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!

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

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.

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.

Five Tribes

Another game night with HanDan and this time they provided (really have converted them). Five Tribes is a game with multiple ways to score points and a genuine uncertainty as to the eventual winner. Initially it is a bit overwhelming with the various things that can be done and I seriously messed up my first turn through misunderstanding but hey-ho. Its happened the other way round plenty of times.

Having missed out on getting the genie (which gives you the opportunity to get more genies) I went for a strategy getting as many resources as possible. Again I misunderstood as I thought you couldn't get points beyond your first set. But hey-ho despite all this I got a semi respectable score and I can agree that it is a fun game which doesn't last too long.

My 8 Different Resources

The quality of everything is top notch and is comparable to the other Days of Wonder games we own (Ticket to Ride).

Also confirmed details for when we are playing D&D with us playing Hoard of the Dragon Queen. As such we shall have:

DB as a High Elf Wizard

JT as a Dwarf Paladin

HH as a Half-Elf Rogue

My back up character for when shit gets real is a Tiefling Monk armed with a Yari Spear.

Everything That's Happened

I've more models to show including the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great as well as a few more Frostgrave minis. These will be on here soon along with the below village tiles when completed.

In the meanwhile I haven't played many wargames but myself and JT have a got a new boardgame couple in HanDan. Been playing a few goodies which we haven't been able to just between us such as Battlestar Galactica - bit of a brain spin for JT. Game of Thrones as gone down well and the mechanics are good - only issue is that by trying to stay true to the books/series - its made an uneven game.

Finally last night we had a quick run through of Lobositz - removing a few models and shrinking the battlefield. AE played Austrians and DB assisted me running the Prussians. It was like hitting my head against a brick wall - sunken roads are really powerful and Alex just kept subbing units in whenever I caused a minor breakthrough. The historical set up shouldn't be so bad as I'd shrunk the battlefield significantly which allowed the Austrians to gather tight and be a very difficult force to break.

One query I have for anyone who's done V&B for Seven Years War - is most cavalry supposed to be Linear or massed - they seemed really weak last night - other than the Austrian Horse Grenadiers who destroyed everything in front of them.

To come, more pictures, hopefully a game of Rommel next week and some more board game adventures!

Star Realms

Since seeing this on Tabletop, JT and I have been playing this 3 games at a time pretty much every other night. It's addictive. But last night something happened which I thought I'd quickly share:

Before I show you, let me tell you how Star Realms works. Starting with a basic deck you recruit new units to improve you deck so that you can defend yourself and attack with increasing ferocity. Each turn you draw 5 cards (this is the key point) and then recruit, attack and use any other abilities those cards my include. One of these abilities is to draw more cards, in some cases 2 cards.

Somehow JT ended up with the below as her hand on one turn:

Yes that is 16 cards 

I was on the verge of victory before this :(

In other news, I've completed the last Hussar base for the Austrians; now just got Dragoons and Kuirassiers. Hopefully will get somewhere with those tonight.

WIP - A Certain Drow Rogue

So I've posted a couple of times about Sch'yyrk Revan'tyl - well I've finally started with a fig for him (which I will also use as an Assassin in Frostgrave). The model came in the Nickstarter for the Barbarian expansion for Frostgrave and I've converted to be a bloke and also to be holding a shortsword rather than a wand. Still needs washes and highlighting as well as basing but here it is so far,

The mottled cloak with wolf pelt above - may have overdone the dry brushing on the pelt - or it might be the picture

I might repaint the under layers a darker colour - maybe even black. The sword will also be darkened when I apply some gunmetal.

I'm going to go through my Frostgrave/DnD minis and see if I have enough for a couple of 4 point warbands for SAGA - me and JT are really enjoying The Last Kingdom; Episode 3 really was epic - and it might be an excuse to get her into something different.

I've also completed a couple of Grenzer skirmish stands - more are following as well as Hungarians and Grenadiers.

Banal Grenzers

Austrians so far

This Sunday is the first league game for Morecambe Bay Storm, hopefully (signal permitting) you should be able to follow the score here.

New Season Ahead

So as I've said previously, I'm not currently affiliated with any club due to the fact that I am focusing on American Football with Morecambe Bay Storm and the season starts this weekend coming. As such I will probably be slowing down on here (can it get slower?) so that when I'm not training or playing I can spend time with kids and JT. If you want to follow us live the scores will be on ScoreStream (signal dependent) and I'd imagine on twitter too.

Even still I will keep plodding through with the armies I have and trying to get them done - terrain might be a job to do when we have "messy time" with kids. I have some ruined buildings I want to get painted - some for Frostgrave, others for Italy/Sicily.

Yesterday I received my FeldHerr carry case I've bought for my Bolt Action Force - fits all of what I've got with space left in my figures row as well as over half the space left in the vehicles row. My rulebooks fit in the front so all in all very happy. Also frees up a really useful box which I can use for my Russian 10mm Regiment.

I'm going to put up for sale a few of my bits and pieces - this includes my Dystopian Wars German Fleet plus Zeppelins. and depending on funds raised this may go towards opposing forces for something I've got or something new.

As such, was just looking at Age of Sigmar purely out of curiosity. I like the idea of it all but then I saw the price of the models and was really confused by how you make up your army? As in points value etc? Am I missing something? Minis do look stunning though.

Lobositz is still the focus - still going at this unit by unit - now got 6 Austrian Infantry Regiments done as well as a Grenzer skirmish base. I also would like to play in a DnD campaign - but unless someone is willing to come and DM at my house I really can't see that happening.

Storage Needed

Another update; damaged my shoulder at weekend (no idea how but stabbing pains aren't good for Football or painting), so a week missing training ahead (not happy).

Need some bigger storage

Having said all that, the missus was down at Watford all weekend to visit Harry Potter World so after fun filled days with the kids I managed to get a bit more painting done. Finished off the last of the Prussian Infantry I need and got an Austrian unit done. Still got Prussian Dragoons and I need to order some more Kuirassiers.

Austrian 1st Infantry Regiment

Couple of things realised; Austrians will have Imperial Yellow colours for odd numbered regiments and white for even (for variety; there is more odd numbered at Lobositz so still majority Yellow).

Also how little infantry (or how much cavalry?) did the Prussians have had Lobositz; including the Grenadiers that is 13 stands of infantry as opposed to about the same Cavalry!

I also am running out of bases - fortunately I ordered a load more last week and hopefully will have enough then.

The remaining bases

Trying to arrange a D&D night but no go as yet. Got a group we're doing Lost Mines of Phandelver with - otherwise I want to start a campaign doing either Hoard of Dragon Queen or Storm King's Thunder if anyone is interested on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or at a push Sunday night in Lancaster (comment below).

Post Weekend

Another Regiment done (27th I think this time) and I've got a couple more most of the way there.

Prussians WIP

Saturday me and the missus played a couple of games of Ticket to Ride, both of which were really close. Looking forward to giving this the 4 player treatment it deserves.

Then Sunday it was back to Morecambe Bay Storm after not being able to go for various reasons. Still a bit short of babysitter help (missus is off to Harry Potter World next weekend the lucky duck) so can't make next Sunday but I'm there again tonight and hope to arrange to get the odd Wednesday in if I can persuade my mum to have the kids. I promise I'm not palming them off by the way :P

Prussian Army Update

This is taking a while - with an hour here and an hour there though I'm getting there. I've done the other 2 artillery batteries and have added colours to another 3 Infantry Regiments. So I'm getting there and I've prepped the Austrians ready for undercoating. Also realised that I'm short 3 Infantry Regiments for the Austrians even I used all of the Hungarians (only 2 present at Lobositz) which is a bit of a pain.

13th IR, 17th IR, 20th IR

I managed to get a decent "furl" on my colours by using Loctite and shaping whilst dried. With Lobositz being the first battle of the war I'm going to keep the colours intact rather than shredding them as I would further in or with larger models. I picked whether to chose the "Leib" or "Regimental" colour purely on which one stood out most.

6 Regiments of Infantry backed by 2 Grenadier Regiments

I've also got the artillery done and I think it looks good - I've removed a member off one of the battalions (its not as if it looks short) to use as part of a command stand. When I do the bases on these I'll add some extra fences and things as well as wheel ruts.

Gunners!

I thought I'd get a picture showing where I'm up to - to be honest it doesn't do justice, I've done work on most of the rest of the Prussians.

The Army so far (Kuirassiers to right, solitary unit of Hussars to rear)

To recap I still need the following to finish up for Lobositz (besides painting what I have already):

• 1 Pack Austrian Infantry
• 1 Pack Prussian Kuirassiers
• 1 Pack Generals
• At least 2 packs of 3"x 1.5" bases (not sure how many I have left)
• 1 pack 1.5"x 1.5" bases for Grenzers
• Bases for command Stands

See how much this will cost (don't think a huge amount) after I've paid for massed family birthdays as well as mother's day (fortunately already got one of these decided upon with order sat ready to confirm on pay day!

This weekend I'm hoping to play DnD with a group I mentioned and we recorded our session (although I'm not sure who has it). We may be a member down so Schy'yrk may get a run out after I was unable to join in that game :( as a guide? to the party.

Valentine's Day

So it's the 14th February, the day predescribed to show the one you're with how much you care etc. I'm no good at showing that stuff and I tend to show it at random indeterminate times and certainly not enough. But hey, enough about that - today's entry.

Seen on Facebook

As a matter of point - I just had a look at on this day and frankly its a depressing day - the majority of events are not pleasant (e.g Bombing of Dresden) although if you're looking for a games night with your other half (good luck with that one) - there was always the Battle of Cape St. Vincent back in 1797. Ooh found one - Bolero happened back in 1984!

Anyway, I'm getting there with Project Lobositz - painted 13/32 stands of my Prussians of what I have although I need another pack of Kuirassiers. I've also finally got some bronze paint so the artillery can get done and hopefully should be a quick job.

Prussian Field Pieces

Prussian Artillery Uniform

Again got to thank those at Kronoskaf for their collection of data. It's truly incredible everything they've collected.

Just need to find a job where I can use these research skills to good use.

Frostgrave - Standard Deployment (2)

Got some laser cut mdf building ruins in a bundle and we gave our Frostgrave warband another run out. We decided to just do another throw down game (although I'm determined to play some alternative scenarios considering I know have them all printed and put in a folder). Again the game was close although repeated use of telekinesis, teleport and leap really mixed it up.

Set Up

I really need to get some better pictures taken - also need a grey sheet or something. Anyhow this game really was a mad dash to run for the treasure, spells were going off left right and centre, although I've agreed to let JT rechoose her spells as shes currently got no offensive spells and far too many out of game spells (which we both forgot about). Before this I had purchased a tracker (as I had one painted), and having closer to parity on numbers really helped.

All in all I think we're both still enjoying it although I think we might give the Dark Alchemy campaign a go or maybe the new Ambronnax Campaign from the Forgotten Pacts book.

Roughing it out for the last few treasures

After all of that we both got 3 treasures, although Jade was a lot luckier with KO results having no ongoing effects compared to me losing my archer as well as a badly wounded Apprentice.

Blue Sapphire (Update)

Wizard Romanoff Apprentice Zito - KO (Recovered)Elgiva the Archer - KO (Recovered)Gerard the Crossbowman - KO (Recovered)Guy the Infantryman - KO (Recovered)Etheldreda the ThiefFaramond the ThugAnsger the ThugSedemay the Treasure Hunter - KO (Recovered)Osgyth the War Hound - KO (Recovered)

Cast 6 Spells and Carried off 3 Treasure = 210 XP (460 XP)200 GC2 Grimoires - Steal Health, Elemental ShieldMagical Weapon/Armour - Magical Shield (+1)Base: InnL4 (increased 2 levels) (increase ?and?) 
Purchased 1 Archer (-50GC) = Current Gold 360GC

Gronn Flamme

Wizard Heimr
Apprentice Baldr - KO (Badly Wounded)
Aylwin the Archer - KO (DEAD)
Walburga the Infantryman
Wulfhild the Infantryman
Goldwin the Infantryman
Bathsheba the Man-At-Arms- KO (Recovered)
Diggory the Thug

Aslak the Tracker

Cast 8 Spells, Carried off 3 Treasure, 1 Kill by Wizard) = 270 XP (590 XP)
450 GC
3 Scrolls - (Plague of Insects, Imp, Spell Eater)
Magical Item - Ring of Protection (+1)
L5 (increased 2 levels) (increase ?and?)

Purchased 1 Archer (-50GC) + Recovered Apprentice (-100GC) = Current Gold 400GC

On a side note it also turns out that model ruins are great to get the eldest interested. Maybe not but can but hope :p

Boardgames and How to Win Them

So last night, I played a couple of games with JT and her sister; 2 rounds of Ticket to Ride and a round of Lords of Waterdeep. And by luck and/or skill (mostly luck I think) I won all 3 - also NO DICE WERE INVOLVED!

As such I just wanted to share my tactics as they apply to these games (although many of the themes can apply to any game or scenario).

Ticket to Ride

1. Don't be afraid to get rid of a ticket. At the start of Ticket to Ride, you get 3 destination tickets. First of all work out how these routes could work together and if they don't get rid of one.
2. Have a clear plan. How are you going to complete (and connect your routes)? This gives you an idea of what colours you need to collect as well as what routes are vital to you (and which ones have multiple options).
3. Flexibility. Don't be afraid to change your route. You have an original plan but if your heading into traffic then go elsewhere if you can.
4. Keep them guessing. Start at one end of a route and go to the other end. This ties up one end of your route, stops you having to take detours if a gap you've left is filled, and hopefully makes your route more likely to be continuous (for longest route).
5. Zero points is sometimes the best place to be! Well for the early game anyway, the longer you can afford to just be collecting resources without playing the better - this ties into all the previous points and if you collect the right cards means you can then claim route after route and complete your tickets before anyway has opportunity to react.

Lords of Waterdeep

Lords of Waterdeep should be played in a similar way except for the following:

1. Play quests. Unlike ticket to ride, other players can interact with your resources so just stockpiling isn't as much of an option. Also quests have instant rewards (resources) as well as ongoing effects.
2. Only play your quest types. Unless there is a significant positive effect (ongoing effects etc) then don't play quests which aren't of your type. Our game was so close until we started counting up our "Lord" points. At this point I got 40 points and flew away!

So there's my short hints and tips section on these two games - any other advice from people would be appreciated.

Frostgrave - Standard Deployment

So me and the missus played a throw down game of Frostgrave; half the minis are unpainted, the other half need the bases doing, some scenery is built but part painted and we found didn't have nearly enough - so might just buy a few bits to tie me over (just not enough time to do everything I want to!).

Anyway my Gronn Flamme boys took on JT's lads in a free for all - 6 treasure in the buildings and see what happens.

I can report (as I did after the game I played at the club) that the mindset has to be different to a traditional wargame mind (especially one like mine which tends to play larger scale games). Its a raid - get what you want and get out. This mindset was there for Jade and she managed to quickly get the 3 on her side of the table. Meanwhile my apprentice (with half of my smaller warband) took up position on a small hill with a great field of fire - unfortunately not really covering any tokens and only really good if enemy were coming to attack me. Eventually the removal of thugs to carry off her treasure whittled her strength down and I was able to cause some casualties with my better quality soldiers including my wizard laying the smackdown on her wizard.

I promise next time to have some pictures of the game but here are the results (for housekeeping if nothing else). Can I say although I was lucky in game with some of my combat rolls, JT rolled incredibly for recovery.

Blue Sapphire (Update)

Wizard Romanoff - KO (Recovered)
Apprentice Zito
Elgiva the Archer
Gerard the Crossbowman - KO (Recovered)
Guy the Infantryman - KO (Recovered)
Etheldreda the Thief
Faramond the Thug
Ansger the Thug
Sedemay the Treasure Hunter
Osgyth the War Hound - KO (Recovered)

Cast 4 Spells and Carried off 4 Treasure = 250 XP
210 GC
Magic Weapon/Armour - Mail Armour
Magical Item - Horn of Destruction
3 Scrolls - (Leap, Furious Quill, Illusionary Soldier)
L2 (increase Fight and Health)

Gronn Flamme

Wizard Heimr
Apprentice Baldr
Aylwin the Archer
Walburga the Infantryman
Wulfhild the Infantryman
Goldwin the Infantryman
Bathsheba the Man-At-Arms
Diggory the Thug

Cast 3 Spells, Carried off 2 Treasure, 1 Kill by Wizard, Wizard killed Wizard = 320 XP
180 GC
3 Potions - (Teleportation, Invisibility x2)
Grimoire - (Enchant Armour)
L3 (increase Fight and Health, Learn Enchant Armour from Grimoire)

Needs for next game; Choose Base of Operations, Reinforcements (Paint), Get more scenery, Make Spell Cards, Make Quick Reference Sheets (I've got some somewhere)

Frostgrave Scenery Update

Months ago when I ordered my bases for my Seven Years War and WW2 things I also ordered some larger bases to make scenery for 28mm (ruins), mostly for Frostgrave. I'm experimenting with these at moment but I've already decided that I definitely want to make a few more. This is where I'm up to so far:

This one will have a reasonably significant bit of flooring in the far taller corner.

The black painted one in the background is the one shown previously but painted with its undercoat.

Part Painted Thug for scale

The walls are stuck with lots and lots of PVA - I'm not bothered about drips as I'm going to texture the bases anyway.

Pringles!

This one will have to be well painted to cover the bright colours - but then it isn't as thick anyway so probably needs it anyway for some rigidity. This one is going to have 2 partial floors (just enough to stand on) and some remnants of stairs (using lollipop sticks).

This final one is at a slightly later stage with filler added to texture and represent rubble. It also has a partial floor (with a small window to shoot from).

I want to make a few more unique buildings: religious building, fountains, pillars,

I also have played a couple of games of X-Wing with the missus. Was enjoyed; quick start game was stupidly quick and the second with full rules (and boosting up to 32 points) was really long with Luke combined with R2-D2 being seemingly impossible to shoot down. Going to buy another ship each: probably a Y-Wing and a TIE Interceptor to add to the fun - unless others have better suggestions?