Trying Out the Sorcery Rules for 'The Quests of Brin The Barbarian'

On Monday night, my enthusiasm for The Quests of Brin The Barbarian by Maudlin Jack Tar continued and I broke out a few of my 28mm minis to test out the sorcery rules.

I set up and played the same basic scenario three times.


Our hero:

To set the tone and give our game at least the most minimal of flavor, let us say our hero was headed on the road to the Library at Stahlhelm to return a rare, and overdue, tome, when he was set upon by brigands (my favorite enemy in these scenarios I guess).

In the first attempt at the scenario, our hero barely survived:

It played quickly - he summoned 5 skeletons off the bat and though most of them ended up crumpled in a heap early on, they served their purpose well.

In the second run through, our hero met his fate by the sword of the brigand leader (in true pulp fashion, instead of killing him, the brigands brought him to the lair of the one they call Master):

I had time for one more game, so why not? Besides, I was still getting the hang of the sorcery rules, which aren't complex but require some record maintenance during and between turns,  not to mention some tactical finesse (not my strong suit) to make the best use of.

As for the third game?

The brigands appeared out of the woods with the smugness of those who think they have found an easy mark.

Our hero on the road facing a shield-ish wall.

 Our hero was in no mood for the shenanigans of marauders and summoned three animated skeletons to his aid with his dark powers.

Swords, spears and shields crashed!

The brigand leader was at once struck down by one of the undead in a single blow, but one of the skeletons fell equally quickly.

An overview of the fight so far. The dice indicate how many SP remain. I'd do this on a record sheet ordinarily but for illustrating the damage here, the dice make more sense.

Our hero moved to distance himself from the oncoming rush (do note, he could have moved one square further, I don't know what I was thinking. I rarely do.). The skeleton archer did its job to protect its master and struck down the red shirt (who was no doubt destined to die on this mission).

Our hero surveys the skelly's handiwork.

But it too was not long for its second trip through this world and with but one skeleton left, occupied in a struggle with the fellow in the snappy blue tunic, the brigands closed in on our hero.

What shall become of our hero?

As worried as we may have been, to our hero it was no great matter.

Calling upon arcane forces, he again summoned the dead to his aid, thus balancing the scales. And, quite helpfully, they appeared in key positions (all within 3 squares of the caster, of course).

A turn of fortunes as the skeletons appear among the ranks of the brigands.

What had seemed a close run thing, suddenly was not. And at least one brigand turned tail and ran before the undead claimed him for their tally.

The brigands are defeated, their bodies left to rot and provide future armies of the undead should our hero need to call upon them.

With all of the brigands dead or having fled,  our hero continued his journey. He would accrue not one more day of fines.

Our hero prepares to follow the road into the dark woods on his way to Stahlhelm.