Kommordore Deffgit and The Gloomwyrms - part 10: The Raven Queen

The Gloomwyrms moved stealthily through the streets of Frørholm. There wasn’t a pressing need to be silent, but old habits die hard. As they walked uphill some of them chatted, in low voices.

“This place be blasted cold, for sure. But it ain’t as all that bad, which they said it was when we arrived first.” said Borgo. “When Deffgit said that Misthåvn had called in our debt and payment was to be due in full, the moment he next set-foot aboard any ship of the armada, I figured he was bringing us here to hide out a while. It not being on most of the maps and all.”

Deffgit watched his crew as they walked. He didn't tell them to shut up, so they continued.

“Aye,” said Troff as they clambered onto the roof of a tall building, “True enough. None of us expected the Blackwing Corsairs to be here already, but himself must of known the Raven Queen was coming, with likely her fleet entire.”

Borgo nodded in agreement but didn’t reply as he and Dursh were hauling on a line, hoisting Dursh‘s swivel-gun up after them.

After they got their breath back Dursh said loudly “They are a civil bunch of crews, ain’t they?” The background noise now meant the need for quiet was long past. A staccato of distant cracks and bangs of handguns, pops of pistols, and an occasional deeper thud of a heavier gun. All with an undercurrent of unintelligible but angry voices.

“The Blackwings?” said Borgo, scratching his neck thoughtfully. “Yeah, they are good sorts. Easy to get along with, given that they have the right attitude to the loot and that.”

"Aye, Mogak was telling anyone what would listen about that last week." said Jag, between sporadic hacking and stabbing at someone attempting to climb the wall below. "The Blackwings know that the loot ain’t worth hanging on to, as it'll only get stole again from you if you gets attached. The point of loot is the taking it up, from the chumps what think it has value." The others all nodded with the satisfaction of a deep truth known to them, and few others.

“Which there has certainly been a marked success in and of their strategies of late.” said Rogbat with a chuckle. "They have..." he interrupted himself with the loud thump of his swivel-gun discharging. He looked on with interest at the carnage the blast produced then continued as he reloaded, "They have been going great guns; taking what them other coves was after, or what they thought they already had."

"Mogak was saying, that this 'Great Gatherer' what the Blackwings go on about (you know, the big bird-thing they make offerings of the stuff they stole to all the time?)" said Jag, "Well, Mogak reckons it sounds a lot like Mork. Exactly the like of trick what would make Mork laugh, says he. Maybe the Great Gatherer is him with a disguise of black feathers..."

In the distance the low clouds were lit from below by flashes of weirdly coloured lightning and swirling domes of energy that expanded suddenly, consuming or transforming all in their path. Silhouetted against these arcane lights two gigantic creatures threw punches at one-another that could have levelled houses. The Gloomwyrms paused their work to watch the gargantuan figures exchanging blows.

Someone hailed them from another rooftop, dark wings spread around them reflected the multi-coloured flashes of the thaumaturgic battle.

Borgo was the first to break the crew's silence, "What's that place called again?"

"The gatehouse? Wesgard I think?" said Jag, and then he started stabbing wildly at someone trying to get onto the roof, who fell screaming back the way they came.

"Aye, that was it. We better get a bit closer." said Deffgit unexpectedly, from right behind them.

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Animosity V - The Fated Blade, turn 3 map

Kommordore Deffgit and The Gloomwyrms - part 9: Nargo, Ogash and Mogak

Three more nasty blighters are ready to join the Gloomwyrms crew this week.

They were made from a mix of parts, including Dominion easy-to-build Gutrippaz, the multi-option Gutrippaz unit kit, greenstuff and a lot of bits-box parts. I've mentioned previously that I found a box of bits that I had put aside for a Tzeentch warband project that fell by the wayside a long time ago. That box included a pair of wings from an Ogor Huskard's vulture, that were perfect for the Gloomwyrms.

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Nargo - wore a tricorn with a fancy black feather stuck in it. Fought with a hakka in his right hand, a dagger in his left, and always had a selection of extra daggers on his belt. Nargo was obsessed with knives and blades and found it hard to talk about anything else.

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Ogash - wore an eyepatch, a broad-brimmed hat with scruffy feathers in it, folded up at the front, and half a dead raven on his back. He carried a pick-hakka and was always festooned with flintlock pistols. Ogash was agressive and impetuous and often got his crewmates into trouble.

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Mogak - wore a bicorn with tatty feathers attached, and a very big coat made from looted scraps of wizard's robes, with a raven's wing attached to the back. He fought with a wooden club but always carried a crow-skull totem with twigs attached as "feathers". Mogak had no magical abilities but he considered himself a priest of "Mork the Gatherer" and presided over ritual offerings of captured and stolen loot.

With these three the crew feels ready for the Animosity V Warhammer World meet-up next month. I still have some Frorholm scenery to finish, but that was lower priority than my warband.

Kommordore Deffgit and The Gloomwyrms - part 8: The Crow’s Feast

Animosity V - The Fated Blade, turn 2 map

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In the darkness mist curled around unshod feet as a pirate crew padded through the icy pathways on the boundary between Empty Heart and Eight Pillars. They passed unheard and unseen across the cold flagstones of the streets and the uneven cobbles of winding alleys.

They reached their destination and quickly found hiding places. They settled-in to wait, tucked into shadowed corners and alcoves.

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An hour or so later, two of the orruks stood watching a group of aelves from a doorway. They were concealed by shadows that were just a little too deep and dark to be entirely natural but not enough to stand out in the murky Frorholm twilight.

Kommodore Deffgit’s one good eye had the piratical gleam of old. Even though his companion, Rognor the shaman, was blind he could feel Deffgit's tension and readiness for the coming fight.

"Which I said, you didn't has to worry none boss. Ain't the aelfs here, exact where and exact when, I promised?" whispered Rognor.

"Aye, they are mate." whispered Deffgit in reply. "You weren't wrong, not by a jot."

The aelves advanced cautiously, wary of the moving shadows around them and clearly unused to the darkness.

Borgo and his lads moved behind them, cutting-off any chance of the aelves retracing their steps or retreating.

Umog grinned as he took careful aim his primed swivel-gun... but in doing so, accidentally put a little too much pressure on the trigger and released the hammer: A thundering boom echoed back and forth down the narrow streets. The blast of shrapnel screeched and zinged as it ricocheted off walls and flagstones around the aelves. Umog looked over his shoulder at the Kommodore guiltily.

Deffgit sighed and jumped out from his hiding place.

"Well, it ain't the signal I planned on, but.." he muttered to himself. Then raised his voice to the level he used to give orders on a ship in a storm.

"Away, all boats! Scupper the blasted picaroons!"

The aelven gunners recoiled in shock - they immediately opened fire, almost at random, on anything that moved in the darkness - they were already on edge but the sudden eruption of guttural roars on all sides stunned them for several moments!

Their leader was not so shaken; she snapped-out a rapid series of orders, in a dialect none of the Gloomwyrms recognised.

The two warbands fell upon one-another in the twilight as the swivel-guns thundered repeatedly, in a sporadic and uncoordinated rhythm.

Borgo and his watch were in the thick of the action immediately.

Kommodore Deffgit worked toward the aelf leader and Reef the stab-grot darted forward gleefully brandishing his pair of viciously-sharp knives.

One of the aelf snipers got a bead on Deffgit, but the darkness seemed to close around the Kommodore as they pulled the trigger and the shot went wide.

As Borgo's lads pushed the aelf lines back, Hubble the pot-got sloshed his potions round, to keep the Gloomwyrms fighting hard.

Sogut and Gruk took advantage of the chaos and kicked in a door - they intended to start looting an abandoned house.

While Jag found himself surrounded and outmatched, he went down in a rain of bright glaives.

The abandoned house was occupied! But both the aelves inside met grizzly ends in the dark, from the wicked hakkas of Gruk and Sogut.

Udrom uncorked a blue glass bottle and a thick shadow-mist flooded out of it - he wove the magic around the pirates and made it even harder for the aelves to see them, and so tipped the balance in the pirates favour once more.

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A lone raven, perched on a nearby roof, watched with beady eyes as the Gloomwyrms passed below it. The orruks were loaded up with captured loot - a mix of aelven weapons and gear, and the choicest picking from the ruins.

Borgo, carrying a box filled with small bottles, turned to Jag and quietly said,

"What did you get mate? Wasn't you worrying of bad omens or some such, before the aelfs arrived?"

Jag narrowed his eyes and looked sideways at Borgo, making sure sport wasn't being made of him before he replied.

"I got me-self a nice bag a bits - things from their armour, for the mostly, couple of knifes and that." said Jag with satisfaction. "And the omens showed which there was going to be bloodshed mate, they didn't portend whose." he added with a low chuckle.

Kommordore Deffgit and The Gloomwyrms - part 7: As the Crow Flies

Five more Kruleboyz are ready to join the Gloomwyrms crew, as they venture into Frorholm!

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Udrom Krowtoof

An underhanded and devious Shadowcalla Shaman, Krowtoof never missed a chance to lie, cheat or steal to get an advantage. Through the use of crafty stratagems and treachery he always seemed to manage to end up on top. He recently "found" a large notebook, filled with inky drawings of crows and scribbled notes about Frorholm.

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Hubble

A fearless and very adventurous Pot-grot, with a feathered crow skull tied to his head.

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I didn't want crossbows in my warband, so I replaced the bow parts of my Boltboyz with Kharadron gun barrels and they became Blastboyz!

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Dursh

The leader of the swivel-gun team and probably the best shot, but even so he somehow ended up with the least impressive firearm.

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Rogbat

Humourless and abrasive, Rogbat disliked most of the crew and was always quick to tell them so.

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Umog

A troublemaker who delighted in starting arguments and fights. He never seemed to hang around when the punches started flying though.

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All the painted ladz so far:

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And I have been making some Ulgu themed scenery to be Frorholm in Animosity V. I kept the time and money needed down by updating a load of the bits I made for Shadows of Commorragh, a narrative Kill Team campaign we played a few years ago. It was mostly made from Age of Sigmar and Middle Earth plastic kits anyway, so it didn't need a vast amount or work.

I remove all the overtly drukhari parts, like bits of Raider wreckage, high-tech weapons and a lot of blades and spikes. I added dark green stone paving slabs (I cut up dozens of bits of plasticard, then undercoated and painted them before gluing them onto the scenery bases) and grey sand texture to the bases around the paving and buildings. I repainted all the metal-work as "old gold" and gave all the green stone and grey sand a light but unifying dry-brush of Ushabti Bone.

There are still some more pieces to update, but I already have enough for a Warcry board. And the first edition starter box board colours match the scenery very nicely.

I've taken a few atmospheric photos of the Gloomwyrms exploring Frorholm for my Turn 1 Animosity submission.

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As the Crow Flies

In their first foray into Frorholm, swathed in mist summoned by their navigator-shaman Rognor Deadeyez, the Gloomwyrms broke into several buildings in Turning. Kommordore Deffgit led them from the front, as they ransacked an austere building full of bound volumes, which was either a library or a private book collection. They were sure that there must have been something of value there, at least to one of the other factions on the island.

They offered the pile of leather-bound tomes to the Blackwings as tribute to their god, just in case the Great Gatherer was actually Mork in a feathery hat (because that is exactly the kind of trick he'd pull).

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Finally (for this post) I have completed the build / greenstuff work on the next batch of Gutrippaz for the Gloomwyrm's crew.

I found a forgotten box of bits I had set aside for a Tzeentch project, that stalled a long time ago. So the wings and feathers from that went into the Gloomwyrms' bits box!

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Mogak - wearing a bicorn with tatty feathers, and a very big coat with a wing attached. Carrying a wooden club and a crow-skull totem with twigs and leaves for "feathers".

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Nargo - wearing a tricorn with a fancy feather. Carrying hakka in his right hand (made from a cut-down spear), a dagger in his left and extra daggers on his belt.

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Ogash - wearing a broad-brimmed hat with scruffy feathers in it, folded up at the front, and half a dead raven on his back. Carrying a pick-hakka and flintlock pistol.