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How it all began

What a night!

Our first night at the rpg table with the new group was excellent. A fantastic treat that we all very much enjoyed.

David first talked us through "rolling" characters 1st Edition style....
In this our first campaign together the GM decided as there were currently only the 3 of us that we should each roll a couple of characters. We began discussing the benefits and drawbacks to the choice of race and the 3 of us finally settled on what could be seen as a fairly stereotypical combination. I began with an elf and a human and were joined by a half elf, another Human, a Halfling and a Dwarf. So with that set we began rolling up our stats. I must have had a bit of luck on my side as I was fairly fortunate with my 5d6 and pick the 3 highest rolls. With a couple of 17's, 16's and 15's and my lowest a 10 I was very happy with the start we had made. Now David's brilliant idea that we all start as Lvl 0's and untrained in any class or skill was a surprise, but a welcome one. Besides we are all learning the ropes as it were so it gives us some time to make our minds up. The class of the character will not only depend on the players choice but also how we play them in the lead up to lvl 1 and beyond. My initial preferences based on the figures I had generated were a magic user for the human and Assassin for the Elf (but lets see how it pans out. The Assassin suggestion seemed to rile some of my fellow players but I do really quite like the idea of a darker character. My human at the DM's discretion came with the navigation skill (ties into the story) and I chose forester for the elf to match the background that accompanied him ( a shop owners son from a Forrest settlement nearby our starting location). So Jiminus Leveticus the Male Human and Kiirdur Oberon the Male Elf were created.

It was a late start to the story but at least we had gotten the messy bit out of the way.

We began in a human seaside town on the River Peer, a trading port and a rather sleepy part of the world. It was the year CA 784 and the 10th of Julima :) There was a large seasonal market in the town at the time and our characters were all there to sell their respective wares and to purchase supplies for their respective homes. With this market also came a large festival type environment, a street party if you will. In the market at the end of a long days trading crowds started to gather around 2 stalls and there was cheering. Some of our characters not to miss a trick decided to investigate what the crowds were for. There were 2 merchants in a full scale arguement... but what about? ALE of course. It appeared that they were fighting over who had the better brew. Free drink flowed for all who wished and the arguement over who's brew was better never really settled.

My human wasn't caring much for the beer or the loud noise and decided to call it a night, the other all milled around with varying states of drunken stupor. As the night went on the elf retreated to his hostel room and one after the other the human and then the elf were both ambushed. The human who was wandering back to his bed for the night was surrounded by large monstrous figures, beaten and carried off.... the elf was also beaten and carried off whilst in his slumber in bed... As the elf was startled he heard what could only be described as a full scale riot going on outside. The other players were too drunk to move and lay unconscious in the town square with no idea what was happening.... Silly drunks

The GM then awoke the characters on what seemed like a galley, we were all chained into our bunks and surrounded by other villagers.This was a living hell, we had been captured by Orc pirates and were to be sold as slaves.... several days passed of sailing and we were escorted to and from the deck to row in shifts and beaten while not on shift. He tried to converse with the crew but took a battering everytime he tried. The halfling being from a wealthy family was in a poor state and the orc's used him a joke and played with him like a doll. We were in a bad bad place and it seemed there was no way out........

From the ships movement it became apparent that we were getting out to more open waters and were now far from home and family, where were they taking us? With our poor dice rolling all we heard the crew talking about was some new 'booty' in the aft hold. After several more days of rationed food and water and this living hell there was an almighty crash... the silly buggers had gotten us into a bad storm and been run aground..... Brilliant!

We manage to free our chains and squander out of the holding room that the pirates had been keeping us in and began to explore the ship. With lots of destruction and no Orc's in sight on board we decided that we should have a quick check for supplies then get out of the ship before anyone found us. A search of the aft hold found a merchants daughter who had been assaulted and captured, some small supplies, charts and a book (that we think is special). We quizzed the maiden for some time and learnt of the lands that we had been taken to. We were far from home and whilst we did not know our exact location it was clear that we were a long way away. At that we heard some cursing from outside the ship (in orcish). We decided to send a small scouting party out to see what was going on and discovered a solitary orc drunk and pacing up and down on some beach. We needed to pacify him or we would never get out... So we armed up with several bits of wood and made a sneaky attack on the orc as he looked in the other direction. Kiirdur the elf charged at full speed and dived in a attempt to knock the large drunk beast to his feet but tragically missed and fell past the target. This left the dwarf (fighter) and the Human... They both took swipes and the dwarf got a well placed hit knocking the orc for six.... the orc stumbled back only to be struck over the back of the skull from behind by Kiirdur who critically hit and killed the orc. Now our initial plan was to beat him up, tie him up with our chains and get some answers. We ended up having to search his body and roll him in beside the fishes.... poor guy.

We gave the all clear to the rest of the party and searched for somewhere to shelter and heat up out of our wet cold clothing. We were on what seemed like a sparse island (with not much shelter). Again the horrid sound of shouting drew our attention to a ridge at the top of a nearby hill. Not only had we been kidnapped, beaten, crashed and had to kill for the first time in our lives but we were now witness to what looked like a brawl of Orcs and what the Orcs called goblins. There was a large group of Orcs and an even larger group of goblins, the orcs seemed to be guarding a wriggling body. We quickly decided that the only way for forwards and proceeded to roll a large boulder down the ridge towards these adversaries. The boulder picked up momentum and made a serious dent in the enemy numbers. The goblins fled the scene and after a poorly placed crossbow bolt the orcs were now charging towards Kiirdur. After a few missed shots, strikes and kicks we finally downed the 2 Orcs that had made the assault (but it did take us 4 rounds of combat). This left an anxious and cagey orc that fled the body that he was guarding. As we searched the bodies of the dead for weapons and armour the body that was being guarded starting making a noise and wriggling..... we helped this body up and uncovered him.

It was small male human, very deranged man who spoke lots of gibberish... he kept mentioning his masters things, his masters island and having somewhere safe to hide. With not alot of choice we followed the stranger to his "safe place"...

Great first night and good start to a campaign.

Enter the Dragon

Well I have had a couple of weeks of from work, painting and gaming as my young padawan has finally arrived. Baby Rhua was born on 20th August and arrived safe and well. Thanks to all my friends and family for all their kind words and gifts......

Now that the dust has settled and my adventure of fatherhood has begun it was time to try and get a bit better organised when it comes to gaming and hobby time. After a flurry of emails between some of my gaming fraternity we have FINALLY got an rpg night sorted. My good friend David has bitten the bullet and decided to run a game for us. I have been rather excited about the prospect of a regular gaming fix and especially an RPG night. This is also exciting by the way of I am getting to play as a player and not DMing. It has been a while since I have been able to create my own character and watch them grow and develop as a campaign progresses. Whilst I love DMing and creating adventures that I like to think challenge a group I am relishing the thought of being on the players side. This should be fun.

So after initial discussions with our GM it has come to light that we will be playing with First Edition Dungeons and Dragons. I have never actually played 1st or 2nd Edition D and D so this will be a new rule set for me. My first experiences of D and D were of v3.5 and whilst complex it was rewarding, I wonder if first will live up to expectations? The GM has issued us all out an pm on our gaming forum asking for us to pick a race from a list of all the usual suspects - Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Half Elf. In past experiences I have always favoured a dwarf and been a fairly no nonsense run in, bash things, then ask's questions later, this time I have felt like a change so I have chosen an elf. This choice was completely based on wanting a change of scenery.

It appears that the DM may well have something up his sleeve for character creation and class selection so watch this space. I will keep you posted.

So with the creative juices flowing and my mind racing about this new campaign I had a rake through some boxes of misc figs at the house and got the brushes out.

So here we are..... Kiirdur - Elf This is an old Wood Elf Eternal Guard Champion model from Games Workshop.

This is my WIP of Kiirdur with Alternative weapon.
This is an old High Elf Champion model from Games Workshop.

With our first game tonight it all systems go.

The Pledge

I like so many gamers have fallen into the loop of buying figs to paint and game with and them ending up in a drawer somewhere to be found months later and likely never painted. This has to stop.

I watched a few friends make 'the pledge' last year and surprisingly they managed to stick to it.

So my fellow gamers here we go.

'I Kevin Finlay pledge to try and paint more figures than I buy in the period from Aug 2012 to Aug 2013'. I will keep a log on the sidebar of the blog to keep track of my pledge and whether I am ahead or falling behind with my target.

P.S Needs to be at least 3 colours and based as with a tourney painting restriction.

So August....so far

Bought - Malifaux Teddy, 2 Ratcatchers
Painted - Epidemius Demon of Nurgle, 4 Plaugebearers of Nurgle, 1 Grectchin

Bought 3
Painted 6

Result!

The Friday Night Project - Before

Friday night is upon us again.

Time to get the paints out. Tonight I have set myself a small target of getting the dwarven ship from dreadfleet finished off and to get a solid start to the skin of my small group of gretchin.

As you can see I got the basecoat of the skin done the other night on the gretchin and the ship has had its first few layers.

It has been a bit of an experiment with the gretchin. Over the years of my wargaming I have never had a greenskinz army in any of the games I played.

When we started with 40k back in the late 90's Eldar was my thing, then as I progressed into WHFB Orc's and Goblins never really made it into my wanted list. This has made the skin of the gretchin a bit of a challenge and a new experience for me.

After trying out a few things I settled for the skin tone in my previous post. Its a basecoat of Knarloc Green on a black undercoat, thena Badab Black wash, then Foundry's Phlegm green and various amounts of white under I get as light as I would like.

I want these guys to look bright but not like they are on their way to creamfields!

As far as the Dreadfleet ship was concerned, I always had this in my head as a green based colour scheme so it seemed to make sense to have a go at the same time.

Pics after the session to follow ;)

Over and Out

The Blogfather

With my good lady about ready to pop any day now with my very own little wargaming apprentice, I have somewhat of an abundance of spare time this week. With nothing in the diary and nothing planned other than the arrival of our little jedi it has given me time to as I please.

This has given me the chance to get the paints out and get organised with my gaming stuff after us moving house. It has also meant that I have been able to catch up with friends blogs and with some of my old wargaming buddies. Its important just to stop every now and again and get in touch with your mates!

Now one particular old mate of mine.... Dave is really the reason I started this blog. He is a bit of a 'pro-blogger' and the sheer amount of traffic his blog gets really does put this to shame. We recently got back in touch after my 'sentence' at a northern outposts in Shetland. I cannot recommend this blog enough. Dave has a real sense of humour and Fiona often ask's why on earth am I laughing whilst reading a wargaming blog...

Now I am not going to write too much on this as I believe Dave puts it so much better than I could.
Hopefully you'll hear more of Dave and our games more in the coming months... we did make a bit of a pledge that we would try and get more games in!

Here's a link to when we recently got back in touch:

http://kingsleypark64.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/game-has-no-dice.html

and heres the main blog:

http://kingsleypark64.blogspot.co.uk/

I cannot recommend it enough.

So back to painting...

So far tonight I have managed to get a good basecoat down on my heldenhammer from some fresh motivation for dreadfleet. I have also been experimenting with skin on some gretchin that have been in my 'to do' basket for some time now. What do you think of the style I settled for? Was looking for a bit of a balance, not too bright but enough to stand out.

Dreadfleet

Yarrrgh!

It's Pirate time! My mum got me 'Dreadfleet' last xmas and whilst I had put the ship together, last night at the Kirriemuir Wargames club was the first night I had the rules out of the box.

The quality of the stuff in this game is incredible. I'm not going to be painting them to a display standard, however. It's a standalone game, for playing games with. So I'm going to paint it to a decent tabletop standard. I had managed to get the pieces that we needed undercoated before the club so we had a good start!

After some deliberation about set up and some drooling over the nice gaming mat + glossy book, we had a run through the first couple of tutorial scenarios in the rulebook.

The game flowed really well and despite GW's trademark loads of dice, the mechanics worked quite well.

So far I think Dreadfleet is a shaping up to be a good game with a simple rule set but tactical play. It's a shame that more people haven't taken to it. From this minimal amount of experience I think that the random element might be its undoing. Sometimes it feels like a ship takes tons of damage but won't sink and other times two shots are enough. Now I'm not saying this isn't totally unrealistic but random damage coupled with the Fate deck means that sometimes even though you've got the upper hand things can quickly go wrong. Perhaps this adds more balance to the game but when you're making the right choices only to lose out to bad luck it can be frustrating. Having said that it's the same in most wargames, sometimes your luck just fails you.

It has spurred my painting on, the heldenhammer is started and its basecoat is drying as i type.

back to the brushes..

Dungeon Tiles

Now whilst I already have some 90's dungeon tiles and a couple of the 4th edition d and d tile sets I was suddenly motivated to go fishing for some new dungeon scenery.

So thanks to Wizards of the coast, Mandy's printer and an afternoon laminating... voila!

I also made a rather spoovy spreadsheet (with the help of the Mr's) with a list of all the D&D miniature I own and what drawer in my new 'filing system' to find them in!

Now to get my campaign out of my head and onto paper!

Over and out!

Film's from the 80's to Inspire a Plot

Whilst trawling the internet to get some inspiration for adventures and things I came across a really good post on Fantasy Films from the 80's. At first you might think, nah these are rubbish... but i think theres a few hidden gems. Not only from a cool film point of view but also for plot hooks.

The movies on the list aren’t ranked and there is no rating. They are all worth seeing for one reason or another. Some have begun cult favourites in their own right and continue to endure as popular movies to this day. In each case I’ve provided my memories or brief thoughts about each film.  In some cases these plot hooks aren’t spectacular, but the movies listed below do represent the most basic of fantasy films.

 

Conan the Barbarian

If anyone had told you when this movie released that the star would one day be the Governor of California, you would have laughed. At the time of its release Conan was a great fantasy film that captured the imaginations of many.

Plot Hook

An evil warlord who wronged a party member long ago has resurfaced and is once again causing destruction. It is up to the party to end the reign of terror!

 

Clash of the Titans

There is a scene in this movie where the heroes are fighting a group of skeletons at the top of a cliff. The scene has stayed with me over the years as a great battle sequence full of drama. If you are looking for a film the plays up on Greek mythology Clash of the Titans has it all.

Plot Hook

Love and fate intertwine; the only way to save a romantic interest of a player is to slay a great evil.

 

The Dark Crystal

Jim Henson’s puppets are the primary draw in this whimsical tale. Regretably the plot doesn’t hold up. However, if you can suspend disbelief (it is a fantasy movie and you do play rpgs) there is certainly enough there to entertain. At the very least, it’s a break from CGI and a return to a different type of movie making.

Plot Hook

An eldritch device was damaged and broken long ago during the war of the ancients. Over time it has leaked dark magic that has deformed the world. Recently a youngster discovered the broken piece and now seeks the party’s aid to restore the item and return balance to the world.

 

Excalibur

Excalibur is the best movie ever filmed about the Arthurian legends. It explores the story fully and features high production values for its time. First Knight might have had Sean Connery, but it has nothing on Excalibur.

Plot Hook

The king requests that the party kill his bastard son, a ruthless warlord bent on conquering the kingdom. What will the party do with this new found information?

 

Labyrinth

Once again the combination of live action and Jim Henson’s puppets in this film strike a chord. Unfortunately, the plot leaves something to be desired. However, if you are looking for a fantasy movie filmed in a different way, Labyrinth may just be what you are looking for. Of course David Bowie in tights is a draw!.

Plot Hook

Goblins have been stealing children from a local village. The party must venture into their lair and rescue the children.

 

The Neverending Story

As a kid the blend of the real world and a fantastic one grabbed my attention. The theme song was grating, but the movie remains a favourite. I have after all always wanted to fly on the back of a dragon! Sadly there were two sequels to this film. I can’t say that I would recommend either.

Plot Hook

The party is resting between adventures. One night in the tavern a village elder reads an ancient story from a scroll. Unknown to all, the scroll and text are magical in nature, the events of the story begin to unfold in real life and the party must deal with the consequences.

 

Red Sonja

I remember watching this movie for two reasons. That guy from Conan was in it and Brigitte Nielsen was hot. The rest of the movie is actually rather forgettable.

Plot Hook

An artefact of great power has fallen into the hands of an evil warlord. Only the party can save the day.
~ I know it’s weak, but have you seen the movie?

 

Willow

It’s been a number of years since I last watched Willow. Some memorable quotes from Val Kilmer in the role of Madmartigan are a highlight. Epic battles, swords and sorcery what else could you want in a movie?

Plot Hook

A child of prophecy is born. Many are afraid of the threat the child represents to them and set about to kill the child before she reaches maturity. Only the party can intervene.


What is your favourite movie from this time period? Have I left a must see off the list?

The Road on the Show!

Right.... after several months on the back burner this project is back on track.

After several great sessions and a trawl through 'The Cave of the Weasel" we managed to get a group at a level with the Savage Worlds rules system. All was going rather well, Then bump...

 I believe triatheletes call it the bonk, cyclist call it the wall... we stopped.... there was a period of about 8 weeks where we just simply could not all be at the same place at the same time. The group just fizzled out. Have you encountered this problem? How did you deal with it?

So with fresh motivation and fighting spirit back where it should be, we are looking to get this show back on the road!

Tbc....