First Game of the New Year

 Today I headed over to Andrew's place. about twenty minutes' drive from our house. As customary, Andrew had set up a very cool looking table for us to have a nice little fantasy game, using his self-written AS9 rule set. 

Andrew advised me to select a twenty-point force, so I picked two Magic Users, one Apprentice Magic User, two Leaders and five standard figures. Andrew only had one Hero, one Magic User but more Leaders than me, and around the same number of "grunts". I had ten figures I think, and Andrew had nine.

In a new version of the rules, we had a pack of playing cards to randomize activation, one Heart for each of my ten figures and one Spade for each of Andrews, plus one Club for potential monsters and a Joker that would indicate the end of the turn and a reshuffle of the pack.

Andrew also had a pile of cards pre-selected for the initial treasure searching we would need to do - a couple of Aces to indicate a key to gain access to level two of the gaming table, plus other cards that were simply treasure or "victory Points" at the end of the game.

Whenever the Club was drawn, Andrew would roll a D8 for potential location of a monster, then roll two D6 - any double meant a monster appeared at the given entry point. Additionally, there were three monsters already in situ on the table, two were dormant until we reached the second level of the mission. 

Thats about all the explanation required I think - on to the pics!

Layout, I would enter from near edge right half, Andrew opposite me. There were approximately 6 treasure piles available to be searched, to locate treasure and the all-important key, which was required to gain access to the second level, at the left end of the table.

The destination our warbands were attempting to reach

The ultimate prize, the Eternal Flame of Someone or Other, guarded by some rather scary looking monster!

Before reaching the Temple of the Flame, we had to pass through this level. guarded by a Harpy. who would activate once anyone got past the Wall of Thorns separating the first and second levels of the game.

The gaming area, with the Second level in the distance

My crew, two Magic Users and the Apprentice

Two Leaders

The PBI

Some of the treasure piles we had to search for gold and a key to the Wall of Thorns

The Wall of Thorns itself....

.... beyond which, the Harpy awaited any intruders. The other figures are places we had to search to obtain the secret to accessing the Temple of the Flame!

Andrews Warband enters the table, the two smaller figures above are courtesy of the talented hands of Mr Aly Morrison, I believe.

The rest of Andrews band are all hard plastic Kick Starter figures

My first band searches a treasure pile

A Club was turned on the activation pack and this "Construct" appeared in my rear - but then fortunately failed to move for quite a considerable period.....phew!

Andrews group, led by his Hero, surge forwards

The Hero advanced menacingly, but my Magic Users combined their powers and in the twinkling of an eye, three hits had been made, and he evaporated into a timeless abyss!

A straight fight between my sword wielding leader and one of Andrews similar level characters 

And this is the point that the Construct finally lurched into life. Thankfully by now, my bands had moved onwards, and it was Andrews troops who had to deal with the nasty - which they did, in short order!

The bulk of my remaining figures cluster around the Wall of Thorns...."Right, who has that key...?!"

Behind the Wall, a little girl waits......

The Lady in Green used the magic key to open the Wall of Thorns and my warband sprinted into the Harpy's Lair. The good news was, my Magic Users instantly dispatched her before she could even react to the intrusion, and then, on the first attempt, one of my searches rolled 9+ for a success and then a 6, which was the only score that would result in being able to access the inner sanctum of the Temple of the Flame! Good 'ere, innit?!

Meanwhile, further back down the table, Andrews team were in the sights of a second monster

This one had a random direction and distance dice - but they led straight to Andrews Magic User!

And then a third monster was activated, this time, an Imp (who actually took no part in the game as it was over before the monster activation card came up again! 

My warband split into two groups and crept stealthily through the ruined temple, towards the Eternal Flame and its grotesque guardian 

My two groups close in cautiously - so far, the monster has not reacted (no Club turned in the activation pile)

The other group (to the right of these figures) contained a Magic User and the Apprentice - over two or three turns - I fortuitously had about three or four in a row - they combined to score three unsaved hits on the green monster.

And that was the game - my Lady in Green collecting the prize, the Eternal Flame of Whatsit!

Andrew had been left far in my rear, mainly due to the vagaries of the card driven activation process, which both of us had suffered and benefitted from at different stages in the game

A random last shot - this is a gaming map Andrew has prepared, based on a series of pdf's he sent me that I then printed on A3 paper in full colour at work, about three months ago - who can tell me what battlefield this is (you can probably zoom in and read some of the topographical features!).

Well, that was a great way to spend about five hours (including lunch) I really enjoy these skirmish games, which is strange, as I would not classify myself as a Fantasy gamer at all! It really helps that the rules are so simple, I can remember them after about two or three games. We have tinkered with a few things and added a couple of refinements eg interruption firing, but they have not made things any more complex and are very intuitive.

I hope you enjoyed the AAR and pics as much as I enjoyed the game - hopefully will be more of this soon. Thanks for your visit and double thanks for comments!