Battle Report - The Treasure of Volker Von Karl

Thanksgiving weekend is always the time for Count Chetcula's turkey day Mordheim party, and this year was no exception.  I wrote up a special scenario, the Treasure of Volker Von Karl, a mulitplayer treasure hunt scenario with a few twists.  For this game we had four players:

• Count Chetcula's Clan Pestilens Warband, Brother Typhax's Outbreak
• Ben's Orc Warband, Grognash's Little Waagh
• Luke's Possesed Warband, who remain nameless
• Edwin's Marienburger Warband, Falcula's Fine Goods and Curiousities

Deployment was pretty straight forward, with each player taking a table quarter to use as their own.  The Treasure Map counters were pretty well dispersed around the board as well, with each warband having easy access to at least one, but guaranteed conflicts should they try to get another one.

For some players, this was all the joy they could look forward to.

The game started off with each warband moving into the city to find the closest map pieces to their deployment zone.  Falcula's Fine Goods and Curiosities went first, and the Marienburgers stayed in a pack for safeties sake.  Also moving in a pack were the Possessed and Orcs, while the Skaven took a risk and split into two groups in an attempt to get to two makers faster.  After finding their first markers, all the warbands continued on a mad run to the next one, save the Orcs, who left a contingent guarding a treasure marker next to an abandoned tower, and the Posessed, whose Magister decided to stay near the first marker he encountered in a ruined house near the center of the board.  With his Wings of Darkness spell, the Magister was able to fly about the board quite well in this game, and easily made it to an otherwise difficult location to reach. 

Here is how things looked after turn one, as all warbands greedily stalk Von Karl's treasure.

The vile Possessed Magister flies to an otherwise very difficult location to reach with ease.

Orc hero: "You goblins stay here and guard the map or me is gonna whup the Gork out of ya!"

After turn two the combat started fast and furious as Grongnash's Squigs hopped their way into an unfortunate group of Plague Monks, who were helplessly chittering in fear against the assault, at least until the Horned Rat smiled upon them and their dagger attacks struck true, disabling the angry fungi until the Frenzied Brother Festrix brought his plague censer to bear on the soon to be deceased squigs.  The Orcs, knowing that they is the best, also charged headlong into combat with the Possessed, with equally disastrous results, as da Boss Grognash himself was felled by the Possessed's Possessed, who used his giant claw and large slapping hand to make quick work of the Orcs, who then routed completely on their next turn.

Squigs have big teeth but are no match against a tide of vermin.

The Orcs see that they outnumber the Possessed and aim to show them who's boss.

After being taken out of action, the Orcs now know who's boss.

Meanwhile, while the Orcs and Possessed were busy leaving blood on the streets, the cautious and enterprising Marienburgers found another piece of the map, and rolled successfully to discover the location of one of Von Karls treasure hoards.  They then put the bulk of their warband toward that effort, and soon found a stash near a statue in one of the town squares.  The sneaky Clan Pestilens Skaven also took advantage of their opponents brawl to find another piece of the map, and they too successfully rolled to discover a stash of Von Karls treasure.  The race was now on for the warbands to grab the loot, fend off a maniacal ghost of Von Karl, and make it off the board with their ill gotten gains before the Possessed got to them first.

The Marienburgers made it to their treasure stash first, and unleashed Flaming Mad Von Karl, who proceeded to immediately charge the nearest model, laying waste to a poor warrior with ease, toasting him with the Fires of U'zhul and six frenzied attacks.  Meanwhile the Skaven finally managed to prod their newly acquired Rat Ogre to the treasure stash (Mutilator the Rat Ogre had previously failed four consecutive Stupidity tests), where he scraped at the ground of a gravestone and found the loot, and Crispy Dismembered Von Karl as well.  The Skaven, realizing that Mutilator was too stupid to help, left him to fend off the raging super zombies while they escaped with the loot. 

Mutilator finds the loot and unleashes Von Karl

He takes out one of them, but it isn't long before their crispy burnt limbs knock him down, but not out. 

The Marienburgers were facing serious difficulties trying to move the treasure chest off the board while enduring the withering assault of Flaming Mad Von Karl, who in addition to the warrior took out a Gibo the youngblood, Magnificent Gruntle the warlock, Lol Freshbreeze the elf ranger, Fritz the warcat, and the 3 wound hero Leonardo and his greatsword with absolute ease, only losing one wound in the process.

While all of this was going on, other combats were happening as well.  Seeing an opportunity to help and also get some easy kills, Falcula jumped into the fray with the same plague monks who had dispatched the squigs, and despite showing an obvious display of quality versus his inferior foe, was felled by a lucky dagger strike and a critical wound.  Frenzied Brother Festrix also saw the chance for glory, and madly charged the Possessed model that had wiped the floor with the Orcs.  He easily knocked him down, and was primed to take him out of action when he choked on the fumes of his own plague censer and collapsed, creating yet another near victory for the Skaven race.

Three turns of casualties to Flaming Mad Von Karl

The Skaven were just about to make it off the board with their treasure, and were chittering with glee at the thought of all the precious items in the chest when disaster struck.  Hearing the death screech of Brother Festrix from across the city, Brother Typhax panicked, and this spread to the rest of the warband with all haste.  Not even his fine Cathayan silk cloak and unholy relic could prevent his routing, and with the third failed roll of the dice the Skaven dropped their loot within 2" of victory and fled the board, leaving only the rapidly diminishing Marienburgers and the suddenly unstoppable Possessed, along with one very angry flaming ghost left to determine the final outcome.

I see dead people!  Run!  Run for your lives!

With things coming down to the wire the game was in the balance.  The Possessed were rapidly making their way to the Marienburgers and their treasure, and were within a turn of charging into combat.  Foolishly though one of the beastmen in the band positioned himself between Von Karl's ghost and the treasure, and was immediately charged and wiped out for his folly.  Unable to fight off the terror of something almost as horrible as what they worshiped in the Pit, the Possessed warband routed and fled the board, leaving the Marienburgers to leisurely cart off the treasure, and celebrate a very hard fought victory.  

So close for the Possessed, yet so far. 

In the end the Marienburgers only managed to get some gold crowns and a Tome of Magic from the treasure hoard, but it was still a nice haul for the antiques afficionados.  The aftermath of the battle was bloody and featured lots of leg and arm wounds, a pit fight (fortunately victorious for the Marienburgers and their warband leader), and enough advances to make the whole endeavor worthwhile.  The Orcs curse the day and say they will be back with more goblin fodder, the Possessed aim to add more models, and the Skaven rue their inability to grow a spine when needed.  But fun was had by all, and at least there was the buffet to comfort those who saw the dice roll the other way.