The Lore of Battle

I have been playing Battlelore since Days of Wonder released it and have many of the suppliments. I dont have any of the Fantasy Flight suppliments as I was not too interested in those (and always knew FFG was going to kill the game; they never seemed optimistic about it).
The game took some twists and turns and now we are at Battlelore Second Edition.

 I bought this game on a whim, more or less. I waited a while to get it because I already had version 1 and really liked it (and did not play it enough, truth be told). But I gave in to my whim and purchased Second Edition - and I really love it!
Ok, it does not do too much different from version 1 mechanically, but army construction, scenery set up and general feel of the game is really intriguing. I like the new units and how they interact. The lore cards are a big improvement and the dice symbols are improved (the 'colours' from 'command&colours' is gone).

The figures have gone to 20mm, making them quite a bit bigger than the original miniatures (at 15mm) and the casts are much more crisp. I really like the look of the new units tied into the Runeworld theme.

Anyway, whilst waiting for new armies (which we are apparently not getting since the expansion announcements expand the existing armies), I decided to adapt the version 1 armies to Second Edition: The Hobgoblins, The Dwarfs and The Humans.

I originally posted this on BoardGameGeek, here:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1207162/bl1e-army-conversions

But include it here for posterity.

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Hobgoblin desert raiders of Al-Kalim
Tribes of hobgoblins wander the desert regions of Al-Kalim. They are a loose collection of tribal nations that pose little threat to the more civilised regions. However, sometimes a tribal leader manages to organise the hobgoblins into a fearsome raiding force to plunder the civilised lands.

Tribal Warriors
When the Hobgoblins go to war, the poorer members of the tribes fight as infantry. Equipped with curved swords and shields they are hastily banded into mobs. With little to no training these troops cannot be relied on to stand and fight though they are light on their feet and can harass the enemy with advantageous ground.

Tribal Skirmishers
These Hobgoblins are mostly armed with simple missile weapons, such as sling or bow. As with the infantry, not much is expected of these troops but they have a place in disrupting the enemy.

Desert Marauders
The true warriors of Hobgoblin society are the Marauder cavalry. Made up of the elite of the tribe, they ride into battle on the backs of large hyenas and sand lizards. Highly manoeuvrable and fierce, the marauders relentlessly hunt down their prey.

Desert Stingers
Riding atop swift ostriches, these elite cavalry are deadly with the reflex bow. They shoot with speed and accuracy and can even turn in the saddle to shoot as they swiftly speed away.

Gigantic Spider
The best tribes have managed to capture and train the desert spider; a truly gigantic beast that makes its home in the desert dunes. These beasts are goaded into battle where their deadly venom and ability to web their prey is used to great effect.

Lore
Hobgoblins specialise in hit and run attacks and guerilla tactics. Use the Rogue Lore deck from BL1e with the following changes.
• All cards count as being played at level 2
• All references to ‘banner colour’ read ‘strikes’ and ‘Bonus Strikes’ read ‘Cleave’ (single sword)
• Sneak Attack – as this combat takes place in the movement phase, the unit may fight in the combat phase as normal

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Dunwarr Dwarfs
The Dwarfs are a mostly insular people dwelling in underground cities in the region of the Dunwarr mountain range. Though they have mostly abandoned the chaos of the outside world, they can be roused into a fearsome citizen militia when needed.

Clansmen
The bulk of the dwarfish armies are the clansmen; a citizen militia that forms the main battle line. Armed with sword and buckler, these troops can be relied upon to stand their ground no matter the odds.

Clan Chiefs
The dwarf nobility is better armed and better trained than the clansmen. Wearing quilted armour and carrying a great sword, these dwarfs fiercely charge into the enemy. If they are able to maintain their formation they can penetrate right into the heart of an enemy regiment and break its morale.

Dwarf Rangers
Tasked with patrolling the mountain ranges these dwarfs carry huge axes with which to fight the wild beasts that plague the dwarf homelands. On the battlefield they support the army; scattering the foe with mighty swings of their fearsome blades.

Cattle Riders
The dwarfs are not famed for their cavalry, though it is a foolish foe that discounts the cattle riders. Though they slowly trot into battle, the hardy mountain cows they ride can soon become a charging mass of horns, the dwarf rider doing all he can to stay in the saddle.

Mighty Bolt Thrower
Dwarf armies are accompanied to battle by machines of war. The bolt thrower is moved into position by its two dwarf crewmen where it can fire huge bolts capable of piercing several men at once.

Lore

The Priests of the Dwarfs invoke their gods of healing and protection to aid them in battle. Use the Priest Lore deck from BL1e with the following changes.
• All cards count as being played at level 2
• All references to ‘banner colour’ read ‘strikes’ and ‘Bonus Strikes’ read ‘Cleave’
• Healing Mist – lore rolled = return 1 figure to any unit, strike rolled = return 1 figure to an infantry unit, heroic rolled = return 1 figure to an elite or cavalry unit
• Mists of Terror – panic losses reads ‘for each hex the unit retreats roll a combat die and remove a figure for each strike or cleave rolled’

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Free Company of Torue Albes
A collection of human cities based around the coastal region of Torue Albes. Governed by a Queen, they have so far resisted annexation by Daqan. They control much of the coastal trade which pays for a standing army of Free Company to protect the kingdom.

Arbalestiers
Employing the devastating but cumbersome crossbow, the Arbalestiers provide ranged support for the Free Company. Slow to reload and not as accurate on the move, they are often deployed on the flanks to deter flanking cavalry.

Men-at-Arms
The main line of the Free Company, these mercenaries can be relied upon in a fight. Armed with a sword and a heavy kite shield, they are adept at closing with the enemy in good order with shields raised, giving the enemy little room to fight back.

Dragoons
The main job of these mounted infantrymen is to bait the enemy into a prepared position. They are able to quickly withdraw from an enemy charge drawing them onto a coordinated attack by other free company units.

Pikemen
The Pikemen fight in large defensive blocks, pikes out to the front. Standing tightly together shoulder to shoulder the enemy is presented with a wall of death making it very difficult for them to come away from a fight unscathed. Enemy cavalry should steer well clear of pikemen as horses have little hope of survival against them.

Mercenary Captain
Riding atop a large stallion and resplendent in the best armour, the mercenary captain leads his men from the front. Shouting words of encouragement and leading by example, he inspires the men around him to greater deeds.

Coordinate Attack: Free Company units may combine combat dice with that of another unit with the coordinate attack rule. To do so both units must have been ordered and both must be adjacent to each other and the target enemy. Calculate the combat dice for each unit separately (including any bonuses/restrictions) but roll all the dice together. Any dice may be spent on any of the involved unit’s special abilities. The Free Company player also decides which units count for counter or retreat/advance.

Lore
The Free Company mercenaries excel at battlefield tactics. Use the Warrior lore deck from BL1e with the following changes.
• All cards count as being played at level 2
• All references to ‘banner colour’ read ‘strikes’ and ‘Bonus Strikes’ read ‘Cleave’
• Field Command – order any 3 units
• Bonus attack – unit gains pursuit 1, it may do this up to twice this turn
• Berserk – any cleave results cause damage (even if weak) and may be rolled again

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With the announcement of the latest expansion adding more units to the existing 5 for each arm in the base game, I will probably add another unit or 2 to each of these armies: Hobgoblin Bosses (with halberds), Dwarf Spearmen and Free Company Skirmishers (or archers or heavy cavalry, not decided yet).

I will probably post them here when I do.

Forward, my beloved Druzhina!

I have been quite busy on a number of different progects recently.
I have been painting a Super Dungeon Explore full set of miniatures for a client in the US - really enjoying that project, pics to come soon.

But not wanting to neglect my own gaming, I dug out my 6mm Persians to do some touching up on them (might be using them for Hail Ceaser! at some point).

But, more importantly, I have returned to SAGA and been building my Rus Princes warband (wanting to play my distant ancestors...maybe...).

I am still in the building stage at the moment and have only had 1 game (a loss). I love SAGA and cannot wait to play more again.

Anyway, some pics of my warband which is all Gripping Beast and consists of:
Warlord
8 Malia Druzhina
8 Warriors
12 Levy
8 Steppe Nomads
I may, on occasion, drop the levy and take Black Hoods.

In the Dark, Dark House...

And so, the oft promised Super Dungeon Explore fully painted Von DrakK Manor set update!
This is a long post with a lot of pictures, but it has been so long delayed (mostly Dark Souls 2's fault, From Software are clearly insensitive to my plight) so I just did it in one big hit...

Let me start off by saying that I LOVE Super Dungeon Explore. Really love it. It is a Chibi (Japanese super deformed) style dungeon crawler (read: modern tactical miniatures game set in a dungeon - old school dungeon crawlers are long dead) and it pays homage to the old 8bit dungeon adventure games such as Zelda, Gaunlet and the like. You beat up monsters and destroy their spawn points all the while collecting loot until the dungeon boss spawns - kill him/her/it and you win. Brilliant.

Anyway, on with the miniatures:

Von Drakk Manor is a set based around a spoo
ky house ruled over by a Vampire (Von Drakk himself). It contains 2 spawn points of monsters, the bosses and the heroes.
It was quite a change of pace to paint Chibi miniatures (from my usual SAGA/Warhammer style). I had to make them look more 'cartoon' than usual and this meant a bright palette and highlights that were several shades lighter than the base colours (rather than gradual/more minimal highlights/shades).
Also, as they are a softer plastic and will be extensively handled, I gave them a full coat of gloss varnish (2 coats on the bits that stick out) and them also sprayed them matt varnish to dull the gloss and provide even more protection. The paint job was made to last.
The colour scheme on some of these miniatures where inspired either by the game art, my own imagination, or miniatures I have seen on my interwebz travels (cannot credit specifics because I cannot remember, sorry).

The first spawn point is the Shallow Grave spawn, based around skeletons and necromancers. I tried to tie them all together with a green/purple with white bone colour palette.

These are the shallow grave spawn points. They typify the colour palette I used here with the green glowing crystal and the purple candle. I tried to show the crystal was glowing in the cracks of the grave.

The Rattle-Bones were the first models I painted from the set (as they were the easiest). I would normally shade bone deeper than this but on these models it looked odd, so I went with a simple 2 tone grey-white bone. Purple trousers and green eyes tie them in to the set.

 The Boneheads were mostly armour and it took me several attempts to get the armour to the way i wanted it and I am still not totally happy. I tried to make it rusty but then realised I had slipped into 'normal' paint mode and not clean cartoon. But I never felt like totally repainting and so some of the 'rust' colour shows through. I think they are ok, but the model are not that great to paint, to be honest.

 The fully armoured Dread Knights came out a little better. I agonised over how to do the swords; they do cold damage but blue was not part of the palette. In the end the blue looked good and I needed to use blue on the Dust Mages anyway.

 The Dust Mages would have been too much purple if I had painted their robes purple (and green would not have looked right), so I decided on blue. Originally I intended red like Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer's Apprentice, which would have been awesome, but the red really did not fit the set at all.

The final miniature in the Shallow Grave set is the Dust Coven Necromancer (who I am pretty sure is female...). I wanted to use quite a subdued colour scheme on her and the purple contrasted well with her blue/grey skin. I think she came out well.
Why did I not give the skull green eyes? I thought about it but decided it would shift the focal point of the model too much.

Next is the Pumpkin Patch spawn point. This set is focused around the witches and their magic.
This set mostly carried on the purple/green colour scheme, though in a lesser manner.

The Witches are the focal point of the set and, atypically for these monsters, are also 'cutesy' in style. In the game, they have a one-shot potion to turn characters into toads and you need to keep track of when they used it; to help this I painted them with different coloured hair. I really like these models and I am also quite proud of the way they came out; they were my first attempt at painting anime style miniatures.

One thing that annoyed me about these miniatures is that they actually sculpted detail into the eyes rather than giving us a blank canvas. No idea why they thought this was a good idea...

I noticed, when I photographed these miniatures, I had not done red heads base... ooops. It is now done.

 The actual pumpkin spawn point. The tree is fairly basic as the pumpkin is the focal point and it turned out quite a nice colour.

 The Crypt Spider. This model I painted last of this little group and I struggled to get the green/purple colour on the model. In the end I opted for nice bright colours and I really like how it turned out, one of my favourite models I painted. Also, I don't think it looks out of place, either. I kept the scenery on the base a simple grey stone to further make those bright colours pop.

 Here are the 'toads' that the witches turn the players into (they look like frogs to me...). I just used a simple colour scheme on these and painted the eyes different so you can tell which player is which when in frog... erm... toad form.

 Finally, these are the Skullbats. I painted these first in this set and kept with the green/purple/white bone colour scheme. they are simple, but effective.
Looking at them again, I am not totally sure why I painted the plaster on their head blue. Not sure what other colour I could have used, though...

Meet the Death Spectre, the mini-boss of the set. I really like this miniature and think it turned out pretty good. However, I caused myself no end of problems trying to paint the yellow detail on the black hood. I think it looks good, don't get me wrong, but it was not easy.
I filled in the eye pupil on the reverse side of the scythe because I wanted it to be more of an actual eyeball that swivels around. I also carried the green colour on up through the gaps in this bones to make it look like the smoke was part of him rather than him just riding on it.

 Here is Von Drakk himself. I liked painting this miniature, it is nicely posed with some good features (like his sword). I painted his skin a palid colour and did his eyes simple and cold; it suits him rather than 'anime' eyes, I think. I painted him red simply because that was the colour of my Warhammer Vampires. He does have some purple on him to tie him in a little, though.

Nocturne. This is the creature that Von Drakk can shapeshift into; a giant were-bat thing. Very cool.
I struggled with his colour scheme and, in the end, I just followed the game art (as I did for all the heroes, too). I think his simple colour scheme turned out pretty well and his red eyes and his red crystal amulet contrast well with his skin tone.

Next up are the Heroes, which required a different style compared to the monsters and they took me a fair while to complete; not in terms of pure man hours, I paint fast, but in terms of CBA attitude because, frankly, I did not really enjoy painting the heroes.

Here is the Sister of Light, essentially a cleric. As I stated, I followed the game art for colour scheme and I think the blue came out quite nice; a contrast to her golden hair and white tabbard.
Her eyes make her look exceedingly happy, but she is quite happy on her art too so that is ok.

The Celestial Herald is an angel and I painted her in pastel colours to give her an other-world appearance. I did not think her wing feathers would have looked right shaded grey, so I picked blue to add to her overall aesthetic. I think it came out ok, but was certainly a learning experience.

Van Helsing... erm, sorry, Van Wilding has quite subdued colour palette in the game art. I added more colour by painting his cloak yellow (it looks brown in the art). I painted him last because I really did not want to paint him but, in the end, he was the more enjoyable hero to paint and I like how he turned out.
Van Wilding shapeshifts into...

...Van Wilder, the werewolf. Again, I followed the art but I always thought it strange how a guy dressed mostly in brown shifts into a purple werewolf... I actually like the colours on this model and I think the yellow eyes contrast well.

And there you have it, the Super Dungeon Explore: Von Drakk Manor set in all its painted glory. Its been a challenge but I am happy that I did it.

Oh, these models are now for sale. If you are interested then email me:
anthony dot dybacz at ntlworld dot com

See you in the next update!

The obligatory 'favourites' post...

Actually, thats a bit of a lie.

I have not posted for a while AND I decided to test the blogger app on my mobile (so if this ends up badly edited, thats the reason - its a bare bones application, to be fair). So, this is a 'what I am currently playing' post (current favorites, if you will).

Anyway, on with the first game. 

We are currently playing Pathfinder RPG card game a fair bit in the 3 weeks since we started; I think we have played around 10 adventures. I like it (not love it) a fair bit. Lets call a spade a spade; this is NOT an RPG. Its a character driven exploration/tactics card game that uses dice - there is no roleplaying here at all. However, it taps into something primal; the insatiable gathering of PHAT LEWTS! Yep, you collect incrementally better cards for your character deck. Thats the hook. Nothing more, nothing less. And it is addictive.

Tsuro of the seas is a successor to Tsuro. Its basically a tile laying puzzle game  with a japanese sailing theme that sees you trying to avoid sea monsters. Its a straight euro game and a very pure experience. There is a little more luck involved in this version as the sea monsters are random in nature. I have had tons of fun playing this with my students, who love it.

Castle Panic is a tower defence style game that sees you playing cards to defeat monsters at different distances from the castle. Again, its a euro style - there is no real dice rolls to make (other than which angle the monsters arrive from). I have 1 major recommendation with this game; get wizards tower expansion - its a MUST BUY to make the game a lot more interesting.

I LOVE Mansions of Madness. Really really love it. It has superb exploration and combat mechanics and great atmosphere. However, in typical Fantasy Flight style the base game and first expansion has really shitty scenarios. However, the second expansion totally sorts this out and changes aspects of the game that escalates this game into the realm of superb.

Its a Lovecraft Mythos game that is pure Ameri-trash in style (lots of luck based mechanics and heavy on theme). You are basically exploring an area to figure out a mystery and put an end to whatever evil is going on. 

7 wonders is a pure Euro card game that sees you building an ancient civilisation and scoring more points than your opponents. And it is sublime. Everytime I play this game I am totally amazed at how tight every aspect of this game is. Every single game comes down to the wire, every single decision you make matters. Every card influences the outcome. It is one of my all time favorites and certainly my favorite euro.

Ahhh, Cutthroat Caverns. You like your friends? Not after playing this game!

The object here us simply to land the killing blow on the monsters so you get the prestiege and not your buddies. Simple.

Its a card game with a very simple design but quite a bit of depth (more than Munchkin, a similar type of game). Oh, there are LOADS of ways to screw your mates over. Brilliant.

So, there you go; the games I am currently enjoying.

See you in the next update which, hopefully, is the oft promised Super Dungeon Explore one...