More use of waste polystyrene packing, plus offcuts of Blue XPS foam to knock up some 28mm scale ruins.

    After a small undead force (4 groups and 2 individuals) are spotted by a Scout near the borde garrison of Nordfort, the mighty hero Captain Lief Gunnarson leads two groups north from Dernkirk, while the Fighter Ulf leads two more groups from Wodthwaite, both planning to join the Scout Njal and his single group from Nordfort, before heading into battle.  At least that was the plan but the contingent from Wodthwaite were delayed, and knowing that the Undead will not suffer any problems of morale, but needing to send a clear message that incursions into Dernland will not go unpunished, Lief decides to press ahead with the battle.   Turn 1 - Both sides move towards each other   Turn 2 - The two Scouts miss each other, the Viking Skirmishers down a Ghoul, the Viking Levy move into position, two are killed by skeleton archers, but then the Captain moves up and orders them to engage the Ghouls, which they do, killing two but taking a wound. T3 - Ulf and the reinforcements arrive!  Njal th

Yesterday I tried a small force against a monster using the new fantasy version of Knyghte, Pyke, and Sworde rules. Talthorpe settlement were complaining of a Manticore killing their livestock, so the lord of Dernland sent Magnhild the Fighter and a Scout to link up with the Missile and Shield troops garrisoned in Talthorpe.   Turn 1 the troops moved in, the Manticore shot from its tail, killed an archer and the rest ran off.   Turn 2 the Scout missed the shot, the Manticore got into combat with three of the Shield troops.  It wounded the first, the second took off 2 monster points (of its four), and the third was killed, so then the rest ran off!   Turn 3 the Scout missed the shot again, but then Magnhild went in and using a point of Might won the fight and took off another MP, the Manticore fought back but another point of Might let the Fighter win again and the Manticore went down.   The troops returned to Talthorpe the two groups a little sheepish.

  It’s been said the dual heart of any town is the Church and the Tavern.  As noted before, I’ve been slowly working on the buildings for Traitor’s Toll, and the Tavern is finally done, the Church is coming on nicely, and I’ve done the structural work on two other buildings. Here’s a few more in progress shots then.   BTW - for those that don’t know, the Vulgar Unicorn is a central part of the town of Sanctuary, the setting for the shared world anthology Thieves’ World. To save you looking back, the basic shells are old polystyrene packing, foam board, and blue XPS foam, then topped with a card  roof.  I use ice-lolly sticks and coffee stirrers for the wattle beams, followed by a  mix of powdered plaster, pva glue, and a little acrylic paint for a coarse daub. Then finally  strips of card for the roof tiles.  

  Back to adding more scenery to the town.  These are Vesna sculpts, printed for me by Warhammer Rose Studios. Above are notice boards and roadsigns.  The signposts make nice exit point markers.  You’ll start to spot ravens throughout the town if you look from now on, and I also have some nice cats to use too. Then a couple of trade stands, these also come with some empty benches I can use to display various spare parts from my kitbashing box later. Finally for now a nice pie cart that goes well with the Midlam pie maker miniature.

Work in progress, but the 2m x 1m table works well for playtesting.  This weekend was so wet and miserable that it was perfect for a couple of games of Guards of Traitors Toll.  The Frontier Wargaming Paint Case remains in easy reach just in case I feel the urge. Details of these Missions are still under wraps I’m afraid, but some fun incidents included a chase through a building, a belligerent drunk, guards being hampered by a large crowd watching the dancing bear, a fleeing suspect getting stuck in a cul-de-sac, a couple of lovely bits of teamwork, and one guard who always seemed to wander off directly away from where I wanted him to go!