Wyvern Hunting

The news of the lost band of elves in Mordheim caused concern in the ranks of the Shadow Warrior. Another band of Shadow Warriors scouting on the edges of Sylvania were commanded to enter Mordheim to investigate and to report back on the growing influence of chaos. The victory of chaos also rippled through the followers of chaos. The rotten god, Nurgle, was pleased with the success and blessed the marauder chieftain with his rancid mark. He has seen Mordheim as an opportunity to strengthen his grip on the world and so has sent his carnival of chaos into the city. The days are growing darker indeed.

The promise of riches and power is tempting but still out of reach for those warbands in Mordheim. Therefore news of a monster (and its treasure) was too much to resist. The Marauders of Chaos (LS) and the Carnival of Chaos (JF) joined forces to hunt for this beast for Nurgle's glory. The blood god, Khorne, was not about to let Nurgle get an easy victory and sent his Beastmen Raiders (NG's Khorneflakes *face palm*) to claim the victory for himself. They came across the ragged band of Reiklanders (BN) and 'convinced' the humans to help them. The threat of Nurgle temporarily outweighed the desire for further bloodshed but in the end it is an alliance in name only. Meanwhile the Shadow Elves (MD) saw an opportunity to extract revenge on the forces of chaos who slaughtered their brethren. They swallowed their pride and approached the Dwarf Treasure Hunters (AR) for an alliance. The lure of treasure was enough for the dwarfs to agree to the deal.

Set Up
This game was a two-versus-two-versus-two battle. The warbands in each of the three allied teams moved simultaneously with their fellow warband to save time. The scenario was Monster Hunt from the 'Chaos on the Streets' article found in the Mordheim Annual 2002 and was played on a  6' x 4' table. The type of monster was unknown until the first encounter.

Round 1
The Carnival convinced the Marauders to take out the humans first before focusing on the monster. (JF didn't realise that the victory condition was simply to kill the monster and have no enemies within 6" of the lair. He thought that the other warbands had to be routed.) The followers of Nurgle advanced towards the humans.

The four Reiklander Marksmen formed a defensive line on the nearby hill. Meanwhile the Captain, Kristof, with a Champion, Bo, advanced forward towards the lair while the other Champion, Jo, headed towards a nearby hut with an intact roof. The Beastmen remembered the delicacy of elven guts and headed towards the four elves who were defending the second floor of a nearby building. The Shaman, Grox Farsight, used his Wings of Darkness to dart ahead into the complete open.

The nimble elves climbed up top of the walls on the roofless building and spotted the advancing beastmen. The dwarfs down below also lined up the shaman in their sights. It was obvious that Grox Farsight had already seen this part of the battle previously and not one of the two arrows nor three bolts touched him.

Round 2
The Marauders half-heartedly moved forward while the Carnival advanced with determination. The performers could not avoid coming into view of the Marksmen. Two heroes (a Strongman and a Tainted One) fell in quick succession. The Champion, Jo, came to the dreadful realisation that the hut would be difficult to climb after losing his footing on his first attempt.

Grox Farsight flew up to charge one of the elves on the top of the two-story building. A second elf nearby charged in to assist his comrade. The three warriors danced upon the narrow wall trading blows. Grox's wings obviously gave him the ability to balance better than expected for a beastman.

The remaining beastmen and the dwarfs enter the building from opposite ends.

Round 3
The Marauders realised that they should not divide their forces and rush forward in support of the Carnival. Three warhounds of chaos advance towards Campion Jo and move into the open space to draw fire away from the other warriors. A single warhound is lost. Jo starts to get desperate but fails to climb up again.

Meanwhile, the beastmen finally engage the dwarfs in battle on the first floor of the elves' starting building. Two warhounds of chaos for the beastmen are quickly taken out of action. The shaman, Grox Farsight, takes out one of the elves before the elf, Cúel, takes Grox out of  the battle.

Round 4
The Marauders and Carnival finally realise that victory lies with the monster and its loot rather than fighting the other warbands. (BN reads the scenario rules for victory out loud again and JF and LS realise that if they move quickly to defeat the monster then they might be able to win while the dwarfs, elves and beastmen are locked in battle. LS tells JF "I told you so".) They head to the opening of the monster's lair. A warhound of chaos charges the Champion, Bo, who is saved by a lucky charm. The last Strongman for the Carnival attempts to charge the Champion, Jo, but misjudges the distance and fails. Jo finally climbs to safety.

Unfortunately the Khornflakes voluntarily rout leaving the Reiklanders without an 'ally' (not that the beastmen were of much use as allies anyway). Kristof the Reiklander Captain counter charges the warhound of chaos attacking Bo. The Reiklander marksmen let off another deadly volley of bolts and scored a head shot to instantly kill Hannibal, the Carnival Master, while also taking the Freak out of action (the Marauders' Condemned hero).

Free of the beastmen, the dwarfs and the elves set their sights on the monster's lair. The three remaining elves climb down although on loses his footing and falls. He is only knocked down but one of the dwarfs comments to his fellow clansman that it was like "watching a leaf fall to the ground and hurt itself". Both warbands are unable to get close to the lair though.

Round 5
The monster charges forth into the Marauder Chieftain and is revealed as a young wyvern. The wyvern fails to injure the chieftain who was blessed by Nurgle after the previous battle and is now Toughness 6. The chieftain retaliates and gets a lucky master strike to wound the wyvern twice.

The appearance of the wyvern and the lost of  their Carnival Master is too much for the rest of the Carnival who routs. The Marauders realise that they only have a brief period of time before the dwarfs and elves approach the lair and calls out for an alliance with the Reiklanders which is greatly accepted. The remaining Marauders charge into the wyvern and one of the Marauder Champions also scores a master strike to take the wyvern out of action. The battle is won by the Marauders and the Reiklanders.

Aftermath
The alliance between the Marauders, Carnival and Reiklanders was surprisingly honoured and the young wyrven's hoard was shared. The forces of chaos must have been wary of the line of marksmen who had them in their crossbow sights. Three shards of wyrdstone was found and split evenly between the warbands. After that the Marauders were satisfied with a suit of Heavy Armour and the skull of the wyvern to put on the mantle in their cave or something. The Carnival scored a suit of Light Armour, a Sword and 30 gold crowns while the  Reiklanders found a Shield and 25 gold crowns. It appears that a sword that was also found was misplaced while the goods were being split up between the warbands.

During exploration the Marauders found a Fletcher (3 3 3) but the only item of worth was a bow which no one knew how to use. They also found another 4 shards of wyrdstone. The Carnival found a Straggler (4 4) which was sacrifice to initiate their new leader, one of the Strongmen. It is not yet sure whether the Strongman is talented enough to lead the Carnival and there are rumours that this may have been their final performance. They also found a Jewelled Sword and Dagger in an Overturned Card (5 5) and 4 shards of wyrdstone. The Reiklanders forgot that they had a map of Mordheim to help them and only found 2 gold crowns in a Ruined Hovel (6 6) along with 4 shards of wyrdstone. The Beastmen found 3 shards of wyrdstone and 1 gold crown and a Lucky Charm in a Shop (2 2). The dwarfs freed some Prisoners (3 3 3) and surprisingly one was a young dwarf who agreed to join the warband alongside another Beardling. The elves quickly melted back into the shadows and it is not known if they found anything of note.

A New Year and a New Games

Our BTB campaign unfortunately fizzled without any result. However, we have learnt some lessons about running campaigns that we will be able to apply in the future.

We have started our next Mordheim campaign now that 2012 is upon us. This time we have started with a simple, muck-around campaign without Campaign Points or any way of determining an overall winner. We are also focusing on using mainly the official rules together with our house rules and the content from Liber Malefic. We just want to play Mordheim!

The first game of the campaign was a muli-player Treasure Hunt scenario (from Chaos on the Streets / Town Cryer 5). JF decided to give Undead a try. BN played Osterlander Mercenaries and set up opposite to JF on the table. AF (in her first Mordheim campaign) played Skaven and had no choice but to set up on a table edge between JF and BN.

Round 1
The skaven moved first and began scurrying towards a three story building close to the centre of the table. Every warrior had a sling and they were eager to barricade themselves in safety. The undead moved to cover behind buildings and began skirting around behind the skaven. The mercenaries split up sending Brother Benedict (a Priest of Taal who started with the Earthshudder spell) and two henchmen towards the building that the skaven were fast approaching and the rest of the force (the heroes and the ogre) to try to gather wyrdstone.

Round 2
The skaven had reached the building in their second turn and used the ropes to get two warriors up to the top and one gained some wyrdstone. The undead inched closer to the skaven careful to stay in cover. A ghoul picked up a piece of wyrdstone. Brother Benedict and his two cousins also carefully moved closer to the skaven.

Round 3
The Eshin sorceror (with the Gnawdoom spell) and some verminkin moved out of the building in preparation to take on the undead while another pair darted out towards to shards of wyrdstone in the centre of the table. The vampire left the cover and safety of his warband and charged the exposed sorceror surprising the ratmen but failed to land any hits. The sorceror then proceeded to knock the vampire down. The rest of the undead moved towards the skaven as quick as they could (not very quick) while the mercenaries continued to move around the table (a henchman and the ogre both gained wyrdstone).

Round 4
Extra ratmen spewed forth from building and charged the vampire and a verminkin took it out of action while other skaven pelted the undead warriors with stones to little effect. The two skaven who were sent out to collect the wyrdstone were both successful. In retaliation for the demise of their leader, the ghouls charged the closest verminkin. Brother Benedict also broke out from cover and ran forward to successfully cast Earthshudder on the skaven's stronghold. After the dust settled, the only effect was that the skaven assassin adept had been knocked down while the other two skaven left in the building were unaffected.

Round 5
The destruction of the building gave the skaven free movement to charge all warriors forward. Brother Benedict was then charged by a black skaven who like the vampire was ineffective in close combat despite the priest not being combat oriented. The fray between the skaven and undead was also bloodly but at the expense of the skaven. The casulties for the ratmen were quickly mounting.

Round 6
The cowardly skaven ran away with their tails between their legs. This left the undead and the Osterlanders. The undead had the advantage that they were in a single group while the Osterlanders were split up. However, the mercenaries had the advantage that they were still at full strength while the undead had lost only a single warrior but the vampire is the backbone of any undead warband.

Round 7
The undead charged Brother Benedict and his two cousins who were both slain to protect the priest. The dregs also fired at but failed to hurt the mercenaries heroes and the ogre who were coming across the table as quickly as possible.

Ending
The undead had lost enough warriors that they turned and fled before the ogre could avenge the deaths of his kin. The undead finished with 1 shard of wyrdstone, the skaven with 2 shards and the mercenaries with 2 shards. A shard dropped by the skaven was unable to be collected by the undead or the Osterlanders before the end of the battle.

Aftermath
The undead had a ghoul die but the vampire fully recovered. A skaven Night Runner was killed and the Eshin Sorcorer was captured by the undead. The Osterlanders lost two henchmen kin. Taal deemed fit to grant protection to Brother Benedict from future close combat by granting him Tranquil Fauna (a Mark of Taal from the Liber Malefic article Miracle Workers).

The Enemy of my Enemy is still my Enemy (Round Eight - B'trark Gorehorns (MD) verses the Order (JF))

"The Enemy of my Enemy is still my Enemy"

B'trark Gorehorns / Beastmen Raiders with Mark of Onogal / Scion of Chaos & Black Dwarfs / Scourge of the Realm verses the Order / Sorcerous Society / Celestial Protectorate

The Enemy of my Enemy

B'trark Gorehorns / Beastmen Raiders with Mark of Onogal / Scion of Chaos versus the Order / Sorcerous Society / Celestial Protectorate

Wyrdstone Hunt

The Dwarfs were late. Bragor had expected as much from those 'slow, hairy tree-stumps' as he liked to think of them. Their pact against their mutual enemy was never likely to last long, and though the absence of the Dwarfs cost the Beastmen an unfair advantage, Bragor was still not afraid of this bunch of magic-slinging punies that he could spy across the plains before him. His fingers adjusted their grip on his mace as he anticipated the blood that was about to be spilled, and he snickered to himself when he realised he wouldn't have to share the kill.

"Darnnit, drats and kaphooey!" spouted Niko Jr. as he sized up the approaching horde of Beastmen (for any number of Beastmen seemed too many for his liking, though the actual number was 13). "How the heck did they find us?"
"They must have found our tracks as we passed through the mountains," deduced Kev, the Kislev ranger. "Just be thankful that they didn't bring extra friends."
"Pull your courage out of your bags, men, and stand strong. If we take enough of them down before they reach us, we can win the day," Niko Jr. announced, as much to bolster his own courage as that of the men's. He then turned to watch as the horde charged across the steppes, as Dravin, Julius' raven familiar, took wing to slow down the dreaded foe.

Bragor was eager for blood, but that didn't cloud his eyesight enough so that he didn't notice some of the old relics scattered across the plains. Ordering his men to keep an eye out for treasure, Bragor and his band stampeded across the plains, hooves thundering. A lone raven flew out towards them, but having had experiences with familiars in the past, Bragor was wary enough to send the dogs out first. As predicted, a spell soon erupted from the raven's mouth in the form of magic missiles, taking out two of the three warhounds of chaos. Albrath the Centigor was enraged at the loss of his half-scaly companions (with whom he shared his fleas, his bed, and even some of his ale). Luckily, an immediate outlet for his anger appeared in the form of three giant wolf-riding hobgoblin scouts who popped up out of a hidden depression. He killed one, then another in frenzy, and stunned the third. Bragor was not one to be left out of the action however, and quickly depacitated the one left sprawled on the ground.

"Work, darnnit!" spat Sigmund, as his Sword of Rezabel spell failed once again. Niko Jr. would have turned to look, but it was such an effort to move while the Flesh of Clay spell was in force. "Uurgh!" came a groan from behind, and this time Niko Jr. did turn to see Julius lying face down, his attempt at casting a second spell quickly having been too much for him. "God help us!" Niko Jr. breathed, though he wasn't quite sure which god he was praying to. Surprisingly, his prayer was answered in the form of three hobgoblins, who managed to distract the Beastmen for long enough for Julius to get back to his feet and for Sigmund to succeed in casting his Sword of Rezabel. Niko Jr. knew the reprieve would not last for long however and soon enough, on they came.

The hobgoblin distraction aside, the beastmen came on in full force - but not without casualties. The Order was capable of casting 2 Silver Arrows of Arha and 2 Magic Missiles spells, and shooting three crossbows and three bows in each round of shooting. By the time melee combat was started, all three warhounds were dead, as was one of the Gor henchmen. Even the previously invincible Albrath was knocked down at one stage. Then it was the Beastmen's turn. The henchmen Gors and Ungor attacked and took out Spot the canine familiar, Dravin, and killed one of the untrained henchmen. Once they had killed their opponents though, they became vulnerable to the missile power of The Order, and two more Gor were taken out, and Nyala was stunned. A small 'poof!' went off at one stage, and Julius was left frazzled for a while as one of his spells miscast. He was soon back in the action casting his viscious Magic Missiles spell however.

The wave of heroes came next - Bragor took out the Molly the Minstrel (Bard), Markhor killed the remaining untrained, and Xebi took out Sigmund. Xebi and a frenzied Albrath took on Niko Jr. next, though Albrath ended up disappointed that he didn't even get to trample the clay-skinned sorceror, as Xebi took him out first hit. As Bragor finished off the pathetic bard he faced off against his next opponent, Hercule. His mind was sent spinning with what he saw however, when he noticed what was strapped to Hercule's back - the Chaos sword of Damnation! His sword - or soon to be, so thought Bragor. His by right. In he charged, swinging wildly, but the ever-calm Hercule didn't have to do much to avoid those clumsy attacks, and took Bragor out with well-placed strike - one that Bragor didn't even consider to step aside for.

With both leaders out of action, the battle hung in the balance, but as the fighting became ever more melee, The Order knew they were outmatched, and made a hasty retreat - and to the misfortune of Sigmund, leaving him behind to be sacrificed by the Beastmen.

As he chomped into a breast of Sigmund that night around the campfire, Bragor stared off into the stars. Tonight was a joint celebration for the victory and for the promotion of Kudu to a hero, but as the others celebrated Bragor sat in contemplation, tormented by the memory of his missed opportunity. But one day, soon, he told himself, that sword would be his.


The Chaos Dwarfs missed their game.

The Order found 5 treasures and received 2 campaign points.

The B'trark Gorehorns found 7 treasures and also received 2 campaign points.

The Order (JF) - Round One

The Order
Warband Type: Sorcerous Society
Objective: Celestial Protectorate
Campaign Points: 3
Rating: 128
Treasure/Wyrdstone: 0
Gold Crowns: 10

The Pious Turncoat (Round One - The Order (JF) verses Shornaal's Beastmen (DG))

"The Pious Turncoat"

The Order / Sorcerous Society / Celestial Protectorate verses Shornaal's Beastmen / Beastmen Raiders with Mark of Shornaal / Scion of Chaos

Wyrdstone Hunt

"We're going on a beast hunt," called one of The Order's greenhorn grunts, as much to bolster his own resolve as to improve that of the many other greenhorns around him. They echoed his cry with a little more spring in their step, feeling a little more confident that their righteousness would overcome any evil.

"We're gonna catch a big waaAAHH!" he squealed as he was charged by a wild boar, disturbed by the noisiness and proximity of the group. Scared as he was, the grunt jumped several feet in the air, avoiding the swipe of the boar's tusks. Luck was definitely with the greenhorn, for as he came back down with arms stretched out behind to break his fall, his dagger, which he had fotten to let go of, sliced through the tough hide of the boar to sever the spinal cord. The others crowded around to cheer and slap their friend on the back, but many, including the lucky grunt, were now looking quite pale as the boar's head trashed around in anger.

The warhound snarled at the raven as it alighted on a nearby ruin, but the scouting Gor at her side paid it little heed, more concerned with the haunting sounds coming from the patches of woodland. The unmistakable prickle of magic in the air brought the Gor to a stop as he fantically scanned the area for the hidden spellcaster. Seeing nothing, he made a dash for a nearby two-story ruin and began his ascent to the top - the best tactic in fighting a wizard is to get in close, but you need to know where they are in order to do that. Again the tingle of magic filled the air, but this time around the whimpering warhound who was left cowering at the base of the ruin. Two failed spells, praise Shornaal. The Gor reached the top of the ruin, careful to keep as much out of sight as possible. Carefully taking quick peeks over the edge, he scanned the area, seeing nothing more suspect than a cocky raven eyeing him with a gleam in his eye. Confused, the Gor huddled back down out of sight, accidentally disturbing some of the rubble in the process. Noticing something smooth and green in amongst the coarse debris, the Gor took a quick look a the jade carving before stuffing it into a pocket, to then stop suddenly and retrieve the piece back out. The carving was of some type of sorceress with an owl sitting on the top of her staff. The raven! The raven was a familiar and the spells were somehow being redirected through the raven. The Gor quickly returned the carving to his pocket and began the descent in order to report back to his Chieftan.

"Unholy intestines," muttered the magus as his second spellcasting attempt failed. He was still adjusting to having to cast through the eyes of Rannikin his raven familiar and the difference in vision was making his head start to ache. It didn't help that he was out in this forsaken set of ruins far from any civilised settlement. He would much rather be back in the library of the wizard's tower of Helyune researching more spells, but as his order demanded he must now take a sabbatical from his studies and put them to good use in restoring order where there is none. To spite his superiors, he simply named this rag-tag group of, in his opinion, talent-less humans, two guards (what were their names again? He never could remember) and three mages 'The Order', as putting any more effort into coming up with a suitable name was, he felt, beneath him. The devout mages at the compound of course thought this wonderful, believing the name a tribute to their order of orderliness, and at the same time ranking their order above all other orders. Niko Jr., as he was affectionately but begrudgingly known, didn't appreciate that his efforts had backfired, though he was probably the better off for it. Now Nicodemus Sebastian Albright is his name, and sharing a name with the Cursed Pilgrim himself is quite an unfortunate thing in an order fighting against chaos, with the name being a constant reminder of how careful one must be when dealing with magic and dark powers. He was quite sick of people coming up to him and reminding him to not following the paths of his namesake, and for anyone to think that he was the junior of anyone was quite irritating.

Now the other two mages, Sigmund the White and Rudolf the Grey, were less talented buy much more pious than Niko Jr., so he had to constantly remind himself to be careful - if he were too sacrilegious or too lenient on the unholy or not devout enough, he might find himself cast out all alone in this hell-hole of a region (a fate he'd rather avoid). Despite this, for now their presence in this hostile environment was welcome, knowing he could count on them to make themselves useful in the heat of battle. And it looked like that might come quite soon, and Rudolf and Niko Jr. simultaneously cast silver arrows at a Gor and a warhound that they glimpse through a large ruin...

The chieftan back-handed a Gor to let out some of his anger. He should have been happy that two treasures had been found by two Gor, but he wasn't happy of having to repeat his order twice for his men to move into this groaning copse, to still have two not brave enough to enter. He would have to remind himself to make them more scared of him than some noisy trees when they got back to camp. His anger was quickly diverted though, as a troupe of humans were spotted. The others in the group started to itch to run out and spill some blood, but were wary enough of their leader to wait until he gave the order. When the chieftan saw silver streaks flying out from two wizards to stun two of his warband to the group, and tactics or caution was thrown to the wind, and with a bellowing roar the Beastmen stormed towards their enemies.

"Hey, take a look at this," called one greenhorn to his buddy, both lagging behind the rest of the party. "Do you think it would be worth something?"

"It'll be worth your head if you don't hand it over to Niko Jr., that's for sure," replied his buddy. "If he catches you with that in his possession, who knows what he'll turn you into."

The conversation came to an abrupt end however when two warhounds charged the second greenhorn, knocking him to the ground. Seeing his buddy in peril, the first greenhorn charges one of the warhounds, which distracted it long enough for his buddy to get back on his feet. Praying to his god, the first young man tried to slash the warhound with his dagger, but despite both warhounds focusing on his buddy, what little experience he had wasn't enough to wound the quick warhounds. He sadly watched as his buddy was stunned and taken out of action. All alone, he turned tail and ran, dropping the artefact in the process.

"Charge!" yelled Niko Jr. when the area suddenly swarmed with the heretical Beastmen. He stopped in his tracks when he felt a spell being cast at him, and he looked around to notice Rudolf muttering the final incantations of his spell and eyeing Nico Jr. with a red gleam in his eye. "Stop him!" he yelled to a nearby guard, "he's been enchanted."  Having no defense against Silver Arrows of Arha, Niko Jr. was expecting to be knocked down any second, but fortunately the spell failed.

"Whack!" sounded the gloved hand of the guard against the face of Rudolf as he was backhanded. "Wake up you durned fool!" growled the guard. Rudolf responded by attempting to knife the guard, but the latter's superior fighting skills kept him safe. Another slap and another sidestep to avoid a clumsy swing, and the red glow faded from Rudolf's eyes. "Urrrgh," was all that Rudolf managed to say, as he put a hand to his head and tried to maintain his balance.

Meanwhile, the battle had begun. The Order charged in with righteous bravey, but their inferior strength and fighting skills did little damage against the tough Beastmen. One grunt had a lucky hit against a Bestigor who didn't think it necessary to use a shield against such an unworthy opponent. He paid for that mistake with his life. Another grunt was unlucky to injure the Chieftan, who was lucky enough to get his shield in the way to take the brunt of the force. Snarling, the chieftan responded by taking the unfortunate grunt OOA. One of the guards tried his luck against the Shaman, who promptly stunned and beheaded him. The other men of The Order were likewise dropping like flies. Two grunts and two untrained were taken out by a Bestigor and two Gors, and with that, Niko Jr. had seen enough. "Retreat!" was the call, and soon all were running in defeat, lucky to have only lost one man. To Niko Jr. though this was a victory - a fiend of chaos had been killed and he was still living. He was thinking of how he would celebrate when he had to suddenly dive off the path to avoid being trampled by a runaway horse. "Unholy intestines!" came the expletive.

The Chieftan smiled a wicked smile. Today had been a good day, and there was still plenty of time to get drunk. All four of his Gors had each found a valuable artefact and three more had been found after the battle, which in itself was a marvelous victory. He did not think twice about the loss of a Bestigor. They were easily replaceable after all, and with his new-found reputation, they would be lining up to join his warband. He smiled again, when he felt a welcome malevolent aura come over him - Shornaal was pleased.


The Order found 3 treasures, a runaway horse, rain coat, net, 2 garlic cloves & D6 gc.

Shornaal's Beastmen found 7 treasures and failed Eye of the Dark Gods by only 1.

The Order (JF) - Starting Warband

Warband Roster: The Order
Warband Type: Sorcerous Society
Objective: Celestial Protectorate
Rating: 117
Campaign Points: 0