Wednesday, July 30, 2025

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

2 comments:

  1. nice write up. looks like a fun game, my friend's wargaming group started playing Devilry. it looks interesting. you can play this solo also?

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    1. Thanks Tim! Yeah, it works really well solo.

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