On the art of rolling 1s

[cunningmatt]

At least it's not just me!

[roland murat]

A questing we shall go

Helmut 'Yo-Yo' Goldstriver and friends returned to the dungeon today. With only one fighter n the party (Pip's dwarf) and two support characters (me and Gary's elf ranger) it was always going to be tough, particularly when the minos started to appear.

Helmut managed to roll fewer ones in general play this week for the winds of magic test, keeping the bad results for when it really mattered. In the final room we entered we got jumped by two minotaurs and an orc shaman. Helmut levitated high above the combatants and threw a magic spear at the orc, causing massive damage and forcing it to flee. But it wasn't enough as the minos went to work.

In the end only the dwarf remained on his feet. Luckily (from a selection of about a dozen options) Pip found a resurrection scroll and was able to restore the Helmut who in turn saved the Elf. It came at a price - Helmut lost all his cash and treasures.

Battered, bruised and barely alive the brave heroes fled to a nearby time. They will return again ready to delve into the second level  of the dungeon but it is proving a tricky first assignment.

[roland murat]

If Helmut 'Yo Yo' Goldstriver was in 8th, what magic college would he belong to?

This though crossed my mind when I should have been doing work. He has a spell which boosts strength, one which heals and one which lets him levitate. He also has a magic item that slows time for other people meaning he (and friends can have a second turn before monsters in Warhammer Quest get to go)

[Pip]

He's definitely Gold College material, what with his fascination with metal doors...

[roland murat]

A questing we shall go

"So you want to know about the Tabac Goldstrivers? They sell jewellery, expensive stuff at that; are you thinking of getting something nice?...No...the family? Well they own a couple of shops catering for the well heeled, rumour has it they sell to the Imperial family and...their son? Ah you mean Wolfgang. Runs the operation in Middenheim and doing very well for himself I hea...the other son? Are you sure? That loser? Well, if you insist."

"They say there was a second son - somewhat accident prone. Anyway, he starts seeing things that aren't there, colours in the sky and other nonsense. Everyone just thinks he's daft in the head but then he starts doing weird stuff. A mate of a mate says he was told the kid turned some wine into liquid gold, not for long just an hour or so, but that's pretty odd. So he gets shipped off to the magic school before the witch hunters turn up  and disappears for a few years."

"Now my old man knows a bloke who worked as a cleaner in the old College. He reckons this Helmut kid, thats his name by the way, was a bit accident prone. Particularly when under pressure. On the day to day stuff he was pretty good and handling his spells but put him under pressure and he will find the worst possible time to make a massive boo boo. Long story short, he's doing some experiment or other to show he is good enough to be a proper wizard and the pressure is too much for him. something went wrong and there was this explosion, killed another apprentice I think."

"Then he disappeared. Ran off into the woods and couldn't be found so he's probably dead now. So I don't think its really that interesting a story. Having said that, there was some adventures passing through a week or so ago. I heard them mocking this wizard they had with them, something about how they found him sleeping in a ditch and his clothes getting detroyed by lightning. Sounds like these wizard types don't get much luck..."

[roland murat]

You know when you've been Nagashed

It was my first game of End Times today. I was teamed up with Gareth and Sam with a mix of chaotic stuff against Pip and Giles using the undead legion. It was 8k a side.

Sadly the game took longer to set up than play with team Chaos conceding defeat mid way through turn 2. Nagash was consistently raising close to his points cost in new stuff each turn and we really struggled to deal with it. We managed to take most of Nagash's wounds off him but in the bottom of the second turn the chaos assault had faltered and it was only a matter of time before the undead army crushed the life out of the chaotic legion.

Now my total experience of End Times consists of less than 2 turns but it does seem that magic is even more important than usual (which is going some). Any army must have a way of dealing with the powerful characters. If Nagash is one the other side of the table then he has to die in the first two turns or its curtains. The Empire might be the way to go, possibly with some dwarfs in support. It may be dull but a battery of great cannon should get past the ward save and get the job done. Maybe next time (or maybe not)

[cunningmatt]

Shame the game didn't last as long as you hoped! Sounds like fun though - bring on the Elves of Khaine!

[underscore]

Of course The Empire do now have more or less the only character who can take out Nagash 1v1 - you just need to get him close enough to smack him with his hammer (and avoiding all his spawning chaff...).

[Pip]

In fairness to Nagash and his big hat, I don't think he was designed with 3d6 magic phases in mind!

But yeah, in both turns he summoned a solid 900pts onto the board behind the Chaos lines, in addition to bubble-casting the Incantation of Righteous Smiting on 90 skeleton archers (one unit of 30 + one unit of 60 containing Khalida). Our arrows will blot out the sun, we will fight in the shade, etc. The last thing to happen before the game ended was a unit of 9 Sepulchral Stalkers popping up next to Mike's Chaos Dragon and turning it into sand.

[roland murat]

A questing we shall go

Yo-Yo the consistently unlucky wizard has emerged from our first adventure. It may have taken weeks and claimed the lives of three characters but he has done it. Yippee.

The huge sums of money he made were ploughed into a rigorous training regime of Sigmarmas as he has found new spells popping into his tiny, overworked mind.

Yo-Yo and friends will doubtlessly be back in the new year. There are rumours of an orc warlord's lair in the vicintiy of Barak  Varr and where there are orcs to slay there is normally money.

Until next time