Big Lizard In My Backyard

 OK, so my Five Leagues From The Borderlands solo campaign wound up needing a Ravenous Lizard as an opponent. After reviewing my collection, I had nothing suitable for use and so I rolled up a different encounter. But the need for a possible future Ravenous Lizard remained, and I saw an opportunity at Dollar Tree in the form of a small Jurassic Park toy Allosaurus. It wasn't quite an Allosaurus, it had a snaky droopy tail instead of the long stiff one assumed by modern paleontology. But it was perfect for a fantasy desert giant lizardy thing.

So the first step was removing it from the toy base and putting it on a proper 40mm round gaming base. I prepped the base first, and then secured the toy using a pin and Krazy Glue. The tail didn't want to glue down quite right, but with a little work I got it to look "mostly" right.

Next, I primed both the toy and the base with two coats of black gesso applied by brush. I use the Bob Ross brand because it is economical, but any brand would have sufficed.

I painted the belly and the inner thighs an off white, and the rest of the Ravenous Lizard a neutral brown. The inside of the mouth was done in dark red, and the eyes and claws were blocked in dark brown.

 With the colors blocked on, the next step was applying the Shading Wash. I make mine from acrylic floor polish and artist's inks.

Once the shading wash was dry, I gave all the colors a three=stage highlight, did the eyes in a dull orange, and flocked the base. I wasn't sure the spots would turn out well, but overall they did. If I were to do ot again, I would do smaller, solid spots on the head in a symmetrical pattern.

Svetlana, Frost Giant Princess

OK, so I finished repainting the skin and hair on the Frost Giant Princess, as well as getting her on a larger base. She was previously caucasian with brown hair (and a green-skinned Forest Giantess before that.)

This is the original metal model from Reaper Miniatures.

Tortles In The Dust: Game 5

OK, so I played through the fifth game of my solo Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign. Our Heroes are currently on a Quest to learn the ways of The Dust, so they can lose all those negative effects from being Outlanders. We started off In Camp, where we were visited by a Wise Healer, who gave much needed aid to Tundaline. We were Living off The land, and both Tundaline and Plodo were able to do some more healing. Tundaline was back on her feet and ready for adventure! Rukacta did some Training, gaining an experience point. As we were In Camp, there was no trading to be done, and our Research had no results. We did know, however, that a an artifact called the Jewel Knife Of Kemseht was in an underground temple storage complex some distance away. As we travelled there, we encountered a Sociable Physician, and added Suroush as a Friend. Once there, Our Heroes prepared for the descent into the tunnels. The party would Include Weppi, Tundaline, Plog The Elder, Quicktoes, Rukacta, and Vashti in her first outing (note that I used a placeholder miniature from the collection for Vashti, this is not the model that I will be using to represent her; I haven't acquired the miniature I want to use yet.)

Entering the tunnels, Quicktoes scouted ahead. Using his secret Hobbit Senses, he determined this place wasn't just storage, but a tomb as well. Two additional Exploration Markers and three Skeletons were added to the already present Blood Stained Renegades led by a Grim Knight.

OK, rather than 11 turns of "Weppi and Tundaline crept forward" interspersed with a few melees, I'm just going to do the Highlight Reel. Quicktoes Explored the first marker, finding some hidden tools worth 2 gold. He and Rukacta were then overwhelmed by the bad guys. Weppi moved forward like a tank, destroying everyone who was in front of her. One enemy ran away. Tundaline uncovered the next Marker, yielding a suit of Partial Armor. The Skeletons were defeated. Vashti uncovered the third Marker, which turned out to be the Jewel Knife Of Kemseht. We then fought our way out of the tunnels, with Weppi and the Grim Knight engaging in a multi-turn battle wherein they were both very good at hitting one another but really bad at getting through armor. Eventually Weppi prevailed, and the battle was over.

Quicktoes was just knocked out. Rukacta seemed dead, but the application of some Sage Flower revived him, leaving him with a damaged weapon. That's okay, we have spares! We gained a Gold Coin from the Grim Knight. And finally, drum roll please, the Quest Step roll was a 1, meaning we had completed the Quest! We are no longer Outlanders to The Dust! We ended the Campaign Turn once again In Camp, preparing for the next leg of our journey.

Tortles In The Dust: Game 4

 OK, so I played Game 4 of my new Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign, "Tortles In The Dust."

But first, some bookkeeping before we get into it. Do you remember that young girl we rescued last game? She has become a Loyal member of the Warband. Her name is Vashti. She's just a Follower, so she'll be in the background for a while, but when we have someone out Healing, she will make an appearance to fill in the ranks.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can Continue the Adventure. Last seen, Our Heroes had rescued Vashti from the Legion of the Lion and were In Camp in the wilderness. Local events required a Bravery test to prevent a random warband member from being injured with damaged equipment; we passed the test. We also Lived Off The Land, while Plodo Trained, gaining +1 Experience. We managed to find a Contract using our Connections, but decided not to take it. This Quest is more important right now! And of the Quest, we needed to go to a new location in an existing random Map Area. Our Heroes would need to Vanquish The Foe who holds an important Quest item. But as we travelled to the new area, we were attacked by Petty Robbers! It looks like this Campaign Turn will be a two-for-one with back to back battles! 

The battle with the Petty Robbers was a quick, brutal affair. There were six of them, including two with slings. It was supposed to be the Defensive Engagement scenario, but I didn't look at my notes and played a Meeting Engagement instead. The game was over in two turns with no casualties for Our Heroes. At least there's some pretty pictures!

Once we arrived at the Shrine of the Monkey Goddess, we found the Forsaken Infantry we had been searching for, as their Captain had the fabled Phial Of The Sands we needed to further our knowledge of the Dust. There were eight of them, including two with crossbows, as well as the Captain who was our target. I used the same miniatures as I had used last game for the Legion Of The Lion; I still had them out, so it was an easy choice.

The first turn saw the obligatory advancing towards each other; Plog The Elder managed to get up a wall of fire to block one of the crossbowmen, and the other was out of range so moved forward. In the midst of the commotion, an Avatar of the Cat God made a brief appearance to inspect the realm of the Monkey Goddess.

Turn Two resulted in the first melees and casualties... seeing that the Forsaken Infantry were rushing ahead, Our Heroes held their actions until the bad guys were in contact range. Tundaline was quickly cut down by the enemy Captain. Plodo and Rukacta couldn't quite close the distance to attack. Plog The Elder animated his Construct, but it was quickly defeated by the opposition.

On Turn Three, things got wild! Weppi felled a couple of bad guys, Rukacta killed the Captain (thereby fulfilling the scenario Victory Condition,) and somewhere in the maelstrom of combat Plodo was taken down as well. I also forgot to rotate the Turn Marker Die to "3" so my pictures will show the wrong turn number here and moving forward.

The momentum continued on Turn Four: Weppi and Rukacta killed a couple more bad guys, Quicktoes came out from hiding behind Plog The Elder and dispatched a third. One of the crossbowmen wounded Rukacta and was wounded in return by the Felid's Harness Of Vengeance. With one crossbowman wounded and the other having just witnessed the slaughter of most of his friends, they both decided to make a run for it. The remaining Forsaken Infantryman was now Fearless.

"Fearless" didn't help him on Turn Five: Weppi dispatched him cleanly in the opening move.

This one should have been over quicker than it was. A few bad rolls for Our Heroes showed that encounters from the Core Rulebook can still have some teeth. Tundaline suffered a Light injury and would be Healing for two campaign turns. Plodo was not so lucky, sustaining a serious injury and will require five campaign turns to Heal up. As this was a Quest scenario, there was no experience or loot to be gained. The Quest Step roll was a 3, so the Quest continues...

Tortles In The Dust: Game Three

 Welcome to the third game of my new Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign! This was the tenth campaign turn and saw Our Heroes starting of in the town of Ectanaba. The law was cracking down on gambling, so we helped the Town Guard bust up some card and dice dens (and one dogfighting ring.) We also went out to meet the locals, and gained a Story Point for our efforts. Nothing was traded, nor were any connections made. But we were ready to start on that Quest, and not a moment would be wasted getting out to the desert to learn the ways of the Dust! 

Emissaries of the Faceless Kingdom, members of the Legion of the Lion, had taken prisoner a young trainer. Our Heroes really needed her to teach how to survive in this harsh land. It would have to be a rescue mission, then. We discerned that she was being held in a small camp in the wilderness. While travelling there, we saw an unexplored area in the distance, and Tundaline became Exhausted from the heat. Our Heroes were able to find the encampment, occupied by six Legionnaires, two of whom were armed with crossbows. As an aside, the models used for Legion Of The Lion, with the black and green shields, were originally painted for my "Generic Medieval Fantasy" campaign for the second edition of Five Leagues back in the depths of history.

It started with Plog The Elder sneaking up on the camp to try and get into position for a good Barrier placement. When he was eventually detected, Our Heroes sprang into action. Plog The Elder got his wall of fire up and grabbed a Glimmer as well, Rukacta and Quicktoes followed up behind him, and Weppi advanced with Tundaline, exhausted though she was, surging ahead. The enemy for their part tried to close the distance to engage the intruders, and one took a shot at Tundaline but missed. Finally, Plodo followed up behind Weppi.

Turn Two saw Weppi dash forward and Rukacta closing the distance with one of the bad guys, quickly dispatching him. Another enemy then attacked in return, felling the Felid but not without consequence; Rukacta's Harness Of Vengeance dispatched the Legionnaire with equal measure (this was very exciting, as it was the first time the Harness has ever killed a enemy!) There was another shot taken at Tundaline, which hit but was deflected by her armor. Other enemies moved forward, and the remaining crossbowman took a shot at Weppi without effect. Plog the Elder empowered his Construct, which promptly scurried forward and diced up the closest crossbowman.  Quicktoes followed up behind Plog the Elder, while Tundaline and Plodo followed forward with Weppi. One of the Legionnaires looked at the remans of his three fallen companions and decided to flee.

On the third turn, Weppi again moved forward. Plog The Elder's Construct freed the prisoner, thereby fulfilling the scenario Victory Condition. The closest Legionnaire moved to attack Weppi but was quickly cut down for his effort (Weppi attacks at +3 and has Counter-Attack with her Warspear; she won the first exchange and was able to kill the bad guy right off.) The Crossbowman left took another shot at Weppi but missed. the rest of the Warband moved forward. And that crossbowman decided it was time to leave the scene.

As this was a part of a Quest, there was no loot, experience, or anything like that. The only thing to be determined was Rukacta's fate; with a roll of 85, he was merely Knocked Out. As the first Quest Step, thee was no chance the Ques would be ready for the Finale, so no roll was made. It seems I forgot about the Iron Discipline rule for the Legion Of The Lion; that would have required that rearward crossbowman to advance each time someone ran away. I think him staying out and shooting was a better action for him anyways. This was a bit of an easy fight, it seems Our Heroes have mostly outgrown opposition from the core rulebook. We'll see how the next Quest Step goes.

Papercraft Desert Building

 OK, so I needed more and varied scenery for my desert-themed Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign, and the Cardboard Warriors forum delivered. Vermin King posted a link to a papercraft Middle Eastern House (at https://papermau.blogspot.com/2025/11/middle-east-house-papercraft-version-01.html ) and I liked the look of it. I had to make a few modifications and rescale it to make it suitable for my purposes. And then I printed it and sat on it for several months. I finished it up this week. The geometry of the stairs wasn't quite perfect, but nothing I couldn't fix on the fly while building it. I used a part of a plastic Easter egg for the done, I've never been happy with the results of papercraft domes (or wheels, for that matter.)

Tortles In The Dust: Game Two

 OK, so I played through my second game of Tortles In The Dust. This was after several campaign turns spent resting and recuperating after the massacre Our Heroes suffered during the last game. Having now spent five turns In Camp, we had foraged a lot of herbs while living off the land. Our preparation showed that the enemy was now tracking us, so there would be no Adventure Milestones this turn, but i we fought a Threat battle, we gain a couple of Adventure Points. The plan had originally been to start on the Quest we received back on the first Campaign turn, but the opportunity for more Adventure points was tempting. So we decided to fight the Oldest Kin. They were found to be on the outskirts of Ectanaba, so we travelled there uneventfully. As it turned out, they were hunting us as well, specifically to undermine our progress. Knowing their penchant for poison, we brought along a lot of Gentle Shade Flower to counteract any that they brought along.

The outskirts of Ectanaba would feature a lot of small buildings, some trees, some soft sand, six Unpleasant Flora, and two Glimmers. The dust was whirling, so tabletop visibility was limited to 10" for Our Heroes. We would once again be looking for evidence of enemy plans, whilst fighting six Spawned Brood, two of whom were armed with Poisoned Javelins. Looks like the Gentle Shade Flower was a good bet! The battle lines were 16" from each other. Initiative was not seized. As an aside, the Spawned Brood were one of the weakest varieties of Oldest Kin and this should be a very easy battle.

The first turn saw both lines move towards each other. Plog The Elder picked up a Glimmer and Quicktoes moved towards the Objective building (marked by the Turn Marker die.)

On Turn Two, Plog The Elder went first and put up a wall of fire (Barrier) in front of the advancing snakedudes, forcing them to go around to engage Our Heroes. When the combat finished up, Tundaline was down and three Spawned Brood were dead. Plog The Elder had defended well against an attack as well. Quicktoes made his Interact check, thereby fulfilling the Scenario victory condition.

Turn Three saw more fighting.  Weppi killed another enemy before she fell to a well-placed javelin which found it's mark even with the poison nullified. Plog The Elder managed to deploy his demon-possessed doll (Construct) after beating down the snakedude he was fighting. Plodo and Rukacta moved towards the remaining bad guy. Despite the carnage, none of the Spawned Brood had run (slithered?) away!

On the fourth turn, Plodo advanced and killed the last snakedude. Victory as ours, we gained 4 Adventure points due to the circumstances of the scenario and another 3 from the d6 roll. Weppi was fine, just knocked out, but Tundaline would need to Campaign Turns to recover from her Light Wound. We looted a Quick Fencing Sword and found two Gold Coins. Finally, News Travelled that a Monster has been spotted in the dust, and so a Hidden Monster lair was added to the map.

I rather expected this to be a pushover scenario. The random rolls to deploy the environmental hazards should have been a sign that dice would be high, and even with planning there were setbacks that could not be avoided. Maybe next game we can start that Quest so we can lose the penalties for being Outsiders to he Dust...