The Narrative Battle for Frost Fang

[Kramer]

Hi all, 

just felt right to have a spot for this campaign i've been playing. It's a narrative Skirmish campaign with my girlfriend. (Her first games of warhammer). The rules use the Watchers in Death rules from Miniwargaming for Injuries and Upgrades. 

The narrative in a nutshell, that will develop during the games:
The city of Frost Fang in Ulgu has disappeared from the sight of the God King. Knight Incantor Tenebrus Raventongue has been sent ahead of his stormhost: The Sons of Mallus. 
The story is told through the eyes of Evy wolfhead a sequitor prime that's leading her squad: 'The Falling Moons' to Frost Fang. Nobody but Tenebrus Raventongue knows the full mission and The Falling Moons are to reconvene with him at the gates of Frost Fang. But disaster strikes The Falling Moons harder than the impact of Sigmar's Wrath the moment they land outside of the gates of Frost Fang....

[Greyshadow]

Okay, you've hooked me. Let us know how this goes...

[Kramer]

1 hour ago, Greyshadow said:

Okay, you've hooked me. Let us know how this goes...

Will absolutely do! Didn’t take enough pictures of game one. But I’ll write it up today and hopefully play game 2 tomorrow. 

[Kramer]

Intro to the game:

The moment Evy Wolfhead landed she knew something was wrong. She felt something was wrong even earlier. The Lord-Ordinators of the sons of Mallus could not make contact with Knight Incantor Tenebrus Raventongue nor divine the exact location of the City. Something Shady is going on in Ulgu, Evy Wolfhead sniggered to herself. Send in by the divine powers of the God-King was an exuberating experience, but not this time. She woke up in a mist wreathed landscape, her trusty maul at hand but without her shield. Her brothers and sisters nowhere to be seen. The area was covered in strange rock formations that towered over her head. The only human made landmark she could see was a lone watchtower in the distance.

PLINK.

Hidden in the quote is the narrative version of what happens. I'm not a writer but it's fun to stretch a different muscle once in awhile. 

Quote

A small rock bounced of her pauldron. Scratching the proud lions head that denoted her rang. Two small vicious creatures were dragging her shield away from her, while a third pelted her with small objects. Evy Wolfhead had earned her name a long time ago, but some of that old savagery resurfaced when she saw the gestures the Gnoblars were making. A few bloody seconds later she reclaimed her shield. While she donned her shield she heard the hearty laughs of her brother Andraeus and sister Andriana. Her Pack. 

Their experience hadn't been different. The same force that kept the Lord-Ordinators from seeing the city had blown the whole stormhost off course and spread them out over the hostile landscape. They made their to the Watchtower, hardly hindered by the cruel Gnoblars that invested the area. When they came closer to the watchtower they saw the entrance was barricaded hastily. A knock at the door was answered by a string of Kazalid curses. When their attempts at conversation didn't open the door, a quick knock by Andraeus's greatmace did.

The occupant gruffly introduced himself as Snorri Whitebeard. With an artificial leg and a metal birdlike companion he made for an imposing figure. The rifle taller than himself did help with that.  A Gunnery sergeant stationed in the local Kharadron tradepost he was traveling the wilderness to fulfil oath. His bride to-be family required a Mournfang tusk as dowry. Of course, he claimed, he could easily kill one on his own but his Aethershot Rifle had jammed. With a glint in his eye a deal was struck. The Stormcast would get him his tusk, and in return he would guide them to the city Frost Fang. Leaving Andraeus and Andriana behind as much to protect the Duardin as to keep him there, Evy Wolfhead set off. 

With no hunting experience she made her way to a little oasis she had seen from the watchtower. On arrival she saw two great beasts with impressive horns drinking water .Unsure if they were her quarry she attempted to get closer... and failed miserably. The moment she moved closer the two animals turned, snorted their displeasure and charged. The clanking of her sturdy armour might have alerted the aggressive animals but it also protected her from the impact. Suddenly out of the bushes sprang a Knight Zephyros, graceful where Wolfhead was sturdy, the Knight had remained hidden until she could charge them in the flank. Not a hunter, Wolfhead still recognised she has been used as bait. 'Strike the Rhinoxes legs' ordered the newcomer. Startled by the sudden appearance she left her guard down and was gored by an enraged Rhinox. 

(rest of the mision in story form will come later... Duty call sadly)

 

The first mission was an introduction to the game for my girlfriend so I tried to start things of simple. Her main character arrived alone and had to retrieve her shield from three gnoblars. This allowed me to slowly build up the game phase by phase. After that brief introduction she met a Kharadron Overlord Thunderer sergeant that offered his help if she killed a Mournfang. So that was her mission. 

I had some great fun with the idea of getting lost in Ulgu. I wanted to keep things small and only used 3 two by two foot tiles. In the middle one there was the tower. A set land mark. But every time she walked into a tile on the end, the one on the other end changed. Along the way she met Neave Blacktalon and later Larissa Shadowstalker which will function as the core of her squad for the campaign.

Larissa Shadowstalker makes the right choice and flees towards her allies when she spots the first Ogors on the horizon 

Some real fun things that happened. 
- I set up two Rhinoxes on the table from the start. So she assumed that those were the Mournfang. The look of disappointment when it turned out they were something else when she proudly said: I will attack this mournfang.... priceless. Luckily that was where Neave arrived and that helped lift the mood (and identify local fauna)
- When she saw the mournfang she instinctively lured them into a gap they couldn't fit through. She later repeated this trick. Didn't see it coming the second time.
- Upon handing the KO his tusk the Ogors appeared in anger to claim revenge. Super fun race against the clock for her. She genuinly cared enough about the characters to curse a 1 on the run roll. 
- The native Darkling Covens came rushing out of the gate to hold off the Ogor avalanche. She immediately and ruthlessly sacrificed them 😅
- Her last warrior crossed the finishing line with one wound left. Super satisfying for me as well as I was winging it a bit. First time being a GM and not a organising player in a narrative campaign. 

The Stormcast run for the city gates, while the mawtribe gives chase.

Sometimes one general isn't enough. 

All in all great fun. The game needs to be shorter though to keep her interested. 

Big shout out to @RuneBrush btw. His warscroll builder was an invaluable tool to me in this endeavour. https://runebrush.pa-sy.com/warscroll/

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Kramer

[Greyshadow]

This is terrific - well done on the game design. Reminds me of an introductory mini-game I did for my cousin where a small band of dwarves went off in search of a missing miner. There were three areas of the battlefield out of line of sight from the dwarves deployment zone. When the dwarves established line of sight with one of these areas they flipped a chit to see if they had found the dwarf. When found, the dwarf was placed in combat with on Ogre. The party had to rush in and save the dwarf. Like your battle it was close and exciting!

Love the kickin' fighting women in your battle report. I have a (baby) daughter and painting up some of the fantastic characters like Leena, Larissa and Neave is very high on my list to do for when she grows up.

Top stuff @Kramer

[Kramer]

8 hours ago, Greyshadow said:

Love the kickin' fighting women in your battle report. I have a (baby) daughter and painting up some of the fantastic characters like Leena, Larissa and Neave is very high on my list to do for when she grows up.

 

Same here. Stormcast is one of the best for it. GW is getting better for it. How old is your daughter? Mine is 16 months and keeps reorganising my paints 😂

Make sure you pick them up fast. Because those store models will get spread less now and I suspect the price will keep on rising fast. Somebody here locally is already selling them for 35 (which is cheap compared to ebay, but happens rarely here).

8 hours ago, Greyshadow said:

This is terrific - well done on the game design. Reminds me of an introductory mini-game I did for my cousin where a small band of dwarves went off in search of a missing miner. There were three areas of the battlefield out of line of sight from the dwarves deployment zone. When the dwarves established line of sight with one of these areas they flipped a chit to see if they had found the dwarf. When found, the dwarf was placed in combat with on Ogre. The party had to rush in and save the dwarf. Like your battle it was close and exciting!

Yeah 100% the same principle. And tried to make the small narrative the focus so it's less of a wargame. Great fun. 

[Greyshadow]

Little one is seven months. I nearly convinced myself to do a five hour drive to get Leena when she came out. The listings I have seen have been very pricey. Couldn't find anything on eBay yesterday. I am hopeful GW will redo the original Stormcast sometime in the future though and include women in these units.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Greyshadow

[Kramer]

On 4/12/2020 at 11:40 PM, Greyshadow said:

Little one is seven months. I nearly convinced myself to do a five hour drive to get Leena when she came out. The listings I have seen have been very pricey. Couldn't find anything on eBay yesterday. I am hopeful GW will redo the original Stormcast sometime in the future though and include women in these units.

Yeah that would be cool. Although I'm pretty happy as is right now. The new direction is clearly visible so by the time she gets old enough, she'll probably choose Skaven or somethign and it won't matter 😂

[Kramer]

Sadly the game didn't happen this weekend. But I'd thought I'd share the preparations and hopefully get some feedback. 

The goal of this mission is to set the scene narratively and move the party into the dungeons. If it takes to long I'll just stop it when she enters the dungeon and restart from there the next time. 
Finally it also introduces two new members to the party: Castigator Prime Cassandra Cometstrike & Gryph Hound Felix.

The map will look something like this:

Black lines are outside wall formations. Blue are dungeon walls. X's are groups of enemies. Triangles are buttons. The big central room contains a lift like platform that will lower them further into the dungeon. 

The party will enter the table on the lower left hand corner between two cliffs. (love having lots of terrain to pick from.)
The party will be assisted by a Darkling Coven guard. Some executioners, shades, dreadspears, and of course the KO Thunderer they met. Their goal is to enter the dungeon to save a lost Stormcast. 

They immediately spot X1. X1 are 2 sabretusks, that take off towards X2 as soon as she moves forward. X2 consists of a Hunter, with some Ogor buddies surrounding a mawpot. As soon as the Sabretusks arrive at X2 the Ogors there will be alerted. I will then run them after the party.
(except for 2 or 4 Ogors that run off the table edge. They will be returning as Mournfang riders when they will be just too late to join the fight, but still get close. Or if needed they will arrive sooner to make it a more difficult fight)

So that means a big race to the door. X3 are Gnoblars with 3 Maneaters. Mostly there to delay and show how dangerous the executioners can be. I will set it up so she can either go straight through the opponents or try a flanking move. The flanking move will take more time and therefore the Ogors from X2 will be more likely to join the fight.

Whatever happens the party with some shades, executioners and hopefully the Thunderer enter the dungeon. I might put some giant rats in there if she needs some XP. The rest of the Darkling Covens are sacrificed outside while they close the door.

Now it's time for some good old fashioned dungeon exploring.

X4 is a room with an altar with a sword on it. In every corner there is an immobile Necron Flayed one that is attached by tubes to the wall. The Elves refuse to enter the room. As soon as she touches the weapon that model can't do anything until she frees or releases the weapon. Thanks @Khaedhras for the inspiration! She picks it up. Every turn she throws a D6. She needs to get to 21 (might change this though, but that's six turns on average.) When she reaches 5+ the Flayers start activating. If she releases at this stage she can just smash the monsters while they are immobile. Otherwise a fight ensues. After 13 or higher in total (small hint as to who is occupying this dungeon) the flayers break loose and will fight regardless of releasing the weapon. 
- The reward is a roll on a artefact table from the stormcast book.
- I'm using Crypt Horror rules for them. All are worth d3 experience.
- I'm considering doubling the wounds of the Horrors
- I might not activate all the Crypt Horrors at the same time but do a dice roll for them as well. That makes it easier to gang up on them one by one. Or limit them by the tubes in the wall to 3" from their spot in the corner.

The big central room is the elevator room. The door is locked however. The triangles are buttons. She needs to set a Stormcast at both triangles at the bottom. The door then opens and is kept open by standing on the button in the big room. The reason for this is I want them to split up. That way they can be ganged up upon and it will create a different type of tension. Every woman for herself.

BETRAYAL! 

That's when the Elves show their true colours. Two of the shades turn into assassins (worth d3 exp). The Gryph-hound warns the stormcast in the same room, but in the other rooms the elves get the turn. After that it's just a roll off for priority and race to the lift. Anyone left behind is captured by the Dark Elves and will return in the final mission. In the meantime the Thunderer will be operating the lift controls in the corner of the room, so he won't fight. The moment all the stormcast stand on the lift, the noble KO sacrifices himself by activating the lift. While more Darkling Covens rush into the room, the lift with the party disappears from sight into the dark...

Thanks for reading this massive amount of text (I will try to figure out how to write these things more concise)

[Sttufe]

On 4/14/2020 at 2:57 AM, Kramer said:

Sadly the game didn't happen this weekend. But I'd thought I'd share the preparations and hopefully get some feedback. 

The goal of this mission is to set the scene narratively and move the party into the dungeons. If it takes to long I'll just stop it when she enters the dungeon and restart from there the next time. 
Finally it also introduces two new members to the party: Castigator Prime Cassandra Cometstrike & Gryph Hound Felix.

The map will look something like this:

Black lines are outside wall formations. Blue are dungeon walls. X's are groups of enemies. Triangles are buttons. The big central room contains a lift like platform that will lower them further into the dungeon. 

The party will enter the table on the lower left hand corner between two cliffs. (love having lots of terrain to pick from.)
The party will be assisted by a Darkling Coven guard. Some executioners, shades, dreadspears, and of course the KO Thunderer they met. Their goal is to enter the dungeon to save a lost Stormcast. 

They immediately spot X1. X1 are 2 sabretusks, that take off towards X2 as soon as she moves forward. X2 consists of a Hunter, with some Ogor buddies surrounding a mawpot. As soon as the Sabretusks arrive at X2 the Ogors there will be alerted. I will then run them after the party.
(except for 2 or 4 Ogors that run off the table edge. They will be returning as Mournfang riders when they will be just too late to join the fight, but still get close. Or if needed they will arrive sooner to make it a more difficult fight)

So that means a big race to the door. X3 are Gnoblars with 3 Maneaters. Mostly there to delay and show how dangerous the executioners can be. I will set it up so she can either go straight through the opponents or try a flanking move. The flanking move will take more time and therefore the Ogors from X2 will be more likely to join the fight.

Whatever happens the party with some shades, executioners and hopefully the Thunderer enter the dungeon. I might put some giant rats in there if she needs some XP. The rest of the Darkling Covens are sacrificed outside while they close the door.

Now it's time for some good old fashioned dungeon exploring.

X4 is a room with an altar with a sword on it. In every corner there is an immobile Necron Flayed one that is attached by tubes to the wall. The Elves refuse to enter the room. As soon as she touches the weapon that model can't do anything until she frees or releases the weapon. Thanks @Khaedhras for the inspiration! She picks it up. Every turn she throws a D6. She needs to get to 21 (might change this though, but that's six turns on average.) When she reaches 5+ the Flayers start activating. If she releases at this stage she can just smash the monsters while they are immobile. Otherwise a fight ensues. After 13 or higher in total (small hint as to who is occupying this dungeon) the flayers break loose and will fight regardless of releasing the weapon. 
- The reward is a roll on a artefact table from the stormcast book.
- I'm using Crypt Horror rules for them. All are worth d3 experience.
- I'm considering doubling the wounds of the Horrors
- I might not activate all the Crypt Horrors at the same time but do a dice roll for them as well. That makes it easier to gang up on them one by one. Or limit them by the tubes in the wall to 3" from their spot in the corner.

The big central room is the elevator room. The door is locked however. The triangles are buttons. She needs to set a Stormcast at both triangles at the bottom. The door then opens and is kept open by standing on the button in the big room. The reason for this is I want them to split up. That way they can be ganged up upon and it will create a different type of tension. Every woman for herself.

BETRAYAL! 

That's when the Elves show their true colours. Two of the shades turn into assassins (worth d3 exp). The Gryph-hound warns the stormcast in the same room, but in the other rooms the elves get the turn. After that it's just a roll off for priority and race to the lift. Anyone left behind is captured by the Dark Elves and will return in the final mission. In the meantime the Thunderer will be operating the lift controls in the corner of the room, so he won't fight. The moment all the stormcast stand on the lift, the noble KO sacrifices himself by activating the lift. While more Darkling Covens rush into the room, the lift with the party disappears from sight into the dark...

Thanks for reading this massive amount of text (I will try to figure out how to write these things more concise)

Ah, but in the future you could introduce a Gunhauler of thunderers minus 1 looking for their lost commander, and then they get angry when they find out that he died on their watch, as clearly it was in the unspoken contract that she would defend him. Or you could say that they came to help rescue him with the PC, and have 4 thunderers backing her up with some heavy fire support. Definitely some ways you can go with the Thunderer plotline, as he feels a bit under used and thrown away.

[Kramer]

1 hour ago, Sttufe said:

Ah, but in the future you could introduce a Gunhauler of thunderers minus 1 looking for their lost commander, and then they get angry when they find out that he died on their watch, as clearly it was in the unspoken contract that she would defend him. Or you could say that they came to help rescue him with the PC, and have 4 thunderers backing her up with some heavy fire support. Definitely some ways you can go with the Thunderer plotline, as he feels a bit under used and thrown away.

Oh man! First thanks for reading all that and contributing! 

The rough guideline I have in my head can only be told in a spoiler because the throw away nature of him is intentional. Depending on the length of the campaign and future choices he might make a return. 

Spoiler

In the first game the reason he needed that Mournfang Fang was as a dowry. Just to make him a bit more likeable. As is the dramatic sacrifice. 

So if she gets into it, i'll make it a 8 game campaign instead of six. Where on her way back to the city to save the knight incantor, who is captured and impersonated by a Darkling sorceress, she will run into a warband of Daughters of Khaine and Kharadron Overlords fighting. She'll get to help one or the other. The KO turn out to be hired to kill all the Stormcast that lightninged in. So the correct choice is to help the Daughters of Khaine and in the final battle they would help her... Or she'll side with the KO and in the final battle the Gunnery sergeant is there to stop them. In the end it won't really matter for the gameplay but it should feel like a real choice with consequences. 

I like the Gunhauler dropping them in though. I'll probably use that  

 

[Sttufe]

31 minutes ago, Kramer said:

Oh man! First thanks for reading all that and contributing! 

The rough guideline I have in my head can only be told in a spoiler because the throw away nature of him is intentional. Depending on the length of the campaign and future choices he might make a return. 

  Hide contents

In the first game the reason he needed that Mournfang Fang was as a dowry. Just to make him a bit more likeable. As is the dramatic sacrifice. 

So if she gets into it, i'll make it a 8 game campaign instead of six. Where on her way back to the city to save the knight incantor, who is captured and impersonated by a Darkling sorceress, she will run into a warband of Daughters of Khaine and Kharadron Overlords fighting. She'll get to help one or the other. The KO turn out to be hired to kill all the Stormcast that lightninged in. So the correct choice is to help the Daughters of Khaine and in the final battle they would help her... Or she'll side with the KO and in the final battle the Gunnery sergeant is there to stop them. In the end it won't really matter for the gameplay but it should feel like a real choice with consequences. 

I like the Gunhauler dropping them in though. I'll probably use that  

 

Your welcome of course I love working with other GM's to make campaigns. I personally am running 2 right now, both just DnD, 1 custom and the other is a module. If you want any ideas feel free to ask.

[Kramer]

14 hours ago, Sttufe said:

Your welcome of course I love working with other GM's to make campaigns. I personally am running 2 right now, both just DnD, 1 custom and the other is a module. If you want any ideas feel free to ask.

Thanks! I will definitely do so. But I don't want to work too far ahead. Otherwise I close down the things that might just spontaneously happen. So until we play the next game it will sadly stay a bit silent.  

How are you managing the campaigns in regard to social distancing?

[Sttufe]

7 hours ago, Kramer said:

Thanks! I will definitely do so. But I don't want to work too far ahead. Otherwise I close down the things that might just spontaneously happen. So until we play the next game it will sadly stay a bit silent.  

How are you managing the campaigns in regard to social distancing?

I have roughly 6-10 people, close friends, all on a chat. Then roughly once a week I call as many people up as possible, and we all get on roll20, set up a vid call, and then use that to manage the campaign. We use a separate vid call due to strange technical problems, however Roll20 has it's own system built in for vid calls. Roll20 is really great because of the fact that you can set up the whole campaign map on the scree, while the players can control distances and you can use almost any system. Everything you want to do can be measured accurately and it is really nice to use. A bit complex at first but once you get comfortable there is a LOT of features.