The Gift: Sessions 9 to 11 Adventure Log

Whoops! It's been a while since I've written a recap post; here's a quick run down of our intrepid adventurers antics.

Sessions 9 & 10: The party engage in discussion with the Lizard Man elder; he explains that there has been a rise of goblinoid activity and worse emanating from the Caves of Chaos some distance to the west. 

These caverns were used many years ago by the servants of Elemental Evil and it seems creatures have returned to their old lairs.  Several Lizard Men hunters were ambushed by dog men, and one taken captive by them; the party agree to scout the Caves and see if they can find the missing tribesman.

The characters are escorted by T'kis, one of the hunters who escaped the ambush, who guides them to a hidden valley lined with many cavern entrances. The party approach the kobold's entrance only to be surprised by several of the cunning dog men hiding in trees! A brief battle ensues and the party deal with the sentries. 

The characters advance into the lair, successfully dealing with the kobold warriors, their traps and guardian creatures.  The fearsome (!) kobold chieftain is defeated in combat, and the party find the missing lizard man and another prison (a human guardsman) within the kobold's larder!.

The soldier explains that he was part of a patrol sent from the Keep on the Borderland to find some Orcs which had been raiding merchant caravans. His patrol was attacked and he was left for dead having taken a blow to the back of the head.  The kobolds came scavenging after the ambush and took him prisoner.

He is concerned as to how the Orcs knew his patrol were coming and where they would be; could there be someone working with the creatures within the Keep?

The party heal the soldier and return him to the edge of the forest so he can make his way back to the Keep; he agrees to get in touch with them at Hearthsholme if he discovers information about evil agents at the Keep.  The characters subsequently return to the Lizard Man village where they are thanked for freeing T'kal the hunter before they return home via the strange stone portals.

Gnomes

The Black Iron Fonts

Hail and welcome to the Vault my fellow Venturers!  Today's post is courtesy of a dig into the Vault's dark recesses for another painting project.  A few years ago I chanced upon a company called Infinity Engine who produce a variety of quirky miniatures and terrain pieces.  I really like their aesthetic and have purchased a few pieces with Frostgrave and D&D in mind.

My first purchase was a set of braziers, intended for use as some scatter terrain or objective markers. I've painted these up as arcane flames:

Regimental Reporting: Making the most of the Cadian kits

Welcome back to the Officers Mess!  The focus of my recent hobby time has been split between slapping paint on some more random fantasy models and readying the next Cadian Infantry Squad for the paint table.

It's very simple to buy a Cadian Infantry Squad kit, build all the 10 men and say "done", but unfortunately you don't necessarily get all the options you want for your squad in that box! In simplistic terms a fully equipped Infantry Squad will contain:

• One Sergeant
• One Vox Operator
• One Special Weapon Trooper
• One Heavy Weapon Team (2 Troopers)
• Five Lasgun Troopers

The Cadian Infantry Squad itself contains 2 sprues which will each build a Sergeant, Vox, Special Weapon (albeit flamer or grenade launcher only), and a varying number of Lasgun Troopers depending on how many of the other options you build.

Sarge, Flamer, Vox

More hobby time with the Contrast paints

Welcome back to the Vault! This week's scant hobby time has been spent playing around with the Contrast paints again. I've been keen both to play around with more colours and textures, and hit some of the back log of fantasy models.

Session 1: a Frostgrave Wizard, built from the new North Star plastic kit:

Regimental Reporting: Last Stand at Glazer's Creek Part 1

Welcome back to the Officers Mess! I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm participating in the "Siege of Falx" 40K campaign at the First Founding club, with my battle hardened Cadian 82nd Regiment.

The campaign organiser (and blogger) Neil is an Ork player and massive 40K fluff fan. Last summer White Dwarf published an updated version of a classic Battle Report, "Last Stand at Glazer's Creek" in which a beleaguered Imperial Guard force fight off wave after wave of assaulting Green Skins; this article was a lot of fun to read and Neil and I have agreed to play the scenario ourselves as part of the campaign.

This is a narrative, power level based game so I've decided to add a couple of units to my collection which are more fluffy than I might usually choose!

Some old Ork Boyz I painted up ages ago playing around with different schemes

Regimental Reporting: Learning From Experience

Time for another well earned visit to the Officers Mess my fellow Commanders.  I've played a few more games with the Cadian 82nd and I thought I'd re-visit my earlier After Action post to add more meat to the bone with regard to lessons learned.

The 40K games have gone well with a number of wins under my belt. However in other gaming news, I have been soundly thrashed in a series of hands of Bananagrams by my family.  Undaunted by the experience I've stolen the Bananagrams tiles and hidden them from the kids. That'll teach em.

And hopefully the following Bananagram-inspired pictures will help me remember useful stuff in future 40K games!

Scrabble Score: 14

Playing with the new Contrast Paints

There is an old adage "Use the right tools for the right job", and this is certainly true when it comes to the modelling and painting aspects of our hobby. My hobby circle has been buzzing for the last few weeks about the new "Contrast Paints" and certainly the Games Workshop PR machine has been in overdrive telling us all about them. 

There has been a repeating marketing theme along the lines of "getting models table top ready in super quick time", and regular readers will know that's something certain to get my attention!  My local store hosted a Contrast Demo day and so I went along to see these paints in action.

My first attempt was applying a grey onto a Space Marine Intercessor. The result was underwhelming; very patchy, and quite thin in places. Apparently the pot wasn't shaken well enough, and the Contrast Paints can pool on flat surfaces. Hmmm, so temperamental and not necessarily suitable for all models.

Contrast Paints are essentially highly pigmented washes, allowing a base coat and shade to be applied in a single coat; the more texture there is on a model, the greater the effect of the "Contrast". Undaunted, I've picked up a few pots to try on a few different models; these definitely aren't Space Marines.