CCLI. Fabula: Rules System for Narrative Tabletop Skirmish V1.2.

You can now download the updated version of the rules here: Fabula V1.2. The updates since V1.1. include alternating activation mode and an appendix with a guide for deciding TNs for Checks. Also, page numbers were messed up in the previous version, so that is now fixed as well.

Thanks to our playtesters and everyone else who gave us feedback so far! 

Additionally, we have started a Facebook group for discussions about the rules system and sharing related content. You can join it here: LINK.

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For the past couple weeks I've been busy behind the scenes with activities unrelated with Sunhold: the First Triumvirate, but my friends on the project have made some progress. @Lazaraie showed off WIPs of his Sect of Abundance (LINK),  @dark_isles is working on a group called the Gravekin (LINK), @nic_the_evans made the King in Chains, who is the central figure of his warband (LINK), and @ingrimmson has another delightful WIP from his own warband (LINK). 

Follow #aos28sunhold and the artists themselves for future updates.

LXXIII. Orderly

A big commission is taking up most of my hobby-time, which resulted in this long period of no updates. Over the course of last five weeks I've managed to slowly convert and paint the first Orderly.

As the aforementioned commission consists of painting rank upon rank of brightly coloured, nearly identical High Elves, working on this fellow helped me preserve my sanity. :P

The red cross on the poison thrower marks him as a member of the Plague Doctor's retinue.

Skull and crossbones on the tank's side warn of its toxic contents.

The rules. Orderlies are pretty slow, with a low Walk and no Charge value. Their purpose is dealing out poison with the Poison Thrower attack. To keep them from being completely useless in close combat, they carry a knife as well. I'd have represented it on the miniature, but I simply had nowhere to put it.

Below you can see the finished conversion next to the base model: a WH40K Chaos Cultist.

The bits used: Chaos Cultist, Skaven Warpfire Thrower, Empire Millitia left arm, Victoria Miniatures round goggles.

Fitting all those bits together without gaps and awkward angles required filing, sanding and subtle green stuff work. Skaven runes on the Warpfire thrower bits had to go. The cultist was (surprisingly) free of chaos insignia to begin with.

The hideous proportions of Citadel humans usually keep me from using them, as they look terrible next to my more elegant Wyrd and Rackham people. This one, however, is wearing many layers of protective clothing, so he could work. I just needed to hide his stunty legs and enormus feet by extending his coat into a robe.

LXXII. The Beast

The Beast arrives to take the White Harpy's place in the crew. 

The body comes from a metal GW Chaos Warhound, the "crown" from a Tomb Kings banner, and the face from a Slaanesh Daemonette; the elongated neck and the pointy breasts are my own sculpting.

Before priming.

The Countess is able to use a spell which severs a part of her soul and releases it from her body for a limited time. The soul fragment manifests as the Beast. The creature is an ethereal monstrosity, a potent ally in battle. This practice is not entirely without risk, because if the Beast is harmed then so is the Countess. 

Painted. I'm pretty sure she could look better if I were to experiment a bit with the colour scheme, but I'll leave her like this for the time being. Until Inspiration strikes.

I've also been doing some work on converting the rules lately. The Doctor's and the Countess' crews have their stat cards ready. The Troglodytes too, pretty much. What I haven't touched yet are Upgrades and Reaper Horseman's retinue of bell ringers and hobby horses. I've even converted the Malifaux 2E rulebook, and the M1.5E campaign rules. The scenarios of the first campaign have been outlined, but not yet written. 

Since I last showed the stat cards in LVI. The Rules, besides the slight rules changes I have now added proper symbols for card suits, pulses, blasts, auras, attack types and fate modifiers. The stat cards are now easier to read.

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The next mini-project will be a brand new minion type for the Plague Doctor's crew: the Orderly. Actually, I'll be making a pair of Orderlies. They will both be wielding cumbersome poison throwers, which spew toxic vapours at the enemy.

The core bits: Skaven Warpfire Throwers, masked Chaos Cultists, Victoria Miniatures round goggles.

LVI. The Rules

It's time to give a bit of insight to my plans for gaming with all those minis I display here. Especially since some of you have expressed interest in this matter.  : )

Mind you, this is still far from done and I'm not yet sure about a lot of things.

I. The Ruleset

 

For my games I'll be using Malifaux 2E rules pretty much as they are. There are several reasons for that: Malifaux is the only game I play at the moment, I actually really like the game mechanics ( the first edition was good as well, but I feel M2E was an improvement), my two main warbands from the beginning were constructed as couts-as crews for Malifaux. It's very convenient.

However, there are certain interventions I wished to make on the ruleset. Nothing too extreme, though. Many things are only cosmetic.

• First, there is the Fate Deck. For those of you who are not familliar with the game, Malifaux uses a deck of cards where most tabletop games use dice. The deck contains four suits of 13 cards and a pair of Jokers: one black and one red. The four suits of Malifaux are Crows, Masks, Rams and Tomes. Purely for the sake of aesthetics and background story, I replaced them with my own four suits: Bone (O), Blood (B), Flesh (F) and Spirit (S).

A handmade Gardens of Hecate Fate Deck.

• Then there is the matter of Soulstones. They are rare magical gemstones in the Malifaux background, and are used for a number of things in the skirmish game. In the beginning stages of a game each player has a set number of Soulstones to spend on models for their crew (each model having a cost in Soulstones). Additionally, a player can add some leftover stones to the Soulstone Pool. These can be used during the game for things like reflipping initiative, drawing additional cards, preventing damage and increasing their chance of success when they attack, defend or perform other actions. In the world of Gardens of Hecate there is no such thing as Soulstone. So, the point cost of models will be expressed in Silver Pieces. The Soulstone pool will become the Fate Stone pool, and Soulstones will be called Fate Stones. They, along with the Fate Deck, are instruments used by the players to influence the fate of miniature characters on the tabletop. They do not exist in the world that the characters inhabit. 

A cache of Fate Stones.

• A game of Malifaux is not necessarily won by obliterating the enemy. Victory points are awarded for successfully solving Strategies and Schemes - a player's primary and secondary victory conditions. A fine number of them to choose from can be found in the Malifaux rulebook. However, most of the time I will invent my own scenarios - often with specially designed terrain pieces and models.

The page to the right contains an early sketch of a possible scenario.

•  I will be completely ignoring Malifaux factions system and hiring restrictions regarding this. It is simply unnecessary for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have a small number of crews. Furthermore, each of my crews is actually its own faction and will have a personal list of models and upgrades/items that are available to it. And finally, some other things I changed, such as fixed scenarios and the fact this is going to be a narrative campaign and not competitive play, render the system even more pointless. 

 

II. The Model Rules

 

The rules for my characters are conversions, just like the miniatures themselves. For many of these I took M2E stat cards and messed with them a bit- adding, removing and changing abilities and tweaking stats here and there to fit my vision. These are not the final versions, and haven't yet been playtested.

 

• The Plague Doctor: based on Malifaux's Doctor McMourning and crew. This crew likes to poison their opponents, which damages them over time. Though they also like to throw in some biting, pounding and shooting for a good measure.

 

• The Countess: based on Kirai Ankoku, my very first Malifaux crew. Most of the gang are Ethereal, which enables them to go throught terrain and receive less damage. The Countess herself is great at movement tricks and summoning more spirit minions. If I remember correctly, I've made quite a bit of changes here. 

• The Troglodytes: I couldn't find a suitable starting point, so I started from scratch here. Troglodytes are quick, simple and great in numbers. Their Shamans are good spellcasters, though. They are able to revive fallen Troglodytes and throw fireballs at the enemy. These rules are a very early version.

 

•  The Horde of Hades: I have not one stat card for them yet. But in general, I want the Bell-ringers to be slow, Undead, have Terrifying and possibly damage their attacker with their corrosive black blood when they are hurt. Their masters, the Horsemen, will be nasty and quick. And there are some models I have ideas for but haven't yet made, but all in good time.  

III. The Campaign

I'm going to need some sort of campaign rules. This can't be found in the Malifaux rulebook, but in one of the past issues of Wyrd Chronicles there were published campaign rules for the first edition. This is something I have yet to look into more deeply, so I can possibly adapt them to fit 2nd edition. The idea, of course, is that the crews gain new members, items and upgrades, but also permanent injuries, along the way. These can be bought/hired, or received as rewards throughout the campaign. I'm even toying with the idea of skill trees for the Masters of the crews.   

I'll be designing a whole array of different weapons, armour, trinkets, etc. which the crews will be able to purchase or find. Also, there will be a number of hodgepodge Mercenaries available for hire.  

I'd just like to add here that the Troglodytes and the Hades Horde don't work the same way as the Countess and the Plague Doctor crews. The latter are the protagonists of the story; human characters with personal motivation and quests. They gain experience, and collect equipment, and evolve in the course of the campaign. The former, on the other hand, don't. They are "monsters" that appear in scenarios as enemies for the (anti)heroes, and their masters are like bosses that need to be defeated at a certain point. Most games will be played with a "protagonist crew" against a "monster crew", and a smaller number will be direct conflicts between the Doctor and the Countess.

That's more or less it for now. If you managed to get all the way down here, thanks for reading! ;)

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