Perks of skirmish

Producing a concise set of rules for a skirmish game is a noble quest if ever there was one. Legends of the High Seas/Old West are popular amongst a lot of Mordheim's old guard. Chris 'Cianty' Templin and I discussed the cherry-picking of desirable elements from each others systems that games developers go through. A project like designing a game might be a labour of love or it might seem on the surface like all the concepts have been filched from an older game. For arguments sake let's call them homages not thefts! Combining existing principles with fresh devious imaginings in the process of conjuring new skirmish games and settings is only evolution.

Andy Hoare is putting touches to Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies. The godfather of grim and perilous adventure Rick Priestley has got himself mixed up in a wacky faerie tale universe where centaurs dressed as David Bowie brawl with flying monkeys wearing fez hats. In Fanticide, they use their faeces as missile weapons. Co-incidentally the fighting monkeys in my Marienburg campaign do the same! Apes may not fly in the Warhammer World but they can 'Scale Sheer Surfaces'. Chris Templin has meanwhile long brooded over his Gierburg skirmish game.

Cianty became temporarily obsessed with exploring nuances of non-combat themed tabletop activity. Worryingly it all sounded a bit like Chris was locked away at home playing with dolls as opposed to fighting battles with warriors! Ultimately his principles are correct. Not all skirmish battles should to be a pitched street fight or a raid. I'm a massive fan of narrative campaigning, particularly scenario-driven skirmishing adventure. Black Library novels tempt me for this exact reason! The stories are what give a system and setting gravity. Quality terrain and a heavily themed table help bring the stories to life. Some of the best scenarios I've had the benefit of playing were written to revolve around particular pieces of terrain. Kudos to Matt Ward for his themed terrain chapter in the latest tome of rules for Warhammer. He even mentioned the F word.

When tabletop adventure beckons, I find military battle themes less and less desirable. There are still aspects of grandiose warfare (and there's no escaping the war in Warhammer!) which strike a chord. In terms of a gripping story, the Warhammer Heroes novels by Chris Wraight homed in on conspiratorial angles which I found stirring and inspiring. The level of intrigue took me by surprise! Being unexpectedly sucked in my his adventurous hooks evokes all kinds of tabletop yearnings. With the importance of strong narrative, it feels tough to move away from the rich tapestry of the Warhammer setting. Countless materials are available to the keen researcher. You can really lose yourself in its depth. There's a realness to its application in gaming that I've found sorely lacking in Middle Earth re-enactments. As with anything I suppose its warhorses for courses.

In the Marienburg scenarios, we exploit comparably domestic themes; Fishwives, winkle-pickers or goose-girls being taken hostage, cargo shipments being moved or sabotaged, graves being looted for trinkets or fresh corpses. I had the recent pleasure of meeting fellow forum-goer Joao who is an avid collector of miniatures and he owns a lot of civilian themed characters. Plus he has modelled some marvellous marketplace buildings to game around. We will be getting together to play some games and I hope to bring pictures of our combined efforts on here later in the year. Joao has a interesting warband to add to our campaign story.

Critical tables are another personal favourite of mine. Charts add extra special moments to the story in Mordheim battles. Playing for the purpose of telling a story on the table is where lies the strength of a memorable skirmish. You strip away the juicy roleplay aspects and you might as well be playing another pitched battle. Not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with that. Attention to detail is what provides unforgettable moments. Unlike in Warhammer battles where the battlefield resets after each game, when you play Mordheim your heroes can die for real! If they survive (for long enough in the Free City of Marienburg) your heroes can prove what real men they are by visiting gambling halls, drinking dens, bordellos, drug parlours, or crypts in the Garden of Morr.

I've laboured the point before. Having to produce (what can claim to be brand) new rules is the most tedious and tiresome task in the hobby. Change is sometimes a necessary evil (ask a Champion of Tchar) if you want things to progress. There are already a zillion different rules in the Warhammer pantheon of games. If you look in the right place then you can find an existing guideline to apply to any situation. The fun in research can be what surprise gems turn up along the paper trail!

Why even write another supplement? Border Town Burning is immense. It is Cianty's brainchild and a wilderness supplement that won't be beat. Games developers have praised (and we now suspect cloned!?) its campaign objectives system. The city of Mordheim itself is great as an urban setting, motivating me to continue gaming when I ought to be doing real life stuff.

While Mordheim is fantastic, dark, gothic, grim and perilous, it doesn't have any pirates in it, it hasn't got enough elves in it, and it was based on an underdeveloped selection of campaign rules governed by a limited pool of scenarios. Mordheim only got better later on when the system was fleshed out by freelancers!

I don't play Necromunda. I'm not excited by the background of the game but what I do identify with is the notion of gangs. Gangs of thieves, assassins, drug smugglers, mercenaries, bounty hunters, renegades and a multitude of other desperado characters. Motivational ideals from Necromunda do not ring true in Mordheim. They will in Marienburg, the City of Secret Deals.

Massacre on Candle Wharf

Heated battle at my annual birthday bash raged on into the twilight hours.
This year eight of us played a smuggling scenario called 'Candle Wharf' set
on a dilapidated waterfront from the South Dock district in Marienburg.

Left to right above: Steve 'Canada' Hume (Battle Monks of Cathay), Ross 'Aggro' Evans (Dwarf Treasure Hunters)
and Stu 'Werekin' Cresswell (Sea Elf Rangers)

Ratmen collided with Strigany River Gypsies in explosive fashion during the opening turn. Sea Elf Rangers blew their scrimshaw whistles and began denting a skaven advance. The elves stabilised the situation by applying some semblance of order to the dockside in turn two. As an unnatural mist creeping off the riverside dispersed, Lords of the Marsh burst from the canal. Amphibious warriors drove the Indic Smugglers hard but the lascars fought back giving little ground as their boat's cargo came under attack.

Monstrous marsh daemons surround the smuggler's riverboat. Fimir Warriors and Daemon-Fimm, led by a Draich supported by Young Nobles carrying wyrstone shards close in to contaminate a cargo of grain and take hostages.

Two teams of privateers stormed down the quay from a fortified warehouse. Dwarf Treasure Hunters and Ogre Maneaters moved to defend riverboat crew on both sides. Meanwhile the mastermind orchestrating the sabotage attempt who had remained hidden until our third turn fired a volley of flaming arrows onto one of the boats belonging to the Indic cartel. The guns runners return fire knocked a Cathayan sniper off from his perch in a run-down merchant tradehouse.

Resulting from the contentious theft of the Battle Monks magic carpet, the Strigany Petru mounted this coveted rug from distant Araby and sped towards the drop-off point with a full load of cargo. Her mystical smuggling run was short-lived as a crack shot from the mobsters sent the witch plummeting to the wharf! A ricochet caught the prone caravan-master adding insult to injury for the river pirates.

Left to right above: Chris 'Frogprince' Kneller (Skaven Warp Engineers), Stu 'Werekin' Cresswell (Sea Elf Rangers)
and Steve 'Canada' Hume(Battle Monks of Cathay)

Skaven warp engineers were the first to flee after a promising start. The damage they had done meant river gypsy crew routed shortly after. The aquatic daemon-possessed raiders who had targeted the Indic cartel were sent back to their boggy habitat in the marsh, with spike-clubbed tails between their legs. Following the withdrawal of one of their ancestral foes the dwarfs sought to settle another old grudge with elf-kind. Treasure hunters spent three turns trading blows with elven watch officers. The Moon Guardians from Elf Town may have had jurisdiction but failed to make a single arrest! After witnessing the Dwarf Noble fell their frenzied 'consultant' Feast-Master Redrin Foxglove, Sea Ranger captain Mal (aka the 'Albatross') was next to call a retreat. Their failed police operation was a blow softened only by impounding a blood-stained carpet back to take back to the station for forensic examination.

This left the dwarf privateer in charge of one shipment of illicit goods in a race he could not win against ogre dockworkers teamed with the Indic mob survivors. The straggling Monks from the Cathayan house guard held yet failed to dispatch the lascar captaincy. Drug-baron Salaman Singh and his turban-wearing henchmen refused to yield to the Cathayan onslaught. With a shipment delivered to the fortified supply centre the hard-earned winners of the battle were finally declared.

Candle Wharf on the morning before the Massacre

Victory went to the Indic Mobsmen and their Ogre Maneater business partners! Post battle sequence clean up in going to be messy. No less than ten casualties were sustained by Salaman Singh's crime syndicate while countless warband rout checks were passed, scenario objectives were fulfilled, warriors enslaved, and numerous magazines of ammunition were unloaded into the whiskered faces, pointed ears and scaly hides of all who had opposed the 'Salamander' crime-boss.

Thanks to 'Robert Whetton - Photographer' for the phone camera pictures.

Returning series

Anyone following Liber Malefic will hopefully be pleased to hear that 'Mutiny in Marienburg' has returned for its 2nd season. The narrative campaign continues with a colourful selection of new scenarios.

After a rousing speech from their Emissary, the battle monks of Cathay momentarily mistook a Merchant Prince for one of the wharf dregs. Congratulations to the Merchant's House Guard for they braved the sewer network in darkness! Fighting their way clear in a bloody turf war with the underfolk, their robes stained with stinking effluence from the sewer, the Celestials smuggled wares through its slurry-filled catacombs back to the Silk Market ghetto.

One of the Dragon Monks even demonstrated how to dismantle a machine-beast with his bare hands! With the robotic rat-ogre permanently destroyed the skaven retreated deeper into the warren. This is a tragic blow to the ratkin. Warlord Riskin Tatter-ear will be ticked off when he hears of this! Yet the skaven still thrive in numbers. In desperation, they have turned to the infamous Nipponese banking house of Lang Fu for a high risk low interest handout! The armada's favourite Rear-Admiral Tick-lick may be looking to form new partnerships in the coming weeks whilst plotting revenge against the Cathayans.

The Swamp Snake and the Salamander went head to head with all three pirate crews salvaging treasure on a canal stretch of the Bruynwater! Domnu Dola's river gypsy crew fled the shallows in despair at the site of their caravan-master taking a tumble in a boarding action. After ramming the Strigany water-caravan and surviving the following counter-charge Salaman Singh's lascars fought on against the wreckers. Broekwater's fish-faced pirates found themselves outmanned and outgunned by the Indic smugglers! Outmatched by his competitor Sal Singh, that slippery serpent 'Scurvy' Rikkar withdrew.

When the Indic mobsmen claimed salvage they were rewarded with one greatly coveted arcane device, a Power Stone!

Salaman's mobsters celebrate their first victory by scouting the woodlands of Laurelorn Forest for anything useful. But how will the wood elves respond to being paid a surprise visit. Prince Belmondo's latest edict is that his Cathayan house guard escorts him on a fishing trip to the pirate haven of Broekwater, a small town on the edge of the Cursed Marsh.

The final game in round 7 is set to be a 4 player bar brawl in the tap-room beneath Three-Of-A-Kind casino featuring; Stromfels Reavers, Witch Hunters, Ogre Maneaters and Sea Elf Rangers.

Note: Most of the battles we fight are to test out new scenarios, new rules, new warbands. Hence there were only 6 'Live' rounds played in total last season. The Cult of Stromfels played 5 battles in the first series.

Daemon drink

The night before Black Library Live 2012, we were drinking at the Star tavern in Woking. Eddy 'Skarloc' Morgan turned up nearly 3 hours late. I was holed-up reading Bill King's Tyrion & Teclis novel, 'Blood of Aenarion'. Ed was leathered on arrival. Turns out he'd left the Star 20 minutes before my arrival as he'd taken the afternoon off to drink tequila with the pub landlord's son.

An account of Black Library Live 2012 by playwright, street performer, and suspected werecreature Stuart Cresswell.

My report dispels any illusions of behaving responsibly. Anyone who has met Ed won't be surprised in the slightest. He likes to rock the party.

In the morning Ed drove us to Nottingham. I played him WiP recordings from the Skinny Skulls album. There was talk of booking a hotel for the overnight stay.

We pressed the button this year. The start and the end are clear enough. It's taken this long to piece together the rest of the events that make up the adventure in between. In contrast last years report on BL Live 2011 was far more sensible.

Library Pass: Access all areas with one of these.

We parked to discover the event has just begun. Sun wasn't over the yard arm but Bugman's bar was open. We attended the 'Writing for Black Library' seminar last year so that held little interest upon realising William King had started signing! We grabbed ourselves a pint of liquid courage and shopped for inspiration on the tradestands. I held our place in the queue to chat with Bill. Ed went for a refill.

Bill King greeted us warmly. "What's this?" he enquired as I passed him my copy of 'Blood of Aenarion' with the dust cover removed. "Your latest story book" was my casual response.

The author was equally surprised by the page of his novel which I asked him to sign for me... A foretelling by the Lady Malene that (a young) Teclis; "You are either a wonderful liar or the greatest natural mage who has ever lived" is hardly an epiphany when everyone knows the prediction is a given (this is an origins story) yet reading the carefully chosen words on the eve of meeting the man behind the elf mage had tingled my spine!

Without wishing to spoil too much of what was to come, Bill went on to describe some pivotal events in the tale of the elf twins, and how he managed these to factor in the Slaaneshi daemon N'Kari. There are so many stand-out moments in the story we could have pulled up a pew to Bill (one of the forefathers of Warhammer fantasy fiction) listen all day and night. Fat chance, Bill's voice was already going croaky and his seminars had yet to begin! I know that feeling myself from performing gigs so we took leave when an official gave us our marching orders... But not before giving Bill props for the short story which appeared in Sea of Blood (Man O'War game expansion) involving a crew of lost Norse sailors who find land and take shelter in a haunted monastery. There was a severe lack of this type of Warhammer fiction for many years, until the advent of the Chaos Wastes novels.

At this point I recall that we gatecrashed our first seminar on the Time of Legends series. This was a highlight at last years event. Eddy ticked-off Graham McNeill last time in the medieval gaming hall for failing to bring his axe-shaped Gemmell award trophy. Whispering to me he would need to berate Sigmar's storyteller again, Ed gasped in awe as Graham whipped out Snaegar from amongst the sofa cushions! I think the moment made his day.

At some stage there a big greasey burger meal prepared for us by the halfling chefs in Bugman's kitchen. The last couple of seminars are hazier. One was a Warhammer panel with Bill King and Gav Thorpe doing most of the speaking which was superb as they rambled on about elves to my hearts content. Also chiming in were newcomers Sarah Cawkwell and Josh Reynolds. Both of these authors have written outstanding shorts. With important releases on the horizon both authors works are sure to be worth following.

In the stupor of revelry (we drank all afternoon) I fired a few questions but totally neglected to go pester any of the other authors. New guy Josh Reynolds was signing. I had intended to visit him if only to praise the colourful short story 'Dead Calm' which appeared in Hammer & Bolter. I checked it out for research purposes when someone mentioned it was set in Marienburg. The story was especially evocative because it features a number of the factions featuring in 'Mutiny in Marienburg'. There was a stack of inspiring content in the tale which I'd wanted to thank Josh for delivering. I finally got around to consuming one of the Lovecraft compilations this past year. Realising that Herr Reynolds is 'well into' the works of the Cthulu creator this would've been a keen talking point for him and I'm sure his thoughts on the heretical ramblings of one Herr Werner are worth hearing. He's also clocked up some miles as a roadie for a touring band.

After snatching the exceptional 'Dead Winter' (latest Time of Legends release - buy it!) I picked up a copy of 'Knight of the Blazing Sun' from the Bazaar of Books because it features pirates and Norse savages (my kind of people). This is the novel I'm currently devouing! Low and behold the setting as of chapter three is destined to be Marienburg! With any luck I'm on the trail of the latest intrigue surrounding conspiratorial parties at large in the City of Secret Deals. Another grand fact-finding mission for our tabletop campaign so thank you again Mr Reynolds.

Bazaar of Books: Out of shot was a pre-release copy of Nathan Long's third Ulrika Vampire tale 'Bloodsworn' as my little sister has purloined it!

Something else I've just remembered was that a group of university students from far Cathay or the island of Nippon approached me for an interview. They asked questions about Black Library and the event. I cannot recall the particulars, only that we were having a great time so heaping praise on the success of the enterprise and quality of the releases seemed fitting.

After the event ended logic decreed we retire to the dwarfen taproom. Happily we were playing some fantasy card game whilst draining more tankards. Until a member of Warhammer World's staff requested we cease our gaming activity. Warlocks it would seem are not welcome in these parts.

Andy Hoare was kind enough to offer an explanation, "he was probably trying to save you". We've already saved ourselves. The cards we use are proxies because we've spent all the spare gold crowns we earn on buying Black Library novels and Citadel miniatures! :)

Even though we were at the point of being belligerent drunk patrons, the Warhammer World staffer was nice enough to us earlier in the day so we packed the spells away and resolved to bring a more appropriate game in the future. Suppose I should mention Ed had been winning. It seemed clear we'd need to play a round of 'Chaos Marauders' instead! Of course we didn't have the infamous cards on our persons. Instead we warmed up for next years bar battle by yelling 'Chaos Marauders!!' Ed pointed out that BL editor Christian Dunn and author Sarah Cawkwell were sat couple of tables behind us... I'd like to think these guys know the game intimately rather than thinking "who are these two soused reprobates!?" but Eddy was not so sure.

By this point we determined it wise to check into our hotel, less than a mile out. With the car safely parked I was inclined to walk it. An idea the barmaid found questionable in our current state what with there being a canal running in-between. Still I was determined, with a satchel of Google maps and satellite navigation to fall back on we couldn't get lost. Emptying the car of laptops, books and a mandolin we hiked off, crossing the canal on a bridge before hitting a dead-end with a ten foot wall blocking our route. Ed is an ex-paratrooper and I scaled the Glastonbury fence a couple times. We crossed the wall. Not before astride the barrier with mandolin in hand I ripped my corduroys wide open! With the ginger beast exposed to the elements we continued our trek.

At this point we were lost. The map wasn't working. Stood blank-faced in the drizzle beside a Landrover garage on an industrial estate Ed was resigned to ring a cab, when one rolled by. We flagged it and got in. As luck would have it the driver was looking for our hotel. We arrived after turning the next corner.

Checking in, we hit the bar restaurant next door. Upon close leaving with bottles of cider and red wine we retired to the hotel where I sang and played the mandolin followed by more magical duels until passing out. Morning was scary, horrific even. Ed blagging a cigarette outside from a chap who initially refused on principal provided comic relief in the horror of daylight. Within moments they were like two pigs in shit. Some minutes later I tactfully vomitted out the door of our cab... After my fantastic troll impression the Indic driver was really pleasant about it even offering me a tissue. We returned to Warhammer World... Whereby I passed out in the car while Ed had another greasey spoon in Bugman's. He felt gradually worse on the drive south, while I came back to life by the afternoon.

My friend Chris Kneller once described me as a; Norseman in the body of a weakling. After a resurrection style recovery, the drive from Woking to Bournemouth was refreshing. Meanwhile the text message from Eddy said everything about how he felt. It was three words; "I have died"

Practitioners of hedge magic and menaces to sobriety. I am resigned to the fact we should bring minders next time; Michelle Steele and Chris Kneller. Perhaps we ought to dress smartly for the occasion for it is time to book tickets for BL Live 2013.

Favoured of Loec: Red Wolf and Skarloc

Fortresses of Marienburg

To battle out urban skirmishes in a post-medieval fantasy environment properly you need to have lots of battlements!

Fortresses dominate the landscape of the worlds greatest port. Across the islands of Marienburg you can expect to see the torch-lit ramparts of the city walls. Overlooking bridges are gargoyle decorated parapets atop foreboding towers. Lagoons lie in the shadow of grisly gatehouses and weather-beaten keeps used as watch-station barracks.


The lions share of modelling magic you will see on Liber Malefic comes courtesy of Carl 'Scenery Bloke' Merrell. Carl guests incognito by the name 'Shanks' on Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum.


Once the Marienburg gaming table was completely assembled I had promised to upload some decent shots. But when do you stop adding extra features to an already generously proportioned gaming set up? I am having real trouble drawing the line. And it has become a struggle to prioritise other hobby activity. Already I have begun work on incorporating tasteful terrain releases from Games Workshop. This was a natural progression because Carl cleverly began splicing leftover sections from GW releases into his custom builds to enhance the look. I furnished our turf wars with a humble watchtower before moving on to an elaborate addition; the Garden of Morr set with crypts aplenty was the perfect accompaniment to Carl's graveyard scenery including an grand mausoleum. Here amongst tombstones, gangs battled in style for buried spoils at Deedsveld Cemetery in the Porters Wall district (you can actually see the graveyard on the Great Map).


Tempting me to indulge my inner-geek next was a 'Skullvane Manse' going on sale. Instead of succumbing to the temptation of the Astromancer's Lair, I began assembling the 'Wonder of the Age' better known as my Marienburg Land Ship because it ought to help smugglers get around! There is an awful lot of illicit cargo passing through the Unterdock.


I hope you enjoy the pictures. There are more photographs being uploaded to the City of Secret Deals gallery on the community forum. The evolving South Dock (Suiddock) gaming table also showcases buildings which feature in the 'Mutiny in Marienburg' campaign setting as encampments. In the MiM campaign, I have redefined encampments. Clear rules will express the way (that deeds to) encampments can be acquired by committing skulduggery through waterfront happenings & achievements, and later contested by Heroes & Henchmen during maritime campaign scenarios.


Speaking of heroic new villains and gangland scenarios, it must be time I started sharing my pelagic concepts for warbands with the wider community.

Difficult customers

A major visual update is about to appear on Liber Malefic. Before it materialises let us pause for a moment of melancholic introspection. Three non-human factions featured in the Border Town Burning supplement. Each of these warbands offers fascinating campaign possibilities based on outstanding contributions from the gaming community; The Restless Dead is a spectral force of creatures summoned from beyond the grave by a Liche. Fire Dwarfs are corrupted Dawi spawned from the shame of a proud elder race. Maneaters are tribe-less wayfarers severed from their ties to ogre herds.

Wanderlust drives Maneaters to all four corners of the Warhammer map. In the latest migration the muscle comes to Marienburg! Ogres come to Marienburg seeking coin and conflict. Least witless of brutes find themselves employed by hostelries as bouncers on the waterfronts. Mindless savages enter the underworld pits to fight as bait in the arena.


Ogre Captain conversion painted by Werekin

When we developed the wilderness supplement I had the pleasure of playing lots of games with and against ogres whilst editing various material that formed the warband list. I was busy modelling and painting other projects at the time. At some point afterwards I took the opportunity to fulfil an ambition from my childhood. Painting up ogres! :)

One of my objectives was for my Ogre warband to comprise of extraordinary Citadel miniatures new and old. I really love the new Forge World miniatures for Warhammer too. I collect a few of these. In the photograph above supplied by Bob Whetton you can see what I have done to the Ogre Thunderlord (thanks to sculptor Daniel Cockersell he's normally supposed to be riding a Rhinox!)

My earliest fascination with these ghastly creatures must be playing Heroquest. I fondly recall collecting the expansions for the board game which included fine detailed Citadel miniatures. At the same time I was procuring Warhammer warriors cast using lead but the character of some of those shonky old multi-part plastics struck a chord with me.


Design-wise everything has gone full circle. Metal miniatures are no longer being produced by Games Workshop since 2011 in favour of Citadel finecast plastic kits. Not a million miles from the plastic sprues of 'Against The Ogre Horde' produced yesteryear. Less difficult customers will concede to an improvement in quality! From a modellers perspective there is an unusual challenge involved when working on a dated miniature and hopefully this gives some indication to how bad my backlog is.

Delving through my collection of favourite sculpts I quickly realised that ogre heads from my Heroquest miniatures are the same size as they are from the Warhammer army plastic boxed sets. Bodies have grown bigger but heads have stayed the same. Well, all except Forgeworld's Thunderlord (he is huge!) which currently acts as my Ogre Captain. The same 'pinhead' phenomenon applies to the recent Fimir warriors from Forge World. The new bodies are brutishly muscular yet the same head look correct.

Looking on the forums on Board Game Geek nobody seems to know who was responsible for sculpting the ogres for the Games Workshop's joint-venture with MB Games! Research rewarded me with a fascinating image from an announcement of the prototypes. The finished released for these two warriors don't look much different.


I've managed to import my oldest (and fondest!) miniatures to represent the Youngbloods and Half-growns in the warband. Youngbloods are ogre calves so for these I used the fat-bellied plastics from Against The Ogre Horde, to which I've customised them with gut plates of course!


Ogre Youngblood conversion painted by Werekin

Half-growns are described by Black Library novelist Robert Earl in his outstanding story 'Wild Kingdoms' from Adventures of Florin and Lorenzo as the runts of ogre society. For these malformed unfortunates I used some of the classic metal miniatures from the Citadel Marauder range.


There are so many stand-out sculpts from the MM ranges that I'd love to be able to game with. It's fortunate I've been able to include some. More pictures for these will be added for the rest of this warband at some stage when I get them photographed.

Forbidden texts

Reading from profane tomes is guaranteed to end badly for any scribe. Agents of the Sigmarite church torch libraries and slay the collectors of dark lore. Despite the risk of a torturous execution the knowledge contained within forbidden books is prized by necromancers, warlocks, physicians, playwrights, adventurers and inhuman lore-seekers.

The best way of preparing Mordheim campaigns in unique settings is hard research and I was recently asked for reading recommendations by a fellow gamer. As I'm gearing up to be entertained this March by authors of Warhammer fiction at the Black Library Live event held in Nottingham on the Warhammer World site it's a topical subject to blog about. My small library of accumulated tomes is pictured above.

Where do you begin when there are now so many Warhammer books in circulation! There is only limited background information available in the Warhammer Armies series. Most of these concentrate on military activity because that is the nature of the Warhammer game. Because of he limited scope in core game releases I find it is best to delve deeper into the game background... After all, in Mordheim the main characters can be soldiers but most often they are adventurers!

I choose some releases to read as a fact-finding exercise. This can be illuminating and I've got into the habit of making all kinds of crazy notes (was on scraps of paper, now iPhone then straight to laptop) based on what turns up! Some books I select for pleasure because I like an authors previous work. To anyone who isn't familiar with the Black Library authors I would suggest buying a couple of good short story anthologies. These present an excellent choice. You will quickly discover which authors stories appeal most to you. Each fellow reader I speak to has different favourites based on what themes they find the most entertaining.

A word of caution; sometimes fantastic books are tricky to track down! Luckily the best stories tend to be reissued through the Black Library's supply-on-demand initiative, or omnibus format in the case of trilogies. Here are my personal recommendations of the best publications without too much in the way of spoilers. My six favourite Warhammer novel releases from Black Library;

Brunner the Bounty Hunter by CL Werner
Herr Werner has produced several faithful tales elaborating on fan-favourite characters tied to the game background. I would thoroughly recommend the Grey Seer Thanquol series (3rd book released later in 2011) and the Warhammer Heroes release depicting the barbaric escapades of Wulfrik Worldwalker. My favourite stories from CL are some of those where all new characters of his own invention have been introduced! Runefang and The Chaos Wastes series are all grand accomplishments in fantasy storytelling by the pulp-influenced author. The Witch Hunter Matthias Thulmann and his side-kick Streng have been immortalised in Warhammer lore but the crown jewel in Werner's collection is Brunner.

Brunner is no ordinary bounter hunter. He's a complicated character. An elite hired sword with patience, a unique moral code, a mysterious past coupled to a curious agenda. The adventures of Brunner were (finally!) collated into an omnibus release. The Bounty Hunter visits unusual settings, notably the Tilean city states. This makes for some delightful entertainment and colourful descriptive work courtesy of Werner's imaginative insight and informative research of the southern nation. One of Werner's strengths is his ability to pen engaging action sequences! He always pumps a lot of physical activity in and the fighting is extraordinarily real in his books! CL recently adapted his quill to tackle the 40K universe and I sincerely hope he doesn't get too wrapped up in the warp because his illustrations of the Old World are second to none.

The Vampire Genevieve by Jack Yeovil
The vampire Geneviève Dieudonné is a heroine. Something of an unusual statement given the reputation of bloodsuckers in the Warhammer game background. Kim Newman (aka Jack Yeovil) brought us the delicious Geneviève in the early days of Warhammer fiction. Worth noting is that a lot of BL authors cite Newman's work as an influence. Indeed the impresario Detlef Sierck (greatest playwright and actor the world has ever known) seems to be name-checked in subtext more times than any other character in Warhammer history except perhaps Karl Franz. The Emperor himself makes a cameo appearance in Drachenfels (book one) along with esteemed members of his royal court.

The omnibus release, now out-of-print I believe, is still available on the shelves of most decent bookstores. It comprises of 3 novels and 5 short stories. The continuity of the stories might been interpreted as jumbled. My vamp-loving little sister complained that the main character herself is less and less involved as the adventure unfolds. In fact, the author does some decidedly tricky juggling of sub-plots and characters. It's like he gets caught in a tangent involving an event, only then he terminates that tangent yet sees fit to return (us) to it through some nagging temptation to explore the sub-plot with a detailed explanation. It's bizarre and sensational all at once. I recommend this, even if you don't like vampire stories, Beasts in Velvet and the shorts The Warhawk and The Ignorant Armies are amongst the best Warhammer fiction you will ever read.

Zavant by Gordon Rennie
Now long since out-of-print, Gordon Rennie's 2002 release was a prime contribution to the Black Library legacy. 'A Zavant Konniger novel' promises murder and intrigue in the savage world of Warhammer. It never fails to deliver on its pledge! Konniger, a sage-detective and an ex-priest of Sigmar is faithfully assisted in his murder investigations by his halfling manservant Vido. The scholarly Konniger acts as a private investigator and being as he's received training in the martial arts of the east the aging sleuth is more than capable of looking after himself in a scrap!

The novel is divided into four parts, or 'cases'. The first two cases are short stories. The third case is longer. The fourth case is longest but the book only weighing in at 285 pages leaves the reader craving another hit! Thankfully I discovered a fifth case in the excellent short stories anthology 'Swords of the Empire' but since 2004 there has been no sign given that the sage-detective will return. Quite frustrating is that numerous other cases are imaginatively referenced by Rennie in the publisher notes of the Nuln University Press as lost or incomplete works. Rennie is one of the least prolific authors in Black Library's stable. This is a damn shame! Reviewing my favourite releases reminds me I ought to petition Black Library to commission Gordon Rennie; to retrieve the untold cases of Zavant Konniger from the forbidden archives of the Unseen Library*.

*I am absolutely convinced Konniger, of all Warhammer characters, would maintain 'lay-reader' membership to the mysterious Marienburg repository of forbidden lore.

Sword of Justice by Chris Wraight
I wasn't aware that I'd read anything by this author when I picked up the first release from the Warhammer Heroes series. As it turns out I did read 'The Judgement of Crows', a short featured in 'Death & Dishonour' which happens to be the latest Warhammer Anthology to be published. I believe Chris Wraight must be a new hired quill! Having already read the heroic Norse romp that is Wulfrik, this book had big footsteps to follow in. Funnily, I only grabbed the novel because I was stuck in Taunton with a couple of hours to kill. The telling of this tale is exceptional!

The main plot concerns the selection and eventual crowning of a new Elector Count in Averland. The task falls to the Emperor's Champion, Ludwig Schwartzhelm (much to his dismay). I'm familiar with the circumstances surrounding the province from tit-bits of information read elsewhere. Even so, for what one might assume to be a fairly cut and shut military-themed story, this adventure was loaded with intrigue. Without spoiling the readers experience I will only mention that there are a lot of outstanding back-room scenes. The highlight from this read was a special character who works exclusively for Ludwig. By no co-incidence the third Warhammer Heroes release is a sequel to this story. The follow-on concerns Kurt Helborg. Presumably continuing to explore the rivalry of these two differing personalities to a fitting conclusion. I can't wait for the imminent release of 'Sword of Vengeance' and would definitely like to buy the author a beer for his trouble when we get to Bugman's!

The Adventures of Florin & Lorenzo by Robert Earl
It's a challenging task to select a favourite book by each of my favorite authors. The toughest call was made choosing a Robert Earl novel. Earl has a brand new novel set in Hochland being released in the coming months. All of his stuff is entertaining, spine-tingling and it is romantic in the telling! His writing tone is distinct amongst Black Library authors. Comedic moments seem more common yet Earl's sinister humour is justified in a stylish symphony that 'feels really Warhammer'. In the end it was a toss up between the chilling Strigany tale of vampirism that is 'Ancient Blood' and the swashbuckling hijinks of Florin & Lorenzo.

Florin & Lorenzo are a pair of risk-taking Bretonnian adventurers. Being such bold adventurers the duo suffer none of the predictable moral dilemmas of your usual knightly characters from their home nation. Their dangerlust is a breath of fresh air because it leads them into daring romps across the Warhammer world to exotic locales. There is now an omnibus release collecting the three novels together with the short stories (including phenomenal tale 'Haute Cuisine') which is fantastic for anyone who didn't go on a jolly with them upon the initial releases.

There is odd synergy between the two characters. Lorenzo is initially meant to be Florin's manservant or at least he was at some point until their arrangement developed into being a partnership. 'The Burning Shore' takes the reader to distant Lustria, followed by a cross-country jaunt beyond the World's Edge Mountains to the Mountains of Mourn in 'Wild Kingdoms'. Robert Earl's captivating descriptions of the Ogre Kingdoms are the best thing since sliced dwarf bread. On the strength of book two alone I have to put this in my top six.

Gilead's Blood by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent
Famously this author produces reams of science fiction for the 40K universe. However, we are fortunate that Dan Abnett occasionally makes (or bends!?) time to frequent the Old World. A lot of folk are bound to have read his principal piratical excursion 'Fell Cargo'. Come on, it's about pirates!? The first Abnett book I read was 'Riders of the Dead', a story leading readers deep, to the Oblast and the Wastes. It wants to make you fall in love with Kislev! Abnett is smart. He has an incredible knack for homing in on minor details and animating them like you wouldn't believe. It's basically impossible to construct a retelling from an extract of what he has written, you just have to give up and quote him (see Kurgan weaponscraft in the Marauders of Chaos warband from Border Town Burning) on it. He also co-writes with other authors. The collaborations are clever stuff! The highlight for me has been 'Gilead's Blood'.

Gilead's Blood is the only reason I couldn't squeeze Graham McNeil'ls 'Defenders of Ulthuan' into my top five. I love elves! The tragic life of Gilead is probably now my favorite elven story of all time. The book is divided into (best word for it would be) sections which capitalise on strong themes and explore negative emotions. In places the subject material becomes rather trippy! This story is one of a kind.

In future I hope to blog more about the Black Library stories which have most inspired the Marienburg campaign for Mordheim. I will also recommend some good source books and report on the visit to Black Library Live.