Mother Goosegog Races Skeletons

“…we only made it so far, but then got separated ma’am.”

The ranger rubbed a soot-smeared hand over an equally soot-smeared forehead.

Newly-filched potion bottles clinked and glugged as Mother Goosegog rose stiffly from the hunk of masonry she was sitting on.

“Well they haven’t come this way…They must be ahead somewhere.” She squinted into the gloom. “I see fires… torches maybe?”

The javelineer wiped the ichor from his spear and sighed. “I’m still not convinced I fully killed that thing, so I don’t suggest going back missus.”

“Fair point…” Goosegog peered at the cracked pipework. “That one’s big enough for you to fit in; if it leads to the other side of this room then at least some of us could make it out.”

The javelineer nodded and disappeared into the gloom.

“So we go on?” The ranger adjusted his cloak. “Very well, but I can’t help feeling that something is still behind us…”

Time for one more solo game – the Skeletal Run!

Our intrepid heroes (Witch, ranger, tracker and two thieves) moved forward. Flickering flames both ahead and behind them revealed themselves… Burning skeletons!

Notching his bow, the ranger quickly dispatched a skeleton sneaking up behind him.

A fog spell screened the two thieves as they raced along the left-side wall.

The tracker turned another sack of burning bones into a smouldering pile.

But they just kept on coming, forcing the ranger to keep fighting.

The thieves clambered up onto some rubble to dig out a treasure, only to be set upon by two more skeletons. Luckily the thieves prevailed on both counts!

Ranger and tracker closed ranks to allow their employer to claim another treasure.

The ranger grabbed a treasure and made a run for it. Meanwhile one of the thieves made it off the board while his colleague joined in the fray alongside a now wounded tracker.

They won the fight but could not damage the skeleton, opting instead to push it away thus earning themselves some breathing space. The thief acted as rear-guard while the others escaped.

Only to succumb to the burning tide.

Another fun solo game! Once again Goosegog managed to nab all the treasure, but at the cost of one of her warband. The hour was now getting late, so I had to pack up, two-thirds into the campaign. Mother Goosegog and co. will have to wait a while before they can finally attempt to escape the clutches of Dark Alchemy…

Mother Goosegog and the Alchemical Monstrosity

As the last echoes of the explosion died away, the old witch pulled herself out of the rubble. While her eyes adjusted to the flame-lit chamber she cursed herself.

“Stupid woman!” she spat. “Too scared to face the big boys so you go hiding in the tunnels… and then this…”

She surveyed the wreckage: what was once clearly an alchemical factory, now torn apart and smouldering.

“Eurgh, my head…”

She span round by instinct, holding her broomstick in a defensive posture, only to lower it as the javelineer she had recently hired clambered out from under a fallen roof beam.

“Missus, what happened?”

“Something went ‘bang’, that’s what,” she snapped, as behind her two other members of her band began to extricate themselves. “Come, we need to find the others and get out of here.”

With their entrance way blocked by fallen masonry, they headed towards a distant speck of light.

“This way I-“

“ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!”

“Ah. I think we may not be alone…”

So it was the weekend, the kids were in bed, my good lady wife was on a late shift and I had a boot full of Frostgrave stuff from the previous day’s gaming. Also I wanted to improve my Witch warband a bit, so… Dark Alchemy anyone?

First up was the Alchemical Monstrosity scenario – pitting a partial warband (my Witch, a thief, javelineer and tracker in my case) against the titular monster on a 2’x2’ board. Oh, and some rats…

…one of which duly appeared when I fluffed the first initiative roll…

Goosegog and her compatriots edged forward, taking whatever cover they could find, or using a Fog spell to hide from the monstrosity. Could they survive the encounter and still escape with some treasure?

The tracker hid behind a crumbling wall as the monstrosity scanned the devastation for it’s prey.

Witch and javelineer similarly hid behind a squat obelisk, alerted to danger by a savage squeaking sound.

Another fudged initiative roll and on came another rat.

The javelineer leaped out to skewer the creature, egged on by his employer. One treasure nabbed.

Thief and tracker also splatted a rat and obtained a treasure.

The monster approached - it had to be faced sometime! As Goosegog made a dash for it, flinging a Bone Dart, the javelineer is pinned by the monstrosity! Okay, let’s roll – red dice for the javelineer, blue for the monster…

What’s this? A 20? Critical hit! (Note: upon re-reading the rules after the game, I discovered that the monstrosity is actually immune to critical hits – oops! I cover up this mistake by stating that it had already been Bone-Darted and was already low-ish on health).

The alchemical monstrosity went down! (*cough*)

Thief and tracker, both now treasure-laden, headed for the nearest door; but would it be the right one?

Yes!

But they weren’t out of the woods yet, as another rat scuttled out of it's hole.

This one fancied witch and chips for tea…

Thankfully Mother Goosegog managed (just about) to kill the rat and everyone made it out of the chamber. All four treasures had been ‘liberated’, but they still had to find their way out…

Thaddeus Hits the Huts

“Must’ve been quite a battle…” Thaddeus looked down at the dead snow leopard and grimaced.

“There are more bodies over here my lord, and blood trails too.”

“Hmm.” The Summoner looked past his apprentice to the jagged tower brooding in the distance. “This place does not feel right – we are fortunate to have arrived after the event I think.”

“So onwards my lord?”

“Indeed. In my visions I saw a place a little further hence. Ancient huts in which there is much treasure, guarded by evil spirits.”

“Um, ‘evil’?”

“Most unpleasant.” Thaddeus chuckled as his hands began to glow. “Luckily I have prepared for all eventualities…”

So onto the second game of the day - the Haunted Houses scenario. Alan had to make a move, so it was just me vs Giles. With Mother Goosegog faring so poorly last time, and Giles’ Lady Catherine easily outstripping her in terms of experience, it was time for Thaddeus Daemoncall to return.

Both warbands made their way warily towards the crumbling huts, soldiers primed against supernatural attacks thanks to liberal doses of the Enchant Weapon spell. In the centre, my treasure hunter was first to enter a hut. He grabbed the treasure; and out of the shadows…. Nothing – phew!

However his digging had attracted the unwelcome attention of a more corporeal kind – two ice spiders looking for an easy meal.

One of Giles’ treasure hunters followed suit, but was not so lucky. A ghostly apparition appeared next to the treasure and attacked!

The remainder of my warband, supported by a summoned imp (my base improvements finally proving their worth) headed left to another hut. All was quiet in this corner, but then… a rumbling sound…

A giant worm erupted from the ground, right behind my spellcasters! Halfinch the thief and Sir Pierre the Knight about faced and raced to protect their masters.

On my right, captain Red Sandra led the men to another hut whilst a summoned zombie shambled after them in an effort to keep up.

Giles’ treasure hunter, his sword given a magical pep talk, easily defeated the wraith.

Gnawing on a freshly summoned imp, the giant worm turned to face Halfinch and Sir Pierre.

One of my crossbowmen reached a high enough point to survey the battlefield and cover his comrades. As an infantryman grabbed another treasure (thankfully not summoning another wraith), he spotted an enemy archer and dropped him.

I now had three out of the six treasures in my possession. My original plan was to secure these and then have my captain lead my heavy hitters in an attack on my opponent, but the arrival of the giant worm changed my priorities somewhat.

Still I could mess with the enemy by dropping an imp in amongst them – pity they had to go an shoot it…

My warband swamped the worm, Red Sandra wounding it with a furious charge, leaving my barbarian to finish it off.

Unsupported, a flanking manoeuvre by Fluffy II (or is it III, I lose count) is put down.

After wandering around for a bit, an ice spider noticed my zombie – rotting meat is better than none… Thankfully the shuffling cadaver had enough wits left to defeat the arachnid.

With the worm dealt with, the heavy hitters could finally advance towards the retreating enemy, who had also obtained three treasures.

The second ice spider attacked my zombie and turned it into dust, only to be shot down by my crossbowman.

Lady Catherine deployed her now trademark Wall spell to stymie my advance and made her escape.

“Come back and face the bare buttocks of wrath!” yelled my barbarian.

So three treasures each and honours even, although Giles gained more experience due to his slaying of a wraith. Sadly Fluffy did not survive the encounter and again my treasure rolls left a lot to be desired, but the gold and trinkets will at least enable me to buy another warhound.

Another fun game with the wandering monsters causing absolute havoc for my warband – who could ask for anything more! Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 of the battle from Giles’ perspective on his blog.

But what of Mother Goosegog…?

Mother Goosegog and the Silent Tower

“But I don’t understand! Why don’t the wizards all just get together and share the treasure out among themselves?”

“Because young ‘un, they’re stupid!”

Mother Goosegog winced, her shoulder throbbing from where the necromancer’s bone dart had struck. She turned to her wide-eyed apprentice  and forced a smile.

“Never mind eh? This tower is supposed to be a centre of null energy. If the sickness is magical then it’s worth looking at, but usually no self-respecting wizard would go near such a thing, so we should be left alone to-“

She stopped at the sound of raised voices in the distance.

“Never mind,” she sighed, “fetch the others…”

After obtaining the necessary permits from She Who Must Be Obeyed, a day’s gaming was in order. With Giles bringing out his new-ish level 10 Enchanter warband, and club member Alan coming along with an untested (also Enchanter) bunch, I decided to give my Witch warband another airing (it being more sporting to field her level 2 gang as opposed to my usual level 24 Summoner band.)

As we were at Giles’, we used his Mordhiem scenery, with my Pringles tube Silent Towers lurking in the middle of it all. Mother Goosegog, having hired an extra tracker, also boosted her small band with a snow leopard, ice toad and a raised zombie.

Having rolled for table sides, I found myself facing Giles’ band in opposite me, with Alan’s too close for comfort on my left. Most of my warband thus took cover in a coaching inn in the centre of my deployment zone, with my dwarf crossbowman clambering up to get a better field of fire.

My right flank was  not threatened, so my ranger and a thief, watched over by my apprentice, headed there in search of treasure.

Alan’s band moved towards my right, going for a treasure chest that I also had my eyes on. By way of discouragement my snow leopard raced forward, supported, courtesy of a Leap spell, by my slow but deadly ice toad.

As my slow leopard went down fighting, my zombie also shambled forward for a bit of zombie-on-zombie action. My embattled left flank was by now screened with a wall of fog, but this wasn’t enough to screen my crossbowman, who was badly wounded by one of Alan’s archers. With only one action per turn, the dwarf was now practically useless, considering that to move into cover, reload and then fire now took three whole turns.

Meanwhile the rest of Alan’s band lightly probed on Giles’ flank, leaving him relatively free to advance on the tower.

Fighting on my left continued to rage, buying Alan enough time to snag the coveted treasure. With my snow leopard dead, ice toad wounded and zombie soon to crumble into dust, any thoughts of a strong advance on this flank where swiftly disabused.

However fortune is known to favour the brave, so thief, knight and tracker moved into the fray. Could my knight, complete with a recently purchased magical weapon, cleave his way through to the treasure?

Giles’ warband continued towards the tower, nabbing any treasure within easy reach whilst screening themselves from any harm with Wall spells.

Gile’s captain was the first to reach the top of the tower! With most of my warband tussling with Alan’s (staying alive thanks to a freakish run of critical hit 20s) I was in no position to stop him.

Knight and thief continued to carve their way through Alan’s band, but the treasure was slipping away…

Finally I felt safe enough to advance to the tower. The treasure (worth a whopping 3 rolls on the treasure table) was firmly in Giles ‘possession, but I could still get experience from climbing up the tower. Therefore my Witch, accompanied by her tracker bodyguard, reached the base of the tower whilst one of my thieves distracted the opposition on the walkway.

Mother Goosegog climbed the outside of the tower rather than bump into any enemies descending inside. Surprisingly spry for her age, she got to the top and admired the view (with the exception of the gaudily dressed captain hauling away the fabled treasure!)

The fight on my left slowly died away, as did the combatants. Thus the warbands sloped away, some in triumph, others (well, mine to be exact) in defeat. Giles’ batrep – part 1 and part 2 – can be read on his blog.

Mother Goosegog only managed a single treasure, easily taken from the right flank by my ranger. Alas the treasure roll result was pretty meagre. Alan took two treasure while Giles, wisely leaving us to squabble amongst ourselves, nabbed four, including the one on the top of the tower – in total a whopping 6 rolls on the treasure table!

Luckily all of my band survived except the snow leopard, though I ‘sacked’ the ice toad – my plan of leaping him into action and using his triple damage attack failing dismally. In retrospect I should have made a move on the tower sooner, relying on Fog spells to screen me from harm, but hey ho, next time maybe!

Despite the poor returns, it was a great game, with plenty of thrills and spills – but the fun wasn’t over yet…

The Specialists

The sky had grown ominously dark by the time Azlok the Black’s body finally stopped twitching. Franck’s muscles relaxed as he stepped back from the corpse.

“He’s dead,” he muttered with grim satisfaction.

“Finally!” Meertal the javelineer moved forward to retrieve his spear, but the tunnel fighter stopped him.

“No, leave it in just in case.”

“We should burn the body,” said an older man in apothecary’s robes, looking up from his grisly work of extracting a bone dart from a prone figure. “I don’t trust necromancers to stay dead.”

“Hah!” Another figure snorted from the shadows. “Never thought I’d hear a sawbones say that!” He moved towards the body, fishing a tinderbox from a pouch. “Leave it to me…”

“Hmph, well you owe me a new javelin then!”

The trap expert grinned, poking the corpse with his toe. “Tell the boss to take it out of my wages.” He bent over his former employer. “Maybe I’ll leave a little surprise here too, in case you do manage to get up again…”

Franck wiped the dark blood from his cutlass and studied his surroundings. “So what now? We need to get out of here that’s for sure – I don’t like being out in the open like this…”

The prone figure besides the apothecary coughed and pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Yes we must leave,” he muttered in the thick accent of the steppe tribes. His keen gaze swept across the bruised horizon, where one of his crows was noisily wheeling around as if battling an invisible opponent. “Azlok’s essence still lingers here.”

“Well I vote we head to the nearest inn – we need to find a new boss fast,” Meertal spat. “We’ll never work again if word of this gets out…”

“Perhaps it should,” The trap expert sniggered. “Teach any bloody wizard not to try and turn us into revenants.”

“What about the dog?” Meertal nodded towards a cleft in the rock, where two beady eyes were watching them intently.

“Oh, he knows what side his bread’s buttered on.” Franck flourished a piece of dried meat and tossed it. A small but muscular bulldog crept out of it’s hiding place, snaffled up the meat and then ambled over to the tunnel fighter, tail wagging.

“C’mon then, let us away,” grunted the trap expert, lighting a piece of rag and casually dropping it onto the corpse. “Hey boss, I resign,” he chuckled as greasy flames engulfed the unmoving figure.

Some more specialist troops, mainly from the Liche Lord and Breeding Pits expansions. The tunnel fighter, trap expert, javelineer and crow master are mainly from the cultist sprue, with bits from other sprues (Fireforge Mongols etc.) added into the mix. The warhound is from a Mantic dwarf sprue while I nabbed the apothecary off the Lead Adventure Forum. Now I just need a crow!

The Living Museum: Three Enter, One Leaves…

A while back I volunteered to put on a Frostgrave game at our local wargames club. Luckily there were a couple of victims members foolish willing enough to give it a go.

So off I went last night and duly set up a table, deciding that it might be interesting to run the Living Museum scenario, rather than just a standard game. I dug out the Necromancer and Elementalist warbands had I pre-generated for the last club game, but also decided to spice things up a bit by taking to the field myself with a scratch warband, headed by my new Heresy Witch.

Yep, this was to be my first three player game!

In between teaching the guys the ropes and playing the game, I didn’t have a lot of time or inclination to take lots of notes or photos, so apologies for what is a very sketchy batrep.

I spent all my gold on some higher quality soldiers, which meant I had a couple of slots left to fill. Happily I successfully cast Animal Companion pre-game, which added a bear to my warband. Alas my Animate Construct spell failed, so I was a ‘man’ short. Moreover I also managed the Familiar spell, giving my Witch some extra health.

We rolled to choose entry sides, and I set up opposite the Necromancer, with the Elementalist coming in on my left. The Necromancer got the first initiative, immediately Bone-Darting my Witch, who I had placed in direct line of sight – d’oh! While the shot hit home, it wasn’t enough to wound/kill my Witch, who replied in kind (missing the mark alas) before ducking out of sight to heal herself.

All three warbands converged on the statues in the centre of the table; the Elementalist making good use of Elemental Bolt to singe the Necromancer’s men with fireballs while his archers climbed up to a higher vantage point.

Following suit, my ranger and crossbowman also went up a storey. Shooting over the ruins, my ranger engaged in a duel with the Elementalist archers for pretty much the rest of the game. I leapt my bear into the midst of the Elementalist’s warband, hoping to slow him down and thus secure my flank, but the poor beast was quickly struck down by his thugs.

My thieves raced into the centre alongside a Leapt knight while my warhound padded around my right to outflank the Necromancer’s band. Meanwhile my Witch summoned a bank of Fog to screen her and her apprentice from any more nasty surprises, which had the unfortunate effect of cutting off the advancing thieves and knight from any magical help.

The other two wizards had also got soldiers into the centre and soon treasure chest were being pulled out from underneath the statues, which duly jerked into life…

Luckily for me, most of them were activating near my opponents’ warbands allowing my soldiers to either make a run for it through the fog, or flee the scene courtesy of Leap spells from my re-positioned apprentice.

With five out of six statues animated, the centre was becoming a massive slug-fest between them and the other two warbands. Fighting also erupted on the fringes of the table, with my warhound stalking the Necromancer apprentice but ultimately being put down.

The Elementalist apprentice, who, like mine, was hanging back to support his comrades, was unfortunate to find a wandering ghoul suddenly appearing at his rear – this creature quickly charged in, only to be seen off by a pair of thugs that raced to protect their master’s trainee.

Any look of smugness on my part at this occurrence quickly disappeared when a pair of wandering wolves turned up sniffing behind my apprentice! They headed straight towards my knight who, battered after fighting statues, had been leaped out of harm’s way with some treasure and was heading home. Luckily he managed to defeat both of these howling beasts.

By now the hour was getting late and I was happy with the three treasures I had obtained (plus the Elementalist's band were starting to probe my left flank and were getting too close for comfort). The Elementalist and Necromancer still had plenty to play for however, and continued to battle for supremacy. One by one they battered each other down until both the Necromancer and his apprentice were dead.

The Elementalist’s apprentice also bit the snow, and he himself was taken down by a (very) lucky shot from my dwarf crossbowman – my final parting shot.

So I snagged three treasures, the remnants of the Necromancer’s band got two, and we allowed the Elementalist to claim the final, as of yet unclaimed, treasure chest. His Templar had done a sterling effort and went down fighting against the statues after all.

A very enjoyable game (for me anyway, and the other guys seemed to like it too). Three players on a 3’x3’ table is utter mayhem and having all the treasures in the middle forced us all into confrontation. Very few fighters emerged without a scratch and I was running out of wounded tokens. Magic for the most part was cast successfully and it was interesting to see spells that I’ve no experience of being used (the Necromancer’s use of Fast Act early on gave him an initial advantage). The result was carnage of the most enjoyable kind!

The Ghosts of Chronos - A Scenario

Possibly an over-complicated scenario this, but one I've been mulling around in my head for a while. Wizards and Witches, dare you face...

The Ghosts of Chronos

A rare and ancient text has led you to the ruins of the home of Chronos the Great: a pioneering wizard thought by some to have been the father of Chronomancy.

You can be sure that many great treasures lie within this once sumptuous estate, but be warned, for it is said that Chronos’ tinkering wore thin the fabric of time, and the grounds are riddled with ghosts from the past, and the future…

Set up

Set up the table as normal, but bear in mind that you will be removing and replacing areas of terrain, so you might want to use items that are easy to move (e.g. based on CDs etc.). 

Special Rules

Chronos’ treasures are steeped in chronomantic energy and are very unstable. Approaching one risks triggering a time warp, shifting the surrounding area into a time pocket belonging to a different era.

Any warband member within 1” of a treasure triggers a time warp, opening up a pocket of time in a circle approximately 5” in diameter, centred around the treasure. Roll on the time warp table and replace any terrain within this area as necessary. The treasure stays roughly where it was.

Once a treasure is carried out of this 5” pocket, the time warp collapses. Any terrain effects are removed and replaced by the original terrain (more or less). Otherwise the new terrain remains in play.

Any random creatures generated by this triggering are placed next to the treasure. They act as normal random creatures within the time pocket, but will disappear if their movement takes them out of it.

Treasures generated by Fool’s Gold and Reveal Secret do not trigger time warps.

Once a time warp is triggered, the relevant treasure cannot trigger another one.

Unless stated differently, line of sight can be drawn into and out of time pockets as per usual if terrain allows.

Spellcasters from the Chronomancy school may re-roll on the time warp table once per game (second result stands). 

Time Warp Table

Roll	Time Pocket	Game Effects
1	Time of the great blizzard The area is plunged back a millennia to the time of the great blizzard. All figures within are subjected to an intense, will-sapping cold.	Replace all terrain within 5” of the treasure with a blank white disk. All figures within the time pocket must immediately lose 2 health. For each subsequent turn inside the pocket, they must lose 2 health and make will successful test against a 10 before being able to activate. Players cannot draw line of sight in or out of circle.
2-3	Primordial swamp The area is sent back to a time when history has barely begun. Things crawl out of the mire…	Replace all terrain within 5” of the treasure with a large swamp. Terrain classed as difficult. Roll d20 to determine what lurks in the swamp. 1-15: giant toad (treat as ice toad), 16-20: swamp worm (treat as giant worm).
4-5	The Recent future The figure triggering the time warp sees a glimpse of his/her future. Pre-warned is pre-armed…	No effect to terrain. Play continues and the treasure that triggered this event can be treated as normal. However the triggering figure counts as having a scroll of Fast Act (does not count towards items carried).
6-8	Ancient Forest The area is sent back to a time when all this was trees.	Replace all terrain within 5” of the treasure with a forested area. Make a random creature roll and select the nearest animal(s). Terrain classed as difficult. Any figure within classed as in light cover if being shot at from within the area, or heavy cover if being shot at from outside the area.
9-10	The Distant Future The area has been hurled forward in time to an era devastated by war. The blasted desert heat is intense…	Replace all terrain within 5” of the treasure with a rocky desert. All figures within the time pocket must deduct 1 health for each turn they remain in the pocket. Roll d20 to determine what lurks among the rocks. 1-10: Sand spider (treat as ice spider), 11-18: wasteland raider (treat as marksman), 19-20 giant worm.
11-12	The Time of Chronos The area has been sent back to the time when Chronos himself dwelt here in his sumptuous mansion. Wary of temporal ghosts, his treasure is guarded…	Replace all terrain within 5” of the treasure with dungeon/treasure room furniture. Roll d20 to determine who guards the treasure. 1-5: infantryman x 2, 6-10: Man-at-arms x2, 11-15: Knight, 16-20: Templar. If the guards are defeated any player in this pocket may use an action to snatch d20 gold (counts as an item).
13-14	Ice Age The area is sent back to a prehistoric ice age.	Replace all terrain within 5” of the treasure with frozen tundra. Roll d20 to determine what is hunting in the area. 1-5: snow leopard, 6-10: bear, 11-15: wild boar, 16-20: apemen (treat as white gorilla x2).
15-17	Back to the Past Instead of entering a pocket, the figure triggering the time warp is sent a short distance back in time. They find themselves back at their base, just after their warband has left on this expedition! They have enough time to rest and re-equip before re-joining the fray.	No effect to terrain. Remove the figure from the table. Restore his/her health to the pre-game level and swap item(s) from vault if required. Return the figure to their starting table edge at the start of the next turn. Henceforth the treasure that triggered this event can be treated as normal.
18-19	The Apocalypse is Nigh! The area is thrust forward in time to a period of terrible, soul shattering apocalypse. Everything is dark, everything is dead…	No effect to terrain. Make a random creature roll and select the nearest undead creature(s). No-one may draw line of sight into the area. All figures within the time pocket must make an immediate will test against a 15 before being able to activate.
20	The beginning/end of time The figure triggering the time warp travels to the very beginning/end of time itself…	No effect to terrain. Remove figure from the game and treat as permanently dead. Henceforth the treasure at that triggered this event can be treated as normal.

Treasure & Experience

Treasure and experience calculated as normal, but in addition:-

20 experience for each time a spellcaster in your warband triggers a different time warp.

Old Mother Goosegog Steps Out

“Mother Goosegog, there’s been another one!”

“Hmmm?”

Green light shone from the cauldron, playing across the old witch’s haggard features before dancing weirdly among the dark shadows of her hovel.

“The sickness, it’s taken another – Ben Reedsmith!”

Mother Goosegog looked up and fixed her beady eyes on the young girl, all breathless and flustered from running through the woods, before her.

“A strong man was Ben… So it’s not just the old and infirm now…”

She sighed and grunting with effort, straightened her crooked back as best she could before hobbling over to a dusty bookshelf. Without needing to be bid, her young apprentice joined her and together they heaved out a large tome, battered and worn from centuries of use. Clouds of dust glittered in the green light as it landed on a rickety table.

“Here child look;” she turned some brittle pages and jabbed a claw-like finger at a certain faded passage. “It’s as the almanac foretold: ‘A great plague shall crawl from the swamps to claim all that live in the Manlands.' It ain’t going to stop here…” She sniffed. “What do the priests in the village say?”

The young girl tutted. “That it’s a judgment on all those who fail to attend noonday service and forget to pay their tithes to the templehood.”

“Huh, I thought as much! Next they’ll be saying that it’s us witches fault; you mark my words young ‘un.” She coughed, hawking up a great gobbet and spitting it into the fire. “Last time that happened, half my sisters were turned to ashes before the fever died down – I need to nip this one in the bud.”

“Um, how do you mean to do that?”

“You’ll hate the answer as much as I do my girl.” She clicked her fingers and out from under a cupboard squeezed a fat grey cat. She bundled the creature up in her arms, regarding it solemnly. “Trevor was as sleek as you like and black as midnight when we last ventured out…” She sighed deeply and scratched a fluffy ear. “There’s only one place that a cure for this sickness can be found…”

“Er, yes?”

“Fetch my winter cloak young ‘un, we’re going north...”

I treated myself to this smashing witch and cauldron set from Heresy Miniatures and am rather pleased with how they came out. I know I already have a witch  - a beefy barbarian type - but I have plans for him when I get my hands on the Forgotten Pacts supplement...

Groovy Ghoulies

“Everybody shout! C’mon now sing out! It’s time for the Goolies’ get-together…”

The thing that was once Matthias Trueblade shook the song from it’s misshapen head. It was on the hunt and had no time for childish rhymes from the time before it became a ghoul.  Before it had taken up the sword… before it had come to the frozen city… before it became trapped, close to starvation… before it had stumbled across half-dead remains and found the taste pleasing…

A guttural bark from one of it’s fellows brought the thing that was once Matthias Trueblade out of it’s reverie. It caught the scent of manflesh in it’s nostrils and gibbered in confirmation to the pack leader.

Silently they clambered over the ruins above the unsuspecting warband, bloodstained claws gripping ancient stones and filthy rags fluttering in the icy breeze. Below them the Humans talked and laughed, their language nothing more than muffled sounds to the ring of grey sinew slowly encircling them.

The pack leader howled and the thing that was once Matthias Trueblade leapt screaming from it’s hiding place, talons out and fangs bared...

Some more ghouls to stalk my collection. Added to my Otherworld ghouls are three ‘lovely’ figures from Heresy Miniatures and a pair from a Mantic undead sprue I acquired a while back.