Pulp Alley – Perilous Island Campaign – Forbidden City

The campaign has reached its third and final act as the leagues have enough clues to follow Lord Darrow into the depths of Perilous Island.

The heroes, always ready to save the world and punish evildoers.
From left to right: The trusted sidekick and shooter extraordinaire Padre Sicario; the ally Soldato Morto armed with an SMG, here to honor the Royal Italian Army; sidekick Soura Innocenza, our deadly hand-to-hand specialist; ally Padre Scuro armed with a deadly shotgun; Monsignore Cadaverica, on a mission from the Pope and the beloved leader of the CSSS - Corpo di Spedizione Santa Sede.

Hacking our way through thick and monstrous jungles we finally reach the ruined ancient city clinging to the cliffs of the mighty volcano in the centre of the island. There is just one problem; the city is surrounded by an unsurmountable natural wall.

Every adventure in the 30's needs nazis, and here they are, die Unabhängige Phrenologen led by Herr Doktor Kopfgelände in Brown with his trusted sidekick Sister Sigrid and a bunch of PhD students. Everyone a crack shot.
Nazis, I hate nazis.

There seems to be only one way in and that is through a gate guarded by a mighty demon. Surely too much for a single league to handle.

The horde, aka the International Egyptological Society, aka The Cult of Ra, led by white suited Ike Naton. Also Skinny Tut the mummy, Nefertiti Jones, a flamethrower-wielding minion, a gang of minor cultist  and an allied local savage.

Emissaries from the four leagues meet under a truce. Lost pages from Lord Darrow’s journal are searched for clues and through the masterful guidance of Monsignore some meaning is garnered from the feverish scribblings. The only way to enter the city is by activating four statues simultaneously and thus opening the sealed gate. The gate in question closes after a short while, so everyone has to be quick or otherwise be late for the next adventure.

That just leaves the small problem of the demon. There seem to be only one way to deal with it, with brute force.

The Belgian League led by Roland Castroulle (third from the right) and  supported by the dreaded Miss Mayhem in centre.

The emissaries are clear on one thing, the only way to achieve this is through cooperation and an uneasy truce is set. No league will attack the others until the demon is neutralized and all leagues are responsible for activating one of the statues.

The Gate guarded by a frightful demon. Statues in red. Heroes of the CSSS in green, cultist yellow, nazis in pink and Belgians in blue.

Can we trust the evil cultists, the dastardly phrenologists or the sneaky Belgians? There is no way to know, as betrayal is only one activation away. One thing is certain though; we will be ready to strike back at a moment’s notice.

The demon, guarding the gate to the Forbidden City

Everyone rushed towards their assigned statues, and Soura is the first to reach one as she is a master runner.

Roland reaches his target

A sneaky Belgian rushes the statue belonging to the phrenologists but he is pushed aside by Herr Doktor himself who says "Don't even think of doing that!"
The lazy cultists don't even reach their assigned statue this first round.

The CSSS shows which league is the strongest, smartest and handsomest by performing the appropriate ritual and activating the statue

Next in line are the Belgians...

...followed by the nazis. Notice the heoric CSSS-members advancing on the demon. The heretics of the other leagues don't have the bravery to do anything but shake and look on.

And finally even the cultists manage to do their part. All four statues are activated and the gate is open. We have three turns to eliminate the demon and rush through as many members as possible.

First blood goes to Padre Sicario who blasts the demon and in return gets hit by barbs flinged from the demon's tail. Sister Sigrid shows that she is not a total failure as she too shoots and hits the demon while getting hit in turn.

A PhD student is felled by the mighty beast, but he will recuperate next turn.

The combined firepower from all three leagues finally fells the foul beast, but it is not out of the match yet.

Roland Castroulle uses his jet-pack to glide through the sky with a loud roaring sound and much smoke. He is certain to do this when when the beast is down, though...

He looks rather smug when he lands close to the beast, then he notices that he is alone with a mighty guardian demon. He turns and shouts "Everyone to me! in a voice cracking with fear.

Those that have not shot this turn surges forward

Even some of the cultists, but they seem to hold back.

The monster regenerates and rises. Roland, closest to the beasts, quivers in fear as the demon turns its multiple eyes on him.

But he is saved by a well aimed shot from Herr Doktor, who does something we didn't expect - he showed some bravery and unselfishness. Easier when you're far away, off course.

Soura gets the honour to once and for all rid the earth from this frighful abomination. As a trusted emissary of the One True Church she is the right person for the job and she knows the incantations needed to banish this beast for the next 666 years.

Soura is a rather physical person, so why waste precious times on old fashioned incantations?
She bashes the demon's head with her crucifix and stomps on it for good measure (she passed a random and rather tough peril). 

The jungle is suddenly quiet as everyone stops in their tracks, mesmerized by the sight of  the great puff of smoke that is everything left of the demon and of the madly laughing  nun drenched in ichor.
(it is thought that wet t-shirt competitions were invented here on this spot, by an enterprising Belgian lady (and we use that expression loosely))

There is a mighty cheer and everyone present rushes the gate to enter the Forbidden City and then spread out as we are all weary of the truce that is now void.

Before us is the mighty Temple of Ba’al Enoch, and it feels as if the end of this adventure is near as the ground rumbles and the volcano starts to belch thick black smoke.

Don’t miss the thrilling apex of the Perilous Island Campaign

Hell Unleashed

Coming soon to a blog near you.

Silas and more zombies for Zombicide: Black Plague

The final hero of the boxed set, the elf archer Silas, is finished.

I've tried to paint him close to the illustrations to be able to identify him easily on the gaming table. That has been a really enjoyable exercise.

Another set of zombies are also done. Runners this time.

Only the necromancer and 25 zombies left and the Zombicide: Black Death box is done.

Frostgrave – The hobbit and the bear - An AAR

My heroic witch and her gang.
From left to right: Two treasure hunters (Ms Stela and Ms Láni), ranger (Ms Fylgja), witch (Ms Norn), crossbowwoman (Ms Brjóst), bear animal companion (Ms Bera), apprentice (Ms Læra), marksman (Ms Lítill), ranger (Ms Bogi), zombie (Ms Dauða) and templar (Ms Harður). 
Our tracker (Ms Rekja) is at the base recuperating from the serious wounds she got last game.
(I took the freedom to give them proper names instead of the nicknames some of them had before.)

We had a great big Frostgrave battle last week and I had an opportunity to both use new terrain-pieces and new miniatures. The last part was particularly satisfying, using my newly painted bear.

Icky necromancer and his baddies.

This time it was a standard game with the optional possible monster activation when treasures were found.

Summoner with friends and a demon. It goes withour saying that these are not mommys boys and girls...

I had my usual Witch warband, Thomas used his Summoner, my son David had an evil (sort of goes without saying) Necromancer and Koen had his first game of Frostgrave using a… well, I don’t actually remember what kind of wizard he used (but obviously a rather cowardly one…).

Koen's warband. They do look rather tasty, don't they...

When I started taking pics of the respective warbands my camera started complaining about low battery levels and as a result there will unfortunately be a limited number of photos and they will be concentrated on the fighting around my warband. Sorry 'bout that.

Witch set up around the green circle, Koen's yellow (fitting), Summoner orange and Necromancer pink.

Koen's gang advances around the church/temple and moves towards the pyramid and the ruined keep and the treasures there.

My witch advances on the right flank with Ms Stela the treasure hunter and a couple of shooters, while the apprentice moves towards the same ruin as Koen's gang.

The necromancer enters the ruined temple while his apprentice moves towards my warband.

The summoner takes it easy in his corner, content with being left alone.

Necromancer and friends in the ruined temple and close to two treasures, which they will secure.

A halfling thief climbed into the ruined keep and moved up to the treasure. His plans to grab it is ruined by my apprentice casting a leap on the bear. So it begins...

That's a mighty big bear... and angry too.

Meanwhile Koen's warband spreads out, trying to get as many treasures as possible.

As does my warband

Even the summoner feels a need to get his thumbs out and he kicks his troops forward.

My missile troopers sends a mass of arrows and bolts towards the necromancer's gang...

...and scores first blood as a crossbowman falls.

My witch cast the second (and last) successful spell made by my warband, and moves a treasure towards her with telekinesis. Ms Stela runs up the steps of the cliff.

Koen doesn't want to see a massacred hobbit and casts the most elegant spell of the game, a wall in between my bear and his troops. Well played, indeed! Laughter an applause greeted that spell (even from the bear)

Treasures are now taken left and right and one of them gets a couple of monsters to appear. We use a scatter diece to se where they enter. Two ghouls enters the playing field on the necromancer flank, seriously upsetting his plans.

Another sneaky hobbit thief expects to run home with treasure and glory. An angry bear jumping after him upsets that plan. The hobbit in the ruins sighs in relief and sneaks away.

A found treasure activates another monster, a demon, and this time it arrives in my back and it engages Ms Norn. Talk about upsetting plans!

The gouls clashes with a necromancer zombie and thief, effectively occupying them for the rest of the game as neither side does any serious damage on the other.

Koen smiles smugly while his soldiers surround the bear. The wizard looks on, just waiting to get it all over with.

My witch fortunately wins her fight with the demon and she runs away as fast as she can. The demon will be shot to pieces by the missile troops but it means that they won't be able to shoot at the Necromancer's gang.
Out of picture is the treasure hunter Ms Stela that has climbed to the top of the cliff and she survives missiles and an enemy soldier leaping up there. She will jump down the cliff and run for safety with a treasure.

 There is a fierce fight going on at the top of the pyramid at this point, and lots of blod is shed over a treasure. Forgot to take any pics there, though.

The necromancer bone darts my ranger, who falls.

To be joined by my apprentice who gets a crossbow bolt in her guts.

Koen looks rather smug now.  Can you even count all the bonuses I get with 3 men surrounding your puny bear, he asks. I roll a 19, he does not and one man is bear-fodder.

Well, I still have lots of bonuses, he says. I roll a 17, he does not and the hobbit is toast and the treasure is dropped.

I still have a mighty hero against your #%¤&! bear, he says. I roll a 18, he does not, and the onlooking wizard gulps and makes a tactical retreat.

With that Koen had to run home, crying (well, he said he had to catch a train… sure) and we called it a day. Ms Norn and her heroic warband got home with four treasures and where without a doubt the winners of the day.

The heroic bear more than makes up for the embarrasing amount of failed spells and botched missile fire the rest of the gang accomplished.
The bear got an extra serving of hobbit-kebab in the evening and is certainly making an appearance in the next game.

A warm welcome to follower Reed with his brand new blog Reed Arcaneum. First post yesterday and a good start it is. Check it out and remember the first time you posted. It was an awful long time ago now…