My warband (above) consists of a group of religious zealots led by a questing Stormcast Eternal named Khida who have come to Sunhold to assist in its recapture and rebuilding. However, chasing Khida is a malevolent spirit tied to his past transgressions--Amyi, Leave Her To Dream. Throughout the games, the various miniatures would explore the boards and form alliances, all while I did my best to play them in character, making narrative-driven decisions.
The warbands, while exploring Sunhold, would come across groups of enemies, such as goblins, mutated civilians, skeletons and vampires, while helping NPCs like priests and monks and even an imprisoned Stormcast.
This article will act more as a gallery for the photos I took during the game, as well as a place for the thoughts of some of the other attendees; for a full rundown of the games, warbands and story, check out Ana's article here
After so much build-up, Sunhold did not disappoint. The time I spent in Croatia was incredibly special, as the group explored the city of Zargreb in the surrounding days too, so when the game came on the Saturday, we were all already well-acquainted and excited to show off our miniatures. We played for about ten hours with breaks for food, but the time went by quickly, in part due to the simple and effective Fabula ruleset, and in part due to my fellow attendees and the DMs, who I reached out to afterwards for their thoughts on the event:
Ana: After two years of postponement, plagues, and earthquakes,
Sunhold: The First Triumvirate was put on the table at UMS “Agram” club in
Zagreb. It was a great time, and was well worth all the work that went into it.
I’d like to thank all participants who made warbands and sent their minis to
us; and especially those who joined us in person for the game: Goran, James,
Séraphim, Vladimir and Witold. Big thanks to my brother Ivan for co-writing
the Fabula system we used for the event and for handling most of the GM-ing on
the day. I was happy to see my old
friends Vlad and Witold, and to meet Séraphim and James for the first time.
Hanging out with like-minded hobbyists in person is always my favourite part of
these events. I hope I’ll find the time
and energy to attempt something like
this again in the future.
Ivan: As Sunhold’s Game Master, my role was to
prepare the scenario, including the rules for all the enemies and non-player
characters, encounters, and treasure. I was also to control the monsters and
moderate the game, with Ana’s assistance. It was a lot of work, but it pales in
comparison with the effort Ana put into the event, as she secured the venue,
gathered participants, painted the terrain and miniatures, dealt with
logistics, and so, so much more.
The game itself went smoothly – encounters
were pretty balanced difficulty-wise and character deaths were pretty rare.
Players cooperated well, which allowed them to advance through the ruins with
few issues. That is, until one of them decided to betray the rest during the
final boss battle, which was extremely dramatic and put the whole expedition
into jeopardy. It all turned out well in the end, as The Triumvirate was taken out
after a difficult battle, a fitting end to the quest.
Looking back, I was overly ambitious when
designing the scenario as I have prepared too many encounters, monsters, and objects
of interest. As the game progressed at a much slower pace than I anticipated, I
became aware of the fact that I would have to refrain from using many of them in
the interest of finishing the game in a reasonable time (it still took ten
hours). I’m still glad I prepared too much rather than too little.
The best part about these events is meeting
hobbyists from all over and just hanging out with them. There were some
returning players from Legen, but also a couple of newcomers. Every moment
spent in their company was enjoyable and I can’t thank them enough for taking
the time and effort to attend Sunhold. Hopefully, we will meet again on similar
events in the future.
Séraphim: The event was incredible. I had the chance to meet irl a lot of talented hobbyists. The game was a lot of fun and the rules made by Ivan and Ana created a lot of opportunities for narrative. I couldn't be more happy with how the adventure went, my warband fulfilled its destiny by betraying everyone at the end of the game, so it was enjoyable to become the bad guy for the last few rounds.
Thank you guys for contributing to the post, and thank you everyone--Ana, Ivan, Vladimir, Witold, Goran and Séraphim--for such a wonderful event!
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Upon entering Sunhold through the graveyards, ghouls are quick to attack the questing warbands. |
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Once the warbands pass through the gates, Amyi appears and begins hunting Khida. |
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Strange forest creatures sprout from the trees in the city's courtyard, not yet daring to attack |
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The Church advance into the city, allied with Vladimir's Draghanward Duardin |
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Some of the NPCs waiting in the wings |
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Amyi respawns in the courtyard, one step closer to her Stormcast nemesis |
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Witold's Cult of Spring comes across a Chaos ceremony |
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Silent wardens of days gone by, skeleton warriors appear to defend the inner city |
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Ogor mercenaries appear, their muscle ultimately persuaded to join the questing warbands for the final fight |
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Bat swarms circle around the empty bell-tower |
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The church is directed deeper into the city |
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The skeletons attack the Princeling's court (models by Matt Ross, played by Goran) |
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A ghostly procession continues their march in death as they had in life |
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The warbands are led to the heart of the city where they find the mutated West Ledict Township (model by Cody Taylor) |
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Amyi reappears at just the wrong time! |
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The fight against the West Ledict Township begins |
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Meanwhile, the Cult of Spring and the Draghanwards fight off an enormous vampiric beast |
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Finally slain! |
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After gaining access to deeper into the city, the warbands prepare for the fight ahead (statues by Simon Shießl) |
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The Screaming Many by Matt Ross |
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Led by the resurrected Guardian of Sunhold Stormcast, the warbands advance--only to be betrayed by the Apocryphal Sigmarite Church of Abundance, Seraphim's warband. |
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Amidst the betrayal, the Triumvirate of Sunhold appears, the final boss of the event! (miniature bySimon Shießl) |
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The Triumvirate terrorises the warbands, laying many of their members low |
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A trio of unlikely fighters |
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As all seems lost, the Guardian of Sunhold strikes a finishing blow to the Triumvirate, dispelling the apocalyptic monster... |
Thanks for reading!
Follow everyone here:
Ana--DM and terrain--@gardensofhecate
Séraphim--the Apocryphal Sigmarite Church of Abundance--@lazaraie
Vladimir--the Draghanwards--@vmkuriljov
Witold--the Cult of Spring--His blog
Goran--player of the Princeling's Court--@goran.krunic.85
Matt--the Princeling's Court & NPCs--@totally_not_panicking
Cody--NPCS and bosses--@magos_buer
Simon--NPCs and bosses--@ingrimmson
Incredible! Ive been a big fan of Ana's material for a while so this is quite a treat. Obviously a number of talented modellers involved here, those large monsters are really striking. Well done all around - awesome to see such creative minds collide.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for joining us and bringing your wonderful miniatures!
ReplyDelete