Ghost Archipelago: Swampland

"You have to watch your footing in this swamp. That goes without saying all over the Archipelago - but especially in this part! That area is called the Grabbing Bog for a reason. There was a temple there once, a big one, home of some weather wizards. Called down lightning, used the power for all kinds of things in that temple. 

No one knows have or when the temple was destroyed, but the Dricheans don't go there anymore. It's the lightning you see, that power. It's been doing something to all them sailor corpses in the area - they're living dead. Lurking there, under the shallow waters, grabbing at anything alive - or just wandering around the flooded temple grounds. 

You Sirs are great big fools to go there. Sure there's treasure! Lots of it! ... But at what cost? Those corpses will bits right through a wet leather boot like it was butter..."

Swampland
For our third game of Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago our crews are going into the swamplands. The last game we played were on an island, so we skipped the suggested setup and went with a lot of rivers instead.

We setup a lot of temple ruins around the battlefield as well and our Ulterior Motives turned out to play right into the story. The Swampland scenario see a lot of zombies wandering around the board. At the same time my opponent had an Ulterior Motive that would summon even more zombies and give extra XP for killing them.

My Ulterior Motive was about a pillar calling down lightning at random on the battle field. So that's how the story of an ancient temple, where lightning reanimate the corpses came from.

Being the third game in the campaign, I had already made a trip back to the mainland. Selling all my loot an bringing onboard some great reinforcements. A bosun and topman instead of some regular crew. Two hunters to battle all the dangerous fauna of the jungle. Lastly a swordmaster to bodyguard my Heritor - Hector Fernandez Rodriques Gonzales.

My opponent having saved his cash, was a specialist down from the previous game - so I figured this would be a cake walk.

Setup

Both the crew were going to start in small boats for this scenario. A quick and effective way to get into the center of the board fast, secure those treasures and get out of the swamp.

My crew went first and wasted no time in moving up a stream and disembarking right away. The sailors in the first boat quickly split up, moving onto two different islands to grab some treasure.

The bosun and swordmaster moving towards a treasure. My Heritor is staying in cover of a ruin. He's not as fast being covered in heavy plate mail.

The last member from the first ship. He's counting as a regular crew member, but in my mind this is actually the captain of the ship. My Heritor is a fighter, a leader of men in combat, not a sailor.

The enemy always using a small boat to get into the center of the board fast. The heritor and a men-at-arms bodyguard. This boat also brought an archer with them and the Heritor is carrying a crossbow. That's why my own Heritor is staying in cover of the ruins.

Another part of my opponents crew, taking another route into the swamps hunting for treasure.

This is what my crew is after, harvesting the power of the Arcane Pillar calling down lightning. My Heritor and Warden will get some great XP if they can get close to the pillar, without getting hit by lightning.

Another part of the temple is an old sacrificial pit - probably filled with snakes as well! This is part of the set of Ulterior Motive objectives I've build for the game.

Safely in cover in the shrub, protected by deep water in the river, this archer would spend the entire game shooting arrows at my crew - not being able to get across to her - constantly having more pressing concerns.

A swamp zombie emerges from the water, close to the lightning pillar that's the cause of the reanimations.

An ability of my Heritor is wraith walk, the strongest of the abilities he's inherited from his forefathers. Phasing out of the material plane and into the spirit realm he can easily cross the dangerous waters. And with a swing of his mighty two-handed sword decapitates the swamp zombie. Close the the goal and the lightning pillar in the second turn of the game.

The swordmaster and bosun securing the first treasure for the crew, the enemy archer mentioned earlier is just across the river, behind the visible tree.

Quick on his feet the newly hired topman sprints past the ship captain an engages another swamp zombies.

The ancient temple is filled with treasures left by the Dricheans when the disaster struck and ruined the entire complex.

Having taken their time, staying in cover and taken a few shots. Now the enemy heritor and the men-at-arms are prepared to pick up some treasure for themselves. There's some zombies close by.

The enemy beast warden summons a random monster to the battlefield and with great success. A dangerous tiger enters the swamp. Now the enemy gets to place the model on the board - and with so many ruins it was no problem placing it fairly close to me and covered from line of sight. A great opponent, sitting in the best route out of from the swamp.

My heritor and warden were greedy, was hoping to get near the lighting pillar quickly and the return to complete saftety. But I completely miscalculated how fast my opponent could be. Winning the initiative, sailing close to me by the river and disembarking straight into combat.

Suddenly my warden is attacked by two crew members and a savage is quickly closing in.

While there's a lot of combat and getting into position for it at the center of the board. Over on the right side of the battlefield then enemy beast warden is sneaking through the jungle - slowly getting closer to an arcane disc. Somehow it's tied to the zombies being raised in the swamp and there's good XP for the warden - if she can figure it out.

In the swamp, any wandering monster coming from picking up a treasure is another swamp zombie - very fitting for the story. And a zombie burst from the shallow muddy water and attacks the men-at-arms protecting an archer.

The battle at the lightning pillar is brutal. And in the battle it's completely random who'll get struck by lightning every turn. An enemy crew member is taken out with a zap and my warden has a slightly better chance of survival. Meanwhile my heritor have engaged the savage in a duel.

Near the arcane circle my topman is closing in on a treasure, but is facing both enemy crew and summoned venomous flies - super nasty critter. Finding yourself with only a single activation point is devastating for a model

Roughly half of each crew is tied in combat and only a few members are free to pick up uncontested treasures. An enemy crewman use the fact that zombies are slow and stupid to his advantage, climbing some temple ruins to safely pic up a treasure.

My bosun and swordmaster have picked up some treasure and in an attempt to keep them safe, my Savage attacks the tiger. He could use himself a new cloak and gets ready to bring it down along with a swamp zombies.

But things turn bad for the savage and he's ripped apart by the angry beast!

A crew member of mine have spend a long time crossing the river near the lightning pillar. Despite being unarmored and lightly armed he kept failing his swim roll, he even took a lot of damage doing so. Picking up the central treasure, he hops to make it back to a boat and safety.

I have no crew members left to sail to his aid, everybody is tied down in combat  ... fighting for survival really. The crewman never makes it to the boat, he drowns in the swamp. I figure zombie hands grab him from below an pull him under - not sailor would naturally have that hard a time crossing some water.

Back at the arcane circle both my topman and the ships captain have been brought down by enemy crew and the summoned flies. Desperate to get some treasure, to make up for my losses, my hunter moves in. But even he fails to take down the enemies and they secure the treasure themselves.

Meanwhile the enemy beast warden have made it to the arcane circle, scoring a load of extra XP, but summoning even more swamp zombies to the battlefield. The place is getting crowded - and my troops are falling.

Hungry with growing power, the beast warden of my enemy have gotten important knowledge and strength from the arcane disc.

My warden was tied up in combat for most of the game, from a mistake on my part early on. At one point he did however manage to summon a crocodile to the swamp - a big one. Also getting in close to the enemy, hidden in a ruin.

My heritor didn't fair well - and the enemy savage turns out more powerful than my own. He brings down my heritor Hector Fernandez and jumps straight at my wounded warden.

The battle is a massacre. All of my crew, except a single hunter, is brought down by the deadly swamp. Frenzied tigers, venomous flies, swamp zombies, enemy crew - all but one falls in their quest for treasure and power.

The lone survivor, spending his last turn to run away from the tiger, already smeared in the blood of my savage. ... a poor end to the game.

Aftermath

That was a bloodbath! The bloodiest. ... One of the games where everything went bad for my crew. Not everybody will make it in the Ghost Archipelago and this is a story like this.

While my opponent got out with all the treasures and a maximum of XP on both his heritor and warden - my crew was broken.

My heritor died from his wounds. So did my savage. My crew having only a few gold coins, must use everything they have and sell every item to get back to the mainland. Other specialist are missing the next game from their injuries. ... they'll make their way to a tavern and hope a heritor will join them. 

At least it's a perfect change to paint up a new model and I already have one in mind. And any time spend gaming with friends, even the everything turn bad in the game, is a good time for me.

It turned out to be an amazing story, entering the Grabbing Bog despite being warned - and end exactly like the stories said it would. With death...

Video: 1000 pts Oathmark orcs and goblins

 While doing a stream on the Oathmark - Battlesworn book, I also filmed my orc and goblin army. I spend a few minutes showing off the units and talking about them. I also go over in which way I plan to expand the army. 

A quick little video, I'm very happy with the current state of the army. 

Remember you can check out all my Oathmark stuff in more detail here.

TNT: Hunt for the Dungerdon part 2

This is the second game in a small mini campaign of This Is Not A Test. 

You can read the first battle report here. In which the caravanner gang of Mama Stirling takes on a family of mutant cannibals. Mama Stirling has gotten a lot of clues and found the lair of the huge Dungerdon. 

In this battle the caravanners have come to take down the beast and try an recover a lot of loot from it (the Dungerdon will eat, but not digest, anything). But the crew has been followed by the Peacekeepers of the Common Order. They two have been hunting the Dungerdon - but unlike the greedy caravanners, they will not keep (all) the rescued loot for themselves. 

For this setup we decided to move from the desert border town into the real desert. Lots of cliffs in the area, some old trash. This is the Dungerdons lair. And as seen on the setup shot here, the beast is freaking huge!

This is the prize, this is what the teams are after (mostly its loot filled poop though) - but there's gonna be some good experience and caps in bringing down the monster itself.

The entire fire base of my warband setup close. All waiting to use the motivator skill of the leader, get those 2 action points, stay hidden behind the cliff (to not let the caravanners shoot at me) and start blasting the Dungerdon to meat pieces. 

Seeing as there's always new criminals (we make the law!), there's always new sacrificial lambs for the team. You get them back for free if they die. So the plan was simple. Use a single prisoner at a time, to tie up the Dungerdon in melee, while blasting it with all the other guys!

Those huge behemoth class monsters, can do a lot of damage. And this big but could vomit large blasts of half digested food at our guys and hit multiple enemies in close combat. So the tactic was to fan out the troopers, to avoid this, while staying hidden from the enemy team.

The caravanners had a lot of luck in their hunt for clues to the Dungerdon lair. Finding both a depend-o-bot and extra plasma weaponry for the team - so they were all ready for the hunt. Having spread out more evenly across the board, they start making the way towards the target.

We used small chits, to determine random actions for the behemoth. And from the start, with lots of hit points, it has a lot of actions. The big monster crashed right ahead, stomping stuff under foot and got straight into combat with one of my sacrificial lambs. 

By the start of this scenario, there's already some look on the board. Trashed, semi digested loot that has been a trip through a dungerdon. The caravanners didn't setup all members for a fight with the monster, but set people forth for looting an attacking the peace keepers in the rear.  

Being fairly safe, the caravanners where able to start blasting plasma bolts at the dungerdon, that was already occupied trying to eat and stump my guys. 

An experienced hunter, having gotten a few kills against the Wastebog Family, a caravanner sniper takes up a secure position. She'll be able to take shots at the monster and my troops equally. 

Choosing to let cover be cover Mama Stirling and the mutant envoy most into the open, the dungerdon is tied up in combat, but there's loot to be gained in the open. 

My peace keeper leader is armed with a laser carbine and he's getting support by an officer with a shotgun, they move forward staying in cover, also trying to gain some look.

A sacrificial lamb moving into combat with the behemoth. Plan is to fight, perhaps die, then blow them up and hopefully wounding the behemoth some more. It's a huge beast with tough skin and lots of armor. It's taking a lot of shots (even plasma) and simply shaking it off. It's damn hard to wound this monster.

As part of the scenario rules, the behemoth might drop even more loot during the game, all manner of stuff. Since the monster is closest to me, it's not that hard to move some troops around it and gather up these supplies for some easy and sage victory points and caps.

My guys were in combat with the behemoth for most of the game and I've never rolled more lucky for defense in my life. The behemoth simply couldn't crush my guys, despite attacking all of them each single turn. They didn't cause any wounds in return, but nevermind that. The behemoth was slowly wounded by incoming fire and the ground troopers stood their ground. 

While all my attention is on the dungerdon fight, three sneaky caravanners are getting close to my lines, taking some loot on the way. 

While moving forward, they are sticking close to the rocks and staying out of lines of fire.

After a ton of turns, we finally manage to take down the behemoth. You'll get victory points for wounding the beast, and some extra for taking it down. There's no doubt that the caravanners plasma has given it a lot of damage - but in the end the peace keepers manage to bring it down. As my guys have stayed close to the edge of the board, all warband members carrying loot quickly escape the area. 

Now, my sniper outrider has not done a lot this game. He's been hugging cover and takin pot shots at the enemy. But one of my prisoners manage to take down the big mutant envoy and a bit of revenge is in order. So running up close and personal a caravanners empties his hand guns into the outrider, taking him out.

The sacrificial lamb who had the strength to take down a mutant, he does not do as well against the depend-o-bot, but he does prevent it from taking some of the loot.

The game ends with a bang, as with the last shots fired takes out a prisoner and he explodes out in the desert. The battle is over, the dungerdon has been slain.

As the smell of burning plasma fried fur and meat fill the desert air, the winners of this encounter is clear. The common order peace keepers managed to secure far mor treasure than the caravanners, so despite doing roughly equal wound to the behemoth, they win. 

It wasn't a bad game for the caravanners. The didn't take any bad hits or losses during the game. The just didn't get rich. 

The peace keepers on the other hand get a decent amount of caps from the encounter - enough to hire on a new officer for the team. But the outrider is badly wounded and will have to sit out the next mission for the warband.