More Mayhem!

My attention (wandering at best!) has once more been called back to 10mm Fantasy gaming thanks to Brent Spivey's recent update on his excellent rules system, Mayhem.

He has expanded the original rules set to include War Machines, Magic and a whole host of other tweaks to the original game, including a new unit profile characteristic and unit designations. I've got a bit if bedtime reading to do to catch up on the changes, but it was the War Machines that caught my eye and Brent's entirely provocative suggestion that I play my Engines of Avalone scenario with his new rules!

A while back I had great fun trying out the original rules with my Harrison's Ford game.

Well I can't turn down a suggestion like that and having chatted to Warlord Paul after yesterday's Rogue Trader game, I have a willing opponent who also happens to own a load of 10mm Warmaster stuff too!

Brent has been kind enough to supply me with some excellent suggestions for Oldhammering up the unit profiles for the necessary troop types so I'd best get on with squeezing some Empire and Dwarf cannon into my painting schedule...

Mayhem: Red Runs the River...

Long time no update so firstly apologies for that - insert usual excuses about family, life, work, sleep, etc... Frustratingly I've been trying to get this final report finished for about a week and a half now!

I'd best also take the time before plunging into the last desperate moments of the Battle of Harrison's Ford to add that Mayhem is actually a very quick, intuitive and exciting game to play!

Turn 8
Von Damne's Dependables
CP's rolled - 7

A ripple of fear radiated out amongst the red and green ranks of the ford's defenders. Bluch Norres had fallen.

That was impossible. Norres' reputation was terrifying to friend and foe alike. He was the only man capable of punching a cyclops between the eyes. It was said of him that he did not fear the dark - the dark feared him. Now the unthinkable had happened and a great hero had truly passed into legend...

Mayhem - Crossing Over Harrison's Ford...

Time for a long overdue update on the progress of Shreevan Zeegal's merciless assault on Harrison's Ford. Can Beulenegger and his Griffin escape the Giant's clutches? Will Norress live up to his terrifying reputation?

Read on dear reader...

Turn 5
Von Damne's Dependables
CP's rolled - 7

Beulenegger fought to control his stricken mount as it reared backwards from the Giants terrible blow. He glanced upwards at the huge creature, growling under his breath,

"You're one ugly mo..."

However, he didn't have time to finish as the tree trunk the brute was using as a weapon swept downwards again. Beulenegger kicked and wrestled with Lavister's reins in a last ditch attempt to escape,

"Get to the river... Do it.... Do it now!"

With a final wrench, the wounded Griffin finally got the message and struggled into the air. Beulenegger, not content with retreating, spied the struggle in the river between Noress' Horsemen and the Skeleton cavalry.

Mayhem - Battle for Harrison's Ford

Well  I was lacking a name for the battle so there it is - might shed some light on the names I've picked for the characters too! Now I just have to weave in some references to 80's action movies as suitable situations arise from the game...

Apologies for the delay by the way - been fighting off some horrible Outer Mongolian Death Flu - well flu at any rate!

Turn 2
Von Damne's Dependables
CP's rolled - 8

Mayhem - the story so far and deployment

So on to deployment and a bit of background.

The first reports through from the Northern frontier with Ostland had been sketchy at first. Horrific stories of monstrous invaders and terrible massacres. Then a name began to filter through the tall tales and stories of woe borne back by the few refugees to survive - Shreevan Zeegal. A name not heard in these parts for many a year. A name not to be spoken lightly. Or even out loud...

As the  evil army advanced further into the more civilised areas of Hochland, it became apparent exactly what its inhabitants faced. Zeegal had formed an unholy alliance of chaotics and undead. His ranks were swelled by those who had fallen to him in battle and those creatures who flocked to his banner and the promise of slaughter. Foremost among them, Dulf Lundgrin, Half Orc chieftain with his warriors and trolls. 

Their incursion was not to go unpunished however. Marching with all haste to meet the threat was Count Johan Von Damne at the head of his hastily mobilised army. Along with the column of state troopers, sweating under the load of their halberds and arquebus, came allies in the form of a proud company of Elf spearmen and the more barbarous fellowship of Dwarf troll slayers, roused from their mountain fastnesses, eager to find a heroic death. The unmistakable whiff of black powder signalled the presence of Dwarf thunderers also come down from the mountains to contain the threat before it grew too large. 

As Bluch Norress and his famed lancers scouted ahead of the main column, Arkneld Beulenegger soared above them on his magnificent Griffin mount, spying out the approach of the enemy. With the intelligence provided by him, Von Damne had formulated a plan. Zeegal's army had to cross the river Lachtbeek at a large ford not far from the town f Eichewuldchen. If the Count could reach the crossing first and prepare his defences they had a chance of forcing the chaotic horde into a bottle neck and destroying them in detail. If they got there first...

 As the two opposing generals both have D8 leadership I rolled to see who chose to set up first. Von Damne won the roll and elected to deploy and move first.

On the right the various units of black powder missile troops formed up, looking to advance forwards and defend the ford. Behind them, Beulenegger prepares his monstrous mount to fly ahead the main army  to disrupt the enemy advance.

Masters of Mayhem...

There ended up being a little arms race in getting these two armies ready - I had overlooked the fact that I had 3 units of Human Lancers for the Good Guys and that the second unit of Elf spearmen that I was going to paint up needed stripping. This meant that having added a unit of Troll Slayers and adding in the cost of the third unit of Lancers (which also meant I could upgrade one unit up to an elite for having three or more of one troop type in the army!) that the Bad Guys were looking a little outnumbered. 

Normally I wouldn't be too bothered but as this was a first play through and I wanted to try out as many combinations of troop types out as I could I decided to level the playing field by adding two packs of Hounds to the baddies - should be a good counter to the enemy cavalry looking at their stats and the Pack Hunter ability - more of which later.

So as promised - the Bad Guys!

Evil General
Cavalry with heavy armour, shield and lance
Leadership D8
M - D8
CQ - D8
Terror
Cost 23 crowns

2 Packs of Chaos Hounds
M - D8
CQ D12
Pack Hunters

2 units of Skeleton Horsemen
Cavalry with lance, heavy armour and shields
M - D8
CQ - D20
Fear
Cost 13 crowns each + 2 crowns for standard



2 units of Skeleton Archers
Infantry with longbows
M - D6
CQ - D20
Fear
Cost 15 crowns each

2 Units of Half Orcs
Infantry with swords and shields
M - D6
CQ - D12
Cost - 5 crowns each + 2 crowns for standard + 6 crowns for Hero


2 units of Trolls
Behemoth
M - D6
CQ - D12
Fear and Beat Back (Free)
Cost 10 crowns each



Giant
M D8
CQ D10
Damage
Impact
Terror
Cost 35 crowns

Total - 178 Crowns

 Next up - the table layout, deployment and the scenario...

Causing Mayhem!

Well as you know I am armpits deep in Crystacal R and Hirst Arts blocks but I've still found time for a distraction or two!

I'll share some WIP pics of Andy's latest release of 4A goblins, sculpted by Kev Adams in a later post - along with their new ride...

However, that little distraction has been interrupted by another (in some ways littler - 10mm) distraction. Some of you may remember Brent Spivey's (AKA VoodooInk) excellent 28mm skirmish game, Havoc, that I reviewed a while back. Well he's only gone and released another great set of fantasy rules called Mayhem through Bombshell Games.

I was particularly happy to hear he was focussing on the smaller scales of 10/15mm this time as I've been busy hoovering up Warmaster stuff in preparation for playing some bigger games of Warhammer.

Anyway, I plan to get a turn played and reported each day or two and posted up here, along with some analysis of the mechanics of the game - first read through of the Mayhem rules was most interesting and my head is already buzzing with many a tactical consideration...

First job though is to introduce the two armies. First up is the Goodies!

Army building is easy and you can really reflect the nature of the troops with a nice choice of stats from Movement, Combat Quality, equipment and various skills and attributes - more of which later. Plus using Gold Crowns instead of points is a fun way of splashing the cash!

Goodies

Noble General
Human Cavalry with heavy armour, lance and shield
Leadership D8
M - D8
CQ - D8
Cost 18 crowns

3 units of Lancers
Human Cavalry with shields and lances
M - D8
CQ - D12
(1 unit is an Elite – free Fearless ability)
Cost 11 crowns each

2 units of Halberdiers
Human Infantry with Spears
M - d6
CQ - d12
Drilled
Standard and Musician
Cost - 7 crowns each + 3 crowns for standard & musician

1 unit of Hand Gunners
Human Infantry with rifles
M - d6
CQ D12
Drilled
Cost 16 crowns

2 units of Dwarf Thunderers
Infantry with rifles
M - D4
CQ - D10
Steadfast
Cost - 16 crowns each

Hero on Griffin
Flyer with lance, heavy armour and shield
M - D10
CQ - D8
Damage
Flyer
Impact
Terror
Cost 29 crowns

1 unit of Elf Spearmen
Infantry with heavy armour, shields and spears
M - D6
CQ - D10
Ranked Fighting
Cost 12 crowns + 3 crowns for standard and musician

1 unit of Dwarf Trollslayers
Infantry with axes
M – D4
CQ – D10
Fearless
Berserker
Cost – 12 crowns

Total - 172 Crowns

I'll talk more about what all the different die mean in terms of Movement (M) and Combat Quality (CQ) next  time!

The Baddies will be up later tonight - once I've finished off a pack of Chaos hounds...

Small Bones and a Whole Bag of News...

Right, finally got round to photographing the Warmaster skeleton archers and horsemen I'd finished up earlier this week.

 Its been a long and busy term and my eyes seem to become defective in the evenings - assuming a  lead-like weight and tendency to shut involuntarily. Sleep I think its called and damned inconvenient!

Any how, here's the start of the Baron Kraust's grand Undead horde in 10mm.

Archers - as the Warmaster Undead units are based on the new (well to me at least!) and annoyingly Egyptian in style Tomb Kings armies, a few of these skeletons sport slightly more exotic head gear than your average re-animated Old Worlder might. Muted colours hopefully don't make them stand out too much and I'm happy to live the results than try any conversions at this scale!

The level of detail always amazes me for such small minis, although the arrows look more like bolt thrower ammunition!

Must admit that I found basing a bit fiddly - any old Warmaster hands with any labour saving tips out there would be much appreciated.

They scale up rather well with the Copplestone 10mm fantasy range - here you can see them lined up with the Half Orcs I painted up for the last Lead Painters League over on the LAF.

I really like the Undead cavalry models - again loads of nice detail and they look generic enough to look like ex-Old Worlders.

 I went for a brighter scheme with the red cloaks than I might have for 28mm minis, which seemed to work quite nicely. A few touches of verdigris on their bronze helmets and armour gives a little contrast.

Again they scale up nicely with the Copplestone 10mm - this time with the Horse Tribe cavalry.

Hey, wait a minute - those are no Uruks! 

I am hoping to eventually use the Horse Tribe chaps as some kind of Norse cavalry - perhaps a Mercenary border force? The stat line for the Marauder Horse from the Chaos army list looks like it would fit quite nicely.

I'm looking forward to a week off for Half term next week with the kids (Mrs T has gone back to Uni so I have been entrusted with their general care and maintenance!). Hopefully, in between day trips with them and the dogs, and some more dungeoneering in Hero Quest land, I'll get some more painting time in.

Lots of interesting things coming up while I eagerly await the bits and pieces I need to finish off my Slann Cold One Riders.

I've been asked to paint a few lovely old minis for Thebinman over on the LAF as part of his fantastic Mordheim project - more of which later...

I've nearly finished prepping the Fighting Fantasy Orc that Phreedh kindly sent after our Giant race. I just need to sort out a new weapon for him and luckily I think 90's GW scale creep and stupidly over sized weapons might well help me out here!

Also Brent from Bombshell Games has been back in touch with news of a new system for a fantasy skirmish game and a mass battle game for 10-15mm minis he's working on. If its as fun as Havoc was then I'm in for a treat as I'll be having a go at some more playtesting - so keep your eyes peeled for some more battle reports in the coming months. I'd like to finally get round to playing his OP4S rules too so I may well be dusting off some of my epic Space Marine stuff too.

Finally, more gaming news - the honourable gents, Dreamfish and Gaj have been hard at work putting together another game of 3rd ed to be played via the magic of the internetz! The other two games they have run,  Its Fun to Slay at the Wyemm Seeyay and The Shadow of Koles Lorr,  were very successful and the reports make great reading.  Bridge over the River Chai promises also to be a thoroughly entertaining game and what's more I get to play the baddies! Good luck to my opponent Airbornegrove26!  

A Miniature world in Miniature...

Just received a very nice parcel today from fellow Old Hammerite, Skarsnik and Old Lead, of Opponent Finder and Citadel Giant fame. Bumped into him over on the LAF flogging a few bits and pieces and was most interested in the Warmaster stuff he had going. One very good deal later (thanks again mate!) and I was the proud owner of this little lot - apart from the rule book which I acquired a while back and has made interesting bedtime reading for the past week or two.

Ugluk's Last Stand...

Hello again folks and another LPL entry for your delectation.

Last week was the second themed round and the theme was the worlds of Tolkien. This gave me a nice excuse to dip my toe into a scale I have been tempted by for a while now, and purchase some of Copplestone's lovely 10mm fantasy figures.

I went for the encounter between Eomer's Rohirrim and the Uruks, led by Ugluk, who had captured Merry and Pippin. Caught and surrounded at the edge of Fangorn Forest, Ugluk and his Uruk-hai are cut down by the fierce Riders of Rohan.

The Uruk-hai

Ugluk

The Rohirrim

Eomer and standard bearer