The Tithe of Alpenhaus

I've started something new.  I've written (with the help of Google Gemini AI) a Dungeons & Dragons adventure of my own, heavily borrowing from popular novels and graphic novels.

I intend to run this adventure for my group.  I've done a playtesting session with Gemini being the DM and here's the first part of it summarized.  It features my Barbarian Dwarf character, Bolnir Stonecarver.  The AI DM is handling the adventure a bit differently than I will for my players but it has been a very fun solo experience thus far and I'm enjoying seeing my creation come to life.  Without further ado....

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The Tithe of Alpenhaus

A Chronicles of Bolnir Stonecarver Tale

The mountain did not want them there. The wind howled through the narrow pass of the Grey Peaks, carrying a bite that could turn a man’s blood to slush. Bolnir Stonecarver, a son of the stone built broad and unyielding, lowered his head against the gale. His long brown beard, braided and stiff with frost, flowed like a frozen river over his chest.

"To the gates!" he roared. Behind him, his companions—the Tiefling wizard, the elven scout, and the grim cleric—struggled to keep pace. As they passed beneath the heavy timber archway of Alpenhaus, the wind died with an unnatural suddenness. The village felt entombed.

They found a flicker of life at The Frosted Flagon. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of roasting meat and woodsmoke, but it lacked the warmth of a true hearth. The patrons sat in hushed clusters, their eyes following the strangers with a rhythmic, predatory stillness.

Bolnir approached the bar. The barkeep, a massive ox of a man named Jorgan, offered a smile that was too wide and eyes that were too cold. "Welcome, travelers," the man boomed. He did not know the name Stonecarver, nor did he care. To him, they were merely fresh meat.

The dwarf didn't hesitate when the silver mirror behind the bar revealed the truth: the patrons were empty shadows, and Jorgan was a monster in a man's skin.

The Death of Jorgan

"Lila! Keth!" Bolnir’s voice cracked like a whip.

The tavern erupted. Jorgan lunged across the bar, his hands locking onto Bolnir's shoulders with the strength of iron shackles. The dwarf let out a guttural roar, his center of gravity dropping as he fought the beast's grip. With a sudden, explosive surge of mountain-bred strength, Bolnir broke the hold and sent the massive barkeep crashing into his own shelves.

Jorgan scrambled up, dripping in spilled rotgut and his own foul, black ichor, and turned to flee toward the kitchen. He never made it. Bolnir’s greataxe hummed through the air in a devastating arc. The blade bit deep into Jorgan's spine, nearly severing the creature in two. The barkeep slammed into the doorframe, his yellow eyes fading as he slid to the floor in a heap of ruin.

Snatching a heavy iron key and a blood-stained ledger from the corpse, Bolnir turned toward the door. "To the church! Now!"

The Belfry and the Brand

They found the church under siege. While his companions held the sanctified doors against the slavering horde, Bolnir scaled the frozen masonry of the tower. He crested the ledge just as a winged Wraith—once a priest of this parish—prepared to drain the life from Father Thaddeus.

Bolnir dove between them, his axe shearing through spectral ribs. He shielded the dying priest with his own body, ignoring the necrotic chill that seeped into his marrow. As the Wraith retreated into the blizzard, Bolnir signaled the party below with the great bell.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The tolling brought more than just the party. Through the graveyard marched five armored women—the Crimson Brand. They moved with military precision, silvered blades drawn. Beside them walked a woman in crimson leather, her eyes sharp and predatory.

"Identify yourself, Dwarf!" the lead Inquisitor shouted up at the belfry. Her heavy crossbowmen leveled their weapons at Bolnir’s chest. "Is the Father turned? If he bears the mark, he dies with the monsters!"

Bolnir heaved the unconscious priest to the ledge, exposing his neck. "The fall will kill him! Here, see? The blood is red, not black! I don't let my charges turn while I've got breath in my lungs!"

The woman in crimson leather—the one the others called 'Ella—narrowed her eyes. "His hands are steady, Vespera," she noted quietly. "A man possessed by the hunger doesn't tend to wounds. The dwarf speaks truth."

The Inquisitor, Vespera, raised a gauntleted hand. "Bring him down. If he breathes, we will take him to the sanctum. But mark me—if he so much as hisses at the dawn, I will execute him, and you for protecting him."

The Sanctuary

Bolnir carried the priest down the winding stone throat of the tower and into the sanctuary. The interior was a haunting space of timber beams and cold ash. As the party tumbled inside, bolting the heavy oak doors against the scratching shadows outside, the Inquisitors followed.

Bolnir slumped into a pew, his strength finally failing. The necrotic damage felt like a hollow void in his chest. He pulled Jorgan’s ledger from his pack and flipped to the final pages. Names were struck through with crimson wax—the Mayor, the Barkeep, the children of the village.

"The village wasn't conquered," Bolnir grunted, his voice a low rumble in the hallowed silence as the Inquisitors approached. "It was sold."

Vespera Vane looked at the book, then at the cowering villagers. "We cannot stay here. If the Master’s tax collectors come at dawn, this sanctuary will become a pyre. Move to the catacombs. Now."

Bolnir leaned his head against the cold stone of the pew. The mountain was still screaming, but for now, the Stonecarver needed the silence of the earth.

The arrival to the tavern and the fight at the church.

Pacific War

 I like big games and I cannot lie....

This summer, my learning/gaming project is to tackle Pacific War by Mark Herman and published by GMT games.

This is the first AAR of the Pearl Harbor Engagement Scenario.  

Pacific War from GMT Games

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese Navy using torpedo planes and bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the island of Oahu.  

Japanese Strike Group inbound to Pearl Harbor

During this attack, waves of Japanese planes scored critical hits on battleships that were moored in the harbor.  

Twelve hits scored on Battleship Row during the first wave.

Meanwhile two other carrier based fighter groups attacked the airbase and strafed allied aircraft on the ground. Scoring six hits.

Allied Aircraft suffered six hits during Japanese Strafe attacks.

The Allied gunners quickly responded scoring 3 hits on the aircraft attacking the air base and 2 hits on the fighters attacking the ships.

Two Japanese fighter groups after being hit by Allied flak.

The second wave of Japanese fighters scored another devastating critical hit on battleship row sending smoke and flames into the air.

Battleship Row after having sustained critical hits on several ships.

Due to the Allied flak gunners' effectiveness, the Japanese did not win the scenario as they only scored 4 hits on 4 battleships and only 6 hits on the aircraft on the ground at the airbase.

In this photo, the California, West Virginia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania all sustained the 4 hits needed by the Japanese, however the remaining ships only sustained 3 hits each.  Had the Allied gunners not been able to hit two of the Japanese groups, the result could have been worse for the Allies. 

Pearl Harbor was ablaze as the Japanese fighters returned to their carriers and minor damage was sustained to the ground installations during the attack.

Wide shot of the overall attack and damage sustained to Allied naval and aircraft units.

More to come in future Engagement Scenarios.

Ingress

I can't believe I have yet to share this here.  This was a battle that was fought between the mighty Herman Hum and me for almost a year in Harpoon 3 Advanced Naval Warfare, Multiplayer.

The scenario is called Ingress and was inspired by the chapter Dance of the Vampires from Tom Clancy's novel Red Storm Rising.

The reason it took a year to complete was because my schedule would only allow for me to meet up with HH randomly and play for roughly 1-2 hours at a time.

Needless to say with the map area this vast and two carrier battle groups to manage, there was A LOT to do.

Please take a look at the video HH made from his perspective of the battle.  For me, the scenario really showed what I thought all along after reading Clancy, Palmer, etc.: 1) It takes an insane amount of missiles to get one hit on a carrier.  2) Ticonderoga Class cruisers are amazing air defense platforms.

Oh and let's not forget, the venerable F-14.  The Tom Cat crews really won the 1st day of the battle as you will see.  I was faced with a choice, the 'Cats would engage the incoming missiles or go after the bombers.  I directed them to go after the enemy bombers and they prosecuted them with impunity.  I did have to micro manage quite a bit to keep them from engaging the inbound missiles and a couple of them scored hits on missiles that were targeting the battle group.  I remember being nervous about my decision because it was still some time before the salvo reached the surface group and the Tom Cats would be well out of range by then pursuing the fleeing bombers.  I chose wisely. The surface group chewed up the missiles with only one hit on a cruiser(sadly sinking her) while the F-14 crews downed 10 Red bombers on their egress.

HH noted that he made a critical error in that he did not fire all of his missiles in the first salvo and if I remember correctly he called that an error.  He also said the fact that the F-14's shot down so many bombers really changed the game for him.  I was also surprised to see he had mentioned it in an interview with Board Game Geek when he was selected for Video Game Geek of the Week.

Without further ado, I present to you Ingress: a.k.a "Dance of the Vampires" by Herman Hum and posted to his channel dedicated to Harpoon and other great games, HarPlonked.  Oh and it was my idea to score it with "Ride of Valkyries."

Pigment to Pewter

On this cold, March winter day, I am winding down my five day weekend from work.  What was originally intended to be a multiple day salmon fishing excursion with my dad, turned into lazy days of World War II Online(more about that in another post), a trip to the hobby store, and today I was able to actually get some painting in.  All this due to some nasty storms bringing wind, rain, cold temps, low cloud ceilings, and freezing levels.  Obviously it did not make for very good fishing or flying weather.

Similar Colors of Tamiya and P3 paint

Recently, I purchased some Tamiya paint pots to try on my GHQ and C in C miniatures.  My Privateer Press P3 paint color purchases have been geared more toward Warhammer 40,000 and so I was looking for more military colors for my tanks and trucks.  After reading FineScale Modeler and noticing that they use Tamiya paint a lot, I was curious to try some.  The hobby store I frequent carries a large selection of Tamiya in all sorts of cool military type colors whereas their P3 selection isn't as vast.

So far, I've found that Tamiya is a little more finicky in that it seems to be less forgiving on brush strokes than P3.  I'm finding the need to work fast and not go back over the same areas too much with the brush while it's still wet.  I can get away with this a little more with P3.  I'm reminded that I'm definitely a beginner and still refining my technique.

Overview of what all I'm currently working on.  Russian AT's, T-34's, Panther V's, GAZ  Trucks, Pz38's, BT-5's, Stug III's, Opels, and German AT's with Half-track haulers.  

That said, this session was more of a "test" session with the new paint.  I'm still not sure about the color schemes I want on my Opels so I've got a couple of test subjects going.  I've settled on green for the Gaz trucks, but I want to try dry-brushing with a lighter shade of it to see if I get the look I want.

Opels still very, very early in the painting process.

After ninety minutes in the garage, my feet became numb from the cold.  Even with the heaters on, I can only get it to about 57 degrees in there on days like today.  I need to wait for the paint to dry and the feeling to return to my lower extremities before applying some more finishing techniques to see if I'm close to getting the desired effects on the models.

Russian GAZ trucks, also in very early painting stage.  

Overall it's been slow, but a very fun session.  I am learning new techniques and how to work with different paint and still searching for the desired effect.  It's experimentation that makes it fun and challenging for me.