Zombicide: Black Death – Xuxa

Another Zombicide: Black Death character finished, this time the (warrior princess) Xuxa.

We’re starting a new D&D campaign and I let each player select a figure from my stash and I then paint them up (there is an option to select an already painted one, also) so they can have their personalized character in the game.

Xuxa was selected by my daughter’s friend and she wanted the character to be blonde, but otherwise I could paint after the card-art from Zombicide.

Said and done, and we have a warrior princess that will be played both in D&D and Zombicide.

Secret Santa comes from Frostgrave

We had a local Secret Santa thingie going here in the Frozen North (actually it is above freezing, but, well, you get the idea).

My Secret Santa had quite some problems with half of the ‘Secret Santa’ concept. It seems that if you pay your postage for a package on the web there will be tracking (good) and also a mail to the recipient telling a package is on the way (good). Said mail will also specify other parts, such as the name of said ‘Secret’ Santa (which in this case is… less than perfect :-D).

Anyway, the Unsecret Santa had bought far too much stuff and painted it, too!

Wonderful monsters for Frostgrave! A great present!

I guess I have to invite the Unsecret Santa to a game at the club. I think this was a subtle hint that he likes Frostgrave and wants to play more.

Thank you Unsecret Santa! When do you want a game? ;-)

Also a big thank you to Chris Gilbride who supervised this Penguin Santa Surprise and helped us with ideas (of the... quirky kind) and photos of one of the attendees in Napoleonic uniform doing unspeakable things.

Gingerbread Chess

The oldest son made a rather special julklapp (Xmas gift) this year, a ginger-bread chess. He toiled away in secret the day before julafton (Xmas Eve) the only clues to what he was doing were the fragrance of pepparkakor (gingerbread) (dough made from our own recipe) in the oven and the smell of burnt fingers.

Plastic wrap to protect the playing board.

The chess-pieces are made of gingerbread and the kings from marzipan.

I long game ensued with four players on each side and the rules were simple:

- Standard chess rules apply

- Each player gets to make one move (and then has to wait three turns until it is your turn again).

- No talking between players (i.e., all your fancy plans will be destroyed by your own team before it is your turn to move a chess-piece next time)

- Pieces knocked out are to be eaten!

- The winning side gets to eat whatever is left on the board.

The game was very even (with one or two really good players on each side (my kids) and some… not so good players)

Much laughter until there were just two kings and one other playing-piece left on the board and we declared the game a draw. Everyone had a piece of king to eat and were happy!

A great julklapp!

Nativity scene – part 2

Yesterday part 2 of the Nativity Scene was presented (as we celebrate Jul/Yule on the 24^th) to my wife and it is now placed on the mantle-piece in the living-room.

I started building the scenery a couple of weeks ago and been working rather intensely with it for the last couple of days. It was finished on the 22^nd, a day to spare!

Early in the construction process. The base is built and I've started to set the LED-lamps.

I wanted the stables to be lit up and First thought of a small LED-spotlight. But I changed that to a lot of lamps instead, to get a shadow-free light.

A space made for the battery pack. Three batteries are supposed to last around 180 hours. Plenty enough.

Fake fur placed in strips

Painted with a paint-glue mix.

Roof dry-brushed and three-layers of  static grass applied.

"Straw" glued down. One nail to support Josef and the other two to show where the other minis should be.

All the minis glued down with hot-glue. The battery-pack is well hidden behind the wall.

How it looks in the dark.

Where it belongs - on the mantle-piece. More stuff to be added next year.

The kids got four new games this time (guess who bought them) so we will game a lot the next few days. We also had a very different game of chess yesterday, more on that in the next post.

God Jul (Merry Yule) everyone.

Stagecoach from Sarissa

Another MDF-thingie finished, this time a stagecoach from Sarissa. Easy to assemble but this one needs some paint to be presentable. Said and quickly done.

That game of Dead Man’s Hand is getting closer.

I guess someone will appreciate the cover…

Old West Buildings from 4Ground

Main Street Building No2 and 3

I'm dusting off all my wild west stuff as I intend to start playing Dead Man's Hand again. My intention now is to finished all half finished stuff and everything unpacked, and this was two of the latter. 

Main Street Building 3 from 4Ground

A view from the back

Finished these two-story buildings from 4Ground in a couple of evenings and they do look great.

The crates comes from Supreme Littleness Designs.  

Getting closer to a game.

We did have a game of Zombicide: Black Plague last week. Well, two games actually, but our chaps got massacred very early in the first.

Ooops, two extra activations for the runners seals our fate as one of the heroes fails his six (!) armor saves. The other ones in the space were down to one hit point each. End of game 1.

Hurry up! They're coming!

Most of the zombies are on the board and we get lots of extra zombie activations. It's close. Both our demise and the exit-zone.

We randomize which of the painted heroes we get to play with and sometimes it is less than optimal, which is interesting. First game was one of those, when we had no magic-user and no shooter. It went downhill very fast.

Yippee! We win!

The other game was really close and very fun. 

Also, every figure from the base game is painted! Now there's only a... few.. left unpainted from the kickstarter. Or maybe a little more than a few.

Conan: Zogar Sag

The first mini from the Conan boardgame is done - Zogar Sag from the story Beyond the Black River. He is a pictish sorcerer and tried to unite several pict tribes and have them invade civilized lands. He met Conan and died – sort of the usual story J (But Conan didn’t kill him directly, only through proxy, sort of. You should read the story if you haven’t already)

Anyway, I had him (unpainted, though) in our first game of Conan… and he died… but so did Conan!

The question is: what should be next on the painting table from the Conan box? Conan? We’ll see.

Pulp Alley AAR – The Gate Beyond the Stars Campaign – The Stone from Beyond the Stars

It’s time for the second adventure in the club campaign.

The Stone from Beyond the Stars

Background

The leagues lick their wounds after the last rather bloody affair, and distribute band-aid to bleeding members. Suddenly the sky is lit up by a strange light. A meteor is falling and seem to land not too far away.

Anders Einstein read the last articles by professor Arkley and understands that the meteor could be the Key of the Gods that Arkley prophesied would “be sent through the Cosmic Portal” on this specific day.

Is it a coincidence or is the meteor in fact the Key? Anders collects his compatriots and hurries to where the meteor was seen to crash. This must be investigated.

Unfortunately there are more leagues about, and they seem just as interested in the meteor.

Mellor's Field. Plot-points circled in red. Special plot-points are the farmer John Mellor by the barn (he can point you to the crater), Professor Henry l. Garfield close to the fence in the bottom of the pic (he can also point you towards the crater, but he is crafty - draw two cards and let the opposition chose the most difficult) and The Still by the dead oak (unlock it and you will also get 1d3 bottles of John Mellor's very potent booze (each can be used once (in any adventure) and the character will count as Speedy for the rest of the scenario (and probably hung over the day after...)).
The meteor-crater is the Majot Plot Point and can only be found if someone unlocks either Mellor och Garfield and will then be placed in the middle of the field. Unlocking it will can have all sorts of strange effects. It is also extremely perilous. All leagues can have a go at it to gain an effect, but only the first league gets the major plot point.
Leagues circled.

The crypto-evil Swedish Crypto-Section IV, Group T (bolstered with some resurrected berserkers) sets up very close to the courageous Swede Anders Einstein and his Non-Relativistic League.

The cops from BOMD

Finally The Masonic League of Enigmatic Purpose.

Read more about the leagues here. 

Here comes the cavalry, or rather heavily armed State Troopers,  tasked with protecting the meteor from all outside interference. They are allowed to use deadly force, if necessary (they are US cops, after all, and we do use all clichés here)

The first round don't allow shooting and every league moves to position themselves well and be ready to grab plot points the next round. Two clumsy cultists from the Masonic League hurt themselves while trying to jump over a fence. Much laughter from everyone except Jeppan.

It begins with Group T trying to grab some old manuscripts littering the field. They fail and projects their disappointment with a burst of machine-gun fire on the totally innocent and angelic robots and androids of  the very friendly Anders' league.

Due to that totally unprovoked violence Anders orders his minions to attack. A steel-hard fist (it is actually steel, high quality Swedish stainless to be precise) to the mouth and one berserker is down. What a pitiful example of a great Nordic heritage.

Hans de Laval (he looks a bit different from the last battle) moves up and disposes the pesky Svea Livgarde soldier. We rule!

Professor Axiom does unfortunately charm Professor Garfield, who in turn points out where the crater is situated. Strangely enough it is in the middle of the field, and it seems nobody noticed it before in the faint dawn-light and mists.
Notice Lars de Laval, readying his plasma rifle. This is the last you will see of him, I'm afraid. He was noticed before he could do anything, and quickly disposed of.

Two characters immediately makes a run for the crater to be able to snatch the meteor, or hopefully The Key. One goes down.

Anders Einstein starts to explain why the Theory of Relativity is a hoax to farmer Mellor. The poor chap gets all confused and in an effort to get rid of the strangely dressed man with a heavy Swedish accent he points out the location of a blooming big crater that sprouted from his field just hours ago. Greta de Laval rushes Ms Eviline without accomplishing much.

End of turn and the State Troopers move to protect the crater. They politely ask everyone to move back and then blast away.

Quite successfully, one might add!

And again. A good end-of-round!

Round three is about to start. 

The most shocking event so far. Maggie Mayhem shoots one of the State Troopers. In cold blood. Without warning. The poor chap, a father of seven, just out doing his job, is murdered. In front of several witnesses.
The most disturbing part is Jeppan. He cackles gleefully. Sickening. I have a photo to prove it. It is on its way to the state attorney.

Even worse! It not just a murder, it's serial murders, as Rocky Earp shoots another Trooper. This is just awful.
I'm shocked to the core. Jeppan laughs even harder. I swear I can see horns sprouting from his head.

Plåt-Niklas falls from a burst.

Greta de Laval takes out the pesky Evilina, but she will unfortunately recuperate in the end of the round.

Hans de Laval takes his revenge!

Plåt-Petter and a berserker have a go at each other and both fall. The berserker is a follower so he is immediately removed while Plåt-Petter is an ally and have a chance to recuperate in the round-end. As he will.

It's time for the Troopers. They are seriously annoyed and lets go with all they got. 

But with next no no effect.

The beginning of round four. 

Plåt-Petter is felled by one of the Group T goons...

... and Lieut. Andersson shoots Plåt-Niklas. Things are looking grim.

Two of the Masonic League gets blown to bits (I think it was a peril)

The fight in the crater continues as more people pile in. Unfortunately Mr HP Castrullecraft manages to unlock the Major Plot Point, gaining the Major Plot Point for the Masonic League and a strange effect for himself.

Greta fires at Eviline to no effect, and Eviline answers with a blast of otherwordly energy. Greta is made of stern stuff and ignores the mumbo-jumbo.

Another outrage!
It seems the corrupt cops from BOMD don't have any objections to murdering their fellow policemen. Their leader, Special Agent Dick Dalton, shoots another trooper in cold blood. 

The fight in the crater goes on, and Constable Dimir falls once again.

The turn ends with the single remaing Trooper shooting at Colonel Kazim Ögul that has just retrieved another plot point. It hurts at least a little bit.

Round five, and the playing field on the field is severely reduced.

Professor Axiom succeeds in finding a piece of the meteor, but it turns out to be an ordinary, if hot, piece of space rock. We all laugh at the misfortune. Well, except Ulf, of course.

Kazim takes his revenge. Another cop-kills-cop. This is getting very unsettling.

Dalton uses one of the pieces of fire-works he found last adventure and shoots it at the two Masonic League members who are trying to unlock the plot point. Rocky Earp goes down.

The last round and a final push to grab plot-points or see to it that other leagues loose theirs.

Greta de Laval rushes in and snatches the plot point from under the noses of the opposition.  What a girl... or android, rather.

Fierce fighting starts and men, women, robots and androids fall right and left while people pile in to join the fun.

Sneaky shots from behind from the cop-killer cops of BOMD.

With that the game is over. Each league got two minor plot points, except the Masonic League that got the major plot point. 

What a game! Another great example of why I think Pulp Alley is so much fun.
A big thanks to Jeppan who wrote the adventure and my condolences to the widows and orphans of the murdered State Troopers. You will be avenged.