Mother Goosegog: The Lady Without the Lamp

Mother Goosegog still searches for a cure to the plague that stalks her people. She’s heard tell of a genie somewhere nearby – maybe he could grant her a wish or two?

The Hereford Wargames Club were kind enough to allow me to put on a Frostgrave game last night. Four players on a 3’x3’ board – this’ll be interesting!

Once again I brought out Mother Goosegog and her warband, whilst my mate Alan fielded his Dwarf enchanter, Rinsesoap Washbag. Newcomers Liam and Kieran took control of a couple of my ‘spare’ warbands (give or take the odd figure) – necromancer (slightly boosted from previous games) and illusionist (brand new at level 0) respectively.

I chose the Genie in a Bottle scenario (with extra treasures, seeing as there were a lot of players), then suddenly realised that said genie is immune to normal weapons, putting the new chaps at a distinct disadvantage. Therefore I let the guys choose a figure to give a magic weapon to.

And so, taking a corner apiece, we began… Goosegog and co. move forward, with the witch, bear and treasure hunter taking the right flank under a fog screen, supported by the crossbowman who had climbed the nearest ruin. On my left, Meg the apprentice moves to secure the flank with the help of the tracker and ranger. Soon they would be popping off shots at the advancing illusionist’s henchmen. In my centre, the remainder of the band head towards the nearest treasure.

In the meantime the necromancer and illusionist sre slinging spells and arrows at each other in a duel that would last for most of the game. The enchanter is making full use of his telekinesis spell and is dragging treasures away, making it harder for my advancing soldiers to catch them. On my left I'm having better luck, with my bear and treasure hunter closing in to seal off his escape route and hopefully intercept the stolen treasure. However an invulnerability potion ensures that at least one chest would make it back to the enchanter’s base.

The illusionist’s men grab another treasure on the left, finding the fabled magic lamp and releasing the genie! Luckily their knight is armed with a magic sword and so battle commences.

My hound races forward and happily savages one of the enchanter’s archers. However this doesn't stop the Dwarf from pulling the treasures into the hands of his underlings. On my left, my apprentice is being menaced by illusionist thugs. I'm confident that my ranger and tracker could deal with them, until one of them is transposed with a tougher man-at-arms.

All this treasure grabbing is sure to attract some unwelcome attention eventually. This proves to be the case, with two snow trolls wandering in behind the enchanter’s warband. They quickly catch the scent of his men and lumber towards them, huge fists flying.

This interrupts the Dwarf’s treasure hauling exercise somewhat. Could I race forward and steal some treasure from under their noses? I move soldiers forward to get close, but not too close lest the trolls turn on me. To keep the wizard occupied I send my warhound to attack him, but alas he is no match for the gnarly enchanter.

As the necromancer and his minions look on, the genie dispatches the knight. The evil wizard casts bones of the earth, gripping the genie in place (we decided that the spell could be cast on genies). As the genie is still within 1” of the lamp, it couldn’t be picked up.

The illusionist’s man-at-arms battles my ranger and tracker, who are all that stand between him and my apprentice. The tracker goes down and the ranger is reduced to 1 health! Thankfully the next round of combat sees my ranger take down his opponent. He hurries back to the apprentice for some much needed healing.

In the centre, having seen off any rivals, a fog-screened pairing of thief and javelineer try to grab some treasure but are intercepted by a thug from that pesky illusionist. The henchman soon downs the javelineer, with the thief following shortly.

By now the bear and treasure hunter have worked their way up the right flank and are closing in on the enchanter’s band. The enchanter himself is now trapped between my bear and one of the trolls. The troll batters his ranger bodyguard, but Mother Goosegog magnanimously saves the Dwarf from being troll and/or bear fodder by bone-darting him instead.

By now it's looking unlikely that I would get any treasure, for one of the trolls decides to head for my advancing crew, allowing the surviving members of the enchanter band to escape. But could I gain the mantle of genie slayer? My treasure hunter, suitably armed with magic cutlass, has worked his way across the board and attacks. Alas he fails dismally.

At last the genie has prised it’s way out of the bones of the earth spell (allowing the necromancer to nip in and steal the fabled lamp), and heads for the nearest victim, the illusionist’s apprentice! It is the final round of the game. Dice are rolled…

Two 20s! Two critical hits! By rights both should go down, but who had the magic weapon in the illusionist’s band? Er… we weren’t sure… well such luck can’t go unrewarded, so I allowed the apprentice to have the magic sword on a roll of 19-20. Alas the roll was 18…

So the genie is free to stalk the ruins, the illusionist lost his apprentice but gained a treasure, the enchanter was bone darted but gained 4 treasures, the necromancer claimed a treasure and the lamp, whist I had to content myself with a shedload of experience (one wizard kill and 13 spells cast).

Another brilliant game of utter madness! It was nice to see so many different spells in operation (telekinesis is now firmly on my list of must-have spells), improbable dice roles and in general lots of fun.

Alan has very kindly written an account of the scrap from a Dwarven-eye view:-

Game 3 – Tuesday 24th January 2017. At Hereford Wargames Club, The Swan, with JP,Liam,Keiran
 Warband comprised :-
Wizard Level 4 of Enchanter School with two-handed weapon and 10 spells –
Telekinesis (6), Strength (10), Control Construct (12), ; Enchant Weapon (8)  from Enchanter ;
Curse (10 +2) and Animal Companion (8 +2) from Witch ; Furious Quill (10 + 2)) from Sigilist ; Leap (8 + 2) from Summoner ;  Heal (8 +4) from Thaumaturge ; Raise Zombie (8 + 4) from Necromancer
 Apprentice with two-handed weapon
 2 Archers ; 1 Ranger ; 1 Barbarian ; 1 Infantrymen ; 2 Thugs ; 1 Thief.
 Before the game Wizard (Rinsesoap Washbag) cast Animate Zombie spell but Apprentice (Clompar McGillicaddy) failed to cast Animal Companion Spell.
 Wizard and Apprentice successfully cast Telekinesis Spell several times to move Treasure Chests closer, until Thief was able to remove one. Barbarian picked up another then drank Invulnerability Potion enabling it to pass Bear and Treasure Hunter, which had killed Archer and Zombie respectively. Infantryman, despite being hit by Archer, was able to pick up and remove another Treasure Chest. Thug was killed by Bear, and Wizard fought off Warhound, which was pushed back into Ranger, who finished it off. Second Thug picked up Treasure Chest but like the second Archer was killed by two wandering Snow Trolls which suddenly appeared as a result of another Treasure Chest being opened elsewhere. Apprentice retreated but Wizard and Ranger were trapped between Snow Trolls and Bear. The Ranger died defending his master and the Wizard fled behind a wall, out of sight of Trolls and Bear, but unfortunately within sight of JP’s Wizard, who felled him with a bone dart attack. As the Apprentice held her breath the Trolls luckily decided to head towards a wandering Zombie, leaving her time to Telekinesis the dropped Treasure Chest close enough to retrieve and carry off.
 So 4 Treasure Chests gained and 10 spells successfully cast, but Wizard, 2 Archers, 2 Thugs and Zombie lost. Fortunately in the after-game reckoning Rinsesoap Washbag narrowly survived, but lost the two potions he was carrying. The 2 Archers also survived, but 1 Thug died and the other was seriously wounded, meaning he would miss the next game.
The 4 Treasure Chests contained 300 Gold, 2 Magic Weapons, and 2 Grimoires, for the Restore Life and Curse spells. 300 Experience were gained, in addition to the 20 for returning to the Laboratory to do more research.  Another successful, though somewhat bloody, outing for Rinsesoap Washbag and his merry men.

Mother Goosegog Keeps on Trying

Mother Goosegog winced - more from the red raw look of her apprentice’s skin than the pain left by the bone dart in her side. Still, it was no worse than those poor folk back home, still succumbing to the deadly disease that obliged her to journey to this frozen hellhole in search of a cure.

“Must keep going…” the witch muttered, as before them the air shimmered above a strange stone dias…

On to the next game – The Keep! Once again I was opposed by three other warbands: the necromancer, elementalist and an old face, Holbron Toddlebrew the sigilist.

Despite my witch, apprentice and much of the warband going down in the last game, they all survived their injuries. This meant that Goosegog still had her invisibility potion, looted from the alchemical factory, with her…

Escorted by the tracker, ranger and crossbowman, her first move is to down the potion, and stroll unmolested towards the nearest teleport disk. With luck she can gain some hefty experience by being teleported around the board unnoticed, while the rest of the band fend off the other three warbands and hopefully nab some treasure.

On my left, my apprentice heads for a vantage point to support the knight and thieves. My intention is to take the fight to the enemy on both flanks, and on my left I had unfinished business with the elementalist…

On my right, my zombie, warhound, bear and javelineer; a nice and beefy force to worry the necromancer, have similar plans.

Invisible witch, ranger and tracker head forward. Alas my crossbowman falls to some sneaky sniper before he has time to load his crossbow.

Thieves sneak up on the left towards the enemy. In the centre, Goosegog reaches a teleport disk and… nothing! Rolling high (for a change), she doesn’t budge!

My apprentice surveys the left flank, smiling with satisfaction as someone takes out the elementalist wizard. Both elementalist and sigilist bands do not hang about and soon begin a fighting withdrawal.

Throwing caution to the wind, the ranger and tracker head straight for the two treasures in the centre while the opposition squabbles over the teleport disks.

To my right, and treasure-laden enemy soldier appears on a disk. I send my zombie forward to harass him, although the necromancer’s gang are also on their way.

My bear and javelineer wreak havoc among the necromancer’s men on my right, although my warhound doesn’t help much on account of being killed. Further up the table the necromancer’s band is also being menaced by a wild boar.

Goosgog jumps repeatedly on the teleport disk, but still doesn’t move! Giving up on the idea, she decides she’d better get casting some spells and screens the ranger and tracker with fog (thus rendering herself visible).

Argh, it’s happening again! A wandering monster – in this case a white gorilla – wanders onto the table directly behind my warband! With the elementalist withdrawing from my left flank I’m able to send the knight and thieves to face the ape.

The necromancer’s apprentice arrives with a mob to sort out my bear and javelineer. A well-aimed javelin downs one of the underlings.

The sigilist’s captain, having being teleported nearby, decides to spoil my treasure-snatching party. Ranger and tracker, laden with loot, strain every muscle to escape.

The javelineer goes down, but my bear continues to rampage, mauling the enemy apprentice into the dirt.

That bloody gorilla chomps through my warband, with one of my thieves for starters.

Goosegog urges her minions to run for it, but does little to help out, opting instead to bone dart the sigilist opposite. She hits and wounds, but doesn’t kill the wizard.

The gorilla, having had his fill of thieves, goes for something more substantial. My knight manages to cleave the beast with his final stroke, before collapsing to the ground (the round of combat was a draw, so they both took damage).

The bear takes on more enemy underlings, but eventually they gain the upper hand.

My apprentice leaps the ranger out of harms way as the tracker races to catch up. With the gorilla gone, the line of retreat is clear. Thus, with time running out, we end the game and I claim two treasures.

Yet more mayhem! The chaos of having four warbands battling against each other was further mixed up by having figures popping up in unexpected places throughout the game. Luckily a good run on the dice mid-game saw me able to make some headway, despite most of my warband eventually biting the dust when the rolls returned to normal.

With two treasures and most of my warband surviving the post-game rolls, Mother Goosegog was a happy (and more importantly, alive) witch! Giles' report can be found at https://thelostcityofcarcosa.com/2017/01/26/fg-the-keep-revisited/

Mother Goosegog: Witch Whacked!

Mother Goosegog coughed; the acrid smells from the alchemical factory still permeating her robes despite days of scrubbing. Meg, her faithful apprentice, surveyed the small crumbling huts that squatted among the ruined houses and shivered.

“I don’t like this place – it feels evil… Well, more eviller than usual…”

“That’s because them huts is haunted my girl.” The witch felt her familiar squirming further under her arm. “It’s not just other wizards we face this day…”

Time for some more Frostgrave fun at Giles’ – this time an epic four-warband clash! Facing Mother Goosegog were Rinsesoap Washbag, the enchanter that Goosegog had already fallen foul of once before; Copernicus Cadmium, sneaky elementalist and Hexxenmeister Doozelbat, an evil necromancer and his piratical followers. Having rolled for table sides, we began…

Mother Goosegog and her band arrive on one side side of the table, with the other three bands occupying another side each. Goosegog and her crossbowman try to find an early vantage point to cover the nearest three haunted huts. My plan is to grab what would hopefully be an easy treasure in the middle hut, and successfully (hah!) engage the warbands on my flanks to win the treasures to my left and right.

On the opposite side of the table, the enchanter pulls a treasure from a hut via telekinesis (a spell he would use to great effect throughout the game). The ghostly occupant takes exception to this and looks for someone to blame…

One of my thieves races forward to snatch a treasure, but is shot down. So it’s going to be like that is it?

The released wraith floats up to engage one of the necromancer’s henchmen and generally make a nuisance of itself during the game.

My witch engages in a bone dart duel with the necromancer on my right, whilst javelineer and zombie make for the middle hut, watched over by my crossbowman. My witch is already wounded, but luckily has a healing potion about her person.

Another wraith appears among the elementalist’s band opposite my left flank. Luckily for him, his minion is armed with a magic weapon and swiftly dispatches the creature.

Closer to my left flank, my knight tries to beat another of the elementalist’s minions to the nearest hut, supported by my apprentice. The dice were not being kind again, so my spell tally was depressingly low so far.

On my right, the necromancer’s demon beats me to the treasure and unleashes a wraith. Winning in combat but unable to damage it, the demon pushes it away instead . It floats through the wall and into line of sight of my band…

For once the dice are kind and my crossbowman manages to shoot the enemy minion who was contesting the left-hand treasure.

On my right, the necromancer tries to turn my flank. However my bear and warhound soon put paid to this idea, despite the loss of my dog.

My zombie shambles forward to engage the wraith, joined by my thief. I was hoping to use the thief to run forward and snatch the treasure left by the wraith-slain demon, but it’s success against the spook scuppered this plan.

My knight gets into the hut and takes the treasure, luckily not awakening the evil spirit that guards it. However the elementalist’s band is closing in, so my apprentice steps forward to screen the knight with a fog spell.

My javelineer makes off with the central treasure, watched over by my ranger (whose targets have now vanished behind the fog).

Uh-oh. Wraith kills zombie, leaving my thief unsupported. Any thoughts of luring the wraith away from my band are put on hold.

Goosegog manages to bone dart the necromancer’s demon into oblivion. It drops the treasure, but who will pick it up? Not my thief, as he's now being sucked dry by the wraith. In the next ruin my tracker looks on, hoping to shoot anyone brave enough to go for it..

Having secured my right flank, the bear rampages up towards the necromancer. However one of his underlings eventually turns him into a rug.

My thief is slain by the wraith. Where will it go next? It's a tough call and we have to dice for it... Towards my tracker hiding in the building on my right, that’s where!

The elementalist’s gang pour through the fog and onto my left flank. Having stepped forward to cast the fog spell (and repeatedly fail to leap my knight out of harm’s way), my apprentice is exposed.

Zap! An elemental bolt blasts her into crispy pieces.

Splat! My knight fails to beat off his pursuers.

Thwack! In retaliation my crossbowman downs one of their archers. (Note the soldier standing on the fog - this actually signifies that he's within the fog.)

Ouch! Goosegog is forced to step out of cover to leap the tracker away from the wraith (lurking top right). This allows the necromancer to finally win the bone dart duel and send the poor old dear sprawling.

However this leaves him also exposed, as the wraith heads towards him after an extremely jammy (for me at least) random direction roll. Eventually however the wraith is pushed back and then finished off by an enemy archer with a magic bow. Rinsesoap Washbag the enchanter came out the winner, having telekinesis-ed the most treasures off the board.

I was the definite loser in this game, having barely cast any spells, gaining only one treasure, losing both spellcasters and failing to kill any wraiths. However it was an extremely fun game, despite me muttering darkly about disbanding the warband, poor spell choices and other feeble excuses.

In retrospect my main mistake was sending my apprentice out to the left to screen the knight with fog. This not only left her exposed, but also cut the line of sight of my elevated ranger & crossbowman from the oncoming elementalist band. Perhaps a few successful shots could have halted their advance, allowing me some more chances to leap the knight out of harms way.

Anyhow, with four players converging on each other, it was crowded, madcap lunacy all the way – great stuff! Giles' report can be found at https://thelostcityofcarcosa.com/2017/01/25/fg-a-four-way-battle-of-newbies/

Tall Walls

Some more MDF loveliness from Dark Ops in the shape of 'Wall Set 2' - a pair of large (2" x 9") walls with metal railings.

My order also came with an extra sheet of the main pieces (the railings and capping were on a separate sheet), so I glued some of the 'push out' bits of MDF on them.

Every Wizard Needs His Own Spell Book...

...and here's mine!

A cracking MDF kit from Dark Ops Terrain, which can be used to house your spell cards (and/or, as illustrated, bestiary cards - these from a talented chap on the LAF)

I'm particularly impressed by the intricate detail on the corner pieces, though I was less impressed when I took the bits out for undercoating the other evening and dropped one between the wheelie bins and the fence, causing me to grope around in the dark, scanning the gravel with my phone torch for bloody ages!

Nice, inexpensive and handy stuff - highly recommended!

Semi Sunken Ship

Enough alliteration, here's the model.

I bought this hunk of resin off my mate Giles for use in the Battle on the River scenario in Thaw of the Lich Lord - it's come out pretty well I think.

Apart from the two rowing boats I have, I've still no idea what other terrain I'll use for this scenario - I don't really want to fork out for a bunch of ships I'll only use once. Maybe it's time to break out the polystyrene again...

Possessed

“You boy! Daydreaming again? Pay attention!”

Thaddeus Gribb jumped as Snjorn Daemoncall’s cane whacked on his desk.

“Y-yes sir, s-sorry sir!” the boy squeaked.

His teacher grunted and stepped back to the lectern, his withering gaze sweeping the rest of the class, quickly supressing any sniggering.

“In fact you would all do well to pay attention, for today I will demonstrate one of the most dangerous spells a summoner must learn in order to earn the Daemoncall name...” He paused for effect.

“We have proven that demons can be called forth through the good offices of many mediums; summoning circles being the most common of them, but also portal mirrors, cauldrons and the like. But today we will explore what happens if that medium is in fact a living creature.”

A murmur spread throughout the class. Many had heard about possession, and what they had heard was not nice…

“Now, turn to page three-hundred and five in your textbooks.” He turned to the classroom door. “Mrs. Muntley, if you please!”

A shuffling and clanking heralded the arrival of Mrs. Muntley, one of the college cleaners. Small and withered, yet as tough as old boots, Mrs. Muntley was one of the many cleaners who sorted out the mess made by the students after a hard day’s study. She plonked her bucket onto the flagstones and scowled.

“Well make it quick then, only I’ve got the third-former’s common room to see to!”

“Of course, my apologies for detaining you.” the teacher bowed. “Now class – observe!”

With a few waves of the hand and a muttered incantation, Mrs. Muntley began to, well, squelch. Her nonchalant features twisted and her limbs snaked out of her ragged clothing.

“See class, how the entity is taking control of Mrs. Muntley’s body and moulding it into it’s own image…”

The cleaner’s hunched back bulged outwards; skin stretching unnaturally into a pair of wings.

“There – the possession is complete.”

Thaddeus stared agog at the creature before him. What was once Mrs. Muntley, the uncomplaining butt of many a student prank, was now a snarling demon; wings flexing and unnervingly human face snarling with evil.

“Why have you summoned me fo-“

Suddenly it’s head snapped round to focus a piercing gaze on the young student. It grinned.

“Ah Thaddeus… My, what cold and icy death awaits you…”

The other students gasped as their teacher hurriedly invoked the counter spell.

“Er, pay no heed to such things… these demons do like to unsettle one…”

“Not as much as standin’ here in the all-together is unsettling me! Avert your eyes you dirty buggers” Mrs. Muntley gathered her clothes together with as much dignity as possible. “Now if you’ll excuse me… that ichor isn’t going to shift itself you know!”

Thaddeus Daemoncall’s eye sprang open. He lay there, disorientated for a second, before focusing on the opposite side of his quarters at the Cloven Hoof. It was dark, and a storm raged outside. He sighed and then drew the bedclothes over himself before settling back to sleep.

“I never could master that bloody spell after that…” he muttered.

This is a rather nice mini I bought second-hand from the LAF. It's from the Conan board game and I'm pretty pleased that I've managed to pick out the detailed features reasonably well.

I intend to use this figure for any possessed model, but it can also stand in as a minor demon (duh), vampire or even for anyone under the monstrous form spell.

Online Trolls

Gronash had it all: spikes, scales and a fine pair of horns. He was also large, standing a full head taller than the lumpen creatures that could be loosely called his clan. He was also smart, being able to fashion rudimentary clothing from the scraps of armour and cloth scavenged by his misshapen underlings, who could barely summon the intellectual capacity to pick their own noses. Yes, with the roomiest cave, the choicest kills and the sharpest teeth, Gronash was a real troll’s troll.

He was less than pleased then, when a big hot fizzing thing fell from the sky and landed at the mouth of his lair. Gronash was sent flying one way and his dinner sent the other. Picking himself up, he surveyed the bits of carcass splattered across the cave wall and growled. It was those stupid pink squishy things and their bright burny magic again. Many of his cousins had limped back to the Trollpatch with tales of these little annoyances, but this was the last straw.

Gronash strode out of the singed cave and howled, calling to his closest cousins. Then he fished about his loincloth for his nose picking stick, scooped up his favourite bashing rock and strode off towards the old city. Someone was going to pay…

Three Reaper Bones trolls have joined the menagerie as Snow Trolls. I'll use them either as wandering monsters or as the protagonists in the Troll Hunt scenario. I’m rather pleased with the paintjob on these!

Reaper Madness

With the weather being cold, damp and generally not conducive to undercoating, I bought a bunch of Reaper Bones miniatures, which take paint quite nicely without primer, to add more to my Frostgrave bestiary. First off a family of Violent Fungus (though they look pretty friendly to me).

Next some Sewer Slime. These were originally colourless and translucent, and I have seen some amazing things done with them with inks. Unfortunately I don’t have any inks, so tried the same with watered down paint. The results were, to quote Prof. Denzil Dexter, disappointing, so I had to repaint them.

A pair of Armoured Skeletons. The only thing I had to do with these was replace the sword on the left-hand side one, as I just couldn’t get the bend out of the original, despite dunking in boiling, then iced, water. FYI I used a sword from the plastic Frostgrave cultist set.

Now a Basilisk – nothing else to say about this model except that I like it a lot, and am very pleased with how the purple paintjob came out. Are Basilisks purple? No idea, but I thought it’d add a splash of different colour to the largely grey battlefield.

Finally the Ghoul King! A Reaper Bones Ghast miniature with a few small dabs of glue on his head, hopefully portraying a boney crown (he is a king after all). Fighting Fantasy fans might be interested to know that I was inspired by Zanbar Bone, villain from the adventure gamebook City of Thieves!