Zombie Hunter Ashlee & Fantasy Cultist

Thought I'd get these two quickies cataloged before the turn of the year:

Hasslefree Miniatures "Ashlee Campbell". This figure now seems to be a standard "must have" for any zombie gamer and its easy to see why. I'm not entirely happy with some of the finish of my painting here close up. She's a lovely simple model to paint and I think there-in lies the problem for me. But all said and done she'll still look great on the table.

This young lady has been sitting on the paint table in various states of (un)paint for literally years. She comes from Alternative Armies fantasy range but no longer seems to appear on their website so I can't tell you exactly which range. The sculpt is a bit old school (with strange bulging eyes) but it's such a nice scenario model (there's bound to be an altar near when she's put on the table) that I've never put her back in the unpainted tin.

Gladiators - Month 1 (part 2)

A slight festive season induced delay to the write-up - apologies.

Balbillus (Rep 4 Retiarus) vs Rep 3 Murmillo

Turn 1: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

• All advance full movement

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus advance to 7" distance between fighters
• Murmillo advances 3" (gap now 4")

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

• Murmillo advances 3" - gap now 1"
• Retiarus retreats 2" and makes a net attack
• The Murmillo is ensnared and pulled to the ground face-down.
• The retiarus makes an immediate follow-up attack and wounds the murmillo in the back
• the murmillo manages to roll face-up

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Retiarus(12), Murmillo(19), Init Murmillo

• The murmillo stands up and attempts to break melee
• But in the initial melee the retiarus makes a hit in the belly. Not wounding but enough to knock the murmillo back down to the ground, face up.
• The retiarus makes an immediate follow up attack, hitting in the chest, not wounding but allowing a draining follow up attack.
• The retiarus hits, wounding the murmillo in the chest. This second wound to the upper torso proves fatal, and Balbillus is victor.(+3AP, +3 Fame)

Caecilianus (Rep 3 Dwarf Hoplomachus) vs Rep 4 Provocator

Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Provocator(20)

•  both advance towards each other

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Provocator(20), Init Provocator

• Provocator advances 3"
• Hoplomachus advances to a 1" gap and attacks with his spear
• The attack hits the Provocator in the upper left leg, not wounding but knocking him to the ground (face up)
• The Hoplomachus follows up with an immediate attack, but with not effect.

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(8), Provocator(13), Init Hoplomachus

• Hoplomachus attack hits in the belly, not wounding but causing the Provocator to roll to the right half an inch.
• The Provocator now stands and attacks
• but is himself wounded in the upper left leg and knocked to the ground
• The Hoplomachus makes a quick follow-up attack which makes no strike but exhausts the Provocator - Caecilianus is declared victor (+8 AP, +8 Fame)

Dacien (Rep 4 Thraex) vs Rep 3 Murmillo

Turn 1: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

• Both gladiators moves towards each other full movement.

 Turn 2: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

•  Murmillo advances full distance
• Thraex holds his ground.

Turn 3: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

•  Murmillo moves forward full movement
• Thraex moves forward and engages, hitting him in the lower left leg with no wound, but knocking him to the ground (face up)
• The Thraex makes an immediate follow-up attack, but it has not effect.

Turn 4: Thraex(13), Murmillo(9), Init Thraex

• The Thraex attacks, wounding in the left arm, with the Murmillo rolling  1" to the left
• The Murmillo stands and attacks, but is himself hit in the head. There is no wound but he is knocked to the ground and surrenders spent.
• Dacien is declared winner (+3AP, +3 Fame)

Eborius (Rep 4 Provocator) vs Rep 3 Hoplomachus

Turns 1&2: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15)

• Both moved towards each other full allowance finishing 7" apart.

Turn 3: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15), Init Provocator

• Provacator cautiously moved forward 2"
• Hoplomachus moves a full 3" but is still 2" away.

Turn 4: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15), Init Provocator

• The Provocator moves forward and attacks
• The Hoplomachus is hit and wounded in the lower left leg and falls to the ground (face up)
• The Provocator immediately makes a follow-up attack, hitting in the well helmeted head so not wounding, but enough to allow another attack
• This attack results in a wound to the felled Provocator in the left arm - the provocator collapses spent
• Eborius is declared winner (+3AP, +3 Fame)

Caius says: "A good first foray into the arena. The highlight was of course my vertically challenged Hoplomachus winning well and nearly earning a lucrative laurel wreath - something to keep in mind in future battles. Most of the battles hinged on an all out attack knocking the opponent to the ground, resulting in the other side having a energy (dice pool) sapping fight from the ground. Also with no wounds received all five gladiators are fit to fight next month. We'll see how they fair against their next opponents."

(Total cash : 2960 aurei)

Gladiators - Month 1 Fight 1: Secutor vs Retiarus

And so the Road back to Rome begins with Abercius the Rep 4 Secutor vs Rep 3 NPC Retiarus

I'll note this fight down in a more cold, mechanics demo fashion to show what is rolled, but in future I'll be more narrative in the fight summary.
Turn 1: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• All Move towards each other full move

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarius(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus move to max net range (6") 
• Secutor closes in to 3"

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarus(15), Init Secutor

• Secutor moves in to engage Retiarus in HtH.
• Dice Allocation (DA): Secutor(4), Retiarus(2)
• Secutor Pass 2, Retiarus 0
• Hit scored on chest with a wound (and burn 3 DA) and Retiarus knocked down (burn 1 DA)
• Secutor immediate follow-up attack for a knockdown.
• DA: Secutor(4), Retiarus(2) (Retiarius on ground so burns double, DA = 4)
• Secutor Pass 1, Retiarus 0
• Hit scored on left arm for a wound (and burn 2 DA) and Retiarus rolls 1" to the left (burn 1 DA)
• Retiarus stands (Cost 2" movemnet) and retreats 3"

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Secutor(12),Retiarus(2), Init Secutor

• Secutor advances 3"
• Retiarus - Catch Breath roll Fail, Net Attack roll Fail, Move away 5"

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Secutor(12),Retiarus(2), Init Secutor

• Secutor advances 3"
• Retiarus Catch Breath

Turn 6: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarus(3), Init Retiarus

• Retiarius Catch Breath
• Secutor advance and engage
• DA: Secutor(4), Retiarus(2)
• Secutor Pass 0, Retiarus 1
• Hit scored on Belly but no wound and Secutor gives ground by 1"

Turn 7: Dice Pool: Secutor(7),Retiarus(2), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus Net attack
• DA: Secutor(3), Retiarus(2)
• Secutor pass 3, Retiarus 1
• Secutor cuts net rope tether & Retiarus surrenders spent

As this is in the Empire outer reaches the Retiarus has no survival vote to go through and lives to fight another day. Secutor gains 3AP & 3 Fame points. Caius gets the 100 aurei winners purse.

Looking back at the action notes I can see that I may have messed up the NPC movement in turns 3 & 4 as he would have been retreating at double movement allocation or would have left himself facing away from his opponent in turn 6. Also I don't think the NPC should have caught his breath on Turn 6. Don't think it made any difference to the outcome after the brutal Turn 3 combat which wounded the NPC and burned nearly all his Dice.

Gladiator School Campaign

I've had Two Hour Wargames Red Sand Blue Sky Gladitorial ruleset for a few years now but despite having some figures painted up and even an arena to fight in I never seem to get round to playing any games of it, despite the fact I've enjoyed it couple of trial games I've played. So I've decided to start a solo campaign. Most RSBS campaigns I see on the web follow a single character through their career, so I thought I'd try the alternative campaign and run a school of gladiators. This'll give me several different styles of combatant to use as well as prolong the campaign in the case of some heinous injury. To keep this realistically running as well I'm going to pledge to run at least a month a month, meaning that each real month I'll do at least one round of contests.

I shall play the part of Caius Fatuous . After having rowed Ekonomikrisis's galley round half the Roman Empire I have disembarked to set up a school at the newly constructed arena in Londinium in the outer reaches of the known world - Britannia.

Following the rulebook I start with 5000 aurei. My gladiator stock is limited to Rep 3 & 4 and I've picked a random cross-section of styles to go with a random rep and random rolls for parts of the body where armour can vary. Size was also rolled according to the rulebook. My initial gladiator school thus consists of:

• Abercius: Secutor, Rep 4, Normal Sized, AV 40 - Cost 480   
• Balbillus: Retiarus, Rep 4, Normal Sized, AV 38 - Cost 460   
• Caecilianus: Hoplomachus, Rep 3, Small Sized, AV 46 - Cost 520  
• Dacien: Thraex, Rep 4, Large Sized, AV 47 - Cost 550  
• Eborius: Provoctor, Rep 4, Normal Sized,AV 45 - Cost 530

Total Spend 2540 aurei

As you can see I've only spent half my budget. I need 100 aurei to put into the prize purse per fight and I've left enough to purchase a couple more gladiators should by initial training sessions give unfortunate results. With a bit of luck I'll soon be moving away from these squallid outreaches back towards the glory of Rome.

Street Militia

The modern/horror figure painting continues with a set of 3 organised street militia (Wargames Foundry Mercenary Fire Team).
I had a bash at some Urban Camo for the trousers here for the first time. Had a peek round the web to try and find a nice tutorial but couldn't find any past colour choices and blobbing on a grey base coat. My attempt came out OK, although for future attempts I'll try and leave a bit more white visible.

Dungeons & Dragons the boardgame

With the cold weather outside, and being up in the loft anyway, I thought I'd bring down my copy of the Dungeons And Dragons boardgame to try with Arabiansquire.

At first glance it looks very similar to one of his favourites - HeroQuest, which is a hook right there. As expected though there are a few more progressions from the simple HQ gameplay towards a D&D dungeon crawl. Picking up new items (weapons, artifacts, spells or potions) is one, although I know that in some HeroQuest levels there are new items to pick up, but not many! There is also a strange nod towards to old RPG call of "Roll for initiative" where the initiative order changes every time someone opens a door. Also there are specialised dice for different functions such as fighting, looking for traps, dis-arming traps, etc. Having different dice is a bit clumsy, but I suppose removes the need for looking up target values for a d20.

One the "advanced" side there is a bit of item management, with each character only being able to hold a small number of items and carry a couple of others in a knapsack. Also there is a nice bit of spell point management, meaning the magic users won't be standing at the back blasting away with magic missile all game. The character types are more defined in a D&D style as well with a Warrior, Cleric, Wizard and Thief.

On the down side (for the adventurers) in the game itself there seem to be considerably more traps to be caught up in (and they are auto-hit) and the monsters can not only do damage (Arabiansquire lost 2 of his party on the first game) but they also have multiple hit points, giving them a bit of resilience.

The sections of dungeon have a similar set-up to the HeroQuest book, but the board tiles give a greater flexibility in the dungeon layout. The dungeons also have a level attributed to them, so that the character starting statistics and equipment change as the dungeon is set at a higher level, so in theory you can play the more difficult levels without having had to play through the whole campaign adventure, which is quite nice.

Overall the game was enjoyable, given that it was a first trial play with a new set of rules. The wee lad was a bit luke warm at the end, but I think that was probably due to half his party being beaten and missing out on a room full of treasure chests. He enjoyed the variety of weapons in the same level, the unusual dice and the more defined roles of the party.

Zombie Hunter Ray

It seems like an age since I last posted. Blog update wise it's only been a week but that's mainly due to the scheduling function of Blogger. With the weather hitting central Scotland hard in the fortnight so much my time has been spent clearing snow, worrying about travel,etc that there has been no time for gaming. You'd think being stuck indoors would have the opposite effect, but no. Actually I've not been stuck indoors - I've been shoveling!

Right enough weather whinging.

With the completion of my Cryx Bile Thralls I needed a break from Warmachine, and set upon this excellent mini - Ray from Hasslefree Miniatures. A really joy to paint, not only because I was concentrating on only one figure for a change!

More modern figures are lined up on the painting table as I type...