Journey into the Cursed City

[Elbows]

I believe they're all from the new Warhammer Quest: Cursed City game.

I like some of the minis from the box - but the zombies are easily the very worst of the box.

[DeafNala]

They are all WONDERFUL pieces,  imaginative ANDBEAUTIFULLY painted & based. INSPIRING STUFF!

[Pictors Studio]

They are all cursed city figures. 

I'm glad you guys liked them.  I'll be posting some more soon.  Hopefully I can get the rest of the zombies done today. 

[Pictors Studio]

They are all done now along with the grave keeper guy.


He was my favourite baddie in the box.  I think his pose and his weaponry plus just the detail on the sculpt make him the best model that came with this set.  Maybe not as useful in many games as some of the others, but he would work fine in almost any horror setting. 



I get that some people think that the zombies are a little over the top, I thought so too when I first saw them, but they are actually pretty well done for this setting and make total sense to be the way they are.  As this will be pretty much all I use them for I really like them and liked them more and more as I got them all done.  There are so many details without being onerous to paint.



There are two female zombie poses and two different tops for them so you can make 4 different female zombie figures even if they are similar. 

The males have 3 different bodies and 3 different tops so you have a bit more variety there, but again the tops are the most distinguishing parts.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with them and having read more of the rules I think the game will be the best board game GW has done since Space Hulk, at least of the ones I've played.  The game play and storyline are a big improvement over the previous two Warhammer Quest games they have recently released. 

[Bloggard]

sounds interesting re: the rules.

quite like the ott zombies - and great paint-work.

[Craig Oxbrow]

They came out great.

And I like the over-the-top-ness - undead carrying their own grave markers presumably have an encumbrance issue in combat, but I'd react to them with a mixture of sympathy and dread.

[Pictors Studio]

The more I read the rules the more I am looking forward to playing the game. 

Here is another hero.  I have two more heroes that I'm hoping to finish today.  Then back to work on some baddies.  I'm hoping to get a game in  tomorrow.  But we'll see, the weather might be a problem.



I have one more mysterious object to paint and they will all be done.  So far I've finished 26 of the pieces for the game. 

[Pictors Studio]

Our first venture into Ulfenkern. 



We played a Scavenger mission.  The objective was to search through a portion of the city for discarded treasures and Realmstone.  We had to search through ten locations to complete the mission then we could get back on the airship. 


It was pretty easy to accomplish the objective, but we were level 0 characters and the opponents that we turned over were mostly pretty weak. We did get Goroslav the Grave Keeper but Brienne of Tarth was able to get behind him and give him a right rogering with her sword. 




The Ogre managed to get himself into a bit of a pickle. 

He was surrounded by zombies on one side and vampire bats on the other.  Fortunately Lady Legolas managed to run into the room and took out a couple of the zombies so when it was the zombies' turn the last one ran off.  Then the bats just took a big bite out of him and, being full, they buggered off as well.



After that all that remained to fight was a pack of zombies that returned to plague us, but we made short work of them and then easily accomplished the objective picking up some neat loot in the process. 



The game comes with 8 bags, which I thought was odd at first as all the pieces and cards would easily fit in 4 of them, but the idea is that as you advance you put each of the characters in a separate bag with all of their advances so when it comes time to play again you don't have to write anything down or keep track of anything.  Everything they have is all in the baggy with their card.

Between us we all ended up with a magic item and a total of 5 pieces of Realmstone.  Each character advanced to 1/3 level and we are all looking forward to playing again, hopefully on Sunday.

I may try to start another group on Saturday afternoon if the weather is nice. 

[Pictors Studio]

A narrative version of that:

She wondered if this is what it felt like to be a thief. It was still in the city, the normal daylight activities of a city of this size, by Sigmar even this city a year or more ago, would have turned these streets into an uproar of noises of machine, man and beast.

But now they were silent, more or less and in the full light of day the former capatain of the city's guard crept along the side of the wall, her sword out and listening for any sounds.

If it hadn't been so still, if the living citizens of the town didn't hold their breath for moments at a time when they heard noises out side she would not have heard it. It was a scuttling noise with an odd squeak. It was rats. She was out past the rest of the party and into the small alleyway before anyone else could easily react.

The creatures raised themselves up at her approach, but her sword moved too swiftly for them. With supreme confidence the strokes of the weapon caught the largest among them in its mid section spraying half-congealed blood among its followers. She hadn't wondered for long if the rats were servants of the Wolf or just normal vermin, their eyes glowed with that craven red colour and the hatred of them drove her among them, stomping and slicing. She scattered more of them than she destroyed.

With only about a third of the creatures remaining the Elf entered the room, one shot was all it took to skewer four of the blighted rodents and send the few left scattering into crevices in the walls and floor.

A bellow from behind the two women warriors cast down any thoughts that their little extermination may have gone unnoticed and they could move forward with stealth. Brutogg had found prey and he was perpetually hungry.

His frustrated grumbling could be heard but that wasn't the only thing, the second sound was something that froze Emelda in her tracks. It was the sound of metal scraping on stone, it was specifically the sound of a metal shovel scraping on stone.

The low moaning sound of gas escaping the bodies of the dead as they unnaturally moved through the streets came to them, it was a thrumming sound and quiet, but able to be heard over the sounds of pain emanating from their ogre companion.

The two women had never liked each other but their eyes met and the warrior instinct in each not only told them what to do, but told them what the other must do as well.

And so they ran in opposite directions. Emelda to hunt down the beast that had helped slay her loyal soldiers and Qulathis to relieve the Ogre before he was brought down. While the creature was as unpalatable as he was brutal, allies were few and far between and ones as strong as Brutogg were not to be found easily.

As Qulathis emerged from the alley into the main street the Ogre was thrashing about trying to free himself from the dead bodies clinging to him and clawing at him with their decayed hands. The fingernails, or sometimes protruding finger bones, were drawing blood where the Ogre's rusted mail did not cover his massive body.

The first zombie fell away from the Ogre when an arrow severed its body from its arm at the shoulder. The creature stood up and went to attack again. Arrow after arrow found its mark in the creatures and soon two of them were on the ground, the magic that animated them dispelled by the physical brutality of the arrow storm that assailed them.

As Brutogg looked hungrily at the last of the undead, bats swarmed from behind him and latched onto him with their fangs, he swatted at them but, having drunk their fill, they flew off.

It was enough to distract the ogre and the last of the zombies shuffled away, unseen.

The sound of steel meeting bone and flesh came to them from their left. Both looked through the archway and saw Emelda's sword protruding from the body of the fearsome Grave Keeper, the Wolf's lead "recruiter." The monster was trying to turn around but each movement only caused Emelda's hold on her blade to widen the wound. Finally she jerked it free and as Gorslav tried to turn she brought it down in a slashing motion that severed an arm at the elbow. Arm and shovel clattered to the ground only separating when they struck.

He was bringing the wicked hook in his left hand around, but far too slowly and her last thrust caught him just above the clavicle. It severed tendons and muscles that animated the arm and twisting the weapon again, she brought the lieutenant to the ground.

The moaning of more zombies was but a brief distraction and the quartet of heroes split up to search the area. Many of the Van Alten clan had been slaughtered here and a quick search brought up a number of artifacts of value. The group had all they needed and moved back to the airship with hours of daylight to spare.

[darthfozzywig]

Great work!

[Pictors Studio]

The vampires are finished, unless the big werewolf thing is a vampire of some sort. 



I really like the smaller vampires but the Radukar figure is underwhelming.  It is my least favourite miniature in the box that isn't just a small piece of terrain or something.  I even like the bat swarms better.



The vampirelings are neat figures and I wanted to make them look very degenerate so I made their equipment rusted and old looking, like they had had it since they were human and haven't really cared for it.  I thought about putting filth on their feet and hands but after I tried it on one didn't think it looked great and decided that their vamprieness kept them from getting dirty.

[Pictors Studio]

We had our second adventure today.  It certainly was a lot more deadly than the first.  We lost two of the heroes.  So we have another adventure like today and we will be one hero away from game over. 

Here is a narrative version of the end as well as some pics from the day.



















Until the light started to fade it had all seemed like a bit of a lark. Ven Alten was going to need a new coat and it sounded like the priestess had run into some serious difficulties but overall the foe was quite easy to dispatch.

His blade flashed in the fading light catching two more rats and his foot found another crushing the life out of it.

He turned and fired into a shambling skeleton in armour, it blew apart as the bullet found its way through the rusted breastplate and blew right through its spine.

They had done enough damage and it was time to leave.

He ran towards the exit.

He could just barely see in the gathering shadows but it looked like the morbid-fellow all in brown was limping a bit. He was dragging the priestess behind him. Where her robes had been white before they were now stained with grime and it was tough to tell but it seemed like blood. Both were moving slowly, dragging from injuries.

All of a sudden things didn't seem like such a lark anymore.

The airship was above him and the dwarf. Its ladders were dropping down to where they would be within reach momentarily.

He peaked his head out as the last of the rays of the sun vanished. The shuffling of feet moving towards them picked up pace. It was almost like a stampede and he saw the walking dead moving around the corner.

The vampire hunter and the girl weren't going to make it.

He didn't really see a way around it. He hadn't like the man, he was too morose and moody. Too serious by half. But the woman . . . she was very focused but at the heart of it all she was kind. He pushed past the dwarf.

"Ven Alten . . . what?"

His pistol flashed and explosion lit up the room they were in, the zombies were there now and his shot dropped one of them as its soft head exploded over the one next to it. His sword flashed and another dropped, legs cut off at the knee.

The witch hunter saw his chance. He pulled at the wrist of the priestess to drag her along, she had been gasping, but now she shrieked. He turned his face towards her and saw the glinting of little round eyes in little light that was there. Rats swarmed over her and started to come out of her robes.

His agile mind gauged that there was nothing left to be done and he kicked her back sending the woman and the rats away from him as he dashed towards the waiting airship.

Ven Alten saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned only briefly to see his disliked comrade dash past.

The distraction wasn't long, but it was enough. The tangled roots growing out of the zombies got caught in the sleeve hanging from his coat. Cold dead fingers made their way into the flesh on the inside of his thigh, the nails tearing loose from the beds even as they gashed into his flesh.

Another explosion lit up the night and one of the zombies flew back away from the nobleman, congealed blood spewing from the hole it its chest.

The Witch Hunter drew his great zweihander and moved to help Glaurio before a restraining hand grabbed his cloak.

"You'll no save him. Yuir half-dead yourownself. Look!"

The dwarf indicated where one of the zombies had latched onto the nobles face with its teeth and as he pulled away most of his cheek was ripped from his face.

Reluctantly Jelsen Darrock agreed and put away the weapon while grasping hold of the ladder.

The two were pulled clear as the screams from Ven Alten were silenced by his body being pulled apart and the zombies flooding the position where they had just been.

The two remaining rebels' eyes met.

"And then there were six," Denstock said stoically.

And here is Darrock:

[Pictors Studio]

All the skelebobs are done now.



I did the colours based on Newcastle's White Coats.  I should have made the little crosses on the flag comets instead though.  These are some of the nicest skeletons I've painted.  Not enough to get me to do an undead army probably but I guess I'll see what they have coming with it.

If I could do an army with a living Necromancer to lead it that may be a future project. 

[Dark choda]

Great work!  I've got the box still shrink-wrapped on my work desk...just staring at me but your thread makes me want to crack the box open!  however...as silly this sounds...once it's out of the box.. its officially part of my pile of shame... but as long as it's in the box.. its not.

[Pictors Studio]

I think the best thing would be to open it, put it in your pile of shame and then move it out of your pile of shame!

The Skeletons and rats paint up very quickly.

The three degenerate vampires also are fairly quick.  The Ogre and the soldier are pretty quick too.  Everything else might take a big longer but with two more heroes and the above you could possibly get a game in if you count the skelebobs as zombies. 

For myself I really need to do the bats next.  One of my buddies is in California for the next couple of weeks and if I want to get a game in it will have to be with the girl downstairs.