CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part Five.

It's about time I get this finished, methinks....

I may not remember all details, but the story must go on!

The Mummy King sets another skull for the incantation

The evil dead close in on Thrombur

Being the fastest dwarf in the desert, Thrombur slips past the slow skeletons and engage the foul fiend.

Heeding the call of their master, the rest of the minions surge towards the mastaba.



Thrombur goes medieval on the sorcerer

A mummy tries to distract the stalwart hero, but is quickly dispatched...



And down goes the Mummy King, his evil plans thwarted.

As far as I remember, we may have made a mistake regarding the dice of the mummy King on the last turn; I'm not quite sure if he got all the dice he was entitled to (something about recovering dice burned for magic), but I think we should re-play the scenario, perhaps with some slight changes: For instance, I don't think any of the minions inside the necropolis should activate (have their cards in the activation deck), until a hero enters the area. This will speed up the game considerably. I also now have in my possession the complete CROM! ruleset, and a torough read-through should harness me for further gaming.

I think I'll use the scenario for Attic Attack I; I only need to get some of the minions rebased and touched up, and as I'm also going to use the skeletons for Pike & Shot AND Zombies (they are really just a kind of very old reanimated dead, anyway), it's a no-brainer.

CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part Four

Well. it's been a while since my last post in this series, but now I have to bring this to a conclusion, soon.

Hearing the incantations from the ruined mastaba, Thrombur decided that it was time to prove the maxim that 'Dwarves are deadly on a short distance', and sprinted around the temple ruins to outflank the staggering Skeletons.

Thus robbed of his companion, Chwllurhwch succumbed to his assailants, and the Flesheaters started squabbling about whether to feast on the fallen Elf, or present him to their Master.

(Had the Heroes been played by each one person, this development might have caused some bad blood, but being a Dwarfanatic, Ulrik decided to go all in on Thrombur, sacrificing the hitherto rather unfortunate Elf.)

Soon, however, one of them started wondering where the other intruder had gone, and started searching for him.

In the picture below, it is hidden behind the palm trees and the Anubis statue.

In the lower left corner, the Mummy King can be seen preparing yet another skull for the Magic Circle. But Thrombur is closing in, and the minions are perhaps too far away....

CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part Three

Meanwhile, the evil sorcerer went about his grizzly business. One skull had been successfully prepped and placed, and the second was almost ready. Set smiled.

The picture below shows an owerview of the eastern part of the necropolis at this point.

Also note the group of Skeletons passing the small dune. Big mistake - don't try this at home! 1/1 minions should NOT - I repeat: NOT cross difficult terrain. Ever. Period.

Thrombur assessed the situation, and decided it was time to break some bones, before the entire Deadite swarm would arrive at the entrance.

With a fierce warcry he stepped out into emty air and landed securely in the sand below the doorway.

The wounded Elf, dragging his leg through the sand, advanced with more caution - prudently, some would say.

Never the less, seeing his companion disappear through the Door of the Kings made him fasten his resolve and speed up a bit.

Thrombur tried to lure the skeltal guards away from the rather high step of the door, but as the dim-witted boneheads did not seem to get the idea, and the Flesheaters were getting too close for comfort, the hot-headed Dwarf again charged in, dispatched a Skeleton, and quickly withdraw.

Chwllurhwch, watching from the safety of the Door of the Kings, considered joining the fray, but restrained himself a bit more.

The once proud Captain of the Guard, enraged by the demise of his trooper, attacked Thrombur.

Which proved to be a mistake!

Chwllurhwch, seing the ease with which Thrombur seemed to handle the grim guardians of the necropolis, decided that now was the right time to descend.

With almost feline grace, the Elf jumped from the doorway, landed on his already wounded leg, - and hurt himself even more....

Chwllurhwch then managed to get up, and drag himself to the relative safty near his trusted friend.

At the same time, the Mummy King set the second skull of the summoning circle. Dark clounds began to gather over the valley.

Then, Chwllurhwch was beset by a Flesheater, and managed to wound the hideous creature.

Meanwhile, the rattling hordes approached steadily, and the second Flesheater charged into the melee.

Things were beginning to look quite bleak for our intrepid adventurers.

Would they manage to survive the onslaught of the corpse-eating monstrosities?

Could they fight their way through the heaps of bone?

Would they be able to reach the mastaba in time to prevent the summoning of the Spirit of the Dead?

Would Chwllurhwch kill himself before the enemies got the chance?

All this, and more, will be revealed in Part Four.

In the meantime, thanks for looking and your patience - I do not have as much free time as I would like to, so updates may come sparsely and sporadic.

Just this before parting:
It's been fun so far, both the game and the write-up, and I'll try to get to the conclusion next time.

CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part Two

"Grrrrowlll!"

The wild beasts smelled the blood of our elven Hero, and leaped into the fray. Chwllurhwch fought them off, but not without suffering further injury.

The beasts searched for a 'smaller' threat...

...which they found - much to their demise...

...because 4 seconds later...

Then Thrombur decided that enough is enough, and charged two of the monsters.

The mighty war hammer fell once, twice, and benefitting from the impetus of the charge, trice, leaving the strange animals as carcasses in the sand.

"See if ya can get through that door at yonder stairs," he yelled out, while bringing down one mummy with a back-handed stroke.

Chwllurhwch, bleeding from several gashes, follows the sound advice, and takes off towards the Door of the Kings.

...Thrombur could send off Chwllurhwch after dispatching all 3 of them, and one of the remaining mummies.

The stout Dwarf quickly finished the job, smashing the last mummy into a dusty heap, then, in a fit of battle-rage, sprinted past his limping elven companion in search of more enemies.

And this concludes today's tale. Stay tuned for more - hopefully tomorrow.

CROM!: Rise of the Mummy King - Part One

About 1½ month or so ago, Matakishi (of Matakishi's Tea House, and Lead Adventure Forum fame) announced his new simple rules system for scenario-driven adventure table-top games set in the world of Conan the Barbarian. CROM! Age of Hyborea was born.

The concept intrigued me, and instead of reviewing or explaining the rules, I'll point you to the very source: http://www.matakishi.com/crom.htm - and get on with the description of the game I played Sunday with my regular gaming opponent, Ulrik.

Story is as follows:
An ancient Sorcerer, mummified by his followers upon his demise centuries ago by the hands of some big angry Barbarian, has finally broken the chains of death and has returned to the world of the living, where he is now gathering an army of long-dead warriors from the Necropolis of Sekhemet, aided by a couple of nefarious Flesheaters he surprised at their ghastly feasting....

As inhabitants from the nearby town Sekhemet starts disappearing, the Citizens Guard has searched the desert area around the town, and finally they ran into a hunting band of Fleasheaters and some wild unnatural beasts in the vicinity of the Necropolis. The guards withdraw after a vicious fight, leaving about half their number at the dubious mercy of the Monsters.

It soon becomes clear to the fat, wealthy priesthood of Sekhemet, that they have a problem of great proportions, as their earnings come mainly from rich people wanting a safe home for the afterlife in the famous Necropolis of Sekhemet.

Then an unlikely couple of adventurers arrives with a merchant boat up the big river: An Elf an a Dwarf, traveling the world of men and demi-humans alike, sporting an unusula friendship forged in battle and adventure: Chwllurhwch and Thrombur - the Heroes of our Tale.

Soon, these two are more or less pressganged into solving the problems of the town - with the help of Palmtree Wine, and promises of vast riches buried beneath the sands of the Necropolis.

With greatsword and war hammer, our friends begin their arduous journey through the desert, towards the Oasis of the Kings, and the impressive Necropolis, not knowing that time is about to run out for the inhabitants of Sekhemet: The Mummy King is preparing a ritual for summoning a mighty Spirit that can take control over the minds of the living!

Scenario Rules/Objectives:
To invoke the Spirit, the Sorcerer must prepare and correctly place 5 enchanted skulls in a magic circle/pentagram.

To prepare a skull, the Sorcerer must roll a natural 6 on at least one Magic Die.

Also, to correctly set a skull in the magic circle/pentagram, at least one natural 6 must be rolled.

Finally, when the last skull has been successfully placed, to summon the Spirit, a Magic Roll of Difficuty 12 must be passed.

Minor minions can be summoned as per the normal rules.

The Heroes must prevent the summoning of the Spirit, ultimately by slaying the Mummy King.

To gain a Major Victory (only important if this scenario is played as part of a campaign), both Heroes must survive. Easier said than done, as we shall see...

The Game:
Here is the initial set-up of the playing surface:

Seen from the Heroes' perspective

And from the Necropolis - The Dragon Bones are not part of this...

I have some serious re-basing to do on all those old skellies if I am going to bring this to Horisont in Esbjerg this fall, but it is doable over a weekend, if I concentrate on the task.

A plethora of skulls in the ruined mastaba

To the right, you see the practically unlimited supply of skulls for the ritual. I made the based ones a couple of years ago, but the last two had not been painted, so a little speed was required.

The game starts with the Lesser mummies emerging from the buried pyramid.

Our Heroes, both played by Ulrik, while I donned the cowled robe of the Game Master, have not yet discovered anything, save the apparantly peacefully drinking beasts in the oasis

"There, me Elfish Friend, be Water for thee!"

The Undead approach

As the shambling silhouettes emerge, Chwllurhwch squints his eyes and readies his sword, while Thrombur gently pats his war hammer.

Them a lot of movement occurred in the Necropolis [this was a mistake - only the cards of the Mummy King and the minions in the oasis should have been in the deck from the start], before Chwllurhwch came up.

The Elf let lose a blood-curdling warcry and rushed forward to dispach one of the crispy corpses.

Already here, it became clear that the hot, dry climate did not become him well, as the first mummy successfully defended and drew first blood.

Snarling, Chwllurhwch shook off the pain, and maculated the parchment that held the bones and skin of the long dead servant together.

Chwllurhwch rushes in,
and with some difficulty kills an opponent

In the meantime, the Sorcerer prepared and carried the first skull to the magic circle [here represented by a cork coaster, usually used for dice-cup dice rolling, but I thought it only too appropriate to use a piece of cork for a game by Matakishi. Wanted to use an old CD with painted sand and a pentacle in blood, but I have not been able to locate my extensive stash of those...], then got ready to mutter the arcane words that would infuse it with the Power of the Book of the Dead.

"Massss-ter, can I have the resssst? Pleasssse..."

This conludes Part One, but not the first turn, but it is rather late now, and I cannot concentrate on remembering all the details....  More tomorrow, if the rain still prevents me from mowing the lawn, otherwise Thursday.

CROM!: Cards finished!

 Finally I managed to get the cards for my planned test-run of the rules  ready - not without  a fight, though; first, my laminator caught a corner of a laminating pocket while I tried to straighten some cards inside it - resulting in the laminate to get totally jammed in the rolls of the damned thing. Impossible to save it.

New laminator was bought by my wife after I called her during her shopping - and then somehow the next attempt ended with a accordeon-like page, as the edge was somehow caught on the inside of the exit slot. I think somebody or something is trying to tell me something....

So, five cards had to printed, cut, and glued anew, before they could be laminated and finally cut out as ready game accessories.

I have not changed to the new card layout, as I had already prepared a few cards when it was presented - but I DO use the 'split dice-pool' concept.

As you can see, I have made the 'Hero'-cards with blue text, to further distinguish them from the 'GM' or 'Evil' cards.

I have one more Mummy (obviously I got the cards mixed up when  scanning them, so now I have 2 cards with the same pic scanne twice...)

Assorted Skeletons. I have a few more, especially single ones, but I don't see any purpose in putting them up here, as they are of the same ugly ilk as those with the Goblin Green unfinished bases and undercoated-only weaponry.

I DO have shield for most of these... somewhere....

Well.... I'll see if I can get someone to come by and play a couple of games tomorrow. I do have to pick up my new paint rack (from Miniaturicum) at a friend's place before noon, but my regular gaming pal (if I can still call him that after a couple of months without any gaming) usually is not available until the afternoon, anyways...

CROM!: Cards (almost) finished.

I have put the last pictures onto their cards, and have decided on the dice to be used by the last creatures. I now have to print and laminate the cards.

This Elf hero is a rare example of a model that looks better on a photo than in real life. I'll definitely have to redo his skin, maybe his hair and boots, and the swordblade needs to be redone as well. In time...

He is one of my oldest painted models - blocked out with enamels back in the mid-80's, and left for dead in a foam box for many, many years. I basically revived him through re-basing and a Devlan Mud wash.....

My 3/1 beasts are here (Dungers from Ramshacke Games - everything is better with Dungers!). They have some battle damage from Dunger Derby, but that also may be fixed in time.

Alas, I won't be playing the game this weekend - I simply did not get it organized, as other urgent tasks filled up most of my Saturday, and this morning, too.

Now, of course, it is pouring down, so I might as well have had a buddy over for a couple of games, but I think I'll just get some work on the cards done today, and see if I can get a game organized during the week (I NEED to roll some dice, soon, this summer has been completely dry, gaming-wise...).

Just for fun: One of my wound markers (I have to find the rest) that will be used for the magic circle/pentagram.

Cute, ain't it? ;o)

Guess it could be used as a Vampires' Polo ball, too...

And this guy I did not paint. Bought a whole bunch of Warhammer undeads from a fellow club patron many years ago. Never played a single game of Warhammer, though, but you can never have too many skeletons. Or so I was told.

I'll see if I can get the cards all finished today. Btw, I decided to keep the text on the hero cards in BLUE, while all the evil critters have RED. Good old Cold War standards!

CROM!: Progress of the day.

Finished designing most of the initiative cards today (I need to redo the picture of the wild beasts, and take a photo of the Elf Hero, but I only just gave him a shading wash and have to finish his base), but have to decide how tough a 'normal' mummy should be, and how puny a group of lesser mummies has to be...

At the right is my Evil Spirit - some collectable mini with a vamped up base.

I just realized that I have a couple of  clear green resin 'banshee' ghosts from Uncle Mike's - might decide to incorporate them in my next installment, but no time for basing them right now.

The Elf looks a tiny bit too tanned after the wash, so I may decide to totally redo his skin at a later point. I'll finish his base tomorrow and get a pic for the card and this place.

CROM! Mummy Sorcerer King

This will be the main antagonist for my heroes in the CROM! game for the time being.

The evil Mummy King - an old Citadel mummy - has risen from his tomb in a vast necropolis and will try to get a grasp of the land of the living through sorcery and command of uncountable undead and bestial minions (blah, blah, blah... )

Suffice to say, he'll use the rules for Summoning and Controlling creatures, and will have a range of undead things to his disposal.

I am making the initiative cards in a word processing application for now, so I cannot upload them before I start doing it in a picture editor instead - but you'll probably want to make your own with your own pics, anyway, should you decide to try out this little game (which I absolutely recommend you do).

Here are a few of the villain's minions. An old Citadel ghoul, a Citadel cobra from a swarm set with snakes, one of 4 really old Citadel mummies, and some plastic skellies (I think I'll rebase those, and maybe give them a wash).

I have decided to discern between main characters and others by always having the Movement and Combat dice of minions separated by slash (so, a 2 dice minion will have 2/2 instead of just 2 - this means that if a card has only one number, the player may allocate dice to the various dice pools for that creature). Let's see how it works...

The plot will be the heroes trying to disrupt an unholy ritual performed to bring some powerful evil spirit from the Realm of the Dead into this world. To do so, they must reach the site of the ritual, firghting their way through a gorge guarded by unnatural wild beasts (Dungers from Ramshackle Games ) and into th necropolis where they will be assailed by undead creatures, either already on the table, or summoned by the Sorcerer.

I was toying with the idea of having some young, helpless woman having been abducted by the Mummy King to be sacrificed as the last part of the ritual, but I don't have a suitable mini (not painted, hat is, I may well have an unarmed wench somewhere in the Lead Alps), so that classical plot will have to be used at a later date.

The ritual will instead consist of placing 5 enchanted skulls in a circle/pentacle, each must be placed by rolling a number of magic special action dice successes.

The spirit must be controlled as per the rules. If the heroes manage to break the circle/pentacle before the spirit can be summoned, or if they destroy the spirit, they will have achieved a minor victory. Major victory consists of also getting out alive.

I'm really looking forward to trying out these rules, as I think, with a few added house-rules, they may be useable for an RPG-like campaign where each hero is played by one player. It could be a really nice club-game, where all adventures start from the same (border?) town, and the different players could use their own hero, not depending on the same group participating each time.