But Only The Strong Shall Prevail

Now that we have the Purist party it is time to create someone for them to cleanse.  While the previous party was all based around one faction, this party is going to be a mishmash group of survivors who have banded together for mutual protection.

The nominal leader of this motley little group is Mordac the mind manipulator.

Mordac (re-based Star Wars CMG mini)

Mordac is a human mutant with telepathy and light projection, and is equipped with a force field.  With this telepathy to potentially stun targets while he blasts others with his light projection, Mordac is actually a pretty potent all-round fighter.

Next in the group is Darius.

Darius (Dark Age Forsaken Weaponsmith mini)

Darius is a pure human who used to be a member of the Ranks of the Pure until he realized the true evil they were willing to perform in pursuit of their goals.  Equipped with a flamethrower and trained as a gunsmith, he provides the human technical support for the group.

Next is the maintenance robot KROM-89.

KROM-89 (Mongoose Publishing Paranoia RPG mini)

A useless husk when they first found him, KROM has become a pet project for Darius.  So far Darius has been able to reactivate this old robot and trained it to assist him with maintenance.  Just like Darius, KROM also is trained as a gunsmith and has a pistol built into its arm.  Between him and Darius this will let the Survivors ignore the first two malfunctions with their ranged weapons which could come in handy.

Jorchak the reptilian bounty hunter is next.

Jorchak (re-based Star Wars CMG mini)

Jorchak is a mutant human who is trained as a sharpshooter and equipped with both an assault rifle and flak jacket.  His scaly skin also makes him more durable than your typical human as represented by the tough mutation.  This combination makes him one of the most potent in the party as he can not only dish out a lot of damage, he can take quite a bit as well.

Last but not least is El-lea .

El-lea (Rackham Confrontation mini)

El-lea is also a mutant human but her specialty is close combat.  In addition to her massive sword, she is skilled as a hand to hand specialist and her mutations let her move faster than normal and also exude a pheromone that intoxicates those who get too close to her.

In their explorations this group has also managed to scrounge together nine food points and six energy cells that are shared amongst them all and rounds them out at 284 points for the warband.  This won't hold them for long but its definitely better than nothing.

Unlike the Purist group, this ragged little band has a little bit of everything but definitely has an emphasis on ranged combat.  This will make them a potent adversary for the Purists at least until they are able to get into close combat.  When that happens we'll just have to see how things play out, starting of course with a battle between the two groups...  but that we'll get into that next time.  Until then...

The Pure Shall Survive

Doesn't it figure?  SpacerGal comes back and then I disappear for a bit!  It looks like things should be back on track for me now as well so without further ado its time to get to that post-apocalyptic goodness that I'd alluded to earlier and what better system than Mutants and Death Ray Guns by Ganesha Games.  For my first party I decided to make a Purist party using the construction rules that Ganesha recently released. I happen to have some Dark Age Forsaken miniatures that will work out very nicely for this so without further ago I started crunching the numbers. For those of you who might not know, the Purists are just what they sound like; humans devoted to continuing the human species as it has always been, without mutation. Fanatically devoted to cleansing the world of those they deem impure, the Purists are will to work along side androids and robots as these have not been touched by the corrupting force of mutation. Sound like a fun bunch, right?

First and foremost in the warband is Saint Mark, hero of the Ranks of the Pure.

The heroic Saint Mark (Dark Age Forsaken mini of the same name)

Now I don't normally like copying the miniature names but in the case of Saint Mark it just seems to make sense. He's obviously better equipped than the rest of the Forsaken minis I have and I kind of like the idea of the leader of the Purists calling himself a Saint. In this case he is also going to be a major points sink as he is one of the most potent members of the party as well. He is a hero which guarantees that he will have an automatic success on his quality rolls and he is equipped with a powered hand weapon, a laser gun, and heavy armor. This should make him very durable, not to mention that his ability to deal out some serious damage as well! I had also toyed with the idea of also making him a champion as well but that would have driven his points right through the roof so I decided to just make him a hero.  Hopefully between his high combat and armor he will be durable enough as is to last through the campaign though only time will tell.

Next in the warband is Saint Mark's loyal attendant, the Acolyte Rebecca.

No picture as I'm not happy with her paint job yet (Dark Age Forsaken Reaver mini)

Unlike Saint Mark she does not have any ranged weapons as she specializes in close combat.  In addition to being the champion in the party she is also a hand to hand specialist.  This makes her very potent in close combat but leaves her vulnerable to ranged attacks.  In an attempt to mitigate this she also has a force field to give her some protection.

Finally are the three who make up the bulk of the party, the Enforcers Jacob and Delilah who are lead by the Enforcer Gabriel.

Enforcer Leader Gabriel  with Enforcer Jacob and Delilah (Dark Age Forsaken Coil minis)

All three of the Enforcers are hand to hand specialists and are equipped with the frenzy combat drug.  This makes them very potent in close combat though it does leave them potentially vulnerable to ranged attacks.

This leaves the warband with three more available equipment choices which I'm going to use to get a bunch of food and energy cells (eighteen of the former and nine of the later to be specific) which will be distributed evenly though the warband. All told this rounds out the party nicely at 291 points and all the food and e-cells should make them very survivable for campaign play as they won't have to worry about scrounging up more of the essentials right off the bat.

Don't these just sound like a bunch of fun loving individuals that you'd want to invite to your next family picnic? Yeah, didn't think so. Of course the game wouldn't be any fun if the Ranks of the Pure didn't have someone to "cleanse" so next time we'll take a look at the motley band of survivors that I managed to cobble together. Until next time...

Song Of Blades And... Death Rays?

Recently Ganesha Games announced that they are working on some changes for their game Mutants And Death Ray Guns (or MDRG for short), a post-apocalyptic miniature game that uses the Song Of Blades system. The game currently uses a random system to generate your warband. You choose the basic types (human, mutant, mutant plant, etc.) but any skill, mutations, and equipment are all rolled randomly. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it really captures the post-apoc "scrounging to survive" kind of feel but with my own WYSIWYG background with 40k I have stayed away from this particular rule set.

Now they have announced that they are working on some construction rules for MDRG so I decided it was time to check it out. From first impressions it looks pretty interesting and the random nature actually doesn't look like it would really cause that much of a problem as few of them are so extreme as to require some vast alterations. Don't get me wrong; I still like the idea of being able to choose just what I'm going to use but I can see doing a random campaign over a couple of evenings just for kicks to see how it plays out. But more on that later...

As for the rules as written in the book they look pretty good. The game includes a simple campaign system that lets you add some flavor to your games instead of just fighting random battles. I can also see ways to expand it using a simple map to track territories that you control and potentially collect resources from which would add an interesting element in my opinion. Gonna have to start working on that 'cause it sounds like a lot of fun....

Overall, I like what I see so far. I haven't given the game a test drive to see just how it all fits together but as the Song Of Blades system is a pretty sound one I can't see there being much wrong with this one. Now I just need to put it through its paces which means more battle reports soon! Until then...

To The Depths Of Hell We Go...

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of the Dispatch!

For this one we are finally going to head into the exciting conclusion of the slightly modified Fear and Faith battle report. Will Brother Lucius and his condemned brethren be able to drive the vicious evil from the forest once and for all or will the wolfkin pack prove to be too powerful? And what was the fate of the girl the pack had stolen? Press onward to find out gentle readers!

All Alone In The Woods
A Slightly Modified Fear And Faith Battle Report

For this battle, I once again pulled out some of my forest terrain from the previous battle report (glad I made a bunch of the stuff!) plus that new piece I made, the summoning circle! The wolfkin are trying to open an infernal gateway in the circle while the redeemer must stop them and save the girl if possible.

What, a summoning circle? Just how the heck is that supposed to work? Glad you asked.

Truth be told, there are no mechanics for this kind of thing in Song of Blades or Fear and Faith but it was easy enough to work something out. Before the gate can be opened, the four sigils on the ground have to be activated. When the scenario opens, none of the sigils are activated yet. To activate the first one, the bloodmage just needs to be in the circle. Each successive sigil after that requires a quality check to activate. For the second sigil, one success is needed, for the third two are needed, and for the fourth three successes are needed. Once the fourth sigil is activated, the gateway is opened and the redeemer's warband automatically loses.

The wolfkin deployed around the summoning circle on top of the hill...

...while the Redeemer and his troops deployed along the edge of the board.

The wolfkin won the initiative and began with the bloodmage activating the first sigil of the circle while the rest of the pack advanced across the board.

The Redeemer's warband also advances across the board and one of the condemned blades manages to get off a lucky shot, taking down one of the wolfkin!

The wolfkin respond in kind as one of their warriors charges forward and kills the Redeemer himself while the bloodmage activates the second sigil.

Seeking revenge for the Redeemer's death, one of the brutes charges forward and attacks the wolfkin warriors but only manages to push it back. Meanwhile, the other brute engages the other remaining warrior while the blades run past and head for the hill.

The warrior makes short work of the brute but the blades are still free to try to get at the bloodmage on their next turn while the bloodmage activates the third sigil in the circle.

The blades charge up the hill but neither of them is able to get a shot off at the bloodmage, while the remaining brute is stuck in a stand off with one of the warriors.

The bloodmage fails to activate the last sigil this turn but one of the warriors charges one of the blades and manages to score a gruesome kill, sending the last blade running away from the carnage. To make matters worse, the blade then falls his morale roll for the warband being half strength and heads for the hills. This leaves only one brute to try to take out the bloodmage before he can activate the last sigil.

Still locked in combat, the brute makes a desperate attack against the warrior engaging him. One lucky kill is all it would take and the wolfkin would have to test their morale for half strength buying him more time. No such luck though as they match each other blow for blow.

These last seconds are all the bloodmage needs as he finally activates the last sigil and sacrifices the girls, ripping open a gateway to Hell itself.

All and all, I really like how this battle played out much more than the original games that I'd tried using the Fear and Faith rules. Not only does ShadowSea expand on the special abilities that are available in the basic game, it also introduces some new mechanics in the game as well. For example, in the basic rules you can only move into hand to hand and then spend an action to attack. ShadowSea takes this a step further and introduces the concept of charging, giving you an additional bonus in combat.

ShadowSea doesn't have a fear mechanic like Fear and Faith does but honestly I found it a cumbersome addition so this is no big loss in my opinion. Then again, it would be easy to add in back in if you wanted as the basic mechanics are so similar which is one of the nice things about the Song of Blades games. It seems relatively easy to takes pieces from one and add it to another so that you can create whatever type of game suits your fancy. In fact I'm in the process of making my own mod using the Malifaux universe but more on that later.

The Parting Shot...

And there you have it! Sorry this battle report has been so long in the making but it finally here. Hopefully you've enjoyed but if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or you can drop me a line at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. Until next time...

And Through The Woods To The Other Path Over Yonder...

Hello everyone and welcome to a slightly gear grinding installment of the Dispatch!

This week we are going to continue our look at Fear and Faith by Ganesha Games but with a slight twist. In the last installment, we set up the scenario with a little bit of flavor text and picked out the miniatures that were going to be used. Since then I crunched some numbers and put together some stats for Fear and Faith so I could give them a run-through to make sure that it was balanced in both numbers and game play. Unfortunately things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped and some changes were in order. Just what am I talking about? Read on to find out!

All Alone In The Woods: Stating Up, Trying Out, And Then Completely Changing
A Slightly Modified Fear And Faith Battle Report

Originally I'd planned on digging a little deeper into the custom system used by the Song of Blades games to show just how I put together the various stat lines for this scenario. They came together quickly enough so I tried a few test runs with them to make sure that they would be balanced against each other in application as well as value. Turns out there were a few problems.

The biggest one is also one of the key flavor aspects of the scenario, none other than werewolf special rule and its nemesis, silver weapon. As it stands out of the book, werewolves are somewhat indestructible. Due to their supernatural origins, the only way to kill a werewolf is to use a silver weapon. Use anything else and you can pretty much just forget about it. The problem is that when you do use a silver weapon, you are almost guaranteed to kill it dead as silver is lethal to them. The real problem with this in my opinion is that there is no middle ground. Either they are bad ass and they rip you apart or look at them and they fall over dead. Doesn't make for a very exciting game now does it?

In an attempt to find a way around this problem, I went in a different direction and took a look at the ShadowSea ruleset. For those that aren't familiar with it, ShadowSea has been likened to a more advanced version of Song of Blades by the author of the original so I decided to pick it up and I was not disappointed.

Among the changes in ShadowSea are more detailed rules for interacting with the gaming environment, a more in depth magic system, and a full campaign setting for starters. After checking out some of the changes to the basic rules (such as charging into combat for a bonus), I flipped to the special abilities section to see what exactly they had in store. All and all, the list not only seemed more extensive but also more detailed in some ways. Skimming through the list I was able to pick out several different abilities that looked like they would be much more fitting for the scenario that I want to run so I grabbed a pen and got to work building my forces.

So how exactly did things turn out? Right now I'm still fine tuning things but things have been much closer in the test games that I've tried so I'm looking forward to doing more with the ShadowSea rules. As for the battle report, you'll have to come back for the next installment of the Dispatch as Brother Lucius and his band try to stop the vile wolfkin led by their bloodmage! Will they stop the evil plan of the bloodmage? Can the save the girl from a horrible fate? You'll just have to come back to find out!

The Parting Shot...

That wraps up another Dispatch but there is still some more to come as we wrap things up with a slightly modified Fear and Faith battle report! Will Brother Lucius and his followers be able to save the girl? Just what did the foul werewolves have in store for the child? All will become clear soon enough. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them right here on the blog or you can email me at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com plus you can like the blog on Facebook now too! Just click on the like button to the right. Go on. Do it. You know you want to. Until next time...

Over The River...

Hey everyone and welcome to a faithful installment of the Dispatch!

We are going to continue our look at Fear and Faith that we started last week as we throw in a twist to the setting and see what we can come up with. This will be a long one so hang on as we test your faith!

All Alone In The Woods: Setting The Story And Finding The Minis
A Fear And Faith Battle Report

The first disappearances had happened months earlier. It was only small animals at first. A chicken, a small pig. While annoying, it was really nothing of much consequence and the villagers wrote it off as a fox or something similar. An annoyance, to be sure, but nothing too dangerous.

Then things started to change.

A sheep disappeared, then two more a few nights later. The hunters of the village went out searching for the culprit but found nothing. Nothing happened for a few days and they thought that their search must have scared whatever it was off. Things returned to normal in the sleepy town.

Then they found the cow.

Unlike the other animals that had disappeared without a trace, the carcass of the cow was in the middle of it field. The body had been torn apart, as if by some giant animal, and most of the meat was stripped from the bone.

Suddenly the surrounding woods became something threatening, full of dark and foreboding shadows and shapes. A messenger was sent to the nearest town to ask for help but his body was found a half mile out of the village torn apart just as the cow had been.

Terror gripped the town. No one ventured out alone and never after dark. Things could be heard in the distant woods at night but there was no way to get a message out to ask for help.

The night that the girl disappeared, all that changed. The things smashed into one of the houses in the middle of the night and made off with her. Beside himself with fear for his daughter's safety, the father set out on horseback for the nearest town to plead for help.

As his horse rode through the night, he could feel the things around him, pacing him, waiting to strike out at him when he faltered but his horse pounded on through the night. The things seemed to disappear but that only strengthen his resolve to find help to save his daughter.

* * * * * * *

In my opinion, the general flavor of Fear and Faith seems to be geared toward more modern times. Survivors of the zombie apocalypse, investigating the C'Thulhu mythos, or even (dare I say it...) the fight between the werewolves and vampires in Twilight. There is definitely nothing wrong with this (well, except the Twilight thing but that's self explanatory...) but I am lacking miniatures for these genres. Sci-fi... check. Fantasy... check. Modern horror... hmmm. Not so much in that department it would seem. I had resigned myself to the fact that I might not be able to get this one to the table for a while (at least not without proxies anyway) when it dawned on me that Claustrophobia is all about a demon hunter and his soldiers fighting against the demons of Hell. And it has miniatures even!

The Redeemer with his condemned followers

I had the makings of a ready made scenario right there but I wanted to look at my other options as well. There are zombies, vampires, ghosts... and oh yes, werewolves. It was time to dig out the Confrontation minis again.

* * * * * * *

Brother Lucius was knelt in prayer when the man barged into the church. A look of relief flashed across the man's tormented face when he saw the Redeemer and he quickly stumbled forward, begging for Lucius' help. The Father of the church tried to quiet the man, but Lucius motioned the Father away, stepped forward, and listened to the man's words.

It quickly became apparent to Lucius that there was something far more sinister at work in the woods and Brother Lucius left the man in the church as he went to gather his men.

The evil that lurked within that forest would be torment the village no more.

* * * * * * *

For the other side of the equation, I decided that I would use some modified Wolfen miniatures for my werewolves. In case you hadn't guessed, I love these miniatures and this looked like another great opportunity to get them onto the table.

This is actually a conversion of a Hunter that I did before but the basic mini looks very similar, minus the extra spears on the back.

Of the Wolfen minis out there, the hunter miniatures are actually some of the easiest to convert as they are equipped with spears. A couple of quick cut and BAM! Instant werewolf!

Once this is done it's time to get to the painting! A quick coat of primer and then its time to hit them with the paint. I know that most movie werewolves are brown but I like the idea of them in greys and blacks as it looks more like a wolf. Were... wolf. See? It all makes sense...

Here's a picture of two of the nearly finished werewolves. Just need to do a little bit of detail work on them still.

Now we have the heroes of this tale (Brother Lucius and his condemned minions seeking their redemption) and the villains (the ferocious werewolves looking for lunch), it is time to stat them up and then get them to the table. But more on that next time...

The Parting Shot...

That's all for now but be sure to come back for the next part of our look at Fear and Faith as we stat up the two sides and get them ready for the battle. Thanks for checking out the blog and as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to either leave them right here on the blog or you can email me at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. Plus you can now follow the Dispatch on Facebook by clicking on the like button to the right. Until next time...

Taking That Leap Of Faith

Hey everyone and welcome to a righteous installment of the Dispatch!

For this one, we are going to be taking a look at another game by Ganesha Games as we get medieval on some monsters. So close your eyes and trust in your virtue as we come face to face with Fear and Faith!

The Hunters And The Hunted
A Review of Fear And Faith by Ganesha Games

As you might recall, I found out about the Song of Blades and Heroes miniature game just a few months ago. I gave it a try and I must say that there is an awful lot to like about the system. Not only is it very simple and quick to play, it is also generic and has a system to stat up any miniatures that you might have on hand.

One of the other remarkable things about this system is just how adaptable it it. Currently there are eight different settings that use the Song of Blades ruleset at their core with more on the way, not to mention a number of supplements to those core books. Ranging from fantasy to sci-fi and Napoleonic to Quar, there are rules out there for almost any kind of setting you might have in mind including horror.

Fear and Faith uses the basic mechanics of the Song of Blades system with a few alterations and additions. Players now have access to many abilities to represent various tropes that are common to the whole horror genre. Want to make a horde of ravening zombies? You can do that! Crazy slasher maniac? Yep, that's there too. Great C'thulhu? Hey, if you have the mini then you can play it!

Even with this extensive range of abilities, the game still is able to keep it's very streamlined mechanics intact with only a few additions. In addition to the basic rules for activations and such, the rules have pulled some of the simpler mechanics from their other games to include a more detailed ranged combat system. Who needs a bow when you can use a shotgun? They have also added a few completely new rules that are integral to the genre. After all, you can't do horror without a little fear which they cover here along with insanity for those of a Lovecraftian bent.

All and all, Fear and Faith looks to be another great addition to anyone's miniature wargame library. With easy to understand and very adaptable rules, the only major limit to what you can do with this game is your own creativity. When you combine all of this with a very reasonable price point (a mere $8 here in the States) and I really can't think of any reason not to pick up this game.

The Parting Shot...

That wraps up another one but expect more on Fear and Faith over the next few weeks including a battle report! Thanks for checking out the blog and as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to either leave them right here on the blog or you can email me at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. Plus you can now follow the Dispatch on Facebook by clicking on the like button to the right. Until next time...

From A Howl To A Whisper

Hey everyone and welcome to a conclusive edition of the Dispatch!

In this issue, we are going to wrap up our Song of Blades and Heroes campaign. The Vahgr have decided that the D'Wagurr have defiled their forest for long enough! Will they succeed in closing the D'Wagurr entrance to the Dark Thorn or will the subterranean menace go unchecked? After that, we'll take a quick look at a system that I plan on using for future campaigns to add a little depth to the whole experiece. Intrigued? Then read on!

Cacophony To Silence
A Song of Blades and Heroes Battle Report

After the last fierce battle, the Vahgr were finally able to track down the entrance that the D'Wagurr were using to enter the Dark Thorn. Determined to end the threat to their home, they summon one of the guardians of the Thorn and march forward to seal the D'Wagurr below. Meanwhile, the D'Wagurr have driven more creatures from below to help them secure their gateway to the surface world.

The game opened with the Vaghr arrayed along the left side of the board while the D'Wagurr were clustered around their tunnel opening.

The D'Wagurr won first activation and launched themselves toward the Vaghrr. With the two overseers in the warband, most of them began the game with a quality of 2+ for activation along with the ability to use group activations to really get their little hoard moving. All of the models were able to activate in the turn with one of the minion groups launching itself virtually to the other side of the table.

The Vaghrr responded by moving forward most of their troops though the Guardian, one of the Wardens, and the Hunter kept their positions for the first turn.

The forward group of D'Wagurr minions were able to knock down the guardian that they were clustered around but fell short of getting in the killing blow.

Meanwhile, the brute charged forward and was able to beat down one of the Vaghr warriors with little difficulty.

The victory was short-lived though as the bladeweaver was able to move up and dispatch the brute with relative ease while the rest of the warband looked on.

The D'Wagurr responded by smashing one of the Dark Thorn wardens and attempting to attack another of the Vaghrr warriors, though they proved to be slightly less effective this time.

The Vaghr are able to make the most of the situation though as they eliminated one of the minions and more importantly they managed to surround one of the two overseers.

While the D'Wagurr were able to make the most of the situation by taking down on of the remaining warriors with their Deep Star spider swarm, the situation with the overseer proved to be too much.

In fact once one of the overseers was killed, it was basically over for the D'Wagurr. The death of the first overseer resulted resulted in a morale check that lead to the death of the second overseer. Finally, this was followed up by a final morale roll as over half of the warband had died or fled. With only a spider swarm and a lone minion left on the table, it was effectively game over for the D'Wagurr.

The Dark Thorn guardian and two wardens were able to move forward and seal the tunnels, ending the D'Wagurr threat to the Dark Thorn... at least for now.

The Symphony Of Howls
Wrapping Up The Dark Thorn Campaign

So this battle report wraps up my Song of Blades and Heroes mini campaign. Overall, I really like the game system. It moves quite quickly (at least when you actually have the stats balanced as I learned early on...) and it is very easy to learn. There is also a simple campaign system that is included in the basic rules that I didn't use but I can see how to apply them in the future with a few tweaks that would make things more interesting in my opinion.

In the basic system, both sides start out with a certain size warband. You play through one of the scenarios and once you are done the winner can try to recover any minis that were killed in the fight (in the hopes of gaining experience) and both sides can replace any lost models (to represent word of your exploits attracting new warriors). This is all well and good but I prefer more of an attrition campaign like the one that I had started with Matt for Warmachine/Hordes.

For those of you that don't remember how that had been laid out, you start with a total force that you can draw on throughout the entire campaign. For each mission, you can choose up to a set number of points from the total force that you have available. The important thing is that you can choose up to the point limit which gives you some leeway in force composition. Maybe you don't feel like risking too many troops for this battle so you go way under the limit. Maybe you feel this mission is crucial and max it out. The choice is yours! This decision can win or loss you the battle before the dice are even rolled but there are more long term implications as well.

After the scenario is over the winner can try to recover any casualties and then both sides can recruit new troops. Just how many troops depends on how many points you committed to the battle in the first place and also whether you won or lost. The winner can recruit up to the full value of points they used while the loser can only recruit up to half the value of the points they used. As tales of your victories spread across the land, warriors flock to your banner seeking their own share of the fortunes of war. Or if you were not quite so fortunate then you are forced to recruit whoever you can get your hands on, whether they like it or not!

It is good to have some kind of a flow for the campaign in mind. For example, in the Dark Thorn campaign I wanted to recount the first encounters between the Vaghr and the D'Wagurr. I started out with a small scenario to represent two patrols happening upon one another, which built into a larger battle as the two forces took up arms against one another. This then lead up to the final battle with the Vaghr seeking to drive the D'Wagurr back and seal their tunnel into the Dark Thorn. This is a very basic concept but definitely adds to the whole experience. Without this story, it would just be little battle, medium battle, big battle. Now doesn't that sound exciting? *yawn,,,* By putting even some basic story elements onto this rudimentary framework, the whole campaign takes on a new depth and becomes that much more interesting.

All of this can also act as inspiration for the hobby aspect of the game as well as you might want to built new terrain pieces or paint up special models to fit into the campaign. In the case of this campaign, I didn't have any large forest terrain pieces so it gave me some motivation to make some, not to mention building the tunnel entrance itself for the final battle. Of course none of that was necessary. I could have just throw some felt down for trees and plopped a spare base on the board for the tunnel entrance but that just doesn't feel right to me. If I'm going to do something like this, I'd rather take the time to go all the way with it as I think it makes the whole experience that much better.

The Parting Shot...

And that wraps up another issue of the Dispatch. Hopefully you've enjoyed our look at Song of Blades and Heroes and if you feel like checking it out yourself, you can find it on the Ganesha Games homepage. They also have several other genres based on the same core system used in Song of Blade and Heroes so be sure to take a look around at what they have to offer.

As always, thanks for checking out the blog and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to either leave them right here on the blog or you can email me at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. Until next time...

Workbench: Songs of the Wolf Pack

Hey everyone and welcome to another howling edition of the Dispatch!

For this one we are going to take a break from the Noise and look at the Workbench to check out one of the projects I have been working on. I recently heard of Songs of Blades and Heroes and decided to pick up the basic rules to give them a once over. All and all, it seems to be a nice and quick little fantasy skirmish game. While they are simple enough to keep the game moving at a good pace, they also seem to have enough variety to keep things interesting I haven't actually played it yet but I've mentioned it to a couple of my friends and they are interested in checking it out so I decided to make a few small warbands for us to push around. But enough talk! Let's get a little feral as we head on over to the Workbench to take a look at the first warband, the Wolfen of the Black Thorn Forest.

The Hills Are Alive With The Howls of Wolves...
Building A Warband For Song Of Blades and Heroes

For my first Songs of Blades and Heros warband (or SOBH for short) I decided to make use of some of my old Rackham minis that I have lying around. Mind you I don't have too many of these but amongst them were some Wolfen figures and this seemed like a great reason to finally paint them. Or actually re-paint them in a few of the cases.

First up were the hunters. These started their lives as pre-painted hunters for Confrontation. In my opinion, these are really not bad miniatures. The paint job is not the best that Rackham has done but if you are looking for something that you can set down on the table and play they fit the bill nicely. In my case I'm looking for something a little more, especially since a couple of my figures are the original metal figs. Call me a perfectionist but I would rather have the same style paint job throughout than some mix and match. Thankfully this is easy enough to achieve with a just a little black primer and away we go!

Wait a minute! Hold the primer! What's that on their backs? Where did those things come from? Those are actually taken from a couple of Trollblood Impalers that I happen to have lying around. I love the idea of these Wolfen having these giant spears to throw but only one? Really? What do they do, play fetch with it before they can shoot again? Instead, I attached a pack of spears to the back of each so they'll have plenty of ammo. The spears are slightly different but close enough to pass casual inspection so that works for me.

Here are my two hunters sporting their brand new paint schemes.

Next up are my two Wolfen warriors. These are from the original metal range so they are a little harder to find today but thankfully I had them stashed away for a rainy day.

The poses are much more dynamic than the plastics but that works for me. Instead of just making these guys plain old warriors, I decided that they will each different pack leader so I can expand to another warband in the future. In fact, with that in mind I've only painted up one of the two for now.

Now I just need to work on a better set-up for taking close up pictures of my minis. Battle reports I think I have a hand on but the up close ones not so much. You get the idea at least.

Now I just need to get some regular warriors to bulk out the ranks and I'll be good to go. For this, I am going to head back to the plastics range as you can find them dirt cheap if you look around. I had originally thought about getting the Great Fangs as I like the look of the figures with the two blades but since I decided to use my metal minis as characters, I going to get some of the regular fangs instead. This will make them look a little more plain in comparison which is alright in my book. They are supposed to be the grunts after all, not elite warriors like the two characters. Now I just need to order a box of them and I'll be all set...

The good news is that just the two hunters and the warrior give me enough to try pushing them around to see just how the rules play out once I get my second warband together. Be sure to check back next week to see what I dug up for that one!

The Parting Shot

As always, thanks for checking out the blog and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to either leave them right here on the blog or you can email me at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. I hope you enjoyed checking out the workbench and be sure to come back again. Until then, remember that if you can't win, it's time to change the rules.