Big 'Ol Lumps

This is Gu-Ankh (Gonk), the latest addition to the Warband with No Name. Another stunning OOP Confrontation figure, he'll, hopefully fairly obviously,be representing my Troll.

I could have added a group of Orcs for the same price but they're still in the blister and one Stupidity check probably balances another four Animosity tests. More importantly there's always the unbridled joy of a vomit attack :)
Painted him a while ago, just had to re-base him!

Another big lump, I've built the Easykit Republic Gunship. Not so easy I have to admit, plenty of taping required to hold bits in place (as per instructions!). A little superglue helped out.

She's going to get a full re-paint to fit in with my Genetic Infantry. I love cold war Russian kit and one reason for the initial purchase was its similarity to a Mil Hind so that's where the paint scheme will be falling towards......at some point!

Meanwhile this is the big 'ol lump that I SHOULD be painting. Highly doubt that the army will get done for the New Year but we'll see where we get and the left overs can become a resolution.

Just 8 weeks to go..... I think!!!

I'll make you famous!!

 Shot DOWWNNNN in a blaze of GLORY.

Thursday night' roleplay was a little taster of the Weird West as Jon ran us through an intro game of Deadlands. I'd played before, quite some years ago, and always liked the setting. Couldn't remember how to play but then for me it's always about the role, not the roll!

With six pre-gen'd characters on offer the four of us who had made it were happy for fate to decide and I "became" Devlin Dewitt. He's a softpaw, greenhorn reporter from back east with no right to survive the Wierd West other than an impressive Danger Sense.

His strengths lie in investigation and with two of my companions being gun-nuts and the other a spell slinging card-shark I quickly assumed the mantle of spokesman.

This struck everyone as rather similar to my Halfling Thief. The fact that I then went on to try and strike any deal going, and several that weren't, whilst demonstrating the odd light finger merely served to reinforce the feeling. The fact that I plan on never engaging in a fair fight if I can help it probably won't help.

The evening's scenario involved investigating a number the mysterious hangings of a number of local ranchers. Forcibly taken from their prairie homes they had been found hanging from THE OL' HANGING TREE a mile from town.

Robbery obviously wasn't a motive as nothing was taken, at least until I got there but that was mainly to find a more useful weapon with which to defend myself!

Heading back to town we were attacked in the middle of the night by THE OL' HANGING TREE itself! It wasn't alone though, having raised the recently hung as a posse of the undead.

My compatriot's heavy artillery made short work of them whilst THE OL' HANGING TREE lassoed the bar-keep making to hang him.

Against my better judgement I charge after him shotgunning the rope, burning through all mt re-roll chips in one go, and dragging him to safety where I then hid. Aforementioned artillery then went to work pruning back every branch in sight. Cue a grateful backwater hick town :)

A highly enjoyable evening. Deadlands is a setting that I like with a nice balance of Cthulu investigation and big guns / explosions. I look forward to next weeks session. It's also pay-day on Monday and those Malifaux figure would do awfully well :)

Cue Bon Jovi soundtrack!!

Tooth and Claw plus a side order of Wings

Bit of classic the Orc Wyvern I've never disliked any of the figures over the years other than maybe the posing of the current Azhag. Never as cool, or as much table-power, as a dragon but not bad for a race that grow under rocks!

I've gone for what I see as a more "realistic" / less cartoon paint scheme keeping with the slightly darker look to the larger army and units painted so far. A fairly basic warlord but I used the main bits of the original rider to make a more impressive warlord on boar. He'll be along later!

 Drybrush and washes have done pretty well to be honest. 5 PPs is a fair result. Next up is a block of 30 boyz..... deep JOY!! ;)

Mash up Yo Self...

....and other youth phrases that I don't understand or want to for a number of reasons.

Second round of the Mordheim wilderness campaign last night and the Boyz got through their fresh coat of varnish surprisingly well.

Playing a 3 way Hidden Treasure game the treasure went to Rich pretty quick and then he legged so myself and Jon let him, getting stuck into each other instead.

The "Pit-Fight" mini multi-player saw 4 of us fighting out a loot laden Breakthrough and I ended up with quite a haul for zero casualties. Result!

As a result I spent my lunchbreak today working out a couple of possible lists for the possible Mordheim - Zombie Village, or Zom-Heim as I've branded it (sounds like a cold war Russian research facility), at around the 600 point / crown mark.
Thinking of an elite unit of skirmishers a la Sharpe's 95th, using the Reiklander list for the BS 4Marksmen;
- 1 Captain (Sharpe / Roger) with handgun and sword

- 1 Champion (Sgt Harper) with handgun

- 7 Marksmen (Chosen Men / Rangers) with handgun

Protagonist wise using the Undead list in two different ways;

Classic Vampiric types;

- 1 Vampire (Bitey Von Big-Teeth) with sword

- 1 Necromancer (Rasputin)

- 1 Dreg (Igor)

- 15 Zombies (The Risen)

- 4 Dire Wolves (Hell-Hounds)

The Ghoul Family Stinkerson

- 1 Vampire (Mr Stinkerson) with sword as Ghoul King
- 1 Necromancer (Mrs Stinkerson)
- 1 Dreg (Master Stinkerson)
- 6 Ghouls (The Disturbed)
- 3 Dire Wolves (Family pets)

The human mercenary list is a bit limited unless everyone has a handgun, though I can see the Witch hunter list working well for mobs of locals on their way to the castle-burning social. The Elven lists may do the job for the Ranger and Indian types better.

The only other thing might be the "National Characteristics" that always come along with these things i.e. British / American / French / Hessian etc. That Tabletop Geeks downloads pages is going to get some serious abuse!

Tooth and Claw

A unit of 10 Wolf Riders added to the ranks of the painted following close behind the chariots. Technically these should be 4 PPs per figure but that's far too much for effort expended. 20 for the lot feels right.

I really need to crack on with the two big 30 Boy blocks to break the back of the job. I have now settled on red as the main scheme along with black, yellow and grey accents.

Meanwhile, the more I think about it, the more E-Bay seems a likely destination but that's some way off yet. We shall see!!

P.S: yet another WIP update on the WIP page, shocker!!

That which CREEPS through the night.....

.....is often otherwise known to me as INSPIRATION.

As previously mentioned I've just started running a Mordheim wilderness campaign at the Enfield Gamers otherwise known as The Grimoire of Grunwald (page plug).

With six gaming nights on the slate at just over 3 hours of actual gaming time each night I've used a slightly alternative format.

The first game of the night is a standard one on one using one of the many GW published scenarios. Once completed the warbands tally experience gained, but DON'T make advance rolls, roll injuries sustained and make their exploration rolls, just noting what they scavange but NOT trading anything in, buying , recruiting etc.

I see this as representing the warbands being out and about around Grunburg and doing their thing, mainly to each other.

The second game of the night is an Oddleg written multi-player "pit-fight" style encounter hosted back in Grunburg's keep by THE COUNT (mysterious jingle). Each warband enters a number of fighters upto a maximum rating, to keep the games fast and frantic, with double experience and extra loot on offer, to accelerate advancement over the six sessions. There's even some, rudimentary, first aid on offer to encourage a heroic combat or two!

After the pit fight total experience is tallied and advancements are rolled along with pit fight injuries. Any further exploration is rolled at which point total shards are traded in and people can go recruiting / shopping. To me this represents the warbands rolling back into town, getting their gladiator bit on and then resting up with their loot. Each game night is roughly a week of "adventuring".

As such we're going to get through quite a few scenarios and I've been looking out for ideas. One of the boys, Ed, pointed me to Tabletop Geeks Mordheim downloads section which is packed to the rafters. I shall be abusing the work printer sometime soon!

....

All of this feeds into ideas for St Peytersburg / Zombie Village. TGN also pointed me toward Dashing Dice Games' upcoming release Witchfinder General as another POTENTIAL ruleset. I also really lie the idea of releasing it at sundown on Halloween. Class touch!

As much as I like Fear and Faith / Drums and Shakos I was having trouble working out where / how I'd recreate Sleepy Hollow, which is my aim. I like a lot of the basic mechanics, especially rolling for number of actions as I feel it adds more tension a lot easier. Mordheim feels like it will deal with the supernatural so much better and the campaign system is an added bonus BUT it could be a lot more predictable.

While I'm running the campaign I'm going to work up a Mordheim version of St Peytersburg and play through a few scenarios, solo if necessary (eeek!). I can always try a few ideas out in the pit-fights! I shall report back.

Ah the power of the GM, how easily it can be abused ;) Bwaa ha ha ha haaa haaa haaaaaaaa!!!

The Fungal Suspects

Flicking back through my rather dusty Orc & Goblin Armybook it would seem the GW has dropped the whole idea of greenskins growing under rocks. I like the grit that has been added to their "feel" but it seems a shame somehow. I was never the greatest fan of super-comedy greenskins but I'm sure a balance could be found. Each to their own though.

More to the point I've finished my multi-colour Kabuki inspires Mordheim warband. They've made a nice change for my the much darker look of the army and I've enjoyed expanding my normal O&G palette.

The Bash Trust. I've not gone for more detail on the Warboss' coat as he was already looking quite busy. Pretty much the same with the Big Un's. Some black Ogre style tatts were a possibility but it felt like it would just be a bit too much all around.

Still only henchmen but beautifully detailed figures for Goblin, as were all Confrontation figures. It's a shame that they don't / can't make them anymore but there you go!

With the whole warband I only added a few necessary GW bits and they've all blended in pretty well despite the odd swollen hand. Must be a fungal growth thing!

The Shaman and Squig-prodders add my necessary touch of alternative. I almost painted the bow pink but left that for the Shaman who as with the others I've kept simpler rather than busier.

Another 22 PPs and some of my most pleasing. Now I just need to weather their new painted status the next time they hit the tabletop :)

Bandit Country

This week saw the Enfield Gamers return to its first organised quarterly campaign in a while, namely Mordheim.

I'm running it and have, as usual, gone alternative using the Empire in Flames wilderness campaign rules. As much as anything the scenery requirements are easier to fulfil though I want to get as many of the club's many building on the tables as possible.

Set in and around the town of Grunwald (see the NEW dedicated blog page) and with six gaming nights available the format is one "normal" game followed by a round of multi-player pit-fights with each warband entering a limited number of fighters.

Each gaming night represents a campaign week. The main scenario is the warband being out and about on their nefarious business. The pit fight represents The Count of Grunwald's gladiatorial games which bonus experience and loot on offer along with some battlefield medicine!

First night was particularly rural with everyone playing the Bounty Hunting scenario, competing to bring in the heads of various bands of ruffians who have fallen out with The Count!

Not being entirely sure of numbers I set up 4 table to get 10 players, so two tables were a three-way which the scenario insisted wouldn't be a problem. The main problem for most was that the various bandits didn't fancy being taken in and caused more casualties amongst the players than any of the actual players!

I faced off against Rob's incredibly small band of 5 Dwarves and Charlie's more sizable band of Reiklanders. With 15 Orcs, Goblins and Squigs I foolhardily split my force and went after both warbands. Hmmm.... classic Orc if you ask me!

Rob lost two of his number to Bandit crossbow fire almost immediatelyely only to rout once he had met me in combat. Charlie meanwhile hid behind a wood which then became the scene for a Tex-Mex standoff before time forced his hand. Brief and bloody tooth vs shield action saw me fail my first rout check, as my boss had been Bandited into unconsciousness, to hand him a cowardly, cowardly victory. 

The pit fight was set in The Count's Keep's garden, quite the mouthful, with bonus exploration rolls for tagging and controlling the central tree. Taking on Rich's Orcs and Stuart's Reilklanders, Rich charged for the tree with a single Orc and then hid leaving myself and Stuart to battle for the tree.

Numbers told as I'd taken in just one Orc hero backed by Gobbos and Squigs. Victory was mine!! All good fun for everyone on the night I can see that I'm going to enjoy this one enormously :) 

It's already occured that Mordheim may work as an ideal ruleset for Zombie Village, so this will be an excellent bit of additional playtest! Work, work, work ;)

Big Pointy Teeth...

.....and vicious streaks a mile wide!

Quiet weekend watching excessive amounts of rugby to varying degrees of satisfaction. The Mordheim goblins are coming on well, just waiting for higlight work, but their Squig pets are all ready for action on Tuesday night. 5 painting points seem about right.

WIP shots of the Gobbos and the fully detailed Church on the relevant page :)

Master-Blaster!!

WANTED; for pie-o-cide!

FINALLY we got back to Star Wars RPG last night and finished off the current mission which had gone oh so wrong pretty much from the word go!

Killing the party has always been a gnarly old can-o-worms for many a DM that produces mixed reactions amongst players. Mr Christian, who's character spent the ENTIRE evening unconscious, made his feelings felt by putting my facebook photo through his lard-boy app. Best 69p he's ever spent apparently!

We all had a good laugh though, my motivation as a GM, and despite his obvious feelings it was never my INTENTION to kill off the party. I just wasn't going to give them an easy time if they gave the adventure the opportunity.

Picking up where we left off, running away in leaky spacesuits through a hard vacuum, it took a couple of crucial turns for the lads to get a plan together.

Said plan was to mag boot the rapidly increasing pile of unconscious bodies onto the 3 escapee cargo crates and send them down the rappel line back to the ship. The combat-suited Big-Bad continued with his hit and run tactics, popping out of cover to lay down some blaster fire before dodging back behind cover via thruster jets.

Big-Bad was expending his last few Force Points (dark and light) to do this, not that the lads knew how many he had, against their purely defensive tactics which coupled with a poor Perception roll after covering the wrong angle saw only Jon's Jedi and Ian's Scoundrel on their feet. The Jedi, ALWAYS the poxy Jedi to frustrate my plans!

Last Men Standing - but for how long!?

Except this time there was no Force Stun in the rush to get everyone away, with the last to walkers clinging on to the final crate as it flew along the rappel line. The group sigh of relief was audible, at least until Big-Bad went space-side after them. Why on earth wouldn't he!
Jon's Force Push bounced him back off the shuttle hull while Ian just shot him! Recovering, Big-Bad finished off Jon whilst closing on Ian at which point Ian's randomly pre-determined air supply finally exited his suit!

Passing the Constitution check Ian squeezed off another blast of laser fire just as all "cargo" reached their ship's external airlock. He missed! Big-Bad didn't. Lights out lads, have a nice sleep!!

So TOTAL PARTY KILL then! Not had one of those in quite some time, not sure I can remember the last one. Chatting it through it was a close run thing all the way through. Big-Bad had just 13 hit points on Ian's last shot, 3D8+4 damage, and back down in the hold they could have chased him down and finished him off but chose to regroup, a 50-50 call in all honesty.

More than anything was a lack of group tactics. Rule 1: NEVER split the party!!

Fading back from black each of the lads found themselves floating in a Bacta tank, many with new cybernetic bits and all with a shiny new bio-ware unit grafted into the center of their chests! A com-link cut in and an oriental voice welcomed them as new employees of  Hiyabusa Intergalactic Heavy Industries (HI-HI) outlining something of the nature of their new Healthcare Plan :)

Next time out it'll be time to live the meet the bosses, sing the company song and live the company motto; Service for a Lifetime. Seems like a good time to close a chapter and take a break!

Roleplay will see some bits and bobs until the new year and then it'll be back to D&D. It'll also give me the chance to be working on Zombie Village!!

BRAINS, BRAINS, who's got some BRAINS!!! ;)

Multi-stringed bow

Is that a harp then!??

I played football again this afternoon which is nothing new as Sunday afternoon footy has become a regular fixture, despite a jippy right knee and the fact that I haven't followed the game since I was at primary school.
Due to jippy knee I play at the back, in the center or on the left, and am, apparently, rather difficult to get around and don't mind a bit of shoulder action. I rarely get picked last anymore, which is nice.

I've been slowly getting more into it and have even picked up an older Fulham shirt, £10 from flea bay, due to their rep for hard defensive play. I've even been watching the odd half of a game during the post game pint of coke. This week we kicked off early to accommodate the Spurs / Arsenal game which I actually watched the majority of at home.

It was at least in the background whilst I did some STUFF, though I did catch all 3 goals, and watched the Wasps score live-fed on the laptop grind to a loss away to Newcastle! BAH!!!!

So in the vein of trying new things here's my Mordheim Boss and Shaman basecoated and washed. Rarely have I painted any greenskin so brightly but I'm very encouraged with my work to date. Still keen to add some pea-dot fauna!

Did I also mention that I'm also known on the pitch for my luminous yellow boots?? :)