Sellswords and Spellslingers - Close Quarter Battles campaign - 12/12 The Finale

[6mmfan]

Our intrepid PCs continue on in their campaign and in this scenario they are performing some Bounty hunting. The party has to track down and capture the notorious outlaw Bolden Dirs, who is hiding out somewhere in Skrendal woods. The party must search 4 points of interest to discover where Bolden is hiding.



After the monsters were placed, the PCs deployed in the middle of a random table edge, which put them pretty close to 2 Beastmen brutes!



In the first turn a scenario event card was turned over and a horde of wild animals arrived near the PCs.



Another failed activation and a Horde activation cards appeared, and the wild animals stampeded the fighter knocking him over and wounding him.



While the fighter recovered and drank a healing potion, Corax the archer shot the nearest beastmen brute causing a wound.



The fighter then charged and killed the Beastmen brute



Then some of poor rounds of activation by the archer, turned over a couple of monster frenzy cards, and the hordes of gnolls moved closer.



Then the archer flipped a "things could get worse card" and a clingy kid who obviously had been hiding in the bushes appeared, attaching himself to Corax. The meant the archer was now -2 on all combat rolls for the rest of the game!

The party had barely moved away from the baseline line when they were attacked after a Monster frenzy card was turned over.



To make matters worse, a wandering horde of Thugs arrived on the flank of the party, who were still both engaged in combat.



And then another activation failure turned over another wandering monster card, and a large bear appeared and lumbered towards the PCs!



As this was going on, the party was slowly hacking their way through the foes in front of them. Corax had switched to a sword and killed a couple of Gnolls, and the fighter wounded the Beastmen brute.



With still quite a lot of foes on the table, it is a hard days work for the PCs.



The fighter killed the last brute and with some good dice charged the thugs and using his whirlwind of steel ability, he cut down two thugs.



Meanwhile Corax killed the remaining Gnoll, but triggered a trap, and he was -4 to all activation rolls for the next two turns. So while he stood around, the fighter charged the horde of bows who had started shooting at him and had managed to inflict a wound.



He dispatched the Gnolls rather quickly but that brought him to the attention of the bear. The archer had shot the bear inflicting a wound, and now the fighter was in combat with the bear.



Although the brave fighter wounded the bear twice, the bear crushed the poor fighter who was out of the game! This freed up the archer to shot at the Bear, and he rolled a 20 on the D20, killing the bear!



Corax checked on the fighter and realised he had merely been knocked out but was unharmed. The fighter fully recovered and was helped by the archers level 3 healing ability and a splash of water. Finally the PCs were making progress and all the foes on the table had been killed. They still had to find Bolden Dirs, so they set about searching the clues.

While searching one of the first clues, the noise attracted the attention of a nearby group of Gnolls, who appeared. Fortunately some great shooting mowed them down before they could contact the archer.



The PCs continued to search and eventually they discovered the location of the Outlaw. But he was protected by a horde of Gnolls and quite far away from the PCs.

Then the foes moved with the Outlaw trying to escape while the Gnolls split into 2 groups and charged towards the PCs.



Corax managed to avoid the Gnolls and contacted the Outlaw but his attempts to grab the Outlaw failed and he evaded, moving closer to the edge. The fighter chopped down two Gnolls but another failed activation meant that Bolden Dirs escaped. Game over!



The party had failed in their mission to capture Bolden Dirs, but they are still able to carry on with the campaign. There are 3 games left in the campaign and the scenarios are getting harder so hopefully the party can make it.

It was another finely balanced scenario where the party just managed to survive to the end, and there were some unique rules to make it even more interesting.

 

[6mmfan]

The campaign is getting to the business end of it and we have started the final 3 games (hopefully)!

This scenario is called "A City on fire". The party of adventurers have to make their way through the chaos which is ensuring, to help regain control and rescue the Governor. For this scenario they have to cross the bridge and kill the Saamu Gladiators guarding it.




Table setup and foes. There are a couple of groups of raging mobs urged on by some Cult worshippers and other scattered thugs. The PCs start in the bottom edge and had to individually roll to where they would start from. Of course our 2 characters started in opposite corners.



The first activation failure of the game was lucky and an Event card was turned over. This brought on a Tower guard Sergeant and his Adjacent, who would help the PCs.



They activated shortly afterwards and attacked the Cult worshipper. But they were distracted but the power emulating form the strange amulet worn by the cultist, and instead attacked each other! The adjacent managed to inflict a wound on the Sergeant!



While this was going on the fighter Eric had moved around the edge of the table and through the entrance at the Tavern. His thoughts of slipping inside for a quick pint were dashed when a Monster frenzy card was flipped, and now he had a raging mob and a cultist getting very close. The Archer Corax also had a mob more up dangerously close.

Then a monster activation card was flipped and a mob member detached from the horde and attacked Eric.



The Archer advanced cautiously, waiting for the fighter on the other side of the table to take care of the foes he was fighting, but the fighter was taking his time with some poor combat dice. A nearby mob was getting close to the archer but he had discovered a stash near the building and fond a Buckler of Deflection.

While the PCs were not doing much, the town guard who had recovered from the effects of the amulet, exacted their revenge on the Cult worshipper, who was also loaded.



However the Town guard with their adrenaline racing from killing the cultist, rushed towards the raging mob and engaged. The archer finally found his aim and shot down 2 charging mob.



A "Things could get worse" card was flipped and a barrel of booze was broken and the strong vapours. The Guardsmen and a mob member moved off in a random direction.



After recovering from the effects the Town guard led the charge towards the bridge. They assaulting the raging mob member while the Saamu Gladiators had advanced off the bridge after a few monster frenzy cards were turned over.



Back by the tavern, Eric's drinking plans were not looking good. He had killed the raging mob and took a wound, but now he was facing the much tougher Cult Worshipper.



The town guard’s enthusiasm was short lived as the Adjacent fell to the rather large axe of a Saamu Gladiator, while the Sergeant was fighting another mob member. The archer was able to shoot a Saamu gladiator and kill it to help out the remaining guardsmen.



The fighter started rolling well and killed the Cultist along with an ambusher and then he looted the cultist.



Surprisingly we had not had a Wandering monster card yet (and there had been quite a lot of activation failures so far), but now we did and 2 rabid stray dogs arrived.




The town guard sergeant continued to impress and next he killed a Saamu gladiator.



But just as the sergeant was looking invincible, he was attacked by the stray dogs and was mauled to death, which was a tragic ending to a fantastic effort.



The archer shot the 2 dogs and suddenly the table was clear of foes except for the last Saamu gladiator! Eric charged gladiator, not even pausing to heal himself or catch his breath.



The archer decided to join the fight but was held up by an ambusher who appeared.



As the archer moved up slower than he would have liked, Eric struck the gladiator inflicting a wound.



And in a final heroic action, Eric the fighter swung his sword in a mighty action, cleaving the head of the gladiator! The way had been cleared across the bridge.



Wow what a game and it probably the best of the campaign so far. With the town guard arriving early it really helped and we worked out they killed almost 1/3 of the foes, so it was a huge help. There were many great moments in the game with mostly highs, but it was sad that the town guard did not survive although it didn’t effect the storyline.

[Sunjester]

A great story! We had a similar experience when we played this scenario, the guardsman turning up early were a great help and slaughtered a lot of foes, before falling valiantly to overwhelming odds.

[6mmfan]

The second to last game in the campaign was Act 4 Part Two - Into the walls of the citadel. The PCs have been instructed to enter the Barracks inside the citadel and find the Governor who is being held by inside the barracks building.

The foes are deployed randomly apart from the archers on the walls and a Street Lieutenant defending the door to the Barracks building








The PCs hatch a plan which involves the Archer Corax shooting the nearby Nobleman Merlow while the fighter takes care of the horde of street thugs. After rolling 3 activations the fighter Eric charges towards the thugs. He manages to cut a few down aided by his whirlwind of steel trait, but a horde of dogs decides to join the party.

Meanwhile Corax shots at the Nobleman are in vain and miss.



Then some wandering monsters arrive, with 2 Gladiators appearing. Their loyalty to the Merlow is uncertain and they end up joining the party as PCs, which is great news.



However it is not going well for Corax, who fails to hit the Nobleman, and is charged when a Monster frenzy card is turned over. The Nobleman is a very powerful fighter and each hit does 2 HP of damage, and Corax is one hit away from being taken out.



In his next turn he disengages from combat and the Gladiator get 3 activations and charge the Nobleman. Eric also joins the fight, and takes a swing but misses and is wounded. He rolls so badly on his shield rolls that the lovely new Buckler of Deflection is broken!



Corax drinks a potion of healing ans switches to his sword and joins the fight. Eric manages a mighty swing and does 2 HP of damage on the Nobelman, but the Nobleman attacks both Gladiators, killing them. Everyone is now one hit away from dying.!



In a game of highs and lows Eric rolls a terrible combat die followed by a equally terrible armour save, and loses his last wound and is taken out.



Now Corax is left to complete the scenario on his own, but his is also defeated by the Nobleman Merlow and is killed too!



Defeat and both PCs are rolling on the Out of Action table. Both PCs are killed and new ones so we have to create new ones to continue the campaign!

The game seemed to be going well but the Nobleman was a very good fighter, but the PCs are more fragile against opponents who cause higher damage. After creating new characters we tried this scenario again and I'll post a report of that son.

[Burgundavia]

Ouch. Suspect the city might be lost at this point

[6mmfan]

Yeah it was going very well until it wasn't! We'll try this scenario again with new characters.

[Sunjester]

We were lucky with Merlow. He appeared some distance away from us and after we had started releasing the prisoners. We were able to weaken him with a couple of arrows before Heimir got into melee with him, so he cut him down although he was wounded himself in the process. To be fair Heimir went into this scenario on a Sword 5 skill, so he is a killing machine now.

[6mmfan]

After our last failure we recruited a couple of new members for the party to replace the dead PCs. I hadnt brought anymore figures while Mark switched to a Dwarf.

We setup the scenario again and randomly deployed the foes. The deployment was a bit kinder this time and we weren't starting  near Merlow!



In the first round we fired some arrows at Merlow and managed to wound him.



Next a "things could get worse" card was turned over and a random catapult shoot landed nearby and struck an unlucky (for him) street thug who was on the ramparts, killing him.

 

Meanwhile the horde of thugs moved closer and we poured arrow into them, killing a couple of them. Around this time an Event card was draw and the roof of the barracks was set on fire. There was a 5 card deck, with a card getting discarded each time we failed our activation. When the deck ran out the Barracks and the inhabitants inside would be destroyed.



So Eric, son of Eric, made a mad dash to the barracks, which was guarded by a Street Lieutenant.



The archer shoot down another street thug rolling minimal activation dice (one) to avoid too many failures.



Eric killed the Street Lieutenant, suffering 1 wound for his troubles, but by now we had a couple activation card failures, so it was getting tense.



But before Eric II could get to the door an ambush was sprung and another street thug appeared.



Eric killed the street thug but was shot by an archer after another failed activation, and was wounded again



Then Eric reached the door and rolling 3 activation dice to bash down the door, but got 2 failures and the roof collapsed, killing the unfortunate prisoners inside!



Game over!

Although the PCs survived however they did not complete the mission. The campaign book is not clear on whether or not we continue or perhaps we play it again.

It was a another good game which we seemed to have under control until a couple rouns of poor activation dice.

[Burgundavia]

I need to look again, but the way I read the scenarios, I feel like if you fail, you fail and the city is lost. Would be good to have a followup scenario book to save the city after it has been lost.

[6mmfan]

Yeah some scenarios mention what happens when you fail, but I couldn't see anything for this. Thematically it would seem that you have lost the campaign 

I've asked on the Sellswords FB group so we'll see.

[Sunjester]

I read it that if you fail the last scenario the city is lost. The aim is to save the Governor and she wasn't in the barracks. You also penalised yourselves, once the barracks are set alight you get 5 cards PER PC, not 5 cards on total before the roof collapses.

[6mmfan]

Its taken a while but our party has reached the finale of the Close Quarter Battles campaign and they are playing Act 4 part 3 - The Master of Burnt Souls

The scenario takes place in the courtyard of the palace, in the city of Lurkana. The goal is to save the Governor and kill the High Priest, but time is limited and a card deck of 30 cards represents the timer. Each time a PC fails an activation a card is flipped over, and if it is a court card one of the prisoners walks into the flames and perishes. In the last third of the deck is the Joker, and when that is drawn the Governor walks into the flames.



The flaming pit or more of a door into the abyss!


The foes are a mix of Cultists, Raging mobs and some Town guard who are under the spell of the High priest. To help the PCs out the White Dagger company has provided 3 rookies.



The first turn didn’t go well with 3 failures for 1 PC and 2 failures for the other, so we had flipped 5 out of 30 cards already! There was a monster frenzy and horde activations and we managed to kill a couple of foes. The second turn was mildly better but one of the white daggers was killed by an ambusher.



Next there was an Event card and a screaming women hostage appeared being dragged by 2 thugs. Unfortunately the random deployment placed her right next to the fire pit!



Then a horde of raging mob appeared to join in the scrap.



However the party was doing well and had now advanced to contact more foes with the White dagger rookies leading the way. The Dwarf fighter killed one Cultist and then another. A White Dagger rookie was killed by a Town guardsmen, but the remaining White dagger member killed both Townguards in revenge. The Archer continued to pick off raging mobs from a safe distance.



A failed activation turned over a Monster frenzy card and everyone activated and the helpless female victim was thrown into the fire.



Although the party had flipped a lot of cards their luck held with no further victims thrown onto the fire. It was still looking good as most of the foes on table had been killed and the way looked clear to the High Priest.



The Dwarvish fighter headed towards the last horde of raging mob while White Dagger rookie attacked a Cultist, who had been wounded by the archer.



But the Dwarf fumbled his axe while fighting a mob and dropped it.

Next 2 Vampire halfbreeds arrived, drawn by the smell of fresh blood while on the other side of the table the Archer killed another Cultist.



Up until now our luck had held, but 2 failed activations and two court cards were turned over, and two prisoners walked into the fire and died.



The dwarf was having hard time killing the raging mob and ambushers and meanwhile the White Dagger rookie attacked a cultist who had arrived on table.  However after killing the cultist the rookie was struck by a flaming skull fired by the High priest and died.



At this point of card pile was getting very thin and the next card was a joker, and the Governor died in the flames! Although the PCs were in good health they had failed too many activations and they also spent too much time mopping up foes.



Although the pressure was off, there were more reinforcements arriving so the Dwarf rushed towards the High Priest. The archer shot the priest but his armour saved him, however his Shield of fervour aura was triggered.



The dwarf contacted the high priest who was still protected with an aura so he was unable to wound the priest and archer shots from Lorax missed too.

In the next turn the Dwarf struck a power blow and dealt 2 damage but the Priest still stood. The archer (who had fire into melee) also missed with an aimed shot!



The combat continued and the dwarf missed and his armour saved him, but the archer was able to let loose an aimed shot, killing the High priest!



Game over. Because the Governor was killed it was not a complete victory

And that was the end to a wonderful campaign, which was thoroughly enjoyable. The Close Quarters books really showed what can be done with the Sellswords and Spellslingers rules. There is a lot of potential but it does take some work to bring the most of the rules, and they are more of a tool kit to build games from, rather than a complete game like Close Quarter Battles.

[Burgundavia]

Down goes the Governor. Lovely game and scenery. Are you planning on playing anything more with these characters?

[Spinal Tap]

Fantastic AAR, really pulls the reader into the story.

[pauld]

Great stuff and you have a fantastic collection of minis and terrain.  Pure eye candy

I have both S and S and CQB.   I really must get a game in.   

Looks fun and exciting and the unpredictability will be perfect for solo (which is the only way I can play nowadays).