26 Fyrmont 1000 AC - Into the Interior

 Waking early, Broneslav was grateful that nothing had disturbed his sleep. He shook his boots out, disturbing a scorpion in the process and got ready to move on. The hills looked like easier going, so he headed east around the tar pits and then north, skirting the edge of the hills. Somehow he wound up wading through the swamp.

As the day progressed, it got hotter. The mosquitoes became more annoying. Shortly after lunch, he was wading out of the swamp towards the hills when he spotted a group of very large bears 100 paces or so away from him. He froze, as one of the bears stood up on its hind legs. It was nearly three times his height. The bear snuffled in his direction as he backed slowly into the swamp again and skirted around the group. As he retreated from them, he saw the bears return to their lunch, which appeared to be an unfeasibly large creature that he could not identify at this distance. It made sense that giant bears would eat giant prey, he guessed.

Broneslav continued on through the swamp and ended the day making camp on its edge. He hoped that the bears were not still hungry as he tried to get to sleep.

Full Throttle Lemmings: Getting Offensive (5150: Mecha Combat)

 "Listen up, Lemmings! We're going to raid those Kurita goons. We're all of us going in together and we're going to hurt them."

Jennie hoped her morale-boosting speech did not jinx the operation, but she had to be positive.

"Anna, you're on point. Scout them out and keep that tin can of yours out of harm's way. It will be hard with the low hills all over the area. If you have to, retreat onto the reverse slope of any hill and wait for us to take out the threats. Our goal is to sweep the area clean ready for a strike at their infrastructure. Spot, kill, spot, kill, right?"

Anna nodded. She knew that her Locust had tinfoil armour, so she would use her manoeuvrability to spot for the other two.

"Sure thing, Jennie."

"Mike, you're with me. Stay on my flank and work with me to take any goons we see down."

Mike nodded too.

"Yup, boss. Got it."

"Ok. We're still quite new at this, so I want to see you take care, but also remember that if we do not know what we are going to do, how can they predict it? When they go low, we shoot them in the head!"

The words made no real sense, but Jennie felt better for having said them. The three mech pilots marched outside and mounted up. Once the startup checks were completed, they moved out up the dusty road in single file. Anna's Locust led the column.

An hour later they were deploying at the edge of the operational area. As the trio trio advanced off the approach road and onto their assault trajectory, comms squawked.

"Lemming team, this is Control. We have three bogeys on scanner, covering the whole front of the operations area, twelve o'clock, one and three. They should now be showing on your displays. Good luck."

"Roger that, Control. Lemmings ho!" called Jennie over comms, "And keep it tight!"

She had heard commanders say this last. She had no clue what it meant, but she was a commander now and so it was something she too must say, she felt.

The Lemming team moved quickly to the lee of the nearest hill.

As Jennie and Mike took up position just behind the crest of a hill, Ann advanced her Locust to the crest of the next hill ahead of her.

"All clear, Control. Bogey was negative."

"Bogeys advancing. Countdown to contact."

"Hold in position, Lemming 2."

"Roger that. Aw crap, incoming Orion."

Anna backed the little Locust behind the hill and out of sight.

Jennie and Mike quickly moved up to the crest that Anna had so recently vacated. The Orion lumbered round to face them and fired, but its payload only kicked dirt up into the faces of the Thunderbolt and the Wolverine. Jennie stabbed the fire button on her PPG a second before Mike let rip. The crimson energy bolt hit the Orion full in the chest. Armour melted as if it had not been there and the mech disintegrated into a thousand component parts, like a New Year's fireworks show.

"Lemming team, multiple bogeys incoming on our three. I count a Warhammer, a Wasp and a Valkyrie."

While they had been focused on the Orion, a Kurita goon team had moved up on their flank. The Lemmings raced to swivel their mech's torsoes and fire.

Jennie counted the nanoseconds as the Thunderbolt's systems locked onto the approaching Warhammer. Each nanosecond felt like an hour. The time it took her thumb to depress the fire button felt even longer. But it was her shot that went first. Rockets blasted the chest of the Kurita mech, melting bits of its armour to slag. Then her PPG lanced out. A crimson beam of death nearly ripped the giant mech in half. As the pilot ejected, Mike turned his attention to the Valkyrie beside it.

Green fire leapt from all his lasers only to set light to the dry grass around the little mech. Then his rockets landed and the mech's head exploded. The headless mech toppled to the ground. As this was happening, Anna focused her fire on the remaining Wasp. Her Locust and the Wasp exchanged fire, it's laser lancing out, only to hit the hill that Anna's mech was behind. She, in turn hit the enemy mech but failed to do more than scratch its paintwork. The gun duel continued until suddenly a lucky shot hit Anna's mech in the middle and nearly cut it in half. Cursing as her autoeject went into action, she now had a bird's eye view of the rest of the battle, while her parachute opened and she drifted back to the ground.

Both Jennie and Mike turned their attention to the Wasp. It was never clear which of them hit it, but there would be no salvage from the little mech. Their fire had cut it to bits and triggered an explosion in its turbine.

"Objective complete. Operations area secured. Control, send salvage teams. We are returning to base."

Stopping to pick Anna up, Jennie turned for home. Things had gone better than they could have.

Campaign Morale

Lemmings: 3

Kurita: 1

Outcome

Anna was recovered with her pride hurt but otherwise uninjured. Her Locust was also recovered and  repaired. It will be usable next scenario. With Kurita morale reduced to 1, the next scenario could be the last.

This could have gone a lot worse than it did. Anna's gun duel could have gone better though. She and the other mech got into a duel where neither side managed to roll low enough to damage the other but both kept passing tests, so they kept fighting until the goon got lucky and blew the Locust in half.

With the way casualties pile up, I get the feeling that a campaign could quickly see you running out of mechs if you lose a scenario or two. I guess it is probably best to stick to fielding a smaller percentage of your force. Enemies are scaled based on what you field, so it would make sense to husband your resources in that way.

The next scenario will be a Lemmings assault again. If you win an assault scenario, you assualt again. I mean, why wouldn't you keep kicking someone while they are down if it means the war will be over sooner? Will it be the last battle for this mini-campaign though?

25 Fyrmont 1000 AC - What Lies Beyond the Wall?

 "Captain, ensure that the trade goes smoothly, please and see to it that the ship is ready to depart as soon as I return. I shall endeavour to return within two weeks. If I have not returned by then, sail to Specularum and sell the cargo. Our factor will help with that and will also help to source a new cargo that you should return with. He will also arrange yours and the crew's pay."

Captain Decentius nodded. It seemed strange to him that the young man would willingly wander off into danger, but he certainly looked ready for it, clad as he was in shining plate armour and weighed down with weapons and supplies. He also moved as if his load weighed nothing. Clearly Broneslav was much stronger than he appeared to be.

Broneslav waved to those watching and marched off up the trail and through the gates. Warriors atop the towers on either side watched him go. Some appeared to be making bets on whether the beardless warrior would return at all and he guessed that most were betting against him.

He settled his pack on his back once more and set off. He had been told that there was a trail all the way to some tar pits that were about a day's travel from The Wall. That would be his first stop. Then he would head into the trackless interior.

As he walked, Broneslav took note of the terrain around him and scanned for danger. He was not expecting much this close to the village, but you never knew. The thin jungle around him for the first half of the day would easily have provided cover for bandits, were they looking for a fight. The track led through hills and then between swampy areas. It was hot, so he hung his helmet from his belt. He spent a large part of the afternoon slapping mosquitoes that had decided he was their next meal. It was late when he reached the tar pits. The only disturbances through the day had been the alarmed calls of birds that he had disturbed and the rustling of small animals in the undergrowth.

It had been an easy day, but the next would be harder, because there was no track from hereon in. From the tar pits, he had the choice of wading around the edge of the swamp to the hills to the east or to the mountains he could see in the distance in the west. As he prepared his evening meal, Broneslav considered his options, before settling down for the night.

The map's a bit rough, so I need to fettle it a wee bit, but that is partly because the areas around the edges have not been filled in yet. I'll update it as Broneslav progresses and hopefully it will start to look good before too long.

Full Throttle Lemmings: The Early Daze (5150: Mecha Combat)

 It's time to use the mechs I painted. I got the Battlech: Mercenaries set recently. It includes a mercs mini-campaign in the Chaos Campaign format, which I have used as the inspiration for this game. The mini-campaign consists of a single mercenary ticket where the mercs are guarding or attacking a mining facility. Given that 5150: Mecha Combat is eminently suited to solo play, I have decided to start there.

Galtor in 3025

Jennie Raytor was annoyed by the amount of paperwork she had to do as leader of the Full Throttle Lemmings. It almost felt like she did more replying to enquiries than she did actual fighting these days. She sighed. This was typical of any job, she supposed. You did the thing you liked and were good at until you got promoted past it to something you did not enjoy. In her case, she had only herself to blame. After all, she had founded the mercenary company Full Throttle Lemmings, so she had to take responsibility for keeping it going. It had all been so much easier back when she first set up in business. Her mind drifted back to those early days..

Wibbly wobbly timey wimey flashback cut

Zhongsha in 3014

The camera focuses on Jennifer "The Lemming" Raytor. Her face is enthusiastic as she explains her plan to her close friends Anna Dapter and Mike Hunt.

"So, you see, we take our mechs and set up on our own. That way we don't have to take orders from any of those stuffed shirts at high command. You've seen how they are with their spit and polish and saluting on every corner. We could be our own bosses and decide where we go and what we do ourselves."

Anna and Mike look doubtful. They know that Jennie has always had issues with authority. She has a tendency to charge into the unknown without thinking, hence her nickname "The Lemming". They both know that this plan will go one of two ways. It will either crash and burn in the most horrible fashion, or it will succeed beyond even anything that Jennie can imagine.

"Ah, what the heck! Let's do it." Anna gave up, "Me and my besties against the universe. At least we get to work together and the brass won't split us up."

"Stuff it," declared Mike, "Why not?"

Jennie hugged them and told Mike that the drinks were on him.

Zhongsha in 3015

Jennie squealed!

"Guys, we got a contract! A worker's collective is being harrassed by some Kurita-connected mining company. They want us to take our mechs and help fend off the Kurita goons. We're going to be eating something other than ramen noodles from now on."

Anna looked tired. The past six months since leaving military school had been hard with little work and little money. She perked up a little at the news. This sounded like the start of something big. Mike was barely paying attention until Anna whooped, but he refused to get his hopes up. Still, a bit of action and some better food would not go amiss.

A few days later, the three of them were on site and setting out on patrol. Their liaison officer, Michael Stand, had briefed them and they had studied the lie of the land. Now it was time to put all that to the test.

A Short Patrol

TwoHourWargame rules generally scale well, so I am starting with a mercenary team of three mechs to keep things simple. One mech will go on patrol while the other two can potentially arrive as reinforcements. This is smaller than the standard game which can feature up to about a company of mechs, so I shall scale down the reinforcement rolls to match my starting scale, assuming any are generated.

Jennie had decided that she would run the first patrol in her Thunderbolt. It was the heaviest mech they had and would be able to hold its own, while Anna's Locust and Mike's Wolverine remained in reserve, ready to join her if needed. As they needed to maintain a constant patrol schedule, it was better that each of them had some downtime unless they were absolutely needed on the battlefield.

She settled into the Thunderbolt's cockpit and fired up the turbine. It's whine was reassuring as she flipped through the checks. All lights green. Coolant gurgled through her chillsuit, designed to keep her from frying as heat built up from the engines and weapons. The neuralink helmet with her Lemming call-sign on it was giving solid feedback. She was ready.

"Lemming 1 moving out!"

"Roger that, Lemming 1. We've got you green on the scanner. No unknowns in the immediate vicinity. You are good to go. Proceed along the route. We'll monitor from here."

The legs of the Thunderbolt rose and fell as she guided it out of the compound. Puffs of dust rose up around it as Jennie guided it along the patrol route. It had been a dry summer, and the earth was dusty and torn up by heavy plant from the mine. The roads were really just dirt tracks, which did not help either. As dust rose around her mech's feet, Jennie directed it towards the small town of Serendipitous Longing, or Dorm 427 to give it the company name. It was here that the workers mainly lived. To her left was a wood. On the east side of the town, there were low hills, but all seemed quiet.

"Lemming 1, we see you approaching Dorm 427 from the south. Take care. Three possible bogeys north of you. We're tagging them on your display."

"Roger that, Control. Moving to intercept Bogey 1."

"Hold up, Lemming 1. We count two more bogeys in the middle of Dorm 427."

Jennie cursed and paused a moment as she looked at her display. The hesitation was enough for the first bogey to round the outskirts of the town.

"Control, this is Lemming 1. Contact! I repeat contact!"

Her hands moved as fast as they could to the firing stud. Luckily, the pilot of the approaching Phoenix Hawk seemed as surprised as her. She cursed as the display showed locking on but it seemed an eternity before she got tone. She hammered the firing stud to give the enemy mech everything she had.

She muttered as her light lasers melted armour on the enemy's chest and gut but did little more than cosmetic damage. Her real focus was on her PPG. Crimson fire streamed from her mech's right arm as she directed it at her opponent's head. She grunted with satisfaction as the mech's head exploded and the Phoenix Hawk collapsed backwards.

"Eat that, ya muddy funster!"

She breathed a short-lived sigh of relief, as another bogey approached through the town.

The Kurita Shadowhawk appeared from behind a building in the town centre, its pilot intent on revenge. Jennie swung her mech round as fast as she could, it's myalomar steel frame groaning in protest. The noise was heightened by the sound of her rocket launcher cycling through its reload sequence. Her heart hammered as she waited to get tone again. The enemy mech was sighting on her as she cut loose with everything once more. The heat rose in her cockpit and she was quickly drenched in sweat. The fast shot saw lasers and missiles impact the building around the Shadowhawk, throwing up clouds of concrete, but the PPG blazed crimson energy and punched a hole straight through the Shadowhawk's chest. The last she saw of it was the Kurita pilot ejecting as she pushed her trusty Thunderbolt on into Dorm 247. As she did so, one of the bogeys suddenly disappeared from her screen. She was not sure what it had been, but it was definitely not a mech.

"Control, this is Lemming 1. Scratch two bogeys. The third was nothing but I got a bad feeling about all this. Too many Kurita goons patrolling round Dorm 247."

Jennie's course through the town lead her from cover to cover towards the next bogey. She had paused for a quick breather, glad that the cockpit had cooled down a bit, when the bogey emerged from around the corner of another building.

"Control, contact. I repeat, contact."

Jennie was jumpy but still got her shot off before the Stinger could do anything. Chunks of concrete rained down around it as her missiles took out part of someone's living room. Again, her trusty PPG rained crimson hell on the Kurita goon and the Stinger exploded into a thousand pieces taking its pilot with it. 

"Scratch one more hostile, Control. Continuing the patrol."

Jennie followed the patrol route, finding that the last bogey was actually a herd of the local cattle.

As Jennie reached the end of her patrol, Anna's Locust hurried up to the start point of the patrol route.

"Am I too late?"

"What do you think? Come on, lets get back to the bay and down a couple of brews. Mike can take the next patrol, while the Collective recovers that Shadowhawk. We earned some salvage today and that is worth celebrating."

The Campaign

I wasn't going to turn this into a full campaign, because I'm just getting used to this iteration of the THW rules, but it is fun to work through all parts of them in these training games, and the campaign system is really simple. So...

Full Throttle Lemmings: campaign morale starts at 3 and neither increased nor went down.

Kurita Goons: campaign morale also starts at 3 (these are not their first line troops) but goes down to 2 because they lost the campaign morale roll.

That's really all there is to it. Winning battles gives you chance of improving your morale. Losing them gives you a chance of losing morale. If either side drops to morale 0, they give up and go home in disgrace.

There is also an experience roll to see if your pilot improves after a battle. Jennie is Rep 5 so she needs to roll a 6 on 1d6 to become better. She did not learn anything she did not already know in this fight.

Because they did a Patrol Mission and won, the next mission for the Lemmings will be an Assault mission on the Kurita forces.

There are rules for recovering mechs and injured pilots. Those are not relevant for the Lemmings this time around and I am assuming that there is a horde of anonymous Kurita goons to be encountered, so I shall not be tracking them. However, in a future campaign I shall give each side access to all the mechs I have painted for them and shall keep track of mechs and pilots for both sides, including making my own encounter table based around those mechs. I like that type of campaign management!

Final Thoughts

I spent a lot of time flipping through the rulebook, but that was to be expected. I need to print out the charts and keep them separate, which will make things easier.

Jennie got lucky with the In Sight tests and got to fire first each time. That was crucial to her taking out all the enemy mechs without taking any damage. Also, the PPG is nasty. Most mechs will lose body parts if it hits them and smaller mechs are just toast even if it is just a glancing shot. I am a little concerned that my light mechs will be far too vulnerable in these games, but I do have ideas about how to use them as scouts, so we shall see how that goes.

There are a couple of things in the rules I was not too sure about and I suspect I played them wrong to my own disadvantage, but the game went smoothly enough and was quick, so I am not too bothered.

It should not be too much hassle scaling the forces up up to a team of three mechs as a starting force or even to a squad of six. But first, I have to see if Jennie, Anna and Mike can survive long enough for this to be the actual origin story of the Full Throttle Lemmings.

24 Fyrmont 1000 AC - Getting to Know You

 The auntie did not seem in a great hurry to begin trading, but Broneslav had grown up around merchants, so he knew to bide his time. It still made him impatient though. He wanted to see where his treasure map would lead him, not spend time socialising. Reining in his impatience, he followed the auntie to one of the nearby huts. It was a long wooden hut on stilts with palm leaves for a roof, and a roofed veranda all around. There were windows along its length. Under some of the huts, he could see people cooking over open fires. There was no glass in them but there were shutters on the outside. All the other huts in the village were almost exactly the same.

Inside, the windows were wide open and a fresh breeze blew through, cooling the warm air. One end of the hut was curtained off, but the rest was open with wide benches on either side. Bedrolls were packed against the wall. It looked like whole extended families lived in these huts with no separate rooms and no privacy.

A typical Thanegiothian hut based on descriptions given by the great explorer, Broneslav Torenescu.

The auntie headed for the only chair in the whole place and sat in it, The chair was towards the curtained off end of the hut facing down it, like a throne compared to the rest of the fittings here.

"Broneslav, come and sit here near me on my left side."

She waved him to a place on the bench near her. He sat as indicated with Captain Decentius beside him. Four men took up places on the benches to her right and a gaggle of children gawped through the windows at the strangers from the north. They giggled and pointed.

"Bring food and drink!"

The auntie clapped her hands and several younger people ran off to do her bidding. Before long, the hut was filled with the smell of baked fish. Broneslav was passed a wooden cup of coconut milk.

"To a profitable trade for both of us!" the auntie announced, "Let me introduce myself formally now that we are about to begin. I am Chieftain Tiaru. To my right, you see the clan elders."

She pointed at each in turn, "This is Ruan, then Gak, then Yavi and finally Tomia. They are my advisors. Together we form the council that rules Tanaroa."

Broneslav made the formal introduction required of himself and Captain Decentius, even though he had informally introduced himself before. He was then encouraged to eat and drink. Watching how Tiaru and the elders did this, he did his best to copy them, hoping not to offend anyone. It appeared that he succeeded, because he soon found himself discussing trade with an open and welcoming Tiaru. After giving her and the elders small gifts from the cargo, the dickering began in earnest.

A couple of hours later, he gave the order to unload all the cargo. The villagers had agreed to pay almost double its value in gold and goods! Moreover, they were eager for him to bring more goods here. In return for hard to find iron and steel goods, they would harvest the local pearls and provide other goods that were only available here. A bargain was struck that Broneslav would ship in goods at regular intervals and Captain Decentius left with the elders to order and oversee the unloading and distribution of the cargo, while Broneslav and Tiaru relaxed in the hut and talked.

Wow, those were some good reaction rolls!

After a little idle small-talk, Broneslav was finally able to turn the conversation to what most interested him.

"One thing that I would like to know is about the city at the centre of the island. I came into possession of a map and description of this city that made me curious."

Tiaru looked at Broneslav thoughtfully.

"Do you mean the City of the Gods? There was a ship that arrived her not so long ago. The crew were not traders though and showed great interest in it."

"Yes, that's the one. The ship returned to Karameikos and I encountered the last survivor from that crew. He had been set upon by thugs and died of his injuries, but gifted me with a map and a description of his voyage here."

Tiaru told the tale then of how the Gods had built a great city at the centre of the island and furnished it with all a god could want. However, the island itself was inhabited by many dangerous creatures, which is why the Gods built a wall for the villagers, so that they could live safely in their home. When the Gods departed, the hostile creatures repopulated the whole island. Any journey to the city would be fraught with danger.

She looked doubtfully at the young warrior, "I fear for you if you insist on journeying to the City of the Gods. It is probable that you will not return."

"I would just like to investigate a bit. It will take my crew and your people a week to unload the cargo and load the goods from here. If it will not offend you, I shall head towards the city and see what I can find. It was my main purpose in coming here. My captain can deal with the essentials here while I am gone."

Tiaru acquiesced reluctantly.

"Great. I shall set off tomorrow and shall aim to return as quickly as I can."

House Kurita: 8th Sword of Light (Battletech)

 I usually collect both sides for any game I play because it is the most reliable way to ensure that I am able to get a game in. More often than not, those in my immediate area do not share my interests and are unwilling to buy into something outside their main focus. The estimable Steve is a major exception here. He and I have inspired each other with fads for years. However, he lives a thousand miles away, so I need to provide my own enemies. With that in mind, I needed some villains for my Battletech/mech warfare games, and who better than the Draconis Combine?

House Kurita, and especially the Sword of Light, just seem made to be the villains in my stories. They seem to represent a type of regimented order that the Full Throttle Lemmings (or even any of my Thrappled Lemming warbands) have. There are few groups that are likely to be more diametrically oppsed to my group whose motto ought to be "If I don't even know what I am going to do next, how can my enemy predict it?"

I opted for the 8th Sword of Light "The Jade Dragon" because I like the green background to their insignia. It helps that the paint scheme is simple, so I could paint them quickly and have a whole company ready very quickly. Looking at the photos, I really do need to work on how I highlight reds. They look fine on the table, but the camera seems to wash out the shading and makes me think that I should do more extreme highlighting. After all, the same light that I photograph under is the one I play under, so it might improve the look even more. Time enough for that another day. In the end, what matters is that they are ready to be fielded against the Full Throttle Lemmings.

I feel that this company could really do with at least one Dragon and/or Grand Dragon and probably a Jenner and/or a Panther to feel properly Kurita, but they were not in stock when I bought what I have. Adding some iconic Kurita mechs can be a project for another day.

On to the roll call. All figures are the Catalyst Game Labs versions found in the various boxed sets and lance packs. They have unit insignia decals from Defiance Industries Wargaming just to make them look a bit more swish. The decals were not cheap but they were definitely worth it. Each mech has the Jade Dragon insignia on its left shoulder, the Sword of Light insignia on its left leg and back, and a kanji number on its right leg.

(left to right) Atlas, Battlemaster, Warhammer, Orion

(left to right) Wolverine, Archer, Shadow Hawk, Valkyrie

(left to right) Phoenix Hawk, Griffin, Wasp, Stinger

24 Fyrmont 1000 AC - Landfall

 By midmorning, Broneslav's ship had manoeuvred into position near Tanaroa. There was no deepwater harbour there, so they moored away from land. Some curious villagers paddled their canoes out to see the newcomers and shouted greetings in strangely accented Common Tongue. They were not hostile. Instead they seemed pleased to have the opportunity to hear the news from further afield.

Broneslav was on the first boat off the ship to meet the locals. The land wobbled unfamiliarly under him as he stepped from the ship's boat onto the beach near the village. He wondered at the strange trees and unfamiliar vegetation, but tried not to look overawed by the novelty of this place.

His first impression was of an alien place. The long houses on stilts were like nothing he had ever seen before. The layout of the village with four areas of housing each surrounding a cemetery with a statue in the middle was new. The huge stone wall with the 70 feet high towers on it was new. Even the tar pits that formed a secondary line of defence behind the wall were things he had not encountered before in his short life. There was clearly something that the villagers needed to keep out, but the rest of the village was not in keeping with the 50 feet high wall. He knew that he needed to be on the other side of that wall. The letter and map he had received told him that. Well, he would try.

As his gaze swept across the village in its jungle clearing, he realised that the only familiar thing here was the pyramid in the centre of the fields. He had seen bigger and more impressive pyramids in Ylaruam, but none of those had a giant brass gong on top of them. Something was threatening this village and it came from the direction he intended to travel. Well, that meant he had a mission. But first he needed to speak to the headman of the village.

"Oh" he thought, "The village headwoman. Right. I guess they do things differently here."

Broneslav shook himself mentally and pulled himself together. The woman, who greeted him, reminded him of his aunt Grushenka, a woman with whom you did not mess if you did not wish to fall foul of the illumin-aunties. This informal group of woman were the power behind many thrones and could make a young person's life miserable if that young person were not careful. Broneslav himself had endured many probing questions about when he was going to make something of himself. Since his Shearing, they had largely left him alone, but he knew it would not be long before questions about suitable marriages and children were being asked.

He smiled in what he hoped was an endearing fashion and weathered the inevitable question.

"You're a bit young to be leading an expedition like this, aren't you, young man?"

The auntie was clearly taking no prisoners. Mind you, you did not get to be chief, even of a village, by being a wallflower.

"A young man has to try to make something of himself," he replied disarmingly, "I am accounted an adult in my country now, so I must act like one."

The auntie appraised him in a way that made him feel like a cut of meat at the butchers. Her eyes surveyed his broad shoulders and the well-used sword at his side. Even unarmoured, he carried himself more like a warrior than a merchant despite not being above average height and barely able to grow the moustache he aspired to. She also noted his youth. He could almost see the calculations going on behind her eyes.

Then she smiled.

"Very well. Let us see what you can do. Why are you here? And what do you have to trade? If you have anything worthwhile, we might be interested."

"My crew will bring samples ashore for you to view. I do not doubt that there will be much of interest, and I am sure that you will have much that I might be interested in. I hear that there are good sources of black pearls here."

The auntie's eyes narrowed. Perhaps it occurred to her that he was not entirely unprepared. Then she smiled broadly.

"Welcome to our village. Come! Let us get to know each other better. Trading always goes more smoothly once you know your partners."

Broneslav gave orders for a selection of goods to be offloaded and the crew jumped to.

The auntie led the way to a hut group where people were watching the newcomers. Broneslav and Captain Decentius followed her. Broneslav did not see it, but Theophilus Decentius stared appraisingly at Broneslav's back. Perhaps he was reassessing this green ship-owner's abilities in light of this interaction. Was the young man more than a spoilt rich kid with the money to buy his own ship after all? Time would tell.

Roll Call: The Unseelie (Orcs and related monsters for Oathmark)

 I have enjoyed Oathmark so far, and am planning to play more. So, that means it is time for a roll call and march past of my armies, especially because ... *drumroll* ... I have painted every single Orc and Goblin figure that I have in my collection (unless there are some in hiding in the attic somewhere).

Oathmark's kingdom design system does not constrain you to a single race/species for your armies. I really like this, because it allows for a glorious mix of different peoples in one and the same army, and I think that was a brilliant design decision, despite it leading to analysis paralysis on my part. I mean, with so many good choices, how do I choose just a few? Well, fortunately there are ten territories in your kingdom, so that means plenty of room for all most of my favourite figures. The problem then is deciding which ones to include in any given army for a game.

That said, this post catalogues all the figures I have for territories marked as Orc or Goblin plus Orc-related figures that stand in for other troop types, such as my bear horde which I am treating as Human Cavalry. Although the lists are for Orcs, I am using the same stats for Beastfolk and Lizardpeople, who are honorary Orcs as far as my Oathmark games are concerned.

Time to get on with the last of the human forces now, I guess.

The Seelie versus the Unseelie: My Head Canon

There is a war between the Seelie and the Unseelie. That is, those that side with the human kingdoms and those that oppose them. All non-human types are considered Fair Folk, although whether they appear fair to human eyes is variable. Some definitely do not and the Unseelie often deliberately adopt forms that are repellent to humans! The Orcs fall into this latter category. They are hard to control because they are massively individualistic, but are more numerous than their fairer cousins, the Sidhe (Elves).

Not all Orcs are opposed to the humans, just as not all humans oppose the Orcs, so you can see Orcs in some human armies. That is the joy of Oathmark! However, the majority dislike humans because they desecrate and build on the Fair Folk's sacred spaces, albeit unwittingly in many cases. Even though armies can contain figures from both factions, my plan is to use the two armies that I have for my games, until I add more. Human and Orc figures will not be mixed in the same army until I have more of both, but I am using Human and other stat lines to field equivalent figures. For example, my Bears and Iguanasaurs will be fielded using the Human cavalry stat line, while the Orcs get their air support from Harpies, who will be fielded using the Gargoyle stat line (a neutral faction).

The Figures

So, here's the full roll call. This lot adds up to about 6000 points of Orcs and Goblins, depending what options you choose for the characters. It is more than enough for a lot of gaming with a bit of variety. Despite that, I would really like to be able to field huge numbers of Goblins, but that would entail buying and painting them first. Shame, because the idea of swarming my opponent with cheap troops just appeals. I would also like to add more wolves and wolf riders, plus more Orc warriors and linebreakers to the army as well as some artillery, but that is also a project for another day

The massed forces of the Unseelie Court. That should be enough Orcs and associated types to give almost anyone a headache.

Orc leaders and champions

Big Orcs with big weapons and good armour. Nuff said!

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Orc shamans and wizards

The Orcs have a range of spellcasters available to them to provide battlefield support.

Tally: 3

Orc soldiers

The rank and vile of any Orc army is its soldiers. Oathmark has a stat line for Orc spears, so these could be used as those. However, I feel that units of spearorcs imply more discipline and teamwork than my Orcs are supposed to have.

Tally: 80

Orc archers

I don't have many archers for the Orcs yet, but these provide a useful ranged ability. I am inclined to deploy them in small units as skirmishers for the most part. Somehow massed units of Orc archers do not feel quite right to me.

Tally: 30

Orc warriors

Tougher Orcs with better weapons and armour, who fight in a more orderly fashion.

Tally: 20

Orc linebreakers

Orcs with big choppers. They like to get stuck in fast.

Tally: 20

Orc Huntmaster

The Orc Huntmaster leads a troop of cave lizards into battle. This is actually a stat line from the Elf lists, but I felt that the cave lizards fitted this, even if the unit will be far more disciplined than the average Orc unit. I guess cave lizards are more inclined to cooperate than Orcs. Another option would have been to field them as wolves instead, but I already have a wolf pack. I suppose I could have several wolf packs...

Tally: 1 huntsman, 12 lizards, 7 medium rats

Wolves

Sometimes the Orcs and Goblins ally with wolf and rat packs, and some few wolves allow themselves to be ridden by Goblins.

Tally: 9 wolves, 4 giant rats

Bears and Iguanasaurs (Cavalry)

Orcs use bears and iguanasaurs as cavalry troops. They hit hard and fast. These guys use the human cavalry stat line. If I ever buy Orc bear riders, they will be fielded as heavy cavalry.

Tally: 22

Goblin leaders and champions

The toughest and most intelligent of the Goblins.

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Goblin shamans and wizards

Battlefield support at a budget price, but with an opportunity cost. They are more likely to cower in cover than their Orc colleagues.

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Goblin soldiers

Weedy by Orc standards, but they normal appear in huge numbers, although not in my army yet. I really need a lot more Goblins! Although there are only 13 of them, I could use spacer bases to bulk them out to a unit of 15 to 20, but then they would look even weedier than they do now.

Tally: 13

Goblin archers

Speed bumps? If they get lucky, they can still cause you to have a bad day. There are 13 goblins here. I reckon that fielding them using spacer bases to bulk the unit out to 15 to 20 archers would make it look like a skirmish unit, which might not be too bad for these guys.

Tally: 13

Knucker

The knucker is a giant snake with poisonous breath. Here I am using a 28mm DDM Naga figure.

Tally: 1 Knucker

Trolls

Trolls are some of the larger and more feral of the fey types.

Tally: 6

Harpies

Aerial support for the Orcs. I am using the Gargoyle stat line for these fine ladies. Although I only have 10 of them, they look ridiculous when fielded as a unit of ten because of their big wings, so I use unit spacers to make them look less ridiculous and to field a larger unit while simultaneously cutting down on painting time and saving money. Win win!

Tally: 20

Giant Spiders

These are in the Elf terrain selections, but I just associate giant spiders with Orcs and Goblins from reading The Hobbit when I was wee, so they are in the Orc list for now. I have more if the Elves want their spiders back.

Tally: 6

13 Fyrmont to 23 Fyrmont 1000 AC - A Life on the Ocean Waves

13 Fyrmont

I have decided to keep a diary of the voyage to help me pass the time. The sailors do not need my help and the captain tells me that the owner's job is to look impressive. I fear I do not at the moment. The day has passed with what the sailors call a calm sea and fair weather. I feel so sick. Please kill me.

The Voyage of the Stout Meg

14 Fyrmont

Another fair day. I feel slightly better, I think. One of the sailors took pity on me and showed me a trick with bacon and a piece of string that really seems to work. Pulling the bacon back out of my stomach was disgusting though. I was distracted from feeling sick when a stirge flew out of some of the cargo. It was diving for one of the sailors when I leapt at it and cut it in two. The sailors were all grateful for my intervention. I shall have to have words with the cargo master and find out how it got in there. I wonder if anyone from the Veiled Society survived to try to disrupt my plans.

15 Fyrmont

Fair sailing. I can feel the air getting warmer as we sail south. I still feel a bit queasy but was not sick today.

16 Fyrmont

I feel better now and chose to wander the deck. The captain yelled at me to get out of the way.

17 Fyrmont

More fair sailing. I saw a sea snake today. It was not much bigger than me. The captain tells me they pose no threat to the ship or its crew, unless the crew fall in the water.

18 Fyrmont

Sailing is boring. There is nothing much to do when you own the ship, so I just tried to stand there looking impressive.

19 Fyrmont

Are we nearly there yet? The weather is lovely, but there is so little for me to do. The captain tells me that if all goes well, we should arrive at the Thaniegoth peninsula in four days.

20 Fyrmont

Three days to go. Fair sailing and nothing for me to do. Boring.

21 Fyrmont

Two days to go. We are nearly there. I cannot wait. Thank goodness I found the map so there is little chance of us losing our way.

22 Fyrmont

One day to go!

23 Fyrmont

About midday the crow's nest shouted, "Land ho!". We have reached the Thanegioth Archipelago. We must navigate the reefs in daylight and will land tomorrow morning. Who knew sailing was so boring?

Orc army reinforcements! Waargh!! (Oathmark)

I'm making slow progress on getting things painted, but work means I cannot do both painting and playing. Or even much of either right now, to be honest. I hope to be able to focus properly on the important things in life (gaming) once the current deadlines have passed. Have you ever noticed how much of adult life involves telling yourself you'll have time once the current urgent thing is done, and yet there is always another urgent thing that appears after it?

Me being me, I always need to collect as many options as possible for my armies. For Oathmark, that really means being able to field as many different troop types from as many different territories as possible. My main focus at the moment is sorting out my Orcs and associated monsters. Orcs are associated with two monster types: Trolls and Knuckers. That does not mean that these monsters are only found in Orcish armies, but it does mean that it is easier for armies led by Orcs to include them.

Trolls

These trolls add one more territory to my kingdom with the option to field the maximum amount of trolls. They will have names like Rocky, Smashey, Gneissey, Chalkey and Grant (he's a bit hard!). Hopefully none of them will be too schist when they take to the field, and I really hope that they offer the Orcs something that can help deal with the human heavy cavalry, which has shown itself to be very hard-hitting.

Trolls are associated with the River terrain type in Oathmark, presumably because they live under bridges. In Utavoll, these are known as troll bridges and are usually marked at either end with a troll booth, so that unwary travellers quickly become wary.

U18-4004 Trolls (2 packs)

I really like these sculpts from the old Demonworld range that Ral Partha Europe now sells, and they were quick to paint so that is a major bonus.

Knuckers

Knuckers are giant, limbless, amphibious serpents that breath clouds of poisonous gas and live in the most inhospitable bogs and swamps. They only ever appear alone and are unmitigatedly evil from everyone else's perspective. No one has ever asked a Knucker what their perspective is on this. Or, if they did, they did not survive to report back the answer.

A giant snake with very bad breath (28mm DDM Naga)

My Knucker is a DDM Naga that I had lying around. It fits nicely on the standard big monster base for Oathmark, which is 30mm x 60mm for my 60%-scale, 15mm games, and looks suitably monstrous next to my 15mm figures. I have dipped and highlighted the pre-paint a bit, although that does not really show in the picture, except on the face. It's an acceptable level of painting for the tabletop IMO, but I am not as happy with it as I am with the trolls.

16 Felmont to 12 Fyrmont 1000AC - The Taxman Cometh

 Buying and outfitting a ship was a somewhat detailed process and Broneslav almost regretted not chartering a vessel rather than buying one. In the end, he did manage to get a small trading ship, The Stout Meg, that was nearly new for 5000 Royals and a crew that would cost him 500 Royals per month for as long as he retained them. His goal was that the cargoes he planned to carry would pay for them, but first he had to get somewhere he could sell the cargo and buy a new one for the return journey.

Broneslav attempts to look like he fits in on a ship

Discussion with his family and their major domo showed that his planned voyage might need to make a detour to Ierendi or Minrothad rather than trading in the Thanegioth Archipelago itself. Ierendi always needed what Specularum had, so he invested 5000 Royals in cargo that should trade well there: iron and copper goods and a stock of fine leather items. For his first trading voyage, he was advised against travelling to Minrothad where they would likely make mincemeat of him, strip him of all his wealth by legal means and leave him in debt to one of the guilds.

Putting his expedition together took time, and the quarterly tax collection happened in the middle of it. As a law-abiding citizen, Broneslav had no choice but to reach into his purse and donate a portion of his treasure to the Duke. Hopefully, he would recoup that and more on this voyage and he had successfully managed to write off part of his tax burden by buying the ship and trade goods, so it did not hurt as much as it would otherwise. It was fortunate that he had the connections in Specularum to help him with sorting all this out.

By 12 Fyrmont, he was ready and over 16000 Royals poorer. Stores for a month were loaded, the cargo was onboard and the crew were all present. It was still summer and the voyage should be plain sailing, barring unexpected squalls. Big storms were not usual at this time of the year, or so the captain he had hired had informed him. So it was that on 12 Fyrmont on the rising tide and with a fair wind behind him, Broneslav set sail for the south. Milka, she of the snow white skin and rose red lips, waved him off and promised her eternal love and wept piteously that he should sail off into danger like this. Broneslav tried to ignore her pleading and tears. He suspected that his wealth and status after his Shearing played a large part in her interest, where previously she had shown little sign of attraction to him. It would be good to be free of her attentions for a while, he thought, as the ship sailed out of Specularum harbour and head south. They should reach their destination within two weeks, if all went smoothly.

As the wind blew through his hair and the deck rose and fell under him, Broneslav was very pleased with himself. He was setting out on a new adventure. He thanked the unknown mugging victim for this opportunity. Then he suddenly felt queasy. He lurched for the ship's rail as the crew laughed at the neophyte sailor's plight...

Notes

I'm going to deal with trading in the abstract here. I do not want to complicate the issue because that will get in the way of adventuring. Rather than buying specific cargoes, I shall spend an amount of money for the cargo and dice to see if Broneslav's purchases and attempts to sell it are wise.

When Broneslav gets to his destination, he will make two skill checks to sell his cargo. The first will be a Wisdom check to see if there is an opportunity to sell his wares (Has he been sensible in his purchases for his destination?). The second will be a Reaction check to see what profit, if any, he makes on the sale. In both cases, any eventual Merchant or similar skill will be used to modify the rolls. He can refuse the offered price if he thinks he can do better elsewhere but he cannot try to sell the same goods in the same area again before a full week has passed. I would quite like to subsume the whole test into a single roll, but I worry that Wisdom, Reaction and skill bonuses can quickly add up to always making a huge profit.

Although I am dealing with generic cargoes at this stage to save effort, I might introduce the trading rules from GAZ9 The Minrothad Guilds at a later stage if I feel like spending more time on trading and less on adventuring. Right now it would just get in the way of the real adventure.

15mm Doors from Ral Partha Europe

 Not the most exciting post, perhaps, but my early activities this year are all about accessorising my games in free moments, because life is otherwise very busy. One thing I have wanted for a while is some doors for use while exploring dungeons. Ral Partha Europe has some as part of their Terraincards series that the furniture I posted about a couple of weeks ago came from. These come in two flavours.

The rustic doors are standard wooden doors that would not look out of place in a dungeon or as part of a typical medieval house. They are wooden doors with a bolt, a wooden lintel and a wooden frame.

The stone arch doors are for fancier dwellings or dungeons. They are arched doors set in a stone surround.

Both types of door come on a small lasercut, 3mm thick plywood card that you need to press or cut them out from. Each card has eight doors. They are set up so that four have the hinges on the left side and four have the hinges on the right side, so that you can glue them together to make a single door with each side having hinges on the same side or just glue them to a structure for making houses.

I bought two of each card and made eight freestanding doors of each type by gluing them together and sticking them to 15mm square mdf bases so that I can place them where needed on a 2D or 2.5D dungeon floorplan. This will let me keep track of open and closed doors more easily. The paint job is nothing special, but coloured in is better than not. I feel sure that they will look fine on the table. Time to start planning a dungeon bash.

Bonus pic for those that could be bothered to read this far:

Paper and plywood terrain in action

The bold adventurers tied their pack horses to the ominously fresh gravestones that stood near the door of the creepy castle ruled by Prince Killemall. They opened the double doors into a large pillared hallway. Ahead stood double doors ajar as if the servants were too slapdash to close them again after passing through. To either side were closed doors. Who knew what horrors lay beyond? Or what treasures?

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.