Monday 4 December 2017

"Castigate Them!"

Having more-or-less shaken off the flu bug, and managed to get the St Austell gig done on Saturday without feeling too worn out after the 6oo mile round trip, I've managed to put together this pre-amble in advance of my first game of Witchfinder General : Days Of Revelation, using a reworked version of the first scenario in the rule book, "Punish Them!", and included the latest characters off the (currently clear) paint table.
I've decided to set the campaign in a fictional region of the Erewash Valley, and I'm using The Perfect Captain's 'Battle Finder' map system to determine the geography - here's a section of the map showing the areas where the following action occurs, so the narrative should make a bit of sense.



It all started when old Tom had gone over to Crimbledyke to fetch his herd back from grazing the common land on the valley slopes. He'd not long started back towards Bradshaigh when he met up with a group of three gypsy girls chattering away in a foreign tongue, who then started dancing and singing around him!
Tom was transfixed, and didn't have a clue how long he'd been standing there, but the dancing had stopped and he remembered one of the girls had put a finger to her lips and "shushed" him with a wink, before the three of  'em pranced off into the woods giggling and laughing. As he came to his senses, he realised that not only the girls had gone, but his cows too!
Luckily their trail was easy to find, but unluckily the tracks were heading towards Fernbeck - the plague village. Tom quickened his step, hoping to catch them before they wandered too close to the dread place, but just as he was thinking things couldn't get any worse..... they did.
When he caught up with them, he saw that his precious beasts weren't wandering off towards the plague village, but they were being herded towards Fernbeck House by a bunch of "the foreigners" armed lackeys!!
Tom yelled at them, and got a pistol ball sent in his direction in reply - which made the situation clear enough to him and he raced pell mell for home!

Once he'd he'd got back to  Bradshaigh, he told a gathering of folk what had happened - little realising that Violet Rathmore was evesdropping around the corner.......
...... and while an angry mob made their way towards Fernbeck House looking for retribution,
Violet made haste the best way she could, to give advance warning.

Night was falling, and Mikhail and Milyena were out in the grounds at Fernbeck with Jenya Ohlendorf, (another vampyress who had joined the couple as they escaped across europe towards England) when Violet arrived with news of the approaching mob.
After calmly thanking her for her trouble, Mikhail instructed his "captain of the guard", Nicholas Delcroix, to "organise a reception committee for our uninvited guests, oh, and be sure to invite a few of them into the house - for dinner!!"

Nicholas Delcroix is another Black Cat Bases miniature, and was a very quick paint job thanks to his long 'drover's coat' with its upturned collar.
The cattle are from the excellent value Pegasus Hobbies 1/48 scale  'Farm Animals' box set, and after a bit of research on the web for 17th century stock, I chose the 'English White' native breed as a close enough match to the models.......
....... and of course, they were a breeze to paint, with a rattle can white primer, black 'points' and a soft tone wash!
"Jenya Ohlendorf" was a find among my untouched 'Flintloque' miniatures collection, so she's the first (and only one) of them to get painted - all be it not for the purposes she was intended!
I think she's supposed to be an Orc, so the facial features on the mini make for a suitably 'inhuman' looking vampyre
The standing and flying versions of "Violet" are from the Foundry miniatures collection. They're not intended to be the same character, and there are slight differences in the detail, but after I'd trimmed and filed one of the brooms they painted up close enough (and the two mini's will never be seen together anyway!)
As well as the WfG stuff, I also managed to cobble together a base of dismounted dragoon horses from some very old (Hinchliffe if memory serves me correctly) nags and a reworked plastic pikeman from Warlord Games
Not brilliant but it does the job (and at a fraction of the cost of the proper models from Warlord - though I believe Santa just might be bringing me a set of those!!)
Here's how the guys look "in action"

Unfortunately, the next post won't be until the back end of the week due to work commitments, but hopefully we'll see how the "reception" for the villagers of Bradshaigh goes.



16 comments:

  1. Brilliant! So much to love hear and I'm feeling inspired to head back to my own Witchfinder world. Looking forward to the next instalment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Michael - I've managed to 'sneak a peek' at your WfG posts and I'm hugely impressed and inspired by your set-up. I really hope you do revisit it soon as post some more :-)

      Delete
  2. Good stuff. Waiting to see what happens next, and if those naughty 'foreign-sorts' go stealing other stuff from our green and pleasant land :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What? You mean ANOTHER round of Brexit negotiations??
      No deal ;-)

      Delete
  3. This is a system I know absolutely nothing about but I look forward to reading about what goes on. There are vampires in it so, of course, you have captured my interest. Would it surprise you at all to learn that I'm rooting for the vampires in this tale? Oh, and Violet Rathbone is so cute! A very impressive start, Greg.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wouldn't expect you to throw your hat into the ring for any other faction Bryan ;-)
      Glad you like 'Violet' and I'm hoping to paint the rest of her companions from the blister as soon as we get back from the gig in Newton Abbot tonight :-)

      Delete
  4. Some great looking figures here, and scenery, very nice job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, it's all been assembled in a bit of a rush to be honest - now I've got enough to get started gaming, I can take a bit more time building up the collection (it'll still be "gaming standard" though!)

      Delete
  5. Absolutely brilliant! Looking forward to seeing more :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks Ivor. Tonight is the last of our "long distance" trips before Christmas, so I'm REALLY hoping to get a few games under my belt before the festivities start proper :-)

      Delete
  6. Nice setup. Like everyone else, I'll be watching for further data on this project :-) .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hugh. I'm itching to get the first game played, but time is very much at a premium at the mo :-(
      I'll be locking myself away in my little games room as soon as I possibly can!

      Delete
  7. Great write up and intro to what is going to be a great campaign I suspect.

    Thanks for telling us about the Battle Finder map system.

    And curse those wiley women and their feminine ways. Distracting poor old Tom whilst his cattle were whisked away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Tim, I'm just a bit miffed that I couldn't get straight on and play the game. Too many 'distractions' at the moment, but it won't be long now !

      Delete
  8. Looks like some supernatural fun ahead Greg, perfect! Love the witch she is absolutely superb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fingers crossed I'll be getting a game in before the end of the week Andy :-)
      I'm still "a few witches short of a full coven" and scouring manufacturers websites for likely candidates ;-)

      Delete