View at Picasa 08-Jan-2012 18:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

Below are pics taken by moi of my brother Michael’s shadow elves, recently painted.  Some of these are conversions.  I will update either the captions on the photos or this post with info on where the bits for the conversions are from soon.  Enjoy!

 
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08-Jan-2012 18:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

 
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08-Jan-2012 18:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

 
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08-Jan-2012 18:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100



 
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08-Jan-2012 18:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

 
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08-Jan-2012 18:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100



 
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08-Jan-2012 18:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

 
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08-Jan-2012 18:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

 
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08-Jan-2012 18:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100



 
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08-Jan-2012 18:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125

View at Picasa Initial layout for SchattenTurm scenario, day ten08-Jan-2012 13:33, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE M530 Digital Camera, 3.1, 6.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 298

After a somber morning ceremony to bury Captain Anton of the Kislevites, the townsfolk of Nachtdorf and our heroes grimly set about surviving another day.  The heroes decided to send a large force of warriors to an area not yet at explored at all:  SchattenTurm – the Shadow Tower.  This ruined tower at the edge of Shadow Wood supposedly was once the abode of a Necromancer, and has been avoided for decades.  It would seem a good location for Strangulf to secure one of his coffins.

Captain Diedrich, leader of the few Ostermark soldiers defending Nachtdorf, pulled the heroes aside and gave them a short briefing on the area.  He lost several men to the tower before leading his few remaining followers to Nachtdorf.  He informed the remaining captains (Martin now taking over the Kisilevites) that a magical device in the ruin acts as a gate into a dungeon, along with a general layout of the area.

Two of the halfling scouts stayed behind to search for supplies around town.  Father McManus (hired Sigmarite warrior priest) stayed to protect an additional room from vampires, and Sister Isolde, crippled with a smashed leg and a chest wound, stayed to direct work on a siege defense weapon.  The rest of the player heroes headed to SchattenTurm.

Initial forces included three Ghouls, three Ghasts, three Rats, four Grave Guard, two Seneschals, three Spiders, a Fell Bat, and two Dire Wolves.  The two Dwarf Trollslayers, KillMeNow and IDieSoon, setup right at the entrance to the ruined tower, using an ability gained from the exploration roll of the previous scenario.  The plan, suspiciously suggested by Torian the Elf, was to get them into the dungeon early to begin looking for coffins below ground.  The Trollslayers found themselves unable to resist this plan, despite its elfly origins.

Arrrrrrrgh! View at Picasa Arrrrrrrgh!08-Jan-2012 13:20, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	Not too close! View at Picasa Not too close!08-Jan-2012 13:55, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE M530 Digital Camera, 3.1, 6.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 320
The main body's initial deployment View at Picasa The main body's initial deployment08-Jan-2012 13:19, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.25 sec, ISO 200	Ghouls talking shop View at Picasa Ghouls talking shop08-Jan-2012 13:39, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE M530 Digital Camera, 3.1, 6.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 320
Dire Wolves lope around a crypt, far from the action View at Picasa Dire Wolves lope around a crypt, far from the action08-Jan-2012 13:33, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE M530 Digital Camera, 3.1, 6.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 320

The rest of our forces came in along the long western board edge, mostly in one big mass near the ruined tower, but another small group lined up near a ruin containing a possible above-ground coffin.

With the first turn, the western forces simply advanced onto the board.  The group near the ruin moved at regular speed and hid, hoping to search for their coffin quietly without attracting attention.  The two trollslayers entered the stairs leading down to the first floor of the dungeon.  There were a few missile shots from the main hero force against nearby ghouls and a spider, all missing.

Heroes advance View at Picasa Heroes advance08-Jan-2012 13:44, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Coffin patrol View at Picasa Coffin patrol08-Jan-2012 13:43, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

In the first Vampire Forces turn, the Spider on the southern flank charged Kislevite Youth Sergey, but failed to wound him.  Other undead loped, scittered, or ran towards any heroes they could see.

We all hate spiders View at Picasa We all hate spiders08-Jan-2012 13:49, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

In player turn two, Sister Winifred counter-charged the Spider threatening Sergey and took it out, while a large group of models on the northern part of the formation stood their ground an fired a mass of various missiles at incoming undead, somehow either all missing or failing to wound.  The small group of warriors searching for a coffin in the ruin succeeded, but the located coffin turned out to be empty.  The Trollslayers began exploring the dungeon.  Over the course of the scenario, they would locate a fair amount of loot in the dungeon but manage to trigger almost no encounters, so we will set them aside from the report for the moment.

With the first Vampire Forces reinforcements roll for turn two, Michael W. managed to roll up Strangulf himself!  The lead villain entered from the southwestern corner of the board, just across a waterfall from the large group of player heroes.  On his first turn on the board, Strangulf attempted to leap over this gap, but failed, and fell into the rapidly churning water.  This would delay him from coming to grips with the players, much to our relief, and much to the master vampire’s embarrassment.  The only other action during this undead turn was a ghoul charging new Kislevite henchmen Josef, stunning him.

Strangulf enters the fight View at Picasa Strangulf enters the fight08-Jan-2012 14:32, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Strangulf in an embarrassing moment View at Picasa Strangulf in an embarrassing moment08-Jan-2012 15:03, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE M530 Digital Camera, 3.1, 6.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 320

On player turn three, the main hero forces charged approaching undead on their left flank, while attempting to push forward through woods to get to the ruined tower with the main force.  Kislevite Misha, Sister Salyra, and Dwarf Popsi each took a Ghast out of action, while Mother Madira successfully cast her first Soulfire of a Coffin Hunt during the campaign and took out a Grave Guard.

Assaulting the Grave Guard View at Picasa Assaulting the Grave Guard08-Jan-2012 15:04, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY KODAK EASYSHARE M530 Digital Camera, 3.1, 6.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 286

There were no reinforcements during Vampire Forces turn three, but undead that had been moving towards the sounds of combat since the beginning of the scenario began to hit the player lines.  Kislevite Timofey took a Seneschal out of action, Frito and Spam combined to take out a Ghoul, and Mother Madira punished a charging Grave Guard with a whip crack, sending it out of the battle.  The allies took their first loss, though, with Sister Salyra falling to a charging Seneschal.

On player turn four, the allies counter-charged, attempting to clear the area once and for all so that the dungeon could be reached by more than just the Trollslayers.  Big Boss and Spam combined to take out a hated Spider, and Sister Hildegarde punished a Grave Guard with a whip crack, sending it’s bones flying.  The Kislevite Bear roared and charged a Dire Wolf, sending it out of the battle.  Sister Veronica further thinned the undead numbers, bashing a Grave Guard out of action with her Sigmarite Hammer.

Advancing to the tower View at Picasa Advancing to the tower08-Jan-2012 15:00, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Advancing through the woods View at Picasa Advancing through the woods08-Jan-2012 15:01, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Vampire Forces turn four rapidly turned the player fortunes for the worse, as Strangulf finally emerged from the stream, dripping and rather angry.  In addition, a Minor Vampire, four Spiders, and two Zombies appeared on the board as reinforcements – the Spiders in charge range of the player lines.  Strangulf flung three souls from his Cloak of Souls at the player lines, taking Kislevite Stepan out of action, knocking Kislevite Pyotr down from the tower hill (stunning him), and also knocking the Dwarf Engineer Sparks off the hill.  Souls from the swirling cloak constitute by far Strangulf’s nastiest attack, allowing him multiple powerful missile strikes.

Below the hill, acounter-charging Dire Wolf took the Kislevite bear out of action, and Sister Simone was taken out of action by a Seneschal.  A Spider caught Frito in its jaws and sent him out of action, and fellow Dwarf Spam also fell to a Spider.  The losses continued to mount, as Timofey was dropped by a Fell Bat.  Big Boss and Misha countered by taking out a Spider and the Minor Vampire respectively, but the damage was done.  Six allied warriors out in one turn!

More spiders! Oh boy! View at Picasa More spiders! Oh boy!08-Jan-2012 16:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

The players topside held on for one more turn to complete a last coffin search, and then voluntarily routed at the top of turn six (sustaining no additional losses).  The two Dwarf Trollslayers exploring the dungeon held on for the duration of the allowed time, finding a pile of loot and very little in the way of monsters (encounters in the dungeon may need some adjustment)!

Coffin patrol finishes searching a crypt, as Bonecaller lurks outside View at Picasa Coffin patrol finishes searching a crypt, as Bonecaller lurks outside08-Jan-2012 17:03, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In post scenario roles, we discovered that Timofey and Frito were both fatalities.  This took our total casualties for the campaign up to five:  three Kislevites (including their original Captain), and two Dwarves (both henchmen).  The Sisters have suffered no losses, but I have one champion with a sucking chest wound and a smashed leg (Sister Isolde), who I will probably refuse to replace even if I get another Lad’s Got Talent roll.

With Town Morale at three, Strangulf having Full Influence and commiserate campaign rewards in two of the four game areas where he can gain Influence, with only one of the four coffins located and destroyed that we need to account for to force him into an endgame scenario, and with half of the campaign turns expired, things are looking very very grim.  Somehow over the course of the next eight or nine campaign turns we must locate and destroy three of the remaining four coffins, keep Morale from dropping to zero, and not lose many more experienced heroes whom we will need when we have to face Strangulf down in his lair.

To make this more difficult, with half the campaign turns gone we have had only one Night Attack on the town, which means that the second half of the campaign will feature several of these.  While we have built the defenses of the town up over the past turns, and will be a very difficult nut for assaulting forces to crack, the night attacks still interrupt player warrior rest, which makes it harder to go out on the coffin hunts we so desperately need to succeed in the daytime hours.  The only good aspect of increased night attacks is that since we are likely to win them, Morale of the town will rise.  At the moment, it appears if we lose, it will most likely be because we fail to eliminate Strangulf’s remaining coffins.  The only other way we can win is to slay Strangulf himself, and that is unlikely.  Even if taken out of action, he will only be roughly a one in six to die.

There are a few tweaks to the campaign rules that I will make to give the players more opportunities to raise Morale, and to make the Coffin Hunts somewhat easier.

We have a long list of ideas for Coffin Hunt balancing, and have voted on them.  The most popular is a very simple and sensible change suggested by Michael Weaver:  only allow reinforcing Vampire Forces models to charge on their first turn if they are either a command model (such as a Vampire), or are within the “Direct Undead” range of a command model.  This will limit the number of models that can appear on the board at the beginning of a Vampire Forces turn and immediately charge player models before they have time to react to the appearance of the new enemy models.  Several other changes will be considered as well, and the random dungeon rules for SchattenTurm will be reworked considerably.

All of these changes should appear in the 1.3 version of the rules, hopefully posted sometime in early to mid February.  My next chore, though, is to get the current 1.2 version of the rules posted here.

That’s all for now!  Thanks for reading!

... and I'm all out of bubble gum! View at Picasa ... and I'm all out of bubble gum!07-Jan-2012 23:36, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Day nine defending Nachtdorf dawned sunny and clear.  With town morale at three, the heroes decided to head for the fortified farmhouse of Bachmeir Baurenhof.  Even though we had already cleared Strangulf’s coffin from this area, it is the easiest area due to the presence of Orc bandits, who often interfere with undead close to the farmstead.  If we could stake one or two minor vampires, we could get town morale back up and buy us a few turns without having to worry about a campaign loss due to morale falling to zero.

All of my Sisters of Sigmar except for Mother Madira, including the new henchperson Emmaline, were included in the expedition.  Michael Stamps sent Big Boss, Popsi, KillMeNow, Frito, and Wooly, leaving Sparks, Spam and IDieSoon in town to work on defenses and weapons.  Michael Kingsbury’s Kislevites sent their full force, along with their new bear and henchman.  This constituted a large allied force to secure a successful outing.  Two of our new Halfling Scouts led a group of townfolk out to find supplies, while the other Halfling  snored loudly in bed, as he had been on patrol duty the previous evening.  Father Jonas tended to the bitten, and Father McManus assisted Mother Madira preparing blessed water.

Along the way to Baurenhof, a Shadow Elf by the name of Torian introduced himself to the heroes and offered his assistance for a few days (my brother Michael’s character, allowing him to run one good guy in addition to the Vampire Forces while visiting for holidays).

Initial Vampire Forces milling around Baurenhof were numerous, but not terribly strong.  There were eight Skeletons, six Zombies, three Ghouls, a Ghast, two Dire Wolves, one Grave Guard Seneschal, and a Cairn Wraith.  The Cairn Wraith was probably the strongest villain on the board.  The Orc bandits were mostly holed up in the otherwise deserted farmstead, but a small patrol led by the Orc Boss were visible just to the east of the farmstead, prepared to defend their territory from all comers.

Bachmeir Baurnhoff - Orc Archers on Scaffolding View at Picasa Bachmeir Baurnhoff - Orc Archers on Scaffolding07-Jan-2012 19:10, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Orc boss prepared to defend his captured farmstead View at Picasa Orc boss prepared to defend his captured farmstead07-Jan-2012 19:13, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Allied forces, numbering in the mid twenties, came in from two board edges in roughly equal groups, each led by a scout.  One group entered from the west edge, on the far side of the stream.  Most of the warriors in this group  came in from the southwest, near a bridge crossing the stream.  This group, led by Gustav, consisted of several Dwarves, a few Sisters, and a couple of Kislevites.  A few warriors entered on the north side of this edge, close to a ruin that might contain a vampire coffin.  This small squad consisted of Dwarf henchmen Frito and Daft Wooly, along with the Kislevite Boris.

The second group of allies came in far from the first, along the northeast board edge.  This group contained the remaining Sisters, the bulk of the Kislevites, and the Shadow Elf Torian.

With the start of allied turn one, a group in the northeast comprised mostly of Sisters along with Kislevite Misha ran into a ruined temple to search for a coffin.  Similarly, Torian and Sisters Nadja and Isolde moved to a another coffin near the edge, under some trees just east of the Orc watch tower.  This group did not have to run, so they hid upon reaching their location.   A group of Kislevites on the easternmost edge of our line held their ground and fired at nearby Dire Wolves, with Luka taking one out with her fancy throwing knives (magical, allowing two throws per turn, and she has also taken the Knife Thrower skill so she gets four shots per turn)!

A gang of Sisters and a Kislevite searching for a coffin in the ruins of a church View at Picasa A gang of Sisters and a Kislevite searching for a coffin in the ruins of a church07-Jan-2012 19:11, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Shadow Elf attempts to teach Sisters to sneak while attempting to locate a coffin View at Picasa Shadow Elf attempts to teach Sisters to sneak while attempting to locate a coffin07-Jan-2012 19:14, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In the west, a group of heroes charged zombies that were milling around near the bridge.  Sisters Simone and Veronica each took out a zombie, and TrollSlayer KillMeNow also contemptuously quisanarted a zombie.  Frito, Wooly, and Boris moved toward the ruin on the hill overlooking a small waterfall.  At the end of allied turn one, we made two coffin search rolls.  The large group of Sisters in the temple ruin successfully located their coffin and opened it to reveal a sleeping minor vampire!  Sister Anne in this group conveniently was equipped with a Rosewood Stake, but unfortunately was not in base contact with the coffin, meaning it would be turn three before she could pound the stake through the thing’s heart.

Killing zombies guarding the bridge View at Picasa Killing zombies guarding the bridge07-Jan-2012 19:14, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

During the Vampire Forces first turn, a Dire Wolf charged and took out the newly acquired Kislevite Bear in the northeast, an ignominious start to the campaign for the beast.  A ghast and a ghoul ambled toward the church ruin where the Sisters had unearthed the minor vampire, and the Cairn Wraith also glided in this direction.  A large group of skeletons moved toward the bridge in the west, and a smaller group of skeletons in the southeast moved toward the Orc farmstead.  In the Orc part of the turn, a Boy near the farmstead charged and took out a zombie that had wandered to close to their territory.  The Orc boss along with some Boyz and BigNutz the Troll advanced towards the small group of skeletons that were approaching the farmstead from the southeast.

Orc boss and his gang threatening off undead View at Picasa Orc boss and his gang threatening off undead07-Jan-2012 19:53, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In the allied second turn, our scenario expiration roll took us to a total of eleven out of thirty.  Salrya and Misha charged a ghast that was threatening the group occupying the ruined temple in the northeast.  Anton, Luka, Martin and David held their ground so they could fire on the remaining Dire Wolf.  Torian and his two accompanying Sisters continued to hide in a small wood near the Orc watchtower looking for a coffin.  In the west, Dwarves charged the skeletons that had moved onto the bridge, the rest of the allies moving in behind them.

Battle for the bridge View at Picasa Battle for the bridge07-Jan-2012 19:53, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Ghast attempting to rescue a soon to be staked minor vampire View at Picasa Ghast attempting to rescue a soon to be staked minor vampire07-Jan-2012 19:53, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In the shooting phase, a distance shot from Kislevite Stepan took out a skeleton in the back ranks of the group on the bridge.  Martin knocked down the Dire Wolf in the northeast, and Luka managed to miss it with all four of her throwing knife shots, a great example of Mr. Kingsbury’s ability to roll spectacularly poorly  from time to time (shown below) – at least when rolling for his own models!

Pincushion duty View at Picasa Pincushion duty07-Jan-2012 19:53, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Kingsbury's remarkable dice rolling skills on exhibit View at Picasa Kingsbury's remarkable dice rolling skills on exhibit07-Jan-2012 19:52, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.1 sec, ISO 200

In close combat, Salrya and Timofey combined to take out the ghast in the temple ruin, and on the bridge another skeleton fell to KillMeNow.

Vampire Forces turn two went well for the allies.  To start things off, Michael Weaver failed to roll any reinforcements for the villains, which helped enormously.  The skeletons in the southeast charged BigNutz the troll, and somehow managed to wound him twice and leave him stunned.  The Cairn Wraith charged into Sister Salyra, but failed to hurt her and fell to the ground Knocked Down by her return hammer blows.  On the bridge in the west, skeleton counter charges failed miserably, with KillMeNow and Kislevite Timofey both taking out their bony opponents.  In the Orc turn, a zombie fell to an arrowshot from the Boys in the watchtower, and the Orc Boss crushed one of the skeletons that had taken BigNutz down.

More interference at the temple View at Picasa More interference at the temple07-Jan-2012 20:09, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

A gang of skeletons overwhelm troll View at Picasa A gang of skeletons overwhelm troll07-Jan-2012 20:09, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Player turn three began with Luka, disgusted by her last knife throw, declaring a charge on the downed Dire Wolf and dispatching it.  Near the ruined temple, Misha charged a ghoul that was threatening Salyra, also taking it out.  Salyra finished off the Cairn Wraith with her blessed hammers, leaving the area of the ruined temple clear.  Anne, just inside the temple, capped this off by hammering a rosewood stake through the heart of the minor vampire found earlier.

Just to the west of the ruined temple, the small group led by Torian finally located a coffin, finding a minor Treasure inside.  In the far west, Gustav and a few Kislevites searched under the west end of the bridge for a possible vampire coffin.  Other warriors in the group crossed over the stream.

Vampire Forces turn three was uneventful, which was very good for the allies.  Again, there were no reinforcements, and few undead troops left to threaten us.  The two skeletons remaining on BigNutz failed to take him out, and in the Orc turn the boss and his ladz finished them off.

With things looking promising on player turn four, Isolde and Nadja accompanied Torian across the road toward the Orc watchtower and another possible coffin in that area.  The group in the ruined temple also began to move west.  The Kislevites in the northeast, finally with no targets, moved to climb a nearby rocky slope to get at another coffin location.  In the far west, the hunt for the coffin under the bridge continued, with other forces closing on a hill near the Orc farmstead across the stream that contained another possible coffin.  In the northwest corner, Boris, Wooly, and Frito finally got close to the coffin they were trying to find.

Climb, men, climb! View at Picasa Climb, men, climb!07-Jan-2012 20:44, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	Crossing the bridge View at Picasa Crossing the bridge07-Jan-2012 20:45, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
Unearthing a coffin concealed under the bridge View at Picasa Unearthing a coffin concealed under the bridge07-Jan-2012 20:45, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	Isolde, Torian, and Nadja run to the next coffin View at Picasa Isolde, Torian, and Nadja run to the next coffin07-Jan-2012 20:46, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Vampire Forces turn four finally resulted in some undead reinforcements.  A couple of ghasts appeared near the farmstead, three skeletons entered the board near  Torian and the two Sisters, and a Necromancer with a Soul Stealing spell came in from the northwest, near where Boris, Wooly, and and Frito were hunting for a coffin.  These new forces moved towards the warriors they could see, but did no damage to the allies this turn.  The Necromancer did attempt to steal a soul, but failed to get the spell off.

With player turn five, Torian, Nadja, and Isolde charged into the three nearby skeletons.  Unfortunately, Torian was taken out of action in the exchange of blows.  The Kislevites climbed the hill in the northeast, and at the end of the player turn located a coffin containing another minor vampire!  In the southwest, Popsi, KillMeNow, and Sister Veronica moved closed on a coffin under a tree, and the coffin under the bridge further to the west proved to be empty, as did the coffin in the northwest ruin where Frito, Boris, and Wooly were being threatened by the lurking Necromancer.

Skeletons! This should be easy, right? View at Picasa Skeletons! This should be easy, right?07-Jan-2012 21:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Dwarves approach a coffin View at Picasa Dwarves approach a coffin07-Jan-2012 21:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

To start of Vampire turn five, three giant rats, poisonous due to the event card from the previous night, popped up close to where the skeletons were fighting with Sisters Nadja and Isolde.  These rats charged into the melee, and Sister Isolde was taken out of action.  Near the farmstead, a ghoul that had brashly charged the Orcs took the troll BigNutz out of action.  On the subsequent Orc turn, a gang charge by Boyz returned the favor and took the ghoul out.  The Necromancer in the northwest continued to avoid the heroes, casting his soul-stealing spell again but failing to get it off.  A zombie wandered over from the farmstead area to help his efforts.

On player turn six, with the scenario expiration counter now at 23 out of 30, we failed to do much damage to the new undead forces.  Sisters Winifred and Emmaline rushed in to help Nadja, but failed to harm the rats or remaining skeleton.  Frito did manage to kill the zombie that had wandered over to screen for the Necromancer in the northwest.

Vampire Forces turn six was a little rough for the players.  The Necromancer finally got his spell off, sucking a wound from Daft Wooly and unfortunately also taking him out of action.  In the middle of the western edge of the board, a skeleton finally took Sister Nadja out of action.  Our losses were beginning to mount at this point.  Sisters Winifred and Emmaline each did take out a poisonous rat, which helped thin that combat down a bit to size.

Avenging Isolde and Torian View at Picasa Avenging Isolde and Torian07-Jan-2012 22:11, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Wooly and Boris play peekaboo with Necromancer View at Picasa Wooly and Boris play peekaboo with Necromancer07-Jan-2012 22:11, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

On player turn seven, we rolled a one for our scenario expiration, so our total was now twenty four.  Anton staked the minor vampire his Kislevites had discovered on the hill in the east, and the combat with the skeletons and the rats in the north was a standoff.  In the undead half of the turn, the Necromancer got off his spell again, and again took a model out of action, this time Boris.  Sisters Winifred and Anne both took out skeletons that had charged them in the north.  In the Orc part of the turn, the two archers on the watchtower spotted two ghasts in the woods around them, and opened fire on them.

Martin, David, and Anton searching for a coffin View at Picasa Martin, David, and Anton searching for a coffin07-Jan-2012 22:12, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

For player turn eight, the expiration roll increased to 26 of 30.  Popsi, lurking under a hilltop tree near the farmstead, fired a crossbow shot at the Orcs on the watchtower.  The shot “thunked” ineffectually into the railing of the tower.  Trollslayer KillMeNow eyed the Orc farmstead from the hill, decided proximity of greenskins was just too much for him, and took off towards the Orc-loaded farm on his lonesome.  Sister Veronica sighed and followed, along with Dwarf Captain Big Boss.

With the battle in the north now over, a group of Sisters moved around the combat near the watchtower to try to uncover another coffin.  The kislevites in the east moved down the slope of the hill where they had dispatched their vampire, heading for the area where BigNutz the troll fell earlier in the fight.

In the undead part of the turn, two Dire Wolves appeared as reinforcements on the east edge, unfortunately in charge range of the rear of the Kislevite group.  They both charged Captain Anton, taking him out of action for the second scenario in a row!  Mr. Kingsbury was understandably distraught, but things would get worse with the injury roll later.  The only other assault was made by the two ghasts in the north, who scaled the watchtower and attacked the Orc archers there.  Both were repulsed, falling to the ground, but neither was taken out of action.

A ghast attempts the shooting platform View at Picasa A ghast attempts the shooting platform07-Jan-2012 23:02, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Orcs shooting ghasts in a barrel? View at Picasa Orcs shooting ghasts in a barrel?07-Jan-2012 23:02, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Player turn nine took our expiration roll to 27 out of 30, and a couple of coffin contents were revealed to contain loot, but the mood now was a bit more somber with a fair number of our warriors out of action including one of the captains.  Frito took the incredibly troublesome Necromancer out of action, and KillMeNow continued to charge the farmstead, with Veronica and BigBoss staying safely behind the crazy fellow.  Popsi “thunked” another quarrel into the watchtower, which the Orcs heard, but ignored as their attention was below the tower at the ghasts that kept trying to get up to them.

Popsi hiding under a tree, lighter about a quiver-full of quarrels View at Picasa Popsi hiding under a tree, lighter about a quiver-full of quarrels07-Jan-2012 23:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

With player turn ten, the expiration roll went over thirty, so this would be our last turn.  KillMeNow finally kicked open the door to the farmstead (once again, he reached the Orcs just in time for the scenario to end).  Popsi finally managed to take one of the watchtower Orcs out of action, but there were no other significant accomplishments for the players.

With that, the scenario ended, and we moved onto our injury rolls.  Unfortunately, both Captain Anton and Boris the Streltsi proved to be dead.  This would bring our fatality count for the campaign to three, having lost the Dwarf henchman Mopsi on the first weekend of the campaign.  Sister Isolde survived her injuries, but with a sucking chest wound (-1 Toughness) and a bad leg (cannot run).  The remaining warriors taken out of action recovered in full.  Kingsbury was somewhat traumatized by his Kislevite losses, but in partial compensation by the fates, he rolled two “Lads Got Talent” results for his henchman advancements, taking him up to six heroes for the first time in the campaign.

Our exploration roll resulted in the ability to place two models anywhere we liked for the next scenario, along with some minor loot.

Resolving the rest of our town actions for the day phase of turn nine, we produced more Blessed Water, another blessed Rosewood Stake, and more Silver Bullets for Big Boss to use in his double-barreled pistol.  Father Jonas also healed a bitten townie.

For the night phase of turn nine, we drew the “Journey into Shadows” event card, which gave Strangulf an Influence Point in the Schattenturm game area.  This gave him Full Influence in that area, which allowed him to add three more necromantic spells to his hand, lowered our morale by two, and earned him a campaign reward:  “Ash”, a zombie knight.  Ash will be able to appear in town attacks or Schattenturm scenarios as a command roll result.  We had one turn of a bitten into a vampire during the night, lowering town morale by yet another point.  We ended up with morale close to where we began, but had we not staked the minor vampires, it would have been a campaign loss!  Hopefully we would protect an additional room from vampires in day ten, using Garlic and Blessed Water, making it more unlikely for bitten to turn.

With that, turn nine came to a close.  I will get the day part of turn ten, the last thing we accomplished over this past weekend, posted soon!

View at Picasa Gotta be under this tree somewhere, lads!07-Jan-2012 12:58, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm

This weekend we had four participants instead of our normal three.  My brother Michael and wife Stacy were visiting for the holidays, and Michael agreed to run the Vampire Forces for the weekend.  He would also sneak in a Shadow Elf hero to help the allies in the battles after the one described here.  This would make three Michaels, outnumbering my one Jim for the weekend, with an occasional visit by a Scott.

MIchael, Michael, and Michael View at Picasa MIchael, Michael, and Michael07-Jan-2012 13:59, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 500

With the dawn of our seventh day defending Nachtdorf, the town bid farewell and good luck to three heroes and six townsfolk departing to purchase needed supplies and allies in Burgenhof.  Sister Isolde of the Sigmarite Sisters, Popsie of the Dwarves, and Bear Trainer Martin of the Kislevites led the shopping party, expected to overnight in Burgenhof and return before the evening of the eight day.  Five hundred and fifty eight gold crowns were secured in the wagons, which hopefully would be put to good use.  The wagons disappeared as the remaining heroes began setting the townsfolk to work.  We set aside our list of items that would be returning with them from the trip at the end of day eight, mostly armor and hopefully some Halfling Scout hired swords.  There had been suggestions that an Elf Ranger might also be a useful ally to search for in Burgenhof, but the dwarves strongly objected (“They smell of SOAP!”).

Gustav (our NPC scout) and Anton (captain of the Kislevites) headed out of town close behind the wagons on a scouting run of the surrounding area, taking five townsfolk with them, their purpose to scavenge supplies.  Their efforts for the day turned up some gold, a mule, a spear, and a weighted net.  Meanwhile, under other heroes’ guidance, townsfolk finished repairs on the last damaged town wall, made progress repairing an old dwarven cannon that had been found in a basement (under command of dwarven engineer Sparks, of course), fashioned some silver bullets, and improvised defenses around both the church and another town building to make it difficult for undead to break into them in the event of another attack upon the town.

Father Jonas (NPC priest of the town sigmarite temple) healed a bitten civilian, while Mother Madira (captain of the Sigmarite Sisters) and newly hired sword Father McManus both successfully produced vials of blessed water in the temple, vital both for ruining Strangulf’s coffins and for ceremonies to protect rooms harboring vampire bitten victims from the call of the fiends during the nighttime hours.

At dusk, the heroes awoke the night shift.  Burgermeister Kaufmann, Captain Diedrech, and Sgt. Lowenherz directed the town milita and state troopers to their wall posts and patrols, and took watch over the bitten, as the heroes retired to their rest.  During the night, Strangulf advanced his hold over Schattenturm, the ruined Necromancer’s tower to the east of town, and gained a necromantic spell as well as an Influence Point in this area.

No bitten turned into vampires during the night, but at dawn it was discovered that two new townsfolk were bitten.  Worse, one of the town militiamen that had been patrolling the walls and Kislevite champion Luka were pale and weak – clearly bitten as well.  Luka would have to spend the day resting indoors while her comrades ventured forth.  Mother Madira would stay behind on the eight day, along with Father McManus and Father Jonas, to insure that Luka and as many others as possible were healed from the undeads’ influence.  Several other heroes stayed in town this day to fashion rosewood stakes and produce silver weapons.

The majority of the player warriors decided to head to Schattenwald ruins on day eight to try to uproot one of Strangulf’s coffins in that area.  The weather initially appeared sunny, but as they approached the forest clouds mysteriously rolled in and darkened the day (Strangulf using an Alter Weather necromantic card).

The warriors divided into two groups, and converged on the ruined town in the forest with one group coming in from the east, the other the west.  The eastern group was led through the forest by Gustav, and all the dwarves and two sisters entered the area of the hunt from the southeast, with Gustav and a group of kislevites entering from the northeast.  Captain Anton led the western party into the area, near a river winding through the old ruins.  This party was composed of a small mix of kislevites and sisters.

Initial vampire forces appeared light.  A necromancer in the southeast appeared to be easy prey for the dwarves, with only a ghoul and a ghast prowling nearby.  In the middle of the area, forces were a little stronger, with three grave guard led by a seneschal, a giant skeleton (!), two fell bats, and a few spiders moving about the ruined buildings.  In the west, just on the other side of the river, a group of six fat, poisonous spiders crept under the trees.

Spiders lurking in Schattenwald View at Picasa Spiders lurking in Schattenwald07-Jan-2012 13:16, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

In the first allied turn, Big Boss, Captain of the dwarves, charged and stunned the necromancer in the in the southeast.  Sparks dispatched a ghoul near a coffin just uphill from Big Boss.  Two sisters on the same hill spit sling stones at a nearby ghast and Sister Salyra stunned it, leaving it exposed to the two nearby dwarven trollslayers.  In the west, the allied warriors moved towards coffins and cover, doing no damage with missile fire.

In the vampire forces first turn, spiders in the east moved towards the visible allied warriors, spitting webs.  Captain Anton, leaning out from behind a ruined building, suffered a direct hit from one of the sticky messes, and found himself pinned.  The giant skeleton, grave guard, and seneschal moved west, away from the dwarves.  No vampire forces reinforcement rolls are made on the first turn of the coffin hunt, so things still looked good for our heroes.

Captain Anton struggling in webs View at Picasa Captain Anton struggling in webs07-Jan-2012 13:16, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In the player second turn, the trollslayers charged the still knocked down ghast, with KillMeNow taking him off the mortal coil.  Big Boss finished off the necromancer, and the two Sisters on the nearby hill began navigating their way down the rocky slope.  The kislevites in the northeast moved into a three story ruin, beginning to climb up to a promising looking hideaway for a coffin on the third floor.  In the west, Sister Anne with wardog Brother Woof, Captain Anton (breaking free from the webs), and Sister Simone moved into position to climb up to the second story of a ruin to search for a coffin.

Trollslayers taking out a ghast View at Picasa Trollslayers taking out a ghast07-Jan-2012 13:17, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The second Vampire Forces turn saw our heroes fortunes turn for the worse.  The overcast weather made reinforcements more likely, and my brother Michael, guest starring over the holidays as our Vampire Forces player, managed to roll up six skeletons including a champion, a grave guard, and Mistress Mircalla with her two dire wolves.  Mircalla is the slinkiest of Strangulf’s mistresses, preferring to use her charm and special abilities from a distance rather than engage in combat.  Mistress Mircalla appeared on the board close to the eastern forces, and the skeletons appeared almost right on top of the dwarves.  Apparently the necromancer Big Boss had so easily taken out had completed a spell to raise the skeletons from the ground just in time.  The extra forces in the east caused Michael to change his tactics, which originally were to move away from the dwarves and sweep the small group of western allies, forcing us to the route point.  Instead, he decided to wipe out the outnumbered allies in the west.

Mircalla makes an appearance View at Picasa Mircalla makes an appearance07-Jan-2012 12:39, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm

Dwarves surrounded View at Picasa Dwarves surrounded07-Jan-2012 13:37, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The skeletons charged the nearest dwarves – Big Boss, Spam, and Frito (lone dwarf henchman).  Spam fell out of action, but Frito rallied and dispatched a skeleton.  Mircalla, her wolves, and a few bats that were nearby moved towards the sisters and kislevites to the east / northeast, with Mircalla managing to beguile Sister Winifred, who turned with glazed eyes towards Sister Salyra.  Spiders in the west rushed toward the building the small western group was occupying.

One dwarf down, two to go, chant the skeletons View at Picasa One dwarf down, two to go, chant the skeletons07-Jan-2012 14:36, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The player half of the third turn was largely uneventful, which considering the number of Vampire Forces that had reinforced the area on the previous turn, was not a good thing.  Missile fire failed to take down any undead.  Sister Salyra was forced to move away from the strangely behaving Winifred to avoid being charged, and the dwarves failed to take any of the skeletons out in close combat.  One coffin was found and searched, but proved to be empty.  In the west,  Anton and Anne climbed to the second floor of a ruin to search for a coffin, while Brother Woof and Sister Simone guarded the area from below.

Kislevites occupying a ruin as Mircalla advances View at Picasa Kislevites occupying a ruin as Mircalla advances07-Jan-2012 13:59, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

Inevitably, the third VF turn was a hammer blow to the allies.  The reinforcement roll placed a minor vampire directly behind Sister Simone in the west, and added two ghouls and a ghast to the east.  Spiders in the west made initiative checks and scaled the walls of the ruin to drop in from above on Anne and Anton.  The vampire snarled and closed with Sister Simone.  Another spider could just see Woof near Simone, and charged Anne’s loyal guard dog.  On the second floor of the ruin, Anton fell to a spider bite, while Sister Anne used her steel whip to take one of the spiders charging her out of action.  Below, Brother Woof latched on to a spindly leg of the spider that had charged him and snapped it off, stunning it.  Beside him, though, Sister Simone was brutally taken out of action by the minor vampire that has surprised them, leaving Anne and Woof separated, alone, and outnumbered.

In the east, forces led by Mircalla charged into combat finally.  Mircalla attempted to charm the kislevite Streltsi David, who had climbed to the third floor of a nearby ruin, but failed.  Her forces were more effective, however.  The giant skeleton crashed into the kislevites at the ground floor of the ruin in the northeast, accompanied by Mircalla’s two dire wolves.  Giant bats few from her ranks towards the trollslayers.  Skeletons swarmed Big Boss and henchman Frito, who were cut off from engineer Sparks and the trollslayers by a steep hill.  Mircalla advanced up the hill with five grave guard, in position to charge either Sister Winifred or the kislevites next turn.

Giant skeleton and wolves charge View at Picasa Giant skeleton and wolves charge07-Jan-2012 14:28, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

During combat in the east, the kislevite warrior Misha was dispatched by the force of the combined charges of the giant skeleton and wolves.  Trollslayer IDieSoon traded wounds with a Fell Bat, and Big Boss and Frito somehow held their ground against a horde of skeletons, blows raining on their armor.

With the fourth player turn, after some discussion, we decided to voluntarily route.  This would be a blow to town morale, which was already low, but with a number of warriors out of action already,   more clearly to follow, and no visible chance of revealing the contents of any more coffins, there seemed little to gain in sticking around.

The scenario injury rolls resulted in no fatalities (those would come later in the weekend, my friends), there was a painful roll for Kingsbury’s kislevites.  Captain Anton, after falling from the upper story of a ruin to a spider bite, came up with the “Robbed” result.  He had apparently been rolled by the minor vampire that has taken Simone out at the base of the ruin.  All his items were lost, and as the captain, he was well equipped.  Amongst the pile of equipment lost, his family heirloom, a magical axe.  We decided if a minor vampire appeared in later scenarios, there would be a chance it would be the same one, carrying his axe around.

The party made it’s exploration rolls and limped back to town, Captain Anton wrapped in a borrowed cloak and darkly cursing his fortunes.  We finished up the rolls for town actions for day eight, adding one new rosewood stake, successfully healing Luka, a town militia member, and a towns-person of their vampire bites, and making some progress rounding up silver for some special bullets.

As dusk approached, the shopping trip party returned to town, along with much needed armor, Emmaline – a new Sister of Sigmar, Daft Wooly – a new Dwarf henchman, a bear for Kislevite Bear Trainer Martin, and three new Halfling Scout hired swords: Tubby Tiddletoes, Badwyck Bimpo, and Nod Nibbles (pics later, they are still being painted).  The new scouts were primarily intended to help us with the Find Supplies town action, which can provide equipment and loot by scouting the town and surrounding countryside.  Also we planned to use one of them on patrol at night, which can give us some benefits to starting position and turn order in a night attack scenario.

During the night, the Vampire Forces event was “Infernal Pestilence”, which makes creatures (Wolves, Bats, Rats) poisonous until another night event, and also gives Strangulf an influence point in both Bachmeir Baurnhof and Schattenwald.  This event gave Strangulf three influence points in Schattenwald, which is full influence in the area, and so granted him the campaign reward for the area:  a Varghulf known as the Ghoul King.  In future night attacks or scenarios in Schattenwald or Stangulf’s homebase of Altschloss, a roll of five or six on the initial forces dice can be spent to put the Ghoul King into the scenario.

Finally, one bitten turned into a vampire during the night, lowering morale another point, and one new towns-person was bitten.  Morale at this point was three – fairly close to a campaign loss.

This concludes the report for turn eight, next one will cover day and night phases of turn nine!  Cheers for reading through!

View at Picasa Mircalla and her wolves cascade down from the wall in darkness, and enter the northeastern part of town unopposed.03-Dec-2011 15:00, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Our campaign picked up this weekend with the night phase of the fourth campaign turn.  Our first weekend of play is described in an earlier report: http://hobbyblog.wargameweaver.com/mordheim/vampire-hunters-campaign-report-one.

We flipped over the event card for night phase of turn four, and beheld the title “Attack, my Children!”  The first assault on Nachtdorf by the Vampire Forces was begun.  As this was the first Town Attack scenario of the campaign, I will describe it in detail.  For future reports, I will probably just summarize scenarios.  So, if you wish to see the bloody deeds that took place, read on!  Click on any of the pictures to get a full-sized view.

We setup the town on our gaming tables, this time with only two ruined wall sections, one in the south and one in the east, as the gap in the north wall was repaired during earlier campaign turns.

Most of our warriors were executing rest actions for the night.  My Sisters of Sigmar were peacefully resting in the Temple of Sigmar in the middle of town, with the NPC Father Jonas awake and tending to the fevered dreams of our two vampire-bitten townies.  Michael Stamps’ Dwarf Treasure Hunters were piled into the blacksmith’s hut next to the town pond, chewing garlic sausages and muttering about “Talls”.  Michael Kingsbury’s Kislevites were sleeping off an evening of sampling the local ale at the inn, near the north-west corner of town.

But some defenders were alert and stalwart.  The NPC Captain Diedrech and his three spear-men patrolled the north and west walls, while our four recently trained town militia members guarded the gap in the south wall under the supervision of militia sergeant Lowenherz and town Burgermeister Kaufmann.  My Sisters of Sigmar captain, Mother Madira, patrolled near the gap in the east wall along with one of her hench-sisters.

View at Picasa Nachtdorf before the first night assault, as seen from the northwest.02-Dec-2011 23:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 160	View at Picasa The southern gate, with kislevite crossbowman. Mother Madira womans a nearby wall.02-Dec-2011 23:57, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa The gap in the south wall, manned by Burgermeister Kaufmann, Sgt. Lownherz, and the town militia.02-Dec-2011 23:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The next step was to generate the forces assaulting the town.  This is done by rolling a pool of d6.  For a night attack, four d6 are rolled per player, so that gave us twelve d6.  There is a bonus for each Influence Point that Strangulf (the principle vampire) has established in any campaign area.  As he had four IPs so far, that gave us sixteen d6 to roll to determine our opponents.  Stamper and Kingsbury rolled eight dice each, and managed to roll half fives and sixes.  This was very bad for us, as the ones through fours would be treated as random core forces, but the fives and sixes provided a number of options for the undead:  a single five or six can be spent to gain two random core forces, field a random command model, or provide two siege points.

In addition, just like Mordheim exploration rolls, multiples of certain numbers in the pool for grant the besieging vampire forces special bonuses.  In our case, four fives gave them the “Absolute Command” ability, which allows them to set up anywhere they like along edges instead of a random edges for each unit.  Four sixes were also rolled, and this gave them a free six siege points.

I chose to keep six of the 5+ dice for command units, and convert two of them to four extra core units.  This gave the vampire forces six command units, twelve core units, and six siege points.  Random rolls for the command units went incredibly bad for the players, and they ended up with Strangulf himself (with two free Fell Bat escorts), and all three of his powerful mistresses and their escorts, along with two necromancers for the remaining two commanders.  Since Strangulf and his three mistresses each come with two escorts, the six command units turned into a total of fourteen models.  Worse, Strangulf and his mistresses are loaded with special abilities and are much stronger than a standard Mordheim vampire.

After rolling up the core units (a mix of zombies, skeletons, dire wolves, and giant spiders), the total undead forces assaulting Nachtdorf numbered forty five!  They also had four siege ladders to scale walls.  The defenders numbered forty, about three-quarters of which were starting the scenario sleeping, meaning they would miss the first turn entirely and count as knocked down for the second.

I deployed the vampire forces in three groups.  One group with the siege ladders would target the intact north wall of the town.  This group was divided into two subgroups, one commanded by the imperious senior vampire mistress Carmilla (with two dregs as escorts) in the northwest corner, and one commanded by the beguiling vampire mistress Mircalla (with two wolves as escorts) in the northeast.  Carmilla’s group included an extra necromancer commander.

View at Picasa The vampire mistress Carmilla and a necromancer command siege forces assaulting the western end of the north wall.02-Dec-2011 23:56, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa Carmilla with her Dreg escorts and zombies.02-Dec-2011 23:57, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa The vampire mistress Mircalla commands a small siege force on the eastern end of the north wall.02-Dec-2011 23:57, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa The master necromancer Bonecaller commands a force of skeletons, dire wolves, and spiders in the east.02-Dec-2011 23:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa The feral and winged vampire mistress Milagra with her harpy escorts, wolves, and spiders arrayed against the south wall.02-Dec-2011 23:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The third group contained mostly spiders and wolves, as they were the most distant from the a wall and would also have to get across the river.  This group was placed under command of the winged and vicious vampire mistress Milagra with her two harpy escorts.

The stage was now set for the assault to begin.  With each vampire turn, a d6 is rolled and added to prior results.  When thirty is reached, dawn approaches, and the vampire forces must retreat at the end of that turn.  The player goal is to hold out till this retreat.  The vampire goal is simply to rout the allied town forces and run roughshod over the unprotected town for as long as the remaining night allows.

The vampire forces spent the first couple of turns advancing on the town, while the sleepy defenders tried to assemble themselves into some sort of order.  With each turn after the first, the vampire forces also get a roll for a single reinforcement group, which may come in at any random location on the board.  This only happened once during the battle, but it was on their second turn, and three ghouls raised from the shadows of the roof of the gatehouse in the west wall.  Captain Dedrich and a single spear-man were running through the gatehouse below to reach the defense of the north wall, and the ghouls heard these noises and dropped down through a trapdoor onto the poor lads.

View at Picasa Ghouls, coming out of nowhere, slip down into the gatehouse from above and intercept Captian Diedrech and spearman.03-Dec-2011 01:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

With turn three of the vampire forces, the action began in earnest.  Two dire wolves charging through the gap in the southern wall were remarkably taken out of action by town militia under the command of Sgt. Lowenherz.  Milagra and her two harpies flew over the adjacent wall and landed on the top of a repair scaffolding to observe the struggle of these puny humans briefly before choosing a victim.

View at Picasa First wolves cross the gap in the south wall. Mircalla and her harpies observe from the top of the scaffolding.03-Dec-2011 01:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In the west gatehouse, the ghouls that had seemed to drop out of nowhere leapt upon Dedrich and his spear-man.  The spear-man fell, but Dedrich held on.  On the nearby northern wall, the skeletons and zombies had placed their ladders and reached the summit of the wall.  A spear-man fell in this struggle, despite the advantageous defensive position.

View at Picasa The battle on the wall in the northwest.03-Dec-2011 01:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

In the east, Bonecaller’s forces entered through the ruined wall without opposition, but found themselves faced by a group of cranky dwarves interrupted from their sleep, assembling near the blacksmithy and preparing for a counter-charge.  During the allied turn three, the dwarves charged into this force, and their engineer Sparks managed to take a dire wolf out of action.

View at Picasa A wolf crossing the gap in the east wall as dwarves emerge sleepily from the blacksmithy.03-Dec-2011 01:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa Bonecaller directs his troops through the east gap against the dwarves.03-Dec-2011 02:48, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa Bonecaller directing his troops in something closer to night combat lighting.03-Dec-2011 02:48, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa Bonecaller again, who is photogenic, even if he does get taken out of action frequently.03-Dec-2011 12:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

During the fourth vampire forces turn, Milagra and her harpies swooped down on the melee just inside the gap in the south wall.  Milagra sunk her claws into a hapless militia member and tore him practically in two, while her harpies screened her rear and flank.  To make matters worse, Strangulf and his two bats gained the roof of the tower in the southeast corner, giving Strangulf a commanding view of both the melees at the south and east gaps.

View at Picasa Battle for the south gap in full tilt. The vicious Milagra has already dispatched an opponent, as harpies protect her flanks.03-Dec-2011 02:48, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

View at Picasa Strangulf sneaks onto the southeastern tower, an excellent location to unleash howling ghosts from his Cloak of Souls into either southern or eastern wall gap melees.03-Dec-2011 12:53, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The battle at the east wall gap began to turn grim for the dwarves.  A second dire wolf overcame the dwarf hero Popsi, and the brave dwarf hero Spam fell to the bite of a spider.  Bonecaller, whom the allies had taken out of action and given a withered hand in a coffin hunt scenario the previous play session, cackled with unsurpassed glee.

With the allied turn four, the battle with Milagra’s forces at the south wall turned in favor of the town.  Sisters Nadja and Salyra reached the battle, and Nadja took a harpy out.  Father Jonas, the town priest, let loose a SoulFire spell from behind the ranks and wounded one of Strangulf’s bats, blasted a spider into oblivion, and even wounded Milagra herself, who shrieked with rage and marked the priest for future shredding.  A brave milita member splatted a spider between its many eyes as well.

At the east end of town, the dwarves counter-charged Bonecaller’s forces.  The trollslayer IDieSoon cleaved a wolf’s skull, while fellow trollslayer KillMeNow wounded on of Strangulf’s bats that had swept down on the battle.  Unfortunately for the dwarves, the engineer Sparks was taken out of action by a skeleton – the third dwarf hero to fall to Bonecaller’s assault.  This would not put them in rout check mode, as the rules for this campaign treat all allied forces as one for purposes of the rout check threshold, but once the threshold is reached each allied group composing the force must roll independently to see if they rout.

In the west gatehouse, Captain Diedrech finally fell to the ghouls.  The Kislevites began streaming up interior stairs to help defend the northwest corner of the wall.  A necromancer was knocked down from a blast of Anton’s (the Kislevite captain) pistol, and fell from the wall, knocked down at the feet of the liquored-up Kislevites.  Look, a present from above!

During the fifth undead turn, the forces led by the slinky Mircalla on the east end of the north wall began to work their way around the interior of the wall to the battle at the east gap.  Unfortunately for them, zombies were leading the way.  Being stuck behind zombies on a narrow ledge leads to grumpy undead.

View at Picasa Mircalla and her wolves along with some zombies and skeletons gain the eastern span of the north wall unopposed.03-Dec-2011 02:48, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

In impatience, Mircalla scaled down the wall like a spider, and her two wolves sprung down beside her.  She was in the north-east end of town, civilians huddled in the darkened buildings, with no one to oppose her.  She spied Sigmarite Sister Winifred following her Matriarch down the east stairs to reinforce the dwarves, both oblivious to her presence in the shadows.  She used her powerful charm ability to ensnare Sister Winifred’s mind, and directed her at the back of her own Matriarch.  Having sown this seed of confusion, Mircalla turned back to the defenseless buildings in front of her.

View at Picasa Mircalla and her wolves cascade down from the wall in darkness, and enter the northeastern part of town unopposed.03-Dec-2011 15:00, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

And the battle for the east end of town needed reinforcing badly.  Bonecaller struck down the trollslayer KillMeNow, the fourth dwarf hero to drop, leaving only three dwarves (yes that’s right, there are currently seven – we may not let Stamper hire any more dwarves until he has a female hired sword that wears a frilly dress and goes by initials S.W.).  The dwarf henchman Frito (in fact, the only henchman in their warband) refused to say die, and clobbered a skeleton with a tear in his eye for his fallen comrades.  Perhaps some of them would prove to be dead, and he may be promoted?  One never knows.

View at Picasa Bonecaller's forces and the dwarves clash in the eastern part of town. Sister Hildegarde has a skeleton down, while the dwarf captain Big Boss takes aim.03-Dec-2011 14:59, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

In the south, the wounded Milagra picked up a town militiaman that was screening her from Father Jonas, broke him in two, and hurled the pieces aside (yes, this would later prove to be a fatality).  Baron Von Strangulf, having observed the effectiveness of the priest’s insulting spell from his perch on the southeast tower, flung a soul from his cloak at the accursed holy man.  Father Jonas collapsed, stunned, to the glee of the nearby Milagra.

View at Picasa Sisters Salyra and Nadja reinforce the allies in the melee at the south wall gap. Father Jonas lies helpless before Milagra while the burgermeister is occupied by a Fell Bat.03-Dec-2011 14:59, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

In the north-west, the fallen Necromancer stood up, and realized that he was in a spot of trouble as the surrounding Kislevites growled.  Above, the mistress Carmilla, at the rear of the forces pushing toward the western end of the north wall, brandished her Skull of Terror, a magical device that can force All Alone tests at a -1 leadership using the flame template.  The blast of terror sent the blind Augur, who had come to support the battle, scurrying back down the stairs along with a Kislevite henchman.  One of Carmilla’s skeletons bashed at the remaining spearman of Diedrich’s, and the poor lad fell wailing from the wall.  The ghouls scuttled out of the gatehouse towards the fight on the wall, hungry for more savory human flesh.

View at Picasa The battle at the northwest tower rages, as the ghouls have finished with poor Dedrich and emerge from the gatehouse. Gustav and his Kislevites pals bravely prepare to hold the line by protecting both rears simultaneously.03-Dec-2011 15:00, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

View at Picasa Carmilla directs the battle for the northwest wal from the rear, forcing allies off the wall with her Skull of Terror.03-Dec-2011 15:00, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

During allied turn five, Father Jonas crawled away as Sister Salyra charged a harpy screening Milagra and took it out of action.  The Burgermeister finished off the fell bat that Soulfire had wounded earlier, and a remaining militia-man dispatched a spider.  Sgt. Lowenherz bravely charged Milagra herself, in an attempt to allow Father Jonas an escape.

In the east, the trollslayer IDieSoon took the other bat out of action.  Under the north wall, the Kislevite captain Anton skewered the necromancer that had blundered into their midst, and Gustav along with several Kislevites engaged the ghouls that had emerged from the gatehouse.

View at Picasa Northwest tower melee heats up. Too bad the sunlight is only in real life, and not in the battle. Dawn is too far away for our heroic allies...03-Dec-2011 15:22, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa Battle for the northwest tower as seem from the rear.03-Dec-2011 15:22, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200
View at Picasa A necromancer, fallen from a a northwest wall, gets a rude reception by Captain Anton of the Kislevites and two of his henchmen. Sister Anne and Brother Woof hover nearby.03-Dec-2011 15:22, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

Turn six for the Vampire Forces would prove to be the beginning of the end for the allies.  It began well.  On the north wall, Kislevite warrior Timofey took a zombie out of action and Sister Simone dropped a skeleton.  In the north-east corner of town, Mircalla and her wolves entered a building and began to terrorize the civilians inside (this is a scenario mechanic that may cause civilian fatalities that reduce worker points and morale, and also may increase the number of bitten).  The charmed Sister Winifred fortunately failed to harm her matriarch, as Mother Madira slapped her to her senses.

In the east, a skeleton charging Sister Superior Hildegarde fell to a whip crack.  In the south, Sgt. Lowenherz payed the price for protecting Father Jonas, as Milagra hurled him aside and out of action.

This brought the allies to their combined rout total, and each group would have to begin making rout tests starting with allied turn six.

The Sisters of Sigmar immediately failed their test at the start of allied turn six, leaving the less than half strength dwarves to hold the east entirely on their own, a few NPCs to hold against Milagra in the south, and the Kislevites to deal with Carmilla’s assault in the northwest.  And absolutely no one to oppose Mircalla or her forces in the northeast.  Things were looking very grim.

Gustav, the NPC scout, charged a ghoul on the northwest tower and took it out.  Timofey, however, fell to a ghoul.  The allies could definitely not afford to trade out of actions at this point.

The remaining three dwarves at the east wall gap charged bravely into battle, ganging up on Bonecaller and a few of his nearby helpers.  Frito slew a zombie, continuing his campaign for promotion should one of the fallen heroes prove to be deceased.

View at Picasa Bonecaller and Dwarf Captain Big Boss clash mano a mano!03-Dec-2011 16:44, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.077 sec, ISO 200

In the south, the situation continued to worsen as the last remaining militiaman fell to a spider, leaving only Father Jonas and the Burgermeister to hold the wall.

During the vampire seventh turn, Mircalla and her wolves continued to wreak havoc inside town buildings in the northeast that would be assessed at the end of the scenario.  At the east gap, the dwarves resisted counter-charges well, with Big Boss and IDieSoon dropping zombies, and Frito cementing his campaign for promotion by bouncing a beer mug off of BoneCaller’s head and dropping him for the third time in the campaign.  Garrrrrr!!!!  There’s only three of us left, but we will cut you all off at the knees!!!

At the south gap. Milagra charged the Burgermeister and slashed the stalwart leader of the town across the ribs with one blow, and pummeled him into unconsciousness with another, taking him out of action.  Finally!  Father Jonas who had dared to wound her was mere feet from her with no more flunkies to get in her way!

With allied turn seven, the raging dwarves finally routed.  All three of the little tikes.  Hard to do, as their leadership is very high, but they certainly put up a good fight and took their blows well.  This left only the Kislevites to hold the entire town, as most of the NPCs were also down.  Since the two remaining NPCs were important for the campaign, after some discussion we decided to have the Kislevites voluntarily route rather than try to hold out the two or three more turns that would probably be required before we hit the total of thirty on the scenario counter.   This would be punishing in terms of morale for the town and the bitten track, as their is a penalty of three morale for a town defense scenario rout, and the bitten dice bonus for the night is doubled.  But, we avoided the risk of our very important priest or scout NPCs being lost.

So, on to injury rolls.  Amazingly, despite the high number of allies taken out (around twelve to fourteen), there were only three fatalities:  all three town militiamen that had fallen defending the south wall.  Probably most of them were torn to pieces by Milagra, the most feral of the vampire mistresses.

Concluding the campaign turn, our Morale fell to about the halfway point, and the number of bitten townies jumped up to seven.  Morale at this point is the danger as far as losing the campaign goes.

View at Picasa Oh dear. After the rout. Bitten track higher, morale much lower.03-Dec-2011 17:59, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

For campaign turn five, we all agreed to spend the day phase recovering rather than push out on another coffin hunt.  For one thing, all of our rest actions the previous night were interrupted, so going out in the day would fatigue those warriors.  We decided to plot most of our heroes on the Train Militia action, to replace the three brave warrior citizens that had fallen the previous evening.

A boost to player moral occurred at the top of the night phase for turn five, as Sister Isolde returned in the wagon with armor, weapons, and even a Warrior Priest of Sigmar all acquired on her shopping trip.  We dug in for the night, hoping not to get hit a second time in a row.  The vampire night event card proved to be “Dark Studies”, which granted Strangulf three cards from the Necromantic Spells deck.  This deck contains campaign effects for him, such as altering the weather on a turn.  Probably trouble down the road for us, but not an attack on the town again or additional Influence Points for him in any of the game areas, so a sigh of relief from us at this draw.

For day six, we primarily allocated our player warriors to a Coffin Hunt at the “Bachmeir Baurenhoff” game area.  This location is dominated by a fortified farmstead, occupied by orc bandits, and has a historical problem with banshees from the Eerie downs and even a famous local banshee known as “Cold Margaret”.

I’ll just summarize this scenario .  Several of our models were taken out of action, but no fatalities, and it proved to be our most successful Coffin Hunt to date.  We divided into three groups, and each group was able to search several of the twelve coffins scattered throughout the board.  We staked our first minor vampire, which raised town moral for us by one point, and located and ruined one of Strangulf’s five coffins containing his native soil.  This is crucial, as to ultimately eliminate or drive off Strangulf to win the campaign, we have to be able to corner him.

The most dangerous opponent in this scenario was Cold Margaret herself, who blasted a Sister of Sigmar henchsister clean off a bridge and into the river.  The banshee wail power we are playing with is taken straight from warhammer, designed to inflict enough wounds to damage units, so directed at a single model it is entirely capable of eliminating a multi-wound hero in a single shot.  I’m considering weakening this power a bit for Mordheim / Empire in Flames, but for the moment we will keep it as is.  It certainly makes a banshee a model that alters your entire strategy for a scenario.

Below are the pics from the campaign, including KillMeNow the trollslayer’s despearate attempt to get stuck into the barricaded orcs before the scenario expired.

Rules posted hopefully within days, and another campaign report after our next play session (about a month, most likely).

Thanks for reading!

View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 22:22, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 22:22, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 23:01, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 23:02, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200
View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 23:02, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa Stamper directing missile fire.03-Dec-2011 23:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200
View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 23:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 23:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200
View at Picasa 03-Dec-2011 23:41, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa 04-Dec-2011 01:17, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa I'll do you!!!04-Dec-2011 01:42, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

View at Picasa The town of Nachtdorf!28-Oct-2011 23:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200

We began a new cooperative Mordheim campaign on Halloween weekend, very seasonally themed:  The Vampire Hunters.  It is really an Empire in Flames campaign, as it is set in southern Ostermark in and around a town named Nachtdorf, some miles from Mordheim.  The year is 2009, roughly a year before Vlad Von Carstein explodes upon the Empire from his stronghold in Sylvania.

The plot for the campaign is that the town hires several warbands from Mordheim to protect them from the forces of a powerful Sylvanian vampire who has recently made his nest near the World’s Edge mountains.  The civil war has left no central authority to help them.

There are two ways to win the campaign.  The players can slay Strangulf, the principal vampire, or they can force him to retreat from the area by locating and purifying the five coffins he brought with him to Ostermark that contain his native soil from the far East.  Players can lose the campaign in three ways:  More than twenty campaign turns expire, the morale of the town drops from ten to zero, or the number of townspeople or warriors bitten by vampires rises to thirty.  There are six game areas in the campaign where scenarios are played.

The campaign rules are written over the top of Empire in Flames mechanics, and combine roleplay, boardgame, and of course standard Mordheim skirmish styles of play.  I will try to get the rules and campaign accessories published to this blog by early December.  At this point, since we’ve just started the first play trial of the campaign, we are still making tweaks.

Map of Nachtdorf and Environs. Mordheim to the west off map. View at Picasa Map of Nachtdorf and Environs. Mordheim to the west off map.Canon CanoScan LiDE 70

During the first weekend we finished three and a half of the twenty possible campaign turns and played three skirmish scenarios.  I was playing Sisters of Sigmar, Mike Kingsbury Kislevites, and Michael Stamps Dwarf Treasure Hunters.

We played one prequel scenario.  As the warbands and a guide the town sent to hire us (Gustav, a kislevite spy and scout) reached Nachtdorf, we found the town under attack from the Vampire Forces.  I purposefully made this a light assault, to give the players a bit of a head start.  There was a catapult manned by a few grave guard, and a cairn wraith as the primary heavies.  The wraith proved the most dangerous of the opponents, taking several models out of action before warriors with magical weapons could be brought to bear on it.  The only fatality was a Dwarf henchman that was taken out of action by a warg on the back side of the town, fighting alongside Sisters.  The townspeople buried him respectfully on a small hill near the town.

For the first formal campaign turn, all the player warriors and town NPCs stayed in town.  Each turn is divided into a day phase and a night phase, and there are a number of actions that can be performed in the day to shore up the town’s defenses.  The players worked on repairing the town walls, training civilians to add to the town militia, and exploring the town and immediate area for supplies.  During the night, we hunkered down and guarded the town, with a few civilians waking up the next morning pale and lethargic (a couple of bitten).

More campaign turns follow the photo album spread!

Next »

View at Picasa The town of Nachtdorf!28-Oct-2011 23:40, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa The town of Nachtdorf, only brighter. Anti-vampire lamps deployed.28-Oct-2011 23:41, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 320	View at Picasa Introductory scenario, stone thrower included. Never got off a shot. Crypt wraith, proved dangerous28-Oct-2011 23:41, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.7, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa Three zombies try to decide if one of the town gates is edible.28-Oct-2011 23:41, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.7, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa Beating the crap out of the stonethrower crew.29-Oct-2011 00:43, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa Crypt wraith battle. There would be some out of actions on our side before that thing went down.29-Oct-2011 00:43, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa Same scene, different lighting. Almost looks real.... spooky. Notice Kislevite chasing Necromancer in the background, and what is probably a puddle of pee left behind by one of the warriors on the Cairn wraith, just to their right.29-Oct-2011 00:43, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa A shot made while tearing down Nachtdorf for reference. Have to put it back together again soon....29-Oct-2011 12:00, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.077 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa First campaign turn after intro scenario spent all in Nachtdorf29-Oct-2011 13:12, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.4, 4.9mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 200
View at Picasa First Coffin Hunt on day 2: Hugel Friedhof29-Oct-2011 13:44, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 160	View at Picasa Hugel Friedhof from another angle. Needs more trees next time.29-Oct-2011 12:18, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa And Hugel Friedhof from yet another angle.29-Oct-2011 12:18, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125
View at Picasa Lots of warriors resting at night29-Oct-2011 15:41, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.04 sec, ISO 200	View at Picasa Plotting second coffin hunt on the away board for day 3: Schattenwald29-Oct-2011 21:18, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa Using wound counters from another game for Worker Points29-Oct-2011 21:18, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
View at Picasa Second Coffin Hunt: Schattenwald, and a belly button29-Oct-2011 21:43, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 250	View at Picasa Schattenwald from another perspective. Less bellybuttonage.29-Oct-2011 21:43, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125	View at Picasa Light resistance near the bridge.29-Oct-2011 23:20, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.4, 4.9mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

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View at Picasa Heavy resistance near the bridge. Wolf leap proved entertaining!30-Oct-2011 00:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa Closer view of bridge fight; Seneschal in the back directing charge30-Oct-2011 00:58, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa 28-Oct-2011 23:39, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm
View at Picasa 28-Oct-2011 23:39, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm	View at Picasa 28-Oct-2011 23:39, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm	View at Picasa 28-Oct-2011 23:39, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm
View at Picasa 29-Oct-2011 16:19, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm	View at Picasa 29-Oct-2011 16:19, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm	View at Picasa 29-Oct-2011 17:30, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm
View at Picasa 30-Oct-2011 01:00, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm	View at Picasa 30-Oct-2011 01:00, Motorola MOTWX435KT, 4.31mm	View at Picasa Map of Nachtdorf and Environs. Mordheim to the west off map.Canon CanoScan LiDE 70

During the day of the second campaign turn, a mix of player warriors from all three warbands went to a nearby hillside cemetery, Hugel Friedhof, where our Kislevite scout Gustav believed one of Strangulf’s coffins might be squirreled away.  The party had its first encounter with one of the Vampire Forces Heroes during this outing, Bonecaller, Strangulf’s chief necromancer.  A Coffin Hunt scenario has twelve coffins on the board, which may be empty, contain treasure, or contain a sleeping vampire.  One could even be one of Strangulf’s coffins, and even if he is not sleeping in it, that allows the players the opportunity to ruin one of his resting spots.

The party would manage to search four coffins, with only a few models taken out of action, before time expired on the Coffin Hunt.  A minor vampire was found sleeping in a coffin, but the press of monsters in the area did not afford the players an opportunity to stake the creature through the heart.  Bonecaller was taken out of action, however, and suffered an injury to his hand that will lower his weapon skill in future encounters.

Vampire Hunters includes some new items and random treasure tables.  In addition to the standard Empire in Flames “Treasures” (the equivalent of wyrdstone), players may find items or cold hard cash during exploration or as scenario rewards.  After the first coffin hunt, one of the highlights of the weekend was the discovery of a random magical weapon:  A Squig Herder of Light.  After some speculation amongst the heroes as to what this could possibly have been used for, the decision was made to be sure to handle it with gloves and sell it at the first opportunity.

On the third day, the party went on another Coffin Hunt to a ruined town in a nearby forest, Schattenwald.  In addition to undead, this area is infested with web spitting giant spiders.  The party found four civilians had been offered by Strangulf as a bribe to get the spiders completely on his side, and had an opportunity to rescue those civilians in addition to searching coffins during the scenario.

While two of the civilians would be rescued, intense fighting resulted in the players routing with five models out of action.  Fortunately there were no fatalities, just a minor nervous condition for Sister Hildegard, one of the Sisters of Sigmar heroes.  Four coffins were explored, and some treasure discovered, but no sleeping vampires.

The fourth day was spent entirely in town, shoring up defenses again and sending Sister Isolde to the local town of Burgenhof to shop for common items and a hired sword.  A shopping trip action takes two campaign turns to complete, so Sister Isolde will not return with her purchases until the night phase of the fifth campaign turn.

At the end of the weekend, the vampire’s “Influence Points” in the area totaled four.  Two in Schattenwald, one in Hugel Friedhof, and one in Bachmeir Baurenhof (a nearby farmstead with both an orc bandits and a banshee problem).  The Influence mechanic reflects the vampire’s growing presence in the region.  When he reaches three influence in a campaign area, he gains an especially powerful ally.  In addition, as influence grows the monsters in scenarios become more numerous and powerful.

The number of bitten at the end of the weekend was only two out of thirty, so that aspect of the game is well in hand at this point.  Town morale is still quite good, at nine, having lowered only one point due to the coffin hunt route on turn three.

Next play session hopefully in December, beginning with the night phase of turn four.

by Michael Weaver

Micheal has worked up and play-tested a new warband for Mordheim, allowing pirates from different Warhammer races to be included in the same crew!  Enjoy!

View at Picasa 26-May-2010 20:30, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.9, 6.5mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 200

The maximum size of a Free Brotherhood Warband is 15.

Special Rules:

A Mongrel Lot: If the Free Brotherhood warband has more than one race in it, then before each game the Captain must make a leadership check.  If he fails, roll 2d6 on the table below:

2 – 3    Gimme it now, you poxed weevil! The Free Brothers brawl among themselves.  Randomly determine d3 members of the warband (excluding the Captain); those members of the band miss the next game, recovering from their wounds.

4 – 5    Well, I hope we all learned a lesson here.  The Captain had to act quickly to prevent a brawl.  Randomly choose one crewman (henchman); that crewman misses the next game while recovering from the captain’s “lesson”.

6 – 7   We’re not bleedin’ waiting any longer – move out! Randomly choose d3 crewmen (henchmen).  These crewmen are not deployed on the board at the start of the game.  Each turn, the Free Brotherhood player rolls individually for each of the slackers to see if he shows up.  On the first turn, a roll of 6 indicates that crewman has shown up, on the second turn a 5+ indicates the slacker in question arrives, on the third turn a 4+ indicates an arrival, etc.  Each of the slackers will appear on the edge of the board in the Free Brotherhood’s deployment zone when he finally does show up.  No rum rations for these lads for a week!

8 – 9   Good party.  Time to work, now.  The warband drank a week’s worth of rum last night.  Warband members cannot run on the first d3 turns of the game.  (A vampire captain is excluded from this penalty, although his crew are not!).

10 – 11  No Effect

12    Right – we’ll see about that! Two members of the warband have a bet going as to which of them is them deadliest killer.  Randomly choose two crewmen (henchmen); these crewmen are +1 WS and +1 attack until one of them takes an enemy out of action, or until one of them is taken out of action.  If one of the two wins the bet by taking an enemy out of action, that crewman receives +1 experience point at the end of the game, and if he earns an advancement roll he may adjust that roll by -1/+1.

HEROES

Captains

The warband must have one captain, chosen from the options below.  All captains have the Leadership special ability, and start with 20 experience points.

Vampire Captain (110 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

6      4       4       4        4        2       5      2       8

Special Rules: Cause Fear; Immune to Psychology; Immune to Poison; No Pain

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Academic, Strength, Speed

Weapon options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet.

Reiklander Captain (60 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       4       3       3         1       4      1      8

Special Rules: Leadership range of 12”; human crewmembers, including heroes, can be equipped with longbows

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Academic, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, longbow, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Marienburger Captain (60 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       4       3       3         1       4      1      8

Special Rules: The Captain’s starting equipment costs only 80% of the standard price; always add 10% to the amount the warband receives for selling shards; the captain adds +1 to his search roll for rare items.

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Academic, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet.

Middenheimer Captain (60 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       4       4       3         1       4      1      8

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Academic, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Tilean Captain (60 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       4       3       3         1       4      1      8

Special Rules:  Human crewmembers, including heroes, can be equipped with rapiers and crossbows

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Academic, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, rapier (15 gc), double-handed weapon, crossbow, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Bretonnian Captain (60 Gold Crowns to Hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       3       4        3        1       4      1       8

Special Rules: Pays only half price for starting armor

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, axe, sword, mace, double-handed weapon, longbow, crossbow

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Dwarf Captain (85 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

3      5       4       3       4        1        2      1       9

Special Rules: Hard to Kill, Hard Head, Armor

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Strength

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, dwarven axe (15 gc), sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Orc Captain (80 Gold Crowns to Hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       4       4        4        1       3      1      8

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, club, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Dark Elf Captain (80 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

5      5        4      3       3         1       6      1       9

Special Rules: Excellent sight; won’t use black powder weapons

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Academic, Shooting, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, repeater crossbow (40 gc), crossbow pistol (35 gc)

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

First Mates

View at Picasa 26-May-2010 20:31, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.9, 6.5mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200

Free Brotherhood warbands can have one first mate, and no more.  Choose from the following options.

Reiklander First Mate (8 experience; 35 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       3       3       3         1       3      1      7

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Strength

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, longbow, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Marienburger First Mate (8 experience; 35 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       3       3       3         1       3      1      7

Special Rules: The First Mate’s starting equipment costs only 80% of the standard price; he adds +1 to his search roll for rare items.

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Middenheimer First Mate (8 experience; 35 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       3       4        3       1        3      1      7

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, bow.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Tilean First Mate (8 experience; 35 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       3       3       3         1       4      1      7

Special Rules:  None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, sword, rapier (15 gc), double-handed weapon, bow, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor options: light armor, shield, helmet

Bretonnian first mate (8 experience; 30 Gold Crowns to Hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      3       3       3        3        1       3      1       7

Special Rules: Pays only half price for starting armor

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Strength, Speed

Weapon Options: dagger, axe, sword, mace, double-handed weapon, longbow, crossbow

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Dwarf First Mate (12 experience; 55 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

3      4       3       3       4        1        2      1       9

Special Rules: You cannot have a Dwarf First Mate if the Captain is an Orc; Hard to Kill, Hard Head, Armor

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Strength

Weapon Options: dagger, mace, hammer, axe, dwarven axe (15 gc), sword, double-handed weapon, pistol, dueling pistol.

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Orc First Mate (15 experience; 40 Gold Crowns to Hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4       3       3        4        1       3      1      7

Special Rules: You cannot have an Orc First Mate if the Captain is a Dwarf.

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Shooting, Strength

Weapon Options: dagger, club, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, bow, pistol.

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Dark Elf First Mate (12 experience; 45 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

5      5        4      3       3         1       6      1       8

Special Rules: Excellent sight; won’t use black powder weapons

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, Combat, Speed, Shooting

Weapon Options: dagger, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, repeater crossbow, crossbow pistol

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Cabin Boys

View at Picasa 26-May-2010 20:30, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 4.4, 9.5mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 200

Free Brotherhood warbands can have a maximum of two cabin boys, and no more.  All cabin boys start with zero experience.  Choose from the following options.

Human Cabin Boy (15 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      2        2      3        3        1       3      1       6

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, combat, shooting, speed

Weapon Options: dagger, axe, sword, double-handed weapon, bow, pistol

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Goblin Cabin Boy (15 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4       2       3       3       3        1        3      1       5

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, combat, shooting, speed

Weapon Options: dagger, club, sword, shortbow, pistol

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

Halfling Cabin Boy (20 Gold Crowns to hire)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      2       4       2       2         1       4      1      8

Special Rules: None

Skill Lists: Free Brotherhood, combat, shooting, speed

Weapon Options: dagger, axe, sword, club, bow, pistol

Armor Options: light armor, shield, helmet

HENCHMEN

All henchmen start with zero experience points.  Crewmen may be equipped with weapons and armor chosen from the Crewman Equipment List.

0-10 Human Crewman

25 Gold Crowns to hire

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      3       3       3        3       1        3     1        7

0-3* Dwarf Crewman

40 Gold Crowns to hire

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      4        3      3        4        1       2      1       9

*Adjusted as follows: +2 if the Captain is a Dwarf; +1 if the First Mate is a Dwarf; -1 if the Captain is an Orc

Note: Dwarf crew benefit from the Hard to Kill, Hard Head, and Armor Special rules

0-3* Orc Crewman

30? Gold Crowns to hire (Orc Boyz cost 25, the same as human warriors [crew]– but have +1T)

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      3       3       3        4       1        3      1       7

* Adjusted as follows: +2 if the Captain is an Orc; +1 if the First Mate is an Orc; -1 if the Captain is a Dwarf

0-3 Goblin Crewman

15 Gold Crowns to hire

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

4      2       3       3        3        1       3      1       5

Note: A goblin who becomes a hero by rolling “The Lad’s Got Talent” cannot choose the strength skill list as one of his lists.

0-2* Dark Elf Crewmen

35 Cold Crowns to hire

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

5      4       4       3       3         1       6      1       8

*Adjusted as follows: +2 if the Captain is a Dark Elf; +1 if the First Mate is a Dark Elf.

0-2 Skaven Crewmen

20 Gold Crowns to Hire

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

5      3       3       3        3        1       4      1       5

0-1 Ogre Crewmen

160 Gold Crowns to Hire

M   WS    BS    Str     To    Wds    In    At    Ldr

6      3       2       4        4       3        3      2       7

Special Rules: Large Creature, and Causes Fear; earns experience as normal as a henchman, but if promoted to hero by a “The Lad’s Got Talent” roll, counts as Dim Witted (takes twice as many experience to earn subsequent improvement rolls). If promoted, he can only take the combat and strength skill lists.

Crewmen Equipment list

Item                          Cost

Axe                             5 gc

Club/Mace/Hammer  3 gc

Dagger                       2 gc

Sword                      10 gc

Bow                         10 gc

Blunderbuss             30 gc

Handgun                  35 gc

Pistol/brace             15 gc/30 gc

Short Bow                5 gc

Throwing Knives   15 gc Rare 5

Buckler                    5 gc

Helmet                   10 gc

Light Armour         20 gc

Shield                       5 gc

Free Brotherhood Skills

Black Powder Expert: the hero can use any blackpowder weapons (not available to Dark Elf heroes).

Sail Monkey: the hero counts as if he had +1 point of initiative for purposes of climb, jump down, diving charge and jumping over gaps checks.

by Michael Weaver

“So Lieutenant, you and your… men …can be very useful to me.  Your ogre in particular looks formidable.”   The fat merchant looked exceedingly confident.

“Albrecht”, András replied.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The ogre – he calls himself ‘Albrecht’.” András explained.

The fat merchant shrugged off the information impatiently.  “Why would an ogre call himself ‘Albrecht’?”

To András, who was seriously considering killing the fat merchant, the question seemed rhetorical, but he answered it anyway.  “He thinks it makes him seem smarter.”

“No matter Lieu – no, Captain Vadász – I need your services and I will pay exceedingly well.”  The promotion, the fat merchant seemed to think, would seal the bargain.

András contemplated his options.  It seemed improbable the fat merchant would be much of a threat in a fight, but he had brought two bodyguards with him to the tavern – a seedy middle-aged sailor who looked like he’d weathered one too many storms, and a competent-looking young woman. András had seen them both around, but had never had any dealings with them.  They stood slightly behind and to the right of their employer.  They were paying more attention to András’s crew than to András and the fat merchant – the old guy, like the fat merchant, seemed fascinated by Albrecht, where he sat at a table by himself, diligently polishing some rust off the old anchor he liked to use as a club.  The young woman, however, focused more on the table where Skaggi Clanlorn and Buckle set; whether she considered them a greater threat, or was bemused by the absurdity of a dwarf and a goblin playing Dead Man’s Eyes, András couldn’t tell.  The important thing was that none of them were paying attention to Jam Pot – the little halfling sat by himself at a table behind and to the left of the fat merchant, noisily slurping soup and munching on a steak of unknown provenance.  His pistol, András knew, was underneath the napkin that seemed carelessly bunched on the table.

The fat merchant abhorred silence.  “Come, Captain – I know you are without a ship or employment at the moment, and I can see you are not a man to let an opportunity for wealth and adventure pass you by!”  He waved his mug and smiled encouragingly – and a bit smugly – at András.

“Yes”, mused András aloud, “The Luminous Leiterdorf Lass did sail without us.  Rather suddenly, in fact.  Word is, a wealthy fat man from Marienburg paid them to rush some cargo for him – a bonus if they left before the dawn.”

The fat merchant actually looked pleased at András’s comment. “Yes, that was me.  Quite so.  I did have a cargo I needed shipped immediately, and I knew you and your men would be much happier working for me.  Captain Leitner is a drunk and a fool, I understand – you would have had a miserable voyage as his first mate.”

Captain Leitner, András reflected, was indeed a drunk and a fool, and András had estimated it would have taken only a few days to convince Leitner’s long-suffering crew to accept him as their new captain – for one thing, he had planned on promising that his first act as captain would be changing the ship’s name.  Alas, fate, in the form of the fat merchant, had intervened. András had a healthy respect for fate.  Less so, for fat merchants.  Especially fat, meddlesome merchants.

The fat merchant smiled and elaborated on his plans for András and his boys.  “You’ve heard about Mordheim, I’m sure.  Struck down in its glory – and its sin – by the hand of Sigmar himself.  Everyone slain.  Yet, there is life in the city again. Unclean – unholy - things, they say.  Those marked by Chaos, and corruption.  Some say the dead walk the streets.  But living men, uncorrupted men, dare enter the ruins. Desperate men.  Outlaws. Adventurers. They seek the wealth of the city, lying there for brave men to pick up where it lies scattered” (in his enthusiasm, the fat merchant seemed to have forgotten that András‘s men were a dwarf, an ogre, a goblin, and a halfling). “I can finance such men.  Indeed, for the men I employ, wealth is even more readily at hand.  My Uncle lived in Mordheim.  A very, very wealthy man – even by my standards”, the fat merchant gave a smug little chuckle. “I have a map of the city – it will lead you to his house.  I can tell you where his strongboxes are hidden – too well concealed for casual looters to find, but you and your men could find them with ease.  A day’s work, my friend!  And then you’ll have enough money to purchase, outfit, and crew your own ship, if you wish.  I might even be willing to invest in your venture, to hire you to ship some of my goods for your maiden voyage!” The fat merchant smiled again, confidently, and waited for András’s acceptance.

“Naming a city Mordheim was asking for it” Andras replied, “about as intelligent as naming a ship the Slow Leaky Deathtrap”.  He sighed.  Options. András made his choice.  He ran his right hand through his hair, which was the signal Jam Pot had been watching for.  Up came the halfling’s pistol, and off went a decent chunk of the fat merchant’s head. András, not surprisingly, reacted faster than the body guards and had both covered with his pistols before they could draw their weapons.  Skaggi, Buckle and Albrecht leapt to their feet, ready to deal with the guards if necessary. Albrecht, in particular, was quite effective at looming.  The guards froze, being considerably smarter than their former employer.

“Jam, see if he has a map”.

The halfling found the hidden map in the second place he looked only because he pried off the wrong boot heel first. “How original. Yup, Captain.  Map of a city.  Big red circle around a building.  That what you want?”

Mordheim.  Death’s home.  Perhaps, opportunity. András eyed the fat merchant’s guards over the barrels of his pistols. “Are you two looking for work?” he asked.

Nose Ring vs. Lip RIng View at Picasa Nose Ring vs. Lip RIng27-Mar-2010 14:50, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 4.2, 8.2mm, 0.077 sec, ISO 200

Musings on Short Bearded Warbands

Tips for Playing Dwarf Treasure Hunters in Mordheim

by Michael Weaver

Their weaknesses:

• Slow movement. Nothing you can do about it really.
• Low initiative. Go with the flow and give two-handed weapons to anyone who can pack one – if you’re always gonna go last in a melee, go last with gusto! Used to be you could give them spears so they could belly-stick all those speedy show-offs as they came in on the charge, but alas no more with the officially revised rules for spears. Note that buying two-handed weapons for everyone is a bit pricey.
• Only four starting heroes: It gets better. Shard-wise they make out fine, but they get fewer cool multiple rolls early on.
• Two of the four heroes don’t benefit from many of the dwarf strengths: specifically, the two Slayers cannot wear any armor and cannot pack any of the extra-long range missile weapons the engineer provides. This weakness never goes away. However, it effectively diminishes over time since once you have two promoted henchmen-heroes, they can carry missile weapons and wear armor so the weird slayers are only 1/3 of your hero compliment, not 1/2.
• Expensive models: You receive excellent value for your gold – Dwarfs have great stats and special racial abilities – but your starting warband will be smaller than average (no pun intended).

Their strengths:

• They can wear heavy armor, pack shields, and still move 3. They become tanks. It’s pretty cool. But all that heavy armor is expensive, so it takes time for this advantage to truly manifest itself.
• Toughness 4 + the “Hard to Kill” rule (OOA only on a 6) = stubby immortals. Together, these rules make them some of the most durable warriors in the game. They may not earn as much experience early on as other warbands (because of their speed), but they also lose very few guys they have to replace, so it adds up. To repeat – you are far less likely to have to replace dead Heroes in a campaign, especially if you take the Dwarf Racial skill Extra Tough, which lets you reroll a result on the Serious Injury table.
• They always find an extra shard. So, even when they have only four heroes they do fine for money, and with five and especially with six heroes, they are going to be rolling in gold. Note also the four starting Heroes can all take the Resource Hunter special skill, which gives them the Elf Ranger ability of adding +/-1 to their die roll on the Exploration chart.  Over time, Dwarf warbands tend to become seriously rich.
• They have some useful special skills. True for the general Dwarf skills and the Slayer skills. I have already mentioned Extra Tough and Resource Hunter, but there are several other really good skills.  For example, the Slayer skill Berserker combined with the Slayer’s WS of 4 means there are a lot of targets he will hit on a roll of 2+.
• Good leadership. When the captain goes Out of Action, nobody really notices… Even the little Beardlings have a leadership of 8, the same as most human captains.
• Long-range missile weapons. Gotta love the engineer. 36-inch range crossbows and 9-inch range pistols is a Good Thing.  Dueling Pistols (one of the best weapons in the game) have their range increased to 13 inches.

Dwarves vs. Orcs and a Beer View at Picasa Dwarves vs. Orcs and a Beer27-Mar-2010 14:51, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.8, 6.2mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 200

The Weaknesses vs. Strengths Balance:

In my experience, Dwarven strengths outweigh their weaknesses, and the longer the Dwarf warband runs, the more their strengths manifest themselves.  And that is the important point to keep in mind: they are slow (hah!) to start in a campaign because they only have four starting heroes and under-perform in snatch-and-run campaigns, but they become exceedingly powerful (and rich!) over time.

Building a Dwarf Warband.

Heroes.

You have to take all four, obviously (you always take the maximum number of starting Heroes for any warband.  Always).

For the Noble, sometimes I buy the cheap Gromril armor, sometimes not.  Starting out, it is only 25 gc more than heavy armor, for the +1 point of armor save. However, the other benefit of Gromril armor (can be used with a shield without slowing a warrior down) is lost on Dwarfs, who are never slowed by armor. So, a good buy still, but with all Dwarf models being so expensive, it might be better to scrape and save on kit to buy more Henchmen (and the more henchies you start with, the more chances you have to roll The Lad’s Got Talent).

For the Engineer, I pretty consistently go with a crossbow and a hand weapon (hammer or axe) and have him hang back and snipe (so, no pistol). Now as he develops I usually add pistolier and eagle eyes and gift him with dueling pistols, at which point he will more consistently hunt with the pack.

For the Slayers, I usually go with one with a two-handed weapon for the +2 Str and the other the other has a dwarven axe and a mace or hammer (I can never decide which configuration is better, hence one of each; it also makes it easier to remember which slayer is which).

In terms of Henchmen, I usually have a mix of Clansmen and Thunderers.  I never take Beardlings – the more expensive Clansmen and Thunderers have +1 WS, +1 BS, and +1Ld compared to the Beardlings, which is a steal for 15 gold coins, if you ask me.  Going with Beardlings might allow you to make your starting warband one or two stunties bigger, but be patient – you are going to max out you numbers soon enough, so start with the better Henchmen (who, when promoted, will also make the better Heroes).

Stat-wise, Thunderers and Clansmen are identical – the difference is in the kit they can take. Thunderers cannot take dwarf axes or two-handed weapons (booo!), and Clansmen cannot take crossbows (or, for that matter, handguns, but who cares about the handguns? -editor:  argh!  the poor handgun, take pity on it!)  In my first couple of Dwarf warbands I started exclusively with Thunderers, but later I realized how effective short pissed-off Dwarfs swinging two-handed weapons at people’s kneecaps were.  Now I generally go with a mix.  By the way – if you have a Clansman who earns a promotion to Hero, consider giving him the shooting skills as one of his two skill groups, because if he takes hunter, he can use any missile weapon and thus becomes extremely versatile; similarly, if you have a Thunderer promoted, consider allowing him access to the combat skills so he can take weapons training.

Dwarf Treasure Hunters are a great warband – just be patient.

-finis

“Ok, everybody say ‘cut them off at the knees!’” View at Picasa “Ok, everybody say ‘cut them off at the knees!’”27-Mar-2010 14:35, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200

Thanks for the tips, Michael!  Below are some glamor shots for the individual Dwarfs I just finished painting.  Hopefully they will use some of the tips above and fare well in an upcoming campaign!

Argh! Trollslayer! View at Picasa Argh! Trollslayer!27-Mar-2010 14:03, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Trollslayer (pretend you don’t see armor) View at Picasa Dwarf Trollslayer (pretend you don’t see armor)27-Mar-2010 14:09, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Clansman View at Picasa Dwarf Clansman27-Mar-2010 14:09, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100
Dwarf Clansman View at Picasa Dwarf Clansman27-Mar-2010 14:10, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Thunderer View at Picasa Dwarf Thunderer27-Mar-2010 14:10, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Engineer View at Picasa Dwarf Engineer27-Mar-2010 14:11, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100
Dwarf Clansman View at Picasa Dwarf Clansman27-Mar-2010 14:11, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Thunderer View at Picasa Dwarf Thunderer27-Mar-2010 14:12, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Thunderer View at Picasa Dwarf Thunderer27-Mar-2010 14:12, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100
Dwarf Clansman View at Picasa Dwarf Clansman27-Mar-2010 14:12, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Clansman View at Picasa Dwarf Clansman27-Mar-2010 14:13, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	Dwarf Noble View at Picasa Dwarf Noble27-Mar-2010 14:13, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 100
Dwarf Campaign marker View at Picasa Dwarf Campaign marker27-Mar-2010 14:14, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

]]> http://hobbyblog.wargameweaver.com/mordheim/playing-a-dwarf-treasure-hunters-mordheim-warband/feed 0 http://hobbyblog.wargameweaver.com/mordheim/the-dwarven-double-barrelled-pistol http://hobbyblog.wargameweaver.com/mordheim/the-dwarven-double-barrelled-pistol#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:59:34 +0000 Jim Weaver http://hobbyblog.wargameweaver.com/?p=204 [...]]]> A new weapon for your Dwarf Treasure Hunters to try out!  Click through for rules.

Dwarf Noble battles Orc Shaman View at Picasa Dwarf Noble battles Orc Shaman13-Mar-2010 19:07, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.5, 5.2mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200

Stamper will be playing Dwarf Treasure Hunters in an upcoming Mordheim campaign, so recently I was going through my pile of unpainted and unassembled minis to scrounge some figures up for them.  Most of the lot is Citadel 80s Dwarves (awsome figures), but I broke open my Skull Pass boxed set to see if there were any good candidates hiding in those sprues.  I didn’t like the Dwarf sprues much in that set, but one bit I really liked was the double-barreled pistol that the Dwarf hero in that set is sporting.  Since I didn’t like the Dwarf himself much (the latest GW plastic Dwarves pale in comparison to the old Citadel figures), I figured a conversion was in order.

“Snip”!  Off came the neato pistol from the clunky-cartoony plastic Dwarf, and “saw, saw, pin, glue, green-stuff” later I had a nice plastic double-barrelled pistol welded to a Citadel 80′s Dwarf miniature.  But with such a neat looking pistol, surely we cannot treat it as just a standard Mordheim pistol!  So, below the pics are rules for such a custom pistol!

Dwarf Noble with Double Barrel Pistol View at Picasa Dwarf Noble with Double Barrel Pistol13-Mar-2010 18:42, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 4.1, 7.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 100

Dwarf Noble side view View at Picasa Dwarf Noble side view13-Mar-2010 18:44, Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 3.3, 4.6mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

The Dwarven Double-Barreled Pistol

Cost: 30 g.c. (60 for brace);  Rarity: 11

Maximum Range: 6″, Strength: 4

Special Rules: Prepare shot, Save modifier, Hand-to-hand, One extra shot

The Dwarven Double-Barreled Pistol is added to the equipment list for both Dwarf Warriors and Thunderers.  It may be purchased by a starting warband at its normal price but without rarity check, as normal.  It has the standard pistol special rules “Save modifier” (-2) and “Prepare shot” (fires every other turn).   A brace allows one shot per turn as normal.

One extra shot:  Once per game, a Dwarven Double-Barreled Pistol allows one extra shot during either a shooting phase or close combat phase.  If equipped with a brace, two extra shots are allowed (one per pistol) during the game and may be taken at the same time if desired.  This extra shot is always in addition to shots normally allowed, and thus stacks on top of any skills allowing extra shots.  The extra shot may be taken at the same target or at a different target if used during a shooting phase.  If used during close combat, the extra shot must go at the same model as the normal shot for the pistol (unless normal shot is unavailable due to use in prior round).