Isles of Insanity: King Vold

The sick as hell event poster given to attendees by Slade.

In August of 2025, I was lucky enough to take part in “Isles of Insanity”, Slade (Ex Obscuris) and Canticus Troili’s narrative wargaming event held in Chicago. This was the first narrative event I've participated in, and I can’t wait for the next one. Think of it as a day-long game of Dungeons & Dragons, but each player controlled a squad of six characters, and the roleplaying/exploration aspects happened in between various miniature battles.

Set in the medieval fantasy setting of Warhammer Fantasy: The Old World, all eight participants were instructed to bring five soldiers and one captain who would serve as their main player character. For gameplay, we used a slimmed-down version of Blood Red Blades, Slade’s own miniature wargame. The only real stipulation during character creation was that we couldn’t bring a Chaos faction, which posed a problem for me. I had planned on using models from my (currently stalled out) Beasts of Chaos army, so I would have to get creative as to why they were *technically* not Chaos.

The solution? King Vold! A brutish assassin who, through magic or might, holds complete and total sway over the evil Beastmen. The Beastmen had been intended for my Living Lakes setting, but the Landsknecht armor of the Empire Greatswords really didn't match the vibe. Simply far too classical European. However, they would fit in perfectly for a game actually set within the Warhammer universe. 

In preparation for the event, I created a mini zine exploring King Vold’s background: The Organ Grinder of Athel Loren. 

For a full breakdown of the event itself, check out my article in Slade's THICK AS HELL zine: Tabletop & Wargame Digest Issue #1.

Thanks for reading! 

xoxo, Gray