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...

Tortles In The Dust: First Game

 OK, so I started a new campaign for my Five Leagues From The Borderlands warband. I am calling this one Tortles In The Dust, because I am setting the campaign in The Land Of Ancient Dust using the supplement of the same name. Our Threats would be The Dust Rises, The Oldest Kin, and Outlaw Bands. To finish the campaign, we need to eliminate all threats, and finish/defeat/explore three each of Delves, Quests, Contracts, Unknown Locations, and Aberrations.

To start with we arrived in the village of Istahkr, a mystical site. Plog The Elder would feel right at home here! There was also a Wandering Scholar who had recently arrived, and offered to help Study. Unfortunately, we had other thing we needed to take care of. We paid our 1 gold for Upkeep, earned it back through Hard Work, and Recruited Plodo, a local Chitter (although his Chitter abilities will not be available until he achieves Hero status.) We bought Plodo a Warspear, because I have found that Warspears really make a difference in combat. We tried to make some Connections in this new land, but came up empty. One thing we did discover, however, is that there were some Outlaws nearby making trouble. So we decided to find them, fight them, and maybe find out what they are up to.

They were not near the village, so we had to make a trip out to the Wilderness. While travelling, we met a Physician who yielded some Useful Information (+2 Adventure points! Yay!) And since this was the first time we travelled in the Dust, we also picked up a Quest. More on that in the future.

And then we were upon the Repentant Deserters, who were counting their loot but ready to fight. The immediate area had four cases of Unpleasant Flora, three patches of Soft Sand, a lot of big boulders, and a big ol' Obelisk. I forgot to put out the Glimmers. The environmental effect as that the sand grasps and siezes, which meant our heroes could not Dash but the enemy could (we're not Sand Dwellers yet, the Quest will fix that.) There were six of the Deserters, three with self-bows. No leaders, no unique individuals, so it should be an easy fight, right? Right? We did not Sieze The Initiative.

The first turn saw both sides advancing towards each other. Plog The Elder got up a Barrier (a wall of fire) which protected the left flank, but a Deserter archer felled Weppi on the first shot. The idea had been for Weppi to be supported by Plodo and Rukacta, but now The new guy was left out in the open with the other weakest warband member. Tundaline and Quicktoes were heading for the Stash (represented by the Turn Marker Die.)

Turn Two went marginally better. Tundaline secured the objective, Plog The Elder failed to cast his Construct spell and wound up in melee with a Deserter but survived, and a skirmish with Quicktoes, Rukacta, and Plodo versus one of the Deserters ended with no casualties. The archers had no effect.

On Turn Three, things started looking less positive. Plog The Elder was taken down by a bad guy, and the cluster of remaining Heroes only felled two of the Deserters. Plodo's warspear was effective here, as his Counterattack with it was one of the killing blows. 8 Gold well spent! Those two Deserter casualties broke the morale of a third, and he promptly departed the battlefield, leaving the three archers facing our four friends.

The fourth turn was a bit of a disaster, with both Tundaline and Quicktoes going out of action, and the other two huddling against the Obelisk to try and minimize the amount of shooting that could come their way.

Turn Five (Turn Four in the pictures, I forgot to rotate the die previously) brought a daring attack by Rukacta and Plodo in the face of enemy archery! Plodo was cut down, but Rukacta in turn killed the offending Deserter, which led to another bad guy running away. Rukacta was face to face with the last enemy.

On Turn Six... but wait, here's the thing. If Our Heroes win the battle (we have already achieved the Objective) we stand to gain more Adventure points and Gold than if, say, Rukacta ran away at this point. So I mentally prepared myself to spend Story Points as necessary to achieve a victory. And it took three of them to re-roll the last deserter's three exchanges with Rukacta for our surviving Hero to secure that Victory and Hold the Field! THREE Story Points! The Turn Six picture is showing 5, due to the aforementioned reason.

Weppi was lightly wounded and would require two turns of recovery. Tundaline was also lightly wounded and would aso be out two turns. Plog The Elder was severely injured and would need to recover for four turns. Quicktoes was just knocked out, the lucky git. Plodo was moderately injured and would be out for four turns. We looted a suit of Fie Partial Armor, and found a Personal Item that we might find the owner of, and returning it would be beneficial. Finally, News Travelled that the Emir had raided enemy forces and the Dust Rises threat has been reduced by one. An Adventure Milestone was achieved for 5 Adventure Points and Plodo is now a Hero.

So that was six turns of fighting in the Dust. The Repentant Deserters were tougher than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. I am still working on my scenery for the campaign, so that will continue to evolve over time. I expect to be working on this for quite a while, so there is plenty of time to get it all done.

Papercraft Desert Tent

I have completed the desert tent from Forum Hoard #131. I replaced the base with a persian rug from Google images, and put the whole thing on a foamcore base.

2015 Forum Hoards: https://www.onemonk.com/fh-2015.html

Dark Ages Irish Warriors

 OK, so my wonderful and amazing wife gifted me the Dark Ages Irish Warriors plastic soldier set from Wargames Atlantic this year. They will be the core of a Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant army as well as a Saga warband More to follow!

Unpleasant Flora

OK, so my next Five Leagues From The Borderlands will be using "The Ancient Land Of Dust" supplement. Each game will require d6+1 "Unpleasant Flora" markers. Enter the cactus from the WWG Deadfall range. I retooled them so there are three sizes across the seven of them, mounted on 1" washers with the bases painted to match my terrain. 28mm figures for scale.