Chain Home radar array

 

Another little kit from Sarissa Precision.  This is a coastal early warning radar array, part of the system codenamed Chain Home.   This was the first early warning radar network in the world, and the first military radar system to reach operational status, built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft.  A nice objective for WW2 games.

I added some barbed wire around the structure to deter people from climbing it but it didn't put off that stupid boy.

Mausoleum

Another MDF kit from Sarissa to enhance the graveyard encounters in Perilous Tales and other figures games.  Just 9cm square (plus the steps) so nice and compact, and perfect as a small temple or mausoleum.

The MDF kit uses cardboard for the roof and for the middle columns on the three walls, building up the base and capital using a few pieces to give it more depth.  The kit ingeniously used narrow pieces of MDF along the corners to represent fluting on the columns.  After priming, it looked like this.

I drybrushed with greys and white before adding separate washes of umber and green to represent dirt and moss/lichen.

I added a strip of cardboard along the pitch of the roof, painted it copper and then tarnished with a wash of turquoise.

The vines are embroidery thread soaked in watered-down PVA and then teased apart with tweezers to form thinner branches growing along the brickwork.  Two different shades of flock form the leaves.  Tufts of grass were applied around the base with some fallen leaves collected around the steps.

Using image software, I created small mosaics and printed them on to glossy card and fitted them to the door and building pediments.

The larger has a pair of dragons in the foreground, the smaller a capital D.  So who on earth could be resting in this mausoleum...?

The roof is removable so the occupant of the crypt can be hidden inside ready to leap out on our unsuspecting heroes.  Back to painting figures now ready for a game using this piece of scenery.

Episode 204: Marion Ravenwood and the Lost Archaeologist of Imhotep

It wasn't planned as a two-parter but following a cliff-hanger ending last episode (and some encouragement in the excellent Perilous Tales Facebook group), the Director decided to make a sequel to find out the fate of Indiana Jones.

The board was set up as before but with Indy tied up in the sarcophagus on the temple plinth.  So for this episode, a different character took top billing:

"Following the abduction of Indiana Jones by the Mummy of Imhotep, the surviving members of the expedition took the unconscious Marion back to Cairo where a second cousin of Sallah was able to supply an antidote that brought her fully back to life.  Marion recruited Indy’s seaplane pilot, Jock Lindsay, to the gang and then led them back to the temple to try to rescue Indy, find the fourth and final canopic jar, and deal with the Mummy once and for all time."

The game objectives were Rescue the Prisoner, Find the Precious and Kill the Master.

Marion began the episode by revealing the High Priest, who wounded her but not before he took a fair few bullet wounds from Sallah and Jock who had their Eyes Peeled.

In the second turn, Marion finished him off but a further two cultists appeared and ambushed Marion (again) and Marcus.

The following turn, Sallah and Marion ganged up on the Cultist whilst Marcus and Jock did the same on the other, and luckily both were despatched.

Marion healed some of her wounds whilst Henry scarpered away, having failed a Horror Check.  Then Sallah unsuccessfully attempted to use his Handy trait to discover the remaining canopic jar.  Marion boldly rushed towards the plinth to rescue Indiana, prompting the reveal of two threat markers - the Mummy and Bugs! (an enduring peril in place over a wide area unfortunately including the plinth).

Marion took a lot of wounds from the two threats but then, learning a lesson from the ...ahem... technical rehearsal of the episode, decided that attempting to retreat from combat and allow her colleagues to all shoot the Mummy, made more sense than trying to fight hand-to-hand.

Of course this couldn't last long, as the Mummy's reaction on being shot was Step Forward, so he quickly closed the gap on the firing squad.  Meanwhile, Sallah failed another couple of times to dig up the jar but Henry stepped forward and found it straight away.

The Mummy then inflicted 8 wounds on Jock which would have taken him out of action completely.  The Director used the Last Ditch ability to rewind the tape, reset positions and let the Mummy roll again, causing just two wounds and keeping Jock in the game.

The Mummy had taken a lot of wounds by this point and, appropriately enough, Marion was the one to finish him off whilst Sallah and Henry moved to the plinth to rescue Indy.

In the next threat check, Sallah and Marion failed their Horror Checks and retreated, whilst Henry was ambushed by another cultist and a sandstorm blew up.

The Cultist took a couple of bullets and then inflicted 6 wounds on Henry.  Before Henry could respond, he had to endure biting bugs as he activated within 6" of the peril and sadly they took him out of action.  The small silver lining was that with the Cultist no longer engaged in hand-to-hand, Marcus could take revenge for Henry by shooting him dead.

Sallah took 4 wounds from the Bugs (they were vicious) as he moved back to the plinth and began to help Indy.  Jock joined in and together they freed Indiana from the sarcophagus.

At this point, the objectives were all accomplished but the only end game condition (threat level 10) hadn't yet been reached.  The Director decided the team should attempt to escape the bugs, and with a few more snaps at their heels, that's what they did.

Although they had lost Henry, they had recovered Indiana (3 points) and in addition found the fourth canopic jar (3) and killed the Mummy (3).  With the leader Marion surviving the adventure for another 1 point, the final score was 10, graded A for "a truly heroic performance".

The survivors' photo with the corpse of the Mummy and his four canopic jars:

Episode 203: Indiana Jones and the Lost Mummy of Imhotep

 First outing for the Indiana Jones team I painted this week.

I put them together from individual miniatures, mainly from Pulp Figures packs, so that I could get figures that best represented my favourite characters from the Indiana Jones films.  Fortunately I found a seller on eBay selling Pulp Figures miniatures separately.  From left to right we have:

• Marcus Brody: "Claus" (PLP005) from Artizan Designs' Thrilling Tales range 
• Sallah: "Mr M" from Sinister Spies (PHP 03)
• Indiana Jones: "Carson Smith" from Rugged Heroes (PHP 02)
• Marion Ravenwood: "Meg Masters" from Dangerous Dames 2 (PHP 19)
• Henry Jones Sr.: "Reggie York" from Stalwart Companions (PHP 10)

They were pitched against Copplestone Castings' Mummy (a gift from Adrian) and a group of Cultists (from North Star's Rangers of Shadow Deep range - a gift from Andy).

I used the Mummy stats and Desert Dig Site location from the Perilous Tales rules.  Like the Mummy films, the rules have Imhotep believe that one of the adventurers is the reincarnation of their love, Princess Anankha, and he will attempt to escape with that character.  The objectives were to Stop The Ritual, Recover the Canopic Jars (repurposing the Recover Equipment objective) and Kill the Master.

This was also the first time I've used my desert mat and my Egyptian scenery - another excellent eBay purchase of painted plastercast columns, statues and other features.  The threat markers were deployed in the standard pattern.

I started with Marcus and Sallah in the bottom half of the playing area, with the rest in the top half.  Henry used his Eagle Eyes to discover that the top most threat marker was Blazing Heat so that could be avoided for the rest of the game.  Indiana pushed on into the centre revealing an unhelpfully positioned "Thousand Cuts" marker.  This inflicts a 3 Skill attack whenever a hero activates within 6" for the remainder of the game, so it couldn't have been in a worse position.  But it was an opportunity to use some of my bugs counters to represent the threat.

As the threat level increased, a cultist ambushed Marcus but he was despatched by Marcus and Sallah in the following turn.  

Indy recklessly moved through the bugs and revealed three threat markers simultaneously.  One of these was a sandstorm, reducing visibility to 6 inches.  The others were the High Priest and a Cultist.

They inflicted a lot of wounds on Indy but with Marion's help he was luckily able to defeat them both, and Marion partially healed him the following turn.

Indiana spent a couple of turns interacting with the idol to Stop the Ritual.  The others defeated the last cultist whilst Indy and Marion tried to escape the bugs.  Indy succeeded but Marion sadly succumbed to the bugs' bites before she was able to move - despite the use of the Last Ditch rule to re-roll the attack.

Sallah was the first to find a canopic jar at the base of one of the columns.

Marcus found another and then Sallah discovered the third.  With the ritual stopped, three jars retrieved and only one threat marker left, the team were feeling pretty confident.

They gathered behind the sarcophagus and Sallah and Marcus had their Eyes Peeled as Indy triggered the Mummy's threat marker.  The object of Imhotep's affections was randomly selected... and the dice said it was Indiana Jones.  However, on checking the activation rules for the Mummy, I realised that with the "Princess" within 1" of him, and both within 3" of the villainous table edge, they were able to escape together and the game ended.

The final score was 3 for stopping the ritual and 3 for finding the jars.  A point for the leader surviving didn't feel right as although Indiana wasn't killed (unlike poor Marion), he may now have to endure a fate worse than death.  A total of 6 is ranked C: "Adequate, I shall give you a shilling for it".  Looking forward to playing this again and seeing how the Mummy rules play out should he appear earlier on in the game.

Elves Under Hoof

A solo game especially for the Christmas season.  Elves Under Hoof is a free print-and-play game from Dan Verssen Games.  It uses the hex grid and counter stacks of classic WW2 wargames but this time pitches Santa's reindeer against crazed Elves.  The counters have the movement, range and "to hit" stats just like an Avalon Hill game but, unlike AH, the entertainingly-written rules fortunately only cover a few pages.

The reindeers are equipped with Thompsons, M1 rifles, M1911 pistols and grenades (plus their hooves), and can pick up more weapons dropped by defeated elves.  They have cookies which can be discarded to negate a successful elf attack and eggnog which can be drunk to get an extra hex movement and additional attack that turn.

I've so far tried "An Igloo Too Far" where a small number of reindeer have to hold the igloos from an onslaught of elves until reinforcements arrive...

...and "E-Day" where a larger contingent have to storm Santa's workshop.

Still to play are "Saving Private Rudolph" and "The Big Red One".  All very silly but these are short fun games well worth a few pieces of printer paper and card.

Episode 202: Howling At The Moon

A supernatural episode of the A-Team...

The mission briefing from General Stockwell:

The objectives were Find The Precious, Flip The Switches and Escape.  The location perils were those of Sentinel Hill in the rules and the villains had the stats from the Wolfman.  

The threat markers were set up in the Aggressive pattern.

Straightaway Hannibal spotted the Wolfman threat and helped steer the team away from him.  BA bravely revealed two markers simultaneously - not difficult in the Aggressive layout.  A clap of thunder (Unsteady Underfoot) didn't perturb him but the Young Werewolf inflicted 3 wounds after just surviving Eyes Peeled shots from Amy and Face.

The next turn, BA finished off the werewolf whilst Hannibal was struck by lightning, taking 3 wounds and being knocked down.  BA then revealed a further two markers - a raging storm reducing visibility to 6 inches and a wolf, which was swiftly dealt with by the team.

BA started to search for the moon crystal as the team moved up in support.  He failed first time but did discover a wolf that pounced on him.

BA killed the wolf and found the crystal whilst Amy moved on to activate the first switch, accelerating the increase in threat level.  Another threat check saw Amy and Face fail their horror checks and retreat but a bigger problem - the threat marker that had been inching its way nearer finally got to within 6 inches of BA, and the Wolfman spawned on him killing him outright.

The Wolfman then used his Frenzy characteristic to immediately follow up with a further attack on Murdoch, again getting a killing roll.  Using the Last Ditch option to avoid losing a second teammate, the dice were rolled again and this time Murdoch survived.

With just one round to go, Hannibal failed to kill the last wolf with all three of his actions and so was unable to activate another switch.  Fortunately, Amy was able to activate one.  The Wolfman caused another 4 wounds on Murdoch and 6 on Face, but they survived.

At this stage, the team had earned 3 Victory Points for recovering the item, 2 VP for activating two switches, no VP for escaping, plus 1 for Hannibal surviving.  A grand total of 6 VP is graded C - "Adequate, I shall give you a shilling for it".

With the threat level at 10 or above, the game should end but it still felt like a cliffhanger before an advert break rather than the end of the episode.  So I played another couple of turns.  Hannibal finally killed the wolf but took two tries to activate the last switch, so couldn't then escape.  Face and Murdoch escaped from combat and Murdoch, along with Amy, escaped completely.  A surprisingly low threat check roll saw Face fail his horror check and fade into the fog.  The Wolfman consequently moved and attacked Hannibal instead.  In the very last turn, Hannibal escaped from combat and he and Face successfully escaped the map.

Following these two extra turns, the team had earned 3 Victory Points for recovering the item, 3 VP for activating two switches, 3 VP for escaping, plus 1 for Hannibal surviving.  A grand total of 10 VP is graded A - "a truly heroic performance".  But the team lost BA and three others were "marked" by werewolf attacks, so we'll have to see what happens to them next full moon.

Episode 201: The Search for the Yeti

First adventure for my Explorers this afternoon.  The history of the names I gave the characters is here.

This group of famous explorers were headed for the Himalayas aiming to find and photograph the creature known as the Yeti, or the Abominable Snowman, and prove that it truly exists.  The three objectives in Perilous Tales terms were Leave No Stone Unturned, Get Evidence and Hunt the Fiends.

The perils were frostbite (equivalent to "a thousand cuts"), snow-drift ("mired") and ice cave! (disaster strikes) from the Arctic Camp location in the rules.

It was the first outing to the gaming table for the villains too.  They comprised my two Yetis (with special ability Abominable which gives Critical Hits on rolling 9 as well as 0), a Himalayan Brown Bear (with the Powerful special ability) and a pair of Wolves.

The layout had some large snowdrifts and rocks on one of my new gaming mats with a snow terrain.

Right from the start, Erica spotted the hidden ice cave and Charles was ambushed by the large Yeti, which failed to land any blows.  

Bill and Reinhold moved up to support Charles, whose double misfortune meant he didn't bother the Yeti.  Khumjo revealed a snow drift, fortunately on the top edge of the playing area.  The Noose Tightened further and the Yeti started wounding Charles.

In turn 3, Reinhold killed the Yeti and Bill attempted to take a photograph but sadly had his thumb over the lens the first time.  After a spot of frostbite, Charles and Khumjo headed towards the top of the area, whilst Reinhold headed down and revealed the second Yeti - falling over after failing a Horror Check.

Erica also failed her Horror Check and fell into the Ice Cave she'd spotted earlier, potentially inflicting 9 wounds in the process.  With only 8 wounds available, I took the Last Ditch re-roll option and she survived.  Then the wolves started to appear:

Fortunately, with some support to provide Advantage, Charles was able to take out two wolves in one turn.

Bill and Erica then pushed on to the last threat marker, revealing the Himalayan Brown Bear which attacked Bill.

Some shooting from Erica and Charles killed the bear and finished the game, with the threat level at 8.

Final scores were:

• Just 1 for revealing the last threat marker at threat level 7 
• plus 3 for taking the photo successfully of the master villain 
• plus 3 for killing at least 3 minions, making 7 for the objectives.  

Add 1 for the leader surviving and another 1 for losing no teammates gives a final score of 9, which gives the episode a grade B, "a tale fit for the telling".  Another fun game.