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.

Behind closed doors

As mentioned in the previous entry we recently gained a Witch Hunters player in our test campaign. Brother Klaus zealously smashed our custom cultists gang of Stromfels Reavers in the last round. The dark buccaneer Scurvy Dick and his crew of Wreckers took it all it good humour of course, I hope!

Periodically fellow enthusiasts ask me how the campaign development is progressing. This suggests I need to reveal more insights about the current state of my mutinous setting's plot here! Bearing in mind it took the best part of 5 years for Border Town Burning to be completed, I am in no hurry to reach the finishing post with Mutiny In Marienburg. However, knowing progress is happening always makes for great bulletins.

The frustrating thing about the playtesting we're doing (for me) is that we're not testing out any new Exploration or Random Happenings (yet!) so we're utilising the original Mordheim lists. I have notes drawn up for them but for various reasons it's not the right time to work on these chapters. This means the test campaign feels looser in theme than I would like. On the upside there are less questions being raised. I'm still devising campaign plots (for warband objectives) and this will be ongoing. It will probably be influenced by player decisions somewhat I feel. The main reason the Random Haps & Exploration are on hold is because Border Town Buring was conceived somewhat back-to-front and I don't want to have to pick-apart work and put it back together again as we did back then. LoL. We learned a lot about the game by making mistakes that couldn't be helped at the time. In the long run it all came good.

In my test campaign we are at the stage where we have some outstanding scenarios that are working. One has its own built in Random Haps meaning it functions similarly to Last Orders! scenario (from Border Town Burning & Nemesis Crown) which I hope everyone counts as a favourite because there are lots of taverns in Marienburg on the waterfronts.

I have 7 functional warband list drafts for the Marienburg gangs which players in my gaming group have been happily using. These have been tailored to waterside adventure of course. I have leaked early drafts of these documents internationally to guys who are committed to modelling & painting to a very high standard or GM's who are running their own gaming group. A gentlemen from the forum contacted me this week asking to see a copy of the rules for Sea Elf Rangers. He and others have the impression this is a Lothern Sea Guard warband! It is not. Without sounding like an ass, I'd hope for obvious reasons I cannot just dole out copies of incomplete rules and unfinished work. Please only ask if you can help!

I will take a look through folks scenario suggestions if I think they are relevant to Marienburg. We have been playing a new scenario with a rescue element that features a lagoon monster. It's not exclusively about rescue and the damsel is actually an NPC. The objective isn't to destroy the monster either which makes it far more conducive to developing tactics than other decent scenarios I've seen on the forum which share similar themes.

Got another rescue scenario in mind. At first I simply wished to include a jailbreak scenario to choose to play when warriors are being placed under arrest by the watch. The first theme that I imagined being useful was an escape proposition, based on the the prison island Rijker's in the mouth of the Reik. The subsequent idea was to employ a gallows for an execution scenario in the Hangman's Square where coaches entering the city by either gate terminate their journeys. It's one of the few open spaces in the ward, on the island of Luydenhoek. I want to use evoking themes when creating scenarios, not just employ sets of rules.

I love a lot of old Town Cryer articles so I have been reprocessing (data-cleansing!) various materials to clarify them for appropriate use and improve campaign play. On top of scenarios & warband lists, the support documents for my current test campaign are split into the following resources;

Published here under Rules:
- Corrupted Characters (mutation, tainted goods, all aspects of Chaos activity)
- Swords Of The Empire (players easy reference of HS to be more inclined to hire)
- Miracle Workers (options for holier Heroes)

Unpublished:
- New Rules (charts or guidelines that don't fit elsewhere yet)
- Marketplace (post-battle sequence rules summary revitalising aspects of Encampments)
- Infamous Haunts (post-battle sequence rules for underworld location visits streamlining aspects of Encampments)

As for the new warbands, there isn't a Fimir warband list to speak of because it's virtually impossible to devise an original one that accurately reflects the lore. However, the Forge World team pledged in some official capacity at UK Games Day to release Fimir Warrior miniatures which is great because I did previously mention this to a few of their staff. New rules are slated for the 2nd Warhammer Forge book. It is said to be being released under the name 'Monstrous Arcana'.

I must compose some sort of grand introduction for the Gangs of Marienburg. Until I do reveal more on gangs these shadowy characters will continue to fight their battles behind the closed doors of their shady gambling den hide-outs.

Watchtower of Solace

This Sunday afternoon I added a fresh piece of terrain to my already heavily populated Marienburg campaign table. Apologies that proper stills of the board haven't made there way into the Liber gallery just yet, there are some professional quality images being uploaded quite soon, honest!


Sigmar's Solace, Witch Hunters headquarters in Marienburg

A plastic kit Warhammer watchtower has been gathering dust on the modelling desk in my flat since the beginning of the Summer. I collected it from a local hobbyist for 5 gold crowns (well, pounds sterling) pre-assembled and had to break off the steps and reattach them so they fit properly. A few hours were spent painting the tower to loosely match it up with the rest of my buildings and fortresses which were scratch-built and kit-bashed by Carl Merrell (aka Shanks on Tom's Forum).

Watchtowers are iconic in Warhammer games. The Watchtower is symbolic of the old Town Cryer articles for Mordheim by the same name. This handy guide to reference past articles was resurrected by Chris Templin a few years ago. Here is a link to his article Rebuilding the Watchtower. These dusty gems still serve us in one format or another.

What prompted me to work on the tower was a new entrant in the campaign I am running. David Jarezembowski has brought the Templars of Sigmar to Marienburg! The classic Witch Hunters warband suits Dave perfectly. He's one of those gamers whose competitive nature gives the more casual players a fright! Dave's zeal is happily balanced with a head for the Warhammer background, so although he plans to burn or drown any witches & heretics he encounters, his motives are laying the foundations for a fun-packed adventure story. Dave is a veteran of every Games Workshop game apart from Mordheim. His vast experience of Warhammer and Necromunda set him in excellent stead for the intrigue and battles to come.

Witch hunters have absolutely no jurisdiction in Marienburg. Sigmar has little to no favour in the city-port and Imperial laws are void since is seceded from the Empire's rule! I figured that a 'temporary' base of operations for the templars was still only fitting. The witch hunter captain needs somewhere to interrogate suspects once they get a license to pursue their investigations signed and sealed by the Executive Council of the Stadsraad. A small fortified watchtower seemed perfect to represent Sigmar's Solace, or 'Sigmartrost' in Reikspiel.

One of the new scenario ideas I had for this city setting is 'Stockade'. In this core scenario a fortified tower surrounded by a defensive barrier is used as the battleground for what I originally intended to be a homage to the scenario 'Blockade' from Border Town Burning. A few of the other new scenarios have been completed for 'Mutiny in Marienburg'. We have been using these plus original Mordheim and Border Town Burning scenarios to playtest the 7 gangs of Marienburg. Yeh, that's 7 new warbands folks!

In a new scenario called 'Dead Bait' the warbands enter a fighting pit in the Marienburg underworld. The forces from each gang are split. 3 warriors are nominated as Champions to fight in the baiting pit against each other plus the hulking pit gladiators! The remainder of the warband are (supposed to be) spectators but inevitably end up baiting one another while the pitfight reaches its bloody conclusion.

This weeks scenario we've been testing is 'Creature from the Black Market Lagoon'. One warband is using a kidnapped damsel as live bait to distract an aquatic monster that is menacing their secret smuggling dock. While they load their illegal goods another warband leads a rescue party to save the damsel.

In addition to the witch hunters arrival, there are a couple more clandestine entrants to the campaign. Steve Hume (aka 'Canada') has already won his first battle using Cathayan Battle Monks. Trev (TreGod on Tom's Forum) is lining up his Elf warband. for which you can view from his WiP thread on Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum. He is plotting to foil my uranai rangers with his druchii corsairs. Trev is actually stylizing his elves based on the Sea Elf Rangers warband list, but because I am already playing with this gang in the campaign we agreed it would be more fun if he uses the Dark Elf warband list from the Lustria setting. The corsairs are infiltrating Marienburg in the guise of sea elves to wreak havoc by fulfilling their hateful prophecies.

Fimir Balefiend sighted

Another lavish tome made its way into my library of lore this weekend. Storm of Magic is the latest Warhammer release, an expansion treating heretics to a mind-bending choice of extraordinarily powerful new magic spells, artefacts, fulcrums, and scrolls permitting the binding of monsters, beasts and magical characters.

Nestled away in the back of this luxurious publication on page 134 is an amphibious sorcerer called a Fimir Balefiend. Until one of the Games Workshop studio developers named Mat Ward co-wrote the latest Warhammer rulebook and the Storm of Magic expansion, the Fimir had managed to keep a low profile for two decades!


Fimir sorcerers, known as Dirach or sometimes as Balefiends, are detailed as spending prolonged periods in the lands beyond the mists. The Fimir are described in Storm of Magic as amphibious humanoid monsters that haunt bogs, fens, and desolate moorlands in the northern and western Old World. The reason that I am recounting these texts is because that area being described is none other than the Wasteland. Marienburg is sited in the Wasteland territory. The city-port is surrounded by treacherous swamplands known as the Cursed Marsh and it is here that the infamous one-eyed daemon-worshipping Fimir lay in hiding. Their strongholds wreathed in thick mist produced through magic means by their sorcerers to shield their craggy fortresses from prying eyes.


The quality of the Storm of Magic hardback publication easily justifies the price tag. It has been masterfully produced with a magnetic front cover and spinning dial representing the Eight Winds of Magic, reminding me of the party game 'Twister!'


One of the players in my campaign set in Marienburg is using a Cult of the Possessed gang. We don't have the original Mordheim miniatures available but I do have a selection of suitable Citadel miniatures we can use; Fimir warriors from the Heroquest game plus a couple of the metal miniatures released during the late 80's.


The reasons for Fimir being the perfect choice to represent a Possessed warband is not obvious. Anyone who us unfamiliar with the Warhammer background concerning Fimir will mistake them for Beasts of Chaos. This the 'Common View'. Fimir are not beastmen, beastmen are not amphibious! Fimir are described as a dwindling and reclusive race. Beastmen are widespread, plaguing the Old World and beyond. Comparing the two is worse than comparing Elves to Men. They are like chalk and cheese.

Common views concerning Fimir are judged by their appearance rather than their lore. Fimir appear bestial and primal, who occasionally raid to take captives and steal food. Some or all of these behaviours are demonstrated by men, orcs, ogres, gors, chaos dwarfs and werecreatures to mention a few.

Fimir society and their gruesome habits are historically described in a couple of the 1st edition Warhammer Roleply sourcebooks in addition to classic Warhammer rulebooks and the original Warhammer Armies publication. It's gripping stuff! The less detail concerning some of their less than salubrious activities the better. In this day and age it is sufficient to say that such creatures grim objective is to destabilise the barrier between the mortal world and the Realm of Chaos, to regain favour with the Chaos Gods.


There is a matriarchal aspect to the bog dwellers social structure to mention. Amongst the Balefiends, the Dirach sorcerers are historically subservient to the Meargh females. The lore is indicative that powerful spellcasters amongst Fimir are their leaders.

Campaign material concerning 'possessed' Fimir warriors is included in the RPG book 'Dying of the Light'. An excellent sourcebook set mostly around the Wasteland, with parts being set within Marienburg itself! These characters with a daemon bound to their physical form by a magister either wind up behaving (and appearing physically) like Possessed, Dark Souls or Mutants. Warriors too weak to survive daemonic possession typically end up dead or worse. The scenario 'Burn Them!' was scribed by none other than Black Library author Sandy Mitchell as pictured on this blog!


Like the druchii, beastmen and human followers of Chaos, the Fimir entreat with daemons, carrying out morbid practices of dark magic and human sacrifice. They would use Chaos rituals and more than a little of daemon lore. The weapons list of both CotP and Beastmen warbands are similar. Theres are no centauroid mutants mentioned specifically relating to the one-eyed marsh phantoms. The characteristics for 'Beastmen' in CotP warbands as opposed to traditional Gors are very different (much to Christian Templin's dismay). Warriors with '2 Wounds' compare favourably with the elite Fimm described in the lore.

After scratching around for enough proof through research, in my scholar's view, I find the evidence all very compelling. While I wouldn't dare loremasters of renown to argue against my reasoning, I don't see much rationale that indicates a dedicated warband list is necessary for Fimir. Especially when you consider the low profile that their mysterious kind has maintained for hundreds of years, their covert behaviour bears comparison to the actions of a Chaos cult.

The next time the Balefiend's cyclopean eye turns its attention on the ebb and flow of the Winds of Magic it might realise that magical power is available just beyond the city wall of Marienburg.

Believe in miracles

Sweet Myrmidia, Morr's bones, Ulric's beard, Taal's teeth, Shallya's teats, Sigmar's sausage, Manann's cockles, Ranald's balls!

Each of the above are popular curses from the Old World. Believe me, I'm needing to use them all upon swearing in a new article entitled 'Miracle Workers'. This is a Mordheim gaming aid all about Priests.

Download the article here:
Miracle Workers (PDF, ca. 1.8 MB)

Swords of the Empire, trusting in their faith, can withstand and turn back the tide of enemies that face them, needing only to hear the priests reciting liturgies to inspire them to heroism. It falls to the priests to contend with the foe on the spiritual and magical planes and they do this with prayers and invocations, almost equal in potency to the spells of wizards, and with the strength of their unflinching minds.

Some existing game rules for priests in Mordheim have been changed here so this is my opportunity to point out the change only affects two priests. There is no change to Warrior-priests of Sigmar or Priests of Taal aside from the enhanced material herein allowing all priests to receive the 'Mark' of a respective patron.

Wolf-priest of Ulric by Enrique Durand originally appeared in Town Cryer #8. In my article the Ulrican priest has undergone more of a rewrite than I would have liked. This seemed necessary in fitting the character more faithfully to the game background as it is portrayed in releases for the Warhammer roleplaying game.

Priests of Morr featured in the White Dwarf mini-campaign 'Thy Will Be Done' but they had previously appeared in Town Cryer #12 courtesy of Todd Estabrook. Todd was a freelancer who had the right idea in his portrayal of priests. The Priest of Morr was described as a new Hero that could be used in mercenary warbands replacing one of the warband's Heroes. Favourable revisions inspired by Tome of Salvation appear in the article to enhance the flavour of Morr's servants.


Priest of Morr conversion painted by Werekin

Heretics beware! Within this document download you can find rules to play any priest from the nine patron Cults of the Empire. These include new prayers and special rules for a Trickster-priest of Ranald, Priest of Verena, Priestess of Shallya, War-priestess of Myrmidia, and Mariner-priest of Manann.

In Marienburg, some faiths are more dominant than others. There are annotations promoting how you might hire priests faithful to other gods like Handrich, God of Trade and Commerce. Additional guidelines describe the infamous War-priests of Solkan!

This article is intended to be used in all campaigns set in Mordheim, Marienburg, and beyond. It was conceived as a counterpart piece to the Corrupted Characters article which was completed ages ago hence I'm thankful to finally get this off my desktop!


Priest of Manann conversion painted by Werekin

I hope Miracle Workers inspires many hours of zealous modeling activity in the Mordheim community! My own Citadel miniature conversions for Priests will be appearing over on Tom's Boring Mordheim Forumhere. I now invite you talented craftsmen and women to post your own hobby offerings on the same thread.

Thanks to Bob Whetton for photographing the miniatures.

Saluting trade exploration

The annual wargaming event Salute was staged at London's ExCel exhibition centre on Saturday 16th April.


After hauling my bony butt from the comfort of my quilted coffin, I met up with Frogprince and Geekgirl before beginning our expedition to attend this prestigious trade show widely considered to be a calendar highlight for everybody in the wargaming industry.

Aside from Black Library Live last month it is the first event I've attended in a long time. It is the first trade fair event of its kind I have ever been to. I have not made it to a Games Day since the 1990's. UK Gen-Con is an event which I have participated in maybe as recently as 7 or 8 years ago, but assuredly none of these experiences has been quite like Salute. Funnily enough Black Library was present. As were a myriad of British merchants and manufacturers from around Europe.

Our product exploration was a spur of the moment decision. I have known of the event for quite some time and always fancied going. An old friend of mine and his fiancee said they fancied it too so off we went!

One of the big attractions at an event like Salute is new releases. There are a number of exclusive items available for the first time on the day. Some manufacturers go so far as selling items that have been produced exclusively for the show. I should have liked to mention something of it in advance as a few folk have since indicated they'd have liked a few exclusive show items if we had been able to pick them up. One to consider for next time.

The organisation of online sales for retailers is questionable! Some have what I consider poor web pages or site that are unfriendly to navigate. I spoke to a couple of companies who either admitted to having no web presence or they had poor web sites. There were too many flyers being handed out. One flyer was for Citadel components and the company name was Bits Box who (in their own words) don't have much stock right now. Time wasters! They don't have a webstore being as this was a different firm to Bitz Box who do have a great web site and periodically update their stock.

What was brilliant about Salute was viewing all the magnificent stuff close-up for real and wrestling with decisions over what to buy and whether to buy it or not. For instance I went to one trade-stand with the intention of making a purchase, then ended up being blown away by another tradestand ran by some very talented Polish guys. Micro Art Studio make bases that are so characterful that they stand a bloody good chance of upstaging the miniatures that you would be sticking on to them! I picked up some samples to work with for my upcoming gang projects from their Battle Bases range. Browsing through their online store I am now being tempted to order some graveyard themed bases in addition to these wood-planked ones. While at the stand I even joked to MAS staff that we could try fighting opponents using just these attractive bases with no warriors on them!


For sure there is a varying amount of (crap!) detail on a number of these Micro Art Studio bases. They are open to a lot of interpretation when being painted. For instance there is a futile amount of effort that has gone in to painting the bases which were on display at the show. It does not help buyers that there are no miniatures planted on them because that leaves zero impression of their end value. That is stupid guys, really stupid!


We didn't attend the show for any of the games being ran. A few hard-sellers were cajoling me to invest time on games demos and part with my gold crowns on their products but nothing new has peeked my interest in that sense. There are trillions of games in the market to investigate and a lot of interesting ideas. Convention marketplaces and online shopping trends have loosened the hold of the ivory tower presence Games Workshop commands from the high street. The gaming giant has to perform like never before to maintain its market share with serious contenders chomping at the bit.

There were a couple of marvelously sculpted ranges of pirate miniatures featuring tasty tricorn-hatted femme fatales and swashbuckling freebooters from Black Scorpion and Freebooter miniatures respectively. Unfortunately a lot of these high fantasy products come across as being too cheesy for my gritty tastes, and by that I mean fantasy formats where comedic license fails to balance itself. A lot of the work I saw was cute. It lacked in edge.

I did bear witness to camaraderie between artists when one miniature designer stood present 'swapping' his latest releases with the staff on another traders stand! That was a cool moment from the event.

The contrast between real and unreal factions at Salute really stretches the brain. Alongside established historical publications are a mind-boggling array of fantastical realms to keep up with. Weird looking creatures packaged in boxes or blister-packs fill the many racks of vendors. Menageries of strange imaginary beasts being referred to by differing titles, some worryingly familiar, some not at all. We failed to find any Fimir and there was a zero count on Werelions.

While there were a number of really impressive historical gaming set ups, I was not awestruck by any of them. Certainly not after reading reports from European events such as my co-conspirator Cianty's experience at Hamburger Tactica 2011. You can see read his report here.

There was a severe lack of decent terrain on sale of any kind. While disappointing this saved me a lot of money. I have already amassed a quantity of custom built scenery on top of cobbling together some of my own items for my Marienburg adventure. Maritime accessories were few and far between. Between the crest of the waves I did spot some handy looking crates and grain sacks to decorate a wharf on Luydenhoek Isle.


Ultimately, my existing back log is wicked enough that I resisted the urge to go crazy around Salute snapping up all the shiny releases I liked the look of from a few of what I considered the best quality producers. Acting on impulse I did walk away with the new Marienburg Land Ship though. Frogprince eventually bagged himself the Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith after braving the horrible queues in the mad scrum which signifies the arrival of Forgeworld.

Fire dwarfs

As introductions go, this isn't going to be very good, for which I apologise but I would just like to set the scene. I am currently sat in Stu 'Werekin' Cresswell's flat typing on his laptop while he is in another room with my fiancee (Michelle 'geekgirl' Steele) and a mutual friend of ours from Canada. Imaginatively* he is called Canada by all his British friends. The reason I am saying this is because they are all settling down with toy soldiers and dice to play the bar room brawl scenario Last Orders! from the previous supplement Border Town Burning, and patiently waiting for me to finish typing up this post and geek out with them. This, along with the glass of rum sat here with me, might explain a lot about this post.....

*The trend was set by Eddy 'Skarloc' Morgan.

As an avid fan of Forgeworld miniatures, word has reached me of a certain show only model for this years events trail. A certain Chaos /Black/Fire Dwarf Hellsmith .


Fire Dwarfs have a certain amount of nostalgia for me as not only were they the first real, new warband I had the fortune to be playtesting (The Black Dwarfs for the BTB campaign previous) but also my first attempt at contributing some serious writing to the Mordheim tapestry (I don't think the aborted Snotling Freedom Fighters warband really counts!) in the form of the Hobgoblin Wolfrider Hired Sword.

Roll back time a little bit to September and a certain event at Birmingham's NEC. Once again at the Forgeworld tradestand (or to be more specific, Warhammer Forge) and a number of models catch my eye. The second of which, surprisingly, are the Dwarfs of Chaos. First, though, is the Marienburg Landship. It's a big model so was pretty hard to miss! Having been suitably impressed with this nautical themed resin artefact I noticed a number of smaller models around it. These were much smaller, being dwarfen in stature, and bearded but not the common kind. These were braided and they had distinctive silly hats on!

Now I have been in the hobby for some time. About 15 or so years (on and off) behind the paintbrush, so I remember the Chaos Dwarfs of old. Unfortunately due to lack of forethought stupidity on my part I no longer have any of my miniatures from way back then which did include some plastic, once piece Chaos Dwarfs and a Sorcerer, who may even have been a Lord, so the opportunity to get my paws on a small armies worth without the excessive cost some Ebay sellers charge for the privilege is most welcome! It also means I get the chance to use them again in my games of Mordheim, as I no longer have my original warband used for playtesting.

Now I am known for my love of ratkind in Mordheim, however, I will say that the Black/Fire Dwarfs warband is probably one of the most fun I have played with. Especially using the Bull Centaur, he is a close combat monster! There is something about the warband when you are playing a game that really draws you in to the feel of the game and that, for me, is the sign of a great warband.

Now I really must go, a Cathayan Dragon Monk has just spilled a Strigany River Pirate's drink, there are strange squeaking sounds coming from the latrines and the Elven Minstrels have stopped playing their music while our glasses are refilled...........