M.A.G.U.S. kalandok - a Hat Varos teruleten (1)

Why is this post not in English?

Miután meguntuk az iskolapadot (és a dorbézolást, teszi hozzá a KM), ideje volt új kaland után nézni. Szerencsére nem kellett sokáig keresni. A múltkori megbízónk már jelezte, hogy felfogadna egy újabb küldetésre. Mi a legrosszabb dolog, ami történhet?

A varázsló a földrengés által megrongált torony restaurálására keresett kőművest. Természetesen nem ilyen egyszerű a dolog. Neki ugyanis a környék legjobb és legelismertebb mestere kellett. Ez még mindig nem hangzik rosszul. Ám a kiszemelt mester egy távoli vidéken, a Hat Város területén dolgozott éppen, egy báró birtokán. Varázslóhoz méltón, itt következett a csavar. A báró ugyanis régen megsértette a varázslót, ezért kell most visszaadni a sérelmet, és elhalászni előle a kőművest. Természetesen a kőműves éppen a báró életművét és nevének fennmaradásának zálogát, egy hatalmas templomot építtet. Kalandra fel!

Az út

Erionból több hetes út vezetett célpontunkhoz. Igyekeztünk eseménytelenül, főút mentén utazni, ám nem kerülhettük el a minden utazóra leselkedő veszélyeket. Az egyik erdőben útonállók rohantak le. Újdonsült veszélyérzékemnek köszönhetően már jó előre kiszúrtam a rajtaütést, úgyhogy felkészülten vártuk a rohamot. A páncélt nem viselő, favágó fejszékkel felszerelt rablóknak nem volt sok esélye. Phempheusz lángkarddal, Aegon mérgezett tőrrel szedte le célpontját. Amikor pedig az egyik rohamozót széthasítottam az alabárddal, az egyetlen túlélőnek inába szállt a bátorsága, és megfutamodott. Mehettünk tovább, mint aki jól végezte dolgát.

Az érkezés

Hála egy utolsó pillanatban megragadott könyvtári látogatásnak, tudtuk, hogy mire számítsunk a Hat Város területén. Ennek ellenére meglepetten léptünk be időleges szállóhelyünk, egy helyi vendéglő ajtaján. Szerencsére azonnal sikerült két ismerősre szert tennünk.
Kezdetnek behízelegtük magunkat egy törpe szívébe, aki különleges sört vedelt korsószámra. Ez nem volt különösebben nehéz, csak meg kellett dicsérni a hozzáértését, a szakállát, a törpék általános építészeti tudományát, stb. Persze simán asztal alá ivott minket, úgyhogy meg is szálltunk éjszakára.
Reggel majd a kocsmáros bőre alá férkőztünk. Könnyű volt rájönni, hogy növényszakértő és alkímista, s ezen a témán Aegonnal volt mit megbeszéljenek. Orvoslással is foglalkozott; ezen a téren az én tudományom segítette ki helyben. Ezután már nem volt nehéz azt sem kiszedni belőle, hogy van ismeretsége a helyi alvilágban. Innen egyenes út vezetett célunk megvalósításához... vagy legalábbis az első lépéshez.

Az építkezés és a kőművesmester

A kocsmáros beszerzett nekünk néhány kőporos kőművesruhát, és lefizetett pár őrt. Addig meglestük az építkezést, és néhány ötlettel is jötünk, nem utolsósorban a kőműves megfenyegetésével, családjának elrablásával - bár minden tervet, ami a báró megölését kívánta, Wilborin elvből elutasított.
Minden előkészület helyben volt, úgyhogy indulhattunk felderítőútra. Indulás előtt még sikerült pár információt kiszedni a kocsmárosból; többek közt azt is, hogy a család-elrablásos ötletet már lenyúlták. A báró ugyanis pontosan ilyen körülmények között dolgoztatja a mestert. Eh, ez legalább ad egy új irányt a támadásra.
Egyelőre felkészültünk a legrosszabbra. Phempheusszal tőrt dugtunk csizmánk szárába, míg Aegon alaposabban felkészült. Nála dobótőrök rejtőztek méreggel megkenve, sőt, még egy kis adag különleges kábítómérget is összedobott, arra az esetre, ha a kőművest akarata ellenére kell elhozni. Lássuk hát, miből élünk.
Ebédszünetben becsorogtunk a munkára visszatérő építészekkel, és rövidesen sikerült is a mester közelébe férkőzni. Tudtára adtuk, hogy megbízónk hatalmában áll kiszabadítani és biztonságos helyre juttatni őt és családját, munkájáért cserébe. Külső jelekből ítélve sikerrel jártunk; ám a mester mégis elküldött, időt kérve gondolkodni. A nap hátralevő részében igyekeztünk beolvadni a munkások közé. Ez elég tűrhetően sikerült, sőt, még a törpével is találkoztunk a kovácsműhely körül, aki ezután meg volt győzve, hogy alkalmi munkások vagyunk.
Másnap reggel hasonló körülmények között kerültünk vissza az építkezésre. Örömmel vettük tudomásul, hogy meggyőztük a kőműves mestert; a dolog azonban nem ígérkezett egyszerűnek. Felvázolta nekünk a vár tervrajzát, ahol ő és családja van fogva tartva. Ez időt adott volna megfelelően eltervezni a dolgot, ha nem siettetett volna az alkalom. Aznap este kell ugyanis a bárónak beszámolót tartani az építkezésről, ami több őrt is elvon a várból és a foglyok közeléből. Egyeztettünk, amit lehetett, majd sietve kicsusszantunk az őrök között. Mindössze pár óránk volt előkészíteni bármilyen tervet, amit időközben kovácsolunk.

Következő alkalommal: a háromemberes mentőakció.

Painting a White Lion of Chrace

Time for another local painting competition! This time, to level the field, we all had to paint similar miniatures: we opened a box of White Lions. I decided to go back to tried-and-trusted techniques for this one. I also went for a Ragnar Blackmane - combined with - Ned Stark-y look. Here goes.

Chaos Daemons vs Skitarii, 03.11.2015

Mission: The Relic (yes, I forgot my Tactical Objective cards at home) 

Points limit:  800 points

Lists:

Chaos Daemons: Combined Arms Detachment

• 10-man Pink Horrors (Summoning)
• 3-base Nurglings 
• Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 3 Psyker (Posession, Sacrifice, Bolt of Change)
• Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 3 Psyker (Tzeentch's Firestorm, Bolt of Change, Perfect Timing), Portalglyph
• Bloodthirster, Greater Gift (FnP 4+), warlord (Hatred)
• Soul Grinder, Daemon of Slaanesh, Baleful Torrent

Skitarii: 

Skitarii Maniple

• 10-man Ranger squad
• 10-man Vanguard squad, Warlord
• 5-man Infiltrators, Flechette Blasters, Taser Goads
• Onager Dune Crawler, Neutron Laser, Cognis Manipulator

Officio Assassinorum Detachment

• Culexus Assassin

Based on our last encounter, the Skitarii brought in a Culexus Assassin for ani-psyker duties. In a reverse-psychology move, I came with a Bloodthirster. The plan here was for the Bloodthirster and the Soul Grinder to push the flanks, while the Horrors do some summoning/psychic shooting. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Skitarii deployed first. Vanguard supporting the Dune Crawler; Rangers behind the ruins; Infiltrators and Assassin infiltrating.
I put my two Heralds and the Horrors in a blob in the ruins. They are flanked by the Bloodthirster and the Soul Grinder. Nurglings infiltrated near the Relic.
Then the whole Skitarii army Scouted forwards.

Skitarii, turn 1.

The Infiltrators move on the Nurglings. The Assassin moves to block the Psyker blob.

With BS+3, the Skitarii unloaded a massive amount of shots into my units. The Rangers scored an insane amount of wounds on my Horrors, but 3+ Go to Ground rerolling 1s saved me. The Vanguard and Infiltrators shot the Nurglings. Even with 2+ Go to Ground I lost a base.

And what's that? A huge hole in the ground where the Soul Grinder used to be? Yes, precisely. S10 AP1 from the Dune Crawler; a failed 3+ cover (Night Fighting + Ruins); and a 5 on the penetration table equals one blown up Grinder. He retreated to the far side of the table. First Blood!

Daemons, turn 1.

OK, so about 20% of my army is gone. The Psykers are useless while in range of the Assassin. Time to do stuff?

The Portalglyph was deployed, scattering into the ruins. It then proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the game.
The Bloodthirster moves on the Assassin.

I was hitting on 5+s, but Hatred helped me out enough to get in enough wounds to kill the Assassin. That makes up in points for the Soul Grinder.

Skitarii, turn 2.

The Skitarii move up to better positions.

With BS+2, another massive volley goes into my troops. One Nurgling base survives. The Horrors make it without going to ground. T6 saves the Bloodthirster.

Daemons, turn 2.

Time to move up.

The Bloodthirster moves in on the Vanguard unit. The Horrors move closer to everything. Time to do Psychics!
I then proceeded to cast Bolt of Change twice into the Dune Crawler, utterly failing to do anything. Seeing myself on the losing side, I sacrificed a Herald to get in another Bloodthirster.
My Warlord then charged the Vanguard, but they held out heroically; even dealing 1 wound to the Bloodthirster.

Skitarii, turn 3.

The Infiltrators moved back with the Relic. The Dune Crawler took aim at the Horrors, but only killed a couple.

I challenged the enemy Warlord and killed him; but the Vanguard still held out.

Daemons, turn 3.

Time to land the summoned Bloodthirster! Then some psychic fireworks kill an Infiltrator. Warpflame actually does work instead of improving their Feel no Pain.

I finally managed to kill the Vanguard.

Skitarii, turn 4.

With a boost to WS, the Dune Crawler charges the Bloodthirster. We utterly fail to do anything to each other for two turns.
The Infiltrators retreat into the ruins.

Daemons, turn 4.

 With the Warlord still flailing helplessly at the Crawler, I summoned a squad of Daemonettes as backup. The other Bloodthirster then charged and killed the Infiltrators.

Skitarii, turn 5.

The Rangers took the Relic from under the nose of the Bloodthirster. If they manage to hold on to it, Skitarii win the game.
Unfortunately for them, I finally managed to land a blow on the Crawler, rolling 6 for the table and exploding it.

Daemons, turn 5.

It's do or die! If I don't kill the Rangers and the game ends, Skitarii win. Everything converges on them.

With a massed assault by two Bloodthirsters and the Daemonettes, the Rangers die and the Skitarii are tabled.

Conclusion

• Skitarii are very shooty. Very, very shooty. With the Assassin blocking out my own psychic shooting, and the Grinder blowing up turn 1, I had to crank it up to 11 to win.
• Luckily, I rolled Posession (though luck is relative - I had 6 Psyker levels to roll on Daemonology).
• Also luckily, the Crawler decided to shoot the Horrors instead of assaulting my Bloodthirster when it was locked with the Vanguard. It was down to T5 due to Rad Poisoning, and as such, vulnerable to S10 Instant Death.

World of Warcraft miniatures

As I've announced previously, I've restarted DnD and painted up a group of miniatures from World of Warcraft: the Board Game to use in our sessions.
However, as I've complained while painting up the Worgen, the paint chips off really easily from this type of plastic.

So I decided to leave the miniatures half-baked. I'll just present the state that I got them to.

Here's what I have to work with:

Miniatures, left to right: Troll Rogue, Human Paladin, Human Priest, Night Elf Warrior, Gnome Rogue.
Their roles in the game: Tiefling Rogue, Half-elf Paladin, Elf Druid, Shifter Warlord, Gnome Wizard.

Easiest to paint up was the Paladin. Prime in white:

Give him some shining armor:

Add some wash for realism:

For the Priest miniature, I kind of went for a "Virgin Mary" color scheme:

All white, blue and gold.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look that good after the wash has been applied:

It really looks dirty. Some fine lighlighting should get her back looking pristine...


The Gnome is really small, so a red-black color scheme with a bright green thrown in should make her stand out:

Even after the colors had been toned down by a wash:

For the Night Elf, I played on the natural aspect, going for a green-brown scheme:

A coat of wash pops out the details:

She could use a drybrushing.


Last but not least, I went for a stealthy yet sinister look for the Rogue with all brown, black and bone:

With an orange mohawk for contrast.

And some wash to pop out the skulls and the patterns of the leather armor.

Finally, here's the collection of heroes:

... and in their natural habitat, a nasty dungeon, fighting goblins:

DIY DnD maps and props

The recent string of DnD sessions that I'm DM'ing rekindled my interest in home-made RPG props, so I've dug up some old material that I've just been too lazy to publish.

DIY maps

The adventure we're playing has a nice set of printable colored maps for the outside encounters. However, the name of the game is Dungeons and Dragons, and there was nothing included for that part. So I decided to roll my own.
Steps:

1. Print a 1x1inch square grid on white paper. Use a generator.
2. Use water color to paint it grey. No reason to be careful. Just slap the paint on.
1. Optional. Add small doodads to your maps, e.g. staircases, storage containers. This will make them better looking, but less reusable. 
3. Plan the maps that you have to make. Then cut out appropriate pieces.
4. Use paper glue to stick the pieces of paper on large sheets of cheap paper. Wrapping paper is ideal.
5. Use heavy things to apply pressure on the maps, so they won't curl up and the glue sticks.

 Pictures below:

I dilute the black paint with lots of water, so the paper takes a long time to dry. Solution: leave it out for the night.

With a bit of planning, you can pre-establish all the needed pieces.

You'll need a large surface to work with. Use wrapping paper or a flipchart.

Work in progress...

OK, put some heavy books on it for the night and you're done! Some examples below:


 A simple dungeon room.




Natural caves work even better on brown wrapping paper, to give that earthy feeling.

A larger map of interconnected rooms, with storage containers and a staircase.

DIY props

The process is similar to the one above.

1. Print a 1x1inch square grid on white paper. Use a generator.
2. Use water color to paint your props. Again, there's no need for artistic complexity; although the better looking, the greater.
3. Use a black pen to strengthen the borders, or draw additional elements.
4. Cut out the props following the square borders.
5. Use paper glue to stick the props to cardboard. I used pizza boxes, as they are thick and heavy enough to be moved easily along with the miniatures.
6. Cut out the pieces (again) from the cardboard.

Done! Here are some of the props that I created:

Left to right, top to bottom: strange runes drawn on the floor; crates; tables (some with dirty dishes on them), broken statues, a fire pit, a bloody drawing on the floor, alcoves, wells, beds, pits, an iron maiden, debris with animal bones, a large pit, a fire, altars.

Forces of the Abyss vs Twilight Kin, 20.10.2015

Same as the other game, just straight up killpoints. I managed to take a couple more photos this time.

Forces of the Abyss (same list, same master plan)

• Regiments
• Flamebearers, Jar of the Four Winds
• Succubi, Mace of Crushing
• Fleshlings, War-bow of Kaba
• Troops
• 2x Hellhounds
• Gargoyles
• Ba'su'su's Vile Spawn
• Heroes
• Ba'su'su the Vile
• Archfiend of the Abyss, Lightning Bolt (5)
• Temptress, Bane Chant

Twilight Kin

• Hordes
• Spearmen
• Regiments
•  Reaper Guard
• Troops
• 2x Crossbowmen
• Blade Dancers
• Heralds of Woe
• Dark Knights
• Heroes
• Standard Bearer
• Dark Lord on Black Pegasus, TODO +1 def
• Monsters
• Hydra

A couple more magic artifacts sprinkled around.

Deployment

I deployed almost the same as before.
My opponents beautiful Dark Elf Twilight Kin army had taken up strong positions, with cavalry on the left flank, the Spearmen horde and the Hydra making for a strong center, and the rest on the right flank.

Turn 1

Once again, I had first turn. Once again, I took it slow. The Flamebearers let loose into the center Crossbowmen and inflicted enough damage for a lucky Rout (the Standard Bearer was too far away).
The Archfiend only inflicted 1 wound with his Lightning bolt.

The Twilight Kin advanced. Shots were fired at the Hounds, taking 2 wounds.

Turn 2.

I charged with everything that could.
The Archfiend charged the Reaper Guard, inflicting 4 wounds.
The Hounds charged the Crossbowmen, routing them.
The other Hounds and the Succubi charged the Hydra, routing it.
The Flamebearers shot the Spearmen horde. Those dudes have an incredibly high Nerve and they held their ground for a very long time.
The Gargoyle formation flew over the Knights and into the backfield of the opponent.
Ba'su'su charged the Pegasus lord, but 6+ defense and high Nerve meant no results there.

The Reaper Guard then charged back, inflicting 3.
The Blade Dancers charged and routed one unit of Hounds. They have an incredible number of attacks, much like my own Succubi.
The Heralds of Woe shot the other Hounds, inflicting a good chunk of wounds.The Knights turned around to look at the Gargoyles.

The Archfiend's second charge finally annihilated the Reaper Guard.
The Succubi were dueling it out with the Blade Dancers.
The Hounds charged the Spearmen, but failed to do much due to Phalanx.
The Gargoyles tried to position for a rear charge, but the Vile Spawn were caught by the Knights and destroyed.

My final gamble on the right flank was the Gargoyle's charge to the back of the Spearmen horde, but I rolled 1 lower than needed to waver them. On the next turn, the Knights took out the Gargoyles and the Spearmen took out the Hounds. At least Ba'su'su escaped by flying at the double.

In the mean time, the Archfiend and Succubi mopped up the Blade Dancers and prepared to face the remnants of the Twilight Kin.

A couple successful shooting attacks later...

... the Spearmen and Knights routed and I only had to deal with the two Heroes. My opponent conceeded.

Lessons learned

• Peppering your opponent with Piercing (2) attacks from 30" range does a good job.
• Fast moving units, especially fliers, are great at out-maneuvering the enemy, especially unwieldy infantry blobs. They are great to surround and flank/rear charge them. This is as opposed to Warhammer Fantasy where ranked up infantry easily beats a cavalry charge due to static combat resolution.
• A high-Nerve horde really does hold the middle.
• Mounted archers with Nimble are a lot more better than standing Crossbowmen.
• 3+ Gargoyles are really fragile.

Forces of the Abyss vs Orcs, 20.10.2015

Time to begin covering Kings of War with a regular batrep. Actually, make that two! We fit in 2 games at 1500 points in roughly 3 hours. As we are still learning the rules, we just went for killpoints. Also excuse the small number of pictures; this was caused by a heavy case of excitement.

Forces of the Abyss

• Regiments
• Flamebearers, Jar of the Four Winds
• Succubi, Mace of Crushing
• Fleshlings, War-bow of Kaba
• Troops
• 2x Hellhounds
• Gargoyles
• Ba'su'su's Vile Spawn
• Heroes
• Ba'su'su the Vile
• Archfiend of the Abyss, Lightning Bolt (5)
• Temptress, Bane Chant

The master plan here is to sit tight and keep shooting with the Flamebearers at the safe distance of 30", keeping Bane Chant on them for Piercing (2). Ba'su'su and his Gargoyles harass one flank, the Hounds run up the other flank. Archfiend and Succubi guard the Flamebearers. Fleshlings are cannon fodder, getting the 5-point bow attack so they aren't totally useless on the first turns.

Orcs

• Hordes
• Ax 
• Gore chariots
• Regiments
• Gore riders 
• Trolls
• Ax
• Morax
• Heroes
• Krudger on mount
• Krudge on slasher
• Wardrum

Deployment

I won the roll-off, but I wanted the Orcs to start deploying. This was I could counter-deploy to my liking.
The Orcs concentrated their hardest (but slowest) units on the center, with the Ax horde and regiment and the trolls lining up between the forest and the house. I put my Fleshlings in front of them as a distraction (and it worked out perfectly). The Morax guard the far-flank, facing the Gargoyle "formation". I was sure to outmaneuver them there. The real fighting was to go down on the right flank. What you see to the right of the forest is the Gore chariot horde, the Gore riders and the Krudger on slasher. I countered with my Archfiend and Hellhounds, with the other Hounds and the Succubi ready to lend support. Let the battle commence!

Turn 1

I went first, so I took it slow. The Flamebearers shot the Ax horde and put a good number of wounds on it. The Archfiend advanced to the wall and shot the chariot horde. The Hounds protected his flank. The Gargoyles moved up to just outside the Morax charge range.
Naturally, the Orcs jumped the occasion to charge in everything they could. The Gore Riders charged the Hounds, but failed to Rout. The Chariots charged the Archfiend. The wall denied their Thunderous Charge, so only 3 wounds were inflicted.
All units in the center and left flank advanced as much as possible.

Turn 2.

Time for the counter strike.
The Hounds near the edge of the table countercharged, and destroyed the Gore riders with a lucky Nerve roll. The Archfiend countercharged, and the other Hound unit took the chariots in the rear for an incredible number of attacks and wounds. The chariots also routed. The left flank was mine.
Both Gargoyles and Ba'su'su charged the Morax in the front. Aided by their Vicious rule, enough wounds were inflicted for a Rout. The right flank was also in trouble.
The Fleshlings charged into the Ax horde. Now that wouldn't have accomplished much, but factor in the wounds inflicted by shooting and I got them Wavering.
The Succubi and the Flamebearers charged the Trolls. The huge number of Succubi attacks proved enough for a Rout.

The Orcs were mostly annihilated. The Krudger on the far right still put up a fight, and so did the Ax regiment on the left. But the center Horde was Wavering and unable to charge.

 Turn 3

By his turn 3, only the two Krudgers were left on the table, so my opponent conceeded.