Round 2!

This Friday is the second night of our Mordheim campaign! This week sees Chris's Middenheimers facing off against Jake's warband (sadly missing from the last batrep). Sky's dirty Skaven face Tom's Dwarf Treasure Hunters, rat-burgers are on the menu hopefully! And last but not least my Carnival of Chaos jangle their bells at Christian's Dwarves.

Playing the long game I fully expect to lose the match, but hopefully we will be able to fit a second. Pics of the warbands in all their glory to follow...

The Rowdy Dogs Revenge

Dwarfs, thought Otto, are bloody tough.

  He had been thinking this for perhaps the better proportion of the day, ever since he had hauled his crew into the relative safety of the Stinking Vixen tavern. With grim attention to detail, he and his men had then proceeded to get drunk. The barman was happy to help, although he had begun to suspect that the man had begun topping up their beer with water just to keep up with the demand.

  The leader of The Rowdy Dogs spat onto the rushes that covered the floor. Around him, his warband sulked into their steins. They'd all seen young Joesph getting slapped around like a Sigmarite on Ulrics Day by a creature damn near half his height. The tattooed maniac had then used his body as a spring board to leap onto and clobber Kurt.

  The stunty little buggers had been after the treasure trove of booze in the Merry Maiden, the pilfering swine! It was especially vexing as Otto had spent almost a month tracking down the famous tavern and its liquor vault.

  Now, the valuable wines and rare ales would be filling the bellies of the stunties, or else pissed out against a wall when the buggers wore off their hangover. 

  Otto and his men would have sampled it sure, maybe even had a little victory celebration, or two, but at least they wouldn't have guzzled the lot! 

  Lars put a big hand on his captain's shoulder.

  "Don't worry, boss. We'll get them next time, ja."

  Both Joseph and Kurt nodded sullenly from across the table. Otto noticed that the axe scar Kurt had earned from his entanglement with the Troll Slayer was red and swollen, the stitching sloppy and crude. 

  "You alright lad?"

  Kurt nodded, although the youngster was probably lying so as not to lose face.

  "Good. You three," Otto poked a thick finger at Kurt, Joseph and the skinny bowman, Rufus, "You three have a reckoning with them stunties. You owe them a world of hurt. Our rep," he spread his arms indicating the whole crew, "is damaged cos of you three. I busted my 'ump shoving those Witch Hunters out of our territory and you boys may have undone all that good work. Now there'll be others wanting a crack at us an' thinking they can win."

  The two young bloods nodded mutely, but Otto heard Rufus muttering into his drink.

  "Something to say, bowman?"

  The lean archer ducked his head and said nothing.

  "Come on," Otto rose from his seat, towering over Rufus. "You have something you want to add?"

  Rufus eventually met his captain's glare.

  "You ran just like the rest of us."

  The crew, almost imperturbably, leaned away from Rufus. They were quiet. The whole tavern was quiet.

  Otto placed his hands on the table, leaning across the wood to look the archer squarely in the face.

  "You get that one, archer, but that's all. One more world out of your mouth I don't like and you're head will end up as my new shit pot. Understand me?"

  Rufus nodded.

  "Now," said Otto, sitting back down, "lets work out exactly what we're going to do to those buggers next time we see 'em!" 

  

First blood

The campaign has begun and the first night has seen encounters between 6 warbands so battle reports are up first.

The first encounter was between Chris and Christian: Middenheimers vs Dwarfs.
In amongst the city lies the once famed Merry Maiden, a pub famous thought the city as a place to go where everyone knows your name. Or has heard of you at the very least. During the arrival of the comet a shard broke off and impacted near this building and in the months of chaos that followed looters and rioters made it and the surrounding area their home. Ill-gotten gains were brought from across the city and stashed in the cellars of these buildings.
Rumours of a particularly large stash made their way to the ears of the Rowdy Dogs (not led by Roddy Piper) and Bugman's Rangers. This stash had been broken into three and hidden in the basements of three buildings. Picking their way through the ruins the Rowdy boys spot the first building; "Right lads, let's get in and out without a fuss" said Otto
"Not bloody likely boyo! We were 'ere first, see?"
"Where the [expletive deleted]?!?!" Jo yelled, whirling round.
"Down 'ere you lanky streak of p***" shouted Josef
Ottos looked down to see the bulbous, red nose of Josef Bugman's starting up at him, gimlet eyes narrowed.
"You half-pints can't stop us. What could you possibly do, punch us in the shins?" laughed Rufus.
"Bloody right" said Psycho the trollslayer, punching Nils in the groin, "quick, we got the drop on them"
With scenario of occupy, the aim was to capture 3 of the buildings by having at least one model inside the building uncontested within the eight turn limit.
The first few of turns involved getting into range of the central buildings during which Klaus and Grim traded shots, neither managing to take the other out. Nils managed to secure the first building ( the pub) much to the dismay of Josef who could practically taste the dark, cool beer already.
Jo the Youngblood was about to secure a building when he was charged by Psycho the Trollslayer and a thunderer henchman. They fought for two turns before Jo was knocked down and curb stomped by Psycho. Spotting fresh meat, Psycho then charged Kurt hitting him so hard his nose ended up next to his ear. A long shot took out Rufus the marksman (who actually has yet to hit a target) causing the Rowdy Boys to rout leaving Bugman's Rangers free to loot the pub.
"Oh hell, quick. Scarper boys, the squats are tougher than they look"
The Rowdy Boys fled taking their wounded to fight another day. Turns out standing between Dwarfs and booze doesn't end well...

The second match of the evening was between my Carnival of Chaos and Sky's Skaven.
The scenario was treasure hunt so hidden in a building was a stash, but we did not know which building.
The sound of pipes and drums drifted their way through the city accompanied by the jangling of bells. A motley crew wound their way through the streets, bright colours flashing as they tumbled through the air. Rumours of a great treasure had filtered out of the city to Unka Bubo in the small hamlet where the latest performance  of Presents from Papa was concluding. With the possibility of loot Pedrolino began cavorting uncontrollably until Samson had to grab his leg and hoist him up.
Meanwhile in the sewers Frank and his Rat Pack had followed the scent of dirty, clumsy man things to a stash of Warpstone. Having dispatched the meatbags, they made their way to the surface to gather those precious rocks for the glory of Clan Eshin.
Papa's Pestilential Players got the first turn and searched two building finding nothing. The Rat Pack initially searched three again turning up nothing but bones and dust. The carnival began to push forwards rummaging through another two buildings but the ruins yielded no more than the first.
Sammy Davis Jr picked the lock to the tower finding nothing inside as henchmen swarmed past him out the other side. Frank spotted Hercules the brute and took a potshot at him. Luckily Hercules stayed true to his namesake and absorbed the blow without flinching.
Both side pushed forwards eager bite, claw and slash their way to victory. Unka Bubo stepped forward and was brained by a rock slung by a henchrat, stunning him and leaving him unable to act for a turn or two. Frank lined up his shot more carefully this time taking out the Tallyman that was shambling towards him. The henchrat said loosed a volley of stones

Starting the campaign

In the year 1999 of the empire many portents of doom were witnessed; two headed calves were birthed and rivers ran red as though the ground itself were grievously wounded. In the sky, a twin tailed comet could be seen traversing the heavens and in the city of Mordheim a madness descended.
The city became a hotbed for riotous behaviour and lewd acts; the citizenry descending into a primal state where all was permissible. The devout locked themselves away, praying for salvation and deliverance from the horrors being committed on their very doorsteps. That salvation arrived as the comet struck the city. The survivors wept tears of joy for surely Sigmar had heard their pleas and the saviour of their city, nay the empire itself, was sure to emerge.
In the days and weeks that followed however little changed, except the shadows drew ever nearer and now it was not just lone wanderers who would disappear never to be seen again. Screams rend the pall of silence, and sinister giggling can be heard coming from everywhere and nowhere. It is into this damned city the brave and foolish venture, seeking riches in the form of wyrdstone brought forth by the comet's impact.

Having been introduced to the Hobby two years ago I have swiftly become an avid follower, and on the back of Killteam have found that I prefer the small scale skirmish games. When I found out there was a fantasy one that included RPG elements I pounced and have since been absolutely hooked.
I am fortunate enough to have met other like minded individuals and we have begun to play Mordheim fairly regularly, recently having a tournament at our last Gamesday. After earlier attempts to run a campaign proved unwieldy, interest died down until recently. This is a log of our resurrection of that great beast.

House rules.
To maintain interest, I looked for inspiration and ways to keep the campaign going. These are the ones that made the final cut.

1. The main campaign will consist of a series of mini-campaigns which will last 4 games nights. These may have additional storylines running through them (if our imaginations aren't dulled by modern media too much)
2. The mini-campaigns will be points based, with 2 for a win and 1 for a loss. Points are only awarded on games nights during the campaign.
3. However, games are not restricted to games nights. These can be played anywhere, any when but no points will be awarded. In addition any serious injuries are carried both into and out of the campaign.
4. At the end of each mini-campaign, the winner will be the warband with the most points (obviously)
5. Warbands are limited to those deemed official by the  Mordheimer website. (Exceptions are: Black Orcs who seem to be a variation on 'Da Mob Rulez' warband)
6. Warbands are retired when their leader achieves max exp. They then become a Dramatis Personae who retains all skills, stats and equipment and can be hired for 100gc with an upkeep of 35gc.
7. The retired warband may continue with D6 randomly chosen members. To choose between heroes and henchmen roll a D6; a 1 or a 2 means a random henchman stays, 3+ a random hero stays. 1 hero is randomly promoted to leader.

Optional rules.

• Each player puts £1 into a pot at the start of the mini-campaign. This then goes to the player with the most points at the end.
• The losing warband loses D3 randomly chosen members to the vicissitudes of the city.