Pirate Campaign: The raid on Hoshu

[Kramer]

Inspired by the excellent discussion @Kamose about narrative and matched play I decided to share my experiences with a narrative (but with matched play rules) campaign I'm running with a couple of friends. Also as i'm writing this up I would like to thank everybody on this forum that helped me design this campaign by giving feedback or just sharing their experiences. The total campaign can be found below. 

Honshu is a recently discovered island filled with untold riches and ripe for the plunder. Four greedy and ambitious pirate captains set sail but only one will succeed. 
One brave slayer pirate captain is looking for a glorious death or, failing that, riches. Supported by his former clan he sets sail to Honshu.

From the Ogre Kingdoms comes a former Maneater who has always dreamt of becoming a Pirate King. With the discovery of Honshu, the promise of treasure is finally big enough to form his own Ogre crew. 

A Dark Elf Black Ark Fleetmaster is looking to make his name by plundering, raiding and razing every place of name or value. The island Honshu will be the first stepping stone to get a position in the court of Malekith. 

A particularly sneaky Skaven Warlock has convinced a warlord to embark on the pirate life. While the warlord thinks he is after the riches of Honshu, the warlock will be going after the relics of the Old Ones. And if the Warlord finds out... well it's the nature of a rat to abandon a sinking ship.

The first campaign day saw all players decide where to make landfall. As ever welcoming host I managed to roll a 1 so I had no choice in the matter. On the north end of the island the dwarfs grabbed the initiative and decided to claim 4. Bamburgh Castle and the mine for the ability to bring an extra war machine. The Ogres had to make 6. Bone castle their temporary home, gaining the benefit of 3. shimmer-glass spire buffing their magic.

On the South East end the Dark Elves (me) made landfall first. While my captain and most of the crew were busy on a supply run a small contingent was left behind to protect the ship. However late at night the always sneaky Skaven arrived. The Skaven Warlord had sent a small group of rats to steal the supplies of the Elves. 

While the Dark Elves were busy 'inspecting' the inside of various bars the sneaky Skaven managed to get the cargo of the ship. They decided to stick together and run quick-quick through the left flank. They had three pieces of essential cargo with them. If they managed to carry them out of town they would seize the initiative and seriously hamper the Dark Elf Captain. But on the third turn the Dark Elves emerged but would it prove to be in time.

While the Rats raced down the left flank, the Elves moved to intercept them. When the forces clashed the Skaven resistance seemed futile as the first three rats died but the survivors were holding on. And then the Executioner strode into the fray. 

But the unexpected happened. One lowly Skaven Clanrat sensed his chance for glory and treasure. He managed to single handedly kill the Executioner, two corsairs and a Shade. Furthermore he tied up the last corsairs while the rest of the Skaven managed to get away. 

The Skaven won a minor victory meaning they could decide where to hole up. The Skaven Captain decided to skulk around the southern edge away from all the action in typical Skaven fashion. 

Next up: the sadistic Dark Elves managed to capture a dwarf maiden to sacrifice. Of course the Dwarfs could not suffer this indignation and sailed forth to save her. But will they be in time?

I will write up the next battle later today. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I had playing this game. The fact that the result directly effects the campaign was very exiting. And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for that pesky clanrat.

 

[Warboss Gorbolg]

Looks like a lot of fun.  How many points are you running?  Would be fun to see each army list.

[Kramer]

On 12/24/2016 at 3:03 PM, Warboss Gorbolg said:

Looks like a lot of fun.  How many points are you running?  Would be fun to see each army list.

I'll see if I can reconstruct them. The first round was skirmish. Second game (will write it up later) was 500pt. One player never played any wargames, 1 played warhammer 10 years ago and me and the fourth player played against eachother a couple of times since release. So we started small, next round will be 750, the next 1000pt and adding the alliance rules, so that by the last fase we will be playing with the full set of rules  (We didn't want to overwhelm the newer players.) 

[Kramer]

@Warboss Gorbolg the list for the skirmish game were: DE: 4 corsairs, 4 shades and 1 executioners. Skaven: 4 Stormvermin, 7 clanrats

[Kramer]

The campaign consists of five campaign turns and i’ll be playing the Dark Elves in this campaign. In the first turn the four players battled each other to decide who could choose their starting location first, see my previous post for the whole story. In the second campaign turn players ventured forth into Honshu…

Dawn rose on the Island of Honshu. All four captains had claimed an location as their base and now it was time to venture forth. In typical fashion the Skaven captain skulked around the southern edges to claim treasure and avoid confrontation. In the far north the Ogors raced towards the volcano in the north of the island and feasted in worship of the great Maw. The Dark Elves however felt the pull of evil magic and traveled towards the centre of the island to find a sword in a stone. Magic pulsed from the strange weapon but it needed to be fed a innocent soul. Dark Riders rode forth and captured a fair and bearded Dwarf maiden to sacrifice. Time was of the essence. The sacrifice needed to take place soon. The Dwarf Throng marched double time to save her but would they be in time?

The set up of the battle was simple, see page 26 of the campaign document for the full rules. Set up in the middle of the board was an altar on which the Dwarf captive was set. Within 1” a Dark Elf Hero was set up accompanied by an honour guard. The rest of the Dark Elf army was set up within 12” of their own table edge. Then the Dwarf player set up all of his units. The game was won on victory points. The Dark Elf player could execute the captive for 300VP on turn 4, 100VP on tun 3 or 5, or 50VP on turn 2 or 6. Because we played only 500 points we halved the VP’s for the sacrifice, however both player controlled an inland river meaning we added 100 points. The Dwarfs gained the first turn. The Dark Elf army consisted of: Black Ark Fleetmaster, 20 Dreadspears, 10 Darkshards, 5 Dark Riders and 15 Corsairs. The Dwarfs arrived with: Long Drong, 10 Quarrelers, 10 Longbeards, 10 Long Drong Slayer Pirates and 1 Gyrocopter.

De Dwarfs marched straight onto the battlefield and forwards. The Slayer Pirates raced forwards in search of cover. The gyrocopter veered left taking the high ground and the Black Ark Fleetmaster straight down the barrel of his brimstone gun. But to avoid hitting the captive he overcompensated and missed all his shots. The Longbeards feared not the frail elves and march right to claim the right flank. And then the Quarrellers fired; their crossbows creaking from the strain and only seven bolts flying far enough. Three Corsairs fell to the ground, the rest saved by their Sea Dragon Skin cloaks. Enraged they charged forward, ignoring the Slayer Pirates advancing in the centre. Seeing their Fleetmaster of need in support the Dreadspears ran forward shielding him from the Slayer Pirates. Pistol and Brimstone shots were fired and Dreadspears died, Repeater Crossbows bolts flew and Slayer Pirates sank to the ground. Meanwhile the Corsairs engaged the Dwarf Quarrelers while the Dark Riders diverted the grumbling Longbeards away from the altar.

And then the time for the sacrifice was there. The Black Ark Fleetmaster emerged from the jungle, where he’d been hiding from Dwarven Pistols overseeing the battlefield, ordered the Dreadspears to charge the Slayer Pirates and with flick of his Cutlass the ritual was complete. Outraged the Slayer Captain charged the nearby Corsairs shouting curses and promises of retribution. The Corsairs were swiftly dealt with but that was nowhere near enough to settle this grudge. Looking around he saw the battle hung in balance. Marching forward firing pistol after pistol the pirate Captain entered the fray in the middle of the battlefield. And grudges were fulfilled. 

After that the battle began a slugfest in a central piece of jungle granting everybody +1 to their save. The Dwarf captain managed to slay his Dark Elf counterpart which happened to be his secret campaign assignment granting him an additional D3 points. The battle was a small win for the Dark Elves. Most notable was the way the Dark Riders drew away the Longbeards, when they finally joined the battle it was turn six, and the charge of the Corsairs which forced the Dwarf general to choose to go forward in support of the Slayer Pirates or the Quarrellers. The result was that his hardest hitters entered combat only after the sacrifice had taken place. 

Sadly we were unable to play the final multiplayer battle as the Ogor player had other responsibilities. We did play a three player free for all death match but that felt to much like ganging up on one player and we stopped after three turns. We then rolled for the campaign points. You gained D3 Relics for every location you had claimed plus D3 for every secret objective that had been fulfilled. Only the Dwarf and Dark Elf player managed to accomplish that. Meaning the Dwarf player is in the lead with 12 points, the Skaven captain has 10 points, I’m right behind him with 9 points and the Ogor player will roll during our next gathering. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! 

ps. C&C welcome as this series is my first battle report.

 

 

 

[Double Misfire]

It seems like everyone's starting a pirate campaign nowdays, great read. Must... fight... urge to dig out slayer pirates... 

[Kramer]

10 minutes ago, Double Misfire said:

It seems like everyone's starting a pirate campaign nowdays, great read. Must... fight... urge to dig out slayer pirates... 

I painted them especially for this campaign. They are so much fun to paint. And well pirates... you arrr of coarrrrse allowed to say nay, but who can resist the call of booty treasure.

And on a more serieus note it's of coarse an easy fix to bring all kinds of factions together in one place. For me it was the slayer pirates and the pirate Maneater I still wanted to paint when I ran into a good deal for a second hand Lokhir Fellheart. That moment my fate was sealed. 

[Kramer]

 The campaign consists of five campaign turns and i’ll be playing the Dark Elves in this campaign. In the first turn the four players battled each other to decide who could choose their starting location first, the second campaign turn players ventured forth into Honshu and now the third turn arrives. Players will be faced the dilemma of venturing further or fortifying their current positions. 

The campaign turn started off with all players receiving a second secret objective, which both played a major role this round. The Skaven and Dwarf Captains were both challenged to claim Grimnir’s forge and moved swiftly forwards. The Ogors swiftly expanded their territory while the Dark Elves, me, managed to pass only to fortify my location while only needing to roll 2 up’s. So I needed to beat the Ogors on table 1, while next to us the Dwarfs fought the Skaven for control of Grimnir’s forge. 

As dawn rose the Ogor Pirate Captain stared at one of his nemeses across the field. The weakling Elf's with their raiding party stood before him. His personal Butcher warned him meteorites made of precious metals would come crashing down soon. He only needed one but what Pirate could resist more treasure... 

But he would have to be careful. Not something his clan would like but those damn Elves brought a Reaper Crossbow. Soon the gifts from the heaven came crashing down on opposite corners on the battlefield. Both armies immediately reacted by moving their considerable forces towards the objectives. As soon as the Corsairs had claimed the meteorite they decided that simply protecting the treasure was beneath their status and they ran towards the right flank. All Ogors in the mean time gathered around the meteorite under their control. 

This skulking behind the trees was no way for an Ogor to behave but the Ogor captain saw no way to move forward without risking getting shot by the Reaper Crossbow. And he needed his boys for the days to come. But he could at least keep the Dark Elf Sorceress in her place. By calling on the power of the Weather Tower the clear blue skies turned black within minutes and rain started to pour. The water levels rose faster than the Sorcerers could move off her little island and was stuck their the rest of the battle. 

Seeing no chance of charging the Elves without severe losses and the Corsairs nearly close enough to support the Dreadspears the Ogors retreated. No blood was spilled on this field but the Island of Honshu would be drained soon enough….

In the end this was one of the weirdest games I ever played. The Ogor player was the missing player of the last campaign day. It was his third AoS match and the first since summer. He was so set on not loosing, being told the Reaper Crossbow was hugely overpowered, he kept skulking behind the jungle pieces out of line of sight. By the time I had my corsairs in support he retreated further away and the game ended. I got one shot off, doing three wounds on the Mournfang. He in turn shot once at my Dreadspears but I saved it. So with nothing to divide us we called it a draw. He then vowed to charge anything in range in the next battle…. remember that promise. 

He fielded: Tyrant, 3 Ogors, 3 Leadbelchers, 2 Mournfang, 2x2 Sabretusks
I fielded: Fleetmaster, Sorceress, 30 Dreadspears, 10 Darkshards, 20 Corsairs, 1 Reaper Crossbows

I will write up the other games, armies were massacred in those yeah, as soon as possible.