Cold Wars AAR: Final Battle of the Elvish Frontier

   Friday night at Cold Wars I ran my "Final Battle of the Elvish Frontier" mass-combat fantasy scenario using  Bear Yourselves Valiantly rules and 10mm figures.  The scenario had a column of Elven refugees and treasure wagons fleeing an army of Lizardman and Goblins that was approaching the Elven capital.  Part of the Lizardman/Goblin main force has branched off to intercept this juicy target, and the Elves have rushed a guard to protect it.  The scenario was designed for 6, and I had four players show up.  So I pitched in to help the Elvish side and took the third command, and had the Lizardmen/Goblin commanders divide their third command up among the two of them.

The two other Elvish commanders advance their troops on to the field.  My force of mounted knights entered on turn 3.

The Lizardmen/Goblin commanders consider their next move.

Lizardmen battlegroups advance to cut the Elvish crossroad.

Elven legions move up to keep the road clear.

A view of the table near the middle of the game.  The Elves needed to exit 3 of their 6 treasure/refugee stands off the road at the lower left corner of the photo.

The desperate fight at the end.  With bat swarms and hordes of Warg riders closing in on the Elves' column, the Elvish knights throw themselves into the enemy to stem the tide.   Even the refugees and wagon masters fend off several Warg attacks.  But, alas, it was not to be the Elves' day, as my dismal dice rolling ended up with the knights bloodied and beaten.  I called the game at that point, and declared it a Lizardmen/Goblin victory.

     I had a great group of players, and had a blast GM-ing the game and running the Elves' flying relief column.  As a whole the Elves' dice rolling was miserable, and the Lizardman/Goblin commanders had dice that were hot. Eventually the Elves had been so beat up that there was nothing they could do anymore to stem the tide, so I called the game and declared the Lizardmen/Goblin commanders to be the winners.

"One More Gaming Project" Blog Hits 150K Views!

   I just wanted to announce the personal milestone of this blog having its 150,000 view over this past weekend.   As I approach the 6th anniversary of starting "One More Gaming Project" back in May of 2010, I can't help but think that a lot of the success of the blog has been due to the continued support and encouragement from my readers.  So, a big "Thank You!", to all of you.  And here's to the next 150.000 visitors, and the next 6 years!

Reaper's Drowned Spirit Painted for Frostgrave

    This week I painted Reaper's"Drowned Spirit" figure to use as a wraith in my Frostgrave games.  This figure was newly released when I was planning my Frostgrave harbor terrain build and something about it just made it seem like the perfect fit to be a ghost to haunt the old harbor. So, I ordered it over the holidays, and just now got around to painting it.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

    To help convey the frigid Frostgrave look, I added a Water Effects icicle under the rocky outcropping.  Also, I went with a glossy finish, instead of my usual matte, to help bring across the wet look.

Another Pair of Quick & Easy Frostgrave Treasure Tokens

    I whipped up another pair of Frostgrave treasure tokens this weekend after one of my blog readers, Brian, suggested using small scale 6mm figures as tiny golden statues in the comments of my previous treasure token post.  While I didn't have any 6mm figures I have a lot of left over 10mm figures sitting around to use for this.
   Also, my friend Don Hogge mentioned at our last Frostgrave game the he had found in the Dollar Tree store some small round fingernail glitter that looked exactly like gold and silver coins; so I had gone to my local store and picked up some of this glitter and was looking for an opportunity to use it.

      I had also picked up a small plastic dog figure that I had, at the time, thought of using as a war dog, but I ended up feeling that it was just a bit too cartoonish.  However, since it had a handle on its back, I thought it might make a nice golden vessel of some sort,
   I used some of the tiny gems I had written about earlier on my Bones painting blog, and glued some of those along with the gold coin glitter, to the base of the golden dog vessel.  I glued the two 10mm figures on a long pedestal made of cork, and painted it to look like stone.

    I'm very pleased with how these turned out.  They will be fun to use in our next game of Frostgrave.

Frostgrave Campaign - Game 2

   Today we held the second game in our Frostgrave Campaign.  For an account of the first game see: Frostgrave Game 1.  For an account of the game following this one, see: Game 3. We had four of our seven players in attendance.

An overview of the table.  I entered on the near corner, in the lower left.

      Once again, my Illusionist, Kodak, and his trusty apprentice, Cherowyn, found themselves. entering the city near the harbor.  A Chronomancer, known as The Doctor, also chose to search the harbor and Kodak's warband spent most of the game skirmishing with them.  The Doctor brought along three Crossbowmen and a Marksman, which played havoc with my Illusionist's warband, not to mention the Illusionist himself.

Kodak, and the archer, Edel, take cover behind the corner of a building as The Doctor's team moves forward.  To the left Jack can be seen crossing an alley just moments before River Song shot her.

      Just like last time,  it was not a good day for Kodak's party as they quickly found themselves pinned down by the massive firepower being brought against them from The Doctor's team.  It only got worse when some men from a nearby Druid's (Witch) warband started firing on them as well.  The final straw was when wandering creature rolls put a Minor Demon, and an Ice Spider directly in our rear.

Cherowyn, badly wounded, takes a moment to cast Heal on herself, before the Minor Demon attacks.  In the left foreground, the archer, Weiss,  her bow decayed beyond use by The Doctor's sonic screwdriver, (Decay spell)  debates whether to run forward and help, or stand by ready to intercept any other threats that might approach.

    In the end it was only the quick action of Cherowyn, who was able to fend off both wandering creatures long enough to cast a successful Mind Control spell on  the Doctor's Infantryman who was carrying a treasure, that netted us our only treasure of the game.
     Several members of the party were incapacitated during he game, the worst being our new Treasure Hunter, Jaquailwyn (Jack), who had just joined our warband after the last game.  She was shot by The Doctor's apprentice, River Song, who used her laser pistol (Elemental Bolt spell) killing the unfortunate Treasure Hunter dead.   The other bad casualty was Kodak himself, taken out by one of The Doctor's crossbowmen.  Though Kodak  recovered himself without any permanent injury, it was such a Close Call that he apparently became disoriented and left his new Staff of Power behind in the ruins.   Luckily he had had the chance to use the staff once to boost a near successful Mind Control spell of his own.

Edel, his bow also Decayed by The Doctor attempted to recover a treasure on the top floor of this building only to be shot by The Doctor's crossbow men in the distant sunken ship.  Desperate for at least one treasure,  (I didn't have any at this point) Kodak climbs up himself to try and get it , only to be shot in turn himself.  So badly shaken up, he drops his Staff of Power somewhere there in the ruins.

      Though the team was only able to recover one treasure, they were a bit more successful in the Spell casting department than the last game, where they had only managed one successful spell.  This time we managed 5 successful spells: 3 Mind Control (two of which were negated by the target's Will roll), and 2 Heals (one each on Kodak and Cherowyn)

Cherowyn saves the day.  Despite battling two wandering creatures, she takes a lucky opportunity of them both being pushed back to cast a "Hail Mary" Mind Control spell on The Doctor's distant Infantryman and rolls an 18! The Infantryman is unable to roll his Will, and carries the treasure towards our side.   It would be our only treasure.

     Back at their Inn, the team discovered their treasure contained 40 GC and a Staff of Casting: "Bind Demon", which Kodak sold for 300 GC.  The Illusionist immediately put out a call for a new Treasure Hunter to replace the deceased Jack, and a Marksman to help bolster his own warband's firepower.  Sadly, the Thug, Doc was released from service to make room for the new Marksman.   

    Happily, Sister Elessa is almost totally healed from the venomous Bone Dart she received last outing, so will be rejoining the band for the next trip.  Her sword was surely missed this time. 

    I'm already looking forward to the next adventure.

Quick and Easy Treasure Tokens for Frostgrave

  I always seemed to be short of treasure tokens when ever I would run my Frostgrave games, so I decided to make up some quick and easy ones using some odd weapons and shields from my bits box.  The intention was to represent a pile of abandoned ancient weapons that might hide a magic item or two of immense value.
   I glued the selected pieces onto a couple 7/8" fender washer with some superglue.

 After the glue was dry, I sprayed the tokens with flat black spray paint, and then painted them with my regular craft acrylics.  When done, I gave them a shot of Testor's Dullcote.

    I'm pleased with how they came out, and they were certainly easy enough to make.

My Frostgrave Illusionist's Warband

   I had a request over on the Reaper Forum for a portrait of my complete Frostgrave warband.  I had been playing the game so far with a mix of figures specifically painted up for Frostgrave with snow bases, and existing figures in my collection that were on regular grassed bases. I had been busily painting figures for Frostgrave, but had been working on several warbands in parallel, and hadn't actually completed a full one.   Since our group had started its Frostgrave campaign last month, I had been making a concentrated effort to finish my main Illusionist warband that I am using for the campaign, and completed the final figure this past weekend.  I sat down today and took some shots of the complete group.
    (Note: Before any sharp-eyed Frostgrave player cries foul about there being 11 figures, after the first campaign game my group settled in an old inn, allowing them to add an extra figure to the warband)

"What strange magic is this?", said the wizard Kodak, as the man set up the odd optical device before the group.  "It is a machine for the making of a permanent image," said the man. "Like a painting, but with more realism and much quicker."
"I'd like to see such magic!" said the curious illusionist.

Left to right: My Illusionist, Kodak (Reaper); his apprentice, Cherowyn (Reaper);  the templar, Sister Elessa (Reaper); The treasure hunter, Jack (Reaper); archer, Edel (Reaper); and archer, Weiss (Reaper)

Left to Right: The thief, Cadwalleter (Games Workshop); the thief, Agamemnon, (Games Workshop & Wargames Factory); the thief, Linnese (Games Workshop); the thug, Bash (Games Workshop & Wargames Factory) and the thug, Doc. (Games Workshop & Wargames Factory).

Our next campaign session is this weekend, so I'm looking forward to getting this group on the table.


Edit, 3.13.16: After our campaign game on 3/5/16, a few changes had to be made.  Jack, the treasure hunter, was killed and needed to be replaced; and Doc, the thief, was let go in order to hire a marksman.

The new treasure hunter, Orwell; though he's known as One-eyed-Jack to his friends, or just "Jack".  And, the Marksman , Danlin.