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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 22, 2020 1:48:06 GMT -9
This is more a pre-Battle Report and a Post Battle retrospective than a proper Battle Report. Sorry Antohammer!
I recently acquired Song of Blades and Heroes Revised Edition from Drive Thru and decided to give it a solo run out. The only thing that has given me any interest in wargaming is the availability of paper figures, so thank you for that guys!
I didn't write down turn by turn stuff while I was playing but I wrote up my thought processes etc afterwards and if it's of any interest to anybody I thought I would post it here. Thank you to Vermin King for showing me how to post photos here. Sorry it's very long. Please do let me know if this is rubbish that no-one wants to hear and I'll shut up!
Part 1
I decided on 100 points each side, significantly smaller than the usual 3-500 for Songs as this was my first game and I just wanted to get a hang of the rules. I wanted a simplistic reason for violence without much explanation so it was going to be a straightforward raid of some sort but I didn’t want to do the obvious orcs versus humans despite the fact that I would have liked to use the Okumarts Pig Orcs which I have already made up. So I decided to play people against Undead.
My imagination ran on, with the idea of the undead implying a night time scenario. They're always scarier at night! My impression of an isolated community in the dark made me think of clansfolk huddling around a peat fire against the cold and I thought I might use Antohammer’s Fantasy Highlanders for the clansfolk.
I looked up the “army lists” in the back of Song of Blades and Heroes, the revised edition has plenty listed. I decided on a Human Barbarian Warrior at 36 points. I needed ranged capability so the next figure down the list with ranged capability is Human Light Infantry with Sling Javelin or Shortbow. I picked one of these because the points would fit neatly if I took another Barbarian Warrior as my third figure for the human side. Okay, 100 points spent.
I wanted an ad hoc group defending their community rather than a military warband. A mixed gender group seemed to meet that idea better. I decided the ranged combatant was a woman. Perhaps my own inherent sexism or a nod to historicity made me assume that she was not a regular combatant and I thought she would be a slinger. In my defence, it was the weapon mentioned first!
About this point my imagination was creating names and the stereotypes they conjured up were providing voices to go with them. So Duncan, Wee Mad Tim and Oor Maggie were born.
I scanned down the lists for Undead and picked two Skeleton Human (Hand Weapon and Shield) and two Skeleton Human (Archer) for my Undead warband. Exactly 100 points. They were the first couple of listings and I knew I had the appropriate figures.
So I had my warbands. Now I needed cardboard warriors!
I printed a sheet of Antohammer’s Fantasy Highlanders and scanned the page. There’s a lot of variation on the minis here, colour of clothing, weapon, headgear etc. So I looked for a couple with a roughly similar colour scheme. I picked the sword and shield man in red and yellow as ‘Duncan’ because he stood out and an axe and shield guy from a little lower down as ‘Wee Mad Tim’ and roughly chopped them out with big scissors.
I found it harder to find a figure for Oor Maggie. I cast around my hard drive in every place I knew I had female figures. All the historical and pseudo historical sets don’t seem to include fighting women except for Amazons which are more ancient than medieval in inspiration and tend to be dressed for warmer climes! The D&D inspired sets of paper minis include women fighters but they are in the strange anime action poses with the jagged high fantasy weapons and costuming, of modern D&D. I much prefer a low fantasy aesthetic and more realistic gear.
Does nobody make a set of medieval light infantry women figures in sensible armour/clothing and with a variety of weapons? I don’t suppose there’s the demand for them.
Dryw the Harper provided a partial solution. His Northmen set of Imperfect People contains a Shield Maiden and a Bow Maiden. The Bow Maiden has a reddish tunic and ginger hair. Fine I thought, so Maggie’s a bowwoman rather than a slinger. I can live with it. I’ve noticed the Imperfect People I’ve made up are larger than other figures. I measured a guardsman I had handy, from Dryw’s Soldiers set and he seemed to be about 36mm. I did some rough maths and printed out a sheet of Northmen at 87% and now Maggie seemed to match Duncan and Wee Mad Tim pretty well.
Being impatient to play I scored, folded and glued the “good guys”. (It’s easy to be the goodies when your opponents are the walking dead isn’t it!). Normally I “laminate” my figures with clear sticky backed plastic to help them stand up to handling and preserve the colour etc. But I didn’t bother this time and it made it a lot quicker. I cut them out, using scissors and following the black borders which I prefer. It was easier for the Antohammer figures than for Dryw's, which has less border. If I wanted to keep the figures I might trim them closer and more neatly but it’s the time. I’m eager to game!
I trimmed the tabs on the Highlanders and popped the warband into One Monk style outdoor bases.
Any comments welcomed
GR
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Post by squirmydad on Jul 22, 2020 11:50:06 GMT -9
...and how did the battle go? Looks like a good start for a warband, and SOBH plays very fast so you should be able to repeat the conflict several times in short order and try out different strategies.
Do you have any experience working with Gimp or Photoshop? If so then making a female medieval slinger should be pretty easy.
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 23, 2020 3:53:36 GMT -9
Thanks for the reply squirmy dad. i've got Gimp and I just about struggled through the Print and Play Gamer's tutorials for changing the colour of shirts and moving minis onto the same page, so I'd probably struggle with modding figures just yet. Hopefully I'll get better in the future! I'll be playing some more Song of Blades and Heroes shortly. For now I'll press on. Part 2 The Enemy and the Field I found a couple of Antohammer’s sword and shield skeletons from his Undead Starting Set. I chose a running skeleton in a blue cloak with upraised sword and a wyvern on his knights’ shield and a skeleton with a round shield and a raised sword. The round shield matches the ones on the Highlander figures. Perhaps this is the skeleton of Wee Mad Tim’s cousin! I looked for Skeleton Archers on my hard drive and the first one I found was a Printable Heroes free one. Don’t tell anybody here. It hasn’t got a back. I’ll get in trouble! I made up the two archers. The black border is thick and makes for an easy trim. They are skinny figures in a slightly less stylised drawing style than the melee skeletons. I like the art. However the figure is draped about the lower half with cloth and weapons belts and bits of armour which muddies the outline. There’s a lot of black here and it strikes me that getting that balance right must be difficult. Given the thinness of realistic bones, there’s a lot less figure and a lot more background with a skeleton! Made up just in paper like this, the figures curve back and I have to bend them flat again which inhibits the illusion somewhat. They go into OneMonk outdoor bases as well.
Both Warbands assembled, I need a playing board. I grab a black foamboard that’s about 18 inches by two foot. I need terrain and I grab a couple of free buildings I made up before I even bought anything. The Dave Graffam hovel, which I see in every Battle report on the internet and the Microtactix Village house. The need for terrain requires a decision. Where do the Skeletons come from? It could have been a local graveyard or something but glancing up at my terrain shelf showed me a couple of stone table blocks and pillars from Crooked Staff. I really enjoy listening and watching his You Tube videos and the instructions are clear enough so I’ve got several pieces made up. I plucked down enough bits to knock together some kind of cenotaph or monument and that crystallised my scenario background. It was a monument to a battle and the dead from the battle were coming back…for some reason. I’ll worry about that part another time. I just want to get the battle started now. And so do you probably. GR
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 23, 2020 4:09:20 GMT -9
Part 3 The Main Event I started with randomly determining the attacker and defender. I’d presumed a skeleton attack but the dice told me I was wrong. I determined that Wee Mad Tim had been outside after hearing a noise and had spotted the skeleton band. He’d alerted the pub and he, big Dunc and oor Maggie had spilled outside to see what was happening. Both sides began within one short of the baseline on their sides. Big Duncan threw three activation dice but rolled two failures and handed the initiative straight back to the Skeletons. Nonetheless Big Dunc was confident and ran out straight away to meet the undead threat. Wee Mad Tim cried out “Noooooooo Duncan!” I activated the Skeleton Archers with two dice one by one. They each got two successes. They moved out from the cover of their melee brethren and forward a little before firing at Duncan, stranded in the middle of the table. The dice were not kind and both missed feebly. The first Melee skeleton got two successes on two dice ran into the middle and engaged Duncan in mighty base to base struggle. Duncan promptly knocked him back a base length. The other Skeleton with one success came up and joined the melee. Control passed back to the Clansfolk. Oor Maggie got one success and took a potshot at the leftward Skeleton. She had a -2 for range and missed completely. This set the pattern for ranged fire throughout the “wee scrimmage”. Wee Mad Tim screamed out “Holt on big man, I’m with ya!” and steamed off into the melee, leaving oor Maggie pottering around on her own at the back. The struggle in the middle continued for the next two or three changeovers in initiative. I took one or two shots with the Skeleton Archers at the melee in the middle, at Duncan with one Archer and at Wee Mad Tim with the other before realising firing into Melee wasn’t allowed. We had a round where Duncan went for three activation dice and handed control back to the Skeletons straight away. Only for the Skeleton Swordsman to hand it straight back! Big Duncan got knocked back but was able to take a step to get straight back into combat. He knocked down his opponent but was unable to take advantage. The vagaries of fortune left the skeleton facing Duncan half a base back from its ally and that meant that it didn’t get a minus for being in contact with two opponents. Both Skeleton Archers were reduced to firing at Maggie ineffectually. I moved the one closer to the Cenotaph forward to reduce the range penalty but Maggie simply moved back herself. Skeleton Archers have a Combat score of 1 and any range penalty is a lot on a d6. They were…not very good. Then Big Duncan made the breakthrough. A roll of five or six from him and a sudden crack as the Skeleton Warrior hereby designated as Wee Mad Tim’s Dead Cousin rolled a 1. It exploded in a hail of bone shards and dust! I scrambled to read up on the interaction between Morale rolls caused by suddenly exploding friends and the Undead Special Ability. The Skeletons had to roll three dice but “Undead” gave them +2. Those mods on a d6 are massive. Their Quality was 3, a 1 would still have been an autofail though, so I made the rolls. They were all fine. The tide had turned, though, in the centre of the field. With the undead Wyvern Knight now attacked by two and getting a minus, Wee Mad Tim knocked him down and big Dunc applied the finishing blow. “Goood one, big man!” said Wee Mad Tim who I suspect is the brains of the outfit. The Skeleton Archers heretofore pecking at Oor Maggie like sparrows at a canary, now switched their fire to the pair in the centre but you could tell their (absent) hearts weren’t in it. The Clansmen even split up to take them down. And it was all over. I had a look at the Campaign rules, such as they are, in the revised rulebook and applied the results. The Clan took 5 Victory Points for defeating 100 points of enemies and gained 1 XP each. It’s not enough to buy another Special Ability or stat improvement yet. Technically the 5 VP could buy them 10 points worth of extra models . They could buy ten peasants for the warband or a zombie and a couple of children to feed it (take that any way you like!). But zombies don’t really fit thematically and peasants and children are only used in particular scenarios. So I think we’ll have to leave it for now. I am very tempted to treat myself to the Song of Deeds and Glory campaign rules, however it’s only supposed to be really useful if you’ve got both the dungeon expansion and the weather expansion already. I’m not sure I want to buy another three books to use one. At least not just yet. So where do I go from here? I could re-run the scenario until I know what I’m doing. But I think I’ll march the Wee Clan down the road a little way. As Wee Mad Tim says “We’re aff tae toon tae see the Laird.” Oor Maggie agrees “It’s the right thing tae do, ye ken.” Duncan says “We’ve tae telt him whut happened here. He’ll knae whut tae do.” Wee Mad Tim adds, more to himself than the others, “Aye, an there might be a reward in it, the noo.” GR
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Post by Vermin King on Jul 23, 2020 5:04:40 GMT -9
Sorry, man, but I will have to read through later. This last week and a half have been insane. I don't see a chance to read through until this weekend, but I am looking forward to it
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Post by Antohammer on Jul 23, 2020 6:58:50 GMT -9
Gentleman Ranker AHAHAHAHAH MAN I LOVED IT seriously!!! i want to follow the gang adventure now!!! next episode: they are going to report the skeleton attack to the lord.... what will happen??? maybe they will end up fighting in a clan war soon? maybe they will fight against an evil wizard? a necromancer !!! anyway ..... here s my little help for the story a minia for maggye (i readed that you needed a slinger :3 i was in doubt if you wanted her with chaimail or not.... i was not sure about the tartarn so i made a scottish yellow too here instead if you follow the link you will find a pdf ready to print www.dropbox.com/s/sammz3mjtwxxr9m/PRINT%20SLINGER.pdf?dl=0i want to see what s next
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 23, 2020 10:58:53 GMT -9
Thanks for that Antohammer. She's brilliant. I don't know how you do it. "The boys wait patiently as Oor Maggie (left) thanks Auntie Sigrid for lending her the family bow and makes her farewells to the ladies of the Glendubh Sewers and Slingers Association". GR
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Jul 23, 2020 14:00:53 GMT -9
Gentleman Ranker this whole community is amazing. Nothing but support and positivity here. I had just barely joined when I went through the toughest time of my life and these guys here were so helpful for a total stranger. Antohammer, those are lovely figures and I am stealing them for my own use as well.
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 23, 2020 23:17:42 GMT -9
Thanks for the wise words coyotepunc. This seems like a friendly place! Your 5 Leagues blog is great. I find myself learning a lot about campaign play. I'll probably be stealing a lot of your ideas!
Have you played much Song of Blades and Heroes? If so, how do the Song of Deeds and Glory, SBH campaign system and Leagues on the Borderland compare?
Thanks,
GR
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Post by Antohammer on Jul 24, 2020 1:47:05 GMT -9
this place is better than many others for sure!!! ..... so lets keep it like this guys and share more ballereports :3 as always guys let me know if you need something for your adventures
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Post by squirmydad on Jul 24, 2020 8:08:26 GMT -9
One of the fun things about SoBH is you can play multiple battles in one sitting. I've never played the campaign version, I've just rolled up multiple random scenarios and then concocted a connecting thread for entertainment value. Next scenarios; -Ambush! Undead surprise the party on their way to the lord. Undead have a numerical advantage so party wins by crossing the board and escaping. -Betrayed! It turns out their Lord was in league with/being controlled by the Necromancer who is raising the dead. Fight your way out lads! -Rescue! The party needs allies and turn to a minor Lord for help, but his home is being besieged by Were-Bunnies. Defeat the Were-Bunnies to gain a powerful ally! -Revenge! With a new powerful ally the party takes the fight to the Necromancer. Just some random thoughts.
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Jul 24, 2020 11:40:14 GMT -9
Have you played much Song of Blades and Heroes? If so, how do the Song of Deeds and Glory, SBH campaign system and Leagues on the Borderland compare? I have played a bit of SoBH, but it was before The Flood and I honestly don't remember much. I suffered some brain damage in 2010 and 2012 and it has sadly deprived me of some memories from before then.
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 24, 2020 23:17:17 GMT -9
Sorry to hear about that coyotepunc. That sounds difficult. I'm enjoying your 5 Leagues from the Borderland blog. If I get into the SoBH campaign system I'll let you know what it's like. squirmy dad: I can't help connecting it all up, I guess I'm still a roleplayer at heart. I'll be trying to borrow some of the tricks and tools for campaign play from 5 Leagues as described by coyotepunc on his blog. I played again yesterday and will write it up later. I will say that you called it right on the next scenario though!
GR
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 25, 2020 3:23:08 GMT -9
When we last left our heroes they had determined to leave their village (now dubbed {ahem} Glendubh) and travel to see the Laird, the MacDuncan at his seat, the local town, Kirkdubh. To reach Kirkdubh, they have to go up the Glen, up through the narrow pass where naewhun ever gets anbushed, down through the dark and dreary wood which is definately nae full of turrible beasties and on to Kirkdubh. I'd decided on threats for the neighbourhood. I didn't understand how roadside encounters added to the game so I'd decided to skip them but I rolled for a combat encounter. It came up as yes and I planned what it might be. There didn't seem to be a lot of point in a small "wandering monster" style encounter. This may as well be my second scenario. I picked an enemy and added something thematically in keeping to round out the points. I decided to roll for a scenario type and got an ambush. I thought this could take place in the deep and dreary woods becasue I had some appropriate battle boards made from Crooked Staff Kris' free Wilderness Map One. I figured that if I needed more terrain I could always loop it, the map is modular. I read up on the Ambush scenario and realised I needed some counters, the position of actual figures is obscured until someone comes within the appropriate range. I prepared some Ambush counters and realised according to the rules I needed to add another stand of figures for another fifteen points. I did so but had to quickly add something similar to the Clansfolk Warband. I chucked in a cheap Human Hunter figure for 15 points. He only has a Combat of 1 but it levelled things up. I quickly sought out an appropriately lightly armed figure with a bow from my tub. Dryw came to the rescue again with a Ranger figure. So the FNG became Rory the Ranger. i've been trying out new foam bases and had provided some for the warband. The opposition, the Ambush Markers and even the trees, sourced from Antohammer's Phantasya bundle got bases. Ready to start, I laid out the battle boards and terrain, defenders choice. I placed the warband, natural caution or paranoia? They already knew to be nervous and set up on the right hand side of their edge, away from the stands of trees. As the Defender I then set up the Ambush Markers, which would be resolved one by one into the opponents. The dice had said that the defender went first but they declined to roll for activation. The Clansfolk took a free move, still being far enough away from any contact and took it, in order to stay together. Their move was reduced to short because of the woods. Next turn was also declined by the defenders. Rory the Ranger gets one success and moves forward one short. Wee Mad Tim gets two successes “Nae Dawdlin’” he says. On his second (short) move forward he is within one long of both the contact Markers on the right. The Defenders have to reveal whether there’s anything there. The larger marker is removed but the two small markers are revealed to be two stands of Spider Swarm (Printable Heroes). “Bluidy Heyll!” shouts Wee Mad Tim”. Duncan gets two activations and moves up to stand next to Tim, “Whassa matter theyr, Pal?” he enquires. Oor Maggie gets three successes. She moves up one short. Not one to be scared of a few spiders she whirls up a slingstone and lets fly. She gets -4 because her range is reduced to short in the woods and it’s therefore triple range, another -1 for target in the woods and therefore in cover and yet another -2 for attacking a swarm. It’s an aimed shot so there’s a +1. This isn’t going to go well. -6 overall. She rolls a 5, as does the swarm base she targets but her -6 leaves her faintly embarrassed with a total score of -1. No effect.
The swarm activates with two successes and runs forward to engage Duncan and Wee Mad Tim. They get there but reduced movement means they won’t fight yet.
From out of the trees on the left, bursts a huge Redback Spider. It’s plan to ambush the boys is foiled. It gets two successes but has to use them both to move up and engage. It’ll miss out on that juicy extra ambush +1.
Huge Redback, Sirrob I believe.
GR
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 25, 2020 4:24:41 GMT -9
Wee Mad Tim goes first, two dice for activation, two successes. He swooshes his axe through the swarm with a mighty Power Blow. He rolls a 4 with a +3 for 7, easily tripling the swarm’s score of 1 (including combat bonus).
His axe splats through the swarm sideways, carrying the crumpled bodies of arthropods with it and taking out some spiders in the part of the swarm in front of Duncan with the flying corpses of their colleagues. Gruesome Kill! “Awae tae f%**!, ye wee lang leggety beasties!”
The other swarm stand must roll morale, it gets two successes but fails with one dice. It starts to scuttle away and Duncan gets a free lethal hack at it. They both roll sixes but Duncan has +3 to the swarm’s +0 and the swarm is trampled and dispersed with glee by the big Highlander.
GIANT SPIDER Points 82 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special rules Clinging, Entangle, Poison, Animal, Big
The Giant Redback spider rolls three successes for its morale.
Duncan rolls two dice for activation and gets one success. Emboldened by his and Tim’s success against the swarm he swings wildly at the Giant Redback. He rolls a 1 with +3 for his combat give him 4. The spider has a 3 plus 4 for its combat value plus one for its Special Ability of Big. Duncans score is doubled and the Spider scores a kill. Aagh! Duncan’s crumples to the ground.
“Nooooo! Big Man!” yells Wee Mad Tim.
Maggie gets three activations and takes two of them for an aimed shot. This negates the -1 penalty for woodland and she gets an additional +1 for the Spider’s size. She gets a respectable total of 8 but the Spider rolls a 4 and it’s combat ability leaves it with an 8 as well. No damage! [I’m still doing this wrong. Aimed Shot should give a minus to the target not a plus to the shooter. It doesn’t matter when it’s even like this (they’d both have got a 7 not 8) but in some circumstances, it would mean the difference between life and (cardboard) death!]
Rory the Ranger gets 1 activation and 2 fails! He has one shot. He and the Spider both roll a 1. His shot goes wide. He has to roll to see whether he’s out of ammo or his bowstring breaks (this will happen if he rolls another one) and he’s fine. Phew.
It’s the Spiders turn. Being the last one on its side, it doesn’t have to worry about the next activation, so it is going for three dice. 6,6,3 Three successes. Wow, the Spider’s on fire! It takes a single move and then takes a mighty blow at poor wee Mad Tim. He’s on a total of dice +2, (he has a minus one because of the power blow) whereas it can total dice plus 5 (because of its Big Special Ability). It rolls a five to his 2. That’s ten versus four is double. Wee Mad Tim is smashed to the forest floor by the rampaging beast!
Oor Maggie and Rory the Ranger look at one another but it’s not a gruesome kill (treble the opponents score) nor are there more dead than alive on their side so this is not enough to force a morale roll. They are both within 1 short move of the rampaging creature.
Oor Maggie gets one activation. Despairingly she fires off a slingshot. “If this was a story book…” she thinks “If this was a story book.” She’s on +2 and the Spider is on +3. She rolls a four but the spider gets a 6 again! Her slingstone bounces off the hairy body and serves only to get its attention. Slowly, almost mechanically it shifts to face them.
Rory the Ranger goes for three activations and gets two. He draws back his bowstring. He gets a +1 because it’s Big and a -1 for being in the woods. With his Combat of 1 he will be on dice +1 in total. The Spider gets a -1 to its Combat for the Aimed Shot so the spider is on dice +3. Come on…he rolls a 5, giving him 6 total. The spider rolls … a 1, +3 its 4. He’s beaten it and it’s an odd number. Is it odd that’s a Knockback and even that’s Fallen?
Wait! It’s dead. It’s dead!
Rory is a last minute addition to the band to make up that 15 point deficit but he’s a Human Hunter, with a Lethal against Animals Special Ability. The Giant Spider has that special ability, Animal. It may be massive and dangerous but its still an animal! It’s dead!
The arrow plunges into its compound eye and the enormous creature gives a shudder and collapses on itself.
Slowly Oor Maggie lowers her sling and they run forward to check on the bodies of the two downed Clansmen.
HUMAN, HUNTER (SHORTBOW) Points 15 Quality 4+ Combat 1 Special rules Shooter (Short), Lethal vs. Animals
GR
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Post by Vermin King on Jul 25, 2020 5:28:49 GMT -9
Sounds like you had one of those 'Hey, wait a minute!' moments. When I used to be a frequent gamer, my GM would expect me to come up with one of those every other game night, where I would pull something like 'Lethal Against Animals' out of my hat, and he would have to go, 'Yep, you are correct'. Actually, he asked me once how things were going when I didn't come up with one of those for three weeks in a row. I'm not sure that that is what I would choose to be known for, but on the other hand, the other players benefited as much as I did.
Thanks for the share
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 25, 2020 10:33:42 GMT -9
I must admit Vermin King, it's one of those things that I sort of noted when picking up the extra figure but dismissed, probably because he had a lousy Combat score. When he hit, you're right, it was a "wait a minute!" moment!
Now the bit I put off at the time. I'm not posting this later, by the way, this is a matter of cardboard life and death, live!
After the battle.
The Warband gets 1 Victory Point for each 20 points of opponent defeated. 82 for the Giant Spider and 15 each for the two stands of Swarm (which I used the stats for a swarm of Centipedes for, is 112 points. Still just another 5 VP for the Glendubh Warband. Each "surviving figure" on the winning side ghets 1 XP. So that's another XP for Maggie, 1 for Rory the Ranger. We don't know about Duncan or Wee Mad Tim.
For each model eliminated during the battle I need to make a Quality roll on three dice.
Someone recently brought me a set of black dice with embedded skulls for the pips back from the Catacombs of Paris. I think they'll make excellent death dice
Both Duncan and Wee Mad Tim have a Quality of three.
Duncan first... Two successes. Wee Mad Tim, two successes. That's "The model is wounded and will be at _1 Quality in the next game."
I was worried. Is it weird to care about cardboard?
So that's a further XP for each of the boys from the clan. It seems like they'll be somewhat battered when they make it to Kirkdubh to meet the Macduncan.
GR
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Post by Antohammer on Jul 25, 2020 11:34:31 GMT -9
AHAHAHAH GREAT!!!! they did it with help of the gods and female archers!!!! now you should take a note in guys backstory something like.... "afraid of spiders" and every time they met spiders they should say lines like: << oh no! not again.... we barely made it last time!!!>> ahahah love this adventure and very nice the idea of squirmydad!!! what if the laird is a villain? O.o a nice plot twist! anyway i did my small contribution to the game a map let me know what you think man (i hope this dont make u unhappy)
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 26, 2020 0:35:36 GMT -9
The map's great Antohammer, it makes me happy to see the land where it's all happening. Like something out of Oor Maggie's story books! Rory the Ranger is a bloke by the way,; one of Dryw the Harper's Imperfect People with a big ginger beard!
Whatever happens next, Duncan and Wee Mad Tim will be less effective for a little while. I think Rory will be staying with the band and we may get some more reinforcements.
I've put together some threat levels for the MacDuncan lands and I had to create another village because two didn't seem enough.
The three settlements are:
Glendubh – A rural and clannish small village; the location of a monument to the massacre of Glendubh, a battle a generation past where a small army of clansfolk were caught in the open and cut down by Onglishmen.
Kirkdubh – The seat of the laird, the MacDuncan of Duncan with a fortified manor and a (small) town.
Lochdubh – A human hamlet by the lake shore with a crannog and houses on stilts. The Lochdubh folk wade around in the shallows with fish spears, they can all swim like a fish and some of them have webbed fingers and toes. Tales are told of Lochdubh folk who are weird because their grandmothers were Lochalfir, nixies (who can only live out of the water for a year and a day but sometimes fall in love with humans a fact which irritates their fathers and brothers).
The Three Threats of Glendubh are The Rising Dead, Raiders and Politics and Onglemen.
The threat levels for each settlement are:
Glendubh – The Rising Dead (5), Raiders (2), Politics and Onglemen (2) Kirkdubh - The Rising Dead (2), Raiders (5), Politics and Onglemen (6) Lochdubh - The Rising Dead (1), Raiders (3), Politics and Onglemen (4)
Now I've got to make up some more battleboards that may be needed for the next skirmish!
Thanks for reading, I'm really enjoying both the battles and the making of scenery and figures. I've been trying to note who created the figures and the terrain and the buildings as I've gone along. I want to give the credit for that to the artists who deserve it. Thanks a lot, guys!
GR
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Jul 26, 2020 13:45:48 GMT -9
Gentleman Ranker, Just for you, I dug out my Song Of Blades And Heroes files. They were on my Storage drive, I probably haven't looked at them in three computers!
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 28, 2020 1:29:26 GMT -9
Ha! I'm sorry to distract you coyotepunc. I want to keep reading your Five Leagues blog, I find it inspiring particularly with the cool terrain and the campaign sections.
I've picked up two or three more of the Song rulebooks. They'll round out my access to Special Rules, weather etc. I haven't got the campaign rulebook yet though, so I'll still be relying on your reporting of how Five Leagues does it, plus the one page of campaign rules in the basic Song of Blades and Heroes rulebook.
I've a little campaign admin/roleplaying stuff to write up later and then hopefully I'll have time to play a skirmish!
Good gaming!
GR
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Jul 28, 2020 5:31:01 GMT -9
It's not a distraction! I like to play multiple systems to try and keep my mind sharp.
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 28, 2020 10:54:54 GMT -9
No dicerolls in this one. It's all campaign backstory stuff. For some reason though, I made up figures and battleboards.
Building 1 of Crooked Staffs Village provided the Lairds Hall. Printed out it is three A4 Battle Boards. My picture is not good and the boards are a lot nicer than they look here.
“Kenneth and Colin the guardsmen still have mud on their boots but when the pipers pull aside the wee leather curtains, ye know ye’re in tinseltown laddie!”
The Glendubh band make their way down the floor of the Laird’s Hall. This is the biggest building they have ever seen. On their left a group of suspicious gentlemen (Okumarts Vikings) are talking to a young blonde lady (Dryw’s Imperfect townfolk – women). “Are they Vikings?” asks Maggie nervously. “Och, no lassie” replies Wee Mad Tim, “They’re Clansmen of the Isles.” “Of the Isles. How do they get here?” “In their Langships, lassie. In their Langships.”
The band approach, they have their appointment with the Laird just after the little boy crying “Wolf!” “Greetings from Glendubh y’r Lairdiness” The Laird listens to their story politely. Duncan tells the tale, with plenty of emotion and grand, wild gestures, “so they come at us, ye ken!” with Wee Mad Tim adding in the actual facts. The Laird’s reaction is not what they wanted, “What do you expect me to do? I am an old man! Do you expect me to ride to the rescue, to sweep down from the hills and destroy what ails you?
Oor Maggie is crushed. Her faith in authority crumbling, “Ye are the Laird!” she says, “Ye are the MacDuncan of Duncan. Yer people need you.” “My people always need me. They need me to stand against the Viking raiders, against the McKenneths of Glendearg, against the Orcish raiders! Sixty years winter my beard and where are my people when I call on them? I am an old man with no heir and every year the false friends grow closer, waiting to seize the land when I am dead. What do ye expect of me.”
The Three Threats of Glendubh are added to the record. Maggie takes a step forward. “Then tellt a man. Raise the MacDuncan voice and order it!” “Tell who?” The Laird’s voice breaks querulously. “We have scarce enough men to hold what we have. Every year the lands under the plough grow less, there are less young men to take up the spear. These useless hangers on are just pecking at the corpse.” He looks around at the assembled folk and spits.
Duncan raises his head. This speechifying has been a bit beyond him but this he understands. “Then tell us.” He says quietly. He clears his throat, “Tell us, y’r Lairdship.” Wee Mad Tim puts himself shoulder to shoulder with Duncan, “Tell us!” Oor Maggie says “Tell us MacDuncan.” Around the Hall the folk look away or down, Behind the band, a young man wearing a chain byrnie, with a godly symbol on a chain around his neck stands up. “I’ll go with you.”
Beside the Laird a strange young woman with pointed ears and a sea green cloak says “And I.”
There is a disturbance in the outer chamber. A guard bursts in. Kenneth, or is it Colin? “Orcs your Lairdship!. Orcs in the town!” The Macduncan of Duncan stands, creaking up, as if the dust is falling from him. He turns and plucks an ancient sword from the pegs on the wall. He tosses it to Duncan. “Bear this, until it fail ye. But make sure ye dinna fail it!” “The Claymore of MacDuncan” breathes Maggie. Turning, the band runs from the hall.
GR
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Post by squirmydad on Jul 28, 2020 11:53:53 GMT -9
That's a fun bit. Even without a combat report it expands the world and plants seeds for so many other quests, scenarios, and battles. I'm enjoying following your story.
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 28, 2020 13:34:20 GMT -9
Thanks squirmydad. It's kind of, an in-world description of the decisions I've made about the campaign threats and their levels. I'm doing this as a solo so, there's a certain element of "once it's written down, the decision's made". I hope it's entertaining to follow. I'll try to also document what the game level reality is behind the story.
I started with a 100 point warband and the intention of learning the rules as I go. Accordingly I'm adding in extra figures to edge up towards the usual starting values and we meet a couple of those new figures here. With the new additions I'll be up to 201 points and will now be facing 200 point Warbands. Next scenario will be a raid.
GR
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Post by Antohammer on Jul 29, 2020 7:09:32 GMT -9
Gentleman Ranker man i love how story is evolving!!!!! i wait next episode so much now!!!! i noticed that my map is wrong.... i ll rework it and let me know if you need some minia for next games i did not thought about the laird being week... this makes for a very interesting plot!!
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 30, 2020 3:22:33 GMT -9
Outside the hall, the smell of burning is in the air and screaming townsfolk run hither and thither.
I had an opponent for this game who was new to the game.
They laid out the board with the Great Hall of the Clan MacDuncan behind their baseline. The battle was fought on a panel of 6” square tiles made primarily from Paper Realms free Kings Road set, with the four nearest the Orc Baseline from Dave Graffams Crops. Some open spaces on the board were filled with the free bonus buildings from Crooked Staff’s Village Maps. As I recall there’s a house, an open fronted stable, an outhouse and what may be a Jacuzzi or steam house or even a foundry, I’m not sure.
The Warband of Glendubh now has two additional figures.
Princess Ellellellellella of the Lochalfir is from Nico(?) Pobiarsky’s free NPCs. She was hard to make up as fronts and backs are separate and there is very little border. The figure is quite pale and in a different style to those I usually use which I thought was appropriate for someone from an entirely different culture.
The other newbie is Gordon God-Botherer, a cleric from Dryw’s first Adventurers set, the same as Rory the Ranger. Both are figures I made up a little while ago and have homemade big black borders and a lot of excess clear “lamination” plastic, both of which I’d be a lot more sparing with if I was making them up now.
The attackers for the scenario is a raiding party of the Clan McUrch, played by Okumarts traditional Pig Orcs. I am utilising a couple of sword Orcs, three Archers and the aged Shaman from the bonus layer. They are nice figures, colourful with clean lines and very visible across the battlefield. I used the somewhat flamboyant Orc with a two handed weapon from Dave Okum’s free Adventurers/Basic Fantasy set as my heavy hitter, a Savage Orc Heavy Infantry figure, Quality 4, Combat 4, Savage, Short Move.
My opponent chose to play the Glendubh Warband and was therefore the defender in the scenario. They placed 10 figures within 1 short of the middle of the board, three sheep herds and 7 people. As the Orcish attacker, the Calan McUrch I would win if I could escort 5 of these figures off the board via my edge. The warband merely needed to prevent this. To escort a figure, I needed to move into base-to-base contact and move towards my baseline, with a move reduced to Short.
The board is set up
The somewhat blurry Warband of Glendubh with its new members
I rolled highest and moved first. I took a free move with my Archers and realised that this didn’t exactly help in teaching the activation process. I rolled for activation for my Orc warriors and failed twice, promptly handing control back to my opponent.
My opponent activated Maggie with 1 success but failed with another two. A flurry of non-activity had defined the early stages. Two fronts were developing. A thrust down the Warbands left led by Maggie and supported by Gordon God-Botherer was met by a single Orc Archer with the Shaman hopping from foot to foot behind shouting ‘helpful advice’ at the youngster.
The slowest Orc had moved up to the corner of the stables in the centre “supported” by the other two Orcish Archers and the two Sword Orcs in various stages of not enough movement and non-activation.
Then a sequence of good rolls by the clan McUrch changed the complexion of things. Gordon God-Botherer engaged the Orc Archer and with an unexpected 6 from the Orc, was rapidly placed on his backside. Duncan is wielding the magic sword, the Claymore of MacDuncan and gains a +2 to his Combat score until he rolls a 1, when the magic will fail. He is the Warband’s heavy hitter, he charged in at the same Archer and was treated likewise with another 6. Wee Mad Tim moved up in desperation to hold off the Archer and prevent the killing of the fallen pair.
"It's nae goin sae well, Duncan!"
Oor Maggie failed to hit with her sling again and succeeded only in drawing the attention of the cackling Shaman. I leapt to and fro, from battleboard to laptop to check the rules and successfully cast a Transfix. The first magic in the game, saw Oor Maggie swept up into the air, unable to do anything. She was Transfixed. Her figure was placed on a pillar to represent this.
In the centre, Princess Ellellellellellella swept around the corner to confront the joyful Orc Savage and was immediately knocked flat with a huge guffaw by the jovial Orc.
Rory the Ranger was by this point tucked into the mass of milling figures in the centre. He was the last man standing of the Glendubh Warband. His attempt to shoot the closest SwordOrc was an abject failure. With my last action of the turn, the SwordOrc moved into contact with one of the sheep flocks and took it under control.
Three men down, one transfixed, Rory the Ranger, last man standing. Can the Warband come back from this?!
Game temporarily suspended due to real life.
GR
Upon the return of my opponent, I have been corrected. Wee Mad Tim is still fighting too!
My Opponent states "We may no be winnin, but we're nae as ugly as they Orcs!"
GR
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Jul 30, 2020 13:40:19 GMT -9
The game was completed. The skirmish is done. It was frantic and control surged back and forth madly. I’ll try to remember but some of the exact rolls and order of events are even now becoming unclear in my mind.
When the game resumed control passed to the Glendubh band.
My opponent began with Gordon God-Botherer; who, with two activations, surged to his feet and then called on his God to heal Duncan “that he may do your work with almighty smiting!”
Now that he was no longer impaired by his wounds suffered against the Spiders of the woods, Duncan rolled two successes on activation also. He sprang to his feet and struck out at the Orcish Archer, knocking him down.
Wee Mad Tim, took the opportunity provided by his colleagues. He struck a mighty blow at the fallen Orc and doubled its score. Killing it where it lay. The first Orc had fallen.
In the centre, The Princess stood but with one activation remained toe to toe with the Orcs big hitter. Rory the Ranger shot at the Orc determinedly trying to drag away the sheep and missed. The marvellous McOrc in the centre struck Princes Ellellellellellella a mighty blow, doubling the wee Lassie’s score. The Princess fell as if dead. As he has the Special Rule Savage, a kill counts as Gruesome even if “only” double the opponents score.
Within one Long Move of the gruesome scene, Rory the Ranger, stared and with two fails on the Morale dice, bolted. Two medium moves left him tottering on the edge of the board on his own baseline.
With Rory away, the Orc in possession of the Sheep began to dream of a Lamb supper and took a single Short Move back towards my baseline.
One of the Orcish Archers moved into contact with the Little boy who cried wolf. The Orcs moved and stood when shot down and conceded control. For two turns I conceded control before I could activate my Shaman.
At the end of my opponents turn, Oor Maggie, who had been saved for last, rolled three dice for activation, rolled two successes and used them to break free from the Transfix effect of the Shaman.
Gordon God-Botherer moved up, base to base with the Shaman but with one activation could do naught else. Duncan had two successes though, he moved up and struck. The Orc Shaman rolled abysmally but so did Duncan. The Orc’s Combat, only a two to start with was reduced by one because of the presence of Gordon. He rolled a 1, plus 1. 2 Total. Duncan with the mighty magic sword of MacDuncan in hand rolled…a 1 as well. Duncan, on a 3 Combat, with a +2 Magic sword got a 6, tripling the Shamans score, inflicting a gruesome death and burning out the magic sword with a flash that rocked the battlefield.
In the centre, two Orcs were making off with Sheep and small boys. The Savage Orc gave a great roar but roaring back from across the fallen Princesses body was, surprisingly, Rory the Ranger. With a 1 Combat it didn’t look hopeful.
And now the dice gods started to favour my opponent. After rolling up my right flank, the rest of the Glendubh Warband were charging in to help.
One turn. Remarkably, Rory the Ranger held off the Savage orc.
Wee Mad Tim knocked down the tardy Orcish Warrior he was facing only to see it get straight back up when control passed back.
Gordon God Botherer crashed into the last unengaged Orcish Archer.
Rory the Ranger stood in the centre, beaten this turn, forced back a step but still holding.
Duncan and Oor Maggie arrived behind the Savage Heavy Infantryorc.
Gordon God-Botherer cut down his foe, who dropped silently to the blood splattered cardboard tiles and was plucked up and removed to the growing line of my dead off-board by my crowing opponent!
My Orc with a new-found vocation for shepherding made it off the board and brought me much needed victory points. My boy shepherd stealing Orc Archer was now within one move of the baseline as well. I began to contemplate a retreat, to settle for my meagre gains.
It was not to be.
Gordon God-Botherer slammed into my Archer, preventing him from moving.
Duncan and then Maggie struck at the Savage Heavy Orc still roaring his defiance by the stables in the middle of the burning town. Rocked by successive blows from behind the Savage Orc goes down to his knees. He raises his head. Rory the Ranger, rolls two successes on his activation. He moves back the base length he’d been forced away, plucks his Skein Dubh from its concealment in his armpit and plunges it into the Savage beasts throat. There is only shock on its face as it drops forward, crashes to the ground and lies still.
For a moment, there is nothing.
The Clan McUrch now have more of their band dead than alive. A morale roll for my two remaining Orcs on the table yields 1 fail for each. They must flee. However they are both engaged. Their opponent will get a free lethal hack. They are both beaten. They turn to flee and are hacked down where they stand.
It’s over. The Clan McUrch driven off, for the relatively light loss of one flock of sheep.
But the Princess is down and we do not yet know her fate and the mighty Claymore of Clan MacDuncan is a blackened husk.
I congratulate my enthusiastic opponent and begin to pack away. I smile tiredly. I enjoyed the game. I’ve still got to write this up and the exact rolls and the order of events is already fading.
GR
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Post by Antohammer on Jul 31, 2020 7:09:57 GMT -9
an hard day for the clan!!!! i have to make more scottish and kern!!!!! great work bro .... i prepare popcorn for next episode!!!!
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Post by Gentleman Ranker on Aug 2, 2020 3:23:11 GMT -9
Thanks Antohammer, I've got myself a little list of the possibilities for the next scenario. The campaign stuff I did earlier helps me work out the possibilities. So, as well as randomly choosing between the active threat threads and rolling for a srandom scenario type, I can now let the Warband be pro-active and choose what they are going to do, or attempt to do. At the moment they can choose to: 1. Follow up on the Orcish raiders and track them back to their lair for a possible dungeon Scenario using the new solo rules in the Song of Gold and Darkness supplement I bought recently. 2. Return to Glendubh to try to find the cause of the Rising Dead. (This may lead to an unexpected situation, with some new terrain required and the opportunity to use some more of the Antohammer Undead bundle) 3. Following up on on offhand remark of old squirmydad about the opportunity for "quests" and the Place of Power scenario in the basic rulebook to go on a Quest to re-power the Sword of MacDuncan Alternatively I could just roll a dice and see what attacks next! GR
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