Sunday, 20 November 2016

20th Nov - 15th Nov Frostgrave vs Toby

Finally managed to get a game in with Toby this week and we went for Frostgrave seeing as his character was falling a little behind the rest (mostly due to not managing to get on the table yet).

I decided to roll up a scenario this time and got the Worm Hunt one out of the core book. It's a pretty basic one where the bands are basically just facing off against each other until a single Worm spawns, but to be fair it is a rather large, rather vicious worm. I was a bit under the weather so my note taking was sup-par at best (the bits I've managed to decipher anyways) so the write up won't be as in depth as the norm.


Toby started off pretty aggressively frying one of my poor thugs with an elemental bolt. But as the game progressed I rather quickly shut the table down with Fog wall after Fog wall. I was hoping to get my wizard into combat again after my last game against Arwen but unfortunately my bragging about how powerful Christian the Humble, Thaumaturge Extraordinaire and Worker of Miracles was possibly not the best idea as his troops seemed unwilling to get within reach of the humble wizard. Of course due the number of walls of Fog up and the fact that not a single one dissipated I did managed to secure four out of the six chests taking the win.















As far as the casualties went my Thug survived during the end game process dusting himself off and rejoining the warband. One of Toby's archers however as not as lucky as it is apparently a lot easier to shake off a fireball to the face than it is to survive one to the back of the head (that's right he accidentally toasted his own man) followed by a worm's digestive tract (I'm assuming the worm would quite naturally just reach down and swallow the crispy bite of a man that was just sticking it with a pointy stick) even if the creature is eventually killed by the poor souls fellow soldiers.



I was nice to get something on the table against him again and hopefully we can organize another game of something soon.

I've also been playing a truck load of Kingdom Death: Monster having finally opened the box from Jen (The Wife) last Christmas after we watched the initial showdown on Beasts of War. It's also taking up a fair amount of my hobby time as I've been assembling the monsters and a few variants for the survivors in our various games (three campaigns running at the moment a solo in which the settlement is as thriving as it gets in this game, a husband/wife one where we're sitting middle of the road and a family one which is barely scraping through after it's first nemesis encounter and may well disappear over the next few hunts). I'm toying with some ideas for painting them, but I'm still knocking over the Abyssal Dwarves, although I'm possibly going to be picking up a few more things I want to try out before January's tournament so they may keep me going for a few more weeks yet.




I put a gloss coat on the Harley mini to start to get rid of the frosting from the initial matte coat of varnish and I decided I liked the look of her like that. Still not the best photos but I just don't seem to be having much luck getting a decent shot of her.






Tuesday, 8 November 2016

8th November - Golems, Golems and More

I managed to finish off both sets of Golems for my Abyssal Dwarves last week and finally got around to getting some decent pictures of them. This brings my force almost up to completion, just need to knock over two troops of Decimators  and the Iron-caster on Greater Abyssal Halfbreed.








I've added an extra metallic colour this time round (my original Lesser Golems can be found here). The other big difference in painting style for these guys was a black prime with a grey dusting, as well as giving them a heavier preshade after my base coat of grey. I also messed around a little to get a bit of glow effect around their eyes.

The Greater Golem follows a similar prime coat and build up of colour and shade as the lesser ones did, though I got to play around more with the glow effect in his torso cavity with the gem there and the shards on his back game me a chance to try to get a more crystalline effect. I'm pretty happy with the result though I think some of my edge line could be finer and a few of the white points are a little large.



In between the finishing touches I also smashed out a comic book Harley Quinn miniature from the Batman Miniature Game for my eldest Theresa as part of her sixteenth birthday celebrations. She ended up on the cake board along to help cement the theme of the cake. I've noticed while taking the photos that my varnish coat "snowed" slightly on her so I'll give her a touch up to clear it up tomorrow if the weather holds




Gaming wise my brother and I have been attempting to get together for a game or two of Kings of War but so far every time we've worked something out, something manages to come up. However my youngest Arwen and I got a game in over Sunday and Monday nights. While her army is still in the gluing stage (she is making some decent headway though) I grabbed a couple of shots anyway.







We played an Invade scenario and after a brutal six turns ended in a stalemate, although Arwen did manage to get an extra seventy or so points over the line it wasn't enough for her to secure a win. We're looking at getting another game in tomorrow. I've kept my list the same as I've got a few different ideas when it comes to deployment, where as she has made a few changes to her force composition dumping a few weaker options and strengthening a couple of existing units.


Thursday, 20 October 2016

20th October - Finished Kings of War Abyssal Half-breeds

I'm doing a bit of a push to get this army finished now that I've got my ticket for the Australian Clash of Kings on a Cancon. The Brother's going to be having a bash himself so we're looking at getting a couple of practice games in over the next couple of months. I've got a list worked out based on what I picked up in the Kickstarter plus the few bits I picked up last week from Mantic. Once I see how it plays I may end up picking up a few Dragon Ogres to use as Abyssal Grotesques or trying something using a few extra Ironcasters.







I've got another troop of Lesser and a single Greater Obsidian Golems glued up now waiting for a prime coat. I've also been working on my Frostgrave plastic kits so I can get to work on them once I've cleared the Abyssal Dwarves.

Thursday, 13 October 2016

13th October - 12th October Frostgrave vs The Youngest

Once again my youngest Arwen stepped up to the table and helped me get a game in. We decided on another game of Frostgrave so worked on a scenario together. This ended up with a small camp of demon worshiping cultists with three summoned Imp 'guard dogs'. The Cultists wouldn't activate until after a round of combat within the confines of their camp or some one moving either within an 8" direct line from the doorways or moving anywhere withing 2" of a building. We also added a few extra triggered monster spawns for flavour.



Christian the Humble, Worker of Miracles and Thaumaturge Extraordinaire began his advance on the camp with a quickly cast Fog spell shielding his soldiers from the watchful eyes of the Imp. Arwen, Maker of Puddles attempted a more aggressive approach, but met with a series of errors as her crossbowman missed the demonic target and her attempt to channel demonic energies into her War-hound failing to materialize. Christian's apprentice moved forward on the other side of the centre casting Shield on the nearby Infantryman as they went. On her other flank the apprentice Elementalist successfully cast an Enchant Armour spell on her War-hound who along with the support of an Infantryman barreled into the third Imp pulling the twisted creature down. The Thaumaturge's archers were the last to take action with one killing an Imp despite it's rocky cover and the other moving up to flank the opposing warband. The final Imp charged into Arwen's Man-at-Arms but the combatants failed to wound each other.


As the warband reached the edge of the encampment Christian's focus switched to enhancing his soldiers, but his Enchant Weapon spell failed and the Knight's sword remained ordinary. Seeing her apprentice managing to cast Arwen tried to enchant her War-hound's armour but again failed to get her spell to fire. The Imp managed to pierce the War-hounds fur, but the Man-at-Arms took advantage of the lesser demons distraction and put down the last of the fiends. Christian's apprentice brought the rest of the warband up to the edge of the encampment and summoned more whirling mist, bringing forth a second wall of Fog obscuring the camp from the distant Elementalist's sight. Meanwhile Arwen's apprentice and her attendant hirelings stormed into the camp with another Enchant Armour spell enhancing the Infantryman's defences. The flanking archer came round the corner taking a shot at the apprentice but his arrow went wide of it's target. Two of the cultists seeing the War-hound just outside their doorway rush out to engage the beast but it's savagery was enough to leave both men bleeding. On the other side of camp the Knight found himself engaged by a second pair of demon worshipers. Suddenly the smell of sulphur filled the air and with a loud tearing sound two Minor Demons appeared ready to defend the camp from their attackers.













Arwen, Maker of Puddles fumbled yet another spell and decided to take advantage of the Fog to huddle down prepare to assault the final building. The Man-at-Arms in the employ of the Thaumaturge was sent to assist the Knight against the cultists and their sudden demonic reinforcements. Christian the Humble sent a Blinding Light spell out against the trainee Elementalist but the young man's training was sufficient for him to gather his will and resist the spell. The young wizard to be then moved further into camp looking to deny the archer a second shot and enhancing the Templar's defences with yet a third Enchant Armour spell. Christian's Infantryman charged into the fray cutting down the cultist with a single mighty blow. The now un-engaged Knight stepped forward taking the fight to the second cultist but the soldier was met with a solid blow, but the apprentice was quick to step forward and cast Heal and after a few seconds new pink skin was formed beneath the bloody rent in the mail. Arwen's Templar and Infantryman make short work of the Cultists in front of them, while Christian's archers launch arrows into the camp. Again the apprentice manages to avoid the missle but the Templar proves to be a little slow and take a wound. The remaining Cultist engaged with Christian's soldiers manages to fight them to a stalemate while the two Minor Demons move to combat the Man-at-Arms and despite being outnumbered by the hell-beasts the brave man leaves them both dripping ichor and bellowing in pain. The final two Cultists alerted by the sounds of fighting in the camp came rushing through the doorway bringing the fight to Arwen, Maker of Puddles and her attendant troops.












The War-hound and Man-at-Arms both take wounds from the savage blows of the Cultist but the Crossbowman managed to kill the second evil man showing up the man and beast. Seeing the Man-at-Arms surrounded by demonic foes the two Thugs are sent into assist him and the street toughs manage to kill one of the scaly beasts. Christian the Humble, Worker of Miracles and Thaumaturge Extraordinaire then summoned a mystical Glow around the opposed Templar but the soldier managed to avoid the arrow sent his way from the nearby archer. Seeing the great Thaumaturge alone in the field Arwen's apprentice orders her men in to bring down the rival wizard but in a explosion of whirling wood both the Templar and War-hound are left lying at his feet and the Infantryman is barely escapes himself as he is forced back barely on his feet. The young Elementalist in an attempt to gain some sort of retribution for his fallen men begins to summon a ball of raw elemental energy but anger made his concentration slip and the force blows up in his face leaving the man bloodied. The combined arms of the Infantryman and Knight made short work of the Cultist as the apprentice Thaumaturge blinded the remaining Demon. Seeing his foe casting it's head about blindly the Man-at-Arms quickly took out the disabled beast. The remaining archer continued his chase of the apprentice following the man around the corner but once again his shot went wide. Arwen's Man-at-Arms managed to push the final cultist back giving himself some breathing room. Suddenly the ground trembled and with a spray of molten rock and the distant sounds of howling a Major Demon clawed it's way out of nothingness ready to defend the sorely pressed cultist camp.


The Man-at-Arms is sent for the chest and the wizard casts Blinding Light on the Infantryman who dared to attack him. Sensing an 'easy' kill the two Thugs move to attack the blinded soldier but his wild flailing almost killed one of the men. Finally through a combination of quarrel, dog bite and axe the final cultist is left dying on the ground. Spreading his men out in case of a successful Elemental Ball the apprentice moved in to heal the wounded Thug but this time his spell failed and the wound was left open. The Archer took a shot at the Major Demon while this was happening and managed to pierce it's hide. Deciding discretion was the better part of valour Arwen's apprentice ran off into the distant Fog joining his teacher beyond the sight of both Demon and opposing warband. Which left the second archer with only one target and he too managed to wound the great beast. Barely materialized and already wounded the demonic entity spotting the ever so close blind Infantryman moved in for the kill but was not quite able to finish off the poor abandoned soldier.



Arwen, Maker of Puddles began her retreat having managed to secure one of the chests. Christian the Humble, Worker of Miracles and Thaumaturge Extraordinaire decided that it would be a mercy for the now able to see Infantryman to be killed by a more mortal foe and moved in granting the man peace and sending the Thugs in to engage the Major Demon. Arwen's apprentice moved into a rear guard position for what was left of the tattered force. Christian's apprentice decided to try his will against that of the Demon's and while his did manage to cast the spell the colossal willpower of the dark foe tore the Blinding Light spell to shreds. Setting his shoulders the Knight waded into the fray dealing an impressive amount of damage to the hellish creature but it wasn't until the Archer moved in and swung at the creature was it finally brought down to earth and the camp was finally still shortly after and the both warbands left the area, one celebrating their successes and the other licking their wounds.


I have to say that definitely had some of the most cinematic moments in a game of Frostgrave I've had yet and so many points when it really could have turned out so much worse for me than it did. Seriously who would have though my wizard would manage to fight off and kill three opponents despite their heavily stacked combat bonuses or that Arwen's apprentices first fail of the game would allow my warband to survive. I was dreading the roll as she went to cast remember the last game when it pretty much removed my wife's warband from the table. All I can say is that I can't wait for the next game :)