The Ruin Within

OK, so I finished up 18 models to field The Ruin Within enemy faction for my Five Leagues From The Borderlands solo campaign. There are nine basic melee guys, three guys with throwing knives, two guys with bows, two guys with slings, and two leader types who look a bit undead. I built them from the Frostgrave Cultists boxed set, with two metal sling bits from Gripping Beast to round out the weapons.

Some New Scenery

I've spent my time off-line building some scenery. I have made another ruined building for Armskirk, the ruined city that I set my Five Leagues From The Borderlands games in. I also built a few stone walls. Buildings and walls are from Dave Graffam.

A Tale Of Three Tortles-Game 4, Part 2

 The Story thus far: Weppi, Yammel, and Alaric are the only members of the Warband still on their feet after a savage encounter with Strange Warriors. While Our Heroes were victorious and held the field, the injured were sent back to Mirefield for rest and recovery. There was just one problem: those evil Duskling goblins were still en route to attack The Crossing, and must be stopped!

Musing about the possibilities of success or defeat, Weppi wondered to herself, "what about old friends?" She had known people in Armskirk before the Destruction. Perhaps, just maybe... she let out her loudest Tortle Throat Rumble Calling, and a while later Galdan, a human Noble she had known, was ready to help out. And so Our Heroes set out to once again beat down hard on the Duskling threat.

But first things first, right? Weppi wanted to get an idea of how things had changed near The Crossing since the Destruction. Plumes of smoke were a good start to the investigation. As they approached the burning buildings, through the smoke could be seen goblins! Blood streaks already on their skin, they hadn't quite noticed Weppi and her companions yet.

On the first turn, we Seized The Initiative (and I promptly forgot and played the first turn without it!) The goblin Blood-streaked Band advanced, one of their archers taking a position in the upper level of a building (not the usual AI, but it made sense.) Our Heroes decided to move as a group and go around a building to flank the goblins.

The second turn saw the Duskling archers shooting ineffectively, but the warriors did contact Weppi and her friends. They were pushed back for their efforts, and one was now wounded, but Our Heroes had held their line.

Turn three saw some more ineffective archery and a swirling melee that left two goblins dead and Galdan down, while Weppi and Alaric had picked up some wounds. Weppi had also burned a Story Point to re-roll a damage roll against one of the now-dead Dusklings. One of the goblins thought better of the fight and fled the scene. At about this time I realized that I had never determined the Scouting Objectives, so between turns I marked the two objectives with dice.

In Turn four, Weppi had the realization that the fires would need to be Scouted before more goblins arrived, She pushed her companions to kill the goblins quickly and promptly killed the one that lunged to attack her. One of the goblin archers felled Alaric, but Yammel pushed forward and killed that archer. Weppi ran to a stack of detritus to search for clues to the fire. The final Duskling archer decided that there was no winning this fight and followed his fleeing companion.

Turn five saw Weppi use a point of Will to quickly move to the next Scouting location, and thereby secure the Objective as well as Hold The Field. A quick look showed that Alaric had once again been Knocked Out (a real winning streak on that one,) and Galdan, while down, had only suffered a broken weapon.

Searching the filthy goblin Dusklings afterward, they acquired a Rangers Cloak and enough furs to sell in The Crossing for three Gold Marks. At The Crossing, news had come that the Gnawling Horde had grown their Camp nearby to a Hideout, and they were building their strength to take over the ruined city of Armskirk.

A Tale Of Three Tortles-Game 4

OK, so I went ahead and played out Campaign Turn 6 of A Tale Of Three Tortles. It was going to be a bit risky, since both Tudaline and Drustan were currently down healing from their injuries. But, maybe some in-town activity could help out a bit, no?

Anyway, during the Local Events phase, a kindly old person packed us lunch and the warband now had one Rations. We spent our in-town time helping the Town Guard and dragging Drustan to the Healer, who got him back on his feet and ready to adventure again. Hey, how about that! We also bought some light armor for Kipor and had a chance to buy a sneaky sneaky little throwing knife, but we passed that one up.

Now, we were following up some reports that those pesky Duskling goblins were up to no good in the vicinity of The Crossing. And so huppty huppty ho we went a-travelling towards The Crossing. But along the way, something strange happened. Strange Troops, to be precise. A defensive battle was then fought against these swarthy strangers with their curved swords, zebra shields, and crested helms...
We started well enough, Seizing The Initiative and advancing towards the enemy. Drustan, newly on his feet, took up a defensive position behind a fence to get some good bow shots at them. Alas, his first shot went wide and the zebra-shielded enemies were upon them. Yammel made a good showing and felled his first opponent, but Alaric was not so lucky, coming off worse for wear in his first engagement and was now wounded. Weppi and Kipor both pushed their opponents back, but the fight was still on.
Things started to turn ugly for Our Heroes. Drustan was taken down by the enemy bowmen. Alaric and Kipor were felled by those curved swords. And while Weppi was holding her own, she too was now wounded. She managed to kill one of the attackers, but she was still toe-to-toe with another.

With more bad luck, the enemy reacted faster than Our Heroes could attack. Yammel went down, leaving Weppi alone to confront two remaining swordsmen and two archers. Is this how our story is going to end? NO! Weppi killed her assailant and then turned her rust-hued eyes towards her next targets.

The remaining enemy swordsman rushed towards Weppi and was promptly cut down for her efforts. Both archers shot at her, but failed to hit anything but her thick shell. And then she lunged, bringing one of the archers down beneath her cyclopean weapon (really, have you seen the size of that thing?) The last archer decided it just wasn't worth it, and promptly fled the scene. Weppi stood alone amongst the bodies of her trusted friends and the dead foreigners.

During the course of this Travel Encounter, I used three Story Points to keep Weppi on her feet. That was half of everything we have. Kipor took a light wound and will be out for a turn to recover. Drustan was moderately wounded and will be out for six turns. Alaric and Yammel were both just knocked out. Alaric has a winning streak of recovering after the battle! The Strange Troops had some furs that will be sold for 4 Gold Marks when we get to The Crossing, and Alaric was able to find some partial armor and a helmet to help him out in future skirmishes.

The real catch here is that this wasn't even the main battle. There are still the Dusklings out there in wait to attack The Crossing, and only Our Heroes can stop them before they do. Can we do it with just three of us? Maybe there is an Old Friend in the area who could help...

TO BE CONTINUED

A Tale Of Two Tortles-Game 3

 OK, so I had my third game of "A Tale Of Two Tortles," which might now be a bit misnamed as you will see later. I decided that after two games of just Riding Patrol it was time to confront the Duskling Menace head-on, and see if we could take down those nasty little yet surprisingly tough and stringy goblins. But before we went off and faced that madness, there was some time spent in town doing the basic upkeep of life stuff.

To start with, there was a Renowned Scholar in town, but Weppi said to forget him, we ain't studying, we're gonna help the town guard and recruit some new blood. And new blood is what we got! With some gold coin spent, Yammel, another Tortle, joined the warband. At this point it must be said that I made some really appropriate Tortle rules instead of just using the Dwaf rules, and so Yammel would be the first one to start with these new rules. Weppi and Kipor were switched to the new rules at this time as well, but since this was effectively a roster change, I spent a Story Point for each of them to switch. Two new basic weapons were bought, one for Yammel and one to replace Weppi's, which had broken last adventure. Also some light armor for Yammel was purchased.

Now here's a thing: when I recruited Yammel for the warband, I was very excited because Reapr has just released the Spikeshell Anti-Paladin miniature, and I thought it would go great with the Spikeshell Warrior miniatures that I used for Weppi and Kipor. When it arrived through the mail, it was almost double the size of the other two. So now this BIG Tortle is going to be the Weppi miniature, and the previous Weppi will be the Yammel miniature.

And so we ventured off the combat the Duskling Menace, with the full intention of kicking goblin ass all the way out of Armskirk (the ruined city in which we are adventuring, for those of you that are new to this story.) We found where the goblins had been, and went looking to see if we could find any evidence of their sinister plans.

While we were searching, we ran into some Mist-clad goblins, led by a sergeant. Seven of them, including their leader, two with bows. More likely though, they had been watching us and thought this was a good point for an ambush. Their bowmen were flanking to the north, so Kipor and Aalric decided to move through the cover to get the drop on them. Weppi, Yammel, Drustan, and Tundaline went southwards to try to engage the bulk of the Dusklings.

Tundaline was able to get one shot off with her crossbow, felling one of the goblins, before the smelly creatures were upon them. In the course of the ensuing melees, both Tundaline and Drustan were felled by the foul vermin before Weppi and Yammel finally defeated or drove away the remainder. Of the two archers, Kipor killed one and the other fled; a total of three goblins fled this fight, showing their generally low morale and disorganization.

You know how when you get a new freshly painted miniature that you are feeling great about, and the first time you field it there is terrible luck for it? I fully expected that to be the case with the new Weppi miniature, but she was a BEAST during this game. She accounted for three of the enemy, including their sergeant. That was 75% of the total kills. So I'm pretty excited about that.

After the dust cleared, it was time to take stock of the outcome. Tundaline and Drustan were both down, but survived. They would be out for a few game turns each recovering from their injuries. There was a Ferret's Drink potion recovered, as well as 3 Gold coins. For the game Meta, there was a gain of 5 Adventure Points and 3 Story points (2 from the scenario objective and one from the "Letter From A Friends" News Travels result.) 4 Adventure points were spent to make an Adventure Milestone check, and a roll of 3 means the Duskling Menace has been reduced by one point.

Anyway, I had a great time and I am happy to share it with y'all.

A Tale Of Two Tortles-Game 2

 OK, so I finally managed to get my second campaign game of Five Leagues From The Borderlands played. It's been a while, and I was delayed because I rolled up Campaign turns 3 (where Our Heroes simply recovered) and 4, wherein they decided to Ride Patrol again. As I was generating the various pre-game events and enemies, "Roving Fiends" came up as the enemy, and I thought it would be fun to paint up some Daemonettes from Warhammer to use. As it turns out that was a big mistake, as it took me a VERY long time.

Anyway, in the settlement of Bradfordshire of the Ruined City Of Arsmkirk, Weppi and her companions enjoyed a rare starlit night with singing faeries. This should have allowed one warband member to be "Blessed" during the game, but by the time I played I forgot all about it. They helped the Town Guard to skip out on the Upkeep costs, and made an attempt to recruit someone to replace Isabeau the Street Urchin who sadly died during the last Patrol. Finally, some connections were made and the warband gained a Story Point.

The battle itself was four turns long, and the Objective was to Secure The Area. The Unknown Enemy marker was spotted the first turn and yielded two Roving Fiends, for a total of six of them against Our Heroes five. During that first turn, Weppi and Kipor went into a ruined building and took up position in a break in the wall. Tundaline and Alaric both used the unsteady stairs to get to the second floor, and Drustan snapped off a shot with his bow that missed. Alaric took up position behind Weppi and Kipor. The Roving Fiends simply advanced towards Our Heroes.

Between the first and second turns, there was a Giant Cat Attack that caused a bit of an earthquake. Buildings already partially destroyed shook on their foundations and all trembled in fear.

Next turn, Tundaline tried to shoot her crossbow at the advancing Fiends with no effect. Four of the Fiends crashed into Weppis and Kipor, got pushed back, and Drustan picked one off with his trusty bow. Alaric, trying to be a Hero (but only a Wily Rogue) made an attack and was quickly knocked out of action for his trouble. Will he make it? Will he die? We will have to wait until after the game to find out.

The third and fourth turns were really just the Roving Fiends going back and forth with Weppi and Kipor. At the end of turn four, there was only one Fiend left and it was removed due to a Morale roll. Our Heroes held the field and saved the day!

After the game (always my favorite part!) Alaric turned out to have just broken his weapon and played dead (very Rogue-like.) The Roving Fiends had enough gold ornaments to sell for a total of 8 gold coins. And there was news of someone important needing adventurers. We have two campaign turns to travel to a new wilderness location to accept a Quest. Weppi says they need to get a little more skilled before they go about just accepting quests from strangers. Seems legit to me.

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 1

 OK, so I played the first game of my new Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign last night.

Our Heroes started out doing a Ride Patrol that ended in a Meeting Engagement with Northern Wolves that had entered the ruined city of Armskirk. Three of them, to be precise, as well as an Unknown Enemy that might represent from one to five of the foul beasts. We will find out later. The forces deployed 16" apart from each other, or 4" in from each table edge. And the Unknown Enemy marker (a black hound) was 2" in from the side.

The first turn pretty much everyone moved closer. Drustan moved to the second floor of a ruined building, because if you have a ruined building with intact stairs as a part of your scenery, you need to dash someone up those stairs. It's one of the unwritten rules, you see. Tundaline did not move, but instead fired her crossbow at the one wolf she could see. She missed.

The second turn had much more action. Both Drustan and Tundaline took shots at the oncoming wolves to no effect; when the Unknown Enemy marker was close enough, it was revelaed to be FOUR more Northern Wolves! Weppi charged in and felled a wolf. When Kipor did the same, the wolf got the better of him and he was down! Alaric the Wily Rogue moved to attack a wolf but failed to hurt it... Isabeau the Street urchin followed him and handily dispatched the pesky creature.

Turn three saw a bit of a decline for Our Heroes. Weppi felled a wolf only to be felled herself by another. Isabeau went down to claws and fangs as well. Alaric promptly killed the same wolf that took down Isabeau. Drustan and Tundaline had another round of ineffective firing. Three wolves and three of the warband remaining, it was a close skirmish so far.

On turn four, both Drustan and Tundaline were successful in shooting at the wolves, killing off two of them with a little help from a Story Point well spent at the right time. The remaining wolf, however, lunged at Alric and brought him down.

Finally, Tundaline took a good shot and killed the remaining wolf at the beginning of the fifth turn. Our Heroes had Held the Field!

In the aftermath, Weppi was found to have some damaged armor. She might have died if not for the timely application of Silverweed Leaf! Kipor too may have succumbed to his wounds but for the Silverweed, and will need to spend a campaign turn recovering from his injuries. Alaric, as it happened, was just Knocked Out and had no lasting injuries. Unfortunately, Isabeau did not survive her injuries; the Street Urchin was dead.

Investigating the immediate area of the battle, the standing Heroes found a jar of spices worth three gold, a lead to a new location, and discovered some news of monsters moving into a nearby ruin.

The warband made it's way back to Mirefield to lick their wounds and recover a bit before venturing back into Armskirk.