Sunday, 30 June 2019

From The Vault: Pulp Cult

Another batch of figs from Pulp Figures (to accompany my cops), these guys reflect my feeling that a cult makes for a cracking villain, no matter the setting.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Thursday, 27 June 2019

Shadow Deep: The Plague Cult - Mission 1, Scenario 2

After last week's initial adventure, the Rangers headed back into the fray. We've had a fourth player join us, and I've allowed the gang to monkey around with their lists a bit in light of the initial learning experiences (but any lingering effects - such as disease - will stick around. We're also playing around with slightly more Recruitment Points - it's easy enough to ramp up the difficulty by throwing a few more monsters into the mix, and everyone enjoyed having a competent henchman backing them up. Of course, with this scenario, more heroes might prove problematic...

Scenario 2: The Priory
The mayor begs you to save his friends and neighbours and tells you that the cleric who has brought the villagers under his influence makes his home in an old priory in the woods beyond the village. With his pleas ringing in your ears, you set off, finding the ramshackle building at the edge of a clearing rapidly being overtaken by the forest. You spot a flicker of movement, then light glinting off a spearhead – the place is guarded…

(Note that the rescue of the mayor in the previous scenario kickstarted this fluff - other options for progressing to the next mission were available - the mysterious tracks or any other survivor. Had the players fluffed all of them, I'd have defaulted to concluding the scenario with something like "the remaining wretches break off their attack and flee, heading north at some pace...")

Notes
Inspired a fair bit by Mission 2, Scenario 1: The Bridge Guards (RoSD, p.100), with a fair few tweaks. Key to note:
  • Cult Templars have the same stats as Gnoll Fighters.
  • Cult Hunters have the same stats as Gnoll Archers (bows).
  • The Head Guard has the same stats as a Gnoll Sergeant.
Set-Up
3x3 board, with a large building – the priory – at the centre of one edge. The heroes deploy at the centre of the opposite edge. The table is covered in trees, scrub, rocks, etc.

Place an alarm bell 12” in from the centre of the board edge containing the priory. Place four cult templars on the board, one 12” away from the alarm bell in each cardinal direction, then place one cult hunter 6” in from each table corner adjacent to the priory.

Place 5 clue markers around the board. Place one clue marker 12” in from each table corner on a line with the centre of the board. Place the last clue marker next to the alarm bell itself.

Special Rules
Before the scenario begins, the players should select one figure to make a Stealth Roll (TN10). If successful, they may move up to three heroes up to 6” in any direction.

At the start of each turn, each player may choose one of their heroes to make a Stealth Roll (TN10). If successful, they may move one guard up to 6” in any direction. If unsuccessful, the guard makes an immediate move towards the target point. If a player chooses not to attempt the roll, there is no effect. This lasts until the guards are alerted.

The target point in this scenario is the alarm bell. If the guards are alerted and one activates while in contact with the alarm bell and not in combat, it will use its first action to ring the bell. If the bell is rung, two cult templars and two cult hunters immediately appear from the priory.

Until the guards are alerted, heroes have the element of surprise and get +4 to all attacks against them.

A guard is alerted once they activate with a hero in LOS, or another guard within LOS takes damage. Once the guards are alerted, players may no longer choose to make Stealth Rolls at the start of the turn.

If a hero moves into contact with a clue marker, it ends its current action and immediately rolls on the Clue Marker Table. Each result is unique, so re-roll any repeated results.

Clue Marker Table
Die Roll
Clue
1–4
Snap! You step on a branch – the nearest guard immediately moves 6” towards the noise.
5–8
Dead cultist. You don’t know what this body is doing out here, but its cult robes seem to be relatively unsoiled and might make a useful disguise.
9–12
Half-buried amulet. You spy a glint from something hidden beneath the undergrowth. It is an amulet of some strange design. Make an immediate Ancient Lore Roll (TN12). If successful, you identify the markings as resembling the holy language of an ancient death cult.
13–16
Fugitive. You come across a figure huddled behind a tree, sobbing in terror. They appear half-staved and bear the marks of whip and manacle. Clutching at you, they beg you to take them to safety. A hero may accompany the fugitive to safety (any board edge), using the same rules as for a treasure token to ‘pick up’ and ‘carry’ them (ending the game with the fugitive being ‘carried’ also counts as being taken to safety). If the hero chooses to leave the fugitive, or the fugitive is ‘dropped’ for any reason, they will make one random move of 6” in the Companion Phase as they desperately look to escape. Guards spying the fugitive will be alerted and the fugitive will count as a viable target for them. Move 6, Fight +0, Armour 10, Health 5.
17–20
Pit. You fall into a small pit, clearly intended for trapping small animals. The noise causes the nearest guard to immediately move 6” towards the pit. The hero immediately suffers a +2 attack. If the attack would do damage, the hero does not lose Health, but will suffer -1 Move for the rest of the scenario as a result of a sprained ankle. The pit can be easily climbed out of at the cost of one movement action.

The scenario lasts a maximum of 8 turns, or until the priory is reached and all enemies on the board killed. Draw an event card at the end of every even-numbered turn (2, 4, 6).

Event Card Table
Card
Event
Red 1
Returning patrol. A two-man guard patrol made up of one cult templar and one cult hunter appears at the centre point of a randomly determined board edge.
Red 2
Sudden downpour. Heavy rain reduces visibility and covers noise. Heroes’ Stealth Rolls are reduced to TN8 until the end of the next turn. All line of sight is reduced to 12” and shooting attacks are at -2.
Red 3
Changing of the guard. Two cult templars and the head guard appear from the priory.
Red 4
Suspicious guard. One randomly determined guard, acting on nothing more than gut instinct, moves 6” towards the nearest hero.
Red 5
Plaguetouched. A hulking monster appears in one random board corner – clearly there are worse enemies about than mere cultists…

Plaguetouched
Swollen by pestilence, the plaguetouched are produced when one of the cult faithful is possessed by a plague demon. Part demon and part human, these monstrous opponents care not whether they fell their enemies with the rusted, filth-encrusted blades they wield or with the virulent diseases they carry… Any figure wishing to move into combat with a plaguetouched must first pass a Will Roll (TN10). If they fail, they stop 2” away and their activation ends.

Plaguetouched
XP
8
Move
Fight
Shoot
Armour
Will
Health
Notes
5
+3
+0
12
+0
14
Large, Two-Handed Weapon, Horrific (TN10), Disease (TN14)

Outcome and Experience
Assuming all the rangers have survived, proceed to Scenario 3. All figures that survived regain their full Health. Rangers gain experience points for the following achievements:
  • +3XP for each guard killed.
  • +5XP for acquiring a disguise.
  • +5XP if the fugitive is discovered.
  • +8XP for killing the plaguetouched.
  • +6XP for each clue marker uncovered.
  • +8XP for discovering the amulet.
  • +15XP if the fugitive is escorted to safety.
  • +20XP if the alarm bell is not rung during the scenario.
  • +30XP if the guards are not alerted during the scenario.
The Game
As before, this isn't really a battle report, more a collection of notes and observations on the proceedings.

First off, I didn't have a bell model to use in the scenario. I considered using a token, but five minutes with Photoshop, a bit a glue, and a scrap of card, and I had this...
Not my finest work - it's a little crude, but it looks like a bell, which is all that's really needed for a single scenario!

Set-up-wise, I really need to invest in some more scrub and small rocks. Trying to break up LOS just with these trees was a challenge.
(1) Cult Templars, (2) Cult Hunters, (O) Clue Markers, (O) Alarm Bell
The cult templar directly in front of the priory is a little closer than he should be, RAW. The priory itself should sit on the table edge, but I wanted to have it on the board, so he's about 4" closer to the alarm bell than he should be. Oh, well.
The rangers used a tactic I wasn't expecting - rather the drawing the guards away from the bell and ambushing them, they pulled them into towards the bell, giving a relatively easy approach to the halfway point of the board, and then just launching an all-out assault. Perhaps I overestimated their capacity for subtlety... Still, the mechanics worked well, and, with a bit more scatter terrain to block LOS and force awkward routes, I think they may well make a return in a few missions' time.
The fugitive is discovered. In hindsight, this would have worked better with fewer players, where there were more companions to go around and one could be spared to escort the panicking figure off the table. No-one took the option of killing the fugitive in order to preserve their stealthy approach - they're heroes, dammit... and not very stealthy ones at that...
All the players got a few more points to allow for slightly better companions, and one still chose a hound. Fair play. It did nothing, but it's a good doggo nevertheless.
The plaguetouched that lurched onto the table at the end of Turn 2 drew a lot of attention (and rightly so!). Dubbed 'Fat Stanley', he swaggered towards the bell, ignoring a valiant attempt by the hound companion to draw him away from the other heroes, and mixed it up with the only melee-oriented ranger in the game. He went down eventually, but it was pretty close until a couple more heroes arrived to lend support.
With the death of Fat Stanley, the rangers advanced to the priory, completing the mission by the end of Turn 6. In hindsight, I think the difficulty is probably alright, but they were really successful in keeping guards away from the bell when it mattered. They may have been alerted sooner than I expected, but the alarm was never raised, which made all the difference.
The heroes grabbed all of the clue markers, but only saw two of the three possible events (damn their efficiency!). Here, an archer grabs the final marker, uncovering a cult disguise, right at the very end of the scenario.

All told, it seems to have gone well, but I wish I'd thrown a couple more cult templars onto the board alongside Fat Stanley. I'm not sure the scenario needs updating with that, but I should probably have used GM's discretion with the way this playthrough went. Fun was had, though, and the heroes gained a level and came perilously close (1XP!) to gaining a second.

Next up, the exciting* conclusion to our first mission...

Scenario 3: The Vaults

(*actual experience may vary)

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Sunday, 23 June 2019

From The Vault: Rebels

I think this little gang spun out of watching Riddick... The base concept was a prison-break from a weird, corporate-owned facility that had been testing on the inmates.
The grunts are Void Viridians (now produced by Scotia Grendel). I typically find the Void stuff a bit too cartoony for my liking, but these... work. Fun and simple to paint, the only bugbear was clipping off the slotta tabs.

The mutants are my standard go-to of plastic pre-paints. The smaller one is, I think, Killer Croc fand the larger one is Abomination (the Tim Roth version from one of the Hulk movies) from one of the many HeroClix sets. The big guy suffered somewhat from spray varnish misting, so is a little... speckled.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Thursday, 20 June 2019

Shadow Deep: The Plague Cult - Mission 1, Scenario 1

We're starting some weekly Rangers of Shadow Deep action at the office, with yours truly GMing the whole shebang (we'll usually have 3 or 4 players, so it makes sense that I run the villains... plus, I have the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile from which to draw potential enemies).

Today marked the first scenario, a variation on the rulebook's starter scenario, with a few tweaks to reflect the available figures and the plot of the mission and overall campaign...


The Plague Cult

Mission 1: The Missing
No-one has heard from the village of Canford in weeks. No goods coming to market. No travellers bringing news. No refugees fleeing some disaster. Nothing. What is more puzzling is that Canford is some distance from where the Rangers currently report the creeping borders of the Shadow Deep to be. A party is sent out to investigate…

Scenario 1: The Deserted Village
As the scenario of the same name (RoSD, p.91), with the following amendments:
  • Giant Rats are replaced by Wretches.
  • Zombies are replaced by Plague Zombies.
  • A third wretch is placed at the start of the game.
  • Clue Marker Table is updated.
  • Outcome and Experience are updated.
Wretches
Stunted, diseased and deformed scavengers, wretches lurk around the fringes of the Shadow Deep, looting and feasting in the wake of its more powerful servants. In numbers, however, they can still be dangerous.

Wretch
XP
2
Move
Fight
Shoot
Armour
Will
Health
Notes
6
+0
+0
6
+0
4
Disease (TN8)

Plague Zombies
These zombies were struck down (or, perhaps, raised…) by means of a virulent disease, and many are still infectious. Whenever a plague zombie is placed on the table, roll a die – on a 15+ it is infectious and gains Disease (TN8).

Plague Zombie
XP
2
Move
Fight
Shoot
Armour
Will
Health
Notes
4
+0
+0
12
+0
6
Undead
(15+) Disease (TN8)

Clue Marker Table
Clue Marker Table
Die Roll
Clue
1–3
The Mayor. You have found the mayor of Canford, close to death. If he can be swiftly interrogated (Leadership Roll, TN6), he reveals that a plague swept through the village, striking down young and old, frail and healthy alike, and that many villagers sought solace in the preaching of an itinerant cleric. Alternatively, the figure may attempt to save the mayor’s life (Survival Roll, TN8, or a Heal spell, potion of healing, etc.) – if successful, the mayor counts as a survivor (see below). Re-roll subsequent results of ‘The Mayor’.
4–6
Survivor. You have found a badly wounded, but living, villager. Until the end of the scenario, treat this figure as one of your companions with the following Stats: Move 3, Fight +0, Armour 10, Health 5.
7–9
Tracks. You discover a set of fresh tracks, only slightly washed away by the rain. Make an immediate Track Roll (TN6) to make sense of them. They appear to show about two-score people, a couple of carts, and a small amount of livestock heading north in quite a hurry.
10–12
Dead Guardsman. You discover the body of an elderly man, dressed in the uniform of a local militia. His hand still clutches a sword that appears too fine for a man of his rank. Make an immediate Armoury Roll (TN6). If successful, the sword is identified as bearing a minor enchantment - +1 Fight. It can be used for the rest of the scenario (provided the figure that discovered it can normally use a hand weapon), and may be traded to another figure between scenarios, but is returned to the King’s Armoury at the end of the mission. Re-roll subsequent results of ‘Dead Guardsman’.
13–15
Herbs. You find some herbs discarded by one of the villagers. Roll once on the Herbs and Potions Table to see what you have discovered. This may be given to any member of the company after the scenario.
16–18
Loot. Treat the clue marker as a treasure token. If this token is being carried by a hero at the end of the scenario, you may roll to see what treasure has been found.
19–20
Plague Zombie. Place a plague zombie that in combat with the figure that moved into contact with the clue marker.

Outcome and Experience
Assuming all the rangers have survived, proceed to Scenario 2. All figures that survived regain their full Health (unless suffering the effects of Disease). Rangers gain experience points for the following achievements:
  • +2XP for each Wretch or Plague Zombie killed.
  • +6XP for each clue marker uncovered.
  • +8XP for interrogating the mayor.
  • +12XP for saving the mayor.
  • +15XP if any survivor (including the mayor) is found and survives the scenario.
  • +6XP if the tracks are discovered and successfully interpreted.
  • +5XP for recovering the enchanted sword.
The Game
There were three rangers in this company, two veterans of Frostgrave and similar games, and one entirely new to the system.Rather than a blow-by-blow account of the game, I'll report on the key events (dramatic, comical, and otherwise) from the scenario.
(1) Wretches, (2) Plague Zombies, (3) Diseased Plague Zombies, (O) Clue markers
The heroes deployed around the broken standing stone and small copse of trees in the centre of the table, while the clue markers were scattered around the village (and in a couple of the buildings). Some high die-rolling on my part meant that two of the four starting plague zombies were diseased...
Only one figure on the board was unpainted, and he attempted to dash off as soon as possible, shamed, no doubt, by his resplendent colleagues.
Brave Gird ventured by himself to investigate one of the buildings. He checked the corners... not carefully enough, and was mugged almost immediately by a plague zombie that ran out of the building from the next door over...
The aforementioned mugging can be seen at the top of this picture. Opening doors was a problem in general... One player's melee-focused crew (including a ranger with +3 Strength, seen here running towards another locked door at top) bounced again and again off the TN8 doors. It took a survivor that had been found at a clue marker to hammer his way through door after door, only to find... nothing. Over and over again. Knights and rangers should stand ashamed...
The final event card revealed a host of murderous zombies, advancing menacingly through the cornfield... and from whom the brave ranger fled. I mean, in a storytelling sense, it was very satisfying - a tactical withdrawal after 8 turns in the face of a wave of new enemies, with only one clue marker left undiscovered. In another sense, that ranger (who shall remain nameless) did run away...

All told, the lads had a good time, amassing 90XP each, saving the life of the mayor (the player who actually found him had, it turned out, +3 Survival, +3 Leadership, and had previously found a healing potion... talk about spoiled for choice!), recovering the enchanted sword, and discovering a magic bow!

Two figures were infected by the monsters' disease, but Gird, the only hero to be reduced to 0 Health, rolled a natural 20 for his recovery, and is back to fighting fitness. Now, he just needs to learn to watch his back...

Next up, and deviating more (I think) from the existing RoSD scenarios...

Scenario 2: The Priory

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Sunday, 16 June 2019

From The Vault: Pulp Cops

I love The Untouchables – It's easily one of my favourite films. I also love Bob Murch's sculpting for Pulp Figures. You'd think it'd be inevitable that I'd have some gangsters. Nope. I have cops. And no gangsters whatsoever, it seems. Even I thought I had some gangsters...
All the Pulp stuff paints up like a dream. Nice, large details and chunky weapons (a pet peeve of mine is flimsy weaponry – I'll take robustness over realistic proportions any day of the week).
These guys really need a couple of detectives to lead them...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Sunday, 9 June 2019

From The Vault: Preacher

One preacher, from the Dark Age game, because everyone loves a preacher with a shotgun.
The black on the coat was built up from greys, with several layers of black ink over the top to gradually darken it. It got a hefty coat of varnish... too much, alas, so it's a bit shiny.

I think this sculpt has been replaced with a more modern one, which I will have to pick up in due course...
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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Sunday, 2 June 2019

From The Vault: Arabian Nights

Most of the time, the figures I paint never actually see combat on the tabletop. Once in a while, though, a game clicks, and drives a remarkable (for me, anyway) level of productivity. Going back a fair few years, that game was Song of Blades and Heroes from Andrea Sfiligoi and Ganesha Games.

Andrea is a fantastic designer, and I'm really proud to have worked with him on various games – and it all started with SoB&H. It really hit most of my buttons. Use whatever figures you like? Build your units from scratch? Play in a lunchbreak? Yes please and thank-you.
These guys were my first, and most-fielded warband for SoB&H, a nicely Arabian Nights-themed force, consisting of a wicked sorcerer, two guards, two ghuls, an assassin, and an efreet. This line-up definitely reflects my views on warband creation!
Assassin & Guards
The guards and the assassin are all Reaper figures, from one of their themed boxes (Legends of the Sands or something). Nice models, as always!
Efreet
The efreet is a D&D pre-paint, given a new paintjob. It's a cool figure, but I learned a valuable lesson from this model: always cut the figure off the base that it comes with. Almost invariably, the bases are warped to a degree (I've found this to be much more common with larger figures than smaller ones), giving them a tendency to wobble. Much better to slice them off with a scalpel blade and re-base them on a metal washer with superglue and a bit of green stuff.
The Vizier, flanked by two Ghuls
The sorcerer/vizier is another Reaper model, from the same kit as the guards and assassin, while the two ghuls are ghouls from Crocodile Games' Wargods of Aegyptus line. It's rare to see such bestial ghouls as these, and I'd forgotten how much I liked them. Hmm... perhaps a certain cult needs some new recruits...


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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.