Scenery building day

It is Christmas and the last couple of years I planned a day of building scenery mostly for Mordheim, but now more and more for all our games. THe turnout was a bit less then last years: we were with the 2 of us! Some people have these activities called work they want to attend rather then spend a day with us with our favorite past time: the miniature war-game hobby!
Anyhow we were with the 2 of us and started with a visit to the local garden centre where now all Christmas scenery was for half price! We bought a pile of trees and a great looking harbor deck!
The place was swarming with guys wanting to expand their christmas scenery, but we were looking for war-games terrain. This resulted in some interesting discussion you can imagine. How can you use a set of christmas singers in the scenery? Of how to put the whales blowing water in the harbour of the city of Mordheim? :)
After that we went to the local hardware store for MDF sheets that act as a base. We found out that professional sawing the sheets is for free if you have a customer card. So we asked the guy to make us as much 20x30cm pieces (since these are the "house" measurements of our scenery) and we got a pile cut with so much accuracy it was too much to bear. All these time we were sawing ourselves and always have some half centimeter off here and there and now a nice pile of 12 sheets with exact measurements for only 4 euros! What a bargain!
Off we went to start building. We both stockpiled cast plaster stones and pieces to build some real buildings! We also drink the white stuff as you can see!


Arjan built a nice piece for his dungeon and an intricate piece of "arch"work! I made a quirky building with a lot of tower add ons and stairway pieces. Also built me 4 pieces of water with the wooden docks fitting to a stone part with a nice ramp and stairs. Also one plaza was made as well. Still some painting to do now, but the black and grey highlighting always goes quite fast. This should be possible to finish this holiday week.

Mordheim still going strong

We are still playing the game. The blog might tell you otherwise but last weekend we had a good old fashioned game of Mordheim. Three war bands battling it out in the city of Mordheim searching for treasure.

Actually this was a scenario we already played a while ago. Then we had the Luggage (disc world) also attending. This time it was plain and simple searching the treasure and killing each other.
In the field were my trusty dwarfs, some halflings and a new kid on the block: Inquisitors!
The game started with the Dwarfs and the inquisitors squaring of in a narrow alleyway. Massacre commenced and in the meantime the halflings were prying open the treasure chests. That is not that easy when you are as small and a little weak.

The inquisitors were taking the upper hand at the start, but my sturdy dwarfs proved their hard heads worthy and they stood fast battling it out. The pesky Inquisitors were dropping like flies all of a sudden and the first route test took them running of the battlefield!
The halflings (cowards as they are!) were shooting their arrows at the dwarfs. This was no worthy foe to loose more men against in such a way and the dwarfs took of as well. They already had found some treasure and were happy as they are.

The 2 thunderers proved worthy of their guns this battle, shooting at very long range with one shot an inquisitor to death. What a marksmen they are!

New dwarves here

Yep, I've been busy finishing some projects lately. A couple of dwarves were waiting the final stages of paint and matt varnish for protection. It's been done. They were already on the battle field but not in this finished state. Now they can shine in their own pictures in stead of in the fray on the battlefield.


First up are the hammerers. Command group and a couple of em. They blend in well with the theme of the rest of the army. The beige and red colors come back in all regiments making them fit together easy. A lot of metal and gold details on these boys to make em look good and hammery (if that's a word?)


Next up are there lads that form the command group for my thunderers. Good looking models, nice pose for the standard bearer, calling commands and the champion with his brace of pistols. He will also do good in my Mordheim war band I'm guessing. Purely as a character he fits there nicely (overprices because of the brace of pistols, but fluff is something you can't buy of course)

Sigmarites Cleansing Mordheim campaign

This is the first scenario of a short series of our own Mordheim campaign. A couple of games lead to a big end game. Each of the preliminary games lets you earn benefits for the end game. Choose one side with your war band: good or evil.


First battle: Foresstad Goblins
Sigmar is gathering minions to cleanse Mordheim for once and for all of all the filth occupying the derelict and devastated city of Mordheim. We are speaking the imperial year 2025, more then 25 years after the comet crashed down in the city. It has been long enough according to all followers of Sigmar. The acolytes are gathering enough crowd and forces to rid the city of all evil.
These plans are widely known to all inhabitants in the city and in no time around the city as well. The woodland village Foresstadt is known to be gathering all sorts of greenskins to block the plans of the Sigmarites. A nearby trade village along the river: Kindwater is said to receive all kinds of goods concerning the cleansing of Mordheim. Also in the mountains in Oberstone some evil forces are gathering and said to protecting some holy relic needed for sweeping through Mordheim.
All these cities and villages around Mordheim have something to do with the cleansing plans of the Sigmarites. Good and evil forces are gathering and plotting for the big day: midsummer year at the start of the turning of the sun festival.
First threat is the orcs and goblins gathering at Foresstadt. The city is swarming with the greenskins. The little buildings there are have to be burnt down in order to rid the village of the evil threat. Villagers are seeking refuge in their homes and need to be rescued first of course.


Setup: Put d6+3 buildings as the Foresstad village. Warbands setup at the edges of the village

The village is infested with orcs and goblins to represent this the following rules apply:
1 goblin leader + d6 goblins are roaming through the streets: random movement and cannot move of the board, will charge when in range.


Each turn throw a d6 on a 1 or 2 the equavalent goblin warriors appear and on a 3 an orc appears near the goblin leader. They will move with the leader each turn. Up to a max of 1,5 times the warband members in the biggest warband present.
Each building can be entered to:
-rescue/slay a villager (cost 1 turn no movement)
-set the building on fire (1 turn no movement)
-always roll d6 on a 1 a random encounter happens (see BTB random encounter list)
XP can be earned by:
+1xp for a rescued/slayed villager
+1xp for a building set on fire
+1xp for killing the goblin leader/escort the goblin leader of the board
+1xp for the winning leader
+1xp for surviving

Surviving warband wins (multiple warbands may win if they are of the same allignment and all warbands of other allignment are off the battlefield).

If the forces of Good win: for the final cleansing battle they gain the use of trap doors during that battle
If the forces of Evil win: They get the help of a goblin shaman during the final battle.

The battle report
Three war bands are taking part in this battle (each of the scenario's is devised in a way always multiple war bands can take part): Dwarfs, Goblins and WitchHunters.



The dwarfs take the entry road into the village to see if they can free some villagers and take out a couple of green skins. The WitchHunters enter the city from a hill side and struggle to enter the city quickly. The Goblins on the other hand, found out a rivaling war band is taking over the town. Of course this Gobbo war band wants to have the riches and is out for a good reckoning with Goblin boss in Foresstad.
In no time the Goblins found each other. From all streets reinforcements arrive but the goblin boss is soon in combat.
In the meantime the dwarfs are still strolling along the road to enter the town and the witchHunters let loose a couple of rabid dogs!



The fighting between the Goblin war bands is well along the way when some Dwarf thunderers take aim to shoot at some gobbo's. Some WhitchHunters enter the fight but meanwhile the Goblin boss is already taken and the rivaling war band is running of with him. The Dwarfs and WhitchHunters have a small skirmish. The Dwarf slayers demonstrating their skill against 5 WhitchHunters the battle is already reaching its end.
The Goblin war band won the fight. The Goblin war boss was taken and one way or the other: Goblins won!

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...

Freaky diceroll

Last weekend we were playing a round of Mordheim (battle report yet to come!). During our game a lot of dice rolls were made. One of the dice rolls deserve special attention. It was made with the famous skull dice from games workshop and it landed exactly on one of the edges! Maybe the scenery helped a little bit, but only very little mind! We had to take a picture of it and the die remained lying on its edge quite solid.

.. and in between are doors...

Last battle we introduced rules for securing, blocking and above all smashing through doors. In our case they worked out quite fine and resulted in some hectic (and hilarious) situations!

These door rules can be found here. If you do use them, please let us know how they worked out!

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…?

Battle at the market square

A blizzard had just reached the town when the possessed warband moved out, heading the old market square. Sight was limited and every now and then a hailstorm as big as a dragons eye hit the ruins through which they stalked. As the warriors reached the outskirts of the deserted plaza, moving figures could be seen in the distance.


"We're not alone, my lord" rattled Frogface pointing at a small couch that was entering the square. "over there, a dwarven baggage train". "I'm not surprised" hissed the leader riding his ragged chaos steed "papa Nurgle has lead us not only to some treasure, but has given us a way to show our gratitude as well. You two, come with me, we've got to forestall these dwarf heading for the tower!" Nurgly the possessed leader drove his steed towards the tower, both (true) possessed, Ticky and ShyShy, joining him. The other, slower part of the warband headed to the other corner of the square, keen to find treasures and trouble.


The blizzard worsened and one of the Plaguebearers got hit, knocking him down the floor. Cries in the distance indicated that other creatures were hit as well, not only dwarfs were contesting this market square, some Orcs were there as well... All of a sudden the fallen behind treasure seeking henchmen (the who?) spotted a dark shape closing in on them. A wandering champion of Tchar was approaching them. Flyface and Frogface did not hesitate and charged in, together with a group of Plaguebearers and henchmen.


Nurgly and his two bodyguard had followed a small group of dwarfs to the remains of a small tower. The dwarfs took some shots at them, but could not prevent that they reached the stairs. Nurgly dismounted and sent his steed towards the group fighting the chaos champion.



To make matters even worse for the thunderers, a diseased wolf disturbed by the sound of their guns, attacked them from the rear. As they were fighting this animal, Ticky, ShyShy and Nurgly charged into the fight. Though both dwarfs and wolf put up some strong resistance, they were eventually taken down by the worshippers of Nurgle.


However, when Nurgly looked up from the remains of his mutilated opponents, the view he got from the tower made him furious. The champion of Tchar was still standing, fighting off the group henchmen now led by Frogface, as Flyface was already taken out of action by the follower of a false god. In the middle the treasure rich market square was taken over by a large group of dwarfs. The orc warband was nowhere to be seen, but cut off goblin and orc heads carried by the slayers gave a hint to what had happened to that warband. The dwarfs were now heading for a small group of Darksouls scouting carrying chests found in the ruins. They would not be able to outrun the dwarfs!




Nurgly wasted no time and ran off the stairs towards his threatened minions. He rushed Ticky to join the struggle between the Darksouls and the Slayers. Nevertheless they were outnumbered and the number of casualties was rising fast. All hope was not lost though, as a Plaguebearer finally managed to finish off the champion of Tchar. The survivors of that skirmish could reinforce the warriors fighting the dwarfs. If only they would make it in time...


While the central clash on the market square raged on, the dwarf leader and a minion were using a wagon to carry off their finds to safety. The wagon was rolling along the former carriage road right below the tower on top of which ShyShy was still lurking. The possessed dived down, charging the wagon only to scratch the side. The dwarfish driver looked back, bewildered, but the wagon could not be stopped and managed to get through.


As the possessed was still looking at the leaving wagon, it was charged by the leader of the dwarven warband himself. A brutal fight broke out, and both warriors were soon down to their last wound. However, this time it was the dwarf who got the best of it and the possessed was struck down by his hammer.


The battle at the square on the other hand was not going that well for the dwarfs. The tide had turned now more and more chaos worshipers were joining the skirmish and Nurgly and Ticky were still holding on. Slayers and rank and file were knocked down and taken out and the square was swept free of the persistent warriors.


After the last dwarf had fallen, Nurgly glanced around, noticing only a small core of his warriors was standing around him. The toll for this victory was high! Suddenly he heard a strange hymn and he turned his head towards it. The dwarven leader stood on the edge of the square, chanting a spontaneous dwarven song of loss, blood, honor and above all, curses and the oath to revenge. He finished this song by spitting on the street and withdrawing into the darkness.


A fire war burning in the centre of the square. Unnatural green fumes were rising from it and devilish figures could be seen dancing around or hovering above. Nurgly sat at the center of the festival; his warband sitting around the fire, feasting off a dwarfish and orcish dish. He smiled as a he watched a group of nurglings fought for the head of a former slayer. "That battle was too close for comfort" he thought by himself. "But victory tastes so good...".

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.