Continuing from last time Andy continues in Flintloque with part two of his use of Alternative Armies 28mm high fantasy miniatures in his games. Namely the Crystal Elves and their axe and sword wielding armoured warriors. Read on for part two of this adventure. If you missed any of the previous sixteen articles you can see them all for free on the blog by clicking on this TAG. A variety of adventures in Flintloque mainly set in the Witchlands. If you would like to Begin in Flintloque visit our website HERE for Escape the Dark Czar and free content and videos. Enjoy! GBS
Using Crystal Elves in Flintloque - Part 2 -
Garde Infantry and Foot Knights
As you will hopefully have read in my last article I've been looking through the 28mm High Fantasy ranges on the Alternative Armies website as I had the idea of looking to see which figures would fit into my Flintloque sections either with or without conversion.
Although there were several possibilities in the Crystal Elf ranges, I was initially drawn to set CE22 the Elf Assassins, and talked about them in my last article, but this time I would like to draw your attention to packs CE10 Garde Infantry Command, CE11 Garde Infantry and CE12 Crystal Elf Foot Knights. Their uniforms show their elite status and fit perfectly with Ferach Napoleonique uniforms as lets face it, the Crystal Elves are where it all began with regards to Blacke Powder.
My idea for using these figures was that the Ferach force has become sick of fighting the same foes day after day or night after night as the corpses are just reanimated after being shot. This is not so easy if they have been cut limb from limb, so bands of troops have got together using old style weapons scavenged from old manor houses they pass during their retreat. They are the brain child of Colonel Jean Etienne Folies Bergere who has banded these troops into units nicknamed 'The Levellers' as they level the playing field.
What is available and what did I get
In pack CE10 there are 5 figures including a leader, musician, standard bearer and 2 troopers, one with a halberd and one with a spear, in pack CE11 there are 4 troopers, one with a sword, one with a bow and two with spears, and finally in pack CE12 there are two with 2 handed axes, one with a 2 handed sword, and one with sword and shield. As ever with Alternative Armies you have the option to buy them as packs or as individual figures which lets you tailor your force to exactly what you want. All of them could easily fit into Flintloque sections in some way.
From the pack CE10 I ordered the leader, plus two of the troopers with spears, from pack CE11 I ordered two of the troopers with sword, and from pack CE12 I ordered all three knights with 2 handed weapons.
How did I paint the figures
As the Garde uniforms are very similar to those of Ferach Flintloque troopers I used the same colour scheme of mid blue, red and white, but used brown for boots and belts to make them stand out from regular Ferach troops and added more gold as the uniforms are quite ornate.
The Knights feature a lot of plate armour which I have just painted in a dull silver metallic colour to look more functional than ornate, as the wearers are doing a tough dangerous job so value protection over how good they look!
How have I used them in my games
As stated above, as the Ferach force has retreated the troops have soon learned that Zombies can be shot several times and keep coming back so brute force face to face is often the only way to take them down permanently. Some Ferach troopers have therefore returned to their martial skills before Black Powder and many of the creepy old manor houses that they have passed in the Witchlands often have archaic weapons displayed on the walls.
The leader figure from pack CE11 has been used to represent Colonel Jean Etienne Folies Bergere himself. In my games he is a Veteran / Elite Officer as his unit were originally Garde Infantry. He is armed with a sword of exquisite quality and has the Quick Reflexes and Nerves of Steel character traits. He is therefore useful for leading from the front which suits a section that specialises in close combat.
The rest of the unit are all Elite with half being armed with muskets while the rest have close combat weapons. They have been hand picked by the Colonel so many have close combat orientated skills and traits. This is a useful combined arms section. I've found it best to mix the musket and melee specialist troops across the table so that the muskets can thin down the Dark Czar's forces as they advance and the melee specialists can then charge in backed up by the bayonets of their comrades.
I have also added a couple of special rules according to how the troops are armed and armoured which you could try out if your opponent agrees.
Boar Spear (cost 6 points) - The spears held by the Garde figures are heavy with a big cross guard. They still get a +3 melee modifier like a regular spear but if the Ferach figure armed with a Boar Spear wins a close combat on their own activation against a mortal or zombie opponent they can choose to impale the opponent as well as wounding them. This means that the opponent is held in place so may not move and may not damage anyone within range, if they win a combat this will simply mean that they have broken free of the spear. Likewise the figure armed with the spear may not attack anyone as they are concentrating on hold the opponent in place, but will still count for outnumbering purposes if an allied character attacks the impaled figure. A figure may be impaled by multiple spears at once.
2-handed Sword or Axe (cost 7 points) - While a regular sword or axe will give a +2 melee modifier, these vicious offensive weapons will give a +4 melee modifier when the character is activated as 'The Levellers' are all trained to use them to the maximum effect against their opponents. This reverts to a +2 melee modifier when being attacked due to an opponents activation as they are less useful in defence.
Plate Armour (cost 6 points) - This gives +1 to the wearers steady rating. In addition when the wearer is required to take a Steady check due to losing a melee or by being shot by a Blacke Powder weapon with an impact of 5 or less he rolls a D10 and avoids the Steady check on a roll of 8, 9 or 10.
How do they fit in with my narrative
As Saindoux's force are the rear guard of the Ferach retreat, Colonel Folies Bergere has been sent to assist. His unit is perfect for this kind of fighting and will hopefully help to permanently thin the zombie ranks and ease the pressure on Saindoux's troops.
The pursuing Vampyres led by Lady Wintermore are aware of 'The Levellers' and determined to prevent them giving the Ferach force the advantage.
What's next
I hope that you've enjoyed reading my further experiments with using Crystal Elf figures in my Flintloque sections and that I've inspired you to get some. There are also some excellent cavalry figures in the Crystal Elf range but I've concentrated on the infantry as infantry battles are my favourite Flintloque games.
I haven't finished looking at the Alternative Armies High Fantasy ranges yet, and I'll let you know how I get on in future articles. Thank you for reading.
Andy
