The Weald - Another forest folk horror game

 The Weald

Another forest game perhaps worth trying is The Weald

The Weald is a 28mm Skirmish Wargame inspired by the folk horror genre.

The Weald is a once lively forest that has been plagued with a horrific disease, transforming plants, animals, and entire landscapes into a foul plague known as the Gnarl. The Gnarl seek to overtake the Weald, as they destroy small townships with ease. Nobles and Leaders have long since run out of guards, and have taken to hiring Wardens to defend their towns from the Gnarl threat.

Players create Warbands of Models that battle through Scenarios on the tabletop. Choose between the Warden and Gnarl factions in this easy-to-learn all-in-one rulebook. Extensive Warband creation and freedom coupled with a simple, narrative-driven skirmish wargaming ruleset is what The Weald stands for.

Rules are available free here: https://28-mag.com/games/

 

Supplement for The Weald: The Rites of Summer. This is a small narrative campaign containing several scenarios for players of The Weald to use, or to provide inspiration for creating their own scenarios and campaigns: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RJG5IE1p4Tyh_bmChZUnjrsl86jmiiti/view

https://ko-fi.com/post/The-Rites-of-Summer-S6S05OWX6

 

Exploring the Weald: https://ko-fi.com/post/Exploring-the-Weald-H2H15O9Q0

See: https://www.beastsofwar.com/news/grimdark-games-the-weald-lobsterpot/

See: https://ko-fi.com/post/Welcome-to-the-Weald-W7W55O8MK

Some inspiration here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhyZMV7JZrA&ab_channel=PabloElMarques

His cursed trees are also worth seeing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8sxE3abws&ab_channel=PabloElMarques

Verrotwood folk horror

The skies over the Verrotwood have turned a sickly grey. The hopes of men have withered as fast as the crops. Desperate for salvation the people have begun to turn to the long forgotten and unspeakable things that rest in slumber somewhere deep in the forest.

 

Pagan cults clash in the name of their gods. They do awful things to gain their favor, in the hope that they can awaken their gods.

 

Verrotwood is a grimdark fantasy miniatures agnostic skirmish game. The game's core rules are designed to be simple to pick up and play. It uses a ten sided dice pool system that helps to speed up play by removing the need for math at the table.

 

A simple but versatile cult customization system allows you to pick from a large list of unique rituals to cast upon your enemies. As you play through the competitive campaigns, your cult will gain power and grow stronger with an easy to follow leveling system. In-between games your cult will explore all of the horrifying things that the Verrotwood have to offer in a random event system.

Rules are available here: 

https://www.wargamevault.com/m/product/425504

Good blog of ideas here: 

https://gardensofhecate.com/blog/miniature/verrotwood-part-one

See this interview with the author evidently it all started with a well and a wailing girl… https://www.beastsofwar.com/featured/what-is-verrotwood-interview-designer-michael-crutchett/

 GMG Review here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHIas_1XZlk&t=132s

What I like about the rules is that there are no good guys. The feel and aesthetic is very pleasing and reminds one of a Black metal band in a forest. 

There is thus a fair amount of musical inspiration one could listen to whilst playing and painting suitable miniatures. Listen to for instance Behemoth covering the Cure with the song A Forest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYZdaYobCSU

Indeed, a cult based on the band Immortal could be awesome... demon war paint and spikey clubs - what more do you want... 

Similarly going with a metal theme one could use Zombicide Iron Maiden Eddies as the basis of a cult. With Fear of the Dark being the summoned miniature. 

The rules and author also encourage kitbashing and scratch-building miniatures for the game which can add a whole new level of excitement, especially given the low miniature count - a cult being four miniatures and then potentially a few options for what they might summon. I also like the idea of each cult having a totem and one can be creative here as well. A must of course is loads of trees - time to get digging up roots see my trees here: 

https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2020/04/golgothas-model-trees.html

I do think a cult made up of Wendigo would be ideal. A number of suitable miniatures are available including 3d prints.

Basil H. Johnston, an Ojibwe teacher and scholar from Ontario, gives a description of a wendigo:

The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash-gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody ... Unclean and suffering from suppuration of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.

Free paper buildings

 Free paper buildings here including Falklands War http://cardmodelsbytony.weebly.com/

Heraldry Inspirational images for shields

 Herewith is a great source of shield ideas for your knights. These are high-resolution well-detailed images so one could even print them as the actual shields for one's miniatures. 183 shields to choose from ideal for in particular Baron's war but many of these also be perfect for 100 Years War too. 

See: https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1615416/page/13/?order=desc

See also The Destroy Carthage store on Etsy for transfers/decals for shields - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DestroyCarthage?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1193882544