Mordheim Battle Report - The Beast of Vorrheim

 A few weeks back, me and a few friends gathered for a game of Mordheim, as part of an ongoing Empire in Flames campaign we've been playing through for the last year or so. It was a special game for me, partly because it was the last game in the campaign I could part in before I moved away, but also because it was a mission I'd been looking forward to immensely - Monster Hunt!

The Beast of Vorrheim


Deep in the heart of Ostermark, close to the site of ruined city of Mordheim, Baron Boriz Ludunof of Vorrheim was in despair. Owing to his ancestors habit of being buried with their most valuable possession, his family crypt was now overrun with a hideous scaly Dragon intent on plundering it. Being young, the beast seemed content to nurture its ill-gotten horde, yet had slain all his best fighters in turn when they had been sent to rid the town of it.

In desperation he put word out of his plight, offering the spoils of the beasts horde to any who could slay it. To his surprise, it was not one hero who stepped forward, but no less than four bands of adventurers, fresh from the ruins of Mordheim, all eager to claim the prize for themselves, to the detriment of their rivals...

Our task was a simple one: Kill the Dragon and hold onto the horde by driving off all other opponents. In game terms this meant if there ever was only one side in the beasts lair and no opponents within 6 inches, they'd claim victory and get a load of gold, wyrdstone and equipment for their troubles.

Four Warbands arrived to claim the treasure. It would've been five but one of our regulars and his Vampire counts couldn't make it down.

Anyway, first up were my Dark Elves, battered and bruised after a string of recent defeats, led by Varkar the Fellblade, after the Highborn sprouted an arrow to the chest in the previous game and died outright (again!) and the Sorceress was too wounded to participate in this game. They took up position in a building, hoping to make a dash across open ground to slay the beast up close and personal without taking any more casualties

 Next up were Victoria's Empire warband (can't remember what province), whose shooting had proved unerringly accurate throughout the campaign and were responsible for much of the drubbing that my DE had been taking recently. She chose to set her archers up in a commanding position on a hill, with a small close combat contingent ready to take the fight to the dragon.

 
 Then there were Hayden's High Elves, a warband bloated to monstrous proportions, owing mainly to the prowess of his Pit Fighter and stupid amount of bow fire available to him. He'd only been defeated twice, a feat which was possible only because all the other players allied against him. He chose the hill with the watchtower between Victorias and my warband, sheltering part of his force behind it in case he didn't win first turn

And finally there was Adam's Empire Warband (again, Province unknown), which set up opposite the High Elves, hoping the sheer amount of Handguns in his force could swing the battle in his favour, despite having taken a beating recently, resulting in a lot of deaths, but also a couple of new heroes rising up from the ranks.

I won first turn and crept forward cautiously, sending my Cold One Beasthounds forward to try and lure the dragon out into the path of my crossbows. I quickly realised how many enemy bows and guns they were exposed to and ducked them behind a fence for protection.

The others sent their men forward, eager for glory, despite the long slog across the table to the door. In typical Dark Elf fashion, I decided to wait and let them enter. Rather they get torched than me

 After her first few shot bounce off the dragons hide, Tor instead turns the attention of her Archers to Hayden's advancing Elves, knocking one onto his arse and putting another out of action.

Undeterred Hayden advanced his High Elves on the lair, opening fire and wounding it several times but it regenerated them all (we were using the Baby Hydra rules so it actually presented a challenge). The Druchii watched their Asur cousins from the safety of cover, pinging a few crossbow shots their way but not achieving anything. Valkar kept his head down, wondering how on earth they were going to break through the mass of High Elves and claim his prize;

 The answer came in the form of Tor's Empire which were approaching the door from the other direction. She'd made an alliance with Adams Empire, but it seemed like she'd had the same idea as me, letting him going in first. Nobody wanted to be the first one torched!

 

Gently does it lads...

Then inspiration hit me, by giving up my share of the loot from the battle, I bought my way into the Empire alliance. I didn't mention I didn't care if I got the loot or not, seeing as I was out of the campaign after this game anyway.

After a quick tactical discussion while Hayden went out for a smoke, I sent my two Cold One Beasthounds (now affectionately known as Fifi and Fido) into the crypt, the theory being it was better to lose two 20g Henchmen than the expensive heroes that they were thinking of sending in. One quick blast of flame later, BBQ Nauglir was on the menu, but the move brought the dragon into charge range of the mob of Empire troops bearing down on it, supported by one very plucky Druchii with a net....

Seeing the chance of victory slipping away, Hayden desperately opened fire at the beast with everything he had, bringing it down to a single wound, but once again its scales knitted back together, recovering all but one wound. If High Elves ever deigned to swear, they'd be inventing some rather choice new curses round about now.

 

Take aim!....

Up on their hill, Tor's archers took aim again, hitting and wounding with pretty much everything. With it down to one wound (again), everyone watched with baited breath as Hayden rolled for the beasts regeneration save....

Victory Dance!

....and the Beast was dead! Now all that remained was for our unholy alliance to drive off the High Elves and claim victory. While I dashed my men forward to take cover in the crypt, it seemed that one of Adam's heroes, gifted with stupidity, frenzy and the nickname 'Whirlwind Bill' decided to take the fight to them.

 

Back! Back I say! 

After a few minutes laughter at his antics, which included him stopping dead in front of the HE lines due to stupidity, then charging in frenzy at the High Elf lines, having miraculously survived the storm of arrows being shot his way and stayed out of charge range of his thrice-cursed Pit Fighter, he actually secured victory by cutting down two High Elves in a single round of combat, driving them back to 7" from the crypt and fulfilling the win conditions. 

After much celebration we worked out injuries. Hayden's warband suffered badly, finally losing some Henchmen to bad injury rolls, whilst one of his heroes was forced to sit out the next two games and another was blinded in his right eye. Tor and Adam came out lightly, with a few minor injury results. Whirlwind Bill gained 'Strike to Injure', making his future antics all the more entertaining, whilst Fido had to be put down (Sad face)

                                              

So there you have it, the Wandering Mind's first full Battle Report. All in all it was a cracking game and a great way to end my involvement in the campaign. It's a shame I can't carry on, but I've moved from Norfolk to Cambridgeshire now so it's a little impractical to say the least for me to carry on. If I can find enough people interested in joining in, I do want to try out some of the other Specialist Games though. Possibly Necromunda.

Let me know what you think of the report. I might do more in future, depends if I can find the time to do one. It's hard to fit a game in at a club if I keep stopping to take pictures. If I can get some Necromunda going it'll be easier, as the games tend to be lot shorter.

Until next time, happy gaming!