The Ironfang Pirate Fleet - Docker Goff

Docker Goff

Goff was a rather mercenary pirate who worked on several different ships over the years. Strangely, none of the Kaptains he briefly followed seemed all that bothered by this at all and he came and went as he pleased.

He was superstitious and always wary of ill omens, which he saw everywhere. Whenever he met new shipmates he wanted to exchange news about other crews and places they'd been - he always assumed his listeners knew them even when they clearly didn't.

+++

The build:

I knew I would buy the Goff Rocker model as soon as I saw the preview. I also knew I would be converting him into an orruk pirate.

But it wasn't until after he arrived in the post that I realised I hadn't thought about what he could represent in terms of story and rules. So I spent a few days mulling it over before I made any serious conversion changes to the model. My first thoughts were:

• A Warchanter
  + Using the guitar as the basis to make a hurdy gurdy!
  - I don't think I need another Warchanter right now (I could save the guitar bit to make a hurdy gurdy player later).
• A shaman of some sort
  + Could be a Weirdnob Shaman or a Wurrgog Prophet (on the 40mm base he came with) or Wardokk (on a 32mm base).
  - I went off the shaman idea after a few people made reference to the trope of "voodoo witch doctors" wearing top hats. I wasn't really comfortable with that.
• A Boss
  + Either a Bonesplitterz Savage Big Boss or an Ironjawz Ardboy Boss.
  - I would need to decide which crew he would join to pick which one.

Eventually I settled on both a Savage Big Boss and an Ardboy Boss!

I realised that if I made him so he could be either a Savage Big Boss (in the Cleavermaws who I play using Bonesplitterz rules), or an Ardboy Boss (in the Swordfyshes who I play using Ironjawz rules) it would give me the most narrative options later. He will probably see tabletop action with the Swordfyshes first as they are my warband in our current campaign.

In principle the build should have been pretty straightforward after that. But I probably made it more complicated than I needed too, because I had a fairly solid idea of what I wanted him to look like.

I assembled him following the instructions, up to the point where it said to attach his hands, then went "off-book".

+++

I clipped off the bit of squig attached to his left foot then glued a piece of Gloomtide Shipwreck deck (I had saved a bit with a sextant and a bone on it while I was making my Shipwreck Rogue Idol) to the bottom of his left foot, so the bottom edge touched the ground next to his right foot. Then added bits of timber from the Skaven lightning cannon under the angled deck to hold it up.

I went through my bits boxes and started sorting parts that might work. I found a right arm holding an axe I liked - a nice big Boss Choppa from the Ironjawz Brutes kit. I clipped the Brute arm off at the elbow, along the edge of the armour plate, at an angle that fitted the Goff Rocker's arm without the guitar/hand bit. But it made his arm too long, so I trimmed the Rocker's arm a bit more to fit it.

I had to trim his left arm to the elbow, so I could replace the mic-holding hand and change the angle of the arm. I chose a left arm, also from the Brutes kit, that didn't have a hand attached then clipped a closed-fist from the Ork Nobz kit and trimmed it to fit the wrist joint of the Brute arm.

Before I attached the bandolier (well, guitar strap) I shaved off the bullets where they poked out of the loops. Once I had glued the strap in place I added the gunpowder flasks from a WFB Dwarf kit and a flintlock pistol from the Empire Pistoleers. I also shaved off the bullet from the hat-band.

There was an area on his back that had a hole and a flattened bit where the guitar should have gone. My old faithful came to the rescue again: the Ogor Glutton bag of bones. I fiddled around with the position and angle before I glued it in place, to find a spot that both looked good and had plenty of contact points to make a strong join.

His shoulders looked a bit narrow and out of proportion to his armoured arms so, after shaving of a few studs, I added a Brute's pouldron.

A Skaven Plague Monk pouch and a Kroot pistol finished off the gear on his belt.

The next stage was a little greenstuff work to bulk out the base where the sand would be, between the shipwreck timbers...

... and to fill a couple of gaps around the backpack.

It was really cold on the day I did the greenstuff and it was much harder to work with than it normally is.

Further Adventures in The Scarlands - part 2, Warhammer World!

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!

The Badfangs - Bonesplitterz of Ghur - part 20, The Vurm-tai Campaign

A Tear in Reality

Daemons ran rampant at the head of the wurm, causing it to shift and turn in its route. Although they seemed to be content to grow in numbers around their rift, it was only a matter of time before they descended on Ghur, destroying all in their path. Their first and second port of call would most certainly be the settlement further down on the wurm, and then Nassolotyl itself.

But they were caught unaware, as their presence was most certainly well known. First by the followers of Beliana Fauncrest who raced to warn the settlement of Dawnbringers, and by Hogrog Ug Weirdklaw who had been working his magic in the background to close to the portal, or at least waylay the daemons.

███▀
███▀
█▀▀▀

Hogrog had been sharing his plans with anyone who would listen - Thorn's Troggs, Steeltoof's Ironjawz, Tygon's Gargants, Gurrbag's Grots, and many others - even some of the city gitz. A lot of them were of the same mind: The Rift had to be shut and the daemons had to be smashed. Otherwise there would be a lot more damage done to the Realm and its spirit than just a few stretched ley-lines. The Wurrgog Prophet and his followers found a good spot for their part in the Ritual of The Snapping Jaws.

Unfortunately there were already a lot of gribblies there.

The Badfangs formed a cordon around Hogrog, to try to stop the daemons interfering with the ritual.

The Horrors swarmed forward with sorcerous fires erupting from their many hands.

The Changecaster and his entourage of weird imps and floating books, slowly moved away from the main fight, to try and outflank the Wurrgog's defences.

Zogfang charged through the warp-fire blasts and engaged the Iridescent Horror - the Changecaster's second-in-command.

He was mildly annoyed when Boss Ersatz appeared at his side and slammed into the Iridescent Horror and sent it tumbling across the ground. Zogfang got one last jab of his bone shiv in though, just before the daemonic lieutenant discorporated.

The Changecaster moved past the fighting and headed for the Wurrgog Prophet.

Hogrog felt the first parts of the magic sliding into place - it was a slower start than he wanted but there was now a foundation, there was now hope.

A Pink Horror blasted blue fire at Ersatz, the Big Boss was furious.

Wardokk Urgog jumped down from the platform and started his Grimdokk magic; the healing power    worked on all of the orruks near him; closing cuts, un-burning flesh and revitalising the Badfangs.

Some of the Bonesplitterz realised what the Changecaster was up to and blocked his path.

So the daemonic commander avoided them - he jumped up onto a ruin with a clear line of sight on Hogrog.

The Horrors started aiming sorcerous fires at Wardokk Urgog.

Hogrog focussed a portion of his power at the Changecaster: A crushing green fist enveloped the daemon.

Wardokk Urgog ignored the fires and continued to heal the Badfangs nearby.

More Pink Horrors closed in.

Boss Ersatz carved his way through some of them.

Noknok interrupted his rhythmic drumming for a moment to smash his heavy bone drumstick into a Horror's face, without missing a beat.

The teeth of the Ritual were now in place. Hogrog had to concentrate hard as the various threads of the ritual were being pulled apart, even as he wove them together. The fibres of the Ritual's jaw-muscles started to bind together, they were still weak though.

It didn't help how distracted he was though - at the same time as manifesting the Ritual Hogrog and the Changecaster were also exchanging magical blasts, the Wurrgog had the edge in the duel but to get it over-with sooner he sent Zurgob over to attack the daemon as well.

Zurgob leapt up the ruins and finished off the injured Changecaster!

Searing blue, yellow and pink fires streamed across the open ground between the daemons and the orruks. The daemons were far more dangerous at a distance than they were in a fight, so the Badfangs didn't want to leave them with that advantage for long!

Arcane flames rippled out through the fighting again and again.

Several of the Horrors concentrated their fires on Ersatz - the Big Boss was making a mess of them, one after another.

Waves of iridescent fire washed over Ersatz, his war-paint protected him from the worst of the effects but it still scorched his flesh.

Zogfang and Rukbeast ganged-up on a Pink Horror.

Hogrog contorted and babbled incoherently as he pulled more components of the Ritual together, weaving the strands of wurm-lines with the Beast-magic of the realm and the energy of the Badfangs' fighting. But there was something missing...

Boss Ersatz was being worn down faster than Wardokk Urgog could heal him. His injuries were threatening to overwhelm him soon.

He didn't seem to notice though and the Badfangs rallied around his example, plunging through the arcane fires to smash the daemons with their spirt-bone weapons.

The great maw of the Ritual loomed large in Hogrog's mind now - its muscles were gaining strength and coherency.

More Horrors crowded the Badfangs.

Suddenly Hogrog jumped down from the platform on the ruin - he knew what the Ritual was missing now. It needed more violence! He roared encouragement at the Badfangs who redoubled their enthusiasm for the fight. Several started laughing uncontrollably as they slashed at the Horrors!

Big Boss Ersatz hacked down two daemons, one after the other. His massive stone axe sliced through them and they dissolved into swirls of pink and blue smoke.

Wardokk Urgog sent out another wave of healing Grimdokk power.

The Badfangs rounded on the last daemon.

With a triumphant roar Zogfang charged forward and smashed the last Pink Horror with his beast-spirit infused bone weapons and the daemon de-corporealized into a shrinking swirl of pink and blue flames, which were then snuffed out.

The Waaagh! energy that flooded from the fighting orruks gave the Ritual the last burst of power it needed to manifest: the vast ghostly green form of Gorkamorka's grinning face coalesced from the clouds, and appeared right in front of the Rift. The image of the orruk god slowly opened his enormous fanged mouth then suddenly chomped down on the swirling black portal....

https://www.thegreatweave.com/vurm-tai-finale/