Bonaccia (Freebooter's Fate)

My Brotherhood crew's ranks grow again - finally! I have finished Bonaccia some 18 months or so on from my last Freebooter's Fate mini (Trucco).

I started Bonaccia a long time ago, some time in 2015, possibly even earlier. But I just kept putting her to one side, and not finishing her. Recently I was determined to rectify that, and so she is now finished, even if not my favourite paint-job in the crew (I think partly due to the colour scheme I selected). That said, being 'done' is the most important thing, so another mini is chalked off.

As another Specialist, the nearest comparison I have so far to Bonaccia is Apagado. Bonaccia costs 5 doubloons more, for which Apagado has a slightly stronger left-hand attack and slightly more vitality, while Bonaccia gains Blade Mistress, adding +1 Attack which is very good! I am sure Rob won't be looking forward to facing her with his Pirates! Then again he will probably shoot her as much as he can after recent experience.

Bonaccia takes my crew to a total of 495 doubloons. I can take one more Specialist and still make a game-legal crew (the Brotherhood may take up to two Specialist per Deckhand, and I have two of the latter), so I will need to have a think about what I paint next for the game. I am tempted to paint another Brotherhood Specialist, but I could opt for my first Mercenary instead.

I hope Bonaccia gets a run out on the gaming table soon, especially as I have recently acquired a cool-looking gaming mat for our games.

Freebooter's Fate - First Game!

Rob and I finally played our first game of Freebooter's Fate, and I really enjoyed it. We played with the crews we had, matching 395 doubloons and 6 Pirates for Rob, and 390 doubloons and 5 models for my Brotherhood. As our first game, we opted against adding equipment, simply to keep things as manageable as possible.

We were definitely learning as we were going, but I think we picked up some key things quite quickly, and I like the card driven game mechanics. In fact, I really like the combat mechanics for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, trying to out-think your opponent's choices in combat; when Attacking or Defending you secretly choose which body locations (of 6 choices) to attack or protect. When attacking, as the game progressed I was always trying to include a location I thought Rob wouldn't protect, not just the most tactically beneficial targets. When Defending, I was trying to cover the locations I thought he would go for.

Second, as a model takes critical hits, you are effectively forced to protect those locations, making it easier for the Attacker. I like that things become progressively harder for injured models. There may be a down side to that I have yet to see, but I think it is pretty elegant in function. Add in that base Defense is typically 3, and base Attack value is typically 2, and the Defender does have options, especially if they use cover etc.

During the game I was very, very lucky with some of my Attacks, so much so that Rob's Leader was taken out early in the game. My crew hugged cover as they advanced, and my Leader took advantage of it for his Shadow Run ability. We took away from that impact that Rob should have kept more open ground between his models and mine, and probably should have let me cover more of the open ground between us.

The game had moments of drama, both great and small: the Pirates hunting my Brotherhood through the little alleys and streets created by our terrain layout; the Pirate Leader being brutally injured by a sneaky assassin attack by Apagado; 3 Pirates ganging up on my hapless Coscritti; my Harlequin leaping on top of a cart to get better range to shoot a pirate shooting out from a window frame; my Master Assassin using Shadow Run to attack a Pirate who was defending a doorway in a house.

I think we both enjoyed the game, and we have discussed further additions in terms of adding to our available terrain and also future crews: Rob is thinking about Imperial Armada, and I am thinking about a Mercenary crew as there are a couple of characters who allow you to build an all-Mercenary crew. I am really looking forward to the next game!

Freebooter's Fate - New Traits Index

As Rob and I sail towards the shores of our first games of Freebooter's Fate, I have been devouring the rule-books to try and understand the game as much as I can ahead of time, to try and make things easier since neither of us has actually played the game yet!

One of the things that has emerged is that as much as I love the books, with their abundance of evocative tales of heroes and more often ne'er-do-wells and skulduggery, that with each new book comes new characters, with different kinds of abilities. And with each new book comes a 'New Traits' and 'New Special Actions' section - the latter are Actions that characters can only use if they are written on their card. The problem is, that some of these new abilities are included in specific character write-ups, and not the main text, and worse still, the Mystic Spirits book does not feature an index!

Here I plan to gather and update as needed a small index of New Traits and New Special Actions, and page references where they can be found.
The book references follow the FF indexing:

I is Freebooter's Fate  main rule-book (also FF)
II is Deep Jungle (also DJ)
III is Mystic Spirits (also MS)
ToL I is Tales of Longfall - La Nocha de Brujas (also LNdB)

New Traits (any not in bold have only been used by 1 character so far)

• Cloddish, III/MS p. 51
• Cut Dead, III/MS p. 95 & p. 96
• No Authority, II/DJ p. 43
• Hot-blooded, II/DJ p. 37
• Indestructible, II/DJ p. 25
• Living Shield, III/MS p. 48
• Mystical Choir, III/MS p. 49
• Nightvision, ToL I/LNdB p. 14 & p. 17
• Possessed, III/MS p. 47
• Sixth Sense, III/MS p. 76
• Smoke Bomb, II/DJ p. 25 & ToL I/LNdB p. 13
• Stun, III/MS p. 55

New Special Actions

• Bayonet Charge (Complex Action, Movement, Combat), II/FF p. 47
• Shadow Run (Complex Action), I/FF p. 82

Trucco

Last year, my main gaming buddy Rob and me set out to paint up playable forces for Freebooter's Fate, While we have not yet contrived to play the game, we have been talking about what we want terrain wise to do so, and that in turn sparked some motivation from me to paint another addition to my Brotherhood Crew.

I started this mini a week ago and it continues a trend of some recent fairly quick (for me) turnarounds, which is quite pleasing. I don't really have a 'uniform' colour scheme for The Brotherhood, but all rely on a generally dark palette of colours, so I picked that up again with Trucco.

This mini adds another Specialist to my Crew and takes it up to exactly 400 doubloons if used in its entirety. It will probably be a next year before I finish another Freebooter's Fate model I guess, so my Crew will have to be made up from what I have available. Rules-wise the biggest difference between Trucco (100 doubloons) and Apagado (90 doubloons) is that Trucco has a ranged attack with his Throwing Knife.

I have also picked up a couple of 4Ground buildings recently, which we plan on featuring as terrain for our eventual games; I am going to a show next weekend so I will try and grab a couple more if they are available.

Master Assassin

Two days later than I hoped for, but my side of the Freebooter's Fate Painting Challenge is done. Rob inevitably got his done on time, but I am glad all the minis are finished, even if I had to right to the end of the month to do so!

It has been great to see Rob's Crew building up (see here) over the weeks and it will be nice when we can get some games in with them., Who know, we may each have some more options by then.

The Master Assassin is a Leader, so that means I now have a core Brotherhood Crew and can add more Specialists since the unlocking models (Deckhands and Leader) are complete. In fact, the Specialist from the Staretr Set is in the queue since I substituted Apagado for that mini. I also have some very special stuff on order too, so more on that when it arrives...

Painting the Master Assassin himself has been a big pain in the bum from start to finish to be honest. I think it is a great looking mini, just that mine fitted together pretty badly, which meant green-stuffing, which in turn meant it could not be painted in separate components. And as it had to be assembled first, it has some very hard to reach parts. Not a mini I would ever choose to paint another of I think.

But it is done, and that is the main thing. Well it was until I lined up it up to take a picture of the whole Crew, and then pinged off his left arm which know needs to be put back in place. Grrr.

I will try and get a group shot soon after i have repaired the Master Assassin. I may look for a less fragile Leader too while I am at it...

Harlequin

Click to enlarge-cate

Whew! Just in time.

This is far from brilliant, but it is done, which for me is the main thing given the vast numbers of unpainted minis I own!

I struggled a bit with this, partly down to my poor prep as it was a pain to clean up, and then I just rushed putting it together. I will say that as nice as the sculpts are, some of the part fits are poor and some of the casting has been aggravating. Still, I should have been more diligent, so only myself to blame for not being so.

Eagle eyed readers may noted I have not painted the hair tie; that will be rectified as soon as possible now I have noticed!

Over on Rob's blog, he has stayed the course despite technical difficulties that have made blogging awkward. We are 75% done and both on course. In time we should be able to get some gaming done with these which would be nice.

The Harlequin adds some minor variation to the overall colour palette I have been using with the Brotherhood, but I hope she will still look like she fits appropriately among the rest of them. Still, I felt I was rushing this (and to be honest I was), but that is part of the Challenge. I am also trying a new way of doing eyes since that has been annoying me recently, so not ideal, but I think I know how I will be doing them going forwards.

In terms of the Brotherhood as a Crew, the Harlequin like the Coscritti is a Deckhand. Each Deckhand allows up to 2 Specialists to join the Crew (such as Apagado), so I will look at Specialists when I eventually bolster the ranks. Between the 2 Deckhands the Harlequin looks more formidable in terms of cost in Doubloons, but until I get some games in I cannot comment with any semblance of insight.

The next mini for the Challenge is the Leader - the Master Assassin. I am still putting that together, so there is nothing quite like pressure, eh?

Will I succeed? Stay tuned!

Coscritti

Click to enlarge-ify

My second Freebooter's Fate mini for the Paining Challenge is a Coscritti, a Brotherhood Deckhand. As near as I can tell Coscritti means conscript, so the idea of a conscript assassin is quite interesting. In Brotherhood terms a Coscritti is in fact a low-rung member, the lowest rungs of their agents who must prove their worth.

In Freebooter's Fate Deckhands are the building blocks of you force along with your mandatory Leader. Deckhands allow you to pick Specialists, so you cannot focus on an uber-elite force - you always need some of the less powerful guys.

With all my Brotherhood minis I aim to work with a dark colour palette to emphasize their shadowy nature, even if they are painted in a non-uniform way, masks and weapons excepted.

I have blocked out most of the colours on the next unit I will be painting for the Challenge, and if I can finish that blocking out in the next few nights I will be content that i should complete that on time. In the mean-time I need to assemble and undercoat my fourth model for the Challenge, so I am behind on that so far.

Rob has now finished his first two minis (click here for link) so we are both on course. Stay tuned to both blogs to see how we get on.

Apagado

Click to embiggen

My first Freebooter's Fate mini, and my first deadline met of the Challenge. A couple of days ago I wondered if I had left too little time to finish this, especially as I planned to watch some of the Wimbledon final, but here it is, done on time.

Apagado is a member of the Brotherhood, a faction that dwells in darkness and shadows, and characterized by the assassins in its ranks. He is a Specialist, meaning that a Crew will need at least 1 Deckhand to field Apagado. I have the Brotherhood Starter box set, and picked this blister pack up too. S

I have yet to give the game a try but have heard good things. It should be interesting to play since it is dice-less; cards are played to resolve conflicts including battles. In addition, each Faction seems to have its own unique play style from what I read in the rule-books I have picked up so far. Naturally the Brotherhood are stealthy, sneaky types with special rules to reflect that.

The eventual plan is that we get our respective Crews painted up; gather some scenery that is suitable; and maybe get some games in before too long. Rob kindly gave me a resin ship as a birthday present this year, and I have since picked up a cool little rowing boat from Fenris, so I hope to build up a little harbour set-up to reflect Longfall (the setting for Freebooter's Fate). I also have a growing collection of GW jungle trees, so an island jungle seems a certainty, and should be a cool alternative to Longfall-based games.

We have 3 more weeks for the Challenge to go, and so far so good; however I need to keep my momentum if I am going to complete this one. At the same time I have a few Anima Tactics and Pulp City minis on the go so if I can get more than the 4 Challenge minis painted this month I will be pleased.

I have two more Freebooter's Fate minis prepped, one of which I have tickled a little with the hairy sticks so hopefully I will hit all those deadlines, but stay tuned to see how I do.