roleplay-geek

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Trouble in Somerlisse - A Savage Worlds Hellfrost Campaign at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club

Trouble in Somerlisse is a Savage Worlds campaign using the Hellfrost setting. The Games Master is Mark Hamilton and play takes place every Friday at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.

A Cold Day in Watch Gap Fort

It was a cold day in Autumn when our heroes were summoned before Sword Commander Unrock one of the most respected Hearthknights that manned the 150 strong garrison at Watch Gap Fort.

The fort is nestled in the Ice Barrier Mountains which form the last bastion of defence against the encroaching winter and the spawn of Hellfrost contained within.

Heligioland in Rassilon

Our assembled heroes are:

Athura Magnusdottir (Tony) - a Saxa (human) and member of the Sisterhood of Mercy, a reknown healer tasked by her order to bring the Goddess Eira's gift to the folk who eke a living in the winter lowlands of Heligioland.

Vigo (Martin) - An engro of varied and useful talents who has a propensity for getting himself in and out of tight places.

Vissarel Nerinen (Kat) - A Taiga Elf with some mastery of the element of air.

Thigol Chillblane (Tony) - A Frostborn Saxa and Paladin of Kenaz the Lord of Volcanoes. A stoic and fierce warrior dedicated to erradicating the agents of Hellfrost in whatever form they appear.

Commander Unrock revealed that they had received word from fastriders that the town of Somerlisse and its steads had recently been attacked by orcs. The farmers are scared and some have fled their steads to the safety of the town.

The town lies in the Southern Greenpot Hills some 3 days ride from Watch Gap. Its population number some 2,000 with a small militia ill-trained and ill-equipped to deal with an orc incursion. Our mission is to travel to the town and meet with the Ridder Penfrick Scalsooner to find out what is going on.

The Greenpot Hills are craggy and difficult terrain for horses but the ore that is mined there is an important resource of great value to the region which must be protected.

Our heroes set out on what turns out to be an uneventful journey stopping at inns and steads along the way to shelter from the bitter cold night. Winter seems to come earlier every year these days.

Arrival at Somerlisse

On the third day they reach Somerlisse which lies in a shallow valley surrounded on all sides by the Greenpot Hills. As they cross the small moat bridge and begin to enter the protection of the towns stout wooden pallisade walls an arrow thunks into the right guard tower.

They have been followed by a scouting party of 2 orcs and 3 goblins. The fight does not last long and the agents of Hellfrost are slain with the exception of an orc which Thingol successfully wrestled to the ground.

Perhaps it will divulge some useful information if it values its life.

Sessions

Session 1 - Trouble in Somerlisse - A Savage Worlds Hellfrost Campaign
Session 2 - What Ill has Befallen Sommerlisse?
Session 3 - The Quarry at Lier
Session 4 - Well, Oh Well, Oh Well
Session 5 - The Thrymstone Curse

Saturday, 5 June 2021

Vintage Miniature - The Chainsaw Warrior

I've blogged before about my passion for collecting boardgames and in particular my mission to collect all of the bookcase format Games Workshop boardgames released in the 1980s.

Chainsaw Warrior is one of those games.

Chainsaw Warrior (1986)

Chainsaw Warrior (1987) is a solo game where the titular character climbs a New York skyscraper fighting off zombies and other evil minions in a race against time to find and destroy the ultimate evil Chaos.

It's peculiar in that the game is dominated by amazing artwork from 2000AD artbot Brett Ewins yet is not a miniatures game and in fact does not have a single pawn in the game.

However, that didn't mean that Citadel wasted this opportunity and launched a series of Chainsaw Warrior minis for fans of the game which could be bought as a single blister pack - C100. Exactly how you used them in game was not proscribed, I guess you could use them as a turn marker.

They also released a Chainsaw Warrior as part of the Talisman Timescape miniature range to accompany the Talisman expansion of the same name. A masterstroke in marketing to use a massively popular boardgame to shift a metric ton of lead.

Citadel also made 3 bad guy minis directly culled from the card art used in the game. These were only available as a very limited release and command insane prices on the secondhand market.

Three Bad Guy / Zombie Cards

I've had this one mini kicking around since 1987, I must have the other two but only God knows where they are. At the time I must have been going through a Blanchitsu phase as he was painted white with black checkerboarding all over him.

You do stupid things when you are young, innocent and influenced by the 'Eavy Metal pages of White Dwarf.

The Myth The Mini

As I recently rescued my copy of Chainsaw Warrior it seemed only fitting to rescue this one mini. Sadly time had not been kind and he had lost the blade of his Chainsaw.

The mini has a weird "braced for action" pose which makes him look all hunched over.

Cling Film to the Rescue!

I scratch built a new chainsaw out of a plastic cling film (saranwrap) cutter blade and some scraps of styrene plastic I recycled from ancient W3C Web Accessibility Initiative business cards. I knew I would find a use for them one day.

The Chainsaw Warrior - a vintage Citadel miniature from 1987

I consulted the box art and some original painted examples for a muted military olive drab kind of colour scheme. The chainsaw of course got the defacto hazard stripes and some oil washes to make it stand out as the most important thing in the room.

The only thing left to do now is actually play the game...

Monday, 3 May 2021

Reaper Bones #38 - Harpy

Another Mythical Monster chalked off the list, this time it's a Harpy

Harpy - Julie Guthrie (SKU 77041)

Harpy by Julie Guthrie

Julie Guthrie does it again with another wicked sculpt. The last time I painted a Harpy was 30+ years ago when I painted the one from the Citadel C18 Night Horrors line. Judging from the mini I believe this might have been sculpted by Aly or Trish Morrison.

Citadel C18 Harpy

You can tell that things have moved on both technically and aestetically in the last 30 years. This is a much more interesting less cartoony sculpt and doesn't have the classic overblown features or the flattop haircut. In particular I love the inclusion of the half demonic wings which give this mini a sense of the evil rather than just being some half human half chicken monster.

Harpy Mythology

Probably the most famous Harpy story is that of King Phineas of Thrace who was granted the gift of prophecy by Zeus until he gave away the Gods secret plan. Zeus blinded him and then left him alone on an island but tormented him with Harpies who would steal all the banquet food the Gods left him. This is most famously depicted in the movie Jason and the Argonauts (1963) where Phineas is played by the second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton.

Needless to say Jason fights off the Harpies and saves Phineas who then tells them how to pass through the clashing rocks (Symplegedes) further angering the Gods.

Bones Progress

Sector 55 Blues - Prog 11 - Just Some Good Ole Boys

Sector 55 Blues is a Judge Dredd Campaign using the Savage Dredd unnofficial Savage Worlds Expansion. This is an online only game with members from Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.

Judges Cully, Hammer Teal and Uhtred clean up the crime scene at the mutie farmstead. They agree that they need to send a message to the enemy at Black Gold Mesa as if it were from this raiding party. Without a long distance radio and the right frequency they are out of options. They decide to return to the land ships and consult with the pirate captains.

Pirate land ships come in all shapes, sizes and colours

Back on board they discuss their predicament with Captain Scurvy Jack and El Diablo. The ships don't have radios but there is one at the refuelling depot at Nowhere.

Pirate Law dictates that "You keep what you catch" and so Cully orders the prisoners to be hung from the yard arm untill they crack. After a couple of hours Bob 211 has had enough and starts to spill the beans. The Judges learn that :

The mulgoons are all named Bob followed by a number which signifies the order in which they were recruited.
Lord Muldoon personally cuts their hair into a bob a part of their initiation ceremony.
He has hundreds of Bobs and lots more slaves who work the oil field and help farm the hair beasts.

Hammer negotiates with Scurvy Jack to let them run ahead to the provisioning outpost at Nowhere but the pirate captain doesn't trust him to not run with his tail between his legs to Bartertown and raise the alarm with Auntie.

Teal reminds Hammer about the Doobie Brothers incident at Merkel Mansions a few years back when they had to pretend to be Sector Gas Workers inspecting a leak.

Harmer uses a Birdie Lie detector to convince Scurvy Jack that he is telling the truth. The Pirate agrees to let the Judges ride out to Nowhere and send their message.

On the Road to Nowhere

They ride through the night for 4 hours with Bobs 365 and 211 riding pillion until they reach the depot at Nowhere. It's a small run down gas station surrounded by a fortified iron wall and heavy gates. The Judges are challenged by the guards on the ramparts but they let them in. Apparently they have been expected.

Uncle Jessie runs Nowhere with about a dozen men. He is an elderly pirate who wears a battered red baseball cap which reads MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. He takes them through to his office where the radio is set up. He explains that The Pirate King called a few days ago and told him to expect 4 lawmen arriving with the Pinacolado and the Saint Mary. He was surprised to see them on their own.

Uncle Jessie

Teal explains that they ran into the mulgoons raiding a farmstead and rode ahead to use the radio to stave off a larger war party coming to find the Bobs. Jessie regularly monitors the mulgoon transmissions and recalls that there was a raiding party operating due East a day or so ago.

He agrees to contact the Pirate King to ask permission. Just as Jessie is about to blurt out over the radio that the lawmen have arrived, Hammer stops him. Realising that these are unencrypted radio transmissions he tells the old man to talk in code. He tells him to say "code 77" the Justice Department code for "Wally Squad" (undercover Judges) operations. He assures Jessie that the Pirate King will understand.

Permission given they contact Black Gold Mesa pretending to be Team Falcon and report in that they are on their way back to base, delayed due to mechanical issues.

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