Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Plynkes on March 26, 2023, 06:33:25 PM
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I've recently developed quite an interest in the game Five Leagues from the Borderlands, a solo/co-op skirmish game with quite an involved campaign system. I've created a warband for me and my old oppo Sickly, and we've recently begun our campaign. This thread is going to be a painting log for the experience, and may well include a few battle reports, too.
The setting for our campaign is the county of Grimandy, a province ruled by Count Raymundo. The Empire it is part of is riven with religious strife, ever since the monk Kalvin Looter nailed his ninety-five faeces to the temple doors, kicking off a massive upheaval that has become known as the Defamation. Brother slays brother, many have forsaken True Religion, apocalyptic death cults have sprung up, and desperate bandits plague the land, all cursing the Emperor and the Pontiarch in Chrysanthium. On top of this, the villainous Sea Reavers have taken advantage of the Empire's weakness and relentlessly raid the coast.
Amid all this, four exiles band together, for safety, and perchance do some good.
So let's meet the gang...
THE EXILES: We are lost, we can never go home.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323155213.jpeg)
Our group consists of four heroes and two hired followers. The heroes are all exiles of one sort or another.
Iago Loyola
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323161902-584931874.jpeg)
My name is Iago Loyola. You killed my hamster. Prepare to die.
(North Star/Foundry conversion)
Iago is the leader, and my avatar character. Unlike me he is very religious, and devoted to True Religion, the counter-Defamation and the rightful rule of the Pontiarch. His home town was destroyed in a Sea Reaver raid, and he seeks revenge on the Nine-Fingered Man, a notorious Sea Reaver captain responsible for the slaughter of everyone he loved. In later life, if he survives, he will probably find new purpose in founding a religious order, one that answers only to the Pontiarch.
(The figure is the Jon Snow I painted for the 2018 Lead Painter's League, which is why his base doesn't match anybody else's. I may or may not get around to fixing that.)
Lenore of Grimhold
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323161902-584921951.jpeg)
(WI Giants in Miniature)
Lenore is the eldest daughter of Count Raymundo. Her exile is voluntary. Always a tomboy, she became so sick of his condescension that when he told her to 'hush now, and attend to your embroidery, dear' one too many times, she rejected the pampered castle life vowing never to return, and decided to make her own way in the world as an adventurer. We shall see if any kind of reconciliation between father and daughter is possible.
Morgaunt the Slightly Fey
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323161902-584911125.jpeg)
(North Star)
Morgaunt was driven from her home village of Westwold by her superstitious neighbours. She was always cold and odd, and the rumour spread that she was a changeling, or at least of mixed Fey blood. In these troubled times folk will believe almost anything, and blame almost anyone for their milk turning sour. Forced to flee their scorn lest it turn to violence, she also took up an adventuring life.
She may or may not be of Fey Blood (though she will be counted as such as far as the game rules go), it could be simply that she was going through a moody teen Goth phase...
Wicklow Pottler
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323161901-58490452.jpeg)
Is he a halfing? Or is he just very short? I don't know.
(Midlam Miniatures and North Star)
Wicklow is a Halfling mystic. He has been ostracised by the Wizarding community due to a series of controversial and offensive posts on the town notice board. Pictured with him we see his magical construct, a kind of fighting scarecrow we have christened 'Patches.' In just two tabletop games we have already developed quite a bit of affection for Wicklow and Patches.
Neville and Greville
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323161901-58486182.jpeg)
(North Star)
Neville and Greville are two hired guides. We know almost nothing about them at this point. Perhaps we shall discoverer their stories as we play. Or perhaps not.
I have finally joined the ranks of the 'No paper chits or counters' Brigade...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-260323161959.jpeg)
To be honest, I was always sympathetic to the viewpoint, just too lazy to actually do it. The treasure chests and bone piles are for marking objectives and other scenario stuff, under them we have some wound markers and the dropped bits of gear are stunned markers.
More soon, hopefully.
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Oh, wow! This is going to be good!
Iago is my favourite. Shame about his hamster. lol
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fantastic back-story / place names etc. Looking forward to more of this game/ narrative.
great figures and paint-jobs.
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Always great to see a Plynkes project! I am looking forward to this.
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The figures are great. I look forward to your story.
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Loving it mate! 👏🏻
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Excellent work: your past projects have brought plenty of inspiration and laughs, so looking forward to more of the same here.
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I bought the rules recently, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they play and what sort of campaign they give
I've been on a bit of a scarecrow buying spree, so I'll be following Patches with interest :)
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Nice figures, poor hamster though. Maybe a skilled necromancer could help.
+I am in the Paper Chits Are Still better Than Putting Dice There Then Forgetting What They Mean Brigade, but I appreciate a good set of 3d counters :)
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+I am in the Paper Chits Are Still better Than Putting Dice There Then Forgetting What They Mean Brigade
lol
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The rule book provides a couple of starter scenarios to get you into the game. First of all a little fight with some stock characters. We used some very ancient Lord of the Rings figures from back before LAF was even a thing. Both myself and Sickers collected the entire partwork magazine that came out back then, so we ended up with hundreds of pretty cheap LotR minis.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323185650-5850163.jpeg)
Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Gimli absolutely kicked the ass of some orcs. This game is easy, we thought.
The second one is the same scenario, but with more baddies and you use the characters that you have created for the campaign. There are no consequences in this battle, as it is only training, but if you go through with it you get a Story Point, which is a resource used in the campaign.
This training battle was conducted in a rather nice rustic setting...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323185650-585022235.jpeg)
We declared we were mock-fighting some guys pretending to be goblins, so used the LotR baddies again.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323185940.jpeg)
Once more it went pretty well for our gang. Lenore was wounded, but they dispatched the pretend enemies rather easily in the end.
Our experiences in the training battles had the unfortunate effect of making us a little overconfident. We felt like we were going to steamroller everything we came up against. Well, it didn't turn out quite like that...
Next: The Campaign begins.
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It is necessary to make a campaign map of the region your adventurers are operating in, so here's mine...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323195012-585032263.jpeg)
The little fella marking our position on the map is a soldier from English Heritage Risk. Remind me to put him back in the box at some point or the Red player will be a guy short.
I toyed with the idea of getting one of those cool fantasy map-making programs, which certainly would have given us something a bit easier to see on LAF than this photo, but in the end drew one by hand. I may do so later, or not.
Next one generates three Threats. These will be our main antagonist groups for the campaign, and you get to pick from a bunch of different ones in the book, allowing you to match them to the figures in your collection. The overall campaign objective is to bring peace to the region by eliminating all three threats. I have also decided upon a personal objective for Iago, that of avenging his town by slaying the Nine-fingered Man.
The Threats
The Sea Reavers
Nasty piratical Viking types, taking advantage of the Empire's weakness to raid the coasts. The Nine-Fingered Man is among their number (We are using the Duskling Warbands threat from the book. It is kind of implied they are non-humans in the rules, but really they are just a stat line and a set of abilities, so can easily be represented with any figures. In our game they are humans).
The Mano Rosso
The chaos of the Defamation has led to widespread banditry. However, some groups are more of a threat than others. The Mano Rosso are an organised network of bandit gangs, led by the mysterious bandit king known as Il Ragno (We are using The Ruin Within threat for these, who are basically bandits and brigands so a good fit).
The Listeners
Many of those who have forsaken True Religion have listened to the voice of the Whispers from Beyond. They are a fanatical death cult, dedicated to spreading the gift of Undeath throughout the lands, though the less committed ones merely roam the county defacing statues of Our Lady of the Veils. (For these we shall use The Whispers from Beyond threat, which as you may guess, is cultists and undead. It is the faction with the largest variety of enemies in it, so will be the biggest painting task, from skeletons to bestial humans, cultists and Our Lady knows what else).
As of yet I haven't painted anybody for the three threats yet, but I do have some skeletons and bandits on the painting table. As soon as I have anything to show, rest assured the pics will be posted here.
It has become our custom in games that require you to mark the turns, that you simply must have a Turn Track Lady. So here is ours, Galadriel masquerading as Our Lady of the Veils...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323195012-585052262.jpeg)
I have started a dedicated Turn Track Lady figure, but she isn't finished yet, so it will have to be Galadriel for a bit. We picked up the Turn Track Lady habit playing Congo, and this is our original...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323195245-5850615.jpeg)
I think I prefer her fashion sense.
So at last, on to the campaign itself. Much more of the book is dedicated to the the campaign mechanics than the actual tabletop combat rules. All sorts of stuff goes on between battles. To ease ourselves into things, we met up at the Horse Fayre Fields, a seasonal village used by the travelling folk of the county to hold... surprise surprise... their horse fairs. After establishing our stash point in the wagon of a friendly traveller, we hunted a little, foraged a bit and then for our main campaign activity we rode out on patrol, looking to keep the environs around our travelling friends safe and secure. The book suggested riding patrol as a relatively safe activity for starting groups, or ones who have some wounded characters. We believed the book because we are idiots.
Our patrol ran into some impoverished common folk who had turned to banditry out of sheer desperation at the harshness of the current times. Iago and Lenore decided that was no excuse and they should be punished harshly. We figured they would be no match for us, these bumbling pretend-brigands (they honestly had terrible stats and there weren't very many of them - ha! Easy peasy!)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323195245-58507770.jpeg)
Only took a couple of photos of this one, unfortunately
Our heroes advanced against these villainous scum, and initially things went as expected, we were brushing them aside with ease.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323195245-585081989.jpeg)
One of the bandits was played by Sean Bean (in the centre of the group, blowing his Boromir horn). As is entirely fitting for Sean Bean, he was killed in the fight.
But then in our hubris, the (dice) gods deserted us. When the bandits were down to two men they suddenly unleashed their pent-up fury against us. One by one our heroes began to falter. Greville and Neville fell. Well, they are only followers after all, who really cares? But then Lenore was cut down, and right after that Iago fell too. Suddenly the halfling Pottler and Morgaunt were the only ones still in the fight, and things seemed pretty bleak.
Just as hope was fading, Wicklow summoned his construct and it was Patches to the rescue (Patches can only be summoned when we have less than six figures on the table, so he makes a good impromptu reinforcement). With his aid the beleaguered survivors of the bandit onslaught managed to fight back and triumph. Hurrah for Wicklow and Patches! Examining the aftermath of the carnage, it was discovered that Lenore and Iago had only been knocked out. Neville had sustained quite a nasty wound that would take him some time to recover from, but recover he would. But for Greville, it turned out to be the end of the road. He lay dead by the side of the road. A sobering sight for the adventurers (and for me and Sickers too, suddenly this game wasn't the cake-walk we thought it to be.)
Sickers had rolled badly on the injury table for Greville, and talked me out of using any of our medicine to save him, as he was 'only a follower' and it wasn't worth it. We decided this was Lenore's doing, being the stuck-up daughter of the count, and thus having little regard for the lowly working man. What a cow.
But then fortune smiled on us. A scared villager had seen the entire thing from his hiding place, and inspired by our heroic feats (was he watching the same fight?) asked to join our merry band. So we immediately acquired a loyal follower and it didn't cost us anything. Noice! His name is Brom and he has his own figure, it's just I haven't finished it yet, so the Greville figure shall have to do for now. :)
Then it was back to the Horse Fayre Fields to lick our wounds.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-270323195245-585091472.jpeg)
Poor Greville. We never really knew you.
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Awesome.
Maybe the new follower has a death wish and is secretly in the cult. That would be a nice twist to the story.
"If I join this incompetent lot I am sure to die!"
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Nice, really getting interested in taking a look at those rules even more
Guess I can put it on the birthday list!
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Loving to see the narrative come alive.
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Sounds like a really interesting campaign and the write up was worth it too :D
Alas, poor Greville...
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This looks brilliant.
Only thing that bothers me is the Turn Track Lady - I've got to have one now.
Don't you think I have enough to do?
:D :D
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Just curious, but who made the mill in the pics from the first page?
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It was made by a German outfit,
https://www.gelaendestuecke.de/
However, it was way back in the mid 2000s when I bought it, and they seem to be all about 3D printing these days. Back then they sold handmade stuff.
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Very cool warband!
Where is that Wicklow Pottler model from (the right one)? Ive seen it’s meant to be Modlam or Northstar, but do you remember the set? I might need it for my 15mm collection.
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Pottler himself is from the Midlam Miniatures Halfling range. The figure on the right (Patches the construct) is the North Star one. He's a Frostgrave construct/golem type thing (comes in a pack with a bigger one made of wood).
https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=7496
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Pottler himself is from the Midlam Miniatures Halfling range. The figure on the right (Patches the construct) is the North Star one. He's a Frostgrave construct/golem type thing (comes in a pack with a bigger one made of wood).
https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=7496
Thanks! He’ll soon have a home in a 15mm chaos army;)
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Lovely thread. Thoroughly enjoyed reading your first posts and the start of the campaign. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.
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Great painting, terrain and write ups as usual.
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Wonderful! I adore Five Leagues reports, and even more so when the painting is so good.
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A quest and a new faction...
In our next campaign turn we generated a quest! Cool. The game told us to go to a certain place and conduct a ritual, so we figured Iago had experienced a religious vision, Our Lady of the Veils appeared to him and warned him of the gathering of dark forces that needed to be stopped. Residual magic from a temple to the Old Gods was in danger of being absorbed by the enemies of True Religion, and not for anything happy and nice.
(When you do a quest, the enemies are generated at random from the threats that you aren't using as the major ones in your campaign. Turned out it was The Faceless Kingdom that was up to no good. Quests are open-ended and can take many encounters to complete.)
The book says this about the Faceless Kingdom: An invading army, advancing under cruel beast totems. Choose this to fight disciplined military forces. I decided to use my old Uruk-hai figures from the LotR game, as I didn't really have enough human military types. The particular bunch we encountered were the Raven Legion, hit-and-run specialists. On paper they looked pretty nasty, and we were a bit worried about facing them.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-010423170811.jpeg)
What can men do against such reckless hate?
Most of these figures were painted at least twenty years ago, but I don't think they look too bad on the table. We needed some crossbowmen, and thankfully I had bought some back in the day but never painted them, so I hurriedly slapped some paint on those guys and then we were ready to go.
Can our heroes triumph and put an end to the Raven Legion's mischief? We'll find out very soon.
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I can't wait to hear more!
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Just started reading this thread, great characters and nice figures.
Nice figures, poor hamster though. Maybe a skilled necromancer could help.
Now that will be a great figure!
{Later in thread]
Great write up, and a cautionary tale about underestimating your opponent.
I look forward to reading more about this campaign, very inspiring.
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So our intrepid band slogged their way across the county to the ancient temple, and ancient indeed it was. Iago cursed under his breath as he realised this was not a site built by the heathen druids, but seemingly far older, fashioned by mighty lords of the Fey in the most ancient of days, ere they diminished and withdrew into their dark woods.
What was the Faceless Kingdom's business here? And could our heroes complete the ritual to seal in the ancient magicks before they achieved their goal?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-020423173121-58564868.jpeg)
Yes, that tattooed hand belongs to Sickers. Where does the time go? I think he was still at school last time he was in a battle report photo.
A cunning plan had been hatched by Sickers. We would use our most disposable party member (that would be Patches the magical construct) to distract these relentless warriors. There were quite a few of them, and reinforcements would be arriving every other turn, so it was decided that Patches would distract them by charging forth, hopefully buying us some time for Iago to conduct the ritual.
To this end we left Neville behind to guard our camp, freeing up a slot in the party for Patches.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-020423173121-585652350.jpeg)
For Our Lady and the Pontiarch!
Upon arrival we managed to sneak quite close to the temple (there is a 'Seize the Initiative' phase in some of the generated scenarios that, if successful, allows the party to have one free turn of acting before the game proper begins). Iago and Lenore rushed forward, while new boy Brom took himself and his bow up on to a high rock with a good view of the battleground. Morgaunt also found a suitable spot to shoot from, while Wicklow attempted to conjure some life into his scarecrow. Happily he was successful.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-020423173121-585662442.jpeg)
Patches hurled himself (itself?) forwards, hoping to attract the attention of our foe. He certainly did this, as crossbow bolts whistled past him, and the fierce soldiers charged toward him. An epic clash ensued, with Patches plunging into combat brandishing his spear. Unfortunately he did not prevail for long, as the heavy sharp sword of a Raven Legionary ripped him apart, with straw and cloth flying in all directions.
But his loss was not in vain. Iago had completed the ritual, the magical well was sealed and we had triumphed in the name of Our Lady. But looking around, Iago and Lenore realised this was one foe we probably could not match in strength of arms, and so it was decided that the most heroic thing we could possibly do now would be to bravely flee the scene.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-020423173121-585672315.jpeg)
So Lenore and Iago hastily pulled back, with Morgaunt and Brom covering their retreat with shots from their bows. These relentless foes were fleet of foot though, and it appeared that our valorous retreat might be in vain.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-020423173121-58568567.jpeg)
Back you devils!
Lenore paused, sighed and then gritted her teeth. With a grim countenance she surged forward at the foe-men, determined to protect the lives of her comrades even if it be at the cost of her own (she does that sort of thing quite a lot).
It seemed her finest hour might also be her last. But no, hewing and slashing she cut down the enemy lieutenant, and forced the others back. Suddenly Iago was at her shoulder, and he too cut a path through the legionaries. Bow shots from Morgaunt also did good work, and soon the forward-most enemies were a messy wet pile of flesh and metal on the ground.
Their confidence buoyed by this, our party decided they should now advance instead of fleeing, for there were only a handful of enemy left. We felt we could easily hold the field (if you hold the field you potentially get extra loot after the fight). Brom climbed down from his rock and joined Wicklow, hoping to help mop them up.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-020423173157.jpeg)
Yes, I know that's Greville's figure not Brom's, but Brom is still half-finished on my painting table.
But it wasn't as easy as we thought. The next few turns consisted of sniping at long range, while the melee fighters tried to chase down the stragglers. Unfortunately the enemy received a new reinforcement every second turn, and they were being replaced faster than we could kill them. Just to put the tin hat on it, our bowmen were now also out of arrows. So once again we changed our minds and decided to withdraw in good order, yielding the field to the legionaries. It was just at this point when disaster struct. A lone enemy appeared on the table edge we were retreating towards, and though he didn't seem much of a threat he managed to charge forth and skewer poor Brom.
We simply wanted to get away with our victory by now, so sadly Brom went unavenged. We made our way back to camp, dragging the slumped form of Brom with us, content in the knowledge that at least we had succeeded in this first part of the quest.
Happily, once at camp we discovered that Brom lived still. His wounds were bad, and it would be some time until he would be able to fight, but at least he was alive and breathing. I wonder if he still thought joining up with these foolish adventurers was a good idea?
Later that night Iago had another vision. In his dreams he learned that someone was in peril, and in need of rescue...
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Fun write up.
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Cool project, sounds like an interesting game too. I suspect my gaming buddy will like it.
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Nice write up! Love the temple columns as well.
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Excellent bit of storytelling, I look forward to what happens next!
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In a dream he saw it... A druidess in the clutches of strange ill-formed beastmen of some sort. Our heroes knew what they had to do. Time to put on their best rescuing knickers!
However, still licking our wounds a little from our last encounter, we decided on doing a spot of patrolling first. Sometimes the game puts a time limit on objectives, but not in this case. So we figured we could stall a little, to give Brom time to recover (what the hell, you guys are supposed to be heroes!). Hoping for an uneventful patrol, we were disappointed, running into a pack of nasty prowling Northern Wolves. I only have one painted wolf, so Sickers brought some of his. Neither of us know their provenance (he bought them off eBay), but they look a bit chaosy, so GW perhaps?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-090423163507-58611716.jpeg)
We ran into the wolves in this charming area of fields and meadows.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-090423163507-58612750.jpeg)
The fast-moving predators advanced at speed, with some circling around to flank us. But our heroes were undeterred.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-090423164145.jpeg)
They advanced boldly, but once more overconfidence was their undoing. Iago quickly found himself pounced upon at once, and felt himself being ripped apart by tooth and claw. Almost before we had begun Iago was out of the fight! Not again! Sickers and myself began to panic, fearing another slaughter like the time we fought the bandits.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-090423163507-586142370.jpeg)
But we needn't have worried. Lenore withdrew slowly, allowing our archers to pick off many of the wolves, and then suddenly and furiously counter-attacked, making short work of the white alpha-wolf. Before long the beasts were all slain and we were victorious!
Yet Fate wasn't quite done with us yet. When I rolled on Iago's Injury Table after the fight, he came up dead. Dead! Dead! Woe! Woe! This can't be right, surely? Luckily the rules do provide a few second chances. Of all our heroes, Iago was the only one with any Luck Points, he had two in fact. And what are luck points for? Well, situations like this, it turns out. So with a point spent, it transpired that Our Lady of the Veils had intervened and sent him back to us, he still had work to do in her name, after all. A miracle! True Religion be praised! (So Iago is down to one Luck now, so we'd better be careful - there is a once-per-campaign 'Lucky Break' that can also be used to save a character, but we want to save that for somebody who doesn't have any luck if we can).
The game chose this moment to randomly throw us a bone. A hero sympathetic to our cause joined us for the remainder of the quest. Sir Godfrey of Ham, a skilled swordsman and renowned duellist (according to him at least). Armed with a fencing sword and partial armour, I decided we'd use my old Blackadder figure for him. Seemed suitable, somehow. So he'll be joining us for our continuing adventures for a little while.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/32/163-050518180016-327301022.jpeg)
Bolstered by this news, it was time to continue the quest, and actually bloody-well rescue the Druidess. At least we thought it was. Things turned out differently...
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A fun write up. I seem to recall that the rules don't guarantee victory.
Luck to your band.
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Nice. I think those are GW plastic wolves with some sort of upgrade parts to make Chaos Hounds.
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Really enjoying this thread.
RMZ
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Your games are certainly giving me an inclination to check this game out. Great looking boards!
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Following this with great interest. Our little group, the Gentlemen of Much-Piddling, are planning to play this as a campaign.
Does it require much in the way of figures for the enemy?
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For each encounter between 5 and 12 enemies, something like that (there are exceptions, though: just one big figure if you are hunting a monster and sometimes enemies get a trickle of reinforcements).
But for the campaign as a whole there are a wide variety of enemy types, so you're going to need quite a lot, unless you are happy to use proxies that don't quite match. But never much more than about twelve at once, and often less.
I'm painting them as we go. Got to paint five cultists for our next game. :)
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For each encounter between 5 and 12 enemies, something like that (there are exceptions, though: just one big figure if you are hunting a monster and sometimes enemies get a trickle of reinforcements).
But for the campaign as a whole there are a wide variety of enemy types, so you're going to need quite a lot, unless you are happy to use proxies that don't quite match. But never much more than about twelve at once, and often less.
I'm painting them as we go. Got to paint five cultists for our next game. :)
Many thanks for the info. That sounds fine. I'm expecting my copy of the rules to arrive in the next couple of days. It should then become clearer what I need. Looking forward to getting stuck into the campaign.
Cheers :)
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I hope to start a campaign in the summer, or perhaps in the fall, post-retirement. Your thread is certainly reinforcing my determination to do so.
The new, professionally-printed copy of the rules (Modiphius Entertainment) is very elegant.
I was really worried about Iago, for a minute there!
-Michael
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Another great installment.
The group of heroes is really plagued by bad luck, isn't it? It says a lot about their pluck that they keep going after each beatdown.
can't wait for the next one :)
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I hope to start a campaign in the summer, or perhaps in the fall, post-retirement. Your thread is certainly reinforcing my determination to do so.
The new, professionally-printed copy of the rules (Modiphius Entertainment) is very elegant.
I was really worried about Iago, for a minute there!
-Michael
Hi, Michael, nice to hear from you again. This talk of retirement is making me feel old. I'm sure I considered myself a young man still when I first met you on TMP, all those years ago. :) Anyway, hope it all goes well, and you have an enjoyable campaign when the time comes.
Right then, now I need to pull my finger out and get some more painting done for the next one.
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Another great installment.
The group of heroes is really plagued by bad luck, isn't it? It says a lot about their pluck that they keep going after each beatdown.
can't wait for the next one :)
Aside from monsters, figures in the game don't have hit points (you face overcome armour and then overcome toughness rolls which leave you either unharmed, wounded or out of action), so combined with the post-battle injury rolls you are always just a handful of unlucky rolls away from death, however much you've levelled up your stats. I guess that's why they give you a bunch of 'get out of jail' cards to save your favourite characters with. I forgot to say that Iago had been carrying around a magic amulet that can save you from death... but it didn't work! Damn those cheap plastic amulets they sell at the holy sites these days! They're bloody useless.
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Does it require much in the way of figures for the enemy?
As mentioned above, the number of figures in a battle is small, but encounters will probably have different enemies each time. The maximum numbers are generally predictable even if the number your party encounters is not.
The options for enemy selection for a particular threat are random (D100) or escalation - working through the enemy list in order.
With the latter, you can build your opposing forces as you go along.
With the Whispers from Beyond (Undead) list, a number of them can use the same figures (in my case Fireforge Undead peasants, Fireforge Rabble, Mantic Ghouls, Frostgrave Cultists, Fireforge Living Dead Warriors and possibly Frostgrave Demons).
For The Faceless Kingdom I am using my Nilfgaard figures (Fireforge Byzantine Auxilia and Spearmen).
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As mentioned above, the number of figures in a battle is small, but encounters will probably have different enemies each time. The maximum numbers are generally predictable even if the number your party encounters is not.
The options for enemy selection for a particular threat are random (D100) or escalation - working through the enemy list in order.
With the latter, you can build your opposing forces as you go along.
With the Whispers from Beyond (Undead) list, a number of them can use the same figures (in my case Fireforge Undead peasants, Fireforge Rabble, Mantic Ghouls, Frostgrave Cultists, Fireforge Living Dead Warriors and possibly Frostgrave Demons).
For The Faceless Kingdom I am using my Nilfgaard figures (Fireforge Byzantine Auxilia and Spearmen).
Many thanks, very useful info there, cheers. :)
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It is always comforting to see someone from my old TMP games still gamin' and playin', Señor Plynkes!
aardtacha sends her regards. She is registered here, but rarely posts.
-Michael
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Some threats, such as The Whispers From Beyond and the Ice-Heart Court seem to me to have a real wide variety of enemy types. Even though the Whispers are described as the undead faction, only a tiny number of the foes you face when fighting them are actually undead. The Ice-heart Court is similar.
But some factions you really can use just one set of figures for pretty much the entire faction, such as The Ruin Within or The Faceless Kingdom. So if you aren't keen to paint oodles and oodles of figures, it can be avoided somewhat by judicious choosing of your threats.
Though as we have discovered, lots of other enemy types outside of your threats will keep popping up during the campaign. We've played multiple turns and haven't faced any of our chosen threats yet. :)
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Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed this thread, and particularly your battle reports and photos. It's great inspiration to keep going with my painting backlog (after a slight hiatus, injury-related). I am very much looking forward to being able to have a go at a 5 Leagues campaign.
(And then re-using the miniatures and scenery for Sellswords & Spellslingers, Rangers of Shadowdeep, Nightwatch etc etc). I love fantasy!
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Some threats, such as The Whispers From Beyond and the Ice-Heart Court seem to me to have a real wide variety of enemy types. Even though the Whispers are described as the undead faction, only a tiny number of the foes you face when fighting them are actually undead. The Ice-heart Court is similar.
But some factions you really can use just one set of figures for pretty much the entire faction, such as The Ruin Within or The Faceless Kingdom. So if you aren't keen to paint oodles and oodles of figures, it can be avoided somewhat by judicious choosing of your threats.
Though as we have discovered, lots of other enemy types outside of your threats will keep popping up during the campaign. We've played multiple turns and haven't faced any of our chosen threats yet. :)
Thanks, duly noted. We have started with the Ruin Within, Ice-Heart Court and the Curse of War. It's interesting to see that you haven't faced any of your chosen threats.
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Yes, they don't seem to come up via random event rolls, or at least they haven't for us yet. But you can choose to engage them any time you wish, rolling on a few tables to find out where they are, what they're up to and such. Seems like the onus is on the players to kick it off when it comes to the chosen threats.
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As our heroes were preparing for the next stage of their quest, they couldn't escape the feeling that dark forces were moving against them. Evil men and strange creatures were stirring, and the Exiles couldn't escape the feeling that shadowy figures were dogging their every move. Cautiously doubling back, they turned on their pursuers, and discovered them to be...
Cultists! Dark worshippers from the Cult of Spiridon. The Exiles hastily prepared for battle!
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423145440.jpeg)
The Cult of Spiridon. Men who, in these times of religious upheaval and uncertainty, have fallen into worship of the dark spider-things from the Vale of Ungol.
In game terms we had received two very unlucky rolls. On consecutive turns we had rolled the same event: Enemy patrols. One from the Ice Heart Court, and one from the Gnawling Horde (both threats we're not using as the main threats in this campaign). Each one, while ignored, costs us an Adventure point we would have gained after a battle, so we were now on -2 Adventure points each time we fought, and so decided to do something about it. The closest were worshippers of Fey Spiders (Ice heart Court). Time to deal with them.
See how we fared very soon...
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The group turned on our pursuers who retreated towards the familiar territory of the Ungol Vale. They wanted home advantage, it seemed, and our blood was up so we were happy for them to have it. They reached the cover of their Fey-haunted wood, but we were not giving up so easily, and resolved to make them regret ever bothering us...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423154646-588301430.jpeg)
The cursed woods of the Ungol Vale would be our battlefield for today.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423154646-58833634.jpeg)
Ominous and frightening, few have returned from under those dark eaves to tell tale of it.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423154646-588341301.jpeg)
But today there were no faint hearts. The Exiles advanced confidently. Arrows began to whistle past us, though happily none found their marks. This would have given lesser adventurers pause, for the Cult of Spiridon are famed for their dread envenomed blades and darts, harvested from the Spider-Things they worship.
But not the Exiles. Not today.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423154646-588351767.jpeg)
Lenore and Wicklow Pottler, our halfling mystic, charged into the shadowy wood, while Iago and new party member Sir Godfrey of Ham turned to face the Ungol-Men on their flank. Morgaunt the Slightly Fey and Neville provided support with their bows. Two shots from Morgaunt's mighty longbow found their mark, wounding a brace of enemies. But they were still in the fight for now.
Morgaunt yelled "It's people like you that give the Fey a bad name! And you silly sods aren't even bloody Fey! Go back to your farms and villages and cease this folly!"
This did not have the desired effect. More poisoned arrows flew from the wood. Morgaunt sighed, saying,
"Well, you can't say you weren't given a chance" and drew back her bowstring once more.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423154646-588361349.jpeg)
Lenore clashed with a brutish cultist under the green leaves of the wood. They exchanged blows briefly. Lenore forced him back, but then he gained the upper hand, thrusting his barbed, envenomed spear into her stomach. It was time finally for our hearts to be in our mouths. We had forgotten the lessons of previous battles and were somewhat overconfident again by now. All that was needed was for the spear to overcome her armour and she would fall because of the spider-venom (Over the past few games Lenore has received a couple of advances and is now very tough indeed, but that toughness doesn't protect one from venom).
But no, we need not have worried. This was our day. The blow was turned by her armour, leaving her unhurt. His own armour did not prove so strong, for the next second Lenore's blade was poking out through his back and his life was over.
His nearby comrade was not cowed by the sight of his friend's death, nor the fact that he had one of Morgaunt's arrows sticking out of his arm (brave lads these, if somewhat religiously compromised). He advanced through the brush, aimed his bow and launched an arrow at point blank range while yelling a curse in some forbidden tongue.
"Good thing I've got this armour" thought Lenore as the arrow sped at her. It's also good that he missed.
Pottler screwed up his face into a mask of malice, channelling his anger at seeing his friend in danger into a hateful spell of rending arteries and the deepening of wounds. At this the archer's arrow-punctured arm began to gush blood like a waterfall.
(This was the Bleed spell, which when cast on a wounded enemy has a chance to make them bleed to death in each subsequent Tracking Phase of the game.)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-300423154721.jpeg)
Nearby events were moving quickly. Sir Godfrey and Iago raised their swords and charged with yells of "Heathen dogs!" and "For True Religion and the Pontiarch!" Their blood was up and they were young and full of vigour and confidence. It was all over in seconds. The poor cultists never stood a chance.
Back in the wood the cultist archer felt his legs going wobbly under him and so leaned against the nearest tree. Rather pathetically he squeaked,
"I don't feel very well," and breathed his last. (Sickers had only rolled a 6 on the Bleed spell! First time he had ever used it in a game and it came through for us.)
Only one cultist remained, their second archer, and he was wounded. It seemed like it was all over. And then suddenly it was. Another of Morgaunt's arrows brought him down. She really is becoming rather reliable in that department.
The group made camp on the edge of the vale, feeling rather satisfied with their efforts, and happy that nobody had been harmed. Their thoughts turned to their next moves, and they discussed this around the campfire. Morgaunt had noticed some strange tracks, and they decided to see where they led. But as they were settling down to sleep a sudden cry of terror pierced the night. One of the dread spider-things, no doubt enraged at the deaths of its worshippers, had leapt out of the gloom and into the fire light. Before anyone could react it had pounced on Wicklow and given him a nasty bite. The others managed to chase it back into the woods, but in the dark nobody felt like pursuing it. Taking up the wounded Pottler they moved their camp further from the eerie and dangerous treeline. Nobody slept that night and all eyes peered into the night, imagining legions of monsters and cultists creeping out of the darkness. Happily no more attacks occurred.
(This was a random event, which left us with a wounded halfling and it had also somehow broken his bow. He would be out for one campaign turn. Luckily we had a couple of doses of tonic so he took one. This allowed him to recover more quickly and be ready for immediate action next turn.)
Next morning our intrepid band gathered their gear and set off to follow the strange tracks. Where would they lead? Find out soon.
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Excellent report, as usual.
I liked the spider webs. Nice effect.
-Michael
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Great report, and I like the look of the cultists too.
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Sounds like it was a fun game and your skillful narrative made an excellent write up of it.
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I’m enjoying this topic. It illustrates how much better games are when part of a campaign. Small battles take on a big significance. Excellent game report and attractive figures - I look forward to seeing how things progress.
One question; the useful looking tree-stumps. Are they commercial or self-made?
Doug
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They are 3D printed ones I bought from an Etsy store. There are loads of people selling 3D printed terrain stuff on that site, it's worth a look. Those particular ones came in a campsite set which included tents and a cooking fire, which will come in handy for any future camp raid scenarios in Five Leagues.
Yes, even though I do enjoy the combat rules, it is really the campaign structure that makes this game a huge winner for me. Adds so much to the experience.
Thanks for the encouraging comments, guys.
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Very enjoyable and informative report, thanks. It's the same with us, I think. The campaign structure has really grabbed our imagination.
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They are 3D printed ones I bought from an Etsy store. There are loads of people selling 3D printed terrain stuff on that site, it's worth a look.
Thanks for that - popped over there and ordered some. You’re right about the useful stuff and some relatively cheap mats as well, a bit of a revelation.
Doug
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To begin with I wasn't so keen on the printed stuff, tends to have tiny little ridges all over. But you really don't notice it once it's painted and on the table, and the prices are pretty good for the most part too. There are some quite nice fantasy terrain pieces on Amazon as well as Etsy.
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I am really enjoying reading these adventures - keep it up.
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Morgaunt scouted ahead, following the strange tracks. Before long she returned, and the others noticed she was scowling.
"An ogre or a giant, I'm certain of it. Seems to have made its lair near an old abandoned tower."
"Well then," mused Sir Godfrey, "we should probably give it a wide berth and get back to the quest." Iago nodded at this, as he was impatient to follow up on his prophetic dreams.
"There's probably a bounty on it", piped up Wicklow the mystic, grinning. All eyes turned to him as he smiled and rubbed his hands. They didn't take much persuading. The lure of coin for some, glory for the others, did the trick. They gathered their things and set off towards the lair Morgaunt had spotted.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130303-588541661.jpeg)
Upon reaching the area, Wicklow volunteered to scout out the place and try and find the creature, claiming that his people had a knack for not being seen or heard, so he was the best choice. He was keen to nab the reward he had imagined, and also to be able to brag about being a monster hunter in the ale-houses of Grimhold.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130303-588551188.jpeg)
The Halfling carefully crept forward, and soon noticed piles of gnawed bones and patches of blood on the grass. Corpses littered the area. Wicklow jumped with surprise as one of them moved. It was a wounded survivor of a previous attempt to slay the monster. After a brief introduction he directed the poor fellow back to his comrades and continued to scout. The survivor was one Wilbert, an unfortunate adventuer. Despite his wounds he volunteered to help the party. Luckily they had a spare sword, as he had lost all his gear in his encounter with the monster.
The gathered adventurers waited impatiently for the halfling to return. Soon they heard him yelling at the top of his voice, surprisingly loud for one so little.
"Monster! Monster! Monster!" So much for stealth. Then they heard another voice; booming, bestial and terrible...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130303-588561942.jpeg)
"Fee! Fie! Foe! Funt!
I smells the blood of a short-assed runt!"
Wicklow had disturbed the creature, and any hope of surprising it was gone.
"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, darting off as fast as his little legs could manage.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130303-58857624.jpeg)
Thankfully his comrades, including the wounded Wilbert, were all dashing forward with their weapons drawn, shouting curses at the monster to distract it from the diminutive mystic.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130303-588581952.jpeg)
Iago and Sir Godfrey were the first to make contact. Iago bravely slashed at the creature's legs, driving it back with pathetic plaintive cries of pain.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130346-588591331.jpeg)
Next came Lenore and Wilbert. Wicklow had ceased fleeing, and had turned to join the fray too. As Lenore charged forward, the monster regained its composure, and lifted a mighty boulder above its head. Letting out a great roar it brought the rock down on Lenore, crushing her under it! Sir Godfery leapt into action as its attention was on Lenore, however one swift kick from the creature left him crumpled on the ground.
"Noooo! Take this, you devil!" screamed Wicklow, trying to plunge his short sword into the ogre's flesh, but a casual back-handed slap sent him flying into the air, disappearing out of sight into a clump of bushes.
Oh dear. It seems this monster-hunting lark isn't as easy as they thought. Does anybody have the number of a reliable witcher?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/58/163-070523130346-588601899.jpeg)
But never fear, Iago Loyola is here! This week it was his turn for an heroic moment. Springing forward in righteous and furious anger his sword sang, slashing open the guts of the beast before it had the chance to do more harm. As its snake-like intestines poured steaming all over the ground, it whimpered and sank to its knees. With one clean stroke Iago then beheaded it.
Ha! Turns out monster-hunting is a doddle after all. That's something noteworthy that Iago can put on his CV now.
Victory was secured, but it was time to count the cost. It so happened that Wicklow had merely been knocked unconscious, and Sir Godfrey had suffered a nasty bang to the head, but one that he would soon recover from. Lenore however was grievously hurt, possibly with multiple broken bones. She would not be partaking in any adventuring for quite some time, if at all. This news dampened the mood somewhat for the group, perhaps it had not been worth it after all. But Wilbert had been impressed, and asked to join the merry band. Without hesitation his request was accepted. The more the merrier, especially when you already have three adventurers not fit for combat.
The next day Wicklow's hunch was confirmed to be true. After many locals (and more than one of their own monks) had been devoured, the Celestine mendicant order had posted a bounty on the ogre. It was only two gold marks, but the halfling said that was nothing to sniff at.
"Enough for ale and strumpets, eh, Nev?", he quipped, nudging Neville with his arm. Neville, sharing Wicklow's taste for those two things grinned and nodded.
Upon collecting their reward, the monk that paid them, one Frater Sandro, was so impressed (as he had given up any hope of the monster actually being defeated) that he expressed a desire to join the company. It was time for him to go on his 'fighting pilgrimage', something these mendicants are wont to do, it would seem. Iago was happy to have a fellow man of faith join them, hopefully he might have an improving effect on Wicklow and Neville's moral laxity.
As they continued their journey they saw a notice board at a nearby crossroads. The guild-masters of Grimhold had issued a contract request. Even though they had other stuff to do, it couldn't hurt to look into it. Grimhold was on their route, after all.
So, two new party members have joined. I really must get painting. We need figures for Brom, Wilbert and Frater Sandro now. Hopefully I'll post the pics of them soon.
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Our warband’s next Adventure is bearding a monster in his lair so this is a particularly interesting AAR. That’s some monster you faced although he did show a certain delicacy of language in his poetical challenge - the last word could have been so different.
On to the fight. Very close-run thing. I notice no mention of ranged weapons. In our upcoming monster game, I’m suggesting our band deploys as many missile-men as possible, not very brave but this is real life. Right? How many Turns did you have? Our last game was only 4 but it seemed full of incident as does yours.
A shame about Lenore but Wilbert and Sandro are definite pluses. Does Sandro come ready equipped?
Enjoyed the account a lot.
Doug
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- the last word could have been so different.
Hehe, I was thinking that. Definitely wouldn't have got past the profanity filter. :) It used to be the only word that you couldn't say on on LAF, but that seems to have changed. Damn AI changed what I originally wrote so I had to put 'short-assed.' If you try to type the British version of that it changes it to 'short-bothered.'
So I can say 'arse' but if I put a D on the end it becomes 'bothered.' That's crazy. lol I am going to start using the phrase 'short-bothered' from now on, I think.
Despite being the easiest monster, the ogre has a nasty bite. His 'Counter-attack' ability is what laid low three of our party. You'd best be careful facing yours. Morgaunt was flinging arrows the whole time, but for once she was entirely ineffective. So ineffective that I completely forgot to mention her in the write-up. In previous games she has been a godsend, but I guess this week it was Iago's turn to shine.
As far as I remember there is no turn limit on a monster hunt. You kill it, get killed by it or run away, and that's about it. Can't remember how long the battle was, not very long.
Sandro came with a light weapon and nothing else, so we need to get him something better.
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This all sounds splendid, great write ups and a strong story line developing.
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Excellent AAR. As Doug said, we are tracking down an ogre tomorrow, so very interesting to see how you set about it.
I hope your new recruits are made of the right stuff!
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> Despite being the easiest monster, the ogre has a nasty bite.
Good to know. Love its paintjob and glad you succeeded!
How are you all deciding what Adventure to choose? 5L is interesting because you're pro-active, rather than having an encounter that happens to be balanced. One of my parties figures they might as well go on a Quest (to win fabulous prizes) and another is content to hunt for pelts in the woods so they can replace a broken bow!
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It kind of depends. We haven't started pursuing our main threats yet, but the game keeps throwing random stuff at us that feels like it needs dealing with, and that distracts us from what we were currently dealing with. We were on a quest but accrued two occurrences of an event that means we get less Adventure points after each battle (it was up to -2 points). That's why we went and faced the spider-cultists. Wiping them out got rid of one of those -1 modifiers.
Then we found the monster lair, and just felt like doing a monster hunt. The next battle, however, is going to be against one of the Threats, and we don't have any choice about it. The Enemy Plans table has decided that we're about to be attacked. Things are getting real at last. So while the game mostly sits back and waits for you to come to the threats, they can come to you with the right (or wrong) rolls.
Initially we were just looking for easy-ish things to do to gain experience. I think that phase has come to an end now, though.
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For various reasons things went quiet over the summer, but I'm mostly back now and hopefully we'll be able to get some more games in soon.
I finally got around to painting some of the new blood we have recruited along the way...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-240923131701-601191704.jpeg)
We now have dedicated figures for Brom, Wilbert and Frater Sandro. Wilbert and Sandro are newcomers. Wilbert is the fellow we rescued from the monster, and Sandro is the monk who had posted the bounty, who then joined us to go on his 'fighting pilgrimage'. But poor old Brom has been waiting for a figure since the very first game, ha ha. Hope he likes it.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-240923131701-601201577.jpeg)
So this is what the whole party looks like now. I really think we need to stop picking up strays along the way. It's nice to have some team mates sitting on the substitutes' bench in case of injury, but perhaps it is getting a little out of hand now.
Finally for now, I painted up this fella...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-240923131701-601181059.jpeg)
The game doesn't really need treemen types, but I figured we could use him next time we have to face a troll, a giant, an ogre or something like that. It's an old pre-painted D&D figure that my friend gave me about twenty years ago (!) as I was into the LoTR game back then, and he thought I might need an ent. I tarted him up a little bit, the original paint job was actually pretty good for that type of thing, but I wanted to enhance him a smidge.
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"Enhance him a smidge"…! He’s had the arse enhanced off him to kingdom come and back - he looks fantastic. And the crew are splendid as well.
Glad you’re back on this. In the meantime we (Mad Lord Snapcase and his cringing followers) are many weeks into our campaign. His Lordship is a couple of games behind in posting AAR’s but he’s a busy man.
We’re looking forward to seeing what you get up to next.
Doug
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Yes, I must catch up with your exploits. I've been a bit remiss in all matters pertaining to the hobby for a little while.
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That treeman looks great.
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Time to introduce the first of the main threats of the campaign: The Mano Rosso, the reason being that the dastards attacked us on the road to Grimhold.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-311023181721.jpeg)
They are a mix of metal and plastic Frostgrave figures, plus a couple of Foundry Ancient Germans. All good fun to paint. While I still don't really dig the somewhat tedious business of assembling plastic figures, I do like all the Frostgrave plastics I have acquired so far. Love the flexibility they give you, and they also look great.
Here's what I said about the Mano Rosso back on Page 1:
The Mano Rosso
The chaos of the Defamation has led to widespread banditry. However, some groups are more of a threat than others. The Mano Rosso are an organised network of bandit gangs, led by the mysterious bandit king known as Il Ragno (We are using The Ruin Within threat for these, who are basically bandits and brigands so a good fit).
On our way to Grimhold to pick up the contract we saw on that notice board a while, back, we were attacked while in camp. Perhaps they had heard of our exploits and thought we might have some easy plunder they could scoop up, or perhaps it was pure coincidence. Who can say? Anyway, before we arrived in Grimhold we would face a tough fight. A tough fight Sickers and I played on Saturday last. A report will follow as soon as I have sorted out the photos. :)
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Great paint job!
> So this is what the whole party looks like now. I really think we need to stop picking up strays along the way.
I kept them because... I don't know why. (: At some point, they don't really increase upkeep, especially when you use a campaign turn (?) for them to forage.
The main cost was that I wanted each of them to have a crossbow, bastard sword, armor, etc.
Do you already have a Delvist? That's the volunteer who has the skills necessary for *any* result when interacting with an artifact or whatever in a Site.
You could always volunteer some of your men to go after the objectives in a scenario! I usually just sit on a rock and wait for the enemy to come to me - and my party's crossbows. :P
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Yes, we don't really need to worry about upkeep at the minute. We're rolling in cash right now, and the locals seem to keep putting us up for free as well (some real lucky rolls). Knowing us we will keep letting people join if they want to. A potential one has already arisen in the next scenario of our quest.
Haven't been to any Delves yet, and I am unsure as to what they precisely entail. We'll see how prepared we are in the fullness of time, I'm sure.
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Those dastardly Mano Rosso fellas really look the part. Nice painting on both them and your ever expanding group of adventurers.
Very much looking forward to the AAR.
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Really nice models and setups!
I t was great to read.
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Looking forward to the next AAR.
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So the party were resting in camp about half way to Grimhold, enjoying a hearty breakfast of pork sausage and local mushrooms. Frater Sandro and Wilbert had taken Lenore, still recovering from her wounds, to see a local healer (convenient eh?). It was then that the Mano Rosso struck. They had been creeping up on the camp with the proverbial cat-like tread.
(In a Defensive Battle scenario like this, the enemy get to try and sneak up on us, and each time one moves we get a chance to spot them. I guess the party were simply too engrossed in their breakfast to realise the danger, because they were almost upon us before they had an inkling anything was afoot.)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123175324.jpeg)
One bold brigand had made it almost to the camp fire before they were noticed, and the rest weren't far behind. Most of the Exiles darted to the nearby hedge, hoping to hold off the foe and prevent them from crossing that obstacle. Sir Godfrey and Wicklow would have to deal with the lone interloper.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123180831.jpeg)
Arrows spat out from the hedgerow, finding their mark and staining the road with bandit blood, but not felling any of the foe. They surged forward with a ragged war cry.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123180902.jpeg)
The brigands charged the hedge, slashing and thrusting with their blades, forcing Brom and Neville to give ground (You can't see Neville in this pic, I think he's behind that tree :)). The way was open for the bandits on our right to cross the hedge.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123180928.jpeg)
On the left flank in front of the camp things were still worse. Four of the enemy were already over the hedge and hurtling towards Sir Godfrey and Wicklow (and two of those were tough-looking brutes). If they could be dealt with the rogues would be able to turn and take the others from behind (snigger). Once more things seemed to be turning against the Exiles, and the two players controlling them were starting to panic.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123180951.jpeg)
But Sir Godfey is made of sterner stuff than the cravens controlling his fate. Soon his flashing blade was wreaking havoc. These poor uncultured wretches were no match for years of noble training with a fencing sword. Godfrey darted among them with the grace of a dancer, and their numbers began to thin a little.
For his part Wicklow conjured a spell of frightening, hoping to break their nerve and make them flee. He hurriedly muttered his incantations in the Old Imperial Tongue and hoped for the best (silently cursing all the time spent at the local wine-houses rather than in class when he was a student at the Magic Academy in Chrysanthium).
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123181049.jpeg)
Not to be outdone, Iago sighed and after whispering a silent prayer to Our Lady of the Veils, laid into the bandits with his mighty bastard sword.
"Victory to Heaven! By the Monad and all the Aeons thou shalt pay, ye dogs!"
A holy rage was upon him, and his blade drank deep of bandit blood. Things had turned around very quickly indeed.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123181110.jpeg)
By this point, Wicklow's spell had taken effect, and most of those thugs that could still move had begun to quit the field.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/60/163-011123181141.jpeg)
A couple of hardened desperadoes stood their ground, but the poor fools did not stand a chance. Wicklow breathed a long sigh of relief as he watched the last of the bandits fleeing into the distance.
"How rude, I hadn't even had a single bite of my breakfast. It is sure to be cold by now" he said, sadly looking at his sausage as he picked it up. Iago strode over to him and snatched his plate away.
"No time for that, gather your things. We must pursue and punish these curs." Wicklow frowned.
"Can't we just have our breakfast? Let them go, I'm hungry."
"Never! A plague upon them, the pack of villains. Their survival is an insult to Heaven, and we shall pursue them to the ends of the Earth! Hopefully they will lead us to more of their fellows, and we can dispense righteous judgement upon them. It is no more than they deserve, the damnèd heathens! Unbelievers! Recusants! "
Wicklow rolled his eyes and looked towards Neville.
"There he goes, bringing religion into everything again. They are only bandits, Iago, not heretics."
"What? Did not the great Sanctus Pallus himself write, in er... his Second Epistle to the Kardashians, that every soul is subject to the earthly powers, for were not those powers ordained by Heaven? They that resist shall receive Damnation! And today, dear Wicklow, we are the instruments that shall be delivering it. Come on, get your things."
Iago turned and set off at a pace after the fleeing banditti.
"He truly has the spirit upon him," mused Sir Godfrey.
"He's a bloody loony, you mean" said Wicklow, and reluctantly set off after his friend.
To be continued...
This was heaps of fun, though we were a little nervous to begin with as all those bandits were bearing down on us and we hadn't got a proper defensive line together. Godfrey and Iago were just unstoppable this time. I think their accumulated experience gains are beginning to bear fruit.
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Quoting the Second Epistle to the Kardashians... things are indeed getting serious!
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The pursuers caught up with their quarry by a small farm. They had managed to link up with some of their comrades and turned to face the Exiles.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-091223153748-610582207.jpeg)
The ranks of the Mano Rosso in this locality had been stiffened by deserters from Baron Raymondo's army it transpired. We thought this might prove a more difficult fight.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-091223153748-610621161.jpeg)
Our archers provided support from the top of a nearby rise, as the ne'er-do-wells advanced towards us. How would this one go?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-091223153748-61063833.jpeg)
We needn't have worried. Though in the first tussle our Halfling sorceror was knocked out (again) everything else went our way.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-091223153748-610641142.jpeg)
"Unworthy villainous knave! He that would betray his rightful sovereign lord can expect no mercy!"
Sir Godfrey in particular was a holy terror, slashing away and cutting the banditti down in fine old style.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-091223153748-610652019.jpeg)
While Neville and Morgaunt rained arrows down upon the hapless bandits.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-091223153825-61066476.jpeg)
Fairly soon it was all over, and the last of them was brought to summary justice by means of sharpened steel.
When he regained his senses, Wicklow was incensed that he had missed half the battle, and his eyes burned with a vengeful fire. Looking around for a bandit to take his frustration out on, he soon discovered a trail, and not far off he could see a thin finger of smoke rising from beyond the trees. Could this be the bandits' camp, perhaps?
"Nobody does this to Wicklow Pottler and gets away with it! I'm going to crack open some Mano Rosso heads today if it kills me! Follow me, friends!"
So this time it was Wicklow's turn to charge ahead, and his bewildered friends' turn to follow, vainly attempting to get him to slow down and think about tactics for a minute.
A very easy fight for a change. I think the experience gains some of our characters have made are really starting to show in the games now. They are getting pretty powerful, which of course means they are going to get their arses kicked soon, obviously.
A lucky roll had indeed led us to a Mano Rosso camp. We decided to attack it, so it would be three fights in a row with these customers, after not having had a peep out of them for the whole campaign so far. The first two fights had already reduced their Threat, if we could beat them again they might be half-way to being knocked out of the campaign.
Next: The attack on the Mano Rosso bandit camp.
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Just read the whole thread through today! Sounds like a lot of fun. Great write ups and the figures look amazing. Between your account and Mad Lord Snapcase's, I've gone off and ordered Five Leagues from my favorite vendor. I should get it in the next day or two and then I look forward to seeing how all of this works... :-*
Thanks so much for writing this up, and look forward to reading the next installment!
Mike Demana
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My compliments to the skintones of your additions.
Splendid, old school narrative which bears the mark of Ol' Plynkes all over.
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Beautiful miniatures, and a great report as well! Looking forward to the next one!
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Excellent :)
Love the scenes!
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Thanks, guys.
Had a bit of a hobby lull over Christmas, but I'll hopefully have some newly-painted figures to show off soon, and a few more battle photos once I can get around to editing them.
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Looking forward to it ;)
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I’m with Mike on this, between this wonderfully evocative recounting and the men of much piddling, I’m sold. Five Leagues PDF purchased. Will continue to follow your story with great interest.
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Looking forward to further piddling!
I think our halflings were happier behind a crossbow and foraging for magical berries and rabbit pelts! :D
Dean: I posted in the Facebook Fan page 5L Files section suggestions for the miniatures you will want for a campaign. Also, there're some mini-cards to track inventory in the Files. I just printed them as needed and mounted to manila folders. I also suggest you get the second armor setup, which has rare armor that's hard to find, even if you have the money.
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Thanks for that!
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Great fun, been watching some 5 Parsecs videos on Youtube, this is great stuff, definitely veering to 5 Leagues...
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Painted up a bit of new stuff, for an upcoming encounter...
Woodland Folk
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203727-61982960.jpeg)
We have a fight coming with the Fey. While these are what pass for elves in our world, they aren't of a Tolkien sort, ones who heroically fight dark lords and when they aren't doing that sit around singing. These are the creepy, scary Fey straight out of folklore, ready to steal your babies and sour your milk at the drop of a hat. The large Entish chap is not actually involved, but I thought I'd include him in the picture because he fits thematically.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203834-619842318.jpeg)
Our officer figure, some kind of a witch-queen, I imagine.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203727-619802054.jpeg)
I've had these Foundry figures for a very long time, since they came out in fact. But I never really found a use for them, apart from one LPL entry many years ago. Glad to have finally got some paint on them. Not entirely pleased with how they came out, but I was getting a bit fed up painting them and probably rushed things a bit in the end. They'll look fine on the tabletop I'm sure though, the camera is, as we know, always a harsh mistress.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203727-61979510.jpeg)
Went for a look inspired by the Dryads from the Witcher books. While in the books they are never described as green nudie women, that seems to be be a thing that has sprung from the video games, I quite like the look and I think it suits these figures.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203727-61981575.jpeg)
Tree Men. They are called that because there are tree of them, obviously.
Just to round things off, some various game aids, tokens and such...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203727-619831977.jpeg)
Some spare quivers from the bits box, which make Out of Ammo counters.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203834-61985852.jpeg)
These are Unknown Enemy markers. If you are familiar with the Space Hulk sensor blip counters from back in the day, well they are that, more or less. I painted them in shades of grey and black to give the impression of a half-glimpsed shadow. Or something.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203834-619862083.jpeg)
We finally have paint on our Turn Track Lady. She has been waiting to take to the field for a LONG time. :) Galadriel can go back to gazing into her washing-up basin and frightening Hobbits now if she wants to. Though to be honest, Galadriel makes a pretty good Our Lady of the Veils, so I might actually keep her on, which means I'll have to find a new use for this figure. I guess she can be an officer/personality for one of the factions, or maybe even a new team member if we get any.
Will post the latest battle reports soon, still haven't got around to editing the photos. :)
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Great stuff! Looking forward to the report.
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Nice to see the Foundry nymphs show up, I love the leader models for them. I've only managed to paint a few up.
Love the skin colors you picked!
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Good move with the enemy markers.
I took a large base, large enough for some enemies, and stuck them on the base with a Reaper familiar figure. Once the enemy marker converted, I'd then determine who showed up!
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(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203834-619862083.jpeg)
Stellar. All of it. Where is the above mini from?
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Great stuff. I have some of the Conquest Tree people in my DR army. :) I like the way you have painted the Foundry Elves, I might steal that idea! :)
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Stellar. All of it. Where is the above mini from?
There is a Ragnarok-themed board game called 'Blood Rage' that I have robbed for fantasy figures before (my Frost Giant from the LPL a few years ago was one). This particular one is from a supplement for that game called 'Gods of Asgard' and is meant to be the Norse goddess Frigg.
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I'm very much enjoying your adventures. Very excited to see Fiona make an appearence, will Shrek and maybe Donkey follow.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/61/163-050324203727-61979510.jpeg)
Only joshing, those Foundry figs show their age but you've done a good job on them, but that shield bearing lady is gorgeous, really great face on her.
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Tree Men. They are called that because there are tree of them, obviously.
Terrible. lol lol lol
Honestly though, I absolutely adore all of these. Always cool to see some creepier more feylike elves, and you’ve certainly done justice to them. I love the idea of Unknown Enemy markers too, I might have to do the same :D
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As you may recall, our intrepid band had tracked a group of Mano Rosso banditti back to their camp...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184526-62169818.jpeg)
The banditti camp made for a pleasant scene, situated among the trees and near an old crumbling tower. Things would not stay pleasant for long, though.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184526-621671767.jpeg)
Iago and his followers hastily put a plan together. Brom and Wicklow Pottler would provide ranged support from a small knoll, while Morgaunt would do the same from the cover of some trees. Iago, Sir Godfrey and Neville would, er... just charge and get stuck in. That always works, right?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184356-62166187.jpeg)
Among the bandits' number were more deserters from Baron Raymondo's guard. Would they prove more of a challenge than the last lot we faced?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184356-621651539.jpeg)
No, not really. It was beginning to dawn on everyone that the Baron's soldiers' fiercesome reputation had been rather overstated, no doubt earned by pushing peasants around and abusing the travelling folk. Iago and Sir Godfery were soon hacking them down in familiar fashion.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184356-62164621.jpeg)
The camp was almost in our hands, with most of the bandits cut down or fleeing. But once again, fate decided to intervene just as we were getting cocky. It seemed that at least one of the deserters had been worth his pay before taking up the bandit life, for he had charged up the knoll to take on Brom and Pottler. He made at them with great ferocity, swinging his halberd back and forth with abandon.
Brom let out a cry of despair as he saw the young Halfing go down under a storm of heavy blows.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184356-621632291.jpeg)
The others were mopping up the last of the bandits in the camp, and their thoughts were turning to plunder when they heard Brom's cry.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/62/163-220324184356-62162915.jpeg)
With a high-pitched scream of "You utter, utter bastard!" Brom laid low the assailant of his comrade. He then screamed to his companions,
"He's dead! He's dead! He's bloody dead!"
Soon they all came running. In no time Frater Sandro the monk was on the scene, calling for his curatives and poultices.
*Come back to us, come back to us lad!"
Had Pottler's rash eagerness to pursue and destroy the bandits cost him his life? (Personally I blame Iago with all his pompous religiosity) Had our plucky little wizardlet slung his last spell? Find out soon...
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Oh no! Poor Pottler. Talk about a cliffhanger ending!
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Seriously? To be continued? Damn you! :'(
“How do you keep an idiot in suspense?”, “I’ll tell you tomorrow”. lol