April Games

 Here is what we got up to in April... 

(Usually with any miniature games I provide a link to the game report... but I'm about a month behind on most battle reports... so.. maybe in May I'll get the April game reports done...?)

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Back to Warhammer Quest! We took a week off while Finnegan finished up some school work for the end of term, but now he is done and we are free to continue our weekly game unabated! 

This week was a simple hunt, but saw the first appearance of Torgilius the Chamberlain... who isn't TOO much of a treat, if dealt with quickly! 

Wednesday, 9 April 2025

Another game of Warhammer Quest. This one was a Deliverance Journey. Same characters as the previous week. The Journey was a success and now half of them are at Level Three. 

Thursday, 10 April 2025

Thursday Orion stopped by and we played some more Bolt Action! 

Tuesday, 15 April 2025

Since the Soulbound game kind of fizzled, I started a NEW sort-of-role-playing campaign on Tuesday evenings! I'm using Advance Song of Blades and Heroes for the action and maybe a mix of campaign elements from Advance Song of Blades and Heroes (ASOBH), Song of Deeds and Glory, and Five Leagues from the Borderland... 

Amanda is playing an assassin named Megan, Finnegan is playing an apprentice wizard named Ralores, and Orion is playing a knight named Lady Ismira! With them were a few other attendants and warriors in their retinue! 

We made up the warband and played a quick encounter to learn the combat rules this evening. You can read a brief game report here:

Journey to the Vale of Ravensflight

You can find the Campaign Page here (to see the most up-to-date status of the adventuring party and find links to all their adventures...):

Campaign for Ravensflight

Wednesday, 16 April 2025

This week's Warhammer Quest game saw Radukar the Wolf show up for the first time... 

It... did not go well... 

Eventually I will write up a game report and you can read all about it.. 

Tuesday, 22 April 2025

We played the second adventure in our new fantasy sort-of-role-playing campaign this week. It was mostly role-playing, actually!? Which kind of set things up for a battle the following week! 

Tuesday, 29 April 2025

We played a third session of the Song of Blades and Heroes campaign. The Heroes defended the small hamlet of Gromlet against a horde of Ratlings bend on revenge after the heroes had slain a number of their kin along the road to Gromlet in the first session! 

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Back to Warhammer Quest... 

And that was it... 

WW2 USMC War Dogs and Handlers

I finished up the two USMC War Dog and Handler teams last night...

USMC War Dogs and Handlers

Will I ever even use these? I have no idea... 

In the Marine Raiders audiobook I listened to earlier this year, they did mention the dog teams being VERY handy at rooting out Japanese Snipers. That's what these do as well - spot a hidden enemy unit at 24" rather than at 12"... but the hidden units rules are such weaksauce... I don't know if I'll bother... 

I guess If I set up a scenario with better hidden units rules! 

This is the current Marine Raider force.

I can't really think of anything else I need to add to this...

More pictures of the USMC Raider Force and their Bolt Action force list can be found on the Gallery Page:

WW2 - USMC Raiders (PTO)

STILL MOAR STUFF!?

Over the last few weeks I have acquired... a few more things... despite really wanting to AVOID acquiring MOAR STUFF!?

It started with piggy-backing on a few orders Orion was placing to build up an army of Hungarians! That stuff is already painted! 

Then, two weekends ago, I pedaled out to the Warhammer Store to pick up this month's Free Miniature of the Month - a Death Korps of Kreig Engineer miniature... since I do actually HAVE a few... (though I've yet to FINISH painting ANY of them!?).

That same week I ended up placing a few of my own orders... 

The MAIN reason was, again, to pick up a few game mats for different environments. Because they're made in the USA, I was concerned that Canadian retailers that stock them might be raising their prices on them considerably in the not-too-distant future (because of the constant threats of a trade war and reciprocal tarrifs being announced) and wanted to just pick up two more before that happened... and... partly to get free shipping from the two places I ended up ordering from... and because both of the places had considerably discounted Bolt Action miniatures... I picked up a few other things along with them... 

The first to arrive was.... another order from 401 Games... 

Included in this order was Bolt Action: Armies of Germany 3E, French Army Weapons Teams and Casualties, Fallschirmjager Squad (Tropical Uniform), Gebirgsjäger Squad, US Marine Corps War Dog Teams, and a F.A.T. Mats 6'x4' Grassy Plains game mat (for some battles on the steppes of Russia!)! 

Next was an order from Kingdom of Titans... 

F.A.T. MATS 60"x44" Alpine game mat (for... REASONS!?), a second Chi-Ha Japanese tank, and an Afrika Korps Pak 36 light anti-tank gun and crew!  

Oh, and I got some Bersaglieri Forward Observers... from.. elsewhere... 

Okay... SERIOUSLY... I'm DONE NOW... well, for now... maybe... 

I'm definitely done with the Mats... There are a few things that I could get to finish off a few of the smaller WW2 forces... and there are a few things I'd LIKE to get for some of the others... once I've finished what I have! 

The Plan of Action to get all this (and the other WW2 stuff I have!) done is:

1. Chi-Ha Japanese tank
2. US Marine Corps War Dog Teams
3. French Army Weapons Teams and Casualties
4. Sd.Kfz 222 Armoured Car
5. Italian M14/41 Tank
6. Italian M14/41 Tank
7. Bersagieri Forward Observers
8. Panzer III
9. Panzer III
10. Panzer III
11. Matilda II
12. Matilda II
13. Matilda II
14. Matilda II
15. Cruiser MkI (A9)
16. Cruiser MkI (A9)
17. Cruiser MkI (A9)
18. Cruiser MkI (A9)
19. Cruiser MkI (A9)
20. Italian Colonial Troops 
21. British 8th Army 6-pdr Anti-tank Gun and crew
22. German Afrika Korps LeFH 18 10.5cm medium howitzer and crew
23. Italian Bersaglieri Breda 2cm AA gun and crew
24. Afrika Korps Pak 36 light anti-tank gun
25. Fallschirmjäger Squad (Tropical Uniform)
26. Fallschirmjäger Squad
27. Fallschirmjäger Squad
28. Fallschirmjäger Squad
29. Fallschirmjäger Command Squad
30. Fallschirmjäger assorted extras
31. Gebirgsjäger Squad
32. Panther
33. Panther
34. Panzer IV
35. Panzer IV
36. (assorted Heer Infantry) 
37. (assorted British Commandoes) 
38. S.A.S. Jeep
39. S.A.S. Jeep
40. S.A.S. Jeep
41. LRDG Truck
42. LRDG Truck

I THINK that's all the unpainted stuff I have for WW2 forces...?

 If I did ONE of these a week, it would take me to the end of the year!? Luckily at the moment, I seem to be working a bit quicker than that... 

I'm not 100% sure about the order of things... I put the French and Japanese and USMC stuff at the top, because ALL of those things are otherwise DONE, so it would be nice to knock those out and keep those forces DONE! 

After that I tried to keep focused on finishing up stuff for the North African campaign... Though the exact order of all the things for North Africa might switch around a bit... 

Our games will probably shift as Orion gets her Hungarians done, but I have NOTHING I need to paint for that as ALL of my Soviet Horde is complete and I have no interest in buying anything else for them!!

Of course there will be other things I'll be painting - There are SO MANY things I could paint up for the new Fantasy campaign we've started... and probably will... So they'll be snuck into the Queue, as required... but I'm going to try and stick to using things I already have painted, for the most part, so as not to get overwhelmed by it all and start to lose focus and interest when it becomes more burden than fun!!

I may even sneak a few 40K or AoS items into the queue from time to time, just to keep my toes into that... Most likely Eldar/Harlequins or Emperor's Children... but possibly some zombies or Skeletons for the Soulblight Gravelords...? 

The packaging for those two orders were fascinating... Both had a free shipping threshold. For 401 games in Toronto it was $165CAD. For Kingdom of Titans it was $199CAD

401 Games send the shipment in the GIGANTIC box! it was about 4'x1'x1'!? 

and it was just FULL of packing material!? 

kind of had to dig to find things and briefly wondered if they're remembered to put any of the order in the box!? 

Like, SO MUCH packing material!? 

I did, eventually find all the things... but in comparison to the size of the box, the order seemed rather diminutive!? The other long, skinny cardboard box within the cardboard box was the Game Mat I ordered from them all rolled up... 

Kingdom of Titans, by comparison, sent the order in a box less than a quarter of the size! barely larger than the tank box in length and width... 

And they were apparently totally okay with bending the rolled up mat to shove it into the box... 

To be clear, I am not COMPLAINING about either method. Both got my stuff to me lightning quick and without much trouble... Would totally order stuff from either in the future... 401 Games has a LOT of Bolt Action stuff and sells it for considerably less than what it would cost to order direct from Warlord Games!! 

WW2 - Assorted Far East Support

Over the last few weeks I have acquired... a few more things... despite really wanting to AVOID acquiring MOAR STUFF!? 

Orion was ordering her Hungarian army from two different places, so I piggy-backed on those orders and picked up a few things... 

(And... there are a few of my OWN orders arriving this week!?) 

First, some USMC Forward Observers... I have a pair of miniatures I'm currently using as Observers... but... these were inexpensive and there were other things i could use those minis for... so... These came from 401 Games in Toronto. 

Next were two Anti-Tank Rifle Teams - one for the Chindits (in case they ever face a Japanese Tank!) and the other for the Japanese (in case they ever face an American tank!). These came directly from Warlord Games! 

I finished painting these all up over the long weekend!? 

USMC Forward Observer Team...  

Or... If I'm using them as Forward Air Controllers (because USA forces get those sweet, sweet, extra air attacks!) I guess, technically, they're probably US Air Force personnel (or US Navy...? If the planes are flying off of a carrier) that have been attached to the raiders...? (or did the USMC have their OWN air wing...?!) 

Now I need to pick up some American aircraft for them to call in... 

I also finished up the Chindit and Imperial Japanese Army Anti-Tank Rifle Teams! 

I'm not entirely sure how useful these will ever be...?

I guess I do have a Japanese Chi-Ha tank... so... 

Mind you... The Boyes Anti-Tank Rifle only has a penetration value of +2... and a Chi-Ha has a Damage Value of 8+... so on the front armour, assuming the anto-tank rifle hit the tank, they would need to roll a 6 (on a d6) just to do superficial damage... And any any opponent is definitely going to try and blow these up as a priority target (as the force has very little other anti-tank capability...) 

Similarly, I expect the Japanese anti-tank rifle similarly be of little use... 

Perhaps even LESS useful... as their main opponent is Orion's Americans... and she's got a Sherman! The anti-tank rifle cannot do a thing against frontal armour... 

This, along with the assortment of fantasy figures painted last week, I'm just ahead of the number of miniatures I've purchased... so... there's that... I'd like to get a bit DEEPER into the black, though!! 

Assorted Dwarves and Other Fantasy Characters

I got excited about this new fantasy role-playing-ish/skirmishy campaign and took a break from painting World War Two miniatures this past week to knock out some assorted Dwarves and other Fantasy Characters. 

This is the bunch of them all together! 

Half of them consist of this batch of Dwarf Warriors from Reaper Bones. They were part of one of the Kickstarters we backed... probably the last one... The minis are Finnegan's. The one on the left is Yodrick - one of Finnegan's characters from the campaign... who has already died!? While I was painting these up I was coming up with a narrative for the group and imagined them all to be brothers who have all gone their separate ways... but upon hearing of the death of one of their brothers all make their way to the Vale of Ravensflight to AVENGE THEIR FALLEN BROTHER!!!

I have no idea if Finnegan would go for that... we'll see... 

These are... more of Finnegan's Reaper Bones miniatures... I... have no idea what they are...? Maybe a D&D race...? The wizard on the left of the picture is another one of Finnegan's Characters. 

Last two of Finnegan's Reaper Bones miniatures... Again, one of them (Crossbow-armed soldier on the right) is one of Finnegan's Characters. 

These are all three of Finnegan's characters... or... WERE all three of them for the first session!? 

This is the ONE miniature of my OWN that I painted this week... well... finished up. She's been mostly painted for years and just never finished her off... she was SO CLOSE, it wasn't until AFTER the game that I noticed Amanda had picked out a not-completely-painted miniature to use! 

The Character is the older sister of Finnegan's Crossbow armed human! 

This is both of Amanda's characters 

Neither of these were painted this week, but I did rebase Yorrick - the your orphaned NPC that's joined the retinue as the animal handler. Hamlet, the GIANT St. Bernard follows young Yorrick everywhere (and carries all the party's extra stuff!) 

This is the whole Retinue that was used in the game - now all finally painted! (Although the Knight is being replaced by Orion's own miniature this week - same model, different paint job! She happened to have an Imelda Brasskov model from her own copy of Warhammer Quest: Cursed City!) 

You can find full descriptions of these characters and background for the campaign on the Campaign Page, here:

Campaign for Ravensflight

Hopefully some of them will be seeing some action again THIS week! 

I'm still a bit behind on game report writing! I have TWO games of Warhammer Quest yet to write up and a game of Bolt action! 

Journey to the Vale of Ravensflight

I've been kind of wanting to run a different sort of role-playing game since the Soulbound campaign kind of fizzled... and was thinking of using Five Leagues from the Borderlands for generating the events of the campaign, but maybe using A Song of Blades and Heroes for combat resolution (and maybe elements of Tales of Blades and Heroes for non-combat task resolution...?) 

It has been almost a decade since I last played A Song of Blades and Heroes - the last catalogued play on Board Game Geek was in November of 2015. The following year I picked up ADVANCED Song of Blades and Heroes (ASOBH) when it was released... but then never really got around to playing it until NOW!? 

Tuesday evening Amanda, Finnegan, Orion and I got together to make up a warband/adventuring party and played out a quick encounter to learn the rules for ASOBH!

The basic background I had set out for the campaign was there has been a protracted period of instability caused by a war (and/or civil war) followed by a plague. Their retinue was journeying to a remote region of The Realm that has fallen into chaos. The knight or baron that used to oversee the region had marched off to war a few decades earlier and never returned. Whether appointed to do so by a higher authority (the king or queen him/herself, or maybe a Duke...?) to bring the region back under control and help protect the common people or even permanently take control of the region themselves... or they were just going there on their own thinking there could be money to be made and opportunity to begin carving out a kingdom by their own sword... 

It was up to them how their party was formed... They could be a knight and their retinue... They could be a wizard with apprentices and guards... They could be a anarcho-syndicalist commune that each take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting...?

They chose the former option. Orion decided to play a Knight of the Realm - Largely as an excuse to finally paint her Emelda Braskov miniature from Warhammer Quest: cursed City! She is Lady Ismira - the daughter of the Knights that had left on campaign over two decades earlier, before their daughter was even born, and had never returned. Lady Ismira is leading a retinue to reclaim her ancestral lands! 

I said each could play about 100 points worth of stuff - which would make the warband/retinue about 300 points - the suggested size for an average game. Orion's Knight was just over 100 points. 

Amanda took an Assassin and a Veteran Archer. The Assassin, Megan, was trying to escape her life before it was ended prematurely by rivals or friends of victims bent of vengeance. Along the road she met up with Lady Ismira's retinue and offered up her services as a "scout". Amelia - the Veteran Archer - is the older sister of one of Finnegan's characters, who went off to serve in the army after her younger sister was conscripted - to protect her! 

Finnegan ended up with THREE characters! First was Ralores, an apprentice spellcaster, who'd spent almost all of his life living in the Capital serving the Grand Wizard of the Realm. At some point the Grand Wizard of the Realm decided Ralores was a little too "sheltered" and needed some "practical" experience of magic - and the world around them. So when a request for a wizard to accompany a Knight of the Realm on a quest to retake their ancestral homeland came up, Ralores was volunteered for the job! 

The others were Luciana, the younger of Amelia the Archer, a peasant who was conscripted to serve in the Realm's Army near the end of the long wars. She was trained with the Crossbow and fought in many battles alongside her sister under the command of Lady Ismira! And finally there was Yodrick, who had joined the Lady Isimira's Retinue after parting ways with a mercenary company he'd served with for many years during The Wars. 

They also decided they needed a pack animal and found on of my Dungeons and Doggies miniatures that fit the bill... and then a wee child they figured could be the "dog handler". 

I had determined that the Kingdom would be predominantly human. The society/technology level is very much early mediaeval-feudal. Dwarves and Halflings are common enough. Though halflings generally keep to their own in their own rural communities. Dwarves are often free tradesmen or miners. 

Elves are a bit less common. They very definitely prefer to keep to themselves in their own kingdoms deep in the forest or islands off in the sea. 

the adventure began with the group marching along a route they hoped would take them to Lady Ismira's ancestral homelands - a place she had never before visited! 

One afternoon they found their way blocked by a small group of shabby little ratlings, intent on robbing them! 

Lady Ismira's retinue held their ground! 

(I know... using unpainted miniatures... Finnegan insisted on wanting to use his own miniatures... which he has zero interest in painting... ever... and I didn't want to wait a week to play... so I allowed it just this ONCE)

(and now I have to paint his miniatures for him!?) 

Wow! Gregarious Ratlings with a leader can really move! in a turn or two they were upon them, swarming Lady Ismira and Megan the Assassin... er... SCOUT! 

Yodrick stepped in to aid Megan and knocked away one of the Ratlings, then moved to attack one that was swarming Lady Ismira, only to be stabbed in the side with one of their cruelly sharp rusty blades and topped over, blood pouring out of him... 

A ratling armed with a sling loosed a stone and hit Megan square in the forehead and she pitched down, quite unconscious! 

things were not looking great... the player were wondering if I was going to TPK the lot of them on THE FIRST GAME!? 

Eventually they got control of the situation, thanks in large part to Ralores, the Apprentice Spellcaster, who EVERYONE had expected very little from... but ended up being EXTREMELY helpful, being able to put hostile ratlings to sleep with his magiks! It didn't kill them or take them entirely out of the action... but it effectively removed them, if only temporarily, from the action and made them very easy to despatch! 

After the ratlings had been killed or driven off, they checked on Yodrick only to discover he'd bled out and died. Megan was in a very bad way as well - she'd been concussed very badly and in a coma-like-state. They draped her body over Hamlet the dog and hurried on their way hoping to come across a village that might have a healer! 

(she will miss the next encounter and the one after that will be at reduce Quality!) 

And thats where our story ended for the first session. Hopefully we'll be playing again next week and this will go a little better than the Soulbound campaign! 

I still have game reports from last week to do... but this was too much fun and I just would not have been able to concentrate on those until I got this out of my head!!

WW2 German Spotter... for a Sniper Team

 Yeah, it's a post for ONE PAINTED MINIATURE... Wasn't sure when I was going to fit him into another post and worried I might forget.. 

I painted up this ONE kneeling German I had from Black Tree Design to go join a kneeling sniper I have, that's also from Black Tree Design, as his "spotter".

Kneeling German from Black Tree Design

...and here he is with the sniper. 

That's it... Sniper Team complete now. 

I do have more Germans - many from Black Tree Design - on the workbench - both Heer and SS. But there is a LOT of stuff on the workbench... like, and OVERWHELMING amount of stuff on the workbench... It might be time for a HARD-REBOOT-CLEAR-OFF! 

Maybe I should take before and after pics?

40K - Aeldari Faction Update... sort of...

Ages ago, in January, I took a bunch of new pictures of ALL THE AELDARI - right before the new codex came out, I think...? I was planning to do a Taking Stock/Faction Update post... and I'd started organizing them into a new gallery page. 

I never did the Taking Stock/Faction Update post... and it seems like a pain in the ass to basically copy and past ALL of those pictures from the Gallery into a post just to post the same stuff in a post... when the Gallery is right there... So I finished up what I could for the Gallery and published it. It still needs some new pics of the Epic stuff and the Drukhari/Ynnead stuff... but all the Assuryani and Harlequins have been catalogued! 

You can find all the pictures of the CURRENT Aeldari force (along with some commentary and point values) on the new Gallery Page:

40K - Aeldari Gallery

It has all the current (as of March) point values. 

Spoiler: If I put ALL my painted Assuruyani (Craft World Aeldari) and Harlequins together in a force, I'd have 1995 points!

(I have NO IDEA if it would even be a USEFUL, PLAYABLE force... but I have a 2000 point force ready for action and don't NEED to paint a thing! Yay!) 

Warhammer Quest - Enter Torgilius...

I'm getting super behind on these game reports! We played this game almost two weeks ago now. It was the first Journey played with ALL the Level Two cards in the Encounter Deck (I'd left out the card with Torgilius the Chamberlain for a few games as I had not finished painting him... but I finally finished him that week, so...) 

(Actually that's not entirely true, about ALL the Level Two cards... as I've removed the cards with Gorslave the Gravekeeper and Watch Captain Halgrim - as they have been forever destroyed!) 

This week they decided to go on a Hunt Journey - to deal a blow to Radukar's forces and disrupt their command and control network. 

Amanda was playing Glaurio ven Alten III and Qulathis the Exile.

Finnegan was playing Octren Glimscry and Brutogg Corpse-Eater.

Torgilius ended up being one of the Hostiles that STARTED on the table!!

Both Torgilius and his swarms of undead vermin AND the Ulfenwatch went BEFORE ANY of the Heroes! 

Brutogg smasher apart MOST of the skeletal warriors of the Ulfenwatch. 

Qulathis stepped up and finished off the rest... 

Octren slipped out past Brutog and Qulathis and gave his compatriots a warning; "I feel we are about to finally meet Torgilius the Chamberlain... my oldest rival... one of the most deadly and merciless wizards in all the Mortal Realms..." 

[this was finnegan doing a little role-playing, as he often does...]

Glaurio Ven Alten III strode past Octren and waltzed up behind Togilius and said; "This old guy...!?"

BLAM! BLAM! [stabbing noises]! 

and down went Torgilius the Chamberlain in a heap... when Glaurio stepped over the kick the corpse and make sure he wasn't getting up a swarm of rats scurried out from under the cloak and stattered in all directions and when the were gone, there was naught but Glaurio and a heap of empty clothes in the middle of the room... 

They suspected this would not be the last they saw of Torgilius the Chamberlain!  

Starting off the next round, Glaurio dealt with the last of the rat swarms that had be accompanying Torgilius. 

A Kosargi Nightguard lumbered into view and Qulathis filled it full of arrows... 

But Brutogg was needed to finish it off... 

Octren Glimscry finished off the last of the Corpse Rat swarms. 

From the very beginning of the game, Amanda had been saying again and again that they should all stick together, find a bottleneck and hole up in a room beyond it, let the monsters come to them and kill them in turn then flee to the extraction point...  

Then IMMEDIATELY had Glaurio run off in one direction... 

and then had Qulathis run off in completely the opposite direction... while STILL suggesting that everyone should stick together!?

Another Squad of Ulfenwatch arrived and Brutogg moved to intercept them... 

and then MORE Ulfenwatch arrived on the scene! 

Glaurio made his way back to where Qulathis was and the two dealt with the second troop of Ulfenwatch. 

Brutogg was delighted to find some zombies shuffling about as he was getting a bit peckish.... 

... and then some of Glaurio's cousins arrived! 

But where was Glaurio!? 

"Guys....?"

"Guys....?"

"I thought we were going to stick together this time...?"

Glaurio found the rest of the Heroes just as they were finishing off the last of his cousins... 

"FEE! FIE! FOE! FUM! I SMELL THE BLOOD OF A LIVING ONE..." 

ANOTHER Kosargi Nightguard arrived! 

Again it was Qulathis that rushed off on her own to fill it full of arrows like giant pin cushion!? 

Octren followed along to help out... 

and then Brutogg stepped in to put the beast down! 

and then ANOTHER Vyrkos Blood-Born Vampire showed up... 

Octren started making his way to the extraction point to summon the airship... thinking they were DONE... 

They heard the howl of a distant Vargskyr and weren't terribly concerned it was a long way off (on the far corner of the board...) 

(clearly forgetting that one of it's activations is to leap off the board and land anywhere on it, adjacent to as many heroes as possible....) 

And so it landed IN the extraction zone with Brutogg and Octren! 

Brutogg, Octren, and Glaurio all had to work together to finish off the Vargskyr and clear the landing zone for the Adamant to pick them up! 

The did so and all got away safely... 

mostly... 

in the extraction event all were wounded by zombies that swarmed the vessel and any Heroes in the next Journey would have to start with one wound! 

The success, however, brought the Influence Level down to TWO! The Fear Level crept up to five, but that could be dealt with in the next Journey! 

Okay... so... hopefully tomorrow I'll get LAST WEEK's game report finished up, just in time to play THIS WEEK's game! 

(I also have a Bolt Action game report to finish up... hopefully BEFORE playing another game this week!!) 

I haven't had a lot of newly painted stuff to show off because I've been doing more rebasing... but I should have a few things later this week!