Homebrew Mortarch Isabella

[Sception]

I always thought Isabella was a potentially interesting character who kind of got short shift by rules and fluff that made her an accessory for Vlad rather than a personality and presence in her own right.  I was particularly impressed with what the writers did with Isabella and Vlad in the End Times narrative, and think that the ending in particular would make a fantastic jumping off point to to bigger and better things with Isabella as a character on her own in the new setting.  This is just a personal take on what that might look like in terms of fluff and rules, something I previously published on Dakka and the Carpe Noctem homebrew forums.  Feedback on both the fluff and the rules greatly appreciated.

Fluff:

Spoiler

 

When Nagash called his new mortarchs, the Mortarch of Shadow, a silent knight wearing Vlad Von Carstein's armor, carrying his sword and ring, and wearing a helm that covered their face stood among them.  Many assumed the Mortarch of Shadow to actually be Vlad, but in truth it was his lost love, Isabella Von Carstein.

In the World that Was, she had once abandoned her immortal life in grief at her husband's death.  In the End Times, however, she had been reborn as a servant of chaos, and Vlad had sacrificed himself to free her from the clutches of Nurgle.  Though she felt the pain of grief no less keenly than she had at Vlad's first death, this time Isabella could not bring herself to throw away the life that her beloved Vlad had sacrificed himself to save.  Instead, she resolved to honor that sacrifice by carrying forward her husband's legacy, and one day rebuilding the home they had once ruled together.

Amongst the other Mortarchs, only Arkhan, who was privy to almost all of his master's secrets, and Neferata, who had carried Isabella from the final battle after Vlad's sacrifice, knew the truth.  But even they might have wondered at the Mortarch of Shadow's identity, for she led the undead legions at her command with all of Vlad's honor, cunning, and ruthlessness.  Nagash's enemies came to fear and respect the Mortarch of Shadow's reputation, and many of those who faced her chose to willingly submit.  All of those who did not came to wish they had.

During the Age of Peace that followed the formation of Sigmar's Grand Alliance, Isabella founded a new city-state, Drakkenhold, in the image of old Sylvania.  There she also created a new vampyric aristocracy, one sworn to the defense of the land's mortal inhabitants in exchange for a willing tithe of life blood.  Vampires who abused this bargain by hunting or slaying the citizens of Drakkenhold were personally executed by their mortarch ruler.

During the wars to unify Shyish under Nagash's rule, Manfred, like most of the other mortarchs, had assumed the dread knight that bore the Carstein Ring to be Vlad himself.  Mannfred in particular avoided the Mortarch of Shadow during those early campaigns, fearing his sire and waiting for an opportunity to outmaneuver him through guile, rather than risk direct confrontation.

When he heard rumors of the city of Drakkenhold, Mannfred attempted to infiltrate its vampyric aristocracy, slaying one of the lesser vampire acolytes and disguising himself to take their place.  He hoped to weasel himself back into Vlad's inner circle and make another bid to steal the ring, but when he discovered that it was not Vlad but Isabella who wore the ring, he instead revealed himself openly, mocking Isabella, and laughing at himself for avoiding 'Vlad' for so long and spending so much time trying to come up with plans to steal the ring through deceit or treachery when he could have just taken it by force.  Isabella listened to all of this with a steely face, while the lesser vampires in her court shrank into the shadows, not wanting to be caught in the middle of what they knew was coming.

When Mannfred finally finished monologueing and lunged forward to take the ring by force, the Mortarch of Night was in for an unpleasant shock.  Mannfred had no respect for Isabella, seeing only the love-struck girl, impossibly out of her depth, that he knew in ages past.  Since he had avoided the Mortarch of Shadow on the field, he had no idea of her present power, and thought her but a pretender hiding behind her fallen husband's legacy.  Thus he was unprepared for her to slap aside his attack with contemptuous ease, and counter-attack with a vicious strike that cut into Mannfred's undead flesh, immediately putting him on the defensive and fighting for his life.

With neither side holding anything back, the duel began to drag on, though with Mannfred already grievously injured, Isabella's victory seemed inevitable.  Hoping to regain an advantage, Mannfred unleashed a torrent of baleful magic, forcing Isabella back and buying him time to work a much more potent spell.  Harnessing his power as the Mortarch of the Night, Mannfred plunged the bright moon above the castle into an eclipse, drowning Drakkenhold in inky blackness.  Mannfred drew renewed vigor from the unnatural gloom, his strength growing and his wound beginning to heal, but too late he realized his error.  The Mortarch of Night may have been empowered by darkness, but the Mortarch of Shadow was darkness itself.  Isabella's blade, Vlad's blade, bit into Mannfred from every direction, her mocking laughter echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Desperate, Mannfred banished his spell, but when the moonlight returned, he found himself standing in an empty field.  The castle, the entire city of Drakkenhold, was nowhere to be seen, and though he searched far and wide, hunting after rumors of its location, he never found it again.

When the alliance between the gods was broken and Chaos returned to the mortal realms, Isabella used that same power as Mortarch of Shadow to shroud her realm in a spell of darkness, hiding it from the eyes of the chaos gods, moving it from place to place within the Realm of Shyish such that none who stumbled upon it once might ever find it again, except by her invitation.  In this way Drakkenhold survived through the Age of Chaos, fighting off the occasional roving warband, but never having to face a serious protracted siege.

Now the servants of Sigmar and Nagash alike seek her power in order to cloud the vision of Archaon's seers and gain a tactical advantage against the armies of the Everchosen.

 

Rules write up:

Spoiler

 

Isabella Von Carstein, Mortarch of Shadow, is empowered by the tenebrous magic of Nagash and driven by the memory of her lost love, who died that she might live.  In battle she wields a the sword Blood Drinker.  On her right hand she wears the legendary Carstein ring, and carries the Blood Chalice of Bathori.  She rides to war on the back of her dread abyssal Vasharak the Consoler, a nightmare beast with a head like the skull of a terrible wolf.  In ages past the beast hunted the afterlife for the souls of separated lovers, that they might be reunited in her terrible gullet.

Role: Leader & Behemoth
Points Cost: as Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
Alternative Rules: in games where house rules aren't allowed, use the rules for Neferata, Mortarch of Blood instead

Wounds: 11
Move: *
Save: 4+
Bravery: 10

Missile Weapons

Melee Weapons
Blood Drinker: 1", 5 attacks, 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -2 rend, damage 1
Vasharak's Ebon Claws: 1", * attacks, 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound, rend -2, damage 2
Spirit's Spectral Claws & Daggers: 1", 6 attacks, 5+ to hit, 4+ to wound, rend -, damage 1

Wounds Suffered; Move; Claws; Shrouding Darkness
0-2; 16"; 6; 15"
3-4; 13"; 5; 12"
5-6; 10"; 4; 9"
7-8; 7"; 3; 6"
9+; 4";  2; 3"

Abilities:
Fly: Isabella can fly

Feaster of Souls: Isabella heals 2 wounds at the end of any combat phase in which she slew any models.

Blood Chalice of Bathori: Whenever Isabella would heal a wound from her Feaster of Souls ability, you may choose instead to have another Vampire model within 6" of her heal a wound.  You may choose another vampire to heal a wound in her place even if Isabella is currently at full health.

Frightful Touch: If a hit from the Spirit's Spectral Claws & Daggers is a 6 or more, the target immediately suffers a single mortal wound instead of the normal damage for the attack.

Carstein Ring: Roll a die the first time Isabella is slain.  On a roll of 2 or more, place Isabella back on the table anywhere within 12" of where she was slain, with 1d3+3 wounds restored (design note: that ability assumes the current faq ruling from the ring of immortality is in effect, where you would have to pay Isabella's cost a second time from your reserve points in order to use this ability in matched play games - if this ability is allowed for free then her points cost or other abilities might have to be adjusted)

Mortarch of Shadow:  Shooting attacks made against this unit suffer a -1 penalty to hit.

Beloved's Legacy:  Isabella keeps the memory of her fallen husband with her always.  She may re-roll hit rolls made with the Blood Drinker.

Command Ability, Shrouding Darkness:  Isabella can extend her power as the Mortarch of Shadow to blanket the battlefield in concealing darkness.  Until the start of your next hero phase, all units, friend and foe, within a number of inches of Isabella given in the table above, gain the benefit of her Mortarch of Shadow ability.

Magic:  Isabella is a wizard.  She may attempt to cast two spells in each of your hero phases, and may attempt to unbind two spells in each of your opponent's hero phases.  She knows the spells Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield, and Tenebrous Road.

Tenebrous Road: As Mortarch of Shadow, Isabella has mastery over the paths of darkness, and can use their power to transport her forces over great distances or to banish her enemies from her presence.  Tenebrous Road has a casting value of 8.  If successfully cast, choose one unit, friend or foe, within 6" of the wizard casting this spell, which may be the wizard itself.  Then nominate any point on the board within 18" of the wizard casting this spell, and that is more than 6" away from any other models or terrain pieces (if there is no valid point within range then then the spell fails).  The target unit's owner removes the unit from the table, and then redeploys it so that every model in the unit is as near as possible to the nominated point while avoiding placing any models within 6" of any enemy models.  If you choose one of your own units for this spell, it may not move further in the following movement phase, but may otherwise act normally this turn.

Keywords: Isabella Von Carstein, Death, Deathlord, Vampire, Monster, Hero, Wizard

 

 

[Teletomas]

Thanks great fluff and a good way around deaths shooting problem! More!

Really nice to include some old Sylvania society as well. For all us lovers of the old vampire aristocracy. Very nice

[Sception]

Thank you!  I've also done some work on a hypothetical Drakkenhold subfaction to go along with her, sort of a blend of soulblight and deadwalker units, with some new stuff added in:

DRAKKENHOLD

When chaos claimed the mortal realms and the gods withdrew - Sigmar to his Golden City, Nagash to his Underworlds, other gods to their own sanctums - there were some who fought on, pockets of resistance within the realms that managed to remain free from the depredations of chaos, whether through guile or strength of arms or both. In the ensuing age, most of these refuges were eventually hunted down and crushed by the legions of the dark gods, but a few managed to survive the centuries on their own terms, and now witness the return of the gods with a combination of relief and resentment.

One such bastion against chaos is the benighted land of Drakkenhold. It is a realm of contradictions, where the living and the dead live and work and fight side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Desperation and necessity have stripped from the human citizens of Drakkenhold all fear of the undead. Indeed, corpse-servants and laborers are a common and necessary part of Drakkenhold life, while the tithe of blood demanded by Drakkenhold's vampiric nobility is a paltry price to pay compared to the horrors of Chaos.

The living citizens of Drakkenhold are a grim lot indeed, and their soldiers even more so, for their bargain with the vampires is such that none are forced into battle.  By default the living are livestock to be protected, and only those attempting to prove themselves worthy of a place in the unliving aristocracy risk their lives on the field of battle. These fearless men and women defend their homes whether in life or death. Every one of them is willing to lay down their lives for their vampyric masters, for without their power Drakkenhold would have long ago been overrun. Their dedication is not purely born of necessity, but rather out of genuine respect and gratitude as well, for when even the gods abandoned the Mortal Realms to Chaos, the vampires of Drakkenhold stayed to protect their flock.

The ruler of Drakkenhold is the ancient vampire Isabella Von Carstein, beloved by her servants whether mortal or undead. It is her power which shrouds Drakkenhold from the eyes of the dark gods, and ensures that it can never be found in the same place twice. As a result, while their land has had to fight off enemy scouting parties, in all the centuries of Chaos rule Drakkenhold has never faced a protracted siege.

City of the Living and the Dead: The following units gain the Drakkenhold keyword when fielded as part of an army with the Drakkenhold allegiance:
* Isabella Von Carstein, Mortarch of Shadow
* Vampire Lord
* Necromancer
* Zombies
* Corpse Cart
* Dire Wolves
* Fell Bats
* Bat Swarms
* Black Coach
* Blood Knights (?maybe a mounted version of the Deathguard instead?)

These are in addition to the following new Drakkenhold units:
* Vampire Aristocrat - a lesser human vampire that serves a support/BSB role
* Vampire Quickling - a halfling vampire emphasizing stealth and ambush
* Deathguard - an elite human unit that serve as bodyguards for vampire heroes
* Blackfeathers - an elite halfling unit with ambushing abilities and crossbows

Deathguard:

Spoiler

Whether in life or in death, the grim Deathguard of Drakkenhold will fight to defend their benighted homeland and its immortal aristocracy.

Battlefield Role: Other.  In a Drakkenhold allegiance army with a Vampire Lord general, Deathguard are Battleline units instead.
Points Cost: as grave guard
Alternative Use: In games where house rules are not in play, use the rules for Grave Guard instead.

Wounds: 1
Move: 5"
Save: 4+
Bravery: 6

Melee Weapons
Drakkensteel Blades
Range: 1"
Attacks: 1
to Hit: 3+
to Wound: 4+
Rend: -1
Damage: 1

Drakkensteel Glaives
Range: 2"
Attacks: 1
to Hit: 3+
to Wound: 4+
Rend: -1
Damage: 1

DESCRIPTION
A unit of Deathguard consists of 5 or more models. The unit is armed with Drakkensteel Blades and Crypt Shields, or may instead be armed with two handed Drakkensteel Glaives.

SENESCHAL
The leader of this unit is a Seneschal. A Seneschal makes 2 attacks instead of 1 with their Drakkensteel Glaive or Drakkensteel Blade.

STANDARD BEARER
Models in this unit may be Standard Bearers. Add 1 to the bravery of the unit if it contains any Standard Bearers, or 2 if there is a friendly Vampire Hero within 12" of the unit.

HORNBLOWER
Models in this unit may be Hornblowers. If the unit includes any Hornblowers, it can always move up to 6" when it charges, unless its charge roll is higher.

ABILITIES:

HONOR GUARD
Whenever a Vampire Hero in your army with 5 or fewer starting wounds on its profile suffers a wound or mortal wound, you may nominate a unit of Deathguard within 3" of the hero and roll a die; on a 4 or more the Vampire ignores that wound and the Deathguard unit suffers a mortal wound instead.

EVEN IN DEATH
Whenever a Deathguard model in the unit is slain, roll a die. On a 3+, you may immediately add one model to a unit of Zombies within 9" of the Deathguard unit. The new model may be placed anywhere in coherency with the rest of its unit, and may act normally this turn. If you add a model to another unit in this way, then no other units or models can be created as a result of the Deathguard model being slain, and no effect may restore it to life later in the game.  (Design Note: In matched play games, this ability may raise a zombie unit above its starting strength without spending additional reserve points)

CRYPT SHIELDS
You can add 1 to the save rolls for a unit carrying Crypt Shields against attacks that have a Rend of '-'.

KEYWORDS
Death, Human, Drakkenhold, Deathguard

 

Blackfeathers:

Spoiler

 

Deadly hunters, the halfling Blackfeathers of Drakkenhold skulk in the shadows of their vampyric masters, ambushing any enemy who would threaten them with deadly Drakkensteel bolts from their wicked crossbows or cutting them down with cruel Drakkensteel daggers.  Just as with the human warriors of Drakkenhold, when a Blackfeather is slain, their corpse may rise again to join the battle once more.

Battlefield Role: Other.  In a Drakkenhold Allegiance army with a Vampire Quickling general, Blackfeathers are Battleline units instead.
Points Cost: as grave guard

Wounds: 1
Move: 5"
Save: 6+
Bravery: 6

Attacks:
Ranged Weapon: Drakkensteel Barbs
Range: 12"
Attacks: 1
to Hit: 3+
to Wound: 4+
Rend: -1
Damage: 1

Melee Weapon: Drakkensteel Dagger
Range: 1"
Attacks: 1
to Hit: 3+
to Wound: 5+
Rend: -1
Damage: 1

DESCRIPTION
A unit of Blackfeathers consists of 5 or more models.  The unit is armed with either paired Drakkensteel Daggers or single Drakkensteel Daggers and crossbows which fire Drakkensteel Barbs.

SENESCHAL
The leader of this unit is a Seneschal.  The Seneschal makes 2 attacks instead of 1 with their Drakkensteel Daggers.

STANDARD BEARER
Models in this unit may be Standard Bearers.  Add 1 to the bravery of the unit if it contains any Standard Bearers, or 2 if there is a friendly Vampire Hero within 12" of the unit.

HORNBLOWER
Models in this unit may be Hornblowers.  If the unit includes any Hornblowers, it can always move up to 6" when it charges, unless its charge roll is higher.  In addition, a Blackfeather unit with a Hornblower may shoot even if it ran in the same turn.

ABILITIES:

SHADOW STALKERS
You may choose to hold any units of Blackfeathers in your army in reserve during deployment.  During any of your hero phases after the first, you may deploy the unit anywhere on the table within 3" of a friendly vampire hero and at least 6" away from any enemy models.  The unit may not move in the following movement phase, but may otherwise act normally that turn.

BLACKFEATHER AMBUSH
Blackfeather models gain a +1 bonus to wound rolls with their weapons if their unit was not on the table at the start of the current turn.

PAIRED WEAPONS
Blackfeater models armed with paired Drakkensteel Daggers make one additional attack in with their weapons in the Combat Phase.  Additionally, they may attempt to charge even if they Withdrew from combat in the same turn.

EVEN IN DEATH
Whenever a Blackfeather model in the unit is slain, roll a die.  On a 2+, you may immediately add one model to a unit Zombies within 9" of the Blackfeather unit.  The new model may be placed anywhere in coherency with the rest of its unit, and may act normally this turn.  If you add a model to another unit in this way, then no other units or models can be created as a result of the Blackfeather model being slain, and no effect may restore it to life later in the game.  (Design Note: in matched play games, this ability may increase a unit of zombies beyond its starting size without spending additional reserve points)

KEYWORDS
Death, Halfling, Drakkenhold, Blackfeathers

 

 

[deynon]

I like that fluff^^

[Sception]

Thank you.  I'm pretty happy with the fluff, though none of it's from Isabella's perspective.  I have a pretty good idea of the role I'd like her to fill conceptually, less so on her actual personality and behavior within it.

Likewise, the house rules are in an iffy state, particularly for the units.  They've been through a lot of very different iterations, and have some vestigial rules hanging off them from earlier versions.

[Thundercake]

Your stuff is great, I particularly like the idea of the living protected by vampires and the unit ideas you came up with. As I was reading the Drakkenhold background I kept thinking, now all he needs is a unit of humans aspiring to be vampires. I scrolled down, and voila! Deathguard!.

I think it would be interesting to add in something like Crypt Horrors either to the original warscrolls and change their keywords or to the new units. Maybe humans who were blessed with the kiss of unendng unlife but mutated weird or something. I could also see adding in human bowmen to back up the undead, as the vampires need them to support their armies but also keep them out of harms way by giving them range weapons.

A campaign around your realm idea would be fantastic. Scenarios where you needed to repeal chaos or order invaders. Scenarios where living units needed to do X or Y to prove their worth and become vampires. Scenarios where you had to protect a ritual so Isabelle could shadow move the realm, etc.

Also, fluff around the livings view on dying and what happens to bodies of loved ones would be interesting.

Basically, I am saying GIVE ME MORE!!!!

[Sception]

I don't know, if I were to include a monstrous infantry unit, it would probably just be straight up vargheists.  I left them out (along with vamps on zombie dragons and battleline blood knights) so that the homebrew faction wouldn't just be 'Soulblight ++', but I could see vargheists fitting into the fluff as vampires who broke the rules of not killing the mortals, for which their queen turned them into vargheists as a sort of 'if you act like beasts than beasts you shall become' ironic punishment kind of deal.

I had a similar idea for bowmen, but then I remembered that the surviving halfling population was in sylvania with Isabella at the end (along with neferata and khalida), and I figured they might do the ranged thing, and that kind of evolved into the Blackfeathers.

The heroes aren't really in shape yet, but the halfling vampire hero will have a similar set-up-anywhere advanced deployment rule, that the blackfeathers would then be able to piggyback off of.  Not the strongest ranged unit by any stretch, but one able to appear and get some shots off from an unexpected angle.