The Beacon Tower. Tor Varden upper level.

From the book: 

"Your party is battered and bruised, but the fight is not over. Whatever now rules in this tower is likely on the upper level. While it is tempting to leave now with the gains you have made, it would then be left to some other group to come and finish the job, and who knows what evil might be done here in the meantime. Readying your weapons, you advance up the stairs."

 

Half of the group coming out throught the trapdoor.

Turn 2. My archer, activated by the ranger, shoots and kills one gnoll archer before he could act, but later is wounded by another gnoll archer. The rest of the group arrives.

A phantasmal green fire comes from the beacon tower of Tor Dargos and some members of the party get poisoned (the ones with yellow markers). The barbarian uses the fairy dust gathered at the lower level on his sword, which helps him to wound the shadow knight. The dog fails to hurt him.

On the next turn the ranger charges the shadow knight and manages to kill him with the magic sword he found downstairs.

 

 

The barbarian charges a gnoll archer and puts him down with a mighty blow of his two handed sword.

Tor Hammel has also been lit with evil green fire! The archer activates first again and kills the last gnoll archer. Seeing this, the surviving gnoll falls back in shock.

He is finally killed on turn five and the encounter is successfully over.

 

I was lucky to find something to help me fight the magic resistance of the shadow knight and thus killing him so soon. The rest of the encounter was a walk in the park. I've got the maximum XP for this encounter, 62 XP points!

 

 

 

 

Trolls in 1/72

I also had two old school Trolls printed as I did with the Ogres and I am very happy with them. I think I will try to print some more downscaled models for my skirmishes in the future.

A comparative shot with two 1/72 soft plastic miniatures. An Orc from Dark Alliance and a Dwarf from Caesar miniatures.

the Beacon Tower. Tor Varden lower level

From the book: 

"After the encounter at the bridge, you and your companions were able to slip past a couple of other gnoll patrols and reach Tor Varden. There were no guards posted outside, and very little indication of anyone inside. Then a muffled scream came from somewhere in the tower. It was a sign both good and ill. There is at least one man alive in Tor Varden, but you might already be too late to save him. You will need to move fast"

The vulture escaped alive and brought news to the tower so they were ready for the party.

 They entered into the armoury and there were two Gnoll sergeants and an archer waiting for them.

 

 

The ranger and the archer shoot and kill one sergeant and the other one falls back. The Gnoll archer misses.

 

 

The dog chases and finishes the Gnoll archer whereas the rest gang on the sargeant and kill him. The conjuror finds a philtre of fairy dust and the ranger later gets a magic sword with two uses.

 

 

They move to the torture chamber on time to try to rescue one of the soldiers of the tower!

But it is too late for him as the group is too busy fighting all those pesky Gnolls.

Again they make it on time on the third room to catch a Gnoll shaman in his workshop trying to awake a Flesh Golem! (the ranger is right behind the door and inside the third room). The conjuror gets a dose of fury leaves from the Gnoll sargeant from the torture chamber.

At the end of the third turn in the workshop, the shaman is still alive and able to revive the Flesh Golem.

The Flesh Golem attacks the barbarian while the shaman flees.

And helped by the ranger's mastiff, they destroy the monster. Then the shaman tries to escape to the upper level but is caught by members of the party and is slayed on the stairs.

 

The party got 44 XP and proceeded to the upper level of the tower.
  

Ogres in 1/72

I had the two first Ogres Jes Goodwin did long ago printed. I think they are the best Ogres around ever and now I have them in 1/72 for my skirmish games.

They are smaller than the original ones and less sharp as well, but I am very happy with how they have turned out. I must say they look better in the flesh.

 

I tried to paint them as when they were released except for the Hrothyogg's scabbard (see below). My Skrag's axe is also green but it cannot be appreciated in my pictures.

 

 

Image from Stuff of legends

 

And here there is a comparison of them next to a 1/72 Caesar's adventurer and a Dark Alliance Ranger.

The bridge guards

From the rulebook: "As you make your way towards Tor Varden, the gentle, rolling hills slowly give way to rocky plains, and finally into the boulder-filled maze known locally as ‘the Scree’. It is a barren, unnerving place – a perfect site for an ambush as the large rocks cut lines of sight down to just a few yards in most places. Proceeding cautiously, you eventually hear the Enthel River, which you must cross to reach Tor Varden. As you approach, however, you hear other noises as well, nearly drowned out by the river. Voices, of some inhuman type, a language filled with whines and barks." Gnolls!

The ranger and his companions at the bottom centre, hiding behind a big boulder. Guarding the river there are four gnoll archers plus a sergeant and two fighers on the bridge, and two more at the camp. The party has ten turns to cross and try to investigate one clue token in yellow and one treasure in the camp.

The group tries on the left but the conjurer springs a trap and results wounded. One of the gnoll archers approaches and is shot down by my archer. The alarm is sounded!

All the gnolls run towards the party and in no time they are desperately fighting for their lives. The archer kills one gnoll archer but is wounded by another. The conjurer heals himself while the ranger and the barbarian fight in close combat.

Every body is wounded and the conjurer is out of fight. The situation is desperate.

Another gnoll comes out of nowhere and attacks the archer who shoots and wounds him.

It started raining heavily on turn 7, hindering bow shooting. There is only two turns left to check the clue token and the treasure chest, so the barbarian takes the risk of dashing through the river under the cover of the rain but he is put down by two gnoll archers guarding the bridge.

Then the archer tries behind the barbarian and he passes through unscathed and reaches the clue token on turn nine and finds a scroll.

On turn nine a soldier who escaped from Tor Varden appears, but too late to be of any help.

It is turn ten and the archer has to decide between exiting the table and getting 15 XP or checking the treasure. In the treasure there are gold and gems that allow to rise the level of the barbarian.

 I killed a total of nine gnolls and deciphered the scroll found in the clue token. The giant vulture crossed all the table and escaped unhurt. The conjurer and the barbarian went on full recovery from their wounds and I get a total of 35XP. The party is heading for Tor Varden.

The infected trees

From the book:

"Examining the bodies of the zombies, along with the other clues from the village, left little doubt. The village had been attacked by some horrific species of giant spider, whose venom reanimated the dead. Thankfully, such creatures move slowly. Likely, they will have retreated to the nearest shelter to slowly feast upon the missing villagers. Your duty is clear. Taking just enough time to patch up your wounds, and make a quick pyre for the dead, you set off after the spiders, following their faint, but unique tracks. After nearly a day’s pursuit, the tracks lead into a small forest. Chances are the spiders are not too deep in the woods. You must find them, destroy them and any nests they might have made, and, if you are lucky, rescue any survivors."

 

There are 5 coccons to check (yellow tokens) and 5 giant spiders (from Halloween). Our heroes have to explore the cocoons, burn the infected trees and rescue as many survivors as possible.

The barbarian checks the first coccon and meet a zombie who is quickly dispatched by the archer.

On the right the Ranger meets most of the giant spiders.

A new infected tree is sighted, together with one more giant spider and a treasure.

After killing the first wave of spiders our heroes register another cocoon, but it is too late for the unfortunate victim.

 The barbarian takes down two spiders all by himself but after that he got trapped in some spider webs.

Seeing the area cleared, the archer boldly advances and rescues another villager.

Lo and behold! After spending several turns trying to escape from the sticky spiderweb, the barbarian falls into a new one.

Another survivor is saved.

Again it is too late for one of them.

With all the monsters eliminated, the heroes proceed to burn all the trees before it is too late.

After killing 8 giant spiders and 1 zombie and exploring all 5 coccons and burn the 5 trees, the party got a total of 83 points of experience, reaching 100 points enough to raise some stats and skills.
 

The deserted village

I am revisiting Rangers of the Shadow Deep but in 1/72 scale, my favourite one. I am using miniatures from Caesar, Dark Alliance, Hät, Zvezda and I am also printing those that are not available, like my Ranger character and his dog which are 28mm downscaled models.

Another new thing I'm introducing is a different move and combat system as I am not fond of d20 system.

So the starting band is my Ranger and his four followers, his wardog, a barbarian, an archer, and a conjurer that are visiting a deserted village in search of Aventine, a veteran ranger who disappeared three days ago. The yellow tokens are clues to explore and two of them are inside locked buildings.

My ranger and his trustworthy dog hasten to check the closest clue hidden in the building but they are stopped by giant rats and zombies!

The barbarian charges alone one of the zombies while the archer shoots at them from the centre of the village. The caster runs to help my ranger.

The barbarian easily dispatches with one mighty blow one zombie and then dashes back into a new one to help his comrade.

But more enemies are coming and they both suffer injuries.

 

 

The caster search in the building but only finds some herbs. Disappointed, the ranger rushes towards another clue and he finds a mutilated body with strange bite marks that he does not identify.

Time is running so he quickly goes after the next clue while he dodges zombies, and lets his dog deal with them.

The caster finds a survivor hiding in the bushes!

The ranger is attacked from behind and results wounded by a giant rat.

 

 

He falls back and heals while his dog deals with the evil creature once again, and then he investigates the clue in the tress and finds a treasure!

Time was up before the caster and the survivor could reach to the last clue, and they neither find Aventine nor his sword.

The ranger (I have to put names to all the membes of the band) got 74 experience points and his followers two points each. They also get a healing potion and some iron bark powder.

The alternative combat system responded very well so I am sticking with it for the incoming encounter.