To 15 Felmont 1000AC - Messing about in boats

 “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” (Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows)

Broneslav was tiring of the big city. Nearly a month had gone by since he had foiled the Veiled Society's plot. Some of that time was spent recovering, and much of it was spent avoiding Milka (she of the white skin and rose red lips). She had decided that he was very much the man for her now. Before the Shearing, Broneslav would have welcomed this change, but now he found himself less interested. The petty intrigues and relationships of the merchant houses that formed the core of her conversation were just not interesting enough to him. They were, no doubt, important within the sphere of the merchants of Specularum and would be useful to know if he chose to play politics here, but he was not interested in that right now. He needed to make his fortune first. He wanted and needed to go back out into the world. Therefore, he spent more time than his parents deemed necessary in the taverns of the docks listening to tales told by sailors newly returned from Ierendi or the Northern Reaches.

This was not just idle drinking, although he did make time for that too. He learned as he drank. It was clear that there was money to be made, although at some risk to his own personal fortune. But, as his father said: nothing ventured, nothing gained. His mind was made up. He would embark on the life of a merchant adventurer. There was gold to be earned and adventure to be had in this life. But first, another pint of ale.

Broneslav was slightly tipsy as he left the The Merman's Apology and headed towards home. The night was still light, the moon was full and the weather was clear. The few clouds he could see were just hanging around idly. They appeared to have no evil intent, such as raining on him. Reaching the turning towards his home, Broneslav heard a cry and a gurgle from a nearby alley. He recognised the sound of someone being stabbed and immediately ran towards to the noise.

Pitching into the alley, Broneslav saw two men standing over the bleeding body of a third. One of the men was leaning down to go through the clothes of the bleeding man.

"Quickly, Horatius, someone's coming!" hissed the first man.

"I'm going as fast as I can. The letters must be here somewhere. I heard him tell the barmaid that he never let them out of his sight," replied Horatius as he searched the body.

With a yell, Broneslav launched himself at the men. He was slightly drunk and armed only with his dagger, because his sword was peacebound, as was required by the law when in the city, but he had all the confidence of youth and enough experience to back it up under most circumstances. Well, so he thought, anyway.

He had not deceived himself. With just two blows of his mighty fists, he laid the robbers flat. He had not even needed to draw his dagger! The poor victim was not so lucky. A dagger in his back had ended his life. The robbers were clearly taking no chances with him. Broneslav tied them up and left them next to the body. He helped himself to the papers that the robbers had been after, and called the watch, who took the robbers away. Broneslav was by now well enough known that they did not simply assume he was the aggressor here.

A Treasure Map!

Notes on the Map

• Areas marked in black on the map are unmapped.
• Apart from those with unmapped areas, I have filled out the small islands in full.
• The darker areas in the sea are reefs.
• Only the south-east part of The Isle of Dread has been mapped in full. The rest of it is roughed in and will be developed later.

What Broneslav learned

Back at home, he read through what he had found. It told an interesting tale and one that piqued his interest. Better yet, there was an associated map. Broneslav read with interest a tale of a voyage to the Thanegioth Archipelago that had gone wrong. Most of the crew of the ship had died in storms and only a half dozen survived to return to Karameikos, their number now cut down further by the robbers.

The author told of tribes as yet uncontacted by those on the mainland. Some were friendly, others drove the author and his crew off with spears and bows. The author related how they had sailed around many small islands and found one large island. They had landed on a peninsula in a village called Tanaroa. A large stone wall divided this peninsula from the main island, which the locals called The Isle of Dread. The local name for the peninsula translated simply as Home. In their village there were statues made of gold and iron, but the locals used only stone tools.

The locals told of an ancient city at the centre of the main island, of great dangers and vast treasures, including a massive black pearl similar to those they traded for goods, but exceeding those in size by a great margin. It sounded like this island had once been the centre of a lost civilisation.

The author concluded with the remark that he would return to Karameikos and gather a group of adventurers to explore the island and recover the giant black pearl, and that he had managed to map the extremities of the island, but not its interior. Examining the map, Broneslav found this to be true.

"Well, the poor sailor will not benefit from his hard work any more, but this sounds exactly like the kind of thing that I have been looking for. I think I shall enjoy messing about in a boat for a while. Perhaps I can expand our trading routes to this area and recover the black pearl at the same time."

The next day, Broneslav headed back to the docks with his father's major domo to advise him about ships. He was looking forward to this voyage.

Afterword

Time to let Broneslav spread his wings further. I have a lot going on right now, so the plan is to post monthly on this adventure, because it will require updating the map as the adventure progresses and that can take time. Can he survive The Isle of Dread?

The map is made in Campaign Cartographer 3+ using the 'Ancient Realms 2025' style plus a few symbols from other packs. I really like this software, even though I do not use it to its full potential, and running these adventures is a great excuse to try to do more with it.

X1 The Isle of Dread is another classic Basic/Expert module. I received Basic and Expert D&D as presents one Christmas back in the Stone Age when I was still young and enthusiastic and unjaded by life. I ran B2 The Keep on the Borderlands as my first adventure ever and it is what got my brothers and me into RPGs. I cannot remember running X1 The Isle of Dread for them at all. We were at a stage where we flitted from game to game because it was all new and exciting, but I still remember it fondly, so this is another trip to nostalgia land for me.

Furniture for 15mm fantasy games

This week I have mostly been making flat-pack furniture. Fortunately, not a single allen key was required, and there were no unfortunate incidents with pieces attached the wrong way round.

Plywood terrain card 'TC005 Tables and Benches' from Ral Partha Europe

I bought several Ral Partha Europe terraincards 'TC005 Tables and Benches' just before Christmas so I spent an enjoyable evening cutting them out and gluing them together. There is something really satisfying about this sort of task!

The set comprises a long table with 2 benches plus a round table with 4 stools. They are laser cut from 3mm plywood which feels quite soft and many of the pieces are small, so I was a bit worried about pressing them out of the frame. However, all went well. I cut the tab that held them in the frame with a craft knife and pressed them out with the end of a paint brush. Very soon my table was covered in tiny pieces of plywood.

The contents of one card built.

With all the pieces out, I sanded down the nub of the tab and glued them together. Then I painted them with Vallejo 70.828 Woodgrain. This is a thin paint that is designed to be used over the top of other paints, if I have understood correctly. In this case, I did not paint the furniture first, but just applied the Woodgrain paint directly to the furniture, giving it that proper well-varnished look that should be proof against most spills of ale, food and blood.

The finished articles with two Demonworld Elves from Ral Partha Europe for scale.

"I've told you before about blowing your own trumpet in here! Now get out!" commanded the landlord.

For only a little work, the Thrappled Lemmings can now sit down and have an ale or three in comfort. I, on the other hand, must find more tavern furniture (a bar and shelves of alcohol) that I can use to set up a proper bar-room brawl. Having tables to stand on and stools to throw is a good start though.

A 2024 Retrospective

 So, 2024 turned out to be a good year for gaming for me as you can see from this list of plays I logged on BGG:

1. Dorfromantik: The Board Game (61 plays)
2. Five Leagues From The Borderlands: 3rd Edition (28 plays)
3. Rangers of Shadow Deep: Standard Edition (22 plays)
4. Rangers of Shadow Deep: A Gathering of Heroes (12 plays)
5. Warfighter Shadow War: The Modern Night Combat Card Game (8 plays)
6. Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game (7 plays)
7. Kinfire Delve: Scorn's Stockade (5 plays)
8. Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age (5 plays)
9. Western Front Ace: The Great War in the Air, 1916-1918 (5 plays)
10. Advanced Squad Leader (4 plays)
11. Solo Fluxx (4 plays)
12. Nothing Gained But Glory (3 plays)
13. Firefly: The Game (2 plays)
14. Solitaire ASL (2 plays)
15. Basic Impetus (1 play)
16. Chez Geek (1 play)
17. DreadBall (Second Edition) (1 play)
18. Wingspan (1 play)
19. Wizard Kings (1 play)

That's over 100 games logged using 17 different rules sets. The surprise hit of the year was Dorfromantik. I found a friend here in Stavanger who enjoys the game and the majority of my plays were with my friend, although I did play an entire solo campaign too. I just find it so relaxing to play. It's a beat-your-own-score game, so won't suit those that prefer defined victory conditions, but it does have a nice achievements element where you get to add new elements to the game as you score high enough or advance along the achievements track

I also had a friend visit me and we played Firefly and Chez Geek together, which was nice. Firefly worked two-handed but Chez Geek could really have done with a couple more players to make it interesting.

I am surprised that I have only logged one game of Wingspan, because I am fairly sure I have played two or three games of the physical game. We have environmentally themed boardgames nights at the university here and I usually wind up playing Wingspan at those, so there should probably be more plays logged. I don't log plays of the digital version or the count for Wingspan would be a lot higher. It is one of my go-to games for when I have 15 minutes and don't feel like doing anything else.

Beyond that, the poor long-suffering Steve endured a game of Dreadball against me, and I played an ASL scenario against my brother, but all the rest of my plays were solo games.

Five Leagues from the Borderlands and Rangers of Shadow Deep both provided engrossing campaigns in two completely different ways. I love the story of Rangers but I also love the sandbox nature of Five Leagues. If I had to pick one of the two as my preferred rules, it would be Five Leagues though. The combat is less swingy and the sandbox nature of the game offers much more replayability at the cost of having to develop the narrative yourself. Anyone who has read all my posts about the Thrappled Lemmings in Five Leagues will know that this is not something I struggle with. I would love to get my sci-fi figures and terrain moved out here, and start a Five Parsecs from Home game, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

Warfighter has a respectable number of plays to its name too. I like the standard game because you get to blow things up, and I like the Shadow Wars version because it rewards being sneaky. Both games are nicely cinematic and in my head I am an action hero when playing them.

Western Front Ace was a great game, and I am glad I have it. It's another game that relies on narrative to join your sessions together, but I got too attached to my last pilot and have not picked the game up again since he got shot down by a Hun pilot whom he never even saw. Perhaps enough time has passed now that I can pick it up again.

Oathmark turned out to be really good fun too, and I enjoyed the games I set up using the Charles Grant Programmed Wargames Scenarios book. I would like to do more with this, perhaps even setting up a solo campaign where I combine the scenarios in the Oathmark rules with the programmed options from the book.

The only game that was a bit dud for me this year was Nothing Gained But Glory. The theme of the Scanian war fits my interests, and the components and maps are lovely, but I tried it solo and it just did not work for me. This is a game where I would need an opponent to play against. Hopefully I can ask for one of those for Christmas.

A late contender was Kinfire Delve: Scorn's Stockade. I picked it up early in December and logged 5 plays in quick succession. It is not as quick to play as the small box suggests, but it works well solo and I am tempted to buy the other scenarios on the basis of enjoying playing this one. The game is billed as a dungeon bash, but is really a puzzle solver. In this, it reminds me of Gloomhaven. You have limited resources to get you to the end and to defeat the bad guy, so you have to maximise the effectiveness of your card use. While possibly not a game that will fit on the tray on a flight, it does not have a huge footprint and the box is small enough to carry with you while travelling and it will get you away from the screen for a while.That is always a bonus. I have way too much screen time at work, so playing analogue is always welcome.

In addition to playing boardgames, I have also managed to paint quite a lot of miniatures. My Vikings and Normans that I bought in the 90s are now mostly painted. I only have around 20 more infantry and 15 more cavalry left to paint and then I shall have painted all of those figures. it only took me 30 years or so! Should I catalogue them and realise that I am missing crucial figures for very limited and specific games that I could mostly avoid?

I've made good progress on my fantasy figures as well. These are newer, so I should probably let some of them age and ripen for another decade before painting them but I intend to expand these armies and I have a large Unpainted Lead Pile lying in my attic in the UK, so perhaps it is best to keep going.

So, that is my year in gaming. I have had a good time playing all these games and am delighted to have found at least one regular boardgaming partner here. It would be nice if there were 15mm gamers here, but I have seen no sign of them. Given the fun I am having playing solo, I don't really see that as a problem.

What will 2025 bring?

I imagine that 2025 will continue much as 2024 has, barring major upheavals in my life. I would like to get as many of my 15mm fantasy figures painted as possible and to play an Oathmark campaign.

Similar to the above, I would like to get all my battlemechs painted, my 6mm sci-fi figures rebased and many of those repainted, and I would like to use them in a campaign of some kind. I have a lot of different rules that would permit a solo campaign, and I am looking forward to seeing what the solo rules in Battletech: Aces are like. Hopefully they will be released in 2025 and I can try them out.

With the release of Mortal Enemies for Frostgrave, my final potential goal is a Frostgrave mini-campaign using the rules from Mortal Enemies to control enemy warbands. I have all the Frostgrave supplements to date, but no opponent in easy reach, so I have been thinking of adapting the Rangers of Shadow Deep bot to Frostgrave. The difficulty with that is the spells for the wizard and their apprentice, but Mortal Enemies offers a way round this problem. Rather than generate a single mortal enemy for my wizard, I can generate two or three enemies and dice to see which one turns up. This could be a fun way of playing the early campaigns that were published without needing an opponent.

Miniatures rules I would like to play in 2025 are:

• 5150: Mecha Warfare
• AD&D Battlesystem 2E
• Battle Suit Alpha
• Battletech
• Blood Eagle
• Frostgrave
• FutureWarCommander
• Hardwar
• Horizon Wars
• Oathmark
• Sellswords and Spellslingers
• Thud and Blunder

In addition to the miniatures games, it would be great to get more out of my boardgames collection. Specific games I feel I would like to focus on are:

• Barbarossa to Berlin
• Solitaire Advanced Squad Leader
• Space Empires 4X
• Terraforming Mars (especially with the new solo Automa expansion)
• The Dark Valley

I'm not adding War Without Mercy/Struggle for Europe series to this list because I have singularly failed to get it on the table for several years now, but I would love to give it a proper shot at some point.

It would also be fun to return to the adventures of Broneslav in Mystara. I need to get the maps made for the next story arc before I do that. Sitting at a computer at home working on maps is not my favourite thing after working on a computer all day at work, so we shall have to see if anything comes of it.

Obviously, I have a tonne of other games and figures stashed in my attic that I would like to play, but they are 1000 miles from me at the moment with little chance of getting them shipped over. One day they too can be taken into consideration when I plan my future gaming, but in the meantime they are there to ensure that I have something to do, if ever I can afford to retire.

With that in mind, the real goal for the year is to continue 2024's theme of focusing on one rules set at a time and playing it properly so that it feels like I am getting real value and depth of experience from these games instead of flitting between games at random. This is so much easier when I play solo and do not get caught up in other people's enthusiasms! There is still room for pick-up games in my life, but I want to prioritise depth over breadth as much as possible. I would also like to continue the weekly blog updates. How well shall I do, do you think?

Vikings and Normans for Basic Impetus 2

 I like the Impetus rules, although I never got around to buying 2nd edition. It seemed unnecessary, given that I do not play enough to have got irritated with any part of the rules set. With all the work I have been doing on 15mm figures for Oathmark armies, I suddenly realised that I might be able to put together a couple of armies and play a bit more Impetus. Therefore, I dug out the  2nd edition Basic Impetus rules and checked what I needed. The movement trays I bought for Oathmark are only fractionally larger than the standard bases for 15mm Impetus, so there is no need for rebasing, blu-tacking to temporary bases or any of the other improvisations that might otherwise have been required to make this work. All I needed was to make sure I had the right figures. A little bit of painting and a few spacer bases later, and I had two armies with a small number of options ready for the table.

The Vikings

At this point, I should note that I have issues with the Vikings list in Basic Impetus. The core list seems oddly specifically oriented towards 1014 and the Battle of Clontarf with the inclusion of Irish troops as part of that core. I also do not agree with the inclusion of "raiders" as a troop type in any Viking list for the Viking armies that fought in Europe in this period. These people being called raiders are the same people that are normal troop types at other times. And don't even get me started on having "berserkers" as a weird and wonderful special troop type! Army lists are such strange fictions. Still, I am working with what I have, so here are some of the Vikings.

Veteran Huskarls

Viking skirmishers with spacer bases

The Normans

I have no real issues with the Norman army lists, although I suspect that this is because I know so much less about Norman armies of this period. Ignorance really is bliss sometimes!

The Norman army

By using spacer bases, I was able to set the Norman knights up in a V-formation while the Breton medium cavalry are in a single line, letting me differentiate the two from each other. Spacer bases also differentiate the Norman skirmishers. In this case we have peasant stonethrowers standing in for Breton javelinmen and Norman crossbowmen.

A Quick Game

So, with the armies ready and organised, time for a throwdown on the table. The Normans wound up defending. Not sure how that happened given their superior mobility.

Set-up as seen from the Viking side

There was little subtlety to this game. My goal was to push figures around and learn the rules. So, the Vikings set up with their skirmishers occupying the marsh and their flanks anchored. The Normans were slightly more constrained and set up in a big block. They hoped to use their cavalry to steamroller the Vikings.

Norman luck after a cavalry charge

Alas for the poor Normans, their general was insufficiently lucky. As in the example above, they consistently failed to hit even when rolling generous numbers of dice. The Viking hird troops saw off the Norman cavalry and wheeled onto the Norman right flank.

The end of all things (weirdly squished image but you get the gist, I am sure.)

Over on the left flank, things went better... sort of. The Norman cavalry charged the Viking raiders and sent them packing. They regrouped and prepared to fall on the Viking flank and roll the troops up. Unfortunately, the Viking huskarls had other thoughts and drove off the Norman infantry before this could happen. Discouraged, the Norman general decided to retreat, regroup and try another day.

Conclusions

Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. I got a headache checking the rules repeatedly, despite them being so short. It was fun though. I've always enjoyed Impetus in the past and this iteration of the rules worked for me. One thing I particularly like is the limited options in the lists. When DBA first came out, I loved the rules because each army was only 12 or so elements. It was simple, easy to collect multiple armies and the armies were cheap. Then the whole thing bloated with multiple versions and way too many options and I lost interest. I really did prefer the army lists that were aimed at getting to the core of what each army should be about, whether you agreed with that interpretation or not. Having something similar with Basic Impetus is precisely what I want, even if the armies are larger in number of figures. However, I do wonder about just using smaller armies with the full-fat Impetus rules. That would make it easier to avoid the peculiarities I noted above that I do not like. We shall see.

Happy New Year!

Well, that is my last post for this year. It has been a productive year on the gaming front and I am pleased with what I have achieved. For once, I seem to have found my painting groove and stuck with it, as well as playing a lot of games. Let us hope that 2025 is more of the same.

I hope you have a Happy New Year and that 2025 brings you what you need.

The Gnawling Horde: Beastpeople for Five Leagues from the Borderlands

 The Beastpeople of Utavoll are few these days. They live on the margins and rarely enter spaces occupied by humans. They are kin to the fae folk but do not associate much with them for reasons that are not apparent to the human geographers that have explored Utavoll.

To humans, the Beastpeople resemble a variety of animals, hence the name. This resemblance often leads humans to treat them as beasts rather than as fellow sapients. Among themselves they refer to their own kind as Gnawlings, a word that translates roughly as The People. They live in tribal groups and subsist as hunter-gatherers for the most part. A rare few trade with the humans for new technology that they do not produce themselves. Gnawling art is particularly prized by humans for its delicate, primal style.

My Gnawling collection consists solely of Demonworld Beastmen figures from Ral Partha Europe. Although it would be possible to fill out the roster with different types of beastpeople for the different groups listed in the rules, I have chosen to use only armoured and unarmoured beastpeople. These provide good flexibility at a good price. The only thing really lacking is the full range of missile weapons listed in the rules, but I am fine with using generic missile troops to represent all the types of missile weapons. It's not like my opponent is going to complain!

Unarmoured Gnawlings

The bulk of the Gnawling horde is unarmoured tribespeople, who fight when needed but are not warriors per se. They are artisans and hunters and people from many other walks of life in the tribe and are expected to pick up weapons when needed. Sometimes they go out into the world to earn a little extra loot and that is when you are most likely to encounter these people.

Unarmoured Gnawlings

Armoured Gnawlings

The armoured Gnawlings are generally those who make a living from warfare and raiding. They have more opportunities to gather better weapons and armour. Some are bodyguards to tribal leaders or personal retinues, who serve full-time in the tribal warband. Others are outcasts who fight for the love of fighting or because they prefer the life of a raider and robber to tending the herds.

Armoured Gnawlings with Leader

Missile Troops

As hunters, the Gnawlings use a range of missile weapons to bring down their prey, and these weapons also work in warfare. Although my missile troops are all javelin throwers, these can stand in for the slings and crossbows listed in the rulebook without any issues other than the aesthetic.

Gnawling Missile Troops

ChiCom Acquisitions and Mergers Department: Corporate mechas (6mm sci-fi)

 If you followed the progress of our Hell on Dodgson's World campaign, you will know that ChiCom are the evil corporate invaders, who sought to overthrow the existing peaceful regime on Dodgson's World. An alternative perspective, as generally publicised by the ChiCom Corporate Marketing and Brand Awareness Department, is that they came to Dodgson's World to provide the benefits of access to the wider galaxy in return for being allowed to mine certain valuable ores. However you view it, ChiCom has decided to beef up its Acquisitions and Mergers Department with a mecha company consisting of two stars of mechs. I imagine the committee meeting went something like this:

"So, we need mechs. Everyone else has them and our shareholders are getting anxious that we are not keeping up with the latest technology. Also, the CEO has demanded one instead of his company AV. Biggins, how's the market outlook on these?"

"I've done some market research on these, and it is clear that mechs will boost our share price through increased shareholder confidence. They are also a useful tax write-off, so they seem eminently affordable."

"Wiggins, what's out there and how do we sort this out?"

"I've examined existing organisations and it is clear that the Clans are superior to the Inner Sphere in every way, so I suggest that we organise our mechs as stars of 5 mechs each. The shareholders have expressed a preference for this and would prefer that we call them Stars rather than Lances. They also like the idea of naming each mecha to give our corporate negotiations a more personal touch."

"Right, Stars of five mechs each and names it is. Higgins, can we source mechs at a price that the shareholders like?"

"It's tough but I have a line on some mechs. Clan mechs are too expensive, but the Star organisation should be enough there. It is clear that this organisation works well, because the Clans are kicking the Inner Sphere's arse all over the place. Using this organisational structure will give the right impression to our shareholders even without the Clan mechs. I have put some feelers out and find a source of budget mechs that meet our criteria and will keep the shareholders happy."

"Biggins, what about names? You're marketing. What do you have for me?"

"Sir, the consultants have run the numbers and presented the options to the focus groups. I can safely say that we have some absolute doozies for you. They truly represent our mission and values. I am certain the CEO will love them."

"Great, we have a plan. Well done, Biggins, Wiggins and Higgins. Set up a purchase order and get the first company of mechs ordered. To the next order of business, the company picnic..."

The Mechas

Following the conclusion of our Hellfire campaign, I decided to repaint the ChiCom forces. The old paint jobs were very basic and I was not happy with them. I started on repainting infantry and vehicles and still have to finish them all off. I also decided to add some mechs because I was getting dragged back into the idea of big, stompy robots as fun on the table top. At that point, the EM4 mechs fit the budget nicely, so I got 10 of them and built them. Half got painted really quickly and the rest have languished until now. The plan is to field these as a generic opposing force in solo games of Horizon Wars, Hardwar, FutureWarCommander, 5150 No Quarter: Mecha Combat and Battle Suit Alpha. Other rules sets may also get involved but these are the main ones I currently have for this.

So, without further ado, I present the first two trinaries of the ChiCom Acquisitions and Mergers Department.

White Trinary

White 1: The Spirit of Corporate Unity

White 2: The Global Reorganisation

White 3: The Management Buyout

White 4: The Executive Headhunter

White 5: The Corporate Reshuffle

Red Trinary

Red 1: The Management Directive

Red 2: The Hostile Takeover

Red 3: The Emergency Board Meeting

Red 4: The Internal Memo

Red 5: The Departmental Downsizing

Epilogue

The CEO looked up from the paperwork about his new mecha force and frowned.

"Hmm..."

"Sir..."

"Shush! I'm pondering!"

"Sir!"

He stared at the documents again and frowned again.

He sighed.

"Excellent job, Miggins. The shareholders seem delighted and my stock is up several points. Keep up this sort of work and I'll have that new Type Y Luxury Cruiser before this time next year. Go and carry on the good work."

He looked down at the paperwork again. As soon as Miggins had left the office he tabbed through the screens back to the details on the Type Y Cruiser, checked off a few options and clicked buy.

"No point waiting. Miggins has this well in hand."

He sighed again. This time contentedly.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Ghost Stone (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 Fires on the horizon told Aethelwyrd that Aksel had done his job. She hoped he would escape with his patrol. She thought the little squirt had potential. There was not time to worry about him now though. The Lemmings needed to escort Nesra the Mage to the Ghost Stone that was producing all these spectres. Nesra would destroy it if she got the chance, and it was Aethelwyrd's job to ensure that she did get the chance. Her plan was a simple one. She and half the Lemmings would destroy the guards around the stone, making as much noise as possible to distract the enemy, while Nesra and the others sneaked up to it and then cast the requisite spells to blow it to oblivion. The Lemmings were good at making noise and wreaking havoc. They were joined by three men-at-arms who had survived the battle and were eager for revenge. She hoped it would be enough.

"Righty-ho, Lemmings, let's go."

She forced herself to sound confident, but she was worried about this. There were a lot of powerful foes out there. The two groups moved out. Ahead of them were the enemy and the stone. They would only get one chance at this.

Forward to death!

As she advanced, Aethelwyrd could see a captured Elven MagicMecha capable of shooting a ten foot bolt great distances. A hit from that would kill any one of her people. A maddened cultist leader had summoned a werewolf while the eldritch powers of an Orc shaman would rain spells on to her patrol if they did not stop the man in time. Worse yet, there were spectres emerging from the Ghost Stone and giant flies clearly anticipated a good meal after the slaughter. She led her small group into the shelter of a stand of bushes. If only they could get close enough before they were spotted.

Elven MagiMecha with Orc crew (figure is a D&D Modron)

It was fortunate that the wan green light and magical aura of the stone was attracting the attention of so many of her foes. They had moved up to it, making it easier for her people to sneak a little closer. Then the area was lit up with a blast of fire. Nesra had cast a fireball at the Orc shaman and his bodyguard.

Look at the glowing stone, not the enemy sneaking up on you!

"Charge!" yelled Aethelwyrd. Well, they had to make noise and now she needed to distract the monsters round the stone from Nesra.

Bergsveinn shot an arrow at the Orc using the Elven MagiMecha and wounded it. The others advanced quickly. His second arrow slew the Orc, even as Incunabulum stepped out of cover to launch a fireball at the mass of foes beside the Ghost Stone. Two of them were fried to a crisp. The rest remained unhurt. Howling its fury, the werewolf led the charge towards Aethelwyrd, who had taken up a position near the now uncrewed MagiMecha

"Oh shit!" she muttered. She had definitely got their attention! She yelled at the others with her, "Come on then! Get stuck in!"

They obeyed.

On the other flank, Nesra incinerated the Orc shaman and wounded his bodyguards with a fireball. Her bodyguards raced in to finish them off, although Gorbin the Ogre quickly found himself badly wounded.

As the monstrous horde descended on Aethelwyrd, Incunabulum fired a bolt of mystic energy at the cultist leader. Bergsveinn fired an arrow. Both wounded the gibbering maniac. Aethelwyrd cut the werewolf down with a lucky blow and stepped in to assault one of the advancing cultists. She was in turn attacked by the spectral horseman and the cultist leader. Deft footwork saw her wounded but pushing back and then slaying the cultist leader, but she was still sore beset and so were the others. Despite this, she had the satisfaction of seeing Nesra sprinting up to the Ghost Stone tempered by seeing Gorbin cut down. Unfortunately, the fires from the supply depot were dying down too.  Reinforcements would soon be here.

Beset by hordes of foes

No sooner had she thought this than more giant flies buzzed towards them, attracted by the scent of blood. She turned on the spectral horseman and cleaved it in two with a frenzied blow. As the others fought and slowly cut down their foes, Nesra went to work. It did not take long. The stone glowed brighter.

Nesra does her thing

"Flee! It's going to blow!"

True to her words, she fled, followed by her bodyguards. Those others who could joined her. The stone glowed even brighter and bolts of energy shot towards the heroes but none were hurt. As they ran, one of the men-at-arms was felled with an arrow even as others of the Lemmings cut down spectres and giant flies. The stone let out a huge scream and pulsed even brighter as two more cultists arrived from the supply depot. Most of the Lemmings stumbled as the scream jarred their sense and made them slow down to avoid falling.

The Thrappled Lemmings ran for their lives as the stone pulsed brighter and brighter. A high-pitched whining noise had joined the light show. Two werewolves arrived from the direction of the supply depot. Suddenly the night lit up in a cacophany of shrieking and screams and their was a flash of light brighter than all the previous ones put together. A loud cracking noise followed and then showers of stone shards flew through the air shredding several minions of the Shadow Deep that were too close to it.

Once they had outdistanced their foes, the Thrappled Lemmings headed for the rendezvous. They waited for their comrades and were soon joined by Gorbin and the two men-at-arms that had fallen. Their wounds were superficial, it turned out, but one of the guards had a wild staring look to him that indicated something else wrong.

They made their way back to their base and met up with Aksel's patrol before making their way back to base.

Later, they sat in the Bug and Bed tavern supping ale that would strip paint, but it was still more than welcome after their experiences.

"You did alright, Aksel," Aethelwyrd announced, "We'll make a Lemming of you yet."

Aksel swelled with pride at the high praise.

"Now, you know what the most important job that potential Lemmings have, don't you?"

Aksel shook his head uncertainly. This sounded ominous.

"You need to buy us beer. The next round is on you. And so is the one after that."

Aksel headed to the bar. He would be skint by the end of the night, but he had found a home. More importantly, he had helped to stabilise this front against the Shadow Deep. They had not won, but Lord Arklin could hold for now, which meant that his friends and family would be able to enjoy their lives for a while longer. Yes, and the legendary Thrappled Lemmings had spilt buckets of their own blood to help. No doubt more would be spilt later but for now peace reigned... well, at least until the Thrappled Lemmings started yet another tavern brawl, but that was part of their charm. Aksel smiled as he gathered up the tray of ale and headed back to the table with it.

I got lucky in this scenario because Nesra managed to ignite the stone on the first try, which meant many fewer enemies to fight than would otherwise have been the case. As has been the case with much of this campaign, fireball spells seem remarkably ineffective. Even with the immensely target-rich environment of this scenario, only a few figures were actually even hurt by the fireballs. That was a bit disappointing because in my head fireballs should be more like nuclear bombs! Other than that, the heroes fought well, suffered a few knocks and kept going when it was needed.

This has been a great campaign. My experience of Frostgrave suggested that combat would be far too swingy, but it actually did not seem too bad for the most part and playing solo ameliorated the worst of it. My competitive instincts would probably have been aroused by an opponent that was not me, so the swinginess would have become an issue, while I am much more relaxed and interested in the narrative when playing solo.

And that's a wrap (until the next scenario collection is published). The Lemmings have fought the Shadow Deep to a stand still and I shall move on to something else for a while.