Into the Sackwald .... Day 3: At the ruins......

After they set off in the morning, they met a large man with a club (you could say he was a small giant); he was reasonably friendly if somewhat gruff. They asked him if there was anything of interest to see in the vicinity; he said there were some ruins further down the pathway and gave them a curt goodbye and disappeared into the forest...

 a bit later as they could see something above the tree tops...

as they carefully traversed a marshy area, they could see the ruins ...

they were soon there and arrived in a small square, surrounded by a few still standing columns and some extant walls....

While they decided on where to camp, Scharfe spotted a large white hart on the edge of a thicket; after a moment it turned and went into the forest...

Soon the camp was setup .....

they were on their guard after the incident with the snake yesterday... a good job too ! As they prepared for something to eat, a huge lizard approached .... 

The lizard moved forward and hesitated

then it started to move on and looked like it was going to walk through the ruins along the roadway

As the others edged backwards, Limburger moved into the square area to get a better look at the lizard; the lizard seeing his movement turned and attacked him.....

Limburger tries to fend it off, Eleanor fires her pistol at its head, others at the body

The lizard tosses the helpless Limburger away...they fall back to re-load...

The lizard then went after for the pack ponies....

The woodsman managed to save of the pack ponies; while the lizard started to eat the other one

having eaten it turns round and moves slowly into where the expedition had setup camp...

everyone fired at  the lizard, some hit it; the lizard wounded sloped off into the forest ...

Scharfe checked on Limburger - he was dead; the other pack pony was dead and mostly torn apart. After a quick consultation, they decided to end the expedition and head back out of the forest as quickly as they could. Before leaving they buried Limburger in the floor of one of the smaller ruins.

---oXo---

The journey back out of the forest was uneventful; although they had the feeling they were being watched. They rested for a day at Eisern and then returned to the capital to report to the King. 

Into the Sackwald .... Day 2: Further into the woods....

The Second day....

They broke camp and after half an hour or so folling the pathway,  they rounded a corner in the path. Von Tiddenheim spotted something moving up the pathway towards them "Look theres a bear ! "

"Is it dancing ?" - asked Scharfe

"No" said Big Hans "Its not one of those soppy talking bears - On your guard everyone, its a wild one"... 

The bear reared up and moved towards them ....

Two shots from the jagers killed it......

A bit later as they entered a clearing, they disturbed some deer....

After stopping for lunch, a small wild boar scuttled out of the forest and ran past them ....

in the late afternoon, they sighted some large hairy ape or man like creatures walking into the forest...

After the day's trek, they made camp...

Just as they were about to eat ... a large snake appeared .....

Esme kept it at bay with a spell using her wand....

if then slithered off...

then reared up again

all those nearby fired at it , and missed - having had enough, the snake moved off and into the forest ....

to be continued

Into the Sackwald .... Day 1: There wolf !

After a nights rest the expedition prepared to depart; the pack horse attendants and the two guards hired in Eisern refused to go any further - they left taking the donkey cart back with them and anything that was surplus to the expedition's needs. 

Carla Cranz, who was one of Madame Givenchy's adventurous Irregulars, decided to go on into the forest and changed her cantiniere's outfit for some more appropriate attire. The two pack horses were led by private Limburger and the Woodsman.

The expedition formed up with Scharfe and Big Hans leading the way. It was slow progress as they moved along the pathway into the forest; they took a small rest in a little clearing mid-morning. Randell and Hopkerk took bearings and updated their notes.  An hour of or so later they reached a large clearing...

"There wolf !" shouted Big Hans; three wolves bounded out of the forest heading towards them.... everyone tried to get off a shot at them before they closed...

One of the wolves went down and Big Hans finished it off with his sword.... the other two closed with the expedition; they tried to fend the snarling wolves off ....Sgt Harfenist got bitten... others had a few scratches...

After the wolves got hit a few times, they ran off into the forest; 

They paused for a while, while Esme the witch put a poultice on Sgt Harfenist's wound. After an early lunch they started off again following the path. The afternoon was uneventful; at one point the pathway skirted a small rocky knoll. Randell and Hopkerk used it to look for some higher points in the landscape they could use for surveying reference. 

After some hard work in the late afternoon cutting through some thick brush that had grown over the path in one place, they stopped and made camp.  The night passed without incident, although in the early hours they were disturbed by the sounds of some large animal moving nearby.

to be continued

Getting ready...

Setting up for the Sackwald forest expedition games....

The game table is split into two main zones, firstly the actual game-space; the expedition movement and encounter zone. 

Trees will be shuffled and suitable scencics added as needed; then the second area - the control zone which has the event tables, rules etc.

Any spare space is used as 'parking' zone for extra trees, figures etc.

On the way to the Sackwald forest....

The King has requested the Royal Geographic Society to map the Sackwald forest. The forest is a royal domain with some parts of the outer forest licensed for timber extraction and coppicing with any areas that are cleared have to be re-planted. While the outer parts of the forest are well known; the inner forest is not. It is a mysterious place and the locals being superstitious rarely go too far into the forest.

Two groups will join up to form an expedition to start work on mapping the inner forest:

• The first group is led by messrs. Randell and Hopkerk, experts in mapping and recently returned from an expedition exploring the jungles of the Yucatan. With them is a guide know as the Woodsman plus some volunteers from Eisen to look after the pack ponies.
• The second group is led by Ernst von Tiddenheim (head of the Department of Supernatural Affairs), accompanied by his wife Eleanor, Esme the white witch, and an escort from the King Jagers comprising Captain Scharfe, Sargeant Harfenist, Corporal Fischer and private Limburger. Also with them is a wagon with supplies looked after by Carla Cranz and a diminutive fellow called Big Hans a friend of Captain Scharfe.

---oXo---

The first group led by the Woodsman, leaves Eisen in the outskirts of the forest, they head north west towards the boundary to the inner forest...

Also on their way taking a different route is the second group, with Scharfe and Big Hans leading the way...

The two groups meet at one of the strangely carved stone boundary markers to the inner forest...

The marker indicates the pathway deeper into the forest.  The expedition will camp nearby before venturing into the forest the next day.

to be continued...

Saxe-Jarlsberg: Jager Corps

The jagers all painted up and based (using my own home-casts and a couple of commercial figures for the command stand).  Uniform based on Brunswick SYW jagers.