Two Arrows ~ Two 20's

This week at the club we played our second game of the Frostgrave ~ Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign. Due to the terrain not being ready for Scenario 2 we moved straight into Scenario 3 (S2 will follow in due course).

It was my pleasure to play against Andy. This scenario was Loot the Cart. A broken down cart in the center of the table with 4 Death Cultist guards. The cart contained 4 treasure tokens. Two other tokens (one each) were placed on the table by us players.

Because we're playing at the club and our resources are a little bit limited, our table was somewhat... greener than the expected frozen, stony ground of Felstad (Frostgrave). So, in order to compensate, I have decided that a 1980's wargaming magazine atmosphere was required: thus slightly out of focus, badly set up, B&W photos are the order of the day.

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Into the Frozen City...

The Magus Mandrax has sent an imp, summoned from the very depths of Heck, and sent it out to watch the comings and goings in the frozen city. It has found a treasure cart broken and stranded guarded by naught but a handful of Death Cultists. The imp reported back to it's master but also reported the approach of the Warrior Wizard, Elric of Melnibone and his band or neer-do-wells. 

Hmmm... I've heard that name somewhere before!

Mandrax's warband at the bottom of the pic and Elric deployed at the top table edge.

Before the game I cast some "out of game" spells: Familiar - Both Mandrax and his apprentice Joquettes were successful and both gained a familiar and 2 extra Health Points (HP). Mandrax was also able to cast Summon Demon and Bind Demon because I added a Summoning Circle and Arcane Candle to his Wizard's Lair following the previous game. As a result I gained an imp as part of my starting warband.

Both parties were aware of the other and approached the treasure cart with caution.

Surrounded by archers, Elric the albino sorcerer urges his warband on to loot the treasure cart.

The hobbits Ned Undersack and Maximus Stinkfoot lead the way the the treasure.

To show the Melnibonean the extent of his magical power, Maximus ascended some high ground and cast a Bone Dart spell at his enemy. With a successful hit of 13 HP the red eyed albino was sorely worsted and forced to stagger into cover and use his own magical powers to heal himself.

With the, so called, White Wolf and his men cowering in fear of the Magus Mandrax's impressive spell casting, the treasure was his for the taking. In the center the two hobbits approached the cart. Undersack took out a Death Cultist with a well paced arrow whilst Stinkfoot grabbed a treasure and prepared to withdraw. Mandrax sent the imp of Heck to protect the successful thief.

Meanwhile Joquettes lead a smaller group around the other side of the cart. He cast a Telekinesis spell and drew a treasure token closer to his own men.  As this was happening Goz Lame, the other thief in the party, took possession of another treasure and began hauling it back to safety.

Feeling the surge of magic in the air, and understanding that his apprentice was employing the stratagem designed by the master, Mandrax also cast Telekinesis and drew forth a treasure for his men to retrieve.

Hired thugs, Bert and Ron get stuck into the thick of it.

Then below, the apprentice Dyvim Slorm, braver than his cowering simpering master, stood forth and cast some sort of elemental power spell at the Magus and smote him heavily (7HP) staggering the wizard. "I'd better get off this bloody hill." he thought. 

On the right Joquettes, set the brothers Doug and Ted to guard the way whilst the treasure was sent back to safety. First Doug the Thug took on a squat axeman and smote him to the ground. Ha, ha, ha...! Bring on the next one!

And so... throughout the game so far, Elric's archers, including the famed Rakhir the Red, had shot dismally with every shot going awry. The archer with a bald axeman, saw his friend hewn down by the hairy thug but decided to run forward, take a precarious aim and loose an arrow at Joquettes the Magus's apprentice: 20! (+2)... 12 points of damage and the apprentice went down with a strangled cry. Errrrrghhhh! 

In the center, the thug Bert charged Rakhir the Red and hewed him to the ground with mighty stokes of his axe. He turned to the now healed Elric who had come out of hiding, only to be beset by a Death Cultist who he threw back with a bloody wound.

Seeing that all was going well, Mandrax set Bert and Undersack to hold off Elric's men whilst the rest withdrew with the treasure. Mandrax himself retreated into cover and aided the ranger Thursen with a Leap spell to get him out of danger (only because he had a treasure).

In helping the ranger to secure the treasure, the Magus Mandrax had sacrificed an opportunity to either heal his wounds (healing potion) or escape from the area. Instead he fell back to some cover... What a noble gesture.

Do you see that archer waiting in the top of that building?

Neither did Mandrax.

This is what the archer saw: Straight ahead. Dead center...

Right at the very limit of his bow range... And these archers don't have a great track record...

And he rolled a 20! (+2)... Another 12 points of damage, and the Magus Mandrax fell to the frozen earth with an arrow jutting from his breast bone and breathed his last...

In the center, holding the rear guard were Doug the Thug and his mate Bert. Doug fought hard and sorely wounded the templar that charged into him but was no match in the end and was smote to the ground.  

Bert, after fighting off the Death Cultist was brought low by the crushing power of Elric, who struck him down with Stormbringer! The Black Blade itself. And Bert saw no more. (Andy cast Elemental Hammer on the sword to emulate its power). 

Somewhere around this time a swarm of ghouls had arrived and charged into the warring parties (They should have arrived at the end of turn 3 but Andy and I - without the campaign source book - got a bit lost. So they arrived at the end of turn 4). My surviving men were falling back to consolidate their treasure. The Melnibonean's men led by a certain, Moonglum, were trying to chase them down to loot their dead bodies. But the arrival of the animated dead bodies of the ghouls drove into them and forced them to also fall back after Moonglum was beaten down by one of the undead creatures.

Ned Undersack, leads the thugs Ron and Ted out of the ruins and back to safety.

Thus ended this dramatic and somewhat bloody affair.

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Aftermath...

It was a bit of a bloody game. Andy and I both lost 4 men, and two of mine were my wizard and apprentice. We rolled for casualties and for Mandrax I rolled... a 1!!!!

No. It was 11. But for a moment there I thought... So Mandrax the Magus drew another painful breath and staggered back to his lair.

He was okay. Joquettes rolled 8. A close call and he lost all of his items (a sword and healing potion so not too much). All the rest were okay except for the thug Bert who did roll a 1. This was a bit of a shame because he did well during the game. He beat Rakhir the Red archer, beat up some cultists and got the chance to go toe to toe with Elric. But the black rune-blade ran him through and ate his soul and he died a grizzly death. I guess it was appropriate really.

Mandrax was fully healed and okay. He didn't gain a huge amount of experience points but enough to lift him to 4th level. Whist my guys beat up the majority of the death cultist, it was Andy's guys that delivered the final blows in all but one instance. Being out of the game my spell casters couldn't cast more spells and gain more xp. Also, my remaining troops didn't kill any ghouls because they just ran.

I left the table with most of the treasure (4 out of 6) and now Mandrax is quite wealthy and has an abundance of magical grimoires. Lucky his lair is set in a library.

Because the campaign ranking is done by XP and not wealth Mandrax, with 410xp, is currently sitting at 6th place in a field of 8.

Edit: Again, because I lacked the campaign book and because of my general inexperience with the game (only my 3rd game) I calculated my experience incorrectly. I now sit on 530xp - 5th in a field of 8.

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As a result of this game I bought the pdf version of the Thaw of the Lich Lord. I figure I can print off the required scenario's as we play them so at least I'll know what the set up, special rules etc, are on the night. Because we also had to jump a scenario due to a lack of the correct terrain, I figure I can also read ahead and try to make some of what's needed, or at the least, provide things from my own terrain collection.

P.S> I almost forgot... Here are some colour pics stolen from Russel. They'll give you and idea of how green our Frostgrave really was, as well as some of the other players games going on at the same time.

Have I Decided to Create an Elven Host?

Is it the start of a new army or is it just more troops to add to what I have so far?

I'm not sure. I do like the idea of an elf army but I also think they can be pretty dull. This is one of the reasons I decided on a faerie army. But it has to be said that a phalanx of bright eyed elves with glittering spears and shining mail, is an attractive thought. However, how many units would I need to build the Elven Host to a decent size?

These figures are from the plastic Oathmark range by North Star Miniatures. They look okay for generic elves but some aspects of them I find a bit questionable (their faces, hair and that armour/symbol thing on their chests) and they are pretty generic & limited. With one box I can make two units of 12, with 6 left overs. Or 5 units of 12 using two boxes. That's reasonably economic & amounts to a little under $2 per figure. These figures more take time to paint too.

As it is; I have two boxes and I think what I'm going to do initially is make up 3 units of 12 spears and two units of 12 bow. These will make up the core of my faerie army which I can enhance with other units as I wish (I'm thinking warbands of mixed figures of all sorts of fae creatures).

As it is, I really wanted to love these figures but I feel a little bit underwhelmed and uninspired by them. I have another box and I'll probably get more but I feel that they are lacking something. They just don't seem to have any spark.

Anyhow, here's my first batch sitting on some very basic movement trays. The trays are just blank mdf drink coasters that I picked up from a hardware shop. They are effective and inexpensive with a fast paint job using a sponge and some cheap acrylic paint.

What's with the eyes. Why have I done the eyes like this you may well ask? Well there is a reason.

      "He looked at her with the strange slant eyes of the elf-folk, all cloudy blue without pupil or
white. There were little moon-flecks drifting in Imric’s eyes, and shadows of ancient wisdom,
for Imric had dwelt long in the land when the first men came."

From The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson.

And to finish for today, I also did some giant rats and wolves for whatever game needs them. Nothing special about these. The paint work is very basic and they took very little effort. They are all Reaper Bones. The rats are the new Black Bones!

Defending the Erlking's Realm

Today at my club I played my first game of Dragon Rampant and got to put a whole bunch of the fantasy figures I've recently been painting onto the table. This is not my first game of the various "Rampant" series of games, I've played Lion Rampant since if first came out and even devised my own Shieldwall Rampant variation for Dark Ages games. But this was my first game of DR and I really enjoyed it.

There have been tensions on the borderlands. Dwarfs have been seen prowling, probably sniffing around for gold and gems hidden beneath the ground. And not just any ground... The Erlking's ground! 

So these greedy little runts were seen off by the faerie folk with secret arrows and fae magics. But now a dwarven warlord has marched his warband across the Erlking's borders and they must be stopped. The Erlking has sent some of his folk to stop them lead by the wily Rosy Knight...

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My opponent today was Andrew. I haven't played against him before but he refereed & ran some of us through a game of Sharp Practice late last year. We played a simple set 'em up and fight scenario. Nothing grand. It was mainly to get use to the game and see what worked and what didn't.

My forces were: 

The Rosy Knight and Blueflame - Greater Warbeast

A Bog Troll - Elite foot (the goblins are just there to represent his Strength Points).

Hellebore the Fairy & the Daoine Sidhe - Wizardling, Light Foot with Invisibility,

Faun Spearmen - Heavy Infantry

Faun Bows - Scouts, and

Centaurs - Heavy Riders.

The Dwarves were mainly Heavy Foot - Elite Foot - Heavy Missiles. The leader and elites had some magical weapon and armour upgrades too.

Let the Battle Commence:

Both sides stood ready across an open field. The fae folk, arrayed in all the colour of their diverse races, stood and watched the dark, silent lines of the dwarves. 

Dwarven trumpets sounded and orders were shouted but nothing happened (failed activation roll). Then the dragon roared a challenge and the Erlking's folk moved toward their enemy. 

Still the Dwarves remained as still as the very stones of the earth as the forest folk moved towards their silent ranks. (Two more failed activation rolls saw Andrew doing nothing for 3 consecutive turns). 

But, just as the the Rosy Knight moved forward to unleash the attack a brazen, darven horn rang out only to be followed by a roar from their infernal thunder-sticks. The insidious weapons sorely wounded the dragon Blueflame (8 hits and the loss of 2 Strength Points!). The percussion of the mighty blast and the cloud of dirty smoke caused by the accursed weapons caused a lull in the battle as both sides regained their senses. (We both made successive failed activation rolls two or three times each).

Finally the dragon roared in again and let loose a blast of fiery blue flame at the dwarves killing some of their number, whilst the fauns and the Bog Troll moved towards their enemies The sidhe moved forward and Hellebore the wizardling fairy cast a fog of Dragon's Breath over the dwarven shooters to thwart the aim of their deadly weapons.

On the left the faun scouts had moved quickly and peppered a band of heavy dwarven foot to little effect as they waited for the centaurs to ready their charge.

And the centaurs were as good as their word and they charged into the dwarves, killing several of them, driving them back and causing them to become Battered. 

In the center the dwarven warlord had given his troops the order to advance and so they did. This was a critical juncture of the battle and The Rosy Knight failed the first activation of the round which left the whole of the center vulnerable to the advancing dwarves. 

Dwarven foot charged into the fauns and drove them back in good order with some losses which made them vulnerable to a second unit of dwarf missiles perched on a hill on the dwarf lord's left. They took more casualties and became battered. They were not doing well. The bog troll, likewise was shot by these hilltop runts and took some minor damage.

On the left, the centaurs and dwarves continued their fight with the centaurs routing the darven foot from the table. But they themselves were fought down to a single rider who failed a courage test and left the battlefield shortly afterwards.

Unfortunately Blueflame & the Rosy Knight got caught flatfooted by some dwarf infantry. As a warbeast, the dragon is ferocious in attack but vulnerable if charged itself. Repeated charges by the dwarves saw the dragon reduced again and again until it only had one Strength Point remaining.

Hellebore the fairy managed to cast a Bog Thee spell on the dwarf warlord slowing his movement so that he couldn't get into the fight. On the right the elite dwarven foot and the troll began to slug it out. 

The dragon managed to get clear of the dwarven foot but that left the faun spearmen in the way of their axes and they were hit again, worn down and then failed a courage test (with a -7 to their roll) and fled the field.

The troll was pushed back and then pushed back again. Some dwarves died under it's might blows but eventually it too had had enough and lumbered from the field.

That left the Army of the Erlking with a severely wounded dragon, the faun scouts and the Daoine Sidhe. Whilst these troops were unscathed they were not strong enough to mount any sort of offensive action so they had no other choise but to leave the field to the dwarven invaders.

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Conclusion:

It was a good game. A lot of fun with a very narrative feel to it. Many dice rolls went awry for both of us. For my opponent. most of his bad rolls took place at the start. Unfortunately for me, most of my bad rolling took place towards the end. Oh well.

As is usual, I try not to write a turn by turn type of battle report. I make up most of this narrative stuff as I'm writing, although I do name all of my troops to give them some sort of context. This game took about 20 odd turns or more. Some turns were long, some short and some very short. Either way, I was more than happy because I got to put a whole bunch of my new figures on the table and play a game with them. Win or lose I'm not worried as long as it looks good, we have a good game and I get plenty of good photos to post here on the blog.