Painting The Tortle Mystic

 OK, so when my Warband for my Five Leagues From The Borderlands solo campaign was mostly wiped out, I decided that it was high time to recruit a Mystic as a new member. And, because the name of my campaign is "A Tale Of Two Tortles" and I was down to only one tortle, I opted for another tortle as the Mystic. The miniature was a 3D resin print of a DM Stash pattern, purchased from Disaster Decisions Gaming I am sharing this because I am very impressed both by the print quality and the amount of detail on the miniature. I certainly plan to buy more of this stuff!

Anyways, I based the model on a GW-style 32mm base (or maybe it was 30mm?) instead of the 25mm sculpted base included with it. I primed the whole thing with black gesso, and blocked on the colors before hitting the whole thing with my special Shading Wash. During the highlighting, I had some trouble getting the detail to pop on the yellow parts, but otherwise it turned out as I had planned.

I found this model to be a bit intimidating to paint. There is an astounding amount of tiny details, and not the chunky kind of detail found on GW miniatures. This is more reminiscent of old Tom Meier sculps from Ral Partha. But I persevered and I am pretty happy with the final result. Hopefully, he will fare better than his forebears in upcoming games!

Here's a bit of a funny thing: a few years back, I was playing Rangers Of The Shadow Deep using cardstock standees, and my Ranger was named Turtle Power, from a set by Trash Mob Minis Take a look, can you see any similarites between the old standee and the new miniature?

Painting A Centaur

 OK, so I needed a Centaur miniature for Reasons. I wanted one quite a while back, and even bought one from Reaper but it wound up in the back of a box and sat unremembered for a few years. So, when I needed it, it was there for me. I'm just happy I remembered I had it before I ran off and bought a new one.

As a Reaper Bones model, the spear was very bendy, and so I replaced it with a plastic one of almost the exact same length from Fireforge Games. Pro tip: never throw any leftover parts away! I then based him on a 60mm x 35mm GW-style oval base; I trimmed off most of the integral base that was molded with the model.

Painting the model was very basic: I blocked the colors, I applied the secret Shading Wash (homemade, none of that fancy store-bought stuff,) and highlighted him. I hope you like the finished product!

1490 Doom: First Two Games

 OK, so Kurt and I gave 1490 Doom a test drive. He had built a beautiful aqueduct ruin for us to fight over, and it was quite the visual treat. We missed a few rules, misintepreted a few others, but we had a good time over the course of two games.

My little Doom Company was a Fighter (also my Captain,) a Scout, and a Brute. Kurt ran an Assassin as his Captain, a Fighter, and a Brute. I am writing this over a week later for Reasons, so my memory is a bit foggy on the specifics and this report will not be very long.

Things that rally jumped out at me during the games were that the Brutes were not fast enough to really make a big difference to the game, and that the Scout and Assassin were the two most interesting models on the table. I will be replacing my Brute with an Assassin for future games.

The game plays fast, and once we had a reasonable handle on the rules, we were getting through the turns from memory. I definitely want to play this one some more.

A Tale Of Two Tortles: First Quest Turn

 Wow.

Just wow.

I played my 12th campaign turn of Five Leagues From The Borderlands, which was also my first step of a series of Quest encounters. It started simply enough. We were at The Crossing doing the usual stuff; helping the Town Guard to avoid paying any Upkeep, and Weppi had to visit the Blacksmith to repair her weapon. There was a bit of a gambling craze sweeping the town, but we really aren't much in the way of gamblers. Morgan was still healing, which was fine as we still had five Heroes to go adventuring. No Trade was done, and nothing arose from our Connections. It seemed a perfect time to start the Quest!

So, the Quest began. A new location was placed in the Wilderness (note: I immediately forgot we had to travel to the new location, so no Travel rolls were made.) We were to fight a Meeting Engagement to vanquish a foe carrying an important Quest item. The enemy would be rolled on the Whispers From Beyond table, and led by a Captain who would be carrying the desired Quest item (Whispers From Beyond limits visibility to 9", which I forgot once I started playing and led to some bad consequences.) As this was our first Quest turn, I misunderstood the table on page 107 and rolled on the Quest Task Table, rolling a "5" and therefore adding a ranged trooper, two melee troopers, a Sergeant, and a Lieutenant. Further, they would be Outflanking, adding yet another melee trooper. All told, there would be 13 bad guys against our five. This went from a great idea to a distinct feeling of dread.

So first off, there were eight of the Whispering Cultists including the Sergeant and Lieutenant. I decided to deploy them intelligently, with the two archers on the upper floor of a building for a clear field of fire and protection from guys (and turtles!) on the ground, and the remaining six in two groups of three. On our side, I decided to put Drustan and Tundaline on the upper story of a building same as the Cultists, for the same reason. Weppi, Kipor, and Galdan all deploying together for mutual protection.

The first turn started off strongly enough: Tundaline killed the Cultist Sergeant with her first shot, and Weppi was able to ignore the shots from the Cultist archers. A lot of movement forward was made by both sides, Weppi and co. Anchoring themselves between a building and a fire.

The second turn continued the winning streak, with four dead Cultists and the Lieutenant having sustained a wound. Tundaline and Drustan were not hitting with their shots, and the enemy archers were trying to take them down (one of the archers even dropped down from the building into the open to get a better shot!)

Turn Three saw a turn in our fortunes: both Tundaline and Drustan fell to the hail of arrows from the enemy archers. Kipor killed the Lieutenant. Weppi and Galdan then moved forward, with Galdan killing the archer on the ground. The Captain and his four cronies also arrived this turn and made a good advance into the skirmish grounds.

On Turn Four, the Quest became apparent: the Captain had to be defeated in melee combat and he was bringing the fight to Our Heroes. In the ensuing melee, both the Captain and Kipor went down. The remaining archer broke and ran from his top-floor vantage, deciding that he was done with this fight.

By the end of Turn Five, Weppi and Galdan were facing a lone Cultist who was already suffering from a wound.

That Cultist was not to be trifled with, however, as he got the jump on Galdan at the beginning of Turn Six and took him down. Weppi in turn killed the Cultist, and was the lone standing warrior at the end of the fight. But at what cost?

The Dice Gods were not kind to the fallen members of the Warband. Kipor, Drustan, and Galdan all died. Tundaline too would have been dead if not for that point of Luck. I had burned four Story Points re-rolling Weppi's armor, keeping her on her feet and thankfully they were boosted again by the untimely demise of our other companions. And what did we get? An Adventure Point. A Quest Task completed. A damaged warhammer and an unstrung self bow. Was it worth it? Only time will tell...

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 7

 I played Game 7 of "A Tale Of Two Tortles" last night. The game was something different for a change, and I had a great time with it. This would be Campaign Turn 12, with Turns nine through eleven being non-combat turns. Turn Nine was spent laying low and healing up. Turn Ten involved travelling to meet the former Mayor of Arsmkrik, and on the way we met a Sociable Mok who offered a Contract to chase away Undesireables within three Campaign Turns; meeting with the Mayor yielded a Quest to be pursued at our leisure. Turn 11 was spent travelling back to The Crossing to pursue that Contract, and something was seen in the distance and an Unknown Location was added to the map.

Once back at The Crossing, it was business as usual. There was a Renowned Scholar in town, who helped Wepi with studying and led to the acquisition of the Crafting skill. The Town Guard was helped, negating any Upkeep costs. A new bow was acquired for Drustan, and our connections led to the offer of a new Contract; it was declined, as we have one already.

And with that, Our Heroes went to fulfill their "Chase Off Group" contract. It turned out that those Roving Fiends they had beaten away way back when had returned, and in greater numbers. Their lair was located, and the Camp Raid scenario was played. This was interesting, because part of the Roving Fiends group was deployed towards the center of the table, and some over on the far table side. Further, the Unknown Enemy rule was used, so three Fiends of the nine deployed were removed and replaced with a different model that would later be revealed. And then Our Heroes spent some time sneaking ("sneaky, Charlie, we gotta be sneaky!) closer to the bad guys. Everyone made a few moves closer, and eventually Kipor was spotted by the Fiends. And combat commenced!

Things started off poorly: Tundaline took a shot and missed. Kipor rushed forward and killed a Fiend, but was pushed back in return by another. Weppi spotted the Unknown Enemy marker, and revealed three more Fiends, killed a Fiend, but then wound up pushed back and stunned, Morgan did not quite make it into combat, and Galdan was still sneaking and hadn't made it to the combat yet.

The next Turn was a "Go Big Or Go Home" moment! Tundaline killed a Fiend, Galdan killed a Fiend, Kipor killed two of them, and Wepi killed one before getting pushed back and stunned. Morgan engaged a Fiend, but was pushed back. There were only two Roving Fiends left, but they were holding their ground!

Those two Fiends were tough! They felled both Weppi and Morgan before any of Our Heroes could act. Tundaline missed her shot, Galdan made it to the combat but only pushed a Fiend back, and Kipor pushed the last one back as well as stunning it.

The fourth Turn was similar; the Fiends acted first but without hitting either Galdan or Kipor, Tundaline shot a Fiend with her crossbow but had no effect, and both Galdan and Kipor pushed back and stunned their opponents. And once again, the Roving Fiends failed to flee.

Turn Five started with a revelation: I had not brought Drustan along for the fight! We were fighting the Fiends to a standstill while missing a member of the Warband! Oops, my bad... Anyway, there was a wonderful initiative roll and everyone activated before the Roving Fiends! Tundaline missed her target again, Kipor killed a Fiend, and Galdan pushed the last Fiend back. The Fiend in return accomplished nothing, and finally broke and ran away. Hopefully this would be the last of those horrible things!

But what of Weppi and Morgan? The dice would tell... Weppi was thought dead, but with the judicious use of a Story Point turned out to only have a broken weapon. Morgan was fine, having only been knocked down. As for loot, well, let's see, there was a Soul Sphere and an Old Dusty Manual, so now I need to look those up and see what they do. We also got a lead to a new Location, and after returning the The Crossing a letter from a Friend added +1 Story Point. The Contract itself paid three Gold, and now I am kind of sorry I didn't take that other Contract that was offered earlier.

I am noticing that ranged combat is fairly ineffective for Our Heroes. This game had only a few hits by Tundaline, and I had entirely forgotten to bring Drustan and his bow along. It might be time to let them go, and bring in some fresh melee troops instead. As I play on a 2'x2' board, there is less time for fire and manuever than in the Before Times, when I played on a 3'x3' board. Hmmm... I will ponder this.

The Voyages Of The Century Flamingo: Game Two

 OK, so I played my second campaign turn of Five Parsecs From Home, continuing the Voyages Of The Century Flamingo. Our Heroes spent some time Training, with O and Aim both gaining an experience point. There were five Credits paid towards the ship's mortgage, we now only owed 19 Credits on it. And general upkeep for the crew cost us one Credit. Asvyaxke was still recovering from his slight injury, and so would not be participating in any crew shenanigans.

And shenanigans were had! The guys were hired to patrol a parking lot out in the wilderness (why there was a parking lot out in the wilderness remains to be seen!) There must have been something important there, because while they were approaching their area of employment, a three-person Black Ops team was approaching from the opposite direction. O quickly chittered directions so they could meet their checkpoints while engaging with the enemy.

In the first Turn, Aim aimed and found his target, a nice shot made at range into cover, rolling a 5 to hit and a 6 to wound, he dropped the Black Ops girl in her tracks. The other two Black Ops women moved forward, and one took a shot at Iruurla (but missed.) Iruurla and Aaur returned fire, with Aaur killing another opponent. Khirki then moved over to check on the first vehicle and O ran towards a checkpoint next to a plant, of all things. Weird place to have a checkpoint! That last Black Ops girl, though, she held her ground.

Turn two saw Aim aiming again, and while he got a solid hit, he did not meet or exceed his target's toughness and so only caused a Stun. She in turn shot at Aaur, but missed. Aaur returned fire, causing another Stun, O reached his checkpoint and also shot at the final Black Ops target. While he hit, again there was no wound but another Stun... and after three Stuns, a mode is removed! Woo! We did it! We held the field and could complete the mission at our leisure!

Post-battle, it did not seem like there were any Black Ops team members left to become Rivals. A curious data stick was found on of them, yielding a Quest Rumor. Another had a Glare sword... shiny! And we were paid three Credits for our trouble.

I was pretty nervous when I rolled up the Black Ops team as the opponents, as we were down a crew member and we might need to move around a lot for this mission. I was lucky there were only three of them... six might have wiped out the whole crew. And this had to be the shortest game ever at two turns!

The Voyages Of The Century Flamingo: First Game

 So, yeah... I played out my first Five Parsecs From Home campaign turn for the crew of the Century Flamingo. Our Heroes, two Droyne and four Vilani humans had recently arrived on Windsor (Glisten 0305 for the Traveller fans) and were seeking some work. There were no licensing requirements to set down and work. The pink vegetation covering the planet did tend to get into everything!

They had an opportunity to deliver a (most likely illegal) package to a remote survey installation in the wilds. Unfortunately, their delivery trip was noticed and acted upon by a criminally-minded group of Raiders who went to intercept the crew as they approached the station.

The package itself was being carried by O Oymsse, the Droyne Sport and second in command. Asvyaxke Dre and the four humans would provide covering fire while O rushed to the station door and knocked. That was the plan, anyway. As it turned out, it worked pretty well.

In the first Turn, Asvyaxke and Aim Iashna both moved into a clump of pink, pink foliage for both safety and for Aim to get off some good shots. Everyone else moved forward, Khirki Nishekke moving slower so he could take a couple of shots (both useless, by the way.) For their own part, the Raiders moved forward but did not shoot.

Turn Two had O scooting ahead, trying to use the station itself as cover while the Raiders advanced, squeezing off a few ineffective shots of their own. Aim aimed, and failed to hit his target despite his multiple bonuses to hit. Khirki shot again without effect, and Iruurlaa Kheug took a shot at the Raider with a clingfire pistol, dropping the criminal in his tracks. Aaur Iigunim fired as well, albeit ineffectively. Asvyaxke moved out of the foliage to try and get closer to take a shot at the bad guys, a decision he would later regret.

The third Turn had everyone except Asvyaxke advance as one, squeezing off shots or, in the case of O, knocking "shave and a haircut" on the station door and getting ready to flee. Of those shots fired, Aaur found his mark and killed another Raider. Aim really was not living up to his name! The Raiders returned fire while cautiously moving closer, but found no targets.

In Turn Four, O scooted off to investigate a shiny pink carapace ("Curious Item") growing out of the ground, and Asvyaxke killed another Raider with his hand cannon. In return fire from them, he went down as well, becoming the first casualty for the crew. Aim finally found his mark as well, making two Raiders down this turn.

Turn Five started with O fiddling with the pink growth and extracting some valuable samples from it. The Raiders then fired on the crew, but without effect. Our Heroes returned fire, and Khirki killed another Raider.

In Turn Six, there was a great Initiative roll: four "1"s and a "2" The entire would be able to activate before the last Raider. With both the package delivered and the anomaly investigated, the crew of the Century Flamingo began to withdraw. They had not held the field, but they fulfilled their mission and found something of interest to sell later on.

As it turned out, the Raiders would not become Rivals... with only one survivor of the gang, perhaps he learned the error of his ways and went off to Law school.... Asvyaxke looked like he might need some immediate surgery, but as it turned out the human doctors were ignorant of Droyne physiology, it was just a minor wound and he only needed a Turn of recovery to get back on his feet (a Story Point was spent to re-roll the injury.) And that anomaly O investigated? The samples were worth 1 credit. And the crew was paid 4 Credits for the delivery.

What will our next adventure be?