The Lady's Wrath: A Tale of 4 Armies

We ride to war!

After a furious bout of painting, rebasing and rule reading, I've finally managed to get a game of Warhammer: The Old World.

Pete relented and agreed to give me a game, mainly because he's also being pestered by Mike, and so I saddled up my Bretonnians and prepared for battle.

As this would be a learning game, we decided to keep it simple and only have 1000 points each. In a further bid for simplicity (and less to remember) I also opted to include no magic items.

My army was as follows:

• Duke on Hippogryph
• Paladin with Battle Standard
• Damsel on Bretonnian Warhorse (Lvl 1)
• 8 Knights of the Realm
• 5 Knights Errant
• 3 Pegasus Knights
• 10 Peasant Archers (skirmishers)

My Damsel opted to take The Lady's Gift spell from the Lore of the Lady as this was something she stood a chance of casting successfully and might help the knights weather the storm of shot that was going to inevitably head their way.

It was inevitable because Pete had brought along his Dwarfs, which are the oldest fantasy army he has as far as I know, and he went for what has always seemed a fairly standard set up.

• Dwarf King
• Dwarf Thane
• 15 Longbeards
• 20 Dwarf Warriors
• 10 Thunderers
• 1 Cannon
• 1 Grudge Thrower

Only the King was 'runed-up' with the Master Rune of Skalf Blackhammer and a couple of Runes of Fury, making him somewhat dangerous to face in combat.

Deployment

Due to the small size of the game, we opted to play on a 4'x4' table and used the suggested terrain amount in the rulebook, leaving us with quite an open field.

The Dwarfs opted for a classic castle formation, with the Thunderers and artillery in the centre, with the infantry blocks securing the flanks.

I opted to split my deployment. On my left I put my Knights of the Realm and my Pegasus Knights. I had an idea that I might be able to turn the flank of the Dwarfs if these two units could hit the Dwarf Warriors at the same time.

I also put my skirmishers in amongst the ruins.You won't be seeing much of them in this battle as they did absolutely nothing of note, except not dying.

On my right I put the Knights Errant 25" away from the Thunderers. Their job was to ride onto the jaws of death with the goal of silencing these deadly missiles troops.

My general heroically positioned himself behind the abandoned Grail Chapel. This was a decision driven by piety (what better place to pray to the Lady?) and absolutely nothing to do with hiding from a cannon.

On the subject of praying, I obviously did and so the Dwarfs would take the first turn.

Dwarf Turn 1

In classic Dwarven fashion, Pete opted to slip the command and movement phases and went straight to shooting, and his artillery opened up with roaring fury, ripping into my Knights of the Realm, whose long flank was impossible to hide.

Dwarven aim was true and the Lady seemingly abandoned the Knights as three were blasted from their saddles, reinforcing the sense of urgency required in getting across the battlefield.

Despite the accuracy of the war machines, I was helped by the fact that the cannonball stuck in the ground after disintegrating one Knight, and both of the characters in the unit escaped harm.

Additionally, Pete didn't realise that Thunderers can now move and shoot (with a penalty) and so missed a round of inaccurate shooting with them.

Bretonnia Turn 1

Pete's traditional Dwarven opening volley was met with an equally traditional Bretonnian advance as almost every unit matched forwards.

The only unit that didn't were the Peasants, but the less said about them the better.

I opted to move my general more towards the centre of my army. A decision which had nothing to do with his proximity to a tooled up Dwarf King.

I actually moved my general to give me options on where to send him as I suspected that my depleted Knights might now struggle to break the Dwarf Warriors, even with help from the Pegasus Knights, especially if they took more casualties from Pete's shooting.

Dwarf Turn 2

In a shocking turn of events, the Dwarfs made use of their movement phase. The Longbeards wheeled to threaten the flank of any unit that charged the Thunderers.

In retrospect, this was a moment when the new rules really made a difference, but this wouldn't be apparent until later.

The Dwarf line opened up again, but to much less impact. Whilst the cannon (a much reduced threat in the new rules) took two wounds off the Bretonnian Lord, the Thunderers failed to have any impact on the Knights Errant. The Lady of the Lake had clearly decided that she would intervene today as they made three 6+ ward saves.

To add injury to insult, the Grudge Thrower misfired and destroyed itself, leaving the Bretonnian advance pretty much unscathed.

Bretonnian Turn 2

In move that surprised absolutely nobody, the Bretonnians charged at the first opportunity. The Lord on his Hippogryph led the line and was joined by the Knights of the Realm and Pegasus Knights in piling into the Dwarf Warriors.

It was a lacklustre charge in which saw the Knights Errant narrowly win combat on a technicality and force the Thunderers to give ground, part of the new combat resolution rules.

This drove the Thunderers back 2" and the Knights Errant followed up, narrowly taking them out of the charge arc of the Longbeards.

This was the significance of the Longbeards' move earlier. Unfamiliarity with the new rules meant Pete wasn't factoring in the push back with his positioning, which meant that it would be another turn before he could get this powerful unit into action.

In other news, the Dwarf Warriors were ripped apart, failed their break test and we're run down by the Pegasus Knights (deliberately) and the Knights of the Realm (accidentally)

The general restrained his pursuit and reformed to face the remaining Dwarfs.

This was a very successful turn only marred by the Damsel failing to cast her spell at the beginning of it.

Dwarf & Bretonnian Turn 3

I forgot to take any photos on Dwarf Turn 3, but given that all that happened was that the Longbeards and Cannon repositioned whilst the Thunderers and Knights Errant gently shoved each other, this isn't really a surprise.

However, on the Bretonnian turn there was more action. The Damsel finally managed to successfully cast The Lady's Gift on the Knights of the Realm (which would stay in place until the end of the game).

Then the charging continued. The Pegasus Knights went into the flank of the Thunderers whilst the Lord on his large Hippogryph took advantage of being able see over the combat to charge the Cannon.

Unsurprisingly, the Cannon crew were killed in short order. However, the stalwart Thunderers once again held their ground, killing two of the Knights Errant, leaving the Longbeards and opportunity to finally get into combat.

Dwarf Turn 4

The Longbeards charged, taking them out of the Bretonnian General's charge arc and into the Knights Errant.

However, despite this, the Dwarfs really struggled to penetrate the Bretonnian armour and so the Bretonnians held and only gave ground.

Bretonnian Turn 4 onwards...

The Knights of the Realm came thundering in and blows were exchanged. The Dwarfs took light casualties and were pushed back.

The battle lasted for three full turns and saw both the Thunderers and Knights Errant finally destroyed. The Dwarfs were pushed back, despite the King slaying the Paladin, and their fate was sealed on Bretonnian turn five when the Hippogryph tore apart the rear of the unit and put the rest to flight.

Final Thoughts

After one game, I like it.

This is fundamentally the same game as Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th/7th edition and seems to have removed everything I disliked about 8th.

I like how the new combat resolution mechanic adds a nuance that wasn't present before which needs to be considered. This left Pete's Longbeards out of the fight a bit too long, and suggests that some old wisdom about deployment needs to be reconsidered.

It's hard to say anything concrete about the new magic system as we had so little, but I did like the fact that Pete could try to dispel my 'remains in play' spell Rach turn.

The game was severely impacted by a couple of issues in the new rules. War machines are less deadly and cavalry charges are more guaranteed, which in a Bretonnia/Dwarf clash is quite significant. Dwarfs might need to put more thought into match blocking and redirection that previously.

For me, the star of the show was the Lord on Hippogryph, who was a force of wanting destruction. Perhaps indicating a return to a world of Herohammer.

I suspect that he might find himself facing more cannon the next time he goes up against the Dwarfs, and he's almost certainly got a somewhat terminal appointment with Pete's High Elf Dragon Prince in his future.

Observant readers will realise that this is a new model for the army, and that he's not actually riding a Hippogryph. The differences between Griffons and Hippogryphs are negligible and there's no chance for confusion in game as only Hippogryphs are available to the Bretonnian army.

I've had the Griffon model knocking around part painted for years and bought a painted Knight of the Realm model at Vapnartak a couple of weeks ago. The colours worn by the Knight just needed highlighting to be more akin to my army and the Griffon needed finishing off.

I'm delighted that he avoided new model syndrome and I'm really pleased with this first foray into Warhammer: The Old World.

Acquired: 10
Painted: 177
Lead Mountain: 849

The Tale of Four Armies

 So, I've made a bit of a rash promise to myself.

Yesterday, I was writing down my new year's resolutions and an idea struck me that I posted before it was fully formed.

It was to work on four armies for Warhammer: The Old World: Bretonnians, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves and Skaven...at the same time.

This initially appears to be a massive undertaking, but three of those armies are already assembled and painted to varying degrees and the less said about the last one the better (that's the rash bit).

The aim is to get all four armies to specific goal points during the year and play some games with them.

I'm not necessarily going to do work on each army concurrently, or weekly, but I think I will aim to get something achieved with each of them every month and possibly do a round up post in the manner of the original Tale of Four Gamers articles in White Dwarf.

So without further ado, let's look at the challenges I've set myself.

Army 1 - Bretonnia

Challenge: Be able to play each of the scenarios of the Circle of Blood campaign pack with fully painted forces.

Initially, this seems fairly straightforward as I recently announced that my army had just about hit 2000 points of fully painted miniatures.

However, the scenarios offer a specific set of challenges which mean I'll need to paint more units. Not were they designed before the inception of Pegasus Knights, most of the scenarios allow only a single character and put restrictions on what units can be fielded, meaning that I can't currently field an army for any of them.

The first scenario, Night Battle at Mercal, for example, allows only a single unit of Knights Errant and the rest must be peasants. I think I can currently get to about 700 points of the 1000 required.

Also, I just need more knights if I'm actually going to use this army in games with other people.

However, one thing I don't need to do are the special characters as my recent attempts at kitbashing have happily solved this problem before it arose.

Army 2 - Vampire Counts

Challenge: Be able to play each of the scenarios of the Circle of Blood campaign pack with fully painted forces.

Yes, it's the same challenge but with a slightly different focus.

Actually fielding the different armies for each scenario presents less of a challenge to my current army despite the same limit on characters. However, I'm really not happy with the appearance of some (most) of these units as they were done at a time when I really wasn't enjoying painting and some very dodgy strategies were employed to get the army on the table.

I present Exhibit A.

Therefore the main focus of this challenge is to get to the point where I'm not embarrassed to put them out on the table. This will involved highlighting and detailing what are essentially badly done base coats on units like the zombies, and in some cases stripping models to start again.

I also need to sort myself out with a model for the Red Duke himself.

Army 3 - Wood Elves

Challenge: Rebase and restore the army to at least 2000 points.

So these boys need moving back over to Warhammer basing from Kings of War. I'll also need to dig out those models that didn't make it onto the multi-bases and give them the same treatment the rest got (washing and matt varnish) during the first rebasing.

I also want to have a look at highlighting these models up a bit because they seem somewhat flat to my eyes now and I'd like them to pop a bit more.

In all honesty, this is probably the easiest of the four challenges to achieve, something that can't be said for the last one.

Army 4 - Skaven

Challenge: Paint up and play a game with a 1000 point force of Skaven.

So this is the big one.

What you can see in the picture above represents only about 500 points of Skaven, and half of that is the Grey Seer. I'm hoping either Rat Swarms or Giant Rat packs make it into the new edition, as I think painting up the swarm models will be quick and simple.

Even getting all of these done is going to be a bit of an effort.

The Final Challenge

So there we have it. However, I'm going to throw in one final requirement for myself, which ties in to one of my other resolutions.

Challenge: No new models may be bought for an army whilst there are still models for the army in the Lead Mountain.

This should keep me honest and prevent things getting out of hand with four armies on the go.

Admittedly, I don't actually have anything to paint for the Bretonnians, and with the launch date for Warhammer: The Old World having been announced, that's a dangerous position to be in.

Mind you, my first order of business for them is 200 points of peasants, and there's no way I'm paying GW prices for their Men-at-Arms or Bowmen kits. 

This is Cheaphammer after all.

Acquired: 0

Painted: 0

Lead Mountain: 890

"Advance the OLD Guard!"

I hope you all had a nice Christmas.

I had a fairly quiet one and so in the days around it I've been able to find some time for painting some very old miniatures indeed.

I've had most of these Men-at-Arms done the release of Advanced Heroquest in 1989, and I've been intending to add them to an army for much of that time.

At one point they were to be included in an Empire army built with the contents of two reinforcements boxes for Battle Masters, but ultimately they ended up in the pile of shame and we're given to my friends when I moved overseas for a year.

Fast forward twenty years and they've come back into my possession (along with some that belonged to a friend), and with me being caught up in the hype for Warhammer: the Old World, they presented me with the opportunity to paint a unit for 'the game of fantasy battles' for the first time in over a decade.

They are surprisingly good models despite their age, although there were a good number of mould lines to clean (I'm sure I didn't get them all) and there's a circular injection point at the base of the tunics at the rear.

A couple of the weapons had broken off and so I replaced them with sections from the twelve billion spare halberds I have from the 6th edition plastic Men-at-Arms sprues - an example is on the left.

In terms of painting it was almost exactly the same compilation of base coats and washes as I used ten years ago, although I did get all advanced and use Gulliman Flesh contrast paint for the faces.

The shield transfers are from the Reikland Reavers Bloodbowl team that came in the 3rd edition box for that game.

Obviously, monopose models lack the command team that poor quality troops like Bretonnian Men-at-Arms need. Therefore I used one of the of the models with a broken weapon to fashion a standard bearer with bits taken from my metric ton of Bretonnian spares.

Similarly, adding a horn to the belt of another turned him into a much needed musician. It's still WYSIWYG even if you can't see it from the front.

The unit champion is an even older model and is from the Talisman boardgame (actually from the Talisman Adventure expansion) and is from 1986. Clearly a veteran.

The helmet and perpetual Gallic shrug make him blend into a Bretonnian army really well.

I have a number of other Talisman miniatures which I intend to sneak into all sorts of different projects.

Even with the command group, I only had 16 Men-at-Arms, which is not really enough for a melee unit. Therefore I fell back on a tried and tested Cheaphammer practice of using a unit filler.

I had intended to put together a cart full of gear, but I stumbled on some geese I'd inherited from my dad and had an idea 

Using one of the last two archer bodies I still had, I put together a model who could conceivably be ineffectually trying to shoo away some geese that were intent on disrupting the formation.

When put with the rest of the unit it adds a element of comedy, which I think is always important, but often missing, in Warhammer Fantasy, as the unit is essentially being flanked, or, for want of a better term: goosed in the rear.

Recent marketing information has shown that the Bretonnian Men-at-Arms have had a little bit of a glow up in their rules, making them potentially more useful than they were.

Most notably is the addition of the Grail Monk, carrying a blessed tryptich, allowing the unit to hold ground in the face of any enemy for at least a round.

Again, using my last Man-at-Arms body, I cobbled together a Grail Monk to go with my larger (and more likely to get used) unit of Men-at-Arms.

Here he is with his unit, ready to stand against the Hordes of whatever is sent against them...for a short while, at least.

This represents the last of what I have available to paint my Bretonnian army, although I do have one thing that I want to work on, but I need to get my hand on a knight first.

Here's the current army in all its glory.

Yes, I'm aware that I need more knights.

Pleasingly, I now have more than the equivalent of the Bretonnian army box for the release of Warhammer: the Old World, and the rulebook is going to be available separately, meaning that I don't need to buy the box.

The only thing I would be missing out on is the new Royal Pegasus kit, but they will pop up on eBay, I've no doubt. Also, the thing I'm trying to work on might address that issue too.

So that's a sizeable chunk of miniatures painted: 21 if you count the geese as individuals (which I do) but accept that the Grail Monk was in the bits box...bits.

However, astute readers will possibly be asking themselves, "if he has the Men-at-Arms from Advanced Heroquest, does that mean...?

Yes, yes it does.

I have 31 Advanced Heroquest Skaven, along with 16 plastic Clanrats from different generations, 22 Giant Rats, 2 Rat Ogres, a Beastmaster and Grey Seer Thanquol.

On the up side, that's the beginnings of a new army and a potential project for next year.

On the other hand, that's 73 miniatures that are worth about 500 points, and most of that is Thanquol, who can't be used in small games anyway.

And I've still not finished counting all the additions to the Lead Mountain.

However, Christmas was quiet on the gaming front, and the only hobby-related gifts I got were a Horus Heresy character model, and 3 Gondoliers, a Gondola and some more cardboard terrain for Carnevale.

Which, with only a couple of days to go and yet more to count, leaves the current totals as:

Acquired: 290
Painted: 323
Lead Mountain: 589

Ouch!

The Knight Before Christmas

Well, it's happened again.

I once thought I had become immune to the siren song of Games Workshop's marketing department, but the growing swell of the rising tide of Warhammer: The Old World and threatens to dash me on the rocks of financial oblivion as I drown in nostalgia.

There is but one defence left to me: faith. Faith in the tenets of the Church of Cheaphammer.

"Bring me my bits box!"

Loooong time readers of this blog might dimly remember that twelve and a half years ago, the very first posts on this blog featured my waxing lyrical about avoiding giving money to Games Workshop whilst building a Bretonnian army four our club's 'Tale of X Gamers' challenge.

Due to Warhammer Fantasy Battle 8th edition being rubbish and the world blowing up, I never finished that army (I got to about 1500 points) and so when the hype trawler for the upcoming release of Warhammer: The Old World steamed into port with a focus on Bretonnia and Tomb Kings, I was ensnared in the nets of nostalgia.

Unfortunately, being me and having not played Warhammer Fantasy Battle in over a decade, I had sold my Bretonnian backlog to fund other projects at some point in the distant past, leaving very little in my bits box to scratch the nostalgic itch before I was compelled to spend money on impulse.

A couple of horses, a single 5th edition knight, a few spare torsos and a mountain of heads and weapons stared back at me as I searched for inspiration.

And then my eyes fixed on a motley-esque head from the Men-at-Arms sprue, some legs from the Empire Militia kit and an idea was born...

Jules le Jongleur, the jester companion of Tristan le Troubadour, special characters from the 5th edition Bretonnian book.

Once the idea was born, things came together quickly. Most of the bits are from the Men-at-Arms kit (I think), but the head of the hobby horse was carefully cut from a knight's helm.

Tristan and Jules were not included in the 6th edition (and last) army book, and there is zero chance of them turning up in the new game, unless I play 5th edition specifically, Jules is sans rules. 

However, he's a characterful chap who can caper away in in the back ranks of any infantry unit making up the numbers without too much fuss.

Obviously, if I was making Jules, I'd need a Tristan, and that seemed an ideal use to put my one remaining knight body to.

A little bit of carving was required to get the older body to fit on a newer horse (to match the rest of the army, and I needed to use a mismatch lance arm and cover the hole in his back (which is how the 5th edition knight helms were attached with a peg on the material).

Fortunately, Tristan is technically a Questing Knight (from the days before they had to use great weapons) and so I covered any unsightly section with his travelling gear and explained away the mismatch arm as a consequence of one of his adventures.

The old kits were swimming in useful bits, so I was able to give Tristan a pack, a keg of ale, a silver horn and a helm (the original model was bareheaded too). The lute is the only non-GW bit on there, but it was kind of essential for this character concept.

You might notice that the heraldic icon he bears looks a little familiar. I was forced to improvise after not planning around what decals I had available when I started painting him.

The Ultramarines symbols were pretty much the only blue transfers I have, and so I made the decision to turn them into lures, which is appropriate. I'm not 100% happy with this and so I might change this when I eventually get more Bretonnian decals.

As he's not equipped in the right way to be a Questing Knight, Tristan with serve as a Paladin in my army, probably leading the Knights Errant who are likely to be inspired by his heroic songs.

The final special character I've made is the Holy Knight, a Grail Knight on foot from the Circle of Blood campaign box released in 5th edition.

I'm not sure where the legs come from (possibly an Empire kit) but pretty much everything else is Bretonnian knight. He's supposed to be armed with a hammer, but I've  cobbled together a mace for him, which will work fine.

If you're wondering about the odd colour choice, I made the decision when building the army that all the servants of the Lady of the Lake (Damsels, Battle Pilgrims, Grail Knights, etc.) would wear pale blue, and so I've kept to that for the Holy Knight. The shield design is also space marine transfer; this time from Blood Angels, who have a similar, and very convenient) chalice fetish to the Grail Knights (his crest is also from a Blood Angels backpack).

Warhammer: The Old World seems to have restored the concept of knights on foot to the Bretonnian army, so his chances of seeing action are quite high. Additionally, I've never played through the Circle of Blood campaign, and as I have both the armies necessary, that might be an option too.

I've still got a couple of things that can be repurposed into my Bretonnian army before I inevitably need to spend money if I'm going to give Warhammer: The Old World a go (I definitely need more knights), but this is at least keeping me clear of the feeding frenzy for Bretonnians over on eBay right now.

Acquired: 212*

Painted: 302

Lead Mountain: 532**

* I promise that I'll calculate the full damage inflicted on my numbers by the recent treasure trove that was unearthed before the end of the year.

** Sadly, these three do nothing to the Lead Mountain as I never counted what was in my bits box in the first place.

Finally, I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to both of my readers for tomorrow. I hope it's a good one. I've no idea what Santa's bringing me, but I have been a good boy, so hopefully there might be some toys under the tree for me.

Finally, I'm case you were stuck for something to watch, there is a Netflix film called The Knight Before Christmas, which I discovered whilst looking for suitably seasonal images in a Bretonnian theme to finish off with.

It has a rating of 5.6 out of 10 on IMDb.

Make of that what you will.

Happy Christmas!

Dead End Village

A village in Bretonnia awoken to the sound of a disturbance in the graveyard beyond the river. Foul sorcery is at play as the restless dead crawl out of the ground...it's clearly time for another game of 7TV Fantasy.

I'd offered JP and Craig a demo of 7TV and so threw together a simple scenario using my old Warmammer Fantasy Battle armies where a Righteous Paladin of Bretonnia and his retinue must confront an incursion by the minions of a Vile Necromancer.

The heroic defenders of the village were:

Baron Jean-Paul - Righteous Paladin (Co-Star)

The Lady - Wise Mentor (Co-Star)

Patsy - Warhorse (Extra)

The Guards - Guard Captain, Guard Sergeant and 3 Guards (Extras)

Brother Repentia - Monk (Extra)

Pierre - Bowman (Extra)

Whilst the evil invaders were:

Rilkyna - Vile Necromancer (Star)

Wilhelm - Vampire (Extra)

The Shade - Wraith (Extra)

The Rattling Horde - Skeleton Champion and 9 Skeletons (Extras)

The aim with both casts was to try to show of a range of elements of the game: magic, unit activation, mounted units, etc., whilst keeping this fairly straight forward.

The scenario was 'The Battle' with just two objectives, and I left out Encounters or Macguffins to focus on the main game mechanics.

The defenders seized the initiative with the Lady leading the Guards into the centre of the village.

Meanwhile, the righteous Baron Jean-Paul mounted his faithful steed Patsy and rode towards the most direct route across the river from the graveyard.

He was right to do so as he was immediately confronted by a horde of Skeletons wading through the water, led by the floating apparition of the Shade.

Meanwhile, Rilkyna herself opted to avoid getting her dress wet and made her way across the bridge, rolling the bones as she went to summon a boney bodyguard.

To the knight's surprise, the restless dead suddenly surged forward (stealing the scene) and peppering the Baron with arrows from their short bows (which, in all honesty, I hadn't noticed on their profile, and so I was quite surprised when this happened too).

The noble steed succumbed to the onslaught of arrows, but his rider managed to avoid being unceremoniously dumped on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Guards found themselves assailed by the fearsome form of a Vampire, whose vampiric presence summoned one of them within reach of its deadly blade...and was quickly killed.

Now dismounted (and dressed less well due to my lack of knights on foot), Baron Jean-Paul was confronted by the Shade, which sought impale him with a Morbid Blade.

Fortunately, the knight used his mirrored shield to block the blow, impaling the Wraith on its own blade and briefly causing it to transfix itself.

Seeing their companion fall, the Guards charged the Vampire and brought a rain of blows down upon the foul creature.

Seeing the Guards struggling to bring down the undead fiend, the Lady opened a dimensional gate, bringing the men back to her, so that they could gather themselves to charge again (a cunning use of the spell combined with 'Stealing the Scene' to get more attacks).

The Sergeant charged in again and plunged his blade through the heart of the Vampire, turning it into smoke with a shriek.

Wilhelm's scream echoed across the village, the convulsive shock causing both the Shade and the Skeleton Champion to briefly fall to the floor.

Rising from the ground, the Shade became incorporeal and drift to attack the holy man in the distance, whilst the Skeletons swarmed the Baron.

This fight lasted for most of the game as both sides were constantly frustrated by each other's armour. The Baron did managed to bring down a Skeleton occasionally, with a couple more taken down by Pierre's arrows fired from across the river. We'll return to this fight later.

Suddenly, an eldritch flame engulfed both the Lady and the Baron, causing panic and preventing the defenders of the village from pressing their advantage (for reference, the 'Oiled For The Camera' Trilogy Card is horrific).

Brother Repentia bravely tried to banish the Shade but eventually succumbed to its Morbid Blade. However, the Shade was finally dispelled by an arrow fired by Pierre the Bowman.

The Lady was not for burning, and gathered the flames surrounding her and sent them flying as a fireball towards Rilkyna and the Skeletons she'd been raising by the bridge.

In a move heavy with irony, Rilkyna shook off the flames and then hurled the Holy Hand Grenade towards the Lady on the count of three. Not two, not four, and five was right out.

The Guards rushed towards Rilkyna in an increasingly desperate attempt to bring her down.

But the Sergeant was suddenly captured in a snapping cage of bones, and the other Guards were overwhelmed by the every rising tide of Skeletons.

Soon, only the Guard Captain was left fighting for his life.

Despite slowly hacking through the horde surrounding him, the Baron's seemingly impervious armour was finally penetrated by a rusted blade and he too fell.

Pierre looked on as Skeletons advanced and decided that with his lord dead, discretion was the better part of valour and fled to warn the next village of what was coming.

The final result was a crushing 7-1 victory to the undead, but more importantly, both JP and Craig enjoyed the game and could see how it would suit their own increasingly eclectic gaming collections.

I was pleased to see that the undead were appropriately relentless and it was interesting to see some spells used in ways I hadn't thought of.