Sellswords and Spellslingers campaign Action report - Game 5 (Final) - 7th Dec

[6mmfan]

This is the start of another Sellswords and Spellslingers campaign using the Ganesha games rules. For this campaign we downloaded the Demons Gate campaign off Grahams great blog (https://grahamsgaming.blogspot.com/) and we fudged a couple of some things like using goblin stats for Imps and came up with our own XP for victory points.

We introduced a house rule of party upkeep, as we have found over time we tend to not loot or collect items, because there's not a lot to do with the SP. What this meant was that we had to provide each PC with 10SP (Silver Pieces) upkeep per game. I have 5 guys in my party and Mark has 3, so I have more hungry mouths to feed!

Also Mark was using a custom trait called Parry, instead of a shield.

Game 1
What looked like a simple mission, which was to merely cross the board turned into an epic game. It was a close run thing, with all PCs wounded (most with 2 wounds, one more and they would be out of action) and one of mine died. Here's a few random photos and commentary.

Excuse the average photos, my phone is not a top of the line model!

The parties - the on on the left has a Magic user, Alchemist and a Thief. The other party on the right is more tooled up for fighting with a Cleric, 2 Fighters and 2 Archers.


The table. The objective was to enter from the right side on the road and exit on the bottom left corner, which sounds simple .....


The first time. the parties advanced and could see a number of dead bodies by the side of the road. Also quite a few angry Cultists blocked their way.


Another view of the situation, its heard to see but there are a number of Cult Warriors who are better quality foes with armour saves.


Scenario Event. The local Captain of the guard is battling a minor Demon, and the Captain is killed before the party can help


Some the characters turned around and shot at the Demon, and a mix of knifes and arrows killed it.


As the parties advance, more Cultists arrive from all directions!


Meanwhile two PCs move in contact with the Guard captain, to hear him wish his last words and pass on some valuable campaign information.


More Cultists and a couple of Imps emerge from the forest. At this point enemy reinforcements really started to come on in large numbers


As two PCs were killing a group of cultists and checking their bodies for info, a Winged lessor Demon sneaked up on them and attacked.


While one party battled the Demon, the other was dealing with a particularly tough Cult Warrior (in the middle of the PCs), while a hordes of cultists bears down on them. The parties have given up looting by now as there were too many enemy around.


The final battle. A large horde of Cultists were inbound.


I got a bit caught up in events as 2 of my PCs went down so I forgot to take more photo of the game. After a close call in which all the PCs were wounded, everyone managed to escape. One of my Archer had been taken out and was carried off, and failed their post game roll and died.

So what started out as a easy stroll through the woods turned into a blood bath!

I played the second scenario a couple of weeks ago, so I'll add a report for that soonish.

[Sunjester]

A great looking game, I'm looking forward to the next write-up.

[blacksoilbill]

That is a very nice looking game.

[Spinal Tap]

Whenever I shelve this game to play other stuff (Frostgrave, Stargrave and Zona Alfa) someone comes along with a fantastic looking board, a brilliant game and wonderful miniatures, making me want to jump right back in.

Fabulous.

We introduced a house rule of party upkeep, as we have found over time we tend to not loot or collect items, because there's not a lot to do with the SP. What this meant was that we had to provide each PC with 10SP (Silver Pieces) upkeep per game. I have 5 guys in my party and Mark has 3, so I have more hungry mouths to feed!

I think I might have to steal this concept.

[Sunjester]

We introduced a house rule of party upkeep, as we have found over time we tend to not loot or collect items, because there's not a lot to do with the SP. What this meant was that we had to provide each PC with 10SP (Silver Pieces) upkeep per game. I have 5 guys in my party and Mark has 3, so I have more hungry mouths to feed!

Buy potions, especially Healing ones, you will soon get through the cash. 

[Elk101]

Nice write up. I do like that mat.

[Argonor]

Bloody bloomin' marvellous table!

I just dived into some fantasy last week (Warlords of Erehwon) after a two-year hobby hiatus (for various reasons), but I need to get my SS&SS rules dusted off as well.

[6mmfan]

Thanks everyone. I've offline but I'll post the second campaign battle soon.

[6mmfan]

Here's our  second game of the Demons Gate Sellswords and Spellslingers campaign. Note this was posted on the Songs of Blades and Heroes Facebook group but I've added a few more comments and photos. I replaced my Archer that died and used my XP to upgrade my healers skill.

The task was pretty simple for the two parties, cross the town square and enter the Guildhall (round Mausoleum). However lots of Undead and Cultists were in the way.

I was a bit short on buildings so I had to make do with some ruins and 1/72 Italeri buildings, so the sandstone colours looked a bit weird on the cobblestone mat. I also got to use the massive Reaper bones Astrolab, which is not the most practical piece of scenery I own.






At the start. Mark has moved his party but a group of Cultists deployed on my flank, too close for comfort. Also in the distance is an armoured Cult warrior (GW knight)



Although the cultists were killed, now 2 Zombies/skeletons (we were using Skeleton stats for Zombies) have arrived!



After clearing most of the nearby foes, the parties advanced although the Rangers were lagging behind. Also in the background is a Cultist emerging from the ruined house.



Ambush. A Zombie sprung out of the fountain and attacked a PC



A bit more progress. The grey marker is a rain marker which effects bow fire.



One of the parties is fighting Cultists.



Another ambush!



And at the same time is another battle with cultists. Most of the figures are Frostgrave cultist but I converted a few Night Goblins and Bretonnian archers into cultists



The undead are starting to arrive in bigger numbers. Up to this point we had had a very good run with no Monster Frenzy cards for the first 1/3 of the game. Monster frenzy cards activate all monsters on the table.



A ghoul springs an ambush on a wounded PC.



More undead emerge from the ruins!



And on the other side a Cultist awakes



The Rangers clear the immediate enemy but took quite a few wounds for their efforts. The Guildhall is just visible in the top of the photo and the way ahead seems pretty clear....



The other party has had a tougher journey with 3 PCs getting caught in snare traps - two PCs were trapped almost at the same time (there is one in this picture with a dice to show how much damage to the trap has been done).



Eventually they progress while under a constant stream of attacks.



The rangers are near the Guildhall but are fighting 2 Armoured Cult warriors, who are very tough



The other party rushes to help



Meanwhile they have a lot of undead bearing down on them



And they continue to battle them



Here's a shot if the table with all the undead reinforcements



After killing the Cult Warriors, the Rangers decide to move backwards to kill the large horde of Zombies coming. Its a bad idea as on the the rangers gets stuck in a snare trap. The magic user desperately casts a fireball spell.



And the fireball is extremely effective, killing 11 Zombies!!!



The rangers decide not to take any more risks and make a hasty exit to the Guildhall. They have all been wounded and they can't afford to take anymore wounds.



The other party continue to battle a few undead ambushers.



Eventually they manage to slowly exit completing the scenario




This was another tough game with almost all the PCs wounded and a lot were down to their last wound. The sheer number of reinforcements that arrived really caused us problems. Luckily no one died this time and a few experience points were earned.

[robh]

Great looking game, SS&SS is a wonderful system. I have downloaded the campaign you are using but not yet had a chance to run it, it looks pretty tough.

Your use of "Mausoleum" instead of "Guildhall" in the descriptions here did confuse me though (no spoilers).

[6mmfan]

Oh your right about the Guildhall, I'll update it.

We noticed there is no XP for the scenarios so we have gone for 4XP for the first 3 scenariosand then 5XP for the last two scenarios.

[6mmfan]

Part 1  of Game 3 of the campaign

For this scenario, the parties have to cross the graveyard and enter the Mausoleum. In their way are many undead skeletons and ghouls.

The table is covered with a graveyard in the top 2/3rd, and part of the town in the lower third. There is a partially ruined fence separately the 2 areas. I didn't manage to finish all my terrain in time so the gravestone pieces and the fences are not quite done.



After the deploying, we were in action from the start, as the skeletons deployed outside the graveyard were close to our starting position.



A few fights and the odd fireball and the area outside the graveyard was mostly empty.



Inside a few ghouls entered the table



Once the Graveyard was clear, a brave (or foolish) Ranger rushed towards the Mausoleum.



However that triggered the appearance of a Wraith who came out of the door.



A couple of bad activation rolls later and the Wraith closed on the hapless Ranger. Meanwhile a group of Cultists lead by a Cult Warrior appeared on the players entry table edge, followed quickly by a horde of Skeletons.



Just to make matters worse the Minor Demon arrived as a Wandering monster along with more Ghouls.



I'll add the final part tomorrow of this game report.

[Burgundavia]

Gorgeous game. We just played through game 2 as well - forgot to take pictures, but will write it up

[Sunjester]

It's nice to see so many people playing this campaign through.

[6mmfan]

Part 2 of the game report

The situation



The other party had entered the graveyard and was now advancing cautiously and one of the Rangers rushed to help out their friend. However the fight was not going well with the ranger wounded, and then they failed a Will test against the Wraith and attempted to flee. We gave the Wraith a free hack as the Ranger fled, and he was killed.



It only got worse for the Rangers as a skeleton ambushed one of them and a monster frenzy card brought the Cultists into a threatening range.



The other party had advanced towards the Wraith and now contacted it.



And now it got worse. The minor Demon contacted the Ranger and their parry let them down and his was wounded again.



The Cultists had been picked off with bow fire, but the Cult Warrior was able to contact the Ranger's magic user who had taken a wound earlier from an ambush.



Finally the Wraith was killed and the party tried to clear the area of foes and one rushed to help the rangers. But it was too late as the Ranger battling the Demon was taken out quickly followed by the Ranger's magic user. Now the whole ranger party was out of action!



My party had a decision to make, abandon their friend and make haste for the Mausoleum, or stay and try and rescue the rangers. I choose to stay and a couple of Strong bow shots took care of the Minor Demon and the ghoul.

Other party members rushed to the edge of the graveyard and fought the Cult Warrior and undead standing over the Wizards body.



Meanwhile one of the already wounded fighters, who was battling a pair of ghouls was also out of action.

So now there were 4 PCs standing and 4 out of action!

I spread my party out and one of the fighters who was the most wounded picked up a Ranger and made for the Mausoleum

Then some luck with the dice, my Cleric who was standing next to the Ranger wizard rolled 4 activations, picked up the body and sprinted to the Mausoleum.



Next turn both these both were able to successfully enter the Mausoleum. That only left my 2 Archers and 2 out of action Rangers. Fortunately there were no enemy nearby, so they both managed to pick up a body each, and enter the Mausoleum. Game over!



That was another game that started well but it went downhill very fast. We both thought it was curtains for the Rangers and I didn’t expect to successfully rescue all of them, given how tight the game was. If I hadn’t had a couple of good activations after the Rangers had gone down it could have turned out very differently.

However after checking on the Rangers, the wizard had been too badly wounded and died, but the rest survived. 

A near run thing as they say!