The Perilous Adventures... (now with pics from Amsterdam!)

...of the Violet Tendencies (*)

(*) her crew, actually.

[Writer's note: While painting hours upon hours for the great meeting, I made up some stories for my pirates. As I don't really fancy working right now, I decided I will write them up and post them for everyone to enjoy (or not ). Please feel free to leave your comments ]

Drunken Mermaid Inn, Sartosa City

It was as hot a noon as always on Sartosa. Not many people were around – most stayed indoors and slept until the worst heat was over. The same applied to the Drunken Mermaid Inn, one of the many locales at the harbor of Sartosa City. Only few people were inside the inn at this time of the day, some drunks who scrambled from below the tables and swayed off into the daylight, and several men of all ages and nationalities, who were hoping for one of the many pirate recruiters to drop by.

One of them was young Jim Hopkins, a tender lad of 15 years of age. He was one of the locals, a farmer’s boy from one of the small villages of the Island. One night, he sneaked out of his bed, grabbed the huge cutlass he once found while ploughing the acre, wrapped up his flute and went to the City to become a famous buccaneer. He’s been there for five days now, hoping to find a crew before his father finds him.

Jim Hopkins was asleep.

Tock, tock, tock.

Jim woke up with a start, quickly checked that his cutlass was still where he left him, and looked up in the dim light of the Mermaid to see what was making the noise. At first, he could only make out several silhouettes in the doorframe, but after a few seconds, he could clearly see who was standing there. He held his breath in awe. There was no mistaking – leathery skin, bald head, eye patch, peg leg, and an flaming red beard, a cutlass and a mug dangling from his belt – this was Captain Jack “Redbeard” Johnson, one of the most (in)famous pirates, the horror of the High Seas, the nightmare of the Tilean Coast, who had captured more ships than most pirates could count.

“Avast, ye land lubbers!” He roared, waking up the last dozing men in the bar. “Is there anyone daring enough to journey to unknown lands and unearth hidden treasure greater than ye ever imagined?” A hum arose, and several of the men were about to rise. “’Tis Mordheim we are talking about.” The inn fell silent. Those who had already risen quietly sat down again. Mordheim – the city of secret terrors, to which many ventured and few, if any, returned, was well known to every mercenary and freebooter who has been in the business for a while.

Jim did wonder about the sudden change of spirit after the city’s name had been said by the Captain. However, Jim never heard of this place before and rose nonetheless.

“Aye, I see one brave lad! Come over ‘ere, what’s you name?”
“Jim Hopkins, Captain”, answered Jim.
As he approached Redbeard, he noticed that he was not alone. Behind him, there was a large and slender man of perhaps 30 years of age, who appeared to be of Cathayan descent. He was laden with pistols, and his face looked indifferent.
“Aye, Jim it be, and welcome to the crew! Is there any other of you bilge rats having the guts for some seafaring adventures?”
The men looked bashfully at their tables. Then, another boy stood up. He appeared to be a little older than Jim, but his age was hard to tell as most of his head was wrapped in a bandage and what was visible was terribly swollen.
“And what be your name, mate?”
“Gunther von Zahn”, answered the boy.
“Suffering from an ill tooth, are ye?”
“Aye”, mumbled Gunther.
“Arr, our surgeon Ogre will have that sorted in no time, me lad!”

Gunther’s face displayed a moment of shock, but he did not say anything else.

“Well, I think there’s no more valiant buccaneers to be found in this stinking hole”, Redbeard said to his companion. The Cathayan nodded. “Now, back to the Violet Tendencies.”

The group left the inn and headed off to the Harbour.

One night before, somewhere near the Harbor

The alleys around the warehouses lay peacefully and the moon was shining brightly. Form afar, the sound of laughter, music and the occasional fight could be heard. Suddenly, a person skittered around the corner and almost crashed into a wall. He was in his early twenties and genteelly dressed, with a handgun and a shovel strapped to his back. The lantern he was holding in his hand slipped to the floor and the light went out.
The man stopped, panting, and braced himself against the wall. Then, the barking of several dogs sounded in the distance, people were shouting. He picked up the lantern and ran towards the harbor. The barking was getting nearer. When the man finally left the last alley, he could already see the hounds and their masters. Upon spotting him, the pursuers aimed their handguns and fired. The man ducked behind some crates and speeded along the quay and down a landing stage.
The first ship he came across appeared unguarded, so the man decided to run up the gangway and hide onboard, hoping to escape his followers. Though he indeed managed to get out of his pursuer’s view, the dogs were still on his trail, already coming down the landing stage. The man glanced around, but could not see any other escape route, so he crouched down even more and started to pray.

The armed men were already half way up the gangway when a figure appeared out of nowhere and blocked the path. The dogs immediately stopped their mad barking and hid behind their masters.
“What do you want aboard my ship?” he asked.
“We… we are hunting a thief and traitor, good sir, and our dogs followed him right to this place”, one of the men stuttered.
“There is no thief aboard my ship”, the figure replied.
“But the dogs…” The man fell silent. “As you say, good sir. Pleasant night, good sir.”
As the men turned, their dogs hastened away, and the men followed them.

The young man was about to stand up, when a deep voice behind him said: “Good evening to you.” His heart almost stopping, he turned around. Before him stood a huge, black seaman, a rope slung around his bare, muscular chest.
“Who are you?” asked the pirate,
“My name is Jan Jansen, of the Sartosa Mining Guild.”
He watched the lanterns of his pursuers disappear around a corner.
“Well, Ex-Sartosa Mining Guild, to be honest.”
The pirate who fended off the pursuers joined them. Jan turned around to thank him for the rescue, but held his breath in shock as he looked at his savior: Out of a pitch black face, two white eyes were staring at him. The man was blind.
The bare-chested pirate clapped Jan on his back, said: “Welcome to the crew” and took him down into the hull of the Violet Tendencies, laughing.

COOL STUFF...er...FLUFF! ARRGH. there be nothing like a good Pirate Tale, AND this is a FINE example pf the genre. WELL DONE!

Could we have somemore, Sir?

I am currently working on it

Hopefully, I will be able to add a few nice battle reports and pictures to this thread after the meeting

How Gunther von Zahn got to Sartosa

Gunther von Zahn, third-born son of count Waldemar von Zahn, left the parental mansion very early to try his fortune in the city of Marienburg. His pockets full of silver, he was strolling through the streets during the day and visiting the many taverns at night. One night, in a local near the city’s famous harbor, he heard an old pirate tell wondrous tales of lands afar and of the freedom of a pirate’s life. Gunther was spellbound.
The next day, he went to the harbor in search for a ship that would take him to the strange lands the old pirate had talked about. It was not before long that Gunther spotted a magnificent vessel. As he got closer, he could read her name: Jeux de la Dame, a Bretonnian ship. She was currently being loaded, so Gunther decided to have a closer look. The colorful variety of clothes of different styles the crew wore marked them as Bretonnian buccaneers, the most noble of all seafaring men.

Gunther adressed a well-dressed man in tights, whom he reckoned to be the captain:
“Sir, are you the captain of this ship? If so, could you need another hand aboard your vessel?”
“Bonjour, my lad, I am indeed the captain of this ship. My name is Capitaine Collant.” After examining Gunther, he added: “A deckhand, especially such a handsome one as you, is always welcome. But, we will put to sea this afternoon, heading for the coasts of Tilea and Araby. Can you be ready until then?”
“Yes, sir, of course”, answered Gunther eagerly, his eyes gleaming.

It should prove fatal that he did not listen to the Capitaine carefully.

Off shore of Marienburg, Gunther’s troubles already began. Collant felt quite drawn towards the young deckhand, and after a few days, there was no mistaking the captain’s intention. Gunther tried to evade him as much as he could, but this task proved rather difficult. It was a fortunate incident that should save him.

As it is the case on many Bretonnian vessels, the kitchen of the Jeux de la Dame was run by a crew of Halfling cooks. And, as it is the case with many Halflings, they were discontent with their food rations. This lead to a strike, as it is often the case when hungry Halflings voice their discontent. Special aboard the vessel was, that a radical Halfling chef called Billy the Pig took the ships stock of gunpowder hostage. He strapped powder kegs to some fellow Halflings and threatened to blow up the ship should his demands not be met within a week. The remaining Halflings used this chance to temporarily declare the Autonomous Republic of the Poop Deck, to which Gunther now fled. He offered himself as a mediator and successfully negotiated a truce between the Halflings and the Bretonnians. Billy left the powder storage and the Halflings got higher food rations and were promised save conduct to any shore they desire. They chose Sartosa, and Gunther decided to go with them.

Upon their arrival in Sartosa City, the Halflings bludgeoned Gunther and robbed him of all his belongings. The day after, his tooth started to ache. Gunther was bound to roam around the streets of the city in search for food and shelter, and every time he acquired enough money, he went to a tavern to booze his brain out of his head, hoping to drown his despair.

Until, one day, famous Jack Johnson walked into the Drunken Mermaid Inn, Gunther’s current local of choice, in search of some daredevils, and Gunther decided to try his luck once more.

The Crew is Growing

Snorri Alekeg was rolling a barrel of finest Bugman’s XXXXX down Sartosas busy Main Street, when he heard someone singing in a deep, drunk voice.
“Fifteen dwarfs on the dead troll's chest - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the demons had done for the rest —Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of ..!”
Snorri paused, and looked for the singer. Behind some crates, he found a drunken dwarf, asleep and drooling. His hair was flaming orange and from his belt hung a cutlass and a pistol. At his feet lay an empty bottle of notorious Dwarf Rum. Without doubt, this was one of Pong Drong’s* crew, a Slayer Pirate.

*Sigh* Snorri sighed. Even though he did not know what exactly the dwarf was doing here – Pong Drong was said to be currently raiding the coasts of Estalia – but he had the odd feeling that he was in trouble. He sighed again, then he lifted the drunk dwarf up, threw him over his shoulder and continued his way towards the Violet Tendencies.

Later that day, Snorri decided that it was time to wake up the drunken dwarf. He took a little kettle from the stove and went on deck, where the Slayer was lying in the sun. Snorri opened his mouth a little and poured the hot liquid down the dwarf’s throat, who immediately jumped up coughing and drew his pistol, shouting:
“For Grimnir’s sake, what foul liquid is this, ye blasted son of a pointy-eared miscreant?!”
Smiling, Snorri replied: “’Tis a tea from weeds, sobers up even a drunken ogre, does it?”
“Ye friggin’ dog! Do this again and I’ll blast yer friggin brains all over the deck! Who are ye, anyways? And where the heck am I?”
“You’re aboard the Violet Tendencies, swiftest of all vessels, scourge of the Imperial Navy and the pride of Captain Redbeard himself! I’m Snorri, the purser.
“But, who are you, anyways, and why were you lying bleeding drunk in the street while your crew is roaming the coast of Estalia?”

When Snorri mentioned the crew, the Slayer grimaced.

“Well, ‘tis because of the crew me was getting plastered. I will tell ya from the start. Once upon a time, I was escorting a face mask to Barak Varr, when some pointy-eared wastrels, them perverts with human skin wrapped all around their stinkin’ bodies, ambushed our escort and stole the mask. Ye can imagine blemish.
“Me, I took the Slayer oath and joined Pong Drong’s pirate crew, hoping ta find ‘em somewhere on the seas. One day, chance had it that us found ‘em again indeed, and we boarded their vessel. I gutted the capt’n of those miscreant corsairs and found the mask in his cabin – nailed to the wall, Grimnir bless me! On me way back, I chopped off the head o’ the wretched corpse and was about to swing meself back aboard me ship, when another of those cowardly dung-heaps shot me in the back. I went overboard and the mask slipped from me hands and sunk right to the ground of the friggin’ sea.
“To me horror, the crew saved me accursed life, and back in Sartosa, I hid me shameful self and got sloshed day after day.
“Once, I was called Skadi Ironhead, but from now ‘tis Skadi, Disgrace of Dwarfhood that I will call meself.”

Thoughtful, Snorri listened to the dwarf’s story. Then he brightened up and replied:
“How’d it be if you were to join the crew? Live the life of a proper pirate! We do not heed anything but the Pirate Code of Conduct, the most honourable codex you’ll find afloat and ashore. Forget your past and join now for perilous adventures and unknown riches.”

At “unknown riches”, there was a gleaming in Skadis eyes.

Snorri continued: “Of course, we have to disguise you, so your old crew won’t find you. We’ll dye your hair, and from now on you shall not be known as Skadi, Disgrace of Dwarfood, but as Skadi Bluebeard, Iron Fist of the Sea! What you say?”
“Arrr!”


* Pong Drong was a well-know dwarf pirate in his time (even though he and his crew were later forgotten). The crew was always drunk (they did fire their cannons pretty accurately, though) and it is told that their smell of Dwarf Rum and beer was that intense it made the crew of the ship-to-be-boarded drunk one mile against the wind.
He is an ancestor of the nowadays famous Slayer Pirate Long Drong. However, his crew did not consist exclusively of Slayers as that of his great-(…)-grandson Long Drong.

Slow day at work, eh?! Well a FINE use of the idle time AND a FINE tale! WELL DONE!

Nice yarns, mate!
I really like how you've created the character's background for the models already posted. I had to go back and look at your painting thread to see if I could guess at the other's stories.

Like I already said to you on the meeting, you're a great story writer! my compliments on this great story ! caný wait for the next part !

[This small introduction shall bridge the gap in the background story I did not yet manage to write…]

… the Pirates first sailed to Nuln, where the crew split up. Part stayed back at the Violet Tendencies to guard her, while the more audacious fighters manned the Forlorn Hope, a small dhingy, and continued up the River Reik and then the River Stir to Mordheim. They set up their camp not far from the Black Pit Settlement, and a detachment set out for the first trips into Mordheim, namely: Jack “Redbeard” Johnson, the captain of the Violent Tendencies, the First Mate Jiang Wei, the Second Mate Ismail Fara-Tag, the two Cabin Boys Jim Hopkins and Martin the Monkey, as well as Skadi Bluebeard, Jan Jansen, Gunther von Zahn, Nkunda Gabé the boatswain, and Booming Bartholomew with his fearsome blunderbuss. At the Black Pit Settlement, they encountered an agent of the Sisters of Sigmar, who hired them to transport some cargo to the Rock, and the pirates agreed to carry out the mission, as they where heading towards the cursed city anyway. The night before, they heard some shady person talk about a treasure in the area near the old Amphitheatre, which no one had claimed yet. Redbeard and his crew listened attentively, and decided to stop by this place and have a look themselves. Little did they know that the Mercenaries which were talking in weird mix of Bretonnian and Reikland accent were about to do the same…

Of Wild Beasts and a Booming Blunderbuss

Redbeard and his crew were approaching the area they expected the treasure to be from the south. During their council this morning, the pirates decided that they would first secure the area and occupy the surrounding buildings before they searched for the treasure, being afraid that they could otherwise be surprised by other soldiers of fortune.
As they approached the area, they noticed a disgusting smell, even worse than that of the city itself.
“What’s that stench, y’ reckon?” Jim asked.
“Beastmen”, growled Ismail in reply.
A frightened look appeared on the crew’s faces, and only the mates and the captain continued unimpressed.



At the end of the street, a small plaza could be seen and the wind carried a multitude of sounds towards the small group. Amongst them, grunts, growls and barks could be made out, eradicating any doubt that Ismail was wrong. Also, some voices talking in Reikspell and daffy Bretonnian could be heard.
“Arrr, I bet that’s them bloody mercenaries we saw in the tavern yesterday. Wait ‘till I get to them, and I gonna beat the crap out ‘a them!”
“Sure you will, Skadi”, Wei said.



They continued down the road. Before the group entered the plaza, Redbeard whispered:
“Alright, ye lubbers, now we’ll show them who’s to be most feared around here. You see that big building right up front? Right. Wei, Ismail, Bart, you will sneak around it, blow some shrapnel into those bilge rats and then dispatch of those who can still crawl.
Nkunda, you climb up that building and look out us where the filth is hiding. Jan and Gunther, you take up positions on the monuments over there and shoot them savage beast before they reach us. If any should get through still, me and the rest of the crew will let them taste our cutlasses. Now, c’mon!”



The pirates swarmed out. The mates and Bart safely made it to the large building, while the bosun threw his hook up into the second storey and began to climb upwards.

Jan and Gunther took firing positions, when they already spotted the beastmen. One of them already ran towards them, followed by a big beast which looked like the chieftain and a smaller one covered in furs and hung with skulls of men and beasts. The gunners shot, but failed to hit, and before they could reload, Skadi and the Cabin Boy already jumped on the first brute and stroke with their clubs and daggers. Their brave charge managed to knock down the beast, but the blows could not take it out of action.



While Redbeard ran cursing towards his fighting comrades, the other beasts joined the combat.
“What are ye doing, ye bloody bilge rats?!” Redbeard shouted towards Jan and Gunther, “shoot the friggin’ beasts!”



The gunners continued to stare oafishly, and did nothing.

At the same time, the other group was sneaking along the back of the building, the voices of the Reiklanders growing louder. Then they could hear a large roar and the mercenaries started to shout heatedly.
“Minotaur”, growled Ismail.





Suddenly, two mercenaries stepped from behind the corner, one pointing a pistol, the other a blunderbuss at the group. Wei drew his pistol and shot at the blunderbussier, but missed. Grinning, the Reiklander pulled the trigger, and a hail of shrapnel flew towards the pirates, hitting Wei right in the chest and ricocheting on to the other two.



The first mate passed out immediately, his duelling pistols clattering to the floor. The others threw themselves to the floor, and as they stood up, the other mercenary was already at them, swinging his sword and shooting his pistol.

Nkunda climbed up the building, and when he looked up, he saw the mercenaries’ leader grinning at him from the rooftop across the street, his crossbow pointed at Nkunda’s head. The bosun jumped aside, as the bolt hit the wall and splintered.



The blind Ismail was still deafened from the blunderbuss’ boom and went down quickly, but Bart fought back, hitting his blunderbuss’ but and stunning him.




The pirates did not stand a chance against the beastemen with their immense strength and tough, furry skin, and Skadi and Jim went down before they even knew what was happening. The chieftain spotted Jan, who was eventually aiming his rifle again, and charged, taking him out of action in one move.



As Redbeard realized that his crew got minced by the beastmen, he shouted for his men to retread and made a sharp whistle to order the rest of the crew to retreat again. He then feigned at the chieftain, grabbed Jan and ran as fast as he could, while Martin and Jan were carrying the unconscious Skadi, while Gunther gave of some badly aimed shots of covering fire. At the entrance to the street, the group was joined by Bart, who was carrying the passed out Wei, blood dripping from the limp body, and Nkunda, who was supporting the limping Ismail.

“To the Rock”, Redbeard snarled.
“Aye!” said those who could still talk.

As they were already several yards away, they could hear a bloodcurdling death cry.

“Dead minotaur”, hissed Ismail.

A FINE TALE backed up by GREAT PHOTOS! I've died & gone to Heaven!
Actually Heaven doesn't want me, Hell has no vacancies, & there is a vague possibility that I'm not actually dead...yet.

Woa, great tale mate! You must have been painting for a long while to come up with all these stories

Yeah, 4 to 6 hours for each miniature, I believe. And there's still more hunting my mind, I just could not find the time to write it up yet, and now the battle reports have priority (oh, how am I looking forward of writing about the pirates revenge on the Reiklanders )

[Preparing for the next battle...]

Interlude

The crew was quickly moving towards the Rock, packed with the Sisters’ cargo and the unconscious bodies of Jiang Wei and Skadi Bluebeard. As the bridge which lead onto the island came into sight, Redbeard gave the sign to halt.
“Arrr, Ismail, you’ll have to stay on this side o’ the river. I doubt them straitlaced sisters will welcome as at their place with you being like on of their holy augurs. So, we’ll get in there, give ‘em the cargo, ask ‘em if they can help us with Skadi and Wei and when we come back, you’ll join again. Ay?”
“Yeah, Captain.”
Ismail’s words came only as a murmur, his jaws were clenched and blood was oozing from below his Elephantaur armour.
“I’ll see to my wounds myself, then.”
“So be it. Come on, ye scurvy dogs, off to the nuns, before Wei and Skadi will wake no more!”

With these words, Redbeard led his men towards the Rock, the monastery island of the Sisters of Sigmar.

Ismail went into the ruins. When he found an old tower, he climbed up to the top and sat down on some rubble. He opened the straps of his armour, removed it and felt the wound in his abdomen with knowing fingers. Then, he tore a large piece of cloth from his once white cloak, wrapped it tightly around his waist, and put his armour back on. Afterwards, he leaned back against the wall and closed his white, blind eyes. He did not rest for long, when he heard some savage noise from the street below. He sniffed the air, let out a silent growl and silently climbed down the tower.

Down in the street, four beastmen were trotting towards the rock, with a Centigor limping along behind them. Without making any sound, Ismail stepped from an alley into the open street behind them and said in a quiet, but determined tone:
“Beastmen.”
The creatures turn around and drew their weapons, but when they looked into the empty eyes that were staring at their faces, fear gripped them and they unintentionally took a step backwards.
“Stay.”
They stopped.
“What you want?”, barked the huge chieftain.
“Cooperation.”
“What cooperation?”
“You are wounded, the Minotaur is dead. On your own, you will not make it out of the city. We suffered casualties as well. Fight with us, and we might get out of here safe.”

In a series of grunts and barks, the large beastman spoke to his companions. After a while, he turned back to Ismail and said:

“We agree. Me Grug-Hel. Mor-Da hurt.”*
He pointed at the Centigor.
“You can help?”
“Follow me”, answered Ismail and led them back into the alley.

At the first light of the following day, Ismail and the beastmen gathered in a ruined house near the bridge to the Rock. The Centigor was not with them, as he could neither walk nor fight, even though Ismail looked after his wounds.

“Cross the bridge, and when the pirates find you, tell them that I sent you.”
Grug-Hel looked with suspicion at Ismail, when clanging metal could be heard nearby.

“Hurry!” Ismail snarled.

The chieftain barked at his herd, and the beastmen went off towards the bridge. They had almost crossed it, as mad barking of several hounds could be heard from the city, approaching. The beastmen quickened their pace and where soon hidden behind some ruins. Ismail turned and went back to the wounded Centigor.

[*The beastmen names were Matt’s invention ]

So that's how the Pirates picked up Beastmen lackeys, erm...allies. GOOD STORY!
@matt: Pretty cool names; when I look at Beastmen I normally come up with names like Elmer & Elsie.

Don't rely on anyone

Redbeard was honing his cutlass, when he heard a whistle from the street. He saw Jan near a ruined wall, glancing towards the street now and then. Gunther lay on the broken floor of what remained of the upper storey, aiming his handgun and something the peg-legged pirate could not see.
“Arrr, what’s it?” whispered Redbeard.
“Beastmen”, Jan answered under his breath.

Redbeard looked through a gap in the wall at the street.
“Don’t shoot”, he said.
Jan and Gunther looked at him with surprise.
“Understood, ye flaming dogs?!”
“Aye”, the replied.

Redbeard stepped into the street, saying:
“What do ye beasts want ‘ere?”
“We want fight with you. We sent by blind man.”
The captain looked suspiciously at the beasts, but before he could say anything, a bolt from a crossbow struck the wall behind him. Barking could be heard in the distance, and it grew rapidly louder.
“Follow me.”
Redbeard motioned to the gunners and the beastmen, and they ran off into the ruins.

After a few minutes, they reached a pool which was surrounded by an old theatre. On the stands, the rest of the pirates were resting, playing dice and drinking rum. On top of the stands, Jim was sitting and playing the flute. When he spotted the beastmen, he nearly fell down.
The others were equally shocked, but Redbeard did not leave them any time to ask questions.
“Beastmen, ye hide in that large building o’er there, we hide o’er ‘ere. Wait ‘till those mercenaries show up at the edge o’ the pool, then ambush. We’ll sneak up to them blasted Witch Hunters and give ‘em a good thrashing, and Gunther and Jim’ll give ye firing support. Understood?”
“Right”, growled Grug-Hel.

Only moments later, the space around the pool was abandoned and no fighter to be seen. Then, some vertically challenged mercenaries with long beards emerged from the ruins, saw the wyrdstone glinting on the ground of the pond, and ran towards it’s edge as fast as they could. The gunners were sneaking up, hiding behind some barrels of rum, while the rest of the crew weaselled towards the plaza behind the stands.




Dazed from his aching tooth, Gunther knocked one of the barrels he, Jan and Skadi were hiding behind over, drawing the attention of one of the thunderers, who immediately fired a shot towards them, which luckily missed. Before he could load another bolt, the dwarf gang was ambushed by the beastmen, who jumped from the building with a deafening roar.



It was only then that Redbeard noticed that the barking had ceased. Carefully, he lead his retinue on the plaza, which was covered with barrels of rum.
“Bart, you lay down ‘ere and give us cover.”
“Aye, captain.”



Bart took up position behind the barrels, making sure that he is outside of what he expected to be the blast area, while the rest of the crew tried to look around the stands to see if some enemies were advancing. Suddenly, two dogs came into view, followed by crazy flagellants, who were swinging their massive flails.



“Jim, Monkey, fall back! This might be t’ dangerous for ye, see if ye can help out the gunners.”
“Eeek”, said Martin and bounced away, followed by the relieved Jim Hopkins.

A few yards away, Gunther climbed up the stands daringly, taking a good firing position while exposing himself to the numerous enemies. The beastmen and the dwarfs were already locked in a vicious brawl, and the witch hunters were quickly closing in and charging the dwarfs.




Then, Gunther could see one of the furred allies fall under the blows of the stunties. As soon as his companions saw this, they roared, and fled. Before the dwarfs realized that they had just driven off one opponent, the witch hunters rushed into combat.




Jan moved around the bottom of the stands, as the cabin boy and the monkey turned around the corner, heading for the pool. Suddenly, two dogs emerged from a pile of rubble, paying as little attention to the pirates on this side of the stands as they did to Redbeard and his fighters. Clearly, they were well trained and hunting for someone.



Bart had almost pulled the trigger of his blunderbuss to blow away the dogs, when they suddenly turned towards a hole in the theatre’s wall and ran off in another direction. Relieved, Redbeard watched out for the flagellants, but they were nowhere to be seen, either.
“Arrr, follow the dogs, ye lubbers!”



With these words, he ran towards the hole, his crew following him. In the theatre, they met Jan, who motioned them to be silent.
“There’s someone behind there”, he whispered, “I will climb up there and bait them. You wait here and ambush them at first sight.”
Before Redbeard could appeal to Jan’s reason and tell him of the two flagellants they had seen earlier, the gunner was already up the stairs, and within a second got charged by these very flagellants, who flailed him unconscious in one blow.



However, Jan’s plan was a good one and the counter offensive of the pirates saw one flagellant gone for good and the other stunned immediately.



Suddenly, there was a deafening bang, followed by a pitiable whimper.



As Redbeard was about to give the stunned flagellant the coup de grace, a witch hunter sneaked up from behind. However, Gunther saw him first and fired, but missed. As the witch hunter heard the explosion and saw the fallen flagellants, he cried for his men to retreat, turned, and ran as fast as he could.

After the gutless warriors of Sigmar had run away, the whole crew advanced towards the pool. Unfortunately, the crossbow-laden yardsticks were able to shoot at everyone in sight, so the pirates had to crouch behind ruin, and only Bart and Gunther took up firing positions in the open. Bart fired a hail of shrapnel towards the closest dwarf, but he just shrugged it off as if it was nothing.




Then, the pirates heard someone talking to himself in a weird language, similarly silly to Bretonnian. Nkunda stepped around the corner to charge this weird fellow, but he soon had to discover that the opponent was a Tilean marksman, who shot him before he could make on step forward.



“Dammit”, said the captain, then: “Martin, Skadi, ye attack that stump around the corner. Us others’ll jump into the pool, try t’ grab as much o’ the stone as we can, and get the heck out ‘a ‘ere. Ready? Go!”



Martin and Skadi did as they were told, while the others dived into the water. The monkey was swinging his club madly at the dwarfs, screaming with his eyes wide open, but got clubbed down before he could land a critical hit. The dwarf let the monkey lie on the floor and charged his dwarfen brother without the slightest hesitation, while another cowardly stump came to finish of the defenceless monkey. Skadi did perform even worse than the monkey, and went down immediately.

Seeing that his crew was beaten up badly, Redbeard ordered the retreat. He picked up Martin, while the other dragged Skadi along – there was no need to take too much care of him, as his head was cracked open.

[After the battle, Skadi died again and was left dead for good. Instead, Snorri was hired to replace the vacancy. For his daring and successful move, Jan Jansen got promoted to a hero.]

GREAT STUFF! The Battle Reports & Photos get better with each new posting. AND in this one I spied matt's Magic Melba Tree, cool!
My humble, Haunted House [now in the matt Collection] looks good amid ALL that GREAT scenery; I'll have to send somemore pieces over to that side of the Pond.

Interlude

The beastmen had found a small clearing in the wood, and now the unlike alliance was sitting in a circle, a fire burning in their middle. After the first resentments had been cleared, Grug-Hel’s herd and Redbeard’s pirate were getting on quite well.
The day before, Jan heard a merchant offer a reward for the one who can bring back his son, who ran away. Jan got interested and asked the merchant for more information, and was told that the youth will most probably be in one of the abandoned settlements south of Mordheim.
Afterwards, Jan told his captain of the reward, and the pirates set out immediately in search of the boy. In the third settlement, Ismail, who was send forth to spy it out, spotted the youngster. As he went back to the rest of the warband, he almost ran into a group of sadistic, pointy-eared dark elves who were camping in front of the settlement with some mercenaries from Kislev. Clearly, they were out the get the boy as well. Ismail hurried back to his camp.

Now, the leaders were sitting a little aside, holding council on what to do. Grug-Hel laid out his plan:
“We fight dark elves, you humies. Mor-Da fast, he get boy.”
“Arrr, sounds good! What ye say, mateys?” Redbeard asked his mates.
“Aye, sounds good”, replied Wei, “we will give those drunken peasants from Kislev a good beating!”
Ismail simply nodded.
“Alright then, get some sleep, ye land lubbers, we’ll head to the village at first light.”

Oh my! A TIGER!

At the edge of the small village, Redbeard repeated the plan for the beastmen, not sure if they got it the first time:*
“Ismail has last seen the boy on the plaza. We’ll close in from the south, ye go around and take them bleedin’ elves from behind. Wei an’ a couple o’ hands will join ye and keep yer backs clear. Take that boy to the clearing, we’ll join you there.”
“Right”, growled Grug-Hel. He barked some orders at his herd and the furry allies set out to round the village.
Wei motioned Martin and Snorri to follow him and disappeared behind some ruins.



Redbeard and the crew advanced straight towards the plaza, with Gunther and Jan lagging behind in search of a good firing position. The only one they could make out was right before the plaza on an old, wooden bridge. Sighing, they climbed up, even though they were sure that their enemies would be able to see them easily.



They were halfway up, when they spotted the first Kislevites, two young archers who were standing daringly right in the open. They let lose their first arrows, which clattered to the floor several yards away. Jan was grinning – these youngbloods clearly did not know how to use a bow.
The rest of the crew went own below the bridge and stepped into the plaza, looking around them. On the other side, they could see some mercenaries, and to the left, a small boy in rich clothes appeared. The merchant’s son!
Kislevites were already on their way towards him, when a large, brown shape, half man, half horse, appeared from an alley and grabbed the boy.




Mor-Da was already turning around to head off, when the Kislevite warriors charged him. The beast shoved the boy behind his back and fiercely attacked the mercenaries.



Redbeard was about to rush towards the battle, when Jan cried:
“Tiger on starboard!”



The captain could only see a yellow and black blur. Two gun shots cracked above him, but apparently had no effect on the creature, which leaped at poor Bart and sank his claws into his vest.
“C’mon, ye scurvy dogs, help him!” shouted Redbeard, and charged the ferocious monster, his cutlass swinging above his head. Jim and Ismail followed his example without hesitation, and the four fighters were locked in a wild combat. Steel flashed as the pirates tried to dodge the paws and vicious jaws.



Nkunda tried to cover their back by advancing towards the remaining mercenaries on the plaza, but got shot down. Even more Kislevites followed the Tiger, aiming to support him. Gunther and Jan frantically reloaded and shot their handguns, but none of the foes stayed down permanently. Soon, all but the Tiger Tamer had joined the combat.
Jan sighed again, dropped his handgun and charged the knocked down beast master, a fearsome battle cry on his lips. Gunther, who admitted that he won’t be able to hit anything anyway, followed his example and engaged a spear-wielding Kislevite with his dagger.




Meanwhile, First Mate Jiang Wei led his small detachment slowly towards the centaur.



Suddenly, they heard a chilling cry from the beast.
“He’s down”, whispered Wei, “Martin, sneek up the alley and peep around the corner. Then come back and tell me what you saw.”
The Monkey eeked and set of to fulfil his task.
“Eeek, eek, oook”, he said upon returning, wildly gesturing.
“I think he wants to tell us that there are too many”, concluded Snorri.
“Right you are. C’mon, lets tell the others and get the heck out of here.”

On the plaza, the centaur’s cry went unnoticed by the combatants. After delivering the coup de grace, Jan joined the fight around the tiger, too, and soon everyone was simply stabbing at everything that came into sight. Suddenly, there was a roar:
“Arrrgh, ye scurvy fur ball...!”
The crew looked at their captain, who was being hughed by the Tiger, the long teeth sunken into the pirate’s shoulder. Shocked, they saw their captain fall.




The cowardly Kislevites used the righteous shock of the pirates and made one last effort at defeating the courageous pirates. Jan got hit by a spear right into the chest, while the Tiger let go of Redbeard and ripped off poor Jim’s arm. Upon seeing this, Ismail entered a state of trance, his axes whirling around madly. But before he could wreak havoc amongst the Kislevites, he was dragged away by someone, while the Kislevites began a tactical retreat after hearing that the merchant’s son had been captured.

Aftermath

The battered, small crew sat in the Burping Rat inn in the Black Pit Settlement. They looked tired, and blood was oozing from dozens of dirty bandages. Redbeard had been ransomed from the Kislevites, who appeared not too interested in keeping a raging, swearing pirate, with his blind eye and peg leg, no slaver or arena master could be convinced of buying him. Jim’s arm had been sown back on by some dodgy-looking surgeon, and was now turning to a slightly greenish colour. The crew kept a close eye on him, while Ismail kept on rambling about it. What happened of Jan, no one could tell. The Tiger dragged him off, but the Kislevites could not say anything about his whereabouts, as the beast just ran off after his master had been killed. No one knew of the whereabouts of the beastmen either. Presumably, they were ashamed of running away again.
The whole crew was sulking, and even the monkey looked disappointed.
“At least we won at the races”, sad Wei. Everyone but Snorri glared at him, still remembering what he did during the bloody massacre.
“We should go to the Dogfights tonight”, Ismail suggested. Some pirates from the Forlorn Hope arrived earlier to fetch up the wounded, and they brought Nigel, the Violet Tendencies’ First and Foremost Warhound, with them.
“That’s a good thought of ye”, replied the tired captain, and took a long draft from his tankard.

[*It has to be said that humanity generally underestimates the intellect of other species, especially when it comes to the art of war.]

Great story dude! I actually start to like my beastmen again
I LOVE the way you write, keep it up man !

btw, next meeting we will sure as hell team up again

CENTAURS, AND TIGERS, AND MONKEYS from HELL, OH MY! COOL Battle Report & Photos as always!

Hey hey ! Great moment, it's so funny to see what happened on your gameboard During this time, the other "MONKEY FROM HELL" is stil fighting the possessed, the engineer and the troll slayer

Hehe, thanks guys! It's great to see that someone reads all this.

But you can see that it's clever monkey, after he got beaten up by the dwarfs the game before, he now chose to rather stay out of any trouble

not just someone... I think there are a lot who read, as they are great narratives man! It shames me that I haven't told my tales yet... but this crappy social life keeps claiming me! if it isn't the bar with friends it's the girl, if it isn't the girl its my parents, if it's not them, it's work... curses!!

Though I doubt if I could write anything as well as you do!

Great fun to read back the adventures... or rather misadventures of the piraty scum!