Bell, Book and Candle (a Flame On Mordheim campaign)

Vercuso: Bell, Book and Candle

The capricious Winds of Magic grow stronger on Sartosa this season and the practitioners of the dark arts gather. Auspicious portents have been reported; such as fish that seem to say “Doom!” as they are about to be filleted, the birth of two headed goats, whole flocks of birds dying on the wing and falling into the streets, strange lights flickering over the harbour at dawn and dusk, and unusual numbers of very deep water fish turning up in catches.

To add to the sense of foreboding felt by the citizens of the ruined port, three mysterious strangers have come to Vercuso. Not much is known about them but they arrived a few weeks ago wearing the bizarre robes normally associated with wizards. No one seems to know where they came from but within days of getting to Vercuso they had started asking questions about the active warbands in the city – they visited all the bars, inns and taverns and quizzed the locals about the strengths, skills and make up of all the active armed bands and made extensive notes.

Then without explanation they separated and took up residence in three different parts of town. It’s not known if they argued and fell out or if they are secretly working together behind the scenes but they seemed to be working together when they arrived, now they have gone their separate ways and are quite content to even join opposing forces.

No one knows what motivates the wizards to join a particular warband from one week to the next but they seem to be eager to spend time with those active in Vercuso, even to the extent of taking on disguises to accompany warbands that have a distrust, or even hatred, of magic.

~ ~ ~

Ignatius Bell, Helving Book and Merton Candle are Dramatis Personae who will join warbands for one week for no charge. They can be used in all the games you play for the week they are with you. They will not stay with the same Warband for two consecutive weeks though, at the end of the week they will leave your company and join a different warband for the following week.

Mr Bell, Mr Book and Mr Candle are allocated to different warbands at the campaign masters’ discretion. Miniatures and rules will be provided to represent the wandering wizards. If any of the wizards are killed they will return to the campaign after a week of absence with their starting stats and no experience points.

~ ~ ~

The next Flame On Luncheim campaign will be starting with a full day’s gaming at The Mill on Wednesday 30th December. The campaign mechanics are very similar to last time, but with a few tweaks which we think will really make things simpler and easier.

You can download the campaign rules pdf #here#.

Starting the campaign

1. Everyone taking part will provide the following information: a) Warband name; b) Warband type; c) Starting warband rating.

2. In order of placing in the last campaign, each player chooses their starting location which must be a ‘special location’. So Adam chooses first, then Saul, Dazza, Dave, me, Tim, Viktor, Matt, Andy, followed by any new-comers (there is space for 12 warbands in total). The special locations are the same as before:
Wishing Well
Sail-Makers’ Guildhouse
The Light
The Battery
The Farms
The Old Temple
Pressgang Alley
Binnacle Yard
Merchants’ Guildhouse
Vercuso Bridge
Their (revised) special rules are listed in #this# pdf.

3. Each player also secretly chooses any two locations which will be worth double points to them at the end of the campaign and PM it to the organiser. Choose them for fluff, for special rules, for whatever reasons you like, but keep ‘em secret for now! Once the campaign has started, each warband's bonus locations will be revealed to the other players so we can try and stop each other capturing them!

1. Wishing Well
   
2. The Sail-Makers’ Guildhouse
   
3. The Lighthouse
   
4. The Battery
   
5. The Farms
   
6. The Old Temple
   
7. Pressgang Alley
   
8. Binnacle Yard
   
9. The Merchants’ Guildhouse
   
10. Vercuso Bridge
    
11. The Barrel o' Monkeys
    
12. The Hole in the Wall Inn
    
13. The Emperor's Bane
    
14. The Slips
    
15. The Boarding Party Inn
    
16. Wrecker's Point
    
17. Soup Alley
    
18. Unlucky Quay
    
19. The Cod and Cutlass Inn
    
20. Dumplington
    
21. Slippery Jack's Underwater Cave
    
22. Cheapside
    
23. The Sarky Cutter
    
24. Hangman's Square
    
25. The Capstan
    
26. The Vercuso Ferry
    
27. The Bucaneer's Blade Inn
    
28. The Ropewalks
    
29. The Crooked Farthing Inn
    
30. Cathay Town

The "Serpent-Dragon of Twilight Aspect" pirates

The Gloomwyrm
Also known by it’s Cathayan name the Serpent-Dragon of Twilight Aspect, the Gloomwyrm is a Cathayan Orc Pirate Junk commanded by Captain Mung-Qi and festooned with dragon-muzzled cannon. The Gloomwyrms are a fierce band of cutthroats and villains who joined the Ironfang Pirates willingly when they first saw the size of the fleet.

Mung-Qi (Orc Boss)
Arrogant, boastful and conceited he calls himself “The great Orc Pirate Warlord Mung-Qi, equal of Gork and Mork, Captain of the Gloomwyrm Pirate Junk, scourge of the eastern seas” but most people find that a bit long-winded and pompous and just call him Mung-Qi. He wields a great two-handed iron cudgel, stolen from the treasure-horde of a sea dragon. Mung-Qi doesn’t know it but the metal staff is forged from meteoric iron, and as a result it is almost unbreakable and slightly magical. He also wears what he thought was the legendary Crown of Command, but he was duped into putting it on by his Shaman and it is not what he claimed it to be. The golden circlet looks impressive but Mung-Qi would remove it if only he could.

Tricky-Tarka (Orc Shaman)
Sly, secretive and deceitful, even by Orc Shaman standards, Tricky-Tarka has final say in all the decisions the Mung-Qi and the Gloomwyrms make – all he has to do if he doesn’t get his way is recite a secret spell and the “Crown of Command” shrinks slightly and causes Mung-Qi unbearable pain! The Shaman is searching Cathay for the Scrolls of Mork and is using the pirates for his own ends.

Xan-Dee (Orc Big'Un)
In his former life as a river pirate Xan-Dee developed a taste for human flesh and he still wears several skulls hung from his cloths and lank hair. The Gloomwyrm was attacked by his small band of river pirates when it ventured up-river many years ago but Xan-Dee’s crew were swiftly overcome and killed. Xan-Dee was impressed by the ferocity of the Gloomwyrms and joined them immediately.

Pig-Xi (Orc Big'Un)
Once a Boar-herder for a northern tribe of nomadic Orcs, Pig-Xi got fed-up with the constant abuse of the rest of the tribe and the relentless biting from the boars. With a very large bag of supplies packed he left the camp in the dead of night when the tribe stopped near a coastal port. He joined the Gloomwyrm’s crew when he heard they were sailing at dawn. He is easily distracted by food and drink and enjoys little in life more than eating.

~ ~ ~













Luncheim Special Rule

Cloud Trapeze
The secrets of cloud-walking are known to the Heroes of the Gloomwyrms. It it said that in a single somersault they can travel 108,000 miles!

The Heroes of the Gloomwyrms have limited access to the spell Flight of Zimmerman. One hero can try to cast it once each turn, but it can only be used successfully once per game. The Gloomwyrms are no wizards though; if when attempting to cast it they roll double 1 they are removed from play for the rest of the game, as they are carried away the full 108,000 miles! The "lost" hero does not count as being "Out of Action" and does not have to roll for injuries but they can not take part in the after-game Exploration for that game. They will have found their way back before the next game however, probably with an exciting (and hugely exaggerated) tale to tell their ship-mates...

HOORAY! LUNCHHEIM HAS RETURNED!

Thought you'd be happy to see this thread Alan!

zelophahad wrote:

Great! Well, all the special locations are now allocated:

Wishing Well = Dazza
Sail-Makers’ Guildhouse = Dave
The Light = Andy (zoglug)
The Battery = Matt
The Farms = Adam
The Old Temple = Tim
Pressgang Alley = Viktor
Binnacle Yard = Phil
Merchants’ Guildhouse = Saul
Vercuso Bridge = Andy B

If the last two places are taken (Richard? Liam?), they'll each start in a randomly-allocated basic location.

there are a really good group of us this time! we keep growing!

Nice work.

WAIT...where's Lee???

DeafNala wrote:

WAIT...where's Lee???

Sadly Lee can't get to the Mill at lunchtimes as he works waaaay out of town and only gets 40 minutes for lunch.

Hopefully he'll be able to join us for a few evenings and weekend games though.

It looks like Nippy Longskar (AKA Mark) and Kawaiiii (AKA Sally) are joining use though. Warband details will be added above when we have them

WarbossKurgan wrote:

Sadly Lee can't get to the Mill at lunchtimes as he works waaaay out of town and only gets 40 minutes for lunch.

Doesn't reality JUST SUCK? It's a relief to know he wasn't kidnapped by Gypsies though.

Oh he was, but they gave him back.

Brad the Impaled's Mumbling Stumbling Horde

zoglug wrote:

‘Brrrrrraaaaiiiiiinzzzzzzzz’

‘Be quiet’ Retorted Brad. He turned to Pob with a disappointed look on his face.

‘This isnt how life was meant to be’ He quipped.

He was from an affluent family, the eldest son of Lord Winnat, heir to his estate. Growing up, he was always the smallest of children, the weakest and the most feable! He was clumsy with a sword, appalling with a bow and arrow and his horse riding skills left a lot to be desired. But he couldn’t help but wonder how he had ended up here, ended up a Vampire.............

‘Brrrrrraaaaiiiiiinzzzzzzzz’

‘QUIET!!!’ Yelled Brad………….the day had just begun.

Work in progress Dramatis Personae for the campaign:
Mr Bell, Mr Book and Mr Candle - I'm sure you can guess which is which!







And that other chap for when the allocated warband is of the non-wizard-friendly sort : Pauli Disguy'st

VERY COOL! I especially like Herr Candle & Pauli. NICE USE of GW's EXCELLENT plastics...whatever differences I have with GW, they DO make some GREAT plastic pieces. The Lads are going to look SPECTACULAR when all painted up.
AND, lest I forget again, the painted pieces above are all TERRIFIC!

COOL STUFF, Phil! The Savage Orc persona is how we Goblin Guys view ALL Orc(k)s...especially when they're not around. WELL DONE!

Thanks Alan, glad you like 'em.

The campaign has started! Eight of us played a full day of Mordheim yesterday, with 9 or 10 one-on-one games and a massive multi-player bash. More photos, reports and campaign updates will follow but Tim beat us all to the post with the first returns:

frog wrote:

THE BOARD!




ANDY AND PHIL GAME





THE PIT FIGHT!
There were two in the ring!

And then there was one.....



ANDY VS TIM









MEGA BATTLE!

























Sorry there was so many photos!!

but they were all so good!

That was WONDERFUL AND TRULY INSPIRING. GREAT terrain, minis, & photos...lack of text was a plus at this hour of the day. Maybe '10 won't be ALL that bad after all.
I did notice that white haired fellow with the Orphan Annie eyes spend a LOT of time on the ground.

it was a great game day! lots of action packed battles!<br><br>was great fun!<br>

DeafNala wrote:

I did notice that white haired fellow with the Orphan Annie eyes spend a LOT of time on the ground.

You don't mean the fellow with the hammer and axe do you, Alan?

Here are a few more photos, the only salvagable ones I took. Oddly, a lot of them are Saul's orcs. They are lovely though, aren't they?