After Action Reports

[Scumdog47]

I figured it could be fun to tell our fellow forum members of our respective Mordheim antics and experiences and so I created this thread.

Feel free to go wild.

With some luck I shall have at least something to report come Sunday.
:)

[MortiS-the-Lost]

A few tales from The Auld Ryding

Ok here's a few recent and not so recent events from our Mordheim: Empire In Flames campaign.

First to give you an idea of the setting I'll show you a bit of background text I wrote as an introduction to the campaign

It has been more than seven long years since Sigma’s Hammer struck the cursed city of Mordheim, the empire is still without a ruler and divided by strife and civil war. Brother has turned on brother, sons against father. In this time of disarray the forces of darkness and destruction roam the land. Orcs cross our boarders unchecked, chaos Warbands lurk in the forest, foul Rat-men tunnel beneath out feet, Goblins infest the caves and mountain passes and even the dead awaken from their resting places to wage war on us. This is indeed a dark time for humanity, but it is in the darkest times that the brave, the foolhardy and the reckless rise up to become heroes, even in the most remote parts of the Empire.

Places like The Auld Ryding, a small group of isolated rural villages in the Eastern Marches, just on the borders of three states-- Averland, Stirland and Sylvania, near The Black Mountains - one of the wildest and least known portions of The Empire. Even here the ancient race of Dwarfs and the enigmatic Elves emerge from their hiding places to do battle with the dark forces that beset us from all sides.

And now a few highlights

Orcs attack Averridge
A brave band of mercenaries assisted by a lone Dwarf Troll Slayer, a Warrior Priest of Sigma and a mighty Ogre, defended the fair (and slightly burned) town of Averridge from a rampaging Orc warband. The Orc attack on Averridge was played out over 2 games during which Rob's Troll Slayer killed 2 Trolls and an Orc Boss within the space of a few turns and his Warrior Priest surived being in combat with a troll for 3 or 4 turns despite spending most of the time on his back being pounded into the ground with a big rock.

Treasure in the Barrow Hills
Over numerous games several Warbands including Skaven,  Human Mercenaries and a Dark Elf Scouting Force have entered the Barrow Hills seeking the gold that is rumoured to be buried within.
All have been repelled by the undead forces of  the Barrow Liches that dwell there.

The fate of Avon Limmarra
The presence of the exiled High Elf nobel Avon Limmarra has drawn the attention of a band of Dark Elf Corsairs. Although the Druchii's exact intentions toward Limmarra are unclear, a small band of High Elves rumoured to be in the service of Avon's father have also been encountered in the region.

Our current Mordheim Campaign is also linked to our current WFRP Campaign but more on that another time ...

[Scumdog47]

Today's fights are part of a rather straightforward "kill them and loot them" campaign without any other purpose but entertaining violence.
This time only three of the five players were present.

Today saw three battles.

Skaven vs. Middenheimers

Scenario: Hidden Treasure

The skaven are easily the biggest and most experienced of the Warbands in the campaign.

The Middenheimers kept their distance and most fighting was kept to sniping until the Skaven got their paws on the treasure and took off.

All in all the Middenheimers were quite happy with this since they collected an additional +2 XP/group and Hero because of the differences in Warband Rating.

The Skaven found that the treasure consisted of a measly 11 GC and a sword...

Middenheimers vs. Possessed

Scenario: Skirmish

My possessed have fared rather poorly earlier before and my most powerful mutant had to stay at home because of an Old Battle Wound.

The Middenheimers ganged up on my two possessees and soundly thrashed them and sent my warband rtunning "squeee, squee, squee back to Khorne" after kicking my other two heroes square in the balls (to quote Eric Cartman of Southpark fame).

As the middenheimers above I collected a few bonus-XP at least.

Possessed vs. Skaven

Scenario: Wyrdstone Hunt.

One of my heroes (an upgraded Brethren) had to stay home because of a smashed leg and my Cult Leader and the same bloody Mutant stayed home too because of their Old Battle Wounds.
Boy doesn't this look promising...

As things turned out my otherwise useless archers managed to bag a vole and all the others congregated in a jolly massacre in the middle of the battlefield.

As the lion's share of the warriors "gave unto Khorne" both sides sent a representative to secure their respective shards of Wyrdstone and took off.

Eventually the Possessed had to run away again but not after having at least kicked the snot out of the Skaven boss. Serves the cheese-addict right...

The skaven dropped a hero too injured to be of use but were rewarded with a talented lad from the ranks of verminkin.

The possessed got a whopping +3 XP for their underdog status...

Thus ended the evenings antics.

[Scumdog47]

This evening's theme was Skirmish.
All six battles fought were this scenario since everyone involved were in the mood for mindless violence and no fancy stuff.

Kislevites vs. Possessed
An utterly fresh and new Kislevite warband (complete with a nice new bear from Reaper Miniatures) faces a huge and battle-hardened gang of demonolators.

The Kislevites make a voluntary rout as soon as the rules permit, cashing in a generous amount of Underdog XP.


Dwarves vs. Shadow Warriors
Beards vs. skirts...
The dwarves are sneaky as can be and edge closer to the elves using all cover they can find before finally getting into close combat with the elves.

Eventually the elves broke but the match was much closer fought than the dwarf-player cares to think about...


Shadow Warriors vs. Possessed

After some initial lurking around a massive melee erupts in the middle of the battlefield.
Surprisingly the two Brethren archers manage to hit and Stun the elven leader who's lethal skills with the bow is kept out of the fray for 2 turns.

Alas, in the end the chaos cult breaks.

The chaos warband leader proved he was as worthless as ever and went down right away. This even after he'd managed to get his toughness back up to 2.
Yes, he had Toughness 1 before. The effect of 2 consecutive Chest Wounds...

Yet again this was an extremely close-fought battle that could have gone either way.


Dwarves vs. Possessed

The dwarven Thunderers are gaining in skill and this was proved right away when they bagged a Possessed at maximum range in the first round of the fight!

After that both warbands congregate slightly off-center on the battlefield for a massive and exceedingly brutal close combat orgy that made Khorne jump up and down and whoop like a cheer leader.

After losing 3 heroes the Dwarves decide to withdraw.

The dwarven Warband is really popular among Troll Slayers these days since they tend to die very much.
Only the arrival of the occasional The Lad's Got Talent-result keeps the dwarves supplied with any reasonable amount of Heroes...


Kislevites vs. Shadow Warriors
Once again the Kislevites "play the rules" and after taking the required losses withdraw in order to cash in on their underdog XP from fighting the vastly more powerful Shadow Warriors.

A rather bland fight.


Kislevites vs. Dwarves

By now the dwarves have come to rely on their quite skilled Thunderers, forcing the Kislevites to play the same sneaking game that the beardies use against the elves.

After quite a long while, however, melee is joined and the Kislevite bear manage to wreak moderate havoc despite being wounded by the nasty crossbows.

In the end, however, the more experienced dwarves make the Kislevites withdraw.

Thus ended this evening.

Note:
The dwarf leader managed to sustain epic amounts of injuries causing him to miss the  next five (5) fights!

[Scumdog47]

Zombie Attack!

Three experienced war bands have holed up in a village to rest.
* Elven Shadow Warriors
* Kislevites
* Witch Hunters

At nightfall the village is attacked by a horde of zombies!

Elven lookouts in the nearby watchtower sound the alarm and battle ensues.


Scenario length: 12 turns. At sunrise the zombie horde will withdraw.

Special rules:
Night. Visibility is limited to Initiative * 2 (*3 for the elves)
Fires may be lit to create zones of visibility with a 6" radius. These will eventually burn out after a while, however.

Zombie Horde: At all times there were always at least 60 zombies in play, coming in from all four sides of the table.
When a zombie was put out of action it was placed at a nearby table egde and begun trudging towards the fight.

Zombies do not "Intercept".

No Rout Tests needed. There is nowhere to run...

Terrain:
Village with a main street.
Some walls and hedges.
Surrounding orchards and lightly wooded terrain.

Victory conditions:
Survive 12 turns

The elves ply their bows keeping the zombies from reaching the village from the north for many turns.
Two elven Heroes in the watch tower keep the zombies under constant barrage as well.

Witch Hunters to the south also do a good job at first, using War Dogs and Flagellants to bring many undead down.

Kislevites take to the offensive to the east and their heroes and the trained bear enter melee combat while kossacks bring in archery support.

Undead eventually reach the village through the orchard from the west and the Flagellants and war dogs eventually succumb under the pressure from the cadaverous hordes and the witch hunters beginning an increasingly desperate fighting withdrawal.

The Kislevistes do well and are actually able to send two of their heroes to support the elven line which has become outflanked and a series of bad "to wound" rolls has allowed the zombies to close with the lethal archers.

Elves begin to fall and so does the valiant Kislevite master swordsman aiding them.

Even as the elves are close to despair and the witch hunters are about to be encircled and annihilated by a large amount of zombies and the kislevlites are hard pressed to reinforce the collapsing nroth and south fronts the sun rises and the undead horde withdraws before the searing light of the Day Star.

Much XP was gained and the battle was very fun and exciting for all involved.

Altogether I'm fairly happy with GM-ing this.