1/30/2021

Naughty Neighbours

So in the end I decided that Falbalá was carrying one scroll of resurrection and that Sven decided to spend it on his friend Juggo. The first thing Juggo asked was if he had killed that Troll. He got mad when they told him; and then very depressed when he knew his friend Grom didn't make it, and that he couldn't assist at his burial.

It's been a whole week since Juggo being totally drunk and barely recovering from his wounds, that a Dwarf knocked at the door of Falbala's farm where they all were resting. His name was Oggi, but his friends call him Nugget. He asked for help as some nasty creatures were coming out from a whole he did in his mine.

Oggi the Nugget at his mine.

As Juggo was still recovering, Sven decided to take Finbull and Falbalá with him and "Nugget" to his mine while the old Snorri (Healer) took care of Juggo.

For this encounter I am using the Warrior Heroes Legends rules for Dungeoning.

As soon as they entered they met a couple of Ghouls. At the back of the picture you can see the laid out of the dungeon with poker cards.

Ghouls charged but one bolt from Finbull's crossbow made one to Duck Back behind a rubble. The other one was easily dispatched by Sven.

After that, Oggi and Sven charged and killed the other Ghoul. Oggi told them these weren't the creatures he had told them about.

The group kept moving and going down the mine until they met with a nest of spiders that seemed to come out from the chasm.

The adventurers reacted first and Falbalá stunned two spiders with a Dazzle Spell while Finbull put another one Out of the Fight. Sven and Oggi waited for the rest of the spiders to charge them and then kill them all easily.

The group kept moving forward and found several treasures until they reached the end of the dungeon, but they couldn't find the creatures Oggi had told them about.
On their way back out of the dungeon they stumbled with those naughty neighbours (the big bad). An Undead Caster (Liche) plus six animated minions.

The undead reacted first and the Liche stunned the three Dwarfs with a spell, and then the skellies charged en masse!

A stunned character gets automatically Out of the Fight when he is contacted by an enemy, but as Dwarves have the racial attribute of "Resilient" that let them ignore the first OOF result, they quickly recovered and Ducked Back through the corridor and closed the door.

On the next turn the skeletons charged, but due to the narrow corridor they couldn't take advantage of their numeric superiority and so they were quickly put down by the stubborn Dwarves. Also Falbalá casted a spell of protection on them.

When the Dwarves finally could act, they opened the door and finished the rest of the skeletons, and then Finbull shot a bolt at the Liche who took cover behind one of the sepulchres.

In the next turn the Liche didn't move and then Sven and Oggi charged it and destroyed it.

And that was the end of the Encounter. I didn't have time to loot the Liche and other creatures, nor to check all the magic items I found in the treasure room, nor check if they gained experience and skills, but everything is noted down on a paper and I'll check it later.

1/16/2021

Trial of Trolls

After finishing the Orc Shaman, Juggo says to Sven he won't follow him until he hunts and slays a Troll so he can be known as Juggo the Troll slayer. Seeing all his expedition is in danger Sven accepts and they head to Troll country.

As soon as they arrive to the Troll's territory, they spot a cottage surrounded by crops and about to be attacked by some Trolls coming down from the hills.

In this campaign I have been using different rulesets and also tinkering with one of my own, but for this encounter I'm using Warrior Heroes - Legends from Two Hour Wargames as I'm updating the rules for a new release.

So our heroes arrive at the scene in the middle of the board, with Bubba scouting ahead of the columns. They instantly see three Trolls, one at the farm and two more coming close from the forest on the hills.


- Quick, get in the house! Falbalá with her magic and Dad with his axe will take care of the monsters.

GRRRR!

Dwarves activate first. Juggo charges madly at the closer Troll and is followed by Grom and Sven in support. Bubba and Snorri (and another Dwarf with a hammer who shouldn't be here, doh!) run towards the farm through the wooden bridge. Falbalá casts a Damage spell on the creature but it Duck Backs behind the bushes.

Now it is Troll's activation and they charge the Dwarves.

Grom doesn't realize the Troll is bigger than him.

And then it is too late.

There are doubles in the activation and a Ranger shows up to help the good guys. Sven charges the Troll who killed Grom whereas Juggo faces its leader, a Rep 6, AC 4, Resilient Troll with a two handed weapon.

Near the farm Finbull finally puts down the third Troll with an accurate bolt of his crossbow from the other side of the river.

Sven manages to put out of fight a second Troll by making an extraordinaire effort (he is a Star), but the leader of the Trolls was too much for Juggo.

Sven and the Ranger join to finish it.

But once again it wins and the Ranger is down. Now is all on Sven.

After three consecutive rounds of melee Sven makes the Troll to run away. It couldn't be killed but it won't be back in a long time.

Falbalá is a the daughter of the farmer and she was visiting her parents during a break from her studies at a school of Wizards in a nearby city. She is a Caster, and she tried to damage the Troll who was attacking her parent's farm, but she failed and needed Finbull's bolts to kill the beast.

Well, melee in WHL resulted to be really deadly, especially against that Troll with Rep 6. Now I need to think what to do with Juggo and Grom as they are Obviously Dead.

1/04/2021

Three Trolls

I bought and painted two of the Trolls about twenty years ago and I always thought that I needed the third one to finish the unit. So last year I bought the one in the middle and now I have painted it.

I tried to paint it like the other two but I didn't remember what paints I used back in the day. So I used similar colours and same technique (heavy dry brush) plus gloss varnish on top to simulate dampness.

The Troll came with a thick coat of paint and when I removed it I saw that it has got some sort of rusty and grainy cover which had eaten some details. So in the end it hasn't been a good paint job, but I'm happy as I finally have the unit completed after so many years!



1/01/2021

The Big Hurt. Bring'em back alive. 01

"The Big Hurt (TBH) is a 2-part scenario book for NUTS! that takes place in the Hϋrtgen Forest in Germany from mid- September 1944 to February 1945.

MISSION 1 - BRING EM BACK ALIVE

September 17th, 1944 - Near Rotgen, Germany

SITUATION

The German main line of resistance is a few miles away, deep in the Hϋrtgen Forest. However, they still seem to have outposts and patrols far forwards of their fortified positions. While the Brits dally up north in the Low Countries, we Americans face the Hun on his own turf, the soil of Germany! You can bet he’ll be putting up a stiff fight for every inch of it too…

Earlier today we sent out several small patrols into the forest’s edge to the east of us. One of them was ambushed, and 4 out of the 6 men were killed. A wounded survivor returned a few minutes ago, and said that the Lieutenant leading the patrol was hit badly. As the survivor is a little guy, he had to hide the LT in a hollow tree at the bend of a creek. He then distracted the Jerry’s away from the spot. We’ve got to get the LT back, alive! Hopefully he’s still there."



So I created a full squad with an NCO Rep 5 Born Leader and Tough, Jr NCO Rep 5 Resilient, BAR and assistant Rep 5, grunt with rifle and grenade launcher Rep 5, three riflemen Rep 4 and four riflemen Rep 3. I deployed the squad split in two sections. One lead by the NCO with the BAR, 3 Rep 4 and 1 Rep 3 riflemen, and another lead by Jr. NCO, grunt with grenade launcher, 1 Rep 4 and 3 Rep 3 riflemen.



TURN 1. US 3 - G 5.

German did not activate and I moved my squad through the forest as fast as I could.


TURN 2. US 5 - G 2.

Germans received half squad as reinforcements from their border of the table. My squad reached the border of the forest and stopped there in the hope that a German PEF would activate and come out from the forest, but they didn't move.


TURN 3. US 4 - G6.

As German didn't activate, I decided to cross the firebreak and engage the first PEF, but it was a false alarm. Then I realized that the second PEF was now within line of sight (12") and it turned into half squad. I won the Reaction Test and killed the German NCO. The rest of the squad Ducked back but held fast. I kept the other half of my squad in reserve to give me firing cover when I moved back with the lieutenant, but that proved to be a fatal mistake.


TURN 4. US 5 - G 4.

All Germans were prone so one of my riflemen crossed the river and reached the wounded lieutenant. Then the German activated and popped up. In the shootout the BAR was wounded and one riflemen killed and only one German soldier was down. Both groups carried on. The German reinforcements (out of the picture) were closing fast.


TURN 5. US 1 - G 2.

Germans moved first and the reinforcement section arrived and wounded another man from my section, and also killed the soldier who crossed the river to rescue the lieutenant. Then, in my turn, I finally advanced with the rest of my squad but the Germans fought fiercely and managed to kill two men of the second section! Luckily, all my troops held their ground whereas the Germans couldn't take it and left the battlefield; so I could rescue the lieutenant and retrieve all of my wounded men. The price was too high for the life of just one man; I hope he deserves it.