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.