That's not Rufferto...

... that's Mulch!

This isn't going to make much sense to those of you who aren't familiar with Groo the Wanderer.  Sorry!

Among the treasures lurking in Tim Gow's second box of delights were some Groo miniatures produced some years ago by Dark Horse Miniatures.

In theory the set includes Groo, Chakaal, the Sage, the Minstrel and Groo's dog Rufferto.  And very nice they are too except that Rufferto doesn't quite capture the original's mongrel look.

And the answer is, that's because it isn't Rufferto...

... it's Mulch, the Sage's dog.

"What does 'mulch' mean?" being a running joke in the Groo comics.

I've started painting the figures with a view to turning them into a somewhat off-the-wall Pulp Alley league or Song of Blades and Heroes warband but it looks like I'll have to sculpt my own Rufferto.

Expedition to Moria Rules

Here are the rules for the Expedition to Moria dungeon crawl.  They should be fairly self-explanatory.

Expedition to Moria

Each player starts with four figures.

Determine first player randomly then proceed clockwise around the table.

Each player may make two actions:

• Move (6”)
• Fight
• Charge (move then fight)
• Search (not if you’re fighting)
• Heal (not if you’re fighting)

Sequence of play

1st Action

Check for wandering monsters if rounding corner or entering room

2nd Action

Check for wandering monsters who charge if unengaged

Fighting

Roll 1d6 for each side. Add number of figures (Dwarves or men) Add half number of figures (Orcs)

Score < opponents Lose one figure

Score < 1/2 opponents Lose two figures (Dwarves/Men), Rout (Orcs)

Searching

Roll 1d6:

1 Secret door

2 Nothing (Secret door if you have the Helm of Clear Sight)

3 Nothing

4 Nothing

5 Treasure

6 Treasure

Healing

Roll 1d6:

5 or 6 heals a casualty

Traps

Costs one action to escape. Roll 1d6:

Anything but a 1 allows you to escape.  

Wandering Monsters

Present on 3-6, roll again for type:

1-4 2d3 Orcs

5 Trap

6 Cave Troll (counts as four Dwarves)

Expedition to Moria

Jamie and I ran another game for the kids at Millie's school last night.  The idea was to do a fast-paced game of slaughtering orcs and amassing treasure.

We based the scenario on the period after The Return of the King when, with Aragorn settled on the throne of Minas Tirith, the good folk of Middle Earth settle down to slaughter those who followed Sauron.

Parties, each of four Dwarves, are making their way into Moria.  The winning player will be the one who gets out with most treasure!

They have a Cave Troll!  Things look bad for George A's Dwarves.

The figures are all from Jamie's collection.  The tunnels of Moria are built from foamcore.

An excited player looks on as Jamie prepares to deploy yet more Orcs.

Our winner receives the Golden Warrior award

The event was a great success.  We had nine different players over the two hours and several of them came back two or three times to play again.

T-72s

I've now finished resurrecting a pair of rather tatty resin and white metal T-72s with ERA that  picked up at a bring-and-buy years ago.  Here they are in front of the third and latest of Museum Miniatures resin ruins.  Commander and AAMGs added from the spares box. Click to embiggen.

On the Workbench - Downtown Tcherbevan

Here we see a number of the buildings that will form the area of Tcherbevan in and around the Turkish Quarter.  Apart from the Museum Miniatures partial ruin on the right (the last of four I've had unfinished for several years) this shows my foamcore buildings in various stages of completion.

Lurking at the back, next to the bottle of PVA, is a tower; a simple box made from four pieces of foamcore.  Next to it are a pair of buildings with windows and doors attached and partly painted in  lurid brick-red exterior masonry paint.  Centre foreground are two small buildings that have had their render overpainted.  The most-foreground of them has also been dry-brushed.  They just need the doors and windows painting to be complete.

More Late Roman Basic Impetus

November's Saturday Afternoon Wargame(TM) saw us having another go at Basic Impetus with my (slowly) growing collection of 6mm Late Romans.

Rob and Jamie took on the roles of opposing Roman officials (the Comes Saxoni Litoris and the Governor of Britannia Secundus respectively).  I supported Rob with a bunch of Saxon foederati whilst Andy ran a bunch of Welsh and Irish mercenaries in Jamie's service.

The battlefield was fairly unexciting - mostly open but with a few scattered woods.

Saxons (left foreground) and Rob's Romans (right foreground) face
off against Jamie's Cumbrogi (left background) and Andy's Romans. 

Early on I had a unit of Saxon skirmishers run down by a Cumbrogi warband.  Then, frustratingly, one of my expensive Goth mercenary cavalry units was routed by some Roman light horse.

The hole in front of the Equites Dalmatae with the blue shields
is where another Gothic medium cavalry unit used to be!

The centre of the field degenerated into a massive scrum.

A massive scrum yesterday.
Saxons in the foreground.

Jamie and Rob take stock...

... whilst Andy holds forth on the unreliability of Gildas as a source.

Alas, a large Cumbrogi warband gets the worse of a fight with the
Saxons and is routed.

The Crisis - Rob's red Legionary units (among the last not taken to
mainland Europe by Constantine) fight Jamie's Equites Alares.

The final position - the Equites Alares have been routed.

In the end Rob was the clear winner with all three of the other forces having been routed.

I like Basic Impetus and intend to keep producing more Late Romans.  Probably Legionarii next to replace the Irregular Republicans I'm using as stand-ins.

Angelus, Spike and Drusilla

Moving on the the second Pulp Alley league I've put together from Ground Zero Games not-Buffy figures, here are the Bad Guys.

As usual, all pictures are clickable to expand.

Angelus

Health d10, Brawl 3d10, Shoot 2d10, Dodge 3d10, Might 3d10, Finesse 2d8, Cunning 3d8
Untouchable - Always counts as in cover vs Shooting attacks
Rugged - May reroll one health check die per fight when brawling
Intimidating - Lower level must pass Cunning test (1 success) or may only Dodge.

Spike

Health d8, Brawl 4d8, Shoot 2d6, Dodge 3d8, Might 3d8, Finesse 2d6, Cunning 2d6
Muscles of Steel - Brawl and Might not lowered due to injury.
Fierce - Brawl increased by +1 die (included above)

Drusilla

Health d8, Brawl 2d6, Shoot 2d6, Dodge 2d8, Might 3d6, Finesse 3d8, Cunning 3d6
Dark Designs - At the start of any turn, instead of drawing as normal, may discard any number of fortune cards and draw the same number.

League Perks:
League of (anti-)Heroes - may include a second side-kick.
Dark Pact - gives access to Dark Gifts (see Perilous Island book).

I think these stats capture the trio quite well.  The Perilous Island book is quite handy for Buffy-themed leagues as if contains a number of more magical effects that suit the style of the series.