Space Hulk 2014 - Mission 1: Beachhead

Space Hulk 2014

Mission 1: Beachhead

At the last moment the hulk shifted. The ancient and rotted metal of the nameless ship which formed the outer edge of this section of the twisted and warp-melded merging of a dozen human and xeno vessels leapt as if it were some feral hound rather than an artifact technology. Instead of breaching the center protruding round of some interior chamber the boarding torpedo tore into a lightless corridor to its right. With a shriek of metal and an explosion of gas into vacuum sergeant Lorenzo lead his squad into the interior. To his right was an ancient valve, to his left the corridor opened into the chamber they torpedo had been aiming for with another closed doorway just before it. He could see another corridor and at its end another door. Turning quickly he faced the door close on his right and a glance at the movement display at his wrist he saw the greenly pulsing blips of the enemy just beyond. He stepped forward and faced the door, raising his bolter and putting himself in overwatch as his squad emptied from the torpedo behind him.

Beachhead is the first Mission for Space Hulk. I haven't played the game since Space Marines had beaks but the rules are simple and straightforward. I love the look of the new minis but my slop and go style of painting will not do them justice.

The scenario is simple and you are given two squads of Marines while the Genestealers are limited to 16 blips. 10 at start spread all over the place and 6 reinforcements that are dribbled out 1 at a time from turn 4 through turn 9. Each blip is 1-3 Genestealers so the Marines are outnumbered only about 2 to 1. They have guns and the Genestealers don't. This was my big mistake on my first play through.

The victory conditions are Take and Hold the six chambers of the map for the Marines without losing more than 3 figures and the Genestealers just need to kill Marines. My first game was an embarrassingly easy  Marine victory. I frittered away my limited supply of Genestealers when I need to concentrate them and wait for the right moment to pounce and overwhelm.

It is a fantastic game and I plan on replaying mission 1 again to try out some different tactics. I do feel that Mission 1 is a bit weighted in the Marines favor but a few replays should tell me if it is true.

Art - Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov - Bogatyrs

Review - Mystic Pangolin #1 - Fantastic First Issue

Review - Mystic Pangolin #1 - Fantastic First Issue

I don't know why but when I first read about this zine I had a good feeling about it. This is a real homerun of a first issue. It has a combination of useful tables and articles with, on my first read thru, looks like a nice little low level adventure.

Mystic Pangolin ranks up there with the Tim Short's 'The Manor' but actually surpasses it in size and more than doubles it with the inclusion of the 24 page zine adventure 'The Reliquary of Thazar Zul'.

A first glance through and the articles and tables were eye-catching. Each articles is extremely well presented and contains useful guides for any DM (useful for any system).

Casks and Barrels - Terminology and Definitions, be it Puncehon, Rundlet, Kilderkin, Pottle or Shook (there are a dozen different types defined) these were all new to me and should spice up room descriptions and get player's asking , "What the hell is a Kilderkin and how much XP do we get from killing it!"

Then there is a wonderful lexicon of Hobo signs to spice up a city adventure (4 pages of signs and definitions ). A great idea for an underdark adventure as well, where travellers leave various signs to warn of what may be lurking down the foreboding passages and caverns beneath the earth.

Next is a well illustrated article (with photographs) about manuscripts and scrolls including 2 pages of random tables covering types of manuscripts, their medium from clay, wax, bamboo and several materials I was unaware of to vellum.

Finally there is a write-up of a small coastal community with as small map (I love maps). A quick-read shows a nice amount of relevant detail that I can steal for my own campaign (and I was just working on a nice little Viking adventure where they sack a small Saxon village, very handy).

And Finally, Finally, there is the 24 page adventure that says pull out but is actually a nice stapled zine sized book in itself (I went for the A3 map as well. I'm not sure if it is in every copy though the center of the adventure contains a detailed DM's dungeon map).

The Reliquary of Thazar Zul looks to be (I haven't run it yet) a nice low level adventure (characters level 2-4 Swords&Wizardry, but easily converted to 1eAD&D, my game system of choice).  I see new monsters, a new magic item, challenges, rewards, twists and turns, and a nice looking map.

This is a hell of a first issue and I look forward to issue #2.

Map Request

Art - John_William_Waterhouse -Cleopatra_-_

A Noise That Seemed Afraid Of Silence

A Noise That Seemed Afraid Of Silence

Beyond the coasts of Sange is an island in the Sea of Twilight. The sea itself is a place of beauty and terror, but the island, which has no name, is a place of ending. When the people of Sange weary of all things they seek this island for there is no true ending in Sange only life followed by life.

The Sea of Twilight can only be sailed by Death and finding Death in Sange is a hard thing. To kill a man or a woman, an animal or thing is possible but death lasts only an instant and the spirit of those of Sange who are killed flies free like a gleam of silver moonlight before it is gone to find life again.

The spirit of the dead must be caught in a cage of mirrors baited with a dream; A dream of power, of love, anger, tears, betrayal, revenge or remorse. The cage is capped with the frozen eye of a mage and the breath of despair. Then the body of the dead will be at the command of the holder of the cage and the journey to the island can begin.

There is a fear that has come to Sange. Dreams have become nightmares and the land, though always hard and often cruel, has lost the wonder, pleasure and enchantment that made unending life a joy instead of a wearisome burden or horrific punishment. The soothsayers, the oracles and the prophets speak of the island on the Sea of Twilight and say that only there can the answer to this curse be found.

Someone or some group of someones must make this journey, find Death to sail the ship, cross the Sea of Twilight and walk upon the island from which no one has returned. Great dreamers are called to this quest from all of Sange, dreamers brave and strong, of the mind and arm, heart and spirit before the darkness which has settled upon the land has ended every song, silenced every voice, broken the spirits of those who have lived a thousand lives and made Sange into a prison of nightmare and torment.

Minstrel Tales - The Bold Hommlet Farmer (repost)

Minstrel Tales - The Bold Hommlet Farmer

The Bold Hommlet Farmer

Here is a ditty that is about a small village on the road north to Verbobonc. In the inns and taverns of the area a quick gulp of ale is normally taken at the end of each chorus.

One evening of late into Hommlet I strayed
and bound for Verbobonc I was making me way
At the Welcome Wench some time I delayed
For to wet me auld whistle with Keoish

To Hommlet, To Hommlet,
To Hommlet I strayed
To Hommlet, To Hommlet
To Hommlet I strayed
The road to Verbobonc was dry as a bone
The road to Verbobonc
Was dry as a bone

I scarcely had travelled a mile of the road
When I heard a dispute in a farmer's abode
There stood a bandit, an ill looking toad
And the wife of a bold Hommlet farmer

Chorus

"You're a robber" the bold farmer's wife she replied
"You're as bad as a goblin with whom you abide
But the men of Burne's Badgers will put down your pride
They'll be here like lightning in front of a storm

Chorus

I spaded me fist and I picked up me stick
and behind that foul bandit like a mouse I did trip
Then with all my strength I gave him a lick
and the bold farmer's wife was adoring
(Loosely adapted from 'The Bold Tenant Farmer')