Weppi Wields A Warspear

 Weppi wields a Warspear!

OK, so after we looted a Warspear after Game 24 of my ongoing Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign, I decided to equip it on Weppi. She has been armed with a Balanced Bastard Sword for quite a while, but I always forget that the enemy cannot Counterattack while she wields it. But I regret not having a Warspear every time she becomes the Attacker in an exchange during the enemy phase. So, I equipped it on her, and created a conversion to reflect it; I trimmed off the great axe-head and replaced it with an old Dragyri polearm head I had in the bits box. Not only do I hope it works better game-wise, I think it looks much better than before.

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 24

 Well met, fellow travelers on the Borderlands! This battle report is of the 24th tabletop skirmish game in my Five Leagues campaign, which is itself the 46th Campaign turn. But before the battle proper was joined, we did stuff in-town. There was a bit of a Gambling craze going on, but we didn't do any gambling. We helped the Town Guard in lieu of upkeep costs, and Weppi did some Training, gaining another Experience Point which pushed her over the threshold for another advancement roll; she now has an Agility of 3. We spent some time researching our Connections and were offered a Contract, but we declined it. We wanted to smash some Gnawlings! Our focus would be Scouting an area where they had been recently seen, trying to discern where their Hideout might be. We were close now, very close...

We found five Ascended in the ruins, led by a Sergeant. These would be tough opponents, but fortunately there weren't many of them. Plog The Elder cast his Barrier across the street, blocking the primary advance of one of he Gnawling groups. They scurried forward, one taking position on the upper level of a building to better sight his bolts of energy. Myrrh shot a Gnawling, but only wounded him. Quicktoes and Rukacta moved forward to scout the fountain at the intersection. Weppi and Tundaline moved up to intercept the enemies moving through the building to the left of the Barrier.

On the second turn, Weppi blocked the hole in the wall the Gnawlings were advancing toward, and Tundaline followed right behind her. As the Gnawlings attacked, Weppi managed to turn the tables on the sergeant and struck him down, and managed to push back the other two attacking her. That bad guy on the second floor shot his bolt of energy at Tundaline, Wounding her. Rukacta survived the attacks the enemy made on him, and turned around and killed one of them. Plog tried to cast "Foresee" but did not get it off. Somehow I managed to completely forget about Quicktoes, who just froze in place and did nothing this turn.

Turn Three went poorly. Weppi was felled by a Gnawling. Rukacta took a wound. Myrrh only wounded his target rather than killing it outright. Plog the Elder couldn't get his "Foresee" to cast again, and now he was out of Strands. Tundaline was able to kill the Gnawling that took down Weppi, and Quicktoes Scouted the fountain. There were still three Ascended left, and one was powering up another bolt of energy.

On Turn Four, our fortunes looked up. Myrrh killed that Gnawling he had previously wounded. Tundaline turned another's attacks back and killed him, too. She also passed a Devotion test to shrug off the effects of the bolt of energy cast at her. She moved forward after that, followed by Quicktoes who Scouted the building. The last Ascended decided to leave the scene quickly. We had fulfilled our Objective and Held the Field.

For our trouble we gained 5 Adventure points. We wagered four to reduce the Gnawling Threat, rolling a 1. The Threat Level was now 0, and would require a Hideout Raid to eliminate entirely. Weppi appeared dead, but luckily turned out to be alive after all! This permanently depleted one of her Luck points. We looted a War Spear, and gained a lead to a new unknown area. Finally, News Travelled that there was a community in need of assistance. If we travelled there within two Campaign Turns we can gain +2 Adventure Points. Would we go? Probably not, we have a hideout raid to conduct, and that will be the end of the Campaign.

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 23

 We came, we saw, we got our asses kicked! This marks the general result of the 42nd campaign turn and 23rd game of my solo Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign. Rather than randomly determine the opposition from the table in the rulebook, I decided to give my warband a bit of a challenge by choosing a rough opponent, give them the maximum numbers and leadership, and then add an Ogre to their forces. It was bound to get me out of the rut of lining up and killing the enemy so the victory condition could be achieved at our leisure. But first, we spent some time at The Crossing doing town stuff. There was a weapon shortage, which didn't affect us much. We helped the town guard to offset the high cost of living, and Rukacta did dome Training. Through our Connections, Roysa the Herder Maid sent us an Adventure point. And not much else happened in town. 

Those scheming Gnawlings were now known to be actively hunting us through the general area of The Crossing, with the goal of eliminating us and creating a larger presence for themselves in the region. This particular group was composed of their Hate Sworn, eight rats including two with poisoned crossbows. They were further led by a Lieutenant and a Captain, and accompanied by an Ogre (I've got a Rat-Ogre model somewhere, but no idea where to even start looking for it, so a regular Ogre had to do.) This was a chosen force, not randomly rolled, and I hoped that it would provide a challenge, if not a massacre, for Our Heroes.

So the plan was to have Quicktoes backed up by Rukacta and Plog The Elder to make a dash for the further building we had to scout out, and then get away before any trouble reached them. The right flank had Weppi, Tundaline, and Myrrh ready to roll up and tackle the Ogre head on, with a side trip by Myrrh to scout the closer objective. And the first turn ran according to plan. Plog The Elder was unable to get "Foresee" to cast, but no rush yet on that. Upon reflection, the barrier wall of fire might have been a better bet, but hindsight is always 20/20, right? The bad guys surged forward, and both of the crossbow rats made it to elevated positions.

Turn Two is where everything started to go wrong. Our initiative rolls were so bad that no one got to act before the Gnawlings closed for combat. Quicktoes was taken down by the lieutenant and Rukacta was out of action from a poisoned crossbow shot before we even had a chance to act. At the same time, a couple of the Hate Sworn attacked Weppi, and were promptly slain for their trouble. Myrrh ran up the stairs and scouted the building while doing so, Plog The Elder backpedaled towards Weppi and Tundaline while successfully casting his "Foresee," and Tundaline then brought up the rear. One of the crossbow rats ran away at this point.

On Turn Three, we again had poor initiative rolls. The remaining poison crossbow rat took a shot at Weppi, but failed to penetrate her armor. The Captain and Lieutenant both bounced off of Weppi, and several other Gnawlings were closing fast. Weppi and Tundaline tried to kill the Captain and Lieutenant without effect. Myrrh found his mark and killed that pesky crossbow rat. 

Tundaline acted first on Turn Four, charging and killing the Gnawling Captain. She was pushed back by the Lieutenant but killed two more ratmen as they followed up. Plog The Elder was also pushed back by the three Hate Sworn attacking him. Weppi attacked the Lieutenant, but was pushed back for her trouble. The Ogre was unable to engage Our Heroes due to a distinct lack of room for his big feet. Myrrh wanted to make a leap of more than 2" from one building to another, but there are no rules for this particular heroic action; only 2" leaps as a normal part of movement are covered. So I decided a 9+ Travel test would be required, otherwise he would miss and fall to the ground. He made it! And with this, we had fulfilled the scenario objective of scouting two randomly determined locations before turn 7 (normally, 6, but Plog The Elder had cast "Foresee.")

On the fifth Turn, the Gnawlings again acted before any of Our Heroes. Plog The Elder went down, the Ogre was big enough to attack Myrrh on the second floor, so he went down as well. Four ratmen attacked Tundaline and two died for their efforts. Tundaline was pushed back by her follow up against them, and Weppi was pushed back after her attack on the Ogre. She also suffered a Wound in her exchanges with the monster.

Turn Six saw both good fortune with initiative and a bit of a disaster. Tundaline and Weppi both attacked before the bad guys, and the dwarf felled the ratman closest to her. Weppi engaged the Gnawling lieutenant and was pushed back. The lieutenant attacked Weppi and was pushed back. The Ogre attacked Weppi and struck her down! Tundaline was alone against the lieutenant and the Ogre!

On Turn Seven through Turn Nine, Tundaline had a lot of back and forth with both the lieutenant and the Ogre. I forgot the "Stalwart" rule preventing her being pushed back, but in the end she triumphed over both of them. She got a bunch of Experience and is now Loyal.

But what of the rest of the Warband? They all survived! Weppi and Quicktoes were both just knocked out, Plog The Elder and Rukacta had moderate injuries and would need to spend some time healing, and Myrrh had a serious injury that would have him out for a while as well. We gained 7 Adventure Points, and wagered 5 of them with a roll of 4 to reduce the threat level of the Gnawling Horde by one. We looted some Rations, an enchanted Harness Of Vengeance, and a standard weapon of Fey Steel. Finally, News Travelled that a Travelling Stranger was at a random settlement yadda yadda we aren't going to meet him in two turns because we are this close ---> <--- to eliminating the threat of the Gnawling Horde from Armskirk, the Ruined City. They have a Threat level of 1 now, and we are going to crush them! I mean, after we heal up and all...

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 22

 A tale of two Tortles: Tequila Edition! That's right, I was drinking tequila before I started playing the 22nd game of my ongoing Five Leagues From The Borderlands solo campaign. A couple of things went wrong: I had meant to choose a tougher entry from the list rather than randomly generating the foe, and I meant to add a monster to the Forces Of Evil. As it turned out, the weenie force I rolled up to oppose Our Heroes was surprisingly difficult to defeat and resulted in the real possibility of lasting damage to the warband. 

Of course, it all started, as it always does, with the pre-battle activities. We were at The Crossing, a surviving neighborhood of Armskirk, the Ruined City. There was a Town Crier offering a contract, but we are on a mission to drive out the Gnawling horde so we declined it. WE helped the Town Guard and Quicktoes did some Training. Our Connections revealed a Quest to be undertaken, but it was ignored in the same manner as the Contract that had been offered by the Town Crier. Our enemy target would be Gnawling raiders, known to be counting their pillage nearby. They were in the area trying to gather information, but we were going to find it first! We had to move into contact with a token by the end of Turn 6 and Interact with it to win the scenario; due to random placement, the token was actually in the enemy deployment area. We were up against 8 Gnawling Raiders led by a Sergeant. Three of them had slings. A truly weenie force, low toughness, no armor, poor combat ability, and useless missile weapons. It SHOULD be a walk in the park.

The first turn was the usual surge towards each other. Plog The Elder tried to cast Foresee, but did not get it off. Nothing of merit happened this turn.

On the second turn, Tundaline and Rukacta continued running up the right flank, trying to get back to the middle (poor deployment, I blame the tequila!) Myrrh and Weppi moved up the center. I somehow thought the Gnawlings had the "Hatred Of Magic" rule that applies to Dusklings, so they swarmed Myrrh. He was able to turn the tables on three of them and slay them, including the Sergeant, in their tracks before he succumbed to the attacks of the fourth. He went down as a hero! The three enemy slingers hurled rocks ineffectively. Quicktoes moved up behind Weppi, and Plog the Elder tried to cast Foresee again, but with no luck. The Gnawling slinger on the left flank decided he had enough, and promptly fed the scene. 

Turn 3 saw Quicktoes spring into action, leaping into the cart the Raider that had killed Myrrh was fighting from. The sly Halfling took down the enemy before it had a chance to react. Two other Gnawlings attacked Plog The Elder, overwhelming the elderly tortle and taking him down. The remaining slingers hit Rukacta and took him out of action. Tundaline circled back the way she came, trying to engage the Raiders that had attacked Plog the Elder. Weppi, for her own part, moved up behind Quicktoes. A quick recap: Myrrh, Plog The Elder, and Rukacta are all out of action, and there are still four Gnawling Raiders attacking Our Heroes; no one is even close to Objective token yet.

On Turn 4, Tundaline moved to engage the Gnawlings that had taken down Plog the Elder; she wasn't close enough to attack, but certainly close enough to draw them into attacking her. Which is what they did, much to their dismay. Tundaline turned the tables on them and killed them both. The slingers jumped down from heir elevated position and ran towards Our Heroes. Weppi moved to intercept them, and Quicktoes made a made dash towards the courier rat (Objective token) trying to reach it before it scampered off.

The fifth turn had only Tundaline reacting before the Gnawlings moved, and she positioned herself close to Weppi to intercept the evil rat-men. They fell for the bait and attacked her, and both fell before the might of her warhammer. Quicktoes made it to the courier rat, made the interaction with it, and completed the scenario victory conditions. We had won, and Held The Field. But what of our downed brethren? 

First, our fallen Heroes: the dice compensated for my drunken plans, and everyone was simply Knocked Out. I was quite worried before the rolls, as I really like these three models. We managed to loot a Repair Kit, and we have a lead to a new Unexplored Location on the map. And the News Travelled that a stranger is visiting; we may select a random settlement, and if we visit there within the next two campaign turns and want to meet them, we may roll a Traveler Encounter. Finally, two Adventure Milestone rolls were made, the first was a wager of 5 Adventure Points to reduce the Gnawling Horde threat level by one with a "2" rolled, and the second was a wager of 5 Adventure Points to promote Rukacta to a Hero with a roll of "1". So both rolls succeeded, the Gnawling Horde threat was reduced by one point, and Rukacta is now a Hero. 

I quite enjoyed this game, despite the initial mistakes made in enemy forces and deployment. It looked like the whole battle was going south on Turn 3, but we recovered and managed to pull a win out of it. Next game, I will be picking and choosing enemy forces as well as bringing a monster to support them. I think, in the interest of safety, I will not play after consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

Meet Rukacta!

 For those of you following along at home, a few games ago in my Five Leagues From The Borderlands solo campaign Our Heroes picked up a Grateful Volunteer who has been chilling in town while the rest of the Warband has gone out and done warband-y things. In the last game, we sadly lost Morgan, a Skyborn former soldier. So now is the time for our Grateful Volunteer to shine! Equipped with a bastard sword, light armor, and a shield, he is ready to join the rest of the warband as we wrap up the drive to eliminate the Gnawling Horde from Armskirk, the Ruined City.

A Tale of Two Tortles: Game 21

 OK, so my last game was a milestone at Game 20, and this game is a milestone of being the 40th Campaign Turn. I'd love to recount the Town Events that transpired on this vaunted occasion, but due to a computer error I deleted the data, leaving only the Battle Encounter to be presented. Suffice to say that we made it back to The Crossing safely, ready for battle. We would be fighting Tunnel Fighters from the Gnawling Horde, and they brought a friend: a Feral Mercenary. We had to get to the wrecked wagon at the intersection for a bit of intelligence on these chittering fiends, and they seemed like they wanted either stop us, or were just looking for a fight.

On Turn One, we found out these guys are fast! They crossed the board and almost, not quite, made it into melee. Their crossbows fired without effect. Myrrh returned fire, killing one of their crossbowrats. Plog The Elder was climbing a ruined a ruined building.

Turn Two saw the melee close. Weppi killed one of the Gnawlings, but both she and Tundaline came away from the skirmish at the wagon with Wounds on them. Over on the other side, a rat took down Morgan before Quicktoes killed it in return. Myrrh fired ineffectively. With two of the bad guys dead, the remaining crossbowrat fled as fast as his paws could carry him. Plog cast his "Foresee" spell, allowing us until Turn 6 to investigate the wagon.

And then Turn Three saw fortunes improve. Tundaline killed a rat, Weppi managed to push back the Feral Mercenary, and Myrrh found his mark against another Gnawling. Quicktoes made a mad dash for the wagon. Plog The Elder tried to summon his Construct, but the winds of magic were against him.

Finally, Turn Four saw the conclusion of the skirmish. Tundaline killed the remaining rat, and Weppi killed the Feral Mercenary. Victory was ours and we Held The Field.

The Resolution was that Morgan had died of her wounds. She will be missed. We picked up a gold coin from the rats, and acquired a couple of Bandages. A total of one Story Point and six Adventure Points were gained. News Travelled that the Duke had increased patrols, reducing the Gnawling Horde Threat by one. Finally, and Adventure Milestone was attempted, with five Adventure Points wagered and a roll of "1," we reduced the Threat by one more. I am really disappointed at the loss of Morgan, she was one of my favorite Warband members.

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 20

 Welcome to Game 20 of my ongoing solo Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign! This is pretty special for me, since my last campaign fizzled after about 16 games. I wasn't numbering them back then, so it's a little hard to tell for sure. But "20" feels like a milestone achievement. One of the things that I noticed in the earlier campaign, even though it was using the 2nd edition rules, is that the Warband hits a certain level of aptitude and it becomes increasingly easy to win the battles. I am starting to hit that point with my current campaign, as Weppi and company are getting powerful. There are a lot of ways to increase the difficulty of the campaign, but I don't like switching things up partway through. So my plan at this point is to wrap up the Threat of the Gnawling Horde, and then move to a new campaign in the Ancient Land of Dust using this same warband. But that's enough pontificating about the overall campaign; let's get to the game!

It started, as it always does, in Town. We were still in Bradfordshire, trying to root out he last vestiges of the Duskling Warbands. We spent a couple of turns healing up, lost some gold to Pickpockets, and researched where, exactly, the Goblin Hideout could be found. And so the story went this turn, granting +1 Story Point. We Helped The Town Guard to offset the high cost of living; Quicktoes did some training. There was no Trade that we wanted to engage in, and there was no result from our Connections. The Hideout was right here in Bradfordshire. And now, death was coming to it.

So, the approach phase for the Hideout Raid saw Weppi moving twice before the Dusklings were alerted to her presence. The beginning of Turn 1 saw the bulk of the goblins rushing towards Weppi's position; one made contact and was promptly killed for his insolence. Plog The Elder revealed the Unknown Enemies marker as only two goblins, which was a relief because this meant only ten of them, instead of the possible 13 that we might have faced. Two of the Dusklings had run towards Morgan, Quicktoes, and Myrrh, only to be met with steel and cut down. Three bad guys were dead already, one decided to run away, and it was only the first turn.

Turn Two saw Weppi under siege. The Sergeant, the Captain, and another goblin all attacked her one after the after. They all died for their efforts. Two more goblins ran into the general vicinity, and another one headed towards to Morgan-Quicktoes-Myrrh cluster. Tundaline was coming up behind Weppi, while Myrrh took a bowshot at the goblin advancing towards him. He missed.

On the Third Turn, there was an amazing initiative roll: four 1's, allowing almost everyone to act before the Dusklings. Weppi and Tundaline finished off the two goblins by them. Morgan and Quicktoes advance towards the last goblin, who took a shot at them but missed. Myrrh returned fire from a distance, but also missed.

On Turn Four, Tundaline activated first and killed the last goblin. We Held the Field, had killed the enemy Leadership, and destroyed the Threat of the Duskling Warbands once and for all.

We gained a total of four Adventure Points. Experience allowed both Weppi and Quicktoes to make advancement rolls, and both received +1 to their combat scores. Weppi is now +2 Combat with a Toughness of 5 protected by Armor 3. She is literally a walking tank now. We found the remains of a victim, who is forever in our debt (+1 Story Point,) and also found tracks leading to a new location (add an Unknown Location to the map.) We were able to loot a repair kit, a suit of light armor, and a shield from the Duskling corpses. Finally, News Travelled that the Gnawling Horde was making plans against us, and their Threat level was increased by one, from 4 to 5. I was hoping to roll over them quickly; this will be a setback to be overcome. But now we are six Heroes and a reserve Follower, and getting stronger after every battle.