Fright Night 2011!!!

Image created by Ted Henkle.

This weekend, a small spooky affair took place at Historic Fort Steilacoom, WA. The grounds surrounding the fort's old location are supposedly haunted, you can read about it here in an excerpt HERE from Myths and Mysteries of Washington by Lynn E. Bragg.

Welcome!

A Frightastic night was had by all thanks to Lawrence B, Damond C and Bruce S for hosting and organizing this inaugural event! Also in attendance were myself, Dean M, Daryl N, Scott M and a new member of the wargaming community and his son who I unfortunately cannot remember the names of. Scott A also showed up briefly to give Dean and I some goodies from an Old Glory order, and a special guest!

Goodie were brought by attendees... of course a huge thank you to my wonderful wife for baking a bunch of nummy cupcakes for everyone!

Altar of Goodie Doom!

Mmmm!!!

There were two games set-up when I arrived, but because the original invite was limited because of it being a trial run, there weren't enough of us to play both, therefore we voted to play in Bruce's Sword and the Flame variant "Sword and the Vein" Buahahahah!!! set in mid 19th century Austro-Hungary.

My Vampire Hunters nervously sweeping the woods.

The 'good guys' were attempting to rid the area of evils emanating from Dracula's castle. The forces included Papal Zouaves on loan from the Pope, Monks with holy water, Hungarian Chassuers with a light artillery piece, Polizei Werewolf hunters with silver bullets, Vampire Hunters and a couple brave villagers as guides. In opposition were Werewolves, NachtSpiele, Pumpkin Demons, Zombies and of course Vampires oh my!

The Vampire Hunters had bonuses in killing Vampires, the Polizei had two silver bullets each giving bonuses, the Monks had holy water giving bonuses and also had the ability to prevent Zombification of the good guys. Instead of the 3, 4 on a d6 to wound, the if attacked by Zombies, a 3 and 4 would also turn them into Zombies.

The game was actually played by candlelight.

While the Chassuers and Papal Zouaves advanced directly toward the distant howling in the woods, the Polizei advanced through the graveyard, where they happened upon a casket (which were victory points) and the Vampire Hunters slipped around the flank attempting to reach the castle avoiding Dracula's minions.

The Hungarian Chassuers were ambushed by Werewolves, at first chasing them away, but later, after  perhaps over confidently advancing, they were pinned by the returning Werewolves while NachtSpiele ripped into them. The remaining Hungarians tried to re-group with the Zouaves who were too late in rescuing them.

NachtSpiele

Re-group!

The Polizei didn't make it to the scene of the carnage until after the Werewolves had run off again and were eventually killed off. Later the remaining Zouaves were whittled away after trying to intercept Dracula's carriage, they eventually attempted an escape. The Hungarians, not learning their lesson, pressed on, perhaps they didn't truly accept the horrors that were going on around them, but they eventually met their doom to a herd of Zombies.

Mysterious carriage!

Zombie herd!

 The Vampire Hunters discovered the Werewolves and finished them off, only to later also succomb to the Zombie menace! In the meantime, Dracula and his evil mistress had raided and burned down the village. A frightful night indeed!


Afterward, myself, Dean and Lawrence visited one of the quarters in which people (Lawrence himself) have experienced strange happenings…

Quarters # 3 at night.

Photo borrowed from Dean.

 Later, when I examined one of the photos I took, I noticed this dark something over the desk Lawrence had talked about earlier.

What is this?

All in all, I had a great time! The game was a hoot and the visit to quarters #3 gave me goosebumps and left me with chills...

A more extensive collection of pictures from the event can be found here:

Fright Night photobucket album

Oh by the way, I mentioned our special guest earlier...

Slashicus Motimus!