Friday 26 January 2018

Flamethrower and Panzerschreck

So been working through my Fallschirmjager - a little each night. As such I've got a couple more teams finished up.


 So I completed 4 more figures - I'm going for a bit of a mix of equipment with sand, luftwaffe blue and camouflaged helmets. I've also found that the metal figures are still a lot nicer to paint as well as feeling more solid in hand.

As with my previous models I've gone for a dusty outcrop type look to resemble these troops as they fought in southern Italy and Sicily. However despite previous posts to the contrary I've decided I will do some models with Panzerfausts to give me some more flexibility.




Panzerschreck team which for a veteran force is a whopping 104 points! Is this worthwhile in a low points game - hopefully find out soon.

On the other hand, including a flamethrower within a Fallschimpionier squad as part of an assault squad seems very cost effective. I really like how the bases have come out on these - the dust really helps to give depth.

Hopefully I will get a few more done this weekend as well as a few reinforcements to come. Handan are coming round tonight so should have a game report as well.

Wednesday 24 January 2018

WIP Flamethrower

So just a short one but wanted to share my recent Fallschirmjager advances. I'm still moving towards completing this (as a primarily if not solely infantry force) and hope to play a game shortly. I need to buy a couple more squads of infantry to flesh it out especially as I'm looking at incorporating an engineer squad in support as initially at least I'm going to avoid Panzerfausts as most reports I've read suggest they didn't have them in Italy in 1943.

As such here is the first member of that squad - he's not quite finished (still needs a dry dust).
Sorry about the awful picture quality - I'll try and get some better pictures soon as well as hopefully a battle report.

Friday 19 January 2018

Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of The Dragon Queen) Act 1 Scene 1 Part 2 - I...do...not...do...Lightning!

***SPOILERS AWARE FOR THOSE CONSIDERING PLAYING THIS ADVENTURE!!!***

We left our heroes inside the keep at Greenest, recovering from their rescue of the villagers in the Temple (well half of them). After a short rest they were ready to emerge to the news that it appeared the cultists were attempting to set fire tot he towns mill. As the towns primary food source it was imperative this was dealt with.

Despite having being hinted at that there were no dwarven cultists, Ulla continued to try to deceive kobold groups around the town that they were with them. This (surprisingly) didn't work and they were forced to fight. This unnecessary distraction delayed them so that reinforcements may have arrived at the mill!

They sneaked up towards the mill and took cover behind a fence. After a while of viewing the mill - it appeared as if the 4 cultists on guard were making a show of lighting the building - setting fire to hay and outbuildings. As such our party managed to isolate one of the cultists on his rounds and managed to defeat them fairly quickly. However they (thanks to an appalling stealth roll on my part) managed to notice that there were multiple occupants of the mill.

These 3 Guards and 3 Cultists attacked the party and it looked ominous. Ulla had take multiple hits, and Phanny was looking hurt. Fortunately at that moment, a monk who'd been hiding across the way decided to assist - launching his spear into a guard and following it up with a flurry of blows. This interjection was enough for the party to defeat their enemies and defend the mill until reinforcements arrived to relieve them.

Dawn was now approaching as our adventurers made a final climb up the keep's walls. The cultists gathered their caravan of loot up and Langdedrosa - a blue half-dragon approached a dragon with a band of cultists dragging a young family behind him. Offering to release the family as long as someone faced him, Ulla was persuaded to face him. After one strike of his axe simply bounced off the scales of his enemy - Ulla was knocked out with a blast of lightning which nearly killed him outright from Langdedrosa's breath attack.

With this the cultists left (releasing the family) and Ulla was restored by the town's healers and was given 2 potions of healing.

And with that they reached Level 2!

***SPOILERS OVER***

We also managed to get in a game of Ticket to Ride - bit rusty but as with all European games it was close and I really didn't know who was going to win especially not myself coming from behind to win on longest route!

Thursday 4 January 2018

Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of The Dragon Queen) Act 1 Scene 1 Part 1 - Cultists, Cultists Everywhere





Image result for hoard of the dragon queen
So I persuaded JT and HanDan to give DnD a go (well JT has played before but this was HanDan's first go).  JT portrayed a Dwarven Paladin (who had been abandoned at a young age to live with the wolves!), the Han part of Handan played a Half-Elf Rogue (with very little memory of anything which had happened previously) and Dan was a High Elf Wizard (with comparatively little backstory - yet).

***SPOILERS AWARE FOR THOSE CONSIDERING PLAYING THIS ADVENTURE!!!***

Having run through the basic concepts, we entered the adventure with the party approaching the quiet town of Greenest. Unfortunately for our brave adventurers the town wasn't as quiet as advertised as a large Blue Dragon crackled with electrical energy in the skies overhead as cultists looted and burnt the buildings that they were approaching.

Sneaking into town they came across a family being chased by a group of kobolds. Being relativity inexperienced in real life combat, they took some hits before being able to dispatch the creatures. The parents of this family - Cuth and Linan - advised them to head for the keep.

Image result for greenest
Map courtesy of Heart of The Realms
On the way there the party defeated a bunch of cultists as stole their cloaks. This allowed them to pass the last obstacle on they way to the keep - unfortunately as they left the cloaks on as they approached the gates, they were nearly skewered by the town guard before managing to persuade them of their intentions.

Tarbaw Nighthill, the governor of Greenest, advised the party of the situation; the keep seemed secure but the cultists were looting and burning the town with the remaining citizens who hadn't escaped to the keep in imminent danger.

The gates were sealed shut now so the party had to make their way out through an old escape tunnel. A swarm of rats was scared off and upon exiting the tunnel they were able to persuade a cultist leader to come over a rise (sending away the rest of his party through the magic of nat 20s) and mugged him (gaining a deed to a piece of land just north of Waterdeep). Taking him back they were able to interrogate him into informing them that the cultists were raising a great hoard for Tiamat - unfortunately they then failed to remember from their learnings who Tiamat was - well that is a tale for another day I guess.

At this moment a crack of thunder signaled that the Blue Dragon was attacking, racing up to the rampant, our party arrived just in time to see a lightning bolt strike the wall and throw many of the defenders into the air. Realizing that they had no hope against this monstrosity they pulled the wounded down and reported again to the Governor. He advised that many of the citizens had barricaded themselves into the town's temple - could our heroes help?

Well having defeating the guards at the back door they broke into the temple and were unable to persuade the townsfolk to calm down from the frenzy they had got into. However they received assistance from the priest and evacuated everyone shortly before the cultists smashed down the door. Our heroes persuaded the cultists that they were with them before scarpering off after the refugees.

In one final bloody battle they cut a path through one final bunch of cultists (including saving Wisdom saving throws on multiple occasions to save against Command) and escaped to the Keep. And there we left it.

***SPOILERS OVER***

Sorry if that is all a bit garbled but I wanted to make sure I had a synopsis in a safe place. I hope to get better at the writing out as I do it more. 

On a side note I also am looking at painting plans for 2018. At the moment I am considering 52 bases in the year - we'll see.