Thursday 14 March 2024

The Andtor Odyssey, part 4: Path to Glory


When the Cleavermaw and the Swordfysh sailed back into Dead Kraken Cove once more, they had their holds loaded and their pennants flying.

Kaptain Borgoth met them on the quayside in roaring high-spirits. He pushed through the excited crowd of pirates from other ships to greet Mogrum and Krashhart, shaking their hands warmly and slapping them on the back as they quickly summarised their adventures.

The good news further raised his mood and he regaled them with tales: while the two ships were out roving he had also taken the Plunderblade out exploring the nearest islands to the north-west. They had sighted a Dawnbringer Outpost nearby and when night fell they looked into its harbour. They came home with a good deal of loot from the Outpost's stores and left the place ablaze.

The back-and-forth stories of the battle with the Soulblight Gravelord and ransacking the port kept the crews supplied with a steady flow of grog for a week. As usual they all embellished each tale in the telling and retelling with progressively wilder additions each time.

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Over the next few weeks there were several friendly ships who passed by Dead Kraken Cove.

The Cleavermaw spoke the Lockheart:

A green and blue painted, low-flying Ironclad of the Keystone Acquisition Company. The Captain of the ironclad, Kap'n Clink Keyholdr, was a skaven pirate dressed in a collection of vibrant emerald and azure coats and carrying a great latchkey-axe slung over his shoulder. He exchanged news and chit-chat with the Ironfang Fleet for a while but declined an invitation to dine on megalofin steak, suddenly declaring they had "only hove-to to ask the orruks for directions".


The Swordfysh spoke the Iron Kraken:

A steam-powered monitor, that was carrying the Chuglords Fusiliers on a supply mission. The captain shared a bottle of fiery grog with Krashhart and a stew made from steeped Harkraken meat. they discussed other vessels each had seen recently. Meanwhile their crews exchanged trinkets, trophies and wild tales of adventure (and no small amount of grog too).

Monday 11 March 2024

The Ironfang Pirate Fleet - The Plunderblades and the Portwreckas, part 8


The Portwreckas are the crew of another new ship in the Ironfang pirate fleet. They're mostly driven by the joy they find in taking other people's stuff. They don't really care what the stuff is, or what happens to the previous owners. They just enjoy the process of taking it, especially if there's violence involved.

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Kedge

Despite his innate savagery, Kedge can be surprisingly devious and kunnin'. So much so, the rest of the crew have no idea that he is anything other that brutal.





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Skrug

Skrug's most prized possession is a thaumaturgic compass, that glows with a dim blue-green light.





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Stern Bruk

Bruk likes to see if the crew can make a fight last longer than one turn of his hour-glass. He also claims he can write and records the times of their various battles on a long piece of parchment he carries. But since none of the others even claim to be able to read know one knows if this is true.





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Weatherside

Weatherside is very proud of his hat.





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Mainstay Grak, Ardboy Boss

Grak is a stubborn one: If he ever encounters a problem he will simply batter his way through it, no matter what anyone else thinks. His lads think this is an excellent and admirable quality.

[This is a model I made a few years ago (mostly from an Ork Flashgit), but I gave him a very minor repaint, to make his colour-scheme similar to the rest of the crew's.]





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There are 5 more Ardboys queued-up on my desk to bring these lads up to AoS unit strength.

Tuesday 13 February 2024

Warcry: The Ferocious Gnarlwood (Feb 2024) - Tournament Report


I was back at Warhammer World last weekend (for the second time in 3 weeks!)

Three tournaments in, and the "competitive" Warcry community has been really awesome - it's always been a pleasure to join these events as everyone has been friendly and welcoming.

At five rounds, this one felt like a much longer day that the last one. But it was totally worth it to play lots of Warcry with lovely people.

Friday 2 February 2024

Warcry: The Ferocious Gnarlwood (Feb 2024) - Event Prep


I'm heading back down to Warhammer World next weekend for my third Warcry tournament - The Ferocious Gnarlwood.

This time I'm going to be running a new warband - The Plunderblades. They are still Ironjawz, but with a very different selection of fighters. More Ardboys, fewer Brutes and completely different types of heroes. I have not practiced with them so I don't know how well its going to go at all!

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This will be my list for the event:

Ironjawz - The Plunderblades


DAGGER
Kaptain Borgoth - Megaboss [225]
Drabbler - Ardboy with Ardboy Choppas [80]
Mr Flea - Ardboy with Ardboy Choppas [80]

HAMMER
Docker Goff - Ardboy Boss with Ardboy Choppas [135]
Mizzen Grom - Ardboy with Ardboy Choppas [80]
Skarlud - Ardboy with Ardboy Choppas [80]

SHIELD
Hurdygurdy - Brute with Pair of Brute Choppas, Divine Blessing of Fortitude (+4 Wounds) [140+15]
Hogline - Ardboy with Ardboy Choppas [80]
Gundeck - Ardboy with Ardboy Choppas [80]

9 Fighters
995 points

Wednesday 24 January 2024

The Animosity Weekender 2024 - UK Meet-Up


I ran my first narrative Warcry event at Warhammer World for the UK Animosity Discord meet-Up event on Sunday (21st January 2024). And it was really enjoyable! I want to do it again.

It was for the Animosity Weekender 2024: Rolling Thunder which (by design) coincided with the Las Vegas Open - a huge convention, where Naro, who is also one of the Animosity GMs, ran the AoS narrative event.

The Animosity Weekender there consisted of a one-evening Warcry event, followed by a three-day AoS event. An entirely grander affair than mine! It was at a ticketed convention, with the AoS narrative run for 24 players, over 3 days, and included doubles games, one-against-one games, and a huge multi-player siege game finale.

My little event was just a one-day, 10-player, 3-game narrative. But still a much more structured thing than the previous Discord Meet-ups, or any other events I've hosted: They have always just been "lets get together and play a few games".

For the first time ever, I asked players to pre-submit rosters, I scheduled rounds, I recorded match-ups and results, and wrote an evolving subplot that was to be decided by the results of the games each round.

Tuesday 16 January 2024

The Ironfang Pirate Fleet - The Plunderblades and the Portwreckas, part 7

Hurdygurgy

The Ironfang Fleet are a ragtag band of orruk sky-pirates that cruise the airways of the Mortal Realms, in a ramshackle flotilla of wooden vessels that barely look able to fly, let alone fight. They are not usually a single coordinated force, but a collective of individual ships that prey on whatever merchant sky-shipping that they find sailing over the less-travelled areas of the realms, or on the shipping routes between Free Cities.

They have gathered at the Ashfall Delta in greater numbers than have been seen for a generation. Kaptain Mogrum and the Cleavermaws made a handsome profit last time they were in the Prime Dominion and they have passed word to the other ships in the fleet. The prospect of the gathering storm that is about to beset the hidden archipelago in Haixiah (via the Realmgate in the delta) offers unequalled opportunities.

The Ironfang Fleet have been incentivised to join the fighting with the Longblades in the Ashfall Delta. They have employed a squadron of piratical sky-ships to rain-down fire on their enemies, and stand watch over their advance from above. It might be somewhat inaccurate cannon-fire, but it's spectacular and there is enough of it that the quantity has a quality of its own.



Hurdygurgy was a Warchanter on the Plunderblade. He joined the crew somewhere along the journey between Andtor and the Gnarlwood.

He probably had another name at some point before then but everyone just referred to him by the strange crank-driven musical instrument he always carried and that name just stuck.

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