Estalian Sun

fauthsie wrote:

In bloodied fields, the poppies grow
Between the corpses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the din below...

Darkness approaches for war is coming, and few indeed will escape unmarked.

http://animositycampaigns.com/joomla/

(Check out the video. )

Our vacation on the Vampire Coast is coming to a close. The lads are homesick for the Old World, where conveniently, a war is raging.

Are your gang joining us for some Estalian campaigning then VK?

Outstanding!

Uhhh, nice! I'm anxious Are you going to do some expansions like you did for Sartosa as well?

WarbossKurgan wrote:

Are your gang joining us for some Estalian campaigning then VK?

The level of mayhem in Estalia is about to rise.

Eliazar wrote:

Are you going to do some expansions like you did for Sartosa as well?

I'm looking over the material for EiF and the Nemesis Crown campaign. There were a lot of scenarios published on the Specialist games and in Fanatic after the demise of TC that could fit into the Estalian setting. Naturally I would want a scenario table that incorporates them, cause I'm big on scenario tables.

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Sea of Wrecks
Written by fauthsie   

More massive coral reefs grow here in this out of the way patch of ocean. The reefs are so massive that there are few stretches of open sea and it takes pilots of incredible skill to navigate around these walls of stone. Many pirates use this region as a safe home, for the frigates are loath to pursue them into the Sea of Wrecks. The list of vessels lost in this region numbers in the hundreds, some of these wrecks so ancient that their names aren’t even recorded. Brave Captains will occasionally test the waters here, in an attempt to loot one of these lost vessels and return home with a treasure trove of lost gold. Sadly, many of them fail to return, instead adding their vessel to the legacy of the Sea of Wrecks!

A wee beastie haunts the Eastern Estalian Sea:

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Eastern Estalian Sea

The whining of the violin fit the sad love song Abran sang. The salt air was rough on the strings but it was far easier to carry than many other instruments. Duarte continued to draw his bow across the strings wondering which woman it was that drew the morose song from Abran this time. At sea for only 4 days, they were far enough from the coast to relax their watch for rocks and reefs. The water was finally deep enough for simply running along with full sails.

As the song finished someone called for Myrmidia la Triunfante which was a favorite with the crew. Duarte adjusted his strings and checked the tune of the violin. Launching into the first notes of the vigorous song he listened to the crew pick up the song. They started out split and out of tune but quickly pulled it together. He simply kept playing letting them find their place. Soon the whole crew was belting out the martial tune letting the sound of their voice echo across the waves.

The song stopped as the ship suddenly pitched. Duarte was thrown off the barrel where he sat onto the deck his bow snapping under him. The ship rocked back and forth slowly recovering from some sudden impact. The captain started screaming orders sending men to the rails to figure out what they hit. His words for the lookout lacked his usual clean crisp enunciation and had fallen back into pure dockside worker slang. Again the impact came right on the heels of a scream from the men on the port rail, "Brace for Impact!"

"What is it!" screamed the captain.

The whole ship pitched over throwing men across the deck and some over the rail. The captain's question was soon answered for as the ship recovered, rocking back and forth, a large slimy tentacle slithered over the starboard rail and wrapped around the mast.
The muscular thing contracted and the ship tipped as other limbs crawled over the rail grasping and reaching. Orders were screamed before the captain slid down the deck which was quickly going from horizontal to vertical. The water churned and bubbled as the ship was pulled beneath it. Men leaped overboard only to be sucked under by the pull of the ship on the water as it vanished.



Duarte found himself grasping a barrel, likely the nearly empty one he had been sitting upon on deck, with his violin in his other hand trying to remember exactly how he had gotten off the sinking ship. Someone else was calling out into the dark from some where off to his left. He listened to the man cry out asking if anyone else was alive and then heard a sudden large thrashing splash and scream. Dropping his violin he clapped his hand over his mouth and bit down on the thick part of his palm to prevent the sudden scream of terror that wanted to escape him.

Calming his breathing he ducked under the water for a moment to stare down into the blackness. Unable to be certain that there wasn't a darker dark down there he lay across the barrel silent all night. When the sun finally came up he did not even see any flotsam other than himself much less any survivors. "Survivor." he thought, "On a barrel, 2 days from any coast, no water, no food. There were no survivors." Still he clung to the barrel holding onto that slim hope that all men hold onto in the face of death.

The Bull Fight will replace Pit Fight on the injury chart. Any ideas for a miniature of a fighting bull?

Well it isn't really a Bull, but the Krung Beast from Reaper is a pretty impressively Big Nasty Bovine:



Of course, you might consider a Minotaur as a surrogate/fantasy Bull.

Like Picasso's painting!

I have some old farm animal toys that might supply the bull. Maybe with horns from a chaos warrior's helmet.

The best laid plans of rats and men gang aglee.

Our group is often challenged by communication. When I announced that I was going to be in and out of town because of business a few weeks ago I thought we agreed that the newest campaign would start upon my return. However, Chadwicc had family responsibilities the night of the "final" battle. Thus he turned up the next week ready to play...

Week 1—Skirmishes in the Irrana Mountains


“The Thing in the Woods”
Loosely based on a report from Chadwicc




Geshrat the Noxious led his underlings out of the underdark up to the surface world. His mission was to scout the lands of the man-things controlled by the cursed Horse Lords*. The inept leaders of Clan Skarr would pay many warptokens for prisoners and information. The hapless fools would not know what to do with anything he might learn for them, but Geshrat would, oh yes!

They had traveled only a short way under the dark canopy of the forest when the scouts reported a human camp ahead. Geshrat marveled at his own wisdom. He popped several boils as he explained his plan. His minions would attack at once using the broken terrain of the forest to mask their approach. In the dim light of the undergrowth the man-things weak eyes would never spot his glorious warriors until it was too late!

Woe! His inept underlings blundered into the lair of some fearsome beast. The thing had survived horrible wounds and ripped skaven warriors apart with no effort. Geshrat wondered if some spy had betrayed his patrol to Clan Moulder.

Post Battle
The Pandemium fled from the invincible Thing. The Thing kills one Plague Novice.

The Tileans suffered no losses despite several casualties. (This will become a worrying trend.) The Tilean women accept victory as their due.

*Chadwicc was under the impression that he was fighting the infamous Merry Maids, a band of female pirates from Bretonnia. Further investigation revealed that instead he encountered The Tilean Trulls an international band of mostly female mercenaries fighting under the nefarious Captain Roxanna of Tilea. (If you have seen Mr Smalls' warbands in past campaigns, you will understand the confusion.)

“Chance Encounter”
A Fabrication of Events based on Hearsay



After fleeing for at least a full day, Geshrat beat his minions into submission and resumed his mission. Immediately the Priest was able to loot several man-dwellings. The Horned Rat’s holy crusade continued into enemy territory laden with plunder. The Horned One smiled on his servants again when a man-thing patrol blundered into the skaven on a wooded mountainside.

“Kill-kill!” Geshrat ordered his startled novices. The man-things were clearly surprised to encounter his crusade here in their territory. The monks attacked quickly supported by their pet rats. They struck from uphill putting the disorganized females at a further disadvantage. The humans were hard pressed but in the heat of battle Geshrat became separated from his novices. The fools saw a lowly initiate fall and screamed that the Great Priest had been killed. That incompetent Frayd had believed them and the whole lot abandoned the fight.

Post Battle
The Pandemium snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and flee due to

Quote :

“to my crappy Ld and failing rout tests.”

A Pestilens hero dies.

The Tileans suffered no losses despite severe casualties. A Youngblood suffers a Deep Wound.

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Pestilens warband: The Pandemium

Heroes
Geshrat, Plague Priest

sword, dagger, sling, LC
M5 WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I5 A1 Ld7

Frayd, Pestilens Sorcerer: spear, sword, dagger, LC Spell: Sorcerer's Curse
M4 WS3 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I4 A1 Ld6

Skebble, Plague Monk: censor, dagger, LC Skills: Censor Bearer (frenzy)
M5 WS4 BS3 S3 T4 W1 I5 A1 Ld6

Mizzel, Plague Monk: two disease daggers, LC
M5 WS4 BS3 S3 T4 W1 I5 A2 Ld6

Zethec, Monk Initiate: sword, club, sling
M5 WS2 BS3 S2 T2 W2 I4 A1 Ld4

Trellit, Monk Initiate: sword, club, sling
M5 WS2 BS3 S2 T2 W1 I4 A1 Ld4

Henchman
Plague Novice: spear, two daggers
M5 WS3 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I4 A1 Ld5

Plague Novice: sword, dagger
M5 WS3 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I5 A1 Ld5

3 giant rats
Rating 116

To be continued...

Great stuff Von Kurst! Love the scene-setting illustrations.

Thanks WbK! Where would I have gotten the inspiration to do that?

Haroom the Wanderer arrives in Estalia



The famed adventurer Haroom the Wanderer made landfall at the port of San Pedro del Sur before winter's storms made the seas too dangerous to sail. The Wanderer had answered his Sheik's summons as soon as he was able, but the oceans are wide and the Wanderer has an itching foot.

A tale of desperate battle to follow...

I love your scene-setting illustrations, too. Where do you get all those paintings? Very smart use of google?

Thanks, I'm glad you like them. I've gone a bit nuts with it since I figured out how to use a Mac.

Some of them came from the turn reports from the Animosity 5 campaign itself. Others are the result of figuring out the right phrase to search on Google.

A bit late on this comment, but the Rat Guy's Book is SUPER-COOL!

Breakthrough
The Arabyans encounter the Tileans



"Infidels approach form the north, my Rais." the scout reported. Haroom deployed the janissaries one each to his trusted lieutenants. Two janissaries held the center with Haroom. Achmed Al Kuds held the left, Atebeg and Akbar advanced on the right.

Despite her protests, Haroom sent the merchant Almah to the rear with the horses. He had no time for pampered untried girls on this patrol.

The infidels advanced rapidly, even under fire. They seemed to hold the Faithful's archers in distain. The Children of the Desert fired from cover and kept moving to deny the enemy crossbows any targets. Eventually the steady rain of arrows disrupted the Tileans' advance on the right. Two warriors fell slightly wounded. Their fellows advanced unaware of the fallen warriors plight. Haroom sent one of his soldiers forward as Achmed attacked. The Tilean attack on the left was wiped out.

The Tileans advance on the right was masked by a rocky hill. The hill's summit was open to the fire of all of the Tilean crossbows so Atebeg and Akbar avoided it. The Tileans attempted to out flank the hill, but faltered as their attack on the left failed. Atebeg and Akbar charged the demoralized women hoping to break them. Their attack was successful but the Tileans refused to run. Instead the few survivors mounted a counter attack! Both soldiers and Atebeg were knocked out of the fight.

Haroom judged that the Tileans would fight to the last woman, but there were not enough of them to threaten the lines behind him. He called a withdrawal rather than risk more lives.

Post Battle
The Faithful suffered no losses and gained much wealth from exploration.

The Trulls had 7 warriors OOA. All recovered from their wounds (which was kind of a shock. Smalls had been playing as though he would have to re-start the warband because his losses were so high and his rolls during the game were so bad.) Sasha, a heretic Ghutani tribes-woman fighting with the Trulls is robbed.

Wyrdstone Hunt
A vicious fight near the ruins of Cordoba



The small house looked as though it had been hit by a siege cannon. Miraculously the door was still standing even though most of the walls and part of the door frame had fallen. The desolate valley was a jumble of boulders and blackened trunks of trees, though the destruction had been softened by a dusting of snow. Haroum thought of the sun baked deserts of home as he ordered the Faithful to search the ruin. The men moved cautiously across the broken terrain with weapons at the ready.

Arrows and crossbow bolts flew at them from the broken ground beyond the ruined house. A group of women warriors rushed toward the Arabyans but instead of attacking headlong they made short dashes forward from cover to cover.

The Faithful sought cover in the broken ground themselves. A few arrows flew at the advancing Tileans but there were no good targets. The Faithful advanced slowly toward a copse of blasted trees near the ruin. The enemy archers were totally blocked from shooting at the Arabyans by the terrain. Haroum circled to his right to flank the enemy massing beyond the trees. The Faithful advanced through the trees in a long skirmish line formed on Haroum's left.

The two forces clashed amid the blasted trees. A few arrows were fired as the combatants closed, then it was cut and thrust with the occasional bang of a pistol. Once again the superior strength of the Janissaries and the Mate's whips foiled the Tilean charge. The Tilean charge broke on the Janissaries' swords. The Tilean captain called retreat rather than be cut down by the surrounding Arabs.



Post Battle
The Faithful found one wyrdstone shard on the field. All of the henchmen injured in the fight recovered and exploration was good. In addition the Faithful encountered an allied patrol who informed them of a good source of supply in a nearby town.

The Trulls suffered the usual horrendous casualties during the fight, but of course they all got better. Smalls could only roll 3 dice and promptly rolled three ones. This resulted in the Trulls discovering an Orc camp. The Trulls chose to attack it. More warriors go OOA. Including Captain Roxanna! A Duelist died. Everyone else got better. Oi the gits is lucky!

Another VERY cool illustration - great choice!

Von Kurst wrote:

Smalls could only roll 3 dice and promptly rolled three ones. This resulted in the Trulls discovering an Orc camp. The Trulls chose to attack it. More warriors go OOA. Including Captain Roxanna! A Duelist died. Everyone else got better. Oi the gits is lucky!

WarbossKurgan wrote:

Another VERY cool illustration - great choice!

Thought you might like it. You used it in Sartosa: City of Pirates for a turn update.

Really!? I have no memory of that (insert digs about old age now!)

Von Kurst wrote:

The Bull Fight will replace Pit Fight on the injury chart. Any ideas for a miniature of a fighting bull?

This mini could be good for that:



It's from Sphere Wars a Spanish miniature game.

Wow! I want one of those! Thanks for the link Pyyr!

WarbossKurgan wrote:

Really!? I have no memory of that (insert digs about old age now!)

There you go!

That is one damn big Bull! Awesome. £30 is a damn big price tag though...
(Edit: There is a faction called "Los Vástagos de Kurgan"!)

Kismet?

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Arabyan Smugglers warband: The Children of the One

Heroes
Haroum the Wonderer, Rais--sword, dagger, bow, LC
M4 WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I4 A1 Ld8

Achmed Al Kuds, Mate--sword, dagger, bow, cat o' nine tails, LC Skill: Step Aside
M4 WS3 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Atebeg, Mate-- sword, dagger, bow, cat o' nine tails.
M4 WS3 BS3 S4 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Akbar, Mate--sword, dagger, bow. Skill: Weapons Master
M4 WS3 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Almah, Merchant: sword, dagger
M5 WS2 BS2 S2 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Henchman
Al Bobo, Janissary-- sword, dagger
M4 WS4 BS3 S4 T3 W1 I3 A2 Ld7

Omar, Janissary--sword, dagger
M4 WS5 BS3 S4 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Rashid, Janissary-- sword, dagger, bow
M4 WS4 BS4 S4 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Atta Kahn, Janissary-- sword, dagger, bow
M4 WS4 BS4 S4 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Sher Kahn, Janissary-- sword, dagger.
M4 WS4 BS3 S4 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld8

Abu the Monkey Man, warror--2 daggers
M4 WS3 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld7

Rating 119

Treasury 75 gold. Decisions...

Week 2--Brief Bloody Strife.

Skirmish
A Bitter Struggle in the Fog



Two groups of martial women blundered into each other on a foggy winter morn somewhere in the southern Irenna Mountains. The dread Telian Trulls encountered a patrol of Sigmarite Sisters. The militant nuns smote the Trulls with hammer and whip. The Trulls replied with sword and pistol. Despite some success, the Sisters broke first.

Post Battle

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In the first battle Sigmarite Sister Anna died (henchwoman), and I had to flee due to my 1st rout test.[Playtable]

No report is available from the Trulls, though it is assumed that none of them died.
__________________________________________________________________________


Stagecoach Ambush
For want of a wheel the battle was lost



After their first skirmish the nuns acquired some mounts and hired a coach to traverse the mountains. However they had not seen the last of the Trulls. The coach was attacked along an isolated stretch of the icy road. Sister Superior Brunhilda was killed when her horse was shot. The beast fell upon the unfortunate woman and crushed her. At almost the same moment a wheel came off of the coach and rolled to a stop.

A horde of whooping Tileans rode toward the damaged coach shooting bows and waving swords. The women on the coach spilled out of it and rushed to meet their attackers. One outrider crashed to the icy ground as her horse missed its footing, but the rest rode into the charging mercenaries in an attempt to buy their comrades time.

Two of the attackers were unhorsed, but the rest rode over the brave nuns. However their selfless sacrifice brought time for the survivors to cut the coach horses loose and flee.

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With 2 heroes and 2 henchwomen OOA, I decided to rout. [Playtable]

Post Battle

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Sister Superior Kamilla died. Brunhilda, the one with 2 sigmarite hammers, was crushed by her horse. 
I only had enough gold from 3 heroes searching to buy one back. 
So I have 4 heroes, 3 regular sister henchwomen and 3 novices and a 110 warband rating.
[Playtable]

More to follow...