The Mysterious Castle. Family Gaming pt1

It was a bit of a rainy Saturday at the weekend, so I gathered my kids together, brought out some of my scenery and models and quickly forged a simple scenario for them to play with me GMing.

They controlled two characters each - a model of themselves plus either mum, dad, grandparents or the cat (I just about made the cut, my daughters chose mum and the cat, my son, slightly reluctantly, chose me over grandad!)

The scenario was very simple: this band of adventurers had heard that the nearby villagers of North Campian had been harried out of their homes due to some Orcs who had started raiding the village. It seems they were based in the old, abandoned castle which perched on a hill overlooking the village. A reward of gold coins was offered by the town mayor if these Orcs could be "persuaded" to leave the area.

In terms of rules, I kept it very simple. For movement a stick was used that was divided into 3 lengths. The entire length of the stick meant that a character could sprint that distance but not perform any other actions. The second measurement on the stick (about halfway) was a brisk walk and the character could perform one other action. The shortest measurement was a cautious slow walk but two other actions could be performed. Finally the character could not move but perform 3 actions.

Possible actions included, but were not restricted too:

• searching
• fighting
• leaping
• throwing
• spellcasting
• hiding

Obviously I wanted my kids to explore their imaginations so as GM I guided them if they wanted to try a different type of action and I modified the dice roll needed on 2d6 depending on the difficulty of the task.

My oldest daughter was a mage and so could cast spells, but for them to be successful she had to make them rhyme. I would then ask her to roll two die and modify the roll according to difficulty.

My middle daughter could have one spell, which she chose to be "steal mind" (her idea!) which she could cast on any other character (but again modified by me depending on the difficulty ie. a troll would be easier, say 4+, than a orc shaman, say 9+). She was also able to throw knives from a distance.

My youngest. the son, was a fighter and had improved chances to hit in combat and could use a slingshot from a distance.

Here's the lineup of possible adventurers, from left to right: Tom the Cat, Mum, Grandad, oldest daughter the spellcaster, son the fighter, dad, middle daughter the steal mind specialist and grandma.





The enemy come out of the castle goading the adventurers



And release a captive, Harvey, who runs about squealing and waving his hands in the air "help me, brave adventurers, help me"! My middle daughter asks him some questions about what has been going on and he gives them a bit of advice "their chief keeps them together, get him and they'll run away - oh and beware of the stupid troll". My son asks if Harvey will join and fight with them (I was so impressed with this question!), but alas he is not a fighter. He does give my son the promise of new equipment if they succeed in their quest...

Sizing up the enemy. The castle was his birthday present back in June, so it's good that we both got to play with it together.

My middle daughter runs close enough to the two orcs who are furthest forward and recognises one as weaker than the other. She successfully casts steal mind on the weaker one who promptly attacks the tough guy! The tougher orc parries the attack and puts the upstart back into the earth with a swing of his flail. One down!

The fighters quickly close in on the enemy (as does the cat). The cat has some special rules: can sneak up on a character, can hide, can pounce for an additional attack with claws and teeth, or can use a spray attack. The real Tom the Cat has just been snipped!



My oldest, the spellcaster successfully casts a flight spell first on herself and then on Tom the Cat ("I know I'm Flying in the sky, but give my cat wings to fly") so that he could attack some of the orcs.

Combat ensures between our intrepid adventurers and the nasty orcs. Obviously I stack the odds in my kids favour, but encourage the youngest two to add up the numbers on the dice using mental arithmetic.

As the fighting ensues, the sorceress casts a new spell whilst flying: "Give me the power to swim in that swamp, to fight the fat monster with a kick and a stomp". It was successfully cast on the second time of asking and the troll starts taking a bit of a magical beating, much to his bemusement.

Father and son and pet cat, make short work of the stinky orcs.

Tom the cat sprays in the Orc chieftan's face, making him blind for a turn and holding up all the other orcs on the drawbridge.

Mum joins her daughter in the fetid moat to try and finish off the hulking troll.

The sorceress decides to not attack the troll, leaving that to mum, so that she can cast a spell at the orcs on the drawbridge: "I want to kill those monsters all, so pull up the drawbridge so I can watch them fall". Inventive magic, but unfortunately she failed to cast it thrice on a 7+! So father and son decide to take matters into their own hands, pick up the large boulder and fling it at the squabbling orcs on the drawbridge. A skilful throw sees a load of them skittled over!

Tom the Cat tries to finish off the few remaining orcs, including the leader with another spray, at which point Harvey the villager re-appears to offer some help (trying to gain some glory as the fight is almost done!)



A combined effort from all the family finally see the orc chief and the troll defeated and all the other orcs scarper down the hill and away from the triumphant adventurers. They cannot resist the temptation to explore the now empty castle and discover a secret trapdoor in the floor - will they investigate further...? To be continued!

It was a really fun game that lasted for almost two hours, until tea was ready and the conclusion sets up another game, for another rainy day, in the near future. The kids also want to do some painting with me, so I'll fish out a couple of old plastics for them to start on with the idea of using them in a future game. I think my oldest especially is old enough to have a go at some proper rules, so I may trial a game of Dragon Rampart, Frostgrave of Songs of Blades and Heroes with her..

My wife was slightly intrigued by what we were up to and observed parts of the game - we both realised that gaming such as this can help the kids personal development:

1. Quality time with dad!
2. Using and exploring their imaginations
3. Following rules and instructions (but also challenging them!)
4. Verbal reasoning when interacting with other characters and each other
5. Literacy for the eldest (she had to write down the spells in advance, ensuring they rhymed and made sense)
6. Showing an understanding of measurement
7. Numeracy for the youngest two, mental arithmetic and understanding a bit of probability.
8. Fun!



BOYL 2016 - The Storming of Perlsea Fort (A Warbands Game).

An excellent weekend unfolded at the annual BOYLfest, where a ton of lead was carried to the excellent hosts that are the Foundry and dozens of fantastic games were played amongst awesome scenery, with some stunning miniatures and of course with some great people. I tried to live up to these high standards by running my own Realm of Chaos warbands game using my own scenery and with a narrative scenario for the three gamers who joined in, Greg, Ian and Steve. They all came with great looking warbands and embraced the idea behind the game (even though it took much longer than I expected, no-one seemed to mind!)


So each of the players were given an opposing objective which was based around the Necromancer named Roudan the Hollow:


Objective 1:
The Necromancer, Roudan The Hollow, has taken up residence in the ruins of Perlsea Fort, where his dark incantations have not gone unnoticed. His power and influence in the area is growing and I believe he has hired some mercenary orcs to assist him. Proceed with both caution and haste as I would like to see whether we can procure his services for our own ends.


Objective 2 was the same, but with the need to assassinate the Necromancer


And Objective 3 was to try and discover the ancient relic which was giving the Necromancer all of his powers..


The players turns were randomised so as to keep them on their toes and in a few rounds it became very important as to who went before someone else... Next time I'll develop this so that it's not random, but perhaps based upon initiative or something.




Here you can see the set up of the game. Roudan the Hollow ensconced inside his castle with some of his undead experiments wandering around. His Orc mercenaries, Rogboth's Boyz, are based around their lookout tower

The player's warbands entered from the corners of the table.

Here are Ian's beautiful Khorne warband, with a unit of thugs led by a Chaos Warrior, a couple of Beastmen, an Ogre and three Chaos Dwarfs. It was funny to see that the model Ian had used for his champion was exactly the same one I had used for the Necromancer! So another layer of sibling rivalrly was added to the narrative. Ian's objective was to destroy the Necromancer in typical Khornate style.

 

Steve's wonderful Chaos Cultist warband, with two mages, familiars, Chaos Goblins and a unit of Human Chaos Cultists. Steve had to try and recover the powerful relic which was purported to be kept in a sarcophagus.

 

And Greg's amazing warband, which was made up entirely of pre-slotta models. He had a level 10 Chaos Hero, 3 lizardmen, 6 Half-Orcs (just poking around the wall) and a unit of Beastmen.

 

Before the game started I suggested to the players that there should be an rpg element to the game, in that the scenery and npc's should be interacted with. Ian's beastmen decided to look inside the cottage, only to discover a sleeping and aged barbarian. A guttural conversation ensued before any axes were swung, and the beastmen convinced the barbarian to join them with the promise of ladies and gold. He was a level 5 hero frenzied hero who actually went on to do a lot of damage.

 

As Ian and Greg's warbands approached the burnt out church, the noise made by the braying beastmen and the hissing lizardmen, caused a load of ghouls who had been feasting on remnants of bodies, to run out and investigate who the interlopers were.

Meanwhile Steve's approaching Cultists were engaged by the mercenary orcs as one of their kind was sent back to the castle to inform their paymaster. Potshots from the chaos goblins (including one who had a bolter) all missed their mark. One of the mages cast Undead Hero and Raise Skeletons who were charged by the remaining Orcs.

Sid the aged barbarian was making short work of the ghouls, who even with T5 and poisoned attacks could not harm him or the tough beastmen. The lizardmen joined in the spree too.

During the battle I noticed a spiderweb that had been spun whilst the church had been stored in my garage. Definitely beyond my sculpting skills, but quite apt for the haunted ambience of the scenario! You can also see how beautifully painted the lizardmen are. Btw, they're tiny sculpts!

The Mercenary Orcs killed off the skeletons but ran away from the fearsome Ogre. The orc runner managed to alert the Necromancer who began raising some extra defenders as the warbands approached his castle. The ghouls were all quickly dispatched. Not one of the players warbands had even suffered a wound at this point and all the GM's toys had been quite easily defeated.

From inside the castle you can see the undead minions leaving to engage the approaching warbands. Just look at his supply of bones, swept into neat piles by his minions.

And look there's even sarcophagi.

As expected there was a mass combat outside the castle gates, here between some skeletons and the chaos thugs. The half-orcs kept failing their fear tests to charge anyone and in the end decided to use a ladder to climb the walls. Who would leave a ladder there? The necromancer was way too busy with his spells to even consider practicalities such as this. or maybe he was way too confident in his abilities...?
In the background you can see Greg's lizardmen had charged Ian's warband, they failed an intelligence test and decided that was a better option than following their leader and his primary objective. You can also see that Greg's hero has been wounded by a goblin short bow. Ouch.

The ogre was incredibly tough and rightly feared by all. Here is approaching the fighting.

More undead were raised by the necromancer to swell the dwindling numbers (so many instability rolls were made by me) and the Cultists re-cast the Undead Hero spell to add some beef to their attacks.

Just a close up of some wonderful looking models together.

A pool of water reflecting the summer's day...



Right back to the game... Greg's beastmen fled from the fearsome ogre (he really needed to have his turn first), however his hero stayed around to fight (briefly). Ian's Beastmen and Dwarves were in awe of Sid's slaying abilities as his frenzied nature (you can see it in his pose) cut down the lizardmen

Up until now the Half-Orcs had been incredibly ineffective. But they managed to climb the ladder and breach the ramparts. In the background, the Ogre kills Greg's hero, however the Necormancer, scared of the Ogre, casts a reanimate spell to bring back the Hero as an Undead champion. Unfortunately at the cost of 2 toughness...

However he manages to wound the ogre and saves his remaining wound on a roll of a 6 on his chaos armour.. The goblin's shortbows also cause a wound on the ogre!

Having disposed of some annoying rats, Steve's cultist mage climbs the east side of the castle ramparts in a race with the Half_Orcs. The necromancer, has risen an undead wolf and did not spot the intruders. In the background the thugs charge the annoying Goblins.

A spooky glowing from the walls of the castle, it must be the eye of the gods.... With Greg's undead warband leader finally killed by the ogre, the half-orc champion becomes the warbands leader. He automatically receives Khorne's gift (plus an extra attack and pip of leadership) as well as an attribute - silly walk! This all happened as the Half-Orcs were descending the ladder. They charge the remaining zombies as the Necromancer desperately takes control of the Undead Hero to protect him.

Steve's other mage is killed by the undead wolf, the thugs kill off the goblins and Ian's hero makes a last ditch move to kill the necromancer before the other's can complete their missions. In the background Beastmen confront each other in a stalemate battle where there is lots of pushing back from side to side.

It all kicks off in the final turn. Greg's half-orcs kill the zombies and want to begin talking to the necromancer, however Steve's mage (just out of shot) cast's Assault of Stone to try and kill the necromancer (his objective is to get the hidden relic). The necromancer stays alive by passing his chaos armour save and Ian is just about to line up a charge to kill the necromancer, one turn too late. Amongst al this the Half-Orcs manage to eloquently convince the Necromancer, with impending doom surrounding him, to join forces with the warband and in a bid to save himself, he agrees! Greg was the winner!

Here's you can see all the participants leaders and how close they each were to completing their objectives, only for Greg to pip them to it. We didn't discuss how the Necromancer and the half orcs escaped as we were all keen to have a break and see the other great events going on at the Foundry.

And how the final battlefield looked.

It was a very fun game to GM, with three guys who got really immersed in the game and played in a wonderful spirit. It took about 3 hours, but was well worth it, before we moved onto other events at BOYL.


This included a wonderful game of Advanced Heroquest (sorry I didn't take any photos) but it was wonderfully GM'd by Mike who had a great set of miniatures and some brilliant scratchbuilt scenery.


I also made some purchases - these for my forthcoming baggage train:

And these two unreleased Citadel wizards which had been cast up specifically for the event. I'll use these as npc's for future games.

 

I also spent some time with Kev Adams and a couple of pints as he sculpted my head onto the Morcar miniature which was especially commissioned by Fimm for the event. It was great to see Kev at work for the 30minutes it took him, even on a wobbly table, in a hot marquee (that affected the maleability of the greenstuff) and lots of interruptions, his sculpting skills were a marvel to behold and a real treat for me to witness over the weekend. He raised a lot of money for cancer research and it was great to hear his opinion on subjects such as hedgehogs, acl injuries, poor eating manners, his family and how some of the people he does commissions for are can be bloody selfish...:

Curtis, as always is a great bloke and gave every attendee an Oldhammer miniature:

 

 

And a box of his miscasts for free, which I rummaged around in to find some parts for a forthcoming scratchbuilt spacecraft:

I was also lucky enough to win runner up in the painting competition for my unit of ogres:

And had a good chat with Harry about a Fighting Fantasy/Dungeon Crawl/Roc Warbands mash up for next year - imagine Deathtrap Dungeon and Trial of Champions based scenarios, with a band of heroes fighting each other, recogniseable foes in a dungeon setting using our tiles and Fighting Fantasy stats? Well that's what we're aiming for...


Finally a huge thanks to all at the Foundry who make us feel incredibly welcome every year and go beyond what you would expect from a host, Gaj for doing so much of the organising and the go-to man for the event and all the other people there that share my passion and enjoyment of gaming with thoughtfully collected and skilfully painted miniatures and who always consider that the opponent should be having more fun than yourself in any given environment.

Battle report: The Fight for Baron Curcass' Castle

The Scenario.

It has been rumoured that Baron Curcass, in his madness, has left his castle, near the river Lynsk, seriously undermanned. The castle is surrounded by a dark, dense forest and peering out from different locations are several warbands, wondering whether they can sneak into the castle for some plunder..





On the eastern edge of the forest emerges Uston'Noth's chaos warband:

Uston'Noth's Tribe. Nurgle Warband: 



Uston'Noth - Level 15 Champion - Mark of Nurgle, Scaly Skin, Moronic


4 Cultists led by Kraak'n - Level 5 Initiate Sorcerer - Mark of Nurgle, Cloud of Flies, Puny
Spells: Stench of Nurgle, Steal Mind, Summon Familiar


4 Chaos Dwarves.

On the western edge of the forest a band of Orcs are led by JugNugg Igg (this warband was created using Erny's generator)

Orc Warband of the Orange Sun:

JugNugg Igg - Level 10 Orc Shaman - leading 2 Orcs (bodyguard)
 Spells: Leg Breaking, Blinding Flash, Fireball, Flight, Windblast, Bewilder Foe

Harnack - Underling Level 5 Orc (The Beserker)
Double Handed Weapon

Heavy D and his Boyz - Orc Champion leading 5 Orcs
 Shields,standard and musician.

5 Orcs of the Scattered Tribe
Light Armour

From the Northern Edge is the notorious Blag and his merry band of Goblins:

Blag - Goblin Level 10 Hero. Light Armour, over-confidence

4 Goblins, including Dot, the archer

Shnaznat - Goblin Level 15 Shaman

Spells: Leg Break, Fireball, Strength of Combat, Animosity, Create Illusionary Hero.

And the remnants of the guards of Baron Curcass' castle:

6 Human Fighters:

And here's the set up at the beginning of the battle:

Turn 1. Sequence: Goblins, Humans, Orcs, Nurgle.

Dot takes a pot shot at a Chaos Dwarf and misses, whilst everyone advances towards the castle gates. The Human defenders, having seen multiple attackers emerge from the woods, begin moving inside for cover and to try and lower the drawbridge.

Kraak'n casts summon familiar and receives a rat full of magical energy.

The summoned rat familiar

Dot taking a pot shot

Turn 2. Sequence: Orcs, Humans, Nurgle, Gobbos.

The Orc archer takes a long shot at the humans who are scurrying for cover, but misses.

The rest of the Orc warband advance towards the gates

JuggNugg Igg casts two fireballs at the humans, but does not wound any of them.

The humans almost get everyone inside the castle, two defenders take up position to raise the drawbridge...

The Goblins, led by Blagg, make quick progress towards the drawbridge, keeping close to the castle walls.

The minions of Nurgle walk into the clearing in front of the castle, ready to split forces in order to try and head off the Orcs and get into the castle. The Dwarves lag behind with their stumpy legs.

Turn 3. Sequence: Gobbos, Humans, Nurgle, Orcs.




Blagg, in a show of courage, silently charges into the back of the last of the humans just before he was able to reach the relative security of the castle. Blagg swings and misses.   !

The human (known as Bill), initially surprised at the sneaky attack, but quickly growing in confidence as he sees the inept swordsmanship of his opponent, lunges hits and wounds the Goblin leader.

Blagg shits himself and legs it away! Bill pursues but fails to kill the little bastard, who keeps running.

The rest of the humans quickly decide to start raising the drawbridge, leaving Bill outside to fend for himself, deciding that his obvious martial prowess will see him through!

The Nurgle Warband approach even closer, except for the Dwarves who can't keep up. Kraak'n casts Steal Mind on the Orc Beserker, rendering him a gibbering fool for 1 turn.

The Orc archer gets lucky with a shot at the Cultists taking one down with an arrow through the throat. First blood!

Turn 4. Sequence: Orcs, Gobbos, Humans, Nurgle.




JuggNugg Igg's Orc bodyguard charge the humans just as the drawbridge is about to raise up. Realising the sprint is longer than they expected, their attacks are weak and miss their mark. The humans, prepared for the attack, hit back and kill one of the Orcs. A stand off ensues.

To help his boyz out, JuggNugg Igg casts Blinding Flash into the combat, meaning neither side can strike anymore blows during the next round of combat - he hopes to enter the fray himself and kill the remaining defenders.

The rest of the Orc boyz prepare for combat with the advancing Nurgle warband.

The Gobbo warband, seeing their leader Blagg, screaming past them, take one look at Bill and decide he's not to be messed with. They leg it after their leader!

Bill reforms, feeling incredibly plucky now and heads back to the castle to help his fellow defenders out

Uston'Noth charges into the Orc boyz and the level 15 character chops down 2 orcs with ease.

The Orcs look worried and are pushed back by the ferocity of the attack.

Turn 5. Sequence: Gobbos, Humans, Orcs, Nurgle.




The Gobbos rally, except for Blagg who scurries off into the woods to literally lick his wounds.

Bill charges the JuggNugg Igg, but none of his blows cause any harm. He is soon knocked out by the Orc, never to recover..

JuggNugg Igg moves into the castle where he can see the blinded combatants flailing ineptly at each other.

Harnack charges with a frenzy into the remaining cultists, gnashing his teeth and missing with his attacks. The cultists fluff with their attacks too.

Uston'Noth kills another Orc and easily deflects their attacks at him (it was at this point that I realised that a Level 15 Nurgle Champion was much better than all the other characters...)

Turn 6. Sequence: Orcs, Nurgle, Gobbos, Humans.




JuggNugg Igg charges into the humans, but neither side cause any damage. Harnack the Beserker is more effective, in killing two of the cultists, who feeling overwhelmed, are pushed back. The other Orcs are completely wiped out by the savage attacks of the Champion of Nurgle.

Dot takes another pot shot at the dwarves with his short bow and again misses by a mile. Shaaznat effectively casts leg break on the Nurgle Shaman, who wails in pain and staggers at half speed towards the castle. 

Inside the castle the humans and orcs continue their stalemate with neither side giving or taking an inch.

Turn 7. Sequence: Gobbos, Nurgle, Orcs, Humans

The Gobbos, feeling ridiculously brave (spurred on by their hatred no doubt), charge into the Chaos Dwarves. A few swings later and the Dwarves laugh in their faces. A goblin is nonchanantly put to the sword. Even so, the Goblins want another go...

Shaaznat casts fireball at the Nurgle champion, trying to stop him from entering the castle and actually wounds him!

Uston'Noth, almost oblivious to the fiery wound, charges into the orcs rear (who are already engaged in a battle with the humans) and kills an Orc boy. His sights are on the Orc Shaman next...

The Chaos dwarves take down two goblins with ease but the remaining Goblin, fighting for his life, surprisingly kills a chaotic stunty with a solid thunk to the skull.

Harnack kills the remaining cultist and looks for where else he could charge... he sees the backs of some unsuspecting chaos dwarves...

JuggNugg Igg, aware of the presence of the Nurgle Champion and still fending off desperate blows from the human defenders, decides to cast Flight to the safety of the ramparts!

The human defenders see an opportunity to gain some momentum and charge the repulsive Nurgle champion hoping to repulse the invader from their castle...

Incredibly they win the combat and succeed at pushing their foe back from the interior of the castle!

Turn 8. Sequence: Nurgle, Gobbo, Orc, Human.

Uston'Noth in a fit of fury, kills all but two of the human defenders. They flee leaving the Nurgle Champion to miss all his free hacks.

[Missing photo]. The lone goblin manages to take down another dwarf, before succumbing to a fatal belly wound.




Shaaznat charges the lame Nurgle Sorcerer and spectacularly takes him down with a sharp blow of his stave to the bollocks!

.

JuggNugg Igg, from the ramparts, uses his Magik Teef to cast Raise Undead and raises 8 ghouls who he will command to try and take down the Nurgle champion (seen here killing the fleeing humans with a load of free hacks)

Turn 9. The end game...




Harnack charges the lone Chaos Dwarf and they become locked in combat. For a long time, neither giving in...

Shaaznat, decides he's had enough, not wanting to get involved in the melee in the castle where ghouls are surrounding the Nurgle champion. He wanders off looking to start his own warband, maybe with the cowering Blagg as his minion...

JuggNugg Igg also decides he's had enough, knowing he can no longer influence the battle raging beneath him. He might pop back later to see the outcome..

And how it all ended up. Who knows who controls the castle, the undead or the Nurgle champion? Who won the battle between the beserker and the chaos dwarf? And will the greenskin shamans be able to gather new warbands so as to fight another battle?