Sunday Fantasy Skirmish Games

 Andrew and I got together today for another couple of games using his home made fantasy skirmish rules and the various tiles he has collected together from a multitude of boxed kick starter games he has invested in over the last few years.

I think I have said previously that I have no background in fantasy/RPG type games - I went straight into historical gaming in my teens and never trod the D&D type path, but I have always liked the look of many of the fantasy figure ranges and even now, with more than enough figures in my small collection to meet the needs of Andrews rules or Frostgrave etc, I am tempted to buy even more of this type of figure, as they are such fun to paint and generally so well sculpted!

I arrived about 1030 and game one commenced around 11 and lasted maybe 90 minutes (another advantage of this type of gaming in  my opinion!). I took A LOT of pictures so you may get a bit bored scrolling through - some were taken to remind me of key elements of the game so I will add some comments to some images and just leave the rest to tell the story. 

The playing table with Andrews beautiful terrain and lovely array of tiles

My first warband, one hero, two sorceresses and nine standard fighters, a couple armed with firearms

Andrews war band

One sorcerer and a hero with magic blue sword

The other group, including the second sorceress

At the end of each turn, if Andrew rolled a double, monsters could randomly appear at one of eighteen possible locations - twelve along the table edge plus six points on the table itself. In addition, whenever a firearm was used, the noise might attract their unwanted attention. These are the first two Beastmen who unhelpfully appeared right in the centre of my baseline!

Two of Andrews fighters sneak around my flank

One of the stranger looking figures was one of Andrews two magic makers..

The previously pictured strange looking magic maker attempted a spell, and rolled a double 1 - a fumble! This allowed me to roll an attack back at him, and he turned himself into a frog!

Archer and pistoleer attempt to hit Andrews second magician

A general melee on my left flank as three of Andrews fighters charge home

Meanwhile, on my right, a lone spearmen tries to hold off the two Beastmen

Another charge from Andrew - one figure came up short and failed to make contact with my sorceress - he is likely to regret his temerity as soon as she figures out the best spell to use on him!

More bloody Beastmen appear!

Andrews surviving sorceress casts a spell

One of Andrews fighters launches an attack on my other sorceress...

....while the Beastmen have killed the gallant spearmen and are now engaged with a female fighter armed with both sword and dagger

At this point, I had killed one of Andrews sorcerers (2 points) plus six fighters (1 point each). On the basis that he had only killed one of my fighters, I also added my achieved objective card (another 2 points)

General view of the table at the end of game one

Game two saw a new team, including nine plastic female Zombie Survivors that I painted years ago but have never had any excuse to put on a table. The hero is the lady in red with the top hat and the other two unarmed ladies to each side of her are my magic makers

My plan was to take up a central defensive position and try to wipe out Andrews force with fire power

In one successful round of automatic gunfire and spell casting, I took out four of Andrews figures, including his blue sworded hero AND one of his magicians - six points PLUS another two for an aim achieved - a pretty good start.....however...

All the noise created by assorted M16 and Uzi gunfire attracted some unwanted attention - once again right behind the rear centre of my positions!

The Beastmen advance

One of Andrews fighters charges but fell short and allowed my figure to blaze away - but to no effect this time!

Andrews remaining sorceress skulking in cover

One of Andrews fighters charges home against my sorceress in green

Beatsmen move against the rear of my position...

....as my ladies turn to face them, guns ready

But the gunfire was ineffective, and the Beastmen close into combat

A confused mix of individual combats ensued

Beastmen attack both Andrews and my figures with equal ferocity

And all my gunfire has awoken THIS bloody Troll - right in the centre of my position - GREAT!

Meanwhile, Andrew has troubles of his own with Beastmen and skeletons appearing in his rear!

Its hard to tell the difference but this is one of Andrews fighters, not one of the Beastmen

Andrews lone fighter takes on a Beastman and six skeletons

These ladies a

have their hands full with two Beastmen each to contend with

The lady in green cast a blinding spell that dissolved the Troll where it stood, before it could do any damage Phew!

Andrews heroic loan swordsman still hanging on

By this stage, I had lost half my force to the bloody Beastmen - I think Andrew only had a single point and that was from firing the first shot of the game and achieving one of his mission cards, not inflicting any loss on me - so I decided to disengage and leg it off the table......

.....leaving one of Andrews figures and a host of monsters in possession of my former position

Skeletons move in on Andrews sorceress

While two of the Beastmen pursue and engage my hero and second sorceress in combat before they reach the table edge - dammit!

The last of Andrews force goes down fighting

The survivors of my band thankfully make it off the table edge - those bleedin' Beastmen killed half my girls!

A really fun day was had, so thanks to Andrew for hosting the day, writing the rules and providing the beautiful scenery to game on, plus the opportunity to use some figures that rarely see the light of day (mind you, isn't that a description that would fit almost all of our collections?!)

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed the pics and narrative.