Sellswords & Spellslingers: Leave no Man Behind (2018-11-24), Part 2

While Argesïl and Rhagador were dragging the freed captives away (at 2" per Action) Shaggram was in trouble, as a particularly big Orc attacked him.

Ulitari was busy fending off Orcs with his arrows, while Saimon kept back, ready to unleash hell on any hordes closing in, but Kentosh, realizing Shaggram's predicament, ran to the rescue, while the Wizard killed an Orc emerging from the shrubbery. Duregar followed closely behind the Knight.

Kentosh dispatched the big 'un, and while Shaggam hastily retreated, the Knight set about examining a gleam among the branches.

Rhagador left the area with Finghal, while Argesïl blundered about with his burden.

Ulitari had to take care of a couple of Orcs insisting on getting up close and personal, and Argesïl also had an encounter.

Kentosh found a small tube containing a piece of parchment with some scriblings on it, and decided to keep it for further investigation. He then followed Duregar who, seeing Kentosh killing the Orcs, had decided that he was no longer needed for the task at hand.

Argesïl finally managed to drag Leonides out of sight, and Ulolkish's party also began a general retreat.

It was all a matter of getting away without attracting the attention of more Orcs, and it was accomplished during the next two turns.

With both captives taken to safety, the award was 4 XP for each party, with both Ulitari and Kentosh earning 1 individual point of XP each.

And my party is at full strength for the next game, which may well occur next week, if Emil is up for it.

Sellswords & Spellslingers: Leave no Man Behind (2018-11-24), Part 1

The initial setup

As my game of Through the Badlands with Emil resulted in two characters being captured by the Orcs, I had to piece together a scenario for searching and rescuing the unfortunate adventurers.

I have based the following scenario somewhat on the rescue.pdf file by John Acar, found on the Song of Blades and Heroes Facebook page, but it is not the same scenario, as I have added a lot of stuff.

I hope that it will prove useful for other SS&SS players, and I may upload it to the SoBaH FB page when I have made the final adjustments based on yesterday's game.

Sellswords & Spellslingers

Leave No Man Behind Scenario

One or more Characters are held captive by the Foes from the scenario in which they were left behind.

The terrain and Foes should be similar to the terrain in which the PCs were left behind.

Basic Scenario

Setup

In the middle of the board place a camp or village made of 3+ structures (tents, cabins, huts, ruins, whatever, or a combination).

Deployment

For each player ther will be one horde of d6 minions patrolling the area. Place those randomly.
The players then choose which corner(s) they start in (the PCs have scouted the area in advance). Place the Party or Parties within 2” from the chosen corner(s).

Complications:

None

Wandering Monsters:

D6: 1-4: d6 Minions, 5-6: 3HP Foe

3 HP Foes are worth 1 individual XP for removing last HP

Scenario Special Rules:

Foes

Foes should be of the main type(s)/race(s) encountered in the scenario during which the characters were captured,
The patrols are 'Not Alerted' and move randomly before each Player activates his first Character, and whenever an Event Card activates them.

If at any point a Character is within 4” (Detected if Hidden), or when the Monster Frenzy Event Card is drawn, all Foes are immediately 'Alerted'.
When Alerted, d3 Minions appear from each structure not yet searched, and make a move towards the closest visible PC.

Alerted Foes act as per the normal game rules.

Searching
When a PC is inside (or if not possible to enter, in base contact with) a structure, it can be searched in 1 Action.
Roll a d6:

1^st Structure searched: A random prisoner is found on 4+

2^nd Structure searched: A random prisoner is found on 3+

3^rd and subsequent Structures searched: A random prisoner is found on 2+

Note:

If the PCs do not find all the characters they are looking for, they must capture and interrogate

a Foe about the missing Characters' whereabouts

To capture a Foe in base contact with a PC, declare that the active PC is going to attempt to do so, then roll against Foe's DL. If the roll beats the Foe's DL by 3 or more, the Foe is captured. If you beat the DL by 0-2, nothing happens (the PC deals no Damage). If the PC loses the roll, he takes damage as usual. Add 1 to the roll for each Friend also in base contact, and vice versa.
For interrogation, spend 3 actions, use appropriate Traits (Charisma for persuasion (can only be attempted once per PC per Foe), Strong for torturing, etc. Each attempt at torture removes 1 HP from Foe whether it is successful or not. 

Prisoner Health:
When a prisoner is found, roll on the Out of Action Table (+1 for each Level of Healer of the searcher)

XP Awards

If at least one prisoner has been found and taken off the board, 3XP per party.

For each not found prisoner the PCs have found out the whereabouts for, 1XP per party.

For each extra prisoner found and taken off the board, 1XP per party.

Each 2HP Foe slain, 1 individual XP.


THE GAME

Already while Ulolkish was on his first turn (he won the Initiative Roll), the Orcs were Alerted.

Seven Orcs emerged from the village, and promptly charged in the direction of the approaching party which had already been spread a bit thin.

Even though the Orcs had been drawn away from the village, my party advanced cautiously-

Saimon the Sorceror blasted the Orcs, while Argesïl and Rhagador went for the village.

While the other party was doint the fighting, Rhagador and Argesïl found Finghal and Leonides. Both were only able to move 1", so it was decided to carry them off the board.

Ulolkish's party also arrived at the village, while Shaggram seemed to have lost his way...

I shall post the second half of this AAR one of the next days - I am a bit busy this week, as I have to prepare our living room for entertaining friends at a julefrokost (a traditional meal with open blackbread sandwiches and lots of beer and akvavit, celebrating Christmas, and probably a reminiscence of the winter solstice blót), so all my hobby projects and gaming stuff have to be put away.

SS&SS: Through the Badlands With Emil, Part 2

Here is an overview of the situation when we left our heroes at the end of Part 1.

Quake, now only sporting a useless bow and a sword, moved closer to Christina, who, on her behalf, went about roasting some Orc.

Which kinda made the Orcs angry...

To make things even more interesting, Rhagador stepped in something stingy and poisonous, while Finghal went down under the Orcish onslaught, and Shaggram dashed for for the board edge.

Christina slipped away from the Orcs unharmed, and wanted to let loose a Fireball at them - but, alas, her magical energies were also depleted, and the two parties now were bereft of any ranged capacity.

Quake decided to let Witch be Witch, and ran past the Orcs, heading for the far edge of the board.

I think I may have forgotten to snap a photo after my Party activated, but Shaggram succeeded in evading further entanglements and left the area, while both Rhagador and Argesïl tried to catch up.

Christina followed Quake up the flank, avoiding contact with the ravenous hordes.

Rhagador made his escape, and Argesïl now was all but safe.

I think I forgot to mention that Rhagador's shield was shattered by an Orc Brute's attack earlier, by the way, have to take that into account when equipping for the next mission!

Quake left the area, and Christina was close behind.

Three members of my party made it off the table, thus completing the scenario on my behalf.

They had to leave Finghal behind, though, not a situation I was happy with!



Christina needed two more activations to get off the table, but also avoided further harm.

Emil's party also had to leave a casualty behind, so after the game we had to roll for both Leonides and Finghal on the Out of Action Table.


Leonides came to, with 1 HP, -4 on all Rolls, and a Move of 1", and Finghal also came to with 1 HP, -2 on all Rolls, and a Move of ½ normal, so they were both led away by the Orcs into captivity.

I shall probably try to rescue Finghal, I just found a scenario for it on the SOBAH Facebook group, whereas Emil is going to abandon Leonides and build another Tank for his Party (I may include him in my Rescue mission, though, after all he would probably end up in the same pantry as Finghal.

One of the next days, I shall go through the Campaign Activity Phase for my Party, but for now I shall just be content that three of my characters have 4XP to share among them!

SS&SS: Through the Badlands With Emil, Part 1

It has been a long dry summer, also in the gaming department, but today, at last, I had an appointment with Emil for an introductory game of Sellswords & Spellslingers.

As usual, for a new player's first game, I set up the table for the scenario Through the Badlands. Get your party off the opposite table edge, fairly simple, right?

Well the God of Dice did not quite agree, but I shall elaborate on that in due course.

On my advice, Emil had made a party of three Player Characters:

• Leonides, Barbarian with Two-Handed Sword
• Christina, Wizard with Fireball
• Quake, Ranger with Longbow

I fielded my usual suspects, Shaggram the Terrible, Rhagador the Righteous, Finghal the Sober, and Argesïl the Cunning.

The initial setup after random placement of the initial Foes:

Emil won the Initiative Roll, and started out rather cautiously.

I rolled three Activation Dice for all my Characters, and of course I triggered some Events - It started raining, among other things.

Quake managed to snap his bowstring on his second attempt to hit the Orc Brute near the board edge. while Christina fried a couple of Orcs.

Argesïl decided to pilfer the smoking corpses, while the remaining Orc charged Leonides and died horribly for it.

Shaggram moved in position, but failed to cast his Fireball, and Rhagador was assailed by an Orc Brute, Finghal running to his aid.

Christina peppered the lone troll with Fireballs, and Leonides followed up, quickly dispatching the hulking monster.

Finghal charged home and helped Rhagador get rid of the brute pest, while Shaggram went for something shiny in the shrubbery.

Argesïl was busy picking up the spoils of war.

The Brutes closed in on Leonides' party, and much slashing ocurred. The rain stopped, but to no real relief, as the only bow on the table was already broken...

Argesïl went for the Troll carcass, while Shaggram picked up some jewelry from the bushes.

Rhagador, having suffered some wounds by the now dead Orc Brute, patched himself up a bit and followed Finghal.

Leonides was overwhelmed by Orc Brutes and had to bite the dust - his companions could only watch with dismay.

Shaggram doubled forward, muttering an incantation, but the Spell failed, and the second attempt drained the magical energies from his body!

Rhagador was ambushed, but quickly dispatched the Orc rabble coming at him, while Argesïl ducked and weaved to escape another ambush.

Things were looking rather bleak at this point - one Tank, one Missile, and one Spellcaster out of the equation, already, and we were only about half way through the table...

Will the heroes overcome their hardships and get through the Badlands alive?
I shall continue this tale tomorrow, if everything goes to plan...

SS&SS: Orcs and Slippery Stones Co-op, Part 3

Got delayed by all this early summer weather, and all the things I have to do outside that were postponed because of the very cold spring we had up until recently.

I forgot the scenario rule that the Goblinoids would retreat if they were outnumbered by the Player Characters, which may actually have been the case somewhen after this point (not sure, cannot see the entire table), but I do not think it would have made much difference, as the heroes were more or less mopping up by now.

Argesïl and Shaggram wiped out the Goblins at the entry point, while Duregar and Ulitari protected Saimon and let Kentosh do the talking.

The lone Goblin was no match for Finghal and Rhagador, and Kentosh quickly slashed his way through his opponents, and moved towards the approaching enemies. Argesïl and Shaggram noticed some Goblins entering the area, and Shaggram started preparing a Spell...

...promptly blasting the Horde to cinders.

Another Horde appeared right away, and the Goblins clearly were aware of the potential threat posed by a Mage, and wanted to take him out as fast as possible.

Kentosh raced to engage the last standing Foes in that far corner of the table, while the rest of the adventurers gleaned wearily over the field of battle.

Argesïl joined Shaggram and helped him dispach the Goblin Horde, while Kentosh cut down the last remaining Monsters. Our heroes c ompleted their mission, and carried the day!

Each party earned 4xp, and the half of an award of 10sp for each Goblin, and 20sp for each Orc slain.

75 Goblins were killed, for a total of 750sp
12 Orcs were killed, for a total of 240sp
All in all 990sp.
On top of that, Shaggram picked up a trinket worth 8sp to be shared.

998sp/2 = 449sp for each party.

SS&SS: Orcs and Slippery Stones Co-op, Part 2

Both parties kept pushing forward, although Argesïl did not seem able to move away from the entry edge (he was hampered a bit by the leg wound from the Bear Trap, but there seemed more to it than that). Rhagador managed to skid and fall in the smelly black blood of a Goblin - luckily after killing all opponents in that fight.

Finghal's shield kept falling off, and as I planned to give him another, I did not want to glue it.

The power surging Mana Flux ended, much to the vexation of the two Wizards.

Soon after, the magic energies waned further, causing the Spellslingers much trouble, while Argesïl spent time playing with the Goblin corpses, and the rest of the heroes continued their killing spree.

Finghal finally was living up to his 'Fighter' status, dispatching Goblins and Orcs alike as they approached him, and even Argesïl went on the offensive to try clearing the hinterland of foes.

On the right, especially Kentosh and Duregar mowed their way through the goblinoid hordes, and the hunters now controlled about half the area.

The magical energies continued to diminish, and spellcasting now was a rather dubious affair. To make matters worse, it also started to rain, which made Ulitari's archery difficult.

Fortunately, the martial prowess of the two parties' muscles was sufficient to keep the enemy numbers in check.

It stopped raining, and the Mana once more started to rise, but Saimon never the less ran out of magical energy, and his party gathered around him to make sure he did not fall prey to a Goblin  ambush.

Rhagador and Finghal cracked some Goblin skulls, while Shaggram ran to the aid of Argesïl, who was assailed by Goblins.

It has been a long, sunny day with lots of work in the garden, so I shall pause the AAR now, and continue it tomorrow.

SS&SS: Orcs and Slippery Stones Co-op, Part 1

Ulolkish and I had an appointment for a game of Sellswords and Spellslingers just after lunch today, and I had set up the table for the Basic Scenario 'Orcs and Slippery Stones'.

As it turned out, Ulolkish had forgotten his minis, so I picked some replacements to stand in for his Player Characters today.

From left to right: Saimon, Duregar, Kentosh, and Ulitari.

My party was the usual suspects: Finghal, Argesïl, Shaggram, and Rhagador, with his fine new base...

The original set-up, after deploying the Player Characters.

During the first turn, all hell broke loose;  Ambushes, Wandering Monsters, a Scorpion, and Argesïl stepping in a Bear Trap (we missed a LOT of Activation Rolls), all had us wondering if we would be able to even leave the entry edge, but the two Wizards, and Ulitari managed to move forward. Argesïl managed to break free from the trap, but was wounded, and had his MV reduced to 3".

On the second turn our heroes managed to clear a beachhead and most of them began moving into the Orc-infested area.

Turn 3 had the two parties pushing forward, and much looting of Orc and Goblin corpses. A mana Flux occurred, and the Wizards were busy taking advantage of the extra Magical energies.

Enemy reinforcements kept pouring onto the table, and especially Ulolkish's party on the right flank met some resistance.

Contrary to his normal behaviour, Argesïl was hanging back this time, and actually looted some corpses, while the rest of his party was busy fighting the Monsters. The Wizards were running to and fro, lending their ranged support in the form of Fireballs and Magic Darts.

With the fifth turn, I end the first part of this AAR. Our game lasted about five hours, and my head is rather tired, so the reast of the evening I shall relax in front of the telly with my family.

I do not know if I shall be able to finish this tale tomorrow, as we are driving to Sverdrup near Haderslev to visit my wife's mother, and we usually do not return form there until late in the evening, but I have another six days off work, so there will be plenty of time the next few days.