Al-Haikk, the City of Thieves

Deafnala wrote:

I've started to view all "cute little" monkey's as diabolical entities.

Too true.
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Week Sixteen--TWO Guys Playing Mordheim!

Robperk--Skaven (AKA The Perkminkin, AKA The Black and Tans)
Von Kurst--Arabyan Thieves (AKA Baba Ali's Gang of Nearly Twenty Thieves, AKA The Dead Baba's)

The 'I can't make Thursday games' chorus started last week and reached a crescendo on, well, this Thursday.  Oi!  There is some hope for NEXT Thursday, but I am not holding my breath or making bets.  This Thursday in Indianapolis, Indiana USA, was a glorious spring day by the way.  Thursday evening was quite nice as well.  I almost tried to cancel myself, but Rob had said he might be able to get out of work on time, so I headed off to the local game store (The Game Preserve in Greenwood).

The Eaters of the Dead
Background of the scenario:
The Thieves Quarter of Al-Haikk has a dark secret.  Once each lunar cycle the town gates are left open and the houses of the town are tightly locked and barred.  Foul things from the desert are allowed to roam at will and take whomever they can.  No one will run to the sound of screaming, no one will help.  The appointed night has arrived and the gong for curfew has sounded.  As the warband nears its lodging the leader is accosted by a heavily veiled lady.
“You must save him! My beloved has gone mad!  He is somewhere in the town.  Find him and bring him to the Palace of the Four Winds.  I will reward you greatly!”
The lady names a sum that is interesting.  Several large, lurking presences make attempting to simply relieve her of the reward seem an unacceptable risk.
“Show him this that he may know you come from me.”  The lady provides a cheap looking locket set with a curious milky stone. The stone alone may be worth a feigned search...


Report of the Palace Guard, 10th day of Hadukannaš in the Year of the Leopard

TOP SECRET
The First Cohort was alerted that Prince Achmed bin Achmed, third cousin twice removed of our beloved Caliph had disappeared last evening. Informers were sent throughout the city to determine the Royal Person's whereabouts.  Despite the fact that the moon, Ahriman, waxed full and the Eaters of the Dead stalked the streets, several reinforced Memluk patrols were sent to scour the city as well.  

At the third hour the patrols received several reports of a madman cavorting through the Maze in the Thieves Quarter.  The description of the madman matched that of the Royal Person closely, thus several patrols rushed to the Maze to confirm the identity of the unfortunate person and bring the Prince to the safety of his family, if indeed this lone madman was the Royal Person.

Alas once the patrols reached the area of the reported sighting all they found was the bloody remains of a skirmish between Rat Devils, thieves and the Eaters of the Dead.  In all six bodies were recovered.  Three ghouls, one huge black furred Rat Devil and two Arabyan males.  The Arabyans were identified as the notorious Abu the Monkey Man (who has been reported killed numerous times in the past few months) and the equally mysterious Man With No Name (who has also been reported killed recently).  All of the bodies had been hacked with edged weapons.  Abu and the Man With No Name were identified by gang tattoos and their distinctive weapons.  The corpse of the black furred Rat Devil was sent to the citadel for study.

Of the madman, no trace was found.

However, as of the tenth hour, the Palace called off the search, reporting that Achmed bin Achmed had been discovered in his chambers meditating on the infinite mercy of The One.  The Palace regrets any inconvenience this misunderstanding may have caused.  All servants of the Caliph are to be commended for their diligence and concern.


The Dead Babas approach from the east.  The moons are full.  Humans can see 15 inches in the dark.


A portion of the Black and Tan horde scurry in from the west.


The cowardly skaven hug the walls of the alley as they approach the Royal Person (who bears a strong resemblance to Al Bobo...)


The Thieves are losing the race.


The devious Assassin Adept guides the deluded Prince away from his loyal subjects...


The Thieves attempt to rescue the Prince, although hordes of skaven block their path.


A ghoul attacks the skaven Strong Left flank.  (There were two ghouls to start.  Against two Night Runners, a Black Skaven and two verminkin. Soon there were none...)


The end is near.  Abu has killed a Black Skaven, but the murderous Sorcerer counter charges along with the Strong Left.


The end.  Three Thieves fall in one round--Abu, Sirhan and the Man With No Name.
The Dead Babas give it up as a bad job.


Post Battle
The Dead Babas (warband rating 370 this week) lost Abu and the Man With No Name.  If the Man With No Name would have defeated the verminkin that attacked him, Al Bobo would have been freed by an exploration result of triple 3s.  But that didn't happen.  However, the Hired Thief did successfully steal some heavy armor, which the Merchant was able to sell for 47 dinars (from the Thieves' own shoppe).  That was better.

Rob had seven models Out of Action.  Only the black skaven hero, Bing Bell, died.  The palace rewarded the skaven with 6 exploration dice, which meant that Rob rolled 12 dice!  Some good things happen.

ANOTHER STIRRING REPORT with OH SO COOL PHOTOS! Life is good.   

Week Seventeen--FOUR Guys Playing Mordheim

Harganok--Skaven (The Sewer Slinkers, AKA the Green and Golds)
Playtable--Araby Slavers (The Khalibon Manpower Exchange)
Robperk--Skaven (AKA The Perkminkin, AKA The Black and Tans)
Von Kurst--Arabyan Thieves (AKA Baba Ali's Gang of Nearly Twenty Thieves, AKA The Dead Baba's)

Press Gang!

Report of the Night Watch, 17th day of Hadukannaš in the Year of the Leopard

The second Cohort responded to reports of a skirmish in the Maze at the third hour.  Unfortunately only one Askar and three memluks were available to reach the area.  The under-strength patrol was hampered by unknown assailants lurking on rooftops in the area. Non of these criminals was apprehended although one was reported to be the Beggar King.

The patrol eventually sighted the melee and proceeded to break up the combatants.  One group fled at the appearance of the patrol.  The other fought a rear-guard action and disappeared into the appropriately named Maze.  The patrol suffered no casualties, but secured no arrests.

After order was restored two Arabyan males were discovered dead near the rebuilt Old Camel Trough Tavern.  In addition a great deal of blood and a man's left hand were discovered near the home of one Manjed al Turjuk. In all six men were reported missing and the shop of Farouk the Miser reported the theft of one Nordland Net.

The Manpower Exchange advances into the Maze.  It is a dark night.  Men can only see thirteen inches. (Photos mostly by playtable. I took a couple of the blurry ones.)






The first drunk falls to the Slavers.


A Caravan Guard approaches a drunken falconer.


The Dead Babas chose the wrong table edge.


The Slaver's Ogre hero steals a drunk from Kasim the Knife.  Fortunately the drunk occupied the Ogre for a good portion of the game.




Lenny the Lazar starts to terrorize the Thieves as the Arabyan Maneater Hired Sword finally approaches the fight.  (The Maneater fell down a lot in the dark.)


Mir Sher joins the group attempting to fight Lenny.  On the previous turn the Pit Fighter failed a fear test and Karim One-Eye tripped in the dark.


The Caravan guard on the roof becomes a deadly sniper, shooting down any who withstand Lenny's contagion.


The Pit Fighter and Karim One-Eye end Lenny's run.


The Ogre hero finally dispatches the drunk.  The Slavers tighten the net.


While Slaver heroes stand by and watch, a wardog terrorizes the Thieves' flank.  The Merchant Shabaz stops the beast's rampage.


The Watch enter the fight.  The Beggar King keeps them from rushing to the action.


Fathi IV attempts to save the brave doggie.


Under the watchful eye of the Slaver's Ogre, the Thieves counter attack.  This was a desperation ploy to screen Kasim the Knife after Karim One-Eye was shot down.


However, the charge succeeds! (Its helped by the demise of Fathi and the puppy nearby.) Either way the Slavers lose four henchmen and a hero in two rounds.  (And the Strength 5 Ogre fails to wound the Knocked Down Pit Fighter.)


Post Battle
The Slavers (warband rating 381) flee with eight models Out of Action.  All warriors recover from their wounds except Fathi IV, who loses an arm.  The Slavers captured four drunks and looted a vendor's stall.

The Thieves (warband rating 357) gain their first victory since the last time they defeated the Slavers.  Everyone recovers from their wounds.  The Thieves captured two drunks and stole a Nordland Net.  The Hired Thief fails to steal anything and is chased from the marketplace.

Al Bobo languishes in prison for another week.

That was quite a protracted battle. EXCELLENT REPORT & WONDERFUL PHOTOS!   

Deafnala wrote:

That was quite a protracted battle.

It was.  Playtable wasn't able to get his head around the fact that three of my heroes had been replaced since last we fought, he just remembered his earlier losses.  So he didn't want to mess with the big group in the center.  As he moved back and forth around the center building trying to catch me off balance, I was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.    
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Chance Encounter
A Deadly Rat Fight in the Thieves Quarter

Report by Harganok
Photos by playtable


Anyway, as far as the game between Rob and I......we played a Chance Encounter at night and could only see 11 inches, so shooting was pretty limited.  There was not much in the way of movement or strategy either....just a huge brawl between 2 groups of rats that didn't take kindly to finding one another in Al-Haikk.  We both started near center of the board and just about everyone was in hand to hand by the 2nd or 3rd turn.  


I was able to get a warpfire off (thank you Tome Of Magic ) and put a wound on Robs sorcerer, which made him easy pickings for a couple of my henchmen that charged him next turn.  My Rat ogre was able to occupy and knock down some giant rats (which my black skaven cleaned up) before moving on to trade hits with one of Rob's Heroes.  There were a lot of 1-on-1 match ups between hench-rats, but my veteran verminkin really started putting a beating on Rob's guys.  




Some were even able to overcome their fear and gang up on his Rat Ogre, crit him, and stun him!  It was starting to look ugly for Rob with 3 heroes and several henchmen out, and a stunned Rat ogre with no one around to save him.....so he threw in the towel giving up the 3 treasures he was carrying and the victory to the Sewer Slinkers.  

Post Battle
I had 3 verminkin and a couple of magically created giant rats go out of action.  Luckily my veteran verminkin survived but the two lesser henchmen died and got re-hired.  I found an araby merchant who was selling some various discounted items, so I bought some drugs and poison that became available for a discount.

Rob had a very nasty post-battle where his Sorcerer, Dr. Giggles, was killed and Evil Roy, a black skaven, had to retire due to being blinded in his remaining eye!   I believe most of the rest survived, but those were some big losses.

HOORAY for the Rat Guys! The Skaven would long ago have taken over the War Hammer World if it wasn't for other Skaven. COOL PHOTOS & REPORT!   

Week Eighteen--A Street Brawl

The Gang of Three
Chris--Arabyan Smugglers
Playtable--Araby Slavers (The Khalibon Manpower Exchange)
Von Kurst--Arabyan Thieves (AKA Baba Ali's Gang of Nearly Twenty Thieves, AKA The Dead Baba's)

Report of the Harbor Patrol, 2014, Pflugzeit 24

The Fourth Cohort received a report of a monstrous creature terrorizing the Avenue of the Old Kings at 1836 hours. At first the report was assumed to be a mirage caused by the heat of the day. However more reports were received of casualties and riots. Thus a patrol of Nordlanders was sent to investigate. However due to the oppressive heat and fleeing citizens, the patrol did not reach the area for several hours.

Upon arrival the patrol discovered members of the Khalibon Manpower Exchange butchering the corpse of a huge lizard-like creature, which al-Khaliboni's minions claimed to have slain in defense of their lives. Al-Khaliboni himself testified that he had lost two of his servants to the depredations of the beast, including one Lenny II (an known hazard to the public health). In addition to the two deceased members of the Manpower Exchange, the body of a common Arabyan seaman was discovered nearby.

Official causes of death have yet to be determined, however only Lenny II showed the ravages of a beast. One man had suffered severe burns over most of his body, the other had been killed by an edged weapon. When questioned further al-Khaliboni claimed his men had not only slain a monster, but had repelled an attack by Arabyan thieves and rebels as well.

Smugglers advance slowly through the invisible crowd.




Lenny II is attacked by the monstrous beast! (The gold rings represent wounds suffered.)


The Manpower Exchange struggles with terrain as well.




The Dead Babas made use of the walkways to advance into the center building. Mir Sher is perched on a narrow ledge (soon she will suffer a mirage and a long fall).


...the results of which will have horrible consequences for her minions. The Manpower Exchange attacks!


Fathi IV and a friend attempt to avenge Lenny II.


Manjed the Beggar just before he wanders off the roof...


There used to be five Smuggler archers on that roof. One of them went OoA when he fell off. Heights are not safe when its Hot As Hades.


The power of the Manpower Exchange begins to focus.


Kasim One Eye battles the treacherous Smugglers.


The central buildings prove more of a trap than a fortress.


The Merchant Shabaz holds the alley.


A minor victory for the Thieves, the Pit Fighter saves the Beggar King from a warhound. (Lower right).


After a LONG struggle Fathi strikes a killing blow!


Post Battle
Although all the warbands were close to breaking, the Thieves were without Mir Sher or Kasim One-Eye. Thus reduced to Ld 7, they had no staying power and fled first. Almah II suffers a Chest Wound. Kasim One-Eye will miss a game with a leg wound. Mir Sher fully recovered. No Thieves died. Exploration was much kinder despite the low number of dice available. The Hired Thief stole more Heavy Armor, which the Merchant Shabaz was able to sell for 48 dinars!

The treacherous Smugglers (some day I'm going to remember that Chris is just as opportunistic as playtable) fled once the ogres stopped seeing mirages or failing to climb low rises. One warrior died.

True to his predictions, playtable suffered the worst losses. Lenny II and a slave both died. Still NONE of the Slaver heroes was OoA. A Hired Sword returns a favor and other good things. I believe Lenny III will appear soon.

With his third manifestation  imminent, Lenny III is closing the reincarnation gap with Fathi IV...YET ANOTHER exciting development!
The Battle Report was, as always, entertaining & a visual treat...the Arabian scene & minis are TERRIFIC LOOKING! GREAT WORK!   

Always fun to follow exploits in the city of thieves

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen.

Great report! Well done, playtable.

Are any warbands close to winning the campaign?

Also, what are the requirements in your group to allow a prison break scenario to be played?

Thanks Ben.

Quote :

Are any warbands close to winning the campaign?

We're playing one of those 'endless' campaigns.  

Playtable is moving house, so he has been in packing, storing and unpacking mode for nearly the entire campaign.  He announced early on that we had to stay in Araby until he had sorted his terrain storage issues, although since he moved he hasn't been able to contribute any terrain beyond ladders and ramps.

Harganok has the best win/loss record and the highest rating.  Rob was the biggest threat to the Sewer Slinkers, but the Black and Tans are in rebuilding mode after last week's disaster.  Playtable has made a big leap in the past couple of weeks.

Chris and I seem to roll horrible weather or the wrong scenario whenever we have an opportunity to take on the big guys lately.

Quote :

Also, what are the requirements in your group to allow a prison break scenario to be played?

At the moment, a warm body and some minis!   

We're always pretty lax with rescue scenarios.  The Rescuer just needs to schedule a game with an appropriate Defender.  Sometimes the game can be played on the same night that a character got captured.

The rescue of Al Bobo was complicated by my own criteria.  Al Bobo was captured by a Shore Patrol event.  So he is held by the Occupiers (the Empire and Tilea).  Only Chad was playing an Empire warband, so he would be the ideal Defender.  But Chad has a conflict on Thursdays now and Thursday was his only 'free' night.

In the past when we had no proper 'good' guy to Defend we have used playtable's old Marienburg warband (he keeps all of his old rosters).  But with everything in storage and playtable tied up with his move...

I'm thinking the Smugglers are going to have to defend. (Of course, there also have to be more than 3 players available on a game night, which is pretty rare these days.)

Other options for freeing Al Bobo.
All campaign the Nearly Twenty Thieves have been relying on Exploration result 333 to provide them with veteran thieves at a low cost:

Quote :

333 Greedy Guard For a fee one of the Guards at the Prison of Sorrows will look the other way.
Any warband may pay the guard 2D6 dinars.  While the guard makes himself scare the warband may accomplish ONE of the following:
 A warband that has a Hero imprisoned by the Town Guard may free him upon payment. The Hero is restored to the warband's roster, but is missing all of his equipment, armor and weapons which were sold by the guards to defray the expense of feeding the prisoner.
 Any warband may immediately add 1 henchman worth up to 35gc to their warband. This may create a new henchmen group, or if you can afford to equip the new recruit with weapons and armor, you may add a new henchman to any of your henchmen groups, with the same stats as the rest of the group (provided the henchman’s base cost was not higher than 35gc.)
 Any Pirate Warband may gain 1D3 human Swabbies.
 Any warband may sell them into slavery (or back into custody) for 3D6gc total.
 Chaotic or Dark Elf warbands may sacrifice the unsuspecting convicts for D3 Experience, which may be distributed amongst the Heroes as you see fit.

Naturally since Al Bobo's arrest I haven't been able to roll the correct number of 3s.  Or the Tomb Robber was killed, or Mir Sher failed her Tarot Card test that game, or...

OR Al Bobo could appeal to Imperial Justice:

Quote :

Imperial Justice. If a hero is imprisoned as the result of a Halt Villian! special rule, he has the option of dueling his accuser rather than awaiting execution. Only melee weapons may be used. The duel is fought as a Pit Fight from the Serious Injury table.  If the hero loses, the victorious Judicial Champion (Pit Fighter) kills him.  If the hero wins he gains D3 experience.

Given my luck lately, I view this as a last resort.

[Probably more than you wanted to know   ]

Von Kurst wrote:

We're playing one of those 'endless' campaigns.

OH BABY! I LOVE the Arabian Tales...endless sound about the right length of time for the campaign.

@VK... That was very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Week Nineteen--All About Al Bobo

Chris--Araby Smugglers
Harganok--Skaven (The Sewer Slinkers, AKA the Green and Golds)
Playtable--Araby Slavers (The Khalibon Manpower Exchange)
Von Kurst--Arabyan Thieves (AKA Baba Ali's Gang of Nearly Twenty Thieves, AKA The Dead Baba's)

Jail Break
A variant of the Relics of the Crusades scenario Dungeon Raid



Report of the Garrison of the Fortress of Sorrow, 1st Day of Turmar, Year of the Leopard

Praise be to the One, who protects His children and punishes the evildoer!

Excellency,
I am pleased to report that this night the vile gang of thieves known as the Dead Babas was defeated as they attempted to infiltrate the Fortress.  The alarm was sounded by  Habib al Jinn, a Memluk of the Third Cohort of the Glorious Eagles at the second hour of the night.  Habib will be awarded the Order of the Third Feather, posthumously, to honor his sacrifice. The moons were bright, the garrison on high alert.  The thieves were no match for Your Highness' Memluks.

The attackers suffered two confirmed killed and many wounded.  Unfortunately none were captured. The notorious Mir Sher was clearly identified by several witnesses.  She is charged with the death of Janin al Ghut, a servant of Rais Roxanna.  Al Ghut was killed by a crossbow bolt, all subjects of the Caliph know that the crossbow is the chosen weapon of Mir Sher.

The garrison suffered a total of three killed and four wounded.  None of the wounds were serious.

Post Battle
Chris rolled low for the number of his warband that acted as guards, but rolled the maximum for the number of NPC prison guards.  In addition Chris rolled nearly the maximum for range of night vision. (Clearly the Thieves were desperate to attack at such a time.) It had been awhile since we played the scenario, so several rules were mangled, but things were going the Thieves' way until a sentry got a good look at Fariz the Horrible.  The Djinn Binder V and Sirhan bin Sirhan were killed.  All of the multi-wound heroes and Hired Swords were down to their last wound, but none went out of action.  With six out of fourteen out of action, the Dead Babas fled.

Chris had only five of his warband members on the table when the Thieves fled.  But they were supported by fifteen Memluks with more on the way.  One warrior died from the Smugglers.  Al Bobo's execution date was moved up...

(The saga continues anon...)

Von Kurst wrote:

Week Nineteen--All About Al Bobo

Chris--Araby Smugglers
Harganok--Skaven (The Sewer Slinkers, AKA the Green and Golds)
Playtable--Araby Slavers (The Khalibon Manpower Exchange)
Von Kurst--Arabyan Thieves (AKA Baba Ali's Gang of Nearly Twenty Thieves, AKA The Dead Baba's)

I have been meaning to say that I think it is excellent that you are playing a Arabyan (Khemri?) campaign and that you have a high number of relevantly themed warbands in the campaign. I don't know if this is due to restrictions placed on the warbands that are available or if Chris, you and Playtable all deliberatly chose Arabyan warbands. Either way it is a nice change from mercenaries from the Empire and other more common warbands.

Von Kurst wrote:

Chris had only five of his warband members on the table when the Thieves fled.  But they were supported by fifteen Memluks with more on the way.  One warrior died from the Smugglers.  Al Bobo's execution date was moved up...

(The saga continues anon...)

Fifteen Memluks with reinforcements coming. Yuck! Things are not looking good for Al Bobo (or for The Dead Baba's).

BUMMER! I was hoping for a flashy escape scenario...rooting for Al Bobo is increasingly resembling being a Cubs Fan.   

RL wrote:

I have been meaning to say that I think it is excellent that you are playing a Arabyan (Khemri?) campaign and that you have a high number of relevantly themed warbands in the campaign. I don't know if this is due to restrictions placed on the warbands that are available or if Chris, you and Playtable all deliberatly chose Arabyan warbands. Either way it is a nice change from mercenaries from the Empire and other more common warbands.

Thanks for mentioning it Ben.  We have a couple of more Relics rules than Khemri rules.  I'm using Khemri's weather chart (sort of).  The Exploration Chart is from Sartosa (with heavy modification).  I am also using a modified Sartosan Random Encounters chart and Secrets.

I sold playtable a bunch of my Arabian models that I had collected for a Warhammer army project so he could re-work his old Slaver warband.  I'm not sure what Chris really wanted to play.  I 'hinted' he should get out his Relics warband when playtable expressed interest in the Slavers.  Chris chose the Smugglers instead, but his luck has been awful with them.  After our game one of his heroes maxed out in Initiative and Leadership...

I generally try to play an warband that fits with my idea of what I want the campaign to be about.  I was pretty happy with the mix this time around.  The Skaven can fit anywhere because they don't exist!

Deafnala wrote:

BUMMER! Iwas hoping for a flashy escape scenario...rooting for Al Bobo is increasingly resembling being a Cubs Fan.

Yeah, I became the first member of our group to fail to rescue a captured character.  (Of courses, Playtable's heroes always just die...   )
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More Week 19--Sneaking Into Town
A Breakthrough variant

Report of the Harbor Patrol, 1 Sigmarzeit, 2014

The Nordland Third Company of Marines repulsed an attempt to infiltrate the Quarter at O300 hours.  A ragtag gang of Arabyan thieves known as the Dead Babas were attempting to circumvent the patrols of the Khalibon Manpower Exchange when a Third Company patrol spotted the attackers.

The attackers had killed two of the Manpower Exchange's sentries and wounded a third.  Once the alarm was sounded the thieves faded back into the Arabyan slums.  None of the infiltrators was captured, but the perimeter remains secure.

The Manpower Exchange patrols the area.  The two slaves were stupid most of the time.


There are thieves in that building!




Fathi IV and The Catcher think there's someone in there...


"These are not the Thieves you are looking for."  Fathi loses interest, The Catcher is caught alone and unaware. (OoA)

More thieves have worked their way around to the north.


The slave guarding the north comes to a bad end...




The event Someone Called The Watch! occurs.  Nordlander Marines save Fathi.


Alas they are too late to save the last slave.




Post Battle
The surprise arrival of the Watch broke up the Thieves clever attempt to evade or eliminate all of the Slaver sentries.  Just seeing the Watch breaks Banned warbands (campaign rule).  Once the alarm was sounded the ogres and dogs were released, plus more Marines rushed to the area.  It was all too much for the Dead Babas, who broke without suffering a wound.  In Exploration I rolled three '2's!  I had four Rabbit's Feet and a Tarot Card.  Surely I could free Al Bobo!  Well no, no I couldn't do that.  Instead the Thieves steal a halberd  (Exploration result) and a suit of heavy armor (Thief HS).  More Tarot Cards are acquired as well.

The Slavers lost both slaves killed. Playtable complains of the expense.

(One more try to free Al Bobo, then its a Trial by Combat or execution...)

More Week 19--Street Brawl in the Thieves Quarter

Report of the Harbor Patrol, 4 Sigmarzeit, 2014

A patrol of the 4th Company Nordland Marines encountered the dreaded Green and Golds during a routine sweep of area known as the Maze.  The patrol had barely the minimum strength to patrol inside the Occupied Zone which was fatally insufficient for the hotbed of rebellion and blasphemy that is the Thieves Quarter.  The Sargent and two Marksmen were killed.  The lone survivor managed to survive an attack by one of the giant rat-mutants due to the intervention of agents of the Khalibon Manpower Exchange.

The cowardly mutants fled from the appearance of the Manpower Exchange ogres.  However, almost immediately a skirmish broke out between the Manpower Exchange and the gang known as the Dead Babas (formerly the Nearly Twenty Thieves).  The rebels had no stomach for a prolonged battle.  They melted away into the narrow alleyways that give the area its name.

Due to the fluid nature of the encounter it is difficult to assess the damage to the mutant and rebel forces.  The Khalibon Manpower Exchange suffered a minor wound to a warhound, who recovered.

Early in the brawl, the Manpower Exchange ogres redeploy toward the Sewer Slinkers. (Harganok wisely set up on the opposite side of the ogres.)


The in response the Sewer Slinkers shift north toward the hapless Thieves.


A Shore Patrol appears in the skaven flank. (Playtable rolled the event Someone Called the Watch twice in one game night!)


The Manpower Exchange.




A bitter fight in the shadows.  Fariz the Horrible and Kasim the Knife unload blunderbusses into the massed skaven.  Then the Pit Fighter falls upon the survivors.


Summoned giant rats are sacrificed to hold up the ogres' advance.


The lone survivor of the Shore Patrol faces the rat ogre!


The Thieves try the 'fortress' strategy in better weather...


Post Battle
The Sewer Slinkers took a big hit when the crowd panicked. Once they split their forces to eliminate the Watch, the Thieves attacked.  Many verminkin and giant rats went out of action and the skaven fled.  The Sewer Slinkers bribe a greedy guard at the Fortress of Sorrows.

Harganok wrote:

After our second game and replacing the one dead verminkin, I am back up to 544....for a net gain of 2 WR after 2 games

The Dead Babas planned to flee from the last remaining Shore Patrol (who was desperately trying to call for reinforcements), but the store closed first.  [Actually I proposed that playtable take a win, since he had allied with the Watch again and the store was closing, but playtable insisted on a draw.] Exploration was very kind.  I rolled two '3's and a 4!  With one Tarot Card Al Bobo was finally free!  There is much rejoicing in Thief Land.  [Not a particularly swashbuckling result, but it took more than a month of games to accomplish either way.   ]  In addition one of my 'new' thieves became a LGT hero!  Woot!
Almah II was let go to free up roster space.  Mostly good things happen, except a sneaky merchant sold Fariz some fake Tarot Cards.   

Playtable suffered no losses, but was slightly bummed that he failed to capture any giant rats with The Catcher.

playtable wrote:

The Genie got another wound!
Lenny III got a skill = 2" scare zone!
I now have one BS5 Caravan Guard with a bow, yea, my 1st bs5!
480 rating

HURRAH! Al BOBO IS FREE AT LAST! AND the People are happy...well mildly indifferent! In the retelling I'm sure some swashbuckling details will emerge.   

Nice. It sounds like a good night all round (fitting in three battles) and some reasonable post battle results (well except maybe for Harganok who at least hasn't gone backwards in WR and is still 60+ higher in WR than playtable).

Deafnala wrote:

In the retelling I'm sure some swashbuckling details will emerge.

I do expect the tale will grow in the telling.   

RL wrote:

It sounds like a good night all round

Chris and Harganok had a short but deadly fight while playtable and I were playing hide and seek in the Merchant's Quarter. I Harganok lost like 30 in warband rating in that game and apparently he came off best.    A report of their fight may appear sooner than later...

More Week 19--The Yeggmen
A safe cracking scenario based on The Locksmith by Ross Franks

Report of the Night Watch, 1st Day of Turmar, Year of the Leopard

The Watch was summoned to the Thieves Quarter to investigate a report of attempted robbery, murder and blasphemy.  The crime took place near or in a building owned by one Abu Abba Abu.  Abu is suspected of devil worship and tax evasion.  Upon arrival the patrol discovered the bodies of several rat-devils and Arabyan sailors.  All of the bodies were attacked with such violence (and the vermin of the Thieves Quarter so voracious) that the exact number of casualties is hard to determine from the surviving evidence.

Witnesses report that the building had been the site of suspicious activity for the last several nights.  Hunched, deformed individuals had been seen entering the building during the hours of darkness or lurking nearby.  The number of large rats in the area had increased by at least five fold. On the evening in question a great disturbance was heard about the second hour of the night.  The moons were full so the residents who were brave enough to look could see quite well.

Witnesses report a full scale battle took place.  The Green and Gold gang was apparently attacked by a mob of brave Arabyans.  The Arabyans must have been dervishes for they rushed upon the rat-devils with no thought to their safety, wreaking great havoc upon the mutants.  However, there were mutants without count.  Successive waves of the foul beings overcame even the dervishes, who died where they stood or fled.

The Green and Golds then ransacked the building owned by Abu Abba Abu, making a great commotion.  Witnesses report strange green lights and chittering, squeaking song.  By the time the Watch arrived the area was deserted except for the dead and the ever present rats.

Abu Abbas Abu is no where to be found.  His property has been confiscated.

The Smugglers safe crackers approach a wary sentry.  Chris rolled the maximum night vision 18".  The Skaven sentries could see their attackers immediately.  The alarm sounds!


The suicide squad press the attack.


The Sewer Slinker's had occupied a slum to the north as their barracks.  Apparently lost in the dark, the Smugglers reinforcements enter the table adjacent to the barracks!   An angry swarm of skaven meet them!




The skaven mopping up.  Chris had some success early on, which lead to one of those decisions to stay when he could have fled... Not good.


Post Battle
The Smugglers stayed one turn too many.  Rais Roxanna loses an eye.  Another hero will miss a game.  Veteran warriors are killed, although the exact number is unknown.  Chris gains a +4 underdog bonus but his warband rating only gains 3 over the start of the night.

Harganok wrote:

After my first game against Chris, I was down to 526 or so (2 of my better henchmen died, but I won that one and got 40 crowns from the treasure chest).  

Despite sounding like a contradiction in terms, the Slum is a BEAUTY. Some WONDERFULLY painted minis complete the scene. YET ANOTHER FINE REPORT!   

Week Twenty--Two Guys Playing Down At the Docks

Chris--Araby Smugglers
Von Kurst--Arabyan Thieves (AKA Baba Ali's Gang of Nearly Twenty Thieves, AKA The Dead Baba's)



Report of the Watch, 8th Day of Turmar, Year of the Leopard

Acting on intelligence from an informer, a reinforced patrol of the 7th Cohort entered the Thieves Quarter with the intention of sweeping through the Quay of False Bottoms. The pirate captain Wyatt Burps was said to be transferring a stolen cargo to unknown agents of the infamous Black Market.

The patrol reached the harbor without incident, but immediately encountered a large force of armed men led by the fugitive Al Bobo. The patrol attempted to arrest the known criminal, however, a riot erupted along the quay. Al Bobo and the Dead Babas gang escaped.

The patrol could not pursue the Dead Babas without abandoning their original objective of apprehending Captain Burps. Indeed the pirate began to bombard the town, thus becoming the more immediate threat to public safety. At this point the Rais Roxanna appeared and assumed command of the operation.

In coordination with the Rais and her janissaries, the patrol stormed the ship. Captain Burps and most of his crew were captured and his cargo confiscated. Casualties included one pirate killed and Askar Adara Windrider shot to death by Captain Burps.

Post Battle
Before the game Chris and I were joking about what horrible thing was going to happen this time. Our last few games have all featured an outcome altering event or bad weather or just horrible luck. So for his first turn Chris rolled the event Someone Called the Watch. The Watch appeared on my table edge and I rolled box cars for my reaction roll and fled. Because there was an NPC force with tons of treasure on the board, the game did not end. I took control of the pirates and began what looked like a horrible last stand.

But the attackers suffered from rubber arrows and defective powder. Eventually superior numbers told, but the pirates made the Smugglers pay. Adara Windrider, Chris' mounted Askar, was shot dead by Captain Burps (the pirates were played by Chris' Tombstone posse).

The Captain and three of his crew were captured by the Smugglers; five crates of food, a barrel of gunpowder and a sword and shield were removed from the ship as well as the personal arms of the captured pirates. Chris gets rich again. A hired sword returns a favor. A Warlock who knows the spell Silver Arrows...

The Dead Babas hired a Warlock, too. He knows Flight and Luck. What a surprise.