Animosity IV - The Bleeding Wilds, part 10 - Thunder

Continuous rumbles of thunder rolled back and forth across the the waters of the Kaleidoscopic Sea. The noise echoed off the cliffs ahead of the Leaky Bukkit as the small sky-boat skimmed above the waves. The little skiff was sailing on Kaptain Mogrum's orders, on a bearing from the Black Ark Stormdancer toward the aptly named Thunderstone: a towering pillar of copper-infused rock, visible for miles at night, that loudly crackled and arced with a near constant lightning storm around it. Kurbak and his small crew passed through the Bleed and crossed from Ghur to Chamon. The Leaky Bukkit creaked and complained as it pulled through strange geometries.

They set down on a wide ledge, and anchored the Leaky Bukkit there securely. There were crudely carved steps cut into the cliff face.

Kurbak led the way up the steps.

"The Thunderstone is right famous around these parts ladz." he said between huffing and puffing his way up. "There has been more than a few wizards what tried to harness its power and blowed themselves to smithereens." he chuckled at the thought.

"I imagine they was not careful with the thaumaturgical remunerations?" suggested Mainstay, just behind him.

"Aye, that or they didn't draw the proper hexagramatical wards. Which they is easy to draw wrong you know." said Fender Grak, scratching his goatee thoughtfully.

As they neared the top of the cliff they passed a rotting shipwreck, that caught their attention for a few minutes. The pirates cast a professional eye over the hulk, looking for spares and materials that they might find useful. The Cleavermaw was always in need of repairs so the habit of stripping anything portable was deeply ingrained into all of them.

Kurbak waited impatiently while the crew picked over the wreck. It was clearly ancient and it had deteriorated badly exposed to the elements. There was no rigging or sailcloth and the timbers were useless, and there was definitely no treasure to be found.

They set off again and the conversation turned to the likely causes of the shipwreck, and how it came to be so high up the mountain.

Mainstay helped Kurbak climb up onto a broken wooden bridge near the cliff top. From that vantage point the wardokk was able to see that they were not alone on the island: another crew was there ahead of them.

The Cleavermaws headed toward them. The orruk pirates spread out into three groups, so the newcomers wouldn't get the drop on them. 

As they drew near they recognised the new crew as Black Ark Corsairs - ostensibly allies while they explored the Bleeding Wilds.

The leader of the the Corsairs approached the orruks. She did not seem pleased to see them.

Animosity IV - The Bleeding Wilds, part 8 - The Dawnfall Ark

The light skyboat Leaky Bukkit glided above the surface of the blue-green coloured Copperwater, slowing down as the crew took-in the little sail, until it almost stopped then gently bumped into the shore.

Kurbak Sloop, one of the lower-deck Wardokks of the Cleavermaw, clambered out of the boat and made his way up the beach. The rest of the boat team followed him over the gunwales, they looked around at the mountains that surrounded the lake as they hauled on the ropes securing the launch.

"Right, let's be having you horrible lot spread-out and start looking round. The Kapitan said there is like to be some snake worshipping cult types here abouts. So keep a weather eye open!" said Kurbak.

The low murmured conversations between the crew continued in a mostly good natured way. The journey through the Bleed to Silverside had been relatively uneventful so far but they were all keen to get on with the job so they could find a fight, and go back to the drinking dens of Choggrish.

Then they all jumped at a loud noise inland. An ululating roaring, in a mix of high pitched and deep voices, rolled across the water and echoed off the cliffs.

"What the blasted hells was that?" shouted Kurbak.

Dorglut Flog pointed and made a strange gurgling sound.

From the tree-line band of reptilian warriors bore down on them with surprising speed!

~ ⦽ ~

As soon as the Cleavermaws of the Second Starboard Watch, came ashore on the banks of Copperwater they were set-upon by a band of Seraphon called the Dawnfall Ark.

Rudder Azag charged enthusiastically but he wasn't able to land a blow. The Saurus Warrior was slower but they hit Azag hard.

Harbour Skag and Mainstay Bite were surrounded. The Oldblood made short work of Skag.

Kurbak Sloop went head-to-head with Whispering-Visions in a very one-sided duel of magical powers.

Luck was not on the orruk pirates' side that day. They got their wish for a fight and a quick finish for their mission, but it wasn't quite what they had hoped for.

~ ⦽ ~

I finished 6 Seraphon models today and played fast-and-dirty solo Warcry game... that ended unexpectedly quickly - one round!

~ ⦽ ~

Dramatis Personae

The Cleavermaws, Second Starboard Watch (830 points)

• Kurbak Sloop, a Wardokk and advisor
  Savage Orruk Morboyz:
• Mainstay Bite
• Fender Grak
• Dorglut Flog
• Deadlight Zag
• Rudder Azag
• Harbour Skag

The Dawnfall Ark (705 points)

• Whispering-Visions, Skink Starpriest with a Starbolt and Star-stone Staff
• Jaws-of-Heaven, Saurus Oldblood - celestite club and stardrake shield
• Blazing-Star, Skink with meteoric javelin, celestite dagger and star-buckler
• Nest-of-Sparrows,- Skink with moonstone club and star-buckler
• Bitten-by-Gods, Saurus Warrior with celestite club and stardrake shield
• Distant-Song, Saurus Guard with heavy celestite polearm

Animosity IV - The Bleeding Wilds, part 5 - The Soulstone

"Look at them, they is doing it all wrong." said Crowsnest grumpily. "They aren't going to get good abjuration-yield results if they a carry on that way."

"Yeah." said Wrekka, "They haven't taken any of the proscribed steps for contramaledictum."

"They are definitely amateurs." said Dogvane, "Look at them - they haven't even drawn any kind of runes. Bunch of zoggin tyromancers!" he scoffed.

Crowsnest chuckled at this and Wrekka started laughing too.

"Will you stow that noise, ya jabbering lubbers!" growled Mogrum.

~ ⦽ ~

Kaptain Mogrum wanted to face the Ogroid Thaumaturge Xamolomax and his Arcanites a again, he was sure they would have some arcane treasures that he could steal and make good use of. So he had followed them and taken the ship back to Silverside; through the sheer wall of magical energy of the Bleed. They made landfall at midnight in the Poison Forest, west of the Sanctuary Arcane.

The Cleavermaws had (fairly) quietly approached a clearing near a Realmgate and spread out. The Realmgate was the only source of light on a moonless, dark night and it fizzed and spat occasionally - it seemed to be fracturing. Mogrum was somewhat on-edge that the crew would start debating that as well.

All the crew needed to do was wait until the three Arcanites who were chanting had finished extracting energies from a chained Soulstone and siphoned it into the ornately carved skulls they held, shank the Arcanites, grab the skulls, and then get out. 

Easy... or so they thought!

As soon as they saw the ritual was ending Mogrum, Dogvane and Wrekka stepped out of the shadows beneath the poisoned trees, and approached the Arcanites directly.

The Baron, Crowsnest and Lost Uzzog came up from the left. Ropesend and Sludga took the a wide route around a corpse of trees on the far left flank, to try and get behind the Arcanites.

Paralax Quiverbloom (the Kairic Adept), a Tzaangor and a Kairic Acolyte were all busy with the ritual behind the chained Soulstone and did not immediately notice the pirates.

But as soon as they did, they scattered! The Baron chased the Tzaangor.

Mogrum, Dogvane and Wrekka went after the Adept but the Thaumaturge pounded forward and intervened.

Ropesend and Sludga appeared at the back of the Arcanite lines and saw Lost Uzzog running to catch up with the Kaptain.

Crowsnest slammed into another Tzaangor - but it was not the one the Cleavermaws were after!

Dogvane got confused and smashed the wrong Arcanite's face in, allowing the Adept with the carved skull some respite!

The Tzaangor ritualist fled for his life!

The Baron dodged an axe then pummelled another Tzaangor to the ground and sent him sprawling across the cracked paving stones.

Kaptain Mogrum and Ak'glar Xamolomax traded blows. Sparks flew from the Kaptain's wurrgog-harpoon and Xamolomax's skull-topped staff when they clashed.

The Kaptain came off decidedly worse in the exchange. The Thaumaturge was overbearing him.

The Baron spotted the Tzaangor with the skull full of siphoned trying to sneak past behind him and gave chase.

Lost Uzzog caught up with Adept Quiverbloom and let loose a pulse of green Waaagh! energy from his totem-staff. Quiverbloom the Adept reeled under the unexpected force of the blast.

With an unexpected low backhanded-swing of his staff, Xamolomax swept Mogrum off his feet. The Kaptain landed hard on the stony ground, winded. He was getting really tired of this happening week after week!

Crowsnest, Ropesend and Sludga set about the Arcanites nearest to them. Crowsnest's attack was particularly ferocious. 

The Baron and Wrekka finally caught the Adept while he was stunned by Uzzog's magic and pinned him against a tree.

The Thaumaturge swatted Crowsnest as Ropesend impaled the Acolyte ritualist. The carved skull rolled across the flagstones and bumped into Ropesend's foot. The orruk scooped it up and called "Yaaaargh!" to the others to let them know.

Sludga sprinted after, and nearly caught, the troublesome Tzaangor!

But the Tzaangor escaped, choosing to risk a journey through the defective Realmgate rather than the wrath of the frustrated orruk pirates, or let the final carved skull fall into their hands!

The Baron punched Quiverbloom in the chest and the Adept crumpled. Wrekka grabbed the skull and the two of them looked round for the Tzaangor... But he was gone.

~ ⦽ ~

The Twist card made this a VERY different kind of game. A lot of our Abilities and about half of Viktor's attacks were really changed by the maximum area effect of 3". Things like Waaagh! suddenly only worked on a couple of orruks at most, shooting and ranged spells all stopped working. It was really interesting how a very simple thing like this Twist changed the dynamic of the whole game.

Viktor rolled with the punch though and played a very canny game by moving his 3 Dagger fighters constantly and quickly. He made me need to chase them all the time and kept them far apart from each other so I couldn't mob them all at once. I managed to get two of them but the third eluded me so he won the game.

Deployment: Decimation

Victory: Crush

Twist: Battle Dead of Night

~ ⦽ ~

The campaign starts on 29th June, so now is the perfect time to join!

Animosity IV - The Bleeding Wilds, part 2 - The Tower

The Cleavermaw touched down in Oxidisa, on the coast of the Kaleidoscopic Sea. The blueish light of Silverside reflected off the blue-green crystalline shards and teal rock scattered on the shore. The Kaptain looked at Lost Uzzog, who shrugged. Mogrum sighed and shook his head.

"Roight." he said with more certainty than he felt "Let's have a look around and see if we can find anything interesting. Krashhart, you and Kurbak take your ladz and go that way," he pointed with his magic harpoon "we'll go this way, and we will meet back here tomorrow."

Krashhart shook the Kaptain's hand and slapped him on the upper arm.

"Good luck mate, I'll see you in a bit then!" he said with a genuine and good-natured laugh.

"You too lad." said Mogrum and returned the handshake warmly.

The crew were surprised. They looked at each other, unsure how to process the new warmer relationship. A few shrugged and others frowned. This was was going to take some getting used to after all the arguments of the last few weeks.

Kurbak said goodbye to Uzzog and whispered "Keep an eye on the Kap'n, eh?"

Uzzog whispered back "Aye, and you that new lad. I don't trust him further than I can spit."

~ ⦽ ~

Mogrum and the pirates walked for a few hours and came to a watch tower on a small rocky hill. Mogrum sent a few of them off to check the neighbourhood while he and Uzzog looked around inside. Wrekka Groz was left by the door as lookout, which was not a job he was suited to as it turned out.

After about ten minutes poking around in the darkness of the tower's rooms Mogrum and Uzzog heard Wrekka Groz shouting. There was a band of blue creatures approaching. They hurried outside to see.

"Honest Kap'n, they just popped out of the air! They weren't here a moment ago." cried Wrekka plaintively.

A massive Ogroid Thaumaturge and his band of weird looking followers stood on the rocks below them, shouting a challenge.

"How dare you set foot in my tower, you filthy heathens!" the Ogroid roared.

The Kairic Acolyte stepped forward and flames leapt from his open hands, scorching Wrekka's flesh horribly.

The Tzaangor charged and drove his blade into the poor orruk's belly. His screams alerted the exploring crew members who rushed back to find out what the noise was about.

As they arrived, so too did more Tzaangor and Acolytes.

Kaptain Mogrum and Lost Uzzog sprinted at the edge of the rocky hill and jumped down, landing next to the Ogroid and joining the rest of the Cleavermaws who all charged at the huge blue beast.

But the Ogroid was ready for them and slammed Mogrum against the rocks, knocking the wind out of him and stunning him!

Lost Uzzog raised his staff and slammed it into the ground. A wave of energy pulsed through the pirates. Their assorted tattoos of fish, anchors, octopuses and maelstroms, writhed and animated on their skin for a moment, as Uzzog's spell toughened their flesh. The Wardokk smashed his staff into the Ogroid and the monster reeled back in shock at the force of the blow.

The other pirates were shocked - they had never seen such a blow from the Wardokk! But The Baron wasn't phased at all, he smashed his gauntleted fist into the Ogroid's chin and the giant dropped to the teal rocks like a sack of sand.

The orruks gave him no quarter and the rest of his warband fled.

When Mogrum came round night had fallen and the crew had set up camp inside the tower. A fire was already lit and food was being served. The Kaptain noticed a bundle of papers in the corner, he made a mental note to take a look at them as soon as his head stopped swimming. 

The rest of the pirates were in good spirits and soon horrible shanties were being sung. They were going to have fun here.

~ ⦽ ~

Dramatis Personae

Kaptain Mogrum (a Wurrgog Prophet)

Lost Uzzog (a Wardokk in the story but an Orruk Morboy with Bone Totem on the tabletop)

Mr Sludga (an Orruk Morboy Boss in the story but an Orruk Morboy on the tabletop)

The Baron (an Orruk Morboy Boss in the story but an Orruk Morboy on the tabletop)

Wrekka Groz (an Orruk Morboy)

Ropesend Drak (an Orruk Morboy)

Crowsnest Dag (an Orruk Morboy)

Dogvane Murt (an Orruk Morboy)

This was the first of a few warm-up games Viktor and I plan to play ahead of the Animosity IV campaign.

The plan is to keep them nice and simple:

• 1000 point warbands
• Set up different terrain each game (mainly to see what from our collections work with colour gel light filters - as Chamon with blue light, and Ghur with amber light)
• Draw Deployment, Victory and Twist cards as usual
• No after-game stuff at all: no casualties, artefacts, glory points, etc.
• Full warband reset for the next game

It was fun, fast and very brutal - I managed to get a victory mid-way through the second battle round!

~ ⦽ ~

The campaign starts on 29th June, so now is the perfect time to join!