Fimm McCool's

A Myeri Losbast makes his way through a shadowy mushroom glen...


Standing stones and caverns in a corner of the forest...


Tall conifers dominate the centre of the board, rising above the remote settlement...


Swampy pools and stone buildings on the border of the woodland...


Much of the terrain was courtesy of the companies that have put their support behind The Woods- Fogou Models (Dark Age buildings), Scotia Grendel (fungus, standing stones, ruined city) and Model Tree Shop (Trees, assorted, and a goodly amount of flock!).

The first game was a 4-warband confrontation in the middle of the wood. Mike's Wulver Cult were aiming to waylay Chris' Tuatha Bears, in particular their leader who had slighted the honour of the cult. Chris' outcast Bears were already carrying a wounded member (perhaps from their last encounter with the cult) and were simply trying to reach safety. A member of Harry's Fae Rade had been captured by my Myeri warparty and needed rescuing whilst my Myeri were trying to retrieve an ancestral artefact stolen by the leader of Mike's cult. The four warbands converged on an island at the heart of the forest...


The Myeri were hoping that speed and discipline would win the day. Their Draoi Geomancer cast a shroud of mists to conceal the group as the Losbastun took the lead with their Meirge and his totem. The captive Fae was given into the care of the group's Scealai so as not to slow down the warriors' advance.


Across the other side of the wood the Wulver Cult were advancing quickly towards their quarry. With their high Decisiveness and frightening weaponry they looked like they would have the edge over their foe.


The Tuatha Bears advanced steadily, keeping their distance from the cult. With a wounded member they couldn't move fast without splitting up.


The Fae made as much use of cover as possible, keeping their options open.


The pack of Whist Hounds manoeuvred into position to attack the Myeri from behind, but the mists prevented them from using their great speed to charge. The Fae Rademaster moved into position to dispel the fog.


The Tuatha were preparing for their clash at the centre of the board. Chris' Comlann formed up into a unit in shieldwall formation whilst slingers attempted a few shots at the shadowy figures in the trees. The cult's deerhound bounded ahead of the band, intent on taking down the quarry.


As the mists dissipated the Whist Hounds pounced upon the hapless Scealai, tearing his limb from limb. The uilleann pipes deflated with a pitiful rasp. As another of the Fae wove fate to elevate the captive to safety the Myeri formed up to perform the terrifying Peru-Peru dance. The Fae fled whilst the exhausted Whist Hounds cowered with fear.


Angered by the presence of the Fae the Myeri abandoned their mission and tried to take down their hated enemy. The Whist Hounds recovered, however, and the result was a stand-off until the Fae gathered enough stamina to magic their adversaries across the board. There they finally caught up with the Wulver cult, but by that time they were on their way off the board having completed their objective with only the loss of their deerhound. The Fae were successful in retrieving their captive colleague and the cult had exacted their revenge, leaving the Myeri and Bears to lick their wounds.

All in all happy with how the warbands lists played out. There are a few points values to tweak and a bit of wording to change but none of the bands seemed excessively overpowered. When it came to picking objectives some seemed more suited to particular warbands than others, as would be expected, but the next games showed that none of them was a walk in the park.

Warbands in the Woods

Last night saw another instalment of the campaign we're playing using the setting and rules from Secrets of Shandisholm. Sadly I forgot the decent camera, so the photos are awful, dark and blurry from my piss poor phone camera.


The little party of gnomes and tuatha had reached a steep slope down into a sheltered valley. To continue on their way to join the Old Lowland Road they would have to descend and follow the track along the Duskwards edge of the Heart Forest. Dismounting and leading their horses gently down the winding path they reached a gap in a long, low stone wall which marked the entrance to a settlement.


Although the central fire was still burning under its mantle the rest of village seemed totally deserted. It was evening and the sun was sinking low in the sky but no fires were lit in the small round houses clustered inside the walled enclosure. The group made their way from house to house, checking to see if anyone was about, but the round houses appeared to have been emptied of all objects except the occasional bedding roll. Ravenclaw summoned up courage to call out and ask if anyone was around, but apart from a faint clucking of hens in one of the distant huts there was no reply.


As they crossed the centre of the village a sudden ruckus started up on the edge of the clearing. Two wild boars careered out from the trees. The party took cover in the nearest hut doorway to see what was going to happen. Close on the heels of the boars a pack of white dogs with red ears and glowing eyes appeared from the dusky wood. Their attention fixed entirely on the boars they did not notice the party in their hiding place, but the boars were running directly towards it. Cornered by the faster animals, the boars turned to make a final stand. One of the dogs was gored horribly, but the rest set upon the boar and brought them down with ease. As she stood watching Winifred noticed a small figure emerge from one of the other huts. Dressed in a cloak and carrying a sword much too big for her the young girl shouted fiercely to the dogs. They turned slowly, prowling menacingly towards the girl, who struggled to raise the large sword in defiance.


Winifred frantically gestured to Ravenclaw and the others, fearing for the child's safety. Ravenclaw swiftly pulled out his bow, notched an arrow to the string and let fly at the nearest dog. Snarling with rage it turned and came running towards him, but before it could cross the distance Winifred's sling had put a rock between its eyes and fell unconscious to the ground. The gnomes had taken short bows from the Shandisholm armoury, but they were struggling with the unfamiliar weapons. One of the arrows met its mark and a slingshot from Ran Rauko felled the wounded animal. The last dog bounded across to the party and managed to sink its teeth into Athalwolf before Ravenclaw's axes dispatched it.


Winifred went to tend the fallen Athalwolf whilst Ravenclaw approached the girl with the sword. She didn't seem to realise the party had saved her life and haughtily demanded to know what they were doing in her village. No amount of reasoning seemed to change her attitude and she insisted they leave immediately. This was her village, she was the chief and she and her younger brother who was inside the hut were the only people allowed to live in it.

As the older tuatha were losing patience with the brattish teenager the sun finally sank below the horizon. A deafening splintering crash omitted from the largest and most distant hut, accompanied by a raucous bleating and grunting as pigs and sheep dashed from the doorway. It looked like the roof was caving in. At the sight the young girl dashed across to where the animals were breaking for the settlement walls. "The flocks!" she cried, "We have to get them back inside!"


Her dash was cut short as a massive figure emerged from the shattered door of the hut. Roofing straw matted in its clothing and a sheep under one arm, the Spriggan gleefully trotted towards the other animals. It must have crept into the hut during the day and nightfall had transformed it into its giant form.


Ravenclaw was close behind the girl and shouted to the Spriggan to drop the sheep it was carrying. The giant just laughed and reached for another creature nearby.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by the party, a shadowy figure had appeared on the slope above the village. It raised a hand towards where the silhouettes of the gnomes could be seen clustered around the fire. Athalwolf, recovering on the ground by the fire, suddenly clutched at his head, agonising pain screeching across his scalp and down his spine. He fell back unconscious.

By this time Ravenclaw and the girl had been joined by Ran Rauko and he called out to the Spriggan once more, commanding it to release the sheep. Seeing there were more enemies arriving the lone Spriggan decided to cut its losses, dropped the stunned sheep and capered into the night with a shrill cackle.


It was now fully dark, and the party spent the next hour rounding up as many of the animals as possible and making their enclosure fast. The girl used a shrill whistle to herd the sheep and pigs and had great skill in gathering them together. Her brother also emerged from the hut to lend a hand. Working together to retrieve the livestock seemed to soften the girl's attitude to the party and as they retired to the huts to cook meat from one of the boar it emerged that she and her brother had not eaten for two days. A few days ago a stranger in purple had visited the village and talked with the elders. The children had overheard something about goblins but had been sent away from the meeting hut and knew nothing more. They had gone off to play in the woods and when they returned the village was deserted. The girl's name was Jinni and her brother was called Glenn. Jinni told them her mother had once mentioned that there was a safe place they could go to in times of need, a hidden refuge just inside the Heart Forest. They thought this might be where the rest of the village had gone. Ravenclaw told them of the quest they were on, the task of defeating the goblin horde. Jinni at first laughed at him speaking so seriously of the Fae and goblins, make-believe creatures grandmothers used to warn naughty children to behave. As the tale unfolded though she became more wrapt and was determined to follow them to stack the goblin horde. First though, they had to find the other villagers to make sure Glenn was safe with the other adults. The party secretly hoped Jinni's parents would take her off their hands as well!

The following morning they packed their bags, loading the second boar carcass onto one of the horses, and set off towards the Heart Forest in search of the missing villagers.

Into The Woods part 2: The village in the valley

Last night the little The Woods campaign we started to playtest the SystemMech rules for Secrets of Shandisholm got to a new stage so I have decided that as the adventure unfolds I should blog it for posterity. Now in future I'll do this properly with photos and stuff, but for now let's just get up to date with what's been happening down there in the Mortal Realm...

-NOTE: The beginnings of this campaign follow the Reek of the Fens adventure from Secrets of Shandisholm, so I won't go into too many details in case anyone wants to play it themselves.-

Our tale begins one spring day when the son of the Toisech of Shandisholm disappeared from the village. Whilst the elders convened to debate what they should do the chief's daughter, Winifred, took matters into her own hands. Followed by her close friend John Ravenclaw she set out into the woods to search for her younger brother. Unseen by the pair a small, hunched figure followed them into the forest...

After only a few hours the adventurers were hopelessly lost in the dense undergrowth. To make matters worse their meagre provisions were disappearing from their packs, taken by the small, blue hands of thieving pixies. Eventually they broke clear onto the summit of Pixiebells, from which they could see the forest spanning below them. They also discovered the hunched figure, which turned out to be Ranrauko, a strange youngster from the village who was universally shunned by the other children for his weird behaviour. Ranrauko would sit in the corner of the pig sty, scrawling odd patterns in the mud with a curiously engrossed expression on his face. Winifred and Ravenclaw were none too happy to see the ragged child, but they were in the middle of nowhere so had little choice but to tolerate his silent company.

As they were looking across the canopy a small, disembodied voice drew their attention to a ruckus below and they made their way towards the crashing to see what was going on. As they reached the forest floor they were almost crushed underfoot as a trio of Eanabuises smashed through the trees with a pack of white dogs upon their tale. By the time the children had ventured out from hiding the chase was over and the dogs, with their elegant masters close behind, had succeeded in bringing down the giant birds with their cyclopean riders. Winifred's attention had been drawn to a small bundle one of the masked and cloaked figures was retrieving from the body of a marsh demon. Was she imagining it, or had it made a baby's cry? As the hunting party made off through the woods once more the Tuatha children followed close behind.

At the camp that evening they made a daring raid and retrieved the bundle (which was indeed Winifred's brother) from the cloaked figures, thanks largely to the mysterious powers of Ranrauko which had elevated the bundle from the midst of the sleeping Fae. Narrowly escaping their pursuers the group made it back to Shandisholm where they sought the guidance of Meg, the local wise woman. Meg told them that the best defence against the Fae was bog iron, a rare mineral only found in the marshes and which the Fae were strongly adverse to. It was said that there was a smith who could work bog iron in the village of Rangolt, over the other side of the forest. The group set off once more to seek the smith.

When they arrived at Rangolt they found the villagers wary and increasingly hostile. Diminutive and furtive figures were moving among the inhabitants and spreading rumours about these newcomers. Despite the unhelpfulness of the populace the adventurers managed to track down the smith, but alas he had no bog iron to forge. He did, however, suggest they visit the brewhouse where Athalwolf, the proprietor, kept a nugget of the rare mineral hanging over his fireplace.

By this time the villagers were openly aggressive towards the party and they took shelter in the brewhouse, where Athalwolf confided in them that he had no desire to remain in Rangolt and suggested they creep out the rear of the brewhouse and try to make it to the gates without trouble. The mob spotted them, but they were able to make it over the palisade into the trees to safety. Once in the forest Athalwolf told them his story. He was a Pech, a hill gnome, and had been part of a trading expedition into the marshes of Mael Fen. They had struck a deal with the Myeri for a shipment of the coveted bog iron, but on the way back had been intercepted by a large group of Redcaps. The Pech had been scattered and the bog iron seized. Athalwolf believed himself the only survivor and his nugget of the ore the only piece to have remained out of goblin hands. That is, until recently, when news of a Pech settlement near to the Heart Forest had reached his ears in Rangolt. Now he greatly desired to see if there were more survivors of the trading party living deep in the wood. The group agreed to go back to Shandisholm via the Deepwards route, rather than take the Old Lowland Road, and see if they could find any traces of the gnomes.

Sure enough, after a run in with a Barguest and a short detour through a mysterious maze, they discovered the remains of a makeshift settlement where two Pech were making a last stand against a dozen Redcaps. The party intervened and drove off the goblins, rescuing the gnomes. The gnomes were anxious to get after the goblins and retrieve their lost bog iron, but Ravenclaw suggested they return to Shandisholm first to get reinforcements and horses so they could catch up to the Redcap horde. During the preceding battle Winifred's Herbalism had saved Athalwolf's life and he made her a gift of the bog iron nugget, allowing her to take it back to the village.

When the group returned to Shandisholm they made haste to the gathering hut. The Pech, however, were concerned about the presence of some tents they'd seen tucked into the woods nearby. They suspected a reasonable force of the Fae Martial and were afraid of what this could mean. Inside the gathering hut they found an assembly underway, with a stranger present and seated in a place of honour. He introduced himself as Byron, from a village the other side of the wood, and was seeking aid against a Redcap army which had threatened his settlement. Suspecting this was the same party of goblins they were after the adventurers were keen to provide a force from the village to assist. Before the meeting could be concluded Byron, who had seemed a little tense at the production of the bog iron nugget and the Pech's story, turned white as a sheet at the mention of the Fae Martial and insisted Ravenclaw show him where the tents were pitched. Leaving the gathering hut they were set upon by white dogs who had raced through the settlement gates, howling blood-curdling howls. At the other side of the settlement tall figures in ornate cloaks appeared and blocked the Tuatha's path, but upon seeing Byron they fell to their knees before him. Byron commanded them to call off the dogs and it seemed peace would be restored, but behind the kneeling figures loomed new shapes, tall creatures in shining silver armour. Byron and the cloaked figures prepared for a fight, calling to the Tuatha to turn their backs. Most complied, but Ranrauko could not contain his curiosity and kept watching. Unable to dance out because of the mortal's eyes the Fae were forced to face the oncoming Fae Martial head on. As Byron mysteriously vanished the armoured figures set upon the hapless Fae Rade. The Tuatha hurried back to the safety of the gathering hut, and when they looked out again there was no sign of any of the strangers.

Anxious their village should not remain undefended the group decided to set out after the goblins alone, but took supplies and horses from the village. With luck they should be able to make faster progress along the Old Lowland Road than the ill-formed Redcap band. The quest begins...

Into The Woods part 1: The story so far...

What’s this Woods thing about then?
The Woods is Oakbound Studio’s fantasy world, a world based in the myths, legends and folklore of the Celtic people. Secrets of Shandisholm is the first sourcebook set in this world and explores the lowland regions of the Mortal Realm.

What’s this Mortal Realm like?
This part of the Mortal Realm is very much like Britain in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. It is a place of enormous and dense woodland, barren heath, fens and downs crowned with monolithic stones. The inhabitants of the Mortal Realm are the Tuatha, a human-like people whose lives are governed by superstitions and beliefs about the little people who live in the forests around them.

Only these aren’t mere Wives’ Tales….

A long time ago the Myeri and the Fae found a way into the Mortal Realm. The Myeri came from the seas, fleeing some ancient horror which had pursued them across the Void from their own homeland. The Fae were drawn to the Mortal Realm by the great power possessed by the Myeri. The Fae are a beautiful and proud race, and also cruel beyond belief. They placed an enchantment over the Myeri, took their power and cast them into the desolate fens and swamps. Then the Fae turned their attentions towards the other inhabitants of this land they had discovered.

The Fine Folk, as the Tuatha called the Fae, do nothing for themselves. They live in luxury, surrounded and served by countless slaves they have taken from the many realms they have conquered. These slaves they brought to the Mortal realm to build their palaces, mine for rich minerals and gemstones, weave their clothing and forge their jewels and armour. In the Tuatha, however, the Fae recognised something of their own qualities and the people of the Mortal Realm were not subjected to slavery. Instead they were nurtured as pets, almost as children, living alongside the Fae in their great cities. But over time the Fae realised the Tuatha were more like them than they could have imagined. The mortals learnt cruelty and violence fast and the Fae fled from the Mortal Realm in fear of the beings they had created. Their servants they left behind to fend for themselves. And so it came to be that the secluded, hidden parts of the Mortal Realm were populated by weird and mystical creatures from myriad other realms, trapped and far from home.

As civilisation fell apart around the Tuatha they reverted to a primitive state, abandoning the cities of the Fae and rebuilding ancient homesteads. Their memories faded and the stories became twisted with time so that now they barely remember the Fae. But still their paths cross those of the stranded folk, former servants of the Fae, some of whom are kindly, many who are not.

And that’s all in the book is it?
Yes, that’s the beginning anyway. Then there’s an explanation of the region around Shandisholm, the principle Tuatha settlement in the lowlands, a study of the nature of the Fae and Myeri, a comprehensive bestiary of folk and animals (native and other-worldly), a bunch of scenarios, a full adventure, some modelling guides and the SystemMech rules.

Ah yes, the SystemMech rules, tell us about those.
We’ll have a more in-depth look later in the month, but if you want you can download the core rules right now at oakbound.co.uk/systemmech and see for yourself. It’s a tabletop roleplay game, that is, it is miniatures-based and narrative-focussed. Each game tells a small part of the story. SystemMech is quite different to other RPGs as it uses no dice rolls or card drawing. Each model has a Decisiveness value which determines when in the turn they activate and a Stamina value which determines how much they can do, then players choose from the action tables what combination of actions they want the model to take. Some actions are more effective if others have been performed first, or if the model can’t be seen doing them for example, so you have to think ahead a bit to make your actions effective. Everything is tied to five core aspects of your characters (Wisdom, Perception, Courage, Agility and Strength) so it’s quite ‘realistic’ in terms of how well an individual can perform.

And lastly, something a lot of people have commented on, the cover?
Ah yes, the wonderful Alan Lee Fomorian painting. It’s a favourite of mine and so I got in touch with Alan to see if it would be possible to use it, to my amazement he said yes! He’s such a nice guy. The painting was used on the cover of a book of Irish folktales by Michael Scott, whose retelling of the Fomorian myth I drew on heavily in creating the Myeri.

This character has appeared in fantasy gaming before though?
Yes indeed. I believe he and the story were also part of the basis for Games Workshop’s Fimir race, which sadly didn’t develop very far. My first miniature gaming experience was playing Heroquest as a child and the Fimir were my favourite monsters so the Myeri are definitely a bit of a tribute to them. They’re very different as a race though (as we’ll see next Friday) being a blend of the Skeksis and Mystics from The Dark Crystal, the Irish Fomorians and Polynesian tribes and myths.

I look forward to seeing more.
We’ll be looking through the book every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in July. If anyone has specific questions leave them in the comments below and I'll try and answer them when we get to the appropriate section.

The Woods: Secrets of Shandisholm- Pre-orders now live!