The Rise of the Novice: Episode 01

Intro

Sivok the Hollow pointed its staff toward the forest and limped along the old trail, nothing more than a faded trace overgrown by wild vegetation. Jaketh the Wanderer and Elwoth the Watcher followed the Dark Prophet suspiciously scanning the surroundings. Like a puppet maneuvered by an insane puppeteer a Bone Stalker leaped back and forth scouting ahead and watching the rear of the ominous posse. 

Thessalia was running as fast as she could through the undergrowth of the forest. There was not much of "fey" in the thorns scratching her shins and forearms. She was worried and upset by the hurry with which the Granite Council had urged her to go check that remote corner of the Carathon Forest. Aerith and Duddwort had joined her as planned, she could hear the reassuring thuds of the giant battleborn's steps as well as the ghostly stride of the gnome's purple shadowfox ride.

-This is the place. Those are the waystones.- rasped Sivok. The sinister glow of its staff was growing brighter as a similar glare started to emanate from three monoliths covered in weeds and ivy.  -I don't like this place. Smells like elves.- replied Jeketh. -Quiet now! They are here.- hissed Elwoth nocking a twisted arrow in his bone bow...

Operation Golden Ratio: episode 07 (season finale)

Intro 

Time passed. Despite working effortlessly on the remains of Patroclus, Nomads technicians got nothing but a glimpse of Laocoön and its meaning. However, back on Concilium, heads rolled for what had happened on Space Station Donacimiento. Aleph went paranoid at the idea of further Laocoön anomalies now that Nomads had case zero and issued a full scale update program on all Aspects and recreations to limitate and ward off any inconvenience. The damage in terms of delays and subsequent litigations was considerable, especially adding the fine paid to Varuna for what was later dubbed "The Donacimiento Incident". 

But after some time under apparently cold ashes, the flame of Project Laocoon started burning again. The OSS had been monitoring Batth'o Ubelin, the silk trader whose luxury ship's wreckage had been used by Tunguska as a base for infiltration on the Space Station. On his leisure world recreating the Old West, Ovestland, the attractions re-enacting Pat Garrett and his posse had started to malfunction, forcing extraordinary maintenance. The OSS figured out the malfunctioning was due to parts of Project Laocoön hidden into the attraction's software. Even if it meant to blow up Aleph's cover on Ovestland, the legacy of Project Laocoön had to be destroyed... 

Getting into a new Infinity army: the way I have done it

Ciao!

I started with Infinity back in N3 splitting the Icestorm box with my game and blog buddy Uopo. I got the Nomads part and not digging too much the fluff and the look and feel of Corregidor and Bakunin I learned the game playing mainly vanilla. Then Tunguska sectorial was released and its all concept and background really resonated with me and my love for cyberpunk. It was love at first sight. Being quite a casual player I did not feel any lack of variety, the options available within the sectorial were enough for me. 

From time to time I have been scanning the Infinity Army and the store looking at the many gorgeous models and cool profiles available across all different factions. Still, it was not enough to trigger a real interest and a purchase. Then a few things happened:

Dune remake movie was released. I was already a fan of the book and the David Lynch movie and this sparked my interest again. 

About shadows, tactical rocks and the end of Infinity

Hey everyone! It's been a while since my last post and despite life had effectively and pleasantly limited the amount of time I can spend with my toy soldiers I didn't sit idle and managed to paint these three caballeros from Combined Army Booster Pack Alpha.

This post is less focused on Infinity as a game, leaving further tactic considerations to the upcoming Misson Focus posts, its intention being to deepen some thoughts that roamed free in the back of my head as I painted these miniatures. So, without further adue, let's start with...

Painting walls and fences: back to basics

 "Sticks and stones may break my bones (but also protect my home, if properly assembled)".

It’s been a while since I’ve uploaded something; even more since I've painted some sceneries. Family and work have absorbed me a lot in the last two years. However, I have recently managed to carve out some time on Friday nights to get back to painting and modelling. 

As an athlete who has been away from sport for a long time, I decided to start again with something simple. These walls and fences were lying forgotten in a box and I decided to give them a well deserved dignity.

I came up to this result after a couple of relaxing hours. They're now ready to provide decent cover during battles (or, in the worst case, to be forgotten again, but with a good looking paintjob on them).

Gilles de Gillesville - Mordheim Questing Knight

Ciao!

This is my entry for #SeptemBret2021 contest on Mordheim Italia Facebook Group.

I managed to get 2nd place for best background story and 2nd place for best painting - "Newcomers" category. 1st place in the category was awarded to Armand de Chamillon, herald of Cups, another entry from an author of this blog 👍.

The winners in the "Champions" category were just another league, I strongly recommend to check all entries out on the Facebook group and on Instagram! 

A cynical wargamer at Pollenzo MMXXI

Ciao! 

As mentioned in a previous post I brought my "Band of Brothers" Reikland Mercenaries warband to the "Warlords of the City" Mordheim Pollenzo MMXXI narrative event. 

In this post I will tell about this amazing event from my perspective, for overall event coverage please refer to the organizers' social media channels. I encourage you to check out tables, warbands and the whole background story of the event.

So I have my warband built and painted and my background story written, I am ready to go! I packed my stuff and hit the road!

 

Pollenzo is a frazione (parish) of Bra in the Province of Cuneo, a Piedmont, northern Italy counting 748 inhabitants. For some unknown reasons it is home of one of the most enthusiast and hardcore Mordheim community in Italy!

Pollenzo is actually interesting beyond Mordhiem as it is a ancient Roman archaeological site (!), you can easily find more info about on the internet (Wikipedia and the such) which I will not copy paste here. Before the event I had a walk around and took some pictures.

I also did join the first 2020 event and I was impressed and amazed by the huge quality step up they were able to achieve with respect to the quality of the tables. Also, in 2020 there were 10 participants (4 from the local club and 6 external guests), in 2021 there were 20 participants all external guests.

Game 1

In the first game I am facing a Marienburg Mercenaries warband painted with the red and green Hocland scheme and interesting use of Black Fortress models. Fully kitted heroes with dueling pistols, archers, swordsmen and the classic Elf Ranger and Ogre Bodyguard. My list is actually fairly similar, just cheaper equipment but better BS. As hired swords I opted Halfling Scout and Dwarf Troll Slayer.    

The Scenario is Wyrdstone Hunt with 3 shards placed by the organizers.

 

 

I carefully place my marksmen to get good table coverage and push the Youngbloods to get the shards. My opponent gets to the high ground with the Elf and his marksmen. I am a little more reckless but I am partially saved by the average BS of the enemy archers. Still, only one out of two Youngbloods is able to get back with some wyrdstone, the other is killed in the attempt.

The game is stalling but he has an Ogre pushing on the left so I decide to force the issue with the blunderbuss moving it forward to claim the third shard next to the fountain.

He somehow manages to survive the hail of arrows and finally discharges his weapon on 3 enemy warriors, including the Captain! An archer goes OOA and the leader is knocked down. He is now out in the wind, blunderbuss unloaded so he pulls out his two daggers and gets ready to fight.

The other Champion maneuvers to flank the Ogre but he is charged in an alley by an ambitious Youngblood who mercilessly guts him.

At this point we are both testing for Rout but nobody wants to give it up! So the Blunderbuss markseman charges into the other Youngblood defeating him only to be then butchered by the backup swordsman and recovered Captain who picks up the wyrdstone shard for himself.

 

On the left flank the Slayer and the Champion bravely confront the Ogre-swordsman-Younglblood trio. The Dwarf meets his doom by the hand of the Ogre but the Champion is able to put OOA both the swordsman and the Youngblood before being finally crushed by the Ogre.

At this point I voluntarily rout leaving the Marienburgers standing victorious.

In the end damages are limited, I have to recruit a new Youngblood and hire a new halfling but I am still able to purchase a new marskman with longbow and purchase a longbow for the marksman with blunderbuss.

Game 2

In the second game I am facing the Cult of the Possessed in the Chance Encounter scenario. The table we are playing on is an amazing scratch built masterpiece. Unfortunately it turns out to be quite challenging for the low models count close combat oriented Chaos worshippers and the game ends turn two with an unlucky failed rout test.

We both make good loot and level up our henchmen. I actually roll a "the lad's got talent" and a crossbowmen becomes a trigger happy hero. I am also able to hire an Ogre and buy a couple lucky charms.

Game 3

The final game is the classic Skirmish scenario but limited to 5 turns and without Rout Test. I am facing the virtuous knights of Bretonnia. As much as I love the Bretonnians (I am working on a warband myself) I have to admit they are not very performing... Anyways myself and my opponent are not top tier and at this point we are playing for the glory.

I do not have pictures as we were running late, we actually had to end the game at turn 4 and weather through a rain of meteors sent from the friends of the Facebook group 😅 

My warband has higher rating and the Ogre alone is able to power through several opponents.

Conclusions

All in all a great day! 3 games under the belt played on beautiful tables against awesome opponents: true gentlemen, passionate hobbists and sportsmen. The overall organization was just perfect and such a nice opportunity to meet in person many fellow Mordheimers.

I go home happy as a little boy on Christmas Day with a box of candies, a bottle of red wine and a custom dice 😊