Widower's Wood, Chapter 5.5

In the March meeting of the Fukuyama Gaming Club, we had several great games between Cygnar, the Trollkin, and the Protectorate of Menoth!  We're getting closer and closer to the 6th Annual Japan Open Team Tournament, and that means it's getting down to crunch time!  Since the FGC only meets once a month, that means that there are only 5 more meetings (we already had our April meeting!) until go time, so we are really trying to get our lists into fighting shape.  Luckily, I think that my lists feel pretty good where they are, and so they don't need any more tweaking... just a LOT MORE PRACTICE!!!  We didn't just do some practice runs and call it a day, however... oh no we did not!  There's always time for our current side game, Privateer Press' kickstarter game, Widower's Wood!

Speaking of Kickstarter, I wanted to just give a shout out to our buddies over at Word Forge Games who have a kickstarter LIVE RIGHT NOW!!!  That's right!  It's a 15mm skirmish wargame where the players control armies of drone tanks, and attempt to outmaneuver their opponents.  It looks like a ton of fun, and if you check out the kickstarter page, you'll find a bunch of great videos on how to play.  The tanks themselves are resin models, and looks pretty sweet!  It'll ship anywhere in the world, so no worries there!  Anyway, for more info, check out the kickstarter page here -> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wordforgegames/armoured-digital-miniatures-wargame/description

Announcments:
Fukuyama Gaming Club will meet again on May 20!  We hope you can join us!
Also, don't forget to register for the Japan Open!  There is only space for 8 teams, so it's first come first served!  Remember, the Tournament is on October 7th in Fukuyama city, Hiroshima Prefecture!

Working Hard or Hardly Working:
In a mere five models, both of my lists will be fully painted!  Add to that several models that I'm working on in trade for DTB like the Witch Coven and an Ogrun Bokur that I'm enjoying working on, and my painting table is in great shape!  The Bokur and the Coven are almost finished, and I've started on the two Choir members and the Paladin solo.  When the Choir is finished I'll throw the Champion of the Order of the Wall dragoon solo up there, and then I will be COMPLETE!!!!
     WIP: Ogrun Bokur

Mercenary Ogrun Bokur

This was actually a pretty fun solo to paint.  At first I thought that it was going to be a little difficult, but I really enjoyed it.  It's nice to step away from the purple and grey of the Interdiction of the Dawn (my Menoth army) and try something new!

     WIP:  Choir of Menoth

Two models to a full Choir

I never thought that I would ever paint another choir member again.  This was quite literally the first unit that I painted way back 12 years ago in Mark 1... the unit that made me decide to use Menoth instead of Cryx, actually.  I had been debating between the two factions, but the Choir models are what pushed me over the edge to the Protectorate.  In 12 years of playing Warmachine, I've only ever used a minimum unit of them... but my Tristan list uses 6 'jacks, and I can't protect them all with just four Choirboys, so here two more sit... it'll be interesting to paint them up just to see how much  my painting has improved over the last decade, haha!

Orgoth ruins surrounded by Trogs!

Which bring us, finally, to our continuing saga of Olo, our valiant Croak hero, and his merry band, trying to save the Widower's Wood swamp from falling under the control of a water fearing, crazy witch doctor, Rasheldonak... Sheldon to his friends, if he had any before he ate them.  Today, we took a crack at chapter 5.5, the last of the Kickstarter exclusive goodies that I got as part of my swag... that is to say, the unlocked stretch goals from the Kickstarter.  There are two more that I got for the Dead Man Walking expansion, but we're going to take a break once we're done with the main campaign, and might come back to the expansion in half a year or so after we get a few different games in.  The campaign is so close to being done, it's kind of exciting!  After this exclusive chapter, there are TWO CHAPTERS LEFT!!!  We haven't lost a chapter yet, though it's been a close thing!

The Story So Far:
After managing to escape from the Feralgeist ambush, the heroes have been closing in on Rasheldonak's ritual site.  But the Widower's Wood is a place full of old magic, and on their way, they stumbled upon an old Orgoth relic.  Some Bog Trogs, under the orders of Sheldon, are trying to conduct a ritual on the stone head that will make it easier for Sheldon to complete his own.  And easier for Sheldon means harder for us!  Looks like we'll have to beat up on some Troggy tail!  As usual, I took on Agata, my porcine princess, Leland took on Vaskis, and it looks like DTB will take both Olo and Skarg from now on (Leland has become "Villain guy" and I'm "Rules and Events", so it saves time for DTB to take the extra character).

Chapter 5.5, Orgoth Ruins:

The Board is Set

Okay, so right there in the middle of the board is a broken stone monument, and that is the focus for today.  And at the bottom of the board, there are two Mist Speakers (one red and one blue).  Now, the head has 8 wound tokens on it, but the Mist Speakers on their activations have a 2/3 chance of taking one of those wounds, adding it to THEIR OWN health, and putting an XP on the head.  The other 1/3 of the time all heroes have to make a hazard roll as the magic goes crazy!  Once the Mist Speakers have stolen all of the wound tokens from the head, they will try to escape and take all that magic to Sheldon.  If even one of the Mist Speakers escapes, we lose... Our plan seems to be to kill off the Mist Speakers as fast as possible, since they could become WAY too powerful if they take a lot of the wound tokens.  Add to that the fact that every XP on the head gives any undead villains (ie, Swamp Shamblers) +1 ARM, making these relatively easy to smash baddies a bit more of a threat, and the chapter becomes much more difficult to manage as the Mist Speakers do their work.  And each time a Bog Trog is incapacitated, the stone head turns it into a knocked down Swamp Shambler.. ugh!

Behold!  Orgoth magic at work!

Round one kicked off with High Water as the event card, but that won't bother us so much this turn, so good time to have that one.  Olo charged the Viper Tatzelwurm near him to grab a bit of extra movement on his way to the side quest.  He managed to kill it off, and was quickly followed by Vaskis using Wings of Air to make a longer move and set up his money maker, Sunhammer!  Sadly for our favorite Croak, the villain action for both of the them has all the Bog Trogs going after Olo! Olo spawned a villain in 6.....Vaskis spawned a villain in 6... Skarg spawned a villain IN 6!!!  Yikes!  To try and help out, Skarg charged into the mass of baddie heading for Olo, and hit a Viper Tatzelwurm so hard that he reached down it's throat and ripped out it's heart, which he feasted upon to heal his left over wound from last game.

Run, Olo!

And then, Agata also spawned a villain in 6....Whaaaaa?  What the heck, dice!  She then used her feat card Hoof It to make it into the Sunhammered square.  Then, time for the two Mist Speakers.  One of them caused all the heroes to take a hazard roll, while the other one took one of the wounds off of the monument.

Vaskis, Master of the Sunhammer

Round 2 pulled the Boss event card (eep!)  One more damage from the stone head, one more hazard roll... and it's only round 2 and there are only 6 wounds on the head!  Plus, all Shambers have become +2 arm!  Olo spawned a villain... in 6!  Hahaha!  And followed that up by getting to the side quest card!  Yeah!  6 XP to us!  It was a Feral Charm...mmmm, Agata want!  I may have a chance at the end of the game to try and convince the group to let me take it!  Vaskis charged the Tatzelwurm in the forest near him, taking 2 hazard rolls (oops, sorry for the 2 damage, Leland!) as he left the occupied square, and managed to kill it!  Woot!  His villain action sent a +2 ARM Shambler after Olo, but Olo is pretty slippery, and the shambler is a rotting pile of goo and missed.  Skarg also Hoofed it to move out of his total mess so he could shoot the blue Mist Speaker.  Agata moved out of her square, taking TWO HAZARD DAMAGE!!  Wow, we are not doing well with the hazard rolls this game!  Using her great strength Savagery which lets her take an attack at every model in her square for each attack she makes, she cuts down one Viper Tatzelwurm and both Bog Trogs, who immediately become Shamblers.  With her second attack, she killed one of the spawned Shamblers, as well!  Then during the villain action, she used her Feat card Pursuit to move another square.  And to finish the round, during the Mist Speaker action one more wild blasts of energy flooded the board, but none of us took any damage, and another wound left the head.

Agata and Vaskis hold off the rampaging horde

Round 3 brought another Boss Event card again!  One more wild energy blast, one more wound from the head!  Half way to the finale!  Olo charged a spawned Swamp Shambler, but with a +4 ARM and resilient flesh (needing double damage to hurt it, since, you know, it's a zombie) it only got knocked down.  Vaskis went after the second Side Quest since he was right there, but didn't make his INT check to actually find the item hidden in the bushes.  During his villain action, BOTH Mist Speakers drew off a wound from the head, bringing it down to the last two!  Skarg moved into another empty square and shot the blue Mist Speaker again.  Agata used another of her great strengths March to charge through the rough terrain at the Red Mist Speaker, doing double damage twice!  Yeah!  Go, Slaughterhauser of my heart!  Only one damage left on the red Mist Speaker.  That Mist Speaker hit Agata with an attack during it's activation, but failed to damage her (phew!), while the blue Speaker took one more wound from the head.... last one to go!

Skarg faces off against the Mist Speaker

Olo moved out of the Shambler square without taking any damage!  He then turned and threw a corrosive slime gourd at the zombie, but missed... Vaskis tried again for the Side Quest, this time making the roll and finding a Hand of Glory (knocks down all enemies in your square or an adjacent square once per chapter).  That's pretty good for Vaskis, since he always is the bait that leads the horde of baddies away from the action!  And I'll never say no to 6 more XP for finding the Side Quest.

Hand of Glory for Vaskis!

Skarg held and aimed, which lets him shoot the Mist Speaker 2 times!  One shot did double damage, but the other missed... oh well, we can't all be Agata, Skarg.  Don't worry, we won't hold it against you!  He spent a feat card to deal the final damage to the Speaker, leaving us with only one Speaker with only one damage left!  Come on, Agata!  Aaaaaaaaaand..... Agata smacked that Mist Speaker in the FACE!!!  And then, snacks upon his fishy flesh to heal 2 of her wounds.  Now all that's left is the stone head!

Fish 'n' chips for dinner tonight!

Olo's spawn continued to throw villains at Vaskis' square!  The Blackclad looks like he's going to be overrun soon!  Then Olo moved into the forest and threw a Vitriolic Fire gourd at the head, dealing double damage!  Then, Vaskis used his newly found Hand of Glory to knock down all the villains in the square next to him, which is good, because he really has a TON of guys who want to eat him!  Skarg held and aimed again, taking two shots and dealing 3 damage to the head.  Only three damage to go, but oh no!  Olo is in trouble!  The Villain Actions have brought a horde of villain on his head, and Olo goes down!

Hold tight, Olo!  We'll save you!

Come on, Agata!  The Great Finisher takes backs her title as she takes two attacks at the head and deals the last 3 damage!  Game over!

Conclusion:

Pshaw... Orgoth magic isn't what it used to be!

Victory for us!
Looks like Skarg and Agata are neck and neck for being MVP!  Actually, this chapter I felt like we were in pretty good shape the whole game!  We never seemed to be losing control, and we still had 7 rounds until the event cards ran out.  Now that the kickstarter exclusive chapters are over, let me say I really enjoyed them!  They were a great way to pick up some extra XP, for sure!  I wish that they had had a little more impact on the main game itself, but I know that would be difficult.  Bottom line, they were a lot of fun, and I'm glad that I picked up the kickstarter!
And Olo graciously handed over the Feral Charm to Agata!  Yes!
Next meeting will be on May 20!  Come down and get a game in!