be by your leader.
SIX	Your leader must single-handedly kill at least one enemy model
SEVEN	A model must touch the table edge on either side of your deployment area (may be different models)
EIGHT	One model must touch the table edge opposite your deployment zone
NINE	Do not kill any members of Player 1’s warband
TEN	Do not kill any members of Player 2’s warband
JACK	Do not kill any members of Player 3’s warband
QUEEN	Do not kill any members of Player 4’s warband
KING	Keep your leader alive on the table until the end of the game

 

Occasionally I’ll also add secondary objectives with possibility of gaining a magic item or extra XP/VP.

For example, scatter 4 bodies around the table. PCs need to spend one action searching a body and draws a card.

Number Card	Nothing
JACK	Find a superior quality weapon: + 1 XP
QUEEN	Find some loot you can sell: +1 VP
KING	Find a valuable gemstone you can sell: +2 VP
ACE	Find a Magic Item

 

As an example of the revised VP system, here is the scenario from the last game I posted on the blog a couple of days ago.

 The Obelisk of Power

 Background

Four powerful wizards are vying to harness the magical energy from an ancient obelisk, that acts a conduit to another realm. Each wants to avoid a direct confrontation, so they have hired bands of mercenaries (the players) to harness the energy on their behalf. In order to harness the power of the obelisk, a Warband must control two of the command discs at the end of the game.

 Command Discs

To control a disc a character must spend an unengaged action standing on the disc. Control remains with the player until another player’s PC spends an unengaged action standing on the disc, when control passes to that player. Each time a disc is activated, all PCs on the disc are teleported.

When a character takes control of a disc, roll 1d6.

1-4 Counting clockwise, and treating the starting disc as 1, the character teleports to the appropriate disc.

5-6 Reroll:

 1-2. The character teleports to a random spot, Long distance away from the disc.

 3-4. The character teleports to a random spot, 2 x Long distance away from the disc.

 5-6. The character teleports off-table and cannot return this game.

If there are multiple PCs standing on on an a disc when it activates, all are teleported, roll for each PC separately.

The game ends after a pre-arranged time (we normally say 2 hours).

Victory Points

VPs for kills

2 VP if your Leader has taken control of a disc at any point

2 VP for controlling one disc at the end of the game

4 VP for controlling 2 or more discs at the end of the game

+1 bonus XP for first PC to stand on a disc

+1 bonus XP if controlling more discs than any other player.

 

A Song Of Blades And Heroes Campaign

 We recently decided to scrap our SOBAH campaign and start over, with a new system for scoring victory points. The existing system in the game was fine for 2-player games, but was not really working with 4 players. So I sat down and devised new VP system and started writing scenarios for games with multiple players.

We played our first game with the new system and everyone was very happy with it. It was quite a close game, with Fortune's Wheel revolving rapidly until the final few minutes, when Mark's Dwarves raced ahead in VPs.

We are playing 4 warbands, Gnolls (me), Undead (Henry), Cat Folk (Colin) and Dwarves (Mark). The scenario revolved around harnessing a source of mystical energy, by controlling four magic circles set in the ground. Unfortunately a side effect of activating a circle was to be teleported to another circle or randomly around the table (or even off of it!).

Here are a few pictures from the game.

One of Mark's mounted Dwarves claims a circle early, whilst the Cat Folk gang up on a couple of Dwarves.

On the other side of the table the Gnolls grab two circles...

...whilst their "pet" ogre faces down the undead.

Where did all those Cat Folk go? The Dwarf leader rolled 6-1 in a combat, inflicting a gruesome kill on a kitty. Most of the rest of the Cats failed their morale test and ran back in horror towards their base edge.

The Gnolls reclaim one of the circles they had activated earlier, only for the Undead to steal control from them. For most of the game, control of the circles revolved rapidly amongst the players.

A target rich environment! The cat archer can't decide whether to shoot the Dwarf Leader or one of the Gnolls (she missed anyway!).

The ogre and a Dwarf battle over control of a circle.

The end result was an overwhelming victory for the Dwarfs, who managed to snaffle 3 of the 4 circles in the last few minutes of the game. My biggest problem was that I rolled badly on teleportation and lost half my warband off the table and out of the game!

Reign in Jotunheim Campaign

 Ross and I played another game in our on-going Reign in Hell campaign, set in a frozen hellscape. This has been fun to play, giving me the opportunity to use various minis from my existing collection and the odd mini I've picked up here and there (often a 3d print that caught my eye).

This was the "Twins" scenario. There are two objects of power, but to release the power you must control one and destroy the other.

The battle gets underway, I split my warband and headed for both objectives, but Ross advanced his warband down the middle to avoid committing to either flank.

That allowed me to grab both objectives early.

But left my demons rather exposed.

In the next turn Ross struck on both flanks, charging with a spined demon...

...and ganging up on my little mephit.

Who didn't last long.

But his attack on the other flank was less successful. A rather bloody scrap ensued from this point.

A high point for me! My succubus used her Charming ability to make Ross's leader attack and kill his succubus, ironically before she could use her ability on one of my demons!

Our two corpulent demons slug it out, sort of a demonic sumo match!

A brave armoured demon attacks two of my warband, well not so brave, he has a magic gauntlet that converts any wounds he saves into hits on the attacker!

This mephet thought he was safe hiding on top of the tower, but my succubus can fly! She stabs him in the back (it was probably the only demon in play with an even lower combat ability than her)....

...then charms a spined demon to charge into his comrade, the armoured demon. If he hits the armoured demon suffers wounds, but if the armoured demon saves they are reflected back onto the spined demon. Win-win for me!

The two leaders go head to head.

My demon is the victor, crushing his opponent...

...then being cut down by the slaughter fiend (I suppose the clue's in the name!).

At the end of this turn (Turn 4) we called it a draw, as the game only ran for 5 turns. We each had possession of an objective, but were too far apart for them to make contact in a single turn, never mind fight and kill their opponent so that they could destroy the other object of power!

A great fun game, with a lot of laughs and a high casualty count. I lost my leader  and two other demons, Ross lost his leader, lieutenant (succubus) and 4 other demons. Three of the killing blows were struck by members of Ross's own warband, under the charm of the succubus (which meant I did not get the soul dice for a successful kill). I really must learn to use the succubus to weaken an opponent, then kill them with one of my demons, rather than the other way around. Fortunately for me, Ross's succubus died in turn 2 so he did not get a chance to use her charms on my warband.

Painting in July

 July has been a much more productive month, allowing be to get through a bunch of fantasy miniatures, mostly from the Wildspire Realm Reforged set.

First off a batch for a dungeon/urban setting. I'm putting a lot of my fantasy stuff on grey bases, especially if I do not have a specific use for them, on the basis that a grey base in an outdoor setting is less jarring than grass tufts and flowers in a dungeon!

These next ones are really bystanders for urban settings, the children would be quite out of place in a dungeon and the dwarf drummer is bound to attract unwanted attention!

I also pained up a bunch of creatures, mostly suitable for a woodland environment, again all Wildspire except for the mountain lion, which is a repainted D&D plastic mini.

I recently got the Midgard mini-campaign "The Iron Valley" and realised I could use a unit of bears, so I painted the rest of the batch.

A unit of Treemen, these are very old figures (1990s?) from the USA, a company called Fortress Figures.

Some old Grenadier minis, from the Fantasy Warriors range, Dwarven rangers (I think these are Nick Lund sculpts). They will also find use in our "The Iron Valley" campaign.

A couple of last minute bits that I've just finished in time.

A female Dwrarf fighter from the Wildspire set. She will be Prinzessin Adalheid in our upcoming "The Iron Valley" campaign.

And some terrain for a change, a pack of Stratified Rocks, 3d prints from Headbunny. I was tempted to pretty these up with some vegetation growing out of cracks and some tufts tucked into corners. But it occurred to me that to do so would restrict their potential use. As it is, they would fit in almost anywhere, the moors of  Middle Earth (or equally Northern Britain or the West Country), deserts, the snowy wastes of Jotunheim or even on the bottom of the sea! 

Belated Birthday Gaming Day....at a PUB!!!

 I decided to hold a Gaming Day for my birthday this year. Due to circumstances I wasn't able to run it on my actual birthday, so on the following Saturday a group of friends gathered. Once I had worked out who I wanted to invite, I realised that it would be too crowded in my gaming room at home, so I booked a space in a nearby pub, the Dog House. 

It's a Victorian pub, originally built for the railway, and downstairs they have a coffee shop that never reopened after Covid, so they hire it out for functions. A perfect location, just a few minutes from home, plenty of space for our gaming needs, private loos, a good sized car park and beer and food just upstairs!

                                      

                                      

After setting up, I started with a bite of lunch (and a cold cider), soon joined by Kirstie, Colin, Ian, Paul, Ross and Henry. I'd also invited Will and Mark, but Mark wouldn't make it and Will was working and would join us in the evening.

We started with a Pulp gunfight on the Canadian/US border involving gangsters, smugglers, cops and Mounties, all searching for a missing shipment of moonshine. It was a chaotic free for all, which quickly dissolved into a series of gun fights, it often seemed most of the players had forgotten their personal objectives (if they had read them at all!).

The quiet before the storm. In the centre of the table is the missing convoy of hooch.

A closer view of the (alledged) objectives.

First kill! Ian's Mounties put down one of Ross's moonshine smugglers.

 

On the other side of the table, Henry's smugglers decide to get in first and open up on Colin's patrol of Mounties.

After a frenzied exchange of gunfire their corner of the table was littered with dead and wounded.

Ross's smugglers were not content with exchanging shots with Ian's Mounties, but starts on Kirstie's Chicago cops as well!

As Ian's patrol move in on the trucks, they are startles to see a frozen severed arm lying in the road! In the meantime, one of Colin's patrol rushes up and climbs into the cab of rearmost vehicle.

A the Chicago cops and gangsters blast away at each other over the car, they notice that the driver is still seated in the vehicle, but missing his head!

As the Mounties start up the engine on the lorry, the noise obviously disturbs the sleep of a local resident, who unsurprisingly is somewhat put out! He takes a swipe at the nearest sumggler.

Unaware of the presence of sasquach, the Mounties clear the road behind...

....and start to back the truck up.

Sasquatch charges towards the closest of the noisy contraptions, taking shots from the Mounties as he does so. But the bullets seem to have no effect, except to annoy the creature even more!

Having taken out the last of the cops, Paul's gangsters hurriedly pile into the vehicles and franticly try to start the engines.

Just as Sasquatch closes in, the engines roar into life and the gangsters pull away, but their progess is slowed by the deep snow.

Ignoring the ruckus just across the border, Colin's Mountie safely exits the table.

As the other lorry moves towards the table edge, Henry's last smuggler runs to the back of the truck and pulls himself in. Realising they have a stowaway, two of Paul's men climb out of the cab, onto the roof of the truck, then swing down through the open back door and attack the startled smuggler. 

At this point Sasquatch catches up with the vehicle and, hanging onto the swinging door with one hand, reaches inside and grabs one of the gangsters.

A lucky die roll allows the gangster to evade Sasquatch's attack, just as the truck zooms off the table, leaving the irate monster clutching a torn jacket.

The final situation, with a lot of bodies left lying in the snow, the spreading blood staining the white to red.

At this point Henry plaintively asked why Paul's men were battering his smuggler, when according to the scenario notes their gangs were allies! Oops, Paul hadn't noticed that!

The final result was an overwhelming Victory to Tony "No Nose" Calzonne of Chicago (Paul) have escaped with a truck load of hootch and kept his boss alive.

Second place went to Sgt Smiths RCMP patrol (Colin), they secured a load of illicit booze, but failed to nab their target "Lumberjack" Watson.(who had been killed by Ian's Mounties, but he didn't any VPs for that!).

Everyone else was into minus numbers of VPs, as no one had achieved any of their personal objectives and had lost several of their characters, in fact all of them in the case of the Chicago PD (Kirstie).

Great fun and a lot of laughs.

As we only had an hour to go until we were eating, Ian produced a board game to fill the time.

It's Colt Express and rather silly Wild West game of robbing a train. Very cinematic, with outlaws climbing onto the roof and running alond the train, punching and shooting each other, whilst trying to avoid the marshal. A perfect time filler and once again a lot of laughs all round.

Ross and Henry had to leave at this point, swapping with Will who came straight from work, and Broni and Towse who were joining us to eat. After eating (I had a rather nice pizza, but others assured me that the burgers and the lasagne were of equal quality) we finished off with Will's board game, Aliens: Another Glorious day in the Corps.

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos.

Everything finished off around 10pm, when Broni came back to collect me and allt he boxes of gaming kit, as well as acting as taxi for Paul to get his train on time.

Thanks to everyone to took part, it was a really great day and a lot of fun.