Devilry Afoot: The Beast in the Fog

 Well, I'd had every intention of going to Harlequin and playing Warhammer: The Old World tonight, but I slept really poorly last night and just didn't have the energy to fight rush hour traffic, play a 2 1/2 hour game and then drive home and need to sit up awhile to relax enough to try sleeping. I did still want to get some gaming in, however, so I cleared the dining room table and set up for a game of Devilry Afoot.

I couldn't find my roster sheets from last game, so I wrote up some new ones:

• Captain Tennille, a Soldier armed with a sword and musket, with the dark secret Gambler.
• Squire Root, a Gentleman with a sword and lantern, accompanied by his Follower Robert the Musketeer. Root is also a Gambler.
• "Frother" Martin, a Religious hunter armed with a sword, Bible and Hound, with the dark secret Drunkard.
• Goodwife Patience, a Goodwife with a pistol and lantern, with the dark secret Slovenly.

I used the scenario "The Beast in the Fog" from the rulebook, replacing hellhound the scenario calls for with a Werewolf. The scenario would open with four tokens at the corners of the board, each potentially representing the Werewolf; the hunters would be scattered across the board, and a heavy fog would restrict visibility to 4". 

During the first turn, the tokens all moved closer to the hunters, with three of them revealing themselves as decoys. Squire Root and Goodwife Patience moved towards the bridge to rendezvous with their companions; Martin rolled a "1" on his first activation, resulting in his drinking habit leaving him hungover for the duration of the game. Captain Tennille became disoriented in the fog, wandering past the bridge until meeting with Martin. 

On turn 2, the werewolf revealed itself, immediately catching a pistol shot from Goodwife Patience. She rolled phenomenally well for damage, putting three wounds on the monster immediately. It only had 5 wounds to begin with, so it was well on its way to being defeated.

Maddened by its injury, the werewolf charged Patience, but failed to successfully hit her and turned and fled back towards the shadows. Recovering its composure, the werewolf turned back around and leapt at Squire Root, killing the gentleman instantly and sending Robert the Musketeer fleeing off the board.

Captain Tennille charged on to the bridge, firing his musket from the top of the arch (mea culpa - I forgot about the 4" visibility limit) and putting a fourth wound on the werewolf. The beast towards the nearest shadows it could hide in, and then leapt on to the bridge, attacking Martin, who had just staggered up level with the Captain. Wounding the preacher, the werewolf then changed its tactics; it gave voice to a devilish howl, intimidating Martin into fleeing while the Captain struck at the werewolf ineffectively with his sword. 

The werewolf used its intimidating howl again, sending the Captain running. Patience was less than impressed, and shot the werewolf in the back at point blank range, killing the beast. 

The surviving hunters divided up the 60 shilling reward for killing a werewolf between the three of them. Martin, having been wounded but survived, is now infected with lycanthropy. Fortunately, for the low, low price of 20 shillings and a handful of hair off the werewolf that bit him, a cure can be brewed! 

This was a great way to spend the evening, and I'm really glad I was able to get some gaming in after all. I've also submitted to run demos of Devilry Afoot at the next Wargames Among the Warplanes show in September, so this was good practice for that as well. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Looting the Secondhand Bin at my FLGS...Again

 My wife is a generous god. Today is our wedding anniversary, and we both scheduled ourselves off work with plans to visit a local greenhouse/conservatory that is having a butterfly exhibition. Unfortunately, it's extremely hot today and Gina's MS flares up when she overheats - so between the fact that it's a bit of a hike from parking to the greenhouse and it's a hot, steamy greenhouse, we decided it might not be in our best interest to go today. Instead, she proposed we take a trip to Harlequin Hobby - I'd been wanting to check their collection of decal sheets for some Orc/Ork decals, and with her blessing I also spent some time digging through the file boxes of secondhand figures. I came away with some real goodies!

First up, another blister pack of old metal Night Goblin fanatics, as well as a metal Black Orc standard bearer that had been converted by a previous owner with a resin head. A vintage Orc Shaman and a goblin with a flail that was I think originally a Heartbreaker miniature. 

When I went to pay for these (as well as my sheet of Ork decals), she insisted on treating me. 

Why yes, I did marry out of my league. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Old World Wednesday #1: 4-Way Battle

 Last night, I played in my first "real" game of Warhammer: The Old World. Readers might recall I played a 500-pt "learning" game back in April. Yesterday was the inaugural "Old World Wednesdays" at Harlequin Hobby; I brought a thousand points of my Oldhammer Orcs & Goblins, and met up with three other guys for a 2 vs 2 game.

Besides myself, there was:

• Reece, with 1000 pts of Beastman Bray-Herds
• Vinnie, with 1000 pts of legacy Skaven
• Derek, with 1000 pts of Orcs & Goblins!

Derek and I teamed up on one side of the board, our armies complementing each other nicely, and being similarly comprised of older models with paper banners. Reece and Vinnie deployed opposite us. We picked a mission from the new Matched Play book; both sides deployed on a diagonal with victory points scored based on units in proximity to the tower at the center of the table.

Also pictured - my original Warhammer dice from 2001!

We didn't manage to finish the game before the store had to close for the night, but we had a great time along the way. Some highlights:

• I cast the spell "Foot of Gork" right off the bat, instantly eliminating Reece's "Razorgor" under the stomping fury of a spectral green foot. The spell was not dispelled all game, and after multiple semi-effectual stomps on Reece's Dragon Ogres, it turned around and stomped half of Derek's Black Orcs out of existence! Oops!
• Reece had deployed two regiments of beastmen one in front of the other; I used my Doom Diver catapult to target the front regiment, and managed to land a direct hit. It scored enough casualties that the survivors needed to make a panic test - which they failed, despite having their general with them. The front unit turned and fled into the back unit, forcing it to take a panic test as well, which it also failed, sending them fleeing as well. They managed to rally before they fled off the table, but it still put them out of position and on the back foot for the next two turns. 
• A unit of Stormvermin charged into Derek's Night Goblins; they managed to survive the initial charge and deployed their Fanatics directly into the massed Skaven. 

This game was everything I ever dreamed of a game of Warhammer being when I first came into the hobby in 2001. I was entranced by Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th edition, though I never managed to build an army or play a game at the time. The sportsmanship and camaraderie on display last night was second to none. We were all laughing at the Foot of Gork every turn, and we were all reading and interpreting the rules collaboratively to ensure no one was unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged. 

With this game I also feel like I finally hit a point where I was thinking and playing tactically, instead of hoping for the best while spinning in place playing the Major General's Song on a kazoo. Getting a perfect shot with my Doom Diver catapult that sent two regiments of beastmen fleeing in panic is going to carry me for a while. 

It ended up being a much later night out than I've had in a very long time, so this morning necessitated twice the coffee as usual to get me into some semblance of functional humanity, but I'm glad I did it, and I can't wait for next week's game. 

Returning to The Old World

 I got invited to a group chat organizing regular games of Warhammer: The Old World at my local game store. The people in the group seem nice and are painting their miniatures - and playing at a points value where I'm not going to destroy my back lugging my all-metal orcs and goblins to the store. 

So I sat down and sorted out a 1000-pt army that should be relatively well balanced. I asked for a little bit of help on Reddit, given my past experiences with being left to my own devices to build army lists. If all goes according to plan I'll be playing games on both Wednesday and Thursday this week - and with my wife's blessing and encouragement, no less! 

Da Pig Hussas - 5 Orc Boar Boyz (Big'uns), with full command, cavalry spears and shields. Standard bearer has the enchanted Banner of Butchery and the leader is wearing a 'Eadbuttin' 'At.

Dem Wots Got Stickas - 20 Night Goblins (pretend they have hooded cloaks) with shortbows, hiding two manic Fanatics in their ranks. Next to them is Wee Whistle, a Level 3 Night Goblin shaman.

Da Red Bastids - 25 Orc Boyz with hand weapons and shields and a full command.

Harboth's Orc Archers - 15 Orc Boyz with warbows, shields and full command. Behind them is a Doom Diver catapult with an Orc Bully to improve morale.

Big Boss Yorzolg - Orc Big Boss, army general, great weapon, Trollhide Trousers and a Charmed Shield on a Boar Chariot.

How they're shown here is more or less my plan for deployment as well, though if I can put the Doom Diver Catapult on a hill I will do so. Hopefully the Pig Hussas and Yorzolg can hit some enemy units in the flanks and cause some extra damage that way while the orcs soak up some charges and the Night Goblins...well, they're mainly there to launch the ultra-destructive and uncontrollable fanatics into the center of the table. 

Finished: Orc Shaman on War Wyvern (Marauder Miniatures 1992)

 I haven't figured out banners for him that I like, but I'm calling this figure done for now.

This feels like a recruitment poster for being an orc. And honestly, I think the finished figure came out even better than I'd hoped; the yellow skin, the fade to red on the tail, the striping, the tigerskin saddle, the orange mohawk on the helmet, the tarnished bronze bits. I feel really good calling this a centerpiece model. 

I'm counting this as five models for the purposes of tracking - the wyvern, the rider, and the three "Lesser Goblins" on the base. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 115

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Wyvern Finished!

 I'm proud to announce I've finished the Wyvern half of my Marauder Orc Shaman on War Wyvern. Though I might go back in and re-do the eyes - the yellow pupil is too close to the yellow scales. Now, just need to finish the rider and a trio of snotlings for the base, then flocking and flags!

Once this is finished, I have a unit of Orc Big'uns that I started base-coating skin tones on that I'll focus on, followed by another big centerpiece-y kind of model - a Black Orc Warboss riding in a boar chariot. That's going to be a beast of a model, potentially even heavier than this wyvern! 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 115

Figures Painted in 2025: 117

Lucky Finds at my FLGS

 My area has an absurd number of gaming-related stores. To the point where most of them have needed to engage in some degree of niche specialization to remain viable and not overwhelm the environment. So much like the finches of the Galapagos islands, we have game stores that focus primarily on board games, stores that cater to the collectible card gamer, a few big generalists who have been here the longest. One store also runs Escape Rooms to differentiate themselves. 

My game store of choice, Harlequin Hobby, is almost exclusively a wargaming store. They have a little bit of shelf space dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons and board games, but mostly it's wargaming, with the various Games Workshop games and Battletech getting the most real estate, but a decent selection of Warlord Games offerings for Bolt Action, Pike & Shotte, and Hail Caesar. 

They also have an unbelievable treasure trove of secondhand goods. I think the owner might buy job lots on eBay to supplement old stuff that gamers unload in exchange for store credit to spend on the latest Warhammer releases. There's an entire shelving unit of file boxes; a lot of the relatively recent Games Workshop stuff that's been sold back is sorted by faction for browsers' convenience, but the real motherlode for me are the boxes labeled simply "Fantasy."

I've managed to dig a handful of vintage GW (and competitors!) orcs and goblins out of there, treasures of the early 90s for the most part. There's also a shelf of secondhand rulebooks and supplements.

I stopped by the store yesterday morning because I knew they'd gotten some 6th edition Warhammer goblins in that I wanted to maybe lay claim to. I walked out with more than I'd anticipated. 

I got my blister pack of Night Goblin Fanatics (only 2 in the blister - maybe from 7th or 8th edition? In 6th they were 3 to a pack...) and a 5th edition Warhammer Battle Book, which looks like it was included in the Warhammer Fantasy Battles starter boxed set for that edition. It's got an overview of the hobby written by Rick Priestley, painting guides, an overview of the different armies available, and a series of scenarios to play beyond simple pitched battles. And it's in almost mint condition! I couldn't believe they only wanted $15 for it, so I quickly snapped it up. 

There were more goblins I could have gotten...should get...I may go back for those later this week or, more likely, see if they're still there after I get my next paycheck. They must be mine...

Figures Purchased in 2025: 115

Figures Painted in 2025: 116