Burn Out the Barrows with Sellswords and Spellslingers.

 Here's a Sellswords and Spellingers scenario you might like to try. It is intended for a moderately experienced party (Expert level in the original rulebook), say around 120-140 XP.

The party have found employment at a town that has been suffering problems with undead. The mayor had seemed somewhat harassed when he briefed you for your mission.

“I want you lot to go and clear out an old burial site on the North Road into town. A bunch of travellers got themselves killed on the road and we’ve had strange reports coming in from outlying farms up that way. The Merchant's guild are complaining about the interruption of trade and want something done. We have had an alchemist mix-up some flammable devices to burn the monsters out."

"The pay is 50 silver coins each and you can keep any loot you find in the old barrows."

"Oh, and do not open the chest with those fire bombs in, until you are well out of town."

" Apparently they are delicate!” he added with a grin.

Terrain:

This scenario is played on a 3’ x 3’ table.

There are 3 barrows (burial mounds) in each of 3 corners of the table, 12” away from the centre.

In the centre area of the table, is a small circle of standing stones with a rough-hewn sacrificial altar in the middle.

The PCs enter from the empty corner. The party have been equipped with a 3 containers of flammable liquids, with a warning to take great care in using them!

Foes: Place one wraith knight within 3” of each mound, not closer than 6” to one another. Place a horde of 4 ghouls within the stone circle.

CARDS

Remove:  Traps, He’s Loaded and 1 Wandering Monster card from the deck.

At Our Back:  1d6 ghouls

Reinforcements: 1d6 ghouls

Things Could Get Worse: A Succubus appears on the altar.

Scenario Event: The stones in the circle glow with eerie light. No spells will work within the circle and no magic can pass across the stones (including spell attacks, teleport etc).

Wandering Monster: A wraith knight enters from a random barrow.

Barrows: The PCs need to destroy the 3 barrows by setting them alight with their flammable devices. For Two consecutive actions a PC can prime and set fire to a Barrow.

If a PC spends an action searching the barrow before destroying in roll 1d6.

1: They disturb a wraith knight which immediately attacks.

2-6: Roll on CQB hideout table*.

 

Altar: If a PC touches the altar after the stones begin to glow, the anti-magic stops and the PC is filled with the magical energy absorbed by the stones.

A non-magic using PC will feel a strange tingling.

A magic item carried by the PC will gain a +2 to it’s effects for the rest of the game.

A spellcaster will gain +2 to casting rolls for the rest of the game.

 Experience

4 XP per player if at least 1 barrow is destroyed

+2 XP per player if all barrows have been destroyed

1 XP per PC who burns a barrow

1 XP per PC killing the Succubus or performing a heroic act (eg carrying off the body of a friend).

* Close Quarter Battles. If players do not have the Close Quarter Battles campaign book, roll 1d6

1-3 = 6d6 SP, 4 = Potion, 5= Scroll, 6 Random weapon +1 to hit

Foes 

Ghouls	DL 9	HP 1	DMG 1	MOVE 4”	LOOT None
Minion, Undead
Undead Nature: Immune to poison, disease, mind effecting spells. Poison: perform DL8 Constitution Roll to resist their poison or suffer -1” movement, if movement reaches 0 PC is paralyzed.

 

Wraith Knight	DL 10	HP 2	DMG 1	MOVE 4”	LOOT 2d6 SP
Loner, Undead
Undead Nature: Immune to poison, disease, mind effecting spells. Nocturnal: Immune to darkness modifiers. Shroud of Mist: All perception rolls and ranged attacks are at -2 whilst there are any wraith knights in play. If a Storm spell is cast, the shroud disappears, but will reappear if a new wraith knight enters play.

 

Succubus	DL 14	HP 3	DMG 1	MOVE 6”	LOOT 5d6 SP
Loner, Demon, Evil
Energy Drain: Any PC spending more than 3 turns in melee combat with a succubus without wounding her must perform a Will roll vs her DL or be unable to attack her anymore. If this happens the PC loses 1 HP and the succubus gains 1Hp and +2 to DL. Flying: Succubus ignores any terrain. Demonic, Vulnerable to Holy Water.

 

 Ian and I ran this with 2 PCs each, a Wizard, a Cleric, a Barbarian and a Fighter. We gave all the flammable devices to the Cleric and used the rest of the party to run interference while he set fire to the barrows. Here are a few pictures from our game.

It didn't start well, by the time we had burnt out the first barrow, all 4 PCs were down to 1 HP each! The Succubus turned up early and inflicted some damage before the Fighter managed to kill her. Fortunately we had a couple of healing potions, so two of the characters could regain some hits. The stone circle's magical exclusion zone meant that the Wizard's Teleport Others spell wasn't as much use as it might have been at this stage.

A Wraith Knight waits at the entrance to a barrow.

A pack of ghouls lurk by the altar.

The party assault a Wraith Knight, distracting it....

...whilst the Cleric sneaks around behind the creature to get to the barrow.

Once that barrow was aflame, the Wizard used a Teleport Others spell to move the Cleric on to the next barrow.

Which he quickly sets on fire. 

Unfortunately we had some unlucky combat rolls and both the Barbarian and the Wizard were knocked OOTF as we tried to escape. The Fighter and the Cleric managed to fight off the assailants and drag their comatose bodies off the table. 

If you do try playing this through, I would appreciate your feedback on how it went.

Trying Out Guards of Traitor's Toll Part 2

 Kirstie came over with her copy of Guards of Traitor' Toll, to run through the training scenario with me. We had three guards each, Kirstie had Bill, Ben and Weed (blue and white), while I had Andy, Pandy and Looby-Loo (red and yellow).

As this was my first experience of the game, I was a bit distracted so I forgot to take any pictures during the middle part of the game.

Initially Bill, Ben and Weed entered from the east and south edges, Andy, Pandy and Looby-Loo came on from the north and west. Word came through that smugglers had hidden contraband in a barrel, somewhere in the market square. We needed to locate the contraband before the smugglers could retrieve it. Each group of guards identified suspicious barrels and split up, each heading towards the closest barrel to investigate it.

Andy and Pandy move up on a suspicious barrel. Weed can be seen in the top right-hand corner, as he moves forward to investigate a possible contraband cache.

Looby-Loo spots another likely barrel. He seems to be surrounded by suspicious looking characters, a rough looking bloke in a dusty clock, a wannabe ninja/assassin type , and why's the guy in the blue shirt holding a knife behind his back?

Looby-Loo wandered down the street to check out the barrel. Started to look through it, but was distracted by the ruffty-tuffty ranger-type asking for recommendations for the local taverns (he failed his search roll!).

In the meantime Andy, Bill and Weed all moved up to their respective barrels but found them to be empty. The contraband had to be in Looby-Loo's barrel, if he ever found it!

Mingling with the crowd was one of the smugglers, who spotted Weed, rooting through the barrel. Enraged that the guards might find their loot, he drew his knife and rushed towards the unaware guardsman, stabbing him in the chest. Weed staggered back, shocked, but fortunately the blade did not pierce his armour. (We had drawn another plot token, which revealed a Violent Suspect).

Weed clumsily flailed out at his assailant, but missed him. Ben could see the fracas, so rushed to the assistance of his colleague, but stumbled on the cobbles and failed to reach him this turn. 

The commotion drew the attention of another smuggler, who decided that discretion was the better option and ran off through the crowd. (Another plot token, this time a Fleeing Suspect. Unfortunately he was within 6" of an exit point and promptly ran off the table before any guard could catch him).

Hearing the noise, Andy and Pandy moved through the crowd, when a sudden gap allowed Andy a view of the ongoing fight. Looby-Loo continued his discussion regarding the merits of the local ales with his new friend.

I activated Andy first in the next turn, who rushed forward in his eagerness to assist a fellow guardsman, or in his eagerness for a good ruck! He slashed at the smuggler with his sword wounding the villain.

A third smuggler also decided to get out of town and tried to sidle past Pandy through the crowd (our final plot token, this time a Sneaking Suspect). But he did not escape Pandy's eagle eye and the guard spotted the rascal. Moving swiftly, Pandy stunned the suspect by striking him on the head with the pommel of his sword. 

"Hold it Sonny, you're nicked" Pandy cried, kicking the fallen suspect in the ribs for good measure.

This action drew approving comments from onlookers in the crowd, who were always happy to see their taxes being put to good use.

Hearing the shouts from the crowd, Looby-Loo paused momentarily, but then continued with his praise for the One-Eyed Badger's dark stout.

Back at the fight, the smuggler stabbed Weed again, once more the guard was saved by the quality of his mail shirt. He struck back at the villain, but missed and embedded his sword in the nearby barrel. As Weed struggled to pull his blade free, he had to duck as a wild swing from Ben's axe missed the offender by a good hand's width and almost brained him!

Loudly yelling his despair at the lack of street fighting skills possessed by the younger guardsmen today, Andy lunged at the suspect, catching him under the armpit, sliding the blade through his rib cage and his left lung, before the point of his sword emerged from his back. Pushing on the man's chest, Andy deftly pulled his blade free, allow the suspect to drop to the floor, coughing blood, drawing a brief round of applause from the nearby stall holder and his customers.

Finally finishing his discussion on ale and arranging to meet his new friend at the One-Eyed Badger after his shift, Looby-Loo finally turned his attention to the barrel and discover the cache of contraband.

Game over!

Andy, Pandy and Looby-Loo had acquired 6 Gold coins from their successful endeavours, whilst Bill, Ben and Weed had gained nothing. Unfortunately we had also accrued 7 points of Discontent in the  course of the day (mainly due to Looby-Loo failing 4 consecutive search rolls), so we ended up sharing 1 point of Discontent.

It was great fun and I really liked how the progression of the game lent itself to storytelling.

I shall certainly be continuing to play Guards of Traitor's Toll in the future.

Trying Out Guards of Traitor's toll Part 1

 My first game for a month tonight! Kirstie is coming over to introduce me to the Guards of Traitor's toll game

Here is my layout for the Training Scenario.

A busy Market Day in Gallow's Halt!

The tavern's open!

And doing good business already.

I'm not sure this merchant intends paying tax on what she's selling!

But who is that shadowy female figure in the background, he's in for it when he get's home.

Batrep to follow.

A Break from Gaming

 No gaming or painting for me in June, but I can't complain!

First off, a trip to Shetland, very lucky with the weather, both crossings were very smooth, but two days before we arrived the ferry hadn't been able to get into the harbour due to the wind!

Amazing weather!

We are actually just above 60 degrees North!

Looking North West, next stop Iceland!

The locals were friendly|!

An Iron Age stone broch, just on the edge of Lerwick town.

Then we just had three days to unpack, wash clothes and repack, before we were off for a family holiday, with dogs, to the North Lincolnshire coast for two weeks.

Miles of sand dunes and empty beaches!

Hopefully I can get back in the swing of painting in July!

Painting in May

 I didn't get so much done in May, real life got in the way for the first couple of weeks.

I did manage to paint a dragon for Midgard Heroic Battles. This was a 3d print a friend printed off for me.

Some frog people, some cheap 3d print off Ebay. I thought they had a lot of character and would fit in with my Boglanders.

Some more tentacled aliens from Ramshackle Games.

Another of Curtis' sculpts from Ramshackle Games, an orc shaman on a dungar. I've no idea what I will use this for, but I am sure to find a use somewhere.

Finally, some more war trolls for Middle Earth, based up for Midgard. These are the rest of a box of 1/72 trolls from Dark Alliance.

June is going to be a bust as far as painting goes for me. I just hope I can get back in the swing of things in July and regain the momentum.

Elves vs Orcs with Midgard

 Mark came over to continue his induction into the Midgard community. I think I am nearly there, convincing him that Midgard is the best rules for us to use for our big Middle Earth games.

I decided to go for a variation on David Hunter's superb Crossings of the Eyewash scenario, moving to a mid-Third Age setting, pitting a Noldor force from Lindon against an orc host out of Angmar.

We went for two 500 point armies, with approximately one third of the elves arriving (or not) later as reinforcements.

Here is the initial dispositions, can the hard-pressed elves hold the fords until their reinforcements arrive? We use double depth units for the orc foot, which makes them look very threatening.

Turn One

The orcs advance across the table. A few units were a little reluctant to mix it up with the elves, and hung back to see what happened. The elves stood their ground, except for the horse archers who advanced to take a pop at the leading warg riders, but missed!

Turn Two

The orcs keep moving forward, mainly due to the use of a lot of Mighty Deeds by their leaders to keep their units moving. warg riders charge the mounted archers, who fail to evade.😟

The mounted archers put up a good fight, but are destroyed.

The rest of the orc horde keep advancing all across the table.

Turn Three

The orcs close in on the fords and one unit charges across western ford.

But the over eager orcs are pushed back with a bloody nose by elf spears.

In the defender's phase the elves launch attacks at both fords.

Whilst out on the eastern flank the elf heavy cavalry charge into the warg riders.

Turn Four

Mixed results at the eastern ford, as one elf unit is forced back, whilst their comrades are reduced to bloody rags in the middle of the river.

At the western ford another orc unit dissolves, while the trolls and elf axemen keep pounding at each other.

Both units are simultaneously wiped out, leaving just the two heroes locked in single combat.

At the end of turn 4 the orcs reputation is now down to zero, but the scenario gives them bonus points for being aggressive at the fords, which keeps them in the game.

Turn Five

With most of the orc riders destroyed the snaga now take on the elf cavalry. At this point Shagbad the orc champion steps up and, insulting Orodreth the elf lord's horse, issues a challenge to single combat. Foolish orc! Level 1 champion vs Level 3 Hero with a Legendary Weapon, it's all over in a single round of combat!

The elf cavalry keep up the momentum, forcing the orcs back with heavy losses.

Fierce fighting continues at the fords.

Turn Six

Finally, the first elf reinforcements arrive!

As the orc offensive on the east flank grinds to a halt.

The eastern ford is held, and just as the orcs start to pour across the western ford, the reinforcement cavalry crash into them, throwing them back into the river.

At the end of turn 6 the elves have a reputation of 1 and the orcs are at -2. A very narrow win to the elves. A great game and a lot of fun. It was so close at the end, it could easily have gone either way!

 Mark certainly now agrees that Midgard are the way forward for our Middle Earth big battles. This was only his second game and, apart from the odd prompt from me, he had no problem handling 500 points.