Here's the second battle we played on the first day of our new campaign... enjoy...
An excerpt from the journal of Erik Kyelmir
After a short rest the time to move back to our proper camp came. My wounds healed nicely and whilst we waited another man touched by Chaos came to join our cause. His name was Mr Badow and he had the most wonderful tentacle. He must have bought the blessings of Tzeench with him too, as we discovered a cache of 5 warpstone shards just after his arrival! Praise be!
After welcoming him to the fold we progressed along the streets of Mordheim for a short while before spotting movement up ahead. Khel'Zhu seemed sure that there were four warbands ahead who had been in the challenge for the Blood Crystal. He told me they were planning to band together to destroy us and steal our prize...
...They would soon learn the magnitude of their folly...
We began at one end of a ruined street that wound towards a crossroads and off into safety. We advanced slowly and carefully, taking stock of the group of witch hunters to our right. They jeered at us and seemed to have gotten drunk after the last battle. They proceeded to attack us with War dogs and snipe us with a crossbow. The dog quickly found itself skewered on one of my Brethren' spear points and the crossbow bolts clattered ineffectually off the crumbling stone around us. With a roar the Witch Hunters were distracted by a bull centaur that charged into two of their number and began to savagely attack them. It seemed the truce between our enemies was amusingly short lived. At the same time we spotted some dark elves advancing towards us. We ducked through a side alleyway into another street. Looking towards it's end we could see a graveyard, and around tombstones a group of undead stumbled forward. The groups vampire seemed to be elsewhere to my excitement. On closer inspection he had charged across and was engaging the dark elves almost single handed.
Amongst the confusion we pressed on, my archers felling zombies easily, only to see them reanimated by a necromancer hiding behind the wall of walking corpses.
It was at this point the Chaos Dwarves finally joined the fray properly. With a loud bang like a thousands thunder claps they unloaded one of their hellish blunderbuss'. It smashed through soft dark elf flesh, and even managed to damage the vampire. The infighting continued as the Necromancer attempted to stop my escape. His zombies charged my mutants, brethren and beastmen and a brutal battle raged for some time. Malevolence sped away in an attempt to escape but was slowed by a pathetic looking dreg who put up a surprisingly ferocious fight.
In the brawl between my forces and the zombies we slowly but surely gained ground. There were casualties on both sides but the tables looked to turn against us as the vampire seemed to tire of killing Dark Elves and charged into the fray. The Witch Hunters seemed to be determined to exterminate themselves, and had been busily sending dogs and warriors against anyone and everyone. They were now down to a few men and their leader charged the Chaos Dwarves by himself. Fool.
After a few moments of desperate fighting my beastmen finally managed to gain the upper hand against the vampire and knocked him to the floor. We looked certain to finish the fell creature but it was not Tzeench's will for him to die that day. A sudden rain storm broke out, it's water tainted with warp energy that burnt on contact. The already chaotic battle became more so and all of the warbands escaped in the confusion. We kept our Wyrdstone, but are still unable to find our way back to camp. One of our brethren died from his wounds and I sacrificed a group of civilians we found to Tzeench to guide the warriors soul to our dark lords side....
And that was that. The end is slighly abrubt due to the fact that when your able to voluntarily fail a route test and it's 2 in the morning and your girlfriend is being verbal about how tired she is...you damn well fail that route test. It doesn't matter if your about to kill a vampire! Sorry it wasn't as comprehensive as the previous one, my memory wasn't up to the task apparently. I will make sure to take notes when we get together tomorrow, and furnish you with a proper battle report as soon as I can manage after that. You stay classy Mordheim, I'm Ron Burgundy.
Friday 29 January 2010
Sunday 24 January 2010
Battle Report - 23/01/2010
Our campaign kicked off with two battles, one was a massive 8 way rush for the Blood Crystal itself and the other a follow up, where 3 disgruntled warbands attempted to ambush the winner of the previous game. I'll hand over to my Warband Leader to recount the events in more detail...
An excerpt from the journal of Erik Kyelmir
Finally, the lord of change has given me a sign. I have lost count of the amount of times the sun has fallen and risen since I was chased from my home, but opportunity has come to my side once more. A strange masked man found me in my camp on the outskirts of Mordheim and presented me with an invitation from his master, a mysterious benefactor. Tearing the envelope open I read the contents of the invitation and was immediately filled with curiosity. It spoke of a challenge the man hosted annually, the prize an unknown artifact of power. It was known only as the "Blood Crystal". He mentioned that in the challenges history no warband had survived to reach the goal, and that he had once again gathered groups of notoriety to try. I was confident I could take advantage of this event... none of these others were favoured by Tzeench, my master would see that I succeeded where many had failed.
We reached the location detailed on the invitation and discovered a large raised area that was surrounded by ruined houses. Once there we heard the voice of the benefactor ringing out, his aristocratic tone was filled with menace "Welcome all to the Crystal Challenge! The prize you seek is at the centre of this area. When you get to the raised platform you will see the crystal on a small pillar in the centre of a bottomless pit. This pillar is connected to the edges of the pit via 4 bridges filled with a variety of entertaining traps. Nobody may fight before they reach the raised section, and once the crystal has been taken you will all leave immediately. Now, without further delay, let the challenge begin!"
Battlecries filled the air from men and creatures of all kinds. Looking to my right I could see a shambling group of undead, their vampire leader sprinting towards the goal with unnatural haste. To my left were some of the hated Witch Hunters, I could see they were as eager to fight me as I was to show them the fury of Chaos but our benefactors words kept me from ruining this chance. The Witch Hunters could be killed soon enough. To the west I spied Skaven, their natural agility carrying them towards the centre with alarming speed. Malevolence, my demonic gift from my lord rushed forwards, matching them and the rest of my troops followed behind him. Malevolence reached the raised area at the same time as a group of the ratmen's clanrats, a pair of dark elf nobles and a ferocious looking bull centaur. In an attempt to prevent the Bull centaur from reaching the centre with it's long legs my beastmen allies charged it and managed to knock it down. Kel'Zhu, my trusted Warlock Advisor formed a defensive block on the stairs with our brethren allies and Corben the mutant and myself moved to support Malevolence.
Spotting a female Dark Elf Lordling on the opposite side of the pit from me I chanted words of dark power and invoked the Lure of Chaos. With her mind in my control I used her to distract the skaven, and my brethren archers managed to kill a number of the clanrats. As chaos reigned Malevolence attempted to cross the bridge to the centre of the pit. In the rush he triggered a boulder that appeared from the air to smash into him. Fortunately his demonic resilience absorbed the majority of the blow and seeing this made me smile. M
y mirth was short lived. A skaven master engineer clad in breathing apparatus and carrying an elaborate pair of warplock pistols emerged from his minions and unloaded his crackling ammo at me. The creatures aim was true and he knocked me to the ground, blood gushing from a pair viscous wounds. As I began to loose consciousness I spotted scores more Skaven pouring up onto the raised area and smashing Malevolence to the ground with a storm of sling stones.
It was at this point I blacked out, the pain from my wounds too great to bear. Khel'Zhu's post battle report filled me in on the last parts of the battle. After seeing both me and the demon fall he decided to rush for the stone, he reasoned that if he could end this battle soon then he could keep further casualties to a minimum. He rushed up the stairs and crossed the bridge with the grace of Tzeentch himself.
Traps swung all around but he deftly avoided them and grabbed the prize, the Blood Crystal. This triggered a round of applause from the shadows around our battle, and the benefactors voice rang out once more. "Congratulations followers of Tzeentch, you gain the Blood Crystal, I trust you find it an...interesting...acquistion. Now you should all leave. My thanks for your participation."
Carrying various wounded the warbands dispersed and Khel'Zhu moved us to a nearby warehouse to lick our wounds and recover from the ordeal. I awoke to find my wounds, although painful, were non-permanent. Malevolence also recovered, it seems he is now completely blind as a result of a barrage of sharpened rocks to the eyes. It is fortunate his sense of smell and demonic intuition is enough to guide him to his prey. After reporting Khel'Zhu moved to a dark corner to study his prize. He insists that he should be the one to look after the Crystal and he seemed to be transfixed by it. As leader I should not let this behaviour go unpunished, but Khel'Zhu has always been trustworthy, and my wounds make it hard to consider a direct confrontation with such a powerful mage. We shall finish our recovery, search the area for wyrdstone and move back to our camp on the outskirts...
And that was our campaigns first battle. It was great fun, although the fact we couldn't fight before reaching the centre made the first few turns somewhat disconcerting. Running side by side with a vampire makes anyone twitchy. One of my brethren got promoted to a henchmen and I bought a second mutant. This one had a tentacle, but I was too poor to afford to buy him any other gear...whoops. There were also some random advances, like my spear wielding brethren group getting a 3rd attack, fun times :).
I'll continue with the next battle later in the week. Let me know if you like this style of battle reports... if you would rather I did a more factual, turn by turn, account. That's definitely possible...
An excerpt from the journal of Erik Kyelmir
Finally, the lord of change has given me a sign. I have lost count of the amount of times the sun has fallen and risen since I was chased from my home, but opportunity has come to my side once more. A strange masked man found me in my camp on the outskirts of Mordheim and presented me with an invitation from his master, a mysterious benefactor. Tearing the envelope open I read the contents of the invitation and was immediately filled with curiosity. It spoke of a challenge the man hosted annually, the prize an unknown artifact of power. It was known only as the "Blood Crystal". He mentioned that in the challenges history no warband had survived to reach the goal, and that he had once again gathered groups of notoriety to try. I was confident I could take advantage of this event... none of these others were favoured by Tzeench, my master would see that I succeeded where many had failed.
We reached the location detailed on the invitation and discovered a large raised area that was surrounded by ruined houses. Once there we heard the voice of the benefactor ringing out, his aristocratic tone was filled with menace "Welcome all to the Crystal Challenge! The prize you seek is at the centre of this area. When you get to the raised platform you will see the crystal on a small pillar in the centre of a bottomless pit. This pillar is connected to the edges of the pit via 4 bridges filled with a variety of entertaining traps. Nobody may fight before they reach the raised section, and once the crystal has been taken you will all leave immediately. Now, without further delay, let the challenge begin!"
Battlecries filled the air from men and creatures of all kinds. Looking to my right I could see a shambling group of undead, their vampire leader sprinting towards the goal with unnatural haste. To my left were some of the hated Witch Hunters, I could see they were as eager to fight me as I was to show them the fury of Chaos but our benefactors words kept me from ruining this chance. The Witch Hunters could be killed soon enough. To the west I spied Skaven, their natural agility carrying them towards the centre with alarming speed. Malevolence, my demonic gift from my lord rushed forwards, matching them and the rest of my troops followed behind him. Malevolence reached the raised area at the same time as a group of the ratmen's clanrats, a pair of dark elf nobles and a ferocious looking bull centaur. In an attempt to prevent the Bull centaur from reaching the centre with it's long legs my beastmen allies charged it and managed to knock it down. Kel'Zhu, my trusted Warlock Advisor formed a defensive block on the stairs with our brethren allies and Corben the mutant and myself moved to support Malevolence.
Spotting a female Dark Elf Lordling on the opposite side of the pit from me I chanted words of dark power and invoked the Lure of Chaos. With her mind in my control I used her to distract the skaven, and my brethren archers managed to kill a number of the clanrats. As chaos reigned Malevolence attempted to cross the bridge to the centre of the pit. In the rush he triggered a boulder that appeared from the air to smash into him. Fortunately his demonic resilience absorbed the majority of the blow and seeing this made me smile. M
y mirth was short lived. A skaven master engineer clad in breathing apparatus and carrying an elaborate pair of warplock pistols emerged from his minions and unloaded his crackling ammo at me. The creatures aim was true and he knocked me to the ground, blood gushing from a pair viscous wounds. As I began to loose consciousness I spotted scores more Skaven pouring up onto the raised area and smashing Malevolence to the ground with a storm of sling stones.It was at this point I blacked out, the pain from my wounds too great to bear. Khel'Zhu's post battle report filled me in on the last parts of the battle. After seeing both me and the demon fall he decided to rush for the stone, he reasoned that if he could end this battle soon then he could keep further casualties to a minimum. He rushed up the stairs and crossed the bridge with the grace of Tzeentch himself.
Traps swung all around but he deftly avoided them and grabbed the prize, the Blood Crystal. This triggered a round of applause from the shadows around our battle, and the benefactors voice rang out once more. "Congratulations followers of Tzeentch, you gain the Blood Crystal, I trust you find it an...interesting...acquistion. Now you should all leave. My thanks for your participation."Carrying various wounded the warbands dispersed and Khel'Zhu moved us to a nearby warehouse to lick our wounds and recover from the ordeal. I awoke to find my wounds, although painful, were non-permanent. Malevolence also recovered, it seems he is now completely blind as a result of a barrage of sharpened rocks to the eyes. It is fortunate his sense of smell and demonic intuition is enough to guide him to his prey. After reporting Khel'Zhu moved to a dark corner to study his prize. He insists that he should be the one to look after the Crystal and he seemed to be transfixed by it. As leader I should not let this behaviour go unpunished, but Khel'Zhu has always been trustworthy, and my wounds make it hard to consider a direct confrontation with such a powerful mage. We shall finish our recovery, search the area for wyrdstone and move back to our camp on the outskirts...
And that was our campaigns first battle. It was great fun, although the fact we couldn't fight before reaching the centre made the first few turns somewhat disconcerting. Running side by side with a vampire makes anyone twitchy. One of my brethren got promoted to a henchmen and I bought a second mutant. This one had a tentacle, but I was too poor to afford to buy him any other gear...whoops. There were also some random advances, like my spear wielding brethren group getting a 3rd attack, fun times :).
I'll continue with the next battle later in the week. Let me know if you like this style of battle reports... if you would rather I did a more factual, turn by turn, account. That's definitely possible...
The Curtain Opens
Welcome to Blood Crystal, a blog about our Mordheim group and their ongoing campaign. I'll be keeping you updated with accounts of our battles and anything of interest that happens away from the gaming table.
Our experience with Mordheim is varied at the moment. Mary, Luke and myself all played to some extent about 5-10 years ago and Tim has some previous experience with warhammer. The closest thing the rest of our players have done is probably D&D. In fact you'll probably see that D&D influence shine through in our campaign. Luke has taken it upon himself to be something of a mordheim DM and is intending to lead our ragtag warriors through a complete storyline.
I have no idea how this tale will plan out, but I will attempt to relay it through the eyes of my Warband Leader Erik Kyelmir, Magister of Tzeentch.
Our campaign players at this time are
Mike (me) - Cult of the Possessed (being played as followers of Tzeentch)
Mary - Chaos Dwarves (Note - He's now switched to Norse)
Luke - Undead
Charlie - Cult of the Possessed (being played as followers of Slaanesh)
Tim - Dark Elves
Stan - Skaven
Gemma - Dark Elves
Craig - Temporarily playing a makeshift witch hunter wb until he can afford some Mini's.
At the time of this writing I am just gathering some pictures from our first few battles. Once they are in I'll furnish you with an account of events.
I hope you enjoy what will follow, please don't hesitate to leave comments about your reactions or your own Mordheim experiences.
Our experience with Mordheim is varied at the moment. Mary, Luke and myself all played to some extent about 5-10 years ago and Tim has some previous experience with warhammer. The closest thing the rest of our players have done is probably D&D. In fact you'll probably see that D&D influence shine through in our campaign. Luke has taken it upon himself to be something of a mordheim DM and is intending to lead our ragtag warriors through a complete storyline.
I have no idea how this tale will plan out, but I will attempt to relay it through the eyes of my Warband Leader Erik Kyelmir, Magister of Tzeentch.
Our campaign players at this time are
Mike (me) - Cult of the Possessed (being played as followers of Tzeentch)
Mary - Chaos Dwarves (Note - He's now switched to Norse)
Luke - Undead
Charlie - Cult of the Possessed (being played as followers of Slaanesh)
Tim - Dark Elves
Stan - Skaven
Gemma - Dark Elves
Craig - Temporarily playing a makeshift witch hunter wb until he can afford some Mini's.
At the time of this writing I am just gathering some pictures from our first few battles. Once they are in I'll furnish you with an account of events.
I hope you enjoy what will follow, please don't hesitate to leave comments about your reactions or your own Mordheim experiences.
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