Warhammer World Invasion: April 2013

It took a while to get there but for me, the 2013 season is now on! Last week at Warhammer World I finally got to play some full games of the new edition of Warhammer 40K. It was an Invasion event that runs there from time to time, particularly in the school holidays, and it being a doubles event I partnered up with Dave and took the Iron Scars clan to their inaugral tournament. Here's how it all went down:

Because I wanted to use a new army for this, I designed a new Chaos Space Marine army around a god that is used far too little - Slaanesh. Granted, they lack the brutality of Khorne, or the reslience of Nurgle, but having cut my teeth on Dark Eldar way back when I first started the hobby, I am very well aware of how useful that extra initiative can be. Here's my army list:

	Components	Points	Total Points	Total Army
HQ	Chaos Lord	65	120	600
	Jump Pack	15
	Lightning Claw (2)	30
	Mark of Slaanesh	10
Troops	Chaos Space Marines (6)	88	161
	Lightning Claw (2)	30
	Close Combat Weapon (5)	10
	Plasma Gun	15
	Veterans of the Long War (6)	6
	Mark of Slaanesh	12
	Chaos Space Marines (6)	88	155
	Lightning Claw (2)	30
	Close Combat Weapon (5)	10
	Plasma Gun	15
	Mark of Slaanesh	12
Fast Attack	Raptors (6)	112	164
	Meltagun (2)	20
	Plasma Pistol	15
	Melta Bombs	5
	Mark of Slaanesh (6)	12

Quite a lot going on there for a small army. What was supposed to happen was the Raptors deep-strike onto the battlefield either straight away or 1 turn in, use their Melta guns to destroy either the vehicles or whatever the enemy had sunk the most points on, and harrass the rest of the army until the end of the game, contesting objectives if at all possible. The rest of the force would support them by holding our objectives, firing plasma shots at hard targets, and in the case of the Chaos Space Marine Lord, jumping into any combat that needed supporting. Dave had taken a swarm of 75 Orks lead by a Big Mek, going on the assumption that whatever damage they took, there'd still be plenty more where they came from. We entered battle with all this in mind, and campaigned to aid the Dudley store in their victory...

A quick note about the games, as there were elements common to all of them:

• The games were all supposed to be Doubles games, with 600pts per player, using the standard force organisation chart. Now, the chart can be applied somewhat loosely in small-point games, but in this case the rules stood firm to stop people taking dirty, cheesey armies to what was supposed to be a friendly tournament.
• The games we played were all fast, dirty and scrappy, and with just the right balance between competitiveness and friendlyness; we couldn't have asked for a better set of opponents.
• Regular games of 40K can last for up to 7 turns, and more commonly 5, but because of the limited time constraints, none of our games lasted longer than 3 turns each.

Round One: Chaos/Orks vs Grey Knights/Blood Angels

When we found ourselves up against Grey Knights and Blood Angels, including some Death Company, I was convinced we were going do die a quick and horrible death. The scenario was Big Guns Never Tire (Objectives (in our case 4) with Heavy Support counting as scoring units as well as granting victory points) with Hammer and Anvil deployment, so we had a long way to go before we got into any kind of fighting. The Grey Knights, funnily enough, had a pinkish tint to them, their commander Ben attributing this to the time they spend fighting Slaanesh, and I was eager to continue the Rivalry!

They hadn't counted on the Raptors, and it was a good day for their Champion as he dispatched a Blood Angels Assualt Sergeant in Black Rage and a Grey Knight Justicar in single combat; not always a wise move to make but a necessary one since Chaos Champions have no choice in the matter. This cost our enemies the game, since the rest of the combat has no effect on the participants of the challenge, so by the end of the 3rd turn their objective was still contested as the Champion was still alive where his comrades had fallen. Elsewhere, the other objectives remained bitterly contested as the remaining forces of the Space Marines arrived via Deep Strike, but it was not enough firepower to move either the Orks or the Chaos Marines from their objectives. In the end, Dave and I won on Secondary victory points, and while it was not the decisive win we would have chosen, it was enough to get the day off to a promising start.

Final Score: Chaos/Orks win 2-0.

Round Two: Chaos/Orks vs Necrons/Tryanids

This was a battle we were dreading. The only thing worse than an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object is having to take on a combined strength of an unstoppable force (the Tryanids) AND an immovable object (the Necrons.) To make matters worse, we'd landed a 6-objective Scouring scenario (Objectives, with Fast Attack counting as scoring units and awarding victory points) and the 1 specialised unit that we had was Fast Attack (the Raptors.) This wasn't going to change my game plan, but we'd have to watch our step carefully...

Losing the first turn to a seize of initiative cost us dearly, as we found several large blast templates on top of us courtesy of the Necrons which wiped out a significant number of the Orks before we'd even got started. My Chaos Marines made an immediate grab for 2 of the objectives while we concentrated fire on the Gargoyles. We wiped the unit out, denying the enemy a fast scoring unit and earning us a couple of victory points.

Notwithstanding the arrival of the Raptors, it then became a war of attrition, which with so many guns supporting an onslaught of Tyranids was always going to be a struggle to win. However the balance of power literally came down to the last 10 minutes of the game where 1 of 3 things had to happen in order to win:

1. The skeletal wreck of one of my units of Chaos Marines needed to score a high enough Run roll to get to the objective on the left hand side of our deployment zone,
2. The Orks holding one of our objectives needed to pass a leadership test forced by the presence and attacks of a Zonathrope,
3. The Raptors needed to defeat a squad of 6 Necrons in close combat and force them to flee from the objective they were holding.

Sadly, none of these things happened, and Dave and I lost that battle right at the end.

Result: Necrons/Tryanids win 7-5.

Round Three: Chaos/Orks vs Dark Angels/Space Wolves

While we'd never be so arrogant as to suggest we had this one in the bag, we did approach this particular battle with a certain amount of confidence. I had the firepower to take out heavily armoured units, and Dave had the numbers to overwhelm them. So much so that, even with Vanguard deployment (imprecise and hard to strategise,) Emperor's Will objectives (1 objective each) and staring 2 Vindicators in the face right at the start of the game, we were confident that we'd do a good job with this one.

We could not have been more wrong. Due to some appalling deployment on my part, 1 of my squads of Chaos Marines was left out in the open and was shot to pieces in the first turn, giving our enemies first blood. My Chaos Lord was not long in following. Dave had mercifully granted Outflank to his leader during the Warlord Traits stage, and he seized the opportunity to wreak havoc on the left flank of the Space Marine forces, with it must be said some success. We also put up a fierce defence of our own objective. The Raptors arrived behind enemy lines as planned, but were rattled firstly by the squad of Space Wolves in a Razorback, and secondly by the Vindicator they were desperately trying to destroy blowing up in their face and wiping out the entire squad. Both sides managed to hold on to their objectives at the end of the game, but the secondary victory points meant that the Space Marines managed to win the day quite comfortably.

Result: Dark Angels/Space Wolves win 7-3.

Final Result

Well, even if there was more than 1 position of Store Champion, we were never going to get it with only 1 win out of 3, so well done to Chris and Mason for their well-deserved victories!

However, after a gruelling and even battle, the Dudley store eventually won. It was level-pegging up until the last 5 games, which swung it in Dudley's favour, so well done to those guys for covering the tracks of those who didn't do so well!

What have I learned?

Because it wouldn't be proper to write all this without taking something from it...

Given that it was the first time either me or Dave had played a full game of 6th edition 40K, we were caught out by the rules changes a surprisingly small number of times. There were occassions where we made some tactically poor decisions that we could learn from, so here's a few things that had a significant impact on what was eventually decided, and how we can learn from it:

1. Objectives give you points, Secondary Victory Points win games. What you have to do in order to collect these secondary points (be the first player/team to wipe out 1 unit, kill the enemy commander and finish the game with models in the enemy deployment zone) appear to favour aggressive tactics, and while my Raptors were conducive to this, the other squads weren't doing much more than hold on to the objectives. That's fine; everything was useful to one degree or another. Just keep in mind that the game now seems to favour agression. Use it!
2. It didn't always help but the Mark of Slaanesh was a real bonus against the Grey Knights and Blood Angels. The higher initiative gives you an edge; a way to tip the balance against two fundamentaly similar stat lines. Space Marine Armies are never going to be large, which means losing even 1 of them will hurt. If they're lost before they've even had a chance to fight back, it's worth the extra couple of points that the higher initiative will give you. You won't necessarily hit very hard - giving a Power Fist or such like to a model with the Mark of Slaanesh is meaningless - but power weapons and lightning claws should work well enough for most situations. Build on it!
3. One thing I didn't realise about my Raptors is that they cause Fear. While this doesn't cripple you in quite the same way that it does in Warhammer Fantasy, it can still be effective in reducing the weapon skill of your opponent. Given the opponents we faced, it would only really have helped in the Tyranids/Necrons battle, but it's worth remembering for the future, I think.
4. The next stage for the army is to add some more Raptors, which will come as no surprise given how much I've been banging on about them throughout this blog. I discussed my 'Tank Hunter' tactic above; it worked, but not well. I simply couldn't bring enough firepower to one squad to do enough damage to a vehicle to take it out in one turn. The solution? Another squad of Raptors. Arming them in the same way will double the firepower I can bring, and if one of them gets a mishap during Deep Strike, at least my tactic isn't totally lost. I'll also be taking their Melta Bombs away, as their firepower makes it less than necessary, and also I'm taking Veterans of the Long War away from the Chaos Space Marine squads. It's a useful rule against Space Marines, and brings your leadership up to 9/10, but it didn't make much difference in practice. I'm not saying they'll never have it again, but I want to see how the new Raptors work out first...

So, there you have it! My first few games of 2013. Looking forward to seeing how the next ones go!

How I feel about Games Workshop

Ladies and Gentlemen it has been a while, but I am back with another running commentary about games, gaming and people who game. Now, since a lot of the inspiration for this entire blog comes from the negative attitude towards Games Workshop, I thought I would make my own contribution to it. Let us be clear though: This is not a rant. I know I sit on the fence a lot with this kind of thing, and usually I'm not willing to make a decision one way or the other, but actually this is more of a 'hit-back' at those who have nothing better to do than to rant at GW. Still interested? Read on...

So what triggered this? Not for the first time it was actually a Facebook conversation that started all this off. The original comment was posted by a former staffer Ben, wondering out loud whether to sell all his GW hobby because "GW doesn't want me to use it anyway!" This comment later turned out to be to do with their pricing, which to be fair gets ridiculously higher on a yearly basis. After which we had the usual bombardment of agreement from bitter veterans, talking up Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux or whatever. One person in particular, who I won't name since I don't, as far as I know, know the guy in person, was having a fine old time talking about how GW don't care that 90% of people don't like the price increases or the imbalance in the rules, prefering to focus instead on the people who want to buy the lastest new shiny things and divorced parents trying to buy their child's love who make up the remaining 10%. I wasn't sure where he'd got these figures from, but it did make me wonder when was the last time he actually went into a Games Workshop store and found out what goes on down there. I was also amused to see some comments from my former manager Andy, talking up 40K as opposed to the other games in a way that to anybody else might seem formulaic. Having worked for him for year and a half, it was not hard to picture him saying all of those things in the 'dismissive of all non-GW products' manner that I'd come to expect from him, and in spite of everything else I actually allowed myself a little smile at this.

My conribution to all of this was as follows:

"Well here's an argument I never get tired of! It's really not such a big deal; I don't necessarily like some of the things that GW do but since I can always find enough that I do like to keep me engaged, I don't take every possible opportunity to snarl at them either..."

And when Ben realised he'd basically started an argument, he gave his clarified views about the current edition of the games and assured us all that he wanted no one to fall out over it. I followed it up with:

"Ben, I agree with everything your last comment said, with the exception of WH8th, which I have yet to play so I couldn't honestly say one way or the other. But the "GW Sucks" comments annoy me as they usually appear to be opportunistic ranting from veterans who 9/10 will go ahead and buy/play GW stuff anyway. Especially when, as in this case, the comments appear to originate from staffers or ex-staffers, as there is a presumption that those guys know what they're talking about which gives the people who want to complain something that they think is solid to base their arguments on."

After my first comment, Kev, who is or was a manager at one of the Games Workshop stores, asked me "in regards to what? Please be specific as I am curious. :) " And that is going to be the focus of this blog: Answering the questions and having my own say on the matter. As I'm not sure what Kev was asking me, what keeps me engaged or what don't I like about GW that I would otherwise be snarling at, I'll answer both, as they're both means to the same end.

So to kick us off:

Pricing Issues

It's really easy to pick on GW for this as there is no way they can stick up for themselves or pretend that the amount of money they charge for their product is in any way a small amount of money unless you own Switzerland or something. Because of the way they price their products these days, somebody getting into the hobby for the first time would have to drop in excess of £100 on it just to get started, and another £3/400 on expansions and add-ons before they're playing and painting at a level that is touted from the very beginning of their hobby experience. I certainly don't enjoy having to pay £30 for a codex and £23 for a box of Chaos Space Marines, a kid who's only income is a paper round hasn't got a chance, and it's not much better if you're on a part time wage and you have to, you know, eat.

But it does annoy me when people moan about it as though it's a new thing. GW's annual price rise is something that's happened every year now for about the last 12, and should not be news to anyone who's been in to the hobby for longer than a couple of years at the very most. The people who GW plan their business around are the new recruits to the hobby, and they aren't going to know the difference; they'll either choose to buy it at the price GW happen to be charging at the time or they won't. If they do, good for them, and if they don't, then it's no skin off GW's nose because they can't lose a customer they never had in the first place. I don't buy that the amount they're charging for their product is relative to the amount it costs them to produce it and I will NEVER thank GW for making me pay even more for their stuff than I already do. But I accept that it is going to happen whether I like it or not, and no amount of whinging, whining, or throwing my toys out of the pram in the form of quitting the hobby in protest, is going to make the slightest bit of difference.

Balance Issues

Right, this is a bit of a tricky one, as my opinion on this is just that - my opinion. I'm not basing it on fact, I'm basing it on what I've heard from other people and my own hobby experience. So what I say here might not be the consensus, it is literally just how I feel about this.

A large part of the issue with the GW games appears to be that they're not balanced, i.e. you're not necessarily going to put two equal-sized armies on the table and get a fair fight out of it, because one army will inevitably be better than the other to a certain degree. One term I hear bandied around a lot is 'Power Creep,' which refers to the idea that the latest army will be a little bit better than the one that was released before, and that one was better than the one released prior to that, and so on. I don't know if this is true or not because I've never made it my mission to find out all the nasty tournament combos etc; if I like an army I'll collect it, if I don't then I won't. And sometimes I hear that other games are more balanced because they have less factions, better rules, and so on. I don't know, I don't play any of those other games so I'm not in a position where I can say one way or the other. All this is what I've heard.

The problem is that I don't really play GW games at a level where balance issues affect me. I'm not what would normally be considered a 'tournament player,' where such imbalances would become an issue. I don't design my armies to be 'dirty,' 'cheesy,' 'broken' or any of it, simply because I don't know how; I collect the models I like and see where it goes from there. And while I am designing some of my more recent 40K armies with specific tactics in mind, I have yet to see if it will actually do me any good. The only balance issues I've ever come across have been when I've played against people who ARE tournament players, who DO write dirty, cheesy, broken army lists, in which case I tend to get wiped out very quickly and I don't enjoy the game very much because of the rather abrasive attitude that comes with some - not all - such players.

My feeling is that you're playing a wargame; you are going to design your armies to have the advantage over others, and nothing but experience will tell you how to do this. I imagine that any war game is going to have balance issues to a certain extent, because of the different capabilities of each faction that means that one is probably going to be better than the other in at least one respect, and it could just as easily work the other way round. The only wargame I can think of that is 100% balanced with regard to the rules is Chess. So there you go; if you want a balanced game, go ahead and play Chess.

Games Workshop's Business Plan

This title might seem a bit abstract, but it is worth a mention because I've seen many complaints that GW do very little to support their long-term hobbyists. This takes me right back to the 'Bitter Veterans' rant, where I see far too much of 'GW don't care about us, so I don't care about them; I'm selling all my armies and I'll never play the game again.' Just the kind of single-minded obstinacy that really sets my teeth on edge...

As far as I can see, all veterans actually want, apart from a balanced rule system, is for things to remain exactly as they are and never change. Or more accurately, for things to be how they were when they remember enjoying the hobby most, be that 5, 10, 15 years ago or maybe even longer. Sorry guys but that's not going to happen. The hobby has to evolve or it will stagnate; I've spoken about this before, and what isn't helping wargaming in general is a refusal to accept this simple but necessary fact.

So what, you think GW don't care about you because they're updating their rules, bringing out new games, armies, focusing their efforts on recruiting new people into the hobby? Well you're quite right - they don't. They can't. They're not going to run a successful business with the same customers for 20 years; business doesn't work like that. If you manage to stay in to the hobby for 20 years then that's great, but GW do expect you to be able to sort yourself out after that long, even if that means jumping ship to other companies and other games.

Games Workshop are under no illusions about the longetivity of their games, or at least the extent to which they can affect it. They know that if they recruit someone into their hobby, they will have that person for the 1-3 years it takes for them to realise that what they enjoy about the hobby, be it the painting, the gaming, the coversions, the novels or whatever, they can get for significantly less money and higher quality if they know where to look. And they'll milk them for all they're worth during that time, all the while recruiting new people into the hobby for another 1-3 years... by continuing this cycle, and focusing their business plan on new people who don't know or care that it was cheaper 5 years ago (what wasn't?) and certainly give a donkey's doo-dahs about balance issues, GW continues to survive. Not by looking after veterans. They can look after themselves, or at least that is the presumption.

So all that being the case, what keeps me engaged?

Several reasons, really, and I suspect they will all come down to the same thing, but anyway:

The Warhammer/40K material

This had been an integral part of my imagination for nearly half my life, and still would be if Dungeons and Dragons hadn't taken over. High Fantasy and Space-Age Heroes really do excite me.

Now, I'm not necessarily talking about the narrative plots, canon or whatever that you get in Black Library novels. I've read several of them and though Dreadfleet was so bad to the degree that I actually couldn't stand to read it anymore, most of them work well enough. However I do find them rather repetitive, and the bleak apocalyptic visions of the 41st Millenium, which was basically all I did read for about a year, got old after a while. The snippets of information or story that you would normally get in the rulebooks or codices are normally as long as they need to be to keep me engaged, and the longer material is there if I needed it.

No, I'm talking about my own opinions of the background material; what everything is, why it does what it does. And this is kind of hard to explain, but I think this is the reason why fan fiction is quite a big thing - it allows some kind of interaction into the setting or the world you have created. Confused? OK - Best game of 40K I ever played was my old Chaos Space Marine army, which by the standards of most armies was useless, against a guy called James and he had Ultramarines. Straight away you've got a long-standing rivalry. Now, consider the following:

• I was using my own Legion, the Red Earth legion. What do they want with the Ultramarines? Does their rivalry have an even deeper seed than the Horus Heresy?
• During the game, my Chaos Sorcerer managed to take out 14 enemies, including a Scout Squad he dispatched in one turn. Who is this Sorcerer, and what dark pact must he have made to grant him such power? Why is he involved with the Red Earth legion? What is his mission?
• Said Scout Squad was on top of a building. What was in that building? Why were the Space Marines fighting tooth and nail to defend it? (It was an Objectives misson.)
• My Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour actually managed to Deep Strike off the board. Where did he go?
• During the game, I allowed James to make a move he'd forgotten to do during the movement phase, which brought him into assualt range with one of my Chaos Space Marine squads. While it was not tactically sound to do this, I wanted to see if a half-strength command squad could take on a full-strength CSM squad. And the CSMs would have wanted the same thing, of that I am certain.

So those 5 factors alone - and there were many more - were conducive to the fantastic experience of playing a game, and it made me feel that THAT is what a 40K game should feel like. Those moments are what makes any game great.

The People

This works on so many levels that is a whole blog in and of itself, but there are two main reasons I enjoy the company of people who come in to Games Workshop:

1. Other than my mate Dave, I don't know anyone else socially who plays, so this is the only way I can really get a game in.
2. Regardless of what else goes on in our lives, we've always got the hobby as common ground we can talk about.

I'm not saying I'm best friends with everybody in there, but it can work on that level. Think about it; you might go in and have a game with someone, keep in touch, keep gaming with them and start seeing them socially so that you're friends with them because you're friends with them. Six years later they're the best man at your wedding. Friendships really do have the opportunity to flourish through the catalyst of hobby games, and who knows where it might lead. Those little things that affect the course of your lives have a far more profound effect on me than any amount of new releases or rules updates, and I'm not going to throw the former away just because I'm dissatisfied with the latter, even if that were the case.

The Immersion

I've already talked about the meaning of this with the background material, but at it's most simplest interpretation, 'Immersion' is the measurement of the extent of your engagement in the hobby. And I've been thinking about this a lot lately through the Roleplaying group and also through war games and board games; the most I enjoy any game really is how engaged I am with the character and personality of what I am playing.

For example, the Slaanesh army I'm working on for the upcoming Warhammer World Invasion tournament coming up in April has, I think, a lot of character. All the champions other than the Raptor have Lightning Claws. All the squads number 6 members. They all have the Mark of Slaanesh; utterly devoted to the Prince of Pleasure. I'm certainly looking forward to getting some games in with them to see how well they all work together to the end, and coming up with an explaination as to why they've subjegated a clan of Orks to their cause...

There are other ways to be immersed in the hobby, the game I described above was one of the highlights, but it's really not hard to do. Next time you're starting an army, ask yourself a few questions like:

• Who are these guys?
• Where did they come from?
• Why did they leave (or stay?)
• What do they fight for?
• What tactics do they like to employ?
• What weapons do they prefer to use?
• What weapons/units/tactics do they intentionally avoid?
• If the army has come together from several regiments/chapters/legions/clans, why was the alliance made?
• How do they feel about the battles ahead?
• What will they do when it's all over?

When answering the last 7 of those questions, follow it up with an 'And why?' explaination. If you can do that, you'll be far more engaged with your army than buying the newest release, or the hardest army for an up-and-coming tournament, or a nice-looking model that you want to paint. None of that is bad, necessarily, but to be immersed and engaged with your whole army is what makes it all work for me.

So why don't I play other games?

I read a lot of blogs and have heard a lot of people talking online about Malifaux, War Machine, Hordes, Infinity, Flames of War and quite a few other war games that work in a similar vein to Warhammer and 40K. I was even tempted by Mantic, who have what could cynically be described as their own versions of both games, Kings of War and Warpath. I've heard people say that these games are generally preferable to the Games Workshop roster because of various different reasons, ranging from the better models, better balancing, better rules, or simply by not being Games Workshop. And yes, I've heard that those games are cheaper to get started playing as well. So why don't I play any of those games?

The answer is actually quite simple: I don't know anybody else who does.

Well, that's not literally true. Obviously I know some people or I'd never have thought about it at all. It's just that the people I know who play games like that tend to be online, through blogs, or those facebook friends where you don't really know who they are but you know someone who does. I'm also in a Wargamers Anonymous group on Facebook and those guys talk about those different games as well. Thing is, I rarely, if ever, meet any of those guys in person, and I only consider them 'friends' in the loosest possible sence of the word, if at all.

So why don't I go down to a gaming shop and check them out, I hear you cry? Well, I probably would, but as I live in North Dudley, the nearest shops that do that sort of thing are Wayland's Forge in Birmingham (which I've been in a couple of times before and it feels like a less friendly version of GW,) and Titan Games in Lichfield (run by former GW manager Adam who's a really nice guy and I'm sure is doing great things with his shop, though I have yet to see it in person.) It would take me anything up to a couple of hours to get to either shop, so regular visits are out of the question, plus paying for parking etc... just to get a different game, when I've got 2 Games Workshop stores that are a 20 minute drive away in either direction. It would almost be like starting a new hobby entirely, and that is not a prospect I find very alluring.

Nor is going down to the gaming clubs. I managed to upset one of the guys on the committee of the nearest one to me, Dudley Darklords, by going off on one about the dirty tournament players that make up a significant number of its members, so I will never show my face down there as long as I live. (By the way this wasn't intentional. It's just that, when I'm high as a kite on adrenaline, as I was that day after finishing a particularly punishing game of 40K, I can end up speaking without thinking and saying some incredibly stupid things.) The others that I am aware of all meet on Fridays, and I've talked a couple of times on the blog about why weekends are no good for me.

I know two people socially who play games, one of which I'm pretty sure is almost always strapped for money so the idea of buying into a new game system isn't high on his agenda right now. The other I know through my girlfriend, and he lives quite a long way away so even though he's tried to get me in to different games in the past, it just hasn't worked. I know I'm not exactly helping the situation by not getting invloved with the games. But the plain fact of the matter is that I don't have the time, I don't have the money, and I certainly don't have the space to invest into a completely new game that I only have a very small chance of ever being able to play, for the reasons outlined above, just because someone I barely know has told me that I should. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I haven't got what I'm going to need in order to make it happen.

Whether that will always be the case I don't know. But for now, I'll stick with Games Workshop. I still enjoy it, after all.

And just as importantly, I still WANT to enjoy it.

Scales of War part 5: The Castellan and the Cook

After barely surviving their encounter with the Magma Claws, the heroes decided to keep on the path suggested by Adronsius and make their way east, where they rounded a corner and headed up some stairs. Remembering that this was the place that Adronsius has said has a sticky floor, they were not entirely surprised to encounter some Ettercaps in the chamber beyond. Lucian in particular was not pleased to see them accompanied by the Gnome who had fled from them moments ago, and allowed himself a smile of grim satisfaction when the force of Sayer’s arrow splattered the creature against the far wall. The webs from the Ettercaps limited the heroes’ mobility, but with Grambur quite able to deal with the one who was directly attacking them, and Oro and the others pounding the other with ranged attacks, they did not put up much of a fight. When the Webspinner tried to flee, Grambur was having none of it; he charged the Ettercap and cut it down with one fell swoop.

Sadly, the group found a body in the corner of the room, wrapped in web and with its face contorted in fear and pain. From the description, Sayer and Oro guessed that it was Kartenix, the captain of the guard, who had apparently been trying to escape. He had in a bag next to him a pair of boots, the Boots of Spider Climbing which would help the wearer scale tall surfaces more quickly, and reasoning that the fallen captain would have no further use for them, Sayer took them.

The group decided to head back to the Von Urstadt crypt and investigate the room off the side. There they found a pair of jail cells, one of which contained Sertanian, Castellan of the Hall of Great Valour. Lucian picked the lock and released the old man. He explained that Kartenix had been the prisoner in the next cell, and he had devised a daring plan to escape with his son, Tharuun, who was somewhere in the dungeon, and get help from Brindol. Sertanian was saddened, but not surprised, to hear that Kartenix had died. He said that the captain of the guard was a brave man, if not a very clever one, and that he ought to have known he’d never have stood a chance against the sheer numbers of villains that infested the castle. He also was able to tell them that the cook, Mirtala, was being held in a room south of the Rivenroar Family Crypt. Remembering the way, the group set off towards the crypt, and Sertanian followed them.

On arriving in the Fresco chamber off the crypt, the heroes found the place infested with dire rats, and the poor cook tied to an altar at the far end of the room. There were also statues of Displacer Beasts running up the aisle, and Sayer lost no time in teleporting to the top of one of them and taking pot shots at the rats. Lucian entered the fray but was bitten by one of the rats and contracted Filth Fever. Grambur marched straight into the fray and began cutting limbs off each of the rats and Oro pelted them with magic. Even Sertanian had a go with a hand crossbow given to him by the heroes; he was confident in his ability being a veteran of the previous war, though his accuracy suggested to the heroes that he would be more dangerous as an ally than a foe. A couple of Gnomes made the mistake of appearing out of nowhere to try and disrupt the heroes’ efforts, but Sayer and Lucian were not for a moment fooled by their trickery and dispatched them very quickly.

After the fight, the group went over to the altar, which they noticed was dedicated to the Raven Queen, to help Mirtala. She also had filth fever, and was catatonic with terror. She seemed as much afraid of the heroes as her captors, though the presence of Sertanian prevented her from lashing out in fear. As she was clearly ill, the heroes decided that the best course of action would be to take her, Sertanian and Zerriska to the room currently occupied by Adronsius, which had a clean supply of water if nothing else. Lucian and Sayer tried to convince the cook that they were not a threat and wanted to help, and when that failed, Grambur employed the far more straightforward tactic of picking her up, putting her over his shoulder, and carrying her to the cistern. After some convincing, Zerriska came up to the room as well, and with three other people from the town in the room, Mirtala started to calm down. She knew nothing about the locations of the other prisoners that the heroes had not already discovered, but she was able to employ her skills as a cook to make a mostly edible meal from the roots and herbs that Zerriska had been collecting; no bad thing since the prisoners had not eaten properly for a while and were running short of food. The heroes decided to use this relatively secure area of the dungeon as a base, and took a rest here. Zerriska tended to the illness, and both Lucian and Mirtala made a full recovery. After sharing some of their trail rations, the heroes moved on…

Having explored the lower floor of the dungeon, the heroes returned to the room with the Ettercaps and ascended the stairs to another crypt, this time belonging to the family of Von Adrez-Kauthin. It looked like the Hobgoblins were using it as a guard post, with a Spitting Drake there to supplement their power. A Goblin Hexhurler was waiting on standby in the next room, but unfortunately for him he arrived far too late to aid the Hobgoblins, many of which had fallen straight away to Oro’s magic and Grambur’s ruthless efficiency. He tried to flee, but after being party to so much unrest and destruction in the town, the heroes were not letting him go anywhere…

Exploring the crypt and making some rather out-of-proportion efforts to open the sarcophagi set into the floor, the heroes found two healing potions and 170 gold pieces. Quite why healing potions had been buried with a member of a prominent trading family the heroes couldn’t quite fathom, but they were thankful that they might still be alive to spend all this gold they were acquiring when they got out of this Godsforsaken place. However, there were two more prisoners still unaccounted for, and nobody was leaving the dungeon until they were found…

Experience: 483 each

Treasure:

• 170 gp
• 2 Healing Potions
• Boots of Spider Climbing (lvl. 5)

Scales of War part 4: The Von Urstadt Crypt

Lucian rejoined the heroes in the Rivenroar Family Crypt after waking and being given a healing potion concocted by Zerriska. After such a brutal fight, they decided to exercise some caution. They explored the corridor at the top of the staircase, and considered the door to the South of the crypt, but as they had already taken a heavy battering, they decided to return to the entrance all to consider their next move. The only door they hadn’t taken yet was the Eastern passage to the Von Jallach crypt, so they decided to go up there to see what they could find…

They found an odd-looking crypt with some runes lit up on the floor. Oro recognised the enchantment and warned the rest that while all the runes said was ‘Von Jallach,’ if one were to step on them it would cause some serious harm. This fact was something the heroes kept in mind as Needlefang Drakes started to swarm towards them. For a time it looked like they might overcome some of the Elven heroes, but the Drakes underestimated the resilience of Dwarves and Grambur stood firm against their onslaught. He drove several of them back onto the runes, which true to Oro’s word cause some harm to them. A Gnome then appeared out of apparently nowhere and tried to ambush the party. Lucian fared reasonably well against him until he took a war pick to the knee. Lucian lashed out in anger, causing the Gnome some hurt and also causing him to disappear. However, the heroes weren’t fooled, and aimed their projectiles at the place where the Gnome had been. The savage beating took its toll and the gnome went down. Lucian looted the body for the war pick and anything of financial value, while muttering his doggerel:

"I kill two gnomes in the morning, I kill two gnomes at night.
I kill two gnomes in the afternoon, and then I feel all right.
I kill two gnomes in time of peace and two in time of war.
I kill two gnomes before I kill two gnomes, and then I kill two more."

Once the laughter and strange looks ceased, the heroes found a key on the Gnome’s body and used it to open the door into the next room. Inside, they found a fountain of pure water, and more intriguingly a beaten and battered Dwarf named Adronsius. After freeing him, they found that Adronsius was unable to give them any direct help because of the brutal beating and also because his alchemical equipment was not present, however he was able to provide directions – at least, such directions as he could remember from being dragged around blindfolded – to where the Hobgoblins might have taken Jelissa, the Acolyte of Ioun. The Elven heroes found it hard to follow, but Grambur had an innate sense of direction while underground and was confident he could remember what he was saying.

After taking a rest, the heroes decided to press on. Following Adronsius’ directions, they turned left in the Goblin warren and ended in a triangular shaped room with a crackling image of a castle on the other side of the wall. Oro didn’t know what castle it was but suspected that it must have an alliance with Rivenroar, however there was no time to investigate further as some ooze glooped through the portal. Undaunted and content to stand their ground, the heroes unleashed their ranged attacks forcing it to split into two separate pieces. Not a moment too soon, Sayer made the decision to move up towards the portal in time to see two Spectres appear behind the rest of the party. Their psychic attacks took their toll on the heroes, but the Spectres were unable to sustain their form for long and went down quite quickly.

Taking some time for a quick rest, and establishing there was nothing more of interest in the room, the heroes guessed that the portal remained open and other things could make their way through. This being the case, they elected to move on, and after a few turns found themselves in the Von Urstadt Crypt. Here, they found themselves ambushed by a couple of Gnomes. Posing ‘little’ threat on their own, they opened one of the doors to the crypt and unleashed their defenders: The Magma Claws. The fiery beasts fought ferociously, using their magma-based attacks to hold their prey in place, however they had not bargained on the particular magic of Eladrin and Sayer, having been set ablaze and immobilised, managed to disappear into the near corner of the room. Sayer’s talents apparently did not extend to being able to put the fire out very quickly, but at least he was out of trouble. Grambur was also stuck where he was, but as he also managed to use his fighting skills to keep one of the Magma Claws where it was, this was less of a hindrance than one might expect. Oro used his magic to try to slow the beasts down, with some success, but as it was not a large room there were not many places where safety could be guaranteed. Lucian used his knowledge that creatures of Magma can sometimes be baited with food, and he tried to make the Magma Claw go after one of the Gnomes. It worked, but after taking severe injuries from this and with no one to stop him, the Gnome escaped into the next room. The Magma Claw, meanwhile, unleashed its fury on Lucian, and the elf fell to the floor. Conscious of their friend’s peril, but recognising that there was not much they could do with so much danger in the room, the heroes tried to finish off the monsters. Oro and Sayer took out the remaining Gnome and Magma Claws, much to the dismay of Grambur who felt the Elven heroes were ‘spoiling his fun.’ In the nick of time, Sayer remembered the healing potion that Lucian had. He ran over to his fallen companion and dug it out of his pockets. Oro ran over to them, took the bottle from Sayer and poured the contents down Lucian’s throat just in time. He awoke, bruised, battered, but alive.

Grambur finished off the remaining Magma Claw, and the heroes relaxed, exhausted. After taking some time to patch up their wounds they decided to search the room and the tombs. They found a Cloak of Resistance buried in one of the coffins, and having been mere seconds away from death, Lucian felt the need to take the artefact for himself. The group gazed at the East wall, where an inscription dominated the area above the door: 

“Hail Von Urstadt! Ascend with Glory!” 

Experience: 412 each

 

Treasure:

• Cloak of Resistance (lv.2)

Scales of War part 3: The Rivenroar Family Crypt 21/10/2012

From the other side of the door out of the Mushroom Pit came a cry for help. The heroes went to investigate, however Lucian trod on a Slumberspore and fell asleep. The cry came from an old woman, who turned out to be Zerriska the Crone, one of the seven people the heroes were commissioned to rescue. They freed her from the magic circle in which she was trapped, and put up with her ravings about her having ‘Dark Powers’ long enough to know that, far from being a witch, she is a skilled herbalist. The heroes suggested that she might make up a healing potion for them, and after being given the tools and materials to do it, she grudgingly agreed, though it would be some time before it was ready.

The heroes proceeded back into the Mushroom Pit and decided to see what was at the top of the holes in the ceiling. Sayer went up first to find two goblins bearing down on him. Sayer took advantage of his mobility to deal with the goblins, killing one and fooling the other into taking a fall into the Mushroom Pit. This kept Grambur busy for a little while, as it was all he could do to prevent the Goblin from escaping. Meanwhile, the fight had drawn the attention of some of the Hobgoblins who were resting in the room to the South of the corridor Sayer had found himself in. They stormed over the hole hoping to take out the Eladrin Ranger, however Oro appeared from the hole and used the Acid Arrow to burn two of the vile creatures to death. The remaining hobgoblin turned his attention to Oro, causing him some severe damage, and Oro retreated back down the hole, but this gave Sayer the opportunity to finish the fight with a well-placed arrow to the neck.

Heading North up the corridor and taking a turn to the right, the heroes found themselves in a crypt. The sarcophagi in the middle of the room looked interesting but there was no time to investigate, as some Hobgoblins were waiting there and one of them had a bow. The heroes lost no time in launching the attack; Grambur positioned himself in range of as many of the creatures as possible. Most of the hobgoblins went down rather easily but the one with the bow proved a tough opponent to beat down. It hadn’t helped that another hobgoblin had descended the wrought iron stairs at the top of the room. Oro used his cold magic to slow the hobgoblin down and deny him the use of his already limited mobility, which meant Sayer had an easier time positioning himself for the attack. Ultimately the cowardly nature of hobgoblins won the day for the heroes; when the villains tried to run, the heroes took advantage and cut them down.

Inside one sarcophagus was a substantial pile of gold and silver, and a green gem. Grambur would have quite happily taken the ‘Dwarven Share’ of more than half of it, but he soon forgot about it once he discovered that the other sarcophagus contained a Frost Axe. Grambur eagerly took the axe for his own, naming it ‘Wintersbite.’

The heroes also had a look at the altar in the room, and discovered that the Hobgoblins were using it as an altar to Bane. However, Oro realised that the altar had previously been used as an altar to Vecna, the god of forbidden knowledge. A sense of foreboding filled the heroes as they gazed at the messages written around the walls of the crypt: “Here lie the Rivenroars until the day of the Black Sun. If you seek their monument, look at the lands around you.”

Experience: 197 each

Treasure:

• 26 arrows
• 200 gold pieces
• 200 silver pieces
• A green gem worth 8 gold pieces
• Frost Axe (lv. 3) “Wintersbite”

Scales of War part 2: Descent into Rivenroar 24/10/2012

Session Log 24/10/2012

The heroes met at the Northern Bridge. The battle was long since over, but the heroes guessed there was more to the attack than met the eye and were determined to investigate. At a loss for somewhere to go, they ended up in the Moondust Temple, a small place on the South West corner of Brindol devoted to Sehanine. There they met with a Priestess called Lia, who suggested that they talk to the Town Councillor Eoffram Troyas. Realising there was nothing they could do for the town that night, the heroes found lodgings in the Avandrian Hostel and settled down for the night, at a discounted rate since the battle with the Ogre that afternoon…

A new day dawned and had nearly reached its peak when the heroes met with Councillor Troyas. Troyas explained that 7 of the town’s citizens had gone missing and were suspected to be abducted by the Hobgoblins; he was looking for help to find them. He did not offer the commission lightly, but after Grambur impressed him with his physical prowess and Lucian made some insightful remarks about proving themselves to the town council, Troyas was forced to reconsider. The deal was sealed when Oro told the councillor that the heroes had no intention of letting history repeat itself and was determined to stop the Red Hand. Troyas was satisfied that these were the people he was looking for, explained who was missing and also that some treasure had gone missing as well; certain items of little material value but of huge social value to the township.

After a visit to the Hall of Great Valour to inspect the treasure that had gone missing, the heroes learned of a hobgoblin taken prisoner. They went to investigate, and after some less-than-gentle persuasion found out some useful information: The leader of the Hobgoblins was called Sinruth, a determined young Hobgoblin looking to raise an army and start his own Fiefdom in the Elsir Vale. For now, he was calling the abandoned Castle Rivenroar home, and had most likely taken the prisoners back there to feed to the ‘Undead Horrors’ that shared the catacombs with the goblins…

The heroes headed north, and though the going was hard for the Elves, they made it to the castle surprisingly without incident. All that changed when they marched into the catacombs beneath the castle. They appeared to be in the entrance to a crypt, and two Goblinoids were standing guard. One of them triggered a curious trick; the braziers either side of the room moved along the walls and shot fire at each other; it singed Grambur’s beard. The goblins were quickly and easily dispatched, whereupon the heroes had 3 choices: Do they head for the crypt of Von Urstadt, Von Jallach, or go through the doors that apparently lead to the crypt of the Rivenroar family?

Electing to head for the Rivenroar crypt, the heroes proceeded with a lot more caution. They headed down a long set of stairs, and the only sound was their feet echoing off the flagstones. Just when they were wondering if the stairs would ever end, they came upon a door. Lucian pricked up his Elven ears and heard that… something… was asleep in the next room…

Stealth seemed the best course of action and the heroes slunk through into a room filled with Mushrooms. It came as no surprise to Veteran Treasure Hunter Grambur that the mushrooms could potentially be dangerous if they were tampered with, and Oro knew enough about them to be able to say what they were: A combination of Brown Cloudspore, White Shriekers, Grey Doomspores and Red Slumberspores. The snoring that Lucian heard came from a Rage Drake asleep guarding the only visible way out of the room, and given the Dwarf’s rarely-welcome penchant for noise, the heroes decided matters would be a lot simpler if they took advantage of it’s sleepiness and killed it. Grambur rushed the creature and between them the heroes did a lot of damage before the drake had a chance to react. However, Grambur’s relentless attack pushed the drake into a cluster of mushrooms and he set off a Slumberspore, it had little effect on the Drake but did knock Grambur out cold. Not even a mauling from the Drake could wake him up. Lucian and Oro tried to help their fallen companion by firing shot after shot at the Drake and it seemed to work as with a bloodthirsty roar it charged for the Elves. Little did it realise the path would take him across more mushrooms; whereupon he set off a Shrieker and another Slumberspore. This time, it knocked him straight out, and Lucian finished it off with a knife to the heart.

With shafts leading to the floor above, and a door leading off into another room, the adventure has only just started…

Experience: 575 each.

Scales of War part 1: Batle at the Bar 17/10/2012

Our tale begins in one of Brindol’s Taverns; Ilya’s Cardhouse. Sat around a table near to the hearth, four figures sat, drinking jovially and playing cards. Their motivations for being in a cardhouse in Brindol were kept to themselves, but their instincts allowed for the company of strangers.

Towards the middle of the afternoon, Lucian and Orodrethanthilis, the two elves, happened to look across the room to a table at the back of the card house where three men were sat around, playing cards. Of particular interest to the elves were the thirty golden pieces set on the table, and sensing the opportunity for a profit, challenged the braggarts to a game. Lucian played extremely well and Oro managed to claim some coin. Even Grambur the Dwarf Warrior managed to win a few hands, and they looked very close to cleaning the players out. Just as accusations of cheating were beginning to fly, the door burst open and some Goblinoids entered the room…

The Hobgoblins seemed intent on causing as much havoc as possible, but the elves were quicker to react and cut several of them down quite quickly. Goblin Blackblades, making use of their diminutive size, ran around the tavern setting the place on fire, including the bar and the table on which the card game was brought to such a juddering halt. For his own entertainment as much as anything else, Grambur strode straight into the fray, taking several blows but refusing to go down. Lucian and Sayer, the Eladrin Ranger, took a height advantage of the tables and sniped at the hobgoblins, and those who had the presence of mind to pay attention to Oro would have found it curiously amusing that he was doing far more damage with his quarterstaff and throwing knife than he was with his spells. The battle was over when a goblin, having backed Sayer up against a wall, failed to see Grambur coming up behind him and was subsequently chopped into two pieces, neither side very pretty.

After leaving the Tavern to a bucket line, and berating the town guards for not being much help, the heroes learned that attacks like this were happening all over the town. Sayer and Oro pricked up their elven ears at the sounds of just such another attack, and used the opportunity to tell the others to get into position. Sayer took up a vantage point on top of a Barber’s Shop, to see an Ogre pulling a wagon, carring a lit barrel of pitch and threatening to throw it at any second. Grambur took in the situation at once, attacking the Ogre head on so that he could neither proceed further or run away. Lucien, in a concealed position, took a careful aim and hit the pitch that the Ogre was carrying, causing it to explode. The fire quickly spread, injuring the Hobgoblins and the Ogre. Oro, Sayer and Grambur wore the huge beast down with their relentless attacks, but in the end it was the fire that consumed it. Grambur strode forward to finish off the Hobgoblins, killing one. The other tried to escape, but another careful shot from Lucian put paid to any hope of escape.

Exhausted from their endeavour to stay alive, the heroes learned that the town guard had driven back the Hobgoblin incursion. However, it was not lost on the heroes that many of the fallen Hobgoblins bore the mark of the Red Hand, the army that attacked Brindol 10 years ago. Somehow, they felt they hadn’t seen the last of these Hobgoblins…

Experience: 279 each

Treasure:

• 30 arrows
• 30 Gold Pieces from playing cards.