27th August - 25th Aug Frostgrave vs The Wife, The Daughters and Toby

I was basically stuck at home today waiting for FedEx to bring my giant (16.4kg) combined Dreadball Extreme and Kings of War kickstarter packages. I'd also decided to put on a game of Frostgrave, so I just dived into hobby things, finishing off the Masons for The Wife for Guildball (pics to come, I think the bases need a touch more detail but she's happy), getting some more paint on my wizard for Frostgrave and finally pulling out one of my battle-systems packages and starting to put it together so I had some sort of decently cluttered table.

I just knocked together a quick scenario where there was five loot counters scattered through out the small keep guarded by zombies. 

All the wizards gathered their war-bands and entered the area surrounding the keep. 'Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles' began the first turn and moved up taunting the Zombies before him to come face his might. His opponents for today's treasure hunt followed suit though they all made the blunder of rushing the doors with the exception of The Wife's Enchanter and proceeded to get bogged down fighting their rotting foes. The Youngest's Elementalist decided "Bugger the treasure I want to kill The Eldest before she attacks me" and began hurling ball after Elemental Ball at the fledgling Necromancer wounding several the wizard but soon was under fire from The Eldest's hired archers.

The apprentices all proved themselves this time with my aspiring Thaumaturge casting a glow upon zombies to aid my archers and ranger or shield upon my melee hireling strengthening them against attacks. Toby's apprenticed Elementalist conjured several walls, very nearly killing himself in the process. The Youngest's got stuck in to combat at first but then made several attempts to heal her mentor though she never quite managed it and The Youngest was the first to bottle out satisfied suddenly coming up with the solution to the problem she'd been pondering (enough xp to gain a level). 

The Eldest soon had a summoned zombie in tow for both her Necromancer and apprentice, but with her large thief filled war-band and her skirmish with The Youngest she too retreated from the field with no loot (but again enough xp from casting for a level).

This left the field down to three The Wife, Toby and myself. The newly arrived Elementalist Toby the Unlucky was still struggling with his zombies having failed to pull down the initial rush from the first room he soon found himself having to deal with a stacked doorway, although a well placed Wizard's Eye helped him attempt to clear the doorway from the back while his men attempted from the front using muscle and steel the mage just could not manage to pull the risen dead down with his Elemental Bolts exploding harmlessly against the bloated flesh and his steel turned aside by rusted breastplates and mouldering leather.

The Wife's Enchanter Jenny Crafter of Trinkets however gazed across the field at the masterful way Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles was luring the moaning husks out of the building quickly dispatching them with a concentrated effort of magic and steel and watched his band disappear through the now clear doorway and ordered her men to throw back the zombies and pull back allowing them to mob and pull down the single minded foes.

Meanwhile as the second shambling corpse fell to the ground the foul energies animating it dissipating. My Ranger, Barbarian and Thug headed into the now cleared room only to be confronted by a second pair of zombies. The well trained war-band again sprang into coordinated action and with Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles himself hurling spells at the foes they soon fell to some strong blows and well placed arrows leaving the central rooms cleared and the treasure for the taking.

 

Meanwhile......

Jenny Crafter of Trinkets quickly entered her now clear doorway and on a spur of the moment decided to order an archer to check the tomb while the infantry held off the zombie they encountered in the hall and found a stashed bag of loot (I wasn't intending it but decided to reward her thought process, plus i'd left a coin insert in it so what the hell :)  ).  A quick Telekinesis spell later and the treasure was secure.

With the four chests now clear for the taking Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles rushed in with his followers quickly securing the chests and heading back to camp.

Finally!!!

Another enjoyable game of Frostgrave. I'd make a few changes to the set up though for this one, either adding some wider doorways or even removing a wall section or two. I've just got to put a coat of varnish on The Mason's when I next get a chance then it'll be on to the abyssal dwarves now they've arrived I think.

20th August - 16th August Guildball vs Toby

So after an enjoyable morning of Frostgrave at The Uncles, we headed home to see The Wife (who had been at work so missed the game). I had also teed up Toby to come over and get in our first game of Guildball since receiving our minis.

Toby had gone with the Butchers as his first team and once again my Morticians took the field. We left terrain off again for this game but the next time we'll have a few bits and pieces scattered around. We tossed a tossed a coin and I decided to be the receiving team, we deployed and the game was under way with Brisket taking the kick off.

The game began with Obulus headin up the field after giving Casket a running start with puppet master. The remainder of the first turn saw both teams quickly closing in on each other and Casket grabbing the ball after being heavily debuffed with the ranged abilities of the butchers and shooting a quick pass off to Silence who used to momentum to take a bit of run up the field and out toward the wing.

The next turn saw Casket and Obulus getting stuck into Brisket and Princess who had just been covered in embalming fluid thanks to Silence as he streamed past them with the ball. Boar the lumbering giant had moved up but was still unable to close with anyone as of yet. Ox the Butchers team captain move forward but ran into a world of hurt as Cosset smashed into him screaming like a banshee tearing herself up in her haste to close with him. The resulting attacks left the captain with very little health thanks to the added weight from Dirge. And allowed Graves to continue forward ready to unleash some pain himself and Boiler also headed over taking an interest in his captains plight.

The Morticians kept the ball rolling (haha) in the next round with Graves charging in and finishing off Ox with a devastating whirlwind attack damaging Meathook as well but unfortunately clipping Cosset in his haste, after laying in to Meathook though he took the time to help Cosset to recover from her bleed (although I think I should have just gone for a heal instead and cleared the bleed later). Seeing his captain fall and taken off the field to recover was too much for Boar and he slammed into Cosset who was rather quickly sidelined to the ministrations of the team doctors. This would leave poor Graves surrounded by the end of the turn with Boar, Meathook and Boiler all trying to bring the man down, although he continued to stand despite their best efforts. On the other side of the pitch embalming fluid rained down again as Silence continued his run toward goal while Brisket and Princess continued to try to pull Casket down with little to no luck. Obulus continued to harass the pair as well with the poor Butchers mascot easily susceptible to puppet master and therefore often attacking his mistress.

Cosset was back up after a brief pause and on the field although she was still quite wobbly. Ox remained off taking the time to make sure his wounds were as stable as they were going to be. Silence again threw a flask of fluid over the embattled butcher combo and headed toward the goal now only a turn away from being in range. The trio on the other wing took their turns with Boiler failing to bring Graves down followed by the man managing despite the odds being stacked against him to land a blow on Meathook and Boar, before the butcher lass brought him down. Boar then began to lumber over toward Casket hoping his added weight would make a difference, taking out the poor Morticians mascot in a puff of black feathers. Meanwhile the slightly more even melee continued on that side of the pitch.

How dare they kill a poor defenseless bird! Even as Ox returned to the field Obulus puppet mastered Casket giving the hulking man an extra attack which he used to slam Princess to the ground in retribution for the killing of Dirge. An enraged Butchers team sprang into action with Boiler hurtling across the field throwing knives at Silence as he came, but perhaps a cooler head would have helped as he easily dodged through the knives, then himself hurtled toward the goal, scoring easily then continuing on out of reach of any retaliation thanks to yet another vial of embalming fluid casually tossed over his enemies. The return kick had the ball land with in reach of Meathook who quickly took possession. Boar meanwhile charged into Casket but the berserk Butcher was unable to take the resilient Mortician player down and his return attacks left the large slab of a man teetering himself after turns of punishment.  Brisket added a few swings of her own but again Casket just seemed to absorb the punishment from the opposing players with little to no effect. Cosset now looking steadier on her feet moved into charge range on Boar and things now looked pretty dire for the Butchers team.

Graves returned to the pitch ready to intercept Meathook if the need arose but the Morticians seized initiative and Casket sprang into action, pummeling Boar repeatedly until finally as the aggressive Butcher began to topple he hefted him into the air and smashed him down into the handy coffin on his back not only sealing him away from the Butchers medics, but sealing victory for the Mortician team!

Another really enjoyable game and who's going to complain about two games in a day, The Wife was downstairs cheering me along... but mostly finishing off her Saga Anglo Danish and Dropzone Shaltari (hopefully pics coming soon, they're both not too far off finished and I think considering they are pretty much the first things she's painted up for herself they look great) and I spent a good portion of Tuesday night finishing off the bulk of the Mason team for Guildball, with the Fishermen potentially taking their spot on the table next although I have the tracking link for my Kings of War pledge now so the Abyssal Dwarves will take that spot soon.

17th August - 16th Frostgrave vs The Uncle, The Eldest and The Youngest

Headed over to The Uncles place yesterday with The Daughters for our first game of Frostgrave. The girls and I created our wizards and their hired band of adventures. The Eldest created a Necromancer, The Youngest a Elementalist and I opted for a Thaumaturge. The Uncle decided on a Witch and we set up for The Mausoleum scenario.

The game play itself was fast and quite easy to pick up. By the end of the first turn we all knew the basics and even with four players the game went rather quickly. Unfortunately I've not been able to get any of my Frostgrave miniatures painted up yet, but with the help of various Fubarnii and Guildball players we had the wizards sorted, then dipping into the Saga figures, some more Fubarnii, an orc and a couple of borrowed figures we had the warbands sorted and were ready to play.

Our pre-game spells were mostly failures, I was unable to create a potion, The Youngest failed to summon her Zombie, The Uncles animal companion failed to be summoned. The Eldest however managed to raise her Zombie much to her delight.

The Uncle was the first to grab a treasure token, using his Control Undead spell to send a few skeletons to harass The Youngest and clear his path. At that stage he ran into The Eldest who had been firing Bone Darts at everything that moved taking out quite a few skeletons began to exchange fire with him, although he still managed to secure one of the special treasures and began to extract it from the table.

The Youngest played a cautious game at the start securing a treasure, then decided to go on the offensive barreling toward The Uncles apprentice and managed to wound the young witches student, but he was able to get away.

Meanwhile I had fought my way through the skeletons in my path. I had been sending several arrows toward The Youngest's man at arms but was unable to get through scoundrels armour. My Wizard however sent his orc thug up to grab one of the special tokens, casting Blinding Light on The Uncle's nearby Thief taking him out of the running with a nice twenty on the casting roll leaving the poor victim almost guaranteed to be cut down my what ever came upon him. This allowed my apprentice to grab grab another special token, and the man at arms in my employ to secure a third.

This left me winning the game though we all managed to get treasure off the board and all but The Youngest who was ten points short gaining a level of experience on our wizards. Great game and we're all looking forward to getting more in as time allows.

13th August - 11th August Guildball Match Vs The Wife

While most of my planned games fell through this week, my ever dependable wife took up the slack and jumped in for a game of Guildball. My Morticians vs her Masons (my current WIP).

Apart from a few games early on in beta testing with paper dolls this is the first game I've got in since my kickstarter pledge arrived a few weeks back. Toby had stepped up and begun a pitch which had been sent to my place in readiness for our now postponed game of Morticians vs Butchers.

The WIP pitch

The rules have not had any massive changes from when I last played a game during the beta testubg and the game plays really well. Alternate activation and the influence system allows for some rather nice tactical game play.



I lost the toss and The Wife elected to be the receiver so I gave the ball off to Graves after deployment and proceeded to kick off.



The Wife quickly advanced during the first round securing the ball with Mallet and moving up the rest of her team to the centre of the field ready to move where necessary while Tower moved off to her right. For my part I moved Graves up to threaten Mallet using Obulus's puppet master ability to get him into melee range. Casket came across to help cover the centre along with Silence, while Dirge and Cosset headed toward Tower.

A nice roll gave me initiative for the second turn and Graves began by tackling Mallet taking possession of the ball, attacking again and pushing him back and then now clear of Mason's shot a quick pass off to Obulus who took a quick jog in behind Casket. Tower began to move up toward Silence who in turn decided to head toward the centre and lobbed a vial of embalming fluid over toward his Mason opponents dousing Honor and Harmony who after taking a small amount of damage and catching fire charged in Casket and began to offload on him in an effort to take the hulking player down, although Harmony did take the time to remove her on fire condition. Obulous continued to move behind play using puppet master again this time in order for Casket to take a swing at Harmony

Brick chose that moment to move up and engage Silence leaving the Mortician vice captain looking slightly alone and worried. Cosset and Dirge charged up to Tower with Cosset showing her true crazy colours and left Tower still healthy but definitely worse for the experience.

Another win on the initiative roll saw Silence try to get away from Brick who his parting blow and knocked the man off his feet and then proceeded to kick the man across the pitch for a while leaving him bruised and wheezing. Honor and Harmony kept the pressure up on Casket slowly pulling him down. Marbles ambled up in an attempt to add some more weight against Casket but Graves charged leaving the ape bleeding and tied up. Mallet quickly rushed to the beloved animal's aid. Tower managed to get some damage into Cosset, but the slightly off lass tore back into him leaving him barely standing while some how managing to take the time to tend to herself "taking a breather" and finishing up her activation almost untouched. Obulus continued along with the ball finishing off up on the wing just out of range of Tower but leaving himself open for an attack depending on the initiative of the next turn.

Of course The Wife snagged initiative and attacked Obulus with Tower giving Dirge a chance to attack which he did leaving Tower much easier to attack for the turn. Unfortunately for her the lad was unable to land a blow. Obulus counterattacked and dodged around the apprentice before Cosset and Dirge finally pulled him down leaving him off the pitch in a daze scoring me two victory points. Brick began to lumber back in an attempt to protect his goal, giving Silence the chance to get to his feet and again coat the Mason sisters with embalming fluid Harmony managed to escape unscathed this time and streamed toward Obulus hoping to close the distance before the Mortician's captain could score. Honor continued to hammer at Casket but thanks to the man's ability to soak damage like a sponge he continued to keep the Mason captain tied up.

Once again I managed to snag initiative and quickly attacked Brick with Cosset to grab some momentum. The Wife tried to get in close enough to stop Obulus with Harmony but fell short but a mere inch. I quickly answered by activating the captain and firing home the shot for goal scoring and securing another four victory points.

We called the game there as we both had work tomorrow, but we're hoping to get another game in soon. With any luck I'll get a chance to sit down and finish off the Mason's before then, I should probably get a ball based up as well I guess :). Toby's also been hard at work on his Butchers and hopefully we should get a game in ourselves on Sunday.

5th August - Finished Mortician Team For Guildball

Well it's been a couple of weeks between posts, but I've still been ticking away on things. We've been playing plenty of board games but I've not been able to organise to push some little men around on a table since my Napoleonic game versus The Uncle. But I'll be rectifying this this week with at least one but hopefully a few games.

However I've been working away painting wise and have completed my Mortician guild from the Guildball kickstarter {One of my seven teams plus extra thanks to my shiny syndrome and a handy bundle pledge :)}. Toby is working on his Butchers so hopefully we'll get our first non paper doll game in soon. I'm tossing up throwing my Butchers on the painting table next in order to get a game in with The Brother who just happens to have that profession himself, but I'm not one hundred percent on that yet. I've got my Abyssal Dwarves set for a grudge match against The Niece's Dwarves once my Kings of War pledge arrives so I don't want to start anything too large so I can get cracking on that as soon as it arrives.

Anyway short ramble complete here are my finished Morticians:

Obulus

Team Captain

Defensive Midfielder 

Silence

Vice-Captain

Central Midfielder 

Cosset

Winger 

Graves

Winger

Ghast

Centre Back

Casket

Centre Back

Dirge

Mascot

Hopefully I'll be able to get some action shots of these guys soon.