Song of Blades & Heroes - The Arkand Road.

Another game of Song of Blades & Heroes played at the club. Andrew followed up last weeks game with a scenario tracking the progress of the Band of Heroes as they try to get the surviving villagers from the village of Hock back to the safety of the closest town. Robafett and Neil took on the mantle of the good guys whilst I continued with the opposing forces harassing them.

The Heroes -

Lord Sevran      (Human Warrior)
Brother Nathan (Human Cleric)
Thanon              (Human Wizard)
Stantharg           (Human Barbarian)
Ceolord             (Elven Archer)
Helmgrim         (Dwarf Warrior)
Brakgrun           (Dwarf Warrior)

Rob & Neil discuss tactics as Andrew oversees.

Following the merciless destruction of Hock and the majority of the villagers either killed or turned into more of the undead army of Oliver, the heroes were able to gather the survivors and flee the ruins. Lord Sevran and his band of brothers undertake to return the survivors to a safer place and warn of the evil rising in the land.

We join the action as the Brave Heroes carefully lead the terrified villagers (and what could be salvaged of their belongings) along the Arkand Road. Stretched out along the road with high bushes either side of them, things seem too quiet for the parties liking...

Hearing the moans of the undead in the far distance behind them, Lord Sevran orders the group to reorganise and provide more protection for the villagers. Old Man Jonti takes control of the pony train and the others split into two groups of women and children at the front and the menfolk at the rear. The Dwarves Helmgrim and Brakgrun stay at the head of the groups.

Leading from the front, Lord Sevran and Stantharg (the Barbarian) scout forward along the road. As Stantharg ambles onwards, Sevran is suddenly aware of movement from behind a nearby tree. He breifly pauses to look through into the treeline...

...and before he can react a huge Minotaur bellows at them and comes crashing through the foliage!

Lord Sevran and Stantharg join combat but this is truly a fearsome beast and the two warriors are hard pressed.

Spotting the commotion ahead, the two Dwarves begin to trot forward to help their stricken comrades. Ceolord (the Elven Archer) slips through the bushes back onto the road from the grass land, hoping to get a shot on the creature.

With another roar the giant beast raises its axe with both hands and brings it down heavily on poor Stantharg...literally splitting the Barbarian in two! Covered in a shower of blood, this is too much even for Lord Sevran and he beats a hasty retreat. Witnessing this gruesome kill, the villagers descend into blind panic...Old Man Jonti cannot hold the pack ponies and is dragged screaming back down the road (no doubt to his inevitable demise at the hands of the pursuing undead), the rest of the Heroes are also in shock and flee back down the road.

Gathering his courage, Brother Nathan boldly steps up and calls to the villagers to "have faith" and follow him. He spots a path through the treeline and leads the group through.

They avoid the Minotaur as it waves its axe around in bloody joy.

Lord Sevran rallies the others and orders Ceolord to steady himself and take a shot at the Minotaur whilst it is distracted. He duly steps up, takes aim, then deftly shoots the beast through the eye!

With the immediate danger gone, Sevran sends the two Dwarves to protect the flank as he joins Brother Nathan with the rest of the villagers.

The group make haste past the old shrine. Ceolord can be seen in the treeline protecting the rear as he waits for Thanon (the Wizard) who is trailing some way behind them.

No further danger seems to present itself as the group of weary villagers continues to run across the grassland.

As Thanon and Ceolord try to catch up, a screech fills the air and two Bugbears leap from the trees, charging into Helmgrim and Brakgrun.

Helmgrim is almost caught by surprise as the two ugly things run towards him...

...and without warning, another three Bugbears appear through a gap, charging full pelt at the group of villagers. Ceolord spots them and runs forward, notching another arrow. Brakgrun joins his Dwarf friend and knocks one of the two attacking Bugbears to the ground, giving Helmgrim time to prepare to fight.

Meanwhile, Brother Nathan and Lord Sevran encourage the villagers to keep moving - they think they can outrun these assailants...

...and despite their fatigue, they are indeed able to do so, rejoining the easier route of the road and running for their lives!

Helmgrim and Brakgrun find themselves struggling against these two attackers and much to the horror of Brakgrun he watches as his friend is cut down in front of him.

Thanon has a moment of sheer terror as the three Bugbears give up on chasing the villagers and turn to face him! They appear better armed than the first two and one looks like the leader.

The first two Bugbears now round on poor old Brakgrun. He doesn't have a chance and is soon hacked down. Bugbears like Dwarf meat. Things are looking bad...

...but Thanon is at least able to outwit the three beasts bearing down on him as he flits past them! Ceolord has an opportunity to escape but the brave Elf opts to help the fleeing wizard. He shoots the Bugbear leader (Nerte) three times but his arrows have little effect against the well armoured creature.

The Bugbear leader, Nerte, decides he really likes the wizards 'purple dress' and endeavours to obtain it. His two guards rush the Elf who puts up a solid fight but is unable to stop their onslaught. He too falls to the ground unconscious.

Try as he might, Thanon is no match against three giant Bugbears. He lets out a quiet "oh..." as Nerte cracks him across the head with the flat of his axe...

Nerte and his vile band celebrate a good days hunting!

 ...and it is here we leave this sorry tale. Lord Sevran and Brother Nathan soon realise the threat has passed and allow the villagers to rest awhile. They wait as long as it feels safe but it is soon clear none of the other heroes will be joining them. He could only assume the worst and that all his companions were now dead. With sad resignation, he orders the party to pack up and continue their journey to Blackmarsh. He would re-equip, gather new followers and take the fight back to these foul creatures!

The Cast.

Another good game! The shock result of the gruesome kill by the Minotaur against the Barbarian almost threw the good guys into chaos a few turns in. They rallied and some nice shooting by the Elf removed the threat. It really got tense at the end as I realised I couldn't catch up with the villagers (my first objective) and Rob and Neil cleverly outmaneuvered my slow moving troops. The rear guard put up a brave fight but had a hard time of it and the big Bugbears gradually picked them off.

We deemed it a 'moral' victory for the Heroes as the majority of villagers were saved, other than poor Old Man Jonti and the ponies. As far as the battle went it was otherwise a resounding victory for the Bugbears, killing / capturing Thanon, Ceolord, Helmgrim, Brakgrun and Stantharg, for the loss of the Minotaur.

Stantharg is clearly dead but who knows the fate of the others. Are Thanon and Ceolord still alive? Did the Dwarves end up in the cooking pot? Will Lord Sevran and Brother Nathan have their revenge? And of course, what of the undead menace of Oliver's Army?

All these questions will hopefully be answered in following tales!

All figures from Andrew, with terrain from him and the club, apart from the ruined shrine.

Song of Blades & Heroes - Village of the Dead.

Played our first game of Song of Blades & Heroes at the club (SEEMS) last night. We have been talking about it for a while but never actually getting around to it, as tends to be the way with us.

Making the most of the chance to attend the club a few weeks on the trot, Andrew took the bull by the horns a promised a game for the Wednesday evening. Very brave considering he volunteered to do this on the Monday!

A quick read of the rules and the selection of a few appropriate figures and we were ready to go. Below are a few blurry pics of the game, at least as far as we played - not really a Battle Report as it was only a test game.

The scenario involved a group of 'Brave Heroes' (Robafett and Laurie) being asked to check on a nearby village that nobody had heard from for some time...

Unbeknownst to them, a foul Lich Lord (me) going by the name of Oliver, had decided to ravage the village with a horde of zombies. Most of the buildings were now in ruins and the small population of villagers were either dead or cowering in fear at the crossroads at the centre of the village.

The Village of Hock - now a smouldering ruin...

When the band of heroes arrived, the Lich Lord was resting within the village cemetery. He had many of his zombie army buried around the town, which he could order from the ground at will (using an activation) - these zombies could attempt to activate on the first round they appeared but being slow moving (and with a Quality of 6) they were only ever going to trouble the heroes en-masse.

The Heroes - Cleric, Archer, Wizard, Barbarian, Paladin, Dwarf, Halfling.

The hero team were at first very cautious (probably too much so, rolling only 1-2 dice, not wanting to risk 2 failures) but they did make the wise decision to call out to the villagers to find out what was going on!

The hapless villagers of Hock.

They gradually made their way into town, keeping relatively close as they now had a better idea of what to expect. What they didn't expect was their enemy to suddenly appear out of the ground directly around them!

"They're coming out of the ground!"

The first group of zombies moved slowly towards the leading Dwarf, who had the Halfling and Cleric not far behind him. The Wizard (on the floor above them with the Elf Archer) tried a couple of spells with little effect. There was almost a palpable sense of panic when more and more zombies kept appearing around the heroes. At this point though, they didn't realise how slow (and almost ineffective) the zombies actually were.

Brave Dwarf.

The 'fighter' contingent also quickly found themselves surrounded by many of the shambling corpses clawing their way from the road beneath them. Surprisingly, I managed to roll a succession of 6's and several of the undead moved into contact with the heroes...but lacked the extra activation to actually attack them!

Surrounded?

Despite a few close calls (such as when the Dwarf was knocked to the ground and the poor halfling found several zombies surrounding him) the heroes confidence soon built and they began to play to their strengths (rolling 3 activation dice that were generally giving at least 2 activations, attacking fallen enemies, the Wizard using the 'transfix' spell and hitting with a Power Attack) - and despite there being nearly 20 zombies on the table (with another 6 to come, plus the Lich Lord himself) by the time we had to wrap up the game you could see the heroes starting to look like they could come out on top.

Fighting Men make short work of Zombies.

Although we didn't get a full game in we certainly got a taste of the basic rules and hopefully will play another scenario next week. I for one certainly enjoyed playing them!

All terrain and figures (apart from the villagers) supplied by Andrew, supplemented by a few trees (no, they were not Ents Rob) from the club.

2013 Round-Up and Plans for 2014...

Well, 2013 was not a good year for me in general but I did get a fair amount done in regards to "The Hobby" and managed this by concentrating on only a few projects!

1) Doctor Who - over 100 miniatures now done for this, though admittedly I started in October 2012. Also got a great game in using the DWMG rules "Day of the Autons". Rob (GM) kindly painted up 30 odd Sea Devils and a few Silurians for me too!

2) 7TV - another 60 minis approx completed for this but only one game played, "GoldenSpy".

3) Stargate SG1 - about 45 minis and a Stargate done for this. Still not quite finished the MALP's / FRED's and need some scenery!

4) Strange Aeons / Cthulhu - a handful of figures done for this too including a horde of Deep Ones.

5) Viking / Dark Ages - an ongoing project over at Gjallarhorn. Topped up the Viking folk by another 30 or so.

6) Built up my scenery / terrain etc too over the last year but feel like there is a long way to go...

So, what's for next year?

1) Terrain / scenery / buildings etc - though I have a few bits and bobs I really need to concentrate on this over the next year. Anything generic is great but I think I need a lot more buildings, probably some Sarissa ones topped up with a couple of 4Ground and maybe a couple of Plasticville.

2) More Doctor Who - no surprises there as I still have a stack more of the Black Tree figures (picked up in sales) and a fair bit of 'not' Doctor Who stuff from Heresy and Crooked Dice etc. Also intend to actually play a few more games too now I have the figures!

3) More 7TV - again, lots of figures still to be done and want to play much more than I managed in 2013.

4) Stargate SG1 - bought some more Jaffa from eBay and must get the 'not' SG1 from Hasslefree!

5) Vikings - yep, more. Perhaps a few more games of Saga and Strandhogg. Might try out Pig Wars.

6) Strange Aeons - want to start concentrating on this more. I have loads of old Cthulhu minis and quite a few from the Artizan Thrilling Tales range. Andrew has been really working towards this (and all things Cthulhu) and I have only made a start. Really want to play!

7) Darkest Africa - progress slowed on this (By the Orders of the Great White Queen) but hopefully we will finally get to play something. I have a handful of bearers and villagers to do and we need more warriors.

New projects?

1) WWII - one of our other shared projects (A Project Too Far), so not exactly new but I want to start in a new area. It looks to be shaping up with Andrew painting up his Yanks and Rob adding to the ranks with some British Royal Marine Commandos (maybe?) and I would like to finish off a few Germans and French Resistance. As far as the new part of this I really want to get started on my British 'Home Guard'. I have a few of the Foundry 'Dad's Army' range and would like to pick up some Musketeer figures to add to this. Hopefully one of our first games of the new year will be using the Chain of Command rules by Too Fat Lardies.

2) Pulp - not bought them but looking at the Pulp Alley rules and fancy giving them a try. If I actually work towards some Strange Aeons stuff this will be useful here too, so not a huge commitment figure wise.

3) Greek Myth / 7th Voyage - bought the Crooked Dice 7th Voyage rules and have also picked up lots of the Foundry Greek Myth range (plus some monsters) so already committed to this!

4) Zombies - always a tempter as I am a massive Zombie fan. Obviously I have the 7ombieTV rules too being the Crooked Dice devout that I am. Andrew has the figures, I will aim to supply the buildings etc...

5) A Fistful of Kung Fu - very tempted by this but it would be a complete start from scratch. Definitely up for some 'Gun-Fu' action though.

6) Fantasy - well, I still have hundreds of unpainted fantasy minis (mainly Citadel) from my early Warhammer days. The Runequest stuff is calling to me as well... I fancy a getting a small Scorpion Man or Baboon raiding party together. Andrew made a lot of progress with this and bought an entire dungeon (not literally) so I feel obliged to assist.

7) Gladiators - I picked up some Gladiator minis recently and with the new rules coming from Studio Tomahawk this is on the cards too.

The main aim will be to try to actually PLAY more games!

I am sure I will find other distractions during the year (In Her Majesties Name, Dead Mans Hand, Judge Dredd, Tomorrows War??) but for now I think I have given myself plenty to be getting on with.

Best wishes to you all.

M

Werewolves & Ogre.

A couple of miniatures I have had for an eternity but finally got around to painting...

First up, a couple of mighty Werewolves from Reaper miniatures. These are both lovely models, full of character and animation. I am sure I can squeeze them into many settings!

"Grrrowl..."

Above is the "Male Werewolf" by James van Schaik. A really lovely figure and, in my opinion, one of the best Werewolf sculpts on the market. A pleasure to paint, basically several layers of drybrushed greys.

"Howl..."

This is "Jean Paul Duchamps, Werewolf" by Ben Siens. Another great figure but as I have mentioned before, the right arm was a bit of a devil to fit and it took plenty of green stuff and superglue until I was happy with it.

Next, the excellent 'Ogre Bodyguard' for Mordheim.

Well, it only took me a year to finish the base on this chap and it was hardly the most complicated thing but hey, I got there eventually.

Ogre Bodyguards 80 gold crowns to hire +30 gold crowns upkeep

Ogres are large, brutish creatures, standing some ten feet tall, and all of it bone and muscle. For this reason they are much in demand as bodyguards and mercenaries, despite their lack of brains. A warband backed up by an Ogre makes a fearsome enemy, since Ogres are extremely dangerous fighters and a terrifying sight to behold when enraged. They happily accept any employer, as they are notoriously unbothered about who they fight for.May be Hired: Any warband except Skaven may hire an Ogre Bodyguard.
Rating: An Ogre Bodyguard increases the warband’s rating by +25 points, plus 1 point for each Experience point he has.

Profile	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
Ogre	6	3	2	4	4	3	3	2	7

Weapons/Armor: Either two swords, axes or clubs (or any mix of them), or a double-handed weapon (you may choose which). Ogres wear light armor.
Skills: An Ogre may choose from Combat and Strength skills when he gains new skills.
Special Rules:

• Fear: Ogres are large, threatening creatures that cause fear. See the Psychology section for details.
• Large Target: Ogres are Large Targets as defined in the shooting rules.

Figures are from Reaper and the 'Evil Empire'.