Adventures With Draik Continue

Saturday afternoon Amanda and I played some more Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress and finished off out second expedition on the Quest for the Hidden Vaults. The first part of this expedition can be found here:

Enter Janus Draik

We'd played through half of the expedition over two days and when we'd left off Janus Draik had FOUR Grievous Wounds! he kept going though - refusing to give up while that filthy xenos that was accompanying them was willing to press on!

I finished off a few of the Servants of the Abyss - a box set of additional models that come in the Blackstone Fortress core set...



I finished off a few Ur-Ghuls... Unfortunately, it's been over a year since I painted the FIRST BATCH and I kind of forgot which paints I used... these turned out...



...mcuh darker than the others... I'm also using a considerably different basing scheme than I'd originally planned to... I might have to update the others bases. I'm not sure about bothering to lighten up the newly painted ones (or darkening the others!), though...



also finished up a pair of Spindle Drones.



The others were painted much more recently, so I had no trouble matching therewith the others... mostly... Now that I look at these pictures, I think I might have gone in and dry brushed the others with a bit of silver highlight after using the purple wash... Hmmmm...

On with the game: Our first card draw was a combat.



We've seen this layout before. And it was populated with Ur-Ghuls and Spindle Drones! but not enough to necessitate busting out the newly painted ones...



The proximity of the Ur-Ghuls to the arrival chamber was a bit alarming! Luckily Vorne was quick to react to their presence.



She rushed out of the chamber and roasted them all!



It took a few blasts to finish them all off.



Then she threw some fire down the passage ahead to hopefully burn any other hostile that might come that way...



Unofortunately they came the other way... Not to worry, Shadowguide blasted the one with line-of-sight before it got a shot off (and collected up some Archaeotech in the process.



On the second round Vorne rushed down the corridor and burned the Spindle Drones from behind!



Treasures were quickly collected and everyone made it to the Maglev Chamber before any reinforcements showed up!



The next card was a challenge - shooting fleeing hostiles in the back... Seems like Draik's sort of thing...




But actually he ISN'T very good at killing things at range - only scored one wound - not enough to draw a discovery card! Locarno did collect one - as did Vorne and Shadowguide, who both dealt out a terrifying amount of wounds!



On to the next encounter!



This was interesting - it was all ONE BIG CHAMBER - and with TWO larger groups of Traitor Guard - who really love shooting aimed, long range lasgun fire... things looked a little bad...



Then we remembered the Support Ability of the Vanguard - and made good use of that!!!



Vorne, once again, led the charge... roasting more Ur-ghuls (for the record... yeah... they taste like chicken...).



Then, using up all the destiny dice, rushed past their smouldering corpses and burned one group of Traitor Guard...



... and then another... and then swept back across the first...



By the time she was done, she'd almost wiped out the squad!



Locarno actually helped out in this one - destroying a couple of Traitor Guard with Warp Energy released from his Third Eye!



Shadowguide shot up the rest of the other squad - and then sprinted across the chamber to summon another maglev chamber.



Before she could, however, one appeared elsewhere - on her way there, she realized they'd missed one of the Traitor guard and took care of him!



Vorne, standing a little too close to one of the entry points was ambushed by a group of Ur-Ghul reinforcements! Somehow she managed to survive their onslaught.



Then she stepped back and isolated the lot of them!



Locarno rushed to help, but Vorne really didn't need any.

Another Guard they'd thought dead popped up and was cut back down by the Aeldari Ranger with her brutal Power Blade.



and even tried to slow us down... but all made it to the chamber and escaped back to the transport... and we all headed back to Precipice!

It was a wonder that Draik made it back at all!

(Hmmmmm... between this and the Previous Report, there seem to be only three challenges... I must have forgotten to take note of one... probably played on the second day..?)



This is what we got back to Precipice with! LOADS of stuff. Vorne traded the Emperiyan Chronometer to Draik for the single piece of archaeotech he'd collected - thought it was worth three times as much! The Chronometer is Draik's Secret Agenda and with it could START expeditions in Inspired Mode and kick ass... seemed like a thing she'd do... The Aeldari Ranger? She'd have probably sold it off!



During the Legacy Step, we drew a second Countdown card! Whew!



All the goods on offer at Precipice.



Not having much archaeotech to spend, both Locarno and Draik ended up heading to the Traveller to check on the Ratling Twins - to see if Locarno's team had had any luck in reviving them... nope...

Shadowguide headed over to the Vanguard and snatched up the Draikskin Cloak and the Refractor Field - both things that give re-rolls for defence rolls. She passed on along the Draikskin Cloak to Vorne and kept the refractor field for herself! Meanwhile, Pious Vorne headed home to the Clarion and picked up EVERYTHING on offer - a couple of incantations... and a BIONIC EYE - it exhausts to let her re-roll a failed weapon attack (meaning she can use it once every turn in combat)!

We didn't have much else to do afterwards so we decided to start another expedition after supper - since we'd gathered so many Clues, we thought we'd try out a Stronghold Assault! Stay tuned for THAT!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

Part One of the Stronghold Assault!

Enter Janus Draik

Earlier this week Amanda and I started our second expedition into he Blackstone Fortress - on the Quest for the Hidden Vaults... We ended up playing the game over a series of days and mostly left it out on the dining room table over the week...

We kept with the SURVIVING characters from our Previous Expedition, as the party worked well enough together, but then needed to look for a replacement for the Ratling Twins...

They heard there was a well-connected and powerful Rogue Trader with a lot of resources also looking for the Hidden Vaults and looking for some explorers to go on an expedition with. They met with him and planned an expedition. Leaving precipice, the group was starting to wonder if they'd made a mistake as he turned out to be an insufferable blowhard. The pretentious twat figured himself to be the leader of the expeditions and the rest of the group were simply his underlings.

I think, at this point, Vorne has developed a grudging respect for the Xenos Ranger - her ability to massacre the cultists at range was a valuable asset... and the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right...?



Setting up for our second expedition with some snacks...

Revealing Exploration Card #1...



A Challenge!

Wait... PASS TWO AGILITY ROLLS OR TAKE A GRIEVOUS WOUND!? GAH!!!



Yeah, so those human dudes each ended up with a Grievous Wound....

One of Amanda's got one two, but actually passes a vitality test and got rid of it right away, which, neither of these wankers did...



While they were lagging behind, moping about their wounds, Vorne and Shadowguide were separated from them and ambushed in a small chamber...



Well... not really Ambushed... they were ready and immediately launched an attack at their would-be ambushers!



Shadowguide started off - BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!



Down went the Spindle Drones and Negavolt Cultists!



Vorne then rushed out and hoped to roast all of the three Traitor Guards - taking out three with a single action is Vorne's Secret Agenda and Amanda REALLY wanted Vorne get Inspired early in the Expedition... Unfortunately she only took out two and wounded the third.. he was finished off with a second blast from her Vindicator Flamer...

Rejoining Locarno and Draik - neither were still not able to recover any wounds in the recovery step...



They made their way to a Mag-Lev Chamber which brought them too another cavernous area with snaking labyrinthine passages and MORE Traitor Guard and Negavolt Cultists!



Negavolt Cultists charged in first! Yikes!



All three!



Draik showed that he wasn't ALL bluster and took down all three!



Vorne then charged straight out into the hordes of Traitor Guard = hoping to bring the light of the Emperor to them all (and hopefully burn three at a time and get that sought after Inspiration!)



She did burninate a bunch of them... but not three in one action...



She was quickly overrun, however, and taken out of action!



Draik and Locarno came rushing to the rescue, but were too late.



As reinforcements arrived behind them, they, too, found themselves surrounded and overwhelmed!



Whoopsie!

Draik dragged himself around with the help of some destiny dice.



But then Locarno was taken out of action!! Draik was seriously wounded and Shadowguide was cut off from their escape chamber!

Things were looking pretty bad at this point...

Then we rolled "Unfulfilled Destiny" for an event - No Destiny Dice! (which effectively meant Draik could not move or do anything at all that round!



Shadowguide, however, was able to use her special ranger abilities to just dance past all those cultists and stab a few along the way!

Draik was taken out of action that turn... but Shadowguide managed to get out.



I wondered why she was stopping to search that spot instead of just getting the fuck out of there... ah, that's why.... It's like the Aeldari ranger was drawn to the Remnants of the Fall! The card is Amallyn Shadowguide's Secret Agenda - she is now Inspired from here on out.

Well... IN the recovery step, no one died and Vorne rolled a critical success on her vitality roll and healed two of her wounds... But Draik had FOUR Grievous Wounds and Locarno had two. A sensible team probably would have called it a day and headed back to Precipice! But Amanda's two characters  where now both inspired and ready to ROCK! There was no way Draik was willing to admit he needed to give up BEFORE some Xenos scum, and insisted they carry on!!



So, at that point we packed everything up for the evening... or... shuffled it all off to one side of the table..



The next day, started with another combat! Draik starting off with FOUR Grievous Wounds - so he could ONLY use Destiny dice.



Lots of Traitor Guards and a few Negavolt Cultists.



This time we decided to play it safe, and let them come to us! It was mostly Vorne that burnt all the Cultists as they come running down the passage.



And they just kept coming...



And coming...



As they started to thin out, the group started to push out of the Mag-Lev Chamber and down the corridor.



Eventually they were thinned out enough that Vorne and Shadowguide ran off to quickly collect the archaeotech and clues before any reinforcements showed up. This last Traitor Guard was shot down by the Ranger as she sprinted past on the way to pick up some loot.

Draik and Locarno eventually made it to the Mag-Lev Chamber - which had showed up via an event - at the furthest possible location! one small group of reinforcements showed up but too late too far away to do anything. A cultist, thought to be dead, rose up to block Vorne's escape route (via Not Dead Yet! Event) and got an Aeldari long rifle shot through his noggin for his troubles...

So, everyone made it to the escape chamber conscious this time! Did we call it a day and head back to Precipice? HELL NO! Despite Draik's wounds, there is NO WAY he would admit defeat before that Xenos scum they have prancing about with them!

We didn't get a chance to play today - Amanda had a busy day at work (from home) and then wanted to participate in an free online burlesque workshop - being put on by a local Burlesque troupe. Afterwards we watched the season finale for Stumptown (which I really enjoyed - like the whole season - I really liked it all - though I think there were two episodes we missed) and then a couple more episodes of Supernatural with Keira.


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

MORE adventures in the Blackstone Fortress! Will Draik survive? Who will our heroes replace him with if he does not? Will Thaddeus the Purifier return to the fortress with his protege? Stay tuned to find out!

PLAGUE MARINES!

With Grandfather Nurgle spreading his contagion around the world, it seemed apropos to work on a few of these guys...



Plague Marines!

Seven of these are metal, two are plastic. Not the prettiest paint jobs, but, whatevs... They're done. Don't think Plague Marines are much concerned about fashion, anyway...



I now have twenty of these...

I have another ten or eleven to do - and a Malignant Plaguecaster, for a headquarters unit to make this a proper allied battalion detachment (at least in Apocalypse, which is probably the only time these would show up as an allied detachment... in regular 40K, I'd need a second HQ element).


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Another instalment in our rebooted Blackstone Fortress campaign! Amanda and I started a second expedition into the Fortress yesterday, but didn't have time to finish it up. Hopefully we'll get a chance this evening and I'll post the report afterwards... or... tomorrow...?

Painting has been going slow... I've been doing a lot of assembling and priming/prep work. Amanda found the furniture and door sets I'd ordered for Hellboy during the Kickstarter - so I spend some time painting on primer while watching some TV on the computer with Keira last night (signed up for a free trial month of Amazon Prime - so she could continue watching Supernatural - we HAD been borrowing the series on DVDs from the local library, but they've been closed for a couple weeks now and Keira's been beside herself not being able to keep up with that!)... They're not SUPER huge priority, but it was something easy to bring upstairs and do while watching TV shows on the computer.