A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 11

 OK, so I played through Turn 22 of my ongoing Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign, resulting in the eleventh tabletop skirmish. It was Market Day at The Crossing, but we did not take the opportunity to try and buy Rare Goods. We helped the Town Guard and visited the Blacksmith to repair those damaged weapons... I was hoping the Crafting skill would enhance the roll enough to let both weapons get repaired, but then I rolled a 12! Repairs for everyone! Our Connections resulted in a Contract, but we declined it. Instead, we would combat an Enemy Threat!

We had heard the rumors and seen the signs of the Gnawling Horde, but never fought them in open combat. Now, they had revealed themselves and seemed to be hunting our little warband. We would be investigating, looking for clues as to where they might be found. Instead, they found us! They were The Silenced, notorious assassins. Further, a Duskling Champion had joined them!

They got the drop on us the first turn, rushing forward in a chittering wave. There were eight of them plus the Duskling. Six of them made tracks towards Weppi, Tundaline, and Brarkisy, while the remaining three moved towards Plog The Elder, Morgan, and Grushnag. Weppi and her team moved forward, while on the other side Plog The Elder tried to get up a Wall of Fire but couldn't quite get it lit. Morgan and Grushnag moved forward to protect him.

Turn Two saw things get very messy very quickly. Weppi lunged forward to engage the Duskling Champion and felled him after a few exchanges (Meta-game: that +1 to Wound with the Bastard Sword came in handy!) The rat-men rushed forward, one knocking Weppi out of the fight and another died trying to fight Brarkisy. Tundaline was engaged, but managed to repel all of her attackers. Morgan too went down beneath the blades of The Silenced. Tundaline, now unengaged, uncovered one of the clues they were looking for. Plog The Elder was able to Summon a Construct, which then moved forward and killed another Silenced. Finally, Brarkisy leapt over her dead for and Weppi's inert body and killed another enemy. Seeing the carnage Our Heroes were causing, one of the rat-men promptly fled the scene.

On the third turn, Our Heroes gained some momentum. The Silenced were unable to effectively land any blows, and our follow ups killed three of them, including Plog The Elder's first-ever melee engagement (I think.) Brarkisy investigated the second clue, thereby securing our Victory Condition. There was one bad guy left. I rolled the dice and got three ones. He decided to leave before we could catch him.

Turn Four opened with us Hoding the Field. The skirmish was over and we had been successful in gaining some valuable intelligence about the Gnawling Horde.

After the game, we gained seven Adventure Points, and I burned one of Weppi's Luck points to survive unscathed. Morgan, however, would be out for two turns recovering from a Moderate injury. We were able to loot a Bastard sword, and reduced the Gnawling Horde Threat level by one.

Ruined Plaza

OK, so I built half of the "Ruined Plaza" papercraft model from Dave Graffam Games. I made an Amateur Hour mistake, I printed one wall as Brown Stone and the other as Red Brick. It is what it is, I'm keeping it.

The Voyages Of The Century Flamingo: Game Six

 OK, so I played Game Turn 6 of my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This one was a little bit different: we managed to find a Patron during the World Events or whatever it is at the end of last campaign turn, and so Tukera Lines hired Our Heroes to do some sightseeing on Windsor. Except it was really to test out some new performance-enhancing drugs for the corporate security team that would intercept us at the site. All we had to do was move through the scenic area and leave. While under fire, apparently. We should have known something was up when there was a Hazard Pay bonus of three extra credits.

There were three special effects going on during the game: first, it would be a brief engagement and the game could end at the end of any given turn by the roll of the dice; two, we needed to get at least two crew members of the opposite table edge before the game ended, or eliminate the enemy with at least two crew members left; and finally, there were some Really Shiny Bits worth two credits about six inches from the center of the table.

The opposition rolled was 9 Skulker Mercenaries; as I have no sci-fi rat dudes, I came up with the "corporate security team testing the running drug" idea to account for the enhanced speed. I used my Cannon Fodder miniatures from Wargames Atlantic for them. I had a great idea: I would run my guys down one flank and the opposition would be light, except I did not account for just how fast said opposition would be.

There really wasn't much to the game. Our Heroes pushed forward and whittled down the bad guys when the opportunity presented itself, Asvyaxke looted the Really Shiny Bits on Turn Four (I was so excited I forgot to take the Turn Four picture,) things were looking really bad for us on Turn Five and then the game spontaneously ended. O, Iruurlaa, and Uezfku all went out of action, with O and Iruurlaa having damaged weapons and Uezkfu needing emergency surgery and will be in Sick Bay for two turns. It could have been worse!

After the game, we got the Hazard Pay but not the payout for completing the mission, as the game ended before we were able to get anyone off the opposing table edge. There were a couple of Stim Packs looted as well. We had the opportunity to trade a Blade for a Handgun, and the local food was agreeing well for Uezkfu, reducing Sick Bay time by one turn.

And this leaves me in a bit of a conundrum. My original campaign goal was to get the ship paid off. I've got 4 credits left to pay on it, and 30 credits in the stash. Do I finish this campaign and start a new one? Do I draw this one out for several more turns? I must ponder for a while.

Papercraft Pink Gundam Car

OK, so I built a paper car that os apparently from Gundam. I didn't put the little "V" flash on the front grill. I resized the file to match 28mm miniatures, and I lightened it to a pinkish instead the original burgundy. The fit wasn't very good and the rear end was too long and needed some surgery to make it fit. The finished product looks reasonably good, but I know the flaws in there lol!

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 10

 OK, so a few nights ago I played out my next turn of "A Tale Of Two Tortles." While in town, Grushnag continued to Heal, we helped the Town Guard and did some Hard Work. Then we decided to work on the Quest a bit, and travelled to a small shrine to Huemakt at a crossroads in an abandoned section of the Ruined City. The trick was to get to it and perform a small ritual. But, Snakes! Why did it have to be Snakes?

We were unfortunately met at the site of the shrine by six Warrior Broodsnakes of the Oldest Kin, and it seemed like they had friends closing in soon. The plan was simple: Everyone would move forward as a group, providing support for Weppi as she performed the ritual, and then kill all the Snakes.

Turn one saw Plog The Elder getting up a Wall of Fire that blocked out half of the Snakes, while the other half moved forward to engage us; one threw a javelin to no effect. Brarkisy and Morgan both moved to intercept the group of them, while Weppi and Tundaline moved towards the shrine.

In the second game turn, Plog the Elder was able to maintain his Wall of Fire. The three Snakes not blocked by it moved to attack with devastating results. Both Weppi and Morgan fell before their blows, while Tundaline fought back with vigor but only managed to repel, but not kill, the snake that she engaged. Brarkisy too was able to resist her attacker.

At the start of turn three, there were some tough choices; before the Snakes attacked, Plog the Elder could try to keep the Wall of Fire up, or Tundaline could try to perform the ritual, but there wasn't time enough for both. We opted for Tundaline to move towards the shrine, and she promptly botched the ritual. So, she showed us how she has learned to do it (burned the "Did I Ever Show You How I Learned To Do This?" card) and completed the ritual. Objective achieved! And then the Snakes were upon us... after it was over, Brarkisy was down and Tundaline was wounded.

At the start of turn four, with Tundaline and Plog the Elder seriously outnumbered, we decided that "Better Part Of Valor" (burned the card!) and escaped without further incident.

Afterwards, Weppi, Morgan, and Brarkisy all suffered damaged weapons but were otherwise unharmed. We wound up with a suit of partial armor and a helmet, somehow scavenged as we fled the shrine of Huemakt. Camped in the shadows of the ruined city, we made our plans to return to The Crossing. A visit to the Blacksmith would be in order...

Meet Uezkfu!

OK, so with the loss of Aaur last game session, during the preparations for our next adventure we Recruited, and wound up with a Feral. A Feral Bounty Hunter who came from a wealthy merchant family and wants to be famous. I had initially thought of using an Aslan miniature from the 1986 Grenadier boxed set "Alien Mercenaries" I had finished up a few years ago but 1) I'm not that fond of the sculpt, and 2) this would be a great chance to paint up the last Vargr miniature I have from the same set.

So, meet Uezkfu. She took the crew offer because we had been pretty shot up by the Digga Boyz, and being a bounty hunter herself she despises them.