Warhammer Albion

The club's Warhammer campaign set in Albion has been flowing along nicely over the last couple of weeks. Most of us have been playing quick games of 500pts apiece - its quite unusual to go so small, so its something a bit fresh for the players, as well as being quick enough to allow you to get in three or so games in an evening. I've played the biggest game of the campaign so far with a 2000pt against Gary's Lizardmen, but Angus and James played out a 1000pt battle last weekend, and there have been loads of the 500pt sized games. Tam's now emerged as the first person to win three games, giving him the chance to challenge someone to a big 'warhost' sized battle of 3000 points or more. It'll be interesting to see who (if indeed anyone) he goes for...

There's been some good fluff up on the forum from the players, which is good to see and keeps the whole thing moving along nicely. I've also produced a kind of summative 'news' for each week in the campaign so far, which I posted up on the DWC forum. Here it is for the first week:


Clutching his ragged robes tight about his emaciated frame, the necromancer grimaced at the scene playing out in the valley below. The near constant wind which coursed across this blighted island had a bite to it which could chill even his parched old bones. The mage did not care for it one bit. Nor did he care much for the dangers of his bondage.

Down there, in the valley below, his master fed. Vorguul, it was named. An ancient vampire of almost unfathomable knowledge and power. The creature had lain dormant for centuries before  Radoslav had discovered him. Ah, but that was not strictly true, the necromancer corrected himself. The body had lain dormant, dry as a husk, but the mind had been awake; trapped with its body for a tomb across near a thousand years. Radoslav had been ecstatic when he'd found it. He'd thought to bring the vampire back to vitality with the blood of the living. Drop by drop, month by month, the necromancer's work bore fruit. Too late he discovered his own hubris. The vampire's sanity had gone - it'd devolved into strigoi. Little better than a beast, but with the power of a walking God. As its strength returned, Vorguul had turned on him - sparing the necromancer's life only to bind him to his will as a slave.  Roles reversed, the necromancer now served the vampire, raising and maintaining the legions of corpses Vorguul set to his will.

Battle after battle - after months, perhaps even years on the road, that terrible will had drawn them here. It was a constant strain for Radoslav. Not unusually for his kind, Radoslav abhorred physical violence. Not so much violence inflicted upon others; from a safe distance Radoslav enjoyed a dismemberment as much as the next black hearted villain, but to be forced to stand in the front line was just... unspeakable. He shuddered again involuntarily at the thought of the great lizard crashing into the unit next to his own only hours before. The monstrosity was big enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the terrorgheist, hurling his hapless zombies like a hamfisted child throwing its toys from the cradle with each toss of its great horned head. Had the creature struck Radoslav's unit instead... The necromancer screwed his eyes shut to ward off the thought.

Regardless, the thing was dead, along with everything else in the valley - moving or not. The real monster was down there on the valley floor, hunkered over the prostate forms of the saurus warriors... feeding. Vorguul had killed ten of them himself; had Radoslav not witnessed it himself he would have doubted the tale. Ten of those gigantic brutes cut to ribbons in the time it takes a mortal to draw breath. Clearly Radoslav would have to re-think his schemes to throw off the strigoi's yoke. In the face of such power, he was going to have to be very, very careful indeed.

Vorguul's murderous fury aside, the battle had been all but won before he took a hand in the bloodletting. The battlefield had been torn with deathly screams along its length. Banshees, Terrorgheist, skabscrath - the maddening shrieks of the damned had long ago lost their lustre for Radoslav, but to mortals -even these cold blooded lizardmen - they wreaked carnage. The necromancer had watched fascinated as the huge brutish saurus warriors had dropped to the dirt at his feet. Some screamed themselves with that odd sibilant rasp of theirs, clutching at the sockets of ruptured eyeballs. Others simply keeled over dead, their brains rattled to jelly inside their skulls. Didn't take a keen eye like old Radoslav's to spot a dead 'un when they keeled over like that!

The first week of the Albion has Campaign has played out, seeing four warhosts make their landing on Albion's shores. No doubt more will follow in their wake, chasing along after rumours of treasures and pillage. As the factions establish their camps and haul supplies down from storm battered ships, two armies set out early to stake their claim to the land. The Red Banner's Vampire Counts under Derek defeated the White Banner's Lizardmen under Gary in a battleline (2000 pt) encounter. Other armies contented themselves with sending out tentative bands of scouts to feel out the threats and root for supplies. Mostly it was all quiet on the western front, but a handful of clashes saw Steven's High Elves under the White Banner defeat a scouting party from both Red Banner (Derek's Vampire Counts) whilst the Grey Banner's scouts kicked ass and chewed blackroot to see off both Steven's high Elves and Derek's Vampire Counts.

Over the next week, warhosts will be sending out patrols to test the opposition's mettle, and discover what secrets this land holds. In the meantime, the scores are as follows (contrary to the 'official page' on the forum, as there was a slight clerical error).

Red Banner: 8pts
White Banner:5pts
Grey Banner: 4 pts
Black Banner: 0 pts


This was how it played out across the second week, starting with the fluff about Tomb kings from Paul:


Amun, the patrol's Sergeant of Charioteers observed the fall of the squadron's flaming arrows as the landed among the Marauder horsemen of the enemy. Several of the humans fell from their mounts - but not nearly enough. They were sure to close with the  the troop of undead horse archers who were also pouring bowfire into their ranks in the distance. The scouts had strayed to close to the Chaos horsemen, who were readying their flails for the inevitable charge...
Amun became aware of a concussive blast to his right, and turned to see Thoth - the Liche Priest and nominal 'commander' of their force - stagger from a cloud of dust, scratching his head in bewilderment.
'Bloody hell' thought Amun, ''that fud's gone and blown himself up again' In the the thousands of years he had known Thoth, his ability to miscast never seemd to diiminish. That was the problem with being undead -  trapped in time, it was impossible to change or learn from past mistakes. And for every time Thoth blew himself to bits with a miscast, he invariably came back in the next raising - as dopey as ever...
A troop of Chaos Warhounds rounded the corner of a farmhouse in front of his squadron. Amon smiled (well grinned even more than he usually did. He's a skeleton remember). The one thing Prince Pharakh's  expedition lacked was a mascot. This was perfect!

*           *           *           *           *           *           *          *          *          *          *


Radoslaw grimaced at the Liche Priest Thoth across the crowded battlefield. In the melee between them bony finger finger clutched at rotting gizzards as the dead plucked dumbly at the bodies of the dead. In all his travels across the length and breadth of the Old World under the beast Vorguul, the necromancer had never fought against the ancient dead. In all his years, he'd never seen the like of this!

The dead versus the dead. They'd fought each other to a standstill; each had countered every move, gone blow to blow without a winner. Powered by the magicks of the grave it quite literally could go on for the rest of the afterlife. No doubt the cunning linguists in the Reikland poetry guild could come up with some cutting and pithy limerick to describe the impasse.

Bastards. They'll find out how the pen truly compares to the sword once they dig themselves out of their own graves to chew on the flesh of the living. Wont be so funny then.

This was going nowhere. With a nod to his adversary, Solemnly raising his outstretched palm, Radoslaw gestured his legions to a halt. Mechanically, as one they turned and slowly began the march from the field. His eyeless gaze unbreaking, Thoth did the same, leaving the field to the wail of the wind and the dust of scattered bones.

*           *           *           *           *           *           *          *          *          *          *

Its been a busy week in Albion! Each of the banners have busied themselves exploring the coastline and feeling out the boundaries of their territory. Small patrol sized forces have ranged about at speed, all too predictably leading to bloody skirmishes on the floodplains.

The week saw the Black Banner - Ksher - cover itself in glory. Harky's WoC won one patrol over Derek's Vampire Counts. Angus' two patrols met with more mixed success, ripping apaprt Derek's rather squishy Vampire Counts, but being shown the back door by Martin's demigryphs, er, Empire. Angus' vanguard force also tasted defeat in a bloody clash with James' Ogres for the Grey Banner, Detholalle. Tam's WoC have emerged as the force to beat, taking victory in three patrols over Derek's VC (Red Banner), Paul's TK (Grey Banner) and Martin's Empire (White Banner). As well as claiming him a clutch of well earned points for his banner, this has earned Tam the right to throw down a 'warhost' challenge to a foe of his choosing. That's right, Tam is now entitled to challenge someone to one game of 3000 pts (or higher if both sides can manage it) when he chooses to! By taking three victories he is also now able to leave the Black Banner and strike out by setting up a new Banner of his own should if he want to... To round off, Derek's VC didn't take a total kicking this week, as I managed to play out my first draw in years vs Paul's TK.

So what are we playing for? The 'Landfall' phase will end with a four way game on Sunday 10th of November. This will be played between two players from the highest scoring banner on one side and two players from the second highest scoring banner on the opposing side. Points may be accrued by Banners until midnight on November 9th. Each player will field 1500pts for a 'dawn attack' scenario. The winning team will earn 20 pts for their banner; if its a draw then its 12 points apiece.

The highest scoring Banner will take the honours for the first 'Landfall' phase of the Albion campaign. From their knowledge of the land and by winning control of the best resources armies in the winning Banner will all gain +1 on the roll to go determine who goes first in every battle they fight in the second phase of the campaign.

Scores from phase one of the campaign will be logged and entered into a table on the website by Geoff. The Banners will then all be set to '0' for the start of phase two and the chase for new honours. If anyone is thinking of setting up a new banner, this would be a perfect opportunity! Banners can be set up by players taking their army out of an existing Banner to establish their own, or bringing in a second army that they want to play with.

Red Banner: 14 pts
White Banner: 14 pts
Grey Banner: 13 pts
Black Banner: 23 pts


I also set up a painting competition for November 17th. If we can keep a realistic number of entrants up, then it'll run each month. First competition is to paint a denizen of Albion - a barbarian warrior, fimir, giant or sidhe monster or some such. The winner takes 12 campaign points, which is fairly hefty. Hopefully the prize will motivate the lads to get their paint on!

I reckon this big guy looks rather like Conan's dad in the Momoa version. I've been painting another D&D adventurer type barbarian in a scale mail shirt, but compared this big lug he just looks girly. Not a great phot, but with a bit of work he could be my submission, or...

...this guy! An ancient Fimir model from Heroquest, hacked up into a simple conversion. The phot is poor again, but there's some nice freehand tattoos on his shoulders and the tones on the model came out pretty well. Plus, I feel he fits well into the campaign background and the first painting challenge.

Tonight I've been mucking about with photoshop to produce some promo style banners for the campaign. The more I can do to keep it up there in people's minds and drawing their eye, the better!

I good fun working on these, and its brushed up my photoshop skills no end! Otherwise, its been a bit of a non-event week. Had a viewer for the flat, so we've spent most nights just scrubbing or doing DIY.

...and all things Greek

Still on my October hols and getting back into this blog!  Over the last few months, John has been running the PBM game I wrote set in ancient Greece. At first admittedly I was a bit precious about it - cos I wanted to run it! - but he's turned out to be putting on a rather good show. Obviously, I've seen this play out three times before from the GM's perspective. I knew which cities were lemons and which ones held the best potential for nationwide domination. I plumped for Athens - one of the lemons - as I've never seen it prosper, even though historically of course it was the powerhouse of Greece for over a century.

Five months into the game, things have been going well. I'd aimed to conquer the cities of the Isthmus and into the Argolid, along with grabbing a few nearby islands, to give me a 'circle' of territory in central Greece. I was expecting a threat early on from the north by Thebes, but an expedient alliance has kept the northern border safe as the Thebans looked west instead. In the south I've bagged Eleusis, Megara, Corinth after a protracted to and fro war, and now Epidaurus. My fleet bagged Keos as an island outpost to mark my seas before the islands jumped in, and I've allied with Salamis, Argos and Mycenae. Just Troezen and Aegina to bag and my original goal will be complete, hopefully on or around turn 15.

How things stand after turn 10. The 'circle' is almost complete...

When he began the game, John made it clear that he would provide little 'fluff', expecting it to come from us. To be fair, when I ran the game the fluff was by far the most time consuming part (other than actually waiting for some players to submit their turns!), so thats an acceptable sacrifice to keep the turnover from losing momentum. Other than the schemes and the various wrangling and deals between players on club nights - which invariably completely change on a turn by turn basis - the best part of the game so far has been writing our fluff. Mostly this is in the form of diplomatic messages to other powers, of which there have been an awful lot passing to and fro. Sometimes though, we get the chance to write something for the GM to try and persuade him round to our own point of view. This is one I sent off on a recent turn after a neutral city crossed me:

MESSAGE TO LIMERA: “Fucking whoresons! Who are you to deny the will of Athens? Fucking pigs! Cunts! You are not men, you are rodents clad in the mantles of the lowest of men! The will of the Demos has turned its eye on you like a lion regarding a fucking vole crawling in the dirt by its paw. They call for your blood, they want your city desolated! Scourged! The Demos clamour for Athenian armies to claw down your measly walls and let our Thracian mercenaries run wild through your city! Your men will be hacked down in the streets, their innards torn out, their spirits fleeing to Hades with the taste of Thracian piss in their mouths! Your children will be strangled to a babe, their brains dashed out against the walls, their screeching cries the music to accompany your city’s ugly demise. Your women?! The whores of Limera shall dine on a fucking banquet of Thracian cock! Every hole will be stuffed, pounded until it bleeds, engorged on a feast of blood, piss, shit and cum! We shall fuck them while they wail for us to stop, and fuck em again until they’re begging us for more! Fucking limp-dicked Limeran cuckolds! For a generation your city will be remembered only for its fabled fucking whores and their love of a barbarian’s cock! And you will cling to it, cling to the memory like a child with its fucking comfort blanket because even though this ill-renown will burn you every day with the shame of it, for those token few survivors it will be all that remains of your city, of the fucking shithole that you call home!

But there are voices, a handful of voices. All but drowned out by the colossal rage of the Demos, but they placate – they offer reason. They may be few, but they are powerful, respected. If listened to, they may sway the will of the Demos and through their mercy offer a way out for Limera and its people. Even so, you struck against Athens, interfered with the business of the Empire. There must be a price for that. How high that price is lies in your hands. Your Spartan friends are on their knees; even if the Gods deem that they shall live, they are stretched so thin there shall be no help from them. You are alone, like a lamb on the altar waiting for the cut of the knife to end it all. If you think to stand before us, to deny the will of the Demos and the Empire, it will not go well for you. As instrument of instruction, you need only look to Corinth and Epidaurus. They resisted, in their own foolish ways. Both cities thought to have won their freedom. By the will of the Gods alone, Athens’ army was turned aside, thrown back in battle. But, like the passage of the sun itself, the army of Athens came back, again and again. By a trick of fate you may score a victory in battle, but you cannot hope to win the war. Do not think either that some chance of war with another Empire will distract us. The war with Epidaurus continued even through our war with Sparta and its infamous act of betrayal. Stand against us, and our armies shall batter against your walls until they come tumbling down like leaves in the autumn wind; then the Demos and our Thracian mercenaries will take their price!

There are other options open to you. The wise fathers of the Demos offer you this: you can surrender now, spare your citizens the scourging and submit to Athenian rule. Open your gates to our army, which will occupy the city and welcome you as friends. Limera will become a prosperous and noted arm of the Athenian Empire – your men shall take a hand in the building of Hellas’ finest Empire, and shall have a say in the fate of thousands. There will be no destruction, no rape, no killing. You need only disband your army and hand over liberty and rule of your city to Athens. Limera will live on in prosperity and vigour. Your fighting men will be re-enlisted in the ranks of the Empire’s army and become the sword of democracy! If this is not to your taste, then you may instead retain your liberty and self rule and serve us as a tributary. There is however a cost for this luxury. Limera will immediately bind itself in alliance to Athens as your master city. You will provide Athens with the use of 2000 disciplined men each year, and pay us the sum of 8 talents a year in tribute. You shall never trade or ally with an enemy of Athens, but otherwise we will allow to operate under normal diplomatic terms. Athens may also station any number of men or ships in your city at any time.

Your city is a proud one; that much we have seen through your bold though misguided actions on the battlefield. These terms will come as a shock to you, but there is little time for you to dwell on them. You have until the end of summer to decide. If for one moment you think that the price is too high, look to your wife, or daughter, and think of those beautiful, beloved lips stretched wide around the root of a stinking, crab-ridden Thracian cock.

Good day to you,

Athens

Quite clearly, things did not work out well for Limera...

I had good fun writing that! Since the last post on this game, I masterminded a scheme to collapse Tam's Buthrotan Empire. Robert's Macedonians, Angus' Olynthians, James' Spartans, Paul's Kephellenians and my Athenians would hit all of the Buthrotan cities as one and strangle him out. it was all beautifully co-ordinated to go off on turn 8. In the event of it, word got out and Tam found out through Paul, setting him to some intrigue of his own. The Spartans, whom I was to rendezvous with before the attack turned on me by surprise, crushing my army before bizarrely just turning about and marching off home, stating 'no one tells Sparta what to do'. The GM told us Robert's Macs hadn't gone in, Paul betrayed us as did Sparta, so that left Angus' army going in alone. Angus and I made a deal with Tam to call it all off, with Tam giving me Amphissa in exchange for a yearly tithe and a promise to call it all off. With my back to the wall with the Spartans, I was more than willing! Angus and I both declared peace, though unfortunately it turned out Robert's macs had in fact carried out their part of the plan and invaded too. Inadvertently we'd left him high and dry, and the Buthrotans rallied their armies to give him a resounding beating. I regretted that, but Sparta was the more pressing matter for me now.

A nice poached image of a Spartan hoplite. I've also been doing a bit more work on the edited version of the Game Rules through Publisher. So far, I'm about half way through chapter 7: Projects.

I've spent the last three turns crushing Sparta for their betrayal, using good old fashioned seabourne raids and assaults, along with help from Martin's Eleans in the west. Sparta should fall soon and then Martin and I will hoover up the remaining neutrals in the Peloponnese between us. Plenty going on elsewhere though; the islands are hotting up, with Eretria, Kephellenia, Paros and the new Cycladic League all trading victories over each other as they vie to conquer new islands. I think Athens will stay clear of that lot for the long term! In the north, Macedon and Olynthus have a difficult relationship. Both empires have expanded about as far as they can get without either fighting each other or picking another empire to sack. Tam's Buthrotans are looking strong, although Gary's Lamians are a bit of unknown quantity. All of them have no where to go except into each other. There will be a war there soon which will suck the lot of them in. Probably see one or perhaps two of them washed away by turn 15 or so. As for me, after Sparta's gone and the neutrals have been bagged, I've still to decide what to do next. I should have bagged the cities I wanted within the next three turns, the Gods willing I'll be well placed to make a move.

Of the other players, so far I think Angus is the most powerful. He's playing the game really well - maximizing his cities' natural resources and working the diplomacy like a master. Tam's learned from his narrowly averted gangbang and turned Buthrotum into a bit of a rock. I don't see the islanders influencing much on the mainland for a loooong time yet, and it'll be a while before a clear winner emerges from the pack. John in Thebes and Gary in Lamia are playing a quiet game, and I'd say both of them need to act soon to avoid being left behind and eventually overwhelmed by a more powerful empire looking for land. They need to publicly get on board with another big empire and get stuck into the killing. After a disastrous start, Martin is looking very handy with his Eleans, though he does seem dogged with excremental luck! Fighting the war against Sparta has shown me the best way to campaign in this issue of the game. Two empires on one, every time. The big planned attack on Buthrotum failed because there were too many elements and too many people involved. If successful, it would have crushed him in only two turns, but it was too complicated. Martin and I on James has proven unassailable. The Spartans may scrape the odd win at a single city, but they cant cope with an all out empire wide attack. It may have taken three or four turns, but together Elis and Athens have proven pretty deadly. The very best thing about this run of the game however is that quite clearly no one is to be trusted! Perhaps I should be keeping one watchful eye on those Eleans!

The Eleans get robbed at Mantineia!

I've been immersing myself in the ancient Greek milieu lately. Last month, I did a Spartan race with my brother and a mate! I'm not one for sporty things, but last Christmas I made a comment to Roger that I was getting fat and he suggested that we do this 'Spartan Race'. It was only 5k, so doable for a beginner like me. I joined the gym and got training about 6 weeks before it, getting my weight and my times down as the weeks went by. The race itself was great fun! 26 obstacles across a cross country course. I made them all except the spear throw (gutted!) and the running was by far and away the hardest part. Mashing a treadmill is by no means preparation for real running in the great outdoors! It was raining sideways the whole time, but it was a great day!

Looking good. Jamie feels the heat.

Like a boss!

What is this for, then? Is this a spear?

Roger considers the spear....

Been a long time since I won a medal for anything...

Who let the Spartan have the microphone?

Other than running about and PBM gaming, I've read three ancient Greek 'historical' fiction pieces on the bounce. Poseidon's Spear by Christian Cameron is set around a Plataean survivor from Marathon and his scheme to run tin ore from Britain back to the Med for a phat profit. Cameron's attention to detail is almost immersive, and I loved this book! Reading this you really get the feeling that the world was just there for the Greeks to grab. Absolutely brilliant. I followed that by finishing off David Gemmell's Lion of Macedon (for the fifth time!) and I'm now on the sequel, 'Dark Prince'.

Warhammer Campaign

Its time for Warhammer to go big at the club again. Numbers have been dropping off all through summer, culminating in a bit of a crisis meeting with Martin, Tam and Harky a couple of weeks ago. The doubles league is a great concept but the reality of getting four guys together and planning a game to happen is just not happening. Either guys are showing on the night to find there's a drop out and the games off, or so many guys are pinned down in a game that other guys are just coming along to watch and not playing themselves. Either way, the number of fantasy tabletop wargames actually being played at the club is dwindling massively. Quite often the lads are just ending up playing GoT the board game, which is good fun but requires up to 6 lads and doesn't look very impressive to the new members we've had show up for a look lately. Added to this, the 40k Stormshield tournament has stalled, and those who aren't in to Hail Caesar and the mounting interest in that are getting sidelined. With this in mind, we decided to get a new Warhammer Campaign on the go to draw interest back in. Each of us would always bring an Warhammer army to club as well, to make sure that people aren't showing up on club night and leaving early without getting a game. Geoff needs bodies in paying their £3 fee, otherwise the maths is simple: we lose the hall and go back to Ben View.

With this in mind, I came up with an idea for a new Warhammer Campaign and posted this on the club forum:


After a bit of a hiatus, about a month ago I came to a weighty conclusion: I'm not playing enough Warhammer. Sure, I've dabbled in new systems, I've sat in on some fun multiplayer boxed set games, but over the last 3 months I can count the games of Warhammer I've played in on the fingers of one hand.

Its time to change that, and I want YOU to help me...

I'm setting up a Warhammer Campaign for the club. It's not long term - it will have an end - but neither should it be a short term flash in the pan. It should sit safely in the mid term. Maybe wrap up for crimbo, maybe not. It depends on YOU.

Its not going to be a league, where you arrange matches and wait for guys who might only occasionally drop by. Its going to be a campaign, but there wont be a rigid map. There will be no 'campaign turn'. You take part by showing up on the night and fighting a righteous battle knowing that somehow, what you're fighting for is making a difference.

There will be a few tiers of game, starting at regiments of renown sized scouting parties with rugged champions carving out a name for themselves, to battles of 500, 1000 and 2000 points. Those who do well and gather victories to their banner will gain the ability to throw down a challenge for epic clashes of greater value (Points value of their choosing), so you can test your abilities from the smallest to the greatest of battles. Are your forces best suited to fast running, deadly border skirmishes, or sweeping set piece encounters which determine the fate of Kingdoms? YOU decide on the size of battle you run. How well you do and how big you go determines the benefit you bring to your banner. Also, there will be no set lists - bought a nice mini at the weekend? Play it in your battle on Sunday!

There will be fluff to come. There will be battles aplenty. Who will have the deadliest blade? Who will have the finest regalia? Whose loyalties will be divided? Who and how many take part isn't the most important part of this campaign (although it would be rather appreciated if a few at least pitched in...). Every battle that is played - regardless of scale  - will push along the narrative and see events unfold. I at least, will enjoy its telling! This Campaign is not meant to replace the doubles league either, but will hopefully run alongside it. Its tough to pin down four lads at a time, and a shame to see folks arrive for a game and yet have nothing played. This provides a 'go to' alternative if your big four way falls through, or an alternative warhammer option if you want to get a game on.

If you're interested in taking part, I'm looking to organise players into camps, which I'll call 'BANNERS' (shameless, I know). Initially, I want three Banners to be raised. Each Banner shall have a Captain. This man need not be particularly good at winning (!), but he should be a keen and willing player who will always be happy to break out his blade and cleave a skull in twain! I need one player to Captain the White Banner (Quel) - this banner is for armies of light only, although non-aligned neutrals (Ogres and TK) may also join. I also need one player to Captain the Black Banner (Ksher) - this banner is for armies of destruction only, although again non-aligned neutrals may join. The third man I need will Captain the Grey Banner (Detholalle) - this banner is for those of greyer morals and mercenary persuasions; non-aligned neutrals may find their natural home here, along with the more nefarious Empire, Dwarves, Wood Elves, and Lizardmen, or the less picky Greenskins, Skaven and beastmen. Safe to say, the truly good or the blackest of the evil do not have a home under this banner!

Each Banner will have Captain and no more than 4 members (player armies) in total. At any point in the campaign, players may publicly turn their back on their Banner and join another faction! Any battle YOU win under a given Banner will win Campaign points for that Banner. There is a great deal of flexibility here too - players may enter more than one army in the Campaign. Need a break from playing your Beastmen? Enter the Empire army you've been working on and join another Banner! The only proviso here is that one player cant enter more than one of his armies under any one Banner at a time.

Dont like our Captain? After 3 games, players are also free to breakaway and establish their own Banners. Mind your bannermen lads, lest they desert to a finer cause!

To take part, either as a Bannerman or Banner Captain, YOU need to do three things. First, post your name on this thread. Second, state the army you're putting down (the first one you'll use, at any rate), and which Banner you want to join - first come first serve! Lastly, make up a list (exact points numbers to follow) and bring models with you every time you come to club, because you never know what's gonna happen on the Sunday I hope this gets your Warhammer excitement stirring, folks. Be good to get back on the bandwagon and see the hall full of battles once again.

Geoff got on board and set up a specific page for the campaign on the club's website  ( http://dumbartonwargamesclub.webs.com/wfbalbioncampaign.htm ). The lads seemed to have jumped at it too. A week after posting it up, we've got four banners each filled with 4 players. Tam, Martin, John M. and myself are the Banner Captains, so there should always be games getting played. Misusing the first day of my October hols, I had a bit of fun on photoshop to stir up the interest in the campaign.

Heh heh. I've set the campaign in Albion, which should be good for the fluff and let me get giants, barbarians and fimir in at some stage! Once interest was apparent, I posted up the setup:

Welcome to the 2013-14 Warhammer Campaign! By taking part, you have landed on the shores of Albion as either a powerful Warlord in your own right (Banner Captain), or you've pitched your hat in the ring as a chieftain serving under a faction Banner. Either way, you are fighting to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!

After making landfall on these rocky and inhospitable shores, each Banner is fighting tooth and nail to secure its foothold and claim a lion's share of the coastline's scarce resources. Soon you'll be marching inland, but setting off without a secure supply route is like trying to cross the deserts of Araby without any water!

As each Banner struggles for dominance and territory, clashes will be frequent and deadly. There will be 5 LEVELS OF GAME available to play:

SCOUT - 100 point game. Full Regiments of Renown rules apply, including 'experience' (found in the Club Literature > Documents page).
PATROL - 500 point game. No rare choices, no war machines, no models with more than 3 wounds allowed.
VANGUARD - 1000 point game. Normal rules apply.
BATTLELINE - 2000 point game. Normal rules apply.
WARHOST - 3000+ point game. Only a player who has just won 3 battles may issue a challenge to a 'Warhost' sized battle. They determine points value, up to 4000, although they may go higher with special arrangement (ie think of the amount of time available)

The more battles you play, the more points you build up for your Banner. The summary below gives the rewards for a Win, Draw or Loss at each game size:

SCOUT: W2 / D1 / L0
PATROL: W4 / D2 / L1
VANGUARD: W6 / D3 / L2
BATTLELINE: W8 / D5 / L3
WARHOST: W12 /  D7 / L4

Other than 'scout' sized games, battles should roll on the standard scenario list in the WFB Rulebook to determine scenario during the 'Landfall' phase of the campaign.

There is no order of battle in this campaign, nor rules limiting how many times you play the one adversary (although really there are plenty to chose from!). With the various sizes of battle it is more than possible to play several campaign battles in one club night. The best approach is to always bring an army with you (you never know what might happen when you get to club), with a few army lists written up which are ready-to-go at the various points sizes available. All that I ask is that you record your results and leave a note of them on Geoff's admin table at the front of the hall. If you can, any brief details of what happened (big heroes fighting off overwhelming resources, zombies killing a greater daemon, a unit holding a bridge or tower vs allcomers, etc) would also help as I'll write up some fluff of what happened in Albion each week. To make sure you know whose job it is, we'll say the winning player has to leave the note! It is important you do this, as otherwise your battle wont accrue points for your Banner.

The 'Landfall' phase of the Campaign will run from Sunday 6th October to Sunday 10th November. The Banners with the highest and second highest points at the end of the night of Sunday 10th November will both receive a bonus to their player's games come the second phase of the campaign: 'anabasis'.

The 'anabasis' phase will introduce some different scenarios, along with rewards for the best scouts (regiments of renown), best painted company and best hero. As we venture into the creepy mists of Albion I'll also be looking for any players who have barbarian or norse models, any Fimir, and most of all, giants!

That covers the first stage of our campaign, lads. Any questions on the rules or setup, then please post them here. My main hope is that we bring armies along each club night, and whether you have a game booked in or not, we're getting games played and the hall filled with miniatures and the sound of rolling dice!

Can you see where it is yet?

Last weekend I kicked off the 'landfall' phase with a 2000 pt 'battleline' games vs Gary's Lizardmen. This was the first time I'd played a game against Gary and really spoken to him properly; he turned out to be a top guy, and we had a great game! I scored the first win for my Red Banner, crushing the poor Lizardmen. This was the first time I'd played this army and I'd thought they would be a lot gnarlier. The saurus warriors were the equal of my graveguard, but with a slightly better save of 3+. The stegadon with its skink howdah was brutal at shooting, but to fair it was faced with a wall of cheap undead core cheese so had little real bite. In combat it was disappointing and was overwhelmed. I took the Strigoi killing machine as my lord and he reaped the saurus unit along with his grave guard hammer unit. The strigoi himself killed 10 Saurus warriors in the first round of combat! There was probably a lot of luck going my way too, but it turned out to be a solid win for the vampire counts (and they're rare these days!).

Just like the Titanic, this big boy goes down easy...

Some of the other lads were smashing out some of the regiment of renown level games, which I joined in with afterwards. I got my fingers burned though and got trounced by John's Dwarfs and Steven High Elves. It was a good first weekend for the campaign though! The Magic Draft took precedence the following Sunday, but next week looks like there will be plenty of games on. I've also set up some 500 point bounce games to take place during the week. I love being on holiday!

Magic Draft

Its been a loooooooong time since I've posted here. Suffice to say work and laziness has interceded... I've been keeping up the gaming though; the Greek PBM is rattling along thanks to John, I've been busy setting my 'Hail Caesar' Greeks and getting some practice games in, playing a couple of Warhammer games (not for the doubles league though, alas) and I've set up a Warhammer Campaign at the club. Last night however, was Martin's Magic Draft.

Jen had to work late unfortunately, so I didn't make it along in time to take part in the actual 'draft', which was a shame as it sounded good. The lads sat round one table with a big pile of land in the middle. The booster packs were opened and split into even sized blocks, which players got 30 seconds to look at. After the given time, each player picked the best card and passed the deck to their left. Once they'd assembled a 40 card deck, a tournament began; each player was to play 3 opponents, the winner of each match-up being the best of three games. Martin had bought the newly released Theros edition of cards for the draft. They are all themed to the legends of ancient Greece, and tied in nicely with the club's current vibe for ancient Greek warfare.

I arrived half way through the first game. Martin had put a deck together for me, and James had sat in against the first oppo. I'd gotten a red/white deck, with some nice critters. Satyrs, Minotaurs and hoplites, along with a hundred handed Titan (nicely referenced Greek legends which Martin subsequently schooled me in. I really do need to brush up on my Greek mythology - so embarrassing for a Classicist...). I ended up losing to my first oppo, Kev, but beating the next two. I think there was a prize for getting a 2-1, but they might have all gone before I could get my games done! Tam won overall with 3 straight wins, so gets first pick of the cards next week. He drew a 'God' card in the draft, with the 'indestructible' power, which may have contributed to his win ratio somewhat... I reckon he'll want to keep hold of that. I for one would like to keep a hold of the 100 handed titan, as he was great fun to use! The draft was good fun overall, and it was great to have our first stab at a tournament style set up. The £12 in money was reasonable, though I hope I get some cards out of it by the end... Real shame I missed the draft part, as it sounded like it was great fun.

Over the past few months I've been getting my read on big time! After Wolves of the North, I went for a pulpy change of pace and read Dan Abnett's 'Traitor General', one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books which Robert had bought for me a couple of years ago (I have a shameful backlog, worse than a government dept.s 'to do' list...). I've read Necropolis, and Sabbat Saint - both of them great, immersive reads - but both were from quite early on in the series. Traitor General is eighth or so. The plot put gaunt and a team of chosen men on a suicide mission to an Imperial agri world occupied by Chaos troops after an invasion, in order to hunt down and assassinate a captured Imperial General under interrogation by the Chaos Governor's forces. I love the depth that black library provides to the GW gameworlds. This one ignored the obvious subject matter of out and out battle and instead centred on the warping effects of living on a chaos governed world - how it affected the psyche of the men along with the mental, emotional and physical effects upon the populace who'd endured a far longer dose. The desperation of the resistance fighters was really well observed, along with the sense of irreparable damage being done. This feeds nicely into the Imperial mantra of 'you must burn and destroy to cleanse the taint'. Abnett also picked up on how chaos affected the ecosystem and other species living on the planet. The occupation forces were by no means cardboard cutouts either, ranging from the insidious interrogators of the captured general, to the elite and arrogant team of Chaos Space Marines leading the hunt, to the low level yet omnipresent threat of the local security forces with their terrifying 'wirewolves' - creatures of the warp summoned to possess a mechanical forms to hunt down the resistance. I raced through this one - a nice change of pace and subject after all the historical fiction I've been reading lately.

Blackpowder and Deadites!

Over the last couple of weeks at the club I've been trying some new things. Last Sunday I took part in a Napoleonics wargame, of disgusting Frenchies vs. Prussians, using the 'Blackpowder' rules. Dougie kindly ran the game, kept us up on the rules and provided all of the (very nice) minis, whilst Martin handled the main French line, Alan took their column of ambushers and I commanded the proud Prussians.

The Blackpoweder rules held some welcome surprises.

Wargaming the Napoleonic era seriously does not churn my oats. I bloody loved watching Sharpe (as surely every red blooded male in the land should), but the idea of playing out a battle just leaves me cold. Lines of dudes armoured in cloth jackets, armed with guns which struggled to shoot straight, and ordered to walk into enemy fire and simply....die... Pffft. Not for me. But, I'd seen Dougie put on a Seven Years' War game before and his kit looked pretty tidy, so I thought I'd try something new and give it a bash.

The Blackpowder rules are new to me, but there are some aspects of them which are great! The guys at GW should have a good look at these for WFB. Movement is based on what is basically an Ld check. Depending on how well the unit passes (if they pass), the unit get to move 1, 2 or 3 times. That means cavalry can (and often does) move 36" in a turn! By the end of turn 3, one of my units of Dragoons had pretty much toured the entire battlefield (reaping carnage wherever they went of course!). Firepower varies based on unit quality, size and condition. The importance of fresh undamaged units is key in this game - as is having units of reserves to plug gaps left by fast moving troops leaving the line, or fragile busted up infantry blocks legging it. It felt really tactical playing this game, especially as due to the scenario I had to deal with Martin's advance and then handle Alan's successive flanking move, determining who to pull from the line, when to linger to finish things off, when to move on, etc.

Doubt bubblegum was around in 1813, but my Dragoons were certainly kickin' ass and chewin' somethin'...

This was a fair sized game, but it (should have) flowed very quickly. Once units take a pounding, they just crumble and go. The speed of movement also ensures hand to hand comes in quickly. There were - at the level we played at, anyway - no significant characters. Officers were discrete units, but they simply flew about rallying and bolstering units - they didn't fight or have outrageous stats that could motor through units singlehanded like in WFB or 40k. After relying so on vampires to do do the work for me, that was pretty strange! Players also have to state exactly what each unit is doing before any dice are rolled, otherwise they simply take their full move straight forward. Martin fell foul of this in turn one as his entire line marched 36" to stand about 3" in front of my gun line; and moving goes after shooting in this game...heh heh.

Suffice to say, I pounded Martin with all I had, he wilted and I turned to engage Alan's flanking move. It was in the bag 30 mins in, but I got three horrific casualty test rolls after Alan's first turn of firing and literally half my army ran for it. Shit. I was still going to win due to weight of numbers, but it took a damn age and Alan refused to accept the obvious and concede. Dougie was getting quite exasperated by it, which was a shame, but I still enjoyed the game.

What? The Frenchies ran away? Mon Dieu, I just cant believe it!!

Things about the rules I wasn't so keen on was that the game is very vague on unit composition. Its based on what players have, so before the battle they agree how many models in a large unit, how many in a medium unit and so on. There are four set sizes of unit in the game and models are simply arranged onto these agreed footprints. Its too vague for me. When casualties are taken, a marker is put down by the unit (break tests come after 3 casualties are suffered - officers can each test to rally one casualty off in the final phase of the turn. All casualties above three are removed and ignored as long as the unit survives its break test at the end of the turn). Models aren't actually removed unit a unit breaks, and is removed form the table.  Another thing that slightly bugged me was my 'medium' unit of riflemen (16 models I think) had only 3 dice to fire. I miss the idea of each model making an attack, Warhammer style. I know it balanced with the dynamic of the game; but maybe GW have indoctrinated me, or its just a touch of the autism...

Overall, a good fast system. Martin tells me the Hail Caesar rules are very similar, but slowed down a bit movement wise for our heavy Greek Phalanxes, so I'm looking forward to that. In fact, I've been building more hoplites tonight ()taking a break to peel the glue off my finger tips). While I'm still not swayed to part with cash to buy an army for this era, i enjoyed the system and had a good game. Nice one, Dougie!


The week before, I ran my Necromancer scenario at the club; a multi-player Warhammer skirmish game where each player takes a single necromancer and his cadre of crumblies and battles for dominance of the graveyard of Mousillon. It was based on the Regiments of Renown Rules we used in the April tournament in the club. we ended up with 7 players (a bit more than I'd expected!). Here's the dit I ran on the club forum:

What a handsome looking necromancer we have here... Watch out for that magic missile, pal, its a right bitch.

NECROMANCER

Ever played against a Vampire Counts army and wished you could have a go summoning hordes of the undead to overwhelm your foes, but don’t have a VC army of your own? Maybe you’ve got a great sorcerer model in your collection, but never had the chance to use him? Did you enjoy Hammer Horror flicks, Evil Dead or World War Z? Love the idea of playing warhammer through a creepy crypt, ruined castle or haunted graveyard? Then this warhammer skirmish scenario is the game for you!
 
I’m going to run a one-off scenario in the club, using the regiments of renown ruleset we used a few months ago. It’ll be undead Vampire Counts only: you don’t need to bring any models (unless you’ve got some and you fancy giving them a run out of the crypt… as they will be provided. Each player (2 up to however many are interested!) takes one up-and-coming necromancer accompanied by a handful of shambling deadites. The aim of the game is to seize an objective on the table by the close of play – such as a crypt holding the body of a sleeping vampire, or a ruinous tower for your nascent necromancer to appropriate for his lair!

The obvious thing about necromancers is that they start small, but if you don’t snuff ‘em out quick, they’ll have hordes of gravemeat pounding at your door (and peeking in the windows, crawling over your roof and pushing up the floorboards too). Each player gets one level 2 necromancer, with raise dead (9+, raises 2d6+3 wounds worth of undead), vanhels danse macabre (6+,chosen unit moves 8” and rerolls missed ‘hit rolls) and soul burn (6+, magic missile, 18” range, d6xs4 hits). Players also have 50 points to spend on their intimate crew of deadites. You may buy:

Zombies (WS 1, S3, T3, ASL) – 3pts
Skeletons (WS 2, S3, T3 w/LA+SH) – 5pts
Ghouls (WS 3, S3, T4, A2, poisoned attacks) – 10 pts
Dire Wolves (M9, WS 3, S 3, T 3, W 1, A1) – 8 pts
*Grave Guard (WS3, S4, T4, w/HA+SH) – 11 pts
*Black Knight (WS 3, S4, T4, barded skeletal steed, ha, sh,lance, killing blow) – 26pts
*Fell bat (WS3 S3 T3 A2 flyer with 2 wounds) – 16 pts
*Crypt Horror (undead ogre w/5+ regen, poisoned attacks) – 38 pts

Players may have no more than one (each, possibly) of the models marked with * in their starting list, although they may get more during the game. Note that standard rules for undead will apply: that is, no psychology, no break tests (you lose a wound for each point you lose a combat by), and if you’re outside the 12” bubble of your necromancer, you cant march. For the purposes of the raise dead spell, necromancers will be able to raise anything on the price list, although they must declare first what they’re going for, and will get considerably fewer black knights than they would zombies for the cost of the spell…

Write up your list (it shouldn’t be long!), and bring it with you on the night. Rules for movement, attacking, etc are all as per the regiments of renown set used previously in the club. This time however there will be a turn limit (d6 roll + turn number at the start of each turn, if the number ever goes above 10, then the sun comes up and its time to scurry away) instead of timed games, and veteran rules wont apply.  The table will be a feast of graveyard architecture and goodies, including barrows and crypts where speedy players will be able to unlock anything from bat swarms, to banshees to the mindboggling terror of a black coach!

This could a great bit of fun if you’re interested –depending on the number of players, I’ll either play on one board with several aspiring necromancers mixing it up, or split us off into pairs for ‘quick’ timed gameslike in the regiments of renown. Remember, all models will be provided by me, unless you want to bring some of your own. Who will claim the title as ‘King of the Crypt’???
I fleshed it out with this as interest grew:

The battlefield will be set up to look like a cemetery in Mousillon, on the edge of a crumbling district of the city. There will be burial mounds, monoliths, crypts, graveyards, tombs, rambling walls, statues and of course the fringes of the city as well. Terrain will be tight; plenty to hide behind (or within) as you skulk about!

The table will hold 5 objectives all together. At the centre will be the Van Drak family mausoleum, where you believe a powerful coven of vampires currently sleep. Around the graveyard there are four other objectives: a charnal pit (if we can get a citadel battleboard tile with the skulls in the fissure in the ground, that would be pretty cool, failing that we can use a blast crater piece form the 40k scenery), a Statue of Mhorr (a sinister statue), an arcane ruin (the tomb of a long forgotten Breton mage), and the crypt of Erfried the damned (a banshee, who can be released and mastered by players). The Van Drak mausoleum is in the centre of the field, the other four are arranged in a circle around it, each at least 12" from the mausoleum and 12" away from each other.

The game lasts until only one necromancer remains, or when the sun comes up (ie when a d6 roll + the turn number is greater than 10). The game is won by holding the objectives. Objectives are held by the nearest appropriate model, up to 6" away. The Mausoleum is worth 3 objective points, the others are worth 2. Zombies, dire wolves and fell bats may not hold objectives. All other unit types at a player's disposal may do the job!

Special Rules
The rules below govern magic and the objectives. Fighting in a magic laden, undead infested graveyard does tend to change things...

Spells:
As in older versions of the Vampire Counts army book, we will play under the rule that all necromancy spells may be cast multiple times in a magic phase, as long as a player has the necessary power dice, or doesnt fail a cast. In other words, as long as you dont screw it up and fail to cast a spell, you could theoretically cast raise dead two or three times in your magic phase (although obviously your opponents will be working to dispel you!)

Vanhels danse macabre (6+ cast, range 12", chosen unit moves 8” and rerolls missed ‘hit rolls)

soul burn (6+ cast, magic missile, 18” range, d6xs4 hits).

Raise Dead (6+ cast, range 12". Casting this spell in a necropolis alters it use. The cast number is lower, and with so much raw around, who knows what might come up? If several models are produced, raise them all at the target point, deploying each model as an individual unit, 1" apart. Once successfully cast, roll 2d6 on the following table to find what is summoned:

2-4: 1d6+4 zombies
5: 1d6 dire wolves
6-7: 1d6+2 skeletons (with la / sh)
8-9: 1d6 ghouls
10: 1d3 grave guard (with ha / sh)
11: 1 Black Knight (with barded skeletal steed, ha, sh + lance)
12: Wight Lord (with ha / sh)

Objective Special Rules:
The Charnal Pit - this ossuary provides a delightful supply of spares. All undead within 6" have 5+ regen.

Mhorr's Statue - the God of the Dead is fickle presence. At the start of player 1's turn only, roll a d6 for each model within 6" of the statue. On a 1-3 it recognises them as an ally of its master. On a 4+ beams of light blaze from the stone eyes! The model suffers a strength 4 hit.

Arcane Ruin - the weed-choked, crumbling crypt of some long forgotten Breton mage. Any necromancer within 6" of the arcane ruin may choose to roll up to 4 dice for channelling; however if three or more dice come up as '6s', then the necromancer must take an immediate miscast roll.

Erfried's Crypt - entombed within is the restless shade of Erfried the Damned. Those with the correct knowledge may break the bonds which bind her wretched soul to the crypt. At the start of his turn, any necromancer within 6" may attempt to control Erfried by passing an Ld test. If passed, place a banshee on the table next to the crypt. It is controlled by the summoning player until destroyed, and may move normally. If Erfried is destroyed, her spirit is banished back to her crypt, where she may be freed once more. Necromancers may only test to release the banshee once per turn. Other than frustration, there is no penalty for failing the Ld test to free Erfried.

The Van Drak Mausoleum - This rambling, ornate structure is the ancestral burial site for the noble Van Drak family. Recent occurences have led you to suspect that the Van Draks were not all that they seemed, luring you here in an attempt to harness control of something truly powerful. At the centre of the field, the Van Drak Mausoleum is worth 3 objective points compared to the 2 available for any other objective. The mausoleum houses many unsuspected horrors (or delights). Any Necromancer casting Raise Dead within 6" of the Mausoleum should disregard the standard summoning table and roll 2d6 on this special one:

• 2-4: 1d6+4 skeletons (with LA / SH)
• 5-7: 1d6+2 ghouls
• 8: 1 crypt horror
• 9: 1d6 grave guard (with ha / sh)
• 10: 1d3 black knights (riding barded skeletal steeds, with HA / Sh + lance)
• 11: a Black Coach
• 12: 1 enraged vampire hero! (frenzied, cannot be controlled, will immediately attack the model nearest the mausoleum and continue killing everything near it until it is killed itself!). Immediately place the vampire in base to base with the relevant opponent.

Based on the numbers taking part, here is the plan. If James does indeed join us, then we will have 6 players. If it stays at this, we extend the table to the the normal 6x4 and each player gets a 12"x12" dz at the corners and a 12" wide x 4" deep at the mid point on the long table edges.

If someone else joins in then we go with the arrangements for 6 players as listed above with player 7 or me taking the role of the city guard. The City Guard appear at the start of turn 2 from a random table edge, at a point at least 12" away from any undead models (or the greatest distance possible along the table edge rolled for).

If James doesn't play, or if someone cant make it and we drop to 5 players, then we stick with the original 4'x4' table and I'll take the City Guard. If there's some untold disaster and we only end up with 4 players, I'm back on the necromancy with you guys and we play at each corner of our original 4'x4'. Hope this doesn't confuse matters, lads! The more the merrier, but our little 4'x4' slice of the world would be busier than the bar at an 18th birthday party if I try to cram more than 5 players on it!

The City Guard
The rules for the City Guard are as follows. Prowling through the night shrouded streets, lanterns held high to root out the unsavoury, come a well armed patrol of the City Guard. The Guard Captain himself - Sir Guillame Delberz leads them. There have been some dire rumours on the streets of late and he seeks to root out the source of these tales for himself.

• Guard Captain - Sir Guillame Delberz - Bretonnian Hero (WS5, S4, T4, W2, A3, Ld8) with hand weapon, ha / sh, riding a barded warhorse. Sir Guillame has the virtue of resolve, making him immune to psychology).
• Man-at-arms musician (special rule: as long as this man lives to ring his bell, 1d6 men at arms will appear following the City Guard deployment rules at the start of each turn). - 10 pts
• 1 x Yeoman Warden (WS 3, S 3, T3, A2) w/ La+sh+halberd - 18 pts
• 2 x peasant bowmen (WS 2, BS 3, S3, T3, Ld 5, longbow) - 12 pts
• 2x men-at-arms (WS 2, S3, T3, A1, Ld5) w/ La + Sh + Halberd - 10 pts

Special Rules
Deployment - The City Guard appear at the start of turn 2 from a randomly rolled for table edge, at a point at least 12" away from any undead models (or the greatest distance possible along the table edge rolled for). Models may be placed on and moved normally, including charges. Place a coin or marker to keep a note of this spot, as it will be used by future reinforcements.

Reinforcements - as long as Gilles the bell ringer lives (the Men-at-arms  musician), the City Guard answer the call of the bell. 1d6 reinforcements will arrive at the start each turn from the same table edge as the Guard initially arrived. They also appear at the same point the Guard originally appeared from, even if this is now no longer the furthest point from any undead. Models move normally as soon as they are put down. The Guard player may choose to split his reinforcements from peasant bowmen or men-at-arms, depending on the models available. If the musician is dead, then no further reinforcements will come.

City Guard Victory
The City Guard achieve victory on the same conditions as the necromancer players, with 2 VP for each outer objective, or 3 VP for holding the Van Drak mausoleum. In the case of the Guard, its denying the objectives to the filthy uindead that will earn them the victory. Any City Guard model may hold an objective, as long as he is the nearest model standing within 6" of it.

The battlefield, crammed with players. Expectation still high...

The buzz for this one was great! Guys were writing up fluff as background for their necromancers and adding in to the running thread on the forum. We ended up starting with 6 necromancers and Tam came in as seventh man on the City Guard. We set up the table and it looked AMAZING. First turn in and everyone was starting to raise their undead hordes. I'd spent most of the previous week gluing together a box of 30 Mantic Zombies, 3 Crypt Horrors, Krell, and a dozen Mantic Ghouls. The pile of goodies available was huge!

Martin and I clash around the Sorceror's Tomb.

John Scott's deadites prowled in through the shuttered streets of Mousillon.

Angus' Necromancer and his burgeoning crew of cronies free Erfreid from her tomb and scale the hill up to the Van Drak Mausoleum.

A rare pic of Craig's short lived mob holding the Arcane Statue and making a dash for the Van Drak Mausoleum. Unseen by Craig, James' Necromancer works up a barrage of magic missiles over by the treeline.

Then came turn 2. James saw the mighty fucking flaw in the rules I'd written. Drawing a bead from his necromancer to Craig's he cast the magic missile 'soul burn' on him... again.... and again... and again until he fried him. Craig's army promptly did a Bedknobs and Broomsticks and crumbled unanimously to the ground. I'd reverted to the old rules on spamming out spells to make sure players didn't only have a single chance to raise, and get it dispelled by the others. The magic missile was intended to allow necromancers to nerf powerful enemy models such as Wight Lords our Crypt Horrors. I'm such a tit that I didn't see it coming that the lads would simply fry each others casters! With so many of us on the table, most of us were in range of each others casters, so it all went Pete Tong!

I was properly gutted for Craig - he was well into it, and as the game only lasted an hour or so, it rather shafted his (and mostly the others lads' too) night of gaming. James' necro got the same treatment in the next turn, I went next (the good old way at least, my craven necro run down and skewered by a charging enemy knight) and Martin in shot order thereafter. Tam's City Guard turned out to be quite powerful with us dropping like flies, and he took out John. The Guard Captain turned out to be quite the killer.

The entry point for the City Guard proved a bit contentious. Due to his setup rules, he was quite far away from most of the objectives, so the (remaining) necromancer, Angus, had quite a leg up on pinning down the objectives before him. Maybe next time allow the Guard to feed in from the town, as it fits the fluff.

Tam's City Guard Captain gallops in to the fray, ready to tear in to the unsuspecting rears of John and James.

The game finished with Angus winning, although it was a close run thing. He miscast and reduced his mage to level 0, an as last necro, he couldn't raise anymore. We reached our turn limit before Tam's City Guard could make it far enough on to the table to threaten enough objectives and mow down Angus' now very finite force. Tam was a little sour about his chances, but to honest I'd written the guard rules never expecting them to be in with a shout at winning (as I thought the table would be crawling with undead!) and the race against the dice at the end added tension to see if Angus could hold out.

Overall, did not expect that one! A disappointing night it has to be said, and the first fantasy event I've organised that has more or less binned on me! I did not for a moment think that only one necromancer would be left by the end; it was almost comical how fast we were going down! Not a complete disaster though; the game did generate quite a buzz at the club and some of the lads not playing have asked when I'll be running it again. Of course, the talk of the night was how to fix that damn magic missile spell, and damn right I'll be changing it up before coming back to this one. The look of it, the buzz beforehand and the enjoyment of the first turn were great however, so I will come back to this and run something like it again... if anyone will want to play it!

As for this week, I'm not sure what I'll be up to as yet. The Greek play-by-mail game is going well, and Athens is kicking ass and taking names! I'd been frustrated by a bloody non-player neutral - Corinth - which although a large sized city, had fought me (and lost twice) in battle and still managed to bounce off my siege. I sent the troops back in and in an effort to draw a line under the war (and not fall behind the others, some of whom are spreading like mold in a warm fridge) I sent them this message:

To Corinth (to be delivered by Miltiades’ herald once our army stands at Corinth’s gates once again): “Hail, Corinth. We salute on the ingenuity of your builders. The counterwall was well placed and built with courage. Further resistance however will only cause greater destruction to your city and pain to your wives, mothers and daughters not yet widowed or bereft. Twice our army has proven your superior, and bloodied you on this field. Five and a half thousand of your male citizens have been thrown away. 225 of these have already been sold into the humiliation of slavery, never to see their homes again. After last year’s battle, we have no fewer than 1400 of your citizens in our custody. Our army is here again to press our cause. Soon, we will crush your trade completely, and your city will starve. Miltiades, Archon of the demos of Athens presents you with our terms:

You have three options open to you, as chosen by the three fates. Clotho, the spinner, will give you this: that you will surrender your city immediately and join Athens as our tributary. You will open your gates and allow our army to occupy your city immediately. You will acknowledge Athens as your master and overlord, but will be allowed to maintain your own rights, customs and practices. Corinth will be allowed to run its own internal affairs, but will acknowledge and follow any instruction from Athens. Corinth will pay Athens 15 talents a year, every year, starting from this one. Corinth will also send Athens 3000 citizen troops to serve in the army of the Demos each year. As tributary, Corinth will ally with Athens. We will allow you to continue to build your own projects, manage the bulk of your forces, and trade with whomever you see fit. Athens will move Athenian troops in and out of Corinth as we see fit, and may even station men here if we choose to. Once your loyalty has been proven, Athens will return the Corinthian citizens we hold captive. This is the bloodless option, the option which your people will thank you for, and the only option which truly holds any honour for you.

Lachesis, the allotter, will give you this: that you surrender your city in its entirety to us immediately, and disband your army. Archon Miltiades will march in and occupy your city with his army. There will be no bloodshed, and the Corinthian prisoners of war will be returned to their families. Corinth will become part of the proud and vigourous Athenian Empire, under Athenian rule.

Atropos, the unturnable, will give you this: if you reject our overture and stubbornly refuse to accept the inevitable then the Demos of Athens must show you no quarter. Miltiades will lay siege to your city walls. The lives of your citizens which we hold in our custody will be forfeit. Each day we will stake out two of your people on the ground before your gates. There they will cook in the sun until the vultures come to pick at their flesh, and their cries clutch at the hearts of your people. Each day another two will be drawn – one in the morning, one in the afternoon – and dismembered before your walls. We will slice them piece at a time, like a butcher working a carcass of mutton and ensure that the life takes a long time to leech from their bodies. Their screams shall rend at the ears of the men on your walls until they can take no more. Each piece we take shall be catapulted over your walls to be found by your people. Let it not be said that the Demos of Athens is without mercy. Many of your men will return to their homes – even if it takes them a whole day to cross that wall. When your army fails and your walls are taken, our officers will not stay their hand or run the rule over their men. Warriors shall be given free rein of your riches, your women and your children. No coin shall go unstolen, no daughter of Corinth left unfucked and soiled with Athenian seed, no child left untaken for a life of slavery and black, fucking despair. Should the Gods of chance in some way grant you a reprieve and break our siege once again, rest assured that we will be back. Again, again and again until everything with a heartbeat in that shithole you call a city is dead.

These are your fates, Corinth. We will not offer you terms again. Deny us, and there is only Atropos.

I had fun writing that! John was so impressed he let me roll a dice for it when we met up at Dark Heresy. In the end they chose Lachesis and surrendered the city to me. Job done! Now to get on with the conquering...

By turn 5, Greece looks like this (with Athens bagging Corinth). The news says Pherae has besieged Amphissa, which puts his armies east of Thermopylae. That puts the cat amongst the pigeons...

The first player war has begun, between Robert's Pella and Angus' Olynthus up in the far north, and it looks like it may potentially pull in everyone else, as we all seem to be allied to someone up there! Robert made the first strike and besieged Olynthus with what (he thought) was a big army, but I hear Angus had been recruiting men inside and training them up and he sallied out to win the day. That puts Robert in a damn sticky situation now, as Angus apparently has 6 gold mines on the go, just pumping out gold. Over a long war, resources will tell - Robert's in the shitter if he doesn't get help or come up with something intelligent to do real soon. I've been hanging on tenterhooks waiting for the next turn to come in, and its still not here yet! Gah! So many plans to hatch...

Tonight then, I'm off to submit my doubles list for the Warhammer Doubles League. Martin came over Tuesday and we came up with a plan, which will either be awesome or just suck horribly and see us pumped repeatedly. First game should start soon.