On The Painting Desk: Heroquest- Mage in the Mirror

 

One of my Goals for 2025 was to pick-up and paint a new Heroquest expansion.  I was off to a good start when I picked up a copy of Mage in the Mirror which was an Elf focused expansion.  It was a bit of a pre-lude to Rise of the Dread Moon as both took place in the Kingdom of the Heroquest Elves.  However, Mage in the Mirror had been a re-print from the O.G. Heroquest, even though I think it was region locked as I do not recall seeing it in the US. 

This expansion came with a new set of "elf" themed furniture, effectively doubling the amount of Heroquest furniture I had now.  In addition, it came with some new enemies in the form of giant wolves, Ogres, and Elf warriors.  There was also a special model for the villain and a new male Elf model.  That meant there was a lot of stuff to paint!  However, right off the bat I decided that I was not going to paint the enemy elves yet, because Rise of the Dread Moon also had some, and I figured it would be easier to paint them all at once.  I learned from Kellar's Keep that it is not as easy to go back and match paint schemes later as you would hope.       

So, with all that preamble out of the way, let's take a closer look at some painting huh?  The hardest part of any painting project for me is getting started.  Thankfully, I have a bit of a routine for getting minis ready to paint so I can fall back onto muscle memory for most of it.  Like always, I undercoated them with GW's Grey Seer, gave them all a dark grey wash made from cheap acrylic paint from a Big-Box Retailer, and then drybrushed them with cheap acrylic white.  They were undercoated and ready to paint.  This undercoating method works really well with Speedpaints.    

I decided to get started with the Giant Wolves first.  I had previously painted a Heroquest wolf from the Against the Ogres box and wanted them to look a bit different from that dude.  He was just a "regular" wolf and a potential Mercenary/Shape-shifted Druid.  I also wanted them all to be a bit distinctive because I wanted to be able to tell which one was which during hectic games.  Therefore, I decided to paint them all in different colors.  I started by using Alchemy Purple on their little puppy tongues, Grim Black for their noses and eyes, and Pallid Bone for their teeth and claws.  For some reason known only unto God, I decided to paint one Holy White, another Dark Wood brown, and the last one with a combination of Sand Golem and Hardened Leather.  Then after Light Tone wash I finished them off with the standard Runic Grey base and Flat Black rim. Not sure I like them, BUT they are done and that's all that matters.       

From there, I decided to tackle all the furniture.  What is interesting about painting my ever-expanding line of Heroquest models is to try to keep them somewhat internally consistent.  For example, I had been using Pallid Bone as a "metal" on the Elf's swords and armor.  I also used a Plasma Bolt green for their runes and magic.  Elsewhere, for plant roots and such I used Malignant Green.  I also tend to use Runic Grey for stone, and Gravelord Grey for wrought iron looking metal.  I wanted to make sure I stayed consistent with these approaches as I moved forward.  Man, I should really write some of this down somewhere.... like a blog or something..... 

Anyway, here is a WIP shot as I power through the furniture.  For this batch I decide that all the wood would be Sand Golem, much lighter than the Hardened Leather and Dark Wood I used on my regular Heroquest furniture.  However, that is also the skin-color I used for my Ogres when I painted them for Against the Ogres too.  

A nice design touch is that the chests and doors are being held closed by plant vines and roots.  That was an interesting design choice for the elven realms.  The "hardest" part of painting these items was painting all the little details like books, bottles, boxes, scroll work, etc.  I ended up using a lot of colors.   The iron gates were also a challenge/chore to paint.  They were chunky bois.

Here is all the new furniture done and dusted.  I like how it turned out looking brighter and organic than the rest of my furniture.  I even painted the bases for the mirrors so they would blend in better on the board.    

That left the last minis I was planning on painting for this round, those pesky Ogres.  These guys looked a bit less feral than the Ogres in Against the Ogres.  In the supplement, they were using clubs and bone weapons.  These dudes were clearly using metal axes.  Last time I painted them, I decided that Ogres use Sand Golem skin.  But I also decided that Absolution Green was a common Ogre hair color, as was Gravelord Grey.  I knew I was going to have follow those design choices on these Ogres too.  Finally, I also wanted to paint all their "kilts" different colors too.  You know I like to be able to make them a bit unique on the board so I used Blood Red, Magic Blue, Fire Giant Orange, and Zealot Yellow.      

The whole set took me about a month to get fully painted.  Not too bad.  However, I am starting to wonder if I might be running into a space limitation with all this Heroquest stuff?  I will have to shuffle things around, but there is always room for one more!  I think my next expansion will be Rise of the Dread Moon so I can finish off my Elf collection for Heroquest.  Soon, I will have enough Heroquest models to make my own version of Battlemasters.  :) 

Until next time! 

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RPG Design: Badlands - Wild West Adventures

 

Badlands came about because I was thinking a lot about Westerns.  I was thinking about what made them work, what tropes did they lean on, and why they were so popular as a genre.  I had been thinking about trying to get my local group, The True Crit Gaming Guild; into some Cowboy gaming.  However, all this thought led me not to a designing a new wargame, but into another Role- playing Game instead!   

There are a couple of things that I wanted to accomplish with Badlands: 

1. Mechanics based on Poker, a staple of the Wild West
2. Ease of character creation that intuitively creates Role-play
3. Use a Meta-currency for the GM and Players to influence game play
4. Lean harder into narrative than crunch
5. Create space to tell Wild West based stories, natural and super-natural  

Poker as the Unifying Mechanic

I am not much of a Poker player, but I have a basic understanding of the various hands and how they interact.  I wanted to make these rules a core mechanic for the game because Poker is an iconic tradition of the Wild West, and is tied to the American Mythology of the period.  The Gamemaster is called the Dealer and they hand cards out to the Players.  When there is a Challenge Check, it is resolved by the impacted Characters building a hand of cards and trying to beat the Dealers' hand.  

Attributes, Values, and Skills have numeric values that indicate the number of cards to be used to Build a Hand.  No one can ever have more than 5 cards in their hand.  If the Player has a better hand, their character succeeds in the Challenge. If the Dealer wins, the Character fails the Challenge.  

Poker Hand Chart from Wikimedia Commons

Intuitive Role-Play

Characters are built using 4 Attributes and 4 Values.  Attributes are physical components, while Values are more about the characters outlook on life.  These are built on with Skills, Traits, Assets, and Backgrounds that help flesh out what a Character is good at, and allows different abilities while Building a Hand.  Characters also have Drives to manipulate Meta-Currency and Weaknesses that can be used to manipulate Meta-currency and Asset availability.  All of these mechanical features allow clear and distinct levers for role-play as well as mechanical benefits too.   

Meta-Currency

The Dealer and the Players all start with a pool of Poker Chips they can draw on.  The Players have Luck Chips while the Dealer has Danger Chips.  As Players cash-in Luck they are converted to Danger Chips for the Dealer, and as the Dealer uses Danger Chips they convert to Luck Chips for the Players. As the game progresses, these Chips get passed back and forth for various effects on the game.    

From Canva

Lean into Narrative

This is a rulings over rules type of game, and it is designed for the Players and the Dealer to lean into the story.  It is not "crunchy" but there are a lot of decisions to be made thanks to how the different Character details help "Build a Hand" and the use of Luck/Danger within the game.  At the end of the day, the Scene will React no matter the outcome of any Challenge Checks.  

The game also encourages Dealers to structure Badlands adventures like TV shows and movies.  It recommends a three act structure with a Beginning, Middle, End.  It also uses the language of cinema such as Inciting Incident to trigger Challenge Checks, Final Scene for the dramatic finish, and Epilogues to help wrap up loose ends.  This is a Narrative first game. 

Tell Wild West Stories

Badlands spends time dissecting what makes a Western work on-screen.  There is discussion of Themes, Stakes, and Genre Tropes so that the Dealer and the Players can engage in authentic feeling Wild West stories.  However, the game is loose enough that your adventures can be any of the many types of Western stories, singing cowboys, wagon trains, cattle drives, outlaws, sheriffs, lone rangers, and more.  There is also space for "straight" Westerns with white hats and black hats, or something a bit more supernatural like werewolves, shamans, cannibals, or even aliens!  You can make your Wild West as wild as you want. 

Some Details

The rules are 71 pages long.  It includes almost everything you need to play.  This includes a blank character sheet, a Quick Refence Sheet of rules, a Poker Hand chart, and an Index.  The rulebook also has an initial adventure set in 1849 on the Oregon Trail to kick-off your Badlands experience.  All you need to do is provide a deck of standard Poker cards with Jokers, and a handful of Poker chips.    

Final Thoughts

Of course, if you have been reading this blog you know I have some core ideas and preferences about my RPGs.  I tend to design games that I would want to play.  Therefore, my preferences are on full display.  Badlands is no exception.  

Therefore, if you like narrative and character driven based RPGs that use a traditional story-telling format, this might be a good game for you.  This is not a game to challenge the Players with survival like an OSR, it is focused on telling stories and looking for characters to grow and change.  It is rulings over rules and forces the players to ask the question, "What is the right thing to do?".  This question is about morals, ethics, and values more often than it is about survival in the Badlands.  

Check it out and let me know what you think! 

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Review: Pacific Command - Osprey Games

 

Mike Hutchinson returns to the Osprey Wargaming Series with something a bit different.  Previously, Mr. Hutchinson wrote Gaslands (which got an Osprey Hardback re-release which means it sold well) and the less well-received A Billion Suns.  His other big Non-Osprey book is Hobgoblin which is a fantasy Mass Battle Game.   Therefore, turning his hand to a historical, WWII, Naval combat game is a bit of a different look for him.  I am interested to see what he comes up with.  

I have always been interested in Naval combat.  However, my interest is more Jutland than it was Midway.  The Pacific Theatre of WWII seems especially.... popular?  I mean, the Victory at Sea starter set focuses heavily on the Pacific Theatre, even if it is strangely missing the carrier elements.  Therefore, this is an area of the war that has gotten a lot of attention in wargaming circles over the years, and much of it has been very dogmatic and rivet-counting focused.  I am therefore interested in how Mr. Hutchinson takes a crack at the period and genre, as he often brings novel and simplified approaches to complex genres. 

With that said let's fuel up our dive-bombers, clear the decks, and scramble all aircraft! 

Things That I Liked

The book starts with a summary of key mechanics.  This is something I have adopted recently in my own writing, and I find it makes writing and reading the rules much easier.  You all ready know the Core Unifying Mechanics of the game before you read any of the details.  

In this case, the core mechanics are that Task Forces are covered by Poker Chips, you do not reveal the actual ships until they have been uncovered by reconnaissance craft or moving into visual range.  That is the heart of the game, revealing and discovering which chips are actual threats, and which are feints.  In some ways, this reminds me of what I was going for with Aquanautica Imperialis: Force of Arms.* 

Players also need to decide if they are using Offensive or Defensive air wings.  These are represented by playing cards.  Red and black respectively.  You make this decision early in the turn and are committed to your choice through the turn.  A key aspect of the game is deciding when to defend and when to strike.  The game also uses Command points to allow different actions in the action phase.  You can melt back into the Fog of War, launch a strike, or other actions.  These decrease as task forces are revealed and lost.  

Finally, it is important to note that the game used the 4Ms a bit differently.  Air strikes are treated like Missile attacks.  Meanwhile, surface gun battles are treated like Melee attacks.  Ships other than carriers in a task force are essentially Armor or Hit Points that get melted away as the game progresses.  These actions use dice pools of six-sided dice to resolve.  I am always a fan of dice pools as it limits my bad luck with the law of averages!     

You build stacks of chips that are composed of Task forces, Gambits and blanks.  Therefore, you could use a weak Task Force to carry a variety of blanks to look dangerous and draw attention.  You could also place multiple Task Forces in a stack for mutual support.  Gambits are special events that help add to the Fog of War element of the game.   

Things I Did Not Like

This is a bit silly, but I was disappointed that all the photos were from the Warlord Victory at Sea range.  I was hoping to see some GHQ or some other manufacturers.  I know, it is petty but that is how it goes sometimes.  The artwork is the usual high Osprey standards.   

When you roll Buckets of D6 you want to roll high, but when you roll 2d6 you want to roll low.  Not a fan of the change in mid-game to what I want to roll.  Plus, I am generally never a fan of rolling low in games as it strikes me as counter intuitive.  

The game has a starter fleet list and scenario for you first game in order to help you get into playing. It tells you everything you need to know and lets you focus on learning the mechanics.  

There are some rules for Air Bases on islands.  This makes sense as they also played a big role in the Pacific campaign. 

There is a fun action called a Shell Game.  If two unrevealed stacks come into contact, you can reshuffle what is in each stack, even combining them into once stack if you wish.  This helps add another element to the subterfuge. 

The rules have three modes of play.  The first is a set of historical battles for up to 5 engagements with lines of battle prepared and any special rules.  These follow the major battles of the Pacific War.  The second mode is an Arcade Mode which allows a less historical battle and freeform play of Fleet Lists and the like.  This allows different 6 different missions, weather, fleets, etc.  This mode allows a lot of replayability.  The final method adds a campaign element to the Arcade Mode so you can fight your own version of the Pacific Theatre if you like. 

Meh and Other Uncertainties

This game is designed to help recreate big battles.  Therefore, the miniature aspect of the game is secondary and more for relative location than anything else.  You could easily play this game without a single miniature and only use paper templates.  However, it is also scale and model agnostic as all measurements are from the conning tower of revealed task forces, or the chip for unrevealed.  As the Flagship of a task force is sunk, you can change the model representing the task force to new flagships, so a Carrier might become a Cruiser to a Destroyer.  Go scour your neighborhood garage sales and thrift stores for copies of Battleship!   

Osprey is providing some print-and-play terrain on their website for the key Island chains of the Pacific war.  That allows you to play on more than just a flat blue matte and helps set the scale of the game.  The scale is 1 inch equals 10 Nautical miles.  However, terrain does not play a huge role in the game as it is zoomed out.  The game is normally played on a 6ft x 4ft table.    

There are a variety of Gambits and even Fleet Modifications that you can add to your games to add further depth and replayability to the game.  These are also important for the campaigns, both Arcade and Historical. 

Final Thoughts

This is a heavily abstracted game more focused on subterfuge and bluffing at a strategic level than you normally see in miniature-based games.  Like A Billion Suns this could just as easily be played as a board game or without miniatures.  It is trying to tackle the uncertainty of strategic operations and the scale of Naval combat and I think it does a successful job at it. 

The scale of operations in Naval warfare has always been a challenge to fit on a tabletop.  Carrier Warfare only made this issue worse.  However, this game seems to do a good job trying to capture a game that should be handled by Maps onto a tabletop in a meaningful way.  

Kudos to Mr. Hutchinson.  Hutchinson is very good at boiling games down to their essential elements, and then making simple, yet meaningful rules for them. I am a bit jealous!        

    

* = My Paid Patrons have access to all my Aquanautica Imperialis content including the core naval game, the submarine game, and the large scale Force of Arms game.  

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Heroquest: The Lost Wizard

 

Quest, quest, quest!  The Fellowship of Destiny returns to delve in dungeons deep and full of dread.  Allathura of the Green has taken up the charge of leading this bold band of adventurers at the behest of Mentor.  She is joined by Hamilcar Margos from the mountain strongholds of the Dwarves who has a knack for the mechanical.  Alongside him, is Aerlin the Wizard a young and powerful disciple of Mentor himself.  The last member is Neo-Wulf of the North Lands, a mighty and impetuous warrior from the Northern Tribes.  Alone, they could not stand against the forces of Dread, but together they form the mighty Fellowship of Destiny!  

The last two quest had drained the Fellowship of their potions.  However, they were much better protected than they have been in the past.  Hamilcar and Allthusa are kitted out like tanks with shields and helmets.  Even Neo-wulf has a helmet.  The Barbarian and Aerlin also have staves to help with support attacks when needed.  So armed, they are summoned again by Mentor.  

Prince Magnus is once again in need of the Fellowship's aid.  The king's wizard, Wardoz; has gone missing.  It is feared that Zargon has had the wizard kidnapped or worse yet, corrupted him with Dread magic.  The Prince needs the Fellowship to determine the fate of Wardoz.  If successful, each hero that survives will be rewarded with 100 gold!  

Mentor has used Loretome to give him an idea of where Wardoz maybe located.  Allathura leads the Fellowship to the area and begin their search.  Soon, Hamilcar uncovers an obscured entrance to a dungeon below.  The Fellowship exchange knowing looks and prepare to plunge into the dungeon below. The search of the Lost Wizard has begun. 

The Lost Wizard

The Fellowship descends the stairway, and Neo-wolf eagerly takes point.  He smashes through the first door and quickly downs the first foe he sees, a skeleton.  Hamilcar follows and finishes off the second skellie.  They take a moment, and realize that this dungeon is older than they thought, and was probably crawling with the undead.  Hamilcar wished he had brought some Holy Water.

Allathura and Aerlin follow the other two.  As Neo-wulf begins searching for treasure, a Mummy stumbles from the shadows cast by the fireplace and attacks him!  However, Allathura suspected an ambush and made short work of the beast.  

The party pressed onwards and found Hamilcar as the lead element tangling with some Skeletons.  However, as Aerlin approached a T-intersection he accidentally stumbled too far.  A pair of Stone Golems were activated and moved in on the incautious wizard.  They caught up to him and punished him for his carelessness.  However, his Wizard Cloak allowed him to escape mostly unharmed.... mostly.         

Now, they were fighting on two fronts, between a room full of Skeletons and the pair of Stone Dread Golems.  Thankfully, Allathura managed to hold-off the Golems long enough for Hamilcar and Neo-Wulf to clean out the Skeletons.  This allowed them to face the Golems as a united front.  A Rock Skin spell on Hamilcar proved useful as he was able to absorb much of the Golem's attacks.  However, Neo-wulf was badly bruised from the encounter.  

Sometimes, I forget how cruel Heroquest can be.  The Fellowship battled their way through a wave of Skeletons.  Aerlin found himself exposed and took several hits from the undead fiends.  He was forced to use a Healing spell on himself!  

The Fellowship then fell into a pit trap that was right behind a door.  They all fell into and failed to jump over it, except the Elf.  This led to a chest behind another trap that Hamilcar disarmed.  However, when Neo-wulf opened the chest, he was struck by a poisoned needle!  Inside was a Purple liquid that he drank..... which turned him into stone.  The Fellowship took a moment to mourn their friend, assuming he was dead!  Then, leaving the room, they all fell into the pit again.... except the Elf.  This room caused more carnage than any monsters had! 

Pressing on with their quest, the remaining Fellowship activated another Dread Golem.  This one was just as stubborn as the last, almost killing Hamilcar!  Only the timely drinking of a Potion of Defense helped him out.  Then Aerlin used Courage on the Dwarf and he smashed the Dread Golem in a rage! 

The Fellowship cautiously moved forward, bruised and battered.  A fourth Dread Golem was awaiting them around the next corridor.  Arathusa used her Veil of Mist to get past the beast and search for a another doorway, however she did not go fast enough.  Aerlin summoned a Genie, that barely managed to crack the Golem.  Hamilcar and Aerlin tried to move away and attract the Golem's attention and try to flank it.  However, the magical beast was not fooled.  It quickly homed in on Arathusa, who was trapped by a locked door and a stone wall.  She was not nimble enough and the Dread Golem managed to smash her into paste.... tastefully done off-screen.  The Talisman of Lore slipped from her broken body and slipped across the floor, falling into an aged and ancient crack.... perhaps never to be seen again?   

Hamilcar and Aerlin were unaware of Allathusa's death.  They crept forward, and as they rounded the corner were greeted by a blood-splattered Dread Golem approaching.  Aerlin leapt forward and launched a fireball that exploded harmlessly across the Golem's chest.  Hamilcar fell back to a more defensible position, his heart racing.  Aerlin cast Pass through Earth and fled away from the Golem and back into the fireplace room.  

Despite Hamilcar falling back, the Golem caught up to him.  The Dwarf made a desperate lunge, but the Golem snatched him from the air and smashed him against the wall and then finished him off with a stone mace to his face.  Everything went dark, and then Hamilcar saw Allathura beckoning him towards a doorway surrounded by light.  He followed her....

Hearing the stomping footsteps of the approaching Dread Golem, Aerlin's nerve cracked and he fled back to the surface.  Allathura was probably dead, Neo-wulf had been turned to stone, and Aerlin had heard Hamilcar's scream suddenly get cut-off.  The Fellowship was shattered, never to be re-forged.  The young wizard fled in terror back to Mentor. 

The End?

Well, that sucked.  The Fellowship of Destiny has been undone!  I better get that B-team moving through First Light to get them up to speed!  Afterall, Wardoz is not going to find himself.  

Those Stone Dread Warriors absolutely wrecked me!  There were several times where they rolled Max hits on me.  Ouch.    

Pretty sure there was a bug with the Purple Liquid in the App, as Neo-Wulf was supposed to be Petrified for 5 turns, but I could never get him un-petrified and the last Dread Golem just walked up to him and smashed him into paste too.   

I guess I better read the rules on what to do when you fail a quest...... until next time?  

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Battle Report: Operation: Hemlock- Heroquest (?!?)

Today, i am doing something very different.  One of the things I love about Heroquest is that you can be very creative with the system.  It can easily be re-skinned or home-brewed into a wide variety of games.  Today, I am going to try to re-skin it as a Warhammer 40K Inquisitor game.  Let's see how it goes! 

It has been awhile since we tuned into to see what our Throne Agents were doing in Operation: Hemlock.  Last we saw them, the Throne Agents had discovered a link between the Adaconite Smugglers and the Red Tower of Ammoriss.  they had infiltrated an Adeptus Mechanicus facility and inserted a data-demon into their system.  This began sending them intel.  

Father Robertus was able to sort through the data and began to put together links.  He quickly uncovered unusual activity being routed through a Guild House located in the Deff Islands, possibly as a clearing house.  From there, Sebastian Twist was sent ahead aboard an Imperial supply vessel.  The region was an active warzone, but the Imperial forces had a clear hold on Grig's Isle.  Fighting was still raging on Baron's Rest, and the Ork control Zone was simply known as "The Green Zone".  

Thankfully, the Guild House was on Grig's Isle near the Davros Mineworks.  Most of these outfits were "wild cat" and independent operations that popped up, went bust, and crumbled; until those involved tried again.  The Deff Islands was one of the rare sources of Adaconite that was not directly under the control of the Red Tower.    

Sebastian was able to establish himself with the gangs and other ne'er-do-wells quickly and easily.  They were his kind of people.  The local  underworld had mostly coalesced into an organization known as The Syndicate that was nominally allied with the Imperial war-effort. It did not take long for Twist to have his own operatives infiltrate the Guild Hall.  

Twist was joined on Grig's Isle by the rest of the team later.  However, at the safehouse they also found that the Inquisitor had provided a new asset in the form of a Combat Servitor.  That could prove useful. Shortly after the Throne Agents set-up shop; Twist lost contact with his agents within the Guild Hall.  They had hinted to Twist that they had found critical intel before contact was lost.   

Sgt Major Bathory decided that if they did not act quickly, their operation could be compromised.  The Throne Agents quickly assembled to raid the Guild Hall and retrieve the operatives. 

Forces: 

First off, I have decided to use my Heroquest Core set to play this game.  It maybe a bit of a stretch, but it feels like the Heroquest board will be a great way to simulate the interior of a Guild Hall building.  I plan on running the initial First Light scenario using the App, with a few modifications to the game rules that I will detail a bit later:

Sgt. Major Bathory 

- Dwarf- Crossbow 

I figured the best way to represent the skills of the Veteran Guardsman was using the Dwarf card armed with a crossbow in addition to the normal load-out.   

Father Robertus

- Wandering Monk

This seemed like the best way to flavor an Imperial Drill Abbot with the 4 elements representing the Imperial Faith. 

Sebastian Twist

- Rogue Heir of Elethorn

The Heirs ability to move through enemies seemed like natural fit for a spy like Twist.  Plus, the thrown dagger matches his fighting style. 

Codename: Gladius 

- Barbarian with Broadsword

As a Combat servitor, the Barbarian card seemed like the closest fit. 

From left to right: Sgt Major Bathory, Sebastian Twist, Father Robertus, and Gladius

The only real upgrade is for the Dwarf to get a Crossbow, still leaving these guys as mostly "starting" Heroes.  Therefore, the first scenario in the First Light campaign could still be an issue. 

Set-up

I will be using the base Heroquest rules and re-flavoring for the setting a bit.  I will be making the following replacements and adjustments: 

Goblins = Scavvies

Orcs= Gangers

Abominations= Gang Leaders

Dread Warriors= Skitarri

Dread Sorceror = Psyker

Gargoyle= Big Mutie

In addition, I am going to be using the Missile weapon rules for this game.  However, ALL enemy models will have a ranged attack equal to half of their normal attacks rounded down.  Therefore, a Scavvie has 1 ranged attack dice.  A Gang Leader has 1, but Skitarri have 2.  There are no missile troops in the First Light scenario but if encountered they would act as normal.  Therefore, in many situations it is still better to get up close and personal, Heroquest style.  However, some situations may dictate otherwise.   

No one can shoot at an enemy that is in base-to-base with an ally.  That includes models that are in adjacent/diagonal squares to a friendly model.  They also still use line-of-sight as if casting a spell to fire. 

I have also decided that Heroes have a shoot ability of their normal attack divided by 2 rounding up: 

1-3= 1

3-5= 2

6+= 3 

Again, normal line-of-sight applies and Heroes can not use ranged attacks on enemy models that are in base-to-base with a friendly, even in adjacent/diagonal squares.  However, the Combat Servitor will never shoot.  

Mission

I am using the first Scenario from the First Light supplement for this scenario.  I will use the App to run the game for exploration, terrain, and enemy location; but run enemies with the shooting rules above

The Throne Agents are attempting to locate the 4 spies they had placed in the Guild Hall to gather their intel.  They are going to be able to engage with a free hand, and are authorized to kill anyone who tries to oppose them.  

The Game:        

The Throne Agents quickly blast open the gate and storm the Guild House.  The Combat Servitor mindlessly leads the way, and quickly locks in on an enemy Mutant.  He easily rushes it and slashes it down before it can even react!  

However, the Agents are in for a surprise as a booby-trap detonates and blocks them inside the Guild Hall.  There is no easy ex-fil from where they came.  All ready the plan has gone sideways.    

Undeterred, they continue their sweep of the Guild House.  However, they quickly discover they were too late.  They discovered one of their informants dead, a scavvy and a ganger looking over his body their pistol's still smoking.  Bathory makes short work of one, while Father Robertus deals with the other.  Twist manages to get to the body and finds a small data-slate that is encrypted on the corpse.  Perhaps it is the puzzle pieces they were looking for? 

Gladius blasts down the next door with a powerful shoulder and barges into through the stronghold.  He and Robertus lead the way.  However, the Priest gets bogged down with a tentacled mutant while the others move ahead, seeping the Guild Hall.  

It isn't long before an alarm bellows out, and Gangers and Scavvies from other parts of the Guild Hall head their way.  Eventually, Father Robertus finishes his man but is pretty banged up.  Thankfully, the crew came prepared with some Med-Kits, which he uses to patch himself up with.    

The Sgt Major leads the team deep into the Guild Hall, where they find a pair of Gang Leaders.  They were interrogating one of the spies but apparently executed him when the alarm went off.  The team was too slow.  

It is a tough fight, but eventually Father Robertus uses the Word of the Emperor to finish the last gang leader decisively.  His faith is powerful enough to crush the muscled thug's skull with his Drill Abbot's Hammer.  

They quickly find the Guild Houses main office, and it is heavily guarded by Gangers.  Inside, a powerful Combat Servitor of their own is ready.  Gladius rises to the challenge and charges into the battle.  The presence of such a beast further confirmed the involvement of the Red Tower of Ammoriss with these smugglers.  Twist managed to infiltrate the room as the battle raged and fired into the Combat Servitor's skull execution style from behind besting the beast.  

The Throne Agents managed to sweep the rest of the Guild House clean.  Even their secret chambers were discovered.  The agents they were sent to locate were all dead.  Just as Sgt. Major Bathory feared.  However, they got there in time to secure incriminating data-slates, physical records and even some local script and golden Thrones currency. 

Like all rat's nests, this one had a secret back entrance that the rat's had used to escape.  The Throne Agents uncovered it and made their way out as well.  The ex-filtrated back to their safehouse to debrief, rifle through their new leads, and to tend to their injuries.  

Final Thoughts  

That worked out just fine.  I recently watched a play through of this mission that ended in a TPK.  I did not have that same level of difficulty at all.  My Monk got beat-up but the bonus Medical Kits provided by the Inquisitor (Healing Potions from Sir Ragnar) smoothed over the worst of it.  I did get pretty lucky on Treasure cards though, only 1 Wandering Monster and 1 Hazard!   

My Monk needed it after getting caught flat-footed by opponents at the end of the Heroes' turn cycle a few times.  Otherwise, the rest only took a point of damage here and there, but nothing life threatening.  This games MVP was Gladius the Combat Servitor as he rampaged through Scavvies and Gangers with ease!        

The group ended with a haul of 580 Golden Thrones, 2 Med-Kits (Potion of Healing), a gem worth 35, a one-use Refractor Field (Potion of Defense), and a Psyker's Brass Staff (Wizard's Staff).

Overall, I think that worked pretty well!  The shooting rules and such were not even needed.  Most of the time, the fights were close enough where shooting was not the better option.  The only one that shot much was Sgt. Major Bathory and a Scavvy once or twice.  Most of the time, the enemies/Heroes were within 1 square of a friendly anyway so you couldn't get a clean shot.  

I will have to take a look and how I can re-fluff the rest of First Light for my throne agents to keep on playing it. 

Until next time. 

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Battle Report: Odin's Ravens - Into the Lair of the Beasts

Today we are going to be taking a closer look at these rules for recreating Viking Sagas on the tabletop.  We are going to be using a Norse hero versus a group of game-controlled monsters.  We will also be using one of the Mythic scenarios from the rules.  

You can find those rules here: 

Erik Greybeard was attempting to build up his legend.  He was planning an expedition across the ocean, and to do that he needed to gather followers.  The Jarl's were not taking him seriously and he knew he needed to prove himself.  Therefore, he gathered his kin and out to face the horrors in the Shieldlands above Geatland.  He had heard rumors of an Ogre and his kin band terrorizing the people of the area.  Erik was determined to track them down.

Forces: 

Vikings:

Erik Greybeard - Hero - Chain Mail, Shield Hand Weapon - Patron: Heimdal- Disengage

Gunnar Erikson - Second- Spear, Armor, Shield

8 Kin - Soldiers- Shield, Mix of spears and hand weapons

These will be my Victrix models.  

Monsters:

Ogre - Monster- Chain Mail, Two-Handed weapon

Winter Wolf - Beast- Shield, Fast 

7 Black Elves - Creatures- Hand weapons, shields, armor

1 Wolf- Creature- Fast 

I will be using my Heroquest models to represent the Monsters! 

Mission: 

For this game, we will be using the Into the Lair of the Beasts scenario found in the main rulebook.  We will be using 1 MU = 1 inch on a 36 x 36 MU board.  

We also rolled up two complications!  The first is Long Shadows and the second was Bad Omens!  Let's see if I recall them during game play.  These make it easier for the Hide action and more likely for things to fail Fear tests.  

The Vikings are trying to get into the Lair of the Beasts. 

Set-up: 

We set-up terrain per the rules in the main rulebook.  However, we also needed 1 terrain piece to act as the entrance to the monster's lair!  This time I used two frozen ponds to represent the entrance, similar to the lair for Grendel's Mother.   

We rolled up Connected Edges for deployment and then followed the rules for deployment and the scenario.  These can be found in the main rulebook. 

As normal, I will not be covering each action and dice roll.  I will only discuss those if they are relevant to the game, or to help you understand the basic rules.  However, I will be breaking the game up into the Maneuver phase, Battle Phase, and End Phase.  Normally turn 1 and 2 is the Maneuver portion, 3-6 is the Battle, and 7-8 is the End phase.  This game lasts 8 turns or until the Heroes break.   

Maneuver Phase

   

One soldier bravely leaves the woods and soon draws the attention of all the beasts!  They quickly close in on him, while his comrades are hampered by the woods behind him.  The soldier bravely steps forward to face the Winter Wolf, but has his head knocked off for his audacity!   

Gunnar bravely challenges the Winter Wolf next, and their fight is inconclusive.  however, it gets crazier as the Ogre and another Viking charge in as well.  Meanwhile, as the Vikings emerge from the woods, they are engaged by the Dark Elves.  A beast manages to bludgeon another Viking to death.  

Battle Phase

Things start poorly for the Vikings as Gunnar is downed by the Ogre right off the bat!  However, Erik manages to slay a Dark Elf in return and charges into the next!  Fighting across the slowly forming front is inconclusive as the last of the Vikings start leaving the woods.  

The Viking fighting the Winter Wolf and the Ogre sees the long odds and the bad omens and runs away back into the woods.  The Ogre finishes poor Gunnar off.  The Ogre than charges into the next melee, and quickly smacks another Viking to the ground!  

Things are looking bad for the Vikings as the Ogre wades in and kills another Viking with the help of his minions.  However, Erik finally finishes off his Dark Elf and runs towards the objective.  However, he is intercepted by the Winter Wolf.  

End Phase

Things look bleak for our Viking Heroes as they have been whittled down by the beasts.  The ogre lumbers into a melee and swings wildly, giving that viking the opening, and he dashes away from the wolf, a Dark Elf, and the Ogre.  The Wolf chases him down, but is unable to injure him.  However, another Viking is brought down by the Dark Elves.  

Erik Greybeard manages to twist away from the fangs of the Winter Wolf and sprints to the Lair entrance and ducks inside.  With Erik getting to the lair, the rest of his kin decide it is better to flee and live to fight another day!  

Conclusion

That was ugly!  Somehow, the Vikings held on long enough for their Hero to get to the lair and secure the win.  However, they had to pass a few Runaway checks to do it.   They needed 3 VP to win, and Greybeard making it to the Lair gave them 3.  However, he lost 3 killled kin, and 2 Missing after the fight.  Those two would eventually make their way home to fight again.  Thankfully, Greybeard's son would also manage to survive the engagement, with a nasty scar.  In return, they barely managed to injure the Beast, downing only 2 Dark Elves in the fight.  

Some thoughts.  The terrain really hampered my Vikings ability to coordinate.  Plus, moving one of my soldiers out of the woods allowed all the beasts to move towards my deployment zone early, that was  a big mistake.  The Woods played a big part in this battle.  

My Vikings also had a hard time getting past the Beasts armor and shields.  The beasts also came for blood today, often choosing to Deal Damage whenever they could.  Ouch.  That Three Dice Ogre was cutting through Vikings like a hot knife through butter, especially when he was getting help from Dark Elf friends.  Being Outnumbered is no joke in this game!

Ultimately, my victory came when I won a couple key fights and chose to disengage and then move with extra activations rather than Deal Damage.  Heimdall's Gifts paid off in spades in this scenario.  If I would have focused on killing enemies, I would have lost.  I guess you have to keep your eyes on the prize and tactical movement paid off in this game.  It is hard to recall sometimes that you are not locked in combat, but to unlock you have to win a combat.  It is a bit counter to a lot of games I have played in that way. 

You can find Odin's Ravens: Viking Age Bad Boys on the Blood and Spectacles Wargame Vault page. 

Until next time!    

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!