The Rootshrine, the Wheel, the Belly of the Whale

Managed to play a set of three games of Turnip28 against Jamie. I ran Procession of Woe with my rootshrine for all three games (conclusion: I need some melee-weapon only fodder and brutes). Jamie played Stranglin Harry's Wretched Recruits for the 1st game but the crab cult for the 2nd and 3rd. I won 1st games, and I killed the crab in both games but lost the 2nd and 3rd matches overall.

It was nice to play Turnip outside of context of running the TurnipDay meetup. I think we're going to do it again soon.

TurnipDay VII

 TurnipDay VII was a few weeks ago, before the holiday weekend.

This picture is full of mayhem, but includes terrain and two armies crafted by three people, and this combination of craft/labor certainly gives the scene a lot of flair.

Lots of new things: new terrain and therefore a new scenario; new figures/armies brought by various players; new players to whom the game had to be taught.

My rootshrine in a toff off with Tod.

Butcher brigade.

Mystery Fish

One of the scenarios for Turnip28 is called 'Gone Fishing' and simply declares that both sides' regiments have been swallowed by a fish! But now they are escaping (they deploy in turns directly into a 12" square in the middle of the board - which is very close proximity to each other!). This scenario visually benefits greatly if you have a fish terrain piece for the two armies to climb out of.  Well, here's mine:

This is Sculpey formed around aluminum foil. I tried to make the guts weird but not too gross. The decision to give it a human nose and teeth was partially inspired by medieval drawings of whales and other sea beasts which the illustrators had never actually seen.  Below are some work-in-progress photos...

Here a spare toady shows you the various bits of the work in progress... (and to give you a sense of scale).

Beoley Gap

Following the disaster at Bredale Wood, the Royalist army found its path blocked at Beoley Gap by Scots Covenanters.  Both armies possessed a surplus of muskets (four regiments each), with the Royalists possessing more cavalry (three to two) but the Scots being rich in artillery pieces.

The action that then followed was an intense duel of black powder weapons, to which we were rather unaccustomed.  The objective was to have more unit strength within 12" of the board center (the aforementioned "Beoley Gap") and great quantities of shot and powder were expended as both sides fired at each other.

In fact, such was the intensity of this firing, that neither side's pikemen could be brought against the other, and the cavalry largely fought each other exclusively on the Royalist right flank / Scots left.

We tried new rules for frame guns, combining the shorter range stats from a ballista with the Mimble and Pathfinder rules - this allows them to move "at the double" through rough terrain and also to still make a 90 degree turn when moving on the double.  In this way, they can be carried by mule or hand quickly through woods or rocky hills and deployed facing the enemy.

The only melee in the game was a dire affair between two musketeer regiments.

But in the end, the Royalists held Beoley Gap, the Scots fell back, and the Royalist army could move on to friendlier towns to rest and resupply.

Lich War (Kings of War)

'Lich War' is a Kings of War narrative scenario I made to go along with two custom terrain pieces.  The story background is that for untold years, two ancient liches have perched atop their towers locked in magical combat. As they cast spells of untold power at each other, arcane artifacts of great value are strewn across the land between and around the two towers.  Armies frequently end up in battle at the Liches' Towers to retrieve these artifacts, but are also at risk to being exposed to side effects of the Lich magic coursing between the two towers.

Functionally, this means the game is a 'Loot' scenario played with five tokens instead of the usual three.  The two towers are impassable terrain and there are two hills, two woods, and two obstacle pieces terrain as well. Starting at the beginning of the second turn, one of five effect cards is drawn randomly, and the instructions carried out.

These effect cards reflect the influence of the Liches' sorcery on the battle. Effects include the random redeployment of loot, units, and even terrain, as well as other effects reflecting the madness which befalls those who spend too much time around the towers.

 

 

Jared and Dan were able to play test this scenario with me observing, taking notes, and clarifying. Jared was running his Twilight Kin army and Dan ran Imperial Dwarfs. The Twilight Kin won on the last turn, and the effect cards were able to change the course of the game but without taking away player agency.

The towers are foamcore to which I applied joint compound and then "carved" the alchemy symbols into the surface while still wet.  After the joint compound dried I sanded the surface down, and a series of layers and washes of paint. The lich miniatures are Reaper Dark Heavens, and I was mainly just really pleased they had TWO liches on thrones.