The Cleavermaw crawled upwind at a frustratingly slow pace. The crew had to
work hard to keep tacking hard to port and then, a few minutes later, hard
to starboard. Zig-zagging for mile after mile. The winds pulled them off
course or tried to send them back the way they came. It took every ounce of
their seamanship to keep the ramshackle old skyship on the right heading.
Kaptain Mogrum stood on the quarterdeck, with one eye on the set of the
rigging and sails and one the mood of the crew - they were getting tired and
argumentative. A fight was likely to break out any minute.
Lost Uzzog stood just behind him, holding his aetheric compass and calling
out the bearings of visible landmarks while the Baron scribbled notes on an
out-of-date navigational chart. The orruk at the helm concentrated hard to
keep the sky-ship sailing as close to the wind as possible. The Kaptain
squinted through the eye-holes of his mask into the bright sunlight, trying
to keep sight of the tower in the distance.
~ ⦽ ~
Mogrum took the Cleavermaw to Murkskull Pit - they securely moored the ship at
the top of the cracked and very unstable tower and the crew made their way
down the stairs inside. The interior was dark and dusty, great fissures split
the stonework in many places and they had to jump over gaps where daylight
came through the floors, stairs and walls.
Before he followed them, Mogrum paused to look out over the battlements for a
while.
He got a good look at the nearby landmarks, but the valley was too deep for
the view from the top of the tower to encompass much of the surrounding
wilderness.
Mogrum joined the rest of the Cleavermaws where they waited for him, outside a
small door from the back of the tower, and they set off into the wilderness
again. Lost Uzzog carefully watched his aetheric compass twitch and guided
them on their path.
~ ⦽ ~
They soon came to a necropolis near the river, where several new Ley Lines of
geomantic power intersected, and cerulean crystals glimmered with power at the
convergences. Unfortunately four other bands of explorers also seemed to want
to take advantage of the new Ley Lines and take control of the crystals.
Uzzog and the Baron disappeared underground into a tunnel entrance, that was
hidden in the ruins.
Mogrum, Sludga and Wrekka managed to secure one of the Ley Line intersections
but a Stormcast Knight Incantor and her followers tried to contest it.
Dogvane, Ropesend and Crowsnest arrived to help and Mogrum sent them running
towards another intersection next to a nearby mausoleum, that some Hobgrots
were trying to control.
They crowded them out easily, and swaggered about a bit and challenged anyone
to shift them.
Then a mindstealer sphiranx appeared in the woods!
And she pounced on the Cleavermaws!
Lost Uzzog and the Baron re-emerged into the light and watched helplessly from
afar. But Uzzog had found something, deep within the necropolis...
~ ⦽ ~
The Cleavermaws headed back toward the tower at the heart of Murkskull Pit and
walked straight into another fight!
Three other parties of explorers vied for supremacy on the sands around the
tower. The orruk pirates skirted round the edges of their struggles, only
engaging with a few of the combatants, while a Daemons of Nurgle warband
dominated the battles.
Lost Uzzog carefully carried his treasure safely back to the ship.
~ ⦽ ~
Warhammer World!
I went to Warhammer World in Nottingham for the first time in over 20 years (I
think the last time was in 1998!) for the Animosity IV UK meet-up.
We played two games of Warcry "Triumph and Treachery". Nine of us met at
11:30am in Bugman's Bar and had lunch there. Some were local to Nottingham and
some had come from further-afield. I had never met any of them in real life
before, but as we have all known each other through the campaign Discord for
over two years, and chatted on voice and text many many times, it felt like I
was meeting old friends. So my usual social anxiety was not an issue (apart
from seeing a few mutuals from twitter and Instagram around the hall, and not
being able to get my act together enough to go and say "Hi!").
We chatted while we ate and showed each other our warbands and I passed around
my
Animosity IV setting notebook. Then we went to find our reserved tables.
We had reserved the two Age of Sigmar Feature Tables back in May (I think? I
know that it felt like a very long way off then, but late August was the
earliest the Feature tables were free!). I was hoping for the Ruins of
Dras'Shiel and the Valley of Skulls - we got Valley of Skulls but the Ruins of
Dras'Shiel wasn't in the gaming hall; we had the River of Souls instead. River
of Souls is a very cool board but I had written the Ruins of Dras'Shiel into
the Animosity IV setting as the Sanctuary Arcane, so that was a (very
very) minor disappointment. It absolutely did not spoil the day though!
We randomly divided ourselves into two groups, each assigned to one of the two
tables.
~ ⦽ ~
Game 1
Deployment: A Storm Gathers
Victory: Drawn and Quartered
Twist: (we forgot to draw a Twist card!)
My Hidden Agenda: The Architect
I was in the group with 5 players for Game 1, so we had to fudge the
Deployment a little to fit into the 4-player set up we rolled from the book.
Someone did the maths and I think we managed it! With a roughly 4'x4' board it
worked out okay, though I think we might all have started too far apart.
When we rolled for Victory we got "Drawn and Quartered"; the one where every
player sets up an Objective Marker. If a player controls more Objectives than
anyone else at the end of a Round they score 2VP, if there is a draw for the
most controlled Objectives, the players drawing score 1VP each. I definitely
didn't win this game - I think I came second in VP total (I'm not
actually sure now though...). I know I nearly had the most objectives in the
final turn but I was crowded-out of one of them at the last moment. And I
didn't get anything for my Hidden Agenda - which was 1VP for every enemy
warband under half strength, but only if your own warband is
over half - and my warband was the only one under half strength! The
winning player also chose the same Hidden Agenda, so I gave them a victory
point!
~ ⦽ ~
Interval
There was a Warhammer 40,000 Throne of Skulls tournament going on that day, so
the Gaming Hall was absolutely packed. It was very noisy and pretty hot too.
We had a break between games that was supposed to be about half an hour but I
think it was a bit longer as we all went for drinks and several of us had a
look-round the Warhammer and Forge World shops.
The painted models in the cabinets look even better in real life than they do
when I'm sure you have seen them on
Instagram, or
Twitter, or even in
White Dwarf
(where I think a lot of the ones on display have appeared). Some really really
lovely conversions and paint jobs!
I also got a close-up look at some of the newer Necromunda scenery components,
which I am interested in for another project I'm working on. More on that in
another post!
~ ⦽ ~
Game 2
Deployment: Vying Forces
Victory: No Mercy
Twist: Eerie Silence (no effect!)
My Hidden Agenda: Hidden Artefact
For the second game all players who were not local to Warhammer World swapped
tables, so we all played a different mix of opponents. One player had to leave
early so there were two groups of 4 this time. Deployment was much more
straightforward as a result (no maths needed!) and the Victory rolled meant
the player who took out the most enemy fighters each Round got 1VP and nobody
got anything if there was a draw.
The winner here played a masterful game - they clearly knew their Nurgle
Daemon warband's Abilities very well and got the absolute most out of them. I
did manage to get my Hidden Agenda this time though, so I wasn't too far
behind.
~ ⦽ ~
Reactions
I had a really really good day at the meet-up, it was great to finally meet
some of my online friends face-to-face, and playing Warcry is always a good
time. It was exhausting though - the noise level in the Gaming Hall during a
big event was really tiring and it made it hard to follow everything that
happened in the games, especially because a lot of the other players'
activations didn't effect me as they were fighting each other, add this to my ADHD and it was almost impossible to keep track of what was going on
sometimes!
As much as I love the idea of going to big narrative events and playing
loads of games with loads of people, it turns out it really isn't my preferred
way to game. I would much rather play one game per day, in a less overwhelming
environment, over a longer period of time so I have time to consider (and
write about) each game on its own. Playing regularly in Viktor's home gaming
room has spoiled me I think.
Having said that; if there is another Animosity meet up I definitely won't say
no to going again!
Another great read Saul.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a good time despite the social hurdles on the day.
I'm with you about preferring a smaller number of games in a day. I like to savour the game and enjoy talking through the narrative and discussing ideas with my adversary these days. It took a while for me to realise that tournaments and campaign events are the antithesis of what I wanted....or maybe I've just turned into a crusty old git ;)
Anyway, thanks for the narrative, enjoyable as always.
Thanks mate, much appreciated! Haha, yes, I agree that getting older is definitely part of the change in my feelings about this sort of thing!
DeleteIt was definitely still a fantastic day.