Sunday 7 July 2024

Five Leagues From the Borderlands (part 7) – Delve Aftermath

So, I ended my last (5 leagues) post when I finished the first level of the delve/dungeon (as it was already a long post, and I didn’t want to make it even longer). However, that meant that I didn’t complete the resolution stage – so that’s how I’ll start things off here:

 

(TURN 2) RESOLUTION STAGE:

XP was awarded, and Muzlug’s fate was rolled (I originally got a ‘serious injury’ for him – but decided to use a dose of silvertree leaf to re-roll – resulting in a damaged weapon instead).

Because I achieved the objective, I think I also get to roll on the loot table.

And because I (technically) held the field, I assume I roll on the unusual finds table too.

And to finish things off, I also rolled on the ‘news travels’ table (which indicated that I needed to add a hidden monster lair to the map).

 

TOTAL LOOT FROM THE MISSION:

Mountain’ Bane (weapon) – goes to Muzlug

Camp Gear – goes in backpack

Jars of spices (2 gold) – goes in backpack

Talisman – goes to Golb

Mystical Ring – goes to Lagashi

Icon – goes to Lagashi

 

And since this would be a rather short post if I left it at that, I’m also going to get started on...

 

CAMPAIGN TURN 3

Camp Events: Good location (+2 to ‘hunting expedition’ or ‘forage for herbs’ rolls).

Hard Times: 2 upkeep.

Activities: Live off the land (to offset upkeep cost) & Hunting Expedition (I obtain 2 rations).

Research: Gain a contract (offered by townsfolk to negotiate a deal – they will pay 2 gold). To complete this I will need to visit the Loot Exchange, the ‘Uruk Hold, and the Orc Outpost, and succeed an 8+ speech test in at least two of them. I also need to do it within 5 turns.

As such I decide to return to the orc outpost (which requires a travel roll) – and meet a friendly peasant on the way (i.e. I get to add a ‘friend’).

News Travels: The rangers (orc trackers in my case) have been scouting the area. Add 2 AP

* * *

MY INTERPRETATION OF ALL OF THE ABOVE:

Things weren’t looking good for Muzlug… his black blood was already pooling about him by the time the last of the giant rats had been dealt with.

Now, normally, this wouldn’t have troubled Lagashi much – but this new orc that had appeared on the scene… this Pushdug fellow – she did not like the look of him at all. So, even though she cared little for Muzlug, she at least knew where she stood with the great uruk – so she poured some of the orcish liquor down his throat, and hoped it wouldn’t be too late to save him.

Luckily it was not – but in his fall, Muzlug had managed to break the haft of his great spear. And so, upon regaining his feet (and despite feeling a little groggy still), he snatched the dwarven hammer from Golb’s belt, and claimed it for his own.

The group then took some time to give the place a thorough search, and skinned and roasted several of the dead rats that they had left in their wake (as Snagluk convinced them that they’d make ‘good eatin’). They even had several left over.

After their meal (and once the loot was ‘fairly’ distributed), the matter of Pushdug’s sudden appearance was brought into question…

He was known to Muzlug – and he had apparently been here since the battle in the Dimrill Dale (being part of the host that had taken the first hall). However, most of his own lads had been killed by the filthy longbeards in that conflict… and so when he thought he saw Muzlug back in camp, he followed the group here, to see if it was indeed his former comrade… and if so, to see if he could join the warband.

This seemed good enough for Muzlug – but Lagashi still had her suspicions… though the new arrival also brought news of a troll lair nearby… and informed them that Grob (the orc chieftain) had put a hefty price on it’s head (though not for it’s slaughter – the goal was to subdue it, and bring it back alive).

* * *

On their way back to the outpost, they bumped into a scraggly snaga named Bagna – a snivelling wretch that fawned upon the group, and followed them back ‘home.’

* * *

Back in camp, things had started to heat up. A couple of scouting parties had reported dwarven activity on the level above, and a heavily armed patrol had been sent out… but was yet to return.

It was also apparent that, despite initial appearances, communications between the disparate orc groups that were occupying these halls was in danger of breaking down. Furthermore, the rearming of troops wasn’t as speedy as it might be… and some of the (false) rumours running through the camp (such as the Uruk Hold falling into dwarf hands) were becoming troublesome to say the least.

As such, Muzlug and Lagashi thought it might be worthwhile bringing some of this up with Grob (assuming they could gain an audience) – and seeing if they could convince him to send them out to re-establish connections, and put some of the rumours to rest.

* * *

OTHER NOTES AND FILES:

Since I started blogging about my 5 leagues games, I’ve been asked (in a few different places) about the tokens and exploration markers that I’ve been using (and if I’d be willing to share them).

Now, the crates themselves are just a slight modification of some of the stuff that’s already appeared on my Youtube channel… here’s a snippet from one of my videos where I show how they are assembled...

...but other stuff (like the unknown enemy tokens) are kinda specific to the game itself.

So, I’ve been in touch with Ivan (from Nordic Weasel) – just to make sure he has no objections to me sharing a pdf file that contains all of these tokens… and he’s kindly agreed – so I have uploaded them to google drive HERE.

 
(the 2D tokens have just been glued to thick card)

So, here’s hoping you can put them to use!

(note that I’m still pretty new to the game, so if there is anything else that I need to add, or something that I’ve missed – feel free to let me know)

Tuesday 2 July 2024

Miniatures Painted This Year (June)

So, in last month’s round-up I mentioned some cheap 1:72 scale trolls that I had bought… i.e. these ones here:

And I have to say that, while I really like the sculpts (and their size)… they were a bit of a pain to work with.

 
(scale comparison with some Reaper orcs)

The mould lines were terrible, and they are made of the kind of cheap plastic that is pretty much impossible to clean up. I almost ruined a couple of them trying… and had to do a weapon swap to make one good model out of two of them (though I had trouble getting the glue and greenstuff to stick).

So, in the end I just painted them as they were… and so long as you don’t look too hard (and ignore the mould lines), they look pretty good I think. Though I do wish I had gone with a slightly greyer blue for their scales, but on the whole, I’m happy I bought them (as I was having some serious doubts at the beginning).

Similarly, last month I also mentioned doing a little painting video with these guys (a kind of beginners guide to painting your first mini’s):


 However, it didn’t really come out very well… so it ended up being a big waste of time. I guess I’ll leave the mini painting videos to the experts :)

So while I did get them painted, they ended up being stripped – so I can’t really count them towards my ‘finished’ totals.

* * *

Mini’s Bought

It’s been another month of buying more than I’ve painted I’m afraid (the very thing I was trying to avoid this year)… and that started off with this Arbite guy (essentially 40k police)… which I have assembled at least:

And the plan for this model is to paint him with white armour so that he can lead the ‘penal legion’ troops that I started painting a while back (for OPR firefight).

And then there were all of these WW2 models (all from Wargames Atlantic)…

 

The first are German sentries (6 infantry and 2 dogs), the second are (another 6) British commando/SAS types, and the third and fourth are (a total of 12) BEF models.

So, including the dogs and the 40k model, that’s another 27 miniatures to add to my pile of shame.

And if I add the 3 trolls to my ‘done’ list, that brings the grand total for the first half of this year to:

78 PAINTED

66 BOUGHT

So, I’m still ‘in credit’ (so to speak)… but it seems that I’ve already started to slide back into my old ways :O