Treachery and treason, there's always an excuse for it

The last few weeks our no-we-re-not-a-club-club played quite a few games of the Triumph and Treachery multiplayer variant of good old Warhammer Fantasy. This add on to the rules allows us to play games of warhammer with

• small armies (so even the found again box of old minnies will do)
• a random number of players (it's alway hard to find the time)
• all in the same game...

One surprising observation is that the game is actually balanced, in a very randomly almost story telling way. Back stabbing, breaking treaties and pacts and intense battles take place on the battle field. And all the while generals and deamon keepers are having a good time (and drinking beers :-)

Key feature IMHO is the way T&T improves standard warhammer by having a more 'interactive' way of playing. The order of play in a round is determined randomly (by cards). Even more important is the way that during a players turn the opponents stay/become involved by the choice of the 'enemy of the phase'. Each phase (movement, magic, shooting, close combat) the operative player chooses one (and only one) enemy whose units can be charged, harassed, shot and fought in that phase. All other models become de facto scenery and are 'safe' in that phase.

This combined with event that cards that can interrupt the 'normal' order and chaos of a warhammer game, makes for a very hectic and alternating battle. Players have to deal with the possibility of a long latency between manoeuvres or in contrast, two turns in direct succession that must be converted into success...

What do we play with then. It all started out with a mad idea for 5 players to start a sort-of-escalation-league. The deamons were beckoning and we decided all to take on one deity with one player being (literally) undivided. 500 points was our starting value and this being ideal to play some small skirmish like games. At the first evening of gaming everyone showed up! Eek! So many games in a row and/or parallel does not fit in one respectable evening gaming. T&T was taken from the shelves and the first game was on the way. The skirmish like setting combined with T&T proved very playable. We played this setup many times now and upped the deamons to 750 pts. Still good play!

Then we got better and the games with 5 or even 6 people took us only 2-3 hours to play! Wow! We also found out a lot of cards from T&T weren not played due to the fact they targeted warmachines or shooting phase. With all deamons and only 750 points this was not really happening.

Exactly the time to introduce other warbands that have been slumbering in the cupboards for a while! Dwarfs, beastmen, ogres and skinks entered the fray. Now gaming was even more diverse with 3-4 player T&T 750-1000 pts games. It keeps the " balanced"  feel as mentioned before. The randomness makes a lot of fun gaming. The introduction of other races in what started out as deamon-escalation-league proved longer and more complicated gaming and thus more challanges, more reading of the rules and longer game nights! :)

Now 3 weeks in a row, friday night was game night and many a WHFB battle was fought with the T&T ruleset. I attended 2 of these 3 games and they were in a setting where we had 3 and 4 players present. 1000pt games they were and with a diversity of armies. I played my Ogres once and in the last battle my dwarfs were present. Being the only one there with warmachines this was directly the focus of attack and I got only 1 shot off!

Interesting to see what tactics work in T&T settings. With the dwarfs a tanked up dwarf lord on shield bearers managed to kill of all monstrosities that were beastmen or skink equivalent. Is a lone super character a good option then is the question that arrises? I still think that good units in these small amount of points can win you the game since maneuvarability is a good asset in these treacherous environments. With all the cards that can be played you're never sure your plan will work out as planned!

So treachery and treason are great ingredients for multiplayer games of WHFB for us. Great fun and continuously new situations to encounter and cope with!

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: Living treasure form the Orcs&Goblins point of view

We already played a new scenario: "The writing on the wall" but this warstory was somehow lost in the void by some rogue streaks of Waaaagh! Eventually the orc shaman beamed me his view on the Living treasure battle to be put on the blog. So for all you fellow readers, here it is! Thanks Ludo for coming up with the story!

Potential danger;check. Bad weather; check. Treasure; check. A lot of skull to crush; Ow hell yeah check!
Somehow this evening made perfectly sense to Captain Wortnak. 'Load 'em up boys, we've be going to town. Treasurehunting'. No response. 'Enjoying the bad weather?' Still no response. 'Bashing some sku....' and before Captain Wortnak could finish, his entire Grey Head Clan mob was packed and ready to ride out.
It was already pouring with rain and eyesight was pretty limited. Didn't matter to the grey heads at all. Hell, storms are their favourite weather, makes tornado-attacks (copyright WutWuzDat the Shaman) possible, which meant modifying more skulls in one attack. Arriving at the sceneof the supposed treasure Furrrrr the squig immidiately smelled some dwarfs. He was trained to recognize the stench and somehow make that clear. Hopping like the little furrball it is, Furrrr went straight for some slayers.
'This might not end that well' WutWuzDat said while he and the crew carefully positioned themselves near the hall-entrance of the long abandoned chambers. And for sure, upon impact and sinking it teeth in one of the dwarfs' feet, he met four axes. Not much was left of furrrr at that moment. 'Good thing they breed around here' Captain Wortnak replied.
Then, the hailstorm had set in. All of a sudden huge blocks of ice fell from the skies. WutWuzDat looked up and said 'hey gork, did wez piss you o.....', but never got to finish his sentence. Due to the limmited eyesight, WutWuzDat never saw the giant block of ice coming down on his head and he lost conciousness. Some others orcs and goblins were also hit, but they recovered quite quickly. Moveeee (the squig that held the goblins company was struck by a block of ice, bigger then Moveeee itself. Therefor, this was the end of Moveeee.
By the sound of a goblin hitting the ground, Captain Wortnak turned his head. Those pantsy slayers were trying to sneak attack us from behind! 'Good thing they smell so bad', Captain Wortnak said while he pushed some of his boys to the front. 'There you go, kill them and you might make it into being corporal, wutever that means'. What emerged was a real tiresome battle where the boss and his big 'un companions joined in to meet the massacre.
After the loss of one big 'un and the boys not being able to even see the dwarfs through all the rain, Captain Wortnak decided to call it quits. Enough bashing had been done and this dreaded weather made it no easier spotting the little walking critters of doom. Meanwhile snagging the goblin made reports of beastmen in the area. Another fine reason not to stay with these losses.
Waaaaaagh!

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...

BTB: Rat Race

It was in the dew of the morning that the slayers woke up hearing the skitter of little paws. Was it little paws ... or just paws running around they wondered. Bjorgir was a bit on edge because there was little to eat the last couple of days. In the blasted region of the city they were in now, nothing but derelict houses and a faint drizzle all day. You could get quite glum about this, especially with an empty belly. The skittering noises made him think of rats...rat-on-a-stick! A smile grew on the face of Bjorgir and poking his fellow warband members awake a plan formed in his head.

The Magister looked at the runes and smiled. Some days ago he had successfully summoned a lesser demon out of the warp to extend his warband. In exchange for this blessing of the Plaguefather a shibboleth had to be executed. And now the target was near...



The two slayers were very eager to get some rats and were out in no time. But they were not the only ones out there! Just around the corner some Possessed were slithering around with their mutated bodies also looking for food. Also hoof noises could be heard now so some beasties were about also. The beardlings were muttering amongst themselves that the undead wouldn't be far away either. Sarr said: "A perfect morning for a massive fight around some scrawny little rats". Dru and Crumble agreed and were getting ready to face a heavy day.



Locating the dwarf had not been very hard; obviously they were hunting for rats and not very secretive about their whereabouts. However, those pesky rats were hard to ignore, two of them were even attacking. On top of that a loose chaos hound had appeared and attacked Frogface, who (off course) was not up to the task of fighting a meager hound.

But now father Nurgle was really smiling at them! Their price was approching fast (for at dwarf that is)! The aberration, the false blackblood, the requested sacrifice was actually charging them!!

Then everything happened very fast. A rat darted by and the two slayers were loose! Charging into the rat and hacking it to pieces. The rest of the warband were huddling around the corner to check for more. There were more rats running around, a lot more rats you could say. They were so fast it was difficult to tell how big they really were. In the meantime, the rats as the beastmen, undead and possessed were running around and chasing rats.



One particular big rat was boring down on the necromancer of the undead pack! This was a rat of abominable size. The beastmen were charging into the graveyard for some rats with their rabid dogs leading the pack. One of the dogs strayed a bit and ran around one of the pillars of a ruined temple to find a big hammer of the possessed warband leader in its way. With a big squelching sound the dog found its end right there: Not only the rats were meeting their fate.



Nurgly the Magister had by now killed a rat and finished off the stunned chaos hound. Flyface was literally sniffing out the carcass of the abominable rat. He found a wyrdstone shard, yet another sign that the true Chaos God was smiling at them.

But not all was going well. The false blackblood dwarf was a formidable fighter and had more and more dwarfs were joining the fray. And it were the followers of Chaos that were suffering. Several henchies were taken out of action or laying knocked down and both the Possessed were down to their last wound.



Half of the rat pack were now getting nervous with so much mayhem around them and were sprinting of the table. Another two rats were caught in a fight, but the rest escaped. The necromancer was having some big trouble with the big rat facing him.
Meanwhile Loki the bigger slayer flattened the rat with one mighty sweep of his axe. Looking around in a battle craze he saw some movement around the corner and blindly charged into it. The possessed over there were caught by surprise and were getting slaughtered. This was one mean slayer! Everywhere the possessed hit the slayer the blood spraying around was even inflicting wounds. Some of the possessed had that same skill and in moments 5 possessed were surrounding the slayer and damage was dealt very hard. Luckily the rest of the dwarf warband was around to try to help out Loki. It could be questioned if this was, what a slayer would really want, especially since Loki was truly in his element. Some disgruntled shouts from Loki to Bjorgir were also getting the concentration away and the battle swung towards the possessed. Loki was paying too much attention to his fellow warband members not to take out HIS enemies, letting him die his much wanted heroic death, that the possessed landed some blows. Still the tough slayer did not go down, and it was becoming very close. Some of the possessed were chopped away only to be replaced by new foul plaguebearers and whatnot. Loki was doing his best but his mind was not completely to it. The possessed were actually looking to flee of the field or this entire battle to end. Their wishes were not being granted by a necromancer, who was still fighting that giant rat.



The Magister resisted the urge to flee; this task had to be completed or else... He felt chaos powers pour away as a Plabuebearer was sent back to the Chaos courts by the black blooded Slayer. The Magister grawled and rushed in himself, with him the rest of his minions too attacked the dwarfs.

Then it was too much for the big orange crested fellow, too much blows at once, not able to parry them all, Loki went down. The rest of warband wanting revenge, swung in this melee but the possessed although wrung through a grinder, were getting new vigor by slaying the slayer and were really bearing down on the dwarfs. It was soon that the dwarfs saw they were no match and ran of the battlefield with only one rat to share.

A green light lit up the ruins around the small square were some hours ago the dwarfs and possessed had met. Now the mutilated corpse of a slayer was surrounded by the strange shapes of his opponents. A dark liquid, much much darker than normal dwarven blood, was leaking on the ground. Floating above the body was a strange shining bulb, that grew into a crack, a passage toward the courts of chaos. For a moment a bellowing laughter could be heard accompanying a Plaguebearer striding through.

"Father Nurgle is very pleased with your deeds, master magister" Hissed the Plaguebearer. "He sends you this" The minor demon continued and handed over a putrefied, rusted axe. The Magister looked at the warped piece of metal and smiled, recognizing the axe as the one the slayer had barried in the killed Plaguebearer.

We player the Rat Race scenario found on the Wargame Weaver site. A very nice multi player scenario which really fits the Border Town Burning settings and is good fun to play (Thanx Jim!). Minor nitpicks/recommendations: Use random movement (or the Border Town Burning monster rules) instead of the 12" movement for the rats.

Border Town Burning: The campain starts

After playing lot's of multi player Mordheim games, that were a lot of fun, it is time to start something even more organised. What more logic then to start a campagn! And what more logic then to start with a campagn that is already thought out: Border Town Burning. Something different then the scrirmishes we did in the town of Mordheim but something new that requires some new tactics, new choices, new models. All new elements to spice up our Mordheim evenings to come.
The start of the campagn is al about the new warbands. What choices did everyone make and will it work in the campaign. lot's of opportunity to start with an experimental warband or just start with existing ones that are well thought out, so focus can be more on tactica? Choices, choices, what to choose?

The warbands that the now four of us start with are:
Beastmen
Posessed
Dwarf Treasurehunters
Dark Elves

The first battle to get a bit used to this campaining is a bar room brawl. No weapons or armour, just a freindly night in the pub ... until someone spilled the beer of one the dwarfs, and all hell broke loose! In all floors of the inn fights break out and it was not long until only one was left standing. The dwarfs and dark elves get stuck in right away during which the possessed take care of some darke elves too. The beastmen are apparantly more resilliant and around the fountain at the front of the inn they remain standing until the end of the game. Apparantly these strange hoofs are good for one thing: enough grip to stay upright.

All warbands but the dark elves have no real casualties to speak of. The dark elves were not made to hang about a rowdy inn and get stuck in this brawling. They are already too weakened to really start this campaining. I always thought these fragile elves were no use for real adventuring. This proves 'em right :)
Next time the first 1 on 1 games will be played and the warbands will be working for their campaing points.

A small note: this was the first game in the Mordheim Attick, which was just converted. A great playing area if I may say so.

This is not a battle report...

Disclaimer: This is a story based on our last battle, as experienced by the brilliant victor (that would be me). Any relation to the real battle events, miniatures or players involved is purely accidental.

The vampire looked around as he pushed a zombie into the right direction. His warband was moving forward at low speed; towering high above them an enemy wizard could be seen, forcing the undead to move from cover to cover (at zombie speed). Looking around the vampire checked the location of the necromancer and the so ambitious ghoul, making sure no stakes were heading for his non beating heart. In the few battles they had fought since arriving in Mordheim, the vampire had become very close to his second death, only to be saved by his warband or sheer luck. Since then his leadership had not been discussed, but he could sense the doubts and thoughts of those with more or their minds as 'where to get the next portion of hopefully fresh flesh and blood'. He had to be careful.. And he had to have his revenge on those pesky dwarfs...
They had found the dwarven warband again. It had not been difficult; the dwarves were not the stealthiest types. Obviously they had found something very worthwhile, for they had been sticking at one location for several days now. And they had been digging, digging deep. The vampire could remember these noises from a former life, long ago, before his transition, in a time when he was just a mere mortal man. So not only was it time for revenge, it would probably be worthwhile in other ways too...
But not only had they found the dwarves. The dwarves were becoming careless, probably in their minds they were already enjoying the spoils of this adventure, and even in this remote area of Mordheim this resulted in attracting the curiosity of others, even as exotic as beastmen. The vampire could hear them, almost as loud as the dwarves, also heading for this tempting prey. And there were humans.. The smell of his favorite blood supply filled his nose (too bad there were only men, but men nonetheless).

Despite their joyful mood the dwarves were veterans of Mordheim, most of them being Slayers. They were aware that they would have to fight their way out; after all, this was Mordheim. With little problem they found the only safe route was heading north, apparently no opponents were waiting for them there.
The beastmen were fresh in Mordheim. Traveling around through the woods of the Empire, their shaman had felt magical powerful artifacts being exposed and received dark directions from the Chaos gods. Heading through the woods they had found the great dark plane were the ruins of Mordheim lay, in the darkness of night they had made it into the remains of this city. And now the hunt was on!
The Centigor, who had found a supply of old wine bottles in the ruins, could not be restrained by the warbands leader and charged at the first sight of a dwarf, followed by the group of chaos hounds. The rest of the beastmen charged after them, letting the bloodlust prevail above tactical considerations. The dwarves stood their ground, slayers grinning at the sight of the charging enemies. To them this was even better than the treasures found...

From the opposing west side (just having met a girl named Maria) a group of adventurers stealthy entered the scene. They split up: A group of inexperience henchmen lead by an elven hero took positions to fire at the fighting dwarfs and beastmen. Covered by their fire, the barbarian and the dwarf approached the battle, looking for the carriers of the treasures. The wizard used his spell of flight to find a safe spot to fire at the combatants, delaying the undead in their approach.
The battle between the dwarfs and the beastmen continued; almost unhindered by the shooting of the adventurers warband. Despite heavy losses on both sides, they kept on fighting, even when the leaders of both warband were taken out of action. Wyrdstones fell to the ground, were picked up fast by greedy hands and fell again when the next keeper was knocked down. Not even the charge of the adventurers, pitting dwarf against dwarf, made the beastmen or dwarfs reconsider and flee. The temptation of these treasures was too big to leave the battle without!

This was his moment, the vampire thought by himself, commanding two ghouls to climb towards the lone wizard on top of the ruin. Then he pushed a zombie and a ghoul forward, together charging a single slayer who just had beheaded a beastman. More zombies and ghouls followed, while the other half of the warband led by the dregs made their way through the rubbles towards the adventurers. The first dwarf and beastmen were overwhelmed by sheer numbers, but then things went horribly wrong...
The two ghouls managed to climb the ruin, threatening the adventurers’ wizard. This wizard however, turned to be a Gandalf-in-disguise/training! The first ghoul was taken out of action by a precise sling shot, the second ghoul was promptly taken out of action after charging in.

To make things even worse (from the undead perspective, that is) the vampire charged a slayer hero, only to be slammed to the ground himself...
The slayer hero then took up his axe to finish off the vampire, ignoring all undead ready to charge in, and failed horribly (Tom's dice roll resulted in a triple 1). Ghouls charged in and the slayer went down, allowing the vampire to recover and rejoin the fight.

By now, the fight was turning to the undead side. The last beastman had been taken out, just a few dwarfs remaining and the adventurers were under attack of the dregs and ghouls. The last dwarf, an engineer, was trying to make a run with six shards of wyrdstone, but was caught by a group of ghouls and zombies. On the other side of the battle field the dregs had made short work of dwarven adventurer and the noble. The vampire had regained his wits and fighting skills (finally!), charging and taking out of action the group of henchmen in collaboration with some ghouls.

After finishing the engineer, this small club of undead left the battle scene, securing the treasures. Seeing nothing was to be won, the adventurers retreated towards their home base. The undead let them go, having won the treasures and a battlefield filled with victims to feast on...

Christmas Modelling day

Then there was christmas, a time where some of us were actually free and not working! The ultimate chance for a modelling day and maybe a game to conclude! A good turnout where the 4 of us were actively building and painting during the day.

I built the prison tower and Arjan was busy with his two towers project, painting that is! One is already looking great and is finished, this one is also getting a nice piece of paint and the next game I expect two nicely painted towers are there (with all these other towers it is becoming a real San Giminiano). Hans was really busy with his ruined tower, that is now a great and big piece for our games of Mordheim. The ruined tower right away got some play time the same evening with skaven running around through it!

Van A tale of some gamers

Arjen also joined the building and played around with the hirts arts building blocks. He is hooked right away and the new molds that came in will give him the opportunity to start building as well! We're looking forward to new elven structures and the like!
Look at this gaming table! A lot of buildings present and still more to come:

A gaming report still has to follow but look at everyone pondering their strategy during the game! A very good end to the Christmas modelling and gaming Mordheim day!

The Haunted Orphanage

A new day in Mordheim and the slayers are completely recovered from their previous battles and are hungry for their doom. If some gold was found in the process that would also be nice of course.

It was said that the there is an orphanage in Mordheim where all inhabitants were killed when the comet hit Mordheim. One of the ghosts haunting the orphanage is the wife of one of the inhabitants of Mordheim: herr von Donnersmarck. He wants his wife to find rest. Retrieving her weddingring to Von Donnersmarck would mean very much to the rich merchant. That is precisely the scenario the slayers are interested in.

They've also heard some hatefull greenskins are hunting for the ring as well as some foul undead. All those ghosts and other scum of the earth is a tempting melee to get stuck in as a slayer!

Indeed when entering the area where the orphanage is found other warbands are present and heading for the orphanage. From four sides the greenskins, some pirates, the slayers and the undead approach cautiously the battlefield. The slayers hurry towards the orphanage when on the far side one of the orcs is going ballistic and charges towards the orphanage...all alone...how brave...

The pirates take it slow and carefull while the undead again sneak onto the area of the orphanage. The slayers loud bragging and shouting are bounding towards the orphanage and quickly enter the orphanage terrain. The ghosts appear all together and crowd the somewhat startled dwarfs. Between all those dwarfs one of the sturdy clansman discovers the wife of von DOnnersmarck and quickly gets the ring. Could it be so easy and quickly be over?
Nothing is what it seems, while all the other warbands still strugle to get to orphanage the slayers start fighting the evil headmaster and other ghosts. Meanwhile the undead very swiftly and cunningly sweep towards the dwarfs to stop them from leaving the area. Two slayers intercept them with their axes. Incredible odds of 4 to one for dwarfs but it's the best thinkable situation for the slayers. THey are in thei element and start swinging their axes through undead zombies, ghouls and dregs.

Meanwhile from the other side gunshots were heard and large gunpowder clouds can be seen. The pirates are having a go at the greenskins. The greenskins do not advance that fast because they keep squabling amongst each other. When encountering some ghosts the orcs are terrified and run away in the opposite direction screaming and jibbering. Only after a very long run dare they look back to see that no ghost is chasing them. The pirates are not only gunning at the greenskins but also start for the dwarfs and on this side also a slayer runs towards these foes. Easily taking on 3 pirates single handedly the slayers keeps his ground. How many hits this dwarf parries and how many slices he gets in are uncountable (the dice were favoured by Grugni). This is truly a frenzied slayer in his element.

What is going on with the 2 slayers and all those undead? They are hacking away and getting their hits in. The vampire from the last battle again sweeps in to finish off them pesky dwarfs. No such luck, these are truly gritty dwarf slayers not to be messed with. They parry every blow and since one dwarf is now fully occupied with undead, the giant slayer leader takes on the vampire by himself. It is an incredible exchange of blows and this time the giant slayer gets his kill. Although he was seeking his doom, a vampire less in the world is a good thing.
There is the dwarf clansman who is heading for safety with the ring who is keeping out of the line of sight of the gunning pirates who are now very close. Will he be clear in a few steps or will he be shot at and stopped in the end? The slayers finnish of some more undead and pirates in the process while indeed the clansman heads for safety and delivers the ring to Von Donnersmarck.

What was going on with the greenskins this battle. They were on the field, they were crowding some pirates who got some heavy losses but further than that they weren't realy seen today. The slayers were keen to get some axes in but no such luck today.

The dwarfs leave the batllefield and go sharpen their axe blades for the next encounter, oh and they go counting their gold of course...gold, gold, gold, ..., gold, gold gold