Itzcoatl and Raiders of the Lost Tomb

Pre-Battle

After recovering from the shock of the unexpected underground melee, Itzcoatl had retired back to the relative safety of the camp. The goblins had not pursued the Slann past the entrance or ventured out the following night. But Itzcoatl needed the instructions on the wall of the temple in order to find the lost artifact his master had commanded he recover. 

So, he had decided to muster nearly all of his company to venture forth back into the temple complex. The marsh tribe Slann had found another deserted entrance and through this would go the majority of the force, led by the reliable Bull Slann commander Potzalcol.  Whilst he, Lyta and escort an attempted to return to the inscription in the pond chamber. 

Objectives & Rules

Lyta must reach the inscription and every turn, if not in combat may attempt to decipher it. In order to secure the temple, the four entrances must be sealed. When either of these two objectives is reached then the game is over. 

Lyta may finish her translation on a roll of 5+, the entrances are sealed by a Slann reaching entrance point and not being in combat. They effectively block the entrance with debris surrounding the entrance. 

The goblin reinforcements will be randomly generated at each of the entry points (D6-3)per turn. 

The Battle

The sortie started with Itzcoatl sending in his most expendable troops – the giant frogs and slaves into the temple.

With two goblin entry points near to the Slann starting point, Itzcoatl’s group had a battle right from the start and the slaves struggled to make any progress entering the temple. And Itzcoatl had ‘forgotten’ to use any of his spells, so it wasn’t until that Potzalcol led a party from the other side that any real progress was made. As for every one goblin taken out of the fight, another appeared.

At the other entrance the Slann had better luck, the goblins started further away and didn’t manage to roll as many reinforcements. Giving the Slann a chance to advance and block the goblin's exit from the ladder room. 

With the goblins from the ladder room blocked, the Slann were able to enter deeper into the temple and block the farthest entrance point and then come round to attack the goblins nearest Itzcoatl from the rear. 

ii-Phon and Potzalcol  were then able to use their superior fighting skills to push the goblins back to the second entrance point and block that from use. Lyta then saw a moment (by using Might) to block the third entry point before the goblins could reinforce it.  The remaining goblins retreated to the ladder room and battle was called to a halt. 

Obviously didn't end up at my starting objectives but the game had reached it natural conclusion with three of the four entry points blocked. And no real way for the goblins or Slann to finish the game without a very slow fight to get to the ladder room. 

After the Battle

Tol-Tec continued to have a great game and took down a further two goblins and as a result gained poisoned blades on the hero chart as well a point of Fate. While Potzalcol gains a point of Defence, ii-Phon gains Steady Aim and Lyta gains a point to her Attack. 

Rob 

More Classic High Elves

 The 1st Series of C08 High Elves from 1984

I recently managed to get the missing last mini* to complete this set and painted him up today. Which completes the first set of high elves published by Citadel. As I mentioned several times before, these range of miniatures are all very individual unlike the later ranges of high elves. With each one richly dressed and well armed for war. 

Sculpted by Aly Morrison? Certainly later sets are credited to Aly. 

*It has taken about three years to pick up all these minis - mostly at reasonable prices (£3 -£10). Proving it is possible to still collect classic Citadel minis on a budget. 

Flyer from Sept 1984 - Thanks Stuff of Legends

Itzcoatl's forces make another attempt on the temple. More to follow. 

A regular favourite for a Friday Thursday night beer

Rob 

Ready for the Next Battle

 A Couple of New Items

Managed to finish of a couple of pieces over the week ready for the next game. As Itzcoatl prepares to return to the underground temple, his scouts have found a second entrance. The 3D printed plants I picked at a show a few years ago. They are pretty basic but at 20p each I think they look good enough for the tabletop. 

Rob 

Itzcoatl's First Mission

Tactical Withdrawal

The Story So Far

Itzcoatl, apprentice of the mighty Tanqecl-Tlo'ectlutl pondered the Vorlon pictograms whilst his rune-scribe worked on the translation. After what seemed to be a long while of watching the Amazon standing silently in in front of the wall, he finally got bored and asked?

‘Have you worked out what it says yet??’

The Amazon looked up at the mage and with a puzzled expression.

‘Well, it either says – We are all Kosh? or directions to the temple, or both or possibly neither…’

The Slann stared at the human in that uncomfortable way, that the amphibian did with increasing frequency when dealing with humans. When suddenly a bark of alert echoed from one of the side passageways. The marsh hunters who had been sent to investigate whilst the rune wall was deciphered, burst back out of the side passageway followed by misshapen pale shades.

The Campaign

I am going to run the mini-campaign using MESBG (For now) using the campaign rules I used for the Shire campaign. I do need to work out some stats for the combatants but this will mainly consist of using existing profiles. 

As Izcoatl is the most important member of the expedition, the campaign is lost he if he is killed. 

The Setup

The Slann have been surprised  while inspected a small underground temple complex. Their only objective is to escape. Izcoatl is too surprised during this game to use any of his magic. 

The goblins were rolling 3 dice at the beginning of a turn and on a roll of 5+ (turns 1-3) and 4+ (turns 4+) received one goblin for each successful roll. 

The Battle

The goblins burst forth from the side corridors but for the only time in the game, the Slann won the initiative and were able to block some of the Goblin advances. This proved crucial in containing the goblins and several melees broke out as the marsh Slann attempted to hold back the goblins. 

ii-Phon the Marsh Slann leader holds back a goblin

While a pair of Marsh Slann hold back the others.

Meanwhile realising the importance of his mission above the rest of the team, Itzcoatl bravely rushes for the exit whilst the others hold off the goblins.

However, before reaching the exit more goblins arrive from a hidden entrance and block their escape. So, Lyta rushes to Izcoatl 's aid. Both slaves go into ChemFrenzy and take down their opponents but then succumb to the chemicals and are removed form play. 

Itzcoatl calls the retreat and the marsh Slann fall back, when everyone is in  range, Lyta makes a Heroic  Move and the Slann flee the scene. Tol-Tec (The red Slann) is taken out just as the others are ready to leave. 

The Aftermath

Neither Lyta or Itzcoatl recovered their lost Might or Fate. But Tol-Tec survived the battle unscathed. With could not be said of the two slaves who succumbed to their chem induced comas.

Rob 

Game 12 - Attack on Tuckborough

Falling into the same Trap 

It has been a while but I returned to my Shire campaign but last weekend, I got a game in with a friend of my mine. We played Attack on Tuckborough without any modifications and I immediately realised my mistake. Once again with equal numbers of hobbits and ruffians. The ruffians natural advantages quickly began to show. You would have thought I would have learned by now! But it was the first time I have played this scenario and I was playing against an actual opponent. 

So, not surprisingly as the melees started to happen the hobbits continued to be out matched. So, to be fair I still think that my opponent played better (& was a bit luckier) but even accounting for that, the equal numbers of hobbits and ruffians is always going to favour the ruffians. On top of that Sid is just a brutal in combat against any other character in the Shire. 

After the Battle

Having decided to include this game in the campaign. None, the heroes (or villains) managed to get enough experience to roll on the hero tables. And the hobbits somehow managed to avoid any serious injury. 

Rob 

Game 11 - The Big Game

The Burning of Woody End 

Pre-Game

So, I finally managed to play the ‘big’ game and against a real opponent, my son who was back from Uni.  We played game 11- The Burning of Woody End. With him taking the ruffians and me with the hobbits. We played using the standard rules with addition of two minor heroes to each side. 

For the Ruffians they used One-Eyed Ned and a new bully Odd John. And for the hobbits it was Alf Grubb, and the new local hero was Finnick the Smith. 

Rolling Dice

Baldo & Finnick await the ruffians

These ruffians have no respect for a fine vegetable patch!

The game started well enough for the hobbits as the archers found their mark and the ruffians swarmed forward. But as the ruffians started to get into combat things began to tip in their favour.

Turn 2 was a real turning point for the ruffians as they managed to get four ruffians against four different hobbit holes. And rolled…

Setting four of the hobbit holes alight.

Over the next couple of turns the hobbits managed to put a few of the fires out but not before one of the hobbit holes burned out of control.

A sneaky ruffian takes advantage of the confusion

The last few hobbits face difficult odds

But as the game progressed the hobbits simply run out of numbers to both mark the ruffians and put out fires. So, by turn 10, one hobbit hole had burned down completely and three others were ablaze giving the ruffians the win.

After Battle

Both Finnick and Alf were removed from play and rolled on the injury table, with Alf rolling ‘The Wounds of the Hero’ which give the hero a full recovery and extra D6 influence points (He rolled a six) and Finnick rolled then ‘Favour of the Valar’ and also made a full recovery and gained a Fate point.

Only One-Eyed Ned received enough experience to roll on the experience table and gained the Blade Master skill. 

Both sides used influence points to restore lost Might & Fate points.

This was another tricky scenario for the hobbits as they were outnumbered and there are plenty of places for the ruffians to hide whilst still setting fire to the hobbit holes. And very quickly all of the hobbits were tied up marking the ruffians or putting out fires.

Rob