BTB: Mordheim, The Siege

After playing the border town burning campaign for a while, it was time for it to come to an end. We wer playing regularly (once per 4-6 weeks), but to reach the 40 campaign points is taking just to long. The campaign was good while it lasted but it was time for the final battle. The three most regular players (in this case, dwarfs, chaos and halflings) got together for this epic battle.

The dwarfs took the defence and the halflings allied with the Nurglings. Fortifying themselves behind thick walls and a big gate, the dwarfs took position. The thunders (5 strong) took ther aim from the top walls along the gate and the rest (2 slayers, one hired slayer, 4 beardlings) stood behind the gate.

Outside a blizzard was blowing strong, visibility reduced to 10 inch the dwarfs couldn't see the Nurglys setting up and the row of halfling bowmen taking position. On the other hand the evil allied forces couldn't make out a dwarf as well so all was even.
The alied forces advanced at the gate. The Nurglys sending the cheep troops up front and letting the expensive hero's do a sneak climb at the far side of the wall. A warlock flew over the wall into one of the buildings in the castle. The dwarfs started to let loose volleys of led. Blackpowder smoke obscuring the gate even more in the blizzard. They did not that much damage in subsequent turns. This could also be said for the halflings. THey were shooting flights of arrows to the wall but failing to damage a single dwarf. Turn after turn the shooting continued and 2 dwarfs went down.

Meanwhile the warlock was trying to set fire to a building with some magic. Probably the flying consumed all his energy, because he fumbled and failed epically! The rest of the Nurgly heroes were scaling the wall and the dwarfs behind the wall were doing some patroling but were too far away. The Nurglys were setting fire to a building with the three of them and clever enough trapping themselves in the fire! They were pinned and taking damage here! Finally the warlock managed to set fire to a building and it burnt down to the bottom in minutes.

The dwarfs managed to kill a thieving halfling that had hidden within the Castle walls; one of the slayers that is. The rest of the dwarfs not shooting at the horde at the gate (that was having much difficulty with the gate since only 1 member of the warband was strong enough to damage the door: the pitfighter), were running to engage combat with the Nurgly heroes. The slayers were really going down on Ticky and ShyShy, in moments only pulp was left in the hallways of the castle. The warlock didn't stand long as well and the Nurglys were thinned down.

Outside the gate the Halflings wer sick of waiting and wasting arrows and started pumping arrows in their allied Nurglys in front of them. A massive onslaught continued. After a couple of turns the halflings and Nurglys were halved. All warbands were now taking route tests each turn and it was inevitable that one warband should leav the game. When some earthquakes started to shudder the castle and surrounding grounds it was too much for the Nurglys. They ran of the battlefield. The Dwarfs were taking this bad as well, the Noble could reroll a failed route test one time (he failed the roll with a double 6) and failed the reroll just as badly (again a double 6), leaving the few halflings that were left with the victory!

What an epic battle it was, this was no doubt the biggest onslaught for all warbands. All the saved fundings were put in to expand the warbands to full capacity, resulting in this epic fight. A worthy ending of the Border town burning campaign. Now only to start searching for the new campaign setting...

BTB: Horde approaches

lot of projects going on on this blog, but is there being played anything Mordheimy? The answer to that question is yet. There was a game played a while ago that did not have a battle report over here. Luckily I found my notes that made me able to reconstruct a bit of that big battle. There was a lot at stake here because if the posessed were to win a castle had to be built before playing the next BTB battle. Let's see what happened.


Some normal weather out there in the cathayan borderlands. A group of dwarfs and halflings are banding together to get a messenger to a nearby town to warn the inhabitants of the chaos threat. The chaos horde was bellowing in the distance behind the walling of the derelict town the defenders were in.

The dwarfs and halflings shooters were up in a tower and a bodyguard was maneuvering the messanger to a spot were it could get a clear run towards the neighbouring town. The possessed split up along the wall in order to be able to stop the runner. The division made them weaker but definitely not to be underestimated. It seemed they even hired an ogre to support them in this fight.

A lot of maneuvering is taking place inside the city with the possessed trying to scale the walls. This was not that easy since one of the plaguebearers jumping a gap fell and hurt his kneecap badly suffering a wound from a 2 inch drop! What a wussy!
All of a sudden one of the buildings burst into flames! Just as this setting was to be one of the more boring ones this unexpected event happens! Luckily it was a building well out of the way of the defenders and especially not the tower all the shooters were in.

The halflings were snipering away with their arrows and doing a good job. The elder shoots Frogface out of action with a great quick shot with a dark venom arrow. What a nice shot!
They had to show their skill since of the sniper thunderers killed the Ogre on turn one already. This was after all fire of the other thunderers softened him up a bit.

In the small fights that follow within the city walls the slayer that just followed the dwarfs went down but one of the beardlings killed "The drummer" possessed.
It wasn't for long that the messenger had an almost clear run and went for it. One of the possessed " The butcher" managed to grab a hold but the messenger killed him instantly while jumping the wall and working the spurs un his horse to create a big distance between him and the chaos horde.

What a good fight it was. The result being no castle to be built yet and a lot of experience to be had since the warband ratings were way apart! Dwarfs and Halflings claiming the victory for once!

BTB: Sewer Fighting

After a long drought the ground in the city of Mordheim was cracking and crumbling. Weeks of blazing sun did not much good for the dirt caked street. The river Stir was just a meager treacle through the city en the sewers were running dry. Because the ground was becoming more and more brittle some cave-ins happened in the centre part of the city. Just along one of the derelict watchtowers the grounds were split open to give entrance to the sewer system of Mordheim.
The sewers were rumored to have many a treasure but also to house hideous and dangerous creatures who eschew the light. This time of the year, the sewer system should contain many a wyrd-egg. The cave-in and the presence of the eggs was an ideal scenario for some warbands to get down there and start up a fight.
In this case four warbands flocked to sewers and got stuck in.
- A band of Halflings was making their debut in Mordheim. Roaming the countryside they were pulled towards Mordheim for fame and riches.
- A group of undead was slithering through the filthy sewers as well. Common place for these night dwellers and therefore no surprise they were present.
- Possessed are always present if a slimy egg or two can be found. If running through some sewers is what it takes, they don’t mind.
- Last but not least the dwarf treasurehunters found their way to a sewer entrance. Cave fighting and underground navigation being one of their specialties, this was going to be an easy job.

Before entering the sewers all warbands were equipping themselves with lanterns or trusting on night vision and familiarity with dark tunnels. Some of the Halflings were stumbling about a bit. The one with the lantern was having a lot of difficulty with the dark surroundings. He was blinding himself with his own lantern. The other Halflings were faring not a lot better. Shooting range was not something to trust on this battle.
The dwarfs however were running along the sewers as if it were the long underground passageways they are used to. Detecting some slimy possessed in the distance they moved stealthily in their direction. The cunning possessed however were just luring the dwarfs in their direction only to run around a corner through a massive oak door and slamming it shut.

Now it was a game of push and shove. The massive slayers readying their shoulders for smashing through the door, got little resistance of the tiny possessed. The door smashed in a and the onslaught began: shyshy and two plague bearers got the full taste of dwarf axes. The dwarfs already familiar with the possessed were wondering where flyface son of flyface was. Was he still suffering from the bellywound he took last battle?

While all this rummaging around was going on one side of the sewers, the other side was getting crowded with Halflings and undead. The Halflings found their way through one sewer only to encounter the beasts of the dark. Some zombies were blocking the way. Shooting is the thing of Halflings and in this case it was shooting at very close range at the mass of rotting flesh before them. A couple of ghouls went down eventually, the Halflings were holding their ground greatly against the undead.

The fighting between the dwarfs and the possessed was taking a gruesome turn when the dwarf engineer went down and the dwarf noble with 2 slayers had the greatest difficulty of getting shyshy out of the way. What luck that flyface son of flyface was not present due to his bellywound.
After fighting in the sewers the dwarfs went above ground in the watchtower to search for treasure. The cunning possessed that were not luring the dwarfs to closed doors were already above ground to search through the ruins. They employed an ogre for some brute force, not counting on the fearless slayers! Loki was hacking away at the ogre and after some heavy blows he split the ogre in two! What a massacre!

The rest of the possessed were weighing heavy on the bloodied dwarfs. It was time for the dwarfs to take their treasure and make for the tunnels again to shake of the pesky possessed.
It was a good evening for a good fight. If only flyface son of flyface could have been present, but he was suffering from a bellywound…


Did I mention that flyface son of flyface had bellywound and did not take part in this battle…?

BTB: Chaos Dragon Hunt

Our BTB campaign is now approaching a point where the special scenarios can be played and that we can actually survive them. This night it was time to play the Chaos Dragon Hunt scenario. Three warbands on the move to get their hands on a huge treasure. But first there was the Beast to kill.
The scenario plays in the Northern wastes and we made a setup with a lot of open space in the middle of derelict border town. A long abandoned arena added to the dusty atmosphere and was used as the 'zoomed in' setting for fighting the dragon in its lair.


Three warbands: Dwarfs, Orcs&Gobbo's and the Posessed found out about the location of this hideous dragon. Actually it was the Possessed who found out and the dwarfs following close since they got a nose for wealth and riches to be had. Staying close to the possessed might lead them to some treasure and this was now definitely the case. The orcs and goblins were in the neighbourhood since there was fighting to be done, meat to be had and some scraps and spoils to be found after a massacre. All good reasons to enter the fray.


It was biting cold in this derelict town and the snow covered grounds made movement near impossible. Luckily no additional weather conditions were present, otherwise no searching for dragons would be done. The beast was said to be in the centre tower of this part of the small town. From three directions the warbands were approaching. The dwarfs actually purchased a wagon with some draft horses. 6 dwarfs were in the coach for a quick ride to the beasts lair. The rest were to take up position and give cover. The snow was proving difficulty even driving along the road and applying the leash gave little effect.


While driving towards the tower some arrows were sent loose at the coach from some sneaky goblins. The thunderers and beardlings providing the cover where still taking up position and could not provide the necessary cover they needed. The coach was attacked by some squigs bouncing from the side alleys. One splattering against the wagon rocking it on its wheels but doing no damage. The second clung to the wagon only to be swatted aside by the thunderer riding shotgun. The third squig was also quickly over with, since the beardlings got their first piece of combat in the real world.


In the meantime the possessed where ... moving actually and ... moving, moving still. The snow gave them much trouble heading towards the tower. Even the Ogre could not make wake in the snow, giving the rest some quicker movement. The possessed warband was now so big, they were spread out widely and approaching slowly.



The coach skidded to a halt and out poured some slayers and the noble and engineer. Blasting away with their guns the dwarfs let loose a lot of lead and smoke, hitting ... well ... nothing really.


One of the thunderers found a great position on a nearby tower. The ideal sniper position and he was blasting away with his masterly crafted handgun. Meanwhile some more orcs were pouring out the dark side alleys and a lot of small fights broke out. The beardlings having a go at some orcs, where the battle was in balance. The slayers were a sort of whirling ball of axes slicing through the orc ranks with not much difficulty. The dwarven engineer however was a bit too confident and in a moments notice two lowlife orcs chopped him down, taking him out of action. Another orc was swinging his weapons at one of the horses bring it down shrieking and thrashing. It was only moments that the slayers were upon him, killing the orc an a few fast strokes of a massive blade.


The beardlings were having difficulty with the orcs but after some more volleys of the thunderer on the tower it was enough for the orcs. This was too much damage and they were going down fast now. The best tactical moment for a smart retrace of their steps.
The dwarfs now a bit bewildered and still a bit in the rush of fighting the orcs and goblins now found an empty street in front of them ... or was it?


The possessed made their way with some difficulty to the entrance of the tower and taking up a deamonic steed in their ranks (the deamonic steeds are aplenty in our fights, for some weird reason it always gets rolled as a random event). The dwarfs were a bit battered and were now reforming taking a good look at the possessed pouring around the tower. This was no small group of filthy mutations, it was a somewhat organized very big crew of evil pouring into the monsters lair. Maybe it was best for the dwarfs to see how they fare against the chaos dragon and maybe afterwards see some of that treasure.


The big fighters of the possessed went into the tower to fight the monster and outside the rest stood guard. The dwarfs taking up position just out of charge range but just within shooting range. The dwarfs shooting at the possessed guard gave not much casualties. The cold was getting at the dwarfs apparantly. Chattering teeth gave no steady shots here.


The possessed where in a massacre with the chaos dragon. The dragon snapping two heads at them and slashing with claws like swords was giving the possessed much trouble. The leader of the possessed went down in moments leaving the ogre and some big mutations to do the dirty work. The ogre doing some heavy damage also took a lot of damage. Swaying on his feet the ogre went down! At this moment the dragon also suffered a lot of damage and with their last strength the possessed took out the dragon. That was no easy kill!
In the meantime also some lavatunnels undermining this part of the city were caving in and one of the dwarfs only narrowly escaped a flow of lava, nimble on their feet as they are!



Only now outside some possessed were down due to the shooting of the dwarfs and a line of big slayers were waiting for the rest to come out. The Possessed-slayer-standoff was putting both warbands in a negotiating position. Although hating each other they came to solution where the possessed took of with their much sought after artifact: the dragon scale armor and some of the hoard. But leaving the dwarfs enough riches to look the other way for a few seconds.

BTB: Earthquake

Catching up with the battle reports this is a more recent one.
The earthquake scenario provides with a much needed set treasure to be found. Especially the dwarfs were in much need of treasure (being treasurehunters they are always in need!) and a blizzard enriched this scenario with the BTB sauce needed for the scenario.
As counters for the treasure chests to be found we used M7M's as you can see in the pics and again a deamonic steed (as with the writing on the wall scenario) makes an appearance agains (was it the same, is it hunting the Border towns?).
Finally the Campaing point counter on our blog is updated and a lot has changed since the last setting. Especially the dwarfs advancing a lot because of them purchasing a wagon train. A good dice roll gained them an extra 6 CP's!
First a the story from the orcs and goblin perspective and afterwards a dwarf view on the battle fought.

The Orcs&Goblins
A cold night, a sudden wind and 14 eager greenskins ready for battle. All the ingredients for a massacre in the streets of Dordtheim were once more available. Wortnak and his crew were roaming the streets once more. Rumours had spread of some treasure laying around in certain areas of the city. There were bound to be more evil people searching for treasure here, for treasure is scarce in Dordtheim.

Upon arriving in the designated parts of that city, immediately the dwards could be smelled again. There was no battle thus far those small beardy bastards were not present. Damn, time for a massacre. From the other corner of the street it smelled like rotting meat. It smelled like an open sewer, nurgle must be near. And for certain it was.

Wortnak decided to split the group into two sides, for maximum treasure handling. Wortnak and his loyal henchman decided to go left, while the smallskins and furrballs guided by Gretfall went right for the stench. Wutwuzdat went to a higher region to get overview over the street. Unfortunately the weather was once again against the greens. Not much shooting, no sight at all.

After a short while, the greens opened the treasure, only to find wasps, rats and dust. Pah! Not what they had came for, but there was blood to spill nonetheless. A fierce battle went on in the small streets at the nurgle side, with many casualties on both sides. Wutwuzdat had some suprising moves and killed of the weird nurgle creature without a hussle.


On the other side wortnak and Greatfoot battled some rats, a slayer and some beards that joined in after a short while. Greatfoot, made a great debute by bouncing off some bullets and saving the boss. Rewards will surely be awarded for that action! Sneak’n Git the goblin rushed to the tower to get that last treasure.

All in all, after a lot of battle and furry casualties, Wortnak decided to call it quits. No more bloodspilling. Resting was now what needed to be done. More dwarfs to be slain next time. Waaaaaaagh!!!

The Dwarfs
The Blizzard was giving the dwarfs directly a hard time finding targets to shoot at. The engineer and thunderers had been practicing a lot and were ready to let loose some lead at anyone approaching treasure chests in the distance. Due to a recent earthquake the dwarfs were very keen on looking around for uprooted treasure. Being experts on earth movement straight away they found some good stuff with weirdstone shards that would provide for a good sell. They were in need of some hard coins were they able to buy that much needed wagon train.

Almost instantly after entering the small ruined town of Ba'Zaaar a deamonic steed appears in front of the dwarfs. It was only just within range with this blizzard going on and they started shooting at it. The blizzard was too much of a distraction and after a lot of black smoke cleared the steed was still advancing towards the dwarfs. Perfect for the slayers having a go at it. In short moments the steed was done for.

In the distance some orcs and gobbo's were fighting giant rats. Hah! you had to know were to look for the treasure, the stupid greenskins were only finding some vermin at that part of the Ba'Zaaar where the earth fissures were not good looking. You had to be a dwarf to see that immediately!

After quickly finding some treasure the some possessed were encountered and the stupid ogre was still with them. Directly locking the possessed in combat in an alley, one dwarf didn't have the full courage to enter the fray. This beardling didn't close the gap leaving the possessed the opportunity to strike back with considerable effort.
This small mistake costed the dwarfs the overhand and with a hail storm coming on they left the battlefield. They still had enough treasure to go for that good looking wagon train they saw in Aboo Zor. A good moment to go there and haggle for the wagon train and horse. Accumulating riches has a point where you have to store the stuff and transport it.

BTB: The writing on the wall

It is time to catch up with some battle reports for games played for our Mordheim Border Town Burning campaign. This scenario fitted in nicely with BTB since a small border town can be taken for having some writings on the wall. Some particular occult and foreign writing that is! Here's how the game went.


The Orcs&Goblins, Possessed and Dwarfs all heard of some writing on the wall in this specific border town: Tawn Hut. In Tawn Hut strange dwellers were acting even stranger and there was of coarse treasure to be had. A strong gale was blowing and the suffocating heat was making it feel like walking in a dwarf smithy with the bellows on full blow.

Van A tale of some gamers

The streets of Tawn Hut were empty at this time of the night. The grey head clan was scavaging the streets but the goblins were squabling a lot. The heat was getting to them and on of the gobbo's refused to set any fut for turns on end. Getting at this writing on the wall was difficult especially with a deamonic steed appearing on the plaza. Some serious fighting started here.

At the other side of the plaza the blackbloods were looking for the strange writings and half of the warband engaged combat with the orcs and gobbo's. Magic was flying everywhere. Some rogue streaks of magic killing a big one. The possessed hired an ogre to do some dirty work for them and by blocking the passage of the dwarfs to an interesting alley, he did well.


The dwarfs were battling it with the ogre at one end of the alley while at the other end some grey heads entered very sneaky. The were meddling at a part of the wall there while the possessed and dwarfs were too preoccupied with themselves.

The writing provided very interesting indeed. THe writing being discovered by the sneaky greenskins the city of Tawn Hut provided no more interesting reasons to stay. The warbands breaking of the fighting returned to their respective safeholds after doing some exploratation in the fringes of Tawn Hut. The possessed actually found a map giving them the information to go chaos dragon hunting. The Dwarfs were enriched a lot and found some portions of madcap mushrooms. The grey heads found much needed experience in this battle and were more ready then ever to engage in a next fight!

BTB: Living Treasure

We're still playing the Border town burning campaign but with some other scenario's then the original rules describe. It is fun to use the BTB surroundings and play all kinds of scenario's in them. This time we've played the living treasure scenario. Some slight alterations to the scenario. We've put in the treasure counters and when a treasure attacks you, there is a chance you encounter The luggage!. We've used the rules for the luggage as described in the blogpost. In our case we've played the scenario multiplayer with 4 warbands, orcs&gobbos, beastmen, possessed and dwarfs.


The following is a first part of the battle report from the dwarf treasurehunters point of view. Other warbands have their stories to tell and if available they will be added just the same!

"Truckloads 'o treasure, truckloads" the drunk farmer was blabbering in the Crooked Tooth tavern. Bjorgir was listening intently to the drunken man's talk. He was gathering quite a crowd in this small border town. Not much happens in these surroundings and a chance of some action or good stories the villagers weren't letting slip away.
The farmer (or so he looked) stumbled in this evening in the tavern, where the dwarf treasurehunters found themselves on a particularly harsh evening. The season was turning to winter and these surroundings were already cold in summer let alone in winter. The story of the drunken man was worth pursuing before the warband travels more down south were the weather is less harsh.
The weather already sent a lot of warbands away and the sturdy dwarfs remained quite long in these surroundings.
The farmer mumbeled something about ...Gorgon's way... "Hmmm," Bjorgir was thinking, "that is something I found on the weird map I found a while ago."
"OK lads, we're heading up north once more" Bjorgir was telling his warband. The beardlings were grumbling under their breath on the harsh conditions already, but followed their leader regardless.

In a corner of the inn a very drunk slayer was quaffing his ale. The 2 slayers already within the warband cought up with him and were getting very drunk themselves. Eventually for a couple of gold coins the other slayer was willing to follow them as well.
With 3 slayers, an engineer, 3 beardlings and a thunderer Bjorgir was prizing himself lucky to have such a warband. They were starting to get some name in these borderlands and gathering some fortune as well.

The warband take up their packs and leave in the cold weather. "Hopefully an easy find, this treasure" the engineer was thinking while they were traveling with the old map to guide them. Eventually after some days travel they found a derilict set of houses and part of some tunnel uncovered. The tunnel was supposed to be named Gordon's way. The dwarfs set to uncouvering the treasure when the weather turned for the worse. Hail was falling from the sky and the hail stones were getting bigger and bigger. The dwarfs gritted their teeth and went on. Upon entering one part of the tunnel they first came upon a shrine or grave for one famous slayer. Loki was well renowned for his deeds and this honorary grave did him justice. The slayers Durri, Grk and Hari were paying tribute to their battle mate. "A good death he found." said Durri. The other (still hung over) slayers mummbeled their respect and were silent for a moment.
2 slayers went outside to inspect their surroundings while the others went in. In running around a part of the hallway all of a sudden they encounter a squig! The hired slayer went directly berserk and split open the squig with one blow of his mighty axe. With squigs around there are gobbo's around and with gobbo's around there was bound to be some orcs as well. Straining their ears nothing was heard by the dwarfs over the hails stones that were falling down, already the size of hens eggs. These stones were doing some serious damage, but not enough to get the dwarfs down.
Under the hail of hail stones some screams were heard nearby of other beings suffering greatly from the onslaught of the weather. According to Grach the engineer it were the possessed that were getting clobbered by the weather.

The two slayers outside all of sudden found themselves faced with a couple of orcs that came running out of the curtain of hail. In no time carnage was happening and the slayers were really hacking into the greenskins. They were no match to big axes the slayers were wielding.

The hail subsided only for a fraction and in no time the hail stones were big as...stones! The dwarfs were getting hit badly. The dwarfs proved to be very sturdy since only 1 beardling fell unconscious when a hail stone the size of an oathstone hit him square on the helmet. The ringing in his ears was to be heard for a while!

To the sounds in the battlefield the orcs were suffering more casualties to the big hail stones and the possessed as well. Some gutteral noises were heard during the monster hail. Apparantly some beastmen were also present and suffering from nature's ice rains.

In the curtain of ice some icy light was to be seen as well when some beastman shaman was using his ice crystal. "How appropriate in these conditions" Grach was thinking squaring his hammer up to run into the room where some misformed bodies were already moving along chests. "The treasure" he thought and with the rest of the warband they went in. A massacre was already going on here between the beastmen and the possessed.

Apparantly the orcs and gobbo's were also taken part, but no livin greenskin was to be seen here. From the sounds of the slayers outside the greenskins were already legging it from the battle field.
In no time the dwarfs were searching the chests for treasure while the possessed and beastmen were fighting each other. This was not long since the beastmen also ran away. After suffering heavy losses from the hail stones the fighting with the possessed proved too much.
All of a sudden the dwarfs were facing some very angry possessed.

Bjorgir and Grach squared up in a doorway fending of the inpoor of possessed in the room. The possessed were pushing hard and the rest of dwarfs took some treasure. The angry mob of possessed proved a bit too much for the already very cold dwarfs. Bjorgir was calling the retreat and the dwarfs ran off (with treasure!).

While traveling to warmer areas Grach and Bjorgir discussed how close they were to the treasure. Living treasure it was told to house, Gorgon's way. They were musing over some pints of ale in a quit border town. In the corner an apparant poor farmer was listening intently...