Five Leagues from the Borderlands - The Gentlemen of Much-Piddling

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Cheers, I  obviously had to look up Tafl, never heard of it in the pubs round where I live. Darts, domino's and crib are the order of the day.

I know you sling balls down alleyways in your pubs but I think that sort of game would get out of hand in a less civilised part of the country.

Oddly enough, we have been playing Pétanque recently. That game, of course, requires bigger balls!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Trouble in the Lady Garden (Part the Last)

Hugh investigates another marker, but it’s an ambush.





Hugh battles bravely, but the skeleton is too tough and Hugh is knocked to the ground, unconscious.





Bara kills the skeleton with the mighty warhammer, Forteekay. Thorvald, having pulled the iron dart from his chest, rejoins his comrades.



Ilsa disposes of a skeleton with her longbow.



The Compagnye reforms, sadly, minus Hugh. Tiffany uses her heal spell on Thorvald. Barney sees a marker and has a look. He discovers some Springwind berries, a coil of rope and a large quiver. A useful find.



Bara advances towards another marker and finds three skeletons guarding it. He strikes down the first one with a mighty blow of Forteekay, but the second skeleton dodges in under his guard and stuns him. Ilsa skewers the skeleton with an arrow from her longbow and Thorvald, with his J*ck Strap of Desire, finished the third skeleton.







The Compagnye splits again to explore two adjacent tunnels. Lew Pugh sights some skeletons ahead, are they never-ending?





Bara wounds the first one with an arrow. Lew misses with his sling and the skeletons charge. There’s only room to fight two abreast in this tunnel. Lew is wounded and stunned in the melee but manages to kill a skeleton. Bara shoots and wounds another skeleton and Lew disposes of it. The last skeleton, stunned by an arrow from Bara, charges Lew and is cut down.







Meanwhile, Ilsa has found another skeleton, looses an arrow and then charges in for the kill. This was the skeleton leader (just tougher than the others) but he went down like a sack of bones to Ilsa’s bastard sword.





Thanks the gods, that is the last skeleton, the upper level of the delve into the Lady Garden Mine has been cleared. The Compagnye reassembles to take stock. At that moment, a dazed Hugh Pugh stumbles in. It appears that in the melee where he hit the deck, his head had come into violent contact with his new shield. No permanent damage to his head, but the shield is not looking so good!



A longer game than normal, this one, with skeletons popping up all over the place. Good fun though and we need to clear the lower level of the Lady Garden Mine, yet. Who knows what horrors await us in the lower levels?

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Another relevant extract from the Annals of Ye Compagnye. The map was found folded, inside these pages.

[Doug ex-em4]

Hmm - another entertaining, if somewhat questionable, diary entry from Ilsa. Other members of the fabled Compagnye seem to have relied on their recollections being passed to their heirs and successors by word of mouth. This rich oral tradition has diverged from these diary accounts on more than one occasion. It would be a valuable contribution to the historical record if a hitherto unknown written record from another of the Compagnye members should come to light. Failing that, perhaps a descendant of one of those heroes may feel minded to commit to paper the recollections of their ancestor which have been faithfully passed on over the centuries. On the other hand, maybe these descendants just couldn’t be bothered…..

[ced1106]

> Meanwhile, Ilsa has found another skeleton, looses an arrow and then charges in for the kill. This was the skeleton leader (just tougher than the others) but he went down like a sack of bones to Ilsa’s bastard sword.

Congrats! Any thoughts on the upgraded leader models for enemies? I've been backing Bones I-IV, so have elite units (need them for Gloomhaven) but wasn't sure if I overlooked something. And are skellies harder in 5L than other games? Seems like they're going to be handful if they can fight alone against a warparty! And how did the
"hidden setup" go? Did it make skulking around avoiding the unalerted patrols harder / alert the enemies more quickly than in a regularl 5L game?

Good luck on the next level!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Great report and a wonderful board.

[Vagabond]

Thorvald, having pulled the iron dart from his chest, rejoins his comrades.

I knew an iron dart in the chest couldn't keep Thorvald down. 

Another great installment and I'm looking forward to seeing this in the flesh, well over the internet at least. You surprise me though, at the reference to Bickering Bara, he's in his garden shed when these games are taking place, on his own, who does he find to bicker with? Himself! 

Ps, I'm looking forward to hearing Ilsa's La la war cry, I  hope you have it perfected by now as she seems to spend most of the action charging into battle singing her warcry.

[Doug ex-em4]

I knew an iron dart in the chest couldn't keep Thorvald down. 

It bounced off his eau de toilette bottle.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

It would be a valuable contribution to the historical record if a hitherto unknown written record from another of the Compagnye members should come to light. Failing that, perhaps a descendant of one of those heroes may feel minded to commit to paper the recollections of their ancestor which have been faithfully passed on over the centuries.

Really looking forward to seeing this posted here!

And are skellies harder in 5L than other games? Seems like they're going to be handful if they can fight alone against a warparty!

They normally have a toughness of 4, so pretty tough. The problem we had, was that more and more of them, kept appearing.

Did it make skulking around avoiding the unalerted patrols harder / alert the enemies more quickly than in a regularl 5L game?

It did make it harder initially, but I think the difficult part was that range was restricted to 8". Our tactic in open terrain was to start shooting at long range. You can't do that in a delve.

I'm looking forward to hearing Ilsa's La la war cry, I  hope you have it perfected by now as she seems to spend most of the action charging into battle singing her warcry.

I will be using the war cry at our next face-to-face game. In the meantime, this clip should keep you going.



I've just painted up some ghoulies, might come in useful in a game.

[Doug ex-em4]

Martin - I love your ghoulies……

Doug

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Martin - I love your ghoulies……

Doug

Steady the Buffs!   

In this Compagnye Annals extract, we find that Lew Pugh is to be promoted to hero.



The Compagnye stopped at the entrance to the mine, to ensure we had an iconograph of Lew in his newly-issued hero gear.

[Doug ex-em4]

A splendid ditty from Thorvald although its origin is completely beyond our ken - maybe he heard it in days of yore whilst sailing round the horn?

Doug

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

round the horn?

Sharp as a tack!      

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

The Compagnye returns to the Lady Garden Mine. This time, a lower level and who knows what they might meet?





Thorvald, Hugh and Bara are the first to encounter a foe…and it’s rats! We hate rats!



Hugh misses whilst Bara wounds a rat. The rats charge.



One party is top, left of centre. The other party is bottom right.



A fierce melee ensues. Thorvald and his rat are both forced backwards, Hugh backs off from his rat and Bara kills his first one.



The rats disposed of, the party advance into the depths of the gloomy mine.



Finding a manhole cover, they decide to see what lies beneath. Let’s hope this is a wise decision.



Meanwhile, the other party continues to explore the dank lower levels.





Amidst the tenebrious dark, Hugh finds a trapdoor above their heads and pushes up into…the secret treasure chamber.



We used one of our Story Points here. This explained the discovery of the secret chamber and we decided it meant one roll on the Loot Table. We found an improved bastard sword, which turned out to be balanced, a useful find.



The other party passed close by but unaware of the important find.



Ilsa pressed on ahead, finding a marker. This turned out to be a stink-pot, causing an environmental hazard. Ilsa’s sense of smell might never be the same after setting off this trap.



Tiffany leads the party underground into the noxious deep and reemerges (like some French farce) into the same location as the other party. They compare notes and find they have cleared the lower level in record time.





Time to return to Toastrack Manor, in time for tea and stickies. But as they emerge from the crepuscular atramentousness of the mine, they encounter a young boy. Who is this mysterious stranger?



A short game this time, after we made three Exploration Markers and found a rather nice sword.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]