Thud & Blunder; The Chronicles of Tor-Senke

Thud & Blunder; Chronicles of the Border Gates

     Last night saw the beginnings proper of my Thud & Blunder gaming; the initial aim of which is to build a narrative background to my little corner of a fantasy world (many who know me might raise their eyebrows at this statement as I am sure they think that I already inhabit my own wee fantasy world...but I digress..😁 ) where my games of Thud & Blunder will be set as well as to learn the game and, last but by no means least, to introduce other folk to it. 

     In brief my games will, mostly, be centred upon the borders of the Duchy of Langenwanger, in particular the garrison of the Border Keep of Tor Senke who protect the duchy's borders and the local towns, villages and farmsteads from marauding bands of orcs, brigands etc etc. All the usual plagues that beset the hardy, earnest folk of fantasy worlds . I won't lie, my fantasy setting is heavily influenced by my love of the Anglo-Scottish Borders but there's also a hint of the Transdanubian  and Sachsische Schweiz in there too with vast forest covered mountains, hills and deep, hidden valleys which are home to all sorts of hidden nasties.
      But as well as lots of mountains, hills, valleys and dales I plan to factor a very large river into this fantasy setting as the Thud & Blunder rules allow for fighting ship to ship and I'd like to make some small harbour terrain pieces for setting games in too as well as trying out a rolling river battle scenario....I'm frothing again, aren't I?...stay focussed, Jim Bob..

      So, the garrison of Tor Senke is under the command of Kapitan Leopold Bittefeld ably assisted by Serjeant-At-Arms Georgi Dudak and the Cleric Cornelius Coloredo (who, besides his quill pushing and parchment blotting, also possesses Magical Talents). More about these doughty warriors in a later post as for the moment this post is about their first recorded chronicle  

Border Kompanie Tor-Senke, left to right, archer, three Border
Guard, Serjeant-At-Arms Dudak, Borderguard, Kapitan Bittefeld,
Borderguard, Cleric Cornelius Coloredo, archer and Border Guard

     Being keen to get started with the game I put together three warbands from what figures I had available and came up with these three . The Duchy of Langenwanger Border Guard as seen above) and..

From left to right; crossbowman..erm..orc, Big Gladdizz,
Berrarrz on direwolf, Buggalugz on direwolf, orc warriors
and crossbow orc

     An Orc warband led by Berrarrz and accompanied by an orc shaman, Buggalugz, and the warbands champion, Big Gladdizz. 

Left to right, Mercenary wizard Beppo, two caliver armed brigands,
Tomaz the Bastard, mounted brigand, Big Willy, mounted brigand,
three more brigands

     A Brigands warband, Raedjer's Reavers, led by Grosse Willy Raedjer and his right hand man, Tomaz the Bastard with a mercenary wizard, Beppo (who is available for children's parties for parents who don't particularly like their kids) to bring a little magical something to their warband. The rules don't allow for black powder weapons but as I don't have any Reavers with bows or crossbows I substituted two Reavers armed with calivers and used the same profile as a heavy crossbow just for this game as this was going to be a "learning" game and felt that each warband should have some ranged fire, a magician, a couple of leaders/heroes and a variety of amour. It's a pity I didn't pay more heed to the rules for mounts in combat but hey ho, you live and learn.

     So those were the warbands. Next the scenario; we played the Ambush & Escort scenario. This entails one warband escorting an important person along a road from one table edge to another with the road running diagonally from one corner to another. In the Movement phase the Important Person will move or run with any figure that it is in base-to-base contact with it provided they are not engaged in combat. We played on a 4'x4' table and, just for a change with my set ups, there was only one building, a small, abandoned cottage, on the table. And so the doughty Kapitan Bittefeld and his small detachment set off to escort Lembick the Sage through a supposedly quiet forest which was in fact thick with roving brigands and marauding orcs; cue much mayhem, mirth and bloody combat.......

Travellin' Man. Lembick the Sage.

     Kapitan Leopold Bittefeld stroked his beard as he perused the document in his hand. Written in the flowery, bureaucratic style so beloved at the Ducal Court, Leopold could read most of the words but could only guess at the full meaning of it all; how he hated those damned aristocrats and damned bureaucrats and thrice damned yes men at the Ducal Court in Erdenburg, the Ducal capital, with their haughty, arrogant ways and sly, knowing looks. 

     "Very good" he said looking at the young, suave, smartly uniformed cavalry ensign who had handed him the document, doubtless the offspring of one of those damned aristocrats at the Ducal Court "And so, Ensign Lomb, we are now to escort this gentleman, this sage, Lembick to Tarenhausen, to his meeting with the Grand Cleric, as you and your men have been recalled to Erdenburg; is that right? Ensign Lomb sighed and smiled his most charming smile "Yes, Kapitan, that, as they say, is the long and short of it; there appears to be some, shall we say, more pressing business to be dealt with back towards Erdenburg and they need us poor cavalry types to assist them and so you must escort Master Lembick here" and here he nodded to the elderly man who sat with them in Bittefeld's rather cramped room "on this final stage; duty calls us both, eh? Us poor cavalry types to the fray back along the road and you, Bittefeld, to take over our dull escort duty, begging your pardon, Master Lembick." Bittefeld bridled at the casual tone of the young ensign. "Kapitan Bittefeld; Ensign Lomb; and stand to attention, don't slouch, man! I'll beg you to remember that I am a Kapitan in the Duke's Border Guard" The smile fell from Lomb's face and he straightened up. "Certainly we shall take over the duty assigned to us" continued Bittefeld "Now let's see there's still a good two hours of daylight and your men and horses will have been rested enough by now so I will now take over responsibility for Master Lembick here and you and your men can depart on your way back up the road to Erdenburg; dismissed!" Ensign Lomb gaped, made to say something, thought better of it and, saluting the kapitan, he left the room.

     
     Bittefeld turned to the wizened old man "Well, Master Lembick, we must get you a bed sorted. It's not very comfortable here in Tor Senke but we'll do our best; beside we must be on the road at first light." The old man nodded in response "Most kind" he said in a quiet, husky voice. "And I should be honoured if you would join me for dinner this evening" continued Bittefeld "The local tavern, The Bishop's Mitre; serves up a decent meal on occasion". "Bishop's Mitre; that's an unusual name" said Lembick "Is the inn keeper a former cleric?" Bittefeld coughed "Former cleric? Eh no, I think the land may have been donated by a former bishop in these parts; be that as it may their fare is far better than our humble soldiers rations here in the Keep" Master Lembick nodded and said "That would be splendid; a nice meal washed down with some ale would be a most pleasant change from the rations of the road; seven days we have been travelling now and I am afraid that I am not such a good horseman as those young fellows of the cavalry arm. And we travelled fast; rarely stopping at an inn or place of hospitality so your offer is most welcome" Leopold frowned "A cavalry troop that didn't stop at an inn or place of hospitality; your journey must be of the utmost importance; would it be anything to do with your baggage?" and he indicated the large, waxed cotton bag that Lembick had on his lap. Lembick placed a protective hand on the bag and drew it closer. Realising he had discomforted his guest with such a thoughtless question Bittefeld brightened, smiling at the sage "Not that that really matters; the long, wearisome journey is all the more reason for a morsel of good food and a tankard of ale, that is settled: I will send a runner to inform the inn keeper of our plans. In the meantime I have much to do so if you will excuse me, my cleric, Colordeo, will organise sleeping quarters for you and show you were the other facilities are" And so saying he gave a curt bow to his guest and left.

     "Serjeant Dudak!" shouted Bittefeld as he exited his room. The call was taken up by some of the other soldiers in the keep and presently a voice came up through the hatch in the floor of the accommodation "Coming sir!" followed quickly by the head, shoulders then the stocky frame of Serjeant Dudak. He trotted over to the officer and stood to attention "Ah there you are, Serjeant Dudak; at ease" Bittefeld grinned knowingly at his master-at-arms "we have a mission to carry out tomorrow; we must escort the elderly gentleman who arrived this afternoon onto Tarenhausen. Let's see, that's only eight miles so we can be there and back in a day. We will leave ten men to man the post under Junior Serjeant Mersk; as well as our three sick, lame and lazy and take the remainder. Ensign Julias is due back with his mounted patrol tomorrow afternoon so the Keep won't be short of men for too long" Dudak nodded " Select eight men and get them ready; take only two of the archers; the rest stay here. Those men you select are to be spared sentry duty this night. We; you, myself and our good cleric, Coloredo, will also go; understood?" Dudak nodded once more and said "Understood, sir. I'll get the lads organised this minute" and saluting smartly he left.

..................

      Above the wall of the Keep the eastern sky was brightening as the dawn approached. Beneath the wooden walkway were the sentry stood looking vigalantly outwards, any thought of slouching in the shadow of tower wall and having a sneaky pipe banished with the presence of the kapitan and the rest of his escort now forming up in the courtyard. Serjeant Dudak carried out a last, quick check of the men and their equipment before reporting "Detail ready for inspection, sir" in a hushed tone to Bittefeld. Bittefeld returned the master-at-arms salute before carrying out his own inspection. Standing once more in front of his men he spoke in a low voice "Right men, this appears an easy duty; eight miles to Tarenhausen and eight back; we should be back in time for a game of skittles in the Bishop's Mitre and a tankard or two before curfew. Beyond our little scuffle with that group of smugglers three weeks ago it's been pretty quiet here. That, however, is no reason for slackness; keep your eyes and ears open! Now form up in file; archers out in front, Master Lembick will march with you and I, Cleric Coleredo and, you, Serjeant Dudak will bring up the rear of the file; we march in open file, let's go!" So saying he signalled the waiting gateman who swung open one of the large gates of the Keep and they marched out in step along the road towards the forest and on to Tarenhausen.

...................

     Despite their burdens the two huge wolves padded noiselessly through the pine woods, following barely perceptible paths. Behind them a large, lithe she-orc strode followed by a group of smaller orcs carrying a variety of crude weapons. Perched on the back of one of the two dire wolves sat a large orc carrying a totem covered with human heads in various states of decay and occasionally he would halt his mount and converse with the silent, gaping heads, nod as if they had spoken in reply with him and then he would point out the way forward. "We's gettin' close, Berrarrzz" he muttered to his fellow rider "the 'edz told me so". Berrarrzz, the groups leader grunted in acknowledgment; already he could see the edge of the the clearing where they planned to ambush the soldiers. He was looking forward to this. It had been an age since they had raided the oomanz and there would be rich pickings as well as the loot the old 'un was carrying; that would be treasure worth having. Silently they approached the clearing...

Orcs!

     As the detachment approached the Gibbet Turnpike, Bittefeld saw the scouting archers draw their bows and let fly at something in the treeline. "Orcs!!" they cried almost in unison "In the treeline!" then with a shriek of pain one of them keeled over, a crossbow bolt protruding from his chest. Looking to his left, Bittefeld took in the scene at a glance. The orcs were exiting the treeline; two large orcs on wolf back, a third large one on foot wielding an ugly looking sword and an equally ugly cleaver. Behind them came some smaller orcs; two with crossbows and the others wielding axes and swords. No time to hesitate thought Bittefeld, only one way through an ambush and that's through the ambushers. "At them, men!" he cried before shouting to Serjeant Dudak. "Take two men and Master Lembick; keep going, we'll catch you up!!" He didn't wait for an acknowledgement but ran straight at the mounted orcs, cutting them off from Dudak and his party.

Only one way to deal with an ambush...charge!!

A desperate battle ensues with men and orcs swiftly succumbing
to deadly blows 

Bittefeld keeps Berrarrzz and Buggalugz occupied

The combat swayed one way then the other till only one orc
crossbowman(?) and Cleric Coloredo remained on their feet

     Grosse Willy Raedjer's men spread out along the far side of the clearing watching the combat between the soldiers and the orcs. He smiled in grim satisfaction; the orcs were doing his work for him and he and his men would reap the rewards for even as they watched  three of the soldiers and the old man ran towards the abandoned cottage by the road side. Spurring his horse on he shouted at his two mounted companions to follow him as he charged at the soldiers by the cottage...

Grosse Willy Raedjer spurs his mounted men forward

Meanwhile the rest of the brigands and Beppo the sometime wizard
advance towards the desperate fight between the soldiers and orcs

Serjeant Dudak has been laid low and his two comrades prepare
to defend Lembick from the charging brigands

     Bittefeld ducked as the orcs swung his large sword at his head. Lunging under this swing, Bittefeld's sword pierced the wolf's side and the beast gave a howl of agony and fell over trapping its rider, it's feet pawing the air in it's death throes. As he prepared to deliver the coup de grace he caught a glimpse of the combat by the cottage. Three horse men were attempting to seize Lembick. Leaving the struggling orc beneath the wolf and his comrade fighting the orc carrying the obscene banner he ran full tilt at the combat in the shadow of the cottage. He had just time enough to register Dudak's inert body lying sprawled by the road before he threw himself into the melee. Behind him, Coloredo ran after him in an effort to assist..

Out of the frying pan and into the fire for Bittefeld as he weighs
into the combat. Beside him one  soldier is cut down by, of all
things, an orc crossbow bolt fired into the press of bodies 

It's very exciting looking, isn't it...

Defeating the remaining guard, Buggalugz the Shaman attempts
to cast a magical dart at the brigands who are firing at him

...with little success

The second soldier is knocked down by Grosse Willy but swiftly
regains his feet and continues the fight only to be dealt a deadly
blow

     In the press of the battle, one of the mounted brigands grabbed Lembick by his hood. The old man let out a loud shriek of terror as he was dragged out of the fight and the brigand, still clutching him, spurred his horse into a trot and led the poor sage away. Bittefeld, exhausted but enraged, parried a lance blow with his shield and forcing the shield into the horse's face he pushed past the shying beast and ran once more, this time after Lembick and his captor. Catching up with them he was swiftly surrounded by the brigands on foot. He parried a spear thrust from one brigand and ducked as another swung a large club at him. As he did so, the rider's lance caught him in the side... 

back into the frying pan but this time with the heat turned up!
Bittefeld takes on four enemies at once; what a guy!!

...and keeps them at bay!! Hero!!

     The cleric, trailing the fighting, caught up with the crowd that now surrounded Kapitan Bittefeld. Muttering a quick incantation he swung his quarter staff at the nearest brigand....and missed!! Cursing he slid his hand up the quarterstaff to reverse the swing. As he did so he saw Kapitan Bittefeld fall to the ground under a flurry of blows. Distracted he didn't see the weapon that sent him reeling into unconsciousness..

A good afternoon's work. The brigands have Lembick and
the orcs and Border Guard are left to count the cost

     Willy urged his horse past the brigands who were busily rifling the soldiers packs, taking whatever they thought was of value. "Leave them!" he cried "The Duchy's horsemen are on their way; can't you hear their horns?" At this the brigands stopped their pilfering and listened. Sure enough a horn blast sounded through the trees from the direction of Tor-Senke. "Bloody hell they were quick!" said one of them "we'd best be off, lads; lets go". Grabbing up their weapons and what booty they could safely carry, one or two of them gave the inert bodies a parting kick before melting back into the treeline.

     Ensign Lomb helped the battered kapitan sit up. The kapitan's face was bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut. Lomb pulled the cork stopper from his flask and held it to Bittefeld's lips. Bittefeld winced then drank some of the contents. The brandy burned his throat and he coughed and spluttered "Bloody hell, Ensign Lomb, haven't I had enough trouble today without you trying to choke me: you could have warned me it was brandy!" Bittefeld coughed for a few more seconds then, with Lomb's help, he struggled to his feet. "But I am glad to see you, Lomb, but for you and your men we would have been dead meat. But how did you get here so quickly; I thought you had other duties to attend?" Lomb took a swig of the brandy, wiped his mouth and looked the bloodied kapitan in the eye "We did. However after our swift denture from Tor-Senke last night we met a messenger this morning, enroute to Tor-Senke with fresh orders to cancel to escort duty. Realising something must be up we made haste to catch up with you and just in the nick of time; it appears we have a traitor somewhere in the court; you and your men were set up, Kapitan...."

      to be continued...

     And there the game ended the game; well not really, it ended in the turn that Bittefeld was brought low as there was no way Coloredo or the Buggalugz would get Lembick out of Grosse Willy's clutches. We..okay, I got a few things wrong; in my efforts to get everything physically prepared I didn't pay enough attention to some of the rules, the main one being the fact that mounts; wolfs and horses, can fight in the combat phase which probably meant Allan who played the orcs missed out on a few attacks that might have been crucial (but given his luck with the dice, maybe not 😃) and also giving the brigands too much armour, in particular Willy. Rather than give them the armour rating of the armour they were wearing I should have rated it as something lighter. Finally I made the error of not downloading and printing out reference sheets; they would have been very, very useful and the game would have flowed better. But there you go, it was a learning game and I like to think I learned a lot. I am just gagging to put what I have learned into practice now.

     Thanks to Allan and Dave for being both patient and sporting. I'd like to think that I have hooked them both into playing Thud & Blunder, despite my best efforts 😀 

Hope you enjoyed that wee write up as much as we enjoyed the game, 

pip pip,

Jim Bob

A Thud & Blunder Chronicle; Big Trouble In Litte-Frottvenke

     The landlord of the Bishop's Mitre Inn wrung his hands in terror. Despite his pleadings the giant had insisted on more drink, having already made his way through three barrels of the landlord's best ale. "Drink and food, or you get squashed little man!" had growled the giant. The giant demanded that the landlord get his fire stoked up as he wanted the pigs he had herded towards the inn roasted, whole, the drink having made him hungry; that or have his inn "smashed down around 'is bleedin' ears, so 'elp me!". In a muck sweat the landlord had got the fire going while the giant began to choose which pig to spit first.

     Watching the mounted Border Guard messenger disappear in a cloud of dust that his horse kicked up, the mayor of Litte-Frottvenke, Guild Master Ludwig Fruebber, mopped his brow. Forewarned by the messenger from the Duchy of Langenwanger's Border Guard of the giant's approach and being made aware by that self same messenger that no help from the Border Guard would be forthcoming in the immediate future due to an orc warband causing bother in the area of the city of Langenwanger, Guild Master Fruebbe had sent out word asking for help from anyone and everyone.      

     By a stroke of great good fortune, word came back to him that not one but two bands of armed travellers camping nearby, one south of the town on the common lands near the river; the other to the north, where the Kings Highway entered the forest, had volunteered their services. Fruebbe had gladly accepted their offer, stating that a goodly reward would be paid to whichever one did away with the giant. 

Big trouble comes to Litte-Frottvenke in the shape of a giant
with a giant thirst and matching appetite

Big Yan, for that is how he is called, makes merry while his
lunch is prepared

"Dooby doo diddle, I's glad I ain't little.." the giant reveller sings
a song that is popular among his kind

      Peering from behind a bush towards the towering, drunken figure behind the inn, Tomaz Druise, nudged his fellow brigand "It's a simple plan, Hugo, and the simplest plans is always the best; we get the big fellow's attention and keep him occupied for just a few minutes. And whilst we has his attention, that mage fellow we's escorting to Langenwanger, he does his magic on the giant; knocking the giant on the head with some spell or other and we collects the reward and all gets equal shares; see, simple" Hugo looked skeptically at Tomaz and repeated sarcastically " We keeps him occupied whilst the mage does his magic on the giant" Tomaz, you're turning into a right muddle headed berk. For a start we only have his word he's a mage; just about any mage apprentice can conjure flame with an incantation to get a bit of a fire going but we ain't seen him do much else that could be called magical apart from that since we agreed to escort him to Langenwanger; besides I thought the plan was to knock him on the head and take his purse when an appropriate moment presented itself; that's what Boab said before we set off with him" Tomaz made to reply but his voice was drowned out by the roaring of the giant who had finished another barrel of beer and had thrown the empty barrel at the rear of the inn, shouting for food.
     "Must be good stuff to get a giant drunk that quick; reason enough to tackle him" mused Ludwig, another of the four brigands crouching behind the bush. "Shut up, the pair of you" said Tomaz "We're doing our bit or we'll have Boab to face; don't forget we have competition here, let's go! And remember to do as I said, Hugo, Ludwig!" The two spear men nodded grimly and so saying he drew his sword and  pushed the others forward in front of him and they made their wary way toward the giant.

Tomaz and his chums warily advance 

...but not warily enough as Big Yan catches a glimpse of them
from the corner of his bleary eye...

...and previous experience telling him that the armed men who
approach him are generally up to no good he let's out a drunken
roar and stumbles towards the brigands....

      "Steady now, lads" shouted Tomaz, as much to himself as to the others. The giant made an unnerving sight as it moved towards them. However, Tomaz  had previous experience with angry giants; waving his arms and shouting obscene names at the giant he edged away from the others. The giant, already incensed at having an enjoyable afternoon spoiled, became more incensed at the names the man in the blue hat was calling him. And he shouldn't be saying things like that about Big Yan's mum. The giant lunged for Tomaz and as he did so Hugo and Ludwig thrust their spears between the giant's feet, tripping him up. The giant pitched forward and, as it hit the ground, Tomaz smashed his shield into the giant's face, right between it's eyes. The giant lay sprawled face down, eyes closed and barely moving. Tomaz turned and smiled at his companions "See! easy!" His companions looked at him in awe, well not at him but behind him. 

     Closing his eyes, the young mage began to chant. As he did so, the hair on the nape of Boab's neck began to rise. Thank the gods he thought, maybe this youngster is the goods after all. The chanting continued, rising in volume and suddenly with a shout, the young mage opened his eyes, thrust both hands towards the giant as it made to lunge at someone out of Boab's sight and, with a flash, a small bush just in front of them caught fire. "What's this, mage?" cried Boab "Where's the fireball? Where's the doom laden bolt? Do something to take that brute down before he kills my lads!" The young mage looked crestfallen "Sorry" he muttered "must've mispronounced part of the incantation; I'll give it another bash". 

     "Look Boab, the giant's going down" shouted one of his men. Boab turned just in time to see the giant fall. "Well, get a bloody move on" Boab shouted at the mage "we're going to help Tomaz; you do your bit, mage, and don't fail" and so saying he and his men dashed off.

     

     Tomaz turned and uttered a groan of dismay. The giant was struggling to his feet, a look of dazed bewilderment fixed on its face. "Bloody hell; right lads, let's at him!" shouted Tomaz, running forward, swinging his sword as he did so, his fellows following on with a roar. They might not be the cleverest brigands Tomaz had known but they were certainly didn't lack courage when it came to a fight. As the struck at the giant's legs, trying to slash a tendon or rip a muscle the giant swung drunkenly at them. All at once there came a thunderclap from behind the giant followed by a flash of lightning that tore through it's body. The giant toppled backwards, crashing into the ground, dead before he hit it. "We did it lads!" shouted Tomaz, wiping his brow "Our mage must've worked some magic; and I thought we were goners there too". 

     "Not so fast, Mr Blue Bonnet!" shouted a strange voice. Tomaz looked around once more. Beyond the prostrate giant a menacing group of armed strangers, weapons at the ready, approached. In the middle of the group, a tall man who was wreathed in fast dissipating cloud of blue tinged smoke continued speaking in a mocking tone to Tomaz and the rest of Boab's gang. "The honour of slaying this giant belongs to us" Tomaz opened his mouth to reply but something in the stranger's demeanor made him close his mouth again. "Permit me to introduce myself and my companions; my name is Henrik of, well that need not concern you; my companions are men at arms from the retinue of Baron Tobias of Lenke and are well versed in the ways of war". Tomaz looked at the band of armed men; they looked as much like soldiers as he and his fellows from Boab's band, scruffy, unwashed and barbarous. The magician continued "My companions and I were in the area and we heard there was some trouble with this giant and we came to deal with him. Thank you for keeping him entertained while we were on our way here. We shall just go and collect our reward now from Master Freubber then be on our way; our thanks again, gentlemen" At this the armed strangers backed away, keeping a wary eye on the brigands as they did so. 

The giant is slain by the effective magic of Henrik, much to the
dismay of Boab and his gang.

   

     So there you have it; a chronicle of our first proper game of Thud & Blunder. And what a good laugh it was. My lads, led by the redoubtable Tomaz were really, really lucky in felling the giant (in the scenario it's actually a troll that's causing the bother but we didn't have a troll so Big Yan was substituted; we kept the troll profile though, to keep things simple) as their mage missed Big Yan in the shooting phase. In the combat phase they mobbed the giant/troll and managed to beat his armour rating by adding the three attacks of Tomaz's companions to Tomaz's attack, In response Big Yan duly rolled a 1 in his Destiny roll and down he went; hurrah!!.  Having the Invulnerable trait this merely meant he was knocked down not dead; hooroo....

     Of course, in the movement phase of the next turn he passed his Destiny roll and got back onto his feet. However he was back down again, literally in a flash and for good this time when Danny's wizard struck him with a Dart attack and Big Yan failed his Destiny roll yet again. This time his Invulnerable trait couldn't help him as the Dart attack was a magic one and the wound ignored his Invulnerable trait. 

    Brilliant stuff; an excellent game with plenty of laughs, drama and beer (on the tabletop, we made do with herbal tea 😁)

     Looking forward to more of this. 

Till then, pip pip

Jim Bob

Brand New Year, Same Old Stuff? Well, maybes...

Swanning about in Panther country; The Isle of Sheppey
Border Horse seek their prey

Intro     

     So, what with it now being the third week in January 2020 I should maybe do a review of 2019 but no, I reckon a summary will just about cover it. 

     

Gaming 

     I have managed to fit in a fair few games over the last year. Never as many as I would like, that's fair to say (and no where near as many as Travis Hiett on Tabletop CP; how does he find the time??) but still enough to satisfy my needs (though not my "wants"...just saying). Certainly I have played more games than I have blogged and pretty much all of them were of a narrative nature; my preferred type of game.

     By far and away Bolt Action was the game I played most and pretty much all of those games were part of a campaign; Market Garden, The Bulge, D Day (down at Warlord Games) and, latterly Fortress Budapest.

      I also took part in two Sharp Practice campaigns; one Peninsular War the other French Indian War, both of which were great fun.

      Lion Rampant is getting more attention of which I am glad. Danny and I have an occasional campaign of sorts going on set in the Baltic Crusades period. There's more Lion Rampant in the offing at the Falkirk and District club with another campaign looming but more of that anon. I would like to have played more In Her Majesty's Name but I guess you can't have everything but at least I got a couple of games in. 

      New games that I bought into include Gangs Of Rome, Test Of Honour and Bag The Hun; I have put together a warband for Test of Honour and a gang for Gangs of Rome which I enjoy and I think will get a bit more attention in 2020 but I really need to make some inroads into that pile of plastic planes I bought for Bag The Hun....and get a hex mat for it.... 

     It was at Deep Fried Lard that I was introduced to Bag The Hun or, to be more precise, Bag The Mig as the game was set in the Korean War. I did a mini-Walter Kiam and bought the rules, the Two Fat Lardies company not being up for sale and anyway, I probably couldn't afford the amount of cooking lager they would want in exchange for it.

    I even managed to fit in a game of What A Tanker at the end of the year and here's the proof. We played two games with one Panther v two Shermans;  both of which the British won I'm sure....certainly we won the second game as my Sherman emphatically blew up the Panther (in an act of revenge as the Panther had just as emphatically blew up my Sherman in the first game; an eye for an eye and all that biblical jazz, what, what) Next time around we'll play a Tiger v three Shermans.

"Driver; forward!" Tall ho, we're off to bash the Boche!!

Gunner "Panther fornt!"...Commander "Well fire, you silly sod!"

The Panther plays it cautious

That's it; you keep him occupied, I'll get him from
behind!!....or not, as the case was

     I also, finally and at long last, got to play The Pikeman's Lament....and got soundly thrashed but it was worth it. A cracking good game and I hope to play more of it in 2020. Especially as there's a Pikeman's Lament campaign day ran in the latter part of the year down in the Galashiels hosted by Dicing With History which I couldn't attend due to work commitments in 2019. But hopefully in 2020 I'll be better prepared.

Painting

     I have painted a lot in 2019; figures, vehicles and terrain; and most of which I have used in games....yippee! But not all. But I have painted lots....and there's more to come. I started one new army, which was the Soviets and I am glad to say I painted all of the starter set and then some. nd, naturally enough, there are more waiting to be done. 

     More recently I have been working on a variety of figures and trying out the triad or three shade method of painting that is championed by Kev Dallimore in his Foundry Miniatures Painting Guide; a copy pf which I received for my birthday. And I must confess I really like it. My intention over the next few months is to replace my Vallejo and Army Painter paints with Coat D'Arms paints with a view to having all the necessary shades for the projects I am working on. Meanwhile here's what I had done since my last update...  

British 95th Rifles; painted in the three shades manner then gloss
varnished; yes, gloss varnished than matt varnished for extra
protection!! As recommended by Kev Dallimore and adopted by
Jim Bob

Dungeon Saga baddies; ghosts, necromancer and banshee

All done, bar three undead Trolls

Dungeon Saga terrain pieces just about done too

...but what's this, the undead Dwarf King has a hand and hammer
 missing!! Bummer!!

Yep, definitely missing. I have since contacted Mantic Games,
who produce Dungeon Saga and they are sending a replacement.
...which is very nice of them. I've included this photo as, for me,
it shows the validity of the three shades approach. No more mixing
various amounts of paints, hoping to get the right shade. I just really
like the shading on this cloak. I know, I know; self praise is no praise
and all that humble jazz 😁

Events

     Only made it to three events this year; "In A Most Despicable Place" Sharp Practice FIW event run by Dave Hunter at Bristol Independent Games, and attended by a whole load of really nice people; which was excellent fun. And the Warlord Games D Day event in Nottingham which was good (though with room for improvement; see my post about it for my reasons why) and finally, of course, Deep Fried Lard in Musselburgh; which was also tip top fun.

       And that is it for my summary of 2019; a very good year for me from a hobby perspective. We are now into 2020; I have played quite a few games so far; Lion Rampant, Dungeon Saga and, just this evening.........

A  most marvelous Christmas present

......but more of that later....but not much later, in fact quite soon 😉

Pip Pip

GJ