One Night in Mordheim

The cursed city of Mordheim

The heroes gathered outside the gates of the cursed city, trembling with fear but drooling with greed.  The mad Count Grishnak had offered a 100 gold crown purse to whichever pair of heroes could survive the night unscathed.  As if giddy with anticipation the heroes could sense the air of the living city breathing restlessly through the gates, as if it knew that there were fools to be devoured this night.  But as all intrepid explorers of Mordheim know, nothing speaks louder then gold crowns jingling in your pocket.  And so the warriors crossed the threshold into the city, and chaos was unleashed....

The participants:
Count Chetcula (Pestilens Skaven): Abbot Typhax the Plague Priest & Brother Emanittix the Sorcerer
John (Undead): Count Ladislav the Vicious (Vampire) & Dr. Hermann West, Necromancer (and his warcat Fluffy)
Luke: (Possessed): Elkazar the Magister & The Clawed One (Possessed)

Count Lucius advances upon the Skaven

Heading into the city the deck seemed to be stacked against the Clan Pestilens Skaven.  In addition to being severely outclassed by the elite heroes of the Undead and Possessed, their poor leadership was certain to be called into question against their fear causing opponents, as well as the random happenings that would be occurring on each players turn, as the city has come alive and is looking to enjoy the delights of having a night of fun at others expense.  To make matters worse for the Skaven, but brighter for the Possessed, the first random happening of the game brought a Pit Fighter wandering through the ruins who decided to help in the service of the vile chaos worshipers.

Vampires to the left of me, Possessed to the right...

But the Possessed's good fortune would not last, for at the start of their first turn the Clawed One, already possessed by a vile demon of ill repute, found itself fighting off an attempted possession by a second spirit, which managed to spitefully gain control of the monsters large right hand and slap a wound out of the combat beast before being expelled by the original demonic owner of the human vessel.  As the Undead and Possessed advanced upon the weaker Skaven heroes, high winds picked up rendering missile fire useless for the round, further impeding what little advantages the Skaven might have been able to find.  And sure enough, as the Undead further advanced upon the Plague Monks, Dr. West conjured a vile spell that stole a wound from Brother Typhax, who was then stunned upon the spot.

Saved by the fog

The disasterous turn for the Skaven continued as the building closest to their location burst into flames, blocking their only avenue of escape from the rapidly approaching Possessed and Undead heroes.  Brother Emanittix noticed a silvery pool in his panicked scouring for an escape route and foolishly looked too deep into it's depths, seeing his own demise approaching with alacrity.  The terrified sorcerer then failed his attempt at magically working his way out of the dire situation.

Eeek!  Spiders!

But just as the Undead were about to unleash unholy hell upon the Skaven a fog rolled into the city, limiting visibility and preventing the vampire, who could smell the terrified rats as sure as day, from seeing the cowering prey, so he advanced closer to where he thought they would be.  As the Possessed worked their way towards the area of conflict, also prevented from seeing the Skaven by the fog, they heard a skittering behind them and were fortunate to be just out of the path of a gigantic spider crawling it's way through the ruins looking for it's evening snack, as in the distance buildings could be heard to collapse.

Brother Emanittix bests the Clawed One in close combat

With his back against the wall and his leader knocked down, Brother Emanittix summoned the magic that only a rat facing certain death can accomplish, and used the Black Hunger to turn himself into a fearsome beast and suicidally charged the Clawed One, hoping to get in one last bite before he himself was devoured.  But the Great Horned Rat fiendishly smiled upon the sorcerer, as he bit and clawed the possessed demon to death, much to his great surprise after he morphed back into manrat form.  Abbot Typhax slowly stood up from the his stupor, and was greatly shocked to see the dead Possessed lying at the feat of Emanittix.

Count Ladislav, sensing the nearby combat, cursed the fog that prevented him from seeing his prey.  It was a certainty that if he could just close with the enemy, he would feed on them and drink them dry.  But the cursed fog again prevented him from laying eyes upon his foes.  Dr. West too was out of range for his magics, but he vowed to himself to get close enough to rip the flesh from the bones of anyone he could.  As the enemies closed quarters, in the distance the sound of scurrying rats could be heard above the din, as it seemed a very large rat swarm was rushing across the city nearby, an omen perhaps?

Momentarily stunned by seeing the Possessed model go down to the ratman, the Pit Fighter recovered his wits and jumped through the flames of the burning building to avenge his fallen ally.  But the city of Mordheim is cruel, and although he outclassed the rat sorcerer in combat skills, he was felled by a critical wounding from a diseased dagger in a desperation attack.  At this point in the distance could be heard the moaning of lepers and plague victims making their way towards the conflict, in search of hope for their rotting disease, not knowing they would find no succor once they arrived.

Suddenly confident in his abilities after somehow managing to elminate two vastly superior opponents, Brother Emanittix summoned the powers of the Horned Rat and cast Gnawdoom upon the closing Count Lucius, and the rats gnawed at his undead flesh to the tally of two wounds, slowing down but not stopping the combat behemoth.  Sensing the rage emanating from the vampire Abbot Typhax beat a hasty retreat, hoping to be saved by the fog one last time, and praying to the Horned Rat for blessings as his fur stank of fear.

Elkazar, moments before being devoured by Fluffy the warcat

As if in answer a great storm of chaos came down from the skies and knocked the vampire down where he was standing, as furious winds ripped through the city.  The winds carried the Possessed Magister directly into the range of Dr. West and his warcat, which who sent the cat after the chaos wizard and watched with grim satisfaction as it's giant fangs ripped the worshiper of the pit to shreds, thus ending the Possessed's foray into the city.  Giving one last gasp, the chaos storm sent a rain of fish down upon the heads of the remaining heroes, adding insult to injury for their thinking they would be able to withstand the city.

Seizing the advantage that the chaos storm had brought to bear, Brother Emanittix yet again summoned a horde of rats to gnaw the madly cursing Count Lucius to death as he struggled vainly to stand up.  Attempting to close with the shocked necromancer, Abbot Typhax was slowed by grasping hands of stone erupting from the ground, impeding his progress and allowing Dr. West to escape the suddenly ascendant Skaven.  Dr. West, still shocked by the senseless and entirely unforeseen death of Count Lucius, didn't see the sinkhole underneath him as he attempted to cross a bridge, and fell into it, trapped and unable to move.  Abbot Typhax, blessing the name of the Great Horned Rat and the plague, slew Dr. West's helpless warcat and then proceeded to finish the job and smite the trapped necromancer, thrusting his diseased blade deep into his gullet whilst reciting the holy words of the Liber Bubonicus.  The night was nearly over, and against all odds, the pair of plague monks had survived.  Praise be the Great Horned Rat!

Abbot Typhax & Brother Emanittix, the victors!

Possessed Miniature Wrecks

Here are the Possessed models I mentioned in my previous post, in all their wreckitude.  Can't wait to fix them up, as they are pretty gruesome at the moment!

Possessed/Witch Hunters acquired

Not much has been happening lately, a combination of factors has kept me from doing much with the hobby.  But I did manage to complete my original Mordheim warband collection.  I got a NIB Witch Hunters warband, and a used Possessed warband.  I'm pretty stoked about the Possessed band, as it comes with both possessed models, and only cost me $16.50.  That is entirely due to the miniature wreck paintjob that they came with, which I will post as soon as I get the photos uploaded for the before/after comparison. 

Finished Water Garden

I finished the water garden scenery piece for my Mordheim board.  It's not an award winner but it still turned out pretty nice and I can't wait to use it this Sunday for the next match.  Here are the pics:

Scenery Works in Progress

Here are some of the projects I am working on for my Mordheim board. I'm vacationing this week and have made some great progress in getting them assembled and ready for painting. They should be ready to use by the end of next week.

A tower which will have another window or two added soon plus perhaps some stairs.

A water garden, with a big well and aqueduct ruin.  I left the corner open to put the tower there if I want to. 

Another view of the water garden.

A corner house, pretty basic but it's been sitting in my basement half done for three years and I want to finish it.

A hangman's noose which will have a body on it soon, and a cross with some severed hands and a head with bones.  Perfect extras for any Mordheim board!

Stormvermin on the Horizon

I won a couple of auctions the past few days on ebay to get my Skaven Stormvermin unit up from the rat warren.  Combining the two auctions it cost me 36.50 for 24 metal Stormvermin and a classic Queek Headtaker.  Combine that with my 8 plastic stormvermin and I have 32 strong unit, which is an ideal size for the 8th edition rules.  I'm really happy I got the metal models, as I like the new plastic ones but the armor on the OOP metals looks cooler to me, and I find it easier to paint armor on metal so that's great too.  The old Queek can serve as a Chieftan or a Stormvermin champion, so that is also a bonus.  All I really need now to really have my army where I would like it to be in order to play is a Doomwheel and perhaps a Warp Lightning Cannon.  Now time to get painting - the Jezzails are next up in line, followed by the Rat Ogres. 

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.