Saturday, 31 January 2026

Friday Night Fantastic Fantasy Game

Lots (and lots!) of images in this report so I won't be putting too many words in. Basically, four of us played a team game using Andrews AS9 rules, with a warband each consisting of a grade 3 leader a grade 2 magic user and four "minions" I supplied half of the Warbands, Julian had his own and Andrew supplied the fourth plus random "nasties" that appeared with monotonous regularity throughout the game.


A couple of pre game shots of the playing area - tiles and terrain all by Andrew


A "few" close ups of the terrain, courtesy of John, all supplied and painted by Andrew















Initially this was my warband but I had to replace the lady in green because Andrew said I should use a figure with a large sword.



This was the substitute!


Two archers were all I was allowed for "missile" troops


And I had these two as well


More shots of the area of operations




This was Johns warband led by "Eldric" ?


The first "nasty" to appear was a not very nasty Harpie or Succubus



She was quickly dispatched by Johns 2 ic


My main body searching for loot - the two archers had sprinted ahead.


There they are!


Two of Julians "minions" opened fire on my archer in green, she killed one of them but was then struck down by the second arrow.


This was Chris's warband - except, he wasn't there, he was still at work doing some $%#^%#!! UAT for a new software system - so Andrew had to run this group - he was my teammate, while John and Julian worked together.


More nasties appeared adjacent to Johns warband - this did become a bit of a theme!


Andrews magic user cast a spell and took control of Julians figure, sending it off against its own comrades!


My 2 ic and a "grunt" searching another loot pile.


Johns' leader Eldric on the left, Andrews leader in the centre and my archer on the right. My figure basically spent the entire game next to a loot pile, failing to roll a 9 to reveal what was in it!


A two headed thing 


The nasties fell into fighting each other at one point



A huge apparition towering over Andrews 2 ic magic user.



A "historic" giant - I don't know what it is but apparently a 1980's classic


Eldric and his one remaining follower in combat with one of the "nasties" near the end of the game


Having survived the fray and accumulated the most victory points, my leader and the one remaining archer headed off the table to ensure Andrew and I won the game.




Now here are an assortment of close ups from John - I am too lazy today to incorporate them into the narrative




















Basically, all four warbands barely survived - Julian's in fact did not - he lost every figure! Andrew might have had three remaining although I don't know for sure, John and I certainly only had two each. We all had three randomly selected spells that any of the figures could use in any turn, but only once per turn - so the bog-standard minions could cast one of the spells - but they needed to roll an unmodified 9 on 2 D6 to succeed, whereas the grade 3 leader only needed to roll 6 or better. I had a doozy that as soon as I was able to use it, automatically put two hits on the target - so I had a 50/50 chance of hitting every turn the leader tried to use it - not bad - that took care of most of Julian's band, thank you very much!

A fun game that didn't take took much effort or thinking to play - just what you need at the end of the working week! The terrain and figures all very aesthetically pleasing too, I hope you will agree. More AWI troops will be on display in my next post.

30 comments:

  1. Awesome terrain, but I detected a bit of ‘meh’ in the narrative. The bird in green with the knockers was a way better looking team leader btw.

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    1. Cheers JBM...I think the "meh" you detected was just my lazy reporting...personally, I had great fun and I ended up with the most VP, so of course, it was a good game! I like the lady in green too 😘

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  2. A good old classic dungeon crawl indeed…
    Not a bad way to end the week really…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Cheers Aly...I suspect you may recognize some of Andrew's figures.....?

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  3. As always brilliant terrain and figures and it sounds the perfect way to finish of a week with a sort of 'beer and pretzels' type game:)!

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    1. Thank you Steve, it was most entertaining!

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  4. Lovely looking figures and terrain, sounds like the perfect way to wind down after a weeks work!
    Best Iain

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    1. Cheers Iain...unfortunately not for Chris, who literally turned up as we reached the penultimate turn of the game....at least he got some dinner and a glass of wine!

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  5. Beautiful looking terrain and minis sir!

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    1. Thank you Michal...a lot of the terrain comes from Polish kick starters.

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    2. FWIW most of this game's terrain was GW stuff but some of the scatter pieces were from Archon Studios in Piła (fellow countrymen of Michal's I think?). I still have a lot more of theirs to finish......

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    3. Thanks for the clarification, Andrew!

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  6. A great example of a "low impact" set up and play game. I notice the squares on the playing area: were they used for movement (and range)?

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    1. Hi Ed....you are correct about the squares but the answer is no...movement and firing is measured in inches and the squares are ignored....the boards are intended for a range of other games.

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  7. The table does look great, and the games sounds perfect for a Friday evening.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, I do like the terrain, although mostly it's only any use for fantasy games!

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  8. I thought the terrain and grid made an excellent visual combo …… but as per above reply, I now see it was a free form game. Regardless, I think ‘that look’ will inspire others to have a go at doing such settings with a grid. My own grandchildren would like that.

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    1. Thanks Norm, it would be perfectly simple to just use the grid - at a guess, they are 1-inch squares anyway!

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  9. Great looking game Keith. And obviously fun to play, especially on a Friday evening after work when you just want to relax a bit.

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    1. Thanks Ben I agree - I think the money and painting time I invested in the 20-30 "Frostgrave" style figures I have is one of the best gaming returns on investment I have ever made!

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  10. Sounds like a great game, Keith. And the figures and terrain are excellent as always.

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    1. Thanks Dean - it was a bit of fun, for sure.

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  11. You lot really exceeded yourselves with the terrain and figs. I love those skellies covering their privates!
    Really pleased to see that you up'd the wimin count from your previous post too. I'm with you and Mark. If you look like that in a green dress you don't need no sword. She clearly has an abundance of magic at her disposal...
    Best wishes, James

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    1. Cheers James, I am pleased you approve 👍 😀

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  12. Some fun looking games and some lovely figures 👍

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  13. Some real classic sculpts in all these pics. Super cool.

    Enjoyed following this game - my kind of play session.

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    1. Thanks Dai! As JBM pointed out above, my AAR wasn't that detailed, it's harder to record/recall each individual action than when doing a larger scale battle, I find!

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