Saturday 1st October saw me head over to Hinkley in Leicestershire to the Black Dragon Miniatures game store to take part in a Burrows and Badgers Campaign day. I've been beavering away the past few weeks to get most of my warband finished off to take along thankfully getting them done all ready with a day or so spare.
Black Dragon Miniatures is an excellent shop located just on the outskirts of the town centre. The pictures online are deceptive as the store is massive and carry a huge number of miniature lines. They carry Games Workshop, Mantic, Dead Mans Hands, Frostgrave, Warlord Games to name a few as well as various other smaller manufacturers. Here is a link to their website .
The Day itself was split into 4 games with points being scored for wins, lost, draws and points awarded for painted warbands and secondary objectives. Warband Ratings were then added on at the end (I think this was halved) to determine final rankings.
I opted for a single species warband this time around taking an all hound band. I went with Freebeasts as there allegiance as I took Royalist when I took my all flying warband last time. As the band is all Hound they get some extra bonuses letting me give two of my band members either a stat upgrade or a skill of some kind.
Experimental Rules
Optional experimental rules were allowed. However only one person brought a warband in from a Journal which was the City Watch. We also used the Fiddling with Fate rules from Journal 3. Normally each player gets 10 fate points per game which can be used to purchase extra dice for when you have those critical rolls. So for example if you spent two fate points you would roll three dice and choose the best roll. The Fiddling with Fate rules are a bit different. You don't start with any Fate points at all unless your have a Rogue warband who start with two. Then during gameplay at any time you roll a 1 on any dice you gain a Fate Point. These can then be spent later on. Some of the options for example allow you to reroll a block or nimbleness roll, others allow and extra 6 inches movement or add +5 to a Strike roll.
My starting Warband the Scarlet Marauders. Led by Octavius the Red and a hailing from the Southlands they are a band of freebooters and mercenaries for hire.
From Left to right Morgan the bands scout and healer, M'Lady provides the muscle and is second in command. Octavius is the brains of the operation and is in charge. Alfus is a deadly duellist and Dug is a thug pure and simple!
The band is recruited from 350 pennies.
Octavius the Red = Large Hound armed with a One handed weapon, Bow, Talisman and 5x Bodkin Arrows. Octavius starts with the Fearsome skill and I boosted his Fortitude Stat by 1 to a D8
M'Lady = Massive Hound armed with a Two handed weapon, Heavy Armour, Talisman. M'lady got the Zweihander skill increasing her strike ability with her two hand weapon.
Alfus= Large Hound armed with a one handed weapon, healing potion and has the skill Killing Blow
Morgana = Medium Hound armed with a bow, camouflage cloak, 5x Bodkin Arrows and know the spell Cure she also has the skill Fast Shot
Doug = Medium Hound and is just armed with a one handed weapon.
Den wise I went with the Abandoned Burrow over the Town Building. I'd prefer the ability to deploy 2 of my band anywhere on the battlefield over the free building materials the Town building provides.
As they are Freebeasts they get 3 free rolls on the rare item chart. This was done when I arrived in the store ending up with a Ring of Casting +2 and two Swords of Smiting +1. One sword went to Alfus which he duel wielded and the other went to Octavius. The Ring went in my stash and the one handed weapon I gave to Morgana. The ring of casting was a bit of waste unfortunately as band members only have a single item slot with a special slot which can be used for anything but I want Morgana to be able to ambush people hence giving her the Camouflage cloak and her other slot was filled with the Bodkin Arrows which ignore armour.
We were all randomly assigned tables and opponents and began our first games.
Game 1 - Open Battle
Game 1 was against Ben Buxton and his Royalist Warband led by a young Toad. It was an Open Battle just to get us settled in. We rolled for secondary objectives of which mine was that my leader had to successfully strike my opponents leader. Keeping it simple we stuck with normal fate rules.
Ben's Royallists let by the Toad Youngling and the Otter was his second in command.
I forget which table numbers were which but the organiser knew which was what was the most important bit!
The Scarlet Marauders cautiously advances hugging the buildings sniffing out the enemy warband.
The Royalists skulk around the buildings hiding out of sight. The Mouse takes a potshot at Octavius but misses
The Mole blacksmith popped up inside the ruined building. Both side trade arrows and bolts causing minor wounds.
Octavius manages to wound the Toad Youngling with his bow! The Mouse also shoots at Octavius with his crossbow. However Octavius Talismans repairs most of the damage just leaving a minor scratch.
M'lady breaks the stalemate and charges across the street engaging the Otter warrior. The Mole tunnels under and strikes at M'lady inflicting a wound but her magic talismans knits the wound back together and dissipates in a puff of smoke. Alfus charge into the Mole.
Morgana shoots several arrows ambushing the squirrel warrior and inflicting some deep wounds.
Alfus cuts down the mole Blacksmith with his twin swords. Whilst M'lady and the Otter trade blows grieviously wounding the Otter with her two handed sword
The Squirrel charges into combat with Alfus. Alfus gradually wins the upperhand and uses his killer blow to cut down the Squirrel. The Adder mage skulking behind the broken down wagon heals the Squirrel and the Otter. In a swift flurry of blows the Otter is cut down by M'Lady
Doug the Pug Thug chases down the elusive mouse crossbowman. The Mouse hastily tries to retreat and shoot at the advancing pug but his nerve fails him and he misses twice. Eventually Doug wears the mouse down and takes him out of action.
Having lost more than 50 % of his warband the Toad Youngling takes a rout test which he fails and the Royalist leave the field of battle.
This was a win for the Scarlet Marauders and with me managing to Wound the Toad Youngling Leader with Octavius I achieved my secondary objective.
Post game nobody gained enough experience to earn any advances. However we earnt some pennies and some materials which allowed Octavius to feed the band as well as replenish their magic talismans and expended arrows.
Rare trade wise we found a black market dealer and purchased a master smithed sword which replaced Alfus's ordinary blade. M'lady laboured away and constructed an Archer Range in the Den. Whilst the band found a scout which passed on some useful information regarding the best place for ambush. (Allowing me to start the game with 3 models hidden).
Game 2 - Take and HoldMy Second Opponent was John Penny with his Wilding Warband. It consisted of Badger archer, Toad Mage, Raptor, Mouse archer and a weasel with a crossbow. The scenario for this game was Take and Hold the objective was to be in control of 3 or more buildings/terrain pieces at the end of the turn after at least four turns have been played. We used the standard Fate rules from the main rule book
We decided to choose 5 pieces in a cross pattern. The Swamp to the left, the rock bridge at the rear, the ruined tower in the centre, the rocky outcrop at the bottom and the tree house to the right. Some of the photos were blurry or turned out poor so not all are present.
John's Scrappy Warband
The Toad Mage hides behind the left side of the arch whilst the raptor hides behind the right.
The Huge Badger with a very large bow advances up into the wood just past the right hand objective building searching for targets.
The Mouse creeps around the edge of the left hand objective and loose an arrow off at Morgan inflicting a minor wound.
Doug deployed in an advanced position up by the right hand objective building. The Weasel fired a bolt off at Doug inflicting a minor wound. Doug charged in and clubbed the weasel.
M'Lady sprints over to the wall next to Morgana. Morgana already hidden knocks an arrow to her bow and goes into an ambush.
The weasel breaks away from the combat with Dug and sneaked around the other side of the building. Dug moves of love of sight of the huge badger with the bow and goes into hiding.
Alfus claims the bottom central objective. Octavius advance up to the wall.
M'lady charges the mouse archer inflicting a grievous wound the archer flees away
The Raptor swoops over to the central building to contest. Flying over it is ambushed by Morgana who hits it with a pair of arrows causing severe wounds.
The Mouse archer quaffs a healing potion healing some wounds and shoots an arrow at M'Lady engages the Mouse archer again inflicting more grievous wounds.
Apologies as the photos were to blurred to add from this point.
The Raptor attempted to charge Alfus. Morgana once again ambushes the bird inflicting some damage with another pair of arrows. It fluffs its attacks against Alfus who dual wielding his swords hacks down the Raptor in a killing blow.
The Weasel on the right hand side goes into hiding. Whilst Dug trys but fails to sniff him out.
The Mouse archer scarpers around the building on the left hand side moving onto the left hand swamp objectives Octavius advances over and takes a potshot at the mouse archer contesting the left hand objective. Morgana hold the Central one and edge to the stairs preparing an ambush should the Weasel reveal himself.
Alfus holds the bottom rocky outcrop. The right hand objective building is contested by the Weasel and Dug. The Northern arch is held by the Toad Mage.
Octavius charges into the Mouse Archer and in a flurry of blows hacks down the mouse. M'lady is magically crushed by the Toad Mage so she charges into him inflicting some minor wounds. The badger moves over to the central building to contest it and shoots M'lady with an arrow causing another wound.
The turn ends in a stalemate with 2 held by myself and 3 contested. The next turn the Toad Mage quaffs a healing potion and crushes M'lady with his magic. M'lady in a huge crushing blow cuts the toad mage in half. With the 3 buildings now held by the Scarlet Marauders the game ends with a victory me. My secondary objective was Isolate and as the badger was further than 8 inches from the weasel I achieved it!
Game 2 Post Phase
Post game was unkind to John rolling for injuries the raptor was killed outright and all his equipment was lost! I managed to earn a few pennies to feed my warband and replaced the talisman's that had been used. We managed to get hold of a suit of master smithed heavy armour which I sold all my spare potions, ring of casting and spare weapons to purchase leaving me skint. I gave the suit of armor to Octavius my warband leader.
Experience wise several band members gained their first advance.
Alfus increased his ranged stat.
Octavius gained the skill Killshot (Archery Range allowing me to choose a ranged skill)
Morgana gained Eagle Eyes increasing her ranged weapons by 6 inches (Archery Range)
Dug gained the Backstabber skill
M'Lady gained the Beguile Skill
We had a break for lunch and every body put out the Warbands for people to vote on for the best painted warband. I must of missed a couple or they weren't put out to be voted on as there were only 12 of 14 there.
These were my favourites especially the Albino Bat these won the best painted award!
Game 3 - Defend the HaulThe third game was announced and this time I was up against Gary Jenkins Royalists which like mine was an all hound warband. It was very similar in composition to mine. One Massive, two large and two medium hounds, however one of his large hounds (the one with the crossbow) had to miss this game due to an injury so I had one extra model to his. We use the experimental Fiddling with Fate rules from this one.
Our mission was Defend the Haul and the objective was that I had to get more models within 6 inches of the central building than my opponent at the end of any turn. Gary deployed his Hounds around the central tent. Mine mostly deployed along the table edge across the bottom. With Octavius deploying hidden by the right hand wall and Morgana amongst the rocks on the left. My Secondary objective was to take at least four of my enemies out of action.
Garys Royalist Hounds! I only have a few photos from this game it was quite a short one really.
Morgana wounded the terrier knight with her bow. Alfus and M'lady advanced up the left side of the mound with Dug and Octavius on the right. The Highland Terrier went into ambush. The Royalist Spaniel advanced towards Alfus.
Alfus charged in and with swift blow finished off the terrier knight
The Royalist Spaniel charged Alfus wounding him. M'lady counter charges the Spaniel inflicting a wound but is then charged by the Bulldog inflicting a massive wound and taking M'Lady out of Action.
Alfus guts the Spaniel taking him out of action. The Highland Terrier ambushed dug but is counter charged by Octavius. Morgana advance forward to within 6 inches of the central building. I know had 4 models to Garys 2 so the game ended as another victory for the Scarlet Marauders! I failed to achieve my secondary objective of taking 4 of Gary's warband out of action.
Post game sucked a little for my band. Because none of my warband were in based to base with the building they didn't gain any income. I gained a few materials. M'lady was lucky she failed her fortitude test but only recieved minor injury meaning she would miss the next game. My wandering rolls were a bit disappointing I met a Slave master and gained a small creature so I opted for a Shrew (using a cat model as a proxy) However there was no other income and being penniless already meant my warband starved. So M'lady will miss the final game which is a shame as she is the melee muscle of the warband and the rest will all start with a wound less!
Game 4 - Recover the Pay chest
I faced Alex Penny in the final game with his City Watch warband. This one was using the rules from the Journal and was at a massive at 9 models by game 4. They sort of get discounted equipment/raw recruits which are weaker than normal but cheaper to recruit or veterans that have a skill etc but also start with an injury. However 1 was injured and like M'lady was missing this game. This was still a big numbers advantage more so that in fact his models could potentially gang up mine after all mine had activated.
I was back on this board again but this time we played it as a 3x3 so deployed 8 inches onto the board instead of 2. The objective of this game was to find and retrieve a hidden paychest. The Chest is hidden somewhere in the central tower. A model has to get into base to base with the building and perform a search action for a hidden item. We used the experimental Fate Rules for this one. My secondary objective was assassinate so I had to take out the Otter Watch Captain but I would only try this if the circumstances were right.
I have no pictures of this game at all sorry! I had to play my strengths for this one as outnumbering in combat can bring down creatures pretty quick and I was aware that he had 3 more warband members than me and one of mine was practically a raw recruit!
Turn One
I used my Burrow ability to deploy Octavius and Alfus in touch with the central building. The City Watch were split into two groups each coming across the board either side of the tower. I was fortunate to find the Paychest with Octavius after Alfus failed in his attempt. I fought a delaying action with the my slave and Morgana who hid in the rocky out crop loosing of arrows at the city watch on the right flank. A Mole Watchmen popped up next to Octavius and took a swing at him causing some wounds which were mostly absorbed by his talismans magic.
Turn 2
Octavius passed off the pay chest to Alfus and drew his sword and with Dug engaged the group on the left flank. including the Watchmen Otter Captain. Alfus then proceeded to beat a retreat to the board edge. When carrying the pay chest you count as being in difficult terrain so instead of moving your full distance you roll what ever you stat value is so in Alfus's case a D6. I managed to move off 7 inches this turn.
Turn 3
A Shrew watchmen drew swords with my slave whilst two other watchmen split off and tried to catch up with Alfus. Catching up to him but having had to sprint plus use fate points for extra movement couldn't strike him. Alfus was now only 2 inches from the board edge!
Turn 4
The Decisive turn! We could of both spent fate points to steal the initiative so instead both rolled off. Unfortunately for Alex he rolled a 1 to my 7 and Alfus moved off the board edge winning the game. The book was unclear as to whether we should continue to the end of the turn so we decided to finish off the turn.
Octavius had took a bit of a pasting and I backed him out of the combat he was in against the group of Watchmen leaving Dug to fight a rear guard action. Doug managed to inflict a bit of damage on one of the watchbeasts. The others trading blows with him. The shrew slave fought against his counterpart but after wounding his opponent was cut down in turn. The two Watchmen gave up the chase of Alfus and both charged into Octavius Morgana fired off some arrows at them but they both caught up with Octavius taking him out of action. The turn ended there and we were victorious. I didn't manage my secondary objective as I was outnumbered by that group and there was no way I would of won that fight.
I won a nice chunk of pennies and a vial of Paralysing Poison from the Paychest. However both my Leader and Shrew slave were injured and failed their fortitude rolls. The slave was left severely weakened from his injuries and my leader ended up with a niggling injury which potentially could mean he could miss taking part in a game if he rolled a 1. The gang recruited another member Smeagle the Beagle and we equipped him with a one handed weapon from Morgana. The gang fed themselves this time and managed to find a mastersmithed club from a trader which went to Dug.
The game sheets were all handed in and it turned out the Scarlet Marauders had won the day!
Final Placings
The fabtastic trophy!
My prize I chose which is an excellent mdf building
My Warband with the new members (though I add a proper Shew)
Me receiving the first place Trophy
Alex Penny taking second place
Harry Jenkins took third with his all Badger and one Beaver warband
It was a fantastic days gaming! Everyone who attended were all such good natured and fun players it was a pleasure to play and chat all day! Thanks to Gary Sharp who ran the day and owns the store! Will definitely attend the next one!
