wargaming

We got in a quick game of RoSD this evening after dinner. Continuing my campaign with my other half we tackled the Bridge Guards scenario. For the first time in one of our games we lost a companion as a casualty (it was the archer, luckily he made a full recovery post game), and our Recruit and my Ranger were both reduced to 1 HP after a couple of very unfortunate dice rolls. We scraped through, finishing off the last Gnoll in turn 9, and grabbing the treasure in the Gnoll camp in turn 10. The Gnoll at the camp finally decides to see what all the commotion is about across the river. The treasure token in the camp is a Gametee coin . The Sarissa covered bridge made a great centrepiece for this scenario. I know it's supposed to be a stone bridge, but what the hey. Our man-at-arms deals some damage, taking the Gnoll out in 1 round of combat. The Gnoll sergeant takes a pounding. The dog is playing the part of a Vulture in this scenario. Unfortunately, despite us throwing 5 arrows his ...

  Just checking the size and proportion of the walls. Here's the same three walls with a test coat of paint. I say test coat, I never had any intention of repainting them once I got going with the walls. The doors are laser cut, from Blotz. I had them first and cut all the doorways to size. A WIP shot at the sweat shop. I worked out it doing them in batches of 9/10 was the optimum balance of soul crushing repetition vs actually seeing any progress being made on the project. It's starting to come together. The walls looked a little too clean for a ruined tower that was supposed to have been abandoned 80 years previous, so I decided to mix up a wash to render them with. I watched a couple of videos on Youtube, the best being one by Black Magic Craft, and a strikingly similar video by Lukes APS Halfway through the washing process. I think this was taken a little late in the evening, hence the walls looking a bit darker than in reality. So we didn't have to play on a grassy flo...

In both my campaigns, I'm rapidly approaching the point where I'm going to need something to represent the tower of Tor Varden for the penultimate scenario in the Beacon Tower mission. The tower is described as 3 rooms, each 1.5' square, with the entrance door opening to room A, a door between room A and room B, and a door between room B and room C. In room C there is the start of a staircase leading to the upper level. So how to create something that's not going to take an age, but is going to look half decent. I've been quite happy with how my tables have looked in the first mission, so it would be a shame to let my quality slip just as the scenarios are starting to get more meaty. My first thought was dungeon tiles, Black Magic Craft makes some nifty looking ones on his channel link . But I want my miniatures to look like they're really there when I photograph them, and not just floating on some 2-dimensional astral plane. Ok so I'm going to end up making...

This weekend I introduced the other half to Rangers of Shadow Deep. I created her ranger and filled in our rangers stats in the week, so we were ready to kick off as soon as we set up to play. A couple of turns in, things are starting to hot up in the village square. The glass of wine is a magic item that gives the bearer +5 enjoyment. Tiny discovers the body of Ranger Aventine, and a great dice roll later she recognises his sword. My ranger spots something glittering at the bottom of the mill pool—a treasure token. Tiny makes a grim discovery, a mangled body with some strange bite marks on it. Looks like the poor soul got it while taking a leak. Zombies, they're like buses, you don't see one for 3 turns, then 4 turn up at once. Our bowman couldn't hit the broad side of a barn all game. The man-at-arms however was more like man of the match, always jumping in at the right time and chopping up zombies and rats in one hit. The game received the thumbs up, so we're looking...

Here's what I've been painting up over lockdown. There's more here than I'll probably ever need for RoSD, but I got carried away, and I like the variety. My Witch Hunter inspired rangers. In my world these guys are more like warrior scholars than fanatical puritans. This chap's a mix of parts from the Frostgrave Soldiers and Wizards sets. Alladorian travelling folk. I took inspiration from the Tuatha'an people from the Wheel of Time novels, only these guys clearly aren't pacifists. Conjurer with crystal ball. The crew. A Skyrim inspired barbarian.  Archers from the royal army of Alladore. Backwoodsmen trackers. The two chaps in the middle might double as Rangers should I need more. Necromancer made from the Frostgrave Wizards set and load of Mantic Zombies.

Like a lot of you I've been playing and hobbying Joseph McCullough's Rangers of Shadow Deep lately. For the few of you who are unfamiliar with RoSD, I can't recommend these rules enough, especially during the current lockdown (though it's much more fun if there's a group of you playing). They have rekindled my interest in the hobby which was waning of late. There's not a huge amount of miniatures required to start a game (though the number soon builds up if you intend on playing the various campaign missions), the space needed is generally quite light (a 3ft square will usually suffice) and the terrain can be as complex or as simple as you like. Your humble narrator checks the rules, while our adventurers arrive at the Infected Forest. The rules are simple enough not to get in the way, but complex enough to feel involved. They sit happily between board game style fun and RPG style immersion. And once you're all set-up it's no great stretch to ...