To Seek the Grail: A Pathfinder Quest

These are the true and just writings of Alton Goodbarrel halfling extraordinaire and really sneaky Guy.

10/1212
It was just after dawn when Aramil of Hornwood, and I sailed into Bright-talon. The morning was filled with a mist and light rain that gently soaked our gear. We knew we had a long walk ahead of us, so bid our captain farewell. After a quick bite at the tavern, we headed west through the Silver Moon woods to meet the rest of our party at River Run.

Our day's travel was easy and we arrived in River Run before dark. Aramil is a quite jovial wizard, especially for a half-elf. We were glad there were no troubles through silver Moon woods.

At the tavern we found Sir Ferrik, a beast of a Paladin who radiates holiness, and Ollum Hammersong, Mace of Smiting in hand, waiting for us. Aramil has known both of them longer than I have, but they are beginning to grow on me. After our last couple of adventures I've come to like Ollum and the way he constantly plucks the strings of his lute and sings his dirges. He's also the best dwarf cleric I've ever met.

Ferrick actually troubles me deeply. I find that I have a hard time with my language around him. I also feel bad picking pockets when he's nearby. It's those stern looks that he gives me. But I also wouldn't go into any dungeon without him. He has a magical lion shield that bites people.

After catching up with the two of them. We retired for the night and hoped that Shamysh would get there early enough for following day for us to make plans.

12/1212
Well it took an extra day, but he arrived. Shamysh always gives me the creeps. Those clawed feet and the beak, still can't get used to traveling with a tengu. And those beady eyes, like they were staring right through you. He says as a ranger it really gives him keen eyesight. I still think he's creepy. Also have to remember to stand back when he's swinging that battle ax, he sometimes gets carried away. 

In the meantime, we've heard a lot of talk from the locals about some trouble that could be happening at Greencrest. We had planned on heading north to the mountains to try to track down some old monk near the peaks of Sunfield. Anyway, from what we gather, there haven't been any deliveries for the last week from Greencrest. Nobody else seems to want to go see what could be wrong. Apparently, there would be at least three or four deliveries of goods from Greencrest every week. 

I've talked to the village elders myself, and it seems possible there might be some type of reward. If we could go figure out what's happening for them. They won't commit to anything specific. Shamysh feels that the road to Greencrest would be a much easier trip for all of us rather than traipsing through rivers, streams, woods and mountains to get to Sunfield. His screeching laugh is also creepy.

13/1212

Well it looks like we're headed to Greencrest. I've secured a small fee for our troubles. And they assure us that the elders in Greencrest and the Earl of the Manor would probably be very generous if we were to help them with any troubles. Aramil seems to remember a story of some type of magical item that peasants take pilgrimages to Greencrest to see. Sounds promising.

14/1212
Camped on the edge of the Silver Moon woods last night. Really nice trees. Should reach Greencrest by this evening. I sure hope the ale is good there. 

14.6/1212
Great Gorum! What a night. So much for ale. A mile or so outside of town, we could see wisps of smoke. Fires must have been burning for a while. When we got to the outskirts of town we could see the devastation. Once we crossed the bridge into town, we were immediately attacked by a band of hyena like dog people. Shamysh called them kholo, Ferrik called them gnolls. I just call him ugly. 

We killed all but one of them, who ran and locked himself into the town's Tower. We left Ollum keeping an eye on him well we examined the rest of the town.

Every building was burned out and every corpse we found was pretty similar. We did manage to find
villager with a bit of life left in him. Thanks to Ollum and Sir Ferrik they got him conscious. He describes some terrors and a billowy floating creature. I don't know that I want to meet that. But he did also inform us that there was a magical relic at The Manor House. Unfortunately, the house was burned out. I was able to locate a secret compartment that had a very intricate mechanism, the kind that I would only pay for if I had something very valuable.

While we were at the manor house, Ollum Saw the last Kholo run from the tower and head west out of town. The tower is still intact, but filled with dead militia and another creature that does not appear to be human. So we will bar the door and try to get some rest. No ale anywhere 

15/1212
Shamysh told us on the third watch he saw the shape of a horse and rider head out of town, also in the general direction of west. 

Guess where we are going. Did I already mention that We'll be traveling along the marshes of dread.

16/1212
Camped beside the road near a stream for the night. Lots of strange noises. Glad we didn't get to meet whatever was making them. Should make it to the town of Brightrest before the end of the day.

16.7/1212

Made it! Guards were surprised to see anybody coming from Greencrest. There hasn't been anyone visiting Brightrest from that direction. Filled the guards in on the devastation. We'll be meeting with the town elder tomorrow morning. Tavern is comfortable, pheasant was overcooked, meade mediocre

17/1212
Met with Rymond Sunsera, village elder and floppy hat wearer. He's going to organize a relief/scouting expedition to Greencrest. He was very helpful with all our questions and knew of a tower or keep type ruin in the woods North West of town. Said it wasn't as far as the mountains and is a couple days march. He also sent for a guide who has actually seen the place. Woodsman dwarf known as Olaf Greybeard. Rymond also verified the existence of a holy relic that used to reside at the Earl's Mansion back in Bright rest. If it were to be found, he believes one of the main temples in Galmoth would pay handsomely for its return.

17.2/1212
Met Olaf. He doesn't sound like he wants to visit the place. He saw an ethereal black billowy thing float from tower to tower, no bridge. Just floated across. Could be what the villager saw. After questioning other townsfolk, seems like everybody knows someone that went to find this place and never returned. We'll stock up on provisions and yep you guessed it go where no one comes back from. 

18/1212
We have joined an entourage of town guard and what appears to be a cleric from town. They have a wagon loaded with provisions and other helpful items for whatever they might find in Greencrest. We'll travel with them until Olaf takes us off into the woods.

18.6/1212
Set up camp for the night. We'll be setting off on a trail through the woods in the morning.

19/1212
Well, can't say I never saw a skeleton riding a skeletal horse again. What a nightmare. Fortunately, Ferrik and Shamysh were able to dispatch him. Ollum got a few hits on him and Aramil’s magic missles hit too.

Olaf tells us we should try and get a good night's rest. We will need it tomorrow.

20/1212
Overlooking the valley. There is a very ominous looking tower structure down there, two side towers and several other buildings scattered about. All the buildings are in a state of disrepair. We will have to plan our steps carefully. Olaf is going to wait back at our previous campsite. Hopefully I'll get to write more later. 

21/1212
That was a wild ride. We all made it, thanks to my skillful location of enemies! Once in the valley, we approached cautiously. As we maneuvered, we were set upon by creatures known as ghouls. I've never seen a dead thing. Move so fast. Sir Ferrik was able to bless them into oblivion! And Aramil use a good bit of fire and magic missiles to keep them at Bay. Most of them attacked us with claws and Jaws. There were several used wicked looking two-handed swords. These seemed a little bit tougher. I was able to sneak around behind them and locate several additional ghouls the guys to take care of.

Once the ghouls were cleared out, I was able to locate several skeleton archers in the towers. They were a little tougher to deal with. Sir Ferrik and Shamysh were able to bless some arrows, and set about finding good spots to shoot back. I led Aramil and Ollum up around one of the side towers where we thought we saw an entrance. we did find the entrance. It just happened to be guarded by two armored skeletons. My blade seemed ineffectual.

Ollum's Mace on the other hand, did a fine job at knocking their blocks off. Aramil was able to lend a hand with a few more magic missiles. It was touch and go so I snuck around the other side of the Tower and climbed up to the second floor. By the time I got back down inside, Shamysh and Sir Ferrik had gotten there and helped Ollum finish them off.

After searching the area, we moved up two floors and found the bridge leading to the main tower. We carefully approached what used to be the entrance on the other side. I was able to sneak in to scout the area out. Nothing else seemed to be moving. Ollum had noticed that the stonework appeared to be Master craftsmanship, better than even some dwarves could do. It does lead us to wonder who could have created this place and worse than that who could have destroyed it?

We worked our way down to the main floor. There we found a hatch into a lower level. It was pretty dark but all he could see writing on the floor below with torch in hand. We dropped down and found magical inscriptions scrawled up on the floor. Aramil did that magic stuff that he does and before we knew it there was a glowing ring where a secret stone in the floor was located with the help of Shamysh's adamantium battle ax, we were able to pry it open. 

It was a tight spiral staircase leading down. And it was dark. Nice to know that Ollum can see in the dark! He was able to scout and let us know that there was an empty chamber at the bottom with doors leading out in opposite directions. Aramil was able to conjure up a flame that he put on the end of his staff. This was able to light the way for the rest of us. 

What was actually at the bottom was a main chamber with a series of rooms to the right and left. Some with locked doors, some with hidden doors and several sarcophagi. It felt like the kind of place you would expect to find more dead things. We started with the rooms to our right.

At a dead end, Ollum noticed stonework with an indentation. And it just so happens that I had located a key and a small pool of water in the corner of a nondescript room. Turns out the indentation was a keyhole. Inside the secret chamber we found a pedestal containing a small chest. Once I cleared it for traps, we were able to pry it open and found several items of value, including an amulet and a ring.

After heading back to the main chamber, we moved in the opposite direction and found a similar setup of rooms but this time there were sarcophagi. We left the first one be so we wouldn't make noise in removing the stone lid. Especially when Sir Ferrik and Ollum both detected evil emanating from the hallway to our left. Down the hallway to our right, at the end of the series of rooms, there was a large double door. Sir Ferrik and Shamysh were able to muscle it open where we discovered another sarcophagus. We decided to try to open this one and attracted the attention of two large cave trolls. Fortunately, the first one was almost wounded by the time the second one arrived. It was a team effort to finally slay them. Once dispatched, we were able to get the sarcophagus open and found the remains of a knight. Ollum stood on the edge of the sarcophagus, mace in hand, in case the thing might become animated. We carefully extracted anything of value and stowed it amongst our gear.

Finally, we were back at the other sarcophagus and decided to try “quietly” removing the stone lid. Didn’t work. Sir Ferrick raised the alarm as a floating billowy black form advanced down the hallway towards us. Never met a wraith before and I never want to meet one again! It was a hard fight, a hit paralyzed Ollum and Shamysh was knocked out of his wits. On the other hand, Aramil’s magic struck home and Sir Ferrick’s aura seemed to protect him and his attacks were devastating. It died at his sword stroke and it’s departing shriek will chill my bones for days.

Sir Ferrick and Ollum used their healing magic on all of us. After feeling better we did find a couple objects of value in the sarcophagus. We then cautiously moved down the hall from where the wraith came. We discovered it’s lair with a few items of interest but still had not found the missing relic. In the ante chamber Ollum, thanks to his keen site of stonework, noticed another “indentation” in the wall. Sure enough the key I still had opened a second hidden chamber!

There it was, a dais on which sat an ornate box. Unfortunately, there was no apparent way to open it. No lock and no hinges. Using my expert analysis, I was able to find the opening mechanism and also a poison trap, which I disarmed. When the lid popped open, we found the Holy Relic, some jewels and a decent amount of coinage. Aramil encouraged us to vacate the premises.

24/1212
We found our way back to camp and reconnected there with Olaf. He was relieved to see us. We rested for an entire day and then headed back to town. We were warmly welcomed and given a celebratory feast. It was kind of just a small meal. Anyway, Rymond was in awe of our success and gave Ollum the name of a Senior Cleric in Galmoth who would “reward” us for the return of their holy relic. Aramil knows a shop there that can help us identify some of the magical items we cannot figure out.

All the posh folk took up a collection in thanks of ridding the town of such a terrible place. All in all we had a great adventure, our names are getting around and at Galmoth, who knows what could happen!

 

Warhammer 40K Alternatives by Victoria Miniatures

If you are on the lookout for some alternatives to Games Workshop Warhammer 40k miniatures, Check out Victoria Miniatures. They offer some fantastic vehicles which we'll focus on here, but they also have a nice line of figures. Here's the Matilda Fury Assault Tank!

For those who play Bolt Action or other World War Two games, this is a nice hybrid of historic and futuristic! Most of the Victoria products are are sculpted by Victoria Lamb, the owner, and cast in fine resin. Jake Schneider does the designing and sculpting of hardware, weapons and the vehicles. All of the kits are 28mm Heroic scale so will blend well with any Warhammer 40K armies.

The Matilda Fury kit includes 4 turret cannon options: Gatling Cannon, Plasma Cannon, Laser Cannon and the Bombard. Also 2 hull gun options included: Laser Cannon and Heavy Bolter.

The Matilda Boss Battle Tank has the distinct early war style riveted turret and armour plates.

The Boss kit includes 4 turret cannon options: Tank Slayer Cannon, Battle Cannon, Nuclear Fire Cannon and Twin Auto Cannon. Also 2 hull gun options included: Laser Cannon and Heavy Bolter.

The Matilda tanks have insets to accept magnets 1/4 inch diameter x 1/32 inch thick. Two can be used for the turret mount and four can be used for each of the removable sponson side panels.

There is a Matilda tank swappable sponson Panel set available separately.

It includes left and right interchangeable sponsons with Plasma Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Heavy Bolter and Fusion Cannon options. An extra Turret Cannon set is also available separately.

If these two beasts weren't enough for you, the Kangaroo APC is now available!

It's a highly detailed alternative transport option for you troops. So check out Victoria Miniatures regiments of the Galaxies Finest figures!!

Have A Great Battle!
The Old Crow

Build A Dragon Rampant Halfling Army Quick and Cheap!

Let's build a Halfling army for Dragon Rampant on the cheap! We are always looking for inexpensive ways to field an army on any war game table and Dragon Rampant is a grand game for doing that! We'll show you how to get a halfling army on the table for as little as 46 USD.

Wargames Atlantic has put out a Halfling Militia box set that contains 40, yes we said 40, of the brave folk of the Shire for only 34.95 plus shipping. With it as our starting point we will put together a 24 point Dragon Rampant army. This hard plastic box set allows you to build Halfling Militiamen equipped with bow, sling, halberd, or pike and with options for full command.

In Dragon Rampant a unit of 12 infantry is standard. The box set gives you eight sprues with 5 figures each, 15 different heads and all the equipment seen here.

Let's start with a unit of archers or Light Missile troops for some ranged attacks. You can build up to 16 but only need to field 12. The Robin Hood cap and bare head options would do well on these chaps. We will add the Sharpshooter special rule to give them a better chance of hitting on their rolls.

Next is a core of Heavy Foot. These guys don't attack strong but will give you a solid defensive unit to stay stuck in! There are enough options to build plenty of pike, spear and halberd wielding halflings and we only need 12 for our army so have plenty to spare. For our army we'll use the spear halberds for our heavies! Getting two on each sprue will make us the quantity we need for our unit. Sticking with the kettle hat, or brimmed helmet, will add consistency to the unit

Next we will take a unit of Bellicose Foot which will pack a punch on the attack but are considered to have no armor so defense is low. We'll use the sword and spear options and use the various skull cap helmets. That will give you the third infantry squad for your army

With the remaining four models we'd make a command unit with our general, musician, standard bearer and a hero. These will be a reduced model unit of Elite Foot We'll use the sugar loaf helmets on three of them and the crested helm for our general. You could mix and match anything you really wanted for this unit.

Lastly we'll add some additional muscle in the form of a Lesser War Beast. Northstar Military Figures Rangers of Shadows Deep line has a sweet Ogre for around 10.00. "While not inherently evil, they have a tendency towards violence and cruelty which makes them extremely susceptible to the corrupting influence of the Shadow Deep." For our purposes we can use the old lion and the mouse fable and assume a nice hobbit pulled a large splinter from his foot and now he works with the halflings.

There are a lot of other variations you could use like making 6 slingers to use as a unit of Scouts. Another would be to pick up a special general figure like this halfling hero on his pony, with three accompanying halflings from Copplestone Castings for around 11.00.

Warlord Games now offers halfling cavalry in the form of goat riders and heavy pig riders! You can get  5 goat riders for 28.00 and a command unit for about 25.00.

Options are only limited by what you can find out there on the internet.
So get building something!!

Have a Great Battle!!
The Old Crow

Dragon Rampant Fantasy War Gaming from Osprey Publishing

Over the holidays and into the new year we discovered Dragon Rampant, the wonderfully simple fantasy war game from Osprey Publishing!

After the last few years of Bolt Action it was grand breaking out the old fantasy figures and putting them into action. The beauty of the game, created by Daniel Mersey, is the fact you can use virtually any fantasy figure you have or like! His previous game Lion Rampant is the historical equivalent of the same game. The Command and Control aspect is where the game differs from others.

It's not as simple as you move, enemy moves, you move, etc..  You begin by giving a command to one unit and if it passes, then you go to another unit and test. If it passes your turn continues, but the first time you miss a command test, then your turn is over. You can have a turn where you move every unit in your army just as easily as failing your first test and ending your turn that fast.

Armies are made up of an average of 5-8 units with anywhere from 1-12 figures. A basic infantry unit has 12 figures and a basic cavalry unit has 6.

Here we have a 24 point army with 12 Heavy Foot, 6 Heavy Riders, Heavy Missiles, 12 Belicos Foot and the army general is an Elite Rider with the Flying Special Rule

If you like Orcs and Goblins, they are just as easy to build a 24 pt army. The spider riders are Light Riders, the wolf riders act as Heavy Riders, The general is a single model that stands as a unit of Elite Riders so he will have the same number of wounds as a six model count unit. On the right is a 12 orc unit of Belicose Foot which act like beserkers with high offence and low defense. And a six model count Heavy Foot unit. Heavy Foot normally have 12 models so can take 12 wounds. Each wound removes one model. With a reduced model count unit of 6, each model can take 2 wounds before being removed.

Here a heavy hitting Lizardman army, also 24 points, has a Greater War Beast, two units of  Belicose Foot, and a reduced model count Heavy Foot unit consisting of only 3 models. Because it is still a 12 wound unit, each model can take 4 wounds before being removed. The general is acting as a unit of Elite Foot

The army builds are evenly balanced so every army has an even chance. The rule book gives you an Overview, Understanding the basics,
Playing the game section, How to build your Army list, basic Strategies and tactics, Sample armies, 6 easy Scenarios and lastly a Campaigns section.

Yes that is an undead T-Rex.

Here the orc Belicose Foot charge into a Greater Warbeast as the Heavy Foot move in for the kill.

You can build an army using any figures YOU like!! So go wild with it and try out as many options as you like. The one army here has A Greater War Beast with the fly rule, 2 giants are Lesser War Beasts and the Chariots are Heavy Riders with the chariot special rule!



So break out those fantasy figures and Have A Great Battle!!
The Old Crow

4Ground European Windmill for Bolt Action

Have a look at this fabulous 4Ground kit, the European Windmill! Windmills played a part in the Second World War, particularly in the Netherlands, as shelter for refugees as well as look-out posts for the Wermacht. Here a group of British Commandos aided by a Daimler MK1 armoured car use the windmill as a base of operations to launch their attack.

Some Resistance groups used the sails to send signals to warn the locals of impending Nazi raids and some were used by the Allied forces as radio outposts.

This is another great kit from 4Ground and probably the trickiest to build so far. Fortunately the full color step by step instructions help a lot. Refer to them often during the building process.

This multi-level kit can be used for snipers or spotters during your Bolt Action battles.

The roof cap can be spun around the building...

and does lift off.

The sails are mounted and spin on a magnet too.

It's a grand unique piece for any table top battleground!!

Have a Great Battle!!
The Old Crow