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

Strange Aeons - Dr. Amelie "Lena" von Heidingsfelder.

Dr. Lena von Heidingsfelder.

Dr. Amelie "Lena" von Heidingsfelder / "Fräulein Doktor"

Amelie, or Lena as she prefers to be known, was the youngest of four children born to Prussian Army officer and bailiff Carl Anton Heidingsfelder and his wife Lady Elspeth von Claustorch, from a minor Westphalian noble family. Studying zoology at the University of Freiburg, after a brief pursuit of an academic career, Lena's more adventurous spirit came to the fore and she travelled to Africa and South America. Initially setting with the intention of being a photographer of exotic animals, she eventually found herself becoming a seasoned adventurer. Leading safaris for the wealthy, treasure hunts for the foolhardy and expeditions into the unknown, her in depth knowledge of far away lands, dark secrets and strange cultures soon earned her the nickname 'Fräulein Doktor'. Lena is (of course) an accomplished big game hunter, journalist, war correspondent, stockbroker, saboteur, spy, and adventurer.

Strange Aeons - Winifred 'Winnie' Hodge.

'Winnie' Hodge.

Winifred "Winnie" Hodge

Despite her apparent bookish appearance, "Winnie" Hodge is a tough as they come. Educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, studying palaeography and anthropology with an interest in cryptography. The young Winnie worked as an assistant to the eternally mysterious Henry 'Harry' Winstanley, eventually joining him on some of his global exploits. Proving herself to be just as adept with a Webley revolver as with her head in a book of ancient texts, she soon found herself approached by a friend of Harry (on his recommendation), none other than the second son of Lord Burford, the Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard. It seemed he had need of her particular skill set and asked her to join him as an agent at the "Threshold"...

Call of Cthulhu - Deep Ones.

Deep Ones.

"I think their predominant color was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked ... They were the blasphemous fish-frogs of the nameless design - living and horrible."

(H.P.Lovecraft - "The Shadow Over Innsmouth")

Hybrid children watch the sea...

Maybe it was the calling of the sea, the foul murmurs of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, or maybe the fish and chips I had at the weekend - whatever, I decided to make a start on my Deep One horde. Currently a work in progress, I have dug out all my 'Deep One' miniatures and started work on about half. Out of the initial twenty, three of these are almost done but I have most of the detailing work to complete on the others. I also have two hybrid types undercoated and then another fourteen, a mix of hybrids and pure, to begin.

A fishy collective.

The figures are a mix of old Grenadier, RAFM, em4, CP Models, Black Cat Bases, plus some Black Tree Design Fishmen and Troglodytes to bolster the ranks. At the back is a huge mutated Deep One, aka a Frog Daemon also from Black Tree. Due to their monstrous nature and the practice of mating with humans, I felt there was a some flexibility in the actual physical shapes they could potentially have. The idea is that these are a mixed bunch of pure Deep Ones right through the various stages of hybrid plus the few inevitable grotesque mutations.

...pray for Father, roaming free.

As far as painting goes, I have tried to go for the 'classic' look, as described by Lovecraft, greyish green with white bellies. I could not decide on the colour of the eyes so settled for a glowing yellowy look.

Blasphemous fish-frogs indeed!

Strange Aeons - Agents Assemble!

The Threshold Agents (under the Department of Mythos Studies) assemble, ready for action.

1. Daphne Lamont
2. Hermione Peverall
3. Dr. Amelie "Lena" von Heidingsfelder
4. Winifred "Winnie" Hodge

1. Captain Vincent Wycott
2. Dermot Boyle
3. Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard G.C.
4. Jonathan Winstanley


All figures are from Copplestone.

Call of Cthulhu - "The Last Log" Scenario.

Found this excellent scenario in one of my old White Dwarf magazines and thought I would share. I remember running this and keeping the players on their toes! We used Traveller miniatures in our game but it didn't look quite as good as the pics below...

The much sought after Grenadier Traveller Imperial Marines boxed set - 

Check out Killshot Productions they have a lovely set of painted miniatures that featured in this scenario.

Strange Aeons - Hermione Peverall.

Hermione Peverall.

Hermione Peverall

The young, reckless, dilettante daughter of an American diplomat. Privately schooled in San Francisco, London and Boston, she never found much to keep her interested academically. She became a socialite, flitting between her wealthiest friends in New York, Hollywood, Paris and London and mixing with film stars and 'adventurers'. Her current beau is Joseph Chaffee, a young aviator, whom she planned to elope with until her father became wise to this and dragged her off on an extended trip across Europe.

Strange Aeons - Jonathan Winstanley.

Jonathan Winstanley.

Jonathan Winstanley

The youngest brother of the Winstanley clan. A knowledgeable and recently Oxford graduated archaeologist, Jonathan was leading a dig in the Valley of the Kings near Thebes, under the banner of the Carter and Carnarvon camp. He was joined by Basil Howard, who decided that the young Winstanley needed an eye to watch over him due to the unrest in the region. In February of 1920 a group of mad, drooling bandits attacked Jonathan's camp. The firefight left three other Europeans dead, but Howard and Jonathan fought the bandits off and left Howard in no doubt that Jonathan could look after himself.

Strange Aeons - Captain Vincent Wycott.

Captain Vincent Wycott.

Captain Vincent Wycott

Young British officer from a military family. Has experience from several postings across the globe such as Kurachi, Alexandria, Kenya, East Africa and some time spent in Saudi Arabia fighting against the Turks in WWI. Travelling back to a posting in Cairo as the aide to Major Otis Wright and the new assistant to Lord Allenby, the High Commissioner in Egypt, the Honourable Charles Wilbur Neville, he and his fellow travellers stumbled across a foul cult practicing dark rites. After some considerable bloodshed the cult was finally put down and the three committed to continue the fight against such things and were drawn into a previously unknown world of unimaginable horror.

Strange Aeons - Dermot Boyle.

Dermot Boyle.

Dermot Boyle

Thirty four year old "player", an adventurer and ex-British Army officer. A combat veteran he saw action at the Somme. During peace time he has devoted his efforts to aiding Inspector James Morrow of Scotland Yard and his other contacts in law enforcement across the globe. A recent escapade to help out and old friend, the Hon. Basil Howard, has now led him into far more 'unusual' adventures and it is here he continues to pursue his noble goal to help mankind as best he can...

Strange Aeons - Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard G.C.

Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard.

Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard G.C.

The Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard was born in May 1880, the second son of Lord Burford, Earl of Gloucester. His early years were spent at the family home of Bramish Hall, just outside Fulbrook, under the watchful eye of his Nanny Pewsey. At the age of seven he was sent to boarding school where he began his long academic career. The greatest influence in the formative years of his life was that of William Winstanley, his personal tutor. Winstanley was himself a student of the occult and a member of the recently formed Golden Dawn, an occult society with its history in the Rosicrucian Society of England. A close friend of Dr William Wynn Westcott, Winstanley had progressed through the ranks of the Masons and was welcomed into the Golden Dawn when it formed in 1887. This obsession nurtured an interest in the young Basil and Winstanley slowly introduced him to the religious and historical aspects of the occult. In his teenage years his depth of reading increased and by the time he was to attend Harrow his knowledge allowed him to focus his studies on this chosen subject. Howard later attended Oxford, as a student of comparative religion and it was at this time he was to last see his mentor. William Winstanley had set off for far away continents in search of lost cities. It would be the last time anyone was to see Winstanley alive again. No trace was found of his disappearance.

Following university, Howard worked in research at the British Museum for several years, but found this to be too unfulfilling. This prompted his resignation from the Museum and his joining with his old school chum Henry 'Harry' Winstanley on a trip to the Americas. Harry Winstanley was the nephew of William and the son of Hugh Wallace, the Earl of Thewkes, and he too shared a fascination in the occult. The two, along with Harry's friend Dr Frederick Sunderland, an archaeologist, decided first to travel to South America and research ancient civilisations and religions there, but the trip was curtailed early on in Iquitos on the Amazon in Peru. . For reasons they never divulged, what happened there resulted in the death of Dr Sunderland and a hasty retreat to the United States soon followed. After some travelling the two young men stopped in the town of Arkham, Mass. Settling here for a year Howard gained employment at the Miskatonic University as a researcher. Before long the intrepid duo set out on several funded field expeditions across the globe for the University and made many incredible discoveries.

In 1906, Howard returned to London. His father had died from poor health and his father’s executor had called him back to England to receive his inheritance. His older brother, Christian, inherited the main estate at Bramish and became Lord Burford. Basil inherited the families London holdings and a substantial amount of money, allowing him the freedom of independent wealth.

The following year Howard, now circulating in the London occultist sets, met with Arthur Edward Waite, the famed occultist and current leader of The Golden Dawn. Howard enjoyed a brief spell in the Outer Order, making many contacts in Masonic and occultist circles, some due to his association with William Winstanley. In early 1908, under the guidance of Waite, Howard set up his own club with the intention of attracting students of the occult to somewhere they could go to be among those with similar interests. Howard raised capital by the sale of some of his London properties, then reinvested in a luxurious building in the elegant St. James area on Pall Mall. This was the most popular for gentleman's clubs, such as The Carlton, The Reform and The Athenaeum, and Howard decided it would be the most appropriate area for him to attract the right class of clientele. Its several rooms included a library, a study, a smoking lounge, a billiards room, a meeting hall and a small dining area. Howard staffed it with some of the best chefs, valets and stewards in London, stocked the cellars with the finest European foods and wines and ensured the library was as comprehensive as possible. Howard deemed that regular monthly meetings, with speakers and open discussion, would be necessary to retain the basis of the club and its intentions. In honour of his and Harry Winstanley's friend, the club was named The Sunderland Club. Its initial members, included eminent occultists, historians, archaeologists and authors such as Dr Ernest Blackwood, Michael James Wolfe, Harry Winstanley, Dr George Herbert and William Augustus Winstanley, Harry's younger brother. With members of this stature the club grew quickly and became well regarded within the year. Membership had increased to one hundred and fifty eight by 1914, a number that looked likely to grow steadily, but this was not to be. The problems in Europe had escalated and in August of 1914, Britain went to war with Germany. Howard joined the 24th foot regiment as a lieutenant and over the course of the war was to see much fighting. Howard fought at the first battle of Ypres in 1915 and the disaster at the Somme in 1916. Following this traumatic battle, he found himself promoted to Captain and transferred to Palestine, due to his smattering of Arabic. Serving under Viscount Allenby Howard fought at the victories of Beersheba, Gaza, Jerusalem and Damascus in 1918. By the end of the war Howard had been promoted to Major and had received the Gold Cross, the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Howard spent the next two years in Egypt, studying the culture and history of the land. Howard returned to London again in late October 1920 to re-open the Sunderland Club. The old members flocked back to the club, some bringing new initiates with them. A younger member, Count Josef Von Sondergaard, had travelled to America during the war years and formed a small American wing of the club. Several members of the American wing were to join including the eminent French occultist and spiritualist Emile Lagaronne. The club continued its growth. Howard allowed the senior members of the club to run it on a day to day basis but remained the Chairman. He returned to his research work and spent much time abroad on exploratory missions with Harry and Jonathan Winstanley.

Strange Aeons - Daphne Lamont.

Daphne Lamont.

Daphne Lamont 

Pretty but tough twenty five year old American journalist working at the Boston Gazette. She is in fact the only daughter (with five brothers) of Hugo Lamont, of the famous 'Boston Lamonts', the wealthy industrialist family. Determined to go it alone, despite the efforts of her father to aide her every move.

Call of Cthulhu - Strange Aeons.

Call of Cthulhu RPG.

I have been a Lovecraft fan for so many years now and Call of Cthulhu was one of the first RPG's I really got into and to this day it is still my favourite, although I don't really get the opportunity to play these days. More recently I tried to run the first scenario from 'Walker in the Wastes' as I sort of prelude to the 'Beyond the Mountains of Madness' campaign but despite positive feedback from a couple of the players I struggled to commit to being a Keeper again and had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that another couple from our RPG group are just not really into Cthulhu in the same way. Perhaps I will try again one day with just a couple of the players I know really like it but for now it is tucked back onto the shelf with all the other unused campaign books!

Strange Aeons.

I have collected many Call of Cthulhu figures over the years, most of these admittedly remain unpainted, from a few ranges but predominantly Grenadier. Having picked up a few more packs recently when I realised they were still available through Mirliton or Velillia Ltd I have been thinking about digging these out and getting around to painting them. Well, some of them anyway! I have also picked up some other 20's-30's period figures from Musketeer, Woodbine Design, Mutton Chop, Copplestone and Artizan plus a horde of Deep Ones from Black Cat Bases, Grenadier and RAFM. Perhaps a Raid on Innsmouth is needed?

Innsmouth Docks.

With this in mind we have been discussing Strange Aeons for ages and I know the Zombie Master has wanted to play for a long while but I believe the postage costs always put him off! I have finally picked up a copy of the rules from Black Hat Miniatures along with the scenario book Morbid Adventures.

Black Cat Bases Deep One.

I also like the idea of some 'High Adventure' settings in the far flung corners of the Earth.

RAFM Deep Ones.

Between us we already have plenty of scenery and terrain and you only need a small playing area and a handful of figures. ZM has a lot of Cthulhu stuff painted up, especially monster types so I am putting together some figures for a team of Agents. Next will be the Deep Ones (not that you need that many) and we definitely need some cultists but Artizan or Pulp?

Next up - Investigators / Agents.

The Games That Define Me.

Jumping on the bandwagon that is floating around the blogosphere I decided to dive in with my thoughts on 'the games that define me' as suggested by Frontline Gamer here.


I decided to keep it as a 'positive' list and I have based the entries on RPG's and boardgames that I grew up with, that influenced me in some way (in a gaming sense) or that left their mark through the memories and enjoyment they gave. There is a distinct lack of actual 'wargames' as I have played so many variations in the past (and present) that it is hard to really pull any out for specific mention. Perhaps 7TV, Strange Aeons, SAGA or Point Blank may get a mention at a later date. For now it is mainly about the RPG's and other games that really stick with me.

After playing with Action Men and 'little soldiers' when I was really young and creating in-depth stories and characters in them I soon moved on and played plenty of alternative and sci-fi type boardgames and a even a couple of wargames (with the old Airfix and Matchbox soldiers) in my youth but some of the ones listed are games I regularly played and wanted more of and these inspired me to explore.

1 ) The Awful Green Things From Outer Space (boardgame) - one of the first 'alternative' style boardgames I ever bought. It really inspired me to look past the traditional game and is probably the first thing that started me as a 'gamer'. The 'Alien' film influence really came into play here and had a kind of legendary status with my friends and I at the time. I later picked up a couple of Tom Wham games following this including Snit's Revenge. I still have them both!

2) Kingmaker (boardgame) - just a great boardgame meets wargame of sorts and again, one of the early things bought for me that made me realise there was more out there than Scrabble!

3) Car Wars (boardgame) - another one of those early alternative boardgames that I had and played before (and after) joining the school club and the discovery of rpgs. I also have to give a mention Battlecars, my follow up to the above and a much more straightforward and east to play game. It again ties into my other passion of movies and the host of Mad Max type post-apocalyptic, road-warrior fodder around at the time.

4) Runequest RPG - possibly my first 'real' rpg that I actually played. The truly different fantasy background, with its strange array of creatures (ducks, baboons and scorpion-men!) and pantheon of Gods gave me more than DnD and its dungeon crawls could at the time. I played a human Stormbull worshipper in something run by our GM Robert (still our mainstay GM to this day!) at the school games club and was completely hooked. It was a very short lived campaign but I bought the 2nd Edition (pre-Avalon Hill) and played for ages, practically my default fantasy game until I drifted out of the hobby for a while. One of the reasons for buying it was that I had a purchased a few of the boxed sets of Citadel Runequest figures after the great impression the school club games left on me.  It also introduced me to my favourite system, BRP or Basic Role Playing. Probably not the best by any stretch but always the one I felt most comfortable with.

5) Traveller RPG - this was the first rpg I bought for myself in the mid 80's after playing it a school. It was the big boxed set. I had already bought three of the old 15mm boxed sets of figures and my friend had three as well so added to the multitude of ship floor plans available we liked using the miniatures whenever we could. I loved the career aspect of character generation and the 'world creation' rules were excellent.

6) Asteroid (boardgame) - another weird sci-fi boardgame where you would select a crew from various options to fly out to an approaching asteroid mining base that had diverted course and was now headed for Earth. The base had been taken over by a supercomputer 'brain' that had killed all the human crew and now controlled all the robot workers and security. Good set of random floorplans too that could be used with 15mm figures. Great stuff!

7) Snapshot (Traveller boardgame) - excellent game and still own it. We often used 15mm figures. I was very much into sci-fi at the time and the idea of ship-board combat was really appealing. An exciting game with loads of playability.

8) Call of Cthulhu RPG - my first horror rpg and possibly my favourite game of all time. I bought the 3rd edition of this in the early 80's and ran / played constantly for many years, usually with only one or two players. I still have all the original characters that we used! One of my friends first characters was called Henry 'Harry' Winstanley, the Duke of Braidley Fennel, who somehow survived years of campaigns and whittled his sanity down to about 10 (with a bit of fudging by the GM) - he actually named his son Henry after this character...how's that for life defining! I got into HP Lovecraft after buying this game and it opened up a whole new world of horror authors to me.

9) Pendragon RPG - an awesome game. Other than the superb setting I really loved the system and the idea of creating a dynasty of sorts with your character and their descendants. The epic feel and the traits and glory aspects really raised this above most standard fantasy games. To be honest, by this point I was a complete Chaosium fanboy!

10) Warhammer Fantasy Battle 1st to 3rd Edition - I bought the 1st and 3rd (and Warhammer Siege) but we always played it pretty free-form and more rpg / campaign / story based rather than a straight up tabletop battle. It is responsible for the massive pile of 25mm fantasy lead that I now own...

11) Aftermath RPG - I only ever played a short campaign run by our usual GM Robert (again!) but it really stuck with me and this, added to my love of Zombie movies fuelled my obsession with post-apocalyptic settings. The system itself may have been over complicated and we always managed to roll the hit location 'groin' but it was a good crack at the genre!

12) Vampire the Masquerade RPG - some of the best character driven stuff I have been involved in. Roberts long running campaign still rates in my all time top games. My introduction to the game was incredibly memorable as I was asked to come up with a basic background for a modern character with a few highlighted skills and personality traits. I was not told what system or game we were playing and had no idea what the concept was behind it. I turned up to our usual session with character notes and proceeded to be excited and terrified as my character was woken and chased through the night by god knows what. Then the thing caught me and apparently I was dead. It was only at this point it I was told I was now 'Kindred' and the name of the game we were now playing was revealed to be Vampire: The Masquerade! The campaign was run to perfection, as background and story slowly opened up and the group of characters (who's players had all endured individual sessions like my own) gradually bonded and grew together. My characters ultimate fate came when he frenzied at an untimely moment and whilst being restrained by the rest of the group, one of them, who had an ongoing issue with my character, decided to take his opportunity and proceeded to rip my head off! There was one more Kindred character for me following this and a brief part of the campaign with a Werewolf character but the game soon ran its course and has never been picked up on since. We have played short games since but nothing has captured the thrill of the original campaign.

13) Earthdawn RPG - another of my all time favourite campaigns. This also had a lovely setting and great concept of 'hero' characters. Despite its apparent clunkyness I quite liked the system too. Yet another favourite character too with the elemental wizard Gustaf Treblinki. We journeyed across Barsaive and undertook many adventures linking years of play both in and out of game. I have literally pages and pages of notes on this campaign and we still talk about a key moment in the characters story - when the annoying thief Sevran (sorry ZM) who was always getting into trouble, tried to pick the pockets of the Troll warrior, Irod, resulting in the death of a character. I intend to set the record straight now as recorded in the ancient journals of Gustaf...


"As the group (Gustaf, Sevran, Irod, Laranus, Bjorn and Carlos) approached a small town called Haven and argument broke out among Irod and Sevran, the continuation of a previous disagreement between the two. There had always been a hint of one upmanship and aggression between them and Sevran delighted in mercilessly stirring up the big Troll at any given opportunity with taunts and digs at his ugliness.
This time things escalated quickly. It seemed Sevran had tried to pick the pockets of the big warrior Troll! After it had apparently calmed down, Sevran suddenly tripped Irod who crashed to the floor, face first. A serious fight began and Irod threw one of his hawk hatchets at the stunned Sevran who retaliated with a deft throw of his dagger. Fortunately all missed. Irod, finally at the end of his tether with the thief, drew his sword and insisted Sevran apologise for all his previous actions and insults over the previous months. Sevran characteristically refused and just before matters grew worse, Gustaf began to cast 'slow metal weapon' in hope of avoiding any injuries between the two. Bjorn, a dapper swordsman and cortisan, tried to grab Sevran to calm him but was too slow and was deftly thrown to the ground. Gustaf shouted at them to stop but by this time Sevran charged Irod, who hit Sevran with the flat of his sword. Sevran then decided this was his moment to apologise. Satisfied, Irod turned and picked up his hatchets from the floor.
Suddenly, Sevran made some form of magical attack that smashed Irod to the ground by hitting him on the back of the head! The whole group then fell into disarray as Bjorn (suitably embarrassed from being out-played earlier) leapt in and attacked Sevran. An arrow then flew through the air, possibly fired by Laranus and narrowly missed - Sevran realised he was in serious trouble. He dropped his weapon and the angry and hurting Troll stood up. Full of rage, Irod then strode over to Sevran and tried to prize loose the blood magic charm (an earlier gift from Irod to Sevran) from the startled thief's chest! Sevran retaliated with his dagger, trying to stab Irod who responded with force, cutting down the thief where he stood! Irod and Bjorn buried Sevrans corpse as the others looked on in shock..."


Even now, many years after the event, this still provokes debate in our group! Unfortunately the campaign eventually wound down, probably in favour of the next big game but I will always hold this campaign as one of the best I have ever played in.

14) Kult - one of my favourite modern horror games. An extremely dark background and I loved running it but it was almost too bleak and horrifying to maintain. I wrote multitudes of deep background for this game and had a good stable of non-player characters. My style was to focus on stories for each player-character with different scenarios. We left this one hanging somewhat, a particular player-character was technically a zombie...perhaps a return to this is due one day.

15) DnD RPG - the first rpg I ever saw and I created a wizard character for it but I never actually played DnD until years later with one of the school groups. Much later, with the release of the 3rd Edition and the whole d20 craze, Zombie-Masters horror / fantasy crossover campaign was one of the best things I have played in. Ulfgar Rannaheim, the Dwarf Cleric of Moradin, was one of my great characters. This game introduced our group to the whole d20 mechanic and became our standard system for several years, leading to everything from Conan to Judge Dredd and modern settings. Conan d20 should get a special mention here as it looked like this could be our next big fantasy game but the enthusiasm waned and we have yet to pick it up again. ZM has recently been spreading tempting rumours that he would like to resurrect (such an appropriate term here) his horror / fantasy game. Unleash the undead horde ZM!


Some other games that I should mention:

Twilight 2000 RPG - I ran some good games with this. A good military game and in my opinion a solid attempt at a believable post-apocalyptic setting.

Fading Suns RPG - should get a mention too. Another great campaign by Robert - I remember my  character, Ratchet the engineer, very fondly! We have essentially replaced this game with Dark Heresy that we still currently play.

Bushido RPG - definitely gets any honorary mention. Another school club game in the 80's. Hardly played it since then so this is more about good memories - who can forget the desperate charge down the valley with arrows whistling past you in the first scenario! I would like to play this again sometime.

Ars Magica RPG - would make the list as a new game for me. I only recently discovered this with the 5th Edition and have bought every supplement since. We definitely don't play this enough. I love the medieval / low fantasy Europe setting and the idea of 'troupe' play. Some of the best characters in our campaign are Grogs!

Judge Dredd RPG - a good filler game, easy to drop into as most people are aware of the background to some extent and have at least seen the character in the comics. As a massive 2000AD fan back in the day I loved this! Played the first version a lot and quite enjoyed the d20 version too.

Cyberpunk RPG - just loved this game. As a fan of the genre I also played with several different groups outside the normal crowd so I would put it in the list it for that. I even ran this with a couple of 'non-gamers' who really enjoyed it and got into the spirit of things.

Paranoia RPG - was great fun and very different but would never make the 'A-list' of games that influenced me.

Luther Arkwright RPG - was really good but only played a couple of times so I cannot justify it being in the main list.

Fighting Fantasy Books - worthy of a nod? Like a lot of folk, I picked up the first book in the early 80's and this probably helped set me off on the RPG path.

Others played and not forgotten plus a few I owned but never got to actually play! - Space Opera, Top Secret, Gangbusters, Star Wars, Millenniums End, The Morrow Project, James Bond, WHFRPG, AFMBE, Amber, Conspiracy X, Chill, Skyrealms of Jorune, Wheel of Time, Champions, Golden Heroes, Chivalry & Sorcery, Dark Conspiracy, DC Heroes, Marvel Heroes, Feng Shui, Gamma World, GURPS, In Nomine, MERP,  Recon, Shadowrun, Space 1889, Stormbringer, Elric, Underground.

Our current crop of games includes Outbreak: Undead, Dark Heresy and Lankhmar / Heroquest.