The higher you fly...
"Captain, that's not the entrance to the Hall of Drowned Gold", Bosun Mudrin was reporting in his usual matter of fact tone. "By the dead bodies we found, smugglers were using it as a stash until the Kruleboyz had some fun with them".
"Did the damn orruks leave anything of value?" Gudrun's voice dripped with frustration.
"Not much", replied the bosun. "Some barrels of grog, an old atlas of the Karkino Sea and this sash".
Gudrun took the sash in his hands. It was made of the lightest fyresilk, arcaic sigils embroidered in golden thread along its hem.
"A fine piece, indeed" muttered Gudrun. "Allright, bosun. The grog goes to the crew and that atlas might be of use to Captain Draketooth. I'll keep this", and saying so he wrapped the sash around his waist.
"Ayes, sir! Are we getting back to the Grudgebreaker?"
"Aye! Get the crew moving".
Mudrin and the party carrying the atlas had taken just a few steps out of the cave when barbed harpoons started to fly around them. The Kruleboyz were back.
"Oi! Dat's me loot!" the orruk leader yelled at Gudrun from a rock in front of the entrance to the cave. "You'z not goin' nowhere!"
The orruk leapt forward, skewering Gudrun on his harpoon and knocking him off with his choppa.
Bosun Mudrin engaged another orruk, keeping him away from the atlas, but his grot pet slipped past and finished off a deck hand already peppered by Kruleboyz harpoons.
More orruks burst out of the undergrowth, throwing their harpoons.
At the cave, the crew ganged up on the orruk leader, stopping him from chopping the unconscious Gudrun to pieces.
Mudrin held off the orruk and the grot, but his duardin were falling like flies.
Then he too fell and the Kruleboy stepped forward.
With the captain and bosun down, the Grudgebreakers fired their flares and their mates still on board immediately opened up with the ship's guns. In the smoke of the barrage, the duardin grabbed the wounded and fled, leaving the atlas in the Kruleboyz' hands.
Gudrun was limping up and down the command deck. His wounds were healing slowly. Too sloowly in fact. Surely the working of some damn Kruleboy poison. He'd have dealt with it soon. But now Illyana's orders had come. He stopped and turned to the crew.
"All hands on deck! Full speed ahead for the Maelstrom. We're going to crack ourselves a big grab and take its gold!"
He tightened the knot of his fyresilk sash and grabbed the ship's wheel. As the Grudgebreaker gained speed, the sash flapped against his wounded leg, sending a jolt of pain up his spine. What Gudrun didn't notice was the faint ruddy glow emanating from the embroidered sigils.
***
This was the last game I've played during the Animosity weekender and I played it back to back with the previous one, really enjoying how the two narratively fed into each other smoothly.
Of monster hunters and treasures
The Grudgebreakers emerged in a clearing from where they could see the top of the rocky formation they were headed for. Orin had spotted it from the ruins, a massive opening just at its centre, big enough for Berejin's End to move through it. But it wasn't it that caught Gudrun's attention. Scattered around the clearing floor were the mangled remains of a massive jungle lizard, barbed spears stiking from its hide and crude, caked mud sigils smeared across its head.
"Watch out, lads!" the captain growled. "We entered the hunting grounds of some filthy Kruleboyz. Prep your guns and crossbows. We keep our heading, that cave must be the crab's lair. Stay sharp! We don't want to walk into their traps..."
The Grudgebreakers' scouts had already gained the top of the rocky formation, Bosun Mudrin barking orders at their back, when a foul smelling mist rised, many figures advancing under its cover.
The largest one parted the mist, a Rockgut Troggoth that lumbered forward to bar the entrance to the cave, Gutrippaz following close behind.
The Grudgebreakers immediately opened fire, wounding the foremost orruk. The others quickly drew back, looking for cover amidst the trees and mist.
Gudrun and the deckhands with him rushed forward to reinforce Mudrin's scouts.
The captain stoked his crew duardin-born greed and they laid such a withering hail of quarrels and shots that the Troggoth could not even regenerate the wounds. As the brute tumbled down the rocks, the orruk leader burst out of the mist.
Gudrun promised double share to the crew and the lean orruk disappeared again, this time in a cloud of gun smoke. Then, he was trumpled by the rushing duardin as they moved to secure the cave entrance.
For another hour, the orruk came at the Grudgebreakers. The few that survived the fire levelled at them were quickly finished with cutlasses and cudgels. The Grudgebreakers had the cave and nothing would have moved them from there until they had thoroughly searched it and secured their loot.
***
This was a proper game, played against a new friend I've recently met. As we drew the battleplan cards, I was reminded of the beauty of Warcry. It is simply amazing how, no matter what, the cards always end up fitting perfectly into your own narrative and even drive it forward.
Greenfather Herktus Whisperleaf
Herktus Whisperleaf was the Greenfather of a hamlet founded deep into Futilia Wood by one of the earliest Dawnbringer Crusades to set forth from the Living City. There, he tended the local shrine garden for years, until the Vermindoom hit. As the Skaven attacked, he tapped into the ley line nexus at the centre of his beloved garden to repel them. But in so doing he felt something, far more devious and subtle than the Skaven, had tampered with the nexus. He tried to pull back, but it was too late. A high-pitched laughter echoed through the aether as a blidning flash of multicoloured light engulfed Herktus' garden. When the light subsided, four pairs of eyes stared at him and the laughter resolved in a chilling voice.
"Welcome to my Tower, Whisperleaf. I trust you'll find its chambers to your liking. But should you wish to leave, just piece together the amulet inscribed with my name, and freedom will be yours..."
A few months before deciding to leave Manchester, I had a half formed idea to create a Warcry warband comprising thirtheen duardin from Ghyran, who would have been known as the Oakenshields, and their Wizard ally. I started from the Wizard, deciding to convert it to match the background and art found on the 3rd edition Core Book.
The body and head are from the Battle Wizard kit, while the arms are the ones holding the gun swab from the Empire Great Cannon. I clipped away the brush and replaced it with the final curve of a Kurnoth Hunter's bow.
The branches, shoulder pauldrons and sprite familiars come from the same kit and perfectly match the appearence of the Ghyranite wizard from the Core Book.
The choice of colours was pretty obvious, although I added yellow as the spot colour to draw attention to the head, sprites and cape frills.
As the only base I had was a Shattered Dominion one, I painted it in the same colours I had used for my Silver Tower models.
That, in turn, gave me an idea for the Wizard's story when, leaving Manchester, I realised that the Oakenshields would not be built for a very long time.
Now that I have a hobby station again, maybe one day Herktus Whisperleaf will emerge from the Silver Tower and the Oakenshields will be joining him...
Clash at the Hideout
Gudrun guzzled long from his flask, then pushed it up, letting the water run down his face. It was a brief relief from the swealtering heath of the jungle growing all around the Hideout.
Other crews from the Umbral Dominion were searching the Hideout proper, while he and the Grudgebreakers had been tasked to explore inland, following Bloddy Bennet's clue to take 'the sheltered path'.
"All right, lads!" he shouted placing his tricorn back on his head. "Time to move one, the sooner we get up those ruins we spotted from the coast, the sooner we can have a clearer idea of what's hidden in this bloddy jungle".
Grumbling and panting, the Grudgebreakers stashed away their flasks and horns and resume the trek under the humid tree canopy.
Bosun Mudrin had almost reached the ruins when Gudrun spotted some movement on the other side of the clearing. He quickly raised his spyglass and swiped along the tree line. A crew of humans, former Freeguilders by the look of them, was emerging from the jungle, clearly with the Grudgebreakers' same plan to secure the ruins to study the land around.
A salvo of quarrels saluted the approaching humans, felling a couple, but their wizard and a few deck hands managed to gain the upper floor of the ruin. The Grudgebreakers rushed up, pistols blazing and cutlasses between their teeth.
The human captain burst through the lower floor, stopping the rest of the Grudgebreakers from reinforcing their mates.
Gunshots rang from both the east and west of the ruins as the rest of both crews emerged from the undergrowth.
Gudrun and Boldrin rushed to intercept the human reinforcements.
The fighting on the ruin upper floors intensified as more humans managed to climb up, even though two more of theirs were laid down at its feet.
But then, as Gudrun cut down one more sailor, the human captain fell under a flurry of blows by Borin. The wizard immediately asked for a truce, offering up all the valuables the humans were carrying.
The humans were not carrying much of value, still, their captain's hat was clearly resonating with some sort of power. Gudrun turned it around in his hands another couple of times, then tossed it at Orun.
"Here you go, gunnery sargeant! A Commodore's Tricorn to finally show your station! And now get to work! Get to the highest floor and mark all the possible places where the crab can make its lair..."
Placing the Tricorn on his head, Orun turned to the quarrelers and motioned them to follow him.
***
Another solo game that resolved itself in a brutal melee around the centre of the table, although a few inches above it.
Prologue
Gudrun the Young sat in his cabin, a map of the Karkino Sea and copies of the notes by his fellow captains spread on his desk. He thought with pride at how Sigurd Prow Dancer, Captain Kælador Heirn Dustral, Madiha al Sayaada and him had worked on Bloddy Bennet's Riddle. Surely some of the best salty dogs he'd ever met sailed under the Umbral Dominion's flag. But then, if he'd ever met a captain that would attract sharp and wicked fellows, that was definitely Illyana Draketooth.
His mind trailed off to the decision to join her during her daring attack on Iscarion. It'd been his first as captain, after inheriting the Grudgebreaker's command from his father, Gudrun the Elder. The old longbeard's pledge to defend the Seeds of Hope during the Season of War had brought them no renown nor riches. Now, thirty years or so after first sailing the Ur-River, the Grudgebreakers coffers were full... and sod 'em both his father's idealism and the bounties on their heads in every Realm!
Three long whistles from a steam bell and a deepening in the rumble of the Grudgebreaker's engine shook Gudrun from his memories. It was the signal they had sighted their destination, Blacktar Refuge. His Grudgebreaker's were to secure a beachhead there. Then, Sigurd could bind those spirits that proved too hostile. Once that would be accomplished, the Umbral Dominion would have had a perfect base of operations.
He grabbed his cutlass, pistol and spyglass and strode out onto the main deck.
"All right, lads!" he shouted "Gunnery crews, load your weapons and stay at the ready. I'll lead the landing parties!"
Gudrun surveyed the area through his spyglass. As expected, there was a welcome committee. One of the captains from Skull Sands, by the look of it. Skeletons shambled around an imperious looking Wight and two deadwalker ogors.
The Wight advanced with his escort, securing one of the clear paths across the sharp rocks dotting the shore line.
Gudrun led his boarding party to secure the other safe passage, the duardin peppering the skeletons with bullets and quarrels.
At the same time, Gunnery Sergeant Orun was directing the Grudgebreakers' covering fire to slow down the advancing Deathrattles, giving time to Bosun Mudrin's crew to hunker down behind a line of rocks seconds before one of the massive, rotting ogors was on them.
With a deep moan, the restless gheists of the Blacktar Refuge rose, attacking duardin and Deathrattle alike. Rusty weapons and well oiled cutlasses clashed and pistols barked. On both sides of the line of rocks, bodies slumped into the greasy waters.
As his crew held back the second ogor, Gudrun spotted the Wight captain leaving the safe passage he had secured and wading into the massed combat. Without a moment of hesitation, he fired the flare he had brought with him.
As the Grudgebreakers heard the distinctive whistle of the flare, they throw themselves down and away from the line of rocks they were defending. All, simultaneously, but Orun and Korin who instead dashed forward, phantasmal hands leaving deep wounds in their ankles but unable to stop them.
The very moment the two duardins reached the opening in the rocks, the Grudgebreaker's light cannons opened up, blasting away the rocks and the skeletons climbing over them. As the smoke and dust cleared, the Wight captain stood alone, a dozen or so pistols and crossbows leveled at him. Witchfire burning angrily in his eyes, he withdrew.
Gudrun paced along the shore, the chanting of Sigurd meshing with the murmur of the lapping waves.
If his father could see him now, brushing shoulders with a Darkoath dabbling in necromancy...
He couldn't follow the thought to the end as Bosun Mudrin approached, an iron chalice in his hands.
"Captain", he called. "Think I've found one of 'em Darkglimmer Chalices. Gave some grog out of it to the wounded and they were shipshape and ready to fight in no time!"
A greedy smile parted Gudrun's black beard.
"Excellent, me mate! Think what expects us once we find and crack the crab..."
***
That was a quick, but extremely bloddy, solo Warcry game. I had decided to set in on Blacktar Refuge because I imagined the water there would be greasy and dark, perfectly matching my Aqshyan water pools. I then searched through all the Twist cards I have from both the first and second edition and found 'Insidious Malignants' was absolutely perfect. Since it was from the first edition deck, I drew the rest of the cards from it. Here they are:
