Frostgrave AAR: The Diabolists of Belphegor vs. Tom's (Yet Unnamed) Dwarves

Tom and I reconvened at long last (our last game was in August) for a friendly Frostgrave match, and being a little more comfortable with the rules, we agreed to begin campaign play against one another (and possibly bringing in a few other people; a store league would be something fun).  We gathered around my dining room table, rolled up a scenario, and set into it.

We ended up playing "The Keep," a scenario marked by a set of four teleportation pads located equidistantly around the center of the table, each with a treasure token to be had on it.  Stepping on one of these pads might send your figure to any of the other three pads.  I had four unused 2" round bases, which made perfect teleportation pads, and I picked up a baggie of blue plastic "gems" a while back to serve as treasure tokens.  The remaining two tokens were placed in the center of the table, as per the scenario.

Tom was running an Enchanter warband, with two archers, two men-at-arms and two thugs; I had a Summoner band, with a knight, two crossbowmen, an infantryman, two thugs and a warhound.

We diced off to see who would go first, and I won the roll.  My wizard tried to cast Invisibility on my infantryman and failed to do so miserably, inflicted two wounds on himself from the failed casting.  My apprentice, meanwhile, successfully called up an imp, and one of my thugs stepped onto the closest teleporter and was sent to Tom's side of the table, where he managed to miraculously shrug off a volley from his archers and avoid injury at the hands of one of his men-at-arms before returning with a treasure.

The third turn is when things really started to heat up.  First, Tom's wizard vaporized my apprentice with a Grenade spell, and then my Summoner rolled a "1" while trying to cast "Summon Demon." This meant that a Minor Demon manifested behind him, very upset at being called into the cold, damp Material Plane.  The demon immediately attacked my Summoner, eviscerating him.  On the opposed fight roll, the demon scored a 22 and the wizard a paltry 4, meaning he went down and he went down hard.

Great shot of Belphegor and the demon.

So now we had two uncontrolled demons loose on the board, and all the closest figures for them to attack...were mine.  The Minor demon took down a treasure-laden Thug and a Crossbowman, while the Imp scored an incredible critical hit on the knight, one-shotting her into an early grave.  Unbelievable! I'm just picturing this little two foot tall imp screaming and catapulting itself into her face, clawing, biting and flailing about until it was either dislodged or hit something vital.

Tom was left with simply mopping up the board and collecting the treasure.  So Tom went up a level and collected enough treasure to not only set up shop in a base, but to add a giant telescope to the top of it.  I came out with 60gc, a grimoire containing the spell "Imp," and the lives of all my soldiers - seriously, rolling to see who lived and who died I rolled higher than I had all game.  One of my crossbowmen will have to sit out the next game but otherwise everyone is still in one piece.

All in all we had a great time, and laughed through the entire game.  Prior to the third turn, neither one of us could roll above a 10, from Turn 3 on, Tom's dice went hot; at one point he could barely roll under an 18 on the d20.  Meanwhile I kept rolling crap, but I was having too much fun to care.

Tom and I are thinking about trying to get a twice-monthly thing going at Just Games for Frostgrave to try and rope in some of the other interested potential-players; we've heard a lot from people who have the book and are interested but never quite get around to assembling a warband.

Additionally, Tom bought the two-player starter set for Mantic's Kings of War; while he's likely to put together a Skaven/"Ratkin" force, I'll be buying the undead figures from the starter set off him and putting together an army of skeletons.  I never got a chance to play Warhammer before it died (I could never afford to do so back in the day), but I've always been interested in games with big regiments of figures being pushed and wheeled around the table.  I've got some ideas for a "theme" to my army of the dead and I think it's going to be a fun project.

Stand By Your Ape-Man

Only about two weeks late to be posted here, this was my entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge bonus round themed "L'Amour":

"You can't shoot him, daddy!" Bobbi Jo screamed, brandishing her own rifle.  "He ain't no varmint, he's my boyfriend!" Sasquatch, meanwhile, slunk deeper into the shadows between the trees.  He never knew what to say during family disagreements.

After a moment's tense standoff, Bobbi Jo took off running into the forest after her lover.  She really thought her daddy would have taken the news - that he was going to be a grandfather - better.  

This got a lot of positive feedback in the comments from other contestants, but startlingly few votes.

A bit of Frostgrave flash fiction...

I visited my new friendly local gaming store today (and it actually is both friendly and local!) and had a moment of weakness in front of the display rack of Reaper miniatures.  You see, Gina and I have a bet going this month; if I buy miniatures or books, I need to buy her a skein of yarn.  If she buys yarn or other knitting supplies, she needs to buy me miniatures.  We were both certain she was going to cave this past Monday on some hand-dyed limited edition yarn, and she told me to start picking out miniatures - and so I went on the Reaper website and began planning out another Frostgrave warband.

Then she didn't cave.

Well, in the store today, I saw 9 out of the 10 figures I would need to assemble this warband, all lined up on the rack.  And I was weak, and I purchased them (including placing an order through the store for the 10th figure, my apprentice).  So now I owe Gina some yarn.  C'est la vie.

I'm not going to post pictures of what my warband is composed of until they are painted, but for now here's a little bit of backstory for them:

"Do you feel it, master?" rasped the dry, breathless voice of the acolyte Setnakht, the words carrying like the desert wind through the darkness of the temple interior.  

Sutekh-Akhen-Ra's desiccated lips drew back in a humorless rictus.  "Had you any doubt, my apprentice? The release of such arcane power into the world once more can have only one source: Felstad thaws, my youthful student." It was a minor jest, given the centuries that had passed since Setnakht's entombment.  

"What shall be done, O great one?" whispered the younger magus.  Sutekh did not have to raise his eyeless head from the dais on which he lay to see that Setnakht's swords were already loose in their scabbards.  

"It shall be as you have guessed, my pupil," hissed Sutekh-Akhen-Ra.  "We shall leave behind our familiar surroundings.  The time of burning sands and ghoul-courts has passed, Setnakht, and the time to travel is upon us.  Gather what can be raised of the old host; I can feel great power calling to us on a cold wind."

Mini Painters' Corollaries to Murphy's Law

Today I finally had the time and the climate to lay down a coat of primer and begin painting a set of eight Spartan Hoplites I'd assembled months ago, before the arctic came to visit for six months.  And I began to remember some things about miniature painting...

1. There will always be one color that you just can't get good coverage with...until you accidentally get some on part of the figure you didn't want it on.
2. There will always be a piece of flash that's invisible until you prime...then it's enormous.  
3. A hair will inevitably fall on to wet paint.  Even if you're entirely bald, a hair will materialize from somewhere.  

Anyone else have any good ones?