Light Anti-Aircraft Positions

The First Mission in Check your 6! Jet Age's Crisis in Kashmir Campaign is called Stake Through the Heart and features an Indian bombing mission against Pakistani Tanks. These tanks are protected by two Canadair Sabres and 12 Light Anti-Aircraft Positions.

Six of these positions are real and six of them are fake. Only the Pakistani Player  knows which is which, and they are denoted by the coloured dots: blue means they are real, red means they are fake.

While the Indian FG5 Vampires have to hope they fly by more decoys, the Pakistani Player needs to remember which is which. Since these aircraft are going so fast, the AA positions will fire at anything that gets too close.

These base are from Fight's On! Miniatures, but as of writing this article their domain has expired. Fingers crossed they come back.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

Basing: To Edge or Not to Edge

Like many beginner painters, when I first started painting miniatures back in my teens I never based them. For whatever reason it was always so intimidating when I was a kid. Of course as I got older I realized that basing is just pouring sand over white glue and then painting it, which is nothing to be afraid of!

However, it did bring me to an interesting question: How much of the base do I flock? Do I do the whole base? or edge it in black? There seem to be three schools of thought here, each with their own pros and cons.

Image Source: http://www.terrainosaur.com/gallery/viewtopic.php?t=266

 1) Full Flock

This is the most common choice when creating terrain. You glue/flock the top and the sides of the base and make sure that you have full coverage. The idea is to create a seamless pairing between tabletop and miniature, with no painted edge, or speration of terrrain.

Pros: Your minis will match you tabletop and look like part of the environment. That is why this is so popular for Terrain.

Cons: All of your minis are now on little hills, which looks weird when we are talking about figures rather than terrain.

Image Source: http://www.innroadsministries.com/wordpress/miniatures-painting-for-beginners-part-3-what-the-flock/

2) Coloured Edging

In my experience this is more common with historical miniatures, but this method has you flocking only the top of the base, and painting the edge in a similar colour above. Note on the figures above the edge is painted with a sand colour to match the desert. This method gives the illusion that the minis are standing on chucks pulled out of the ground, rather than little hills.

Pros: If you are only fighting with those minis on one terrain type this will give your forced a finished and professional look, and is why this method is common on historical mins who will be geared for one terrain type.

Cons: If you change your terrain type your minis will look out of place: put those figures above in a dense jungle for example and the illusion is broken.

Image Source: https://www.thenaf.net/2016/05/spubbbbas-modelling-tips-bases/

3) Black Edging

More common with fantasy minis and Games Workshop figures this method has you flocking the top of the base, and painting the edge black. Similar to the style in entry 2, this method makes it look like the minis have been lifted from the surface.

Pros: This gives you the ability to do more varying terrain types as the black edge give you a visual disconnect between the mini and the terrain. So It is more difficult to look out of place as long as you have done a simple basing job.

Cons: Some people find the black line and the visual separation between terrain and mini unappealing and it destroys some of their immersion.

Personally I prefer the black edge. I think it gives you more flexibility and it just looks nicer.

If you are new to basing then please check out some of those links under the images. Most of them are tutorials on how to create your own flock, and properly base your figures.

So what do you do? Black Edging, Coloured Edging, or Full Flock?

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Just a Plain Ol' 15mm Drawn Cart

Stolen in Game 17 of Arachnophobia from the Village of Warrem, this Cart was to serve as the mini for the ale and wine laden vehicle they lifted when the town was celebrating the 100th birthday of its eldest member: Grandma Nelson. They were only able to keep it for a single game before they lost it during the Penkurth Massacre.

The surviving members were forced to abandon it when they fled Sir Gavriel de Ponce and his men. That was now 4 days ago in game, and given they have entered the City of Darfield who's gates are now sealed in preparation for the coming spider invasion it is unlikely they will be returning for it.

I sadly have no idea where I got this cart from, but you will notice that the yoke and wheels are the same as on my 15mm Fantasy TARDIS. That is because I cannibalized the other cart in order to create the TARDIS. Think of it as 15mm kit bashing.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

The Third Minotaur's Maze

I recently found this map in the lost stacks of  blog drafts, and decided to bring it it to light. This was the map that Elijah quickly drew for his maze of the Minotaur Campaign Game 3: all the way back in 2015.

The theme for the third Minotaur's Maze was Mountains and Flight, and all of the creatures we encountered were bird like, or a mountain dwelling species., with the exception of a few odd balls thrown in for fun! This was a dungeon crawl after all.

An interesting note about this game is that is also marks the first time that the party successfully fought and took down a dragon! You can see it in the top right hand corner of the map: Young Bronze Dragon. Though it was only a young dragon, Dave and I were very proud of the feat!

As usual the map was made in about 20 minutes by Maze of the Minotaur's DM Elijah.Though now in 2017 it has been a while since I last looked at it, but I remember it fondly

Plague Marine Standard Bearer

When I started Warhammer this odd and entirely pewter banner was one of the few that was available to chaos forces, and certainly the most Nurgle-like of the lot (aside from the standard you saw in the Old School Plague Marine Squad). My original paint was so terrible that I never thought I would be able to recover but thankfully I was able to create this ghastly standard.

I don't have much of a reason for having standards in my army. I just like how they look.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Old School Plague Marines

Back in the days when Games Workshop minis were all pewter they were still cranking out Plague Marines. Slightly different then the old Chaos Space Marines, these guy heavily featured gas masks and spiked helmets.

you can clearly see from these designs where Forge World got their inspiration from for their Death Guard Plague Marines. The plain and bloated Armour of the old Death Guard is a far cry from where they ended up these days.

I actually quite like many of the design elements of these 2nd - Early 3rd ed Plague Marines. The simple design of the armour and the archaic gas mask evoke images of ancient toxicity and I especially like the wood paneling on the sides of many of the weapons. It makes them look out of time; a feature I am glad to see returning to the newer minis.

Of course I am not going to argue that they are better sculpts than their modern cousins, simply that I actually quite like them in a nostalgic kind of way. And as a collector, this squad was a must have for my army.

I plan on mounting these guys in one of the Old Rhino Minis that many of you have seen on our Twitter and Instagram. Follow along there for more updates.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Clops the Horse

When the Party in JADE's Arachnophobia Campaign found the Fantasy TARDIS, I had to give them a way to move it in game. So along side the TARDIS I also gave them this grey horse, which I named Clops.

The Guys gleefully adopted him, keeping the name Clops and he has accompanied the party for just two games now. However Clops' purpose is greater than just pulling the TARDIS.

The Wizard Zinthilas from JADES' Hymns of a Vagabond Campaign also had a figure on Horseback, and Clops would serve as the horse when he dismounted.

So not the most interesting of miniatures but certainly a useful one. Clops' mini came from Peter Pig Miniatures... I think.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Zinthilas the Wizard on Horseback

When the Wizard Zinthilas arrived at Waerham's Hold in JADE's Hymns of a Vagabond campaign, he came by Horseback. Since Zin moves with a cane, any time we left the Hold he would ride his horse. This left me with a problem from a game perspective: I didn't have a mini for him, and there aren't a lot of choices for Wizard's on horseback in the 15mm scale.

So I took a 15mm Guard on horseback cut off his legs, and then cut torso off of a 15mm Wizard and glued them together, I then used a small amount of Green Stuff to extend the robes over the Guard's chain mailed legs.

I think it worked really well!

Both the Guard and the Wizard used to make Zin on Horseback, were from Splintered Light Miniatures, and of course you can get Green Stuff from Games Workshop.

Since making this mini we have had two games of Hymns of a Vagabond, and I have yet to use it in a battle. Let's hope next game we get the opportunity.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

Hypothermia in Dungeons and Dragons

In Hymns of a Vagabond Game 20, Orin "Cutter" Broil met an unfortunate end. While travelling in late November, we were forced to cross a freezing cold river without a bridge. While most of us got across without any issue, unfortunately Aren, who was carrying Cutter at the time, slipped and fell in the river plunging both of them into the ice cold water.

So the way Hypothermia works in AD&D's Dungeoneer's Survival Guide is that you have to be in cold water for an hour. Since we were hours from anywhere and having trouble getting a fire going the first condition was met. Both parties passed their Constitution checks and staved off the first bout of Hypothermia.

A further problem arouse when we didn't have any dry clothes for them to wear forcing them to endure another hour of exposure. Aren passed his roll, but Cutter was not so fortunate. He failed, and being a 1evel 1 multi-Classed Thief/Magic User he only had 4 HP.

The DM rolled the 1d6 Damage assigned for failing the rol1 out in the open. He rolled a 6, and in AD&D 0HP or less is dead. no ifs, ands, or buts. This was absolutely crazy in game and was the first JADE character to be killed by the elements.

So if you want to add Hypothermia into your game, simply have your players make a CON check for each hour of exposure. Each time they fail, deal 1d6 damage to them. This damage goes away after 1 hour of warming up. DM's be wary, our 1st Ed AD&D Campaign  Hymns of a Vagabond is a largely survival based game. We all knew this was a possibility while playing this game despite how harsh it may sound. So make sure your players know what they are getting into before you spring death-by-weather on them.

Next time we go out we will bring warmer clothes, and dry clothing we can change into. More blankets are also a must, as well as better planning and prepartions to cross cold bodies of water without a boat or bridge. For us it was a learning experience and a mistake that we will not repeat again. Kinda suck that it cost us a player character to learn it though!

RIP Cutter

Written by: Andrew Gregory

15mm Guards on Horseback

In game 18 of Arachnophobia the party encountered a group of guards on horseback that rode into the town of Penkurth. They were lead by the cruel Sir Gavriel de Ponce and brandished a warrant of arrest for the party. I readied these horsemen in the event the party tried to flee Penkurth. If that was the case - I planned to ride them down as they fled. The battle however happened on foot and in town foot during an event that we have come to call The Penkurth Massacre, and so they were never used.

I painted these guys using the same style that I painted my 15mm Guards: with yellow cloth, silver armour and wooden shields. Now in retrospect, on these guys the colour is a little bright and overwhelming, and I would figure out where to paint a few more accents if I were to paint them again.

The reason I chose the colour yellow to signify my Guards is two fold. First it means they stand out from the crowd, making them nice and obvious when setting up a complicated miniatures scene, so the players have a clear view when the battle starts. Secondly not many players choose yellow for their character's colours so there are no conflicts.

It is not the greatest colour, but it serves well and in Arachnophobia has become the House colours of the evil Count Opplethor.

These minis are from Alternative Armies and are interestingly one solid piece. Most 15mm riders I have seen come with a horse and separate rider making these stand apart from the rest.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

Spellcrow Plague Marine Havocs

Spellcrow is a third party designer that creates "count-as" troops and units with different designs than the normal forces featured in Games Workshop. Personally I love their Plague Legion stuff and already have their Plague Lord, so I decided I would expand my force and add in this Havoc Squad Featuring 2 Heavy Bolters and 2 Missile Launcher. it is a rather uncouth Plague Marine armament for those used to 1-3rd ed Warhammer 40k.

The Spellcrow bits feature, arms, legs, heads , shoulders, backpacks and even weapons all done in the diseased and decaying style of nurgle. This squad is comprised of bits from standard Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, the Old 3rd ed to 7th ed Palgue Marines and heads, arms and torso from Spellcrow.

Some of the minis are re-paints of old minis I made in my teens. This custom kneeling figure with a extended barrel and scoped boltgun only needed a new shoulder pad, backpack and head to make it work with my current force.

I am quite proud of this guy given that I made him 13 years ago, just took this long for my painting to catch up.

This standard comes from a Plague Bearer's box, and just happened to be a spare standard I had lying around. I really like the idea of standards and try to include as many as possible. Oddly and I swear without planning it, my Plague marine army has 7 Banners: the holy number of Grandfather Nurgle.

As great as the Spellcrow Plague legion bits are, it is important to note that they are slightly larger then you average Space Marines, and while the conversions do work, often the components will look over-sized. Meaning it is frankly best to build your squad using only Spellcrow parts and the downside there is that it is farily expensive.

I started playing Warhammer when 3rd edition was just coming to a close, and back then any unit with a Mark of Nurgle was forbidden from using Heavy Bolters, Missile Launchers, Auto Cannons etc. Your heavy weapons choices were limited to Plasma Guns, Melta Guns, and Flamers if you wanted to run a Havoc Squad. Those restrictions were lifted in 4th edition, and I can now make use of one of my favorite suppression weapons in the game.

The final pair of heavy weapons I added in were indeed missile launchers, which is to give them a strong and long ranged punch.

At the time of writing it has been a while since I last played, as me and my sister are trying to get her army into a usable state, and we both have full time jobs; so it takes a while! But I am sure they will dominant the field, especially if I mount them in a Rhino as I plan to.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

Arachnophobia Chapter 1 Complete!

Image by: addiegregart

Back in August of 2016 the group began a 2nd Ed AD&D Campaign called Arachnophobia. It began with a simple group of farmers and peasants who got wrapped up in something much larger than themselves.

During an exploration of an unusual cave that opened underneath of the rural town of Barelydale (the Dale), the party discovered that after a flash of green light, Toby Ryder the towns stable boy had a gem embedded in his left hand. Looking further, the group found ancient prophecies scrawled on the walls of a long forgotten and buried temple. The Prophecies foretold the of coming hordes of Giant Spiders and how one with a green gem would defeat them.

Realizing the importance of what they had found, the town priest arranged for a group of people from the Dale to escort Toby to their liege Lord Kilgour, who resides in the city of Darfield, more than 350 miles away from the Dale.Knowing it would take them many days of travel, the party set out on their adventure as not but level 1 characters.

Well it took them 14 months, 20 games, and 37 days in game, but they finally reached their goal and entered Darfield!

Image by: addiegregart

Why Did it Take so Long?

Arachnophobia was the first long term 2nd Ed campaign that we had played as a group. Each character was using at least two different rule books (and as many six), and for half of our players it was their first time playing 2nd ed. So as the DM I designed the first chapter to move slowly, allowing players to get used to their bizarre and often overly complicated characters. I wanted them to grow into their powers and make their way through a world, so they would come out with a story to tell.

It worked perfectly. Thomas the Chronomancer learned when time travel was appropriate, John the Greenwood Ranger attained his true Greenwood Status, and the party is around level 4-5. In 2nd ed AD&D this means they have around 10,000 to 20,000+ experience points, which you will note is quite high compared to modern editions. So generally things take longer to get the same results.

The Party

How's the Party?

The last 37 days in game have been bloody ones. Out of a total of 19 party members who have joined the party over the course of the game, only 8 now survive, and only 4 of the original 8 who left the Dale made it. That means that the party has a 57.89% fatality rate, or a 42.11% survival rate if you are a glass half full kinda person.

Here is the break down:

The Living:

Thomas
John Applewood
Ceryl Figgus
Shánfara Al-Asha
Tana Lohs
Lethoras
Toby Ryder
Attia Quinn

The Dead:

Paeter Son of Grayble
Max Flailer
Allison Rey
Enoch Fellstone
The Druid of Grayland Forest
Butters
The Druid of King's Forest
Nathan Tyrell
Asra'Vellyn
Kevin Trall
Zander

After crunching the number of days each player more than a week old had spent in game, I figured out that if you want to join the Arachnophobia Party your life expectancy drops to around 18 days. Good luck!

Image by: addiegregart

A Few Notable Events

Throughout the 20 games of Arachnophobia they guys have had many adventures and these are the most notable:

A Trip Through Time

Because we have a Chronomancer in the party, it was in Arachnophobia that we had our first instance of time travel. I covered a lot of this on the blog in Time Travel in Dungeons and Dragons and 4 Tips for Using Time Travel in Dungeons and Dragons at the time. And while it has become strangely mundane in this campaign, when Dave used it for the first time it completely blew everyone's minds.

He used it to resurrect a dead party member, only to have her die again... and again. After that he vowed only to use his time travel when absolutely necessary... Or maybe to rob some NPCs from time to time.

If you have not used time travel in a tabletop RPG I recommend giving it a try, but be prepared. I have maintain multiple calendars detailing the day to day events of the game to keep track of everything, across multiple timelines. It is fun but not for the ill prepared GM.

The Burning of the Wolf's Head Inn

A large inn at a prominent crossroads dividing the Southern Graylands from the Grayland Forest and the North, the Wolf's Head Inn has stood as a welcome sign to travelers for generations. That was until the evil Count Oppelthor's men arrived. Having learned of rumours of a messiah coming from the North the COunt sent his men to track down the party. The players and NPC alike were arrested but they managed to escape in the night when the Inn was attacked by 16 giant spiders. In the confusion, the inn was set a blaze and during the group's escape they encountered Asra'Vellyn, Kevin Trall, Nathan Tyrell and freed Attia Quinn from captivity. It was an exciting night for the largely low-born and inexperienced party.

The Malbridge Riots

After deviating from their path South towards the East (following John Applewood to some unknown destination that he claimed his Gods were guiding him to) the group came upon the town of Malbridge: a troubled place with a drainage problem, and a large slaughter house that serviced much of the area. It was a point of contention among the townsfolk with half of them feeling it was ruining their town and the other half willing to accept it in exchange for the wealth it brought in.

The arrival of an armed party did not help the situation, and the players ended up starting a riot. For them it had nothing to do with the town's politics however and was a play they made to free two of their group who had been arrested earlier in the day. It worked, and the group fled the town.

Shortly outside of Malbridge Butters was killed trying to retrive his ill gotten gains he had stolen from the Malbridge thieve's guild.

The Sleeping God in King's Forest

After Malbridge the party continued East where John learned of his quest that would turn him into a true Green Wood Ranger: Stop the Wizard of Chester from blowing up the sacred but unusually inactive Waystones around Stone Break Falls. Along the way they met the Druid of King's Forest, who scarified herself to activate the Waystones in the area saving them from the wizard.

If they had failed, and the Wizard of Chester had managed to destroy one of the Waystones, the power held within these ancient Standing Stones would have caused an explosion the likes of which the world had never seen. I calulated it as a 1.2 megaton bomb, which according to D&D TNT Damage Stats would do around 9.6 Million D6 damage. 

Luckily they succeed, spoke to one of the ancient sleeping Gods, and were rewarded with John's Greenwood Ranger Status, and a number of magical items and small gems.

A Party in Warrem

The group had the pleasure of celebrating Grandma's Nelson's 100th birthday in the farming village of Warrem. It was a refreshing change of events for the group, and they used the opportunity to socialize, watch a play, feast and drink their fill, and of course get into all matter of trouble.

After learning that the people of Warrem followed a strange racist religion against Half-Elves, the group decided to rob the town of their cart, and the remainder of their ale and wine. It went off perfectly with Thomas blaming the whole event on bandits, and then leaving to chase after them.

A Lich Revealed

The very night of the Warrem heist -while the party was divided- Nathan Tyrell made a disturbing reveal. He was not the old cleric they thought him to be, but in fact some dead corpse controlled by an evil distant power rumored to be a Lich. 

Raising a force of the undead, Nathan demanded that the they turn the now drunken and passed out Toby Ryder over to him. John and Kevin were able to hold the skeletons off after Nathan put the other half of their party to sleep with a powerful spell. The nightmare ended when John delivered the killing blow against Nathan, and the remaining skeletal attackers crumbled to dust. The next day when Thomas, Asra'Vellyn and Lethoras showed up, Asra told the group of rumours of a dark and ancient evil known only as the Lich. All he knew were vague stories of possessions and the living dead, but it seemed the tales of the Lich were true:  and it wanted Toby.

The group left Nathan's body where it lay and left as quickly as they could.

The Penkurth Massacre

In vilalge of Penkurth, Count Opplethor's men caught up with the the party once more, this time lead by the ruthless Sir Gavriel de Ponce. Here the party was divided as only a handful managed to escape the walled town. Thomas time traveled forward and skipped the entire event, while John was never allowed in the settlement to begin with as the porters where terrified of his monstrous form. Toby managed to escape with Zander's assistance, but the other were not so lucky.

Asra'Vellyn, Kevin Trall and Zander were all killed during the escape, and Attia Quinn, Lethoras were captured. It was a devastating loss for the party in terms of life, equipment and supplies. On top of the aprty members killed and captured, they lost 5 magical items, 5 gem stones, a cart full of traveling supplies and 2 donkeys. Things were looking grim, but with the help of a friendly nobleman with a bone to pick against Count Opplethor they were able to rescue their imprisoned party members in in the neighboring town of Norwich a few days later.

After that of course they reached Darfield and learned that the Giant Spiders had overrun the Grayland Mountains, the party's home of the Grayland Forest and were heading south.

The Apocalypse had begun.

Image by: Kid Grit

The Group's Magical Items

Along this journey the party acquired a number of magical items and though many of those were sadly lost in the Penkurth Massacre a few interesting ones remain.

The TARDIS

As many of you have seen the party has a functioning Fantasy TARDIS. This took a while to figure out all the extra rules need to run it but we are pretty happy with how it turned out. Mainly this object will help us Time Travel as a group thus making that aspect of the game a little more open to the rest of the party and not just our Chronomancer Thomas.

The Bracelets of Rough Iron

Given to Attia Quinn by the Sleeping God they Awoke in King's Forest, these bracelets of naturally formed iron grant the user an AC Bonus. In this case it is a -2 bonus, which is a good thing in AD&D. As odd as it will sound to more modern players, in 1st and 2nd Ed AD&D the lower your AC is the more armour you have. So some one in Full Plate Mail has an AC of 0, while someone in a a tunic and trousers has an AC of 10. Weird right?

The Boots of Comfort

These boots appear as regular leather boots but are a comfortable as soft fuzzy slippers, and incredibly durable. They were given to Lethoras by the Sleeping God of King's Forest to ease his suffering on this trip. Lethoras is a known misanthrope and the boots have at least stopped his complaining for now.

Canister of Condiments

Given to Thomas by the Sleeping God of King's Forest, this clay pot with a cork lid is capable of creating 6oz of Pepper of Sneezing once a day when the secret word "Relish" is uttered. The Pepper of Sneezing is harmless but the target will continue to sneeze until they pass a Poison Save. Thomas has used this to his delight and has begun stock piling it.

Some of the items the group lost include the Horn of Fog, and the Flute of Fairie, all gifts from the Sleeping God.

Image by: addiegregart

Next Steps

In Darfield the group will decide where they want to go next. I have told them about a couple of plot hooks to look out for, but regardless of who they get involved with it does seem like that the group will head out to sea. I recently got the Of Ships and the Sea book for AD&D which detail naval travel, combat, and encounters. Myself and the guys are eager to give it a try so across the sea we go.

But first we will have a few games in Darfield where they meet Count Opplethor once and for all and finally complete their quest of delivering Toby into the supposed safety of Lord Kilgour's Court.

For October I have taken a break as the DM but we will be returning back to Arachnophobia Mid-November. So stayed tuned with more 2nd Ed Adventures coming soon.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Tana Lohs the Half-Elf Fighter

After defeating Gavriel de Ponce, Robert "Robbie" Castille the Steward of Norwich helped the party yet again by having the Fighter Tana Lohs come along with them. The Half-Elven Woman owed Robbie a favour, and in exchange for accompanying the party he considered it absolved. He also made it quite clear if she refused she would be arrested.

Tana lohs is a brawler and gambler and since she was been introduced in Game 20 (the last game in the first chapter) the party doesn't know much about her beyond that.

In game terms Tana Lohs is a level 4 Half-Elf Fighter in 2nd ED AD&D. She is a bit of a loose cannon so we will have to see how long she manages to stay with the group before she gets herself killed or into more trouble than she is worth.

Tana Lohs' mini is from Alternative Armies, where they have several 15mm fantasy lines, and can be found in their Female Adventures pack.

Written by: Andrew gregory

The Sha'ir Shánfara Al-Asha

After the death of his second character Asra'Vellyn  at the hands one of Count Opplethor's Captains, Sir Gavriel de Ponce, Adam was left needing yet another player character in JADE's 2nd Ed AD&D campaign Arachnophobia. This time around he wanted to be something different and since I am including every 2nd edition class and kit into this game, the Sha'ir from the Al-Qadim Setting was the choice he made.

Shánfara Al-Asha traveled a long way from the Lands of Fate only to find himself kidnapped and taken hostage by bandits. he was later rescued by the party who agreed to accompany him at least as far as Darfield where he was storign most of his things.

Right now it is unclear if Shánfara Al-Asha will stay with the party, but given he is out there exploring and cataloging the world it is likely he will come along.

I had planned a much shorter article on this character, as I painted this mini more than two years ago. However when I went looking for the article to link to found that none existed! So long overdue, but here is my 15mm Sha'ir.

In Game terms, Shánfara Al-Asha is a level 4 Neutral Good Human Mage using a Sha'ir Character Kit. For those that don't know, a Sha'ir is a magic user capable of commanding djinn... Well at least when you reach the higher levels. It is a very unusual casting class, but a lot of fun to play.

The mini for Shánfara Al-Asha comes from Splintered Light Miniatures and is available in their Magic Users Adventurers pack


Written by: Andrew Gregory

Sir Gavriel de Ponce

Since Game 8 of Arachnophobia the party has been pursued by a mysterious figure known as Count Opplethor. Seemingly interested in the rumours of some sort of messiah coming from the North, he has been trying to kidnap Toby, and question anyone with or around him. After eluding the Count's men him for six games, one of Opplethor's agent's -Gavriel de Ponce- caught up with the party in the small village of Penkurth.

There de Ponce and his men imprisoned two members of the party and killed three others before riding back south towards Darfield. The survivors of Penkurth caught up with de Ponce in the town of Norwich, where they (after a couple attempts by virtue of time travel) were able to free their imprisoned party members.

To match the rest of the my town guards, and act as a generic leader for them, I painted de Ponce with yellow accents, but made him stand out by painting his cape purple. I think it gives him a heir of command as I am sure his mini will be used again.

Gavriel de Ponce's 15mm mini comes from Splintered Light Miniatures, and can be found in their historic section under the Saxons section.

Written by: Andrew Gregory