Our Ghost Archipelago Campaign '18 (Christmas Islands Report Jan 7, '19)

[jp1885]

That's a bloody awesome table - bravo!

[CPalmer]

Wow, thanks everyone for the comments!   I'm glad you all enjoyed the report and the set-up. 

Thanks for glowing review of my write-up, Bloggard!  You need to get a job at Osprey so you can hire me.   

[Bloggard]

sadly, unlikely I think Chris - but I'm serious in what I say about the quality of your write-ups and still think such material has a real place in rule-sets etc.

[LiamFrostfang]

  agreed. tis always a great inspirational read!!!

[CPalmer]

Thanks guys for the continued support!  It really means a lot to us.

I wanted to share this brief report, and excellent map,  Griffin posted on another forum.  He was having difficulty getting it posted here, so I thought I'd help him out.  It will give you a view of the battle from one more vantage point which I hope helps your enjoyment of the overall action. 

Looking at Griffin's photo at the bottom, Lord Fortrywn's start zone was in the upper right corner.





"A page from Griffin's log, recording what he and his crew saw of the Drichean mines.
 
From their point of view, they scouted a few chambers, got in scuffles with old rivals Skorri and Kragmar, and lost two valuable specialists, Astrid (a man-at-arms) and Alana Eagle-eye (an archer) to an angry dwarf among Kragmar's crew, collecting only two treasures in return. 
 
Not a good day in the Ghost Archipelago..."




"Here's a player-view of the situation, to compare to Griffin's log entry.  At the time of the photo, Griffin and Alana had been blocked from pursuing Fortwyn's elves past the mine cart in the elevated room by a wall of brambles; a few crewmen drag a treasure away from the cart on the right, with Rosemary the herbalist having blocked pursuit and arrows from Skorri with a judicious deployment of some magic beans, and Ashalla the wave warden and Astrid disputing a treasure (which was eventually obtained) with Kragmar's crew about mid-frame on the left.
 
Beyond our ability to perceive, the duck crew is decimated by one of the vampires (middle top, where the dice are showing the vampire's 7 remaining hit points)."

[LiamFrostfang]

  good stuff...wish I lived closer to yall...

[Bloggard]

good stuff...wish I lived closer to yall...

yes indeedy, grand ol' games. Darn envious.

[Knabe]

As usual, Skorri is late in getting his game report written and posted.  Hope you enjoy it.

https://wargamingnotes.blogspot.com/2018/10/ghost-archipelago-campaign-game-9.html


Getting ready to enter the mines

[Bloggard]

sure did (enjoy it).

another great write-up.

[CPalmer]

A super report, Knabe!  It was great to see things from your side of the table.   


And now it time for the next game!  On October 13th, we had our 10th session, and did the  Saurian Breakfast scenario.

Lord Fortrywn's account has been posted, along with a bunch of photos: http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/2018/10/ghost-archipelago-campaign-18-game-10.html
 

Here's a couple teasers, of all the nail-biting action!   

      "...At last Lilisea felt her feet touch the sandy bottom, but as she went to stand a strong hand grabbed her tightly around the ankle and yanked her leg hard.  She lost her balance, fell forward, and was pulled under the water.  Trying desperately to break free, the Crew-woman kicked her leg, and, clawing the bottom with her free hand, tried to twist around so she wasn't facing the ponds floor.  The man released his grip, and quickly moving alongside her punched her hard in the back.  The air went out of her, as the Pearl Diver now grabbed her by the back of the head, and shoved it under the water and down to the pond's bottom..."
 
and
 
    "...Calling on his inherited abilities once more, the Lord Fortrywn attempted to leap up and use the wall behind him as a springboard, but the wound must have weakened him worse than he thought, as he was not able to gain the momentum needed; and his attempt to Evade failed.  His foot hit the wall but he was unable to propel himself upwards.  His blood burned now like molten iron under his skin.  (Fail my Evade attempt, another -3 HP) The enemy Crewmen were at first startled by the Elf Lord's upward movement, but quickly regained their wits, and as the Heritor landed clumsily, they struck once more..."




 

[Bloggard]

you're probably getting a bit tired of me saying it now  but ... another great write-up.

I don't think I've read better than yours and Knabes - evocative and well-written, yet still to the point, and superbly illustrative of the rules in action. Brilliant.

[CPalmer]

Lol... Thanks, Bloggard!  And I have to say, so few people ever comment on our write-ups, that we sometimes wonder if anyone is reading them; so we will never grow tired of hearing your comments.  They let us know someone is actually out there reading what we write.   


And I have another report from the Saurian  Breakfast  to share, this one from the Heritor Griffin who was opposite me.  He posted it on another venue, and gave me permission to share it here:




In our continuing search for the Crystal Pool, we landed on an island to taken on fesh water, and to scout around for clues.  Our scouts soon found evidence that others had been here recently, and possibly had come to a bad end, leaving their treasure behind.  With Ashalla, Rosemary, and Hawkeye, (plus a handful of crewmembers), I pressed on toward the center of the island. We soon found the tattered bodies of some other Heritor’s crew, and a circle of large eggs.  Approaching the eggs from the opposite direction was the crew of the Heritor Fortrwyn (all pointed-eared demons, so far as I could tell).  We had had a brush with them in the abandoned Drichean mines recently.  Whle I was somewhat uneasy about the ggs, some of which were rocking as though hatching were imminent, the area appeared to be rich in treasure, so we pressed forward.  Ashalla and half the landing party bore to the left, toward a pond where the signs indicated that a treasure might be found.  Ashalla imbued Bluff the Chantyman with waterbreathing so that he was able to recover the treasure from the pond.  Another was found in a clump of dense foliage.  Meanwhile, I found myself in a scuffle with Fortrwyn’s demon crewmembers in the very center of the circle of eggs. A blast of demon magic warped my sword, although I still used it to split one of the demons.



Fortunately, my Heritage makes swords somewhat optional, and I felled a demon or two with hurled rocks. (The situation was somewhat confused...) At some point during this fight, one of the eggs cracked, spilling a baby monarch into the middle of the melee.  It was felled by one of the demons, but gave out a horrifying scream as it died.  It was a little later when we found out what that scream had portended...
 
The melee in the middle of the egg circle continued for some time.  Two of my crewmen had pinned the demon lord against a rock, and I stepped in to finish him with my sword.  The bent blade twisted in my hand, though, and Fortrwyn dealt me a mighty blow. I stepped back for a moment to recover. Not wishing to trust the sword again, I hefted a head-sized rock.



Fortrwyn struck down another of my crew, leaving me an opening.  With a final effort, I struck him with the hurled rock and he fell.  
 
Meanwhile, another egg had hatched, which would have been problem enough...but the death cry of the first hatchling had attracted the attention of a fully mature monarch, a monster like few I had seen before.  I calld out to the remaining crew members to follow me in a bid to seek safety by heading back to the beach (and our ship) by another route.  Happily, no other crewmen were lost, but only five of the party that had set out that morning gathered again at the ship as night fell...
 
<Here ends the excerpt from Griffin’s log>
 
From the player point of view, here was an overview of the table:



and a closer view of the zone where my crew was engaged.  You can see that Griffin simplified the situation somewhat in his logbook sketch.



I did end up with three treasures as the game ended, although Chris’s Fortrwyn and crew managed to make off with the central treasure from our egg circle; I always had something even more pressing to do that to try to drop his treasure-carrying crewman with the usual rock.

[LiamFrostfang]

  fab reps...ty fer sharing!!!!

[Bloggard]

love the ms. maps too. Really adds to the overall vibe. Great gaming group you've got there.

[CPalmer]

Thanks all for the kind remarks!

Well, we played the final game of our 2018 campaign back on December 8th.   I have now posted a report on our final session, "Christmas Islands", which was based on the Core rulebook's "Swampland" scenario. 

We never got to play our November session, as I was sick, and unable to host.
 
   I didn't get around to writing the bulk of my report until the new year, and by then had forgot many of the details, so did not do a narrative account.  Instead I simply posted photos from the game and a brief synopsis.

To see the report, and photos: http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/2019/01/ghost-archipelago-campaign-18-game.html