LEGO Jousting!

The miniature and I were left to our own devices a couple of weekends back while the other half had a night out with her sisters.  As well as introducing her to Star Wars (she wisely agreed that ‘Empire’ was the best, good girl!), I snuck in some gaming while she wasn’t looking. 

(I’ll confess I built the castle in my 20’s, when old enough to know better, it has a detailed interior and everything!)

For the joust I wanted to introduce a bit of decision making, so borrowed the scoring from the English Heritage jousts that we go to each year as a family, as she’s familiar with it.  We had three knights each - I was the ‘Lion shields’ and she took the Eagles.  Before each run, we chose one of the following:

• Head - 3 points; roll 1die
• Shield- 2 points; roll 2 dice
• Body - 1 point; roll 3 dice

If any dice rolled 4+ the relevant points were scored.  If we each got one success and rolled the same, it was a ‘barricade’ (crossed lances - no points, but it added some fun and flavour, and she remembered the concept from the jousts we've seen).

As you’d expect, she completely trounced my team!

The crowd were very impressed…

Archery next.  A similar system was used, but she was allowed a couple of extra dice as her character was Robin Hood in (a rather thin) disguise!

(Excuse the mess!)

Of course by the end, Robin was unmasked, and had to make a run for the forest, chased by knights - a series of events that were… less rules based, shall we say.  But a good time was had overall!

Five Leagues Turn 13 - Tower Hill

The locals were so pleased with our heroes clearing the caverns of the Taken, that they plied them with plentiful food and ale [Village Event - no need to pay for upkeep].  A passing knight joined them, and in return for pie and wine offered to help them out if the opportunity should ever arise [Village action - Interact].  Unfortunately all the ale (and the subsequent hangover) put a damper on the group's attempts to study and no new skills were gained.

Instead of the usual adventuring, the party chose to follow up on the story told by their new party member, Wynn Stone [points if you can work out why he's named that ;-)], of a camp full of the Taken in an old tower in the fells to the north.

[The party would be facing 8 Taken, including a 'Captain', Skulker and Stumbler.  The terrain was rolled up as a ruined tower, with the 3 of the Taken within it and the rest randomly scattered around.  The battle would take place in fog, reducing all shooting to no more than 9"]

The ruin of an old watchtower loomed darkly through the mists that clung to the fells, the only other shapes those of scattered, ruined and dying trees.  The fog seemed carry strange sounds, that could perhaps be chanting, or just the wind through the trees.  Clothes and bow strings were damp, as well as spirits.  Will cursed, the mist would make it difficult for the bowmen in the party, "can't see a damned thing, anything could be out there, and it'll be on us before I can get a decent shaft off".  "You might even have to fight like a real soldier" Robert retorted.  Will was about to remind the arrogant knight about saving his bacon outside Winterbourne, when an inhuman howl came from the direction of the tower, and a dark shapes stumbled from the mists at the foot of the tower...

 

 

Dastardly goings on in the tower

  

 

"are we sure we want to go up there?"

Giacomo, Thomas, Oswald and Finan contemplate the watchtower

 

 

From left to right: Jocelyn, Will, (new boy) Wynn, Gregory, Robert and Guy

 

 

"There's definitely something out there"

Robert and Giacomo both stepped up and felled one of the Taken each, while one of Jocelyn's bolts found its mark in another.

 

As more rushed out of the tower, Thomas charged another on the right, taking him down after a protracted fight. Wynn's first outing was a success, shooting one of the Taken, while Will's arrows wounded another, only to be finished off by Robert's bastard sword.

 

But our heroes did not have it all there own way, as a particularly stubborn monstrosity beat down both Oswald and Giacomo, before finally being put out of its own misery by Thomas.

 

Oswald and Giacomo fall, while Robert and Guy take on the leader

In the centre, Robert and Guy engaged the Taken's leader, who proved to be made of tougher stuff, wounding Robert and pushing the knight and his retainer back.  Another creature charged at Gregory from behind the tower, only to meet a bolt from Jocelyn and then felled by a single blow from Gregory's hammer.

Now only the Taken's leader was left standing.  As a wounded Robert prepared himself to launch into the fight again, Will took aim, drew back his bow... and placed an arrow neatly into the once human's heart.

"That's another one you owe me", smirked Will.

 

eyeing up the target.  

It's unclear who the rude gesture is aimed at though

Oswald turned out to just be knocked out and nursing a sore head.  Giacomo had fared worse, his wounds were still light, but would put him out of action for three turns.  A rummage around the tower turned up three gold marks,some tarnished silver jewellery (no doubt taken from some unfortunate) an old map of the area, and several old swords and axes.

The tidy up at the end saw Will and Jocelyn level up Luck and Agility respectively, and the whole group gain a story point.

All in all, not a bad turn.  I liked the story beats, with the idea of the looming tower in the mist; and the way that the 'dark shadows' opponent rolls have come together to tell a story of a cult turned bad, and then worse.  However the action itself was a bit routine.  The party has become quite large and powerful, and the random enemy deployment meant that it was quite easy to overwhelm them in small numbers.  I might have to 'load' some die rolls in the next couple of turns  (possibly by spending some Story Points) to make sure of getting some variety in scenarios and opposition.  That said, I think I have also been lucky in not taking more serious harm, so I may need to be careful what I wish for!

Terrible Tots

 The latest civilians to arrive are three small children from Hasslefree Miniatures.  I pondered individual basing, but in the end a single base seemed most sensible.  

Citadel Ogre - Matthog

Continuing with my Citadel Ogre obsession, here’s another one from the ‘C23’ range from the ‘80s.  This chap was advertised as ‘Matthog’, an ogre mercenary.  Whilst I like pretty much all the ogres from this period, I would say this is one of the weaker ones.  The sculpting on the creatures back in particular looks rushed and poorly defined.  There’s not much sense of any anatomy going on under the skin.  

That said, I thought he painted up pretty nicely.  I didn’t do much rust effect on the metal parts, but still tried to make it look tarnished and worn - I think it worked.  No contrast paints for the skin this time, tried it but it didn’t have the right depth of colour across such a large area of flesh.

Old Stuff

Pretty sure we all have these ones - partly done models that have sat around for ages.  I’m trying to be disciplined and finish off some half finished projects in between doing ones from scratch.

First up, a Foundry (formerly citadel I think) crossbowman.  He’s likely to do duty at some point as a forester up against Robin Hood I think.

I’m struggling with the providence of this one, I’ve had him over 30 years!  Doesn’t really fit with any particular army or game.  Painted the cloak and tabard some years back as practice for trying to paint, shade and highlight white. Thought it was about time he had a little attention.

And for my next song…

Bard from Hasslefree Miniatures, who has been sat on the partly done pile for too long because I was too scared to do the diamond pattern on the leggings.  Far from perfect, somehow both legs ended up with patches that didn’t meet up, but they’re on the inside leg and not obvious.

EDIT - the day after posting…

Well honestly.  What are the odds that the miniature decides to buy a random Lego mini figure with her pocket money today, then finds this when she opens it?

Time Gentlemen Please

More bystanders, this time from Hasslefree Miniatures - bartender and dwarf patron.

 

 

The detail on the barman's face is a little soft, which made it tricky to get a result I was happy with - I'd say I got to about 'meh', which will have to do.  The dwarf patron however is a lovely little sculpt - simple, unfussy, but lots of character in that face and sharp details like belt and boot buckles.  You just know he's going to give you his opinions on why goblins aren't like they were in his day, whether you want him to or not.