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.

Useful Websites for Mordheimers

The Mordheim community might not be as big as it once was. However there is still a small, active community spread around the globe. Here is a short list of my 'go to' websites for Mordheim.

Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum
This forum is the primary Mordheim forum out there. It was created by many of the participants from the old Specialist Games forum that used to be hosted by Games Workshop after it was shut down unexpectedly. It is an excellent location to discuss rules, find new material, read battle reports and share photos of painting and modelling.

Liber Malefic
This is the website for the gaming group who are creating the upcoming Mutiny in Marienburg suppliment to Mordheim. MiM is the largest, most ambitious fan-made expansion so far and has been many years in the making. The primary author, Stuart Cresswell (Werekin) has participated in previous fan-made material such as the Border Town Burning suppliment and the Nemesis Crown suppliment. Unfortunately the rules are not available in a central location so you will need to comb through the blog posts to find all of the material.

Border Town Burning
This is the website for the Border Town Burning suppliment created by Christian Templin (Cianty). This high quality material allows groups to run campaigns in the distant lands of Cathay. The material is compatible with Mordheim campaigns set in any other location though. The quality of the material is too high to be overlooked by any serious gaming group.

The Mordheimer Information Centre
The Mordheimer Information Centre (more commonly known as just the Mordheimer web site) is a key resource for much of the material that was released by Games Workshop. A highlight is the master scenario list which contains rules for hundreds of scenarios. The home page is messy these days with an embedded Mordheim web ring banner so I now access the site via the Table of Contents.

Styroheim
This web site is home to a collection of fan-made material by the once prolific post Dave Joria (Styrofoam King). The highlight of this web site is his Sartosa suppliment for playing a pirate themed Mordheim campaign.

Nemesis Crown
This web site contains the rules for the Nemesis Crown suppliment. Nemesis Crown was a global campaign run by Games Workshop for Warhammer Fantasy. A small group of fans led by Ian Davies including Stu Cresswell and Christian Templin created this Mordheim suppliment to allow Mordheim gamers to also participate within the global campaign.

Specialist Arms
The Specialist Arms website was an attempt by some fans close to Games Workshop to not lose the Mordheim community after the old Specialist Games forum was shut down. It hosts all of the Fanatic e-zine editions that were released by Games Workshop containing many fan-made Mordheim rules (and fan-made material for other Specialist Games such as Blood Bowl).

Khemri
This is the web site for the original rules of the Khemri suppliment that was released in Town Cryer. Games Workshop made quite a few changes when they published Khemri in Town Cryer and not all were positive. This is a useful resource to have alongside the content from the Town Cryer.

Mordheim Revival Project
This is a website to keep an eye on. It has been created by Tom Bell (Brahm Tazoul) who used to be one of the Answer Mods for Mordheim and who released the Letters of the Damned e-zine for Mordheim. There is a promise that the Letters of the Damned may resume so hopefully the fresh, new material that is being promised will be released.

Mordheim Yahoo Group
This email group has existed since before the Mordheim box set was released. It is no longer active but is an archive of old material if you ever wanted to go searching. It also contains a lot of the PDF files that were released by Games Workshop from Town Cryer and Fanatic.


This is a selection that quickly came to mind when thinking of Mordheim material that is out there. If there is something that I have missed then please add a comment to let me know.

Returning to Mordheim

It has been a while but the lure of wyrdstone has attracted a fresh wave of explorers into the city of the damned. This year there are some new faces (LS, NG, AR and AS) joining the old crew (AA, JF, MD and BN). This campaign will be a training opportunity for the new recruits while allowing the rest of us to muck around  before things get serious. We will continue to use our house rules and will be playing in and around the city of Mordheim itself.

The first game was a large three-versus-three battle.

The forces of evil went up against the forces of good. The evil alliance was made up of NG (Beastmen Raiders), LS (Marauders of Chaos) and AA (Necrarch Undead) while the goodies were made up of MD (Shadow Elves), AR (Dwarf Treasure Hunters) and BN (Reiklander Mercenaries). The scenario was Treasure Hunt from the 'Chaos on the Streets' article found in the Mordheim Annual 2002 and was played on a  6' x 4' table.

Set Up
The good team managed to set up on the edges with the most wyrdstone. They also rolled to move first. This *should* have allowed them to start with some early momentum.

Round 1
The Marauders of Chaos set up last and had no wyrdstone nearby. Therefore the entire warband was put on the table within 12" (and direct line of site) of the entire Reiklander Mercenary warband. Without thinking the Reiklander Mercenaries with four Marksmen with crossbows stood firm but only succeeded in taking a single Warhound of Chaos out of action. In retaliation the Warhounds of Choas charged and dispatched the two Youngblood heroes. (The Reiklander Captain obviously had never encountered this warband before and did not realise that the warhounds were able to charge 14".)

The other warbands started fanning out to collect the loot.

Round 2
The Marksmen took out another Warhound of Chaos but two Marksmen were lost in the counter charge. The Necrarch vampire who had previously climbed to the top of a building to secure a shard of wyrdstone and was taken out of action by a Shadow Walker.

Round 3
The Reiklander Captain decided that losing four warriors was too much and called the retreat (failed rout test). The Abomination trundled out into the open towards the Dwarves.

Rounds 4, 5 and 6
The Dwarves charged into the Abomination which was a very bad idea. The Abomination made quick work of the Dwarves and successfully routed them (voluntary). Unfortunately the Necrarchs lost an Acolyte and also routed. Prior to their rout, the Centigor charged a Troll Slayer and was cut down.

Rounds 7, 8 and 9

The forces of chaos swarmed the Shadow Elves. The fleeing dwarves and humans last saw the five elves fighting valiently but the force of evil was too great empowered no doubt by the high concentration of wyrdstone in the area. Not one of the elves was ever seen again.

Aftermath

NG found found 8 shards. LS found found 4 shards. AA found 2 shards.The evil warbands chose to share the spoils of war evenly though (surprisingly) and so all three ended with 4 shards.

MD disbanded his Shadow Warriors after all five warriors were taken Out of Action and the Shadow Master died. The only other death was a Warhound of Chaos. Both Reiklander Youngblood heroes will miss their next battle (the wimps).

During exploration the Necrarch's found a Well (1 1) that looked interesting but an Acolyte only found poisoned water and will miss his next game. The Dwarfs found a Ruined Hovel (6 6). The Reiklanders found a vague Mordheim Map in an Overturned Cart (5 5) and also found a Ruined Hovel (6 6). The Marauders found a Straggler (4 4) and immediately sacrificed him to the dark gods. It is not known whether the Beastmen Raiders found anything of note.

The human sacrifice must have impressed one of the dark gods as the Marauder Chieftain received a mark of chaos. One of the Gors proved his worth by collecting wyrdstone and was promoted to be a hero.

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).

Mountains of Mourning (Round Nine - B'trark Gorehorns (MD) verses the Hunters (HM))

"Mountains of Mourning"

B'trark Gorehorns / Beastmen Raiders with Mark of Onogal / Scion of Chaos verses the Hunters / Reiklander Mercenaries / Celestial Protectorate

Weather: Hail for 3 turns
Perilous Phenomena: Tempest, Thunder and lightning, Gale

Manhunt (Mountains of Mourne)

Tall stories of monstrous beasts roaming the lands had become the talk in the taverns and meeting places of the city. Merchants plying the western routes had claimed to have seen hulking outlines against the fading sun. Still others claimed to be survivors of attacks by these beasts. Usually the sightings were when light was dim, or when the weather was bad and identification was difficult, but the location was undisputed: a small mountain pass roughly five days journey west of the city.

Captain Ivan cursed the storm as he ushered his men forward. The noise made communication difficult, forcing them to use hand signals. He and his men had traveled five days in perfect weather, only to be beset by hail as they began to close in on their quarry. A hand-picked group, Ivan had led them in search of this beast of the tales, hoping to clear the route for future trade and travel. Ivan signaled his men to stop, as a dark mass loomed ahead – two mountain peaks separated by a wide pass. The men stood for a while surveying the scene searching for signs of their quarry, but were soon cursing the weather again as thunder boomed and echoed through the pass, and wind picked up in flurries and gusts, soon turning into a full-blown gale – perfect for sending their bolts and arrows off-course.

Bragor calmly surveyed the scene in front of him. He had led his raiding party out of the north hoping for richer pickings among the caravan trails of the Mountains of Mourne.
Following the caravan trails had so far proved fruitful. Morale was high after the recent victory over the magic-wielding Order, and his followers were eager to again douse their weapons in blood. A battle was soon in coming as a hulking shadow loomed on the trail ahead. Bragor spoke sharply to some of the more eager Gors as they began moving forward to meet the newcomer. With sullen looks they moved back and took up positions, awaiting the chance to send another creature into the waiting arms of Onogal.
Bragor laughed as the melee began. Sitatunga the fool had moved in front of his comrades, obviously eager to prove himself. Well he had soon learnt his lesson, being beaten to the ground and trampled by the beast. He ordered his followers forward into battle, and with a rumbling roar charged the monster himself. Markhor the shaman, forgoing use of his spells charged alongside, slicing open the creature’s sides with a flurry of well-aimed blows.
The massed charge and sharp steel quickly discouraged the creature, a strange mix of scales and ugly. Once, twice, three times they attacked, and each time the beast was driven back until it fled blindly into the swirling currents of a fast-flowing river.. Bragor watched amused as the hulking creature struggled to keep its footing, eventually being swept downstream, its bellows matched by the rough laugh of the gorehorns. Albrath the centigor gave a stamp, displeased at being unable to bury his blade into such a worthy foe. He hadn't managed to spill any blood since downing some measly hobgoblins, and his nostrils flared as he recalled his recent encounter with The Order where he was knocked to the ground by those annoying spells and crossbows – only blood was going to fix that dent in his pride.
Bragor’s laugh died in his throat as he turned to the centigor and saw him suddenly stagger and fall, a crossbow bolt quivering from his body. A hero amongst his followers and veteran of many battles, Albrath was fearsome as a foe and an inspirational figure leading a charge into battle. The sight of their hero felled by a cowardly bolt turned the gorehorns' amusement to anger in a flash, and they moved as one into the forest south of the pass, eager to take their revenge.

Ivan looked up sharply as a bellowing roar echoed through the pass ahead of them. Swiftly moving forward and taking cover at the entrance to the pass he spotted a massed melee taking place. He identified a Dragon Ogre, obviously the monster of the tales, engaged with what appeared to be a party of beastmen. Ivan had heard stories of these mutants – strange, human-like abominations twisted by the dark gods. Taking advantage of the distracted foes he ordered his crossbowmen to fire into the melee. Ivan smiled as he heard the bolts whistle overhead and the resultant cry as a bolt struck true.
Seeing the twisted horse go down Ivan looked around for the shooter and made his approval known. The marksman, Alan hurried over and tried to make himself heard over the gale that was now blowing. “They’ve headed round the mountain sir, must be tryin’ to come at us from the forest to the south”. Ivan nodded and quietly directed his marksmen, trying to set up a killing zone for when the beastmen left the cover of the forest.
A sudden clatter of rocks and a yell brought Ivan’s attention. Seeing one of his marksmen, Much laying face-down below a small ridge his first impulse was to berate the clumsy fool, thinking he had tripped and fallen. On seeing the man lying still he motioned Scarlet, another marksman to check on him. Scarlet moved over to the still figure, reached down and slapped the fallen man. Looking across at his leader he slowly shook his head. Cursing the loss of a man before the fight had even started Ivan moved off to check the defensive line.
Looking around to see all was set, Ivan noticed a hulking figure moving toward them through the mountain pass. Dragon Ogre! He yelled to Scarlet to move out of the way and called his remaining marksmen into line before reaching for his bow. Whether it was another Dragon Ogre, or the same one they had seen earlier, Ivan could not tell as he called for a volley. Multiple volleys of crossbow bolts and arrows struck the creature, doing nothing but angering it as it gave a bellow and charged at Scarlet, who was caught in the middle of the pass. Showing no sign of fear Scarlet raised his crossbow and loosed a bolt. Now truly enraged, the creature roared a challenge as it bore down on the puny human, its massive axe tearing through Scarlet’s hurried defense and leaving him crumpled on the side of the pass. With shields up, the Youngbloods set themselves to meet the beast, but the still charging Ogre sent them both sprawling back into the rubble beside the trail. Desperately hoping to save his young troops, Ivan led a charge toward the beast and with Mace at his side slashed the creature in its unprotected flank. Howling in pain, the beast broke off the combat and moved behind a ridge. Panting, Ivan let the beast go, they needed to regroup before the beastmen returned.

Lightning flashed overhead and the howling winds continued as the Gorehorns moved quickly through thick forest. After crossing the river Bragor decided to split the party, leaving Xebi to lead a group of Gors while he moved ahead with Markhor, Sitatunga and a single Gor to pressure the humans. While crossing a small clearing however Xebi was spotted by a filthy human, and promptly received a bolt through his leg, causing him to stumble and fall. Eager for battle the Gors moved on ahead, leaving him to stumble along as best he could.
Hearing the humans’ battle with the Dragon Ogre, Bragor moved his small group behind a ridge south of the humans’ position, waiting for his remaining forces to gather for a combined strike. Bragor watched as a pair of Gors, Xyro and Dalen, blundered out of the forest nearby, charging straight for a pair of humans carrying shields. A cry went up from the humans, and arrows whistled towards the them, all seeming to fly wide of the running Gors. Charging headlong into the fray, Xyro and Dalen tried in vain to get past the shields of the humans, but each stroke was blocked by the defenders. The archers charged to the assistance of the shield-bearers and Xyro and Dalen were quickly surrounded and cut down.
Regrouping, the archers moved away from the shield-bearers, and on catching sight of Bragor’s small party, loosed another ineffectual volley in their direction. Bragor sneered at their feeble weapons and ordered Sitatunga to engage them. “Your chance for glory son” he said to the Ungor, his contempt barley concealed. Sitatunga immediately charged the nearest archer, ignoring the drawn sword and plunging his goat-like head into the human’s stomach, knocking him to the ground. At that moment the remaining Gors, sneaking up behind another ridge, spied the shield-bearers partially concealed on the other side of the outcropping. Wasting no time they charged at the presented shields, backing the humans against the rock face. Bragor smiled, they had the humans right where he wanted them.

Ivan brought the bowstring to his ear and released another arrow at the hulking Bestigor behind the ridge (Markhor). He saw his arrow glace off the beast’s armor as it charged toward Mace, striking him down as he lay helpless from the runt’s charge. Looking around, he saw more beastmen moving toward them and despaired as the battle was lost. He called his men to retreat, the youngbloods breaking out from the beastmen surrounding them, killing a heavily armored Gor (Kudu) as they forced their way through. The beastmen did not seem set on following, their bloodlust slaked for the moment. Ivan watched his men move away through the forest, despondent at the loss of men and vowing to return. He took a last look at the battlefield, then to the sky. At least the weather had cleared…

Albrath woke with a sharp pain on his forehead. Blinking quickly to clear his bleary eyes he came to his feet and found himself in a cage. He tried to push against the door, his hooves biting deep into the soggy soil as he grunted with effort, but the door would not budge. Angered he cast about for a means of escape when he noticed a human stirring in the next cell. This measly piece of flesh and bone had better not have been the marksman who took him down, he thought to himself, his anger increasing at yet another embarrassment. Stewing in thoughts of revenge, Albrath noted a gathering forming in a circle nearby, with a heavy-set warrior dressed in ornate armor at its centre. Soon a guard came over to the cells, shaking the human fully awake before dragging him to the edge of the circle. Albrath watched with interest as they gave the human a mace and dagger, obviously the weapons he had been captured with. The buzz of the crowd quickly became a rowdy cacophony of shouts, jeers, and chants, as bets were quickly placed, ale was quickly consumed, people jostled each other for a better view and rotten food was thrown at the quivering human. The human, introduced to the crowd as Scarlet was then roughly pushed in to the circle, and was shown cold steel as he turned around to look for a way out.
Reluctantly, Scarlet moved to attack the still immobile warrior in his deep red chaos armour. His feeble strike was contemptuously brushed aside and the warrior’s heavy blade swept down on him, felling him where he stood. Kicking the still form the warrior returned to the centre of the ring, eager for his next opponent.

The guard now moved toward Albrath’s cage, and Albrath burst forth as soon as the door was opened. Sweeping up his weapons he charged the warrior of chaos, his anger and frustration released in the thrill of battle – this is what he was born for. Each strike glanced off the warrior’s heavy armor, each killing blow blocked by a well-timed parry. Albrath’s fury began to fade as the fight dragged on, the warriors circling each other, waiting for the other to make a mistake. The crowd, becoming caught up in the furious display, cheered when a blow was struck, baying for blood to be spilled. They roared as a repeated series of blows from Albrath's sword bit deep into the warrior’s heavy armor, bringing him down. Nostrils flaring, crowd braying, blood staining the sand, Albrath let out a roar of victory, bathing in the glory and leaving his defeats far behind him. Lifting his sword in victory, Albrath felt his blood begin to burn, as blessings of Onogal rained down on him in his glory. His muscular form then began to expand, as if all the ale he had consumed in the last week (and that was a lot) had been retained in his not flabby folds, and his tough skin became thicker and rougher. The guards were approaching warily, with intent to send the new champion back to his cage, but Albrath had tasted blood, had tasted glory, had tasted the blessings of his god and he was now near indestructible. The crowd's cheers soon became screams, as Albrath turned on anyone within reach. He was not as fast as he once was, but any wounds against him seemed to just bounce off his rubbery folds of flab. As the crowd began to thin, the villagers began to prepare an organised defense. Albrath, though he welcomed the challenge, felt the call of his god to return to Bragor and his brothers in blood.
Scarlet woke up to a sharp pecking at his shoulder, the sound of buzzing flies and the caws of crows, and the stench of loosened bowels. He quickly shooed away the hungry crow that was pecking at one of his wounds, but winced and groaned as he came close to blacking out again. Gingerly, he sat up and removed the body that was half-sprawled across him. Realising he had been stripped of his possessions except his bloody clothes, Scarlet crawled out of the ditch of bodies, knowing that he now faced the dangers of infection, starvation, and being alone and unarmed in a hostile environment. He had hope, however, and in the end, hope led him home.

The B'trark Gorehorns victory allowed them to find 4 treasures and received 3 campaign points.
The Hunters received 5 Treasures and received 1 campaign point.

Start of Round 9

This is the state of the campaign at the start of round 9. Up-to-date information can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/site/ourhouserules/mordheim/campaign-2010-q2

Player: MD
Warband: B'trark Gorehorns (Beastmen Raiders with Mark of Onogal)
Objective: Scion of Chaos
Campaign Points (CPs): 18
Rating: 184
Battles: 8
Wins: 7
Draws: 0
Losses: 1
Bonus CPs: 5
Lost CPs: 2

Player: JF
Warband: The Order (Sorcerous Society)
Objective: Celestial Protectorate
Campaign Points (CPs): 16
Rating: 199
Battles: 8
Wins: 7
Draws: 0
Losses: 1
Bonus CPs: 5
Lost CPs: 2
Chaos Artefact: Broadsword of Damnation

Player: DG
Warband: Shornaal's Raiders (Beastmen Raiders with Mark of Shornaal)
Objective: Scion of Chaos
Campaign Points (CPs): 13
Rating: 212
Battles: 8
Wins: 6
Draws: 0
Losses: 2
Bonus CPs: 0
Lost CPs: 1

Player: BN
Warband: Lone Squad (Gunnery School of Nuln)
Objective: Lure of Fortune
Campaign Points (CPs): 12
Rating: 179
Battles: 8
Wins: 3
Draws: 0
Losses: 5
Bonus CPs: 1
Lost CPs: 0

Player: AA
Warband: Liche Chronicles (Restless Dead)
Objective: Silent Threat
Campaign Points (CPs): 11
Rating: 183
Battles: 8
Wins: 1
Draws: 0
Losses: 7
Bonus CPs: 2
Lost CPs: 0

Player: JC
Warband: Chaos Dwarfs (Black Dwarfs)
Objective: Scourge of the Realm
Campaign Points (CPs): 9
Rating: ?
Battles: 7
Wins: 0
Draws: 1
Losses: 6
Bonus CPs: 2
Lost CPs: 0

Player: HM
Warband: The Hunters (Reiklander Mercenaries)
Objective: Celestial Protectorate
Campaign Points (CPs): 8
Rating: 125
Battles: 1
Wins: 1
Draws: 0
Losses: 0
Bonus CPs: 0
Lost CPs: 0

New Kids on the Block (Round Eight - The Loan Squad (BN) verses the Hunters (HM))

"New Kids on the Block"

The Lone Squad / Gunnery School of Nuln / Lure of Fortune verses the Hunters / Reiklander Mercenaries / Celestial Protectorate

Traces to Emprise

"Tell me where I can find I can find the caravan route!" Senior Gunnery School Officer Benedict von Neale yelled as he shoved the old Cathayan villager up against the wall. His caravan had somehow wandered off the 'well traveled' route and was seriously lost. Benedict was desperate to get back on route and to the 'safety' of the silk road. The old man just shook his head and there was sadness more than fear in his eyes. The temporary burst of anger quickly fled and Benedict slowly put the man down.

"What am I becoming," he thought sadly. His squad and caravan were desperate but at that moment he realised that no amount of desperation justified torture. They would ask for help but he would not resort to violence. He fled the small house and the piercing gaze of the villagers. The sound of gunshots welcomed him as he returned into the raging blizzard. "What now?" he groaned.


Captain Ivan of the Hunters shook his head and rolled to his hands and knees and then slowly to his feet. He had been knocked senseless by a gunshot that had come unexpectedly out of the swirling snow. The damn blizzard had prevented his squad of Reiklander mecenaries from realising that there was a hostile force in the village. They had simply come to the small village to gather whatever information they could get to track down a band of marauders that had been raiding some caravans over the last few weeks. He had not expected it to turn into a battle.

"Climb up on the roofs and shoot back!" Ivan yelled when he noted that the opening volly of gunfire had killed one of his marksmen. Some of his men shot back to give cover to the marksmen trying to climb. The shooting battle was vicious and another of his warriors quickly succumbed to the gunfire. Under the cover of gunfire, two enemy warriors charged out of the swirling snow into Ivan's two champions. Mace was dispatched in a heartbeat by a fearsome warrior with brightly coloured tattoos. Dace also went down after his leg was smashed by the mace of the other enemy warrior.

The walls of the cottages were slick with ice from the blizzard and one of his marksmen gave up trying to climb. As the marksman approached Ivan the ground gave way and he disappeared from sight. It was probably a well and Ivan hoped that it was an old well and only shallow. Meanwhile the other marksmen must have finally manged to get up on the roof as crossbow bolts finally started to rain down from the roof of the cottage behind him. The brightly coloured man was quickly taken out of action by a well placed shot. BOOM! An explosion suddenly ripped through part of the roof and took out two marksmen. "May the gods help us" he silently prayed.


Senior Gunnery Officer Benedict von Neale clapped his marksman on the back as two of the enemy marksmen fell from the roof. The pigeon bomb had been timed perfectly. The battle was fierce and another enemy warrior was shot down by Deadeye Danny who was a marksman second only to Benson the squad's instructor. As he watched the battle his best duellist, Danno, was taken by surprise by a marksman who had dived off the roof of the cottage and Benedict knew that Danno was out of action. Meanwhile the captain of the enemy squad took Benedict's other duellist out of action before charging down Deadeye Danny who was trying to reload his handgun. Benedict decided it was time to pull back. He was getting no information from the villagers and this battle was starting to turn for the worst.


Captain Ivan looked around at the men in his squad and then over at Senior Gunnery Officer Benedict von Neale. The battle was several days ago now and the village was long behind them. One of his men was dead and Dace would be out of action for quite some time with his smashed leg. However, they had been given some useful information from the villagers and also had captured one of the enemy warriors. The enemy squad had just handed over 50 gold crowns for the return of their warrior. He couldn't call the expedition a worthwhile endevour but at lesat his marksman would not have died totally in vain. The two squads were aligned opposite each other and the tension was still high. "You can keep the weapons and items as mentioned before, we are not total enemies after all..." Ivan said to Benedict as his Mace came forward and dropped a sack of equipment beside him. "Best we part company now though."


Senior Student Reuben trudged along in chains that were bound together with several other men who he did not know. He had been separated from his squad after the battle. He blamed the blizzard. When the villagers had seen him they grabbed pitchforks and old rusty swords and chased him out of the village. He swore again under his breath at the mutation that had stricken him with brightly coloured skin. Things had got worse though as several days later he had been run down by a band of marauders. They laughed at him when they saw his mutation and took him before their seer who also laughed as he spoke some cursed tongue and placed 'the mark' on his forehead. He stopped thinking about the past and looked ahead to see what was to come. They had just entered a camp and were approaching a large tent.

He was the first to be released and as he was led into the tent he realised that inside there was a barbarian ring. The marauders where yelling and howling as the biggest man he had ever seen climbed into the ring. He had a sword and a shield and Reuben could see the heavy armour worn by the man under his furs. "So I am going to die at the hands of a warrior of chaos..." Reuben thought grimly. His captors forced him to climb into the ring and then surprisingly threw down his two maces and his lucky charm at his feet. He quickly snatched them up not once taking his eyes of his opponent.

As soon as he had a firm grip on his maces, Reuben dashed forward. He new that he had surprised the warrior when he saw a flicker of fear in his eyes. The warrior of chaos parried Reuben's blows and followed up with a counter attack that hit Reuben. It was only a shallow cut though and Reuben shrugged it off. The warrior of chaos lunged forward again and the crowd roared. Reuben scrambled back quickly and almost lost his footing. In desperation he struck out again with his maces. The warrior once again easily parried Reuben's blows with his sword. They faced each other in the middle of the ring as they slowly circled and then the warrior of chaos charged forward again. Reuben was ready this time though and he deftly sidestepped the sweep of the sword from the warrior of chaos. He then brought his mace around and slammed it into the back of the head of his enemy. The warrior of chaos dropped to his knees and Reuben landed another solid hit in his face. It was done. He had won! The marauders were roaring their approval. Suddenly Reuben felt a slight and familiar tingle over his body. The red blood that was slowly seeping from his arm turned black and started to sizzle as it touched the sleave of his shirt. "Oh great, another mutation" he thought in dismay.


Senior Gunnery Officer Benedict von Neale sighed. His squad had found Reuben earlier that morning. It had been thirteen moons since they had lost him. Some of his squad had quickly welcomed Reuben back but others were keeping their distance. He agreed with them that the mark on Reuben's forehead was offputting but he still wanted to trust Reuben, believe his story and welcome him back. They needed all the men they could get. Benedict had tried to talk to his men but many were unconvinced. First the brightly coloured skin, now a mark and black blood. They had convincing arguments also. "What if our gods turn their back on us for harbouring a mutant?" "What if Reuben wasn't 'released' but has joined the marauders and is planning to lead them to us and our caravan?" Danny was the loudest. The duelist spoke morbid tales of how the dark gods would take interest in their squad and send wave after wave of their minions against them. It was all getting too much and his will was wavering.

"Enough!" Benedict said in a loud and firm voice. "Those who believe that our Reuben can come back to fight beside us come to me." Danny was the first to step forward and then he spat at the feet of Reuben and walked away. One by one the others followed him. In the end it was only Reuben and Benedict standing there. Benedict looked at Reuben and saw the fear in his eyes. He pointed down the road. "Go. You cannot come back to join this squad. Take your weapons and equipment but go." Reuben stood for a moment in shock and then spat at Benedicts feet before turning and walking away. Benedict just stood there and watched him leave.


This was the first battle for the Hunters who won and ended the game with 6 information points meaning that the warband gets to choose one of their next scenarios. The Hunters found 3 treasures and received 1 campaign point.

The Lone Squad ended with only 1 information point. The Lone Squad also found 3 treasures and received 2 campaign points (bonus campaign point was received by Reuben winning "Get in the Pit" against the Warrior of Chaos). Reuben was stripped of his position in the squad and left behind as an abomination.