Wednesday 25 November 2015

25th Nov - 23rd Nov Frostgrave vs The Wife

Decided to set up a game of Frostgrave the other day so I could get in a game on my latest boards from the Games and Gears Kickstarter a few years back. As luck would have it, it would also be the day my Thaw of the Lich Lord Frostgrave supplement would turn up :). We played just a straight up treasure grab with four central zombies, three boars and one of the new blood crows that would spawn at a random turn. Once again my Anyaral figures proxy'd for the beasts.










The Wife won the deployment and chose the far end of the table so we set up and rolled off for initiative, which she again won.











The first turn was uneventful with Jenny Crafter of Trinkets successfully casting Strength on herself being the only successful roll of the turn. Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles was going to have a slow start it seemed with not only his spell failing but not a single archer in the warband managing to hit a target.


Turn two started and Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles began to work his magic sending a Blinding Light at a nearby Boar distracting the beast as his Man-at-Arms and Barbarian hirelings worked together to pull down the enraged beast. A second beast had appeared and was about to charge the noble wizard but another faithful hireling slammed into the creature and quickly put it down with some deft polearm work. Meanwhile several Zombies had shambled their way closer to Jenny Crafter of Trinkets and her warband responded, though with little effect the rotting monster left standing with a crossbow bolt in the remains of it's armour and Jenny herself standing looking at the crumbled remains of the rock in her hand after her attempt at a Grenade. My sorry apprentice attempted to cast Shield on the Infantry man in his care but apparently needed more study not only failing to give the man protection but wounding himself with a small amount of backlash. Apparently it was not the day to be an apprentice as The Wife's apprentice also suffered a painful failure with her attempt to Curse an oncoming Zombie. The Zombie's then began to grapple with the Enchantresses band though one fell to a well trained Infantry man the other overwhelmed it's opponent and the man was left barely standing wildly swinging his weapon trying to keep the monster at bay.


My Man-at-Arms seeing his friend engaged with a Zombie and seemingly hard pressed to keep from it's snapping teeth leaps to the barricade and fell the beast with a mighty blow, though it's unnatural vitality allows it to regain it's feet. Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles looses his head momentary and rather than cast his mighty magics at the creature runs up to it and whacks it on the head with his staff not only gaining the abominations attention but some rather nasty scratches. Jenny Crafter of Trinkets again picks up a rock and again watches it crumble to dust with as she imbues it with power as her Crossbowman moves to get a better shot at yet another Zombie. Her Infantry men close in and put the beast down quickly so one peels off to assist his beleaguered ally. The final Boar is mobbed by members of my warband the my apprentice takes a moment to Heal himself. The Wife's apprentice is again racked with pain from another badly failed spell and is forced to watch as the Infantry man in his care is finished off by the undead foe before him. The Barbarian yells a cry and leaps into the fray to save my wizard but a well placed blow from my Infantry man kills the Zombie, while at the other end of the table The Wife's Infantry man finished off the Zombie before it could feast on his fallen comrade.




The turn began with no monsters on the table and Jenny Crafter of Trinkets showed her bloodthirsty side starting the turn by killing my Thug as he attempted to grab some treasure. Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles cast a quick Shield on the Barbarian as he charged forwards in retaliation. The Wife's apprentice attempted to Elemental Shield himself but failed woefully and was again wracked with backlash. His cries attracted the attention of my apprentice who quickly cast a Glow spell and an Archer quickly uses the highlighted figure as a target and felled the budding wizard. My other Archer decided to try his luck at Jenny Crafter of Trinkets herself but his shot went wide. Meanwhile one of her Infantry men grabbed a chest and my Ranger once again managed to miss his target.




The Bloodcrow finally appeared attracted by the bloodshed. Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles tried to blind the archer but the soldier managed to resist the spell. Jenny Crafter of Trinkets tried her Grenade spell once again but again the rock crumbed to dust in her hand. One of her archers managed to fire into the Barbarian. My apprentice decided to keep a good thing rolling and Glowed another member of The Wife's warband but my archer failed to do more than hit his armour. The Wife's archer decided that the Bloodcrow was a greater danger and fired a shot off but failed to penetrate the birds tough hide. My other archer decided to try his luck at Jenny Crafter of Trinkets again and this time the shaft flew true leaving the master Enchanter gravely wounded. My Ranger once again missed his shot, while the Bloodcrow attacked The Wife's archer raking him with it's talons.

 








That was the beginning of the end for Jenny Crafter of Trinkets as my warband got to grips with hers. Her archer's finished off the Bloodcrow but my Barbarian then smashed into them like an elemental force and crushed one with a single mighty blow. Jenny Crafter of Trinkets despite multiple failures decided to try to cast one more spell in order to Heal herself, but the resulting backlash dropped her like a stone and her warband retreated dragging their fallen with them.


The after battle rolls luckily didn't cost The Wife any of her warband, but we're thinking of starting with fresh wizards soon anyway now we're all familiar with the rule set.



Meanwhile in the painting world they're getting there :)

Monday 16 November 2015

16th November - General Update

Just realised it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I've managed to get two more games in with The Brother at my place the first of which featured The Uncle as well.

We decided to introduce The Uncle to Saga and while I've lost the notes I took on the day the game went the same way with victory going to The Brother with his Pagan Rus. We're aiming to get a one on one game in sometime soon as the multi player games tend to play to the more passive side of his board and he wants to try out some of the other abilities rather than just the Alone in the Dark and Endless Waste :). Still it was a fun game and The Uncle while preferring a more in depth rule set liked the rules for what they are.

Table Set Up

The Viking Hearthguard break the Welsh Warriors
The Viking Warriors push into the Pagan Rus
Levies but get pushed back



The Lone Viking Hearthguard charges the Welsh
and manages to pull one man down and drive them back

The final turn saw the Vikings push back the tattered
Pagan Rus line, but alas too late for a victory
Just today The Brother was down with my two youngest Nephews and his Wife to raid the garden so we figured what the hell and I put on a demo game of Dropzone Commander. I've really enjoyed the games I've played so was hoping he'd enjoy it as well, especially with my all in mentality for the Dropfleet Commander kickstarter currently running. He enjoyed it as is thinking of grabbing a faction next year so I'm already picturing initial orbital engagements leading into actual ground encounters modified by who gets what dirt side.

My Hunters take a shot at The Brother's
Bear (out of shot) leaving it limping and Rapiers
(but fail to hit the anti-air tanks)

The Brother's Sabres round the corner
and take out my Invader and a Hunter
The UCM troopers open fire on my
Marauder carrying my objective but it
survives with a single hull point left















That's about the lot for me at the moment, still working away at my Abyssal Dwarf Immortals which I hope to get finished in the next couple of weeks and I've assembled a Pan-O Jotums and a Nomad Iguana for Infinity as a break from unit painting before I get stuck into the Halfbreeds and Gargoyles. There's also a post up for today's Dropzone game up on The Brother's blog

Monday 2 November 2015

2nd November - 1st Nov Saga vs The Brother vs The Eldest


Headed over to The Brother's house yesterday to meet my new nephew and get game in. After a bit of general catching up with him and his family we got down to the gaming. He'd surprised me with his newly painted Pagan Rus force and offered The Eldest the helm of his Welsh so we set up for a three way clash.

Vikings
 
 We played a four point per side game with The Brother and myself just using the standard starter warbands (Warlord, two hearthguard and two warriors with one of my hearthguard being beserkers) The Eldest settled on a mounted warchief, two hearthguard choices (one of which was also mounted) and two warrior options.
Welsh

The Brother and The Eldest claimed two corners of the table for deployment so I took the middle of the opposite long edge.
Pagan Rus
The first turn had all of us begin to advance toward our opponents holding fairly closely together until an opportunity presented itself.
 
 
It was the second turn when things began to get interesting. The Pagan Rus it appeared had brought a hard climate with them as The Great Winter swept across the board slowing down all the warbands as they advanced. While attempting to push up and come across into the Welsh flank my unit of Hirdmen (hearthguard) found themselves getting bogged down in the Frozen ground and were unable to complete their second movement. The Welsh thanks to Children of the Land were able to move through the forest at a fairly rapid pace considering the weather, however the Teulu (hearthguard) cavalry found themselves isolated in the dim twilight that the Pagan Rus had bought with them and exhausted themselves with their panicked cries for help and frenzied searching (Fear of the Dark).


My warchief decided at this point that perhaps the Pagan Rus needed his attention slightly more and he swept across the battlefield to lend his support to his Beserkers and their accompanying Bondi (warriors). The Hirdmen ran into more trouble with their attempts to close with the Welsh running into Holy Ground. The Teulu  horsemen took time to rest but then spotted some Pagan Rus Militia and proceeded to taunt the men who broke ranks in order to close with the infuriating Welsh. Meanwhile the Priodaur managed to catch up to the Teulu, but as the Pagan Rus force reshuffled to cover the hole in their battle line the Endless Wastes claimed the lives of three of the Welsh horsemen.

The winds gusted and snow again fell as The Great Winter came back in full force. The last mounted Teulu vanished into the Endless Wastes. The last Teulu disappearing into the unknown proved to be too much for the Priodaur on that flank as they too began to suffer from a Fear of the Dark. The Viking warchief was forced to change his plans on the fly as the oncoming mist and snow meant the Beserkers would be unable to close with his ideal target and ended up with both flanks just continuing their steady advance to close with their enemies. The Priodaur faced with the oncoming Viking Bondi hurled their javelins with accuracy but the swift discipline of the Vikings prevent any of the brave men from falling to the cowardly Welsh attack. The Teulu emerged from the forest at that moment putting additional pressure on Vikings facing them.




The Pagan Rus reposition ready to attempt to fend of the obviously incoming Viking rush. The isolated Priodaur lost more men to the Endless Wastes. The Welsh Teulu pulled back into the forest hoping to lure the Viking men into an Ambush in my opinion. The Beserkers after being held back from their targets for such a long time swept into the Pagan Rus line calling on Frigg and Ullr, the Militia were Standing like Bears and with a warcry of For The Khagan! the melee began. At the end there was nothing left but corpses and one rather battered and shocked looking Pagan Rus man.

As luck would have it capricious Loki was attending this battle and that lone Pagan Rus warrior was claimed as his. Unfortunately The Great Winter showed no signs of breaking and the warriors again found themselves battling against the very earth itself just to move. The Bondi closed with the Priodaur but were replused losing over half their number and only managing to pull down a single Welsh man. The Priodaur heartened by their success against the Bondi hurled their javelins at the Hirdmen but with the adrenaline pumping in their veins they were unable to even look like hitting any of the professional Viking warriors. It was this moment that the Welsh warchief found his mettle and bravely charged the remaining Viking Bondi. He fought valiantly but was cut down by the Welsh man. Once again Fear of the Dark and Endless Wastes took out more of the Priodaur on the far flank seemingly forgotten by their warchief.


The Viking Hirdmen charged the Welsh warchief but a nearby Priodaur managed to leap into the melee saving his warchief from being cut down at the cost of his own life. The Welsh warchief with bellowed command smashed into the Hirdmen along with the Priodaur. The Hirdmen cried out to Thor, Ullr and a rainbow bridge appeared to Valhalla itself with two of the brave men crossing over then and their causing their fellows to fight with a redoubled effort with the Priodaur being forced back and the Warchief left to fight alone against the now frenzied Hirdmen who while managing to kill the last Viking was only left in his saddle thanks to his resilience. The game came to a close with the last Priodaur on the Pagan Rus flank being swallowed by the Endless Wastes.


Awesome game! The day went to The Brother with twelve victory points. The Eldest and myself tied with six points each. The Eldest plans to keep her force more tightly packed next time she plays against the Pagan Rus and I'm going to be practicing judging distances better so my warchief kills are stolen at the last minute by nearby warriors :). As always when I play The Brother he's put up a companion post on his blog Stand and Deliver! feel free to go check it out.