Fistful of Lead: "The Low Crusade"

 Since it's not a proper American Thanksgiving without a game, I got out some figures and laid down some terrain, and treated myself to a solo game yesterday of Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead, using their new Fantasy rules combined with their Galactic Heroes supplement. One of the best parts of FFoL is the ability to comfortably bend genres like this.

After their ship crashes on a Medieval Fantasy world, Guzbag’s Space Orks need to collect as much spilled fuel (represented by five objective markers spaced around the table) as possible. The Wizard Lutholio, witnessing the crash from his tower, quickly showed up with a retinue to claim as much of this mysterious glowing substance as he can. 

 

Any figure can claim an objective by moving into contact with it and succeeding on a regular Task roll; once claimed it needs to be moved off the table to secure it. Figures carrying objectives off-table stay off table for one full turn before being able to return. 

The Wizard Lutholio was supported by a bannerman, a couple of regular soldiers (one with a zweihander, two with swords and shields), as well as a rabble of halfling archers pressed into service. Guzbag had a heavy gunner and four regular troopers with SMGs.  

 

Lutholio made an early grab at two objective tokens, using the spell "Light Footed" to send one of his soldiers racing towards the further token, while Guzbag's forces moved towards the center of the board before beginning to spread out.

Before long, Guzbag aimed his blaster pistol at Lutholio and pulled the trigger - click! Rolling a 1, he went Out of Ammo. Lutholio responded by raising his hands and weaving the magic to throw a Fireball at Guzbag and a couple nearby goons and - Misfire! Lutholio rolled a 1 as well, singing his beard and eyebrows. As the two leaders stared each other down from opposite sides of the fountain, the Ork heavy gunner raised his machine-gun and opened fire on Lutholio, gunning the wizard down without mercy. 

I thought this might be it for the Medieval Fantasy side, but they rallied admirably and actually overwhelmed Guzbag's forces. The game ended with only one Ork alive but off-table securing an objective token, and two human regulars and two halflings still alive. The human with the zweihander was personally responsible for the deaths of three Orks, including Guzbag, and the halflings at least wounded three of the Orks. All in all, three out of the five objective tokens were scored by the Medieval Fantasy side, making it a resounding win for them. 

Tales of Horror: Blood of the Legion

 My painting has been a bit spotty since the end of the OWAC, and I am spending a fair amount of time prepping miniatures for next year's Army Challenge. But I have gotten a bit done, and today I treated myself to a solo game using Wiley Games' "Fistful of Lead" skirmish system, specifically their "Tales of Horror" supplement. 

There are things lurking in the dark corners of the Earth too foul for even the hardened men of the French Foreign Legion to handle; Major LeDuc leads a hand-picked team of Legionary monster slayers to to mete out Honour et Fidelitie to the creatures that lurk in the shadows. 

Though LeDuc and his men were too late to prevent the cruel vampire Baron Ferenczy and his coven from locating and retrieving the Golden Idol of Ish-Kabibble from its resting place beneath a ruined keep in the Algerian desert, they have committed themselves to making sure Ferenczy does not bring the Idol (and with it, chaos and horror) to the cities of Europe. Aided by a trio of archaeologists, LeDuc and his men take up positions around the old keep and ready themselves for nightfall...

Hunters:

• Major LeDuc (Leader; Veteran, Encouraging, Swordsman, Tough as Nails, armed with a sword and pistol)
•  Ibrahim (Specialist; Ranged Fighter, Sniper, armed with a rifle and equipped with Blessed Bullets)
• Rokoff the Russian Bear (Regular; Brawler, armed with a two-handed axe)
• Barker the Scout (Regular; Ranger, armed with a shotgun)
• Beni (Regular; Slippery, armed with dynamite)
• The Archaeologists (Grunts; Smart, armed with pistols)
  

 

figures by Pulp Figures

figures by Copplestone Castings

 

Vampires:

• Baron Ferenczy (Leader; Veteran, Fearsome Presence, Cold-Blooded, Cause Fear, Great Strength, Fang and Claw, Fast) 
• Nadja (Acolyte; Stealthy, Mesmerize, Great Strength, Fang and Claw, Fast)
• Karl (Fledgling; Leaper, Great Strength, Fang and Claw, Fast, Bloodlust)
• Anna (Fledgling; Flurry of Blows, Great Strength, Fang and Claw, Fast, Bloodlust)
• Jackals (Horde; Dodge) 

 

figures by Reaper Miniatures

The table was set up, with the vampires deploying in the ruined keep at the center of one side of the board, and the hunters scattered through the ruined village, though none within 12" of the vampires' deployment. 

 

I won't go into detail about the game, since I completely whiffed it - I missed a prominent note in the "Tales of Horror" book about vampires being immune to regular bullets, and thus the game was over in two rounds. Oops. I'll have to set back up and run through it again later this week.

OWAC Finished

 It was a long road, but a rewarding one - I finished an entire 1250-pt Orc army (more or less) for WHFB 3rd edition between January 1st and June 30th. All total, it came to 45 Orcs, 15 Goblins, 6 Hobgoblins, 4 Snotlings, 4 Trolls, 3 Warboars, 2 carts and 1 catapult. 

Now to start getting ready for next year.

OWAC Update!

 Realized I haven't posted anything here in a hot minute! Most of my painting has been taken up by the Old World Army Challenge, with March being my third "Rank and File" month and April my "Wild Card." Here's what I've done over the past two months:

Waaagh Update

 For my second month of the Old World Army Challenge, I painted another unit of 12 Orcs, and painted another six Hobgoblins (in this case, being a mix of Hobgoblins and Black Goblins from Knightmare) to finish of the unit I started a few months back.

I also got asked on Instagram to take a photo of my entire army as it stands so far. Getting everybody out and on the board made me realize how big this army's already become - 52 figures and counting, with 30 of them having been painted since January 1st. 

Figures are a mix of Harlequin/Black Tree, Knightmare, and Warmonger/Wargames Foundry. Shields are almost all Citadel/GW.

Foot of Gork!

Here's a little teaser of what I've been working on for Month 2 of the Old World Army Challenge. One of the wonderful classic Warhammer spells in the Waaagh magic list is "Foot of Gork," in which the shaman summons a gigantic spectral green foot down from the heavens, directing it to stomp mightily on an enemy unit. I decided to paint that on a banner, and for added effect, I freehanded the foot based on the classic "Monty Python" foot, albeit in a more verdant hue.

Dem Ladz Ova Dere

 First unit is up over at the Old World Army Challenge blog. 

I love the Warmonger orcs - their big guts, bare feet and absence of shirts plays into the idea that these are soccer hooligans with tusks, and I really love the idea of orcs being as stupid as they are cruel. There's a dozen orcs here with exactly one brain cell between them.

I wanted the banner to suggest the standard-bearer had tried to write something menacing but failed utterly, resulting in the fairly nonsensical "Eat yer Beans" message here.