A Harryhausen-Themed Stop-Motion Monster Warband

I have always been an avid fan of stop-motion effects in film. Once the bread and butter special effects in the age before digital animation and CGI, they are now seldom seen. I grew up on films such as “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad” and “Clash of the Titans” wherein actors hacked and stamped in stilted sword and shield combat with bone-dry skeletons, or fought giant scorpions and colossal bronze statues brought to life.

When I saw the models from the Fractured Dimensions Infernal Minions Kickstarter by Brett Zeleznik, I couldn’t help but notice that the Cambian Lord looked very similar to the character of Caliban from the early 80’s "Clash of the Titans" movie. Coupled with a giant scorpion model from Pardulon Models that I had acquired, I suddenly had the idea to build a "Clash of the Titans" Harryhausen-themed warband for Song of Blades and Heroes.

The idea simmered in my mind, and I picked up several models for the warband over the course of the next year

The Cambian Lord (Fractured Dimensions), who was to become “Caliban”

The resin Giant Scorpion (Pardulon Models) dubbed “Fluffy,” one of the most realistic scorpion sculpts out there. Many of the Reaper and similar scorpion miniatures are very unrealistic in proportion and form, and often end up very comic compared to the real thing.

An Abbot Dol Warrior (Fractured Dimensions), very similar in form to the Cambian Lord model. This figure was to become Grimus, a minion of Caliban. (I said themed, not exact to the films!)

A Demon Type V model (Fractured Dimensions), originally a six-armed figure with a snake tail instead of legs and two options for the torso. I also aquired a Reaper Bones Medusa, but eventually opted to instead use the demon model for “Medusa” even though it required some conversion. The PVC material in Bones figures is too flexible in small models.

A Demon Type IV model (Fractured Dimensions) using the helmet and trident option became a flying Warthog monster called “Oinkos” who has been the bane of my opponents this campaign season. While not really a proper fit with the Harryhausen monsters, this model had the same absurdity of form and was thematically a classic in it’s own right.

Skeleton Warriors (Wargames Factory). I looked at several models, primarily looking for the greek style sword and shield. While there are others out there that fit the bill including some produced by Reaper and Otherworld, the cost or materials were negatives. As an added advantage, the Wargames sprues contained the perfect bow and quiver set for the Medusa conversion!

And finally a Talos (Mierce Miniatures), to represent… well… “Talos” a very classic Harryhausen monster of course. I don't have a pic of this fellow just yet.

All of these sat unbuilt and unpainted on my desk until the SBH summer campaign approached, and suddenly I had a week to put together my warband. In three evenings, I assembled and based the entire warband. The Fractured Dimensions models were all very well cast with very few mold lines to remove. The Medusa conversion was very fiddly due to very tiny pieces, and I was forced to drill and pin the bow through the hand so that it would not get knocked off during game play.

Contrary to much of what I have read about the Wargames Factory skeleton models, they were actually very easy to assemble, and work with. The legs are thin, but sufficient to hold up the model, though there is some flex. On the fourth evening of this project, I finished assembly and basing on three skeletons, and painted the warband to a satisfactory tabletop standard, with all of the painting except for a basecoat on the Scoprion model taking place that evening. Talos was not completed at that time, and will be featured in a later blog post.

The detail on the skeleton shields was completed in a follow-up hour of painting.

Overall, while I may yet touch up some of the models, I am very happy with the completed result given the short time frame, and they look great on the tabletop as "Caliban’s Cursed." I created the warband as an "evil" team, allowing Medusa to shoot into combat, and used the standard SBH stats for the skeletons, Fluffy, and Medusa (with the addition of unerring aim to add a small amount of potency without making her overpowering).

Caliban, Grimus, and Oinkos all all received the mutant ability to represent the “Cursed” moniker. I have found it to be a flavorful (but negative) inclusion, since all but two of my mutation roles have been detrimental. I've been forced to use experience advancements to bring them back up to or near original stats.

Caliban was given the necromancer trait to raise more skeletons from combat casualties as the existing ones are destroyed. This is another skill that has proven very difficult to actually use in game. Oinkos has proven to be the brute of the warband. His big, flying, and long move skills make him dangerous in combat, and his primary use has been to quickly take objectives or as a mobile combat support which he excels at. His brutish capability has, however, been offset as the campaign progresses by the fact that fully half of the warband are undead or animals and do not take experience or advancement.

"Caliban's Cursed" has definitely been one of the most creative, fun to build, and fun to and play warbands that I have put together in a summer campaign!

-- Jon, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

The Grimy Jewel Campaign: Session 5 Report

"There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold…"
- Robert W. Service

The wretched Harba watched from the shadows as the his tales spun from straw... tales of gold and vast wealth filtered down through tellings and retellings down to the mercenaries, villains and adventurers who now searched the ruins in the valley below looking for plunder and treasure... but just as likely to unearth moldering artifacts and glittering gewgahs of fearsome uncanny disposition... better left in their grimy cairns and dungeons... laid to uneasy rest eons, and eons ago...

On a dark and... well… not so stormy night, five Chicago Skirmish Wargames members met in a... well… not dark and dingy basement… and split into two games of Song of Blades and Heroes. Michael brought forth his custom converted and based Mordheim-esque terrain buildings, and Tim set forth a farm with stone cottages.

On the first table side, three warbands blundered and crept through the ruins searching for rumored treasure.  The three competing teams were Michael’s warband ("The Debauched Ones" led by Samira the Salacious), Joe’s Men at Arms, and Jon’s "Calibans Cursed."

The scenario rolled was a treasure hunt, the goal being to find and spirit the treasure off of the table. All three warbands focused on the treasure hunt, rolling to score a 10 or higher (rather than a 12) for each terrain piece encountered. Given the focus, minimal combat occurred with only a few casualties on the board. Jon’s Medusae effectively removed Michaels mounted character from the round. Within four turns, the treasure had been located and removed from the battlefield. Samira the Salacious took the win, finding an extensive amount of money, a magic item, and several gems ...in suspiciously archaic settings of gold.

We quickly reassembled for another three player game. The scenario was a King of the Hill, with victory going to player with the most points of models on the hill at the conclusion of the scenario. We configured a tower as the ‘hill’ and a massive melee ensued outside one of the doors to the tower. Jon flew Oinkos, his flying warthog warrior, over to the tower to enter from the top, his scorpion and skeletons moved towards the base of the tower. Michael likewise moved his ogre and warriors to advance towards the same side that Jon was approaching. Tim moved in from both sides, and some of his models easily avoided the massive melee developing other side of the table. Jon moved a skeleton inside, and then melee began in earnest as each player attempted to delay the others from entering the tower.

Fluffy the scorpion climbed the tower wall using, his clinging and poison traits to attack very effectively from above his opponents. Tim moved a smaller portion of his force, including the assassin, toward the large melee, and further slowed Jon’s forces from entering the tower. Jon’s skeletons and Oinkos added their prowess to the melee, and with Medusa shooting into combat with nary a care for her own, they were able to slay several of Michael’s warriors, including the ogre.

While the melee ensued, Tim had subtly moved three models into the building. The final game turn was a rush to enter the tower. Jon successfully moved another skeleton and Oinkos into the tower. The scorpion, having dispatched his last opponent, scaled the outside of the tower but couldn't quite make it to the top. Michael was able to get a single character into the tower. Final counts saw Tim and Jon both with three models inside the structure. Once the dust had cleared, Tim’s force secured the victory.

That same evening, Tim and Karl played the Surprise Attack scenario with Tim as the defender. Most of his guys were spread across the board, but the monk and cavemen were reinforcements that would come in later. Karl was the attacker.

Karl quickly surrounded and overwhelmed Tim's piecemeal defenders. Tim’s autumn priest then used his wall of fear spell to break up Karl's warband and provide some cover while his remaining members regrouped.  This wall of fear had the desired effect, and slowed down Karl's attack enough for Tim’s monk to come in and help. With his leader surrounded, Karl chose to withdraw rather than risk his life. So, despite being very beat up, Tim's warband pulled victory from the slavering jaws of defeat. In the campaign resolution, Tim’s tourist died of his wounds, and his warband caught an illness after a botched role on the exploration table.  Karl warband came upon a cursed glade in their own encounter, but emerged away unscathed.

The second battle saw Bishop Stuka’s crusaders facing off against Joe’s Men at Arms. Joe was able to successfully sequester his leader within a stone cottage, while keeping his warband in range to be take advantage of his leadership and defend him from attack. This strategy allowed Joe to win through against the crusaders. As a part of the exploration, Karl’s crusaders sacked an Evil temple and escaped with a portion of the temple’s gold for their trouble before heading again down secret paths, with "secret tales, that would make your blood run cold." (Robert W. Service)

…Old Harba... he knows...

-- Jon, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

The Grimy Jewel Campaign: Session 4 Report

Here's the action from a recent session of our Song of Blades & Heroes campaign, written in glorious narrative fashion by new club member Joe!

In retaliation for last harvest season's peasant uprising instigated by Bishop Stuka's outlaws none less than Burggraf Wallenstein of Vildeburg himself dispatched Ritter Ludvig VonDraken to bring the holy man and misguided followers to heel. Ritter VonDraken's lads pursued the fleeing cleric to a questionable tavern on the edge of town.

"How many peasant hovels did we torch during the rebellion?" the knight asked the other armored horseman. Custrel Berndt Schnitzel only smiled grimly and nodded in response. "War without arson...is like sausage without mustard!" bellowed VonDraken. "Fetch your tinderbox, boy, we'll make up firebrands!"

The page-boy, Willi, rapidly set about the task, and soon every knight had a burning torch in hand. Confidently they marched directly towards the inn, except for Custrel Schnitzel. He galloped his horse on a wide left flank, flaming brand casting twisted shadows on the derelict houses.

Just as VonDraken and his three halberdiers passed under an arch, the Bishop sprung his trap!

Three outlaw knights rushed from the shadows and hacked VonDraken from his horse, and the rest of the Bishop's men poured from the inn like rats from a sewer. Some of the leaderless soldiers began to edge away...but not Berndt Schnitzel. The Custrel was no coward! He would show those bastards how to burn a building down! Just as Schnitzel rounded the corner, torch in hand, he noticed a glowing halo about the priest's head as the old fool kept babbling some prayer... The mounted knight's jaw went slack and as his eyes began to roll Ridley Boughdodger rode up and knocked the Custrel from his horse and into unconsciousness.

One of VonDraken's crossbowmen managed to send a quarrel whistling through Brother Roberto's robe, knocking him down. But when the henchmen saw both armored horsemen go down, things began to unravel. One of the crossbowmen, a weakling from Vildeburg no doubt, soiled himself and ran off crying. Willi fell back with the standard trying to rally the faltering warband upon him.

The Bishop's three knights, Sires Chopenblok, Dogget and Hakkenslosh, pressed VonDraken's halberdiers, knocking one to the ground. Being tough mountaineers from the Valkenrath Palisades, they refused to yield. "Spank me with your distaff again, granny," the fallen man jeered. "I seen yer mum's arse," shouted another. Junker Monika Frohlich, now in command, had seen enough. "Retreat, run like hell!" came the cry.

-- Joe, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

The Grimy Jewel Campaign: Session 3 Report

Kevin and I met up last week to play the "Swordfight" scenario from Hour 11's book of Song of Blades and Heroes scenarios as part of our ongoing campaign.

Our warbands met while exploring some long-forgotten ruins and barrows now overgrown by forest.  The photos here are from early in the game, as our warriors race to explore six burial mounds.

Each warband suffered a few turnovers early in the game, but later got to encounter the mounds -- and each other. Over the course of the game, about 25 spirits of this fallen chaotic community were awoken, attacking the explorers and generally detaining them with grasping claws.

Eventually, my elven priest of autumn was able to avoid the dead things to get away with a magical artifact.

Rolling on Mattias's Arcane and Deadly Objects table, I found my artifact to be a Twisted Circlet -- a chaotic crown that may inspire or ruin one member of my warband. After the escaping the undead, Kevin's warband found a keg of ale mysteriously preserved in the ruins. My warband then encountered another spirit, this one of a hero who fought against the disturbed chaotic entities when they were all alive. As an atonement for enraging the otherwise contained chaos, my warband pledged to take on a mission on behalf of the fallen hero.

-- Tim, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Frostgrave: Battle in the Ruins

Last week I found time to try out Frostgrave, the new skirmish game from Osprey that's currently burning up my internets. I mean c'mon -- the game recently got its own sub-forum on Lead Adventure Forum, and you know they don't just give those out like peanuts.

The game itself has a fairly narrow focus. It's all about wizards leading bands of soldiers, mercenaries and treasure hunters into the ruins of a once-great city in search of priceless loot. The official flavor of the game envisions the city as snow-encrusted and crawling with all manner of frigid beasties, but I'm already committed to my own ruined fantasy terrain set, which is not snowy but works just fine in a pinch.

In fact, I was very pleased to see how well our terrain meshes with my new cobblestone battle mat. It's a printed fabric product from Cigar Box Battle Mats, featuring scattered turf poking up through a field of cobblestones. The turf happens to match my own standard flock pretty well, as you can see in the pics.

We set up a basic three-player scenario. Karl brought his liturgical warband, with Bishop Stuka playing the role of soothsayer wizard and leading a band of pitchfork-wielding peasants. Josh fielded a pair of wild druids (witches, in the game) backed up by mercenaries and thieves. I went with a necromancer leading a group of thugs and men-at-arms.

(Side note: Frostgrave assumes fairly human-centric warband composition, with typical soldier profiles such as "thug" and "tracker," but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to add a little more flavor to this baseline treatment. You know: a band of elves escorting a mage into the ruins of the ancient library, or a wight sorcerer leading some skeletons on a smash-and-grab at the old mausoleum.)

We deployed 9 treasure tokens (3 for each player) per the game rules. We played on a 4x4 foot table, a bit larger than the recommended 3x3 tabletop, but I thought it wouldn't matter since we were playing a three-player game.

The game began with each warband filtering into the ruined city and angling for the closest treasure tokens (represented by barrels and chests in these pics).

My own warband got a little bottled up at the outset, which took a turn or two to get sorted out.

My treasure hunter ended up scaling an overgrown tower to secure some treasure on the ramparts. A nifty aspect of Frostgrave is that, unless otherwise specified, all terrain is assumed to be scalable. That really helped reinforce the "treasure hunters!" part of the game, as any figure can climb a wall or tree or ruined tower in search of loot.

As he was scrambling up the sheer wall, Karl's bishop cast wizard eye, a spell which allows the wizard to place a token somewhere on the board, which can then be used to draw line of sight for spells -- effectively giving the wizard a secondary perspective on the battlefield.

Here is the wizard eye, hoving atop the ramparts while my treasure hunter investigates the barrel. I kept waiting for Karl to shoot lightning bolts out of the eye, but he didn't have any shooty spells, just buffs and debuffs.

Elsewhere, Josh's druid and apprentice split up to advance on two separate treasure tokens. This proved to be a good strategy, as Josh was able to seize both without much resistance.

Frostgrave uses d20s for combat and task resolution. While some have criticized the system as being too 'swingy,' I found it somewhat refreshing. The potential for a total blowout was real (especially when using the optional critical hit rule) but that's OK -- no one wants to spend hours and hours playing a skirmish game with 10 figures per side.

Eventually Karl and I met in the center of the table near some treasure tokens. He got there before me, though, so I had to send my warhound and apprentice racing ahead of the rest of my team to try and stop him.

My guys kept his foot troops at bay, but eventually he prised away the barrel and began dragging it off the board. Nearby, his guys tumbled over a shattered pillar to seize an other treasure token.

But shortly afterward, as they were celebrating an early victory, Josh's druid swooped in and eviscerated them piece by piece.

That knight on the left side of the picture was really hoofing it, moving as fast as he could (carrying treasure cuts your move in half) but he was no match for the swift druid spellcaster.

My attempts to stymie Josh's advance were starting to bear fruit -- I raced my man-at-arms up to a treasure token while my wizard perched atop a ruined wall, ready to fling spells if needed. They were opposed only by Josh's warhound ....

But he proved more than capable in taking down the armored soldier. (I think a natural '20' was involved...) That left my wizard alone and exposed. Before he could retreat, Josh sent in a mercenary, and a few lucky dice rolls later, my wizard was toast.

Shortly afterward, we reached our time limit. Everyone had secured at least one treasure token (and Josh made off with THREE!). Even though this wasn't a campaign game, we decided to go through the post-game stuff to see whether or not our casualties survived and to figure out what treasure we had dredged forth from the ruins. As you can expect, this involved lots of rolling on random tables to determine exactly what we got. It was great fun!

This is definitely the strength of Frostgrave -- the old-school nature of the rules, which seems to offer a game experience that is by turns zany and unpredictable, often at the same time! I mean, this game literally has wandering monsters -- yes, please! We also liked that you only need to track experience for your wizard ... everyone else is expendable, for better or worse.

As others have pointed out, Frostgrave's rules engine and campaign system seems easy enough to exploit, but we don't play that way at Chicago Skirmish Wargames. Our games are flavorful and narrative experiences first and foremost. There is plenty of room to hang your own house rules onto the basic framework of the game to correct any mismatched expectations.

Doubtless we'll play this one again soon!

-- Patrick, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

The Grimy Jewel Campaign: Session 2 Report

"My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie" 
-- R. Browning

Three bands of warriors approached the barrow wastes cautiously. Unbeknownst to the others, each had been approached in the city of Vildeburg by a gnarled stranger clad in rags. Filthy bandages were wrapped haphazardly around a withered leg, and the figure had crabbed and lurched toward them across the cobblestones in horrible locomotion. Yellow eyes turned towards them, and the slit of a mouth opened from his ludicrously aged countenance. "Heard ye of the Eyes of Silence?" rasped the grotesque. "Old Harba himself … he knows…"  Lured by rumors of wealth untold, the warbands converged on the ruins and barrow mounds the dotted the hills just beyond the High Road to the Wilderlands, just southeast of Vildeburg.

Game 1
Tim, Joe, and Jon rolled the "Gemstone Hunt," an objective-based scenario with the goal to take and hold treasure placed throughout the ruins during setup. The warbands quickly advanced towards all four of the ‘Eyes of Silence’ gemstones hidden within the ruins and cairns. Tim’s forces were known (and avoided) far and wide as "Rufus’s Enduring Expedition" quickly advanced towards two of the ‘Eyes’ on the western end of the map, while Joe’s mounted captain, knight, and men-at-arms moved to claim the jewels on the eastern side. Jon’s warband "Caliban’s Cursed" found itself split and arrayed against both Tim and Joe’s forces. 

Caliban led a force of three skeleton warriors and another warrior (with a cursed visage like Caliban himself) into the western ruins and clashed against Rufus's minions. Broderick the Lightning Warrior and James the Gnome (calling him a lawn gnome to his face is not recommended) moved in and claimed the gemstone 'Eyes' before Caliban's Cursed could collect them. A fierce melee ensued -- Tim’s assassin Tindae struck with quick, silent slashes, and Niphrid the Autumnal Spellcaster summoned forth a Wall of Fear. Caliban’s mutant and skeletons shrugged off the attack with effort. Tim’s warrior Ebufurth the Caveman Berserker found himself surrounded by skeletons and was stuck down by the aptly named Slack-Jaw.

The skeleton Bonehead likewise dispatched Daichi the monk in a gruesome manner, causing much of Tim’s warband to disperse in disarray, with gemstones in tow. Caliban attempted to raise the berserker with necromantic arts, but was unable to do so before game's end.

On the eastern side of the ruins, Oinkos the flying mutant warthog was able to swoop in and gather both of the gemstones in the area over the course of several turns.

Fluffy the Giant Scorpion blocked ingress via a narrow path and faced off against Joe’s men-at-arms and crossbowmen. His armor deflected arrows and strikes alike for multiple turns and stalled forward advancement. Using Fluffy as a defensive front, Medusa hung back taking shots at billmen and knights while slowly advancing, but she was unable to pierce their armor.

Despite multiple knock downs, the scorpion only managed to slay a single billman in the broiling combat.  Rolling three failures on activation on his final roll ensured he was unable to remove any additional opponents and laid the foundation for his demise. Additional billmen and the mounted lord moved in each turn until the even the massive insect's reflexes were overwhelmed by multiple opponents.  Fluffy was severely damaged and slunk defeated from combat to nurse his wounds.

The same turn, Joe's billmen and knight were able to break through to Medusa. While shielding his eyes from her baleful glare, the knight was able to fatally pierce her scales, removing her as a threat

The end result found Tim in control of two gemstones, Joe with no gemstones but two kills worth seven victory points, and Jon with two gemstones and three kills totaling nine victory points, and leaving Jon in control of the scenario by only a couple of points. The giant scorpion will miss the next campaign round due to injuries, and Medusa will have to roll at the start of each game for how her "brain injury" will affect her performance during that battle. Should make for some interesting gameplay...

Old Harba's mad eyes gleamed with feverish guile watching the departing warbands. The Eyes of Silence loose again in the waking world?! "... Never ye mind the curse..."

Game 2
While the three-way melee was going on the other side of the table, Kevin and Karl faced off in an urban battle. The object of their game was to be the first to reach an alley in the center of town, read a vital clue and then deface the wall before the opponent could do the same. In this case, the alley was a small brambly patch between the local church and watchtower.

Though Kevin fielded some fearsome foes, victory would be mostly a matter of speed and maneuver. With a few lucky moves (or perhaps because the objective was next to a church) Karl's ecclesiastical followers rushed forward and filled the alley. Despite facing generally tougher foes, they managed to read the message and deface it before taking too many casualties.

For winning the scenario, they received the "Strange Map," which they can use in the future to modify an exploration roll. While exploring, they were ambushed but they fought bravely and slew an evil shaman. Unfortunately, luck was not entirely with them this week, and one of their angry townsfolk succumbed to his wounds. Though having lost two warriors, the Bishop's Crusade carries on in its quest to bring the light of truth to Qaarra.

-- Jon, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

The Grimy Jewel Campaign: Session 1 Report

It's summer in Chicago, which means we're getting our annual fantasy campaign underway once again. A vibrant fantasy campaign has been a hallmark of CSW since its inception back in 2010. As in years past, we're sticking with Song of Blades & Heroes as our primary ruleset, though some games may be played with other rulesets such as Kings of War and Open Combat.

We decided to set this year's campaign in the city of Vildeburg itself. Dubbed "the Grimy Jewel of Qaarra," the medieval city of Vildeburg is home to all manner of warbands, each one plotting and scheming to gain profit and advantage over the others.

Ironically, though, our first session took place, not in Vildeburg, but far afield in the foothills of the Valkenwrath Palisades. See, one of our members has apparently had enough of Chicago's bitter cold and endless snow, so Mattias (of the excellent Amateur Hour blog) will be relocating to sunny Hawaii in a few short weeks. To send him off in style, we quickly threw together a scenario featuring a full-scale incursion of Qaarra by an invading force of pale, dead-eyed warriors from the Wyrdwold.

The Wyrdwold, of course, is Mattias's homebrew setting, into which he has poured voluminous amounts of creativity over the course of many months and years. It was a real treat, then to see him deploy a huge force of diverse miniatures from his Wyrdwold collection onto our battlefield for the scenario.

Arrayed against Mattias's Wyrdwold warrior (roughly 1,000 points in Song of Blades & Heroes parlance) were three allied warbands: Josh's Dark Mariners, Terrence's Nameless Orcs, and Karl's Holy Warriors. Their job was to stymie the advance of the Wyrdwolders, who were pouring out of a spectral, half-glimpsed cleft 'twixt a pair of ethereal hills that served as a portal between the Wyrdwold and Qaarra.

In this pic, the Nameless horde surges over a bridge while the Dark Mariners negotiate a river in the background. Karl's holy warriors are on the far right, also about the cross the stream.

Here's a closer look at the Dark Mariners. These are newly painted, from the DeepWars game line.

Just a mess of tentacles and spearguns, wherever you looked.

In game terms, this was a pretty big game. Karl, Josh and Terrence fielded roughly 1400 points among them, and Mattias's faction received one free random monster at the start of each turn, to represent oddities from the Wyrdwold slipping through the astral portal and wreaking havoc on the opposing warbands.

On the first turn of the game, Josh's siren cast a weather spell, and a fearsome rainstorm began scouring the battlefield. As it happened, a fearsome rainstorm soon swept into Chicago, so we were able to do a little live-action roleplay later in the evenings as everyone ran out to their cars. But in the game, the rainstorm had a few measurable effects: it reduced line of sight and limited all shooting to the shortest range band. This proved important during a few key engagements!

Here's a glimpse of the battlefield as the lines edged closer together. In the mid-ground, the gigantic beast with its fists upraised is a scarp dweller from the Wyrdwold, newly arrived and mad as hell about it.

And in this pic, two mounted warriors crashed into the Dark Mariners' line in a glorious cacophony of clanging metal and slishing tentacles. In the foreground, missile troops pour fire into the periphery of the fight.

Karl's holy warriors got a bit mauled in this game. What do you expect from a group of barefoot peasants led by clerics and paladins! Here they are advancing toward a truly gruesome skirmish line of demons and mutants. That octopus is probably fleeing as fast as his little tentacles can slither.

Here's another look at the battlefield. Individual fights were breaking out all over the map as the warbands tried to flank and out-flank each other.

Oh yeah -- either Mattias or I killed Josh's siren a few turns into the game, so there was no way to turn off the rainstorm spell. It continued to rain uncontrollably for the rest of the game! OK, more pics of the action. I lost track of what was happening at this point. Maybe you can piece together the narrative from these pics.

As you can see from the pics, it was a wonderful way to spend a few hours, and a totally fitting send-off for Mattias. As it turned out, his hollow-faced raiders were driven from the battlefield, back through the thrice-cursed gateway and into the Wyrdwold, where they will presumably lick their wounds and sulk mightily.

This was an odd scenario for our first session. Next game we'll hew a bit more closely to our theme for "The Grimy Jewel." For now, I'll just leave you with one final pic from the game, showing the eventual fate of Karl's bishop guy.

Until next time!

-- Patrick, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member