Another Winter in Mordheim

Thanks Al
___________________________________________________________________________________
Another Wyrdstone Hunt
The Possessed race the Wolves to wyrdstone

The Winged Terror was missing a game, but the Magister hasn't died yet and he's awfully lucky...
My new ogre was stunned by Vision of Torment!  You will notice he doesn't appear in this photo, because the Purple People Eater has already taken the ogre out of action... (Helmut is carrying a torch, thus the flame marker.  That white beastman is ON FIRE!)


Still Anna Gorn the Kislev Ranger is about to hit the purple fiend with a lucky shot.  2 wounds and stunned himself!


Naturally I couldn't take advantage of my luck, but Chris got tired of me taking down his henchmen and voluntarily routed.  A beastman and a dark soul die.

All the Wolves casualties got better.

Both sides collect two wyrdstone shards.  The Possessed replace their casualties.  The Wolves buy more equipment.

HOORAY FOR THE FORCES OF PLEASANTNESS & PAINT!

Excellent terrain layout. That looks like a fun board to play on.

Thanks for the comments gents.

@Gamedoc--Thanks your comments make me feel better about our Mordheim tables. I'm always a little down when its time to campaign in Mordheim.
___________________________________________________________________________________
A Three-sided Treasure Hunt
The Multi-player version of Wyrdstone Hunt is called Treasure Hunt, but its still about grabbing da wyrdstone.

The Penny Pincers, Hauptman's Harriers and Pour la gloire fought over a scattering of treasure chests that represent wyrdstone counters.
Penny Pinchers are red, yellow, blue.


Pour la gloire archers.


I think that painted archer is a Harrier...


Most are primed or not primed.




Much later, a Penny Pincer finds a wyrdstone (chest).


This causes trouble.


A Harrier Wolf wannabee. I think he got these Pincers though.


The Brets start to win the battle for the stone (chest).

Chris R wrote:

I lost a(nother) 3 way match between Jim, Matt and I. Jim and Matt were stabbing and shooting each other to the point that they were both rolling rout tests, but hung in. Then Jim and I got into it, with his sharpshooter and my bowmen exchanging arrows with no hits. Until he knocked one out of the tower he was in. I took out a few of his men, he took out my Questing Knight (who survived with a leg wound). One man-at-arms fell from a height of 1in, got 3 strength 1 wounds, rolled two 6's, and then 5 and 6 for result. The ground has KO'd more of my troops than all players combined. Jim routed. Matt and I got into a few fights, no KO's, but I ended up failing a rout test and ran. Two men-at-arms died.

There were six Penny Pincers OoA. No report on how that turned out...

There are some SPLENDID looking minis in there & I've become a fan of the terrain. The game mat is really effective at tying all the ruins together. GREAT STUFF!  

Week Seven---And then there were Five

Players and Warbands
Chris S--Possessed
Jake--Undead--"Fabia's Fiends"
Jim L--Marienburgers--"Penny Pincers"
Jim S--Middenheimers--"Ulric's Wolves"
Zach--Skaven

Some real life conflicts whittle us down to five warbands this week.

A Skirmish
Fabia's Fiends face Fenris' fury

The fight at the Gates: confrontation.




The Ogre charges out of the frame...


The fight at the Gates: The wolf companion fails to pull the necromancer down.  The first zombies fall.


The fight at the Gates: The wolf companion falls to the ghoul pack.  A dreg falls to Priest Wolfgar's minions.


The Battle of the Alley: After Captain Wolfgang steps aside from what looked like a lethal diving charge, Fabia stands alone against four Wolf heroes.  (She survived three but lost an initiative roll off with Captain Wulfgang.)


With Fabia down the Fiends lost heart (having two other heroes out of action didn't help).  A zombie crumbles to dust or perhaps goo. The Dreg takes a leg wound, the Ghoul Lads Got Talent suffers an Old Battle Wound.  Fabia squeaks through a prolonged Sold to the Pits to gain 2 exp and 50 gc.

The hired ogre and the halberdier are killed by the ghoul pack.  Another ogre returns a favor and an experienced warrior is hired to bolster the St 4 ranks.

HOORAY FOR THE WOLF GUYS!  

Another fun romp in the City of the Damned. Excellent set-up and use of the original boxed set of buildings! Just a quick tip I did with mine that made a BIG difference in display: I grabbed a Sharpie black marker and ran it across all the bare cardboard edges. Surprising what that little difference makes and doesn’t take long. Keep em' coming.

Quote :

I grabbed a Sharpie black marker and ran it across all the bare cardboard edges. Surprising what that little difference makes and doesn’t take long.

Yeah, the owner of the buildings (Jim L) knows that, but he did it to a couple of buildings and then decided he had more important things to do.  Since I haven't touched up the dings in my risers this year either, its hard for me to argue the point.

Thanks again for the comments, glad you both take the time to type in.
___________________________________________________________________________________
The Great Treasure Hunt
The Rats try to take wyrdstone from the Penny Pincers and Possessed

There were seven possible wyrdstones up for grabs.  This week single barrels represent wyrdstone (because we hadn't used barrels in awhile...)

The Purple People Eater grabs a wydstone barrel. (Notice the center building in this shot is ONE of the buildings Jim L did the sharpie thing to. I wonder if he read your post...)


Skaven lurking.  The Pincers BS6 shooter got the Rats' BS5 Nightrunner with his first shot.  There was lurking after that.




This red building would be the OTHER building outlined with sharpie.  Interesting...


Penny Pinching.


Sometimes they shoot back...


The Purple People Eater confronts a Pincer.  No pinching.


The fight above the streets.


The Winged Terror.


The death of the Skaven's little Warlock friend.



After the Pincers have gone...






The Rats did grab a barrel.


The Penny Pincers fled first.  

Jim L wrote:

Swordsman Adolf II died (hired Adolf III)
Champion Adam got a leg injury :-(
I got 1 wyrdsone barrel.

The Rats fled next.

Zach wrote:

I took home three wyrdstone from the treasure hunt (seven total, by the end of the search phase).

My noble archer, Skit, brother to Skat, was one-shotted by Jim's longbowman in the very first turn of combat. My hired warlock, Patrick, was also mauled by a pair of beastmen. The rats were a little happy, since they didn't have to pay upkeep.

I also lost a giant rat to Chris' purple horror.

The Possessed are assumed to gain lots of experience from beating on the others and, of course, the inevitable riches...

That is a GREAT LOOKING game. In the top photo the Purple People Eater actually looks like he's about to grab the barrel. COOL STUFF ONCE MORE!  

I almost got dizzy on that one aerial shot. Great terrain setup. Once again that looks to be a fun board to play on, even un-Sharpied.

Thanks again for the kind comments.  Glad to have an audience.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Week Eight--Five Again

Players and Warbands
Chris R--Bretonnians
Chris S--Possessed
Jake--Undead--"Fabia's Fiends"
Jim L--Marienburgers--"Penny Pincers"
Jim S--Middenheimers--"Ulric's Wolves"

A Wyrdstone Hunt
The Pincers versus the Wolves

I've been avoiding the hapless Pincers, but had to meet them sometime.  Naturally the Wolves beat up on their southern cousins.  Poor Mr. L was so busy counting casualties that he had no time for photos (even though Jake reminded him).  Three swordsmen were killed, including one who brought the ogre a nice shiny wyrdstone.  

Jim L wrote:

Henchmen:
swordsmen - Heilman IV and Griff King III died.
Marksman - Puddin' died (lost blunderbuss, long bow, & toughened leathers)
Could only afford to hire Heilman V.
But did roll 3 - 6s for a free hired sword.
Say hello to Tiny, my Orgre Bodyguard.

The Wolves gained 2 wyrdstone out of three available (the Pincers had two, but couldn't believe how many attacks the new ogre could survive, so a swordsman who was leaving with one turned around to charge the ogre.  I was pretty surprised too.  The ogre's predecessor rolled right over for the ghoul pack.)

Jake took some photos of the big game, so those will appear sometime this week.

Jim L is probably working on the "no photos, it didn't happen" thing.  

No doubt.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Another Possessed Ambush
Pour la gloire and Fabia's Fiends attack the Possessed.

Well actually the Possessed attacked the Bretonnians.  The battlefield:


The Fiends

Chris R wrote:

Hey all,

Things, once again, didn't go well for the bold Bretonnians. It was a sound defeat against possessed and undead. It was an ambush and the possessed went straight at me, being the weaker force.


I held up well for 2 rounds, managing to hurt 2 multi-wound models.


But it couldn't last. After I was largely defeated the possessed turned on the undead, and then did pretty much the same to them.
Fabia takes on two Possessed...


Fabia gets vision of tormented out of the fight.




The Magister Hired Warlock and a Mutant


I ended up outlasting the undead, but by the end I had only 1 squire on the table... Total count was 3 dead including Baldwin, my hero man-at-arms, and my 2 new men-at-arms henchmen. My only remaining Knight Errant, Sir Tancrede, will miss 3 games, and someone else picked up an old battle wound. The rest of my advancements were the usual initiative and leadership. With just 1 hero on the table I only found 30 gold, so I can only replace 1 loss. Rule, Bretonnia!

The Fiends may have lost a ghoul.  Fabia survived.

The Possessed have 29 wyrdstone banked...  A beastman may have been killed, but likely not.

Leo Durocher Might be right about nice Guys finishing last. Rule Bretonnia anyway!

As long as it was fun for everyone
Nice table, the beastmen could use some painting-up!

Quote :

Nice table, the beastmen could use some painting-up!

Thanks.
Yeah they could. Not sure they will, though. Chris S hasn't painted a model lately (like a few years lately).

Chris R is threatening to stop painting as his Brets have gotten worse since he started painting them...

Week Nine--More Ambushes

Players and Warbands
Chris R--Bretonnians
Chris S--Possessed
Jake--Undead--"Fabia's Fiends"
Jim L--Marienburgers--"Penny Pincers"
Jim S--Middenheimers--"Ulric's Wolves"

Defend the Find

Chris R wrote:

Hey fellas,

For the first time in a while the Bretonnians didn't get slaughtered. I just lost instead. Jake managed to close in around my building in defend the find, so it was over after 2 turns.




I had no deaths and just one advancement, so a pretty uneventful, if welcome, game.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Ambush the Wolves

So for weeks The Possessed has been the highest rated warband and getting all the wyrdstone from getting Ambushed because of it.  So this week the Wolves happened to be rated higher...

This is why I am not usually an overachiever.

The Wolves' heroes fled first.  They are actually fleeing toward the docks.


Lots of narrow alleyways.


The ogre bodyguard holds the entire Possessed warband up. (A Bounty Hunter moves into position to hunt for the Magister.)


For one turn.


The Wolf companion kills another Pincher swordsman.


Three Mary Ann swordsmen and the wolf companion are OoA.


The ogre is dead.


Tiny threatens the Wolves' shooters.


The Penny Pinchers fled first with six warriors OoA.  One swordsman died.

The Wolves held on to their wyrdstone even though the evil Possessed caught up with them (three of six fallen Pichers went OoA on my turn, so they couldn't flee...)  Ulric's Wolves lost an Ogre Bodyguard, a Pit Fighter, and the two original henchmen from the warband: Marksman Garn and Swordsman Karl.  Which is 77 in warband rating.  (This warband has lost the fewest models ever for me: 1 warrior, 1 Marksman, 1 Swordsman, 2 wolf compainions, 2 ogres and 1 pit fighter. Usually I don't bother to keep track because there are so many dead.)

Sonja the Youngblood takes a Hand Injury, Wolf the Youngblood gains Horrible Scars and Per Wolfgar takes a sucking Chest Wound.

The Wolves rescue a veteran marksman from a dungeon.

The Possessed suffered no casualties at all (my shooting was awful, then everyone I wounded had more than one wound.) The Winged Terror and the Purple People Eater capture 5 wyrdstone to win the game.

Win or lose, those are two of the BEST LOOKING games the Old Town has seen for awhile. GREAT STUFF!

Week Ten--The Grand Finale

Players and Warbands
Chris R--Bretonnians
Chris S--Possessed
Jake--Undead--"Fabia's Fiends"
Jim L--Marienburgers--"Penny Pincers"
Jim S--Middenheimers--"Ulric's Wolves"
Matt--Reiklanders

The Wizard's Mansion
The Possessed against everybody else!

The Possessed have grown from four or five models to be an unstoppable horde that really is only unstoppable because of the Winged Terror and the Purple People Eater, so all the remaining warbands got together to confront them (with ten of their warband each).  So the Possessed attacked the Pinchers...who were handy, and set up in front of the Possessed heroes...so.

The thin blue, red and yellow line.


The Possessed heroes and some hired swords they invited (warband rating 403 or so).  Right in front of the Mary Anns (who set up third...)


The rest of the Cult.  I'm not sure what the blue horror represents...


Some Reiklanders, who set up first in the southwest half of the board.


The Wolves.  Occupying the southeast.


Fabia's Fiends held the east.


The Brets have the northeast.


For some reason the Reiklanders abandoned a straight approach to the mansion (in conver) to crowd into the Middenheimers.








You can't see them anymore, but Anna takes down two brethren with one shot on that far gallery.


Reiklander archers wound the Purple People Eater.


The end is near for the Cult in the mansion.






There are fewer Mary Anns.
















The Brets rush to aid the Pinchers (led by a M3 troll slayer...)




The Purple People Eater holds the Brets.


Fabia's Fiends get stuck in the suburbs.






The surviving Mary Anns stayed off the ground.


The Purple People Eater falls to Goblad the Lame.


Then Fabia attacks!


The carnage went on for two and a half hours, maybe three or four turns.  At the end there were LOTS of Cult members out of action.

Chris R. wrote:

My only casualty was a henchmen bowman.
I got that crazy underdog bonus. With that Gobald the Lame,  the Un-killable got 2 new skills (expert swordsman and mighty blow). So it if weren't for weapon skill 1 he would be amazing. And of course this is when I get all my strength, toughness and wound advancement rolls. I gained a total of 1 attack, 3 wounds, 1 strength, 1 toughness and 1 WS. Instead of all the leadership and initiative rolls I had been getting. All 3 of my hired swords got skills, but as they didn't really contribute they don't deserve their pay.

Jake wrote:

I had a non hero ghoul get taken out of action but survive.

Fabia finally got strength 6
The necromancer also increased to strength4. Making him a WS 5, STR 4 spellcaster.

Everyone else just gained experience.

The Wolves lost another wolf companion.

The Pinchers and Cult had rank upon rank of out of action models, but chose to hold their secrets.

Thus the Great Winter campaign ends.  Thanks for watching!

HOORAY FOR EVERYONE! That was a SPLENDID Campaign....now on to more exotic settings!

I love these battle reports! Keep them coming!

One recommendation: take some of the photos from lower, from a model's position. All the shots are from "on high" which means all we are really getting is a bunch of hats. Getting lower makes the shots seem more immersive and "cinematic." That being said, I understand that not all cameras take well to this sort of thing.

Thanks for the comments gentlemen.

@Millenium_King--Ha! The camera might be OK with it, but the photographer is set in his ways (I am technologically illiterate and depend on those more interested in gadgets).

The Rise of the Liche Lord--Weeks One and Two

Players and Warbands
Bob--Reiklanders
Chris R--Mauraders of Chaos (BtB)
Chris S--Shadow Elves (Boo!)
Jake B--Lahmian Vampires (Khemri)
Jake L--Skaven
Jim L--Dark Elves (Lustria)
Jim S--Witch Hunters
John--Undead
Matt--Undead
Zach--Clan Pestilens (TC#29)

I have been looking at the game Frostgrave since the interweb told me about it.  I haven't bought any rules or played it, but it rang the right bells for me to be interested.  Then a former active member of this forum started posting battle reports on other forums, so I read those.  Then the Thaw of the Liche Lord campaign came out and he started posting reports about the campaign his local store was running.  The campaign looked pretty cool and featured some similar scenarios to Mordheim (how could it not?)

THEN a guy named Ted Albert posted his Mordheim version of a Liche Lord campaign on the Facebook Mordheim group.  I haven't read the original Frostgrave campaign, so I have no idea how close Ted's adaptation is, but its an interesting concept so I started thinking about trying something similar.

The campaign starts out with a total eclipse during which ghostly minions drag treasures from the earth...

Total Eclipse
Our whole group has played this scenario starting with John and I playing Undead and Middenheimers. For a bit it looked like the ghosts would run the dregs and ghouls off the table, but as usual in Undead warbands, the Vampire turned it around.  The Middenlanders ran even as the sun returned and darkness fled.
Middenheim lost a marksman and a swordsman and gained no wyrdstone.  The Undead gained three wyrdstone and lost no one.  
__________________________________________________________________________________
Witch Hunters versus Matt's Undead and Chris' Marauders.
The Marauders braved the ghosts to grab two or three wyrdstone.  The Undead slammed right into the Marauder flank and proceeded to steal one wyrdstone from the ghosts and one from the chaos worshipers.  Meanwhile the Witch Hunters only saw one ghost and struggled across the board.
The zombies killed the Marauder Chieftain, a Champion and a henchman.  The Marauders fought until they failed a rout test, taking down a dreg and the Vampire.  The Undead fled after the Marauders as the Witch Hunters accounted for the other dregs.  A zombie was destroyed and a dreg killed.

Out of five possible wyrdstone, the Undead held two and the Witch Hunters and Marauders one. (One ghost took his off the table out of play.)
The Vampire became mad and now suffers (literally) from frenzy.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The Lahmians versus the Shadow Elves
Hearing that an elf has failed a leadership test is almost as satisfying as seeing one fail initiative.  Apparently the ghost played hob with the elves, then elves got attacked by the vampires minions.
Actual casualties were hard to obtain, but the vampire held the field and most of the wyrdstone.
__________________________________________________________________________________
New Marauders versus Lahmians and Clan Pestilens

Chris R wrote:

Also, Jake, Zach and I played a game over the weekend. I won, with one of my champions becoming Plagued from a random event. He recovered though! No Eye of the Gods yet, I didn't take out any heroes the whole game...

Zach took horrendous or at least crippling casualties and decided to disband.
__________________________________________________________________________________
New Clan Pestilens versus Reiklanders and Witch Hunters

The lurking plague monks...

The ghosts totally ignored the skaven and Witch Hunters while sowing despair and discord among the Reiklanders (who just might have forgotten that their Captain's leadership extends 12").  




Then the ghosts turned and terrified most of the Witch Hunters (and one giant rat).  
Before the ghosts turn...




The discord allowed both hounds and a flagellant to be taken out of action which caused the Witch Hunters to flee.  


The Reiklanders followed once the monks took down their Sigmarite Warrior Priest (Miracle Workers).




The Witch Hunters and Reiklanders both managed to run two wyrdstone off the table while the winning Skaven got nothing for their trouble.  A giant rat died.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Dark Elves versus Skaven

Jim L wrote:

Won 1st game with 3 extra shards from spirits.  Skaven got one shard. Skaven failed most Ld tests and routed when the chance came.

The Beastmaster took a may not run wound.  The Skaven may have suffered casualties, but the rats are mum.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The Watchers
The Undead versus the Lahmians

The Watchers was the 'themed' scenario for the second week.  Only the Lahmians had discovered anything about the Liche Lord's plot, so we rolled randomly for who got to fight them.  It looked interesting when the Undead met each other, but frenzy and poor dice undid the Undead.

The counters are Swag.






Bad things happened to the Undead.  The Lahmians claim three swag.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Treasure Hunt
The Undead versus the Skaven

The Skaven overcame their fear (or were just plain lucky) to take down the Mad Vampire.

The Undead line.


Rats in the walls.


The Undead encounter rats.




Furious fighting.


Legend has it that the Mad Vampire charged the cringing Assassin Adept.  Amazingly the Vampire missed with a furious lunge but impaled itself on a trembling dagger.  The monster was defeated and the Undead fled.

The rats found a moldy chest with a few tarnished coins for their trouble (Jake rolled 1s or 2s only for finding items or the amount of gold).  The Vampire will miss at least a game if the warband continues. (Matt was a bit demoralized.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
Wyrdstone Hunt
Dark Elves versus Lahmia

Jim L wrote:

I lost Wyrdstone Hunt by failing the first rout test with a 12.
But I got all 4 shards. A flying sorceress is cool.




But the 2 Black Hounds were indestructible for quite a long time.






My Cold One Beasthounds took turns being stupid.
First henchman advancement was Lads Got Talent. A Shade is now hero.  6 heroes!

Since my Beastmaster was injured with the May Not Run thing, I fired him and hired a replacement.
Expensive but way to early to suffer Stupidity for the hounds for the whole campaign (since he wouldn't be able to keep up with them).

No deaths either game, (Beastmaster was ooa both games) just an extra 45gc to hire a new Beastmaster.

The Dark Elves roll a 12+ to discover something of the Liche Master's plans thanks to their stealing all the wyrdstone available.  The Lahmians find a fake Mordheim map.  Their opponent next week may choose the scenario.

GOOD LOOKIN' GAMES! I thought for sure you'd be trying to escape The City.  
I bought the rules book & the Liche scenario awhile ago...I do like raising crews that could be used in some game or other. The game does resemble Mordheim. It seems interesting enough, but it is limited to Magic Users as advancing characters. That was enough to turn me off on the system if not the setting...I do HATE Winter in general & snow in particular though.