An Unexpected Party

Blogger's Note: This is the third and final episode of the "Ghost Hunters" chapter of "The Deathly Hallows" before our game.  Tomorrow we write the next chapter together by playing the game.  Read on and enjoy.  Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow in the house of Zarek Ral.

        Solomon Rayne and Ana Karithon made their way through town to the gate at the bottom of the hill and the path beyond it that led up the hill to the house of the wizard Zarek Ral. 

        The left gate swung slightly and somewhat precariously on a single hinge near its bottom.  It creaked as it rocked slowly back and forth.  The right gate stood wide open. 

        The last time Solomon had passed through these gates, they had been locked tightly with a guard posted just inside them.  The guard decided to allow passage or not.  Now, however, the elaborate gate was unmanned and unlocked.

        “Must have taken a lot to make Ral leave this place,” said Ana as they stepped through the gate.

        Solomon did not acknowledge her.  He was carefully scrutinizing the trees along the path ahead.  He motioned for Ana to stop, and she halted immediately.  The path up to the house began to curve up and around the hill several yards ahead.  Solomon and Ana stood silently as Solomon looked and listened for any sign of trouble along the path.  After a few moments, he motioned to Ana to move ahead, and the two of them began to walk slowly towards the house.

        Neither Solomon nor Ana spoke.  Both understood the seriousness of the task they were undertaking and the danger that might jump out at them at any moment.  Both of them stepped softly and lightly on the path so that their footsteps could not be heard over a great distance.  Slowly, carefully, the two of them advanced up the hill, toward the house.

        Down in the village, the sounds of music and laughter could still be heard coming from the direction of the inn which Solomon and Ana had left a few hours before.  More than once Solomon signaled to Ana to stop because the sounds from the village broke his concentration and he needed to regain his focus before proceeding onward. 

        Once, before they started forward again, Ana heard him mutter, “Idiots,” under his breath.  Then they began again.

        The high-pitched creaking of the broken gate could also be heard all the way up to the house.  It was a nearly constant cadence…a short, high creak, followed by a long, low creak.  Only once had the pattern varied as far as Ana could tell.  The creaking gate only amplified the anxiety she felt as the two of them made their way through the trees, in the dark, up to the haunted house on the hill.

        When they had almost reached the courtyard of the house where the trees began to thin and the path began to level out, Solomon again suddenly motioned for Ana to stop.

        “We’re being followed,” he whispered to her.

        “The Shadowfell?” Ana whispered back.

        “No.  They followed us from the village.”

        “Who followed us?”

        “Eladrin, I’d guess.”  Solomon’s voice was suddenly full and loud.  He turned around, looking back down the path.

        Several yards behind, almost out of sight around a corner of the path, two hooded figures emerged from the edge of the woods onto the path.

         Ana drew her staff, but Solomon put his hand on hers and shook his head.

        The two hooded figures glanced at each other and then began walking cautiously toward Solomon and Ana.  Their footsteps made no sound at all.  As they drew closer Solomon and Ana could see that one of them was taller than the other and wore a heavy, dark green cloak.  He had a long sword at his side and a bow hanging across his back.  The other wore a light grey cloak, carried a dagger on his belt, and held a bow in his hand.

        “I don’t care much for being followed, gentlemen.  State you business.”

        “Our apologies, Mr. Rayne, but we weren’t sure of your intentions here,” replied the figure in the green cloak, apparently the leader of the pair.  “After all you did work for Zarek Ral.”

        Solomon took a step forward and interrupted forcefully, “I don’t work for wizards.”

        The green-cloaked figure, unbothered by Solomon’s aggressive response, nodded slightly.

        “As you say,” he replied.

        “And I said, ‘State your business.’”

        The green-cloaked figure nodded slightly again.

        “I am Faron.  This is my brother, Ordon.  We, like you, have devoted our lives to the defense of the mortal realm against the forces of the Shadowfell.  We are here to join you on your quest.”

        “Thanks, but no thanks.  I work alone.”

        “Ahem.”

        “Present company excepted.”

         “Thanks,” Ana smirked. 

        “We understand your reluctance, but…”  Faron cut his statement short and stood listening for a moment.  “I believe we are about to have company.”

        Instinctively the four slid off the path to hide in the edges of the woods, Solomon and Ana to one side, Faron and Ordon to the other.  Both pairs crouched motionless, listening carefully.

        The noise of the inn seemed to be closer now than it had been before.  In fact, the sounds seemed to be getting closer.  Voices and laughter could be heard on the lower path.

        “Six…maybe seven,” Solomon whispered to Ana.  “Human…for the most part.  Some of them are louder than the others.”

        The glow of torches began to appear on the path just below them.  Then a few moments after that, they could see torches being carried by six or seven people walking up the path.  They spoke loudly, laughing and joking, and lit up the night with their torches.  Neither Solomon and Ana nor Faron and Ordon had brought torches.

        “Idiots,” Solomon groused.

        When the loud group was almost to them, Solomon motioned silently to Faron and Ordon then drew his crossbow.

        “I can’t even see them across the path, how do you expect them to see that?” Ana asked.

        “They’re Eladrin,” Solomon replied.

        When the group was directly between Solomon and Faron, Solomon said, “Get ready,” to Ana.  He put up three fingers, then two, then one, then he closed his fist.  Instantly Solomon and Ana jumped out into the path, weapons raised.  Faron and Ordon did the same, Faron’s sword at the ready…Ordon’s bow drawn.

        Several of the group in the path began to reach for their weapons.

        “Uh uh…I wouldn’t,” Solomon warned.

        “There’re more of us than there are of you,” said a man in the front.  He was wearing an animal skin as a cloak and a helmet with horns on it.  He had a grisly face, and the tone of his voice hinted at the fact that he was looking for a fight and he wasn’t too particular about who was on the other side.

        “I assure you,” Faron added, “you would not get your sword drawn in time.”

        The man glanced over at Faron.

        “We mean you no harm,” said a voice from the back of the group.  It was a Dragonborn female who spoke.  She moved toward Solomon and spoke again, “My name is Roheryn.  My brother Rhogar took a job for the wizard who lived in this house, but he has not been seen since.  My friends and I are here to find some clue about where he is or what has happened to him.”

        “Not me,” said a short, bearded man.  “I’m here to hunt ghosts!”

        “You’re that bunch that was giving the serving girl such a hard time at the inn,” said Ana.

        “Please,” Roheryn pleaded, “We just met them at the inn.  They said that they were coming up here anyway so we came together.  I just want to know what happened to my brother.”

        “Your brother’s dead,” said Solomon coolly.

        For a moment, the only sound was the crackling of the torches.

        “Dead?” she said.

        “I’m afraid so,” said Ana.

        “How?”

        “The Shadowfell,” Solomon answered.  He lowered his crossbow.  Ana, Faron, and Ordon followed suit.  “Your brother…”  Solomon paused for moment and then continued, “fought valiantly.”

        Roheryn looked up at the house looming before them.  The flickering light revealed a mix of sorrow and hatred on her face. 

        “I’m so sorry,” Ana added.

        When Roheryn spoke again, her voice was unwavering and stern.  “I’m going up there.  I don’t care if it’s a wizard or some horrible ghostly monster.  I don’t care.  I’m going up there.”

        Solomon glanced around at the group gathered along the path, studying each of them in turn.  He looked back toward Ana, who nodded slightly.

        “Okay look,” he began, “I normally work alone, but I’ve learned recently that sometimes having a little help can be…good.  But…if you’re going up there to that house, then you’re doing it my way.  And if any of you idiots step out of line and put my life in danger, I’ll put you down myself.  Understand?”

        “I don’t take orders from anyone,” shouted the man with the animal skin cloak.

        “Well that’s just fine.  Then you’re free to leave.  Now.  Cause if you’re not doing what I tell you to, you’re not going up there.”

        The other man growled lowly.

        “Valguard, let it be,” said his female companion.  “That’s Solomon Rayne.  Let’s just do what he says.  He knows about ghosts and stuff.  Maybe he can help.”

        Valguard looked back at Solomon.  “Fine.  We’ll do it your way.”

        “Good,” Solomon replied. “Then the first thing we’re need to do is put out those torches.  We can only hope that they haven’t noticed them yet.”

        “That who hasn’t noticed them?” Valguard asked.

        “Whatever’s inhabiting that house,” Roheryn said softly.

        “Put them out.  Right now.”

Blogger's Note: Here's a look at a few of the custom cards we'll be using tomorrow:

The figures for the two Eladrin brothers who followed Solomon and Ana are custom figures made from D&D figures.  Ordon and Faron are a Greycloak Ranger and a Deepshadow Elf respectively.  I haven't had time to make full-fledged Heroscape cards for them yet, so they have temporary testing cards to use for tomorrow.  

Roheryn (below) is a D&D Female Dragonborn Rogue.  She's a custom I made some time ago, so she has a Heroscpe card made.  She's not terribly exciting, but she's also not terribly expensive.

As for the ghosts that the brave adventurers will face...you'll have to wait until the game begins to find out what ghostly spirits the Caller in Darkness has called to the house of Zarek Ral.

Happy Heroscaping.

Heart of the Swarm

A while ago now, I built a board called "Heart of the Swarm". 

It's a swamp board on which we played a couple of different scenarios.  The first scenario was a four-player (two per team) game to test out the strength of my StarCraft-inspired custom figures (Click Here for More on Them) by pitting them against a swarm of Marro, including two hives.

Despite being severely under-pointed, the Marines decimated the Marro swarm.  We weren't sure if the Marines' points needed to be adjusted or if they were just particularly effective against the Marro.  No points have been adjusted yet...

The second scenario we played on the board was called "John Jameson's Capture the Keg".  I placed a barrel under the tower on each end of the board.  The object was to have one of your figures adjacent to the barrel and unengaged at the end of a round.  If you managed that, you'd captured the keg and won the game.

Time was running out and people had to go home, and with the last round, this is as close as Charles and Woody got because Woody put his last Order Marker on the wrong card. 

So sad...

Then, of course, the board was up for a while between those two games, so the boys played a few free games on it, too.

All in all, "Heart of the Swarm" is a pretty good board for a variety of scenarios or just for free play. 

In addition to the regular swamp and jungle terrain pieces, the board did have some custom pieces added to it as well, including the towers on each end.  I find that aquarium décor (like the towers on this board) is great for adding character and obstacles to Heroscape boards.  I also added some swamp/jungle plants of my own (from aquarium plants) as well as a couple of aquarium rock pieces.
 

 I also used some custom terrain pieces on this board including Mud tiles and Blade Grass tiles.  The mud tiles were created by modifying a pattern created and shared by Delphic on heroscapers.com. 

Delphic's original design was for molten lava, but I recolored it for mud, printed it on sticker paper, then printed the hex patterns Delphic provided overtop.  I put the printed sticker paper onto 1/4 inch Styrofoam sheets and cut them out.  They work pretty well. 

We played it that whenever you stepped onto a mud space, you had to roll the d-20.  If you rolled 1-7 (or something), you got stuck in the mud and you had to bring a friendly figure adjacent to the stuck figure before it could move again (like the Glyph of Proftaka).

The other custom terrain piece on this board is Blade Grass. 

The Blade Grass tiles were made by drilling small holes in a swamp water tiles in specific patterns and hot-gluing aquarium grass into the holes.

The special rules of the Blade Grass are that it you cross a line of grass, you must roll an attack die for each line of Blade Grass you cross.  You take a wound for each skull you roll.   That's why the patterns are important.  You can created a walkable path through the grass or limit movement up onto land forms by creating a wall of Blade Grass.  A figure can move through as a short cut, but not without risk.

I chose to use both red-tipped aquarium grass along with the regular green to suggest that they are blood-stained and dangerous.

I think that's all for now.  I'll post something on Arena games after Labor Day.

Happy heroscaping.

Kill the Dragon

So it's been a long while since I've posted anything.  Truth is, it's been a busy year for life and a slow year for Heroscape.  Plus, when we have played, I've forgotten to take pictures, and what fun is a Heroscape blog post without pictures?

But last night we had a game called "Kill the Dragon".  It was a team game with 5 players on one team and 2 players (both played by me) on the other.  We tried to find a way for most of the players to be on the same team against one enemy.  One of the big challenges was to get the balance right in terms of points and Order Markers.  I think we did okay, but it probably still needs a little tweaking.

Here's the pregame story I read to other players before we began...

For centuries, Weston was known for the strength of its steel, due in large part to a deposit of uniquely strong iron discovered under the largest mountain in Weston, thereafter called the Iron Mountain. The mines of the Iron Mountain provided the raw materials for thousands of weapons, and it made the blacksmiths, the people, and the king of Weston incredibly rich.

That is…until he came….Ancalagon the Black. 

He laid waste to fields, devoured flocks, and ravaged villages.  Worst of all, the great and terrible black dragon took up residence in the mines of the Iron Mountain.  Ancalagon’s acid spray line burned deep into the mine, collapsing tunnels and disintegrating miners.

An attempt was made immediately by the king to drive the dragon from the mines, but he was unprepared to face a dragon like Ancalagon.  He barely escaped with his life.  Most of his men did not. 

A second attempt to retake the mines suffered the same fate and a third.  Soon Ancalagon was joined by a mate, Braxas, a terrible and vicious dragon in her own right, and the two spawned many young black dragons, which made retaking the mines a virtual impossibility.  The king of Weston conceded the mountain to Ancalagon, and the mines were lost.

Now, the stores of iron from the Iron Mountain’s mines are long depleted, and the harvests have been sparingly small for the last few years as fields have suffered frequent raids by the offspring of Braxas and Ancalagon.  The economy of Weston has collapsed.  There is no steel to sell and no food to eat.

But there is hope.  A new king has come to the throne in Weston…Godric the Lionhearted, and he has decided to personally address the problem of the black dragons of the Iron Mountain. 

Godric has gathered a contingent of knights, archers, and champions of the realm, including Sir Denrick, the giant hunter, and Sir Taylor, a reputed, if somewhat inexperienced, dragon slayer.  He has also enlisted the assistance of the famed dragon hunter Pavel Halfdane from across the sea. 

Together Godric, his knights, archers, and champions have climbed the pathways up the Iron Mountain to face the terrible foe.  They have come to this place to kill the dragons, to reclaim and reopen the mines, and to free the land of Weston from the scourge of Ancalagon the Black and his clan.  They face incredible odds, but Godric has the heart of a lion.

He will kill the dragon or die in the attempt.

The game was a lot of fun, and the six of us had a great time.  I even made the lemonade black (in order to be intimidating).  We had pizza, mac and cheese, watermelon, and butter beers.  In the end, however, the last play looked like this:

Sir Godric the Lionhearted and the forces of Weston were successful as the last Black Drake fell to one of the Knights of Weston with Godric looking on.

Here are the temporary cards for Godric and Ancalagon:

Godric is the D&D figure, Cleric of St. Cuthbert.  Ancalagon is the D&D Gargantuan Black Dragon.

Here's the Virtualscape version of the board:

As I said, it was a great game and a lot of fun.  And I'm happy to be back on the blog.

Happy Heroscaping, everybody.

Raynor's Raiders...Raiders, Roll

Wow, has it been a while since I've posted!

I guess it really is a good thing when life is so full that I don't have time to sit at the computer and post a significant blog entry about Heroscape.  I like Heroscape a lot, but I also realize it's a hobby. 

Heroscape provides me with a helpful escape from life from time to time...allowing me to imagine and create worlds filled with deadly swamps, treacherous, snow-covered mountains, broad grassy fields, and deep, dark dungeons.  I get to dabble for a while in a world in which the rules are known and followed by all the players, the purpose is clear, and your enemies are easily identifiable.  In life, it is not always so.

Another way I like to escape for a little while is through Starcraft.  It's another war game, of course, with a little less randomness in the play and a lot more blood and carnage.  I prefer to play as Terrans (I do like my Bunkers and Seige Tanks) rather than Zerg or Protoss.

My first attempt at combining the two games was a Unique Squad of two U.E.D. Marines.

I took a couple of Zettian Guards and dug out the heads (Do they really have heads, per se?).  Then I took a couple of extra Drake Alexanders (RoTV) and first, cut their heads off, then cut the faces off the heads.  I glued the faces into the head cavities of the two Zettian Guards, then painted them in camoflauge.  They turned out pretty well, and my friends (some of whom also play Starcraft) enjoyed playing with them.

After the release of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, however, I was no longer satisfied with my little squad of two marines.  I wanted more!

Then I found a set of Tactical Squad of Warhammer 40K Space Marines in a (relatively) local game store, and I knew I'd found what I'd been looking for.  Each box contains 10 marines (For those of you counting at home, that means three common squads of three marines each and one unique hero.  Perfect!) that I could build however I wanted to.  I had to have them.

So, of course, I bought the box, and then, of course, I let it sit on my shelf for about 8 months.

Last April, though, I took a week of staycation, and finally got them out and start working on them, cutting them off the sprues and piecing them together with a little super glue.

My wife was kind enough to take a few pictures of the process for this blog entry (which I had planned all along).

Of course, having been inspired by Wings of Liberty, the marines I made were Raynor's Raiders ("Raiders roll..."), with Jim Raynor as their Hero.

Keeping with the theme of the original Starcraft, Raynor's Raiders had to be blue.  I used a base of a bright blue and then did a second coat in a metallic blue with some silver and some black metallic paint.  I also used gunmetal gray metallic paint for the weapong.  It turned out great.  I highly recommend the gunmetal gray.

I painted Raynor, in a metallic green, rather than blue...to keep with the Starcraft theme and to help distinguish him from the Raiders.

The final result was this:

Me like!

Once the figures were done, of course, I had to go to work on the cards.

I already had worked out some of what the stats and powers would be, but I had to put them in card form and work out a few of the kinks.  Here's how they came out:

For the Raiders, I kept the Stim Pack power from my original squad of marines, but exchanged the camoflauge (which didn't seem appropriate) for Commander Bonding.  Jandar still seemed to be the best ideological fit for Raynor and his Raiders.

For Raynor, I used the idea of Raynor's special power in Belly of the Beast (the next to the last mission of Wings of Liberty, if you choose to do it) and used the language of the Fire Line Special Attack to create his Perdition Shot Special Attack (Awesome!), and I took a page from the Orcs and gave him Marine Enhancement to go with their bonding power.

They turned out beautifully!

Of course, I couldn't stop there.  I needed to have marines from all three Terran factions, Raynor's Raiders, the Terran Dominon, and the U.E.D.  So I bought a couple more sets of marines off ebay, and made myself some more to complete my collection.  I also gave the marines from each faction slightly different powers and point values, so a player can choose the value of the marnies he wants to play with (they all have Stim Pack, though).

So in addition to Jim Raynor with his three squads of Raynor's Raiders, I now have three squads of U.E.D. Marines ("I've been waiting on you..."),  in white armor, in keeping with Omega, the last mission of Brood War) with Adm. Alexei Stukov as the companion hero.  They follow Einar.

And I have three squads of the Sons of Korhal ("You want a piece of me, boy?") in red armor, also in keeping with Omega, the last mission of Brood War), with Gen. Horace Warfield as the companion hero (who has Shredder Grenades and a Flame Thrower).  They follow Wyndar (a not as evil as Utgar or Valkrill, but not good Valkyrie my son Ben and I created that calls the desert home...seemed appropriate for Korhal and Mengsk's marines).

As for my original squad of two marines, I was going to just retire them as prototypes whose time had passed, but then I had an idea.  I renamed them and turned them into mercenaries (again in keeping with the theme of Wings of Liberty).

Oh, I also made a few other Starcraft-themed figures as well, but I think I've blogged enough for now.

Happy heroscaping!

Valkyrie Shrines - Ullar

You may have guessed from the green background of my blog, but Ullar is my favorite of the Valkyrie.  This is so because I do love the elves.  They are my favorite species to play with on the whole, and Sonlen is sort of my alter ego in the game.  He is the figure I go to when I need a good one to fill out my army.

His ability to Dragon Swoop is very effective against Soulborgs and other figures with a high defense or squads like the Krav Maga Agents with their Stealth Dodge (another favorite of mine).  Add his Dragon Healing to that and a moderate ranged attack and you have one powerful figure.

Anyway, I like the elves, so Ullar is my preferred Valkyrie.

Below are some pictures of the Ullar Shrine.

The main part of the shrine is a piece of driftwood that I got from my grandmother when she died.  It originally had a seagull on it.  We used to feed the seagulls on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico when Grandma and Grandpa would go to Texas for the winter.  I took the seagull off and glued some light green clump foliage (from the model train store).  As Ullar has a wood and forest kind of theme, his shrine needed to include wood and greens and water.

There is also a Paint Pot rock filled with some hot glue and painted blue for a pool of water, and a Syvarris figure as a statue (I like to include a figure in the shrine design).  The pool figures prominently in alternate side of the shrine card.

The primary side is pretty much like the Jandar Shrine:

The stone, as the source of the shrine's power, is the only targetable object.

The alternate side of the shrine's card, Ullar's Fountain of Life, has healing powers for those who stand in the open space of the shrine and also gives a bonus movement.

Here is the shrine in the one board we've played with it, an Ullar fortress named Talos Orn, where an alliance of men and elves, together with the Green Dragonwing, stand against an assault of the Black, Red, and Blue Dragonwings, with their hordes.

The Ullar Shrine could be a good addition to any forest board or Ullar themed board to give an Ullar army that little bit of extra advantage that may turn the tide of battle.

Next time, I'll put up the Einar shrine, a custom piece which I'm pretty proud of.

Until then, happy heroscaping.