Shades of decay

When death falls upon the Free City of Marienburg, fractious citizens witness the exploits of apocalypse. The End Times have come. Renegade personalities clash in a fight for survival. In a city shattered and leaderless, rival outfits face off to stake their claim on Marienburg. Rich thieves in a safe place became dead men on a long rope.

For this years 5th annual Mordheim battle day it was originally my intention for the player's warbands to fight in a united front against a Plague Fleet spearheaded by the brothers Glött. Inevitably realising plan A* couldn't be orchestrated without a Nurgle general volunteering to lead a few thousand points worth of Chaos despoilers through my decaying port-cityscape we resorted to plan B.

*Oldhammer Nurgle fleetmasters apply herein and we may yet re-enact this.

The back up plan discussed with my conspirators Dan and Chris was to entertain ourselves with a series of two player battles by starting off with new warband lists. Veterans of our campaign have been playing the same gangs on and off for the last four years. The consensus was that most of us prefer to start afresh for this get together. With a bunch of new recruits joining rusty veterans for the weekend, I devised a simple map-based system of area control broken down into districts and boroughs.

Each of 16 wards or ghettos was represented with a different scenario and the players could agree between themselves which ones they wished to play, or randomise a scenario if they failed to agree, then move on to face another opponent based on current whereabouts on the Great Map.

A crude tagging system was employed to mark out victories with coloured spots determining which warbands were asserting their dominance over the city.

All of the games were staged in the loft flat my girlfriend and I have moved into. We've been lucky enough to find a place with adequate space in the spare room for my Marienburg table to be set up full-time. Yet as I write this a good chunk of my terrain collection is currently boxed up as I've just returned from another weekend event with the Oldhammer community! It's been a busy month for Mordheim activity and this years battle day featured 10 players.

João (Dwarf Rangers), Michelle (Strigany Gypsies), Chris (Skaven Warp-Engineers), Stu C (Norse Explorers), Stu W (Dark Elves), Phil (Ogre Maneaters), Bob (Fimir), Dawn (Dwarf Treasure Hunters), Enys (Sisters of Sigmars) & Dan (River Watch)

Witch Hunter General Dave made a brief guest appearance during the course of Saturday to say hi to the group. Another new face to Bournemouth Mordheimers was Kawe Weissi-Zadeh who visited during set up week with his goblins, trolls and some unreleased halflings. Kawe ended up missing the battles due to work commitments so we are planning another night for some games soon with a smaller group.

João and Bob grabbed some super snaps of the action through the day. My own photography featured here occasionally is not the best. João shot some excellent pics of the main Marienburg table terrain in my spare room. He was able to capture over 200 shots at Oldhammer Weekend whilst I was running participation games of Mordheim.

In addition to the main 6'x4' table, a second table 4'x4' was prepared in the living room by draping a Dreadfleet seascape mat across my (large enough to do this) coffee table to represent the Reiksmouth Estuary. With the excess terrain being supplied by João we had more than enough to create 10' worth of tabletop across the two boards.

Additionally the dining table was used to play Mordheim Quest games in the Marienburg sewer network with the 'Border Town Collapsing' scenario plus four tavern brawls were fought using the scenario 'Last Orders!'

Some time was spent drawing up warband lists on Friday evening. Most of the games took place on Saturday beginning in the morning and finishing quite late as has become tradition. Some of the survivors who arrived late on Saturday reconvened on Sunday for a couple more games. As the sound of battle died down it was clear that the most successful outfits had been the Dark Elf Corsairs, Skaven Warp-Engineers and Fimir Ambushers.

Everybody attending the get together brought something unique of their own making to the exploratory return to the City of Islands & Bridges. In the case of Enys and Dan that meant a supply of mead, for Michelle two tins of baked banana bread cakes, and Chris rocked up with his deadly concoction of home-brewed stout.

João took the opportunity to limber up his camera skills in preparation for the Oldhammer Weekend which the two of us had booked in for at Stoke Hall in Newark, the home of Wargames Foundry owned by 'The Mighty Avenger' Bryan Ansell. I took this opportunity to familiarise myself with Marienburg terrain to help select the best scenarios to go on the road with up to Nottinghamshire for the annual Oldhammer community event 'Bring Out Your Lead' (BOYL) III.

Although we did not get around to playing through all of the scenarios, there were some firm favourites seeing repeat play throughout Saturday. Our newest guests took the liberty of making the most of the abundance of scenery conjured up by João Sousa, Carl Merrell and I. We also made use of some new ships that Chris & I have been constructing in the hope of taking the waterfront actions beyond the limits of Fisherman's Steps, Oyster Dock and Candle Wharf. Boarding actions and danger chasing false beacons in the Reiksmouth Estuary beckons.

There was the usual spate of post battle scrambling about for desirable rare items. We kept the amount of visits to special Marketplace locations to a minimum, yet thanks to the Wasteland Exploration tables there were still some unexpected visits to the Infamous Haunts found in seedier corners of the city-port! Skaven and Fimir Heroes jostled over wyrdstone shards (1 in 6 chance of finding tainted treasures) to take to the Alchemist and the amphibious Fimm nobles felt the touch of Chaos upon them more than once. Speaking of Warp-touch rolls, we took a break from the tabletop for dinner and discovered the taint of wyrdstone upon a menu board in one of the local fast food restaurants on Charminster High Street! Another recommendation for the Infamous Haunts chapter.

The cramped streets and docks of Marienburg caused the usual amount of cursing from Phil as he led his Maneaters through the Old Money Ward for perhaps the final time. The ogres faired well enough beneath the Dead Canal on a smuggling run through the sewer network.

The lascars of Crime-lord Salaman Singh were once again absent as the Pirate-King's usual warband commander Stu Webb had chosen to lead a crew of Dark Elf Corsairs down the Reik onto Marienburg's South Dock.

Despite the absence of lockstocked holy templars with their smoking flintlock barrels we enjoyed the divine presence of Sigmar in the feminine form of an orderly visitation by Sisters of Sigmar. Our new pilgrim on the dock Enys led the ladies in a fervent charge across seaweed-strewn cobblestones to liberate orphans. Waterfront witches or heroines with halos, the Sigmarites faced the Lords of the Marsh with all their zeal.

Despite being bitch-slapped in an opening encounter by swampbound monsters they bounced back with proud posture. Righteousness prevailed in the rolling fog as the united sisterhood held their ground while craven fiends clawed at their buxom forms.

The Marienburg Secretariat repelled an assault from drunken barbarians across Powder Bridge at great cost.

River watchmen were plunged like sinking torpedoes into the Poultice Water yet with enough reinforcements the law fought hard enough to press the hoary heathens back as far as Norse Town.

The Reiksmouth Estuary ran thick with blood. An recurring aquatic menace threatened civilians each time that an eerie mist descended upon the port.

From the relative safety of priestess-blessed skiffs the fallen Sisters find they are less welcome sailing the canals than they had imagined in Manannshaven as they disembark for Temple District on their pilgrimage.

Lords and ladies. Marsh daemons biting off as much as they can chew in the shape of whip-toting she-devils. Well that's what Witch Hunter General Dave would call those feisty matriarchs.

Wharf rats slumming it down on Sour Dock. Strigany gypsies will take any kind of work. They won't do it honestly because of shadowy traditions they can never escape from. The past has a habit of catching up with river pirates! They won't be the first crew of cut-throats to dance from a gibbet in Marienburg. As the End Times approach they could well be the last!

There are some enormous vermin reported to be infesting the city. This one must have sat on a warpstone slab!

Sigmar's Solace provides safe haven for the least favourable priesthood in Marienburg. The God-King was never popular in the City of Secret Deals. Worship of Handrich is a perpetual state and the following of Stromfels rise with the tide.

What everyone wants to see right now. More pictures taken by João. Enjoy the scenery! There will be more of it in our report of Oldhammer 2015 weekend.

Fool's gold

Annual battle day is an affair featuring Mordheim regulars plus guest friends. Organised to coincide with my birthday each year there needs to be festive conditions. Surprises were various this year.

[L-R] Gold diggers arrive at Erlach: Chopper, Ant, João, Bob, Phil

A tiring excursion through Little Country, beyond the city walls of Marienburg. Site of once proud delvers is Erlach, a mining colony in the shadow of the Pale Sisters mountain range. Historically dwarf prospectors excavated the wild foothills of the Wasteland region. Most of its riches have been plucked over the years leaving slim pickings. For those canny diggers bold enough to venture deeper into untapped crevices could be a heap of spoils or the curse of greed.

Hosting the get together in my father's garage provided a change of scene in more than one sense. For this unique occasion that themed mountain board built for our Border Town Burning adventure came out of retirement. It has been kept stored in the garage ever since we completed our campaign at Games Workshop Poole set in the Cathayan borderlands. Another highlight was the refreshing keg of Bugman's Ale acquired for players to wet their whistles throughout the day.

We have enjoyed playing team scenarios before rather than battle royale style multi-player battles. These play a lot quicker based on shared turn sequences. This year's event used a chapter written for the occasion. It was published on Liber Malefic before the event in my last article; Quest for nostalgia. Golden opportunities to play doubles games using paired teams of like-minded factions don't come up often. A narrative campaign that is deeply rich as Mutiny in Marienburg provides a satisfying landscape for this story of adventure.

As much as I revel in the gaming experience itself, the set up for a tabletop battle like this is something to be appreciated in equal measure. This years encounter was memorably planned out with the assistance of fellow TBMF member João Sousa. The Portuguese-man has an eye-catching collection of Citadel memorabilia that includes lots of villagers plus a small throng of bearded characters. João has a soft spot for the stout fellows! This provided us with ample excuse to populate the entire plateau of my mountain board with beautifully painted civilians, both Umgi and Dawi. For every warband participating in the battle there will be six colonists. That was what my scenario quoted! An even mix of 48 villagers and prospectors representing the colonists of Erlach. Deploying this amount of cannon fodder colonists becomes a tactical quandary in its own right.

First at the scene was Bob. Earlier when we agreed times I hadn't factored in extra times for picking up João. That included loading his miniatures and terrain being transported to the mountain. Bob was tapping his watch when we arrived, asking "what time did we call this?" and to be fair we were running later than planned. Fortunately I had erected the board and set out my collection of miniatures in advance. What followed was a bit of reassembly work on some mountainside causeways damaged in storage. The signpost to Mordheim from Shang-Yang was repaired. João unpacking his themed terrain piece followed by miniatures representing two dwarf warbands, a goblin pirate flotilla and 48 mining colonists.

Antony arrived shortly after to signal that it was time for the colony to be deployed. Together the defending team of João and Ant creatively positioned the colonists and their respective warband pairing of Dirty Ruddy Stunties. Rangers guided by a Runesmith Journeyman and Noble led band of Treasure-hunters.

Mountain defence squad - Ant & João deploy the Dawi miners

While dwarfs were busy populating the plateau, three corners of the tabletop were assigned among three raiding partnerships. Each corner of the foothills posed different variables but it was clear that one corner was more favourable while another was most undesirable. Allocations were made based on treating higher warband ratings as a handicap upon arrival of Phil and our special guest player representing two more teams. Their team partners would be appearing later in the day due to family and working commitments, meaning these lone rangers would be deploying two warbands each then captaining both through an interim period.

The next phase following deployment was lunch, home cooked by Mother Cresswell. Fried chicken was well received. Washed down nicely by steins of Proper Job XXXXXX brewed by St. Austell Bugman's brewery.

In order of warband ratings (Team 1 = lowest, Team 4 = highest) Coham's Barbarians deployed on the North-East edge at the foot of the steepest route where warriors would ascend the vertical mount using a network of wooden causeways and a rope bridge. Ivory Road Warriors deployed on the South-East edge at the base of a winding incline most easily traversed by vehicles or large models. Predators deployed on the South-West edge had the unenviable task of scaling a sequence of rickety platforms before joining a windy mountain road leading to mine entries at the summit.

Business partnerships in the Free City

Team 1 - Dirty Ruddy Stunties
Dwarf Rangers & Dwarf Treasure Hunters
João Sousa & Antony Bowker

Team 2 - Coham's Barbarians
Cult of Stromfels & Norse Explorers
Ham Haslett & Andy 'Chopper' Extance

Team 3 - Ivory Road Warriors
Ogre Maneaters & Battle Monks of Cathay
Phil Card & 'Canada' Steve Hume

Team 4 - Predators
Fimir Ambushers & Swamp Goblins
Bob Whetton & Stu Cresswell

Conspicuous by their absence were a fourth proposed team 'Mice & Men'. The pirate alliance of Clan Skyre & Clan Skurvy duping a water-caravan of Strigany river gypsies. They never sailed due to house moving commitments made by the Hayward-Steeles (Chris & Michelle). No sign either of other campaign regulars, Witch Hunters or Salaman Singh's cartel gang of lascars from the Spice Islands.

Making up the numbers this year are two seasoned campaigners. We have the long-awaited return of the mysterious Cathayans led by local wine merchant Steve Hume (aka Canada or Cad). Even longer since is the return of a very welcome guest, my old schoolmate Andy who commanded a tribe of hoary Norse sailors in our first ever annual campaign battle day: South Dock Massacre. With all the dwarfs on site it would be suicidal to walk a troupe of sea elves into their mining village. For the sake of rounding out the team partnerships João handed over his goblins warband to me, pairing up diminutive swamp-pirates with the Lords of the Marsh.

Campaign rewards for participating in this battle would be hard fought over. There was potential for uncovering spoil heaps of gold, hoarded treasures, warp-touched trinkets of cursed dwarf gold, plus a single chance at uncovering one of the Greater Artefacts speculated to be moving through Marienburg and the Wasteland at this time. Specifically we are talking about a war mask with magic properties cast from solid gold. An artefact currently associated with rival factions in the city.

Perilous features of the scenario are the involvement of considerable non-player characters. João & I discussed options for this monstrous cast of wanderers and dormant denizens. In the end settling on a suite of wandering monsters for random happenings in addition to possible scary outcomes when exploring the mines. Of these the deadliest outcomes are waking a great beast snoozing in one of the mines or attracting the attention of a migrating giant.

As (rotten) luck would have it the barbarians attracted the giant in only their second turn of the battle, presumably using their loathsome body odour, a mix of goat piss, virgins blood & honey mead!

Motivation for my giant comes in the form of Fighting Fantasy monster sized miniatures. They featured in the pages of the first Warhammer rulebooks that I clapped eyes on. As a consequence Citadel's first plastic miniatures ever released (in 60mm scale!) hold great significance to me. It was with glee that I set about bastardising a large scale resin release from Forge World. At a similar time David Stafford was working on a giant sized resin piece for his collection so that provided further inspiration to me. What started life as a limited edition stone troll has since become the (even more limited edition) giant cyclops. This was a hobby project being planned since testing the Manhunt scenario from Border Town Burning supplement.

A big change to the administration of warbands at this get together was that everyone has gone digital with their roster sheet. This was a carefully planned move. After releasing the new format of Fillable PDF warband roster sheet the guys in my campaign were quick to pick this up. We transferred all warband details from paper rosters onto these 'smart scrolls' in the weeks prior to battle day. In theory we could host all our rosters in a public folder on the Dropbox.

At this point it will not be easy to relay all the specifics of our battle. Some of us were drinking ale. Fortunately we have a sequence of photographs captured during the battle that may help to piece together some of the important moments. These can be viewed by visiting the 'Mordheim Timeline' widget in the sidebar. Scroll down to 28th June. The live feed for this battle was run using my Twitter account @Mordheimer allowing me to send images and submit captions from the game straight into the shared digital feed on Liber Malefic.

Antony departed for personal reasons or perhaps because the keg was running low when he realised he was riding his bicycle home drunk from the village. Did I mention my parents aptly live in a village!?

Bob departed due to work commitments before 'Canada' Steve and Ham would arrive. It was as if the Ruinous Powers were trying to steer the fimir raid from beyond the Realm of Chaos, as written prompts and audio memorandums sent by Bob were received continuously on my handset via Whatsapp as the game progressed in his absence!

Blood brothers - Chopper & Ham lead a Chaos barbarian charge

Things went up a gear when Steve arrived. As João, Phil & I were flagging Steve started calling some shots that helped lead his Battle Monks within sight of the scenario objectives. While the ogres had looked likely to get bogged down by the tide of colonists under Phil's leadership, Steve's boundless enthusiasm drove the monks and maneaters over the summit into the heart of the colony. The rest of us must have been too fatigued from commanding efforts from the front line. Mistakes were being made due to modifying tactics based on a frantic scramble to reach the plateau. The mountain was beating us and we knew it!

A clunky schedule of arrivals and departures had physical repercussions on the outcome of battle day. With the hour being late my dear mother's decision to call time (kick out!) on the same round the first wave of barbarians scaled the summit. A decision that came as a relief to João who like myself had been courteously abandoned by his team partner. Andy weathering the full days events in real time better than the rest and Ham being fresh to the table, Coham's Barbarians were desperate for one more round of turns to reach two objectives in their grasp! In the end it wasn't to be. Ivory Road Warriors was the only team to reach objectives with a running time that clocked over ten hours. Of the two objectives they secured only one entry reaped a positive result in the mines. A single nugget of cursed dwarf gold was enough to claim victory.

Ham assessing the vista beyond the reach of his barbarian host

What comes next? Back room deals to be struck in a thematic post-battle sequence to be hosted by Steve in the privacy of his liquor store after hours.

Stu + Steve outside the old liquor store, at Tatnam in Poole town

How to cleanse a bog stronghold

This year for mine and Bob's birthdays I had the original idea of going to Norwegian Wood Café (again) and playing a Mordheim battle (again) with a select crowd of dedicated fans of dice and baked beans!

Once prosperous, Halsdorph a beautiful town of 2,500 souls is now a depressed community haunted by morbid dreams from the nearby Daemon Swamp! Since the earthshaking Night of Terror when the best fields sank it's a place of decay.

The decline of Halsdorph was brought about by clawing monsters from a lost age, led by masters of dark sorcery and daemon lore. Fallen creatures now occupy the mist-wreathed ruins at Halsdorph Keep. Townsfolk abandoned their crumbling homes surrounding the eerie stronghold.

'Heroes Breakfast' was an opportunity for players in my campaign to reconvene, plot schemes and discuss tactics, followed by the Battle of Halsdorph Keep itself. A multi-player Mordheim siege game played in teams, set in the Wasteland region surrounding the city of Marienburg. Two teams of warbands were led by our team captains, plus a renegade player is throwing a spanner in the works as skaven are in the habit of! Newcomer to Mordheim, our special guest player Alex Peake familiarised himself with a specially generated warband of Middenheimers.

THE RIGHTEOUS
Rangers & Zealots led by Witch Hunter General David Jarzembowski
Dave (captain) - Witch Hunters
Stu C - Elf Rangers
Phil - Ogre Maneaters + Dramatis Personae Lisette Leerer
Alex - Middenheim Mercenaries

THE FALLEN
Brigands & Heretics led by Master Sorcerer Bob Whetton
Bob (captain) - Lords of the Marsh (the Fimir)
Stu W - Marienburg Mobsters
Michelle - Strigany River Gypsies + The Undead

THE UNDERFOLK
Chris - Skaven Warp Engineers

CAMPAIGN STORY
An operation sanctioned by the Merchant City Council to cleanse Halsdorph is being led by the comely Witch Hunter Annika Bohringer. The righteous crusade has not only been licensed through the council chambers of the Stadsraad. It is being backed by the dreaded League of Gentlemen Entrepreneurs. Ogre lackeys from Tanners Alley take a break from boiling horse-hide to protect dubious business enterprises by accompanying a piratical assassin come femme fatale enforcer for the 'League You Never Heard Of'. Elven rangers guide them across the Cursed Marsh after encountering a company of Ulricans on the Middenheim Road. Knights of the White Wolf are bitter rivals of Sigmarite Templars! A rare opportunity to root out ancient evil was enough to set aside schisms of faith.

As the Witch Hunters close in, the Fimir have called upon shadowy allies to repel the crusade against their hold.

Lisette Leerer Dramatis Personae conversion by Werekin painted by João

SET-UP
The area of the gaming table we used for this battle was approximately 60"x48". The dimension of Halsdorph Keep were approximately 27"x31". Parts of the keep were more dilapidated than others to give the impression of a fortification in state of disrepair. Most of the breaches were shored up using obstacles such as crates, barrels & upturned carts. The ruined gatehouse entrance was barricaded by a wagon belonging to the Mobsters warband. In our rare excursion outside the Marienburg city walls I brought some wilderness terrain out of storage to plant outside the stronghold. The keep was surrounded by derelict outbuildings used to represent abandoned homesteads from the cursed settlement.

DEPLOYMENT
The Fallen team deploys first, within Halsdorph Keep or upon its battlements. After the Righteous team has deployed anywhere outside the perimeter of the walls to Haldsorph Keep, each side rolls a dice to decide which team take the first turn. The Underfolk may deploy on any table edge on a turn of their choosing after the first turn has taken place.

The Fallen team won the roll to play first.

STARTING THE GAME
Each player on the same team takes their turn simultaneously. Close combat may need to be resolved in order of Initiative. As Chris has elected to play his Skaven warband in the role as renegade, control of the 'house' warband of Undead has been assumed by Michelle. Michelle is deferring to team captain Bob, so both players are sharing ownership of the 4th warband in the Fallen team.

ENDING THE GAME
The game ends when all of the warbands on one team have routed or if a team captain routs. Any warbands on the winning side when the game ends earns 2 Campaign Points for winning the battle. The renegade player earns 2 Campaign Points for surviving the battle if casualties were dealt by his warband to a captains warband on the side that routed.

SPECIAL RULES
Alliances: Players on the same team cannot break alliances with their team. Warbands on the same team count as friendly models meaning they cannot be attacked by their allies in this battle.

Mist-wreathed Stronghold: As a consequence of their shadowy alliance the warbands on the Fallen team will be enveloped in 'Mystic Mist' (like a bound spell from magical items, the spell means missile fire suffers -1 to hit mist-wreathed targets) at the start of the battle. Fimir ambushers roll in their shooting phase to check whether the mist can be maintained by their bronze talismans of blood.

Captains: Each team captain has the benefit of being able to overrule any of the players on his team. In the event that a team captain's warband is routed then the team captain must nominate a new captain. Players must defer to their team captain in all instances! e.g. If a player would like to voluntarily rout then they will need permission from their team captain.

Morbid Dreams: Sorcerous hallucinations lead warriors to despair and to suffer from night terrors and strange visions! After the battle each Hero in the warband must take a Leadership test. Roll on the chart for the Dream Parlour from Infamous Haunts* for any Hero failing the test.

Undead and daemon models are immune to morbid dreams.

*Infamous Haunts is a works in progress chapter from the 'Mutiny in Marienburg' campaign setting. The effects are similar to drug-induced states and Heroes may end up visiting a drug den as a consequence. Note that a Hero visiting a drug den for the first time gains +1 Experience! At a fee of 10 gold crowns roll a D6 chart when visiting the underworld location named Dream Parlour. The article is currently unpublished but available upon request if you are running a campaign.

BATTLE FOR HALSDORPH KEEP
While the righteous crusaders pondered how to best four warbands protected by the walls of a mist-wreathed stronghold, the question on everyone's lips inside the keep was who exactly were these mysterious bearded cavalrymen?

Not content with barricading the entrance of the gatehouse with one wagon, the fimir sorceress identified the threat of an enemy wagon approaching. Reaching out with tendrils of dark energy she assumed control of the driver. Ironically the mind of this heroic zealot is usually immune to psychological effects yet the man was no match for the hag. Gripped in the lure of Chaos his wagon ground to a halt sandwiching ogre muscle between both vehicles. Maneaters turned on the wagoneer fearing a rear charge from the mind-twisted Sigmarite. Briefly an ogre considered piloting the wagon before storming the keep in search for wide enough breaches in its aged walls.

The lascars of Ind gave an outstanding account of themselves during the siege. The 'Salamander' Sal Singh and one of his bruisers flew from turret to turret on a magic carpet ride, before unleashing a hail of blackpowder shot. Their expertly timed blunderbuss attack caught the sea elf ranger right in a crossfire. Elves were cut down like corn. Flaxen haired Captain Malfinnor was preening himself in the reflection of his axe blade when the volleys were fired! A rogue harpy seen wearing a studded leather neck brace was also caught in the blast. The taloned beast, a consort for one of the fimir had unwisely dropped down into the smoking path of both mobster musketeers!

In fact the fire fight was so one-sided on the opening turn of the game that the elves called to their Witch Hunter general for a retreat. Annika Bohringer snarled her denial of their craven request to no avail. After realising their full potential as decoys the pointy-eared guides fled involuntarily all the same!

After the rangers routed it was time to separate the men from the elves. Seneschal von Smythe doubled his efforts as the White Wolf knights crashed into hulking scaly adversaries. Meanwhile the wolf-kin scouts found the mark with their longbows making a mockery of the sea elves appalling archery! Undead creatures took the brunt of righteously destructive missiles. Unlike elves they were unbreakable in the face of an onslaught. This zombified front line of ghouls and dire wolves formed a convenient shield of rotting meat for the Strigany. River gypsies learned the value of cooking pots as their makeshift helmets saved them when taking a tumble from tower balconies.

Warlocks were dropping like flies while beneath the ramparts, the Indic cartel enforcer Kala Halavaha (aka the Turbanator) was trying to take on a whole ogre warband! The silk-robed fighter fearlessly defended the gatehouse entrance from a wagon blocking their way into the keep.

In the thick of combat were the mounted cavalrymen from the Ulricberg. Sigmarite and Ulrican blood was spilled as these bitter rivals stood side by side. Leaders from both churches relying on their heavily armoured troops to prevail in the face of bestial fury fuelled by dark sorcery. The Draich and the Strigany Petru weaving spells to swell their own warriors might while debilitating foes. Two knights bearing insignia of the White Wolf were dragged unceremoniously from their noble steeds by clawing muscled arms of amphibian brutes. Not even the barded warhorses offering protection against such feral hate. A combined charge from Wolf-Priest Larsson and the Ulrican Seneschal captaining Middenheim settled the score. Blessings from the God of Winter and Wolves upon the heroes combined with Seneschal's gromril wargear crafted by expert dwarfen engineers spurred the Claws of Ulric on.

A lucky escape for Lisette Leerer. She fell foul of her own notoriety, attracting attention from a trio of opponents in the same combat; fimir noble, guttersnipe and a Chaos troll! Outnumbered three against one, the pirate-assassin found her face hitting marshy loam. Somehow surviving she crawled away while zealots distracted her attackers.

Forge-rats slunk into the fray (after the 2nd round on game turn 17) and unloaded a stinky barrage of poisonous magical gas. The perfume stench from their sparkling globes was all too much for the monstrous fimir. It seemed to have no effect on Singh's mobsmen. Fiendish survivors saved their scaly hides, one by one plunging into brackish bog-water tributaries while their shadowy allies departed across the sunken fields.

Halsdorph has been reclaimed! The cleansing has resulted in the capture of a master sorceress. Just not by the zealotry of either church. Bound, gagged, shipped and sold into slavery by the pirate-rats of Rear-Admiral Krislik's verminous flotilla! The latest anyone has heard that leathery old Draich is now being held captive in a sweaty palace of horse-hide on Tanners Alley by ogre taskmaster Captain Krunk. Cowardice and incompetence of Elf-captain Malfinnor was reported in an official account sent to the City Council by the Witch Hunters. Word that this dereliction of duty compromised the crusade has filtered back to Elftown. The Exarch now considers whether to despatch a Commodore to quell accusations of insubordinate captaincy soiling the Sea Rangers reputation.

The Righteous brothers [left to right: Peakey, Capt Dave, Philip]

In other news, the cartel extorted a lighthouse keeper down at Old Snorri Rocks. Refusing to pay the filthy lascars tithe has angered Salaman Singh. The Indic racketeer now threatens to move on the coastal stockade in Temple district. Local sightings of mutant wreckers in the shape of giant rats wearing tricorn hats have not dissuaded the self-proclaimed pirate-king of the Spice Islands.