The Rock in The Badlands – Eleonore’s Second Letter

Excerpt from the records of the Dukedom of Parravon. Correspondence dated c1550 (2528 Imperial) to Sir Redemond of Parravon, from Eleonore (a damsel of The Lady, attached to the court of Sir Redemond).

 

My Noble Lord,

 

Since our last correspondence our fortunes have been mixed. Sir Ectorde and his retinue arrived safely some four days ago, they are battered and weary from their arduous journey yet their spirits remain high and have uplifted us all.

En route to our camp, Sir Ectorde encountered an insensible man of indeterminate breeding, by your nephew’s account he was on the precipice of death. In his dying moments he told that his settlement was attacked by a horde of rat men who put all they could find to the sword.

As you know all too well, these fell creatures are drawn to sources of Warp Stone so upon hearing Ectorde’s report I immediately assembled a scouting party and sought out this place.

Upon our arrival we found the village in ruins, half-eaten bodies lay everywhere and I pray to The Lady that the poor wretches were dead before the feasting began. Of the Skaven however we saw no sign until it was far too late.

Seemingly from nowhere our foes appeared in numbers far exceeding our own. Almost immediately Sir Michael called a charge and his fellowship sallied into the waiting blades of the enemy’s most capable warriors. I believe Imperial scholars refer to these creatures as ‘Stormvermin’. At the same time, Sir Hugues took his knights round our left flank and overran a wretched unit of sickly looking creatures who did more damage to their benighted kin as they scrambled from the field.

Alas, this early success was not to last and before my eyes our knights were immersed in a seemingly unending tide of greasy fur and sharp claws. From my place within Sir Michael’s Fellowship I saw our indentured bowmen suffer horrendous casualties and while our nobles faired far better I knew it was only a matter of time before the sheer number of these vile creatures would be the end of us.

Knowing this, I ordered the retreat and quit the field. The Lady was kind to us that day and, while many of Bretonnia’s noble sons were injured, all were able to fight again.

That night as I slept I had a vision of a blighted forest which restless dead had claimed as their own. I was certain that somewhere among the trees would be a quantity of the rock we seek and that other forces were marshalling for the same purpose.

At sunrise I reviewed the latest reports from our yeomen scouts and after meditating further I knew where we needed to go. The forest in question was a two day march from the camp so we had no time to loose.

Our journey was for the most part uneventful however as we drew ever closer to our destination I began to sense a malevolent, familiar, presence and I was certain that the necromantic horde we encountered before was intent on claiming the forest’s prize.

As we entered the tree line I observed pockets of etheric vapour drifting throughout the forest, wherever they went any creature caught within exhibited strange and unpredictable behaviour. Some even succumbed to the foulness. This hindered our progress significantly and too soon our scouts sighted elements of the undead force we had encountered before.

Unlike our first encounter I detected a change in the balance of power between myself and the enemy’s foul mage, where before I found his presence near unbearable I felt the power of The Lady swell within me, I felt certain of victory.

Immediately I ordered our battle line to form, my wariness of the prowling mists proved correct as it soon touched a unit of bowmen forcing them to withdraw from their position.

Soon the vile corpse army made themselves known; unlike our previous encounter I ordered our cavalry to hold while our bowmen unleashed torrents of arrows into the enemy’s midst. Before too long I felt the enemy necromancer’s dark magics building and was certain he was about to attempt to augment his forces, I attempted to counter this but was too late and to my despair I saw those we had felled rise and resume their places in the foe’s ranks.

Here The Lady made her presence known. Just as I thought all was lost we saw the deadly mists move towards the enemy’s lines and cause untold damage. After a further volley of arrows I ordered Sir Michael’s men to charge the unit of skeletons approaching our left flank, I joined them as they headed to glory.

The combat was long and arduous, we inflicted heavy losses on them but like all such creatures they did not break. Only my magics kept us from harm but I knew that this was unlikely to last since unlike us they could replenish their number, or so I thought.

As the battle progressed I felt the winds of magic more strongly than I have ever before, whenever my foe attempted to conjure reinforcements I easily blocked his attempts and the times were I was unable to he was unable to complete his incantations. Thanks to this we were able to see off their heavy infantry and, with Sir Hugues and his knights we rounded on the remaining enemy forces and drive them from the woods.

After the last of the creatures had made their escape we uncovered what they coveted, in a clearing was a crater fully ten metres across and in that we found ten sizeable rocks of the purest warpstone I have ever encountered. Returning it to our camp cost the lives of three mules and five peasants, as I’m sure you’ll agree my lord these were nescessary losses.

There is much more of this rock out there my lord and I am more convinced than ever that the situation in the Badlands needs more attention. I petition you to send whatever you can spare from the northern front to aid us for I fear that in spite of this victory far darker times lie ahead.

I am your humble servant,

 

Eleonore

Parravon Expeditionary Force Men-At-Arms

The first round of The Rock in The Badlands was played at the weekend, more or that in a later post.  Anyway, while I hadn’t got the whole army ready in time I had at least managed to get some of my peasant scum ready.

I chose to keep the colours fairly simple by sticking to colours available in the middle ages, mainly dark green and brown for the clothes with red and yellow used for the Lord’s livery.  Thus far I’m really happy with how these are turning out, hopefully I’ll have more for you next week.

The Damsel Eleonore

I’ve finally finished my first major model for the first round of The Rock in The Badlands campaign.

This is the first Warhammer Fantasy miniature I’ve painted since ’94 and in truth, while I really enjoyed the process it’s very obvious that some more work is required on the face. Unfortunately since I want to have at least half my army ready in time for this weekend I’ve had to swallow my pride and move on for now. After my gallant knights have crushed all before them I’ll add some more detail and soften up the skin tone.

The Rock in The Badlands – My Army’s Background

When the southern sky falls one thousand summers hence,
A new star must rise,
Else the land of his fathers be dark evermore.

Seventh Prophecy of Madeline of Parravon, Prophetess of The Lady, 550 (1528 Imperial Calendar)

Only a fool ignores the words of The Lady and Sir Redemond of Parravon was certainly no fool. Nevertheless, when word reached him that rocks of pure warpstone were raining down on the Badlands he was far north of Bretonnia fighting in the king’s grand army, desperately trying to repel a massive Chaos warhost from entering the civilised lands of man.

Redemond consulted with Duke Cassyon, Lord of Parravon and Mathilde, the Prophetess to the Court of The Realm. All agreed that while the prophecy was surely coming to pass, their duty was to the whole of Bretonnia, the fate of Parravon would be determined by someone else.

The three debated long into the night but by first light a decision had been made; Aymeric, the eldest son of Redemond would take whomever could be spared from the army and start on the long journey south to the Badlands. Time however was against them and even if Aymeric left that morning the journey south would take many weeks, fortunately Mathilde had a solution.

Accompanying Mathilde was Eleonore, a young damsel barely seventeen summers old. Nevertheless, Mathilde sensed the will of The Lady working through this girl and instructed her to race immediately for Parravon; there she must assemble what forces she can from the remaining nobility and peasantry then head into the Badlands and hold off this threat until Aymeric’s forces can arrive.

And so it begins…

The postman woke me at silly o’clock to deliver a package I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

Behold! The start of my Bretonnian Army!

I know you should start by painting your core troops but sometimes it’s really satisfying to dive straight in and paint a character or two that catches your imagination. Hopefully they’ll be ready for next week’s Miniature Monday.

The Rock in The Badlands – Background & Rules

In the year 2528 (by the Imperial Calender), a meteor of pure warpstone crashes to ground in the Badlands. The fight begins to claim it.

Army selection:

Players will put forward a 500pt list, selecting a minimum of 1 hero, maximum of two. These characters should have a brief background as this, and their actions on the field will determine how they develop, special rules and benefits. The remainder of your 500pts will be spent on core troops only. Do not worry – more points will be available to spend quite soon on those lovely specials, however your initial force will represent a quickly mustered expedition. Feel free to throw in any unit names or fluff you like, as you’re going to have these troops with you for a while! No magic items at the outset, you will fight for/discover these later on. Optional extras for units will be at GM discretion (as will oh so much!), however a quick rule of thumb – army book allows a unit upgrade to spears for 1 point per model? Fine, they’re your points. Army book allows you to upgrade all of your weapons to do magic, flaming, poisoned attacks? Sod off, not happening. Unit champions as per army book are fine, feel free to name them even, but no extra heroes at this stage.

Army Progression:

The section that I’m sure will be of most interest. Your army will advance in a number of ways. The most straight forward of which is that at moments in the campaign new points will be allocated across the board, eg. End of turn summary announces that points cap has gone from 500 to 700 pts. Every army would then be able to spend up to 200pts extra before the next round. There may be guidelines as to what they can be spent upon, but they are yours to flesh out your force, or save up for that ‘essential’ unit further down the line.
We then have unit development. You will see that under some circumstances there are tables to roll on at the end of battles, influenced by your victories and defeats. Units will collect traits in this way as your campaign develops. Over and above this there will be GM allocated effects driven by what has happened on the field (Battle Reports are Important). One unit keeps running away? Perhaps they will become used to it and suffer a leadership reduction, then again perhaps your council/emperor/war chief will dispatch an experienced champion to stiffen their resolve…
Characters then. First off don’t feel limited by your initial character choice, it will not restrict your access to things later on. To give you an example from the undead: I may decide to field a wight king as my general at the initial 500 pts level. At some point an announcement is made that 150pts are now available to upgrade heroes to lords. Tragically, wight king has no upgrade, so I would instead be able to upgrade to a vampire lord statline and attributes, while holding onto bonuses already accrued. He’s still a wight, just a very hard wight! However, choice having been made, I can’t switch him to the necromancer lord statline for the next battle. So that is development to Lord etc. Characters will also develop according to their actions (Battle Reports are Fucking Important). This will take the form of special rules, some from the book and some not, and stat increases. For an example here, take the Empire Warrior Priest who keeps surviving despite the loss of every until he fights in – he develops the special “Screw him – he’ll be fine!” rule (-1 to rally core troops, gains 5+ ward save). That’s a big one for some exceptional circumstances, but play your characters as you want them to be: do they lead from the front, or orchestrate from back? Always seeking out the enemy’s champions, or laying waste to hordes of lesser men? Characters will grow with their actions (I mentioned Battle Returns, yeah?).
Finally, Rare units and Magic Items. These will not be available to spend points on (at least until the later stages), but will be acquired through taking certain territories, fighting special scenarios and as top end rewards.

The Rules

Turn Structure

1. GM emails out to anyone who has a choice of actions
2. Your council will dispatch your orders/sanction of your actions for that turn
3. 2 battles will be fought. One for territory and all bonuses that come with it. The second will be two armies meeting in the field in a scrap for warpstone tokens.
4. Any end of battle rolls (see post game tables below) to be made in the presence of your opponent.
5. Battle Returns emailed to GM, 1 per person. Brief summary of what happened, your best unit, your opponents best unit, and points of interest.
6. End of turn email will be sent out by GM. Overview of what has happened, any rewards and upgrades, any changes to army values.
7. Back to the beginning.

Post Game:

Once your battle has been fought, you’ll need to do a few things. None of your usual troops are lost in a battle. Restore any units that have taken casualties to starting strength, as reinforcements are sent to you by your Council. If a unit is wiped out in the field, remove any special rules, good or bad, that they have acquired, and restore to staring strength (these units are assumed gone and replaced by a new unit of fresh troops – so you may want to consider pulling out units with favourable rules during a battle if the fight is going against you) Next, make rolls for units that have seen interesting action (do this, at least, with opponent present to witness):

Roll a D6 for any unit that has run from the field (unit has actually left the table-top while fleeing). On a 3-6 nothing happens. On a 1 or 2 please roll a further 2xd6 and check the results on the table below:

2. Scared Witless – Only half the troops can be rallied back to the cause. Unit half strength for next battle.
3. Gun Shy – Unit must pass a leadership test in order to charge an enemy for the next battle.
4. Shattered Nerves – Entire unit is -1 to leadership (characters are affect by this whilst attached to unit) permanently.
5. Cowardly Tremors – Unit is still shaking with nerves after their defeat -1 to initiative for next battle.
6. Disgraced Champion – Unit champion loses extra attack until unit wins a round of combat.
7. Lapdogs – Unit unable to move at all for next battle (may defend itself) unless within 10” of an allied hero.
8. Lost Honour – Unit subject to frenzy for next battle.
9. Dutch Courage – Unit got drunk in order to fight. Subject to stupidity, however is steadfast (both for next battle only).
10. Death Pact – Unit’s shame is so great they have vowed to fight and die – GM will specify exact rules for unit.
11. -12(stupid auto format…) Unit gains permanent hatred against race that forced them to route

Roll a D6 for any unit that has won all combats this battle. This does not have to be every combat round, but it will have been the unit still standing after each encounter with an enemy unit. On a 1-4 nothing happens. On a 5 or 6 please roll a further 2xd6 and check the results on the table below:

2. Overconfidence – Unit must charge at first target in range in next battle
3. Post Victory Whorefest! – Unit now has a personal disease (shouldn’t double dip the same strumpet lads!) +1 ld, -1 movement permanently.
4. Faith Against Adversity – Unit may re roll failed fear tests, permanently, until they fail one.
5. Loot – gain an extra warpstone token.
6. Skilled – Permanent +1 to ws or bs
7. Get it Together Lads! – Unit may re roll failed Rally results.
8. Veteran Unit – Does not panic if core units fleeing within range.
9. -10 GM specified upgrade.
   11-12 GM specified special rule added.

Award the victor 5 warpstone tokens, or 2 each in the case of a (rare) draw. Finally, each player completes a Battle Report, and emails to the GM. It would be preferred if this was done separately to allow individual feelings about the fight to surface.

Battle Report (it’s not complicated):

What happened in the battle?

A brief or lengthy description of what occurred during the fight, depending on how creative you are feeling. At very least cover deployment, shape of the battle, key moments, how magic went, what impressed and what embarrassed.

Your best unit?

Unit of the battle, in your own eyes. No science here, nor totalling of victory points – merely your choice.

Your opponents best unit?

As above, who or what was the thorn in your side?

The Night Faire:

Racking up warpstone tokens is your goal, at the end of the campaign they might make the difference between success and failure. However, there will be times when a little expense is worth the long term gain, and you may wish to spend before taking on a tricky opponent. For such circumstances, you may wish to visit The Night Faire.

A collection of caravans travelling the Badlands – crewed by goblins, suspect merchants and strange hooded figures. The Night Faire is your best source of oddities, magical weapons, potions, cures and no small amount of glittering junk. Be ware: the quality of items purchased from the fair is such that they will only last you one battle.

Luckstone (1 Token) – One use. Allows the wearer to re-roll a failed armour save.

Dragonbane Gem (1 token) – One battle. Wearer gains a 2+ ward save against flaming attacks.

Seed of Rebirth (2 tokens) – One battle. Bearer has 6+ Regeneration.

Ruby ring of Ruin (3 tokens) – One use. Bound spell (power level 3) Contains fireball spell.

Potion of Speed (1 token) – One use. +3 to initiative for one round.

Potion of toughness (3 tokens) – One use. +3 to toughness for one round.

Potion of strength (3 tokens) – One use. +3 to strength for one round.

Dispell scroll (2 tokens) – One use.

Scroll of shielding (1 token) – One use. Works like a dispel scroll except you gain a 4+ save to all models effected by the spell

Power scroll (2 tokens) – One use. When used ANY double causes irresistible force (and a miscast)

Gleaming pennant (1 token) – One battle. Re roll first failed leadership.

Charmed shield (1 token) – One battle. First hit suffered discounted on a 2+

Sword of striking (3 tokens) – One battle. +1 to “to hit” rolls.

Shrieking blade (2 tokens) – One battle. Causes fear.

All rules and background © Bede Pratt and Sam Whiteley

The Rock in The Badlands

Next month I’m taking part in a Warhammer narrative campaign set in the Badlands of the Old World where a shower of warpstone has recently rained down.  Later on I’ll be posting the rules that my friends have developed for this event and as time goes on I’ll provide progress updates as no doubt my Bretonnian army destroys all those who come in their way…

I’m really looking forward to this, it’s been a  very long time since I’ve done anything like this 🙂