SBH - Sir Gaherunt's retinue shows its might

As I mentioned in the last post, I had a very successful evening playing Song of Blades and Heroes last week. [btw, the rules are 25% off at Wargames Vault for the next day only, I think]

I decided to take a knightly retinue warband, so put together a retinue for Sir Gaherunt to take out into the wilderness and bring civilisation at the point of a very sharp sword. Here is the list I decided upon:

Sir Gaherunt     Q3+     C4     Leader, Knight, Chivalry, Heavy Armour     78pts

Sir Bartrum       Q3+     C4     Knight, Chivalry     42pts
Sir Launce         Q3+     C4     Knight, Chivalry     42pts
Sir Agloval        Q3+     C4     Knight, Chivalry      42pts

Robert              Q4+     C2     Shooter:Long           26pts
John                  Q4+     C2     Shooter:Long           26pts

Simon                Q4+     C3     None                        23pts
Paul                   Q4+     C3     None                        23pts

Total: 302pts

I hoped this would give me a good mix between close combat and ranged attacks, as well as giving me an opportunity to use my painted knights (the spearmen and crossbowmen were still WIP, shamefully).

We rolled for the Quest for a Magic Item scenario, which seemed appropriate with knights and set up as follows. The three possible locations for the magic item were marked with unused slotta-bases.

Despite the urging of Sir Gaherunt, the members of his retinue were reluctant to advance with any haste, lacking enthusiasm to close with the shambling abominations ahead; how do you kill what's already dead? The vampiric fallen knight who led the undead showed no such hesitation and dashed forward to claim the magical sword upon the bridge over the river.

Meanwhile, Sir Agloval had left his lily-livered squires behind, forded the river and charged forward to mercilessly dispatch the ghoul who was still feasting upon his last victim.

Rallying his troops with appeals to their honour, Sir Gaherunt led the charge across the bridge.

The vampire clutched his new-found blade and smote the brave knight, exuding a terrifying aura of darkness and cold. Blanching but remaining steadfast, Gaherunt parried the enchanted weapon (which promptly shattered) and pushed back its unholy wielder. Summoning his might, he then struck down the skeleton before him with such power that not only did it crumble into dust, but the other revenants also were returned to what should have been their eternal rest. Cursing in a tongue unspoken by the living, the black-armoured fiend vanished in a swirl of evil smoke leaving Gaherunt and his retinue the undisputed masters of the field.

Poor Barnaby, the curse of the brittle undead warband struck hard! Like I said in my previous post, this has now been addressed within a rules update; apparently the bulk of the initial playtesting had looked at mixed warbands rather than the 'pure' forces that seem to be favoured in Northern Europe and the Americas. Anyway, I picked up a slew of victory points and chose 'Combat Masters' as my advance.

Next up I played against Oscar, giving him an introduction to the game (he was our new recruit). He'd watched a couple of games previously, plays plenty of pc strategy games, and had a pretty vicious and resilient dwarf list drawn up for him by one of the other lads - the one who destroyed my halflings last time round (don't worry, loyal readers, I get him back later mwahaha!).

Our game boiled down to a pretty chaotic melee around the ford (we used the same table layout as before) with a run of about six turns where either the first activation caused a turnover, or a gruesome death caused panic. In the end I nudged it, but from a position of strength (thanks to knowing the rule better) I came this close > < to being broken. I had to use my crossbowmen to slip in and knife his chaps on the floor; there was precious little chivalry shown, sad to say.

  

After finally putting the last of the dwarfs to flight or to the sword,  Sir Gaherunt leant exhausted upon his sword and cast an eye over his comrades. It was not good; Bartrum and Launce would be in no fit state to don armour or grasp a sword for weeks to come, although it looked likely they would eventually make a full recovery, praise be. Agloval was limping but refusing aid. At least the peasants seemed well and had made a good showing in the skirmish. He decided that he better had take on Simon's cousin to bolster the ranks, at least while his knights recovered from their wounds.

In game terms, Bartrum and Launce would miss next game and then come back with -1 to all Q rolls. Algoval was less badly injured but would be at -1 to Q rolls in the next game. With the victory points gained I recruited another spearman, Adam.

Pizza arrived during the game and then most of the lads went off to play Space Hulk:

Now, I think that the picture above is where the game was paused when we had to pack up because they were locking the school, so there you go lads that should help you set up to resume where you left off.

While that was going on I had a revenge match of SBH against Niall (the dwarf chap who slaughtered my halflings). This time I was ready for him, having actually read the rules before the game. Practically cheating, I know! Once again, it all swung on a scrap by the ford. I actually caused a casualty using my archers (*)! Careful use of minions to run in, their Q boosted by Leader, and then make powerful attacks with my two knights (the others were resting in an infirmary bed somewhere, remember) chopped his rats into kebab-sized chunks. Mmmm, revenge!

Another victory to round off the evening was pleasant indeed. Apart from the undead collapse, the games were close and tense right to the end. The only thing that felt wrong was the ineffectiveness of missile attacks, which is what the (*) was about. I'm sure I read somewhere that someone had trialled having a split C score, one for hand to hand and one for ranged. Any other suggestions welcome.

Right, it's past my bedtime.

Happy geeking,

Rab

Change is coming to the graveyard

A bit of a filler post while I sort photos of tonight's gaming, but one I hope will be useful for undead gamers of SoBaH.

We (me and some gamer-kids I teach) played a bunch of games of Song of Blades and Heroes after school this evening. As well as assimilating a new chap into the joys (and frustrations) of tabletop gaming, there was pizza delivered and a spot of Space Hulk as well. It was great fun as well as giving me a chance to use the bits and bobs of scenery that I've been tinkering with - my first terrain!

Here is one picture from my first game against Barnaby who was running some of my skeletons as a pure undead warband, accompanied by a ghoul and led by a vampire. He suffered the fate of the ungodly when I smote down one of the accursed revenants to take the bridge.

Return to dust, fiend!

 
Despite his truly abysmal dice-rolling at key moments (I think his dice might have had multiple ones on them), the undead problem is quite often discussed on various websites where SBH gamers chat. Fittingly enough, the following was posted by Andrea (author of SBH) over on the Ganesha Games Yahoo! group today, explaining how the next rules update will address this issue of brittleness in pure undead wabands:

Undead is already officially changed, you do not have to wait for the next version of the rules. Here is the text of the rule (it is unedited so the phrasing may change a bit but the essence of the rule will remain the same) I will send the final text to the editor at the end of the week so the revised SBH book is not far.
Andrea

Undead
Undead models are immune to Poison and Terror and do not make Morale rolls for Gruesome Deaths. Shooting attacks against Undead models are at -2, either because they are skeletal, and arrows fly through their bones, or because they don’t have vital organs that missiles can pierce.
Spells used as ranged attacks hit them normally. Magic-users are assumed to recognize Undead as such on first sight, so they will use bolts of “positive energy” or burst of sunlight to attack them.
Undead never flee from a combat. They have +2 on all Morale rolls but crumble to dust if they roll two or three failures on a Morale roll. However, if they have a friendly Standard on the table when they fail a Morale roll, Undead do not crumble to dust – they may make fleeing movements towards the Standard or remain where they are, as the player sees fit. If the Standard is destroyed (not just taken by an opponent -- to destroy it, the opponent must state that he is doing so, and one action must be spent to destroy it by a model adjacent to the Standard), all Undead models must make a Morale roll or be destroyed.
If the Standard bearer moves off the table, the Undead must not make a Morale roll -- just use the normal rules.


We'll be putting these changes into effect immediately... if I can persuade Barnaby not to give up entirely on his shambling hordes!

Happy geeking,
Rab

Follower Guest Spot #3

Not having much to report on my own geeking/gaming over the last week or so, and not wanting to let my more regular blogging of late suffer, I'm going to treat you to another slice of blogging loveliness from one of you chaps. This time, from Gareth the Grot's new blog, Drums in the Deep.

Any of you who are LAFers will quickly realise that Mr. the Grot is LAF's very own Funghy-Fipps. I'm delighted that another Bob Olley enthusiast will be spreading the word, starting with a ballista-wielding ogre. Maybe his blog will cost the rest of you as much money as his thread on LAF has cost me!

Blog link -> here

Until I have something of my own to share, happy geeking,
Rab

No gaming, but...

... I did get to shoot a cannon at the medieval fayre at Tatton Park in Cheshire. Twice! It was so awesome, I can't tell you. Suffice to say I had a broad silly grin plastered across my face for the rest of the day. A chap who goes by the nickname "Chutny" snapped this fabulous photo just as the gout of flame shot from the mouth of the barrel:

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Rab goes BOOOM!

SO, prepping my kit (I went as part of the living history display with the Company of St. Margaret and took part in the semi-scripted battle each day, which was also ace) wiped out the week before last, hobby wise, and this week has been spent drying out and cleaning kit before packing it away again.

I have got the river sections I mentioned last time sorted with a first layer of flock. I'll add some static grass, foamy bits that I use as small bushes, and maybe a clump or two of foliage to finish them off, but they're playable now.

In other news, I've taken up an instrument for the first time in my life. I was given a traditional Victorian tin-whistle (a Clarke's, in the key of D if you're interested) for my birthday and have been torturing anyone within hearing range with my stumbling attempts.

I hope you're geeking, and other hobbies, are giving you as much pleasure,
Rab

ps - welcome aboard to CLAM and Adam who have joined the band of you who kindly Follow this blog. Remember, (nice) comments are always welcome!

A song of father and son

With No.2 Son (asleep in the car) and Darling Wife (asleep in bed) occupied, No.1 Son and I settled down to play a game. He is coming up four and a half, so I sensed the time was right - and it was! He's shown an interest in my knights before (something I've encouraged with suitable books and days out) and in previous posts I've shared some of our adventures. Today (well, last Saturday) I thought we'd step up a gear and try Song of Blades and Heroes on one of the two gaming boards he'd help make a while back.

First up, we had a 'tournament' between two knights each with a couple of ladies/princesses watching and cheering their champions on. He picked up the rules (activation dice, successes and failures, combat rolls, movement) almost instantly, and he proceeded to absolutely kick my behind with some monstrous dice rolls. In this game I didn't include combat values and just left it as a straight dice-off. I also gave him a different colour dice to use for combat to try and separate out the two steps of the turn (activation/combat).

Battle is joined...

Yup, his dice is the red one...

I'm going to activate this one, Daddy! (You can also see the balsa-ish strips of square section that I cut to length for measuring short/medium/long distances)

So, outnumbered 2:1 and outrolled, my second knight went down under the swords of his opponents

After that he really wanted to play again, so we went for a story-fuelled battle, including combat values and figures with different Quality.

After the delights of the tournament, the princesses needed to be guarded safely back home. All four knights and one squire volunteered. As they made their way happily along a sudden feeling of dread swept over them. A stench of decay filled their nostrils and dusty creaking sounds could be heard. The party decided to take refuge in the tower on the hilltop where the princesses could be safe while the knights dealt with whatever evil lurked behind the hills.

The vile necromancer, Jared, has summoned his minions to capture the princesses. Who knows for what nefarious ends?

Jared takes up a brave position at the rear

Two knights take the lead, heading to engage the enemy

They're behind us!

Not to fear, the red dice of chivalric doom is here!

That's two successes again, Daddy.

Oh sir knight, you're so brave!

Quick, princess, run for the tower

Jared's minions prove unable to get in the way (Three failures. Again!)

The princesses safely in the tower are able to watch as the knights deal comfortably with the threat.

With the last of the skeletons returned to dust, and the knights with their scratches and bruises gently bathed, an impromptu feast was held. The only thing that clouded their celebration was the knowledge that the necromancer had evaded their grasp. Would they see him again? 

Mwahahaaha....

The little man enjoyed himself enormously ("I killed all of yours, Daddy, didn't I?"), as did I: our first game using published rules. So proud! To set up the game I just gave him the knights I had to hand and grabbed a bunch of skeletons. I was a little concerned it was uneven (I didn't bother checking points values) and offered him another one from the "in progress" pile but was flatly refused. "It isn't painted, Daddy; I can't use it, that's against the rules!" Good lad.

We spent a bit of time on Sunday painting up some resin - river sections and a couple of small thatched farm buildings which he got enthusiastically involved in. "They'll make our next game even more fun!" I'm just waiting for the repair job I've done on the river sections to dry and then we'll flock them at some point this week.

I hope you've equally enjoyable geeking over the last week or so,
Rab

ps - I forgot to say: Miniature Heroes are fabulous to deal with. I wanted a few shields and emailed them when the postage came out at £3.10 on their automatic cart. They popped them in an envelope for pennies over the cost of a first class stamp. Hurrah for excellent customer service. http://miniature-heroes.co.uk/

NAF Cup report - Part 2

Okay, with a spot of grub inside us, we geeked on into the evening. My third opponent, mark_turner, was much more entertaining and I began to enjoy myself again. He'd brought another of the NAF sanctioned, but unofficial by GW standards, teams - Underworld. This is a mix of goblins and skaven, so pretty slippery. I failed a Go For It into the end zone to score at the end of turn 4 (I only needed a 2+, ), and that was definitely where the rot set in. I got two Blitzes against me on kick-off etc. To give Mark his due, he took clever advantage of the luck going his way when it did (it wasn't all one way) which left me unable to capitalise on the good dice I got from time-to-time. That was something that really became apparent to me over the tournament - a new/underdeveloped Pact team hasn't much resilience or ability to change tack, at least with me on the coach's bench!

Mark, with his Deep Down Dodgers. They had a fabulous display stand as well, which I forgot to snap.

It all started well. This is just before I start my ultimately doomed dart down the left flank.

Game 3 (vs Underworld)
Score: 0-3
Casualties: 1-0
Result: Defeat

A good night of silly card games and a beer or two, then a slap-up breakfast of truly gargantuan proportions, and back to the gaming.

My first opponent of the Sunday was Simon, probably my favourite of the weekend. We had pretty much the same sense of humour and there was generally a good feeling of jollity not only on our table but on those nearby; everyone was having fun. My notes for the game start with "Simon rolled lots of ones" and while it didn't carry on that way (I got my share as well), I did have the better of the luck, something I needed against a well-developed orc team being handled rather well.

Simon, with one of his very short moves. Rolling ones tends to do that!

 Game 4 (vs Orcs)
Score: 2-0
Casualties: 1-1
Result: Victory

Then came lunch (weird timing, I thought, but something to do with contracted catering hours), and on to game four pretty sharpish. Opponent five was a viking, a genuine mountain of Scandinavian with the nickname netsmurf.

netsmurf using his dice tower to power his orcs into my little lead fellows

Yup, that's my minotaur in the dead box. My apothecary failed to bring him back. It just got worse from here.

This was a truly brilliant and chaotic game in the true spirit of bloodbowl. In a desperate attempt to hold on for the draw with less than half a team still on the pitch I pulled off my favourite turn of the weekend. I managed to dodge an isolated troll out of a tackle zone, run across the pitch, go for it twice through more tackle zones and into his cage. I then did exactly the same with my isolated ogre. I thought netsmurf was going to either have a heart attack or punch me. He was standing and bright red. He then managed the score and saw the funny side, congratulating me on my risk-taking.

Game 5 (vs Orcs)
Score: 1-2
Casualties: 0-4
Result: Defeat

And then onto the final game, desperately hoping to get a victory to balance my weekend, only to find I had chaos dwarves at the other end of the pitch. el_afable was a top bloke and it was a very pleasant way for the weekend to finish.

A rather demonic picture of a thoroughly nice chap.

 More silliness in this game. I was being rather reckless by now, and the same story as last game (conceding five casualties) meant there was little else I could try after about halfway through the first half. I managed a pretty good score, linking players and even with a dummy run but that was it and he got a well-deserved victory. As a sop to my pride I'd like you to know that I had the ball and was on my way deep into his half at the end of play.

Game 6 (vs Chaos Dwarves)
Score: 1-2
Casualties: 1-5
Result: Defeat

In the car on the way home the four of us chatted and pretty much came to the conclusion that, although there had been some great moments, we enjoy gaming time much more where we're actually playing against/alongside each other so will put more effort into organising days where that is possible.

Happy geeking,
Rab

NAF Cup report - Part 1

First, welcome aboard to Paul of the Man Cave as the latest follower of this blog.

Now, the long-promised report of my team's (less than) glorious outing to the NAF cup a couple of weekends back. For those unfamiliar with bloodbowl tournaments, it's a six game affair; three on the Saturday, three on the Sunday. Teams are chosen to a set value, as might be expected, and then before each game (having seen one's opponents) one player on the team is given one of the standard range of Skills they are permitted. Then it's two hours of frantic dice cursing... ;)

The calm before the storm - Warhammer World as we start to set up.

My first opponent was a nice chap called Rez who had brought Wood Elves. I wasn't expecting an easy game, tbh, as they're so damn fast and Chaos Pact, well, aren't. I'd been hoping to mash them up a bit, though, with a paltry Av7 across most of the team. Nope. Suddenly either Av7 had become impenetrable, or my little monsters were just weaklings. I enjoyed the game, honestly, but it was a bit of a shoeing. The pics below show the build up and then the scoring of the first I conceded. One of the nice things about tourneys is that you catch up with previous opponents to see how they're getting on and congratulate/commiserate as appropriate, which is what happened between me and Rez.

Opponent number 1 - Rez with his wood elves, Wyld Stallyns II

That'll be my defence ripped apart like soggy paper, then!

Touchdown! Hurray! But for the other team! Boo!

Game 1 (vs Wood Elves)
Score: 0-3
Casualties: 1-0
Result: Defeat

My second game wasn't quite so enjoyable. It dragged more than a little and my sense of humour and that of my opponent didn't match up at all. I won, which was nice, but I didn't bother taking any photos. I also felt I was using my team better and not making some of the silly positional errors that I had in the first game.

Game2 (vs Goblins)
Score: 2-0
Casualties: 5-2 (mwahahaaha)
Result: Victory

More results soon.
Rab

God bless you, Ma'am

To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of this Realm and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, let us have three cheers to honour her sixty years of service and faultless dedication to duty.

Hip, hip - hurrah!
Hip, hip - hurrah!
Hip, hip - hurrah!

 

Follower Guest Spot #2

After a bit of a slump, geek-wise, following the excitement of the NAF Cup a couple of weekends ago, I woke up early this morning and did just ten minutes of painting on a half-finished knight for my Quest project. It, along with the arrival of some bits in the post for both British and Prussian forces for GASLIGHT yesterday evening, was enough to get me back in the saddle. I hope to get a record of the highlights of the bloodbowling fun from the NAF cup up on the blog here over the next couple of days.

In the mean time, may I direct your attention to Bishop Lord's new(ish) 28mm blog, Assemble the Army! for my second Follower Guest Spot? Although still in its infancy, it already boasts a couple of lovely shots of Perry miniatures ready to defend the Papal See.

Link to Bishop Lord's POST -> click here

Happy geeking,
Rab

Hey! Ho! Logo!

(With apologies to the Ramones)

I'm getting so psyched about heading off to Nottingham for the NAF Cup tonight. Home by four, freshen up and change, collected by Chris at five, then we hit the road. A couple of hours of increasingly uncivilised banter later and we'll be there. Curry. Bugman's for a pint or two. Bed. Slap up breakfast then GAMING! Woohoo!

Bag of clothes packed? Check!
Bag of miniatures packed? Check!
Let's go!

Oh, and in my pre-gaming geeky trance, I even knocked up a team logo (based on the Houston Texans' logo), printed it, cut it out and stuck it on my carry case - how sad am I? What do you reckon to the logo?

The pink and green are the team colors, the white star eye of the original I've replaced with the chaos pact team symbol, and the bull's head seemed apt for a minotaur-captained team (he is the Moloch of Moloch's Malefactors).

I hope your geeking is keeping you as entertained as mine is me,
Rab