Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Thoughts On - Valerian (No spoilers)

Hi all,

          I came into this film with no prior knowledge, apart from it was based on a French comic. This usually sets off warning flags, (I'm not into manga / Anime), but the poster looked great, as you can see here, so I thought I would risk it, especially since it had a budget of 210 million. US dollars. I saw the 2d version of the film.
          The first surprise was that the main characters were rather younger than I was expecting, but once I got used to that, everything fell into place and I began to enjoy the film.
          If you like a mix of aliens, this is certainly the film for you, there are lots of them and I mean LOTS, the blurb I read afterward in the movie guide quoted that there were more than 200 of them, they all blended into the scenes and made the scenes POP. It feels like a grand sprawling space station. Babylon 5, eat your heart out, and I do like B5 a great deal.
          The script was fair, it played the comedy card at times, I like my sci-fi fairly straight and serious. I spotted the baddie before the entity showed its hand / flipper / pseudopod, but that did not matter, as I was enjoying the story and wondering how it would unfold and our heroes would defeat it.
         I hope they do a sequel. It is thoroughly enjoyable, go and see it.

Rating 9 out of 10.

Saturday, 12 August 2017

WHF-The Journey Part Two

The Journey To Mordheim Part Two

House Rules

Since I am playing this game solo, for randomness, attacks will be rolled on a d12, 1-8 will come from a designated spot, 9 – 12 will generate no attack. After each conflict point has passed. I will add +2 to the dice roll. Multiple attacks are possible. For each enemy taken out of action, gain 1d6 Gold Coins. For each battle won, gain 10 GC.

I am running this as a Scenario 2: Skirmish for the purposes of experience gained.

Roll for Weather

 8 = Raining. All missile + Powder weapons at -1 to hit, BP weapons only fire if 1d6 roll is 4+.

Dwarf Team 1 

Leader Bronn (Bow, Hammer, Shield, Helmet, Dagger, Light Armour). Move 3.
Champion Eldrand (Banner- Mace, Helmet, Dagger, Light Armour). Move 3.
Champion Yolm (D Axe, Shield, Helmet, Dagger, Light Armour). Move 3.
Thunderer Strom (Horn - Mace, Pistol, Helmet, Dagger, Light Armour). Move 3.
Beardlings Klacker, Grinder and Gormish (D Axe, Shield, Dagger). Move 4.
4 Gold Coins saved. Warband Rank = 71.

Our weary travellers are walking along a muddy dirt track, approaching an old, battered camp site, at a woodland crossroads. It has been a long, soggy, slippery, uncomfortable day for them. The woods have given them a welcome respite from the wind, if not from the dampness, for most of the afternoon. Smiles beam across their faces at the thought of removing their boots and resting their feet in front of a nice warm fire.

The woodland path.

 The camp site and bridge across the river.

 (Random Roll to camp here or continue onwards.)

The view from the bridge.

The company began to quicken their pace, but their leader, Bronn, speaks up, “Steady up boys, we are going to continue on to the trading shack that is in the next valley. But we will fill our flasks up, as usual, at the river.”

 The campsite from the wood.


 As they fill their canteens at the river bridge and have a quick break from the day's march .........

A raven's eye view of the company passing each other canteens to be filled.

Conflict point 1

(A Random Attack was generated = From Point 3 by Pack Two, Lizardmen.)

Leader Yellow Top, (Bow, Claw, Str 3, Move 5, Leader 7).
Champion Red Top 1 + 2, (Bow, Claw,  Str 3,Move 4, Leader 7).
Fang Red Top, White Top 1 + 2, (Bow, Claw, Str 2, Move 4, Leader 4).
Juveniles Blue Top 1-3  1 + 2, (Bow, Claw, Str 2, Move 4, Leader 7).
180 Gold Coins saved. Warband Rank = 81.
Turn 1

A lizard war party are going towards their nest when through the trees, they see the intruders.

Lizards starting point.
Their first sighting.


 “Invaders" hisses Yellow Top, "They must not discover our nest site, kill them all !”
Eldrand is first into battle.

The Juveniles, on the right, make the best use of the swampy cover.

The view along the stream path.
Yellow Top directs his warriors to attack from the left, while he and his champions move along the path, the warriors quietly start to take the left flank through the wood, the soggy leaves masking their steps, making the best use of the cover available. With a quick nod from their leader, the juveniles slip into their natural element, the river and begin to advance towards the enemy.
View from the woods.
 Once they have moved closer, the Skinks on the path fire arrows at the intruders.

Eldrand, the champion carrying the Banner of House Fourscar, shouted, “We are under attack !” and charged the nearest Skink, coming towards him along the path, which happened to be their leader Yellow Top. The fighting spills over into the camp ground.

Bromm and the others moved forward, except Strom, who readies his pistol for action.

Juvenile 3 fires at Strom hastily, but missed his victim completely (1). Juvenile 1 fired at Bromm, but shows its inexperience too and misses (1) by a foot.

Red Top 1 fires at Yolm, but misses (3) only because Yolm was still moving to the side.


 The others are still too deep in the woods to shoot out at the moment, but they still study their opponents as they move forward.

Strom fires his pistol at one of the creatures splashing towards him in the water (Juvenile 3), but it strikes the bridge instead of his intended target. He curses in frustration and begins the process of readying the pistol for action and keeping it dry in the slowing drizzle

Eldrand hits Yellow Top with the large banner (the equivalent of a two handed Mace) (4), but it bounces off its scales (1).
Enraged by the blow to his dignity, Yellow Top hits Eldrand once with a claw (4,3), but it bounces off his armour (2).

Turn 2

(No recoveries needed).
Juvenile 1 charges Bromm (getting in the way of the champion Red top 2 as he did so),  Juvenile 2 gets itself stuck in the swamp, Juvenile 3 charges Grinder. Red top 1 moves towards the intruders, as do those in the forest, whose progress has been slowed down by thick undergrowth. Red top 2 charges in against Eldrand.

Strom and Gormish charge in to help Grinder. Klacker and Yolm charge Red top 1.
(No shooting targets were available.)

Close Combat

Eldrand swipes Yellow Top with the banner again (3), but it bounces off its stout head ridge (1).
Yellow Top slices Eldrand's arm once with a claw (4,1) while Eldrand was distracted by Red top 2 attacking him too, this causes a critical wound (6), and puts him out of action (6). (YT Gains 1 xp.)
Eldrand falls victim to an attack.

Bromm strikes Juvenile 3 with his Hammer of Justice (4) but it bounces off its arm (2) as he is dismayed to see Eldrand fall in battle. He tries to recover, hitting with his dagger, (6), just causing a long graze (1) along its arm.
Juvenile 3 misses with its first claw, due to the sharp pain caused by the shallow wound (3,5) but hits with its second, but fails to penetrate his armour (3) since he was off balance.

Klacker, infuriated by seeing his hero fall, attacks Redtop 1 furiously (6), Red had been distracted too by the first intruders fall, he Wounds on a (6) and puts him Out of Action.

Grinder attacks Juvenile 3 (1) and misses with his axe, his dagger hits (3) the creature, wounding it slightly (2) as its bracelet took most of the force of the blow. It oozed with pale green blood.

Strom attacks Juvenile 3 while it staggered under the previous blow and hits (3), causing a deep wound to his right arm (6) Critical (4) Stunned, then Gormish puts him Out of Action as he collapses on the floor with a kick to the head.

Turn 3

(No recoveries needed).
Juvenile 2 finally frees itself from the swamp and charges Strom. Red two charged Grinder, Yellow Top charged Strom, seeking to turn the tide of battle. Red one charged Klacker. Warriors 1 and 2 both attack Yolm.

Bronn aims at Juvenile 1, but misses wildly with his axe (1), then misses with his dagger too (2).
Juvenile 1 hits with both claws, (5,4), (4,2) but fails to capitalise on his enemies errors. No damage was done.

Juvenile 2 looses his fight.
Strom defends against Juvenile 2, (4) hits it, wounds (4) it with a blow to the head, (4) It is stunned (in water). Failed Initiative – Drowned / Out of action.(Strom gains 1 xp.)

Grinder defends himself against Red Top 2, misses with his axe (1), but weakly hits with his dagger (4) on its leg, no deep wounds were caused (1). Red 2 gives a roar and hits him twice, (6,5), Grinder failed to parry the blows, (4), no wounds were caused (2,3) as he was moving backwards at the time.

Gornish defends against the snarling Yellow Top, he misses with his axe (3) and his dagger (2). Yellow Top presses home his attack, hitting the youngblood twice (5,5), (4,4) Gornish blocks one blow with his shield (6) parry ,(2) no wounds caused.


Klacker joins in with Grinder against Red Top 2, hits it with his axe(6), no wounds caused (1), but it exposes his chest to attack, hits with his dagger (4), wounds (4), Red Top 2 falls to the floor and is now Out of Action. They look round for another target.

Yolm defends himself against attacking Warriors 1 and 2. He firstly goes for Warrior 1, hittting it (3), tries to wound with his axe (2), but just takes off a few scales. He attacks Warrior 2 with his dagger, who avoids his blow (2).
Warrior 1 aims a blow to his arm, (1,1) but misses. Warrior 2 tries to attack the same arm, but Warrior 1 got in the way, so they both miss (3,3).

Turn 4

The Lizardmen failed their rout test roll (11), Yellow Top realizes they are outclassed against this enemy at this time, shouts “Flee! Flee!”

The Skinks dart in all directions, seeking safety.

They rush over to Eldrand and bandage his arm and put it into a sling. They set up watch and make camp here for the night.

The End
Aftermath

(I have just checked the rules and spotted an error in my earlier skill advances and my Xp (only heroes and not henchmen gained xp for putting enemies out of action, so these have now been amended).

Dwarf Team 1

Everybody gets 1 xp.
Eldrand gets an injured arm, but survives. (But he is out of action for the next scrap.)
Bronn gets 2 xp in total.
Strom gets 2 xp in total. He Levels up and gains Strength 4.
The party locate three Wyrdstone Shards (worth 75GC) hidden under the river bridge, a Master Map at the camp site and 18 GC on necklaces on the fallen Skinks, plus a winners award of 10 GC.

Pack 2 Lizardmen

Everybody gets 1 xp, except Red Top 2 and Juvenile 2, who die of their wounds.
Red Top 1 survives against the odds, -1 Strength in Combat, gets 2 xp in total.
Juvenile 3 makes a full recovery.
Yellow Top gains 3 xp in total.
The party find 3 Wyrdstone Shards (worth 70 GC - a lower value than above due to having more warriors in his war party) hidden in the stream bed.

(No trading as still in a wilderness area.)

There we go, I think I have everything sorted now, if I have made any errors, please pop them in the comments box.

Please like if you enjoyed it. Part three is coming soon.

Ivor

Saturday, 5 August 2017

Pause 9


Hi there,
                 Just a quick post to let you know that I have finally completed describing the first skirmish of  "The Journey To Mordheim part 2", my 28 mm Warhammer Fantasy battle report. Its not quite as good as the Journey to the Misty Mountain, but I had fun doing it.
                It will be turn-based, as usual, not a video production, as some clever folks can put out, but I hope you like my narrative style, as I go through the moves and reactions of the minis. I'm not sure how many chunks it will end up in, so please bear with me as we go along in what may be a haphazard fashion.
              Now that I have just finished the first battle, I wonder who will be next on the stage to face our heroes? (It is randomly generated from a list of naughty critters I have on standby.)

On the wider picture, a kind little birdie dropped me a note in my email regarding those chaps at Two Hour Wargames are releasing their earlier works, "Larger than Life Directors Cut" and "Adventures in the Lost Lands" for $9.95 each. Both of these titles should be capable of giving you a good yarn, everything else I have tried of theirs has been top notch and the rules usually cater for solo play (Just check on their website or forum to confirm it).

For more info, check out "A little treat".

Ivor