Back from Whence You Came, Creature of Hell!

One of the troop types featured in Mayhem is the Swarm - a unit that makes more of a nuisance of itself rather than killing anyone. I quite fancied having a swarm unit but I have never liked the idea of masses of frogs, rats, etc in a battle. In a dungeon or skirmish, yes, but in open warfare, no!

Chaos Swarm

So I've been looking for something to make little a mass of little creatures of Chaos - imps, perhaps and came across these. They are actually from Dark Realm's 6mm Scifi Range and go for £3.00 for 25.

I managed to mount nineteen of the little blighters on a 40mm by 30mm base (so that they can also be used as a HotT horde). So that leaves me with six more to use in fantasy or pulp skirmishes.

That's the good news. The bad news is that I am not going to manage to fight the battle between the Crusaders and Chaos Army before my son returns home from uni. So they have all had to return to their boxes until after Christmas. Not that I am envious of all you lucky people who have wargame rooms - not many, Benny!

Here There Be Dragons!

Well, there's one dragon.
Since starting HOTT in 15mm I have never found a dragon figure that met my requirements:

• It must look convincing 
• It must fit on the appropriate HoTT 15mm base
• It must be pretty cheap.

I had toyed with AD&D Miniatures baby dragons but they looked too much like... well, like babies. Finally I found this:

Reaper Bones Young Fire Dragon with 15mm Spearmen

It's from Reaper's DHL Bones Plastic plastic range  and comes in at £2.76 from Miniature Heroes in the UK. I have read some comments about the plastic being too bendy on some websites but the figure worked just fine for me. I immersed the figure in boiling water for a wile so that I could lower the wings a little and then plunged it in cold water so that they stayed in place.It painted very easily.

Now I just need to decide what army to ally it with. But of course it will also fit in with Mayhem, RRtK and WHAA in 10mm.

BTW I can recommend Miniature Heroes too - quick delivery and first class customer service from Tim Fitch.

Still in the Land of the Living

Like so many others, I been failing to keep up this blog. Sorry for that.

But I have been doing some painting, modelling and reading though sadly no gaming for quite some time.

In fact the only game I've played is a try out of the "Pulp Alley" Rules with some British Bobbies seeking to foil the plans of an evil cult. I know that a of people are raving about the rules but they didn't really work for me. I think that I am going to revert to using Two Hour Wargames' "Larger than Life" though I might take some ideas from other rules to flesh them out a bit.

 

Painting-wise, I have been gradually dealing with my lead mountain of 10mm fantasy and pulp and the three Pendraken resin ruins that I bought at Colours 2011. They paint up really well and give me a more urban setting for pulp games. And I almost forgot that I also painted most of a 15mm Hobbit Army for HoTT (I'll add some pictures to my gallery soon). I have only had the figures for about a decade so not bad, huh! I just need to paint up a few rangers and convert a barrel wagon so that it has a hobbit on top and then the army will be complete.

And I have also been doing some scratch-building of a fantasy village, using a cardboard tube, some plastic tubing and an old towelling sock. I'm really pleased how they turned out though I haven't quite decided who would live in such buildings.

My lack of gaming (and blog updating) has also convinced me that I need to hone down my interests to restrict myself so that I paint, model and read less and game more. So I am soon going to be selling off all my 15mm scifi (figures and scenery) on eBay and focus all my attentions on fantasy gaming - 15mm for large battles with HoTT if I play my son (when he's back from uni) or Rally Round the King and/or Mayhem for solo gaming and 10mm for skirmishing and dungeon crawling using Warrior Heroes - and perhaps the occasional 10mm pulp game.

Of course, like many wargamers, I have made myself similar promises before but I hope that this time I will stick to it. Watch this space.

Meanwhile back at the Ragged Gauntlet...

Eorlith, Lorhan and Dorf are licking their wounds as they sup tankards of Barkeeper Blartur's ale. At the table also sits Multair, Or'eldi's cunning man, sipping his elderflower and nettle cordial.

"We must return to Or'eldi and rescue our people," Multair urges.

"What, and let those Orcs finish us off as well?" Eorlith retorts. "We need to find some more warriors to join us."

"And who is going to join you," the cunning man asks, "when you turned tail and left my people to die like a coward?"

"The man has a point!" acknowledges Lorhan.

[As the encounter is 'complete' I've rolled to see if/how the characters have advanced.

For Eorlith's Rep, I've rolled a 1 so it drops to 3. but I've managed to raise his Hardiness to 2. Because he did a 'runner' his social standing has dropped as well to 2.

Lorhan's Hardiness has also risen to 2 and Multair's Rep has gone to 3. Dorf has not changed.

Recruitment is going to hard. Also as Eaorlith's Rep has dropped, does Larhan's have to as well or can Lorhan take over star-ship? This could be a very short campaign]

The Scouring (Hopefully) Continues

But just as Lorhan slows down, two more Night Orc Spearmen come into view, closing in rapidly on Multair.

Things are not looking too good - four enemy behind them, two in front of them [and the PEFs closing in. Though they have had a bit of luck in that the PEF that moved in close to the rear of Multair turned out to be Number 5 - reinforcements at last! And then the Test of Wills for Multair and the Orcs ends up with the same number of successes. Phew!]

Eorlith and Lorhan run to the aid of Multair and attack the two Orcs. Eorlith beheads his Orc but Lorhan's puts up a sterner fight.

Meanwhile four villagers burst out of their homes right into the midst of the Night Orcs who turn to attack them.

The results of the melees between the villagers and Orcs are mixed. One of the villagers takes out an Orc with his bow as it charges. Another thrusts his spear at the oncoming enemy but has his blow pushed aside by the Orc's shield and so begins a long fight as neither can find the telling blow to dispatch their foe. But a third villager is overwhelmed by the onslaught of the Orcs and wolf.

But now the tide starts to turn in favour of the Orcs. They overcome all of the villagers bar one who bravely continues to fight his foe. Eventually, though, exhausted he collapses and is speared.  

Realising that the odds are becoming too loaded against them, Eorlith and Lorhan take out one last Orc each and then beat a hasty retreat quickly, followed by Dulf and Multair.

They will have to come back another day, hopefully with more and better support.

Conclusion

Well I enjoyed the game even though it didn't turn out how I had hoped. Ironically the tables turned in favour of the Orcs when the villager reinforcements turned up because sunddenly all the PEFs came into line of sight and were activated. Before then the heroes were just about holding their own, killing off one PEF at a time.

Perhaps I had been a bit harsh on the villagers making them Rep 2. Rep 3 may have been more suited as they were protecting their homeland. However, I had reduced the Night Orcs to Rep 3 and not given them the Frenzy attribute as that is not my understanding of Orcs (I think that they were more driven by fear in stories like Lord of the Rings).

Oh well, Eorlith may  have to find an easier foe to fight.

[I seem to have the tune "Brave Sir Robin" from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" running in my head - can't think why!]

The Scouring Starts

Eorlith and Lorhan decide to leave the road and skirt round the village via the ploughed field with Dorf bringin up the rear.
"Where are your people?" Eorlith asks.

"They will come soon," Dorf assures him. "I am the first to get past the Orcs. Perhaps my people do not expect me to  return.

"Or perhaps they are cowering in their homes," Lorhan suggests.

Ignoring his comment, Dorf suggests, "Shall I call them?"

"And attract all the Orcs for miles around?" Lorhan exclaims. "Besides, I don't think you need to. We've got company!"

From around the hillock come an Orc and a wolf.

Over the side of the road another two more Orcs appear both accompanied by wolves.

They charge the Orc and wolf in front of them. Eorlith takes out the Orc with a single thrust of his broadsword but the wolf is made of tougher stuff and holds Lorhan at bay. But free of his foe, Eorlith joins his long-time companion in battle and together force the wolf to retreat before despatching him. Dulf quickly follows worried by the other Orcs and wolves drawing ever closer.

Pressing on, the two warriors and the young lad round the wood and rush headlong into yet another Orc spearman and his wolf. There is barely time for any of them to react. This time Eorlith takes on the wolf which springs at him, forcing him back, while Lorhan makes short work of the Orc. 

Now Lorhan joins Eorlith against the wolf but this snarling old beast  manages to sidestep his attack, forcing Eorlith back again (things are not looking good!)

"I have not spent the whole of the campaign season escaping death so that I can become dog food in some backwood!" Eorlith shouts as he summons up all his strength and slashes wildly at the wolf. Taken aback by the warrior's attack, the wolf slips, leaving itself open to Lorhan's blade and he cuts the beast completely in two.

"Nice work!" Eorlith says with a grim smile.

With their latest foe out the way, they spot ahead of them a single character dressed in brown robes . Lorhan makes to charge him but Dulf shouts, "No! That is Multair, our Cunning-man. Don't kill him."

[Here is where I had to roll  one of the Story Cubes. I picked one at random, rolled it  and hopefully you can see what came up - a capsule. Hardly the most inspiring of results but,  as one of my villagers was a healer, I decided that, rather than come out of the houses with the other villagers, he would be amongst the trees (where the PEF was), possibly being the latest villager to attempt to escape the Orc blockade].

Anyway, I think that is enough for tonight. The Scouring will hopefully be completed tomorrow.

The Village of Or'eldi

Here's the set up for the game which I hope I will be able to play tomorrow.

You can see the three heroes at the end of the road on the left and some of the potential enemy and reinforcements on the white paper.


The ten 20mm square bases are the PEFs for the game. I know that the rules say that I should start with three but my thought was that the Night Orcs would be surrounding the village by being in small clusters.
Each one of the 20mm squares has a magnetic square on the underneath with the numbers 1-10 on them so that you don't have to stop the game to discover how many are in the PEF. That has already been sorted out in advance. It's an idea I picked up some time back from Terragenesis, I think.

There are five villagers who are potential reinforcements all with a CV1 so the total CV of the heroes is 11. I decided to make the Night Orc CV a little higher. So then I created the make-up of each of the ten PEFs.

1. False alarm
2. Night Orc Spearman and Wolf 
3. Night Orc Spearman and Wolf
4. Night Orc Spearman with Shield and Night Orc Spearman
5. Villagers pluck up courage and join the fight.
6. Night Orc Spearman with Shield and Wolf
7. Night Orc Archer and Night Ork Spearman with Shield
8. Night Orc Spearman with Shield and Night Orc Spearman
9. An incident happens - roll a story cube (well, I had to get my new toys in somewhere)
10. Night Orc Spearman with Shield and Wolf

I think I am ready.

An Aid to Creativity

When it comes to quests for my heroes, WHAA only really offers three basic ideas:

• Recover an item
• Destroy someone or something
• Rescue a person

I am sure that there should be more than just those three and spotted these on Solo Nexus' blog:

Rory's Story Cubes

The nine dice on the right are from the basic set while the ones on the left are from the Voyages set. I should be able create lots of other types of quests with them as well as flesh out the three that WHAA gives.

And I know that I could simply have used a set of ordinary spotted dice in different colours or perhaps percentage dice but you have to agree that these look more fun. And I managed to get both sets on Amazon for £6.48 plus p&p so they weren't expensive.

Besides, we have a son who is on the autistic spectrum and who likes dice so we are hoping that we might be able to help him develop his imagination with them.

The Characters

THE HEROES

Eurith

Orm-daran Mercenary

Star, Rep 4, Hardiness 1, Elite Trained Warrior

Chainmail Byrnie (AC3)

Broadsword and Medium Shield.

CV3

Social Standing 3

Lorhon
Fellow Orm-daran Mercenary
Rep 4
Chainmail Byrnie (AC3)
Broadsword and Large Shield.
CV2.



Dulf
Young lad from Or'eldi
Rep 3.
No armour (AC2).
Sling and dagger.
CV 1.

The Adventure Begins

Eurith and Lorhon are mercenaries.

Following a successful campaign in the Blarach-nalian army, they drop in at the Ragged Gauntle - a hostelry popular with rogues, adventurers and those with a sword to hire. There they are approached by Dulf, a young lad, who tells them that he has come to find help for his village, Or'eldi, but so far all his pleas have been ignored (probably because he has nothing to offer in payment for their services).

For several months now Or'eldi has suffered raids by Night Orcs. Many villagers have been carried away and much of their farmland has been destroyed. In desperation the villagers have sent several messengers to find help. Dulf has been the first one to make it through.

He promises that some of the villagers will join them once they see such mighty warriors arrive.

Eurith smiles at Lorhon, "Well, we've had a highly profitable season and we're at a loose end. I'm up for it."

Lorhon grins grimly, "It could be good sport."