CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part Two

"Grrrrowlll!"

The wild beasts smelled the blood of our elven Hero, and leaped into the fray. Chwllurhwch fought them off, but not without suffering further injury.

The beasts searched for a 'smaller' threat...

...which they found - much to their demise...

...because 4 seconds later...

Then Thrombur decided that enough is enough, and charged two of the monsters.

The mighty war hammer fell once, twice, and benefitting from the impetus of the charge, trice, leaving the strange animals as carcasses in the sand.

"See if ya can get through that door at yonder stairs," he yelled out, while bringing down one mummy with a back-handed stroke.

Chwllurhwch, bleeding from several gashes, follows the sound advice, and takes off towards the Door of the Kings.

...Thrombur could send off Chwllurhwch after dispatching all 3 of them, and one of the remaining mummies.

The stout Dwarf quickly finished the job, smashing the last mummy into a dusty heap, then, in a fit of battle-rage, sprinted past his limping elven companion in search of more enemies.

And this concludes today's tale. Stay tuned for more - hopefully tomorrow.

Ultimo August: Status

So, with the fastest concluded gaming project ever in the sack, it is time to look forward:

CROM!:
I need to finish the bases of the two skull markers I painted for CROM!, and I want to add another hero to the game - probably an Elf or a Ranger - sometning with a bow, anyway, and preferably female.

A couple of cards have to be updated, too, for which I shall use the new version.

In the Emperor's Name:
I have to build a Space Marine retinue for this game, and if I manage it before the upcoming weekend, I might take it to the club in Svendborg, if I can get a gaming appointment set up.

I should have paintedor lmost finished minis enough, but some work may be needed, especially on bases (SOD the green ones!).

Zombiecalypse Now!:
Our Dead walk Again project needs more attention - I have a Zombie Girl on my painting station, who has been sorely delayed by the CROM! project, and as I'm spending a lot of time on writing the AAR for an  evaluation, she might have to wait another couple of days, but then painting will be highest hobby priority for a couple of weeks.

We are about to make a joint order from Wayland Games, which will include no less than 60 plastic zed fillers for myself (of which 30 is part of an agreement where I buy another 60 for a guy who'll paint them for me - he'll get the first 30 when he has finished mine, then the last 30 when his first 30 are on the table ;o) ). This is part of my plan to have a horde of at least 100 zombies of my own before Christmas.

Weird War and other stuff:
Our order from Wayland is also supposed to include a set of Wargames Factory Shock Troops, for which I have several uses: WWWII Secret SS-force and 'Teutonic Order' troops, Skitarii for an Adeptus Mechanicus retinue for ItEN, Post Apoc steel town troopers.... possibilities are Legio.

I haven't forgotten my Judge Dredd minis, and the cults for Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten, but right now, zombies have found resonance at the club, and I have to follow up on that. My Strange Aeons collection will be augmented soon, as a Danish webstore has CoC-minis as part of a closing sale :o/

CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part One

About 1½ month or so ago, Matakishi (of Matakishi's Tea House, and Lead Adventure Forum fame) announced his new simple rules system for scenario-driven adventure table-top games set in the world of Conan the Barbarian. CROM! Age of Hyborea was born.

The concept intrigued me, and instead of reviewing or explaining the rules, I'll point you to the very source: http://www.matakishi.com/crom.htm - and get on with the description of the game I played Sunday with my regular gaming opponent, Ulrik.

Story is as follows:
An ancient Sorcerer, mummified by his followers upon his demise centuries ago by the hands of some big angry Barbarian, has finally broken the chains of death and has returned to the world of the living, where he is now gathering an army of long-dead warriors from the Necropolis of Sekhemet, aided by a couple of nefarious Flesheaters he surprised at their ghastly feasting....

As inhabitants from the nearby town Sekhemet starts disappearing, the Citizens Guard has searched the desert area around the town, and finally they ran into a hunting band of Fleasheaters and some wild unnatural beasts in the vicinity of the Necropolis. The guards withdraw after a vicious fight, leaving about half their number at the dubious mercy of the Monsters.

It soon becomes clear to the fat, wealthy priesthood of Sekhemet, that they have a problem of great proportions, as their earnings come mainly from rich people wanting a safe home for the afterlife in the famous Necropolis of Sekhemet.

Then an unlikely couple of adventurers arrives with a merchant boat up the big river: An Elf an a Dwarf, traveling the world of men and demi-humans alike, sporting an unusula friendship forged in battle and adventure: Chwllurhwch and Thrombur - the Heroes of our Tale.

Soon, these two are more or less pressganged into solving the problems of the town - with the help of Palmtree Wine, and promises of vast riches buried beneath the sands of the Necropolis.

With greatsword and war hammer, our friends begin their arduous journey through the desert, towards the Oasis of the Kings, and the impressive Necropolis, not knowing that time is about to run out for the inhabitants of Sekhemet: The Mummy King is preparing a ritual for summoning a mighty Spirit that can take control over the minds of the living!

Scenario Rules/Objectives:
To invoke the Spirit, the Sorcerer must prepare and correctly place 5 enchanted skulls in a magic circle/pentagram.

To prepare a skull, the Sorcerer must roll a natural 6 on at least one Magic Die.

Also, to correctly set a skull in the magic circle/pentagram, at least one natural 6 must be rolled.

Finally, when the last skull has been successfully placed, to summon the Spirit, a Magic Roll of Difficuty 12 must be passed.

Minor minions can be summoned as per the normal rules.

The Heroes must prevent the summoning of the Spirit, ultimately by slaying the Mummy King.

To gain a Major Victory (only important if this scenario is played as part of a campaign), both Heroes must survive. Easier said than done, as we shall see...

The Game:
Here is the initial set-up of the playing surface:

Seen from the Heroes' perspective

And from the Necropolis - The Dragon Bones are not part of this...

I have some serious re-basing to do on all those old skellies if I am going to bring this to Horisont in Esbjerg this fall, but it is doable over a weekend, if I concentrate on the task.

A plethora of skulls in the ruined mastaba

To the right, you see the practically unlimited supply of skulls for the ritual. I made the based ones a couple of years ago, but the last two had not been painted, so a little speed was required.

The game starts with the Lesser mummies emerging from the buried pyramid.

Our Heroes, both played by Ulrik, while I donned the cowled robe of the Game Master, have not yet discovered anything, save the apparantly peacefully drinking beasts in the oasis

"There, me Elfish Friend, be Water for thee!"

The Undead approach

As the shambling silhouettes emerge, Chwllurhwch squints his eyes and readies his sword, while Thrombur gently pats his war hammer.

Them a lot of movement occurred in the Necropolis [this was a mistake - only the cards of the Mummy King and the minions in the oasis should have been in the deck from the start], before Chwllurhwch came up.

The Elf let lose a blood-curdling warcry and rushed forward to dispach one of the crispy corpses.

Already here, it became clear that the hot, dry climate did not become him well, as the first mummy successfully defended and drew first blood.

Snarling, Chwllurhwch shook off the pain, and maculated the parchment that held the bones and skin of the long dead servant together.

Chwllurhwch rushes in,
and with some difficulty kills an opponent

In the meantime, the Sorcerer prepared and carried the first skull to the magic circle [here represented by a cork coaster, usually used for dice-cup dice rolling, but I thought it only too appropriate to use a piece of cork for a game by Matakishi. Wanted to use an old CD with painted sand and a pentacle in blood, but I have not been able to locate my extensive stash of those...], then got ready to mutter the arcane words that would infuse it with the Power of the Book of the Dead.

"Massss-ter, can I have the resssst? Pleasssse..."

This conludes Part One, but not the first turn, but it is rather late now, and I cannot concentrate on remembering all the details....  More tomorrow, if the rain still prevents me from mowing the lawn, otherwise Thursday.

Black Hat Mutants and Madmen: Last Civilian

Got this fellow from Black Hat Miniatures some days ago - the one that was missing from the previous purchase. Was posted without any delay as I mailed my sorrows.

As always, a pleasure to do business with Mike.

Black Hat also sports the Coat d'Arms range of paints and empty pots - and some brushes called 'Super Star' with artificial hairs that I find impossible to live without when painting small details. I know some people disagree on this, but I like a stiff brush with a pointy tip for precision work.

Dead walk Again: Zombiecalypse Now!

I have gotten some guys from my club in Svendborg involved in a little multi-player co-operative all-vs-the-zombies project. Rules are the free set Dead walk Again from Planned Movement Productions, a small informal operation run by some Swedes. I shall make a links page, soon...

First thing is to get some more shamblers painted (we roughly need at least 25 zeds per survivor - with about 10 per survivor starting on the table - possibly more, depending on the weaponry chosen by the players).

Work in Progress

Last evening I got back to the desk after an entire summer without painting to start splashing some colours on the Zombie Girl from Zombiesmith. I know that I have the boy, too, as they come together in a blister, but where he is...?

Sorry about the yellowish lights - I really need a lightbox for mini photos - but this is the simple base coats: Hair: VMC Khaki Grey, Skin: F Rawhide Shade, Dress: GW Hormagaunt Purple (nightgown will end up in a tender pastel purple. At least I hope so).

It is my plan to have a horde of about 100 undead myself before Christmas, while the other participants should provide 25-30 each, but I hope to get some games on, sooner than that.

Hopefully, I can finish her in a couple of days - but it all depends on how much work I can do in the garden, and how early my kids sleep...

New Paint Rack from Miniaturicum

Got my new paint rack for the painting desk Sunday. Very easy to assemble. http://www.miniaturicum.de/product_info.php?products_id=6069

Can take almost 100 paintpots. Far too little, but a beginning of 'decorating' my workspace (we moved to our current home, a large old house we bought last summer, almost a year ago, but things take time).

Below you'll see the gizmo almost fully loaded on my trusty old painting desk (with a much used, though very dusty, GW painting station - actually quite handy, that one!)

Black Hat Mutants and Madmen: Civilians

My 10 civilians/victims/rioters/survivors/whatever have arrived! As you can see, they are BIG - one even 35mm to the eyes. When based on thin washers, they'll probably look OK next to my Griffin zeds (and many GW models...)

Unfortunately, the pack MM100 was mispacked, so I got 1 extra of the same female mini, instead of a big afromerican with sunglasses. Well... one may end up as a zombified version....might come in handy..? ;o)

Will have to update painting tally later...

CROM!: Cards finished!

 Finally I managed to get the cards for my planned test-run of the rules  ready - not without  a fight, though; first, my laminator caught a corner of a laminating pocket while I tried to straighten some cards inside it - resulting in the laminate to get totally jammed in the rolls of the damned thing. Impossible to save it.

New laminator was bought by my wife after I called her during her shopping - and then somehow the next attempt ended with a accordeon-like page, as the edge was somehow caught on the inside of the exit slot. I think somebody or something is trying to tell me something....

So, five cards had to printed, cut, and glued anew, before they could be laminated and finally cut out as ready game accessories.

I have not changed to the new card layout, as I had already prepared a few cards when it was presented - but I DO use the 'split dice-pool' concept.

As you can see, I have made the 'Hero'-cards with blue text, to further distinguish them from the 'GM' or 'Evil' cards.

I have one more Mummy (obviously I got the cards mixed up when  scanning them, so now I have 2 cards with the same pic scanne twice...)

Assorted Skeletons. I have a few more, especially single ones, but I don't see any purpose in putting them up here, as they are of the same ugly ilk as those with the Goblin Green unfinished bases and undercoated-only weaponry.

I DO have shield for most of these... somewhere....

Well.... I'll see if I can get someone to come by and play a couple of games tomorrow. I do have to pick up my new paint rack (from Miniaturicum) at a friend's place before noon, but my regular gaming pal (if I can still call him that after a couple of months without any gaming) usually is not available until the afternoon, anyways...

Silence

Been down vith some kind of virus the last couple of days. No further progress, but I managed to watch 'Zulu' about Rorke's Drift...

Brytenwalda: LotR-test soon....

My test-armies are ready to march. I hope to recruit an adversary very soon - otherwise I'll have to solo test it.

Hills and board both need some grass/flock, I just haven't felt like working on it, lately....

CROM!: Cards (almost) finished.

I have put the last pictures onto their cards, and have decided on the dice to be used by the last creatures. I now have to print and laminate the cards.

This Elf hero is a rare example of a model that looks better on a photo than in real life. I'll definitely have to redo his skin, maybe his hair and boots, and the swordblade needs to be redone as well. In time...

He is one of my oldest painted models - blocked out with enamels back in the mid-80's, and left for dead in a foam box for many, many years. I basically revived him through re-basing and a Devlan Mud wash.....

My 3/1 beasts are here (Dungers from Ramshacke Games - everything is better with Dungers!). They have some battle damage from Dunger Derby, but that also may be fixed in time.

Alas, I won't be playing the game this weekend - I simply did not get it organized, as other urgent tasks filled up most of my Saturday, and this morning, too.

Now, of course, it is pouring down, so I might as well have had a buddy over for a couple of games, but I think I'll just get some work on the cards done today, and see if I can get a game organized during the week (I NEED to roll some dice, soon, this summer has been completely dry, gaming-wise...).

Just for fun: One of my wound markers (I have to find the rest) that will be used for the magic circle/pentagram.

Cute, ain't it? ;o)

Guess it could be used as a Vampires' Polo ball, too...

And this guy I did not paint. Bought a whole bunch of Warhammer undeads from a fellow club patron many years ago. Never played a single game of Warhammer, though, but you can never have too many skeletons. Or so I was told.

I'll see if I can get the cards all finished today. Btw, I decided to keep the text on the hero cards in BLUE, while all the evil critters have RED. Good old Cold War standards!

Basic Impetus: 1/72 Polybian Romans

Quite some years ago I started making a 1/72 plastic Roman army for Warmaster (even before the arrival of Warmaster Ancients - I simply wrote up my own lists), but the project stalled, as the guy who was making a Carthaginian army moved away...

Recently, I downloaded Basic Impetus and thought I'd give it a go. So, I dug out the Romans I started painting back then (those in the picture are about half the painted contingent) and started figuring out what I need to paint, and where to get some bases/stands, not made of card.

I'm going to get some lasercut plywood bases made by Fenris Games - atm having a conversation regarding sizes, numbers and cost.

Heavy infantry will be composed of 10 models per stand, light infantry 8-12, skirmishers 3-4, and cavalry 4 models. I shall not glue the cavalry to the bases (they will be glued in pairs to 'stability-bases' made of card - as seen one the Equites to the right, and placed on top of the ply bases), as I can then turn the models 90 degrees to make the stands into Warmaster stands instead, should the army grow big enough to play that game from time to time.


This will be a sideshow - but as I'm not worrying much about the painting in this scale, just blocking out the colours, I expect the Roman army to be ready for battle quite soon.

Their opponents will be Celts (Gauls), at first. I have plenty of infantry figs, but I think I'll have to purchase a box of cavalry (not sure, whether I have some), and to make the contingent into Britons for fighting a later Imperial (or late Republican) Roman army, I'll have to get some chariots, too.

A more appropriate adversary, the Carthaginians, will be added at a later time - right now I'll just construct armies of minis I own already, and only purchase as little as possible.

If the system grows on me, I'll probably expand the basic armies, maybe up to double size, and then get the full Impetus rules.

CROM!: Progress of the day.

Finished designing most of the initiative cards today (I need to redo the picture of the wild beasts, and take a photo of the Elf Hero, but I only just gave him a shading wash and have to finish his base), but have to decide how tough a 'normal' mummy should be, and how puny a group of lesser mummies has to be...

At the right is my Evil Spirit - some collectable mini with a vamped up base.

I just realized that I have a couple of  clear green resin 'banshee' ghosts from Uncle Mike's - might decide to incorporate them in my next installment, but no time for basing them right now.

The Elf looks a tiny bit too tanned after the wash, so I may decide to totally redo his skin at a later point. I'll finish his base tomorrow and get a pic for the card and this place.

Judge Dredd: A small project.

Mongoose took up their previously cancelled line of miniatures for Gangs of Mega-City One, re-vamped the rules as a D10 system, and published this little cutie, where you can actually play the Justice Dept. as a faction (heh, heh, heeehhh!). AND they are bringing out new sculpts for the setting, too.

And, guess what? It's FREE!!

Haven't played it, yet, but I like what I've read. The ruleset won't revolutionize the way games are played, but it seems to be a solid framework for duking it out on the streets of MC1, in the Undercity, or in the Badlands. So, what's not to like? Maybe only this: The scenarios are more or less the GoMC1 ones, and as they were designed for gang warfare, some of them seem a little odd, considering the different types of factions available in JDMG. Well, off to the drawing board to make some up...

When Mongoose announced the cancellation of all their miniature ranges couple of years ago, I ordered almost all available minis for GoMC1 - and of course they just ended up on another shelf. But now I've dusted off some of my Judges, and I have a couple primed and ready for painting.

As soon as I have one Street Judge ready, I'll try out the introductory scenario, using some old Necromunda gangers as the culprits. Then, it will be time to flesh out a starting Justice Dept. campaigning patrol, and start planning for a gang to fight.

Dark Age: Brytenwalda and Age of Blood

Having read a lot of Cornwell, and seen a lot of nicely painted minis on the LAF, my resistance against going into yet another period/genre/setting has finally broken. I have downloaded and read both Brytenwalda, and Age of Blood, and want to start my journey into the Viking Age by playing some Brytenwalda.

As I have absolutely no Dark Age miniatures atm, I set out to create some profiles for my LotR collection, making some assumptions about the values of the different stats. Have no idea if I have done it in a balanced way, only actual playtesting will give a clue to that (I know, an official LotR-adaption is in the works, but I'm of the impatient kind).

One Isengard army has been constructed, and the opposing force is composed of Gondor, and Rohan troops.

Age of Blood I will try out on a much smaller scale than intended by the rules - I do not have the patience and stamina to paint 20-odd minis before getting stuck in, so I'll do some small scale neighbour conflicts with only 3-5 models per side, and then slowly build up my collection by painting one here, one there, in between other projects.

More to follow..

CROM! Mummy Sorcerer King

This will be the main antagonist for my heroes in the CROM! game for the time being.

The evil Mummy King - an old Citadel mummy - has risen from his tomb in a vast necropolis and will try to get a grasp of the land of the living through sorcery and command of uncountable undead and bestial minions (blah, blah, blah... )

Suffice to say, he'll use the rules for Summoning and Controlling creatures, and will have a range of undead things to his disposal.

I am making the initiative cards in a word processing application for now, so I cannot upload them before I start doing it in a picture editor instead - but you'll probably want to make your own with your own pics, anyway, should you decide to try out this little game (which I absolutely recommend you do).

Here are a few of the villain's minions. An old Citadel ghoul, a Citadel cobra from a swarm set with snakes, one of 4 really old Citadel mummies, and some plastic skellies (I think I'll rebase those, and maybe give them a wash).

I have decided to discern between main characters and others by always having the Movement and Combat dice of minions separated by slash (so, a 2 dice minion will have 2/2 instead of just 2 - this means that if a card has only one number, the player may allocate dice to the various dice pools for that creature). Let's see how it works...

The plot will be the heroes trying to disrupt an unholy ritual performed to bring some powerful evil spirit from the Realm of the Dead into this world. To do so, they must reach the site of the ritual, firghting their way through a gorge guarded by unnatural wild beasts (Dungers from Ramshackle Games ) and into th necropolis where they will be assailed by undead creatures, either already on the table, or summoned by the Sorcerer.

I was toying with the idea of having some young, helpless woman having been abducted by the Mummy King to be sacrificed as the last part of the ritual, but I don't have a suitable mini (not painted, hat is, I may well have an unarmed wench somewhere in the Lead Alps), so that classical plot will have to be used at a later date.

The ritual will instead consist of placing 5 enchanted skulls in a circle/pentacle, each must be placed by rolling a number of magic special action dice successes.

The spirit must be controlled as per the rules. If the heroes manage to break the circle/pentacle before the spirit can be summoned, or if they destroy the spirit, they will have achieved a minor victory. Major victory consists of also getting out alive.

I'm really looking forward to trying out these rules, as I think, with a few added house-rules, they may be useable for an RPG-like campaign where each hero is played by one player. It could be a really nice club-game, where all adventures start from the same (border?) town, and the different players could use their own hero, not depending on the same group participating each time.

CROM! Age of Hyborea Project

A fellow LAF'er, Matakishi (www.matakishi.com)has started designing a simple system for an RPG-like tabletop game set in the world of Conan (www.matakishi.com/crom.htm).

I've decided to try out the rules, and as I have no big barbarians painted up (not yet, anyway), I'll use a handful of old Citadel minis, supplemented by a handful of other ones from various manufacturers.

This will be one of my intrepid adventurers - Thrombur, an old Citadel dwarf, painted many years ago with Humbrol Enamels, recently given a Devlan Mud wash and rebased for skirmish games (Song of Blades and Heroes). Nothing fancy, but he'll do for now.

The other hero, an old Elf Wardancer (am considering a name for the fella), is on the painting desk right now - he needed a new base, and also a shading wash.

I hope to get the Elf ready tonight or tomorrow, so I can get a picture ready for the initiative card.