Further Adventures in The Scarlands - part 1, The Swordfyshes

The dry winds pulled at their hats as the pirate orruks of the Swordfysh looked around the ancient ruins. They had spent most of the day picking through the crumbled buildings, south of Murkskull Pit, paying especial attention to shady corners and hidden nooks.

Weeks ago Krashhart had argued with Kaptain Mogrum, of the Cleavermaw, about plans for what to do in the Bleeding Wilds. They had eventually come to an agreement and decided to go their separate ways rather than remain as quarrelsome consorts. Now the crews of the two ships were on much better terms - messages went back and forth between the ships at least once a week, exchanging intelligence, news and rumours.

And now, after the Bleed had dried up, and the common name of the region had changed to the Scarlands, Mogrum sent a rumour he had heard about a band of explorers that had passed through this area laden with treasures. The party had later been seen further north, but empty-handed. They had either been robbed on the way, or they had buried their ill-gotten gains for recovery later. Either way, the loot might still be somewhere along their route.

Krashhart and his crew gladly sent word back that they would "look into the matter directly".

And the Swordfyshes were pleasantly surprised - they quickly found a hidden trapdoor, covered with a thin layer of sand and a pile of stones. Bundled up in rolls of blankets, in the shallow basement below, were several items of ornate armour that looked ancient in style but very clean and polished.

The pirates were congratulating themselves as the packed it all away and getting ready to leave when a lookout called down from the top of a building:

"Ahoy on deck!" came the voice of Flotsum from above. "Ogors coming out of the hills and heading this way!"

"Where away?" called back Krashhart with a hand cupped to his mouth.

"On all sides of us!" came the reply.

~ ⦽ ~

Dramatis Personae

The Swordfyshes

• Lord Krashhart - Warchanter Explorer
• Sinka - Brute with red bandana
• Hook - Brute with a hook hand (!)
• Line - Brute with feathered hat
• Flotsum - Brute with blue bandana
• Mr Flea - Ardboy Drummer

~ ⦽ ~

Flotsum clambered down from his lookout post but Line still wanted to explore the ruins a little more when the ogors turned up and tried to ruin their day.

The ostentatious Ogor Maneater, called Cargo by his mates, pounced on Line as the orruk Brute tried to scarper.

Krashhart appeared from the trees and shouted encouragement to the crew:

"Get a move-on! Come on, come on! Back to the ship my beauties, back to the ship my lovelies. Don't let this bunch of lazy coves steal our finds. No point getting clobbered by them: Grab what you can and run."

While Mr Flea banged out the signal for "all hands on deck" on his drum to gather the crew.

Seeing to ogors gathering on the ground, Flotsum made his way across a rickety high walkway. He winced as, far below him, he saw Line fall when Cargo hit him with a rusted anchor.

Mr Flea and Krashhart headed off east, into the woods, still shouting and drumming for the others to follow them.

The Tyrant Skargat caught up with Flotsum on the walkway and gave him a mighty thump.

Sinka and Hook arrived from the west, they had been looking forward to finding their mates and talking about what they'd found. They quickly realised things were not as they expected.

Skargat took out Flotsum by flinging him off the walkway.

Then he set off after Sinka and Hook. Bullets zinged around them and they comprehended their peril. They legged it.

Skargat jumped down onto Hook and completely flattened him. Cargo gave Sinka a kick as he passed but the orruk just about kept running.

The entire ogor warband chased Sinka, bullets whizzed over his head and ricocheted off the ruined walls, showering him with dust and stone chips.

Sinka ran as fast as he could, keeping his head down.

And managed to escape!

~ ⦽ ~

Deployment: First Blood

Victory: The Gauntlet

Twist: Encircling Direflock

When we drew the cards, and I won the role for choice of attacker or defender, I wasn't sure this was possible for Viktor to win, but he made it really hard for me! I needed half my warband to escape off a board edge of his choice and because of the deployment card a third would be able to as soon as they had moved once!

But Viktor concentrated his attacks on the two Brutes who started on the board in Round 1 and took out both. That meant at least one of the two Brutes who arrived in Round 3 had to make it across the entire board (and with 3" base move) that was no mean feat! Suddenly it was not so easy for me to win.

But with a lot of luck, the judicious use of movement Abilities, and winning the roll-off for a tied Initiative (after using 2 Wild Dice to boost my score!), I just managed it in Round 5 - with a Brute with only 5 wounds left.

I've never played Ironjawz in Warcry before - they were almost as much fun as Bonesplitterz, so I will give them another try soon. I might try more Ardboyz and less Brutes next time.