Establishing the New Order - Game 6 - Oathmark Undead Narrative Campaign

[@AshandStoneNZ]

"Hell, it's about time...."

[@petercruickshank9633]

Lovely trees can I ask who makes/prints them please

[@PMMagro]

What is time for the "new management" really?

[@AshandStoneNZ]

I got the files to 3D print them from Thingiverse and just scaled a few to different sizes. One of them is here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:3839198 I can no longer find the other one on Thingiverse, but this one looks like the same thing: cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/bonsai-mistic

[@AshandStoneNZ]

@@PMMagro Well, there is that! Though I'm sure if you'd spent a thousand years trapped in a tomb, you'd have some catching up to do!

[@riclacy3796]

The quality presentation, the narrative, the voicework with silly accents - my favourite batreps on KZbin!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Wow, cheers Ric! Thank you very much!

[@deehickman7071]

This is such an underappreciated game and you do a great job showcasing it.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Dee, thanks for the kind words! I'd certainly like to see it picked up a bit more. It's a really good set of rules, so I'll do what I can!

[@jchughes22]

been waiting with anticipation for the next video, and you exceeded all expectations once again. Excellent narrative, beautiful mini's, love the terrain too! Thank you for sharing your time and your hobby with us!!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers James! You're welcome, and I'm glad you are enjoying the videos!

[@vhcsPT]

A great game, that ballista proved very effective, and those goblins held longer than I thought. Let me just give sincere compliments to your brilliant idea of making the undead speak in an older dialect. Genius.😊

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Vitor! That ballista shot was clutch. If it did nothing else all game, it more than paid for itself with that one shot! And I'm happy with how the older dialect turned out, I'm glad you appreciated it too!

[@Gothmetalhead13]

This is by far the best Oathmark battle report channel on the site, and this was a hell of a game. Wraiths are really nasty if your unprepared!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers mate! I'm glad you enjoyed! The Crimson Dawn had a really good chance of dealing with the wraith, they just wiffed their best opportunity!

[@aramisdagaz9]

While the story of this campaign properly ended with the death of Moxis, this was a great denouement to end the campaign. A struggling necromancer is now replaced by an ancient evil, and a true undead horde now threatens the land. This ending provides a great springboard for events elsewhere, but leaves enough loose ends to make things interesting. The description at 15:30 about why a powerful, incorporeal ghost got clobbered by a bunch of goblins with slings was a brilliant narrative flourish and bit of worldbuilding. I'll have to steal that idea at some point :) One of the biggest strengths of these battle reports is how you use the dice rolls to tell the story that is very engaging and thrilling. Though, of course, the fickle winds of fortune being that they are, sometimes ill luck is due to mere incompetence, confusion, or a nest of ground hornets. It was also great to see the production values of these videos improve over time, especially with the addition of special effects, more detailed descriptions of the dice rolls, and the cutscenes before and after the battles. I'm looking forward to seeing future battle reports and narrative campaigns!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Aramis! Still got more to come as well! Wraiths are funny in the way they work in that they are resistant to arrows and melee attacks, but weirdly still just as vulnerable to a stone as anybody else. It's fun to figure out why! And it's also fun to dig a little deeper into the dice rolls to explain why a certain outcome has occurred. Especially if I can link it back to something that happened previously, or better yet, set up something for the future! Thanks again Aramis, I appreciate all the kind words and I'm glad you have been enjoying the videos so much.

[@tabletop.will.phillips]

You're making some of my favorite battle reports. Love how narrative you make them.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Will! Glad to hear it and I appreciate the kind words!

[@doctormartin5464]

Brilliant as always i find these narrative campaigns really inspiring

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Doc! I'm really pleased to hear it!

[@caledfwlchchime2820]

So glad to see these back!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers mate! Hope you enjoyed it!

[@goldcase9071]

This reminds me of the warcraft campaigns

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Excellent! They were definitely an inspiration.

[@olivergunson]

Great to see the narrative campaign continuing. Great battle that was indeed. Like the old language the Corpse King and his champions speak. Looking forward to the next episode! 🤠

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Oliver! Glad you enjoyed it and the older language!

[@Atchkizz]

Another great video. I do like the extra effort you put into narrating the battle. Like when you are describing the result of a successful roll or the reason for a failed one. Bonus points if it refers to something that happened previously in the battle. Obviously not every action will allow for the most exciting or evocative narration. There's only so many ways you can repeatedly describe a group of archers failing to damage the chariot, for example. But even then, you were able to make something of that when Grondprix failed an activation, by describing it as a result of the sheer volume of arrows that had been loosed at him. It's maybe a relatively small detail, but in my opinion it helps make things more interesting and adds a bit of "life" (ha) to the battle, but is also kept succinct enough that it doesn't really detract from the pace of the video. I suppose, it's probably elements of storytelling like this (plus all the extra effects and voices, though I'd argue that counts as storytelling in one shape or another) that you've weaved into these battle reports that, for me personally, has made them so entertaining to watch.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Atchkizz! And thanks very much for taking the time for the excellent comment! It's a good challenge to find ways to narrate similar actions without repeating myself too much. It's a good way to flex and test out my vocabulary muscles a little! The failures are probably my part to narrate because oftentimes there is no good or obvious reason for a unit to fail a particular roll. So being able to find a way to link that to other events on the table is great fun and helps to make things cohesive. Thanks again and I'm glad you are enjoying the videos so much!

[@rossdiggle]

The little scenes at the beginning reminded me of shadow of the horned rat

[@AshandStoneNZ]

I've never played that. I did play the sequel (?) Dark Omen though. I'd say Warcraft has been the big influence on me there!

[@ExtraordinaryJackson]

I love these videos. I haven't seen anyone else narrate battle reports like this.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers mate! I'm glad you are enjoying them!

[@James__V]

Great game, the change of undead management has clearly had an impact already! 😂

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers James! It sure has. I hope their luck continues for a little while at least! :D

[@kaneshiro4854]

Grondprix eh? Was he a famous chariot racer in life? Excellent game as always Chris!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Something like that! 😅 Cheers mate!

[@cullenmather6350]

Awesome

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Cullen! Hope you enjoyed it!

[@im_just_jacob]

It’s back!! 🔥🔥

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Finally! It took me an age to edit!

[@kelmor11]

Fantastic as always

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Kevin! Glad you enjoyed!

[@ernestorodriguez3637]

I didn’t realize Ireland existed in this world!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Oh no! Neither did I! 😅

[@siftol]

I don’t normally have the patience for battle reports and find them to be very boring, but this I watched all the way to the end! You sir have infused a battle report with what I keep telling everyone they typically lack, ENTERTAINMENT! Really enjoyed the narrative and the voices, sound fx and close up camera work that help to bring viewers close to the immersion that one experiences when playing the game! Question: Where are the Gideon Hex, Corpse King & wolf models from? Thanks!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers mate! I'm really glad you have enjoyed it! That makes the extra work worth it! Gideon Hex is from the Oathmark Necromancers set: www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=15055 The Corpse King is from this one: www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=15665 I assume you mean Moxis's wolves? They are 3D prints from the file I got here: www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-goblin-wolf-riders-126774

[@siftol]

@@AshandStoneNZ Thanks for the links! Looking forward to more episodes of the undead campaign! In the meantime, I’m going back to watch the previews episodes! Keep up the great narrative work!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

No worries! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying them!

[@raymondparrish343]

What page in Oathbreakers is the whispers ability?I think I missed that one. I will have to reread.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

It's the Assassin! result from the Strange Events Table (page 63) with a little extra flavour added for the story!

[@Mailed-Knight]

Still loving the plots of these vids 4:53 That is one badass human 7:27 Now that's the humans I remember, if they were elves they would have been wiped out by that 14:29 Nicely done by the militia, its hard not to root for the humans 15:29 Then again, the undead are making some nice plays 22:18 Oh! the drama and the tragedy, what a way to keep us engaged, I love it 25:21 What rotten treachery, that man didn't deserve that 27:00 What brave humans, fight on! fight on you beautiful bastards 34:39 Your goblin voice is still funny 37:18 I'm liking Archibald Interesting conversation at the end

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Grim! Well... Mailed! :D The Undead got a couple of really lucky breaks this game, but the Men (with a couple of exceptions) were outstanding. They held their ground like champs!

[@aerouge4492]

Great battlereport ... but it seems that you fell into the trap of rolling too few dice in retaliation when a unit took casualties. The skeleton charge at 29:10 for example should have received a 4-dice retaliation (5-1 for shields). Dont want to go through all the fights to nitpick, just something that occured strange while watching.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Ah, that's something I didn't make entirely clear there. I'm still trialing my homebrew spear rules, so the Orcs lost an additional dice when fighting the spear skeletons to the front. I made note of it on (most of?) the other combats but clearly missed that one. But I do appreciate you keeping me honest!

[@aerouge4492]

@@AshandStoneNZ oh, gotcha ... that spear homebrew is something I keep forgetting about! Sorry then, my bad 😅

[@AshandStoneNZ]

No worries! It's something I could have certainly made clearer!

[@petercruickshank9633]

Great job thanks can I ask where did you get your lovely trees please ?

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Cheers Peter. I got the files to 3D print them from Thingiverse and just scaled a few to different sizes. One of them is here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:3839198 I can no longer find the other one onThingiverse, but this one looks like the same thing: cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/bonsai-mistic

[@ryanphillips5126]

After his betrayal, I want Hex to fail. Traitors have a low place on my respect meter. Go Crimson Guard!!!

[@ryanphillips5126]

Welp, that ended poorly for the Guard. That conversation at the end has me realizing that Hex was, and sadly still is, a slave to the undeath. His betrayal to Moxis is a tragedy, especially since (unless I miss my guess) Moxis was trying to keep the greater Undead from awakening (granted he was still trying to rise to his own level of evil power). Perhaps my opinion of him may change, especially if he goes through a story arc like Theon Greyjoy.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

That's fair! Though I am hoping his actions will lead to better luck for the Undead. We'll see how the dice play out!

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Whoops, missed your second reply! Yeah, you've pretty well nailed it. And I'm both impressed and gladdened that you have done! I'm still learning this story telling business so it's great that I can sprinkle these little hints down and others are able to pick them up and put them together.

[@shanebagley5951]

Are those the new militia models?

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Yes! Although I have used 3D printed peasant bodies from Wargames Atlantic on half of them and used custom shields.

[@StygianBeach]

@@AshandStoneNZ Could you do a special video on the unit please, and maybe the cavalry as well? I noticed the Heater Shields with Boss, which I find quite interesting.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

@StygianBeach I've been considering it, I'm just not sure how I want to approach it just yet.

[@StygianBeach]

@@AshandStoneNZ Understandable. Could you tell me more about the heater shield with Boss. I heard that when early Kite Shields had a Boss, this was an anachronism, this idea blew my mind. So seeing a Heater shield with Boss is great fantasy IMO.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

I'm certainly no expert, but my understanding was that early kite shields, at least those used by the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, have bosses mostly as a sort of hang on from earlier round designs. It was either because "shields are supposed to have bosses" and so they put them on, or they had a particular use in they way they were used in combat in the period that fell away shortly after. So with that in mind, I wanted to lean toward kite shields for my Human Cavalry, as being wealthier, they would have greater access to the latest and greatest. I figure in universe, it's the elven influence. The elves have pointy shields, so we will give that a go, but it's not a shield without a boss. It keeps them unified stylistically with the rest of the Humans, but also gives me a bit more variety in the ranks. For the Militia, I wanted them to look older and more haphazard than the standard Soldiers. So I designed shields that were a kind of transition between earlier round designs and the large broad rectangular shields that the Soldiers use. So they are a little bit smaller, a little bit rounder and a little bit experimental. But they all have that unifying boss. Some of the shields are unfinished; either unpainted, or with no rim applied. Perhaps they were hurriedly put together, Grandad knocking up a shield like he used in youth, or perhaps they have just been sitting in the rafters, unused and unfinished for a few decades. I didn't use the ones on the frames as they are very tattered and I thought they would actually look a lot better on some skeletons.... But that's a future project!

[@HALLOWMORTIS]

I like you videos but 'A change in priorities' sounds like the title of a meeting I have with my accountant. I can hardly imagine a less evocative title.

[@AshandStoneNZ]

Yeah, you're totally right, and you have reminded me that I'm not happy with it. It was named in a bit of a rush. I like the sentiment, but the language is hardly spectacular.