February Games

I played some games in  February... Here's what I played! 

Saturday, 1 February 2025

Kicking off the month, we FINALLY got back to playing out online Soulbound game... The entire session was the players fighting a Putrid Blightking!! YIKES they are TOUGH! I've basically been using Warhammer Quest: Shadows over Hammerhal... and the room they were in had just one, but after a round or two the north wall was supposed to just crumble revealing TWO MORE!? I decided NOT to do that, as that would have likely ended them! 

This ended up being the ONLY session we managed to play this month (for the Online Campaign). We did meet up one other Saturday, but I'd been having a rough week and we just ended up chatting for a couple hours... Maybe next month. 

Sunday, 2 February 2025

Sunday afternoon Orion returned for a second game in our Fourteen Men in the Solomons campaign (using Five Men at Kursk!). This week the men of First Platoon, Company J, 25th Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division went on a patrol and encountered a sniper!

The full after action report can be read here:

Fourteen Men in the Solomons - Patrol - 23 June 1943

Tuesday, 4 February 2025

This week's Soulbound adventure saw the characters starting the Faltering Light adventure in earnest. They were introduced to the main players, the broken Realm Gate and began to explore the city of Brightspear! 

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

The following evening we were back to playing Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! Initially , Amanda and Finnegan had discussed taking along their newly levelled up 2nd Level heroes... as they would cause others to gain experience faster... but in the end decided to just go with the four remaining Level One characters. Along the way, I noted what the difference in the encounters would have been... and they were glad to have only brought the first level characters. 

you can read all about the adventure here:

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Thirteen - Deliverance Journey

Sunday, 9 February 2025

Initially I'd planned to play Fourteen Men in the Solomons with Orion, but Orion had a last minute changed of plans, so I finally tried out FiveCore Pulp Adventure on my own! It was a lot of fun! You can read about the Adventure here:

FiveCore Pulp Adventure - In the Sands of Arabia

Tuesday, 11 February 2025

In the afternoon Orion stopped by to play through the next scenario in our Five Men at Kursk campaign (Fourteen Men in the Solomons) 

You can read the full After Action Report here: 

Fourteen Men in the Solomons - Skirmish at Smith Ridge

Initially, Orion was to return with Nick in the evening to play Soulbound... but I just wasn't feeling it and had FiveCore games on the brain and offered to run a game of FiveCore Pulp Adventure... and initially Orion was interested... but then Nick was feeling sick, so they decided to stay home... 

Somehow I DID convince Amanda and Finnegan to give it a try and I ran a little one-off game for them (maybe...? or maybe it will turn into an occasional campaign!?) 

you can read the full game report here: 

FiveCore Pulp Adventure - Cult of Cthulhu 

Wednesday, 19 February 2025 

We'd missed playing a game of Warhammer Quest: Cursed City the previous week because, after the two games of FiveCore the day before, I was a little gamed out... This week we also missed our Soulbound game because Orion was out of town. 

This week we were back at it!

You can see the whole game report here:

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Fourteen - Deliverance Journey

Tuesday, 25 February 2025

After a few weeks off, we were back to playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound on Tuesday! This week the party located the guide and began their explorations of the undercity in Brightspear! 

And I forgot to take a picture during the game... AGAIN... I'd even had a sticky note on my GM screen... 

Wednesday, 26 February 2025

This week we finally played the first of the decapitation journeys to take out one of the named characters in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! 

You can read all about the adventure here:

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Fifteen - Shuffling Horrors

Friday, 28 February 2025 

Finally, Friday afternoon, Orion and I tried out our first game of Bolt Action (Third Edition)!? I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about playing Bolt Action... My general feeling from having played it... a decade ago...? was that it wasn't awesome and I didn't have a lot of fun. Maybe I was just souring on World War Two in general - from having played too much Flames of War (and SO MANY other WW2 games!? Blitzkrieg Commander, Tactical Commander, WRG rules 1925-1950, I Ain't Been Shot Mum, Disposable Heroes, etc, etc, etc...) over the decade before that... Maybe it was just the people I was playing with...? I don't know. I had a LOT of fun playing this and think it has a lot of potential - looking forward to playing MORE! 

You can read all about it here: 

WW2 - Bolt Action: Operation Torch (Part 1?)

Hopefully there will be more in the coming month(s)!? 

And that's it! 

In total, this month I have played: 

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound x3 (one online, two in-person)
• Warhammer Quest: Cursed City x3
• FiveCore Pulp Adventure x2 (one solo, one game-mastered) 
• Five Men at Kursk WW2 Skirmish Warfare x2
• Bolt Action (Third Edition) x1

So far this year, I've played: 

• Warhammer Quest: Cursed City x8
• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound x7
• Five Men at Kursk WW2 Skirmish Warfare x3
• FiveCore Pulp Adventure x2
• Five Men in Normandy .30 Cal edition x2
• Patchwork x2
• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Crypt Hunters x2
• Lost Patrol x1
• Warhammer Age Of Sigmar (Fourth Edition): Core Rules x1
• Bolt Action (Third Edition) x1

I DID get a LOT painted this month... 

Foot:

• 3x Arabs
• 9x WW2 British
• 2x South Pacific Coast Watchers
• 4x Pulp Adventure Ex-Military Types
• 24x WW2 Italians
  
• 10x WW2 Italian X Arditi 
• 16x Deutsches Afrikakorps Panzer-Grenadiers
• 21x WW2 Italian Infantry
• 10x WW2 Italian Colonial Infantry Squad
• 8x WW2 Soviet Scouts

Vehicles:

• 1x Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank
• 1x Autoblinda AB41
• 1x Carro Armato M13/40
• 2x CV33

FIVE Vehicles and over ONE HUNDRED foot miniatures!? (a LOT of those were started BEFORE February... this is just when I happened to finish them off!). So far my total for the year is 152 foot! Not bad... Not at all what I was PLANNING to paint this year... but not bad... 

The best part is, I've only bought 42 foot and three vehicles!

(I did receive another 49 in trade, but in the process got rid of nearly 100 foot and two vehicles!!)

WW2 - Bolt Action: Operation Torch (Part 1?)

On the last day of February, I finally got in a game of Bolt Action (Third Edition) with Orion. My copy has not yet arrived, so I had read NONE of he rules and only had the faintest idea of how it was played - based on having played the first edition a decade ago and having reviewed the quick reference sheet (available free for downloading from Warlord Games!) 

Given the forces we have available, I figured Operation Torch might be a fun place to start... mind you, the forces used were largely fictional. Orion has modeled her Americans as members of the 92nd US Infantry Division - one of the segregated infantry divisions of African-Americans, which, in reality, was only activated on 15 October 1942 (less than a month before the Torch landings) and did not arrive overseas until 22 September 1944, seeing action in Northern Italy. We're going to say they were raised somewhat earlier and were brought over for Torch! 

Likewise the Vichy French in Morocco were mostly Morroccan, Algerian and Senegalese Tirailleurs and some French Foreign Legionaires - as well as some Moroccan Spahi (still horse mounted) and the Chasseurs d'Afrique. I did not think they actually had any tanks... but apparently the Chasseurs d'Afrique started mechanization in 1933 and may have had some Hotchkiss H35 and H39 light tanks (the Chasseurs d'Afrique in Syria had some Renault R-35!). 

10 November 1942

Having just landed at Safi, Morocco, the men of the 92nd US Infantry Division pushed out of the town to mop up resistance in the area. As they advance, a Stuart tank reconoitering ahead of he force spotted a mixed force of Moroccan  Tirailleurs supported by a tank of the Chasseurs d'Afrique and guns of the Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco in the distance, advancing towards them. It was unclear if they were marching into town to surrender their arms and join the allied cause or moving to make a counter attack against the port. When the tank was fired on, it became clear that the latter option was the case. 

American Stuart tank, reconnoitring ahead of the force.

POW! The Stuart comes under fire from a Renault R-35 of the Chasseurs d'Afrique! Firing on the move, the shot went wide! 

An American M-10 Tank Destroyer moves up and returns fire, also missing! 

Moroccan  Tirailleurs advance towards the Americans and a venerable Soixante-Quinze of the Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco was pushed up to give direct support for the engagement! 

Mortars and Machine-guns of the Tirailleurs deploy to give support to the advancing infantry while an American Sherman tank rolls onto the scene. 

American infantry taking cover behind a ruin while a sniper team and Forward Air Observers take up a position on the ridge beyond. 

BOOM!! Fire from the Sherman's 75mm gun obliterated the Soixante-Quinze and it's crew! 

The Tirailleurs begin exchanging fire with the American infantry opposite!

An squad of Tirailleurs on a ridge brought fire down on the other American infantry squad, which was trying to shelter behind the tanks! 

The artillery spotter from the Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco tried to call in fire from his battery in the rear.

Two squads of Tirailleurs taking cover behind dunes continue to exchange fire with the American infantry. 

The American Forward Air Controller successfully called in an airstrike on the Tirailleurs. While it severely pinned them down (for THREE TURNS), it caused no casualties! 

The Sherman's gun blasted the Heavy Weapons teamd with high explosive rounds, killing their platoon commander and wounding a few of the crew! 

Riflemen exchanging fire from cover... mostly just pinning each other down! 

The Sherman moved up and started machine-gunning the Heavy Weapon teams - AND THE MEDIC- not very sporting! First game and our Americans are already committing war crimes!  

First artillery barrage finally came in! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! 

I don't think the first one caused any casualties.. but wow did it ever deal out a lot of pin markers! 

The next turn another barrage came in and, again, not so many casualties, but it did render a number of units ineffective for turns - beause they all went DOWN - to save themselves from having to take casualties and then would have to spend a later turn RALLYING to clear away all those pin markers! 

The Stuart just kept saturating the ridge with machine-run fire and whittled away at the squad of Tirailleurs - and eventually took out the Forward Observer and his signaller. 

In the end, the French Colonial Forces managed to take out both of the American Infantry squads... 

The Americans took out the Howitzer, the Heavy Weapons Platoon Commander, and the Forward Observation team! 

So, Orion won the game 3-2 as points were simply scored for taking out units. 

Facing a Sherman, a Stuart and an M10 Tank Destroyer with a 3-inch gun (which counts as a HEAVY AT gun!) I legit did NOT expect that the little Renault would survive beyond the first turn!? It did get four shots off at the Stuart... I think only one hit and did not penetrate the armour - but DID give it ONE pin marker?! 

The M10 just kept missing?! One time it did hit, but did not penetrate the armour... another time it scored a glancing blow and gave a BUNCH of of Pin markers... and finally in the last turn, it did score a penetrating hit... but only caused two fires, which the crew was somehow able to put out!? So... it was STILL on the field of battle at the end of the game... 

Tanks are considerably tougher than I thought they might be - even the dinky little tonks... at the same time, they are a little less deadly than I thought they might be...? I guess the tanks (well, THE SHERMAN!) are what KILLED two of the three units that were destroyed in the battle.. 

I had a lot of fun playing this. I'm really looking forward to playing more! 

I have to admit, I was pretty apprehensive about playing Bolt Action... 

It has been a decade since I last played (the FIRST EDITON!). I don't remember much, but my general feelings from having played it was that it wasn't awesome and I didn't have a lot of fun. Perhaps the new rules cleared up some of the issues I may have had? I think maybe I was just souring on World War Two in general at the time.  Likely from having played far too much Flames of War - and SO MANY other WW2 games!? Blitzkrieg Commander, Tactical Commander, WRG rules 1925-1950, I Ain't Been Shot Mum, Disposable Heroes, Savage Worlds, etc, etc, etc... Maybe it was just the people I was playing with...? I don't know... I had a LOT of fun playing this and think it has a lot of potential! 

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Fifteen - Shuffling Horrors

This was the first of the Decapitation Journeys to take out NAMED CHARACTERS in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City. They didn't HAVE to do this one, at Level Two there is a choice of Captain of the Damned (taking out Watch Captain Halgrim) or Suffling Horrors (taking out Gorslav the Gravekeeper_. Amanda and Finnegan chose this one as Gorslav is just nasty... If he's on the board, every zombie on the board almost alway acts twice each round... OR he burries someone - which, if they're already wounded, can be DEVASTATING!? 

Ready to go! Buckle in, this is going to be a LONG one!

When arriving in the landing zone, our heroes found a trio of Deadwalker Zombies waiting for them... and a Kosargi Nightguard lumbering in the distance. 

Octren Glimscry was the first out of the landing zone... and failed to make any appreciable mark on the Zombies... 

So Brutogg stepped out and just smashed the all to bits... 

The Ogor came charging up and Cleona started throwing daggers and darts and stuff at him... which he seemed incredibly unfazed by! 

So Glaurio ven Alten III had to step out and finish him off - just as the Suffocating Gravetide roared into the Landing Zone!  

Others pushed past while Glaurio finished off the Ogor. 

When they opened the next door... 

They encountered Gorslav the Gravekeeper!! Their ultimate quarry in this hunt! 

Brutogg shouldered past him..

And smashed apart the zombies and Glario moved in to take down Gorslav! They knew this would not be the last they saw of him - thanks to the phylacteries in his lair... but if all went well, those would be destroyed and Gorslav with them! 

Then there were the skeletons of the Ulfenwatch to face... 

and destroy before the Suffocating Gravetide caught up with them! 

Cleona charged past and opened the next door, revealing a swarm of Corpse Rats... and Watch Captain Halgrim and MORE Ulfenwatch! 

Glimscry started destroy9ing the swarm and pushed into the room to keep the rats from swarming into the bottleneck and blocking his compatriots from moving forward! 

Despite Corpse Rats being one of his fanourite treats, Brotogg charged past them to attack Watch Captain Halgrim (and block them from moving into the room!) 

GLAURIO! DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU! JUST RUN!!

Rats dealt with, Brutogg smashed Watch Captain Halgrim apart. 

Other dealt with the last of the Ulfenwatch. 

The Suffocating Gravetide always on their heels! 

Bats... and another Kosargi... and MORE Ulfenwatch!? 

Brutogg decided to have a little snack and Octren helped him keep the bats pinned in the corner

So Glaurio could dash past and deal with the giant undead ogor. 

Cleona was the first to move in and attack the Ulfenwatch. 

She was also the one to open the next door... and found a Vyrkos Blood-Born waiting there for here - and two more in the next room!!

She backed away and stunned the first vampire. Others finished it off. 

Glaurio pushed into the next room to face the other vampires, shooting at them with his pistol  (possibly relatives of his!) 

Brutogg pushed past and charged in laying a beating down on them! 

Glaurio finished off the last zombie... 

and that was it... they'd made it to the entrance to Gorslav's Lair.... 

At this point we took a break and ordered out for a late birthday meal. We ordered a few things from Seasoned Fusion Tastes and I got my usual - vegan "chicken" balls... mmmmm... 

While waiting for the food, I set up Gorslav's Lair... ALL the Zombies start on the table, along with Gorslav and three swarms of Corpse Rats and three Swarms of Bats... and they just keep coming back like a bad case of herpes... 

Gorslav and his three phylacteries. If these can be reached, they can be searched like regular Mysterious Objects (a 4+ action) and SMASHED... If Gorslav recieves injuries that would kill him, one of the phylacteries disappears and so do all his wounds... 

Finnegan had made a comment about how almost all the times I dealt out initiative cards in the first half of the Journey, it was always the Heroes going first!

He should have kept his damned mouth shut... because this time three of the hostile activation groups went first and almost penned them in the Start Area! 

They fought their way out, but there was some confusion about THE PLAN. One moment they'd suggested going one way, and then realized that probably wasn't the best way to go... but Cleona had already charged off in that direction... and then  Cleona was burried (by a round end event - wasnt' even Gorslav!). 

Glaurio about to be swarmed by Bats and Zombies... this looks DIRE... but with some planing and a cool head, he blasted the one zombie in front of him, by the door... then stepped into that space and blasted the one in the next room blocking his way... 

Then he sprinted away from the rest of the horde and WRECKED THE FIRST PHYLACTERY!? BOOM! ONE DOWN!!

Yiiiiikes... Initially the plan was to kill as many zombies as fast as possible as reinforcements are rolled for at the end of their activation using a d12 action die to determine how many come back (33.3% none, 33.3% one, 33.3% two), and a d12 to see which lynchgate they show up at... This tactic worked really well in the first Decapitation Journey as once most of a hostile group was killed, they weren't much of a nuisance, because only one or two might come back each turn... and sometime NONE of them come back each turn... and often they'd show up nowhere near the Heroes...  

Except after Nightfall, Gorslav has this first thing on his behavior table that rolled on 1-5 (42% of the time!) DEPLOY ALL SLAIN DEADWALKER ZOMBIES FROM HOSTILE GROUPS AS REINFORCEMENTS?!

FML... they'd killed six of them in the first turn... and then ALL of them came right back!? 

Brutogg moved in and started beating on Gorslav... beat on him so hard, one of his Phylacteries burst on its own! 

"Oh, my... there are a LOT of you!:

So many creatures were swarming Octren! 

Cleona managed to dig herself out and attacked Gorslav! I suggested NOT finishing him off before Glaurio got to the last Phylactery otherwise He'll have done all that work getting there for nothing and Brutogg and Cleona will have to try and deal NINE MORE damage to him.. .

"Oh! Oh my!"

Octren got a little overwhelmed by all the creatures! 

and was taken out of action!? 

Glaurio made it to the final Phylactery... but reinforcement zombies swarmed towards him! 

Wait for it... 

Glaurio killed the one zombie in the room and stepped away from the other at the door, which gave him enough room to search the mysterious object and smash the final Phylactery! 

Then Brutogg and Cleona finshed of Gorslav the Gravekeeper... FOR GOOD!!! 

Unfortunately, THEY were now being swarmed by... EVERYTHING!!

They had a bit of luck and rolled a 10 on the event table which allowed them to bring back a Hero that had previously been taken out of action... but they return with all their damage, so are very fragile for the moment and need to heal, FAST! They were so concerned about Brutogg and Cleona being overwhelmed that they breifly considered bringing him back next to them... but I pointed out he'd be of no use to them as he'd have to burn destiny dice just to heal himself and not instantly die.. 

So he was returned to action next to Glaurio and complained that the rats had eaten his kidneys - all three of them - and now he would have to find new ones! 

Such a weird little man. 

(I love how Finnegan plays him!) 

So Brutogg and Cleona just had to try and smash their way out! 

Amanda was a little worried that they might not make it and was quite distraught at the idea of FAILING the mission after they'd taken out Gorslav!? 

Brutogg punched a hold in the wall of creatures and Cleona slipped through... spending a LOT of actions just to recover and move... Luckily she had a potion that healed most of her wounds one round (when she had all her action spaces covered! One more damage would have taken her out!!) Glaurio moved towards them to kill a few rats on the periphery and draw some hostiles attention away from them... he wasn't in great health either... but with Octren back, they felt one of them should try SOMETHING!?

Octren made his way to the Extraction Zone to prepare to get out... if all the others died, and he got out, at least it wouldn't be a failed mission... 

Cleona got away and ran for the extraction zone... Corpse Rats in hot pursuit. 

Just as she was in sight of it, two reinforcement zombies showed up right at the lynchgate she was passing... they assaulted her... 

and took her out of action!? 

Glaurio had also made a run for it and just as he passed by a lynchgate, two more zombies came shambling out! he was able to duck their blows and sprint past into the Extraction Zone... 

Brutogg was utterly swarmed... a few times he used his Shoulder Through action to push through them all and run away. At this point Finnegan thought about just standing and fighting - because he was pretty sure he could take them!? 

But instead shouldered through one more time and sprinted off to the Extraction Zone!! 

An extraction event brought the Influence Level down... and Gorslav's token was forever removed from the board... 

(I like this method better... the rules say put the tokens up there (like trophies?) as they are taken out... but I like the ghostly look left after each is removed!) 

Amanda rolled for Cleona's survival and she did not die! WHEW!! The two zombies must have tackled her and bowled her over and in the ensuing struggle on the ground she stabbed them both through the eye, destroying them... others nearby, mistaking the three as corpses shuffled on by... so Cleona crawled into a nearby lane and slithered away from the lair. she was spotted in the street as the others were flying off after extraction and a rope was lowered to haul her up to the Adamant! 

ONE DOWN!! 

Next week they are thinking of going on a Scavenge Journey to TOOL UP before taking on Halgrim - and maybe get Dagnai and Qulathis up to Second Level as well! One Watch Captain Halgrim is taken out they can start earning experience gain - towards Level Three!!