Mordheim Season 3 - The Lair of the Beast

With the next round of the third Mordheim Season up, the usual suspects gathered chasing the Witch Hunters, who had proven victorious in the last round, in search of powerful Holy Relic which was in the hands of one of the Necromancers Captains, Rufus, The Beast of Dalberz, who had been instrumental in much of the destruction of the town and in particular the academic quarter.

Rufus had been tracked to the area of Jurgengard, north east of the remains of Dalberz on route to his stronghold at Slayer's End.

The Witch Hunter's then sprung an ambush on the Fighter and his small bodyguard while passing through the abandoned village.

Along with Andy L's Witch Hunters, following him to the field were Dave's Marienburg Mercenaries, Kev's Vampire led Undead, Andy W's Skaven and my Protectorate of Sigmar. (The Dwarves not managing to make an appearance for this engagement).

The table was the now standard 6' x 6' layout with the Beast and his guard of thugs holed up in part of the village necropolis and the bands deploying in the usual equi-distant fashion around the board. The Witch Hunters getting the initiative and a free move to kick the proceedings off.

The Witch Hunters promptly made a bee-line straight across the board towards the Marienburgers who were directly opposite and the Marienburgers then reciprocated in kind. The two largest (biggest warband ratings) bands then proceeding to clash in the north of the village, largely ignoring the objective and indeed the rest of the combatants for the first half of the round.

Next up were the Undead who played things a bit cannily (due to the newly raised Vampire, brought in to replace the previous now deceased commander) and not wanting to move towards the larger bands to the north, move slowly through the ruins towards their arch enemies the Protectorate.

The Protectorate also reciprocated in kind with a much depleted (but similar warband rating) towards the Undead, generally keeping cover and conjuring up Armour of Righteousness the Warrior Priest was emboldened.

The Skaven, now pushed out on their own by other movement were free to head en-mase towards the objective and Rufus and his small band.

Generally avoiding a couple of poor shots from the guard (other than a knocked down rat) the Skaven horde spread out and headed as quickly as possible and closed on the cornered henchmen.

In fairly short order, over the space of a couple of turns, the Skaven swarmed Rufus and his henchmen and took out a four of the thugs in quick succession.

The Captain in turn charged with his bodyguard, and took down one of the ratty number but otherwise the Skaven were un-phased.

Meanwhile, in the north the Witch Hunters and the Merc's clashed with the newly recruited Ogre Merc for the Witch Hunter's being a prime target barely managed to swing his axe before going down to the fire power of the Merc archers. The Witch Hunter's closed as quickly as possible and got to grips with the mercenaries to even things up and a viscous melee ensued.

To the south, the Protectorate, who were devoid of any missile capability, tried to maneuver into charge range while keeping in cover to avoid the Undead shooting. The Undead slightly withdrawing in return to keep that option. 

My Protectorate having no option moved forward to the attack and forcing the melee but having to give the Undead the first contact option.

With a mix of effective shooting and a reasonable charge, the Undead croaked a Crusader, a Templar and one the Acolytes and knocked the Warrior Priest to the ground with Kev's dice being very kind to him (but not to me).

The Protectorate response was poor with exceptionally rubbish dice except the bold remaining Crusader who managed to roll a critical against the newbie Vampire and things look ominous for a second but a a successful roll with a Lucky Charm saved the day for the Vamp. Otherwise the other Acolyte went down on his charge against the much mightier Dreg who took him apart.

The Skaven now overwhelmed the ruffian captain and his thugs, and with most of their number swarming in, including the hefty Rat Ogre, the fight was short lived. The Captain and his lieutenant went down and were duly searched and the relic 'The Witches Hammer', a holy tome was duly uncovered.

The rats consolidated their advancing sweep across the centre and hoovered up at least three of the treasure tokens scattered in this region in the process. The Skaven Sorcerer then began his incantations in preparation for destroying the hated holy relic.

The Witch Hunters and Marienburger's continued to take lumps out of each other, both sides trading blows and neither side gaining the advantage.

The Skaven tidy things up and now have a eye on the Undead and Protectorate battling to the south along with some unclaimed treasure tokens in the intervening ruins.

The Undead now pressed their advantage on the Protectorate and charged in with most of their number now out numbering the Protectorate 3 to 1 and with little trouble took out the Warrior Priest on the ground and the remaining Crusader leaving one solitary Templar who with hate filled zealousness stood his ground swinging his sword at the surrounding Undead Minions (and failed to wound anything again thanks to another lucky charm). The combat saw his demise under a mass of teeth and claws.

To the north and casualties mounting the Marienburger's were beginning to get the worst of the comdat and with any likelihood of any further treasure being had, the Merc's voluntarily broke for hills with the loss of five of their number.

The Witch Hunter's only marginally better off and on break tests remained and began an advance on proceedings to the south but a ways off.

On their first break check on their way south, the Witch Hunter's failed their test and disappeared into the gathering darkness.

With the Skaven sorcerer successfully destroying the ancient tome, the Skaven now advanced in a wide arc towards the Undead who consolidated their line and put out a blocking fear causing ghoul to slow things down. 

This tactic from the Undead was unprecedentedly successful as with the first round of shooting from the Undead at the advancing Skaven, they managed to pick off the Skaven Captain who had exposed his position going for the last treasure token onto of some ruins.

This then meant it was practically impossible for the Skaven to successfully overcome the fear causing blockers and failed to initiatate a charge due to the low Leadership scores caused by the loss of their leader. A brief tussle was had between the Rat Ogre and a Skaven Gutter runner and one of the blocking zombies (who repeatedly fell down but failed to die) and with things looking pointless and a large haul of treasure in tow, Andy decided there was no point in lingering and voluntarily broke leaving the Undead their third victory of the campaign.

A bit of a surprise result for all concerned and with no losses at all and a good haul of experience, Kev's Undead were very happy with the result from tactical play.

Losses were minimal for everyone post game and even the Protectorate who went down to a man didn't loose any one (though no exploration cash and a couple sitting out the next game pretty much puts them out of contention in the campaign).

Next up, the Undead have decided on the strategic view (and to prolong the campaign) to carry out a raid on one of their neighbouring warbands and plumped for the Marienburger's being the biggest threat of the choice available, so the Merc's are to try and defend their camp from the other bands as best they can.