In the candle-lit back room of the Rose and Scythe inn El Doctoro and Kapitan
da Leeva leafed through the stolen letters and books. The table was covered in
sheaves of paper, weighed down with a heavy pistol and a couple of empty
tankards. The two orruk pirates were looking for a particular map. Every time
they came across a map, a diagram, a weather chart, even a scribbled sketch,
they closely examined it. Letters, reports, cargo or crew lists, diary entries
and the like, all went on the floor.
"It ain't here. None of these is even close." grumbled the Kapitan. He started
throwing love letters and old bills of lading into the fire.
"The Cursed Company must have it in the bundles they salvaged." said El
Doctoro as he slumped into one of the big chairs.
The Kapitan thought for a minute. "Then we go to where they was last seen
hiding out and take it from them!" he said, shrugging off the disappointment
at the prospect of another fight.
+++
Sheltering at the Hurricane Bell, the looters sift through their gains searching for the map. As their rivals ambush them, the spirits of the explorers whose gear they have stolen rise to exact vengeance.Terrain: Hurricane Bell in the centre of the southern half of the board, woods and graves all around.Deployment: Stranglehold. The winner of ‘The Bitter Harvest’ uses the blue deployment points.Victory: Defend the Find. The winner of ‘The Bitter Harvest’ is the defender.Twist: Insidious Malignants.Reward: the winner of the battle steals the map (fluff reward) and receives a Treasure Horde (Tome of Champions 2020, page 75).
+++
The ever-present crows squawked and flapped around as the Rotmoons tried to
creep through the trees. Unfortunately the sounds of their arguments
completely undermined their efforts at secrecy.
El Doctoro, Bortagno and Tambor approached the Hurricane Bell from the north.
And saw that Kalyustar had already established a strong defensive position.
Kapitan da Leeva and his group came from the west.
With a lightning-fast charge da Leeva ran up to the Bell deck and grabbed one
of the log books. The skeleton defenders were slow to react!
Malignant spirits lashed out at the combatants of both warbands as they
struggled. Daggers of ice-cold death magic picked and slashed at them.
Percy Percy joined him and held off the undead minions for a moment or two.
Bold Rikk readied himself, he tried to pick the right moment...
Dudoso joined Bold Rikk and the two of them jeered each-other on.
The Deathrattle defenders swarmed at the orruk buccaneers.
El Doctoro, Bortagno and Tambor blasted and bashed at the skeletons waiting at
the foot of the skull-carved rocky outcrop.
The Rotmoons on deck continued to fend off the advancing undead.
Dragante, Francot and Awkwardo eventually appeared to the east, and were
immediately set-upon by lurking Deathrattle fighters.
The forests around the Hurricane Bell echoed with the sounds of gunfire,
shouts and the clash of steel.
The Kapitan leapt down from the Bell deck and joined up with El Doctoro's
group.
Bold Rikk grabbed another bundle of papers and fell back to Bortagno's side.
After a long duel, Bortagno finally felled the skeletal duardin and he
splashed into a puddle.
El Doctoro sent crackling arcs of Waaagh! energy at the Wight.
Percy Percy was shanked by the surrounding skeletons.
Dragante and Awkwardo made slow, but steady, progress.
Sorcerous fires flashed out from the Bell deck.
Dudoso and the Kapitan watched from the trees, clutching their precious loot.
Tambor fell, impaled by a rusty spear.
Bortagno took his moment, grabbed a bundle of maps and ran.
Bold Rikk faced the Wight alone.
And the skeleton champion armed with a greatsword jumped him from behind!
El Doctoro made the mistake of engaging in a magical duel instead of boarding
the Hurricane Bell.
Spells flew back and forth but none helped the Rotmoons in their mission!
The pirate orruks' initial success looked like it might be undone at the last.
The Kapitan fended-off more relentlessly advancing Deathrattle skeletons.
Francot was set upon, first by two skeletons...
Then the undead Champions...
And finally the Wight!
It was too much for him and he was overwhelmed.
Awkwardo tried to break through the skeletons in the woods.
Kalyustar taunted the Rotmoons from the Bell deck. His laugher rang in their
ears
The Rotmoons fell back to the forests with some, but not all, of the looted
documents. Critically they still didn't have the map they were looking for.
+++
We played this game in two instalments - turns 1 to 3 in one session and
turn 4 in the next. I really thought I was going to win until the last turn
when my plan crumbled!
Viktor’s side of this adventure is
here.
Is the mushroom scatter from fairy house shrums or another source? Lovely terrain as per usual.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I bought the resin mushrooms from a FLGS in Barh in the 1990s but I can't remember who made them. I think they are still available.... lots of places sell resin mushroom scenery these days though.
DeleteI really dig your coverage of all your skirmish campaigns, the settings you come up with and storylines are awesome. I've noticed that you seem to have gone over to Warcry as your go to rule set, how has this been working out? Have you had to house rule anything? Do the abilities still work well with homebrew scenarios? Thanks, Robin
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Robin, much appreciated!
DeleteYep, Warcry is absolutely awesome. We are all loving it - fast play, cinematic, tactical, fun! We wrote a custom campaign for this one, based on the ones in the Tome of champions 2021:
** Getting started **
Each player muster a warband under the following guidelines:
* Each player musters a warband of 1,200 points from any faction of their choice.
* Each player can include 1 Hero or Ally in their warband.
* Each player can include one Monster in their warband.
** Fighting campaign battles **
Once the above steps are completed, the campaign is ready to begin. Play the first three battles in the order given below. After the third battle, the player with the lower Campaign Score (see below under ‘The Aftermath Sequence’) can choose to play an optional battle to secure additional resources to rebalance the fight. Whether the optional battle is played or not, the remaining two battles are then fought in the order given below. Victory or defeat in each battle (except the optional one) will determine whether the players are the attacker or defender and which deployment points they will use in the following battle.
** The aftermath sequence **
The players use a different aftermath sequence as follow:
*Rather than earning glory, each player records the number of victories they earn. This is their Campaign Score.
*The players make injury rolls and destiny rolls as normal.
*The player who won the battle makes 2 search rolls on the lesser artefacts table - the other player makes 1 search roll.
*No other steps are taken, including adding and removing fighters from a player’s warband. If a fighter is slain the player must continue without them - there is no time to muster reinforcements!
Thanks for your detailed reply. Warcry looks like it is a good fit for story driven campaigns. I'm thinking using the some of the setting and models from cursed city as a start point.
ReplyDelete(I have the box but the game just doesn't really appeal to me).
Ulfenkarn would be an amazing setting for a Warcry campaign! Cramped and winding streets, mausoleums, horrible undead monsters. Perfect!
Delete