Forces of Battlesworn: Undead of the Night

What's better than a bonus undead tomb kings army for Battlesworn?  A bonus undead 'children of the night' army for Battlesworn!  Yes, here's bonus army number two; Undead of the Knight.  Looking at the photo above, a pretty cool (if a tad pale) looking army.

Look, it's the undead Beatles!  I know what you're thinking, four troops so these must be the compulsory four fighter choices.  Nope, after five armies made we're still unlocking new troop types.  These four zombies are the rabble troop type; rabble fight just as hard as fighters, but their weakness is they die after taking only one wound.  On the other hand, rabble only take up half a slot, so you can take twice as many, now I see why they're labeled as zombies in the sample list.

And here's our four compulsory fighters; skeleton warriors, always a classic.  There's really not a whole lot to say about these guys, they're tireless, they're relentless, they're sword-wielding skeletons.

What's cooler than skeleton warriors?  Skeleton archers!  Fighters are one thing, but shooters?  Archery requires all kinds of things you'd not expect from a skeleton; dexterity, long ranged eyesight, finesse, and more.  In a lot of ways skeleton archers are creepy.  Here's four of them.

No undead horde is worth their weight in salt without a suitably good leader to command them.  The force list uses another combo class with the ancient vampire here; the tank / sorcerer.  He's going to be tough to take down, and gets to wield a whopping five spells while he's at it.  Plus, though all I added was a sword and shield, he looks pretty awesome at the head of the army.  

Only one more of the bonus armies to go, and the next one comes across quite sneaky, and quite pointy.  Until then, enjoy! 

Forces of Battlesworn: Undead of the Desert

I knew had at least one more Battlesworn force left in the pile of Legos, truth be told I was able to crank out three more.  This puts the army count up to six, which opens up the tantalizing possibility of an all-day, round robin Battlesworn skirmish "tourney".  On to today's army, we've got undead of the 'crunchy' variety, tomb-kings of the desert.

I'm continuing to use the sample force lists from the rulebook, and since there's about three pages worth of those we've got plenty of source material to work with.  The five troops above were listed as 'brutes', which hit hard in melee, but they were also listed as ghouls.  Brutes, I've got, no problem.  These brutes are the heavy weapon sorts and are the charred bones of past kings interred within the tombs, arisen and ready to smash their foes.  I tried to go with a different shield for each king to represent different kingdoms they initially hail from.    

Every list needs four compulsory fighters, minimum, and here they are; minor mummies.  I'm no slouch when it comes to my Lego collection, but I'm ashamed to not be able to field four matching Egyptian headdresses.  Here you go, minor mummy fighters, moving on.

On to the personalities, the dark figure in the background with the serpent staff is technically our only living model in the army, and he's a sorcerer, a powerful model who gets five spells for the game.  And the scarab shield hefting figure up front is the head of the army, the master mummy whose stats are those of a hybrid tank / rogue.  

This is an interesting class combo too as it means he'll be brutal in melee as long as he has his minions along for the ride, and he'll be harder to hit with shooting, and if you happen to hit him with shooting or melee, he'll just shrug off the first wound.  There you have it, tomb kings, enjoy!

LEGO Thursday: Some More Castle Sets

First up is the small set of the 2007 Castle line, it was just a single human knight. He came with a ton of stuff however as you can see. If you had a spare mini-fig laying around you could put all the extra gear on them and have two figs. With the breastplate and full-faced helm, you wouldn't be able to tell if the extra was from the City series or whatever.



The next, the name I forgot, was a small/medium set pitting two humans with a catapult against two Undead behind a barricade. There were basically four factions in this series. The Dwarves and humans were the good guys and the Undead and Orcs were the bad guys. This gave plenty of variety too, maybe too much so. There were hints of a Wood Elf race to be introduced later but that may have been left on the cutting room floor.


A larger set, the Skeleton Ship Attack was pretty cool as well. It featured a good-sized human fortification and an awesome skeletal pirate ship, complete with skeleton pirate captain. Because they were cramming two things into one box, the ship wasn't the largest it could be, nor was the human fort.


The Troll Battle Wheel is a great set as well. I like to call it the Orc Battle Wheel, but whatever. It's a giant wheel of doom, rolling, crushing doom! It also has some kind of rocket that fires out of the middle, dunno about that. It has some very cool build features too, making the wheels were kind of neat. First you build them flat, like train tracks, but most of the pieces are joints. Then you just roll them up into a round shape around the center spokes and voila, instant huge Orc wheels of doom. It also came with an Orc hero looking fig.

LEGO Thursday: Mail Order Loot

Not much to this with this week's post. When the castle sets of 2007 came out, I was blown away, I was excited about LEGO again (eh, it comes and goes I guess). The biggest change was that they added actual fantasy elements to their tried and true medieval-based range.

Skeletons were no longer flavor text inanimate objects lying in a dungeon cell, but an undead race with necromancers and skeletal steeds! They might've called the greenskins "trolls" for copyright reasons, but we all know they were LEGO Orcs. And then they made me very happy indeed with the introduction of LEGO Dwarves.

The line was a little too short-lived for my tastes, but my wallet is thankful for it at least. This all came out about a year before I started Mik's Minis, but I was still photographing this stuff. I knew I wanted to review it, or whatever, but unsure of the format. In a sense you are looking at photos of what is a proto-Mik's Minis.


Yup, Battle Packs were another cool idea, I have no idea why they've been abandoned now. Here's one good guy and one bad guy battle pack of reinforcement troops. Also is a very cool jousting duel set between a human and an undead.

Thirteen Times the Blood...Bowl

Needless to say, just the two hour sample of Blood Bowl we played the other day has really sparked my interest again in one of the best tabletop games around. So I went rummaging through my stuff today and drug out all of the fantasy football figs I could muster and did a legitimate inventory. Some of this stuff dates back to second edition, so there were some changes to be made, and certainly some swaps to go around.

The one thing I need to honest about here is that I simply don't need thirteen teams. But letting go of minis is so hard to do. There are obvious choices for the auction block, like my Orcs, I have three Orc teams. Three, really? I think one will do just fine. There's other choices too, like my Undead, I just never got my head around their style of play and frankly I like being more of a scoring team, not a inure-the-other-guy team. Aggressively speaking I could get rid of about half the teams I own, and maybe even use some of the money I make to pick up a sweet looking third party team and paint them up right.


The Deadrock Goyles here are pretty much a hall of fame team. Not the Orc roster, but these actual models. They were the scourge of a league we played in way back when and seeing them here makes me wince. They are definitely my 'alpha' Orcs, so they'll be sticking around. I may pull figs off the other teams to fill their ranks.


This is a bit of an expanded team of Orcs. It has the basics plus a bunch of extras like a converted Troll big guy and a couple of Goblins. It has a metal Orc here and there to boot in the form of Blitzers and regular Linemen. After I pick out whatever I need for the Goyles, this one will be fodder for sure and on their way out.


This is a stock team, straight from the boxed set. It's a very nicely painted team and although it doesn't have any extras in it, the crisp paintjob makes up for it. This is a case where although I like the team, it's my third Orc team, it's days are numbered.


Here's a great looking Human team, mostly from the boxed set and mostly awesomely painted! In addition to the plastic figs, there's four metal second edition players in there, as well as a metal star player. A large Ogre has defected from the Orc team he used to be a part of to this new Human team. The men on the team however are too afraid to ask him to change his uniform. I'll be hanging on to these guys for sure.


It's almost embarrassing looking at my first Human team. They're pretty much straight from the boxed set as well, with some fun extras too, like two metal star players (one of which will probably get snagged for the other Human team) and a fourth Blitzer figure. As you just saw though, this is one Human team too many, and these chaps are headed out the door. They'll probably be a good bargain for somebody.


They're small, they're fast, and they have armor made from cardboard. Still, you gotta love the Skaven, they have lots of options and variety, and if coached right can be solid. As you can see these guys are a bit of a work in progress as I still have some unpainted mutant figs to do, and I need to rebase the Rat Ogre big guy in the back. I'll be keeping these guys around, and probably add some basic linemen at one point in the future.


The High Elves are another team I want to hang on to. They're more survivable than their Dark and Wood Elf cousins, and are the same speed of the Humans, which I'm used to coaching. If I buckled down, I feel I could coach these guys fairly well.


The Undead here are pretty flexible under the rules we've been looking at (LRB5). I pulled a second edition Werewolf from the Human team (since they can't have him anymore) and put him on the roster. Also on the roster, in addition to the regular team, is a second edition Flesh Golem (looks just like Frankenstein's monster), a Vampire star player, and a converted Ghoul. I like the idea of the Undead, but their days are numbered.


The only thing keeping these Chaos Dwarves from the chopping block is their theme. As you can see the Dwarves (including Centaur big guy) all have converted cowboy hats. In addition to the regular team is the aforementioned big guy, a converted bluderbussier, and a second edition cyborg Orc which I'm only guessing is still legal. I'm still up in the air on this one, I never play them, so someone else might get more out of them.


Here's a good example of a rock solid team that has the basics plus a little extra. Chaos is a great team with plenty of hitting power and good versatility in their line-Beastmen. I've also got a Minotaur big guy in there converted from a Reaper fig. I like these guys, but I can't keep them all just because I like them, they're days are numbered.


If the large (and painted) Chaos team's days are numbered then these guys aren't long for the world in my neck of the woods! There's barely enough here to even take to the field, but add in a big guy and maybe a fourth Chaos Warrior and you should be good to go.


I don't mind my team having an armor value of a lowly seven if they have the speed (Skaven) or the agility (Wood/Dark Elves) to back it up, but what the heck are the Norse packing under those spiked helms? Umm, not enough to keep them sticking around! I did manage to poke around and find another official second edition Werewolf to put in there too.


Not only am I keeping these Dwarves around, they may be the first ones on the painting and refurbishment assembly line. I love Dwarves, so I see no reason why I'd get rid of these, although I need at least four more Linemen to fill out their ranks.

Return to the Blighted Lands

In an ongoing effort to tweak and test Bob Bryant's Clans and Companies rules, we returned to the Blighted Lands. Last time Bob and I played out this scenario was around the holidays and no one else could make it, this time however we had a full house including Repple Depple's Brian. This time around the units themselves got a mechanical facelift and closely resemble those found in Pig Wars and the magic system got an overhaul as well. The same characters returned however and the scenario itself was unchanged.


Just like the units of undead last time each had their own character model to lead them, the human forces (I kept calling them the 'kingdom') were now lead by a character model, actually, two models. One was the unit champion, mounted on horseback; this was the true 'leader' of the unit itself. Different than last time though, each unit had a wizard accompanying them as well, each one of varying strengths. Wizard strength is determined by 'caster level', a number between one (novice) and usually three (experiences. These numbers help determine if the caster actually gets their spell off or not. The same goes for the necromancers accompanying the units of undead on the other side of the board.


Release the...wargs!

In the realm of "Boblandia" most of your stock fantasy races are present, but have been redefined in their scope. The goblin tribes are back, a race so alien in their culture and demeanor that the other races of the world can only guess as to their motivations. For some reason, the tribes have thrown their lot in with the undead.


Wargs face off with the kingdom's heavy cavalry...


A monstrous visage compliments of the phantasm spell


Lady Talon returns

Emerging from the trees the elf wizard solemnly knelt by the fallen, gave her regards, and scanned the battlefield, eyes narrowing on the source of their demise, necromancer Lady Hexus. In game turns, Lady Talon got quite the upgrade, being both a level five wizard, as well as a more-than-capable fighter in her own right.


Cat fight! Lady Talon immolates Lady Hexus...


A models' eye view of the tabletop


The carnage was plentiful as the human cavalry and goblin warg riders tore into each other, supported by human archers and skeletal warriors on both sides respectively. In melee you 'bounce back' after each round. You can re-engage if you want to, or if you're lucky, that's just enough respite to get away. This helps prevent, say an elite unit being quagmired all game, by a weenie unit. It also helps define combat a bit more realistically by aligning more in terms with historical accounts.


I do believe the most prominently featured character on my blog has got to be Lady Talon, I had no idea. She made her debut here, sheesh, three years ago now. Just use the search window at the bottom of the blog and type in 'Lady Talon', you'll see here all over the place. She started out as a Warhammer Quest character, did a stint in a role as leader of the Livwald Delegation in Song of Blades and Heroes, and now she's back again.

Today's writeup focused more on the rules, well loosely, of the game we played. It looks like the wheels have been turning in Bob's head, and with a healthy infusion of arcane mechanic ideas from Brian, I see these rules shaping up to be pretty cool. I like the focus on the character models, and wizards (necromancers, warlocks, shaman, etc.) in particular, and the fact that although it's a fantasy setting, it feels a little more grounded than that. Last writeup I lavished a good deal of fluff to the characters, so to save this post from being too redundant, refer back to the first Blighted Lands post. Rock on...

The Blighted Lands

The vile necromancer Nekrotut has been kidnapping fresh bodies in the lands of Count Sevrain far too long. The good count and his loyal troops march to the necromancer’s lair in the blighted lands to destroy the sorcerer of undead and all his minions...


Last week we played another game of Clans and Companies with its author, Bob of Might of Arms. The last time we played Clans, it was the massive Viking raid with just a 'touch of saga', in other words we had a Hill Giant and a couple of seven foot Viking chiefs. This time around we used the same rules, but went full-on, frontal fantasy; I was the forces of the Undead (with some secret allies), and Bob headed up the stalwart humans.

The game was a blast, and with the second go of playing the rules, I'm really digging them, especially after seeing how adaptable they are. I lavished (with a lot of Bob's help!) plenty of narrative with the Viking raid, and this time around is no different. I feel this is one of my more entertaining battle reports to come along in a while, both with the narrative and the photographs themselves, so sit back and enjoy!


Count Sevrain has consulted with none other than Lady Talon of the Elven delegation. She has advised the count that the previous year’s terror in his land has all the markings of a powerful necromancer named Nekrotut. He has operated in this region before, in ages past, and only with great difficulty was he driven out. Lady Talon, a powerful mage in her own right, has consented to accompany the count on his mission to destroy the necromancer.

The count’s men and women have split up to search the valleys in the blighted land, looking for signs of the necromancer’s lair. The [game] begins with three bands of the count’s retainers in the midst of blighted trees facing a large barrow. They are puzzled by what looks like despicable activity, but no one besides the count’s men seems to be present.

The barrow located in the dead wood is long forgotten. This land was once a lush, green forest teeming with life, just scant years ago. The barrow lays within sight of a an older shrine venerating the warrior saint Marcus Gideon himself. Atop the barrow stands a ring of power, carved of black basalt and built by the hands of druids from long ago. The tranquil serenity the area has been known for in previous ages is all but gone.


Lich Rhomus has infested the lost barrow for nearly six decades, and until now has kept his machinations hidden from prying eyes. Rhomus is powerful in his own right, and always at the ready to conduct his master Neckrotut's bidding.

Three groups of skeletons approached through the blighted trees, the large barrow at their backs. They are apparently driven forth by wretched humans in the midst of each band. The central group is equipped with bows, ready to let loose their deadly volley of arrows.


Damien the Blackheart is the youngest of Neckrotut's necromancer acolytes, he makes up for his lack of experience with pure spite and malice. He carries the skull of his former mentor and uses it as his arcane focus. He is tasked with leading a unit of skeletal archers and keeping them animated with his necromantic energies.


Lady Hexus is human, but her pallid skin and cold gaze speak otherwise. She has given up her very soul in pursuit of the dark arts. It is said she prefers to keep the company of the dead opposed to those of the living. Her unit of skeletal warriors speaks to this, and is unique in that they do not originate from the barrow, or from hapless villagers abducted from the kingdom, but are the remnants of her past lovers.


The wily old necromancer, Edgar, was once a promising student at the University of Majics located in the scholarly city of Dornshire. He found a hidden nook filled with all manner of profane and dark tomes within the catacombs of the library while a student. At first he thought he could harness this dark magic and bend it to his will, but as the years wore on, his will could no longer hold out against the call to darkness.


On the longbowmen’s left stood the Count Sevrain’s stalwart halberdiers. They would advance on the flank and exchange blows with Edgar's skeletons.


Count Sevrain visited the venerable Shrine of Marcus at dawn, payinh homage to the patron saint of warfare. Accompanying Count Sevrain is a young apprentice wizard from Pigsmole, the academy of arcane arts for gifted youngsters in the capital city of Dunderholme. This promising young mage is destined for greatness and bears a peculiar scar on his brow. His dreams are haunted however by the image of Neckrotut.


Rising sun at their backs, the count's archers prepare to volley at daybreak.


The count's own household Men-at-Arms, heavily armed.


Damien the Blackheart forms his troops into a long line and with dark energy, commands the archers to return fire on the count's longbowmen. The skeletons' bows are strengthened and given increased range by a timely cast Far Flight spell from lich Rhomus on the nearby barrow. In the distance, on the far right flank, Edgar the Elder sends his skeletal troops into the Duke's halberdiers with wild abandon.


Lady Hexus sends forth her minions to clash with the Men-at-Arms. The count’s spearmen fared well, beating their assailants back. To their dismay, a baying could be heard as howls and barks filled the air over the din of battle. The spearmen pulled back to coordinate their stand with the arrival of the rest of the count’s men.


Cresting the large barrow came the warg pack. Diminuitive, green-skinned goblins armed with short cavalry bows came charging forth, spurring their wolflike mounts on faster and faster. The motivations of goblin-kind is wholly unknown to the other sentient races of the realm. They are completely alien in scope and understanding, but somehow a pact was fashioned between their tribe and Nekrotut's undead. The goblin's speed and tenacity complements that of the slower undead host all too well.


The shieldless halberdiers could not block the blows of Edgar's skeletons, and were forced to fall back demoralized. For the skeletons know no skill but simply power their weapons with mighty blows to their front urged on by animating necromantic energy. The halberdiers did weaken their foe with their murderous weapons, but suffered mightily for their efforts, whereas the skeletons, mindless automatons that they are, just kept coming, unmindful (literally) of the pile of bones left in their trail. The halberdiers had suffered so many fallen, that they lost all heart and continued to retreat to a place besides the shrine of Gideon, some ways from the barrow, where they felt relatively safe.

Edgar, imbued with ample necromantic energy, plowed his unit of skeletal warriors through the count's halberdiers. As they made short work of the humans, scattering them, Edgar whipped them into a frenzy pushing them forth.


Chief Greatswill's warg pack rushes forth, jaws slavering.


Count Sevrain wasn't without his own support as heavy cavalry burst from the rear of the ruined woods, riding hard for the oncoming warg pack. Entangling spells of Phagus Brush were cast on the oncoming warg, stymieing their progress.


The halberdiers, routing back to the shrine from their failed melee with the skeletons, found themselves assaulted by a massive treant! Until this point there had been no sighting of the undead having any such creature. The count prepared to charge the beast, then reeled back, recognizing the trick for what it was. Lich Rhomus had cast the illusion spell Phantasm on one of the mangled, dead trees, making it appear to come to life in the form of a hulking treant. Rhomus fooled the halberdiers, but not Count Sevrain.


Just how were the undead able to ally themselves with Chief Greatswill's tribe? A smaller figure emerged from behind the circle of power and came to stand next to Lich Rhomus. Shroud the Interred was as much a snake now in unlife than he ever was living. His twisted words and honeyed tongue can convince anyone to do his bidding, much of his success bolstered now by arcane means. Who knows what promises he made the goblins? Who knows what might happen if he doesn't keep them?


Greatswill's unit of goblin spearmen.


The long-lived Wood Elf and advisor to the count, Lady Talon.


Goblin archers screen what's left of Lady Hexus' unit.


The enigmatic boy wizard holds off the goblin spearmen with his wand.


The warg pack tore into the heavy cavalry and had initial success. But the heavy cavalry wasn't so easily dispatched. After the initial charge, they regrouped and charged full tilt into the warg, lances cutting a bloody swath through their mangy ranks. The warg pack would have seen more success, but time and time again their charge was plagued by the Phagus Brush spell. Had it not been for this spell hampering them, the thunderous duel with the heavy cavalry might have ended much sooner.


The Phagus Brush spell entangles the unit of goblin archers.


Near dusk, the architect of the undead stepped forth from the barrow. Necromancer, arch-lich, tactician, and more, Nekrotut is evil incarnate. He is said to have harangued even the Elves during their infancy before man or dwarf walked the lands.


As darkness fell, the hostile warriors stood apart some goodly space. It seemed to be a stalemate, but many good men of the count had fallen in battle. It was perilous to remain in these parts with the evil brewed by the night, so the count withdrew with his survivors. The necromancer’s force of evil was too strong and the count was ill-prepared. Another day will come, and soon, vowed Count Sevrain.