SotHT: Rebasing the Turks, WIP 2.

Next stage done - some of the old gravel removed, and filler added.

Next up some texture, paint, and flock/tufts/foliage/whatever...

BioCorp Buccaneers - Need Muscle!

The Buccaneers are getting in shape. The Guards are still working out in the gym, but the rest of the team was doing sprint/reaction excercizes.

Lead Adventure Forum Painting Clubs - an Explanation.

I have been ranting about this and that LAF Painting Club most of 2014; so, what's it all about?

The series of Painting Clubs started with the Ancients Painting Club in May 2013, and although I was late to the party, just coming out of a real life pressure hobby stupor, it spurred me on to paint again, so I'm quite happy with the concept

Most of the clubs are a joint venture to present a set number of newly painted miniatures (for instance: 99, 100, 200) on a period or genre specific sub-board.

Then - all in good spirits - if you manage to paint and submit one or more minis of the sort in question, before the Painting Club slots are all filled, you get the right to fly a badge in your forum signature.

For me, collecting those badges has become a sport in itself (and getting some minis moved forward in the painting queue that might otherwise get bypassed infinitely is a BIG bonus). and I haven't missed a single one after the APC!

The latest PC is a bit different, in that it doesn't require single minis to be painted, but a long abandoned project to be re-animated and finished. Never the less, I'm on board, as you can read in another post.

These are the badges I sported by the end of 2014:

These are the badges I earned in 2013:

From now on, I'll flash the appropriate badge when showing stuff I finished for a Painting Club - or, in the case of pledge badges, each time I post updates related to the pledge.

BioCorp Buccaneers: Striker Number 3!

Buccaneers #03, Wally West

The 'new kid' on the team, often only entering the pitch late in the match (when Garrick or Allen - or both - are injured), West often finds himself relying on Jacks to deliver assists for crucial late strikes, thus probably the Striker in the League with the fewest catches.

SotHT: It's ALIIIVE...!!

There is a new challenge at the LAF at the moment: Revive a long abandoned project and - hopefully
- finish it within a duration of 6 months.

I chose to re-animate a Pulp project I originally intended for .45 Adventure, but now consider applying the Pulp Alley rules to:

The Secrets of the Hidden Temple

The scenario was almost ready to go, when some real life turmoil redirected my attention away from the hobby for a while: I really only needed to  construct the stairs leading down to the dungeon-like sub-terranean temple, so this task is an obvious goal for the challenge.

Before

Back then, I painted 5 or 6 factions to take part in the scenario, and I based everything on round slottas, meaning that I have a lot of minis with integral bases based that way; thus, another goal is to re-base all the minis with integtal bases onto steel washers - and add iron to the rest.

First step will be to rebase the Turkish faction, and here I present Hasan Köse, international man of mystery, spy, dealer in carpets, exquisite antiquities, weapons, opium, informations, and murder, etc., etc., and his  not-too-bright bodyguards.

Rebasing has begun, and I shall track further progress in these pages.

WIP, Stage 1

D&D Old School RPG Fantasy Vikings Project: Creating Characters

As announced on the 'link-holder-page' I am working on getting some Old School Dungeons & Dragons going with my daughters.

I am creating a Fantasy Vikings setting, using as much historical stuff I can, while maintaining the structure and diversity of the D&D setting.

I let the girls roll 4 dice for each Ability (removing the lowest result), and roll 3 sets of Abilities. Then, based on the results, they could decide which profile they wanted, and which Class to play (they could choose from the 4 Human Classes).

Lea rolled quite well on her first profile, and ended up chosing to create a Magic-User. In this setting, she'll be the apprentice of the village's Vǫlva.

When adjusting Intelligence, I allowed her to raise it to 19; although this is technically not permitted by the rules, I have done so in the past, and it doesn't upset balance (especially not when done for a weak Class like the Magic-User). She'll have a +4 adjustment, and +20% xp, thus probably being able to level up not too long after Anna's Shieldmaiden Fighter Character.

The girls ar filling in Character Sheets (and drawing Characters).
Note that Anna, to the right, is wearing her medieval linen dresses
(she does that a lot)!

I also allow magic-users to wear light leather armour, and, as this is a Viking setting, she was allowed to have a bow. I may allow non-magical one-handed swords/axes, too (Gandalf, after all, wielded Glamdring to great effect).

Anna rolled less well, but she ended up with a manageable +1 Fighter, so should be able to protect her younger sister from intrusive monsters.

As both my daughters are young (11 and 8), and completely new to role-playing, I let their characters start with a full Hit Point dice (+ bonus) worth of Hit Points PLUS a roll+bonus. They need some staying power, and as GM I can do what ever I want ;o)

Tomorrow, we'll choose some appropriate names for the characters, and find some nice minis to represent them on the table (oh, yes, there WILL be minis!).

D&D Attack Wing: Dragons of the Spanish Main

Afternoon the 29th of December we started a game that had to wait until morning the 31st for its conclusion.

I broke out the 3x3 table I painted up for Pirates of the Spanish Main some years ago, and also dug out the box with the game components.

So, instead of using ships to collect gold, we played D&D-AW with a few homebrewed rules:

• The first dragon to hoard 10 points of treasure on its home island is the winner.
• Dragons can pick up and/or release treasure as an action when on the ground.
• Dragons may release treasure as an action when swooping over an island, needing 1 hit on a roll with 2 dice for the treasure to land safely (otherwise it lands in the water and is lost).
• Dragons may release treasure as an action when flying over an island, needing 1 hit on a roll of 1 die for the treasure to land safely (see above).
• Dragons may steal treasure from other dragons' islands.

And, one more rule we agreed on near the end of the game:

• Dragons may try to pick up treasure as an action when swooping over an island, needing 1 hit on a roll of 1 die to succeed.

Dragons grabbing gold

And carrying it home

Eshaedra decided to go picking Galadaeros' basket

Which resulted in the two dragons being locked in combat for a couple of turns
(both failed to choose maneuvrers sufficient for moving clear of the other).

Of course, Eshaedra (my dragon) was the only one to take damage.

In the meantime, Balagos kept harvesting gold.

And finally the two others broke free

And Ashaedra steals some gold from Galadaeros.
Note that the rules state that if any part of a model's base extends over the edge of the board,
anytime during a movement, it must be removed from play;
we ruled that as long as a dragon ends in a position where it can stand firmly without support, it's good to go.

Galadaeros decided to return the favour.

This was a breath attack, using +1 die for being at range 4 (special Ashaedra skill).
I roll teribly.
1 hit was easily deflected by Galadaeros' armour.

Ashaedra, realizing that Balagos had amassed quite a hoard by now,
decided to drop her payload and go for Balagos' island.

I misjudged the distance for this move...

...forcing me to make a RED maneuver, meaning that I wouldn't be able to pick any gold from the island
(even if I landed, I wouldn't be able to execute a green maneuver to get rid of the Exhaustion-counter).

Bites were exchanged.

Tail lash

Trying to get in position for a second attempt

Here's another one of my fantastic attack rolls. There's FOUR hit results on each die...

Got mauled again. One more point of damage, and it's goodbye, Ashaedra...

Which happened right next turn. Only 2 dragons left in the archipelago.
Lea is calculating the correct approach to her island.

And Galadaeros lands the final gold to claim victory!

The game is much more interesting with the full rules. Not because of the extra abilities (although the breath attacks are a nice feature), but because the armour actually deflects a lot of damage, giving the dragons more freedom to act.

Also, the 3 height levels (fly, swoop, ground) add a lot to the game (and were fully exploited for this set-up).

The learning curve from the quick-start rules to the full rules is pretty steep; there's a lot of extra stuff to remember, and I decided to introduce one upgrade card at a time (this time going for the breath attacks).

The game is also more fun with a scenario/some objectives added  just duking it out for 'last man standing' isn't really very rewarding; the rule book contains some 'adventures', but I think that coming up with interesting scenarios is going to be the main corner-stone for this to become a game that we play regularly (my girls like to play it, no doubt, but if they are to maintain interest in it, I think I'll have to keep thinking up new plots).

Does the game work?

Yes, certainly! I think the nature of it being a fame set in the D&D universe made the designers add a tiny bit too high level of complexity in order to catch the feel of the original; we tried to set up for a standard 3-player game, and there was no way we would have been able to juggle all those upgrades.

That being said, I think most seasoned role-players will have a blast playing the game, because of the high level of customizability.

Did I get value for money?

Absolutely! We have many hours of gaming time yet to be had from just the contents of the basic set alone, and then there's a whole world of expansions to be explored, too.