BTB: Avalanche
In previous
posts on Mordheim I mentioned the fact that we started a new Border Town Burning
campaign. In the posts it is not recognizable as such so we added the BTB
prefix here. I believe the tagging is still correct. Next to posting on BTB
campaign games the score board on this blog is restored and no w reflects the current
status of all participating warbands for the new campaign.
This weekend
we played with 5 participants and of course this situation was not accounted
for. We already played 5 player multi battle for the campaign, but always
multiplayer battles is not really in keeping with the BTB campaign set. We have
to address the available scenario here and there. In order to this we split up
in a 2- and a 3-player battle. I ended up with the 2-player battle and our
scenario was rolled: Avalanche. The other 3 rolled the Manhunt(?) scenario that
by chance can be played multiplayer quit easily. We installed on 1 big table and split up the
scenery and started playing.
With the
table split in 2, this left us with a smaller playing area than usual. Not too
bad and with a small adaption to the advancement of the avalanche (1D6 inch iso
2D6 inch) this was a really cool and enjoyable scenario. We built up scenery
with a lot of snowcovered pine trees and some ruins to the side reflecting the
mountainous area of the northern wastes. After a lot of city battles this was a
nice change for once.
As said I
played against only the 1 opponent and this was our much respected Carnival of
Chaos player with “Papa Noigal's fingers”. Both warbands are at the opposite ends of the
spectrum for experience. Pappa Noigal and its followers only just started and
my Marienburg Mercenaries were battle hardened for a long time. This resulted
in a big underdog position for Carnivale. It’s good to see that system working
for once. In the end it gained Pappa Noigal a lot of experience and a big step
to catch up with some of the longer playing warbands in this campaign.
The scenery
set up gave a good feeling of winter and the avalanche started to advance and
the game commenced! My strategy was to delay some of the Carnivale members with
a sacrificial ninja gnoblar to get them all covered under the avalanche.
However the game thought otherwise . The avalanche only progressed relatively
slowly and I got a lot more warband members cought up in hand2hand combat. The
marksman in my band was trying to get a good position in the woods to start
sniping of rival warband members, taking care not to come too close to an edge.
With his blackpowder weapon he might trigger an extra avalanche or two and
these are unpredictable! In the end the marksmen didn’t fire a shot the entire
game: aarrgh! He moved and moved and moved out of the way of the moving
avalanche and then saw all his targets move behind some snowcovered trees or
buildings walls. His game was only to keep the Carnivale moving I suppose.
The dwarfs
in my warband were moving slowly out of the range of the moving avalanche only
just outrunning the thing. They didn’t get much fighting either.
The Ogre
bodyguard however was getting caught up in huge fight and was only relieved
from the pressure when the mercenary captain joined the fray with his brace of
duelling pistols. Luckily no extra avalanche was triggered by shooting his guns
and the Ogre finished the resulting fighters. OK, he had a little help from my
witch that after some tries cast “The dust of the blind” on one of the
Strongmans that are part of the Carnivale.
The ogre
remained caught in battle with a small Nurgling that for 3 turns kept the Ogre
busy. The rest of the Carnivale warband was now thinned down a bit an route
tests started. Pappa Noigal was cold as ice and didn’t budge but in the saw a
wall of snow and ice coming his way and thought better of the situation,
fleeing the field, leaving the victory to the Marienburgers.
In the end
I think both sides gained a lot from this battle result. The Carnivale gaining
4 extra experience points per surviving warband member (in the end all but one
survived!) and progressed nicely with new skills and characteristics increases.
My Marienburgers gained an extra campaign point, they tried poisoning some of
Pappa Noigal’s fingers but these nurgle powers prevented poisoning just as
easy. There was a chance of getting more CP’s but this is nice for now,
increased some characteristics here and there as well so all in all the
Marienburgers did good.
Actually
the best of this Avalanche scenario was the scenario. We really had the feel of
the setting in the snow with an avalanche approaching, getting out of the way
of all the snow and ice and trying to trap the opponent in the mounds of snow
with the occasional fight. The fact my marksman didn’t get a shot fired was due
to the fact he had to move to keep in front of the snow and everyone else
moving as well. He needed to be able to predict moves and find a good sniper
spot but didn’t get a chance in all the fray. We really got a feel for the
border town burning setting. Exploring in the end left us with all kinds of
borderland equipment found.
Let me
finish by saying it was a great game.