New Campaign Begins!

 We started a new D&D game last night, we had decided on this campaign before all the OGL garbage from certain Corporate Overlords of the Coast.  I will not be promoting that company on my blog moving forward. Oh and that's a Goodman Games 3.x era DM Screen in the background. However, I can share picture highlights from last night's session.  I don't see my self posting regular session logs, but some of you may enjoy the terrain and minis.  

 

The Logger Camp, young goatmen attack the camp shortly after the arrival of our heroes.

The Goatmen are defeated, but our heroes are seriously injured. 

The party plots their next move

Crotchety dwarf NPC Krag Kraghammer and his pony Wart, Exit Stage left!  

A mysterious statue is found deep within the forest!

Don't be Crabby!

 

Don't be Crabby the Weekend is here!!

Hope everyone is doing well, and you get some gaming in this weekend!  

Here are two nicely sculpted Crab men from Reaper Minis, I really like these.  Need to get them painted.  I definitely have a place I can use them in my newly started D&D game.

Assassin Skeledrones

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a safe and happy New Year!

 I splurged recently and ordered the cool Assassin Skeledrones from Skeletron . I've tried to resist jumping on the action figure bandwagon, but I couldn't resist these.  They are scaled for 4" action figures but I think I can use these with my 28mm skirmish games.  They have a Rifts vibe to them that I dig!  If I get to run Wretched Space they should fit right in as well.

Love the Ken Kelly artwork! Some of the last work he did before he passed away.
 

Tabletop Skirmish!

     Slightly different post this morning.  The bulk of my gaming has been RPG's, mostly D&D, but long time blog readers know I like all kinds of genres, especially Post Apocalyptic related and Sci Fi.  Many, many years ago, like back in the 80's! I got to play a game of Rogue Trader with a buddy and a relative visiting from out of town. My relative had brought this new game called Warhammer 40K. The minis were soo cool. Legos were used to build a cityscape on the dining room table, and we had two rival Eldar forces battling it out all afternoon. I loved it and wanted to play it more but no one around me played it, and back then you couldn't get the miniatures in this part of the country. Remember this was the 80's and no internet and no hobby shops in my region.  By the time I got the original rules and had a squad, a new edition was out..by the time I pieced together an army for that edition, that edition had more rigid force building rules and "regulations" compared to the original, another edition came out rendering my unpainted force obsolete. Then the same thing happened to me with Necromunda. I got rid of my 40K minis (long story) and moved fully back to RPG's. 

I still have this book, it's falling apart but loaded with fun stuff!
 

      Prior to Covid, I had started playing Zona Alfa with a buddy, just as we were getting into the flow of the game and started meeting regularly, Covid hit and put an end to all of that.  Looking back into my blog, it is hard to believe that was two years ago. Wow, the pandemic really messes with your concept of time.

     Lately I've been once again dipping my toes into the world of tabletop skirmish gaming. Well, to be honest I've been looking into it. I pillaged some online Black Friday sales to order some cool Sci Fi minis.  I have a nice collection of Fantasy minis and terrain, but Sci Fi is where I am lacking. Especially enough pieces to field any kind of skirmish units.  I prefer small scale stuff. I'm not looking to field massive armies. 

     It's nice to see that miniature agnostic and setting agnostic games seem to be more of the thing now. Current trends remind me of the original 40K Rogue Trader build your own stuff days.  Some of my D&D buddies and I have been looking into what skirmish systems are out there, lots of options. Stargrave, One Page Rules, (I'm not doing Kill Team!, GW will get no more of my money, this isn't an anti GW rant, if you enjoy their games great!), Wiley Games stuff, Space Weirdos, Star Breach, Space Station Zero, Zona Alfa, Planet 28 and more.  I'm hoping 2023 will allow for me to have a return to tabletop skirmish gaming.  

Wish me luck!  -B.B.

Oh, I picked this toy vehicle up at an estate sale yesterday, seems to scale perfectly with my 28mm minis.  Miniature is from Battle Valor games painted by my buddy Jeff.

Meet the Myconids- 5E Campaign Session 9

     Happy to say we had our 9th session of our 5E Campaign last night.  May seem like a minor milestone to many, but for our group of folks with hectic jobs, families, busy schedules and other obligations, nine consistent 4 hour+ sessions is pretty good.  I honestly think that having a true Session Zero has made a huge difference in the overall quality of the campaign. The players had input in the setting and we all had clear expectations of the game and group from the beginning.  The party has had several close calls, and lost a gnome henchman in session 8.  I'm more of an OSR DM, so running 5E has been an interesting process for me.  I've applied my Old School mindset to the game and the players have learned to avoid combat where they can, fight on their own terms when they can't.  Early on they went into a few encounters "guns blazing" and about had a couple of TPK's (when you are at 0 hit points, the monsters can and will continue to attack if the situation fits, leading to failed death saves very quickly!).

    This session had a lot of roleplay. They have managed a loose alliance with a small group of Myconids, dealt with some renegade mercenaries preying on innocent folk, and have established a community/encampment (at the old farm site they cleared in Session 2) for a growing group of refugees that the party freed from a hobgoblin fort back in Session 5. They have crossed the local (rogue) prince of the Kingdom of Valorn and are now wanted for crimes against the kingdom in that region (They determined early on the prince was corrupt and had his own agenda seeking power and domination, while he worked to undermine his father the king). The group also managed to find a "Stargate", now getting it to work reliably and whom (if anyone) to tell about it, is another matter entirely... 

D&D 5E Campaign The Humble Travelers Session 8

 

     I'm a few sessions behind posting about our 5E Campaign, we had session 8 last night (9 if you count Session Zero).  We had a lot of fun.  This one was a lot of combat!  Session 7 was all role-play and interactions, leading up to this one, a big fight with Morlock infested tunnels.  I had to put my DM Dice in the Time out/Dunce Hat chair, I kept rolling 1's and 2's.  The party lost a brave henchman, err I mean Henchgnome...Selby the Rock Gnome was felled by Giant Roaches ! Ewww after he had bravely held the line against multiple Morlocks.  Eventually the party was triumphant, though almost all were seriously hurt and had burned through most of their spells.  The party has accomplished a great deal during the campaign so far. They reached level 5 by end of the night.  

The Entrance to the Morlock Tunnels....danger and death await!!

Selby the Rock Gnome (RIP) and Aldebaran the Sorcerer

The Humble Travelers Session 5

 We played session 5 of our 5E Campaign.

     The party finished up taking out the Hobgoblins at the Fort, along with the Carnivorous Ape guardians. Freed a bunch of captives, and got a bit of loot.  The Hobgoblin warlord escaped through a secret door, a battle for another day.

     This session had a good bit of logistics, exploration and planning.  The party had dealt with the hobgoblins as a job for Melvin, of Melvin's Marvelous Menagerie.  Completing the mission, he gifted them with some more intel, healing potions, two war pugs and a Silver Raven figurine of Woundrous Power (Sally loves Ravens). The party tied up some other loose ends then made their way to make the journey through the mountain pass to the wildlands beyond.  

     Instead of taking the main pass, Orreg the Goliath found a "goat trail" and with the aid of some potions of climbing (loot from the hobgoblin fort) they made their way. They had heard goblins guarded the pass, so wanted to avoid them.  The goat trail followed above the pass for awhile. Hours in they looked below and spotted several dead goblins below?  From the distance they looked dead and bloodless?? What could have done that?  Continuing to work their way along the trail they found an older more worked path and eventually uncovered some ruins along the cliffside.  Finding a cave of worked stone, the party entered, engaged in a fight with Ogre zombie guardians, the party fairly easily defeated the undead through the use of sound tactics and skillfull spell work.  Exploring further, they realized they were in a lost shrine to evil gods best forgotten, venturing down a darkened hole, they found a altar with an obsidian bowl.  Aldebaran carefully scanned the altar...however, once Sally, the cleric of the Raven Queen entered the chamber, the foul thing lurking in the altar bowl manifested and attacked!

     This was a tough fight, half the party was still in the chamber above, Meego the monkey, was too terrified to even face the monster, Sally was quickly immobilized, her war pugs terrified of the thing hid in her packpack, Orreg dropped into the chamber and was quickly also paralyzed with fear by the demon.  The party barely survived the fight with the foul demon thing, Aldebaran realizing destroying the bowl would send the beast back to the abyss.  Aldebaran in the last moments of the fight was smashed against a wall, even failed a death save. The party survived, Aldebaran was saved, but the destruction of the demon's "bowl" caused the chamber to collapse, during the collapse Aldebaran glimpsed a passage below the altar...reluctantly he was hauled out of the collapsing chamber, cursing..."that's where the treasure is! We defeated that thing, but can't get to the treasure.."..

End of Session 5

The Humble Travelers Session 4 (5E Campaign)

 We played session 4 of our 5E Campaign last Saturday.  Below are some pictures.

Hope everyone is doing well have a great weekend!

More Pics from 5E session 3

 

White Apes guard the Sacred Grotto

Fortunately the druid was able to parlay with them and a conflict was avoided.

One ape has joined the group, and the Goliath testing out the recently acquired flute, discovered it could summon a large serpent! 

5E Session 3 The Adventures of "The Humble Travelers"

 We played our third session of our 5E Campaign last night.  Below are a few pictures from the game.

I wanted to convey that the party was really getting into an old growth forest thick with trees and brush.

The players loved the terrain, that is until they realized they were being stalked by a pair of Displacer Beasts! Was loads of fun to see them worried about what might be hiding in every bush and tree! Through teamwork, strategy and sound tactics they defeated the beasts, nearly losing the druid in the final battle.

5E Campaign Session 1-2

 We resumed our 5E game last night.  Lots of fun.  

  "The Humble Travelers"    back row from L to R  Orreg "Bearkiller" Thuliaga - Goliath Fighter, Adria- Aasimar Druid,  Sallouisa "Sally"- Human Cleric of the Raven Queen, and on front row, the mysterious Aldebaran- a half-elf Sorcerer.

    The party took a side trek. Prior to leaving town, an elderly lady asked Adria the Druid to check on a small farm and blacksmith out on the edge of civilization, the lady was worried that her daughter, son-in-law (a black smith) and 7 year old granddaughter hadn't check in in weeks. The party found the farm initially deserted, but soon stirred up a bunch of nasty giant flies. They were soon overrun by an assortment of giant nasty flies! With no sign of the family that lived there.  

Bigger flies swarmed out of the barn! The party engaged in pitched battle, and things looked grim but through teamwork and luck managed to kill off the flies. 

A large hole was found in the back of the barn going down into the ground! They thought they heard a little girl down in the hole...crying!! Aldebaran advised they leave! But the others especially the cleric would have none of that!

Session 2 

Exploring the tunnels.. trying to find the little girl led to the Orreg getting overwhelmed by Giant Maggots, while the cleric was engulfed by a swarm of Giant Maggot Grubs!!  

      Orreg the Goliath and Sallouisa the Cleric of the Raven Queen go down, monsters munch, leading to failed Death Saves... things look grim!!!   (At this point I thought I was going to see two character deaths!)...

Fortunately Adria had finagled a healing potion from an apothecary while in town and used it just in time to revive Sallouisa, who then healed Orreg just in time to save him from death! Aldebaran and Adria joined the battle and the vile creatures were destroyed, but the cleric and sorcerer were diseased, Orreg and Sallouisa were badly injured...then a small girl with a dead lamb draped over her soldiers approached them from the dark tunnel...she clutched a doll... Aldebaran realized it wasn't a doll but something far more sinister!!!

Black Friday Words of Wisdom

 As you dare to go out and face the challenges of Black Friday, remember these important lessons...

 Take plenty of hand sanitizer!

  the Men's room is almost always OUT OF ORDER

And PLEASE Leash your Dog!!

Just Some Random Miniature Mayhem

 Happy Saturday everyone!

Just a quick post here. I took these pictures awhile back, but never posted them to my blog.

More than they bargained for!

                                    Don't Go to the Outhouse!!

                                      Did you hear something??

Brain Bats!! 28mm Flying Brains!

 I haven't posted about minis in quite awhile. I've steadily been working on my collection of 28mm minis.

I picked these up before Covid, and a friend of mine just recently painted them up for me.  They are Ding Bats from Rebel Minis. Here's the link: Ding Bats I can't decide if I want to call them Ding Bats or Brain Bats...decisions, decisions! 

 

Someone left a window open and looked what flew in!!!

I'm really glad I got these, they are an unusual monster with loads of potential.  I can see them having psionic abilities, maybe a stinger tail. Great for Post Apocalyptic mutant games, D&D, etc... 

Good Gaming - B.B.