Devilry Afoot

 A recent acquirement through Amazon France, I got this rulebook for 25.00 euro there.

With free shipping...

Now, being in a fantasy setting, you are basically a Witch Hunter and retinue (hellooooooo Hexbane models) out to hunt various creatures from Folklore like Witches Covens and such.  And it plays on a 2x2 board, and has solo possibilities, so ideal for when I'll definitly be playing more solo games next year.  As we speak, I'm looking into some compact equipment for that purpose to fit in my small mancave.

 

 

The game, which requires about 20 models in total for a scenario and a handfull of dice, takes place during the 17th / 18th century setting, when witch hunts where riven.  Add in the fantasy element by making the opponents creatures from folklore, and we are off to read the rules. The game uses a token activation system, one for each hero, and one per action monsters have, even though all the monsters of the same type activate together.

Heroes themselves, or monsters for that matter, only have a limited set of stats making it easy to remember.  You pick archetypes of heroes, like a Religious type or Gentleman, and any possible followers they might bring along.  But every hero also has a dark secret, which gives a penalty, as it only takes special types to stalk the streets at night after all, and offsets their bonusses gained from traits.  Next you buy their equipment (bring light!!!) and you are ready to start hunting the terrors of the night.

As you draw tokens, the models activate.  You can take a selection of actions like move and attack with the hunters, while the monsters actions are distinguished by a table, unique to every type of opponent, and tell you what they will do.  Attacks, both melee and shooting, have a set of modifiers to determine hits, and if you wound them you roll a dice to see how much damage is done.  Be aware, it might only be a slight grazing that doesn't deal any actual damage!  

The book also has a set of rules for what all the possible terrain might do, and importantly, if they cast shadows for the enemy to hide in, as well as a table on how to place it on the tabletop.  With the table now set up, it is time to select the scenario and any modifications to the set up.  And then the hunt begins!  You can also select to play on after the victory (or defeat) conditions are met to try and take down more enemies for extra incoming, but beware you don't loose your heroes doing this if you overreach.

The final part of the book contains the bestiary, with all the stats and activation tables of the opponents, and at the final end we get the tables and a rules summary for easiness sake.

And that is a quick overview of Devilry Afoot, a ruleset I will definitly be trying out during the year and of course the battle report will be featured here on the blog (and the YT channel) as we try to rid the world of the evil's that lurk in the night!

Warhammer Underworlds solo: A Crushing Terror - Desecration: The Skinnerkin

 With the brave cooking crew of the Skinnerkin succesful in the first scenario, they are eager for more and hunt down the Fomoroid Crusher.

And meet him as he tries to Desecrate the lands around his lair, in this second scenario for A Crushing Terror!

So with the objectives placed, the Skinnerkin prepare to try and take down the large monster.

The scenario rules are laid in front, and the cards are drawn for the opening hand.  In this scenario, every time a warrior activates, he can get a free upgrade from your hand.

The beast immediatly charges Seddrik the Chain.

But the brave ghoul succesfully dodges the wild swings!

Using Get out of my Larder, the Carnskyr flies over the beast and wounds it with it's grasping talons.

The King Hungers! is played as the Skinnerkin take their first activation.

Gristla herself charges in, and while her attack is succesfull thanks to the supports, she doesn't cause any critical hits though for additional haunches.  

However, she does receive the Calloused Hands upgrade for some additional defence against the beast.

But it is Seddrik though that goes down first, as the Breaker attack which hits for an automatic three damage pounds him to the floor.

Young Master Kretch joins the fight, swinging his mighty cleaver.

And he succesfully hits the beast, even though he can only do 2 damage due to no critical hits being amongst his roll.

The Carnskyr is then taken out by the lumbering brute, his wings unable to carry him to safety.

 

 

Pewdrig the Flensemaster then charges in on the monster.

 

 

And critically hits the big beast, wounding him once again. 

Annoyed, the beast turn to Gristla, but her 4 wounds and the use of the Calloused Hands makes she only takes 2 points of damage, living to fight another round at least.

 

 

 She attacks herself again, and scoring a crit and luckily a success versus the beasts critical defence, wounds him and gets that third haunch counter to inspire the Skinnerkin.

In the end phase, I discarded Head Chef though, in order to draw a full new hand for round two.

As the second round starts, the beast now smacks the Flensemaster out of action, leaving the two strongest ghouls in the battle, and the beast only with 2 wounds remaining.

Discarding my three counters, Gristla heals up to her full health, that way able to tank the beast one more round should it be needed.

But that also means I have no counters remaining, and Aspiring Artisan now grants full re-rolls on the attack roll.

Gristla attacks the beast as a result, scoring a crit and a success, and the Fomoroid can't defend as she Cleave's right through his defence and his skin!

With it's final two wounds taken off as such, the beast goes down once again, and once again to the Kitchen Director of the Flesheater Courts!

A great effort of the Skinnerkin, and that now means they have succesfully ended two of the three scenarios.  But will they be able to win the third, in which the beast is almost automatically inspired from the get go, and be the first warband in my solo efforts to do so as such?

Find out next time in the third episode of the Skinnerkin versus A Crushing Terror!

TSA Escalation League 2025: Command Groups

 Round 2 of the Escalation League is in full swing, and that means expanding the force.

Now, the first and foremost thing I wanted to add this round to my army, are command groups for my infantry line regiments.

Coming from the Warlord Games landsknecht line, these metal models are now fitting in nicely with the plastics I used for both the halberdiers and greatsword regiments.

For the banners, I printed a free sheet from Foundry's website, and then painted over the designs, changing the colours to suit my army.  These banners actually where those of King Richard III (the boar design) and the Duke of Bedford (the tree trunk design).

Gamewise, I can add some magic items for now to both the standard and the greatsword champion to fill up some points, to be able to be exchanged later in the campaign for items or troops elsewhere.

Next for these regiments, probably in round 4 or so, the numbers will be boosted to bring them up to the 20+ models range and become true combat units, which is also the moment the small missile troop units will merge with them as detachments.

But that is for in a few weeks, first some other models require painting for the League.

Arabian Nights

 This mini series actually consists of only 2 episodes, but each is the length of a feature film.

It aired back in the venerable year 2000, but it can be found on mediums like YouTube these days, so if it peaks your intrest, you can easily find it.

The series takes place in Baghdad, where the Sultan of Baghdad, Shahryar, has gone mad after accidentally killing his treacherous wife years ago.  This now makes him believe that every woman wants to kill him.  But he has to get married by law or the throne will pass to his treacherous brother Schahzenan.  The Grand Vizier is tasked with bringing a concubine for marriage, then have her executed the day after.

In order to prevent this his clever daughter, Scheherazade, decides to marry the sultan herself.  She formulates a plan to prevent the execution, by telling stories to the sultan which might also help cure his madness.  She tells a story every night, ending at dawn with a cliffhanger and refusing to continue until dusk, forcing Shahryar to have her stay alive to find out how the story goes on.

His brother however perceives this as a weakness, and marches his army on Baghdad in order to take the throne by force.  But by the time he reaches the city, the plan has worked and the sultan has been cured and fallen in love with her.  Using strategies inspired from the stories, he defeats his evil brother's army.  At the end of the battle, all that has been seen is seemingly a story in itself, told by Scheherazade to her children, promising them to tell another one the next night.

So, this was a nice mini series, and featured the stories of the 40 Robbers, the Poor Hunchback, Aladdin, the Sultan and the Beggar and the Three Princes as the stories told to the mad sultan.  While the special effects haven't aged that well, it is still a fun watch for an afternoon of benching on a lazy sunday.

Not to shabby at all for a classic series.

On the Painting Desk 317

 So we started painting again this week, huzzaaaah.

 

Now, I also have been looking at deadlines for upcoming events, and made a list as such what to paint first as that needs to be concluded.

 

And the first thing is this weapon removed Bull Centaur, as I need him as a stand-in for Blood Bowl.  The official ones are still not back in stock, and I don't want to repaint one of my older teams beasts.  So this guy has been based on a round one to become the newest team roster addition for now.

 

 

Priorities after that will be the Pistoliers and Handgunners for the next round of the League, as well as the flamethrower for an emmissary project over at Chaos Dwarf Online, all of which needs to be rounded out before the half of march.  Ideally joined by an Idoneth Soulscryer as well...

 

So yeah, bit of a pressure cooker is beginning to form as such, though I'm confident that by next update the Bull Centaur will be done, and the Pistoliers will have advanced firmly.

 

Check back next week to see how far I got!

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim

 The long awaited anime project under the heading of Peter Jackson and Kenji Kamiyama, I must admit that at first I was a bit reluctant to watch this.

Call it a Rings of Power trauma...

But now that I viewed it, I completely love it, as it is a side story that explores some gray area in the book, barely referenced upon, and that is how the line of kings from Helm Hammerhand got broken.  The story is narrated by Eowyn, and tells the tale of Hera, a would-be shieldmaiden of Rohan and daughter of Helm.  

It takes place rougly two centuries before Bilbo find the ring, as Freca, a Dunlending subject of Helm, and his son Wulf arrive at Edoras.  He is upset that Hera will be married of to a Gondorian lord instead of to his son, and tries to force a marriage.  Helm accidentally kills Freca in the ensuing duel, and Wulf vows revenge for his dead.

Years later, Hera and her cousin Frealaf encounter a dead southron warrior, before they are attacked by a rabid mumakil.  She can lure it to a Watcher in the Water, but one of Freca's former generals, Targg, has followed her and takes her prisoner.  She is taken to Wulf's stronghold at the base of Isengard, where she learns he has become high lord of the Dunlendings and plans on attacking Rohan.  

As he attacks the lands of the Horse-Lords, Frealaf is cast out of Edoras by Helm as they disagree on the course of action.  Hera discovers one of his advisors, Lord Thorne, is a traitor, and dispatches of him.  The people of Edoras are evacuated to the Hornburg, as her bother Haleth is killed in battle by Wulf, while her other brother, the poet warrior Hama, is captured.  At the gates of the Hornburg, Wulf executes Hama under the gaze of Helm, throwing him into a depressing mood.

As the Hornburg is being besieged during winter, Hera discovers her father sneaks out at night to wreak havoc amongst Wulf's troops, who think he is an immortal wraith.  But as he and Hera, after discovering Mordor orcs in the vicinity and a troll attacking them, return to the Hornburg, Wulf's forces attack.  Helm sacrifices himself, standing frozen to death in front of the gate, knees unbend.

An eagle is send out bearing Helm's armour to Frealaf to request aid, while she, dressed in a bridal dress from a tragic story of the Hornburg, rides out to distract Wulf's troops and help the people escape through the tunnels.  Wulf betrays Targg, killing him, after the general agrees he was beaten by Hera in a duel on the siege tower.  But Frealaf arrives with his men, using Helm's armour and helmet to scare the Dunlendings into a rout, thinking Helm has returned from the dead for vengeance.  

As Wulf cowardly attacks Hera, she chokes him to death using her shield, and ending the war.  The valley of the Hornburg is renamed Helm's Deep, as Saruman the White arrives to become the new keeper of Isengard, offering alliance to the new Rohan king, Frealaf.  Hera herself denounced the throne, setting out into the wilds with her aunt, Olwyn, to go to a meeting with Gandalf who has questions about the orcs she and her late father encounterd...

This was indeed a visual spectacle, and a great story to watch.  It really picks you up and sweeps you along, and is more then worth the watch!

Time Bandits

 Time for an "Apple original" series this time, as Time Bandits is a series based on the classic movie from 1981.

Though the fact it is cancelled after a single season did set off my spidersense...

 

Kevin is a boy struggling with everyday life, as he is kind of a history nerd who loves doing nothing more then visit places like Stonehenge, not appreciated by his parents of his younger sister.  But one day, he is sucked into his closet and comes on a beach during a saxon versus viking battle.  Soon after, a strange group called the Time Bandits arrive, and he tags along with them.  Also, this leads to a great joke of how Stonehenge was intended as nothing more then a bunch of rocks with a gift shop.

 

But the Time Bandits have stolen a map from Supreme Being, and both he and Pure Evil are out to retrieve it, the latter sending an assassin called Fianna after Kevin and his family through time.  As it turns his parents into lumps of coal, Kevin needs to find a way to bring them back, while his sister Saffron embarks on her own search for answers.

 

 

They both jump through different times, missing out on each other as Saffron chases Kevin's trail but in turn is being hunted by Fianna.  But when Fianna catches up, she finds that Saffron is not her target, abandoning her in the Ice Age as she continues her search.  She catches up with the Time Bandits during a reception of the Earl of Sandwich, but the bandits manage to escape.  However, one of them is sucked into the void doing so and erased from time.

 

During a planned heist on the richest man on Earth, and who truly values Kevin, Widgit delves into the mysteries of the map, unlocking it to a bit more to make their jumps more or less accurate.  Only missing the point to save his parents by 30 years, they meet up with them when they where still kids after they found Saffron in the Ice Age.  However, she has been there 3 years in the time Kevin spend weeks with the Bandits, and now is actually older then her brother.

 

 

They find Suzanne, a former member of the Bandits, who had faked her own death in order to be with the former fiancee of the gang's leader, Peneloppe.  Setting the grief aside, they travel to the Fortress of Darkness to confront Pure Evil and save Kevin and Saffron's parents.  Torn between a choice of who to hand the map, Kevin makes his decision.  But he had switched out the boxes that contained the map, leaving an empty one with the big boys... until they open the switched box which no longer contains the map either.

 

And there the serie ends, and without it being extended, so does the story with a sort of open ending.  It wans't great, but at least it had some fun jokes in it.  But in general, just avoid this rubbish...

Warhammer Underworlds solo: A Crushing Terror - Rampage: The Skinnerkin

 Now with the small table I got for my mancave from Secret Santa, I can finally start the wave off series for version 1 of Underworlds, putting all the painted warbands through the A Crushing Terror series where they face a Fomoroid Crusher.

And the first warband that gets this honour, are the Skinnerkin, a bunch of depraved, crazed cooks out to get some nice haunches of meat from the big beast!

 

 

And so we deployed the board (I didn't bother for objectives this round, as I found from the past this will only come into play in the third scenario mostly), and the Skinnerkin surrounded the afternoon snack.

 

In this scenario, your warband comes prepared with an upgrade for each of the warriors in the band already equipped, though they can't obtain any others during the game.

 

 

And the game started, the big beast charging the Flensemaster, hitting him and with his 3 damage attack taking the poor ghoul out.

The scenario rules cause one of your models to be inspired as a result, so Kretch got the go for this.

He duly charged the big monster with his meatcleaver, and with The King Hungers granting 2 dice as I hadn't scored any haunches yet.

Rolling a mighty 4 dice, with a crit, he wounded the beast for 3 damage out of it's 10, and scored two haunch counters for the Skinnerkin.

 

 

He also staggered the big beast, and caused a further wound by breaking his Gruesome Gourmand upgrade.

But moments later, he was pounded into the ground by the Breaker attack from the large monster.

And as such, Seddrik was now inspired.

Using Get out of my Larder! the Carnskyr advanced towards the beast.

Seddrik then attacked, having the support of it's winged companion.  Scoring a crit, and having cleave from his upgrade, he cut through the beasts defences, scoring another wound.

But the Fomoroid turned, and wielding a massive pillar he smacked poor Seddrik to the ground, now inspiring Gristla herself as a result.

The Carnskyr used it's upgrade (I forgot to use it a turn earlier), ripping a piece out of the Fomoroid's skin.

With three haunches obtained now, the remaining members also Inspired.

The bat-beast flew over the Fomoroid in it's charge, but failed to wound him again unfortunatly.

It's attack went better though, as he took a bite of the monster and weakening it further, while his upgrade took another wound from the beast, putting it on 7 wounds now.

But it was smacked down then, as the Breaker kept wreaking havoc.

Drawing Aspiring Artisan to re-roll dice, Gristla decided to remain where she was, as this would force the Fomoroid to just advance in the next turn, keeping her safe from his strikes.

Cards where drawn and I moved on to the second round as such.

Using the Advance behaviour, the Fomoroid closed the gap to the surviving Skinnerkin leader.

Playing Aspiring Artisan as well as Greedy, Greedy! the ghoul chef prepared herself.

Charging in, she hit the beast with a massive two crits, knocking off the final wounds.

And with a loud bellow, the Fomoroid Crusher went down!  The cooking staff had done it and taken the beast out... for now.

So, a first success for the chefs of the Flesheater Courts, but there are still some more scenario's to be played out.  Will they continue on this path, or will the beast prove to be to strong to overcome in the end?

Find out next time in the second scenario of A Crushing Terror!