Dungeoneering For Fun And Profit.

After a fortnight's hiatus, I returned to the Bentham club last night and got stuck back into the Massive Darkness Campaign!

We are really motoring through the Experience levels now- at first we were worried that the Micro-Experience system of the Campaign rules would slow us down and we'd get overwhelmed by the monsters; but in fact the opposite seems to be true- we are now about four or five missions in (I think!) and the characters are extremely tooled-up! That said, the game does a pretty good job of scaling up the difficulty of the creatures, so it never feels like they don't pose a threat to the Heroes...

Last night we played through two missions- one in which we had to recover two halves of an artefact and get it into the hands of the 'Chosen One'- this Hero had to then promptly leg it out of the Dungeon to secure victory.

*Siegfried and friends take on a big old Troll!

Despite several powerful Roaming Monsters turning up and my character Siegfried biting off more than he could chew and nearly getting taken out by them, we managed to prevail- thanks to some extremely lucky Treasure-card draws, I also ended up finding a Barbarian's Helmet artefact that halves any damage I suffer and gives me a bonus Melee attack action. With this and a combination of weapons and Skills, Siegfried is now quite capable of taking on a Roaming Monster and causing 20-30 wounds in one Turn!

*My new best friend!

The second game saw the Heroes racing through some catacombs as the ceiling began to collapse behind them! Once again Siegfried's eagerness to wade into the enemy almost proved his undoing, as he fell foul of a room full of Level 4 Goblin Warriors. Thankfully he survived with one wound remaining, and was soon patched-up by our resident healer- that would've been embarrassing!

To be honest, we fairly breezed through this mission with plenty of time to spare- most of us are now either unleashing the maximum number of Attack Dice, or cancelling so many of the Monster's Defence Dice, that even 40+ Wound foes only take a Turn or two's concerted effort to take down...

As a result, I forgot to take any photos during this mission- so here's a shot from the first one with Siegfried facing down a multi-armed medusa-like snake lady.

*Trick or Treat?!

 

More from the Darkness next week!

 

Nostalgia Hit Episode 1- There's Some Orcs on the Pitch...

Disclaimer: Apologies for the quality of the photos in this Post- it was more overcast than usual when we played this game so all the overhead lights had to go on. This made the glare off the pitch very difficult to avoid, and made the grimy paint-scheme of the figures look even murkier than in real-life!

This Sunday, the Ingleton group found ourselves missing a couple of members- this made it a perfect opportunity to break out the freshly-painted Blood Bowl set that's been languishing in my store-room!

Myself and Tom took on the roles of the Human and Orc Teams respectively, while Tony looked on and learned the basic rules (or at least, learned how not to play!).

It's been a long time since I last played this classic Games Workshop game, but I was amazed how many of the rules I could still dredge up from the dark recesses of my brain! Unfortunately my tactical acumen was somewhat lacking... Back in the day I had a Skaven Team that I played exclusively (and I have in fact bought the new plastic Skaven Team so I can relive my glory days), so playing Humans was a new experience for me in more ways than one.

*Mayhem on the Pitch! But where is the ball? And does anybody really care?!

I'd also forgotten how much fun this venerable system is- combined with the shiny production values of today's GW (including some very welcome stat-cards and a double-sided pitch!), the new box set is a very nice addition to the collection for when you want to play something a little different!
Having said that, I did find the squares on the pitch a little tricky to see- but that may just be the remorseless march of time catching up to me a bit...

The game itself saw the Geltburg Griffins (Humans) take on the Redskull Raiders (Orcs). Both Teams promptly cheated by having an extra player on the pitch (we forgot that Teams are limited to 11 players and used the 12 provided in the box for each Team)!

*The Griffins and the Redskulls face each other across the Line of Scrimmage...

The first half was utterly bizarre, with the Teams seemingly swapping play-styles- the Orcs scored the first Touchdown after my Thrower fumbled the ball near my own Endzone, while the rest of the Humans set about smashing the shocked Orcs into the dirt! A highlight was a humble Lineman killing a hulking Black Orc with a flurry of excellent dice...

*Somebody needs to tell these Humans that they are supposed to get stomped by the Orcs, and not the other way around...

The second half saw the Orcs suddenly remember what they did best, and promptly steam-rollered the Griffins into a fine and nutritious paste. With only a handful of players left on their feet, the Humans could only watch on as the Orcs ran the ball in for a second Touchdown!

*...Ah, that's better!

The match ended in a 2-1 victory for the Redskulls, and a tremendous time was had by all- particularly the Griffin's apothecaries, who must have put in a lot of overtime in that second half...

Hopefully I'll have my Skaven ready for the next time we play- and we will be playing Blood Bowl again!

I have some more Nostalgia Hits planned- Mordheim and Advanced Heroquest are on the list...

Here's a Mad Idea...

*WARNING- Ramble Imminent!*

Dracula's America is out in the wild, the first Supplement is 'in the can', as they say, and the second supplement is all but complete...

So, what next?

Well, I have several ideas at the moment- but I fear none that will be picked up by any Publisher...
Not because they are bad ideas (or at least, I hope not!), but because I want to tackle some genres that are admittedly already extremely well-covered by existing games.

Mainly, I'm talking about Fantasy here!

Getting a game published was a long-held ambition of mine- not for the fortune and glory of course, but for the joy of creating something that other people can enjoy; something that let me put my own stamp on a genre that I love. Dracula's America has let me do that in spades, of course- but Fantasy is the Big One!
Now, I have a Fantasy setting that I've used many times in the past- in various rules-drafts, creative writing pieces and RPGs. It is unashamedly a melting-pot of all the tropes you can think of (but I like to think that there is a reason why things become clichés in the first place!)- from Tolkien to the Old World of Warhammer...

I have a tweaked version of the core Dracula's America rules that I have been tinkering with for a while, and a classic Fantasy theme that is ripe for a Skirmish game set within the ruins of an ancient underground Dwarf Empire, the shanty-town of adventurers and treasure-hunters that has sprung up on the surface, and the surrounding wilderness.
It will focus on rival Dwarven Guilds vying for the relics of their past and the Human, Elf, Orc and Minotaur sell-swords (amongst others) that join them on their expeditions.
It will take the concepts I love about Mordheim and Frostgrave, but it will bring my own design philosophies to the Fantasy Skirmish genre...

...I just have no idea how to go about doing this in such a way that it will reach other players, and so let the game grow organically!

So, what do folks think? Could I use this Blog as a platform- publishing the initial drafts of the rules as I go? Can I add a PDF here so that you can download it? Is there a way to set up a kind of forum for those interested to discuss their thoughts and own ideas/house-rules- and bearing in mind that I have very little technical know-how whatsoever...
It would be non-profit of course- no production values, no fancy artwork or professional photography- this is unashamedly for the joy of game design, and for the love of the Fantasy genre in general!

Do people need it? Maybe not! Will it be a fun, free game with a life of it's own? I hope so!
Am I as mad as the proverbial box of frogs? Most likely!

Think of this as our own little corner of a very crowded market...

Any takers?

Back to the Gaming Table, Part 2. (Or, Charlie Owns the Night!)

In my previous Post, I mentioned that we played a big game of Force on Force Vietnam this past Sunday.

Compared to our humble Frostgrave game, this was a proper gaming extravaganza, recycling the jungle terrain from our WWII game of a few weeks ago but adding a separate section of tunnels for the Americans to fight through (if they found the entrance).
The Scenario was cooked up by Andy, Tony and Tom, and featured those three plus John as the Americans versus my endless hordes of Viet-Cong and a small detachment of NVA.
The twist was that the US players had a pool of cards detailing various missions that they had to complete. These were drawn randomly by each player, and upon completing a mission they immediately drew another- thus taking their beleaguered forces from one hot-spot to another, often with no time to resupply or draw on fresh recruits! Force on Force (by Ambush Alley Games) is a neat system that focuses on many of the grim realities of warfare, such as how to deal with the wounded, civillians, or enemy prisoners. Usually, this kind of nitty-gritty would put me off a game, but it is handled in a simple way that kept the pace of the game flowing and indeed kept it firmly in the realm of 'Game' rather than 'Simulation'.

*Looking up the table from the Southern Village, just before we got started.

My own mission was simply to cause trouble for the other players- if my VC 'got perished', I could simply 'recycle' them back on wherever I wished- this also allowed me to stage ambushes, feint attacks and all kinds of havoc! Assisting me in this was a deck of Booby-Trap cards photocopied from the Vietnam sourcebook- letting me throw anything from punji-pits to concealed MG bunkers at the other players.

*Detail of the Shrine, with a possible tunnel entrance in the rocks next-door and a village nestling in the clearing beyond...

As I've stated before, this kind of thing is out of my usual gaming comfort-zone- but nonetheless I had tremendous fun! This was no simple 'achieve the objectives to win' game- this was every Hollywood cliché rolled into one, and I soon realised that I could use my forces to be the 'Director' of a tabletop movie of which Arnie would be proud (though they stopped short of letting me introduce a Predator to the proceedings, the Philistines)!

*The Action kicks off with John's armoured column making it's way down-river in their amphibious vehicles- straight into a VC ambush! From the cliffs, RPG fire erupts and takes out several machines. The survivors pile out of the burning wrecks, and the ensuing firefight would last pretty much all game...

*...Meanwhile, the Northern village burns as the Americans perform a sweep of the area- capturing one of the VC sympathisers trying to escape, they interrogate him for the whereabouts of the tunnel entrance!

Villages were searched for weapon caches and promptly burned, and small teams of Rangers made desperate last stands at the LZ against hordes of VC charging from the surrounding jungle while flights of Hueys swooped in to save the day amongst incoming RPG fire (you could almost hear the strains of The Doors and Creedence blaring from their speakers!). Downed helicopter crew dragged their wounded along perilous jungle trails, fending off wave after wave of attackers and a relentless procession of booby-traps, while grizzled veterans took the fight into the cramped network of tunnels...

*With the tunnels discovered, the Americans begin clearing them of the enemy- this is actually one of a series of WWII trench-systems we used to represent the fighting taking place beneath the table. Eventually, I would play a card that saw a raging fire break out as stray rounds set off an ammo cache- the fight would soon become a running battle back through the corridors in an attempt to escape!

*Back on the surface, the battered but unbowed elite US forces finally clear the Southern Village after some brutal fighting- only to discover a column of NVA are now only minutes away! Linking up with the crew of a crashed helicopter who slogged their way through the jungle to be there, they call in the Hueys to extract them- braving anti-air fire from the forward NVA elements, the survivors finally make it off-table.

Who won? You know, I don't think anybody really knew by the end- and I don't think anybody really cared all that much!

*A concealed VC Machine Gun Bunker appears as if by magic, and opens up on the hapless American patrol!

All I know is- that this is why I play tabletop games...

Back to the Gaming Table, Part 1.

Things have been uncharacteristically quiet on the gaming front these past couple of weeks- though we did manage to fit in a quick game of Frostgrave the other night and a huge game of Force on Force Vietnam on Sunday!

I'd give my usual report on the Frostgrave game, but I'm ashamed to admit that basically we all skulked around the board avoiding conflict and nabbing treasure, so there's very little of interest to report so I'll just give you a few highlights:

Andy's Elementalist Warband has been dogged by ill-luck since the start of the Campaign, and it's a wonder that she keeps finding a new Apprentice to take the place of the previous unfortunate soul- surely rumours have started to spread around the local taverns and encampments that those who sign-up rarely survive a single expedition into the ruins?!
Well, her inadvertent reign of terror is now over- having copped an Elemental Ball in the back, she is well and truly dead! Miraculously surviving his own injuries (well, besides a few lost toes...), her Apprentice has now assumed command of the Warband- much to the relief of the battered and bruised Soldiers!

*Andy's ill-fated Wizard (far left), shortly before her incineration...

We introduced 'John's Dungeon of Doom' in this Scenario- our newest recruit to Frostgrave is ACW Re-enactor, Actor, and Elvis-Impersonator (no, really!) John, who has been swayed from his purely-historical figure collection to delve into the madness of Fantasy gaming!
John brought a little piece of terrain with him representing a large grate- we placed this pride of place in the centre of the table and quickly knocked up a random chart that a model could roll on if they were brave enough to spend an Action to search the dungeon below- this could be a treasure, a random monster, a Thug in need of rescue or result in the model falling in for the rest of the game! Totally unbalanced, but great fun- it also suggested a scenario for the next game; we are breaking out our copies of Into the Breeding Pits and going underground!..

 

*John's Dungeon of Doom(tm)!

 

As for Herr Doktor Schreck and his scrofulous minions- well, they disgraced themselves utterly by lurking in the shadows like cowards. While we managed to make off with a couple of treasures, the gods of fate punished my timidity by cursing me with low rolls on the treasure chart, and I only netted a few measly gold crowns. Next time, I vow to be much more pro-active!

 

On the plus side, I can now afford to add Raggedy-Bill, the Murder-Scarecrow, to my Warband...

 

*The Plague Doktors lurk in the shadows, like the wretched scum they are...

 

More Frostgrave next week, if all goes to plan!





Skinwalker Tribes- Apache!

This week, I have mostly been painting Apache for Dracula's America!

The Skinwalkers are my favourite Faction besides the Dark Confederacy, and since my switch to 28mm Old West instead of 32mm I've been waiting to get painting these guys!

*The Posse so far- including a Wendigo for Summoning and the Wolf Beast-Form for my Boss.

This Posse has been built using the 'Desert Tribes' Theme from the forthcoming Hunting Grounds supplement, so a little teaser for you here!

Using this Theme, all foot models (including Bear-Form Skinwalkers!) have a Move rate of 5" to represent their more elusive tactics- it doesn't sound much, but over the course of a game it can let you cover much more ground than other foot-sloggers (it's only 1" less than a horse, after all!) or go that extra distance to find cover...

The other wrinkle is that you are limited to only a single Skinwalker- I went for the Wolf-Form, as it's my favourite of the two!

*My Boss, Bodaway- in both human and Wolf guise! The Wolf-Form is simply a Frostgrave Werewolf.

However, you do gain the help of a Shaman instead. This fellow comes with Banish as standard (Skinwalker Tribes sure do hate those Abyssals), and I chose Summon and Shadow-Dance; one of the new Skinwalker-only Powers to give my Wolf a little extra protection against Shooting.

*My Shaman, Taklishim, and his Summoned Wendigo- this is a conversion of the North Star model, bent so it is leaning forwards in a more threatening pose with green-stuff mouth and fur and Mantic plastic zombie hands! Taklishim himself has swapped his spear for a rifle from the Old West weapons set from Colonel Bill's.

There are also Themes for Plains and Prairie Tribes and Woodland and Mountain Tribes in the book...

*The rest of the Posse- L-R: Eskaminzim, Dasodaha, Askadodilges and Bimisi. All my Apaches are from Foundry- they are at the smaller end of the 28mm spectrum (if you get what I mean!) compared to my other stuff, but are so characterful that I don't mind.

The Firemakers are finally out for blood in 28mm scale!

DRACULA'S ERRATA!

Well, it was as inevitable as the tides...

Thanks to the keen-eyes of several players (and Mr. Alex Buchel, no less!), a few errors in the Dracula's America rulebook have come to light.

I've gathered them here for now, for the benefit of myself and all players. If any more crop up then I'll edit this Post and add them in- if anybody from the Facebook group is reading this, feel free to drop me a comment and I'll look into any questions you may have!
Pass it on...


Page 9- Contact.
Add the following sentence to the end of this section:

"The only Actions an engaged model can make are to Disengage or to Fight".


Page 45- Attacking Bystanders.
The final sentence should read:

"Finally, a Bystander that Fails to Save suffers Damage as normal. It is worth no Victory Points if it falls Casualty."


Page 74- Recruitment.
7th line down, add the following to the end of this sentence:

"Note that you roll the appropriate Die even if your Boss is unable to take part in the rest of the Campaign Turn for some reason (such as being Laid-Up due to Injury)."


Page 96- Wendigo.
To better fit in with the 'official' North Star Wendigo model, change it's Base Size to 30mm.


Page 122- Pale Rider.
The reference to the Rider moving 8" is a mistake- it should move 6" towards it's Prey as noted in it's profile!

Back to the Dungeon.

Last night saw the next instalment of our Massive Darkness Campaign- this time, we had to prevent a gigantic spider escaping the tunnels and causing havoc in the surrounding countryside...

*Mid-way through the game, and Whisper the Assassin (bottom of picture with blue base) uses her Slippery ability to dodge past the spider and activate the Level 3 token- this allows us to start using our Level 3 weapons and armour, and in the end went a long way towards helping us to victory! Meanwhile, Mila the Sorcerer (purple base) lies webbed up and helpless before the arachnid horror, while the rest of us loiter around the corner preparing to make our final assault; seemingly unimpressed by the fire-spewing Hellhound (framed in the doorway on the left) bearing down on us...

Playing a Campaign of MD is very different to the usual one-off games in that you earn Experience much slower- where you would earn an Experience point, you instead earn a 'Micro-Experience point'; with five Micro-EXP earning you one 'full' EXP. This is all tracked by sticking pegs into on a series of holes on your handy hard-plastic 'dashboard'.
This dashboard idea is something I first came across on Zombiecide (another CMON title), and it's a very neat bit of design that keeps all your cards together and does away with the need for a scrap of paper to track your Hit Points and what-have-you.

*My character Siegfried's dashboard, featuring the character's stat-card (top left), body equipment slot (top right), Left and Right hand slots (below left), and Experience track (bottom right). Down the left side is your Health track, and down the right side is your 'Micro EXP' track.

 

 

Experience is spent during the Turn Sequence to purchase skill upgrades for your character- this works like a 'skill-tree' that may be familiar to video game players, and lets you craft your character and specialise them the way you want. Your chosen 'Class' is represented by a more 'old-school' paper record sheet and determines exactly what kind of skills you have access to, and when you first choose your character you also choose their Class.





*This is my chosen Class- the Bonecrusher. You probably can't see from the photo, but I've taken the Mace and Hammer Skill set to Level 2, and have also purchased Level 1 in Charge. Siegfried is not a subtle Dwarf...

 

Anyway, this is rapidly becoming a 'How-To-Play', so here's a quick overview of last night's game:

 

A victory for our merry band! We played this mission once before as a one-off game, and got absolutely hammered- when you encounter a big creature, you draw an equipment card for it. If you kill the creature, you get to loot this item off their twitching corpse- however until it bites the dust, it gets to use said item itself! First time around, we drew some powerful suit of armour that made the spider all-but impervious to our feeble attacks. It ended up trapping us in webs and dragging us all along for the ride as it made it's escape! Very embarrassing.

This time around, we were forewarned (and starting out with all our skills and equipment at Level 2 didn't hurt, either!). Even a Hellhound and Abyssal Demon showing up didn't stop us from running the spider down and crushing it (even with it's 30+ Health). I'm proud to say that Siegfried even managed to deal the killing blow!

*The end of the game- Mila and Whisper lurk around the corner (from where they were making hit-and-run strikes on the spider, I hasten to add!), while Siegfried stands triumphantly amongst the grisly wreckage of the spider, covered in ichor and screaming his victory! Meanwhile, the rest of the Party hold off the raging Hellhound and Abyssal Demon in the distance- just another Monday night. then...

 



8/10/17: WWII- The Burma/India Border.

Oh yes, we play historical games as well!

This was a WWII battle using the Rapid Fire rules- not my favourite historical period to game in (I much prefer my Old West,  Dark Ages and ACW!), and I know very little about it, but the other guys love it and have a huge collection of various fully-painted armies in 20mm, so I cheerfully turn up to roll some dice and frustrate Andy with my complete ignorance of the period!

Me: "OK, I'm firing my MG at your guys."
Andy: "Mate, that's a PIAT..."

I really am trying to get better, but for some reason my eyes just glaze over when it comes to the minutiae of WWII on the table-top...

Anyway, due to Real Life I turned up after the guys had already started on Sunday, and was promptly given some Japanese tanks and (to my great delight) some fellows riding bicycles(!), and ordered to take a railway bridge over the river. Opposing me was a column of tanks- I think they were Stuarts.

*The intrepid men of the 1st Kyoto Bicycle Cavalry Division.

Whatever they were, they shrugged off the pitiful fire of my tanks and in return blew their targets up with surgical precision. Meanwhile my hapless cyclists wobbled and clattered up the train tracks towards almost certain doom, tiny 20mm faces set in grim concentration.

*The bridge too far!

Unfortunately they were slowed by the terrain, and just couldn't make it to their objective in time- the Indian engineers blowing it up right in their faces!

*Mission: Failed! A nice touch is the coal spilling from the upturned carriage.

Thankfully, the main Japanese army had already taken the other bridge down-river before I turned up, and were now sweeping up the flank annihilating any Indian resistance they encountered. My rivals across the railway bridge saw which way the wind was blowing and beat a hasty retreat, and the field belonged to the Japanese!

*The other Japanese players make up for my failure!

I then discovered the game was a technical win for the Indian army, as they had managed to rescue the local Commandant from his palatial home earlier in the day- combined with blowing up the railway bridge, this gave them two victory conditions to our one. Their gallant defence had paid off!

Though I only took part in the final few turns of the game, the lads had really outdone themselves with the terrain so I thought I'd leave you all with some of the highlights!

*The Japanese side of the river- complete with the Commandant's personal rowing boat!



*The Japanese take control of the Commandant's private Tennis court.

*Looking over towards the village and logging-camp on the far side of the river. In the distance, a crashed Japanese aeroplane sticks out of the roof of a barn!

 

Return to the Frozen City

After a few weeks' hiatus, the Ingleton group have returned to Frostgrave.

*The board set-up. 4Ground 'Ruins of Daldorr' and some repainted 'Loka' chess-pieces as statues!
Due to work commitments, Friday night Frostgrave has become Wednesday night Wizards- last night saw the first game of a brand-new Campaign, and even our more resolutely historically-minded member has finally cracked and got into the game!
This meant a full five-player game, which saw two Elementalists, a Sigilist, an Enchanter and my own Witch take to the field (some fudging of deployment areas was required...).
Another change we made was instead of rolling for monsters when a Treasure was picked up, we rolled before the game and placed each creature (or group of creatures) in contact with each of the six Treasures! This meant there were already two Wolves, two Ghouls, a Giant Rat, an Ice Toad, a Wraith and a Werewolf lurking amongst the ruins...

The game was absolute chaos as usual, with a couple of almighty scrums going on that lasted almost all game as the respective players just kept feeding more bodies into the fight! Meanwhile my Plague Doktor and his rag-tag minions crept about nicking Treasure under everyone's noses and forming a hasty alliance with the Sigillist. The final turn of the game saw my goblin Thieves making a break for freedom carrying their loot, only for the Enchanter's gunline (or should that be bowline) of Archers to come around a corner and fill them full of arrows- instead of the glorious hoard of four Treasures, I had to content myself with only two! Doktor Schreck will have his revenge...

*My trio of goblin Thieves- Bugg, Dregg and Scrott (Goblins from GW's the Hobbit range).

A high point for me was an 'epic' combat between my Infantryman, Mungo, and a Wolf- try as he might, Mungo just couldn't land a blow with his scythe- I decided he was just playing with the beast, and he only killed it accidentally when he petted it's head a little too hard! Dejected, Mungo stomped from the field to look for a new 'friend'...

*L-R: 'Dog' (Warhound), Igor (Apprentice), Doktor Schreck (Wizard), and Mungo (Infantryman).

Special mention must also go to John, who was taking part in his first ever Campaign with a newly-painted Warband (also his first ever non-historical figures!). John has actually used glitter and decorative brocade on his Wizard to create a Paul-Daniels stage-magician type fellow, and it works very well indeed- my ham-fisted attempt at a photo doesn't really do it justice...

More from Frostgrave next week!

For the Darkness is Massive...

Besides skirmish games, my other great table-top passion is the good old Dungeon Crawler. It all started for me with Heroquest and Space Hulk, and I never looked back!

Lately, the humble 'Crawler has seen something of a resurgence (not that it ever really went away to my mind!), with the big companies like CMON flooding the KS market (for good or ill) with minis-heavy 'Crawlers with lavish production values...

One of the lads at my Monday night group went all-in on CMON'S Massive Darkness, and since it turned up we've been playing it a lot to figure out our favourite character/class combinations. Last week they started a Campaign (or story mode, as I think it's called)- I couldn't make it unfortunately, as I was feverishly painting models for a Dracula's America demo game the following night (see my last post for how that went); but they took over duties on Siegfried (my chosen character- a Dwarf berserker-type) the Bonecrusher (my chosen class- basically a barbarian type with a fondness for maces and hammers).

*The mighty Siegfried!

One of the fun things about MD is the freedom to mix characters and classes- so you could choose a wizardly-looking character but have them use the Pit-Fighter class- and the way your character's skills interact with the abilities of your chosen class makes for some interesting meta!

Anyway, this was game two, and involved the intrepid band of heroes crossing a series of bridges in search of artefacts before making their escape. MD is fully-cooperative, with the players competing against the game's card-driven AI system. Mobs of minions spawn as you progress and break down doors into new rooms in search of loot, and the occasional Roaming Monster makes an appearance to kick your teeth in just as you start getting confident- all very familiar stuff, but it is done very well and with great style- love 'em or hate 'em, CMON know how to make a lavish game! The minis are lovely and cry out for a splash of colour, but I doubt my buddy will ever get around to painting them, unfortunately...

*The start of the quest... (the gaming mat we laid the tiles out on is the 'Frostgrave' design by Deep-Cut Studios)

 



It ended in a victory for the forces of good (by the skin of our teeth!), and Siegfried now has some decent gear and skills to take to the next mission- which looks to be featuring Shelob's understudy...

Expect a report on how that goes, plus a bit more about how MD plays, in the near future!

DRACULA'S DEMO, 26/9/2017

Last Tuesday, I managed to make it to the Lancaster club to demo Dracula's America with a few of the guys- there ended up being four of us, with Twilight Order, Red Hand, Crossroads Cult and Dark Confederacy Posses taking to the streets of Red Rock to Stake a Claim!

The game went very smoothly and in a great spirit as always- the 'Order playing very cautiously and hunkering down in the Gem Saloon (every window and doorway bristled with guys on Lookout, and a lone Crusader with rifle took up a vantage point on the roof!).
Meanwhile the other three Posses kicked seven bells out of each other, with the Cult player gleefully summoning Abyssal creatures as fast as they could be put down! A Broodkin and a Cultist engaged in a toe-to-toe showdown with their shotguns, which the vampire eventually won- Shaken, the creature promptly fed on his rival as they lay there bleeding and full of buckshot to heal his wounds...
The Confederates advanced steadily up the street towards the sounds of fighting, a 'meat-shield' of Revenants leading the way as always. Despite taking fire and even a Hellhound attack, the zombie soldiers just kept getting back up!

Other stand-out moments were the Crusader rifleman on the Saloon roof running out of silver bullets on his first shot of the game, as he tried to bring down a monstrous Behemoth doing it's best King Kong impression on the roof of the Olympia Hotel.
In the following Activation, a lowly Cultist with sixgun promptly plugged the Behemoth right between the eyes- the huge fire-belching beast went Down, tumbled off the roof and broke it's neck in the fall; dissipating into a cloud of sulphurous smoke as it hit the ground!

Considering that this was only the Lancaster lads' second game of DA, and their first using all the supernatural elements, they took to the new rules very quickly (much to my relief!)- the game ended with the Red Hand winning with two buildings under their control, and the Confederacy and Cultists drawing with one apiece.

Cheers!