Unfortunately the magical storm does the adder no favours and this time the spell is easily dodged by the fox. The Chosen warband once again retreat from this southeastern quarter of the village of Warren Percy. Rules for tabletop games are often a balance between realism and playability, and where you draw that line is very much a matter of personal taste.

Billy pushes his adversary back and because the badger is hemmed in by a model on the other side, it suffers another wound! Finally, the Hired Paw have their reward for all the tribulations that they’ve had to endure during their time at Warren Percy. Barnabus Chipwick, the beaver, lumbers after his leader as do all the other members of the warband, apart from Samuel Tunnelton, the mole, who takes the subterranean route and emerges next to the paychest, guarding it until the rest of the warband arrives. Rufus Grimspike is well aware of Lady Jane’s reputation and so his plan is to rush in, grab the paychest and get away speedily before the vixen changes her mind about handing over the warband’s wages. So a targeted model that is in rough ground and is partially hidden by a tree would result in the shooter receiving a –1 modifier for the rough ground and a –1 modifier for partial line of sight.

Tommy Skump, the rat mage, catches sight of the Chosen’s leader, Burton Coggles, and quickly summons a magical lightning bolt to blast the starling. Ollie was hit and the egg was shattered, along with the Hunters’ lead and their hopes for an easy victory.

Burton Coggles, the Chosen’s leader, flies across from the other side of the battleground in an attempt to hold off the ferocious mole. In future I may opt to restrict line of sight to more accurately reflect the murky night-time setting for this scenario. This means your opponent will usually have to use a MOVE Action before they can attack you when it comes to their Activation, meaning you don’t end up suffering two attacks against you! I’m planning on playing some cooperative games of Burrows and Badgers this year and, as usual, I’ll be reporting on how the games go.

Toads can be equipped to be excellent tanks, and also make very good ambushers; they also make some of the most survivable spell casters in the game. Having intercepted The Hired Paw’s leader, attempting to send a message requesting reinforcements, the Chosen’s hope is that their opponents will be under-resourced and vulnerable to being overwhelmed by their attack. However, his general strength has improved (gains strength skill) and he ends the campaign with a very respectable 24 Experience Points. Rufus has managed to recruit a passing sword-for-hire and Barnabus has been spending his time productively constructing traps.

In the meantime, here are the first members of the Dirty Paws (the rest of the warband can be seen HERE). If a model moves out of contact by more than 2” in one Action, then any or all of the models that were in contact can make a ‘free’ attack Action. Nigel Nimblepaw, witnessing the horrific onslaught, fires another slingshot at the starling but only delivers a glancing blow. She rolls a 5 so she successfully jumps down and can then move up to 5″ on the ground as part of her JUMP Action (Movement (8″) minus distance jumped (3″) = 5″). The fox’s parrying skill is not enough to deflect the strike and he is immediately struck with searing and debilitating pain.The shrew reels from the attack and is also subjected to the pain poison that coats the starling’s blade. Burton Coggles, the new leader of the Chosen, flies in to assist Jenny but fails to injure the mole. Having lost two members of his warband, Rufus attempts to get a message out to his employers requesting reinforcements.

They only need to take out the Chosen’s leader to secure victory and all the members of the warband will be intent on doing just that. The model loses Wounds equal to double the height of the fall (no Armour modifiers) and the Action ends. It’s a good idea to use counters, either on the table or on the character sheets, to record which models are Ready. You can use an ACT Action to load a slow-loading weapon, drink a potion, apply blade poison, swap a weapon, etc.Abelard agrees to pay the Hired paw what they are owed and end their contract but it is essential that any evidence of the beast that was residing in the Tipsy Toad Tavern is removed, and the only thorough way of doing that is by means of explosives. The magical storm has little effect on the casting of the spell but Nigel does take a few burns from it. Barnabus is given the honour of opening the chest as it was he who hauled it away from the Chosen warband and, besides, the Hired Paw’s leader is still weakened from the injuries inflicted by Burton Coggles. A model that has used a ranged weapon or cast a spell during their Activation is considered to be Unarmed for the remainder of the turn unless they use an ACT Action to arm themselves with a close combat weapon. Unfortunately for the Chosen, instead of pursuing the beaver, Burton Coggles, who is still blinded by anger, targets the nearest enemy and heads in the opposite direction towards Rufus Grimspike.