The Children of the Sea Serpent: Chapter 1

The good guys.

The bad guys. One of them quite impatient.

My name is  Dr. Oscar Webb. My irrational fear of the sea and any other large body of water, for that matter, has not always accompanied me.

It was not until an interesting incident back in the twenties that I started shivering at the sheer tought of the water. For...you see...something lurks in the darkness of the depth. Something so terrifying, I risk fainting just by writing about it...as you can probably see from my shaky handwriting.

It is best I start at the beginning. Years ago, I was recruited into a top secret governmental agency, called Threshold. I would imagine you have not yet heard of it. Agency has been working in the shadows for hundreds of years, some say its roots go back to the mad emperor Nero of Rome, but I digress.

I was with the agency for a long time and have grown accustomed to dealing with queer things and beings, yes, beings, that do not belong to this world. But nothing could have prepared me for what I have encountered in those days of Autumn 1924.

It was me, my  good friend Stan Hastings and a scholar Artemis Seaton (who possesses certain...gifts) that were sent on a mission in a scarcely populated coastal area in New England. Reports of blood-freezing chanting and daemonic rituals were coming to the Agency more and more frequently. It was a routine mission, find out more about the possible cult and its practice and break it...little did we know, that we were already late.

It was a cold, misty morning, when we went on a foot patrol around the area and we closed in on a worm eaten old barn in the middle of the forest. We heard human voices - or so we thought - and closed in with weapons drawn.

We tried to remain unnoticed for as long as possible and took cover behind the barn. We could heard human sounds...no doubt of that, but there were also sounds that you would not be expecting to hear on the shores. What are we to deal with on this god forsaken place?

There was no time to think - it was time to act! Helped by Artemis, Stan climbed in the barn to outflank the godless worshipers, while I rushed around the corner, putting my faith in Diana, my family shot gun. I emptied both barrels in the direction of a villain and made sure he would see another day. Artemis was following closely behind me.

Inside the barn, Stan was under light pistol fire, but managed to keep his skin whole. I would be worried about Stan more, hadn't I been approach by a being of such a repulsive look, even horror writers would faint! The slippery scaly humanoid rushed at me and I did my best to protect myself - the rest is lost to my memory as I was bested in the fight.

This story continues as it was told by trusty Artemis and Stan. Stan was of quick wits and charged the imposing figure he thought was a leader of the group. He was locked in a fight with the cultist, but was unable to secure a definite victory against the evil doer.  In the mean time, that awful fish-man hybrid shambled towards Artemis, whose wits were so strained, he missed the creature at point blank with his pistol and then fell tho his attack in close combat.

Stan could still not overpower the leader of the party and henchman decided to intervene. Afraid he might hit his leader, he joined in the brawl and did not fire from the distance. This decision turned out to be his undoing, as Stan hacked through him with ease. This small victory apparently motivated Stan to focus and he finally settled the dispute with the cultist.  He wasted no time and rushed around the corner to meet the devil that dealt such a great amount of pain to his friends. He emptied a clip, but did not manage to hit the shambling young man, who turned towards Stan but failed to reach him and engage in a close combat. While Stan always preferred to dance to the song of swords than orchestra of powder, a rusty old cleaver that that pitied creature dragged behind it made him think twice and he instead decided to keep some distance and rather fill the abnormality with lead.

After two carefully aimed shots, the being dropped dead on the spot and Stan rushed to get me and Artemis to hospital, where is it I woke up.

The mission was costly for our little team, as poor Artemis lost all his trust in the fire arms and pledged never to use them again - they are inaccurate and not worth the bother, he claims! As for me...oh god...that forsaken beast has swung its blade all over my face and the result is beyond imaginable. I dread seeing myself in mirror - how can I ever let my loved ones see me like this?


Post-game thoughts:

While it has its cons (First version at least), Strange Aeons is by far the most fun I have playing games. Fast and simple and if I play alone nobody hears me adding the sound effects!

To be completely fair, I replayed the scenario, as after first game all three agents were removed from play without causing any damage whatsoever. Henchman with the Tommy gun was killing them without too much trouble - the profile is strong by itself and it had all the best rolls! According to the injury roles, one died and the other one was horribly crippled, so I decided to cheat a bit and call it a practice game, as I haven't played in months.

Artemis suffers from Ballistophobia and will need to preform a test before he can fire a weapon, while Oscar is now hideous, which means every human that comes into base to base contact with him, will have to throw a resolve check.

1920 Cthulhu mythos size comparison

 I am a part of "Eldritch" group on facebook where I was asked for size comparison photos of BCB miniatures. I've added some others in the mix and decided I'll make a post out of it. I can also proudly say I am painting something as we speak so next post will be proper post again!

I have decided to show mostly humans, as showing monsters doesn't really make much sense, but I could do that if needed.


I will keep it short, below every picture manufacturers will be listed left to right.

 BCB (Black Cat Bases), Artizan, BCB, EM4, BCB werewolf, Mantic, Artizan, BCB

 BCB, Artizan, BCB, EM4 (smaller)

 BCB, Mantic, Artizan, BCB

 BCB, GW Ungor, Dixon (larger), BCB

 Dixon (smaller), BCB, EM4, BCB

 BCB, Artizan, EM4, BCB

Hope it proves useful,
Mathyoo

Meet Threshold Operatives 3!

Hello,

The two threshold agents I am about to show you are from Artizan's Thrilling Tales range. I bought a pack on Salute, so I could say those are my first painted miniatures after the show! I've painted them few days back, but anyways...I've used two for the agents and third for rouge Threshold agent. It had this evil look about it, so I figured it was supposed to be evil. I have actually played a game with them just yesterday - Rogue threshold agent has stolen Heat ray gun from Threshold Special branch and my (new, as previous' list character died in his 3rd game or so) Threshold group went after him. With my luck, I had an agent killed and evil villain ran away with our prototype weaponry!

Anyways, here they are. I am not too fond of the sculpts...I mean, I like the style but I don't like the miniatures too much...there is just something that doesn't appeal to me. Other than that, very nice figures.

I've picked the pack impulsively, because of the Lewis gunner. I needed (well, wanted) a .30 cal machine gunner and this one wasn't too bad. Again, none of the two appeals me too much, but they were quite fun and easy to paint. The guy on the left had a tommy gun, which I didn't need (I got a tommy gunner + got another one as I bought a policemen pack on Salute :P). He also carries a dynamite (which made this pack even better!), so it was perfect for Strange Aeons. I cut the thompson gun away and sculpted torch. There are rules for torches in game, but I haven't actually use them yet - I just figured it would look fun as he needs something to light those red sticks with! Plus, if I do use torch in a game, I have a miniature to represent it with. I've painted red cross on one of his bags, so he can also be used as a medic. The other guy is nothing special, so I believe no explanations are needed.

As you can see, they have some static grass on the bases. I've bought same color, 2 and 4 mm that I've mixed together and applied to every painted miniature I've shown so far. I will show you the third guy from the pack next time!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo