Mordheim: City of the Damned - The GitP Campaign

[LCP]

The second DLC warband (Undead (http://store.steampowered.com/app/534990/)) have been released for Mordheim: City of the Damned, which I think completes the list of all the warbands that were present in the core rules of the original tabletop game.

I remember asking this before on the forums and it sinking without a trace, but this seemed as good a juncture as any to ask again: would anyone be interested in setting up some kind of GitP league? The main thing that I feel is missing from the game right now that I enjoyed in the tabletop game is the sense of persistent rivalry between warbands that you only get with some kind of small-group multiplayer, and I had good experiences with the GitP Blood Bowl league. I'd be willing to organise and "GM" in some laissez-faire sense if people were up for starting a small group of PvP warbands in some kind of league. We could even supplement the game engine with a forum-based campaign map etc. if that was something people wanted.

[Bobby Baratheon]

I'd be interested in it, yeah. As long as its not too crazy intense, that could be a lot of fun. My Empire warband hasn't had a real challenge in a while (though to be fair I don't really play multiplayer and a lot of my success is from exploiting the AI)

[LCP]

Crazy intense definitely wouldn't be the aim - I'm thinking something like the forum Blood Bowl league, with one round every two weeks to give people time to get games in.

Mordheim doesn't have an inherent balancing mechanism between warbands so I think we would need something to address the snowballing effect of XP. I'm thinking that we could say that higher-value warbands have to leave warriors at home until their warband value approaches that of the underdog. We could also have a "rookie pool" of warbands that allows people to level up new teams and a "main pool" where people can play with all levels. Open to ideas on that front.

Some forum-based mechanics could also allow us to define short-ish "seasons" with objectives etc. to keep things fresh.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Yeah that would definitely be needed. . . I like the idea of the rookie pool being almost like a D-league, with the emphasis on both mastering the game in a less challenging context and getting to use fun or fluffy lists, and with the main pool being where people get to try out all their shiny toys and their stronger lists. I'd be down! How many players do you think we would need to get a good league going?

[LCP]

No idea tbh. There are currently 6 available warbands so I'm gonna say 6? Obviously you don't want too many players either but I doubt we'll have problems with being oversubscribed.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Yeah that should probably not be an issue haha. Which warband do you use most frequently?

[LCP]

So far I've played Skaven and Witch Hunters up to fairly high levels and have just started an Undead warband. I've dabbled in Sisters of Sigmar for multiplayer but haven't taken them past rank 1. My Skaven warband is the only one with which I've "completed" the game.

The single-player part of the game doesn't have much replay value with the same warband for me (same set of story missions + 3 random mission types x 6 warband types x N non-story maps as padding gets samey) so I haven't tried any warband more than once - one of the reasons I'm looking to do some multiplayer!

[Bobby Baratheon]

I've honestly just straight up ignored the story mode for the most part - my main warband is Mercenaries, but I've given Chaos and Sisters of Sigmar a couple of spins. I'm glad I didn't start with Sisters . . . they let you get away with so many bad habits (pun definitely intended).

[Deadline]

I'll tentatively toss my hat into the ring. I'm fond of the Witch Hunters, Undead, and Sisters. I'm apparently terrible with Skaven, and haven't really fiddled around with Mercs or Possessed much at all. I like the idea of some sort of narrative thing here on the forums to loosely tie together the series of skirmishes we'll have.

[LCP]

Well, that makes 3 of us so far. I know there are a few more folks from the Blood Bowl league who Steam says have the game; I'll bug them and see if they're interested.

In the meantime, shall we get the ball rolling talking about possible league rules? Would probably help people decide whether they're interested if they know what they're signing up for!

The obvious questions to me seem to be:

Should we allow league teams to play any games against the AI? My default answer is "no" but this could be used as a reward or catch-up mechanism if we needed one.
Should we allow league teams to skip days? I would lean towards yes - in SP, dealing with significant members of your warband having to miss days due to injuries is a meaningful part of gameplay, but if we're talking about a single-digit number of MP games played per month then it starts to seem very punitive and un-fun. People would still have to live with the injuries themselves (e.g. missing eyes, fingers, legs) so I don't think it would lose the flavour of the game.
How should we structure a "season"? This breaks down into a number of questions:
How many games per player should it consist of? Should it be a fixed number of games, or only a minimum number?
What should the objectives be and how should we declare a "winner" before the season cycles?
Should everyone play everyone round-robin style, or should we have some other (/extra) system for matching up opponents (e.g. grudge matches)?

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts, particularly on how we could weave this into some kind of narrative structure here on the boards. I'm thinking we want to aim for something simple and with a relatively quick turnaround (i.e. narrative events corresponding to "seasons" that have a relatively small number of games in them, so that people don't get bored and drift away mid-series), but at the same time flavourful, to really ensure we get something extra over just looking for games with randomers on skirmish mode. We could go map-based, story-driven, anything really. I'd love to see the story of each warband evolve, with e.g. battle reports here on the forum.

[Wraith]

I have been summarily bugged, and would certainly be interested in joining in :smallsmile:

Only problem is, I have around 3 hours of playtime, most of which was in the Beta when there were only 2 factions, so I have a lot of catching up to do. The positive side to this, is that I have no preference as to what Faction I play as; I'll quite happily pick up whatever is left over by more experienced players and learn as I go, so there should be some variety in the League.

As to the format, I believe it best to keep things simple while we're getting a handle on the basics; round robin is familiar to most people, and traditionally the League GM would choose a scenario each 'week' that all of the games would feature, so as to try and prevent certain Factions getting screwed over by a randomly rolled one that they find very difficult, while everyone else rolls something easier to handle. It also allows a narrative to be set, and it allows some variety rather than simple head-to-head brawls all the time.

[LCP]

Sounds sensible to me. 6 players in a round robin would mean 12 weeks to a "season" which doesn't sound too unreasonable.

One of the drawbacks of the game as it stands is that there are only three generic mission types - but there are some other things we could add in (e.g. the special quest battle maps, wandering daemons etc.) to make each round different to the last.

EDIT: Having played around in the multiplayer settings, I take that back a little. There are three generic objectives, which can be set independently for either player (so 3x3 = 9 "missions"), plus separately toggled deployment types, and also a couple of weird gameplay extras you can turn on or off for each of the quest maps. That should definitely be enough variety.

[Maethirion]

I have also been bugged and am interested.

In a similar situation to wraith where I don't have a lot of experience or skill with the game, but certainly keen to give it a go. I played witch hunters on the tabletop, and would play that by choice, but can work with pretty much anything.

[LCP]

OK, looks like we have 5 so far - one more and we'll be at quota.

Just to firm up the proposed "rules":


Make a new warband specifically for the campaign (I'm gonna call it a campaign, not a league - seems more accurate).
Campaign warbands can only play games against other campaign warbands - no playing against the AI.
You can skip as many days as you want.
When playing a match, the player with the higher warband value must put warriors into reserve until their warband value is as close to the underdog's warband value as possible.
One "season" of the campaign will consist of one game against every other warband in the campaign (+ maybe a "final round" where we match up the two warbands with the most wins?).
I'll "GM" by arranging the pairings and setting objectives, deployment types and maps for each round.
Narrative stuff is encouraged - naming your dudes, warband backstory, battle reports etc. I'll try to put some kind of narrative structure into the missions - still brainstorming how best to do that without introducing any unnecessary complications to the rules.


One other suggestion I'd put out there is something I've seen while researching whether anyone else has organised something like this online - since the RNG can play a big part in games, and since warbands level fairly slowly, rather than just playing a single game to decide who wins a particular round we could have each match being a best of 3. That way you might see some significant advancement i(in terms of XP) nside a season, and players who got screwed over by a lucky crit would get a chance to even the odds. What do you guys think?

[Bobby Baratheon]

I'm on board. I'd lean more towards one game a week or less, just to accommodate busy schedules. If we're doing best of three rounds, maybe we could just set aside a month for each round? I'm open to other suggestions or ideas though.

As far as the campaign side of it, I would love to have some sort of collective story we're telling. Mordheim is concurrent with one of the Empire's civil wars, IIRC, so maybe we could do something with that.

As far as warbands go, I'd prefer to take Mercenaries but would be open to trying another faction. Undead seem kinda cool.

[LCP]

I was thinking about it on the way home and I think I'm against the best-of-three idea too. Could make things harder to squeeze in if you need enough time for three back-to-back games, and probably gets a bit depressing if you just get smashed two or three times in a row.

There's no reason to limit people from taking duplicate warband types - I just picked 6 as a good number to ensure some variety. Everyone should play their first choice.

[Bobby Baratheon]

There's nothing stopping us from doing more than one team each. Might be fun to have a little variety in the play-style, especially if one team gets smashed. We can still balance the teams through warband rating to keep things even.

[LCP]

Well considering that our main limiting factor is the number of games we can fit into the time people have available, I think it would make sense to stick to a single warband for campaign games - that way we might actually see them grow and develop. Obviously if people want to play exhibition matches/practice games they can use as many different warbands as they please.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Well considering that our main limiting factor is the number of games we can fit into the time people have available, I think it would make sense to stick to a single warband for campaign games - that way we might actually see them grow and develop. Obviously if people want to play exhibition matches/practice games they can use as many different warbands as they please.

That's perfectly fine. It's more or less what I wanted anyway, so I'm happy with that set up.

[LCP]

OK, sounds good.

If we can get one more person it would be nice to start this up this weekend. We could also start it up now - 5 is approximately 6 after all.

EDIT: And if anyone wants any practice games before the campaign starts, my warband is ready to go!

Skrrk Throatchewer knelt before the newcomer, snout to the ground. To abase himself so in his own burrow stoked a red-hot fire of resentment in his chest, but it took no dissimulation to cower before High Executioner Veskit. The acrid smell of metal and warpstone wafted from the Nightmaster’s messenger like smoke from a furnace. The sound of his voice was like the hiss of gas in a deep tunnel.

The Nightmaster had a mission for Skrrk, Veskit said. The man-things were grunting to each other of another of their kind, one who worked wonders with the warpstone that littered the surface city. Most man-things were too stupid to appreciate its true value, collecting it (it was assumed) only because it glittered – but if the reports that had been tortured from the captured witnesses were true, this one had discovered secrets of its uses beyond even the warlocks of Clan Skryre. The Nightmaster wanted this man-thing brought to him, alive and capable of speech. Failure would not be tolerated.

Even as he chittered his assent to the High Executioner’s orders, Skrrk’s mind was racing. If Veskit’s intelligence was correct, the man-thing’s secrets might be worth a clan-lord’s ransom – to the warlock engineers or any of a dozen other buyers. The Skaven of Clan Eshin were uncommonly loyal for their kind, and Skrrk would never disobey a direct order from the Nightmaster – but Veskit’s instructions said nothing about whether Skrrk could extract the man-thing’s secrets for himself before delivery...

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/195172462380489895/20D2DA12EA8CCBACD394CDD323FA13121D457C17/

[Bobby Baratheon]

I just bought the Undead dlc, but am having a problem . . . the game pauses endlessly on the loading screen without actually freezing, and never displays the percentage loaded. Is anyone else having this problem?

[LCP]

Haven't encountered that myself. Which loading screen is it?

[TheSummoner]

Posting interest. Been a bit since I've played. I'll probably either play Witch Hunters or Undead.

[LCP]

Alright, that makes 6! We are good to go. For everyone who's posted interest so far, please furnish me with any information not yet in this table (or correct it if it's wrong!).



Player
Steam Name
Warband Name
Faction


LCP
Pippington
The Doomtown Rats
Skaven


Bobby Baratheon
huffdaddy10
The Free Company of Marienburg ("The Ironhearts")
Mercenaries


Deadline
CthonicMnemonic
The Confessors
Witch Hunters


Maethirion
Maethirion
The Bolts of Sigmar
Witch Hunters


TheSummoner
TheSilverRaven
House von Furchmont
Undead


Janwin

The Court von Drak
Undead



Obviously I'm open to adding more people as we go along - six was just a lower limit - but I think this is enough to kick things off. As soon as people have got their warbands set up I'll start the first round.

[Janwin]

I'd also be interested in this, if you're open to expanding it to 7 players.

Got back into the game with the undead DLC, and have been enjoying it. Would be nice to not just always have single player, though.

[LCP]

Even numbers are preferable but odd numbers are fine - it just means that one warband will have to sit out each round. Plus if there's anyone else who's interested we can make it up to eight.

I think I have the germ of a story idea to centre the first season around, so I'll start a new thread with all the pertinent info in the first post once I get home this evening. In the meantime, get those warbands in everyone!

[TheSummoner]

"We've arrived, my love. This is the city where the comet struck, and within these walls, a near limitless supply of wyrdstone."

*thud*

"Do you see the pallor that hangs over the city? The green mist that drifts through the streets? Can you feel how strongly the magic flows here? In a way, it reminds me of home."

*thud*

"I think we will be very happy here, my love. The count is very powerful, and very good to those who serve him well. We will have everything we have ever dreamed of and more."

*thud*

"Fritz, you blathering imbecile, if you drop another chest, I'll tear your head off! Gregor, help him, you mindless buffoon!"

http://i.imgur.com/8PjQj1n.jpg

[LCP]

Nice warband! All dead-things will die-die, of course, but it's nice to see that they've dressed sharply for the occasion :smalltongue:

In the meantime, I have worked up the basis for a campaign narrative, but it's taken me long enough that I think I'll put it here rather than in a new thread for the time being. My general idea is:

There is no sensible way to plug rewards from narrative events into the COTD game. Therefore we'll reverse that, and the reward for winning games will be affecting the narrative.
Each season (I'm going to go with literal seasons here - spring, summer, autumn, winter) will have a central narrative arc, and each round within a season will represent a small step along that storyline.
The players that do best in each round (measured how... wyrdstone? Kills? Maybe vary the conditions depending on the mission?) will get a chance to actively shape the storyline before the mission for the next round is set. So if e.g. TheSummoner's warband do best in a round that's framed as a mission to capture a warehouse full of Araby apes, for instance, then TheSummoner would write a short bit about whether Count von Furchtmont decides to free the apes, feed the apes to his ghouls, vampirise the apes, etc. - and then maybe later I would incorporate a pack of bloodthirsty vampire apes into the story for a subsequent mission.
This doesn't mean that missions would be unbalanced by past wins - we would aim at balanced contests in all cases, it would just be a matter of having fun with the story.
This also doesn't mean that it would be obligatory to write huge great essays of fluff after every round - it would be a case of write as much or as little as you want. Similarly, if you want to write something up for your warband, it's absolutely not limited to the winners of the round - anyone can write anything at any time, it's just that the "winners" are the ones whose actions will impact the mission setup for the subsequent rounds.


So without further ado, here is my fluff setup for the campaign as a whole:



Spring, 2000 I.C.: Doctor Lebenstein, I Presume

In the years leading up to the turn of the millennium, the name of Sebastian Lebenstein was known across the Empire. An apothecary and alchemist of uncommonly young years and fair features, he was spoken of as a miracle-worker who could heal the sick, restore youth to the aged, and even transmute base metals into gold. Or at least, that was the claim. Every great man has detractors, and Lebenstein’s were quick to point out how rare it was to see physical proof of his accomplishments; how his clients were so often desperate old men or impressionable young women, and how little time he tended to linger in the service of his high-born patrons.

In fact, in the year 1999 of the Imperial calendar, Lebenstein was a persona non gratis in the courts of each of the Three Emperors, having deceived and disappointed each of them in various inventive ways. Fleeing from the unfair persecution of creditors and witch hunters, he travelled east to Ostermark, where he found unexpected employment in the service of Count Steinhardt. The Elector of Ostermark had become an infamous recluse, sealing the gates of his palace in Mordheim as his court held decadent revels inside. A show of Lebenstein’s alchemical wonders, he said, would be just the thing to usher in the new year – and to herald the coming of the great comet that hung in the heavens.

What happened next is known by all. As the new year’s celebrations reached their debauched height, the Hammer of Sigmar fell upon the city. Lebenstein was presumed dead with the Count and all his court, purged by the comet’s purifying flames. Now, however, as the ash settles on the City of the Damned, strange tales are circulating of a masked figure that shuffles through the blasted streets, peddling potions and elixirs under the name of the great alchemist himself. It is said that this new Lebenstein’s remedies are refined from the strange glowing stones that the comet brought from the sky – and that for every false claim he made before the comet fell, his new concoctions work genuine miracles, restoring love, life and limb – but often at a terrible cost.

Now, as scavengers human and inhuman gather to pick the flesh from the carcass of the city, Lebenstein has become a prize to be fought over as fiercely as wyrdstone itself. Who will be the first to claim his secrets – and when they do, will they be ready for what they find?

The overall arc of the first season would be the hunt for the doctor, with each round being one step in a trail of clues. I tried to put as many hooks as possible in Dr Lebenstein's backstory for people to find their own reasons why their warband might be interested in finding him.

[LCP]

Still waiting on the majority of people who posted interest to post up warbands. I'm going to say the deadline is Friday - that way we can get things going on the weekend.

[Bobby Baratheon]

I'll play as the Empire.

I don't have a picture, but the warband will be named the Free Company of Marienburg, vulgarly known as "the Ironhearts".

They were almost there. The barge had taken a few days to come down the river, and after numerous delays they had arrived. At last, Konrad von Estrad looked out over the ruined city, taking in what had become of Mordheim, the once fair jewel of the Empire.

"You know sir, I grew up here," said a cheerful voice. "Things have taken a definite turn for the, er, worse."

Konrad snorted, but said nothing. It was the first time Kat had spoken since arriving in the city. The destruction of his childhood home had clearly shaken the man in a way that legions of Chaos Marauders and frothing Beastmen had failed to. Konrad had served with the grizzled old archer for close to twenty years now, and today had been the first day that Kat had shut up for more than an hour. Nevertheless, Konrad could not find it in himself to tease the old man. At least, not for today.

The Baron's orders had been clear - to find wyrdstone, and lots of it. There was no subtlety or nuance to this mission - the Baron's unadulterated greed drove them, and his minion had made it quite clear what would happen to them if they failed.

"Yer bones will adorn some ratman's hood and yer guts a cultist's garters," he had said in that ridiculous accent.

It didn't matter. Wolfenbaum didn't need to know why they were really here, or why a decorated and landed warrior like Konrad would stoop to mere treasure hunting. All that mattered was finding the Doctor. And, if they became fabulously wealthy in the process, well that was just a perk.

Konrad scowled, and spat into the churning river. They would need some new blood to flesh out the ranks. Kat and Lothair would help stiffen the ranks, but it never hurt to have an extra set of eyes at your back. Especially in a place like this.

Konrad took a deep breath, and savored what could be his last breath of free air. After a moment, he released it and headed towards the barge's cabin. If they were to succeed, they would need to ensure that everything went according to plan. Here they would find salvation, or they would find death. Only Morr knew which it was.

[LCP]

Very nice. If you're having trouble getting a screencap, Steam handles it all for you - you just have to press f12 and you get a nice interface that lets you upload it and everything. (Apologies if you already knew all that)

[Janwin]

Do you want me to set one up, or should I wait to see if we get an 8th?

I'm debating between Empire and Vampires. Have a Vampires warband set up already, but I've enjoyed the flexibility of my Empire warband.

[LCP]

Go ahead - the more the merrier. I'll sit out the first round if we have an odd number.

[Deadline]

I'm going to put together a Witch Hunters warband over lunch. I'll put a post here in a couple of hours.

[Janwin]

"Petru! Vasile! Back to your posts!"

A visibly perturbed man in gothic armor storms through the ruins of a once great estate. In response to his commands, a pair of mindless zombies groan and head to the front entrance of the estate, taking up the positions they knew once in a former life.

"Borys! Check on the guest rooms. Gather any guests that still remain to the front courtyard, that we might once again welcome them to my Court."

A hunched figure in the remains of what might have been a butler's uniform hobbles off deeper into the estate, presumably to see to its master's will.

"Soon, Piotr, the estate of House von Drak will once again be restored in this marvelous city. The comet that landed may have killed us all, but fate has seen that we do not remain dead for long. Now, start cleaning up the mess, and make my estate once again worthy of welcoming the guests that will soon be joining us. And if you do a good enough job, perhaps someday I shall grant you the same gift of unending life."

"Yes... Yes, my Lord..."

http://i.imgur.com/EtGxNNL.jpg

[Deadline]

Placeholder text until I can find the time to write up some fluff.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/273985936229970964/114F04C43F5BADAE2C967F92C339C88F78D48817/

[LCP]

Just heard from Wraith that he's going to drop out due to a new job (congratulations Wraith!). As such we're back to an even number of warbands; I think we're just waiting on Maethirion before we can get started.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Best of luck Wraith!

[Wraith]

LCP beat me to it, but none the less it's good manners to do these things properly :smalltongue:

I was expecting to have at least until Christmas to find some time and practice, but one cannot complain about the timing of serendipity :smalltongue:
So, I will withdraw, at least this time around. I still want to get into Mordheim, though, so please don't be surprised if I nudge someone with a friendly challenge :smallsmile:

[Maethirion]

The Bolts of Sigmar have arrived!

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/253719829863196094/D6A68E89E9DA3E3C9DBDFCD1612B82B7F24A9B9F/

Also a placeholder until I get a chance to write up some fluff over the weekend.

[LCP]

Awesome! 2 witch hunters and 2 undead. It’s gonna be like a series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer only with more buckles on people’s hats. (And with 4/6 warbands being mostly flat-out immune to All Alone I'm beginning to question my choice of Skaven... :smalleek:)

I threw all our usernames into a random number generator and I got these match-ups for the first round:

Doomtown Rats (LCP) vs. Bolts of Sigmar (Maethirion)
Ironhearts (Bobby Baratheon) vs. Court von Drak (Janwin)
Confessors (Deadline) vs House von Furchtmont (TheSummoner)


Round 1


As your warband makes its first steps into the City of the Damned, rumours of your quarry are everywhere. Lebenstein has been seen prowling the streets around the Gargoyle Gate; Lebenstein has been seen in the Great Market, speaking with a man with the head of a fish. Lebenstein has been seen floating face-down in the Stir. Only one thing is for sure – wherever Lebenstein is, his secrets are nothing without the power of the wyrdstone that litters the cursed city. If you wish to attract the doctor’s attention, perhaps the best place to start is by building a hoard of your own.

Mission Settings:
Map: Merchant’s Quarter 1
Deployment: Rivals in the Ruins
Additional Objectives: Wyrdstone Rush
Roaming Monsters: None

Recommended Settings (alter if both players agree):
Rout Threshold: 45%
Backtracking: 1

Complete beginners may want to agree to a higher amount of permitted backtracking; otherwise setting it to one allows for people to correct “misclick”-esque mistakes without enabling Schroedinger’s Scout. We could go for zero but that strikes me as needlessly hardcore for a friendly league.

This first mission is something of a test run – simplest/safest deployment, simplest objectives, basic map. In future rounds I’ll start mixing it up a bit.

Desyncs
Internet connections being what they are, I would recommend reading this thread (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/mordheimpl/discussions/0/485622866439663581/) - particularly the 5th post - for a clear and detailed explanation of how to perform a backup. Hopefully they won’t be needed but you never know.

Deadline
Round 1 will run until Friday the 25th of November, or until all matches are played.

Reporting Results
Battle reports and fluff writeups are highly, highly encouraged, but the only absolute requirement for reporting results is posting up a screenshot of the final victory/defeat screen.


EDIT: Also, I have a Steam group (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gitpmordheim) hanging around from the last time I tried to organise something like this - if people want to join it could be useful.

[LCP]

Round 1: Doomtown Rats vs. Bolts of Sigmar

Paws padding silently over the shattered tiles of the old guildhouse roof, Skrrk shrank into the shadow of a crumbling chimney and drew the man-skin map from under his cloak. The scouts had said there was a large cache of warpstone somewhere in these winding streets – but they had also brought news of a pack of man-things moving into the area. He could smell their scent on the breeze. They were close.

Shinning down the mossy wall to the street, he scuttled over to where the his warpguards were dragging the wagon into position. “Leave-leave” he hissed. They cowered back as the assassin drew his weeping blades, pointing one down the darkened street ahead. “Follow.”

With a chorus of hungry chittering, the other Skaven seized up their weapons and followed Skrrk into the dark.



With the mission being Wyrdstone Rush, I knew before deployment that I was going to be able to use the Skaven’s superior speed to get to the wyrdstone first. I was anticipating a bit of cat and mouse through the ruins as I gathered it up, but as it turned out all the wyrdstone was in one place. Slink Knifetail, my Night Runner, got there first, and nearly had a fit at the glorious sight.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/149011138806549978/3D787CC6E14D883001A2FA332BB5B8230B77406E/


Slink Knifetail wonders whether he's died and gone to ratty heaven

As you can see in the picture (in the distance), the Bolts of Sigmar were advancing in the opposite direction down the same street – just not as fast as the glorious Skaven master race. Seeing the witch hunter captain take up a commanding position in a nearby building, I declined the engagement and legged it back towards my cart, leaving my warpguard Skrolk to cover the retreat from his position in hiding on the left side of the main square.

With most of my warband heading back to the wagon, I didn’t have direct lines of sight on the Bolts as they continued to advance, but I knew from the mission counter that they had reached what was left of the wyrdstone lode. Hoping they were similarly in the dark about my whereabouts, I swung my warband around through the side-streets to the left of the square, looking to make a sneaky dash for their idol with one of my heroes – I knew they had a good position in the house the captain had taken and suspected they might be hunkering down to fortify it.

I was disillusioned of that idea when I spotted a flagellant on an intercept course for my path to the witch hunters’ wagon. The other two flagellants were also visible some distance away, crossing the square in the direction of my wagon – so despite some of my henchmen trailing behind from the wyrdstone-stashing trip, I decided the time for sneaking was over, and it was time to rush the overextended flank. I sent Skrolk up to jump the lonely flagellant – and immediately got a scare when it turned out the templar and the captain were keeping him company. Skrrk and Slink rushed in to assist, trying to bring down the templar before the witch hunters could retaliate.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/149011138806550302/D4B9D26BC731762C71DD0DA80CF9B0745BE7F4E4/


Skrrk, Slink and Skrolk (left to right) square off against the witch hunter hit squad. The Bolts' wagon is visible top left.

With the help of Skrolk and his halberd (and a lot of whiffed hit and parry rolls from the templar) they managed to bring him down. One of the flagellants from the square immediately rerouted to join the fight, while the other started sprinting for my cart.

Stepping over the body of the templar, Slink made a sprint for the witch hunters’ cart, and grabbed the idol – leaving Skrrk exposed. Sniped at with crossbow pistols, walloped with a flagellant’s flail, and finally stabbed by the witch hunter captain himself, Skrrk went down, bringing my morale perilously close to breaking point with a single casualty.

Fortunately, by this time my two lagging henchrats had caught up – they and Slink rushed back into the fight, reasserting my numbers advantage. A series of terrible dodge rolls let me bring down the captain, finishing him off with a shuriken between the eyes, and the Bolts of Sigmar broke.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/149011138806550615/93003F23630605A9864109BD062F007B18CDF7EF/

Due to a hiccup with veteran skills, I had to recreate my warband before the mission - so Skrrk is called "Nagritt Squealer". I gave him his proper name back afterwards.

Overall a game that could have gone very differently if a few key rolls in the central combat had gone the other way. If the game had gone on one more turn Maethirion’s flagellant would have reached my cart, and without Skrrk I probably would have failed the ensuing rout test.

Thanks for the game, Maethirion!



Skrrk woke, confused and in pain. As his vision cleared, he saw the hungry features of Skrolk the warpguard looking down at him, and immediately reached for his knife.

“Master!” a voice squealed – Slink’s voice. Pushing Skrolk out of the way, the Night Runner helped Skrrk to his feet. “Man-things flee-flee! Leave all warpstone for Sl- for mighty Skrrk.” He bowed his head in obeisance. “Faithful Slink never doubted you.”

Skrrk sniffed and narrowed his eyes at his subordinate. His memories were muddled, but he thought he remembered the sight of Slink’s retreating back – just before the terrifying man-thing with the strange hat had stabbed him. Still, there were more important matters for the time being.

“Where is warpstone?” he demanded. “Show-show!”

Skrolk and Thrak lugged the warband’s chest over from the cart and opened it before their master. Green light welled up from inside, and the Skaven gathered round, drawn like moths to a flame.

“Good,” said Skrrk, almost hypnotised by the glowing stones. Noticing Kratchit’s paw creeping a little too close to the contents of the chest, he slammed the lid shut, drawing a howl of pain from his underling. “Good-good, yes...”

Soon, all would know the name of Skrrk Throatchewer, and tremble.

[TheSummoner]

"Do you see it, my dear? Did I not tell you? The wyrdstones litter the ruined streets." As he spoke, one of the zombies shuffled forward to collect the glowing rock. "Careful, Gregor. The stone will burn you if you touch it. Fritz, pick that up." Fritz gave his master the briefest look of consternation, but did as he was told regardless. He knew better than to question an order. "And tell me more about this doctor of yours... Fritz says he learned of him while by the river from a man with the head of a frog. Can you believe it, my love? A frog's head!"

"I would've learned more if Hugo hadn't bashed his skull in," came Fritz's reply.

"Fritz, don't blame Hugo for your own failures," Count von Furchtmont said sternly. "Still... I think I would like to meet this Doctor Lebenstein. He sounds like a fascinating man, don't you agree darling? And they say he can perform miracles. Even if he is a fraud, he should be good for a bit of entertainment. And... And... Fritz, shut that ghoul up or I'll feed you to him!"

"I think he smells something, master."



http://i.imgur.com/hBguxdp.png
(Appropriate music for a Vampire Witch Hunter vs Undead matchup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V08epMK0ia4))

I had two concerns going in. First, every unit I was likely to face in a fresh Witch Hunter warband save for the Captain himself is immune to terror and all alone, which can be rather limiting. And of course, the Captain took ranged weapons, making it even less likely he'd have to deal with those. Secondly, the wide range of movement values within the Undead warband.

I had the Zombies and Fritz, my Dreg advance at their plodding pace. I didn't want to let my Vampire get too far away, but I did have him take a slightly more circuitous route and pick up a few wyrdstones along the way. My Ghoul on the other hand I had detour to do a bit more pillaging. I doubted the Witch Hunters were going to split up very much and didn't want him getting stuck in a combat he couldn't get out of before I was ready.

http://i.imgur.com/GqvNSz4.png
(Gregor spots mortals in the distance)

I thought I noticed one of Deadline's Flagellants trying to sneak around through one of the empty alleyways, so I moved my Vampire to intercept. However, he realized what I was doing and didn't take the bait. With my Zombies up front, I advanced. Fritz scored the first damage of the game, managing to get a few shots off on a Flagellant with his bow before retreating back behind the safety of the Zombie wall. Deadline's Captain fired back, scoring a pair of hits on my Dreg.

The Flagellants advanced and the melee began. Somehow, one managed to both get in combat with one Zombie and also get charged by the other. After trading a few blows, Count von Furchtmont himself joined the fray, downing one Flagellant with his first swing and scoring a critical on another with his second. Around this time, my Ghoul rejoined the rest and I positioned him to protect my Dreg. Rather than risk a charge, Deadline opted to have his Templar engage my Vampire.

The next round started and the Witch Hunter Captain took another couple shots at my Dreg, thankfully missing one. Originally, I had planned on having the Ghoul help against the Templar, but decided to have him tie up the Captain instead. He circled around to his hiding place and charged him and there the two of them remained, tied up until the end of the match. (In retrospect, this may have been a mistake. The Ghoul had full health where my Vampire had taken a bit of a beating from Deadline's Templar. Perhaps it may have been better to let the Ghoul tie up the Templar and let the Vampire disengage and chase the Witch Hunter Captain, where his Terror attribute gives him the advantage.)

A Zombie fell to the remaining Flagellant, and Fritz offered some of his blood to help sustain his master. Still, the Templar was a tough opponent, and he was gaining the upper hand. If I had left the fight as one on one, there was a good chance Count von Furchtmont would lose. Of course, undying abominations against nature aren't much for fair fights. Despite being thoroughly drained from the Witch Hunter Captain's barrage and his own willing offering, Fritz joined the melee. If he could hit with both his attacks, the Templar would fall before his next turn to act.

Fritz failed. His reward was a taste of the Templar's blade.

Despite the utter incompetence of his underlings, the distraction had been enough to give Count von Furchtmont the upper hand. The Templar fell and the Witch Hunters broke. I only barely managed to gather the 9 wyrdstones required to complete the bonus objective (Took a gamble on this one. My Vampire was at 10 wounds and had to pick up the final two), and was fortunate enough to have both my Dreg and Zombie make full recoveries.

http://i.imgur.com/yMaXBSI.png



Fritz woke with a slathering ghoul sitting on his chest.

"He isn't dead yet," came the master's voice. "You cannot eat him." A kick sent the ghoul off to hide in one of the ruined buildings. Count von Furchtmont looked down at his wounded underling. "Get up," he ordered.

Ignoring the pain from the cut at his side, Fritz stood.

"Hit the Templar with your axe. It is not a hard order, is it?" All Fritz could do was mutter apologies. "Enough, I don't want to hear it. Gather what's left of the stones... And tell me more about this doctor."

[LCP]

Nice writeup! A bad week to be a Sigmarite, it seems.

That just leaves the Ironhearts vs. the Court von Drak for this round. Bobby Baratheon, Janwin, let me know as soon as you get your game played - if it's before Friday I'll advance the round early.

Don't think I have either of you on Steam either - add me and I'll invite you to the Steam group.

[Bobby Baratheon]

I don't know if Janwin got my message (no response so far), so I'll just post here.

I'm available any night this week for a game! Please let me know when you're available.

[Janwin]

Replied. Sorry, been crazy busy with work.

[LCP]

Just a reminder that today's the deadline for this round - tomorrow I'll advance to round 2.

[TheSummoner]

Janwin, Bobby Baratheon, anything?

[LCP]

Got a PM from Bobby Baratheon saying he's going to have to withdraw. If anyone's reading and would like to take his place, please feel free to join in! Janwin, do you want to skip the round or play a match against a ringer warband?

Either way, I'll advance the round - should've done it earlier today, sorry about the timing.


Round 2


You have made your entrance to Mordheim, and found its treasures far from being free for the taking. As you count your spoils or lick your wounds, you send out spies to keep track of the rumours surrounding the Doctor. From the mouth of one of these wretched vagabonds, you hear the news - there are others here who know of the Doctor, and who seek to find him first. You must put a stop to these rivals' ambitions before they rob you of your prize.

Mission Settings:
Map: Noble’s Quarter 1
Deployment: Walk in the Fog
Additional Objectives: Marked for Death
Roaming Monsters: None

Recommended Settings (alter if both players agree):
Rout Threshold: 45%
Backtracking: 1

Deadline: Friday 10th December

Draw:
Confessors (Deadline) vs. Court von Drak (Janwin)
Bolts of Sigmar (Maethirion) vs. House von Furchtmont (TheSummoner)

If we get a replacement player to jump in then I will play them; otherwise I'll sit out the round.

[Janwin]

If there's a ringer warband, I'll run against it.

I haven't played in skirmish mode yet, so it'll be good to get an idea of how it works before we all get too powerful. :smallbiggrin:

[LCP]

I can throw together a ringer warband for you. Seems to me at this stage in warband development there's no problem with making rank 0 warbands as ringers and then deleting them after the match.

[TheSummoner]

Apologies that this is a day late. Maethirion and I kept running into one scheduling problem after another.



"Are you certain that Doctor Lebenstein has been seen here?" Count von Furchtmont asked, an edge of impatience in his voice.

"Oh yes, my lord," Fritz answered. "Three different men all told the same tale. As recent as three days ago he's been seen, skulking through the ruined homes, looking for who knows what?"

"Two of those men were conjoined. They only count for one. Two men told you that... Yes, my love, I am growing impatient of Fritzs' stories as well."

Before Fritz was able to answer, a crossbow bolt buried itself in the count's chest. The count eyed the wound with a curious expression before spotting the man who had shot him. "More witch hunters? What is it about this place that draws the faithful like crows to a battlefield?" He looked to his ghoul. "Legbiter, guard." he commanded in the sort of tone one might use when speaking to a dog.



http://i.imgur.com/NQrhSyW.png
(Witch Hunters vs Undead Round 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPZmjNVxY1M))

My concerns about the matchup were the same as they were against Deadline's WH warband. In this deployment, however, there was a relatively small cache of wyrdstone and it was all gathered together in the center of the map. Knowing my Vampire Lord was the fastest thing on the map, I started him as far forwards as I could and rushed to have him collect the choicest pieces early. He had no trouble collecting his prize, but he did eat a crossbow bolt for the trouble. Luckily, the second one missed.

http://i.imgur.com/MMKWKuY.png
(The Count finds his prey. Killing the Witch Hunter Captain was my optional objective)

From the start, I had anticipated Maethirion might try to steal my banner. When I noticed him moving one of his Flagellants along the north side of the map, my suspicions were confirmed. I moved my Vampire Lord back into cover as the rest advanced, keeping the Ghoul off to the side ready to intercept anyone trying to be sneaky. Fritz (the Dreg) was close enough to pocket a few fragments of wyrdstone return fire on the Witch Hunter Captain safely out of overwatch range with his longbow before backing off.

Rather boldly, one of his Flagellants charged Fritz, but missed his attack. Alone and surrounded, he fell quickly. Undeterred, another Flagellant tried to sneak around the north side of the map. Legbiter (the Ghoul) reacted, taking ambush damage, but dealing back a powerful hit of his own. A charge from Count von Furchtmont brought him down. Though the count had taken a few more crossbow pistol shots and was a bit low on health, I now had a 5 to 3 advantage and it set the pace of the rest of the match.

I backed the Count safely out of crossbow range and moved Fritz behind my Zombies, who were ready to ambush anyone who got too close... Such as Maethirion's Templar Knight. 4 movement is rather terrible, but it was enough to catch the heavily armored knight as he tried to advance. The remaining Flagellant also charged in (I believe he missed as well), but was quickly picked off between Furchtmont and the zombies. While this was happening, Fritz continued to whittle away at anyone he could reach with his bow.

Down to just his leader and hero, Maethirion moved his Witch Hunter Captain into one of the nearby buildings. Smelling blood, I had Fritz offer as much of his as I could to top off the Count and sent him in for the kill. I had to sacrifice one of the only two wyrdstone shards on the map to claim the Captain's Token of Sigmar, but the optional objective was secured. Now alone against the undead, the Templar Knight broke and the day was won for House von Furchtmont.

http://i.imgur.com/s8VXaFG.png



Fritz breathed a sigh of relief as the Templar ran. The wound at his side still hurt from the last time he had battled with Sigmar's faithful. This time atleast, the only blood he had spilled had been given willingly to sate his master. He looked around. Where was his master?

Count von Furchtmont ignored Fritz's calls. He was too busy draining the foolish Witch Hunter who had attacked him to care what his underling wanted.

[LCP]

Nice writeup TheSummoner. So the vamps go two for two.

I should've enforced the cutoff yesterday but it looks like we're still waiting on the other match for this round. Janwin, Deadline, do you want an extension?

[Deadline]

Nice writeup TheSummoner. So the vamps go two for two.

I should've enforced the cutoff yesterday but it looks like we're still waiting on the other match for this round. Janwin, Deadline, do you want an extension?

The holidays are problematic for time for me, but I thought we needed to wait on our match until you ran Janwin against the ringer warband?

[LCP]

It can be in either order, but I haven't heard anything from Janwin.

[TheSummoner]

Deadline and Janwin, any news?