Strange Aeons - Kickstarter Review

Back in October of last year, I put money into a Kickstarter for the Second Edition of Strange Aeons, a set of rules for Lovecraftian skirmish games. A year later, the Kickstarter has finally been completed, and I received my pledge.

Since I didn't have a lot of money to spend a year ago, I went in with a basic pledge - enough to get m the rulebook in both physicial and digital format, the starter set, and a token set. I also received some Kickstarter-only bonuses.

The rulebook is spiral bound, which is extremely useful when reading or playing, as the book will sit flat. It's filled with both fantastic art of Lovecraftian horrors and pictures of the miniatures that the Kickstarter helped to produce.

I can't say much to the quality of the rules themselves, although the previous edition always received high praise. Hopefully I'll get a game in soon enough.

The starter set comes with four Threshold agents (the protagonists of the game, who stand in the way of the cultists and monsters), and I received an additional miniature as a Kickstarter bonus - an Exorcist.  

The resin used for the miniatures is of high quality, with plenty of detail and little flash that only required a short cleaning time to clear away. There are some places where detail gets a little mushed, and I've found a couple holes, but for the most part these are great sculpts.  

Opposing the Threshold agents are the servants of all the insane deities of the cosmos, and the vast majority of them are cultists. The starter set comes with five - a leader, and two each of a knife and gun wielding variety. Additionally, I received a midget cultist and a Maniac.

These sculpts were even better than the Threshold agents, and I can't wait to get them painted up.

It should be noted that UMW have decided to cast the miniatures in two different colored resin - blue for the Threshold, and green for the Lurkers. It helps distinguish the two sides if you don't feel like painting the miniatures.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Lovecraftian game if there weren't any horrors included, so the starter set also includes a Formless Thing and a Fishman. 

When the rest of the miniatures are released, I'll probably be picking up some Innsmouth-themed minis to go along with the Fishman.

Finally, the starter set also comes with four objective markers (three crates and a chest). Kickstarter backers also received a couple extra bonuses - a tombstone with the name "Pickman" on it to be used as a grave marker for certain kinds of Lurkers, and some pumpkins. 

I'm glad that I've finally gotten my pledge after the wait, and now I'm watching UMW's store page for more of the kickstarter miniatures to be released. Hopefully I'll be able to get a game in with Carl, another Lovecraft fan. 

Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Frostgrave AAR

After some missed days trying to get together, the group gathered for some games of Frostgrave. It was a busy day at the store, with a Warmachine/Hordes Journeyman League beginning, and some D&D: Attack Wing getting played as well. 

As Carl had forgotten his lists, the first game was between Bob, Gary and me. We played the Well of Dreams and Sorrows scenario, where any Wizard who managed to get to the water in the middle of the table and drink from it received 100 exp (essentially a free level). Treasure tokens went down as normal. We deployed in corners on a 4'x3' table. 

Bob's Soothsayer make a quick Teleport to the pool, before eating an Elemental Bolt from Gary's Elementalist and was taken off the table. Bob's apprentice stepped up, however, throwing out Mind Controls left and right. 

I was essentially fighting a two-front battle, with Gary's warband to my left and Bob's to my right. Fair's fair - I had the highest level Wizard and a warband that had seen a few games. 

The game ended with Gary securing three treasures, and Bob and I grabbing two each. Bob decided to start his warband over (he wanted to try some different spells), so Gary and I went through the after-game mechanics detailed over at the Bad Karma blog. 

For the second game, Carl had brought out his own Elementalist, and supplied plenty of terrain from his time playing Mordheim. We supplemented this with a couple pieces of terrain from the store, and then spaced the buildings out a little more to fit the table.

This time we played a straight-up game, with each of us placing three treasure tokens on the table. As before, we deployed in corners.

As we've come to see with our multiplayer games, the game basically broke down into two fights, between Carl and Gary on one side, and Bob and I on the other, with some limited interactions. Carl's gang gave Gary's Warband a trouncing, while Bob managed to sidle up, grab some treasure, and then make it off the table (forcing my own Treasure Hunter to look elsewhere).

Carl made off with three treasure tokens, while Bob, Gary and I had two each.

Bob decided against continuing with the campaign (since he wanted to get in on the Journeyman League), although Gary and Carl expressed their interest in playing more games. However, Gary's also interested in participating in the League, so it may look like Carl and I will be  delving into some Lovecraftian horrors next weekend.

Battle in the Ruins - One Page 40k AAR

Once again, Curt and I felt like getting some 40k on the table. I suggested that, instead of trying to struggle through the 6th Edition book Curt has, we try playing the One Page 40k ruleset again. We'd played it before at 750 points and it had gone well. So this time we'd try again at 1500 points. 

The table was set up with a random scattering of ruins. We used the advanced rules to roll for a scenario, and got the Relay mission. Both of us would have a relay marker in our deployment zone that we would have to defend, while trying to destroy the other player's marker within 4 game turns. 

Curt was running his Orks, and he had deployed heavily on his right. His relay marker was tucked into a corner of the ruins there on the left side of the image, behind a squad of Boyz. His 1500 points consisted of:

-Ork Warboss

-Boyz Squad x5

-Loota Squad

-Warbike Squad

-Trukk

-Looted Wagon

My Chaos force was deployed to mirror Curt's choices - heavily on my left, and just enough on the right to keep his Warbikes from flanking. My relay was hidden behind the curved ruin on the right side of the image. My force contained:

-Chaos Lord (Khorne)

-Sorcerer

-Chaos Marine Squad x2 (Khorne)

-Chaos Marine Squad x2 (Tzeentch)

-Chaos Marine Squad

-Cultist Squad

-Land Raider

The action on my left was immediate, with Curt managing to immobilize my Land Raider after it had moved once. However, all of its weapons were still functioning, and it managed to almost wipe out an entire Boyz squad in a single round of shooting.  

On my left, Curt's Warbikers charged into my Cultists, managing to kill one and pin them. A subsequent round of firing from my Marine squad left the bikers pinned.

In the middle of the table, my psyker group (the Sorcerer and the two Tzeentech-marked Marine squads) were butchered by Curt's Lootas and a Boyz squad. The last remaining psyker squad managed to wipe the Lootas off the table before being destroyed by an Orc charge.

The fighting on the left had reduced both sides to nearly nothing, although my crippled Land Raider was still sitting pretty. Curt's Trukk with a Boyz squad inside was still waiting, not wanting to be the target of the Land Raider's Lascannons and Havoc Launcher.

As my last Khorne Marines rush over to Curt's relay to try and win the game. Meanwhile, the last survivors who knocked out my psykers try to take on my Lord. They succeed, and celebrate for a moment before being atomized by the Land Raider. 

Taking advantage of the situation, Curt's Trukk rushes behind cover. 

Having killed the Warbikes, the Cultists and Marines begin to trudge over to the left. 

Having reached the end of four turns, that should have been the end of the game - a tie. However, Curt and I decided to keep playing, to see if one of us could get to the other's relay in a couple more turns. 

The Land Raider managed to destroy the Trukk, but not before the Boyz get out and manage to inflict a few more hits on the stationary vehicle. 

The two Berserkers manage to reach the Ork relay, and inflict some damage on it, but not enough to end the game. The Ork Looted Wagon rolls into the ruins and blows one of the Khornites to bloody chunks. 

Curt's last remaining Boyz squad rushed for the Chaos Relay, but also failed to destroy it. A searing crossfire between the Land Raider and the Cultists leaves only the Nob remaining.

Even with an additional turn, neither side could destroy the Relay markers, so a tie result remained.

However, it was a fun game, and a good excuse to get the old 40k models back out on the table. I'd certainly recommend One Page 40k to anyone with 40k miniatures who isn't happy with the current state of the rules. OP40k is fast playing, light on rules, and most importantly, fun!

Ruinsgrave - Frostgrave AAR

After putting together I warband, I took a bunch of terrain that had been collecting dust in the basement and headed down to 7th Dimension Games to play some Frostgrave. It's been received with some interest with the others, and Cameron, one of the store employees, was my opponent for the couple games that we played. 

(By the way, we're using the alternate campaign rules from the Bad Karma blog, which can be found here.)

I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the first game, as I was more focused on checking the rules for potential mistakes. Cameron won the game, however, with a 4-2 victory. His Apprentice used Telekinesis on one of my Treasure tokens before my own warband could reach and, and one of his Thugs ran it off the table. 

Cameron's winning allowed his Witch to set up in a Laboratory, while my Sigilist took up residence in a Library. Luckily, neither of our Warbands suffered any permanent casualties. Since I had won little gold, but found three Scrolls, I just sold all three for a decent profit and bought a Kennel to free up a slot in my Warband. But I would have to wait until after the next game to buy a new soldier. 

For our second game, Cameron switched the terrain around a little, since I had set up the table for the first game. 

My warband consisted of:

Wizard (Sigilist)

Apprentice

Treasure Hunter

Infantryman

Crossbowman

Archer

Thief

x2 Thugs

Warhound

Cameron's warband included:

Wizard (Witch)

Apprentice

Barbarian

Templar

Treasure Hunter

Thief

x4 Thugs

Warhound

On the left side, my Apprentice dueled with Cameron's Witch. My thief grabbed one of the Treasure markers after a failed attempt by the Witch to Telekinesis it closer. For his efforts, my Archer and Crossbowman decided to turn the Witch into a pincushion. 24 inches of range can hurt when the table is only 3 feet wide!

Meanwhile, one of Cameron's Thugs made it off the table with a Treasure, and his Thief approached another. However, that token turned out to be one of the fake markers that my Fools Gold spell had created before the game. 

My Treasure Hunter managed to grab a marker as well, but Cameron's Warhound (who had been pushed away by my Apprentice) and one of his Thugs were getting pretty close.

However, one of the treasures I had won at the end of the previous game had been a Ring of Teleportation, which I had given to the Treasure Hunter. He put the magic item to good use, teleporting 8 inches away and then running off the table with the token. 

Frustrated by the disappearance of my Treasure Hunter and one of the Treasure Markers, the enemy Warhound and Thief tried attacking my Apprentice, who was defended by the two ranged combat specialists. Neither had anything better to do, as Cameron's Witch had thrown up a magical fog bank that blocked their line of sight.

The right side was a reversal of the left - my Wizard against Cameron's Apprentice. A well-aimed Poison Dart spell had crippled my Sigilist, however, severely limiting what he could do. Because of that, another of Cameron's Thugs managed to make it off the table with a Treasure Marker, despite only having a single point of Health left. Instead, the Sigilist used Push on Cameron's spade-wielding Treasure Hunter, who had been knocking off my models at a disturbingly regular rate during both games. 

In a separate combat, Cameron's Templar and Barbarian teamed up on my Warhound, who was soundly bashed off the table. The Barbarian had gotten his revenge from the last game, when the Warhound had defeated the raging warrior.

The game ended when Cameron got the last token off the table, making it a 3-3 tie. I used my new winnings to buy some magic items - a Ring of Power (1) and a Staff of Power (2) for my spellcasters) - and to beef up my Warband. I had lost a Thug and my Warhound in the after-game results, so they were replaced. My Archer and Crossbowman were replaced by a Ranger and Marksman respectively, and I added a Knight for another melee combat beatstick. 

I believe the games went well, especially after we worked out how combat works (it's remarkably simple once you have it down). I'm hoping to get more games in this weekend, preferably with more players and using one of the scenarios in the book instead of the basic one. 

Skirmish in the Square - Empire of the Dead AAR

First off, I'm very happy to say that this is my 100th blog post on By Brush and Sword. I started this blog over two years ago to document my progress through the wargaming hobby and beyond, and also to share some of the incredible games I've seen and played in. I'd like to thank everyone that takes the time to read this blog - your comments and continued interests go a long way in helping me to continue posting. 

Last Saturday was supposed to be another EotD campaign day with our new gangs, and I was happy to get to use my finished Tong miniatures. Unfortunately, Carl fell ill and Bob forgot his list (and retrieving it would take another hour both ways) so I played against Gary and his Darkfire club. 

Gary set up the table, using some great paper and cardboard terrain from an old D&D set to create a country village. 

We rolled randomly for the mission and got The Prisoner (which was the same mission in the first game of EotD I'd ever played). I decided to be the defender this time, and so the Tong were guarding their captured Darkfire member in the middle of the square, awaiting a carriage to take him away. After that, well - let's just say The Inscrutable One had some questions for the gentleman that wouldn't be so gently asked. 

With that in mind, the Darkfire gang set up around the village. Some waited just out of sight behind the buildings. 

Others waited for a chance to assault the front gate. 

Basically forgetting that they were their to guard a prisoner, the majority of the gang went further into the village to confront the approaching Darkfire members. One Darkfire, already Unhinged as a result from another game, immediately fled the table after being shot at. The rest of the Tong used their weight of fire - Light Pistols may not have the range of rifles, but they still hurt, and I had a bunch of them - and their close combat skills with great results. 

The Darkfire members that had tried attacking the village's gates found themselves stopped by the sawn-off shotgun wielding Bludger, who despite having the constitution and fortitude of a kitten, blew away the one Gentleman who tried his luck and ran into the gate. Doing so triggered the Bludger's Watch and Shoot action, and the Darkfire member caught both barrels in the chest and went down hard. 

Gary's Gatling gun carrying Secretary could have turned the Bludger into a holey man, but the weapon was so bulky that its wielder was forced to either move or shoot. Deciding that moving into the sawn-off's template range was a bad idea, Gary instead began to move his remaining Darkfire members around the edges of the walls. 

They didn't have enough time to reach the fight, however. With the Darkfire Rifleman going down, it was suddenly a four-on-two fight. While my Gent of the Road went down, Gary decided to retreat rather than risk two more of his gang members potentially suffering injuries. With his concession, victory went to the Tong. 

With another successful mission came more rewards. Every model that had a Light Pistol was instead given a Heavy Pistol - apart from the Dipper and the Gent, who can only wield Light Pistols - and the Dipper managed to have his arm injury healed. Unfortunately my Gent suffered a Leg Injury, decreasing his movement speed. Which is fine, since he's there more for his +1 to Initiative rolls. 

We managed to generate some more interest in the game - probably thanks to Gary's awesome terrain - and Gary ran a demo for one of the Warmachine players, who has now joined the campaign with her Nosferatu. It's awesome to see more people take interest in the game, which should add some new blood to the group.