Reap the Wicked Harvest in No Quarter #73 as Gavyn Kyle investigates the Old Witch, a cold light is cast on the lantern ...
Your Official Guide to WARMACHINE®, HORDES®, and the Iron Kingdoms®
™
ISSUE 73 • AUG 2017
®
REAP THE WICKED HARVEST GAVYN KYLE PROFILES THE OLD WITCH, PLUS INFO ON WITCHWOODS, CASK IMPS & MAD CAPS ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
TWO NEW THEME FORCES
FULL RULES FOR THE BATTLE ENGINE DEMOLITION DERBY
DARK HOST & KRIEL COMPANY
AND EVEN MORE CONTENT FOR:
GRIND EXPANSION GRYMKIN, NEW ARENAS & GRINDERS
® ®
We’re reinventing No Quarter as No Quarter Prime! No Quarter Prime is the most comprehensive and indispensable home for exclusive WARMACHINE and HORDES content. This ad-free, 112-page, bimonthly publication will be jam-packed with game content you can put right on the table and rich lore that expands your knowledge of the Iron Kingdoms. In each issue you will find: • Robust theme force features, with theme force rules, the background and organization of these fighting forces, the introduction of new units and heroes, their weapons and equipment, alternate color schemes for thematic units, new scenarios, and hobby features. • The Fire & the Forge, a feature dedicated to chronicling the epic WARMACHINE and HORDES sagas from the beginning, using both narrative and essay form to deliver a comprehensive overview of the world-changing events that shaped the Iron Kingdoms and beyond. • After Action Report, in which the WARMACHINE and HORDES development team will share their thoughts and insights on updates and changes made to models in Community Integrated Development. After Action Report will also be the first place to see the final version of model stats after they have been tested in CID. • Hostile Territory, a feature on the iconic geography and landmarks of Immoren. You’ll find in-depth information on each location, as well as a multiplayer scenario based on that location, a guide for making battlefield elements iconic of that location, and in-game rules for those elements. • A new playable experience, ranging from all-new self-contained games you can play with your WARMACHINE and HORDES models to campaigns, expansion rules, and Iron Kingdoms RPG adventures. And so much more, including pages of all-new art, beautiful model and diorama photography, hobby and painting content, and more!
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•••
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ON THE COVER
Zevanna Agha, the Fate Keeper by Andrea Uderzo
JUDGING A MAGAZINE BY ITS COVER
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•••
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•••
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Hardy Fowler, Tom Garden, Néstor Ossandón, Andrea Uderzo, Chris Walton, Matthew D. Wilson
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TABLE OF CONTENTS New Releases
4
Editorial
9
“Cast a Cold Light”
10
Guts & Gears: Khadoran Irregulars
13
Faces of the Wicked Harvest: Part II
25
Visions of War
30
Engines of Destruction
32
Dark Host Theme Force
43
Gavyn Kyle Files: Old Witch
46
Kriel Company Theme Force
57
GUTS & GEARS: KHADORAN IRREGULARS
DARK HOST THEME FORCE
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
13
43
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
GAVYN KYLE FILES: OLD WITCH
32
46
Undercity Scenario: Wicked Games
60
“Faith Unassailable”
65
Company of Iron Preview
72
Grind Overtime Expansion
76
Battle Report: Baron’s Balance Due
83
“All in a Day’s Work”
99
Corvis Codex: Blighted Cygnar
109
Player Gallery
112
KRIEL COMPANY THEME FORCE
GRIND OVERTIME EXPANSION
57
76
UNDERCITY SCENARIO: WICKED GAMES
CORVIS CODEX: BLIGHTED CYGNAR
60
109 TABLE OF CONTENTS
3
NEW RELEASES
FORCES OF HORDES: GRYMKIN: THE WICKED HARVEST Release: July SOFTCOVER PIP 1098 • $31.99 HARDCOVER PIP 1099 • $41.99
GRYMKIN ALL-IN-ONE ARMY BOX Release: July PIP 76028 • $199.99
THE CHILD (RESIN/METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Javier Garcia Ureña Painter: Brendan Roy Release: July PIP 76002 • $34.99
DEATH KNELL (RESIN/METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Javier Garcia Ureña Painter: Brendan Roy Release: July PIP 76027 • $84.99
4
NEW RELEASES
SKIN & MOANS (PLASTIC) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Steve Saunders Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: July PIP 76007 • $34.99
CRABBIT (METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Steve Saunders Painter: Brendan Roy Release: July PIP 76012 • $14.99
HOLLOWMEN & LANTERN MAN (PLASTIC) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Steve Saunders Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: July PIP 76013 • $49.99
NEW RELEASES
5
NEW RELEASES
GLIMMER IMP (METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Irek Zielinski Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: July PIP 76022 • $9.99
CASK IMP (RESIN) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Irek Zielinski Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: July PIP 76023 • $11.99
ACTS OF WAR II: AFTERSHOCK Release: July PIP 616 • $15.99
LADY KARIANNA ROSE (METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Irek Zielinski Painter: Brendan Roy Release: July PIP 76026 • $12.99
6
NEW RELEASES
THE KING OF NOTHING (RESIN/METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Irek Zielinski Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: August PIP 76001 • $14.99
THE DREAMER (RESIN/METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Victor Hugo Campelo Painter: Brendan Roy Release: August PIP 76003 • $49.99
RATTLER (PLASTIC) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Steve Saunders Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: August PIP 76008 • $24.99
CAGE RAGER (PLASTIC) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Michael Jenkins Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: August PIP 76009 • $34.99
GOREHOUND (PLASTIC) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Fausto Gutierrez Lopez Painter: Brendan Roy Release: August PIP 76010 • $17.99
NEW RELEASES
7
NEW RELEASES
DREAD ROTS (PLASTIC) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Steve Saunders Painter: Brendan Roy Release: August PIP 76015 • $49.99
NEIGH SLAYERS (METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Irek Zielinski Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: August PIP 76018 • $44.99
TWILIGHT SISTERS (METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Javier Garcia Ureña Painter: Dallas Kemp Release: August PIP 76020 • $24.99
8
NEW RELEASES
TRAPPERKIN (METAL) Game: HORDES/Grymkin Sculptor: Irek Zielinski Painter: Brendan Roy Release: August PIP 76021 • $14.99
EDITORIAL IT’S PRIME TIME!
U
sually, I use this space to talk about this issue of No Quarter. This time, I want to talk about the next issue, which isn’t actually the next issue of No Quarter at all. It’s the first issue of No Quarter Prime. You may already know all about No Quarter Prime if you follow Privateer Press on social media or listen to Primecast. But if you haven’t heard . . . No Quarter is going epic. Starting with the first issue in September, No Quarter Prime will be the most comprehensive and indispensable home for WARMACHINE and HORDES content. While No Quarter Prime will continue to deliver game and hobby articles as it always has, this will not be the same magazine you’ve seen before. Every issue is going to be jam-packed with game content you can use on the table right away and rich lore that will expand your knowledge of the Iron Kingdoms. And No Quarter Prime will be completely adfree, because with all the great content we have planned, we don’t have a single page to spare! Here’s the exciting content you can expect in each issue: Each issue of No Quarter Prime will contain extensive, comprehensive information about one of the varied and unique fighting forces of the Iron Kingdoms. And we’re not just talking about a page of theme force rules—we’re talking about a deep dive into the background and organization of these fighting forces, the introduction of new units and heroes, their weapons and equipment, alternate color schemes for thematic units, new scenarios, and hobby features. And that’s JUST the theme force content. Each issue of No Quarter Prime will tackle a different theme force or comparable group of warriors for WARMACHINE and HORDES. Another exciting new addition will be the 18-page feature called “The Fire & the Forge,” dedicated to retelling the WARMACHINE and HORDES sagas from the beginning. We’ve heard your calls for a collected version of the WARMACHINE and HORDES sagas, and we’re answering with something more exciting than a mere compilation. This will be an updated chronicle of the events that ignited the modern era of warfare in the Iron Kingdoms as originally depicted beginning with WARMACHINE: Prime (Mk I) and WARMACHINE: Escalation, retold in a uniform, collected series and brought to you in each No Quarter Prime. “The Fire & the Forge” will use both essay and narrative storytelling to stitch together this grand saga— think of it like one of those History Channel series that goes back and forth between voiceover and dramatization. If you have wanted all the essential lore around the world-
changing events of the Iron Kingdoms in one place, “The Fire & the Forge” series is going to deliver it. For the latest on the state of models going through Community Integrated Development, “After-Action Report” will be a must-read feature. Each issue, our developers will give their insights on the updates and changes made to models in CID. In addition, “After Action Report” will be the first place to see the final versions of model stats once they have been tested in CID. No Quarter Prime will also guide you through a tour of the geography and landmarks of Immoren. In “Hostile Territory,” an all-new feature exploring the iconic sites of the Iron Kingdoms, you’ll find in-depth information on historical battlefields, important fortresses and fortifications, and more. Each article will also feature a multiplayer scenario based on that location, a guide for making battlefield elements iconic of that location, and ingame rules for those elements. Just as in recent issues, you’ll continue to find a new playable experience in each issue. Like previous No Quarter games Grind, Deck Raiders, and Extreme Colossal Wrestling, you’ll find new ways to play with your WARMACHINE and HORDES models in No Quarter Prime. But those standalone games will sometimes give way to experiences quite different from those, such as campaigns, self-contained RPG modules (like a Strangelight Workshop adventure), and expansion rules for WARMACHINE and HORDES (like UNBOUND). And there’s more. Informative painting and hobby guides, beautiful photography spreads, pages and pages of all-new art—I could go on and on. No Quarter Prime truly is epic! No Quarter Prime will be the most comprehensive source for WARMACHINE and HORDES information— consolidated, concentrated, and super-charged. You won’t want to miss a single issue! Get hyped,
LYLE LOWERY Editor-in-Chief No Quarter
Do you have a question for No Quarter or the crew at Privateer Press? Send us a letter with your question or any other suggestions or comments you have! Email your letters to
[email protected], tweet @ privateerpress using the hashtag #NQLetters, or send us a message on the No Quarter Facebook page.
EDITORIAL
9
CAST A COLD LIGHT By Michael G. Ryan
Just one day ago, the sniper had lain next to Artem on a frozen, shadow-drenched ridge, the snow battering them in the unexpected winds, their rifles on the snow between them like relics to be discovered in some future thaw. Artem’s beard and eyebrows had crystallized. His cheeks were the same bright red as his armor, and his nose was darker, bloody. His eyes focused, faded, and then came back again but weaker. She had to make a decision. She could lose him. She had already lost Lev and Oksana to this mission, but Artem was the most important one. To her, at least. The military caravan from the south was not coming, she was certain. It couldn’t. To call what was below them a pass was a stretch. Nothing might pass through the snow banks blocking the canyon trail now. Even through her rifle’s scope, she could no longer see the place where the soldiers would enter her kill zone. Instead, the sudden, intense blizzard that had already taken a heavy toll on her team was freezing them to death and had blinded her. So, she made the call for both of them. This was easy; Artem no longer had enough sense to recognize it as dereliction of duty or to recognize that she planned to cross the line into true desertion.
10
CAST A COLD LIGHT
“It is not cowardice,” she assured him, though he’d neither complained nor criticized. He’d simply allowed her to drag him down the narrow shelf along the precipice away from their rocky snipers’ nest. When they were out of the wind and in the trees below the Llaelese Mountains, she could finally see he was shivering. “Besides, they do not expect us to return.” She shouldered his rifle for him. It was so heavy, or she was so weak. “We’re expected to die on this mission. So, we can run. It will be at least a day before they know we’re gone.” Artem groaned. It was enough for her. She’d always trusted Artem’s judgment. And she had left the field of battle before with less encouragement. In a place where the trees were thick enough to hide them, she encouraged him to sleep, and when he did, she talked to him. She explained aloud why she’d been the only survivor of a patrol last summer—it had little to do with her flight from the ambush, she told him. It was just common sense—the Winter Guard she’d been supporting were doomed. They were dead before they recognized they’d been overrun. Resistance fighters were everywhere; they were taking no prisoners. She was lucky
to have found a way to give them the slip and escape. Artem was agreeably silent. She was grateful. She’d never told him before. At dawn, without breakfast, she got him moving again. The day was hardly brighter than the night; the sun found few opportunities to light their way through the furious blizzard. She thanked Morrow for those rare moments, but she cursed the god whenever Artem fell or when she became disoriented in the storm. She was kneeling next to him to force Artem to drink from her canteen, banging it against a rock to break up the ice within, when she saw a light approaching between the trees. It seemed to bob on the end of a walking stick or perhaps a cane. As she set her rifle against her shoulder, she doubted this could be their unit—they wouldn’t know how badly the mission had gone, and so they would have no reason to come looking for them yet. Then, she could distinguish a solitary shape: a soldier—but not one of theirs. The armor was wrong. As it closed on them with a determination she found disconcerting, Artem found his tongue for the first time since they’d abandoned the ridge. “What the hell is that thing?” he whispered. She could not look away from the light of the lantern coming relentlessly through the blowing snow, but her peripheral vision filled in the creature. Its skin was desiccated and tight, its features expressionless; it could not be alive. Its eye sockets were as empty as a skull’s. Its mouth was a toothless gaping hole. Yet, it emanated an aura of both dread and serenity, a combination she struggled to understand, and it disturbed her worse than the freezing wind. Its eyeless stare made her feel like a mouse being stalked by a ravenous cat. It shambled, twitching, as if it had only just discovered its limbs and was not yet sure how they worked together, but she had no doubt it could move quickly enough once its prey was vulnerable. It made a sound and raised its lantern higher. It was the sound of wind in a tunnel. “We have to move,” she whispered to Artem, grabbing his arm. Artem did not move. He only stared at the cold lantern light, his head cocked. A strange smile crept across his face. “Yes,” he said to no one, his gaze far away. “I love this place.” She tugged at him, but he was dead weight now, seemingly frozen in place by the light. So, for the third and final time in her life, she fled the field of battle. Only after she was stumbling down the hill behind where they had camped, tears streaming from her eyes to warm her freezing cheeks, did it occur to her that she could have shot the horror. But she told herself that the bullet would have accomplished nothing. It would have just given the thing more time to ensnare both of them. She fell several times, but always got up. The first time she did, she looked back, and there was the light. It did not hurry; it just moved along her path, following her with a dispassionate tenacity. She ran. The storm pummeled her but also protected her, she was certain. In time, when she saw nothing behind her, she felt certain the storm prevented the thing with the lantern from pursuing her.
The next time she fell, she struck her head against a tree trunk. Blood ran into one of her eyes, ones Artem had once called the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. She moaned and struggled to get up and moving again. “The Cygnarans weren’t coming into that pass, I swear it.” She dropped Artem’s rifle in the snow; it was just too heavy to carry both of them. “We would have frozen to death on that ridge like statues. For what? For the army’s glory? No, we’d never get the shot. It wasn’t cowardice.” The day had passed, though she couldn’t remember how. She blinked, and it was over. Long shadows stole the color from the world, leaving only black and white. She could tell by the slope of the land that she was still headed south, but the grid she could normally imagine to determine where she was had been lost to her since yesterday. Her arms and legs were numb, but her chest felt warm. She caught herself on the verge of sleep, sinking to lie down in the snow. Then, there were lights in the trees down the hill below. Shapes appeared. People. She could make out horses. A flag. Her unit. The wind blew a wall of snow between them, and they disappeared again. “Thank Morrow,” she breathed, her lips hurting. She dragged herself back to her feet. She would have to give them a reason why she’d fled the ridge. Why she’d— The wind died down for a moment. The sheet of snow parted, and Artem stood before her as if he had been there all along. She did not have the air to scream or the tears to weep. His face was corrupted, the flesh pulled taut over his skull. His eyeballs had faded to small, dried orbs floating in the cavities of their sockets. Most of his teeth had vanished—those that remained looked like tombstones scattered in a forgotten graveyard. As he raised his head higher, one slipped free from his mouth and fell into the snow at his feet. His lips were dried worms encircling his mouth. “It was going to kill us both,” she whispered to him. “Didn’t you want me to run?” She did not wait for his answer. As she turned to flee, the lights from below began to move up the hill. Her unit was coming. She took three ragged steps in the deep snow before she went down one more time, sinking down to her knees. She could no longer feel her legs at all. With blurry eyes, she saw a single lantern approach from higher up the hill. The figure holding it shambled as it closed on her. It wasn’t cowardice, she wanted to plead, but her throat constricted. She could barely breathe the frigid air that made her lungs ache. I just wanted to live. The man with the lantern stood over her now. She could hear voices shouting in Khadoran—her people were close. She thought she could hear their words—her name, calls for support, a rallying cry. She thought she heard the word deserter, but the voice that cried it sounded distant—and too much like
“We were overrun,” she whispered to herself. “The ambush was perfect. I would have just been another dead soldier. I was the only smart one. I found a way through their lines. That’s why I survived, isn’t it?”
CAST A COLD LIGHT
11
her own. She would have protested that she had withdrawn, not deserted, but then the light from the lantern filled her vision, and she remembered. Early morning, nowhere to be, no promises to keep. Far from the base, even farther from the field. The dawn after their first night together. The sun shines through the bedroom window with the warmth of a fireplace on a winter morning. She loves the light. And she feels beautiful. Artem is waking beside her. Then he carefully lays his ear to her breast. “I hear your heartbeat,” he whispers. She runs her fingers through his hair. He says, “I hear your life in your heartbeat.” She recognizes what she has been feeling for him is actually love. The face behind the lantern, a shell of a human, a face with no compassion or humanity, leaned in closer to her. She could feel the urge to let tears of shame and guilt flow down her cheeks, but she had nothing to give. The lantern man grew hazy in her vision. The frozen skin of her face began to tighten. The agony was excruciating, as if someone were peeling her flesh away with a blade. But then, as if a light had been snuffed, there was no more pain, just an empty hollow place where it had been. And this, too, vanished as her fear turned to remembrance. Artem doesn’t talk about war or how short their love might last. He just lifts his ear from her chest, looks up at her, and smiles when she asks if he is happy here with her. He says, “Yes. I love this place. And I hope you know—” I’m sorry, she thinks before he speaks her name in this memory that is already starting to disappear. She expects to hear gunfire, but it doesn’t come. Instead, the cold light disappears as if it has never been. So does she.
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CAST A COLD LIGHT
GUTS
&
GEARS
BY STEEN COMER • ART BY NESTOR OSSANDON, CHRIS WALTON & MATTHEW D. WILSON
GUTS & GEARS
13
The northernmost regions are challenging territory, and any creature that lives there, man or beast, must be hardy, adaptable, and attuned to the harsh realities of those environments. Few exemplify this better than the Kossites. Resilient men and women who come mostly from the stock that defied the ancient Khard horselords, these people inhabit some of the most challenging lands in the Iron Kingdoms, dwelling among inhospitable forests and mountains. Many are farmers, hunters, trappers, furriers, herdsmen or fishermen. They generally remain within the relatively isolated communities of the northlands, preferring the rugged beauty of the steppes and forests to what they see as the soft luxuries of cities. It is from regions such as these that Kossite irregulars are drawn.
The primary effect this had in the sparsely populated north was to bring arms and training to people already prepared to fight. The kingdom was slow to integrate the Kossites during the Colossal War, as its primary focus was on industrialization, and most of the fighting was on the southern borders far from their homelands, though the Kossites did still participate in that conflict. Groups of Kossites were incorporated in the attempted taking of the Thornwood in 289 AR, scouting in advance of the larger body of Khadoran forces. Even then they were deployed in limited number, only really becoming a relevant military factor later in the Border Wars, as the kingdom became increasingly low on resources and gathered whatever forces it had.
Irregulars have an unusual role within the Khadoran military. There are still many Kossites to be found in the regular Winter Guard, serving alongside other Khadoran soldiers, but irregulars grew out of a need to find a better use for the most rustic of Khador’s citizens. Their independent nature has often made those living in the fringes ill suited for regular service. Kossites and members of other remote groups have been permitted to serve in a different capacity. Their aptitude at woodcraft and stalking prey developed through years of hunting makes them ideal ambush forces. Such woodsmen can move unhindered through terrain that would slow normal troops, penetrating deep into enemy territory to strike before melting away back into the wilderness.
In ensuing battles to quell more aggressive northern barbarians in the Khadoran interior following the Border Wars, many Kossites were put into a difficult position. Some of the more remote Kossite families had historically intermarried with these barbarous tribes, and there were some isolated cases in which troops refused to fight, or conveniently failed to show their normal zeal for combat. Allegations of Devourer worship flared up during this time as well. Some of these accusations were true, but many were driven by the perception that there was little difference between these rustic soldiers and the tribes they were tasked to put down. The denizens of the far north were seen in certain circles as feral, attitudes reinforced by the actions of remote tribes like the violent Vindol and Vorgoi.
Kossites are not the only ones allowed to serve as irregulars. Skirov hillmen, Ruscar scouts, and other groups drawn from the far-flung peoples of Khador also support traditional forces throughout the empire. The Kossites are the largest and most predominant group, and enjoy a prestigious history of unorthodox fighting on behalf of the Motherland. Kossite armament is well-suited for guerrilla tactics. Rather than burdening the Khadoran treasury with outfitting these far-flung units, irregulars arm themselves. They make use of rifles, bows, axes, and other weapons common to defending families in these rustic regions or frequently found among their former professions. Being drawn from such disparate sources, each unit is highly affected by its local culture and can vary wildly in appearance, training, and equipment. Irregulars do not have common uniforms, tending to receive relatively little in the way of standard military supplies. Indeed, it is one of the advantages of the Kossite irregulars that they can feed themselves off the land, easing the burden on whatever formal military force they accompany. Integrated with the rest of the Khadoran Army, they become a powerful weapon.
HISTORY Defense of the Motherland has always been at the heart of Khadoran culture, and it has never been difficult to find soldiers, even among the distant rural areas. Compulsory military conscription for all Khadoran men of age was formalized in 245 AR as part of King Levash’s preparations for what would become the Colossal War, but there was little resistance to the idea.
14
GUTS & GEARS
The distinction between these people and the proud descendants of Kos wasn’t always clear to southern Khards living in major cities like Korsk and Khardov. Despite this, they were instrumental in taking many territories. Eventually, they became an essential propaganda tool for Lord Velibor in maintaining patriotic zeal among remote rural regions during a time of increasingly unpopular war. Through the Hundred Year Peace, many Kossites and other rustic peoples returned to their wilderness homes and only participated in infrequent service. They armed as required to serve as guides to military patrols in nearby areas or when remote townships were endangered by trollkin, Nyss, or other threats in these untamed places. During this time, only a few thousand irregulars served alongside regular soldiers at the more active border garrisons farther to the south. Those who did were usually drawn from Kossites and other tribes living closest to major cities or those who had weathered poor harvest and hunting seasons and thus were in need of the army’s coin. Rather than sending every son of age to serve, these families would only send the third or fourth sons they could not easily feed or clothe. Kossite irregulars rose to greater prominence in the First Thornwood War, where their knowledge of woodcraft proved integral to the campaign. Despite the ultimate failure of this war for Khador, the unusual tactics employed during this conflict were important in forging an identity for the Kossite troops. They had never previously been asked to be part of such a massive infantry force, and their scouting skills were invaluable in preparing the way through the Thornwood for both heavy infantry and warjacks. Kossites surveyed the
landscape and helped lay out the course of the Warjack Road, lake and were taking turns stripping nearly naked, diving into the icy seeking to intercept and eliminate any Cygnaran patrols they water, and running back to the fires. Apparently, the contest was to see who could withstand the stinging water the longest. When I asked encountered along the way. the nearest sergeant why his men were stripping naked and diving A shadowy war between the Kossites and Cygnaran rangers into a frozen lake, he looked at me as if I were a fool and simply said, was waged beneath the canopy of the Thornwood in these ‘So they don’t get their armor wet.’” months. Though the southerners managed to lead Khadoran forces into difficulty time and again, many more northern In 605 AR during the Llaelese War, manhunters also rose to lives would have been lost without the aid of the irregulars. special prominence. Such individuals also serve among the The demands on Kossites were many, as they were asked to irregulars, though they occupy a slightly more specialized role. be experts of an unfamiliar forest while battling an enemy far Manhunters are considered experts in their field and thus earn more knowledgeable of the local terrain. While the southerners more compensation for their service than their counterparts. would seize ultimate victory, the place of the Kossite irregulars They proved especially valuable during the wintertime march on Llael. Many of the most renowned manhunters are also as an invaluable element of the army was secured. from Kossite villages, where a life of hunting and trapping In the winter campaign of 604 AR during the Llaelese War, far from civilization is common. Only the Skirov of Khador’s the hardy men of the northwest forest proved invaluable. northeast challenge Kossite supremacy over this specialty, and The harsh conditions of winter combat that paralyzed and they come in a distant second. demoralized the regular troops were apparently a source of comfort to the Kossites. As one kovnik of that campaign put in In the bitter months of winter marking the outset of the invasion into Llael, supplies and shelter were difficult to maintain. Fierce his report to the High Kommand; storms battered both armies. The manhunters drew from their “These Kossites are mad. While seasoned Winter Guard grumble experience in woodcraft and trapping to keep the troops fed about the cold, the irregulars seem happiest in it. When en route to and sheltered. Once battle was joined, manhunters mounted the front, we had marched all day through a blizzard and were camped numerous surprise attacks on the Llaelese troops during bitter for the night by a frozen lake. The troops were in ill spirit and nearly snowstorms. Being unaccustomed to warfare under such harsh mutinous. I was informed that a gathering of irregulars was causing conditions, the defenders fell in droves beneath the manhunters’ much uproar, and, preparing to have to break up some drunken brawl, whirling axes. Such attacks gained Khadoran forces muchI trudged to their part of the camp through knee-deep snow. When I needed time to draw up ranks and prepare for extended fighting. arrived, I saw that the Kossites had cut a hole in the surface of the
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In the Second Thornwood War, Kossite irregulars served and were celebrated alongside more traditional troops. Their bravery against terrifying Cryxian forces was noted by several in the High Kommand. By this time, the Khadoran woodsmen had a much better sense of the forest after numerous campaigns in the region and were able to bring their expertise to bear in a way that let them truly challenge and sometimes exceed their Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service adversaries. Kossite irregulars also worked closely alongside Widowmaker snipers in this conflict. Such a long history of service to the empire has made Kossite irregulars a frequent sight on the battlefield. All the enemies of Khador know to be wary of their sudden raids, lest the lives and materiel of trained soldiers be lost in a hail of arrows and musket fire loosed from the shadows of a darkened grove. Organization and Training Historically, irregulars have been poorly equipped compared to most Khadoran forces. For decades they were considered little more than backwoods peasants, good primarily as cannon fodder. The truth was, even once their skills began to be valued, kommanders appreciated being freed of the necessity of arming these forces, as did those in charge of military payroll and supplies. While some kapitans still share a dismissive attitude toward these forces, this prejudice has steadily shifted to give way to respect. Despite the industrialization of the modern Khadoran military, however, Kossites are still self-supported and haphazardly armed. This has actually become something of a proud tradition among the Kossites themselves. Many prefer to fight with weapons and tactics passed down through family and village, even were uniform armaments and training available to them. There are always fewer resources available for irregular troops than for traditional soldiers. Many of them receive relatively little formal training before being sent to the front lines. The majority of them are not full-time soldiers and are only briefly supervised by army inspectors to ensure they have the semblance of a chain of command with a leader who will reliably answer to Khadoran Army officers. In most areas,
during times of peace, conscription means traveling to the nearest garrison town, training and drilling there for a few months, then being sent home again to await the call should they be required in service of the empire. Beyond this, local regiments are expected to train in whatever manner is available, much in the manner of a local militia. That said, the very value of these forces is that the skills they have developed may come from many years of day-to-day hunting and tracking to keep their families fed. Many Kossites have been using their bows, rifles, knives, and axes since they could walk and talk, and they are well accustomed to survival in hostile conditions. Left to their own devices, irregulars rely on guerilla tactics, operating in smaller bands and striking rapidly at the enemy before withdrawing and dispersing. They prefer to avoid protracted skirmishes whenever possible, a trait that can lead to regular soldiers considering them cowardly and undependable. Their armament is suited to these tactics. Their armor tends to be light—sometimes little more than thick animal skins or winter coats. Clothing is chosen to provide warmth and the ability to blend into the environment more than with the expectation of turning aside weapons. Units tend to be generalists, armed with a combination of hunting bows, muskets, and hand weapons. Manhunters are known for considerable proficiency with their woodsman axes, but among the other Kossite troops, hand axes and short blades, already on hand as tools, are popular as weapons of choice. As irregulars are drawn primarily from outlying villages, they often come to battle with strong bonds that are distinct from the unity that the army builds in basic training. Often several siblings, cousins, or friends will enlist at the same time, and the already-established relationships carry into military life. These bonds promote strong internal loyalty, which can see a unit through adversity. The downside of this, however, is that these irregulars will sometimes act on their own initiative, regardless of what their kommanders desire. Along with having reputations tainted by a lack of discipline, there are also sometimes reputed to be superstitious and to follow unsavory religious beliefs. Such rumors are not always spurious, as the communities from which the irregulars hail may well include dangerous cults of the Devourer Wurm, often in the guise of totemic animal worship. Even when a community is not actively worshiping their Wurm, they may practice rituals and customs including ancestor worship, which is off-putting to traditional Morrowans and Menites. Therefore, fellow soldiers distrust many Kossite troops, which further encourages segregation between regular and irregular forces. This makes integrating the Kossites into a larger army difficult and contributes to the preference of some kapitans and kovniks to use them incautiously as cannon fodder, sending them into needless peril. This goes along with a tendency for officers to underestimate the Kossites under their command.
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MANHUNTERS Even among the irregulars, some woodsfolk are a breed apart. These are usually trappers, hunters, or loggers whose skills have been honed by spending much of their time in the harsh northern wilds in pursuit of their trade. Many such individuals are hired into the Khadoran military as manhunters. Acting as a mixture of scout and hired assassin, they are the most terrifying irregulars in Khador’s employ. The double axes that have served as tools of woodcraft and deadly weapons for millennia are a symbol of this brother and sisterhood and are part of the mythos that defines them. Some are known to whisper prayers to the axes themselves, and these practices, though uncomfortably close to certain Devourer rituals, are tolerated by commanding officers due to the deadly utility of maintaining manhunters in a force. Time spent in the wild has given these nearly savage rangers many useful qualities. Before an engagement they are stealthy, moving cautiously and silently as they await the perfect opportunity to engage an unsuspecting enemy. When advancing they are fearless, sometimes making loud jests about how weak and pathetic the enemy forces are in comparison to some wild beast they bested in combat. Others mimic wild animal calls to unsettle the men they are about to murder. Most frightening of all are the silent hunters, who dispassionately cut down their targets without a single noise. In battle, manhunters are sturdy, shrugging off many attacks that would disable lesser men, hacking through armored foes with brutal ease, able to claim a hefty toll of the dead. Most often, manhunters are given special assignments to eliminate specific enemy officers or other critical personnel or to patrol alongside other skilled woodsmen in countering similar experts among the enemy. They can stalk an enemy column for days at a time, observing a target’s movements and behavior. When the time comes, a manhunter emerges from the wilderness to ambush his or her target with a swift axe blow, preferably removing the head to use as proof of a job’s completion. Manhunters tend to be rugged individualists. Outside of their military service they will spend weeks or months isolated in encampments in the deep forest or tundra, living as huntergatherers and building simple shelters as required. As a result, they find it difficult to integrate with the regular army, and most others see them as somewhere between socially awkward and feral, lawless killers. The accusations of lack of discipline that plague the irregulars as a whole are especially true of manhunters. Commanding officers find them difficult to understand and impossible to command, at least without some sort of personal rapport. The better officers know that a manhunter is not a regular soldier but more of a weapon to be pointed in the direction of the enemy, trusted to do harm to the enemy in his or her own way.
YURI THE AXE The infamous man known as Yuri the Axe has a murky early history, and the barbarous warrior is not inclined to offer any details. The earliest reports of him are of infrequent appearances at villages and outposts near Uldenfrost and Tverkutsk. As a youth, Yuri traded pelts of winter argus and other dangerous creatures for food, drink, and medicine. He turned to hunting men in short order, earning a living as a bounty hunter and hired killer, eliminating undesirables and even rogue Winter Guard. An entire kompany died to his axes and to exposure in their attempts to evade him. Such actions did not escape the notice of the military; following a lengthy hunt involving hundreds of soldiers and hired agents, in which Yuri more than once escaped captivity, he was given the chance to join forces with the Khadoran Army, gaining amnesty for a litany of murders. He was offered the chance to test himself against the best Khador’s armies and its enemies had to offer. Yuri accepted with surprising enthusiasm. The officers charged with keeping an eye upon him know to be vigilant. Yuri claims that he left that trail of bodies in the Scarsfell because he simply wanted to be left alone. But it is undeniable that he does have an insatiable bloodlust and is prone to rage in battle. It is said among the other wilderness fighters, half in jest and half in fear, that he must be allowed to kill an enemy every so often so he does not turn on his comrades instead. He is feared and respected by the irregulars, and especially by the manhunters, with whom he shares a deep bond. Yuri is a massive man, and, the axe for which he earned his namesake is nearly as long as he is tall, a weapon most of his rivals would find too awkward to wield. He speaks little, preferring to let his skill with the axe speak on his behalf. He charges into battle wearing a cloak made of a motley assortment of skins from various beasts. His kinsmen say that every hide adorning his back was claimed by Yuri’s axe, not by trapping or other hunting methods. Darker rumors persist, some saying that the frostbitten leather of dead men can be found beneath layers the of argus, wolf, and bear fur.
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GUTS
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BY TIM SIMPSON
The Khadoran Empire’s greatest strength comes from its people. With such a large swath of land to govern, it comes as no surprise that the empire’s armies are made up of men and women possessing diverse sets of skills. The varied abilities of the common folk spread across the frontier lands are often used by the military to supplement the more numerous Winter Guard and Iron Fang divisions. That these so-called “irregulars” are capable warriors not to be trifled with is very apparent to all of Khador’s enemies, but perhaps none are more feared and respected than the cunning Kossite woodsmen and deadly manhunters.
THE COMMON MAN Kossite woodsmen are not your typical Khadoran soldiers in service to the Motherland. These backwoods people don’t have access to all the modern weapons and equipment available to other troops serving Khador. The Kossite woodsmen harken back to a time when people didn’t rely on steamjacks and mechanika but learned to survive in the wilderness using skills and weapons passed down for generations. The Khadoran Empire requires all of its citizens to enlist for military service, and as such, it has taken these woodsmen and adapted their long-standing traditions into a weapon suitable for the empire. As players will quickly note, the stat line for Kossite Woodsmen appears to be average with MAT 5, RAT 4, DEF 13, and ARM 11. But what these warriors don’t have in pure stats they make up for with their unit abilities and what those advantages offer to the player. Pathfinder allows these models to advance and charge through rough terrain without a movement penalty. This allows the Kossite Woodsmen to reduce the effectiveness of terrain placement on the tabletop as well as abilities and spells that may also create rough terrain. Advance Deployment is another ability that allows these models to range ahead of the main force with an additional 6˝ of deployment on the tabletop. Kossite Woodsmen can not only reach an objective more quickly than opposing models but can also tie up the enemy so the main bulk of the army can bring in heavy hitters such as warjacks and Man-O-Wars.
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The Prowl rule combines nicely with their Pathfinder and Advance Deployment rules by giving the Kossites Stealth when they benefit from concealment. Moving through a forest or fogbank can provide the means for this unit to survive regular gunfire while advancing up the table. Most important, Kossite Woodsmen was the first unit in WARMACHINE to have the Ambush rule. This rule allows the unit to skip deployment and start the game off the board. After your first turn, at the end of your control phase, you can then place Kossites in formation and completely within 3˝ of any table edge except your opponent’s deployment zone. The woodsmen can activate normally during the activation phase. Ambush is extremely powerful when used properly. If an opponent stretches his force out too much then Kossites can Ambush from a side table edge and potentially charge or shoot enemy models in the back with their ranged weapons. A properly placed unit of Kossite Woodsmen can really take advantage of the +2 to attack rolls from the back strike bonus. Support models, such as Choir or Mechaniks, are also prime targets of opportunity for Ambushing Kossites. Ambush is also a great way to get Kossites into a position to contest zones and objectives. In some cases, they will be able to score control points as well. A more subtle advantage of the Ambush rule is its effect off the tabletop. Knowing that you have the ability to come in from a side edge or slightly behind an enemy unit is often enough to make your opponent rethink how he would spread out his force or even affect how he may deploy his own army at the beginning of the game.
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME If Kossite Woodsmen are a simple—yet dangerous—backwoods people, then the Manhunter takes that same concept and cranks the dial up to eleven. These potent solos apply their learned abilities to hunt and track in the wilderness to the battlefield. Their stat line is definitely a bit more impressive than their Kossite counterparts, with MAT 8, DEF 14, and ARM 14. Additionally, 5 wounds allows a Manhunter to shrug off some small-arms fire or low-POW melee attacks.
His Great Axe has 2˝ melee range and the Thresher special attack. That allows him to make a melee attack against every enemy model he is currently engaging. With a P+S 13 and 3d6 damage against non-charge targets, Yuri can cut through swaths of infantry with ease.
Yuri’s most important ability is called Treewalker. Treewalker allows Yuri to ignore forests when determining LOS and also gives him +2 DEF against melee attack rolls while completely Like their Kossite brethren, Manhunters also have the Advance within a forest. Additionally, he has Elite Cadre for Kossite Deployment and Pathfinder rules. It’s only fitting for trackers Woodsmen and Manhunters, which grants those models the and hunters to be adept at maneuvering ahead and through Treewalker ability as well. That allows Kossites to reach DEF the sorted terrain of the Iron Kingdoms, after all. 15 against melee attacks when completely within a forest while Yuri and the Manhunters become DEF 16. When you add in Instead of Prowl, Manhunters have the Stealth rule, which their native Prowl and Stealth abilities, these troops become means that all ranged and magic attacks over 5˝ away very hard to remove from the table. automatically miss. This is a great way to survive the early game and make it all the way to the enemy intact. Sprays will mitigate this defense, so it pays to be aware of what kinds of attacks your enemy has at his disposal. Additionally, certain spells and abilities will either reduce the efficacy of Stealth or outright ignore it all together. It should go without saying Nearly every warcaster in Khador has something that benefits that keeping Manhunters away from those things is the key to either Kossite Woodsmen or Manhunters. Irusk 1 or 2 both getting the most out of them on the tabletop. have the Battle Lust spell, which makes the Manhunters even Embracing the ruggedness of the wild, Manhunters also have deadlier with an additional die on all damage rolls. Sorscha the Tough ability. When a Manhunter is disabled, it can remove 2 has the spell Iron Flesh, which adds an additional +2 ARM 1 wound and become Knocked Down on a roll of a 5 or 6. Tough and, more important, immunity to blast damage. That can takes effect against most attacks, which is good, but models make Kossite Woodsmen even more durable, as blast damage cannot make a Tough roll when they are Knocked Down, so if is potentially their biggest weakness. Vlad 3 has the spell Dash, the Manhunter is attacked by an enemy model with more than which allows these models to ignore free strikes and provides a +1 SPD bump. Khador’s new warcaster, Strakhov 2, has one melee attack, its use is more limited. the spells Quicken and Last Stand, either of which can make The Manhunter also hits hard in melee. It has two P+S 11 axe Manhunters and Yuri a nightmare to deal with. Butcher 2 has attacks, which may not seem like much, but combined with the his feat, Feel the Hate, which can work on both Manhunters Weapon Master quality, the damage output of the Manhunter and Yuri the Axe. An additional advance and potential three becomes one of the highest for a non-character solo in the extra attacks per model outside of the normal activation means game. If you are lucky enough to land an attack on the charge, Manhunters and Yuri can reach deep into enemy lines and that fourth damage die can be the difference between a couple even work over heavy warjacks with ease. You will want to points of damage to an enemy model or upwards of 10 or more experiment with multiple warcasters to get the most out of if the dice roll in your favor. This weapon quality is usually these models on the tabletop. enough to force most opponents to deal with a Manhunter The new theme force, Jaws of the Wolf, is custom built to early on in a game. utilize both Kossite Woodsmen and Manhunters. Not only are they options within the list, but for every 25 points spent on warjacks, you can obtain a Manhunter for free! While that doesn’t include Yuri the Axe, taking two free Manhunters means including Yuri is a smart decision. The theme force also There is no Manhunter greater than Yuri the Axe. This character denies Advance Deployment to enemy models, which can solo is a monster on the battlefield. He has all the abilities of a increase the survivability of these models tenfold. Manhunter: Advance Deployment, Pathfinder, Stealth, Tough, and Weapon Master. Yet it is his additional rules that make him a natural choice to take with both Manhunters and Kossite Woodsmen alike.
WARCASTER & LIST SYNERGIES
A CUT ABOVE THE REST
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PAINTING YURI THE AXE BY LAUREN FAHEY
For this article, I wanted to give Yuri a look that would help the superlative huntsman blend into his surroundings as he moves south to fulfill his duty for the Motherland. Instead of his more northerly whites and greys, I’ve shifted to using warmer browns and greens. His patchwork cloak is made up of the furs of grizzly, black bear, and timber wolf—nothing less than the hides of top predators for him.
Colors Used Bastion Grey
Hammerfall Khaki
Ordic Olive
Thrall Flesh
Bloodtracker Brown
Idrian Flesh
Pig Iron
Traitor Green
Brass Balls
’Jack Bone
Quick Silver
Trollblood Highlight
Coal Black
Khador Red Base
Rucksack Tan
Umbral Umber
Cold Steel
Khador Red Highlight
Ryn Flesh
P3 Mixing Medium
Cryx Bane Highlight
Menoth White Highlight
Sanguine Base
Greatcoat Grey
Midlund Flesh
Thamar Black
Gun Corps Brown
Molten Bronze
Thornwood Green
Step 1: Assemble and Prime Yuri is a fairly straightforward model to assemble with just the fur cloak and axe/arm pieces. After he’s together, I used the zenithal method of priming with both the black and white P3 spray primers. I first primed all black, and when it was dry, primed with the white spraying from a single overhead direction.
Step 2 : Skin Tones For the base tone of the skin, I mixed Midlund Flesh with a little bit of Gun Corps Brown to make Yuri’s skin more tan and weathered. I then applied that mixture to his face, arms, and hands. Be sure to mix plenty of this base color. After applying the basecoat, I like to paint the facial features next, as I’m less likely to mess up my later work if I get the details done now. For the eyes, paint Thamar Black over the whole eye. Then, within the black, add Menoth White Highlight, leaving a thin line of black to define the eye. Once the white of the eye is done, make a small black dot for the irises, looking off to right. Use the skin base color to clean up any stray black or white paint around the eye. Paint the entire inside of the mouth black then mix Midlund Flesh and Sanguine Base to paint the tongue.
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1
a) I start shading the skin with a warm shadow to create the illusion that there is blood flowing under the skin. This is something our brains are hardwired to look for, and without it, humanoid figures just don’t appear real. Mix Sanguine Base into the base skin color and use twobrush blending to apply this to the shadow areas on the arms, hands, and below the cheekbones on the face. b) I next need a cool shadow to give some added depth to the skin. Mix a little bit of Coal Black to the base color, separate from the warm shadow. Apply this with two-brush blending to the deepest recesses of the skin. I also use this mixture to make his chin and jawline appear to have some stubble. c) To highlight the skin, add a good amount of Ryn Flesh to the basecoat color and use two-brush blending to apply this mixture to the high points on the skin. To make the highlights really pop, use some straight Ryn Flesh on the very highest parts, like the elbows, cheekbones, and knuckles.
Step 3: Cloth and Leather
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2b
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3a) Basecoat the jerkin with a 50/50 mix of Traitor Green and Ordic Olive. Basecoat the leather on the pants, shoes, and straps with Idrian Flesh. 3b) Shade the green jerkin by two-brush blending Thornwood green into the shadows. Shade the leather with Umbral Umber. For deeper shadows under the pants, mix some Thamar Black into the Umbral Umber. 3c) To highlight the green tunic, take the base color and add a good amount of Thrall Flesh. Use two-brush blending to hit the high areas of the folds on the cloth. Highlight the leather pants, shoes, and straps with a mixture of Idrian Flesh and Rucksack Tan using the same blending method. For a final highlight on the raised knee, I use straight Rucksack Tan.
Step 4: Fur
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4a & 4b) Yuri wears a lot of fur. It’s everywhere, and it offers a great chance to really make this model pop. I chose to represent several types of fur in his patchwork cloak: a golden-brown grizzly bear, a grey timber wolf, and a black bear. For the base, I painted the areas I wanted to be grizzly fur with Bloodtracker Brown, Bastion Grey for the wolf fur, and Thamar Black for the black bear. The inside of his cloak, all of the fur trim, and the cuffs on his legs and arms were all base painted with Bastion Grey.
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4c & 4d) I made two separate washes to shade the fur. For the brown grizzly fur, I made a wash with Umbral Umber, two drops of P3 Mixing Medium, and some water. I then applied that mixture over the Bloodtracker Brown, letting it flow into the recesses. For all of the grey fur, I made a wash that was half Greatcoat Grey and half Thamar Black, with three drops of mixing medium and water. I only needed to add highlights to the black fur in the next steps, since it doesn’t get any darker than pure black. 4e & 4f) Once the washes are completely dry, highlight the grizzly fur with a mix of Bloodtracker Brown and Rucksack Tan, using the side of your brush to hit just the tops of the fur with the paint and keeping it out of the recesses. This is called sidelining. For the brightest parts of the grizzly fur, I went all the way up to using straight Rucksack Tan. Highlight all the grey fur with Trollblood Highlight using the same sidelining method. The black fur needs to be highlighted first with Coal Black, and then on the highest parts, with a mixture of threequarters Coal Black and one-quarter Menoth White Highlight.
Step 5: The Axe and Traps
4c
4d
4e
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5b
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5d
5a) Basecoat the axe blade, strut piece, bear traps, and metal strips on the boots using Pig Iron. I use Molten Bronze for the basecoat of the axe setting and end cap. 5b) Shade the Pig Iron base color on the axe with a 50/50 mix of Coal Black and Umbral Umber. For the traps and metal strips, I elected to take that metal shade color, add a little Thamar Black, and turn it into a wash with a few drops of Mixing Medium and water. I shaded the bronze with Umbral Umber using two-brush blending. 5c) Highlight the metals with Cold Steel, focusing the brightness along the cutting edges of the blade and traps. Highlight the edges and rivets of the bronze with Brass Balls. 5d) To finish the axe, paint the wood handle Gun Corps Brown, give the lower part a quick shade of Umbral Umber, and give the upper part a quick highlight of Hammerfall Khaki. I really wanted to tie Yuri back to some Khador colors with the cloth twisting around the handle, but the bright red seemed to not fit with the other earthy tones. I decided that he shows his loyalty with the red, but he’s been out in the wilds so long that the elements have caused it to fade out. I made a mix of Khador Red Base with some Hammerfall Khaki and put that on the ribbon around the axe and the ties around the wrist cuffs. I added some Gun Corps Brown to the basecoat color for a quick shade and some Khador Red Highlight for a quick highlight on the top of the ribbon.
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Step 6: Teeth and Bones
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6b
6a) Basecoat all the claws, teeth, and bones with ’Jack Bone. 6b) Make a mix of 50/50 Gun Corps Brown and Cryx Bane Highlight for shading. Additionally, on the fangs on the back of the cloak, I used some of the Khador Red Base and Hammerfall Khaki mix from the previous steps to glaze over the root of each tooth. 6c) Highlight the teeth, bones, and claws with a mix of ’Jack Bone and Menoth White Highlight.
6c
Finishing Touches To finish up, look for any details that have been missed. Paint the stitches on the pants and jerkin with Hammerfall Khaki. Basecoat the rock Yuri is leaping off with Bastion Grey, then give it a quick shade with Greatcoat Grey and a highlight with Trollblood Highlight. I like to give the model a quick coat of matte spray varnish and then afterwards apply a final, small metal highlight on the axe blade using QuickSilver to give it that metallic shine. Now, all he needs is some basing to place him in the forest environment he favors!
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by William Shick The grymkin have haunted legends and folklore for ages. Though many of the stories about these corrupted souls revolve around individuals, like Lord Longfellow and the Twilight Sisters, they are but a few of an endless horde of nightmares given form. Far more numerous are the myriad types of more common grymkin. Though the tales of the likes of Lord Longfellow are undeniably terrifying, the reality behind the legend of grymkin like the witchwoods, cask imps, mad caps, and countless others is far more disturbing, for these deadly tormentors exist in unfathomable numbers all across Immoren, and they always have.
WITCHWOOD Through the dim and through the dark Witchwood stands with gnarled bark With knotted eyes glowing red Roots curling about the dead Sapling sprouts from murder foul Unto the wicked witchwood prowl With notes plucked from lilting harp Witchwood lures to talons sharp To in the shadow its victims rend By witchwood branch the wicked end. — Morridane Nursery Rhyme
FACES OF THE WICKED HARVEST
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Like all grymkin, the strange entities known as witchwoods have appeared in the folktales and fables of several cultures throughout the centuries. Described as large, predatory trees accompanied by beautiful young companions, these supernatural beings serve as warnings to unwary or foolish travelers who might be tempted to stray off safe and well-worn paths through the dark wilds of Immoren. For the uninitiated, it can be difficult to distinguish stories about witchwoods from other similar entities. Much to the misfortune of travelers, the witchwood is not the only dangerous, treelike thing prowling the fringes of civilization. Predatory gallows groves, thought to be connected to the Devourer Wurm, are often confused for witchwoods, and vice versa. This has served to shroud the true nature of witchwoods while at the same time amplifying legend and warnings regarding them. The witchwood is unusual among grymkin, for it is not a single being. Rather, it is formed by two distinct, yet inseparable, parts: that of a gnarled and imposing animate tree and an alluring human companion who beckons the unwary to walk into the monster’s murderous grasp. In many cultures, the presence of a witchwood is believed to be a result of a witch enchanting a seedling watered with the blood of an innocent. Imbued by the witch’s spell and the life force of the sacrifice, the seedling rapidly grows into a gnarled and twisted tree. Its knots glare with glowing, malevolent eyes filled with hatred for the living, and its bark opens wide to reveal a black, cavernous maw said to swallow its victims and send them straight to hell. Indelibly connected to its creator by her own unholy power, the witchwood serves as both protector and murderous tool, its power growing with every victim claimed. In truth, such tales have no bearing on reality. The witchwood is not made by mortal hands, nor is its human companion the master of the pair. In fact, both tree and companion are each but a part of the same whole. Unlike many of its fellow grymkin, whose genesis come from the stain of a life of wickedness, the souls that become witchwoods were once innocents. These souls’ violent deaths are the result of wickedness inflicted upon them by mortal hands. Most often, the souls that become witchwoods are innocent women who were unjustly accused of and executed for the crime of witchcraft. In this way, the mistaken belief of the witchwood’s nature becomes irony, a punishment self-inflicted by the cruelty of those who have let Menoth’s gifts rot their compassion for their fellow man. Not all witchwoods are born this way, however. Witchwoods can arise from any innocent victim whose life is cut short by a particularly brutal crime. For innocent souls to grow into witchwoods, it only matters that the victims feel a particularly strong sense of betrayal and powerlessness in their final moments and that they languish without last rites. Confused,
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FACES OF THE WICKED HARVEST
angry, and crippled by mental anguish, these souls often become lost after passing to Urcaen, eventually collected by the Defiers and transformed into potent tools of violent justice. As with all grymkin, transformation of a soul destined to become a witchwood strips away much of the personal essence of the individual. The grymkin that emerges forgets its past and must obey the metaphysical rules and laws that govern others of its kind. For the witchwood, this means an instinctual need to lure and ensnare those who enact evil. To experience the witchwood’s call is to have one’s inner darkness unveiled and brought forward, to be overcome by dark desires and then be punished for them. Prior to the commencement of the Wicked Harvest, witchwoods used their powers to prey on anyone who allowed their passions to lead them, even if only for a brief moment, to wickedness. While this gave them a wide range of possible victims—from a wayward traveler whose gaze might lead him from his path to a person whose hands were stained by a crime of passion— their most desired prey were men and women who justified wickedness under the veil of righteousness. Carnal sins are favored but are not their sole province. Anyone whose intense emotions have led them astray draws their ire. A priest who yielded to base passions to manipulate and seduce a young parishioner might look out his window to see a woman in gabardine robes beckoning from beneath an aged oak. A town sheriff who in a fury pursues justice outside the law might one day be found hanged from the thick branch of a long-dead tree, at his feet a red apple with a single bite taken to reveal its rotten core. Called forth by the arrival of their Defier masters, witchwoods have become a key piece of the Grymkin vanguard. Their ability
to move unseen amid natural landscapes and to fool even the keenest eyes has made them ideal scouts. Concealed among the groves surrounding a village, witchwoods use their powers to reveal the wickedness within the village’s inhabitants and to draw other grymkin to punish them. By luring messengers and travelers to a grisly death among their talon-like branches, no plea for help can reach the ears of those who might interfere with the Wicked Harvest.
hands of the wicked and watered by the blood of innocents. Regarding all with eyes both alluring and wrathful, witchwoods serve as a warning that even a momentary lapse can sprout a blighted rot in the heart and lead to eternal damnation.
Once battle is joined, the witchwoods use their entrancing powers to turn enemies against each other, sowing confusion and betrayal. Combined with the horror the mere presence the unnatural members of the Wicked Harvest evoke, this can lead to the complete collapse of a town’s militia and defenders. Such volunteers lack the steely discipline and professional resolve required to stand firm against these horrors. Since the start of the Wicked Harvest, witchwood seeds have begun sprouting all across the Iron Kingdoms, sown by the
MAD CAPS & CASK IMPS “You,” the old woman hissed as she pointed at him, cradling the head of her granddaughter in her lap. The young woman looked peaceful and beautiful despite the odd and ugly angle at which her neck was bent. Billy Brady looked away sheepishly, the sudden movement causing his head to spin. His skin felt flush but not from the old woman’s accusation. He eyed the clay jug that lay broken on the ground, the last of its contents being soaked up by the dirt. The sight made his heart heavy. It had been the best hooch he’d ever had, brewed special by that strange little man he’d happened upon on his journey to town. Their chance meeting had been quite lucky, since Billy had finished off the watery swill in his flask with just a few miles to go. At first Billy hadn’t been sure if he could trust the little man when he had offered him a swig to wet his whistle. After all, Billy was no fool, and he’d never seen a still like the one the man had. It was a crazy contraption that sat upon the man’s head and reached to the sky with all manner of twisting and turning pipes and stacks, blowing white steam this way and that. Despite Billy’s reservations, however, the brown elixir the man offered had smelt like nothing Billy had ever experienced. In the end, his thirst eroded his trepidation, and he accepted the tiny glass from the man. It had been the most delicious, amazing booze Billy had ever tasted. It was so good, Billy’s legs began dancing a joyous jig, and he had whooped and hollered with glee as the liquid made its way down his throat. In moments, however, the feeling was gone, and Billy’s heart sank as the man asked if he’d like to purchase a jug for his journey. The little man just smiled when Billy told him he had no money. He handed Billy the jug and said with a mischievous glint in his eye, “Oh, there’s no coin in the world can pay the price for this brew o’ mine. The only payment I desire comes from the bottom of the empty jug.”
Now that silly, careless girl had ruined it. Billy mourned; she’d spilled the stranger’s spirit, a taste that Billy was sure he’d never know again. How he’d give anything to have that jar back in his hand once more, that magical liquid dancing past his lips, across his tongue, and down his throat. After all, what reason did this girl have for playing in middle of the . . . Billy looked around at his surroundings and slowly realized he was standing in a grassy meadow, the soft green grasses trampled down behind him where his cart had come through before he’d collided with the girl. Strange, he mused, where had the road gone? The old woman followed his gaze to the broken jar, and she howled in anguish . . . Excerpt from the Rynnish folktale “The Jughead”
FACES OF THE WICKED HARVEST
27
At every turn, alcohol eroded man’s will and freedom, washing away the truth of his inner divinity and leaving him in a sort of numb stupor, while the manacles of Menoth’s Gifts were finally locked for all eternity about his soul. It is no surprise that some of the earliest grymkin came from the souls of those corrupted by alcohol. Their reliance on drink in life meant their souls were never tested or allowed to flourish, remaining weak and guttering. Their pathetic spirits, confused and sluggish, became easy prey for the Defiers in Urcaen. Cask imps are among these lesser souls rotted through indulging on alcohol. Standing misshapen and four feet high, the sight of a cask imp is far from terrifying. Like many of the lesser grymkin, their oversized features and clumsy demeanor leads them to appear quite comical on first encounter. Given their intense love of spirits, cask imps are among the few grymkin common to urban areas. Their preferred habitat is the alcohol-filled cellars and storehouses of taverns and inns. Man often views Menoth’s gift of the Sheaf as a way to ward off famine and starvation. With it, man no longer needed to rely on his own skill and luck as a hunter or a gatherer. Instead, with his own hands, he was able to enforce his desire upon nature to grow sustenance in a methodical and controlled way. In many ways, the gift of the Sheaf perfectly reflects the character of Menoth: a need to control and dominate, to wrest what is desired through pure force of will rather than accept the natural state of things. The truth of the Sheaf, however, is not that it saved man from hunger and starvation. In reality, before the Sheaf, man rarely wanted for a full belly. In his small tribes, only in rare times of extreme conditions was man unable to find what he needed to subsist. No, the reason man so happily wrapped the chains of the Sheaf upon his wrists and ankles was that through it came the irresistible flow of alcohol. It was this discovery, more than any other, that resulted in the proliferation of cities and the widespread adoption of Menoth’s gifts by mankind. Man flocked to the unnatural stone cities, which were fountains of this new drink. Soon, this easy access to alcohol started rotting the soul. Worse still, the damaging effects of Menoth’s other “gifts” only accelerated this rot. As man found his soul atrophying from the confinement of city walls, he turned to the warmth of drink to ease his anxiety. When his self-worth was shattered by another deemed more worthy by birthright, he could wash away his bitterness with drink. When man came in from the field with his very bones aching from endless toil, spirits could numb his pain.
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FACES OF THE WICKED HARVEST
Cask imps are formed from the souls of those who waste their lives away, forfeiting any potential for good works or relationships for one more swig of liquor or one more pint of frothy ale. While their actions are not malicious, their obsession with drink still leads to significant hurt to both themselves and those closest to them. Before the arrival of the Wicked Harvest, the worst evils these grymkin visited upon people was to cause a proprietor’s alcohol stores to “mysteriously” vanish, as the cask imp moved from one barrel to the next, draining each from within. Sometimes, when particularly full of spirits, the presence of a cask imp could lead to increasingly crude and rambunctious behavior among a tavern’s patrons, as the cask imp’s supernatural aura amplified the corruption of alcohol upon the mind and body. Though also born in a similar fashion as the cask imps, the mad caps are far more malicious and dangerous. The souls that become mad caps are drunkards whose vice led directly to physical suffering and the death of innocents around them. The person whose drunken carelessness leads to the death of his fellow workers in an avoidable accident, who terrorizes his family with cheap whiskey on his breath, who spends his last coin on a bottle of drink instead of medicine for his sick child, is likely to become a mad cap. For these wretched and wicked souls, their afterlife as a grymkin becomes focused on fueling the destructive actions of others. The mad caps delight in taking in a wayward soul and watering the budding rot within them with their own potent brews.
To taste the mad caps’ fermentations is to taste damnation itself. The distilled spirits that pour forth from the mad caps’ demented stills burn their way down the drinker’s throat with a fire and potency unmatched by any mortal brew. With only a single slug, the world begins to spin, and the imbiber feels his guts roil and churn. No matter the subject’s protestations, mad caps continue to proffer drink after drink, forcing a victim to imbibe if need be. Soon, the victim’s body transforms, as his mortal form sloughs away to reveal the twisted thing his soul has become. If the drunk who sips the mad cap’s brew is just a sluggish oaf and drunkard, it becomes a simple imp. If, though, the drinker is of the other sort, a violent or careless drunk who caused others to suffer and die, then the transformation brings yet another mad cap into the ranks of the grymkin. The ability to create cask imps and fellow brewers is only one part of the mad caps’ true purpose. For when a cask imp imbibes the mad caps’ brew, a violent and volatile reaction occurs within it. Their vision blurred and balance precarious, the cask imps race forward with reckless abandon in their drunken stupor, until they trip over rough ground or collide with some other object. When they do, the sudden impact causes the roiling brew within them to explode with violent and destructive force, engulfing everything nearby in an alcohol-fueled fireball. Mad caps take delight in seeing the pitiable imps explode in such a fashion and cheer with every flaming death they cause. With the arrival of the Defiers, the mad caps have been given free rein to unleash their wicked brews like never before. Set up at trade posts and way stations, on caravan routes and dockside alleys, anywhere thirsty travelers might want a drink or two, they have heard their masters’ call. These grymkin brew masters have had no lack of cask imps eager to sample their wares. Despite the unpredictability—and outright volatility—of this pair, the Defiers prize the mad caps and the cask imps for the sheer chaos their destructive nature sows. And with the seed of drunkenness sown in so much of mankind, the ranks of these two types of grymkin continue to swell with each passing day as the Defiers reap their Wicked Harvest.
FACES OF THE WICKED HARVEST
29
By Will Hungerford Engines of Destruction is a new game that allows you to play with your Battle Engines from WARMACHINE or HORDES in a derby-style racing game filled with catastrophic carnage. Engines of Destuction does not use any of the normal rules for WARMACHINE and HORDES.
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ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
Game Overview
Engines of Destruction (the game) is played between two to four players (we recommend multiplayer games for maximum destruction!), each using as his or her Racer a single hugebased Battle Engine model from the WARMACHINE and HORDES lines. Games of Engines of Destruction are played on a 30˝ x 30˝ or 48˝ x 48˝ table representing the track.
the Racers must contact Race Flags to win the race. Flags are not models; a Racer can freely move over or even stop on top of a flag marker. A Racer contacts a flag marker when any portion of its base touches any portion of the marker’s base.
Next, starting with the last player and going in reverse order, each player takes turns placing a single piece of terrain until The game is played across several game rounds with each there are four pieces of terrain on the table. There are three player taking a single turn each round. types of terrain with defined rules: hills, forests, and rough ground. Players should not use impassable objects such as The game uses six-sided dice to resolve all the action, as well walls or buildings. as tape measures to determine model movement and ranges. When moving a model or determining if a model is in range of Finally, the first player chooses a table corner and places his an effect or in range to make an attack, measure from the model’s or her Racer completely within 8˝ of that table corner. The base. A model cannot move across another model’s base. next player then chooses another table corner not already chosen by an opponent and does the same. This continues Players use Drive Points to determine their Racer’s speed until all models are placed. and handling each turn, all the while ramming and shooting enemy Racers in a mad dash to contact all of the Race Flags on the table. The first player to contact all of the Race Flags in order wins the game.
Playing the Game ROUND OVERVIEW
The rules for the game are broken down into the following sections: Starting the Game & Setting Up the Track, Playing Each round of the game proceeds as follows: the Game, Racer Stats. 1.) All players roll for initiative, except for the first round, since turn order was determined when players rolled to begin table setup.
STARTING THE GAME & SETTING UP THE TRACK
Each player begins the game by choosing a single model from those found in the Racer Stats section below. Once all players have chosen their models, they roll a d6. The player who rolls highest is the first player and automatically has initiative for the first turn of the game. When playing with more than two players, make sure to keep track of the initiative order (rerolling ties), as this will be the turn order for the first round of the game. Once turn order is determined, place a 40 mm Race Flag marker in the center of the table (24˝ from all table edges on a 48˝ x 48˝ table). Starting with the first player, each player then takes turns placing a Race Flag such that any portion of the marker is exactly 16˝ from the last marker placed. Players place Race Flags until there are six total on the table. The players must mark the order in which the markers were placed, with the center flag being “Flag 1,” the next placed being “Flag 2,” and so on. This determines the order in which
2.) The player with initiative generates and spends Drive Points (if the player’s Racer isn’t Stalled) and chooses whether or not to Push the Limit. That player then takes his or her turn, following the Player Turn Order. 3.) The next player in initiative order takes his or her turn. 4.) Once all players have taken their turn, the next round begins.
ROLLING FOR INITIATIVE At the start of each round, each player rolls a d6 to determine who has initiative for the round, except for the first round as described above. The player who rolls highest has initiative and gets the first turn that round. The player who rolls next highest gets the second turn, and so on. The round ends once all players have taken their turns.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
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Maneuver. John needs to turn his Racer around this turn and needs far more Turn Maneuvers than just 1, so he decides to Push the Each player’s turn uses the following sequence: Limit. John chooses to gain 3 additional Drive Points by Pushing 1.) If a player’s Racer is Stalled, that player forfeits his the Limit, and uses all 3 to gain Turn Maneuvers. Normally he or her turn, and the player’s Racer heals damage could only gain 2 Turn Maneuvers since his Racer’s HDL is a 2, but equal to half of its starting total. At the end of the since he is spending Drive Points gained by Pushing the Limit, he turn, the Racer is no longer Stalled. can ignore this restriction. After spending all of his Drive Points, 2.) The player spends Drive Points to determine the John rolls 3 dice to see if his Racer suffers any damage from Pushing Racer’s Speed Dice and Turn Maneuvers for the turn. the Limit. His dice results are 3, 5, and 5. His Racer suffers 2 points of damage, and then John moves on to the rest of his turn. 3.) The player uses any number of Turn Maneuvers to change facing of the Racer.
PLAYER TURN ORDER
4.) The player rolls Speed Dice and moves the Racer up to that distance.
USING SPEED DICE & TURN MANEUVERS
After spending Drive Points, a player’s turn follows these simple steps in order: Use Turn Maneuvers to rotate the 5.) Any ram attacks resulting from a player’s Racer Racer, Use Speed Dice to move the Racer, Resolve ram and arsenal attacks against enemy Racers, Use Turn Maneuvers contacting an enemy Racer are resolved. to rotate the Racer again. Note that a player cannot rotate his 6.) The player resolves any of the Racer’s arsenal or her Racer while moving via Speed Dice; it must be done attacks. before and after. 7.) The player uses any number of unspent Turn Maneuvers to change the facing of the racer. 8.) The player’s turn ends.
GAINING DRIVE POINTS & PUSHING THE LIMIT At the start of each player’s turn, the player gains 4 Drive Points to spend immediately to determine how many Speed Dice and Turn Maneuvers he or she has available for the turn. Each Drive Point spent gives a player 1 Speed Die or 1 Turn Maneuver. The maximum number of Drive Points a player can spend to gain Speed Dice in a turn is equal to the Racer’s SPD stat, and the maximum number of Drive Points a player can spend to gain Turn Maneuvers in a turn is equal to the Racer’s HANDLING (HDL) stat.
Before discussing turning, moving, and attacking, it should be noted that a Racer model has two arcs: front and back. The front arc is defined as the 180-degree arc in the direction centered directly in front of the model, which is also marked on the model’s base. The opposite 180-degree arc is the back arc. A model can only perform ram or arsenal attacks against models in its front arc, and when it moves, it always moves in a straight line directly in the direction it is facing, which is also marked on the model’s base. Each Turn Maneuver a player spends allows the player to rotate his or her Racer model up to 45 degrees left or right. When a player uses Speed Dice, he or she rolls all the dice and add the results together. This result is how far the Racer can move up to in inches this turn. Any unspent Speed Dice or Turn Maneuvers are lost at the end of each turn.
Example: James has 3 Turn Maneuvers and 2 Speed Dice this turn. The order he must follow is turn, move, resolve attacks, turn. James starts by spending one Turn Maneuver to rotate his Racer 45 degrees to the right. Next, he rolls his two Speed Dice, and his results are 4 and 5, so James’ Racer can move up to 9˝ this turn. James only moves his Racer 5˝. Since his Racer did not contact any enemy Racers, James does not resolve any ram attacks. His Racer isn’t in range to use any arsenal attacks. Having completed his After a player spends Drive Points gained from Pushing the move and any possible attacks, James uses his remaining 2 Turn Limit, he or she rolls a die for reach Drive Point gained in Maneuvers to rotate his Racer 90 degrees to the left, setting up for this manner. For each result of a 4, 5, or 6, his or her Racer his next turn. immediately suffers a point of damage. If this causes the Racer to Stall, the player immediately forfeits the rest of the RAMMING ATTACKS turn, and the Racer heals damage equal to half of its starting If a player’s Racer contacts an enemy Racer when it moves, total. At the end of the turn, the Racer is no longer Stalled. it must immediately perform a ram attack. A Racer cannot Example: John’s Racer has a SPD of 3 and a HDL of 2. At the start continue moving after it rams an enemy Racer; it stops in of his turn, John gains his 4 Drive Points. He spends 3 Drive Points place. The player performing the ram attack rolls a number to gain 3 Speed Dice, the maximum he can normally gain because of dice equal to the ramming Racer’s ARM stat, plus dice for of his Racer’s SPD stat, and 1 Drive Point to gain a single Turn After spending normal Drive Points, a player can choose to Push the Limit of the Racer’s engine. A player who Pushes the Limit can gain either 1, 2, or 3 additional Drive Points (player’s choice). These Drive Points are spent to gain Speed Dice or Turn Maneuvers as described above, but the player ignores the Racer’s SPD and HDL stats in regard to spending these new Drive Points.
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ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
its speed modifier (as noted on the table below). The player controlling the rammed Racer rolls a number of dice equal to the rammed Racer’s ARM stat.
STALLING
When a Racer suffers damage equal to its DMG stat, it is immediately Stalled. A Stalled Racer cannot be damaged, Each result of a 4, 5, or 6 counts as a hit for the ramming though it can be hit with ram attacks or arsenal attacks. If Racer, and similarly each result of a 4, 5, or 6 counts as a block a player’s Racer is Stalled at the start of his or her turn, the for the rammed Racer. player forfeits the entire turn and the Racer repairs damage suffered equal to half (rounded up) its starting DMG stat. If the total number of hits is equal to the number of blocks, nothing happens. If the total number of blocks exceeds the A player whose Racer has Stalled at least once during the total number of hits, the ramming player’s Racer suffers game cannot Push the Limit for the rest of the game. damage equal to the difference. If the total number of hits Example: After turning, John moves his Racer 8˝ and contacts exceeds the total number of blocks, the rammed Racer suffers James’ Racer. John still had another 4˝ of movement available damage equal to the difference. Additionally, the ramming thanks to his Speed Dice roll, but his Racer stops immediately when player rolls a number of dice equal to the damage dealt to it contacts James’ Racer to perform a ram attack. John’s Racer has the rammed Racer and adds the results together. The rammed an ARM stat of 3, and James’ Racer has an ARM stat of 4. John Racer is moved a number of inches equal to half this result rolls 5 dice for his ram attack—3 for his ARM and 2 for his Speed (rounded up) directly away from the ramming model. The Modifier—while James rolls 4 dice for his Racer’s ARM stat. John move a rammed Racer makes does not trigger another ram scores 3 hits, and James scores 1 block. James’ Racer suffers 2 points attack if it contacts another Racer model. of damage for the difference. Additionally, since James suffered 2 points of damage from the ram attack, John rolls 2 dice and adds the results together. His result is a 7. Half of 7 rounded up is 4, so RAM ATTACK SPEED MODIFIER James’ Racer is moved 4˝ directly away from John’s Racer due to the impact of the ram! Disstanced Moved Ram Attack Dice Less than 6˝
1 Dice
6˝ – 12˝
2 Dice
Greater than 12˝
3 Dice
ARSENAL ATTACKS Each Racer model has a single Arsenal representing the guns, flamethrowers, blades, or other weapons attached to its hull. Each Arsenal has an ATK stat and a RNG stat. The RNG represents the distance in inches the weapon can fire. After completing movement and ram attacks, if an enemy Racer is within the active Racer’s front arc and in range of its Arsenal, the player can perform an arsenal attack.
Example: After completing his ram attack, John checks his Arsenal. It has a RNG of 10˝ and an ATK of 3. Even after ramming James’ Racer, it is still in range of John’s Arsenal. John rolls 3 dice for his Arsenal’s ATK stat, and James rolls 4 dice for his Racer’s ARM stat. John scores no hits, and James scores 2 hits. Nothing happens; the attack was successfully soaked up by the armor plating of James’ Racer!
TERRAIN The three types of terrain in the game are hills, forests, and rough ground. If a player’s Racer begins the turn with any portion of its base on a hill, that player gains a free Speed Die for the turn. This Speed Die does not count when determining how many Drive Points the player can spend to gain additional Speed Dice based on the Racer’s SPD stat.
If a player’s Racer begins the turn with any portion of its base in The attacking player rolls a number of dice equal to the a forest, reduce the Racer’s HDL stat by 1 for the turn. Racer’s Arsenal’s ATK stat, and the defending player rolls a number of dice equal to his or her Racer’s ARM. Each result If a player’s Racer begins the turn with any portion of its base of a 4, 5, or 6 counts as a hit for the attacking player, and in rough ground, reduce the Racer’s SPD stat by 1 for the turn. similarly each result of a 4, 5, or 6 counts as a block for the defending player.
WINNING THE GAME
If the total number of hits is equal to or less than the number Players are attempting to have their Racer contact the six of blocks, nothing happens. If the total number of hits exceed Race Flags in order. Contacting a Race Flag out of order, or the total number of blocks, the defending Racer suffers contacting a previously contacted Race Flag, has no effect. damage equal to the difference. When a player’s Racer contacts Flag 1, mark this on that racer’s progress track. After contacting Flag 1, when the Racer contacts Flag 2, mark this, and so on, all the way through Flag 6. The first player to contact all six Race Flags in order wins the game.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
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STORM STRIDER SPD
4
HDL
3
ARM
3
DMG
8
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
LIGHTNING STRIKE
3
10˝
5
6
An enemy Racer damaged by this attack generates 1 less Drive Point during its next turn.
SPECIAL NIMBLE
This Racer ignores the penalty of rough ground and forest terrain.
VESSEL OF JUDGMENT SPD
3 2
HDL ARM
3
DMG
12
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
HOLY FIRE
4
8˝
5
6
An enemy Racer damaged by this attack cannot Push the Limit during its next turn.
SPECIAL DIVINE INSPIRATION
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This Racer can Push the Limit up to five times a turn instead of three. This Racer can Push the Limit even after it has Stalled.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
GUN CARRIAGE SPD
3 2
HDL ARM
4
DMG
10
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
SHORT BARREL SUPER CANNON
6
6˝
5
6
No special rules.
SPECIAL When this Racer successfully rams another Racer, do not halve the die result to determine the distance the enemy Racer is moved.
HEFTY
WRAITH ENGINE SPD
3 4
HDL ARM
3
DMG
8
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
GHOSTLY CLAWS
6
2˝
5
6
An enemy Racer damaged by this attack is also moved as if the attack were a ram attack.
SPECIAL PASS THROUGH
This Racer does not have to perform a ram attack when it contacts another Racer (though it can!). This Racer can move through other Racer models as long it does not end its movement with its base overlapping another Racer’s base.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
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ARCANTRIK FORCE GENERATOR SPD
3 2
HDL ARM
3
DMG
10
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
FORCE BLAST
2
18˝
5
6
An enemy Racer damaged by this attack is moved d6˝ directly away from this Racer.
SPECIAL CARAPACE
This Racer gains +2 ARM against arsenal attacks.
TRANSFINITE EMERGENCE PROJECTOR SPD
2
HDL
2
ARM
3
DMG
9
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
TRACTOR LANCE
4
12˝
5
6
If an enemy Racer is damaged by this attack, this Racer gains +2 SPD and HANDLING during its next turn.
SPECIAL CALCULATED DESTRUCTION
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When this Racer damages an enemy Racer with a ram attack or arsenal attack, during its next turn it can Push the Limit for 2 additional Drive Points without rolling to suffer damage. If it Pushes the Limit for a third additional Drive Point during that turn, it must still roll one die to determine if it suffers damage normally.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
SIEGE CRAWLER SPD
2 3
HDL ARM
4
DMG
10
1
RACE PROGRESS
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
SIEGE CANNON
5
8˝
5
6
No special rules.
SPECIAL When this Racer repairs from being Stalled, it repairs all of its damage instead of half. Additionally, a player does not have to forfeit his or her turn to repair this Racer from being Stalled. Instead, this Racer’s SPD and HANDLING are reduced to 1 during the turn it was repaired.
RHULIC ENGINEERING
WAR WAGON SPD
3
HDL
3
ARM
3
DMG
10
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
HUGE THUMPER
4
8˝
5
6
An enemy Racer damaged by this attack has its HANDLING reduced to 1 during its next turn.
SPECIAL TEAR UP THE TRACK
This Racer ignores the penalty of rough ground terrain. Up to three times per game, at the end of this Racer’s turn you can place a single piece of rough ground terrain in contact with the Racer and completely within its back arc. More than one piece of terrain cannot be placed per turn.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
39
CELESTIAL FULCRUM SPD
3 4
HDL ARM
3
DMG
10
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
ELEMENTAL CYCLONE
3
8˝
5
6
Rotate an enemy Racer damaged by this attack up to 45 degrees.
SPECIAL This Racer can rotate up to 90 degrees for each Turn Maneuver spent instead of the normal 45 degrees. Additionally, this Racer can make arsenal attacks against enemy Racers in its back arc.
WHIRLWIND
SIEGE ANIMANTARAX SPD
3
HDL
3
ARM
4
DMG
10
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
HEADBUTT
6
0˝
5
6
This Racer must be in base-to-base contact with an enemy to make this arsenal attack.
SPECIAL FOLLOW THROUGH
40
When this Racer successfully rams, it can immediately move up to the distance the enemy Racer was rammed directly toward that Racer.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
THRONE OF EVERBLIGHT SPD
4
HDL
4
ARM
3
DMG
8
1
RACE PROGRESS
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
SPINE BURST
3
10˝
5
6
This arsenal attack gains +2 ATK if the enemy Racer is base-to-base with this Racer.
SPECIAL When this Racer is rammed, it can move the ramming enemy Racer up to the distance it was rammed directly toward it.
GRASPING TENTACLES
DEATH KNELL SPD
3
HDL
2
ARM
2
DMG
10
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
WILTING WHIP
2
2˝
5
6
An enemy Racer damaged by this attack loses its Arsenal and Special rules during its next turn.
SPECIAL PUNISH THE WICKED
When this Racer suffers damage from an enemy ram attack or arsenal attack, after the attack is resolved choose one: the enemy Racer suffers 1 point of damage OR the enemy Racer cannot Push the Limit during its next turn.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
41
MEAT THRESHER SPD
3
HDL
3
ARM
3
DMG
8
1
RACE PROGRESS
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
GATLING GUN
3
8˝
5
6
This Racer can make two attacks with this Arsenal each turn instead of one.
SPECIAL BUILT TO SMASH
This Racer is always considered to have moved more than 12˝ when it makes a ram attack.
SACRAL VAULT SPD
2 3
HDL ARM
4
DMG
12
RACE PROGRESS
1
2
3
4
ARSENAL
ATK
RNG
SPECTRAL LANCE
3
10˝
5
6
An enemy Racer targeted by this Arsenal has its ARM reduced by 1 until the start of your next turn. (This includes before resolving this attack.)
SPECIAL SOUL STORM
42
An enemy Racer that rams this Racer suffers 1 point of damage before resolving the ram attack. If this causes the enemy Racer to become Stalled, the ram attack does not take place.
ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION
WeserveonlytheTrueLawsetdownbyMenothCreatorofMan
CRYX THEME FORCE
DARK HOST
Torn from the horrors of the void and given new forms in the bodies of the dead, banes are dark, sinister warriors in the service of Cryx. Far from mindless, they possess a military cunning mixed with an utter malevolence to life. Supported by potent necromancers, armies of horrifying banes beset the enemy like a tide of darkness and death.
ARMY COMPOSITION An army made using this theme force can include only the following Cryx models: • Cryx warcasters
• Necrotech solos
• non-character warjacks
• Scrap Thrall solos
• Bane models/units
• Skarlock Thrall solos
• Darragh Wrathe
• Soul Trapper solos
• Machine Wraith solos
• Wraith Engine battle engines
SPECIAL RULES
• For every full 20 points of units and battle engines in this army, you can add one command attachment or medium or smaller based solo to the army free of cost. Free models do not count toward the total point value of units in the army when calculating this bonus. • Bane models/unit gain Prowl. (A model with Prowl gains Stealth
while it has concealment.)
• Before models are deployed at the start of the game, you can place two 4˝ AOE dense fog terrain features anywhere completely within 20˝ of the rear table edge of your deployment zone.
THEME FORCE: DARK HOST
43
WeserveonlytheTrueLawsetdownbyMenothCreatorofMan
THEME FORCE TACTICS
By Will Pagani Dark Host is the newest theme force for the Nightmare Empire of Cryx. Focusing on the Bane aspect of the Cryx Faction, this list supplies some rather strong bonuses to Bane models, really making this an attractive choice. Quite a change from Ghost Fleet or Infernal Machines, this theme is a much slower, far more durable force, rewarding players for positioning and use of terrain as key strategic elements. Pulled from the void, banes value nothing more than the destruction of life. A dense fog and a feeling of unease is what lets combatants know that the banes are approaching—coming out of walls and through fortifications as if they were not there. The benefits of this theme force are tailored very well to the Bane-model units. With the combination of Ghostly and Prowl, they excel at hiding in terrain and threatening the surrounding portions of the board. Placing Dense Fog terrain features gives the list more consistency in where the Bane models can hide and strike from. There’s also nothing quite like having two clouds if your warcaster needs to hide from the enemy. Pushing these clouds up next to terrain pieces can create large portions of the board that are difficult for your opponent to threaten. When building lists for Dark Host (and in general), I always start with what ’caster I would like to play. For the purposes of this article I chose Pirate Queen Skarre and Goreshade the Bastard.
The Pirate Queen Skarre list below is from one of our CID users, Brandon Andrews of Florida. I really like this list, as it asks some very hard questions for your opponent while also answering many common problems. First of all, this list hits like a freight train. Bane Warriors are already one of the hardest-hitting units in the game with Dark Shroud and Weapon Master, so applying Skarre’s feat, Blood Magic, to them puts these models above and beyond the normal damage output of units. Wraith Engines with Rapid Strike and Skarre’s feat can each output three effective-POW 22 hits. Many warjacks and warbeasts crumple against that kind of damage. Add in Dark Guidance, and it is unlikely to miss any attacks. The durability of the list is without question. Incorporeal, ARM 20 Wraith Engines require very specific types of attacks to remove that are not very common. Bane Knights are ARM 20 against ranged and magic attacks and go to DEF 14 with Set Defense against charges, making them an excellent frontline unit. Any that survive to make contact with the enemy can be affected by Blood Magic the turn they charge, making them ARM 23 in melee and ARM 25 against ranged and magic. If you know me, you know that Goreshade the Bastard is one of my favorite warcasters of all time, and he not only thematically fits into this theme but also runs it quite well! The list below is a potent combination of a few effects to really create an anti-shooting skew list. With Shadowmancer, Goreshade and his battlegroup will gain Stealth. Bane Knights and Warriors occupying concealment-granting terrain gain Stealth. Wraith Engines are Incorporeal. These factors combined really force your opponent to close with your army, which is where Banes want to be. Combining the Death Walker’s ability Breath Taker with Darragh’s ability Mortal Fear gives –4 to damage rolls, making your Inflictors very durable against living models. This list preys upon ’jack-heavy lists, easily crushing the armor and boxes those armies bring to the table. With the high ARM of Banes and so much Stealth available to the army, most infantry-clearing lists have issues removing the Banes before they make it into combat. They are then backed up by a strong, fast, hard-hitting battle group and the additional unit of Bane Warriors that Goreshade brings to the table with his feat, Dark Summons. Dark Host lists are best served by warcasters that can help deliver the Banes to the opposing army. The Witch Coven, Lich Lord Asphyxious, and Lich Lord Terminus are some more of my top picks for being the head of this theme force. Each brings a different survival mechanic to the theme, and each has a very different game plan for victory.
44
THEME FORCE: DARK HOST
Model/Unit
Pirate Queen Skarre
LIST 2
by Will Pagani
Points
+28 WJ
Model/Unit
Points
Goreshade the Bastard
+27 WJ
–Inflictor
13
–Inflictor x2
26
–Stalker x2
16
–Reaper
13
0
–Stalker
8
–Skarlock Thrall (free with theme force) Wraith Engine x2
Wraith Engine 30
Bane Lord Tartarus (free with theme force)
0
Darragh Wrathe
9
Necrotech
2
Scrap Thrall
2
15
Bane Lord Tartarus (free from theme force)
0
Darragh Wrathe
9
Bane Knights (10)
15
Bane Warriors (10)
16
Bane Knights (10)
15
–Bane Warrior Officer & Standard (free from theme force)
Bane Warriors (10)
16
Total
–Bane Warrior Officer & Standard (free with theme force) Total
WeserveonlytheTrueLawsetdownbyMenothCreatorofMan
LIST 1
by Brandon Andrews
0 75
0 75
THEME FORCE: DARK HOST
45
46
GAVYN KYLE
DOSSIERS GIVE A S’ PREMIER SPY. GATHERED AT GREAT EXPENSE AND RISK, THESE TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE FILES OF GAVYN KYLE, THE IRON KINGDOM HINE AND HORDES. WARMAC IN ERS CHARACT NT IMPORTA OF IONS MOTIVAT AND S BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE HISTORIE
ieri the Kalm erpt from c Wilson ex . D z; e et & Matth & Matt Go ón t d n ca a ea ss S O glas éstor ed by Dou Garden, N Transcrib Art by Tom • d u er n Ken by Darla
ZEVANNA AGHA – THE OLD WITCH I appreciate your patronage, as always. But there are some major figures affecting the world’s stage whose nature makes them better suited to examination by historians and theologians than experts in espionage. Zevanna Agha is one such case. I did my best, but bear in mind that we are dealing with a perplexing figure whose existence defies reason. The Old Witch presents the guise of being human while being immune to the most important aspect of humanity—mortality. She defies classification in other respects as well. My career is based on gathering and applying evidence to arrive at logical conclusions. In every path I followed with Zevanna Agha, my conclusions led me into blind alleys to be ambushed by contradictions. The Khadoran government has gone to great lengths to obscure the record of the Old Witch’s involvement with its sovereigns, nobles, and commanding military officers. It’s possible Agha has her own agents covering her tracks as well. I have run up against countless forgeries and contradictions in testimony—including claims of her being in two places at once. If she is willing to alter government documents, then why not historical annals and ancient tomes? From all of this, one might conclude that Zevanna is a fiction. There is no record of her birth. Given the overwhelming evidence through firsthand eyewitness testimony, I nonetheless conclude the Old Witch does, in fact, exist. She is not merely a ghost tale or a parable for children. Accepting Zevanna Agha as real, the next question becomes: what has she been doing for all this time? This would become the thrust of my investigation—tracking down evidence of the Old Witch’s actions and trying to make sense of them.
glad to have her as a protector, though they are also terrified of her. Northern tales contain countless cases of the Old Witch seizing children, meddling in marriages, and flat-out murdering those who displease her. She is as cruel, malevolent, and wicked to her own people as she is to her enemies. This does not deter northerners. To them, the Old Witch is part of a broader belief—common in those frozen lands—that progress requires pain, sacrifice, and bitter lessons. Also, it would seem, the spilling of a tremendous quantity of blood. This report focuses more on ancient than recent events. This extended from my quest—futile though it proved to be—to find an origin for Zevanna Agha. I must admit the movements of troops in modern times interested me less than the undeniable fact that Zevanna Agha had a hand in shaping civilization itself. — GK
It is hard to gauge whether in the aggregate her actions have been for good or ill. Certainly those who live in the “Motherland” are fiercely
GAVYN KYLE
47
TIMELINE OF ZEVANNA AGHA ACTIVITY
An abbreviated timeline, culled to focus on speci fic events and to reflect the vast time period required to cover the subject. Countless dates and incidents were omitted. Prehistoric: Hundreds of legends refer to a crone 26-201 AR: Orgoth soldiers operating in the northern figure in the wilderness of the northern lands . Some territory go missing. Not all of these disappearances cast the crone as a capriciously benevolent figur e. can be connected to Agha, but records sugge st her Others depict her as a monster. One recurring myth combating Orgoth to protect Khardic villa ges. suggests Zevanna predates Menoth and humanity. 184-188 AR: Zevanna Agha may have warned Khard ic 2200 BR: The Old Witch appears in the Kalmieri , an generals in the Iron Alliance not to rely on their epic featuring the life of Molgur chieftain Horfar secret factories in Korsk for colos sal production. Grimmr. This describes the Old Witch giving him the She was ignored. In 188 AR the Orgoth attac k Korsk axe Rathrok (a.k.a “World Ender ”) to Grimmr. and demolish northern colossal production. 2170-2045 BR: Priest King Khardovic found s the 209 AR: Vladin Tzepesci usurps power and unifies kingdom of Khard. Records of the era occasional ly Umbrey. Before his death in combat in 229 AR, King reference Khardovic speaking to a “beggar-cr one”. Vladin was contacted multiple times by an old crone. Khardovic is claimed to have fathered over thirty children, and multiple records mention an ancie nt 230-250 AR: Zevanna Agha is seen in counsel with King midwife overseeing many of their births. Levash Tzepesci and played a hand in the forma tion of the Greylords Covenant in 243 AR. Last seen in the 1670 BR: A plague wreaks havoc on the Kos and capital in 250 AR at the onset of the Coloss al War. Skirov people, allowing the Khards to expand their territory and capture Molga, renamed Khard 459 AR: Zevan na Agha is present at the crowning ov. Several scholars credit Zevanna Agha. Other sourc es of King Mikhail Vanar, a fact used by gover nment say the plague originated with the blackclads but officials to combat discussions of the Old Witch’s credit Agha for the Khardic immunity. association with the Tzepesci dynasty. 1421 BR: Khardic king Sveynod Skelvoro decla res 505 AR: The Old Witch warned King Ruslan Vygor himself emperor, the start of the Khardic Empir e. against “fighting the swan in the drago n’s mouth,” a His crown was forged by Zevanna Agha. prophecy thought to refer to Vygor’s death in battle at the end of the First Thornwood War. 1415-1382 BR: The Khard-Kos War. The Old Witch appears in the record of dozens of battles. The 512 AR: First written descriptions of Agha majority of her appearances are on the side of the accompanied by a peculiar warjack referred to as Khardic Empire, but several times she fights on the “Scrapjack,” a construct assembled from salvaged opposite side, protecting heroes of Kos. wrecks from the First Thornwood War. 1382 BR: Zevanna Agha is alleged to have visite d the 605 AR: The first battle at the Temple of Garrodh. leading Umbrean horselords to persuade them to defy Zevanna Agha, along with military leaders from the Khardic emperor. multiple other factio ns, battle in the Thorn wood. Zevanna advises Prince Vladimir Tzepesci mome nts 1263 BR: The Old Witch is alleged to have persu aded before he kills the Harbinger of Menot h. the last great Skirov kings in their mountain holds to surrender to the Khardic Empire. 606–608 AR: Zevanna Agha participates in multi ple engagements alongside the 3rd Border Legio n 1169 BR: An “aged advisor” matching the descr iption fighting wilderness uprisings instigated by of Zevanna Agha is described as being present at the Khadoran blackclads. meeting of the Tzepesci, Umbreyko, and Chard ovosk families. This meeting results in the formation of 609 AR: The northern Khadoran village of Daliskov is the Black Ring, which becomes Umbrey. attacked by gargantuan winter trolls led by Hoarl uk Doomshaper. Its people are saved by the interv ention 716 BR: The Old Witch is notably absent from the of the Old Witch. Witnesses say Doomshaper and his lengthy Horselord Wars between the Khardic Empir e trolls vanished amid massive flocks of crows . and the Umbreans starting in 820 BR, but one accou nt has her instrumental in the surrender of the Black 609 AR (cont): Several gigantic ice-covered trolls Ring in 716 BR, which resulted in Korska as the are reported thousands of miles away in the northern eastern capital. Bloodstone Marches. This coincides with a conve rgence of wilderness forces on a remote trollkin settle ment. 600-433 BR: Legends claim Zevanna Agha resis ted This battle ends with natural disasters, including an the Orgoth before they conquered western Immor en, earthquake and a lightning storm. but I found few descriptions of her actio ns until the Rebellion. Folktales of her deeds circulated in the Late 611 – early 612 AR: An enormous steam-powered wilderness regio ns. Descendants of these far-f lung construct resembling Scrapjack and ridden by a crone villages insist Zevanna Agha made their towns hips is witnessed in southern Khador, Ord, western Cygnar, invisible to the Orgoth and killed any who came near. and the Widower’s Wood. Reports of gremlin and other grymkin activity escalate in its vicinity.
48
GAVYN KYLE
Technically, the oldest myth connected with the Old Witch is a story in the north that can be summarized as: “When Menoth first walked the world, he found the Old Witch in her cave, already waiting for him.” Since no one could possibly have witnessed such an encounter to pass it down, as it predates humanity itself, this must be considered apocryphal. Nonetheless, this suggests the northern peoples believe the Old Witch predates mankind and possibly Menoth. I am no theologian, but recent investigations have let me build a rapport with several prominent religious scholars. Asked to evaluate Agha’s nature, my experts hypothesized that she might be some sort of primal spiritual entity who has chosen to adopt her guise as a crone. Several grymkin exist as examples of inhuman beings who closely resemble people, though they are not. This includes rusalka, as well as such creatures as the so-called Twilight Sisters, the Gentleman Stranger, and the Old Man of the Swamp. These and other beings are folktales come to life yet who are also tangibly real. Agha’s existence is also inextricable from folklore. A sample of one of countless short poems, ancient in origin, that refer to the Old Witch: Forest Mother, Iron Claws Who ever is and ever was. Raven’s black and winter’s white Tarry not while in her sight.
Another of my theological sources suggested looking at the tales of Dhunia, a mother-goddess figure among several wilderness cultures. She did not claim that Zevanna Agha and Dhunia are one and the same but theorized that both represent embodiments of the land adopting a familiar feminine form. If it were possible for Agha to predate humanity, perhaps she once looked different. This might explain the peculiar way she is described in some old Molgur myths. The following transcript features a different description of Agha than is now typical. This tale is said to have been passed down in the north since before the written word. It is among the oldest tales I could find that has been preserved in any detail. — GK So it was that great Chief Lofar—having survived the ambush—climbed the sheer rock face, evading the soldiers below. The wound from the spear thrust that had pierced his side left a bloody trail up the cliff wall, but his strength and desperation were enough for him to claw his way to the top.
He collapsed at the opening of an old and yawning cave. He held his side and gulped in air, grateful to yet breathe. For the one called the Bear’s Son and the Winter’s Frost, Lofar who broke the spears of the Noskove champions, who threw the Troll King into the abyss, and whose voice calls down the avalanche, this was his lowest moment, having barely eluded the jaws of death. Looking into the cave’s darkness, he saw the gleaming of bright eyes. Not one pair or two, but dozens—baleful, cold eyes staring out at him. A cacophony of shrieking and cackling followed, and then a rush of wind as hundreds of crows flew forth and past him. They did not touch him, flying past and down to feast on the dead below. One gleaming eye lingered in the cave’s depths. A larger huddled figure shuffled forward, wrapped in darkness as if garbed in shadows—an ancient hag, more bird than woman. Her head was cocked to one side and cowled in tattered rags, except a single piercing eye. The sound of talons rasped upon the stone as she limped forward, and her movements were abrupt and strange. She came to him, and he smelled her fetid breath and heard cackling laughter when he tried to scramble away. Gleaming claws emerged from the shadows to touch the trail of blood he had left. “For me?” She asked. Then, the claws stretched toward the wound at his side. “A taste?” Her voice suggested the rattling call of ravens. Lofar knew better than to deny the Crone of Crows, whose appetites must be met. She was said to love few things more than the fresh spilled blood of chiefs on winter’s snow. He said, “A taste you may have, if you let me live.” The witch reached out with her claws and quick as a blink snickered two fingers from his left hand, click, clack! She chewed them up with moist, wet noises while he looked on and clenched his bleeding hand to staunch the blood’s flow. “Go on, go on,” she said. “See me again you shall, when your second son is born." Lofar the Eight-Fingered survived to lead his people. On the day his second son was born, he had visit from the Crone, who could not be denied.
It is not always clear what her goals or purposes might be. Her actions seem capricious and cruel, and the oldest tales often describe her enjoyment of slaughter and feature her feasting on human flesh and blood. The association with crows and ravens is well established and recurring. In the oldest tales, it seems as though Agha resembles these scavenger birds. Her interest in the offspring of great bloodlines takes a variety of forms. Sometimes this is purely
GAVYN KYLE
49
a matter of monstrous appetite—implying Agha steals children to consume them, savoring tender flesh. She is said to have a satchel where she keeps one or more children against such a need, as an ordinary person might carry a hunk of cheese or bread. In time we see more stories suggesting an interest in lineage, in establishing strong families destined to rule lesser men. Even here, in one of the oldest stories, that is true. I unearthed mention of Lofar’s second-born son. He was taken as a child but allegedly emerged unexpectedly from the wilderness as a grown man and became Holgin Ironbender, greatest of kings of the ancient Skirov mountain holds. This suggests that at least in this case, Lofar’s son was not kidnapped to become a snack. Holgin Ironbender took the counsel of ravens, perhaps a reference to receiving guidance from Agha. What follows next is a puzzling appearance of the Old Witch an ancient tale of another people. This is drawn from the trollkin Kalmieri, which tells the life, exploits, and death of Molgur Chief Horfar Grimmr. — GK A voice rasped from within the cloaks, wreathing him [Horfar Grimmr] in certainty and firesmoke. It was a deep sound, like the crunching of large bones between teeth, the rotting of a tree stump from its core, the mountain cat’s gurgling breath around the elken’s bloody throat.
The battle is long lost, it said. The battle is yet to come. The figure had not moved and yet circled him, fate stirring in its path, and Horfar felt stripped bare in the burning fog of its attention. Are you the avalanche it asked, though it seemed not to seek a reply. It circled him again. Are you the mountain The unknowable figure seemed to become more solid before him [Horfar Grimmr], its self collected into a single form at the center of a thin mist. Only a great weapon can break the world. ... The crone drew close enough to speak her need, though not a whisper came from within her cowls until at last she stopped before him and held out an oversized bundle wrapped in rough, plain cloth and bound with lion skin. Her hands were wrapped in rags with long metal talons that bit into the dusky leather like the claws of a raven around a hunted rabbit. ...
50
GAVYN KYLE
He heard a dark murmuring, soft as the wind moaning through a ravine, as she lay the bundle at his feet and tugged at its bindings until they fell open. As iron claws nudged the cloth aside the sky grew dark and wild as the winds of a sudden storm darted through the battlefield to tug at the clothes of the dead. A hot rain began to pelt down upon them, each drop sword-sharp as it fell, sliding off the hardy skin of the warriors, driving into the churned earth, spilling from the blind eyes of the fallen in great tears of death. Upon its soon-soaked coverings lay a tremendous axe unlike any Grimmr had before seen or swung— even such a well-blooded kin as he. This suggests the axe Rathrok, also known as World Ender, was given to Horfar Grimmr by the Old Witch. This axe has been associated with dark prophecies and dire omens and was most recently connected to Chief Madrak Ironhide of the United Kriels. It is this axe that led to the suggestion that Chief Ironhide might be “cursed,” making him a controversial leader. Rathrok plays a role in recent events, making this ancient account relevant. Zevanna Agha is not otherwise linked to the trollkin, being almost exclusively described in connection to northern humans empires and tribes. This account seems far afield from other actions of the Old Witch, particularly since Horfar Grimmr and his confrontation with Priest King Golivant took place far to the south, in the Wyrmwall Mountains. After querying one of my experts in northern ancient history, I was given the following hypothesis: Dear Esteemed Sir, Regarding the Kalmieri and the passage quoted, it is the only document we know of touching on the origins of Rathrok. That axe is described as a powerful artifact of the Wurm. Even beyond any powers it is alleged to possess, it held significant symbolic weight. Its bestowal on Chief Grimmr may have helped embolden the chieftain to a grander plan of conquest against the civilized Calacians than might otherwise have been the case. Grimmr’s decision to commit his ill-fated attack on the Wall of Thrace may therefore have been influenced by ownership of Rathrok. This attack initially succeeded but then had a disastrous aftermath, resulting in Grimmr’s defeat, torture, and execution by Priest King Golivant and the subsequent destruction and scattering of the Molgur. If Zevanna Agha were responsible and possesses prophetic insight, as has been suggested elsewhere, the "gift" of Rathrok proved to be a curse.
Why would Agha do anything to help southern Calacia or to defeat the Molgur? There is a direct chain of events between Calacia and the founding of Khard. Even as Menite civilization came north, so did the greatest foes of the Menites. The two are inseparable. The strongest of the remaining Molgur tribes traveled to the northern mountains and plains after Golivant’s crusade. These willful barbarians became the adversaries of Priest King Khardovic, whose greatness was predicated on his own crusades against them. This is the foundation of a united northern civilization. Without the fall of Horfar Grimmr, there might not have been a Khador. Personally, I do not think Zevanna Agha played a role in this southern event. Rather, I think her insertion into the Kalmieri was a subsequent embellishment. I am of the opinion many incidents credited to the Old Witch of Khador are exaggerated. It is an appealing fantasy to imagine she might have laid the foundation for all civilization. That diminishes the importance of many great historical figures, including Khardovic himself. —Professor Radomir Orlyk of the Skrovenberg Kollegii
I received the following one week later: I wanted to clarify my previous missive and emphasize that my studies have led me to believe Zevanna Agha has had a significant positive impact on the Khardic Empire, the Kingdom of Khador, and the Khadoran Empire. I would never mean to suggest otherwise. Nor did I mean any disrespect toward this entity in my last letter. Without question, she is formidable and deserving of both gratitude and deference. I merely wanted to ensure we did not attribute actions to her that might reflect poorly upon the Empire.
I was situated in a coastal inn near Ceryl, sorting through a number of documents sent to me by Professor Orlyk related to ancient references to the “Northern Crone,” and due to the oppressive heat in the chamber I had my window open. A large and fearsome raven flew in the window, seized several of my documents, stared at me briefly, and then flapped away. I was too stunned to interfere. I do not believe the records taken were vital, though I cannot be sure. More than likely this was a random action of a stray bird, but its timing was unsettling in the extreme. To get back to the file, accounts directly blaming or otherwise hinting about the Old Witch interfering with highly placed children crop up again and again in the annals. The following letter transcribed from ancient Khurzic is an example connected with a woman named Ygrid, Khardovic’s unpopular second wife. Days have passed, but the hurt has not. She took him. The monster my king lets into our home. She took my son! His warlords and the other wives have tried to lie to me, to convince me it was something else— some cursed creature from the wild, some stained worshipper of the Wurm that claimed him—but I know better. It was she. I can smell her rot on the walls of this room. I can feel her stain in my heart.
—Professor Radomir Orlyk
I’m uncertain what prompted this follow-up message, though its tenor leads me to wonder if the professor might have been threatened. This calls to mind a strange encounter during the course of this and other correspondence done in preparing for this assignment.
GAVYN KYLE
51
When last she came to my king she looked long on me with that eye I hate so much. My king did not hear her whisper, but I did: “So many children you have. So much of the blood. It must be shared.” This is the price we pay for consorting with such a creature. This is the cost my king’s victories commands. No more children will I bear him, this I vow. The hag be damned, and Menoth keep her from my chamber.
This letter was hidden for centuries, its attribution and source unclear until others in its stash were determined to be the private journals of Ygrid. She perished under mysterious circumstances but has been maligned by Menite historians for her vocal criticism of Khardovic, a stance many of the Old Faith consider blasphemous at best. There are multiple records from those near to Khardovic who witnessed the priest-king taking private counsel from an “old crone” whose description matches Zevanna Agha. These accounts suggest she was quite active in the affairs of this foundational priestking, the ruler who would inspire the creation of the Khardic Empire. It seems possible that no less than three of Khardovic’s wives lost children to Zevanna Agha. There are suggestions she played a hand in selecting two of those wives for him. The following folktale is a reflection of this belief, though abstracted as a mythical. In the castle of the Winter King, bridegiving was occasion for a great celebration, this one greater than any before. Word of the festivities spread across the land. The festival would gather commoner and noble alike, each to the mountain hold, there to pay homage to the north king. Bride-price was paid in gold and silver for those who had it, or copper, tin, or humble carved wood for those who could not. Even the poorest of paupers contributed to the bride-price. The lowest beggar of the filthiest hillside town made the trek and with trembling hands contributed the longest and strongest black hair from his head—the finest gift he could spare. Each gift was taken and welcomed, and the gathering swelled as all prepared to welcome the king in matrimony, to sing praises to his bride, to see her dancing on the field of flowers as music played. Those who gave gifts knew the Lawbringer smiled upon them.
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There was one who did not come, and her absence was noticed by one and all. This was the old woman in the cave. The old woman attended every king’s wedding and would arrive unbidden to visit his children when each prince or princess reached one year of age. She would peer at the face of the bride or the king’s youngest child and speak of the future, whether good or ill. A king’s entire reign might be brightened or shadowed depending on the words of the old woman in the cave. The Winter King feared the old woman but dared not refuse her, nor stop her crows eating their fill from his roast boar and meat pies. The lord’s highest stolnik told the king he must find and beseech her, lest the people lose faith and fail to accept his bride. The king belted on his sword and mounted his steed and rode to the cave and back, and when he returned, tired and bloody from many adventures, the old woman was waiting for him. He was red-faced and angry, knowing she had made him the fool, chasing his own tail, but he swallowed his pride and welcomed her, eager for the festivities to begin. The old woman approached his eager bride, looked at her once, and turned away. “Not that one,” she said, and the bride burst into tears. The old woman walked across the field of flowers to another, a fierce-eyed woman in dusty leathers who stared back defiantly. She was tall and lean and strong, not pretty and soft like the weeping bride. “Who are you?” asked the old woman. “I am daughter of the greatest horselord of the plains. I came to hear the mountain songs and to dance. Yet no man here dares take my hand. They say I am too tall, too strong, my hands too rough to hold.” “This one,” the old woman said to the Winter King. “This one is your bride.” The king was taken aback but dared not refuse. The horselord’s daughter ate her fill from the roast boar and meat pies and danced with the king, then married him and bore him fine children. Those princes served their mother as queen when their father choked on a chicken bone and perished. What of the pretty weeping bride to be? She was never seen again, and scraps of cloth in the
pattern of her dress were seen lining the nests of crows throughout the land. It is said they ate her weeping eyes first and found them sweet.
One aspect of this folktale that returned to my mind time and again as I worked through ancient historical records is the notion of the “old woman in the cave” being used to approve the authority of northern kings. This matter has no bearing on modern or ancient law. Yet from before the Khardic Empire until the modern era there are stories of contact between Zevanna Agha and northern princes. Some believe she was in contact with every Khardic emperor and empress, as well as every subsequent Khadoran king, queen, and empress. I was unable to find documentation to prove this in every case but certainly contact with northern rulers is seen repeatedly. What follows is a popular account of the origin of the Khardic crown. — GK So it was that the greatest of the line of Khardovic emerged from the snows of the worst winter in a century to declare himself emperor of Khard. This was Sveynod Skelvoro, whose touch could ignite bonfires and whose eyes simmered with the remembered flame of his ancestors' crusades against the godless. It was by sword that Sveynod united the willful princes of Khard, and his throne was his warhorse Gefarich, whose tail and mane were as smoke. Menoth smiled on his rule, but he bore no crown until one year after his declaration of the Khardic Empire, when the Old Crone demanded audience. In her clawed hands she bore a thick and heavy crown of gold and iron. Its iron had been taken from the weapons of slain barbarian chieftains. Its gold had been stolen from the barrows of the first kings of the mountains, the forest, and the plains. It was set with rubies, each as red as the human blood spilled to claim them. She had hammered the crown into shape upon the anvil of her secret forge, said to be deep within her cave upon the mountain, its fire fed by the breath of a chained wyrm she tricked into submission, its bellows pumped by imps and gremlins whose cackling laughter was as music to her. Once forged, it was quenched in the blood of stolen infants. While wearing this crown, the Khardic emperor could hear the moans and suffering of his people and the dying screams of his soldiers, no matter how remote they might be. With this crown upon his brow, no emperor could be ignorant of the weight of his decisions. So too did it let him watch for those who might betray him. It was a heavy crown, painful to wear, but Sveynod endured it until death claimed him.
The Old Witch was particularly active in the centuries when the Khardic Empire was being consolidated. I have attached a separate folder with references if you feel inclined to read them all. Of interest to me is how her actions seem contrary and whimsical, as she helps first one side and then the other. More often, her support of the Khards is clear. I believe the instances where she aided other forces represent attempts to preserve bloodlines of interest. She also had an interest in specific heroes among the Kossites, Skirov, and Umbreans. Indeed, a case could be made that the Old Witch pitted the Khards and the Umbreans against one another. Perhaps to find which was the stronger? With a few different turns, the Umbreans might have wound up on top rather than being relegated to second-class citizens. I find it intriguing that Zevanna was tightly connected with the Black Ring, the last great independent Umbrean rulers. Her interest in notable Umbrean families persisted into the modern era with the Tzepescis. A noteworthy blank spot in my research had to do with the Orgoth invasion. Agha has a reputation as a protector of the north, and the legends insist she slaughtered the Orgoth in abundance. Yet in examining records of the early battles, I see no evidence of her interference. It may be that she fought them only on the fringes, where they were incautious in the wilder regions. Perhaps her subtler methods were of little use against the foreignborn invaders. Still, I did find mention of remote villages and townships that insist the Crone protected them, hiding their ancestors away and keeping their villages invisible while slaughtering any Orgoth who came too near. I did uncover stronger evidence for Agha’s actions once the Rebellion started. She is credited with many small-scale strikes against the Orgoth in the last years. Most of these stories only exist in the verbal record as bits of local lore, but I was lucky enough to come across this scrap of a young woman’s journal among Greylords Covenant records. — GK In the winter when the silver thaw broke the trees, the men came to our village. They were terrifying in their armor and cruel to us as they picked our men and mothers to put in their barred wagons. They had taken a slave-tax from us before, but who would hunt and harvest if they taxed us again so soon? That is when she came, the babushka of crows, to protect us. In one blink, there was one of the cruel men in his armor striking my mother in the
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face, but in the next she was there. Her metal claws made such a noise as she dragged them from the man’s belt to his throat, cutting deep stripes in his armor. When the men tried to stop her, she moved through them, cutting them like Father cuts wood. The snow of our road was red like sunset from all the blood. The last tried to run from her, but she made the ground stop him. It grew claws that bit into him and held him for her, so she could do her work on his trapped body.
accomplished smith and craftswoman, as well as a keeper of powerful and dangerous artifacts.
When she was done, she had taken the last man’s skin in one great piece and cut a marking into it. She gave the skin to Aleksana’s father and told him to hang it in the trees as a sign to all who would try to steal her work. Then she left, gone into the winter.
I wish I could give you a more satisfying answer to your question. You are not the first assemblyman to ask me about the Old Witch’s companion, but none of us mechaniks are tasked with its maintenance. Honestly, I have only had a few opportunities to see the thing up close, thank Morrow, and even they were brief.
I cannot provide a specific date for this particular item. If I were to hazard a guess, I would place it in the mid-to-late 100s AR, due primarily to her reference of the winter. There were three silver thaws that reached as far south as Volningrad in 130, 143, and 160 AR, respectively. I did not find many other detailed accounts of Agha’s activity during the Rebellion, though I did find discussion between several Greylord scholars about an alleged warning she delivered about the colossal factories in Korsk. Unfortunately I could not find the primary source, but the discussion implied she attempted to convince generals of the Iron Alliance not to put all their efforts in Korsk, which was subsequently destroyed by the Orgoth. It is unclear exactly what role the Old Witch played in this, except that things might have turned out differently if her warning had been obeyed. There are similar incidents in the historical record when a king or emperor did not heed the “ancient crone,” always to his detriment. One of the best known is a prophecy allegedly given by Agha in 505 AR to the mad King Ruslan Vygor that his doom would come from “fighting the swan in the dragon’s mouth.” Vygor thought himself Khardovic reborn and paid Agha no mind. It is now thought she was referring to the Battle of the Tongue along the Dragon’s Tongue River, which ended the First Thornwood War. In that battle, Vygor was killed by Cygnar’s Vinter Raelthorne II, who would later became king. After the First Thornwood War, we see descriptions of a mechanikal companion alongside Zevanna Agha, the so-called Scrapjack. This appears to have been a machine created by her own hand, suggesting no small degree of ingenuity and craft. This goes along with more ancient accounts of Agha being an
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In looking for any information on the Scrapjack, I came across the following letter from a Khadoran mechanik. — GK Octesh 7, 560 AR Anasiv,
About four weeks ago was the closest I’ve gotten yet. Our kapitan had orders to join his column with forces under the Old Witch’s direction when we approached the Wolveswood. She and her ’jack were at the head of the column as we entered the trees. How it moves, Anasiv! It rattled along like a pile of junk pulled from the scrap heap behind old Aleksi’s workshop. If I were a brave man, I would have asked the witch for permission to examine it up close just to have an idea of how it stays together. It’s unlike anything you or I— or anyone—dreams to build. Piled with scraps and refuse and whatever else the witch feels necessary to bring with her, it has an arcane relay bolted onto its frame that would be more at home in our father’s wars than any modern one. Each step it took, I was afraid the whole frame would come unbolted and collapse into a heap on the road. In battle, though, it becomes something altogether more. Under the witch’s guidance, it comes alive in a way I cannot describe. When the blackclads attacked our column, the witch’s ’jack was among them in moments, darting from victim to victim like some great bird of prey. It moved through the trees with unnatural grace to crush the lives from dozens of men before returning to the Old Witch’s side like a loyal pet. —Senior Mechanik Vasily Ulchenko
Perhaps it isn’t surprising that even a mechanikal contraption employed by the Old Witch is described as inexplicably lifelike and unsettling. This is no carefully engineered and planned warjack design by the Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly. I have more recent reports that Agha may have undertaken some grander and more sinister alterations to this machine. She has been seen riding atop a large conveyance that bears decided similarities to the Scrapjack.
This goes with the fact that Zevanna Agha has been far more active since the Llaelese War. She no longer feels the need to work only from the shadows. Military documents are still loathe to refer to her without employing code phrases, but it does not take a great deal of effort to determine which reallocation of assets are a result of her interference. She has long favored the 3rd Border Legion for her operations, a legion slated to pacify threats within the Khadoran interior. She has led them many times. This includes battles against dragonspawn and blighted elves, now known to be the Legion of Everblight; clashing with “blackclad forces” in places like the Scarsfell, the Blackroot Wood, the Shadoweald, and the Gallowswood; fighting Cyriss cultists; and venturing deep into the Thornwood alongside other Khadoran forces for the titanic Battle at the Temple Garrodh. The last is of interest, as it suggests Agha in the midst of one of the strangest supernatural conjunctions in recent memory. That battle appears to have taken place to prevent some sort of disaster involving Lich Lord Asphyxious and the Harbinger of Menoth. The Old Witch was present alongside Great Prince Tzepesci after having foreseen a great calamity if they failed to intervene. It is worth noting that prior to this clash, Vladimir Tzepesci was thought to have perished after sacrificing himself in a clash with Cryx elsewhere. He emerged alongside Zevanna Agha with his armor and ancestral weapon reforged, an event with powerful parallels to the legends of old.
There were survivors, thankfully, and we interrogated them thoroughly. Many were raving and overcome by grief, making it difficult to isolate facts. All agree the town was attacked by trollkin and trolls led by an aged trollkin shaman bearing many scrolls. Most of their attention was occupied by what seems to have been several gigantic winter trolls, “walking glaciers” larger than most buildings, looming over the outer wall. I would find this hard to believe if I had not seen their tracks with my own eyes. What happened after the wall shattered is less certain. One witness claims crows swarmed the shaman and trolls, after which they vanished. The survivors credit Zevanna Agha, and they say without her, all would have perished. Make of that what you will. —Kovnik Chenko
At the time, I was focused on Doomshaper’s role in awakening a previously unseen breed of gargantuan winter trolls. I’ll admit the reference to Agha’s interference puzzled me, especially as it seemed random and unlikely. During the course of my current investigations, I found the other dropped shoe, so to speak. It was the presence of these “walking glaciers” that caught my eye. I discovered an odd mention of gigantic “ice trolls” in a Cygnaran Reconnaissance Report related to a tremendous battle taking place in the Bloodstone Marches
Sometimes I feel that Agha exists solely to confuse me, though of course I do not rate such attention. I happened upon something while investigating the trollkin shaman Hoarluk Doomshaper. At that time, I found a military report related to an obscure attack on an otherwise unremarkable northern Khadoran town named Daliskov. This report is attached. — GK Date: Glaceus 15th, 609 AR To: Koldun Lord Boris Metrovich From: Kovnik Yegor Chenko Daliskov has been destroyed. We lost contact with the garrison over a week ago. Per your request, I sent a kompany to investigate and provide assistance if necessary. They found destruction and death. The walls of the town had been knocked down, buildings flattened, and there were more bodies than could easily be counted.
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in virtually the same exact period as the attack on Daliskov. It was clear to the CRS ranger that the entities were out of place in the desert. In reading these reports, I was startled to see mention of Doomshaper as well, at almost the same time frame as the Daliskov report, though these events transpired over a thousand miles distant. The trollkin refer to this as the “Battle of the Bloodstone Marches” and it is apparently a significant clash that led to the relocation of the United Kriels led by Madrak Ironhide. I am still unearthing its details, but it involved large armies of trollkin, gatormen, and farrow. Unless Doomshaper can also be in more than one place at once—something I’ve not seen attributed to him—I must conclude Zevanna Agha somehow banished him and his “walking glaciers” to the Bloodstone Marches from Daliskov. Given there was an enormous battle where he landed, I can’t consider this to be coincidental, though I cannot fathom Agha’s motives beyond protecting Daliskov, an unimportant town. What I have been able to determine is that not only was there a great deal of bloodshed at this battle, but some sort of powerful and disturbing supernatural rituals may have taken place. Directly on the heels of this battle, there was a massive earthquake across the Bloodstone Marches, as well as a series of atypically powerful storms. After spreading a wide net to learn of firsthand accounts among my trollkin contacts, I learned that an alarming number of very powerful individuals were present. The involved parties allegedly include all three ruling omnipotents of the Circle Orboros, Hoarluk Doomshaper, Madrak Ironhide, Lord Carver of the Thornfall Alliance, Barnabas of the Blindwater Congregation, Kromac the Ravenous, a great king of the Tharn tribes, and Wurmwood, the Tree of Fate. This is just the sort of bizarre circumstance Zevanna Agha seems to enjoy participating in, yet she was notably absent, so far as I can tell, perhaps because no Khadorans were present. But I have heard unsubstantiated rumors that Rathrok was seen in the hands of Kromac the Ravenous after this battle, no longer in the hands of Madrak Ironhide. Given the Old Witch was involved in bestowing this relic on the trollkin more than two thousand years ago, I have to wonder if she played a hand in taking it from them now. To what end? How does this benefit her favored northern bloodlines? Is this some utterly unrelated long-term game? How does this event in 609 AR relate to more recent stirrings, including sightings of Zevanna Agha in the
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company of an alarming number of grymkin while atop an enlarged Scrapjack? I have more questions than answers when examining these most recent activities of the Old Witch, so you can understand why I focused more on the past. I can say that after the work I have done, I am firmly convinced the Old Witch exists and is formidable. I absolutely believe she has had a marked impact on the course of human history. In particular, I think she has played a hand in the rise of northern civilization and the shape of the royal bloodlines of both the ancient Khardic Empire and the modern great princes. I have concluded it is impossible to gain a proper perspective on her actions without the broad view and the fullness of time. We are only starting to comprehend what it was she was doing a thousand years ago. So, I have no confidence in our ability to quickly ascertain what she is doing today. All in all, I would advise giving her a wide berth and, if possible, avoiding drawing her attention. —GK
TROLLBLOODS THEME FORCE
KRIEL COMPANY The trollkin of the United Kriels will stop at nothing to protect their new home. In order to defend against any who would seek to drive them out, militias of resolute trollkin take up arms as companies of warriors. These companies mix traditional martial practices of the trollkin with modern firepower and the might of trolls to crush any opposition.
ARMY COMPOSITION An army made using this theme force can include only the following Trollblood models: • Trollblood warlocks
• Sons of Bragg
• Non-character warbeasts with ranged weapons
• Trollkin Runebearer solos
• Units/solos with ranged weapons
• Troll Whelp solos
• Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribe units
• War Wagon battle engines
• Weapon Crew units
SPECIAL RULES • For every full 20 points of units and battle engines in this army, you can add one weapon crew unit, command attachment, or medium-based solo to the army free of cost. Free models/units do not count toward the total number of units in the army when calculating this bonus. • Models in this army can ignore other friendly warrior models when determining LOS. • You gain +1 to your starting roll for the game.
THEME FORCE: KRIEL COMPANY
57
THEME FORCE TACTICS By Jack Coleman The Kriel Company theme force represents the more modern and militaristic aspects of the Trollbloods Faction. Many of these trollkin originally trained in the Cygnaran army and have returned to their kith in heed of the call to unite the kriels and fight for the survival of their people. The first special rule for Kriel Company grants a free weapon crew unit, command attachment, or mediumbased solo for every 20 points of units and battle engines in the army. This means in a 75-point army, you can have up to three free things. If you want the most bang for your buck with free points, then the Pummeler Crew, Thumper Crew, Braylen Wanderheart, Fell Caller Hero, and the Pyg Bushwhacker Officer & Mortar are currently your best choices. The Trollkin Runebearer is another good choice, because many of the warlocks who work well in this theme force benefit greatly from its presence. The second special rule allows all models in the army to ignore other friendly warrior models when determining line-of-sight. This is a great quality-of-life buff for any Trollblood gun line. Drawing LOS to small- or mediumbased enemy models can be very frustrating and sometimes even impossible when your own army is full of medium-based troopers. This benefit allows you to fight your opponent instead of fighting with your own models. Additionally, you can actively use this to easily
block your opponent’s LOS to important models, like your warlock, without hindering their ability to sling spells or use their own ranged attacks. The final bonus for this theme is +1 to your starting roll for the game. Winning the starting roll can be quite beneficial, allowing you to go first and control the tempo of the game or go second and take the board side with the most beneficial terrain (or prevent your opponent from taking it). This theme force is designed to provide a different experience than the common Trollblood brick. A Kriel Company list does not want to clump up inside of a protective aura in the same way as other Trollblood armies. A Krielstone is still useful for buffing your battlegroup and removing stealth and incorporeal from your opponent’s models, but the units available in this theme force have low-to-moderate armor values and will be far safer if you spread them out to avoid AOEs and take advantage of the defensive bonuses available from terrain features. Another way this theme force differs from other Trollblood armies is the restriction of warbeasts without ranged attacks. Fielding an army without a Mauler may seem incomprehensible at first, but there are other ways to increase the melee damage of your warbeast besides the Rage animus. The Stone Strength effect from a Stone Scribe Elder combined with spells like Calamity, Mortality, or Pulverizer will provide a +3 bonus to melee damage, enabling a Dire Troll Bomber or Blitzer the damage it needs to deal with hard targets in melee. Another option for dealing with heavy armor is to bring a gargantuan. It is crucial when building any list to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the models in your army. One of the weaknesses of many Trollblood ranged models is that they have a lower RAT than similar units in other Factions. The traditional answer to this has been to choose a warlock that can mitigate this weakness by improving accuracy with buffs, debuffs, or status effects. Another great solution is the new Pyg Lookouts unit. These pygmy trolls have Mark Target, which increases accuracy of any ranged attacks that target an enemy model within 5˝ of a model in their unit. When combined with Ambush, these pygs are great at getting behind enemy lines to mark crucial targets. Kriel Company works well with warlocks who can increase the offensive capabilities of their army or control and debuff the opponent’s army. Grim Angus, Hunters Grim, Calandra, Ragnor Skysplitter, and Horgle the Anvil are all good options for a Kriel
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THEME FORCE: KRIEL COMPANY
Company army. Here are two examples for a Kriel Company army list.
LIST 1 Model/Unit
Hunters Grim –Glacier King –Pyre Troll
LIST 2 Points
+25 WB 35 9
Model/Unit
Points
Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster –Dire Troll Bomber x2
38
–Slag Troll
10
Trollkin Runebearer (free from theme force)
0
Trollkin Runebearer (free from theme force)
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (4)
6
War Wagon
3
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (4)
–Stone Scribe Elder Pyg Lookouts Thumper Crew (free from theme force)
10 0 10
Trollkin Sluggers (5) x2
20
Trollkin Sorcerer x2 Total
6 75
0 16
–Stone Scribe Elder
6 3
Northkin Fire Eaters
7
Pyg Bushwhackers (10)
Trollkin Scouts
+30 WB
15
Pyg Bushwhacker Officer & Mortar (free from theme force)
0
Pyg Lookouts
10
Total
75
THEME FORCE: KRIEL COMPANY
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™
®
BY WILLIAM “OZ” SCHOONOVER
No Quarter presents another all-new official one-shot chapter for The Undercity. In this chapter, the Strangelight Workshop has contracted the players to protect an area of the notorious tunnels beneath Corvis. The barrier between Caen and Urcaen is weak here, and if it is not strengthened, one of the monstrous grymkin horrors lurking in the afterlife will be loosed to wreak havoc on the city. This chapter uses components from both the core Undercity game and the Black River Irregulars expansion.
ONE-SHOT CHAPTER: WICKED GAMES GOAL The Strangelight Workshop, one of the few organizations in western Immoren that studies grymkin, has noticed a massive spike in the frequency of sightings over the last few months. One of the places these sightings have escalated the most is in the Undercity of Corvis. The members of the Workshop have designed a new piece of equipment they believe will strengthen the barrier between Caen and Urcaen and return the frequency of grymkin incursions to a more manageable level. Unfortunately, the close proximity of grymkin interferes with the functioning of the equipment. You have been contracted to patrol the area, guard the machines against tampering, and confront any grymkin that may appear.
GAMEPLAY Any XP gained by heroes in this chapter is placed on the hero’s character sheet instead of the Treasury. The first time during each player’s turn that XP is earned, all other players gain 1 XP. During a player’s hero activation, the player can spend 5 XP to level the hero up. The player draws three cards from the hero’s ability deck and chooses one to keep. The other two cards are shuffled back into the deck. When grymkin choose targets, they attack the hero with the most Ability cards before following the preference on the Villain Action card. If two targets have the same number of Ability cards, the grymkin attacks the hero with the most XP tokens. When a grymkin follows the Pursue tactic, it considers the Ritual Circle and machine spaces as valid targets.
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THE UNDERCITY:WICKED GAMES
Wickedness Players can take advantage of special Wickedness abilities during their hero’s activation. Each ability on the following chart can be used once during each player’s turn. After the action affected by the Wickedness ability is completely resolved, roll a die. On a roll of 4, 5, or 6, activate the grymkin villain matching the Wickedness. If the villain is not in play, spawn it. WICKEDNESS
BENEFIT
VILLAIN
Overindulgence
Boost an attack or damage roll
Piggyback
Cowardice
Move two spaces when you walk instead of one
Hollowman
Greed
Reroll any roll
Dread Rot
Cheapskate
Level up hero for 3 XP instead of 5 XP
Murder Crow
Thievery
Take 1 XP from the bank
Crabbit
Bosses Lord Longfellow is a significant villain and a boss and does not begin the game in play. Lord Longfellow is spawned when a player’s Wickedness roll is a 6 or when an Impending Doom Event card is drawn. If Lord Longfellow is already in play when he would be spawned, activate him. Lord Longfellow also activates at Initiative 1. If Lord Longfellow ends an activation while wounded, he is returned to the reserves and regains all of his Health points. The Skin & Moans and the Gorehound also do not begin the game in play. They are significant villains and bosses that activate at Initiative 1.
Interactions RUBBLE
Heroes in cave-in spaces can attempt a STR 12 or PER 12 challenge to find a useful item. If the challenge is successful, the hero draws a card from the Loot deck.
MACHINES
Remove 1 XP from the clock at the end of every round for each machine space with no grymkin characters in it.
PORTAL
Before the finale, if a grymkin model moves into, or activates in, the Ritual Circle space and there are no battleready heroes in the space, the grymkin is returned to the reserves and 1 XP is added to the clock for each point of Health the character has. If there are multiple ways to move a villain that satisfy its tactic icons and one of the paths includes the Ritual Circle, that path must be chosen.
FINALE The finale is triggered when the clock is reduced to 3 XP or fewer, the clock reaches 14 XP, or the fifth round ends. When that happens, the final boss is spawned in the Ritual Circle space. If the finale is triggered because the clock reaches 14 XP, use the Skin & Moans as the final boss. If it is triggered for any other reason, use the Gorehound.
VICTORY OR DEFEAT The chapter ends and the party loses if every hero is either incapacitated or passed out. The party wins if Lord Longfellow and the final boss are incapacitated.
THE UNDERCITY:WICKED GAMES
61
DEEPER INTO THE UNDERCITY
SETUP
VILLAIN RESERVES 3
2B MACHINE
3B
4
23B
2
10B
2
VIT
1
VIT
1
VIT
5
STR
5
STR
7
STR
5
13
DEF
14
DEF
11
DEF
12
ARM
12
ARM
12
ARM
14
ARM
12
CRABBIT
MURDER CROW
RNG ACC POW
BITE
0
5
CLAWS
8
MEAT SHIELD – Other friendly non-crabbit characters cannot be targeted by ranged attacks while in this character’s space.
19A
3
VIT
STR DEF
BOUNDING LEAP – This character ignores rough terrain and obstructions. It cannot end a movement in an obstruction space.
0
DREAD ROT
PIGGYBACK
RNG ACC POW
6
POLE ARM
8
GANG – This character gains +1 on attack and damage rolls while another friendly character is in its space. PATHFINDER, STEALTH
RNG ACC POW
0
FARM IMPLEMENT
6 10
IMPERVIOUS FLESH – Attacks cannot do super damage against this character.
4
9
TOUGH
5
9B
0
VICTUALS YOU CAN NEITHER RAISE NOR BUY – When this character’s attack causes damage, add 1 XP to the clock.
TINY
PORTAL
RNG ACC POW
BAG MAN – A hero damaged by this character’s attack loses 1 XP.
DEFENSIVE LINE – While in the same space as another friendly character, this character gains +1 ARM.
RUBBLE
1
21B MACHINE
4B
1B 6
VIT
9
STR
5
STR
6
STR
8
STR
10
DEF
12
1
DEF
14
DEF
14
DEF
10
ARM
12
ARM
13
ARM
13
ARM
10
VIT
HERO SETUP:
HOLLOWMAN
The heroes must be divided evenly between the two hero spaces
ADDITIONAL SETUP:
.
MILITARY RIFLE
2
62
DEEPER INTO THE UNDERCITY
7
VIT
GOREHOUND
LORD LONGFELLOW
RNG ACC POW
4
DUELING PISTOL
8
EYELESS SIGHT – This character ignores DEF bonuses from map rules and Event cards. APPARITION – When this character activates, place it one space closer to the nearest hero.
RNG ACC POW
2
6 10
FINISHER – Roll an additional damage die against targets whose Health is lower than their Vitality. RECIPROCATE – When it is missed by an enemy ranged attack, immediately after the attack is resolved this character can make one basic ranged attack against the attacker. PATHFINDER, SNIPER
Place the Clock tile near the board with 8 XP on it.
EVENT DECK: The Undercity cards 2, 3, 6, 7, 13–16, 21, and 22.
5
VIT
VILLAIN ACTION DECK: The Undercity cards 1–8, and 29–34.
BITE TONGUE
SKIN & MOANS
RNG ACC POW
0
6
9
RNG ACC POW
1
6
9
PEOPLE HANDS – A hero must discard a Feat card to leave this character’s space. DRAG – If this character’s ranged attack hits, place the target in this character’s space. After the attack is resolved, this character makes a melee attack against the target. BEAST
BUTCHER’S BLADE
RNG ACC POW
0
5 10
DEATH FEAST – If there is XP on the clock at the end of this character’s activation, roll a die. This character removes 1 XP from the clock and heals one wound token up to the number rolled. DEATH-POWERED – When this character misses an attack roll, it removes 1 XP from the clock to reroll the attack roll. Each attack roll can be rerolled only once as a result of Death-Powered. BEAST, TERROR
SIDE QUEST DECK: Shuffle the unused Loot cards to create a Loot deck.
L
GRYMKIN STAT CARDS & TOKENS
O
HO
LLOWMA N
HO
LLOWMA N
C RAB B I T
DR
EAD R OT
DR
EAD R OT
HO
LLOWMA N
HO
LLOWMA N
C RAB B I T
DR
EAD R OT
DR
EAD R OT
HO
LLOWMA N
HO
LLOWMA N
UR M
D E R C ROW
DR
EAD R OT
DR
EAD R OT
HO
LLOWMA N
HO
LLOWMA N
UR M
D E R C ROW
DR
EAD R OT
DR
EAD R OT
RD
LO N G FE L L
DR
EAD R OT
DR
EAD R OT
S KI N
OW
PI G G
Y BAC K
& MOAN S
PI G G
Y BAC K
PERMISSION TO PHOTOCOPY FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY privateerpress.com/no-quarter/web-extras/no-quarter-73
E HOUND GOR
0
5
8
ARM
12
ARM
2
RNG ACC POW
APPARITION – When this character activates, place it one space closer to the nearest hero.
EYELESS SIGHT – This character ignores DEF bonuses from map rules and Event cards.
MILITARY RIFLE
8
6 10
PATHFINDER, SNIPER
FINISHER – Roll an additional damage die against targets whose Health is lower than their Vitality. RECIPROCATE – When it is missed by an enemy ranged attack, immediately after the attack is resolved this character can make one basic ranged attack against the attacker.
2
RNG ACC POW
LORD LONGFELLOW
13
14
6
5
PATHFINDER, STEALTH
DUELING PISTOL
DEF
12
DEF
8
STR
5
STR
4
VIT
1
HOLLOWMAN
6
GANG – This character gains +1 on attack and damage rolls while another friendly character is in its space.
VIT
TINY
BOUNDING LEAP – This character ignores rough terrain and obstructions. It cannot end a movement in an obstruction space.
MEAT SHIELD – Other friendly non-crabbit characters cannot be targeted by ranged attacks while in this character’s space.
0
RNG ACC POW
MURDER CROW
12
14
5
1
CLAWS
ARM
12
ARM
RNG ACC POW
DEF
13
DEF
BITE
STR
5
STR
CRABBIT
VIT
2
VIT
14
11
7
3
6 10
13
14
8
7
9
6
9
PEOPLE HANDS – A hero must discard a Feat card to leave this character’s space. DRAG – If this character’s ranged attack hits, place the target in this character’s space. After the attack is resolved, this character makes a melee attack against the target. BEAST
1
6
RNG ACC POW
0
RNG ACC POW
GOREHOUND
TONGUE
BITE
ARM
DEF
STR
VIT
IMPERVIOUS FLESH – Attacks cannot do super damage against this character.
DEFENSIVE LINE – While in the same space as another friendly character, this character gains +1 ARM.
0
RNG ACC POW
PIGGYBACK POLE ARM
ARM
DEF
STR
VIT
12
12
5
1
4
9
10
10
10
9
0
5 10
DEATH FEAST – If there is XP on the clock at the end of this character’s activation, roll a die. This character removes 1 XP from the clock and heals one wound token up to the number rolled. DEATH-POWERED – When this character misses an attack roll, it removes 1 XP from the clock to reroll the attack roll. Each attack roll can be rerolled only once as a result of Death-Powered. BEAST, TERROR
RNG ACC POW
SKIN & MOANS BUTCHER’S BLADE
ARM
DEF
STR
VIT
TOUGH
VICTUALS YOU CAN NEITHER RAISE NOR BUY – When this character’s attack causes damage, add 1 XP to the clock.
BAG MAN – A hero damaged by this character’s attack loses 1 XP.
0
RNG ACC POW
DREAD ROT FARM IMPLEMENT
ARM
DEF
STR
VIT
FAITH UNASSAILABLE By Josh Colón
Outside Imer, 611 AR Dartan Vilmon held his great sword, Censure, at side-guard as all around him hundreds of skorne warriors fled past in their retreat from the holy city of Imer. The foreign soldiers had long ceased testing their skill against Vilmon; the two-dozen skorne bodies lying in a circle around him served as sufficient warning to all who would cross blades with the paladin of the Order of the Wall. Once sure the enemy had truly gone, Vilmon shifted from his stance and visualized the holy fire within Censure flowing back into himself. The heat moved through his arm and into his heart, where it would be stoked until once again needed. As he completed this meditation, the mystical flames igniting his blade’s filigree flickered and extinguished. Steel to flame, flame to steel—as he had learned as an initiate long ago.
Assessing the aftermath of the battle, Vilmon was pleased to see his paladins still stood and had held their ground, having defended the force’s flank as Exemplar knights cut through the skorne lines like a sword driven by divine will. Overseeing Vilmon’s paladins was Champion Gerion Vance, who spoke to his fellow knights of the Wall atop his steed, while Senior Warder Junia oversaw the Knights Exemplar under Vilmon’s command. He noted how well both these particular groups of knights had fought together, complementing their strengths and weaknesses. The two leaders approached their field commander, and it was Champion Gerion who spoke first as he dismounted. “By the Creator, that was a hell of a fight. Some of those skorne really knew how to swing a sword.”
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Vilmon allowed himself a small smile at his friend’s bravado, no doubt spurred by the presence of their Exemplar allies. Exemplar Warder Junia had developed a cool tolerance for her paladin counterpart’s casual demeanor. After a short beat, she interjected. “High Paladin Vilmon, my knights have secured the area, but some of our errants report skirmishes outside the city’s walls. Should we prepare a counterattack?” Vilmon contemplated his options. “No, we were sent here to bolster Imer’s defenses. Others will be sent to clean up any stragglers beyond the walls.” Vilmon raised his voice to be heard by all the gathered soldiers of the temple, whose marred and battle-stained armor belied undiminished vitality brought on by tireless faith. He said, “Though the largest groups of skorne have been driven from the city, there is still much work to be done if the region is to be secured. Warder Junia, split your Exemplars into smaller teams. Look for any citizens that require help. Champion Vance, your paladins will assist the Exemplars in aiding the wounded.” Vilmon heard the galloping of hooves followed by a voice as loud and clear as his own. “Ignore that order!” At the sight of the approaching rider, all knights Exemplar simultaneously stood at attention. Riding toward the group of soldiers was High Exemplar Sarvan Gravus. His steed, Fidelitus, stopped before the crowd with the grace only an expert rider could command. The high exemplar spoke to the senior warder first, paying no mind to Vilmon, who until a few moments before had been in command of Exemplars and paladins both. “Warder, take your men past the eastern gate and rendezvous with Seneschal Elena Talbot. You will chase the retreating skorne beyond our borders. The fewer left alive, the better.” Each Exemplar placed his fist upon his breast, and then turned in unison to carry out Gravus’ will. The high exemplar faced Vilmon, who patiently waited for his notice. “High Paladin Vilmon, please see to your knights and come with me. We are summoned to speak with the intercessor.” Behind him, Vilmon could feel the other paladins bristle at Gravus’ discourtesy, but he paid it no mind. He said, “Champion Vance, save as many lives as you can.” “Yes, High Paladin,” Vance said, with an emphasis Vilmon had no doubt was for his benefit. Champion Vance and the remaining paladins headed into the ruined portion of the city, while Vilmon followed the mounted Gravus toward the Holy See at the heart of the capital. Vilmon had a feeling this would be an unpleasant walk.
The distinct smell of smoke and incense permeated the air as the two holy knights headed deeper into the city. Several of the formerly pristine streets were littered with debris. The road Gravus and Vilmon traveled, Penitence Way, was largely empty. In the distance, the six towers of the Flameguard temple stood tall, their censers blazing proudly in defiance of the invading army. Dwarfing all other buildings, however, was the Sovereign Temple of the One Faith, its enormous red stone edifice a comforting reminder to the populace that the burning heart of Imer remained inviolable.
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For their first few minutes together, the pair traveled in silence. Vilmon considered the older knight riding beside him. Sarvan Gravus had been a fierce and loyal warrior of the temple for nearly as long as the paladin had been alive, with service under the last three hierarchs. He was in many ways an irascible and sour-spirited man, one who had been vocally critical of the Order of the Wall in particular, a sentiment only growing stronger as he got older. Yet, anyone who fought beside Gravus knew of his devotion to Menoth and to the vows of his order. He was an Exemplar through and through. His ways were not Vilmon’s, but his dedication deserved respect. Vilmon had learned to exercise restraint in the face of the older knight’s cynical asides, governing his tongue and temper. Not only was Gravus one of the most ardent and vocal detractors of the Order of the Wall, he had strong enmity for Vilmon in particular. The paladin could not help but wish for continued silence as they made for their destination. It did not take long, however, for the high exemplar to speak. “High Paladin,” he began, “I understand you came from Sul to aid in the capital’s defense?” “I did,” Vilmon said, “Though we only arrived at the battle’s end. We worked to prevent the skorne from causing any further damage amid their rout.” “Do not be too hard on yourself, Sir Vilmon,” Gravus said, “It is unsurprising you arrived too late. The Order of the Wall is not known for decisiveness or bold action. Had Sul been threatened, I’m sure you would have been quicker to react.” Vilmon allowed the jab to roll off him. After all, Gravus had said worse about him in the past. Indeed, it was not so long ago that the high exemplar had denounced Vilmon at his trial, accusing the paladin of disloyalty and sedition. Vilmon said, “How do things fare with the Northern Crusade? Will you be returning to Leryn soon?” “I believe that with the hierarch’s recent passing and the intercessor’s return to Imer, we have hammered the final nail in the coffin for the Northern Crusade,” Gravus said. Vilmon had feared as much. He asked, “Intercessor Kreoss means to end the crusade in Llael?” “The decision is the Synod’s, not the intercessor’s,” Gravus said. “Still, I believe the current plan is to begin pulling troops as soon as possible, though some will remain. Leryn is valuable. Much has yet to be determined. “And what of the Harbinger?” Vilmon found himself asking without forethought, though if Gravus heard the emotion in the paladin’s voice, he did not let on. “The Harbinger does as the Harbinger and Menoth will. She is on some mission known only to her. I’m sure she will return when the Creator wills it.” With a slight pause, Gravus added, “Should she perish on her pilgrimage, the Testament will safeguard her soul.” Vilmon took a quiet breath to cool his rising temper. For years, it had been his singular honor to act as first among the Harbinger of Menoth’s guardians. It had been he who had returned her body to Imer after her death in the Thornwood, there to experience the miracle of resurrection. He could not confront the thought of her facing such a fate again while he was so far away. After the end of the war in Sul and her subsequent journey north, Vilmon had remained in Sul while the city’s walls and his own order were rebuilt. Three years passed. Vilmon had often
prayed to Menoth to keep her safe. Although such prayers felt an inadequate replacement for his blade and vigilance, perhaps these supplications offered some protection in his stead.
been motivated by a desire to serve the Theocracy. Vilmon knew in his heart Gravus was wrong about Kreoss’ motives, but he refused to be baited.
He knew better than to show any further vulnerability, but was also aware that Gravus had commanded the retinue that accompanied the Harbinger in the northern territories while she sought to spread the faith to foreign lands. He felt compelled to ask, “When last you saw the Harbinger . . . how was she?”
“If you are correct,” Vilmon said, “and it was between those two, what would you do?”
Gravus let the question hang in the air for a long moment. Just as Vilmon thought he was being ignored, the high exemplar replied. “She seemed . . . resplendent.” Before Vilmon could press further, Gravus continued. “Now then, Vilmon, since I have patiently indulged your curiosities, I have several questions for you in turn.” Vilmon braced himself before responding, “Of course. What would you like to know?” “Based on everything you’ve seen, who do you believe will be our next hierarch?” Gravus asked. Vilmon could sense a trap. “Only the Creator knows. Politics are not my strong suit, but as tradition demands, it should be one of the visgoths.” “Indeed,” Gravus responded, “But there is no one of them clearly superior to the rest. Visgoths Vesher, Sollers, and Bodalin are all highly respected, and each has a substantial power base. I would not be surprised if Rhoven were to make a bid, being ambitious. Still, there is someone not a visgoth whose influence continues to rise far beyond her station.” “Feora,” Vilmon said quietly, more to himself. “The Priestess of the Flame is increasingly seen as a hero of the theocracy,” Gravus said. “If she made a grab for power, she would have tremendous support, even outside the Flameguard. It would be unprecedented for a member of the Incendium to reach such heights, but as a senior priestess she is eligible.” Vilmon knew Feora had been instrumental in protecting the Protectorate’s major cities against its enemies. He also knew the priestess’ ambition had put her at odds with other respected leaders, including both Intercessor Kreoss and Hierarch Severius. Vilmon said, “If Feora should try for power, I believe Kreoss must oppose her. It was, if my understanding is correct, why he was made intercessor in the first place.” “This is true. Those two have never gotten along; the Priestess of the Flame’s fervor to destroy our enemies is ever at odds with my Grand Exemplar’s . . . milder temperament.” Gravus said that last as if choosing his words carefully. He continued, “I fear even the authority bestowed on Kreoss as intercessor may not be enough to stop Feora.” “Severius’ orders were clear,” Vilmon said. “The martial orders are to remain undivided and under his control. Feora is his subordinate. How can she contest this?” “Ideally, this is true,” Gravus said thoughtfully. “But what if Feora challenges that authority? More than half the Synod supported her in her trial. Her people are loyal to her. He may have no choice but to seize ultimate power, if he intends to maintain our unity.” Vilmon was skeptical that Kreoss would ever attempt such a thing. He had always been a devout warrior and a pious champion of the Creator. His rise through the ranks of the Exemplars had
Gravus hesitated before responding, clearly weighing a choice that made him uncomfortable. “I am loyal to the leader of my order. But the theocracy is to be led by the clergy. That is the True Law. The Exemplars serve, obey, and fight for the clergy. We do not govern. Furthermore, Kreoss’ heart is too soft to lead our nation. As for Feora, I admire the priestess’ conviction, but I do not believe she possesses the qualities required of a hierarch. But such hypotheticals do you no favors. It should be a visgoth who is elevated to rule. The Synod grows more and more fractured each day. Infighting between the visgoths worsens. It will only escalate.” The high exemplar paused before concluding, “I am sure of one thing: before someone becomes hierarch, there will be chaos and strife, more than our holy nation has seen in a generation.” Vilmon frowned and considered this. He said, “Forgive me, Sir Gravus, but indulge me with one more question. Who do you think should be hierarch?” He was genuinely curious, feeling equal respect and loathing for Gravus’ cold assessment. “Garrick Voyle,” Gravus replied without hesitation. Vilmon’s stomach turned upon hearing the name. But before he could say anything, the high exemplar moved his horse to block the paladin’s path. Gravus’ voice was as hard as iron, while the darkening sky of the late afternoon cast long shadows across the mounted knight’s form. “I was there, Vilmon, there at the moment that should have been our greatest triumph. Our people stood united, poised to achieve our greatest victory, until you spoke in defiance of our hierarch in a time of war. It was and is unforgivable.” Gravus’ words echoed doubts that had weighted on Vilmon’s own mind. He could still clearly remember what transpired all those years ago: the bitter fighting in the streets of Sul against the Cygnaran invaders. Vilmon had felt joy on the day the Cygnarans routed and the western wall was reclaimed. Voyle ordered Protectorate forces to follow the retreating Cygnarans across the river. The fighting had gone well, but his conscience troubled him as they pushed on. He had witnessed when Coleman Stryker stood alone before the entire Protectorate army, making a desperate plea. He promised to release hundreds of Menite prisoners, letting them be seen atop the battlements ahead, in exchange for a brief lull in the violence. It seemed folly to refuse such an offer. It would have cost them little. But Voyle had refused, unwilling to yield even one day to peace. Then came the sound of those women and children screaming in pain and terror after Voyle ordered Feora to fire on the wall and all the helpless Menites who stood atop it. Without looking Gravus in the eye, Vilmon said, “I could not stand idly and watch the faithful die needlessly.” “Needlessly?” Gravus spat. “Their deaths would have served as an act of sacrifice for the ultimate glory of the Protectorate. We could have conquered Caspia and burned the accursed Morrowan Sancteum to ashes. It was not your place to speak.” “It was wrong,” Vilmon said. Gravus sat atop Fidelitus, his countenance like a judge passing down sentence. He said, “Wrong? The hierarch’s word is law. Wrong is putting your own soft-heartedness above the glory of the Lawbringer.”
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“I am not an Exemplar. My order stands for principles older than the hierarchy.”
more to do with a young woman’s sentimentality toward her protector.”
“Garrick Voyle announced your treachery in front of ally and foe alike.” Gravus said, his eyes flaring. “He spoke truth.”
Vilmon had often wondered the same, but he did not appreciate such disrespect for the Harbinger. He had to move the argument away from her. “I stood trial, Gravus, willing and without protest. You were there. I would have accepted the punishment were I found guilty—”
Hierarch Voyle declaring him apostate and sentencing him to death was something that had seared a deep scar in Vilmon’s memory. He could feel the impact of the hierarch’s bladed fist connecting with his chest—a killing blow. The strength Menoth granted to Voyle allowed him to turn warjacks to scrap barehanded, and in that moment his anger had been turned on Vilmon. That punch would have ended his life. He had been prepared for death the moment he had spoken out. He had not attempted to dodge or step aside. It was the cost of his obedience to his code, a final protest. It was with astonishment, then, when he saw the wound meant for him instead manifest on the body of the Harbinger. He was awed and terrified to witness that miracle. She saw fit to accept the mortal injury on his behalf. The horror of seeing the young woman he had sworn to protect buckling under the blow meant for him was shocking. “I put up no resistance. I was ready to die,” Vilmon said at last. He looked Gravus in the eye and added, “I would never have asked her to intervene.” “Yes, but intervene she did,” Gravus said. “And some say she followed the Creator’s will. That Menoth had commanded her to save you. Perhaps that is true. But there are some of us who wonder if it had less to do with divine mandate and
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“But you were found guilty,” Gravus interjected. “The Synod voted unanimously. Yet, here you stand, keeping not only your life but also your rank and titles.” “Hierarch Severius,” the paladin said. “It was his decision to overturn the judgment.” “His Holiness proved an able successor to Hierarch Voyle, but pardoning you was one of his few mistakes. I cannot comprehend what value he saw in you or your order after everything you cost us,” Gravus said. “We protect the people,” Vilmon said. “And stand the wall. We keep the faithful safe from chaos and destruction. Severius knew this.” “You think your actions kept the people of our nation safe?” Gravus asked in a mocking tone. “The arrogance of the Order of the Wall. You weren’t there during the chaos after Hierarch Ravonal’s death. The Temple fractured. The Synod broke into factions vying for power. Who do you think suffered during the food shortages and riots?”
Vilmon had been too young to remember, but he had heard the stories about the long years between the reigns of Ravonal and Voyle, when the temple splintered from power bids amid bloody infighting. “The needless death I saw then would make your soft heart quiver. I had to stand by while ambitious priests used the loyalty of my order for their selfish purposes. Only Garrick Voyle possessed the strength and divine mandate to unify us.” The high exemplar turned his gaze from Vilmon to the horizon, where the Sovereign Temple still loomed. “You talk of duty and honor, but what of those who had to shed blood to bring stability? When Garrick Voyle made his final push for hierarch, I rode in his name. I killed for him—Flameguard, knights, even priests—because I believed in the future Voyle would bring to our people. I was proven right.” Vilmon knew Gravus spoke true. It was widely known that as an exemplar seneschal, Sarvan Gravus was instrumental in quelling all opposition to Voyle’s rise to power. Rumor had it that at least one visgoth had met his fate at the end of Gravus’ flail—Ortun Drask, Garrick Voyle’s greatest rival and a formidable priest who had also been thought to embody the very word of Menoth. “Now, after years of stability and victory against the unfaithful, those days of uncertainty and unrest threaten to return. I fear it will be a great while before anyone worthy rises to unite us again.” Gravus let that last hang before adding, “Tell me, paladin, how does it feel to know all the misery ahead of our theocracy can be laid at your feet?” “I was true to my code. My only desire was to protect those people, Menites every one. They had already suffered during the war for their beliefs,” Vilmon said. “Yes, you managed to save the lives of some few who practiced an inferior and diluted version of our faith. What about the farmers and laborers in Gedorra, Sulonmarch, and Vardhan, who suffered as the war went on?” Vilmon remained silent. “Let us be honest, Vilmon—the reasons for your defiance were far from altruistic,” Gravus said. “That is not true.” “You made quite the display of your self-righteous anger, loudly defying our hierarch for all to see. How it must have bolstered your pride to chastise your betters, to hold yourself higher than His Holiness before so many witnesses,” Gravus said. “To seek to shatter the faith and conviction of those gathered in his name.” “That wasn’t my intent.” Vilmon replied. Before he could say more, the high exemplar cut him off. “You can fool yourself, Vilmon, but all hearts are open to Menoth. His masked eye sees all. Hierarch Voyle removed paladins from honor guards in favor of the perfectly loyal Devout. Yes, machines did your job better. It galled you. He excluded Grand Paladin Bouridor from his war councils. He left your order to languish in favor of the Order of the Fist and the Knights Exemplar. It all must have eaten at you. Do you deny it? Do you deny gaining satisfaction when you rebuked your hierarch as he ordered our crusade to fire upon those walls, the very symbol of your order?”
The two men stared at one another for a long moment, and then the weight of Gravus’ words proved too heavy for Vilmon to bear. Vilmon broke his gaze and with a quiet and unsteady voice said, “And if I were indeed guilty of this, what would you have me do? How would I right this wrong?” Without hesitation, Gravus replied, “Submit yourself for purification on the wrack. Or if you do not have the courage for that, then head into the desert and never return. The choice is yours.” With that, Gravus turned his horse away from the paladin. “Come, Vilmon, we must still meet with the intercessor. Perhaps you can confess your failings and throw yourself on his mercy. He can see justice done. It is a noble course to volunteer for punishment.” The high paladin silently followed. As he walked, he took in all the fear and death the recent days had brought to the city of Imer, in the wake of Hierarch Severius’ death and the skorne siege. Then, his eyes looked toward the east, toward the merciless wind and desolate sand.
Vilmon walked in a daze, his footsteps heavy and emotions warring in his mind. He could not discern how much time had transpired since they began their walk, though the sun had begun to set. Or perhaps it was merely hidden behind the edifice of the Sovereign Temple of the One Faith. In a few short minutes, they would arrive at the foot of the massive set of stairs leading to the Temple’s entrance. Perhaps sensing the effect his words had on the paladin, High Exemplar Gravus seemed more at ease, almost jovial by his stern standards. “Vilmon, it really is too bad your path did not lead you to become an Exemplar. The more unfortunate aspects of your personality would have been hammered out of you.” Gravus paused before adding, “For all your failings, you are a tremendous warrior. How many unbelievers died by your blade the day Sul’s western wall was reclaimed? I heard you cleaved in half a Caspian officer holding the rear guard during the retreat. It is reassuring to know you can be ruthless and decisive when your blood is roused.” Vilmon recalled the moment quite differently. Anger had not entered into it, only the knowledge that killing that man was the only way to stop the warjacks under his control. Despite a fierce battle, Vilmon tried to give his foe a swift and merciful end. The paladin began to say something, but ultimately did not respond, which only further lightened the Exemplar’s mood. Gravus said, “You know, Vilmon, I recall the first time I met you. It was just after the siege at Fisherbrook. I saw you standing guard beside the Harbinger as she sermonized to the faithless we had captured in the western side of the city.” Vilmon would not call what the Protectorate forces did to the small town a siege so much as a one-sided devastation. “I remember you in your unmarred and pristine armor,” Gravus continued, “while my knights and I had fought so
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fiercely on the eastern side of the town. I remember thinking, ‘I am not going to get along with that man.’ Now of course, your reputation had preceded you. Grand Exemplar Hurst spoke highly of you and your skill, calling you the best swordsman he had seen. I wonder if he would have still felt that way had he foreseen his ultimate fate, dying at the hands of an eldritch while you rushed to safety.” Vilmon did not have the mental energy to summon the memory of Grand Exemplar Baine Hurst’s death at the hands of the Cryxian warcaster called Goreshade. Nor did he bother to correct the last false statement—he had left on Hurst’s urging in order to bring the Harbinger to safety. This was an old argument. Yet, something about Gravus bringing up Fisherbrook provoked a thought. Some memory long forgotten. “High Exemplar,” Vilmon asked, “may I ask you something about Fisherbrook?” In his present mood, the interruption did not seem to faze him. “Of course.” “During the attack, is it true that you were tasked with preventing anyone from the militia from leaving town in search of aid?” Vilmon asked. “That is correct. No one was to leave lest they reach Stonebridge Castle; otherwise our plans for traveling farther north would have been put in jeopardy.” “I remember that,” said Vilmon. “In order to achieve your objective, you ordered your men to slaughter the wives and children of the militia soldiers.” “That’s right,” Gravus said without a hint of remorse. “It was the simplest way to keep the soldiers from running. They stayed and fought to protect their loved ones.” The comment incensed him, but Vilmon used all his discipline to contain his emotions. He continued, “I see. I know that Severius led the attack. Did he specifically order you to kill those people?” Gravus paused and then said, “I did my duty.” “I do not doubt that, High Exemplar. But my question is simple. Whose idea was it to kill the civilians?” “Mine,” Gravus said. “I executed my orders in the most expedient and effective fashion.” “And at any point, had you considered any other strategy to fulfill your mission? Perhaps a blockade, or dispatching cavalry to capture those who fled?” Vilmon asked. “An inadequate solution given the timeframe. Riding down each militiaman left the possibility that one might escape,” Gravus said. As they neared the Sovereign Temple, Dartan Vilmon had an epiphany. Years ago, on the last day he had seen the Harbinger, she had spoken to him. She had said, “Blind devotion can make one strong, but belief tempered by compassion makes faith unassailable.” It was not until that moment, walking next to the High Exemplar, that Vilmon truly found the deeper meaning in her words. New strength stirred in Vilmon’s heart. “One last question, High Exemplar Gravus. If Hierarch Voyle still lived, and he ordered you to wipe out one of our cities for the stability of our nation, would you do it?”
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Gravus stopped his horse short and took a moment to ponder the question. Eventually he said, “For the sake of the Protectorate, I would raze Imer to the ground.” That was all Vilmon needed to hear. He said, “Regarding your earlier recommendation, Sir Gravus, I will not be seeking purification upon the wrack.” “Oh? Unfortunate,” Gravus responded. “Such cleansing would lighten your soul.” “I do believe you were correct about one thing. I have carried the weight of Hierarch Voyle’s death in my heart for a long time. Perhaps there was some vanity behind my actions, and if so, I must make penance,” Vilmon said. “I will do so by spending the remaining days my Creator grants me protecting innocent people from men like you.” With a heavy sigh, Gravus dismounted. He said, “I am saddened that my words failed to reach you. For a moment I believed you might do the right thing. But In the end, you remain a coward.” “This conversation has reached me. My eyes are opened to many truths. Truths dwelling in my heart as well as your own.” Both men had started walking side-by-side, facing toward the nearing entrance to the Sovereign Temple. But Gravus turned to face Vilmon as soon as the high paladin spoke. He asked with a sneer, “And what does the wise high paladin claim to know about my heart?” “We are Menoth’s creations, all men and women are born with a spark of both his wrath and his mercy,” Vilmon said. “At one time, even you must have known grief at the sight of innocents slaughtered. Your code as an Exemplar allowed for nothing but absolute loyalty, yet that same code forced you to inflict horrors on untold innocents. All that death leaves an indelible mark on a man’s soul. That mark left you pitiless. It blinded you.” Gravus’ face hardened once more. His voice became a low growl. “Tread carefully.” “I know what it’s like to kill, Gravus. But I have a line, a code—I only kill when I must. I do not kill the unarmed. I have often wondered what it is like for those who have no such code, who take lives indiscriminately. Who hide behind orders. Did you begin to enjoy the violence? Did you give in to those dark impulses at Fisherbrook, Gravus?” “Shut your mouth, paladin.” Gravus’ voice was barely audible, but his eyes flashed with anger. The tightening of the high exemplar’s fist caused the leather grip of his weapon to creak. “You have your code. I have mine. Yours is an excuse. Mine requires fortitude.” Vilmon would not relent. “Since you advised me on how to correct my past mistakes, allow me to do the same. Perhaps in your advanced age, it is not your body, but your mind, that is failing. Retire from your order and spend the rest of your days at a monastery; perhaps quiet reflection on the Canon of the True Law will silence the innocent women and children whose screams invade your dreams.” “Bastard,” roared Gravus, his eyes flaring with an inner fire. His weapon was in hand.
In an instant, the full weight of the high exemplar’s fourheaded flail slammed into Vilmon’s chest. The impact rattled him and the pain made it hard to breathe; yet, he still stood. Before Gravus swung his weapon again, Vilmon drew his great sword. He stepped forward to prevent Gravus’ blow from striking him. The older man instead smashed a gauntleted fist at Vilmon’s face. The paladin accepted the punch without flinching. He had a different goal in mind. With a swift blow of his pommel, Vilmon struck the high exemplar’s wrist, numbing the arm and causing Gravus to drop his weapon even as the older knight’s momentum took him past, struggling to keep his balance. Before Gravus could recover, Vilmon used the flat of his blade to flick the weapon from the cobblestones up into his right hand. The paladin now held the exemplar’s flail—Reverence, he believed it was called. A difficult and dangerous weapon to wield properly, one Vilmon would never have chosen. The paladin turned and calmly said, “I believe you dropped this, Sir Gra—” The world exploded in a flash of white as Vilmon felt Gravus’ armored fist connect with the side of his face again. This time, Vilmon tasted blood. As he regained his bearings, he realized Gravus held his right forearm in one hand while the other clasped Censure by the blade. Vilmon’s arms felt locked in the high exemplar’s grip. As blood trickled from Gravus’ clenched hand down the sword’s edge, Vilmon marveled at the strength his opponent’s anger provided him. “You are an enemy of the Temple,” Gravus snarled, "I will not let you destroy all we have built." Looking into the other man’s eyes, Vilmon realized that for all their differences, both shared one thing in common: a conviction that ran into the very core of their being. There would be no convincing Gravus on the error of his ways. Gravus would always be the man he was. The only language men like him could understand was force.
Flameguard had also gathered to watch the sudden duel. They stood tensely and silently gripping their weapons as both high-ranking knights stood a heartbeat from murder. The acolyte nervously spoke, “The intercessor awaits.” Both men shared a long look. Then, Vilmon turned to Gravus and extended his flail, grip first, toward him. “Duty calls.” Gravus took back his weapon, and as he walked passed Vilmon, he said, “This is not over, boy.” “I believe it is,” Vilmon replied. In Gravus’ eye, he thought he saw recognition of how close the older man had come to his own death. He lived by Vilmon’s restraint and by the intercession of duty. As both knights made their way up the Temple steps, Dartan Vilmon felt a lightness he had not experienced in years. Finally, he knew why the Harbinger had left him behind. Not because he was unworthy to protect her, but because she had foreseen what the paladin must do for the people of his nation and his faith. Regardless of which earthly priest led the theocracy, war and crusade would be an intrinsic part of the Protectorate’s future. And while there would always be those faithful men and women willing to take up arms in service of their Creator, there must also be some who act as shields for those incapable or unwilling to fight. Perhaps it was time the Paladins of the Order of the Wall reminded the other martial orders why they had endured since the dawn of civilization. There were others willing to do what was right, including among the clergy. As the sun set on the city of Imer, High Paladin Dartan Vilmon could feel a new fire burning within him, a certainty of purpose he had missed without knowing it was gone.
And so, as it had been countless times throughout Vilmon’s life, the Lawbringer showed him an opening. He could clearly see it. With a turn of his waist and a motion of his wrist, he would remove the fingers from Gravus’ right hand. If his opponent would not relent, he would smash the pommel of his sword across the bridge of the other man’s nose. In his mind’s eye, Vilmon could see dozens of moves and countermoves. While he would try to incapacitate the high exemplar, in his heart, Vilmon knew Gravus might not stop until one of them lost his life. If all else failed, Vilmon saw the maneuver that would ultimately end it all, a quick feint ending in a horizontal slash across Gravus’ throat. He was the more skilled warrior, and he had youth on his side. The Exemplar would lose. Just as Vilmon took a breath to steel himself for this grim work, Gravus’ demeanor changed. The rage on his face vanished as he let go of Vilmon. Behind him, the paladin heard a small voice. “Excuse me, High Paladin, High Exemplar?” Vilmon turned to see an acolyte at the foot of the stairs of the Sovereign Temple. Vilmon wondered when he had arrived. At some point, several Knights Exemplar and Temple
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Preview
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COMPANY OF IRON PREVIEW
By William “Oz” Schoonover If you’re dialed in to the Insiders on the Privateer Press website or the news coming out of Lock & Load GameFest 2017, you’ve probably already heard of Company of Iron, the new skirmish game coming later this year. Here’s a preview of some of the important ways Company of Iron is similar to—and different from—WARMACHINE and HORDES. Company of Iron is a small skirmish game played on a 30˝ x 30˝ rumble table that uses models from WARMACHINE and HORDES. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Company of Iron is also the name of a league Privateer Press ran in early 2016. We decided to keep the name for this new product because this game evolved naturally from concepts in that league. They both allow you to use your models to play smaller battles rather than the clashes of larger armies typical in WARMACHINE and HORDES. While the league relied completely on the full existing rules for WARMACHINE and HORDES, this new iteration of Company of Iron adjusts a number of things about the core rules to better represent small forces clashing in the Iron Kingdoms. In order to offer a new experience with your WARMACHINE and HORDES minis, we had to tweak and adjust several things about the core rules. Before getting into all of those changes, however, let’s discuss a few of the things that have not changed. First among the things staying the same is model stats. The cards you use to reference your models’ capabilities when playing WARMACHINE or HORDES are the same in Company of Iron. Some rules on a card may be slightly redefined from what you are used to, but one of the major design goals of this new game was to change as little as possible. Second, you’ll also notice that point values have not changed, either. When building a Company of Iron force, you’ll use the points printed on the cards. Along with many of the ways models work staying the same, the core rules themselves have remained largely unchanged. Things like making attack rolls and charging have been ported over entirely. With that out of the way, let’s address the burning question that has to be at the top of everyone’s list: what has changed? Well, that’s a very big question, and there’s only so much space dedicated to this article, but we’ll talk about the big picture stuff as much as possible. First off, let’s look at army construction. As stated above, Company of Iron is a small skirmish game. It represents clashing patrols or raiding forces sent into enemy territory for specific missions. Armies are constructed at 20 or 25 points. This keeps things small but also gives some flexibility for interesting forces. To better reflect the small-scale action of the game, some of the more powerful models available to WARMACHINE and HORDES armies are not allowed in Company of Iron. This means these forces won’t include any models on large or huge bases or models with the Focus Manipulation or Fury Manipulation rules. That covers things like warcasters, heavy warbeasts, artillery, cavalry, and battle engines. Immobile models and models that attach to warcasters and warlocks are also restricted. The last major
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Most of the above assets will sound familiar to experienced WARMACHINE players. Boosts add one die to an attack or damage roll, and each roll can be boosted only one time. Rerolls can be used on any roll that you make, and a roll can be rerolled as often as you have unique rerolls to spend. Additional Die cards can add an extra die to an attack or damage roll. Shakes allow a model to stand up or remove any other effect that can be shaken. Recover allows a player to The next big difference with Company of Iron is the card deck, automatically get a 6 on any casualty roll. which ties into the models that you choose for your army. When you build a Company of Iron force, you will need to “What is a casualty roll?” you ask. It’s another one of the reference the requisition cost associated with each model. This new ideas in Company of Iron that makes the small skirmish cost represents how much added assistance is available to experience unique. Damage rolls in Company of Iron work in your force. If you are taking extremely capable models, such as much the same way as they do when playing WARMACHINE Kazazy Eliminators, they will not need as much help to achieve and HORDES: the POW of the attack is added to the roll and their objective as models that would be relying on a buff from compared to the target’s armor. If the total is equal to or lower a warcaster in a normal game of WARMACHINE. Players start than the armor, nothing happens. But things change when a a game of Company of Iron with a hand size based on the size damage roll beats a model’s armor, and the target loses its of the game. In a 20-point game, the hand size is five, and at 25 last damage box. Since many of the models in this game are points, the hand size is six. Requisition points range from –2 to single-wound infantry, this happens a lot. When a model is +2. This changes your hand size for the entire game. To take the disabled by an attack, the owner makes a casualty roll. If the example of the Kazazy Eliminators a step further, they have a roll is a 1 or 2, the model is destroyed, following the normal requisition cost of –2, making your base hand size in a 20-point sequence. If the roll is a 3 or 4, the model is injured. An injured model becomes knocked down and remains disabled. Finally, game three cards. if the roll is a 5 or 6, the model is no longer disabled and Command cards have two parts to them. The top of each card becomes knocked down. This means that models aren’t killed has a battle plan unique to it. These battle plans take their quite as quickly in Company of Iron as they are in a game of inspiration from various abilities in WARMACHINE and WARMACHINE or HORDES. HORDES and offer buffs to your force as a whole. The bottom of each card has one of five assets. These assets are Boost, When you activate an injured model, it immediately makes Reroll, Additional Die, Shake, and Recover. When playing another casualty roll. This means the model may start an Command cards, you are limited to one battle plan each activation knocked down or may finally bleed out and die. round, but there is generally no limit to the number of assets The one difference between this roll and the initial casualty that can be played. At the start of each round, you discard as roll is that you gain a +1 to the roll if there are any friendly many cards as you want, and then draw up to your hand size, models base-to-base with the injured model that are not also injured or knocked down. This makes injured models less allowing players to vary their tactics each round. likely to die if they receive help from an uninjured ally. restriction to army building is a change to the field allowance rule. Everything playable in Company of Iron is FA: 1. That means that you can take one “card” of models. Want to take ten Mechanithralls? No problem, but you can’t take more than ten. That may sound like it restricts army construction quite a bit, but it still leaves many models to build armies with and keeps things interesting and more balanced.
The last major change to the way the game is played does the most to establish Company of Iron as a much different experience from WARMACHINE and HORDES. All models in this game are independent, and players take turns alternating activations of a single model each. As mentioned above, models are still purchased for armies based on their standard points, so you have to include the entire Black 13th Strike Force if you want to include Captain Dixon Lynch, but this flexibility of activations allows for very interesting games at this size. This major change also creates the most new rules interactions that a player coming from WARMACHINE or HORDES will have to learn. But don’t worry; the rules give plenty of examples and explanations for how some of the more complicated concepts translate between the two games. That covers a lot of the major rules of Company of Iron. Future No Quarter issues will further explore Company of Iron both before the game releases this fall and going forward, as new models are introduced to both it and WARMACHINE and HORDES.
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COMPANY OF IRON PREVIEW
COMPANY OF IRON PREVIEW
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WE'RE GOING INTO OVERTIME! BY WILL HUNGERFORD• ART BY NÉSTOR OSSANDÓN Grind Mk III is a rules supplement for WARMACHINE and HORDES that was first introduced in No Quarter #70. Below you’ll find the first expansion for Grind since its release: a brand-new Playbook that adds new arenas, a new manufacturer and sponsorship for Grymkin models, and rules for entirely new Grinders to use in your games!
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™
Playbook #3: Overtime Expansion This Playbook provides a variety of additional rules for playing a game of Grind. Using them, you can play a single one-off game or participate in a larger league. This Playbook covers the Grymkin manufacturer and sponsorship, Overtime Grind Arenas, and Overtime Grinder Balls.
GRYMKIN MANUFACTURER & SPONSORSHIP A dark and mysterious force has made its presence known in the Grind circuit. The Pigskin Promenade manufacturer provides Grymkin warbeasts for HORDES teams. Additionally, an odd sponsorship is available for this macabre manufacturer.
MANUFACTURER Special Rule: Skin & Moans and Cage Ragers can collect corpse tokens from construct models as if they were living models in games of Grind. CROWNS
MODEL
15,000
Skin & Moans
14,000
Cage Rager
9,000
Frightmare
8,000
Rattler
6,000
Gorehound
SPONSORSHIP Initial Sponsorship Requirement: Collect three corpse tokens in a single scheduled game. One-time Crown Bonus: 2,000 crowns Free Sponsored Model: 4 Crabbits Special Rule: Crabbits can perform power attacks as if they were light warbeasts in Grind. Ongoing Sponsorship Requirement: Collect two corpse tokens each scheduled game.
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Overtime Grind Arenas The following arenas are now available for your games of Grind. Remember, instead of utilizing random selection, players choose a pre-made Grind arena map that details exactly where each component is placed in the arena and what specific types of obstructions and hazards are found within. If the players cannot agree on which arena to use, they roll off, and the winner chooses the arena in which the game will be played. All arenas use the following common terrain features: Catch – The Catch is 50 mm in diameter and is a trench. It represents a shallow pit in the ground where the Grinder is returned to the arena (typically via a large crane or arcane magic) after a goal is scored; however, when warjacks or warbeasts accidently fall into the Score Zone, or are tossed into it by the enemy, they are lifted out and dropped into the Catch just like the Grinder (see below).
If any part of the Grinder is within a Score Zone at any time, the enemy team immediately scores a goal, the active player’s turn immediately ends, and the arena is reset as described in the “Playing the Game” section of Playbook #1 found in No Quarter #70. If a non-Grinder model is completely within a Score Zone at any time, it is immediately removed from the arena as it falls into the Score Zone. At the end of the turn in which the model fell into the Score Zone, place that model (or models) in the Catch. Models placed this way are knocked down and suffer a boosted POW 16 damage roll. This damage roll is not considered to have been caused by an attack. If a model is placed in the Catch after falling into the Score Zone, any models within the Catch are displaced using the rule of least disturbance, are knocked down, and suffer a boosted POW 16 damage roll. This damage roll is not considered to have been caused by an attack.
Note: It is possible for a player to have multiple models lifted from the Score Zone and placed in the Catch in the same turn. The active player chooses the order these models are dropped Score Zone – Score Zones are 3˝ in diameter. Additionally, in the Catch. If a model falls into the Score Zone and a goal is they are both considered open terrain and hazards. Score scored before that model returns to play, it can be deployed as Zones represent deep pits in the ground. normal when the arena is reset.
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GRIND
ARENA: SCHARDE PARK
A true hive of scum and villainy, Scharde Park hosts some of the most raucous and disorderly matches in the league, with the crowd itself often getting involved in the action. Many away teams making their first visit to the arena have stared in horror as mobs of drunken and bloodthirsty pirates jump over safety railings to push steamjack and grinder alike into the goal pits. More than mere sport, Grind has been a fundamental part of Scharde piracy for decades, as nearly all illegal and black market player components make their way through the islands and into the hands of unscrupulous sponsors and manufacturers. A large amount of this coin ends up back in the arena, however, as sailors and captains alike wager their ill-gotten crowns on which players they’d like to see taken out of commission. Bribes are also not unheard of, with players targeting specific opponents to fill their own coffers to the brim.
AWAY EDGE
AWAY SCORE ZONE
9˝
MOB OF PIRATES 15˝
12˝
7˝
MOB OF PIRATES
AWAY SIDELINE
HOME SIDELINE
15˝
6˝
1˝ 10˝
HOME SCORE ZONE
9˝
3˝
HOME EDGE Set up Scharde Park according to the map above. Note that each Score Zone, arena edge, and sideline is associated with a team (home or away). The home Score Zone is the friendly zone of the first player, and the away Score Zone is the friendly zone of the second player. Each team must defend its own Score Zone and attempt to score goals in its opponent’s Score Zone.
Mob of Pirates – A Mob of Pirates is 6˝ x 12˝ and is a hazard. Non-Grinder models ending their activations in a Mob of Pirates are pushed d6˝ directly toward the Catch. When a model ends its activation, if a Grinder model is in a Mob of Pirates, it is pushed d6˝ directly toward the Catch.
Treasure Chest – Treasure Chests are 50 mm in diameter and This arena uses the following types of terrain: Score Zone, are obstructions. When players successfully slam the Grinder Catch, Treasure Chest, and Mob of Pirates. The rules for these or an enemy model into a Treasure Chest, they immediately terrain features are as follows: add 100 Crowns to their coffers. TREASURE CHEST
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ARENA: THE CLOCKWORK COLISEUM
A pinnacle of mathematical perfection, the Clockwork Coliseum is a testament to the level of craftsmanship only the worshippers of Cyriss can bring to the sport of Grind. Engineered to impossible standards by scores of devout Optifexes, this coliseum is as beautiful as it is deadly for any competitors stepping within. Unlike other arenas, the pillars of the Clockwork Coliseum are perfectly designed to harmonize with concussive impact, requiring less kinetic energy to send the Grinder hurling across the field. Players must also contend with the arena’s array of modular platforms. Using high-level irregular harmonic algorithms known only to senior adherents of the goddess, these plates shift and move players around at odd intervals, forcing teams to either adapt to changing circumstances or lose the match to the forces of incomprehensible order.
AWAY EDGE
AWAY SCORE ZONE
12˝
15˝
6˝
AWAY SIDELINE
HOME SIDELINE
15˝
MODULAR PLATFORM
MODULAR PLATFORM 12˝ 7˝
1˝ 10˝
12˝ HOME SCORE ZONE
3˝ 3˝
HOME EDGE Set up the Clockwork Coliseum according to the map above. Note that each Score Zone, arena edge, and sideline is associated with a team (home or away). The home Score Zone is the friendly zone of the first player, and the away Score Zone is the friendly zone of the second player. Each team must defend its own Score Zone and attempt to score goals in its opponent’s Score Zone.
Modular Platform – Modular Platforms are 6˝ x 12˝ and are open terrain. While completely within the perimeter of a Modular Platform, non-Grinder models gain Displaced. (During your Control Phase, place a friendly model with Displaced anywhere completely within 3˝ of its current location.)
Mathematically Perfect Pillar – Mathematically Perfect Pillars are 50 mm in diameter and are obstructions. When a This arena uses the following types of terrain: Score Zone, Grinder is slammed or thrown into a Mathematically Perfect Catch, Mathematically Perfect Pillar, and Modular Platform. Pillar by an attack, double the distance the Grinder moves when resolving Inertia from that attack. The rules for these terrain features are as follows: MATHEMATICALLY PERFECT PILLAR
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GRIND
ARENA: BLINDWATER STATION
Deep in the heart of the swamp lies Blindwater Station, a desolate and hazardous arena where only the most foolhardy or desperate teams come to test their mettle. Upkept to minimum league standards by gatorman bokors, Blindwater Station is festooned with black, murky pools of water, while the arena itself is lit by macabre candelabras of bones and skulls. Rumors abound of cursed pillars that eat away at the protection of even the sturdiest warjack or warbeast. Upon defeat, league standings are the least of a team’s worries, as occasionally a losing team will be dragged away to be enslaved by a posse of gatorman warriors.
AWAY EDGE
AWAY SCORE ZONE
12˝
15˝
6˝
AWAY SIDELINE
HOME SIDELINE
15˝
MURKY POOL
MURKY POOL 12˝ 7˝
1˝ 10˝
12˝ HOME SCORE ZONE
3˝ 3˝
HOME EDGE Set up Blindwater Station according to the map above. Note Cursed Pillar – Cursed Pillars are 50 mm in diameter and are that each Score Zone, arena edge, and sideline is associated obstructions. While within 2˝ of a Cursed Pillar, non-Grinder with a team (home or away). The home Score Zone is the models suffer –2 ARM. friendly zone of the first player, and the away Score Zone is the friendly zone of the second player. Each team must CURSED PILLAR defend its own Score Zone and attempt to score goals in its opponent’s Score Zone. Murky Pool – Murky Pools are 6˝ x 12˝ and are shallow water This arena uses the following types of terrain: Score Zone, to non-Grinder models. When a non-Grinder model becomes Catch, Cursed Pillar, and Murky Pool. The rules for these knocked down while completely within a Murky Pool, that model is removed from the table and dropped in the Catch at terrain features are as follows: the end of the turn as if it fell into a Score Zone.
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OVERTIME GRINDER BALLS The following alternate Grinders are now available for your games of Grind. Players can choose which Grinder (including the original) to use in their game. If the players cannot agree on which Grinder to use, they roll off, and the winner chooses which version of the Grinder will be in their game. All Grinders share the Inertia, Invincible, Parry, and Ricochet rules, but each has a unique rule (and occasionally, unique stats) that sets it apart.
MOLTEN GRINDER BASE
LARGE
GARLGHAST GRINDER
DEF ARM
5
BASE
18
LARGE
17
When this model suffers damage from an attack, after the attack is resolved for every point of damage it suffers that exceeds its ARM, it is pushed 0.5˝ directly away from the attack’s point of origin. Only this push movement can trigger Ricochet. This model ignores all effects that prevent it from being moved, placed, or pushed. INVINCIBLE – This model cannot be disabled, boxed, destroyed, removed from play, knocked down, or made stationary. This model never suffers continuous effects. RICOCHET – If this model contacts another model, obstacle, obstruction, or arena edge while being pushed due to Inertia, it will bounce off and continue being pushed the full distance. This effect can lead to multiple instances of this rule occurring during a single push. The active player chooses which direction this model is pushed by placing the deviation template centered on this model with the 4 directly facing the model, obstacle, obstruction, or arena edge contacted and then choosing either direction 1, direction 2, or direction 6. SWIRLING DARKNESS – While B2B with this model, models gain Stealth .
© Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.
© Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.
INERTIA –
GRIND'AR THE NIMBLE BASE
DEF ARM
LARGE
10 18
When this model suffers damage from an attack, after the attack is resolved for every point of damage it suffers that exceeds its ARM, it is pushed 0.5˝ directly away from the attack’s point of origin. Only this push movement can trigger Ricochet. This model ignores all effects that prevent it from being moved, placed, or pushed. INVINCIBLE – This model cannot be disabled, boxed, destroyed, removed from play, knocked down, or made stationary. This model never suffers continuous effects. RICOCHET – If this model contacts another model, obstacle, obstruction, or arena edge while being pushed due to Inertia, it will bounce off and continue being pushed the full distance. This effect can lead to multiple instances of this rule occurring during a single push. The active player chooses which direction this model is pushed by placing the deviation template centered on this model with the 4 directly facing the model, obstacle, obstruction, or arena edge contacted and then choosing either direction 1, direction 2, or direction 6. SOMEONE INSTALLED A CORTEX – At the end of each player’s turn, move this model d6˝ directly away from the nearest Score Zone. If the Score Zones are equidistant, the active player chooses one. INERTIA –
© Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.
GRIND
5
When this model suffers damage from an attack, after the attack is resolved for every point of damage it suffers that exceeds its ARM, it is pushed 0.5˝ directly away from the attack’s point of origin. Only this push movement can trigger Ricochet. This model ignores all effects that prevent it from being moved, placed, or pushed. INVINCIBLE – This model cannot be disabled, boxed, destroyed, removed from play, knocked down, or made stationary. This model never suffers continuous effects. RICOCHET – If this model contacts another model, obstacle, obstruction, or arena edge while being pushed due to Inertia, it will bounce off and continue being pushed the full distance. This effect can lead to multiple instances of this rule occurring during a single push. The active player chooses which direction this model is pushed by placing the deviation template centered on this model with the 4 directly facing the model, obstacle, obstruction, or arena edge contacted and then choosing either direction 1, direction 2, or direction 6. SUPERHEATED – When this model is slammed, thrown, or pushed into contact with an enemy model, the enemy model suffers the Fire continuous effect . INERTIA –
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DEF ARM
BY WILL PAGANI & WILL SHICK CHRONICLED BY JOSH COLÓN
More than ever, the grymkin are making their presence felt across the Iron Kingdoms as they begin the Wicked Harvest. The Baron’s Balance Due is a three-scenario campaign for two players that lets players weave the tale of a grymkin assault on a sleepy town. A corrupt baron has drawn the attention of the grymkin, and the town must ready its defenses or succumb to the Wicked Harvest. This campaign is featured in the Grymkin: The Wicked Harvest Force book. Eager to game with his new Grymkin army, Will Pagani challenged Will Shick to play the campaign. Shick’s defenders repelled the initial assault in the first scenario, defeating The Heretic and eliminating him from the campaign. This allowed Shick to bolster his defenses for the second scenario, but Boomhowler & Company did not survive. The tables were turned in the second scenario, when The Child successfully assaulted the city gates, eliminating Captain Bartolo Montador in the process. The grymkin’s success in the penultimate scenario gave them considerable advantages in the final game. Now, the baron is attempting to flee the town. Will he flee to the safety of the town’s secret tunnel, or will he face the judgment of the Wicked Harvest?
Will Shick While I could talk about how I carefully crafted the perfect tournament list to annihilate Pagani—using my intense (some would even say violating) psychological profiling and close analysis of the games he’s played utilizing Grymkin to pinpoint the ideal counter forces to shut down his game plan—anyone who knew anything about me or my play style would immediately know such a statement was a ridiculous falsehood. I’ve never been one to agonize over how to best optimize my choices going into a game. For me, building an army is two parts theme, one part fun, and one part efficiency. I really enjoy WARMACHINE and HORDES most when I’m playing with models I enjoy, whether because I simply like the way they play or because they fit the narrative I want the army to tell. In fact, it was this reason that made me dust off my Mercenaries in the first place. Sure, I could have played Khador or Cygnar (I’ll admit I did think about both at first), but really, what army makes more sense for a corrupt baron to have under his command than a collection of cutthroats, brigands, and sell-swords possessing dubious morals? Honestly, the more I thought about it, the more I knew there was no better choice than Mercenaries to play the foil to Pagani’s Grymkin in our campaign. The first model to be included in the army was the Baron himself. Now, despite likely being a reprehensible and corrupt guy, when it comes to saving his own skin, he’s got a lot going for himself. Veteran Leader for everyone in his army is nothing to sneeze at, especially when combined with Counter Charge for everyone as well. Top it off with Sucker! and Feign Death, and the Baron is a man who likes to surround himself with bodies . . . very expendable bodies. But what else do they think he’s paying them for? So with this in mind, I knew that my final 75-point list needed to feature plenty of meat shiel . . . er, brave bodyguards for the Baron. Sadly, even though I crushed him and banished The Heretic back to hell in our first of three games, the victory had cost
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the mighty Boomhowler his life, so I could not take his band of doughty trollkin warriors this time around for Operation Meat Shield. Instead, I opted for a unit of Privateer Sea Dogs with three Sea Dog Riflemen. Cheap, yet surprisingly effective with Gang and Point Blank, they would be perfect for Sucker! as well as Counter Charge speed bumps. Thankfully, both Rhupert Carvolo and—most important— my favorite mercenary unit of them all, Croe’s Cutthroats, had survived the initial Grymkin assault and could both be included in this list. Rhupert and his ability to hand out Tough would add some key staying power, while Croe’s Cutthroats would be able to threaten just about everything in Pagani’s army. I also tossed in Alten Ashley, as his Monster Hunter ability would be great at getting around Death Knell and corpse token-fueled high-ARM values. Also he seemed quite the sort to throw in with the Baron for the chance to earn some coin and a new Gorehound rug for his hunting cabin floor. Kayazy Assassins with their stern, mustachioed Underboss were a clear choice; after all, it had been their blades that ultimately ended The Heretic’s self-righteous harvest. At DEF 15 in melee, they would provide a perfect roadblock to cover the Baron’s flight. And let’s be honest, Khadoran underground crime syndicate chocolate goes great with your pirate and cutthroat scallywag peanut butter. All that was left was a warcaster to lead them. Magnus has always been one of my favorite characters since his introduction way back in WARMACHINE: Escalation. And he seemed the perfect fit to be trying to save the hide of some corrupt nobleman of a fringe barony beset by supernatural creatures in return for some serious compensation. The only real choice was which version to take, since both bring some excellent abilities to the table. In the end, the allure of Magnus the Traitor’s spell list won out, and so I went with Magnus the Traitor along with a tried and true battlegroup of a Mangler, Nomad, and Mule.
Model/Unit
Points
Magnus the Traitor
+30 WJ
Mangler
15
Mule
15
Nomad
11
Alten Ashley
6
Rhupert Carvolo
4
Croe’s Cutthroats
16
Kayazy Assassins
15
Kayazy Assassins Underboss
4
Sea Dog Pirates
13
Sea Dog Pirate Rifleman x3 TOTAL
6 75
BATTLE REPORT
85
Will Pagani Before we begin, please note that we are using a version of the rules for Grymkin that are post-CID. Some of the rules have changed slightly on Grymkin models after their final iteration in CID, so some things may play differently than what we have previously shown! I really liked the idea of The Heretic marching into a town and accusing its leadership of corruption and sin, then ripping the Baron from his home and taking him kicking and screaming to become part of the Wicked Harvest. Unfortunately, The Heretic was stabbed in the back during the first scenario by some seriously underpaid Kayazy. So with The Heretic’s unfortunate demise, I decided that The Child would continue the push into town. In our second scenario, I was able to destroy Captain Bartolo Montador to win the game, granting me a total of 13 Harvest tokens. With these tokens, I knew I would be receiving benefits in this scenario, and I opted for an extra 2˝ of deployment and the ability to Ambush one of my units. Knowing that The Child prefers a large battlegroup, I initially considered the Dark Menagerie theme force, but I really liked the thematic idea of Lord Longfellow hunting the evil Baron down and finally claiming his soul for the Harvest. With this in mind, I instead chose the Bump in the Night theme force. Aware of Shick’s love of heavy warjacks, I flexed my power-gaming muscles and decided three heavy warbeasts was a good way to go. Two Gorehounds could hunt down the Baron should he try a cowardly tactic of skirting the battle while throwing his comrades into the fray. With two Skin & Moans, I knew I would need ways to collect the corpses of the wicked, even with the campaign benefit of letting me keep them from game to game. One of my Skin & Moans was able to start with a corpse, but the Dread Rots and Death Knell would really help me collect and distribute the bodies to the hungry nightmares of The Child. The additional durability brought to the army by the Death Knell was important to me because of how many
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BATTLE REPORT
heavy warbeasts I had included in my army, and it would allow for The Child to play a much more aggressive game. Much like my choice to bring Lord Longfellow, I really liked the visual idea of the Dread Rots running through the streets of a town, terrorizing the civilians and stuffing them into sacks as the Death Knell followed to collect the excess bodies. The Hollowmen would be able to deal with whatever infantry Shick decided to bring. Between Apparition, Eyeless Sight, and Combined Ranged Attack, the Hollowmen are a very versatile unit. Very effective against units, solos, and even warjacks, the Hollowmen bring a little bit of everything to an Ambushing unit. I just imagined this unit was made up of the town guard that fled after seeing Captain Montador cut down by a Skin & Moans in the previous scenario, only to find comfort in the peaceful light of the Lantern Man’s glow. Little did they know that one way or the other, they would be joining the Wicked Harvest . . . For my Arcana cards I chose Ill Omens—one of my favorites—and Sacrifice. Ill Omens does an excellent job of protecting your army on the approach, especially against mixed-style armies possessing both ranged and melee options. I took Sacrifice because I expected to take damage on the advance from Croe’s Cutthroats and the Mule’s ranged attacks. Being at full health when going into combat means my beasts will be much more likely to survive in melee. My Trump card, Wrath, stepped up the damage output of my battlegroup models significantly by increasing all of their FURY stats by 1.
Theme Force:
Bump in the Night Model/Unit The Child
Points +29WB
Arcana: Wrath, Ill Omens, Sacrifice Cage Rager
14
Crabbit (2)
7
Gorehound x2 Skin & Moans x2 Death Knell
12 30 13
Lord Longfellow
0
(free with theme force) Dread Rots (10)
12
Hollowmen (10)
13
Lantern Man
3
TOTAL
75
BATTLE REPORT
87
Deployment Mercenaries – Shick As the Defender, I had the dubious honor of going first. Now, while normally going first holds significant benefits, in a scenario where you have to escort a VIP to a heretofore unknown escape tunnel, deploying first proves to be a bit more of a bane than a boon. In addition to not knowing where Pagani would place the escape tunnel, I also had to prepare for my opponent’s opportunity to respond to my deployment. And to make matters worse, his Harvest tokens earned from the previous scenario meant that he would have +2˝ to his deployment zone and, more important, an Ambushing unit of Hollowmen I would have to plan for . . . somehow. As such, I chose to keep my deployment fairly central, on one hand to protect myself from Pagani’s Ambush and on the other to give myself as much flexibility as possible in responding to where he put the escape tunnel.
Advance Deployment Mercenaries – Shick Sticking with my central deployment and determined to use the tight confines of the urban city to my advantage, I placed Croe’s Cutthroats dead center along with Alten Ashley. This way, I could have the Cutthroats pop out to take Sniped crossbow shots as needed before ducking back behind the building with Reposition [5˝].
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BATTLE REPORT
Grymkin – Pagani Shick deployed very centrally, so I followed suit. I placed the escape tunnel to my right while deploying The Child and the Death Knell toward the center of the table, allowing them to shift toward whatever side they would be needed. I skewed my Cage Rager slightly to the left and The Child slightly to the right to make sure I would be able to get my spells where I needed them. The Dread Rots were deployed on my left side to pair off against his Sea Dogs, while the Hollowmen waited in Ambush to prevent the Baron from escaping toward a board edge. Gorehounds were deployed on the flanks, as they are very fast and can really maneuver to where they need to be.
Round 1 Mercenaries – Shick Pagani, in his treacherous grymkin ways, had placed the escape tunnel on my left, between which stood not nearly as many nightmares as I had expected. With his forces more evenly dispersed (and more important, no AOEs or Spray attacks to worry about), I decided to use the central building to my utmost advantage in order to force him to either commit to one side or divide his forces as he came for the Baron. I had the Nomad run up the right side to ensure it wouldn’t get completely choked out by the mass of bodies about to race forward for death and glory (mostly death). Then, Magnus activated. I had him cast Blur on the Kayazy and Iron Aggression on the Mangler, then I advanced and cast Snipe on the Cutthroats. Next up, I had Croe’s Cutthroats run forward to hug the center building, followed by the Sea Dogs, who took position on the street to the right between the building and the burning forest. Following them, I had the Kayazy run up and take position on the left street. The Mangler ran up to reinforce the Kayazy, while the Mule ran to back up the Sea Dogs. Finally, I had the Baron run up to tuck in with his Sea Dog escorts and then had the Piper advance and use Heroic Call on the Sea Dogs to grant them Tough.
Grymkin – Pagani Seeing the Cutthroats positioned so close to the central building seemed like a perfect chance to get some use out of the Gorehounds. Immediately on my turn, both Gorehounds ran up behind the central building, prepared to use Ghostly to sneak through the building and Lightning Strike to return to safety behind it. I Abused the Skin & Moans to my right, healed all the damage with fury, cast Tantrum, and advanced slightly toward my right flank. The white Skin & Moans ran into a rather aggressive position to threaten the Nomad and the Mangler across from it. My left-hand Skin & Moans ran up to do the same on the left, where a pile of infantry and a Mule awaited. I’m sure the Skin & Moans would be perfectly at home in a pile of dead Cutthroats and burly pirate men. The Dread Rots pushed forward around the left side of the building to threaten the Cutthroats but were equally prepared to die for the cause and supply the Death Knell with corpses should the need arise. Crabbits advanced up to cover the Death Knell and The Child. Lord Longfellow advanced slowly up the center of the board, keeping an eye on where the Baron would try to make his escape.
BATTLE REPORT
89
Round 2 Mercenaries – Shick I kicked off the turn by having Magnus upkeep all his spells (with Iron Aggression being upkept for free thanks to Resourceful, woot!). I assigned no additional focus to any of the ’jacks, as I didn’t really expect them to be doing much but advancing this turn. Already growing tired of the Baron’s shrieking and largely unimpressed by the supernatural horrors of the grymkin assaulting the city, Croe ordered his Cutthroats to open fire on the Skin & Moans. I will admit that for a brief moment I actually pondered moving them to open fire on The Child. While mathematically it was highly improbable I could knock out the warlock, it was possible. And even if I didn’t, how often does Croe ever get to use Hiss to hit a warlock? Despite my intense urge to tell Josh to hold my beer, I resisted and instead decided to do the smart thing: I opened fire on the Skin & Moans on the right side (affectionately referred to as Beard & Moans), who was well within aiming range of seven Cutthroats. The tactical part of my brain told me that I needed to deal with the Skin & Moans before its ARM rose to stupid high levels thanks to the combination of Corpse tokens and the Death Knell. I could tell by his smug face that Pagani thought Beard & Moans safe. But there’s one thing years of tournament play and top-level competition never prepare you for: a halfway-capable WARMACHINE player whose dice are hot. Pagani should have learned that lesson when I diced him off the table in glorious fashion in Scenario 1. But it was clear he was going to need several more painful reminders of the dangers of a director with nothing to lose. Normally, I consider myself a man of simple pleasures in life. I rarely spring for expensive, exotic, or luxurious goods. But should you ever get the chance to savor the shattering of Pagani’s self-confidence in his own inviolate state, let me tell you, the sheer succulence of it is worth every penny. It only took six shots to completely dice the Beard & Moans off the table. With a sudden lack of Skin & Moans to shoot, the remaining Croe’s Cutthroats consoled themselves by taking shots at Pagani’s Dread Rots. Showing his true colors (those hues being yellow, dear reader), Pagani informed me before I could roll my next attacks that he would be using his first Arcana Card, Ill Omens. Now the rest of my models would be suffering a –1 to all attack and damages rolls for one round. I will neither confirm nor deny that at that moment I performed Job’s chicken dance from Arrested Development. (Editor’s Note: He did).
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BATTLE REPORT
Still, despite my opponent’s efforts, the remaining Cutthroats were able to drop two Dread Rots and even put some damage on the remaining Skin & Moans before Repositioning to get out of the Sea Dogs’ and Kayazy’s way. All in all, the Cutthroats had already earned their keep this game, as far as I was concerned. Next up, I had Alten Ashley go. I had such high hopes for him, but thanks to a combination of cover and Ill Omens, the monster hunter missed the other Skin & Moans. I had him Reposition away from the Skin & Moans’ charge range but realized only too late that he was dangerously exposed to the left board edge. Oops . . . I had the Kayazy Assassins activate next and run up to take on their role of speed bump. I hoped that between Blur and Duelist, their DEF would prove sufficient to stymie Pagani for a couple of rounds, giving me the time to roll up the right flank while his force was divided. Spurred on by the Cutthroats’ success, the Sea Dogs advanced and attempted to prove their worth, but sadly, Ill Omens continued to hamper any significant success they might have had. Still, they remained potent meat shields for the Baron, who advanced courageously behind them, spurring them on toward his heroic escape, while the city around them burned from the Grymkin’s judgment. Magnus activated next and cast Death Ward on the Nomad and Snipe on the Mule before advancing up. The Mule went next and fired on the Cage Rager. I boosted, hoping for that sweet Crit Devastation, but sadly I was denied. To add salt to the wound, the attack bounced harmlessly off both the Cage Rager and the Dread Rot caught in the blast. Last but not least, I repositioned both the Mangler and the Nomad so they could benefit from both Veteran Leader and Counter Charge from the Baron for Pagani’s next turn.
Round 2 Grymkin – Pagani Well. I did not see that coming. Shick Shick’d the Shick out of my Skin & Moans on the left. So, any dreams of a pile of pirates the Skin & Moans may have had died with him. At least we picked up some corpses on the Death Knell and a Tantrum move because of the other Skin & Moans. Silver linings, I guess! I Ambushed in my Hollowmen on the right side near the burning hill. I decided that it was worth setting a few of my Hollowmen on Fire so I could get more shots across the field. My Cage Rager used Tantrum move to maneuver around the central building and get into a better position for the turn. Doing so triggered Counter Charge granted by the Baron to a Cutthroat, who charged in to do 1 damage to the Cage Rager. I first activated the Hollowmen, who attempted to clear the lane for the remaining Skin & Moans to charge the Nomad with Abuse. The flaming cowards cleared part of the charge lane and slayed the monster hunter Alten Ashley as they manifested behind Shick’s lines—a solid activation. Lord Longfellow advanced within 5˝ of one Kayazy and quickly ended his life, then used Swift Hunter to move back for the Death Knell to have ample room to transfer corpses to the Skin & Moans. The red Gorehound advanced up to the Kayazy still blocking the Skin & Moans’ charge lane, killing one and watching another survive via Tough then using its Lightning Strike animus to sprint back out of way. The Child would have to finish clearing the path for Skin & Moans. Charging in, she easily dispatched the remaining two Kayazy blocking the charge lane and cast Abuse and Wraith Bane on the Skin & Moans. The Death Knell loaded up Skin & Moans, who then charged (for free, thanks to the damage from Abuse) into the Nomad, easily destroying it in four attacks. Healing with one of his corpses for 3 wounds thanks to Death Feast, the Skin & Moans then bought and boosted an additional attack against the Kayazy Underboss, who failed his Tough roll. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about my position. A Mangler could get to the Skin & Moans, but thanks to the Death Knell’s ability Warmth of the Grave—and the Corpse tokens—the warbeast had ARM 21. The Mangler should only be able to do about 20 damage, while the Cutthroats shouldn’t pose too much of a threat, so with a little luck, it would survive the onslaught and clean up the Mangler next turn. Thanks to Death Feast, I had only 2 damage on the Skin & Moans. To end my turn, the Dread Rots charged some of the infantry on my left side and killed a Cutthroat and a pirate. The Cage Rager was stuck behind the Gorehound and the Dread Rots, so it just advanced up to be a threat next turn.
BATTLE REPORT
91
Round 3 Mercenaries – Shick Okay, this Child is going to be a problem. I had flaming Hollowmen bearing down on the left, a Skin & Moans in my grill, and a tiny Tantrum-throwing brat who was backed up by a literal monster playing murder tag with my poor Kayazy. Things, as they say, were getting serious. During my Control Phase, I let Blur drop and upkept everything else (for free!). That Skin & Moans had to go, so I allocated 2 focus to the Mangler and 2 focus to the Mule, leaving 2 focus on Magnus. The Kayazy kicked things off with a Press Forward order. I had one charge a Crabbit and another charge the Gorehound. The other two remaining members simply ran to assist their comrades with Gang, using Parry to ignore the clumsy strikes of the Grymkin in their way. Sadly, I was only able to do 6 damage to the Crabbit and minimal damage to the Gorehound. But that was okay, because I was about to unleash Croe’s finest on that blasted Skin & Moans. Now, this did require the noble sacrifice of the poor Cutthroat engaged with the Skin & Moans, who was obliterated by the free strike he took as he mistimed his duck. Their shot cleared, the remaining Cutthroats opened fire, but this Skin & Moans proved to be far more resilient than the other one, and it sustained minimal damage. Now facing down a much angrier Skin & Moans, Magnus commanded the Mangler to charge. While I knew success wasn’t guaranteed, I once again saw the smug look of confidence creep onto Pagani’s face. And it was then, as I picked up my dice, I knew that fate wasn’t done kicking him in the teeth yet. Four attacks later and his Skin & Moans was little more than a pile of bloody mush at my Mangler’s feet. I might never be able to outplay Pagani, but by God, I could still dice him right off the table. With the Skin & Moans dead, it was time to deal with the Cage Rager. I knew deep down in the pit of my soul that this was the moment. I activated the Mule and spent a focus to boost the attack roll.
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BATTLE REPORT
The dice hit the table, and Pagani’s head hit his hands. I had finally gotten my elusive Crit Devastation. The Cage Rager went soaring back 5˝, while the Gorehound that was caught in the blast careened off a drainpipe to land in a heap at the feet of the Sea Dogs. I also managed to crush two Dread Rots. But while my damage roll on the Cage Rager was a whopping 17, Pagani once again flashed his treacherous colors and played his second Arcana card Sacrifice, using the Dread Rot’s destruction to heal all friendly models of their damage. Thus, my Mule’s hard work against the Cage Rager was immediately wiped clean. Despite this, the Gorehound was now easy pickings for the Sea Dogs, who happily gunned the creature down where it lay. The Baron, eager to inspire his troops, walked forward and fired his hand cannon at the knocked-down Cage Rager. Pagani made the mistake of informing me that I would need to roll a 10 to do damage. I promptly rolled an 11 and dealt the recently healed warbeast 2 points of damage. Magnus then activated, popped his feat, cast Blur on the Cutthroats, and then advanced next to the Baron. Rhupert activated and advanced, granting Heroic Call to Croe’s Cutthroats. Finally, Magnus and his warjacks used the free move from Hit & Run to reposition away from the rapidly approaching Grymkin on the left flank.
Round 3 Grymkin – Pagani My poor Skin & Moans! I was sure after the crossbows failed to do any damage to my warbeast that it would handily survive the Mangler. Then Shick Shick’d the Shick out of a second Skin & Moans (which from now on I will call Shick & Moans around the office). Down two heavy warbeasts and losing the battlegroup attrition fight, it was time for The Child to enter the fray. I started off my turn with all four of the flaming Hollowmen dying to Fire (things are really going my way at this point. *face palm*), but with the Lantern Man’s abilities, I knew they would be back shortly. The Kayazy had triggered Tantrum the previous turn, so I used this opportunity to move The Child up and attack one of them, smashing him into the cobblestone. The Hollowmen continued to follow their plan: clear a charge lane for The Child to wreck the Mangler. The Hollowmen expected to claim Jarok Croe for the harvest, but as it turned out, he was simply another Cutthroat in a coat. Continuing their salvo of gunfire, two more Cutthroats were gunned down, and the Hollowmen returned three members to their ranks. Lord Longfellow, not happy about all the Stealth on the right side of the board, advanced within 5˝ of the Kayazy near the Crabbit. Opening fire with his Black Penny rule, the spider slayed one Kayazy, freeing up the Gorehound, and then missed the second Kayazy to accidentally shoot the Crabbit. He did 7 damage and knocked out the adorable little creature’s Body aspect. That same Crabbit had enough of these Kayazy and hopped into the back arc of the Khadoran, boosting to hit on a bite attack and landing the blow! Thanks to Lord Longfellow’s well-placed shot crippling the beast’s Body aspect, the Kayazy survived. The second Crabbit advanced up and
finished off the remaining Kayazy with a boosted attack roll. The Child and the Gorehound were now free to charge the Mangler and start tilting the game back in my favor! The Gorehound charged through the building and was unexpectedly countercharged by a Sea Dog. Luckily, the Sea Dog missed, and the Gorehound’s charge attack took a solid chunk out of the Mangler. Next up, The Child charged in, triggering a Critical Pitch on her attack roll, which I decided not to use. I rolled quite well and did 13 damage. My second initial rolled two 6s to hit—another critical! I chose to pitch this time, but rolled much lower and only did 7 damage. The Mangler was now missing all of its systems except its Cortex, so I felt pretty good about my chances. The Child bought some attacks on a few pirates and Cutthroats that were sitting around and used Lightning Strike to return to safety behind the building. The Dread Rots continued their push and moved toward the front lines of the Sea Dogs, taking a few counter charges along the way. They ended up killing two more Sea Dogs. The Cage Rager followed up and killed another pair of pirates to finish up my turn.
BATTLE REPORT
93
Round 4 Mercenaries – Shick I kicked the turn off by declaring that the Mule was fireproof. Pagani, however, said my declaration was not good enough, and I would have to roll for Fire. I rolled. Being the gentleman that I am, I said nothing as I removed the Fire token from the table. I had Magnus upkeep both Iron Aggression and Snipe for free and then allocate 2 focus to each warjack. There was a Cage Rager that needed to be dealt with, and I intended to do so this turn. But as I was soon to discover, despite his kind platitudes and innocent, childlike face, when facing defeat, Pagani is not above employing insidious and conniving psychological warfare. I kicked things off by having the Sea Dogs charge the Cage Rager that was 1˝ outside of the Death Knell’s Warmth of the Grave aura. I also had one lonely Sea Dog charge the Gorehound on the left. Before rolling against the Gorehound, I took a moment to savor the terror that crossed Pagani’s face as memories of our last game flashed through his mind. Sadly, without the Gang bonus, the Sea Dog was only able to deliver 8 damage to the Gorehound rather than completely wiping it off the table. The rest of the Sea Dogs were able to deal an impressive 16 damage to the Cage Rager with their charge attacks. It was here, however, that I learned to never trust a Pagani while he is on the ropes. Because that’s when he fights dirty. As I was preparing to roll the Sea Dogs’ Point Blank attacks against the Cage Rager, Pagani casually pointed out that average dice did no real damage to it at ARM 19. Now, while he may deny this, trust me, dear reader, when I tell you that he then followed this up with some off-handed comment about how I could thin out the Dread Rots with a couple of Sea Dogs. Being the trusting, honest soul I am, after a moment more of discussion I agreed with his assessment and had the two Sea Dogs engaged with Dread Rots use their pistol shots against them instead of the Cage Rager. One of them did indeed manage to kill a Dread Rot. Pagani laughed an evil cackle, his eyes turned yellow, and unholy fire wreathed his body as horns erupted from his head. With one taloned finger, he pointed down to the Death Knell and said, “It will take that Corpse, and now the Cage Rager is in the Warmth of the Grave aura!” Truly this man’s soul was as black and cruel as those of the Grymkin that he commanded.
94
BATTLE REPORT
Despite his attempts to save his own skin, I still had the Mule, who advanced up and attacked the Cage Rager, now at 5 off the dice as opposed to 3. After two attacks, the Cage Rager was left with 4 points of damage remaining. Exactly the swing Warmth of the Grave had provided. Knowing I had to eliminate the Cage Rager, I had Magnus activate and repair the Mangler, healing its Movement system and Left Arm. Then, instead of sending it to deal with the Gorehound, I had it charge the Cage Rager and finish it off. Magnus was left in a precarious position, so I had Rhupert advance in front of him and put Heroic Call on the Sea Dogs. I then activated the Cutthroats and had two of them charge the Gorehound and the other two take up screening positions in front of Magnus. The charging Cutthroats were able to deal another 8 points of damage to the Gorehound. I then had the remaining two Kayazy activate and use Parry to move into melee with Lord Longfellow. Sadly, I left the man-spider with 1 wound. Lastly, the Baron decided the Grymkin were getting a little too close, so he ran to the other side of the burning forest. He was safe there, at least for the moment, from the everencroaching Hollowmen.
Round 4 Grymkin – Pagani Thinking I was being helpful actually really worked to my advantage, as that Dread Rot corpse forced Shick to commit his Mangler to my left flank, keeping my Gorehound alive. That Lightning Strike animus had really been helpful, and I didn’t see that changing for the rest of this game. I used Tantrum to move my Gorehound to threaten Magnus; maybe I could score a ’caster kill to be certain the Baron’s soul would end in my clutches! I then realized that Magnus had Feign Death, and slamming Rhupert into him with Force Hammer would prevent all of my Hollowmen from shooting the warcaster. I didn’t think the Gorehound could get this job done by itself, as Magnus had 2 focus remaining. I shifted gears back into full attrition mode. The Child activated first, advancing into melee with several Cutthroats and easily dispatching them. With her remaining fury, I decided to Force Hammer the Mangler into the Mule for super slam damage! But I rolled horribly and did a grand total of 4 damage, leaving the Mangler very much functional. Using Lightning Strike, The Child moved back toward the escape tunnel and around the building. The right flank was won! The Hollowmen continued their unstoppable march, claiming the life of Rhupert and a Cutthroat and finally finding the true Jarok Croe.
The Dread Rots attempted to avenge their fallen Cage Rager buddy and stuffed two more Sea Dogs into their bags (which I’m sure is rather familiar to the Sea Dogs after being pressed into service and all!). Longfellow began hunting the Baron in earnest, the nobleman appearing to be making a run for it around the burning forest. Longfellow ran to intercept. The Deathknell advanced to the left side of the table and prepared to use its Finisher rule next turn. The armies were looking scant; every attack might make the difference between victory and defeat!
BATTLE REPORT
95
Round 5 Mercenaries – Shick Make or break time! The Fire once again went out on the Mule. Told you he was fireproof! Magnus upkept both spells for free and assigned 2 focus to each ’jack. Both ’jacks then spent a focus to shake knockdown. I knew I had to rid myself of the Death Knell. First, though, I needed to clear a path for the Mangler, which meant using the Mule to squish some pumpkin heads. With this in mind, I had the Mule activate and advance to bring both Dread Rots engaging my Sea Dogs into melee range. Even with Pagani scoring Tough on both, I was able to kill the most important one with my last focus point, thus freeing the Sea Dogs to clear the way for the Mangler. I activated the Sea Dogs and had them advance out of the way. On a long shot, I had the two Riflemen do a CRA to try and take down Lord Longfellow, but his DEF 16 proved too great for the brown-pants pirates. Lucky for them, Longfellow, likely still smarting from the right stabbing the Kayazy had given him, missed his return shot as well. The path cleared, I activated the Mangler and charged the Death Knell for free with Iron Aggression. I only hoped that I had a little bit of that earlier dice luck left, as the odds were against me since I had to spend a focus to shake knockdown.
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Despite some more impressive rolling, the Mangler was showing some battle fatigue and left the Death Knell with 4 boxes. A good effort but not good enough. All was not lost, however. I knew I was facing down a Gorehound and possibly a Death Knell. But I still had the Baron, which also meant I still had Counter Charge. While it was risky, I knew I was quickly losing the attrition game, so I decided to move the Baron up along with Magnus to set up both the Mule and Magnus to be able to Counter Charge on Pagani’s turn. With a little bit of luck, I could either force him to deal with those two, leaving the Baron open to run for the escape tunnel, or better yet, bait him into going for the Baron and murder him on his own turn.
Round 5 Grymkin – Pagani The Baron was in reach! I had Longfellow, a Gorehound, and the Deathknell that could threaten him. If I could Force Hammer the Mangler out of the way, I could use Longfellow to clear a charge lane for the Gorehound. Because of Sucker!, Longfellow could not get the job done himself, so he aimed and cleared two of the Sea Dogs, using Swift Hunter to get out of the way of the Gorehound. The Child advanced and Force Hammered the Mangler, boosting to hit and slamming it 4˝ into the last remaining Sea Dog, killing both the Sea Dog and the Mangler. The path was clear! The Gorehound charged the Baron, but before his long lick-y tongue could claim him for the Harvest, a Mule Counter Charged . . . and missed! Hooray! I was safe! Or so I thought. Magnus then Counter Charged with his Mechanikal Arm to knock down the Gorehound. Luckily for me, Magnus actually killed the Gorehound, leaving enough room for the Death Knell to charge the Baron in a last-ditch effort. Rolling a 7 on my impact attack was exactly high enough to hit the Baron. Never have I been more proud of a horse missing the majority of its skin. Anyway, the impact did a mighty 3 damage, which allowed me to use the Finisher special rule on
my charge attack. I imagined lightning coming from the sky and striking the bell on the end of the Death Knell’s boppin’ stick, as a chorus sang in the background, and the emaciated driver swung his bell in slow motion to crush the Baron under its weight. The Deathknell claimed the Baron for the Wicked Harvest, and our three-part campaign was over!
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Conclusion Mercenaries – Shick
Grymkin – Pagani
So in the end, the Grymkin got to reap their harvest, and the Baron’s tarnished soul was now The Child’s plaything. I’d say I felt bad for the Baron, but thankfully, Magnus always gets his payment up front . . .
Sweet, sweet victory! Perhaps I will create an objective marker for my Grymkin army based on a defiled statue of Baron Von Shick, as the gremlins poke fun at the memory of the corrupt baron!
All in all, I had an absolute blast playing through this campaign with my fellow Will. Despite all my jabs, Pagani is truly an amazing player and a fantastically fun opponent who put up with my stupidly godlike dice rolls with a grace that was in and of itself godlike.
I had a lot of fun playing this three-part campaign, which is featured in the pages of the Grymkin Command book. The slow growth of the army sizes and benefits gained between scenarios makes it feel really cinematic as you play through the capture of the Baron.
And while each game was immensely enjoyable, the unfolding narrative that we got to create together as we played through the campaign—from the heroic and oddsdefying destruction of The Heretic, to the desperate defense of the gates by Broadsides Bart and his Sea Dogs, to the final failed escape attempt by the corrupt Baron—each game held great moments that came together to craft a story unique to us. It’s one that I know I will be telling for years to come.
I really like the flexibility afforded by the play style of Grymkin Faction, whether that be through the Arcana cards or the huge diversity between the warlocks. I look forward to completing my collection and painting it all up to play at Lock & Load 2017!
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ALL IN A DAY’S WORK By E. A. Mader
Arlana placed the flat of her hand on the cold face of the massive standing stone. She closed her eyes, at first concentrating on the roughness of the ancient granite as she scraped her fingers across it, tracing the edges of the runes carved into the monolith’s surface. Despite the sharp spring chill in the air, she felt a fiery warmth blossom beneath her palm. Focusing intently, she fused her spirit with the ley energies that joined sites of power throughout Caen to the remote stone circle where she now stood. Something was amiss. The energy flows she felt humming and vibrating far below the surface seemed oddly muted to her. Arlana frowned, puzzled. She could still perceive subtle movements in the ley lines, like ripples in the stream, each provoked by changes in the natural world or efforts of her fellow blackclads of the Circle Orboros as they tapped deep into the flows of energies. Her fellows were endlessly whispering to one another through the network, or using its powers to cross long distances in the blink of an eye.
Since Arlana was a wayfarer, it had fallen to her to bring her companions through the ley lines the previous evening to this isolated valley high in the Wyrmwall Mountains, just north of Ironhead Station. The entire network in this region was snarled and disrupted, affected by recent dragon activity, including the spilling of great quantities of blighted blood. She had appraised the region and thought she understood its peculiarities, preparing to do her part to help repair them. What she sensed this morning was something else—the flows had changed. This area was noticeably empty of life. Cocking her head, she listened to the whistle of the breeze through the bare branches, the drip-drip-drip of melting snow, and the creaking of trees. Absent were the piping cries of hawks and the soft squelching of paws over wet, fallen leaves. Just the sound of her companions breaking down their camp— “Arlana, the Dawnwaster! Are we getting a move on, or what?”
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Arlana sighed, her reverie shattered. She pivoted to scowl at a tall woman leaning against a standing stone at the far edge of the circle, a piece of waybread in her hand and a woldwatcher at her side. The towering construct of rune-engraved granite and branches of oak tied together with hempen bindings loomed protectively over her, like an oversized watchdog.
could use per powers to shape the stones as required, repairing them by coaxing cracks together, or even raising new rocks from the earth. Arlana listened to the pulse of Orboros, guiding the fastidious labor of restoration. It was her job to ensure the newly placed or repaired stones interacted properly with the energy flows below the surface of the world.
“Hallis, the Scourge of Morning!” Arlana called out harshly. “Can’t you give me five minutes to wake up properly, for once in your life?”
Fendiran used his woldstalkers to take watch against the approach of any enemies, circling the site chosen and staying always on the move. By contrast Vadim stood still and silent as the monoliths—until he wasn’t there. The Wolf of Orboros spoke clumsy Cygnaran and the blackclads only passable Khadoran, plus he wasn’t much of a talker to begin with. Arlana had to give it to him: he possessed an uncanny instinct for danger.
“Any day but today. We’re on foot, you see,” said Hallis, smiling broadly. The wayfarer raised her eyes heavenward. “You’ve tormented me every morning since Bradigus took you on as a wilder. I don’t understand what he ever saw in you.” “Aside from my ‘superlative talent’ in crafting the bones of the earth, you mean?” replied the stoneshaper. She idly flicked a piece of loose bark from the construct and fussed at the ropes binding its joints. “Maybe he just admires my patience and generosity,” she finished, offering the waybread to Arlana with a flourish. “Breakfast—you’ll need to keep up your strength on the trail.” “Thanks,” Arlana mumbled, snatching the bread from her friend’s hand. “After you, fearless leader!” Hallis said brightly. She then jerked her head at the woldwatcher and ordered, “Follow, Cragbones!”
They were on a mission much like the others that had occupied them over the past two years, so many that Arlana had lost count: restoring the flow of ley energy in areas decimated by the clash between Dragonfather Toruk and his blighted brood. It had been the first time in sixteen centuries Lord Toruk had forsaken his stronghold in the Scharde Islands to wage war against his offspring. As the wayfarer regarded the burned and barren slopes around her, she wondered how long it would take for the area to recover. Blight was pernicious. During the conflict, the dragons raked one another so violently with their terrible claws that they sent great gouts of blighted blood to rain down over the mountainsides, poisoning the landscape. Despite the efforts of many in the Circle Orboros in the intervening years, several large regions remained severed from the ley line network. Thus, it was that the wayfarer was picking her way over rock and root through blackened patches of what were once yew and oak trees, hiking north up a deserted valley to a secluded site that had been cut off by who knows what ever since the conflict. As was now their regular pattern, Arlana was joined by Hallis— with her ever-present woldwatcher Cragbones—and two others: a chatty tow-headed stoneward named Fendiran and Vadim, a laconic reeve hunter born out in the wilds of Khador. Fendiran always kept three woldstalkers hovering close by him, although, the stoneward would pointedly remind Hallis, he did not bother to name them like pets. Woldstalkers were extremely simple wolds, slaved to Fendiran’s will and capable of doing little on their own, but able to unleash considerable firepower. The two women typically handled most of the direct work on the standing stones making up the Circle’s ley line sites. Hallis
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Today, they were forced to hike far up the valley, their thick cloaks flapping wildly in the chilly wind. Hallis and Fendiran had fallen into lockstep, chattering amiably. Arlana and Vadim followed wordlessly behind them in single file. “We sure must’ve drawn a short straw to have to trek all the way out to this insignificant site,” said Fendirian. “Now Alchiere— that’d make for a decent adventure. Discovering hidden energy flows in those lush, unexplored lands. Expanding, not just restoring, our sites of power . . . You’d have to get Syval the Salt Wind to notice you to get sent to one of her domains.” “Or maybe Vaskis the Knotkeeper,” mused Hallis, “Although of all the potents we’d ever cross paths with, Morvahna the Dawnshadow has the most pull. Don’t you think?” “Then there’s Zu! I’ve heard giant reptiles dwell there, large as argus and even more voracious,” recounted the stoneward with relish. He regaled them with spurious tales of territories beyond the Meredius. “You’ve convinced me, Fendiran, the Word-Weaver. Arlana, why don’t you ask Bradigus to send us there next?” Hallis suggested with a soft laugh. Arlana sighed. “Bradigus knows we can handle ourselves here. A lot of those exotic missions are given to those the potents wouldn’t be sad to lose. This job is a reward, believe me.” “Hmph. And what do you think, Vadim the Chinwagger? You could stand some more adventure, surely,” Hallis said to the reeve hunter, who eyed her from beneath his thick wolf’s pelt. He gave a hiss. “Stand ready!” With a bound he leaped past them and vanished into some brambles ahead. Fendiran was already waving his woldstalkers into position around the group, pushing Arlana and Hallis brusquely to the center. The humor in their expressions was gone. Cragbones assumed a defensive stance in front of the stoneshaper. Arlana held her breath, her fingers loosening and tightening around the haft of her voulge. Her expression darkened as she assessed the exposure of their position, with thin tree cover and only a smattering of small rocks and boulders behind them. Broad slopes of slippery scree and patches of snow rose on either side. Ahead, her view was impeded by the snarl of tangled bushes into which Vadim had disappeared. Her ears strained to catch any sounds. The thunder of heavy feet pounding the earth came to the huddled druids with breathtaking swiftness. A strange, syncopated rhythm beat on the ground, which trembled with the violence of each leap.
Then it was upon them: a hideous monstrosity of bristling spines and flexing muscles, with an odd number of limbs. Its asymmetrical frame twisted and lurched unsteadily, but as it reared and crashed down, it easily reached the height of the woldwatcher. A growl rumbled from its throat and then became a primal roar as it tilted its head back, revealing slick traces of dark blood congealed along a gash in its thick hide. It flashed an array of snaggled, razor-sharp fangs, and flecks of froth flew from its jaws. Vestigial wings and cruelly curved black talons made its origins all too clear. Dragonspawn. Dual bolts sang through the air, embedding themselves deep in the dragonspawn’s flank just as Fendiran urged his woldstalkers to float smoothly forward to attack. A brightening glow kindled at the base of each woldstalker and followed the curve of their wooden frames upward to fill the constructs’ gleaming beryl eyes. The stones blazed with power as each of the three woldstalkers emitted a beam of emerald light to sear the beast. It lashed out with two forward arms, its claws catching one of the woldstalkers, which spun away. Cragbones then stepped forward, bringing its heavy stone fists to bear, its runes illuminating a brilliant green. Vadim burst from the thicket, his battle blade drawn. “It’s alone, and weak!” he shouted. At the reeve hunter’s assessment, Arlana and the stoneward lost no time in closing with the flailing dragonspawn, hammering blows on the monster. His cleft blade flashing, Vadim took a swing at its flank, then leapt back. Its fangs met air, but it then whipped its barbed tail back behind it. Luckily, Cragbones caught the brunt of the attack and retaliated with a punch that gave a sickening crack of bone. In minutes it was all over. The creature’s twisted bulk spilled black blood onto the melting snow and flattened grass, which already began to shrivel and shrink with the effects of blight. The stink of seared flesh rose in their nostrils. “All in a day’s work,” mused Hallis. “Yeah,” murmured Arlana, kneeling to examine the fallen dragonspawn. She eyed the ugly slash that the beast had borne before they had added their own. She pursed her lips. “I guess this won’t be as dull as I’d thought,” commented Fendiran.“Better go on,” said Vadim.
As they neared their destination at the head of the valley a couple hours later, Arlana privately observed that Fendirian might be right in that their mission might have become downright interesting. She herself didn’t need interesting. She’d have preferred simple, and safe. Blighted land occupied much of the slope to the west and part of the valley floor. The blackened stumps of trees protruded like broken teeth from the thin blanketing of snow that still clung to the hillsides, and here and there lay boulders twisted into fantastical shapes by blight, akin to wax that had been held to a candle. Only the occasional blighted plant life pushed forth: strangling vines and garish weeds that wound about healthy foliage at the peripheries of dead patches, bending and choking them.
Arlana knew these peaks, for she had been born in a small village not many valleys over. She had vague recollections as she inhaled the scent of the mountains awakening in spring. She was glad to sense underlying vigor in the land despite the devastation sown by Toruk and his brood, but she would need to guide the power of Orboros deep beneath the earth around the toxic ground until it could again connect with the spider’s web of energies running through the Wyrmwall. They would need to draw new stones from the earth, she reasoned, and weave their rituals of restoration in conjunction with the right configuration of the moons and stars.Then, they mounted a crest that afforded the first clear view she’d had of the site, and Arlana gasped. The handful of monoliths that comprised the stone circle were cracked and defaced, not by any beast or blight, but by some dark and deliberate artifice. Several of the rune-covered pillars had been hewn to resemble beasts and then smeared with sinister earthen and reddish tints. Hallis was clenching her jaw, and even Fendiran held his tongue, rubbing his face meditatively as he glanced at the trembling stoneshaper. “It’ll be fine,” Arlana said. “It’s ugly, but we can fix this.” Only a few steps farther, however, they came across a wide, dark-red smear and a confused muddle of tracks. Vadim raced ahead, holding up a hand wordlessly to stop them from following. Arlana held her breath until his deep voice carried down to them. “Clear!” A pause. “A body. Rhulic.” As one, the team ascended the final slope and arrived at the edge of the ruined circle to find the reeve hunter kneeling over a mangled, inert mass of flesh at the foot of the tallest of the monoliths. He flipped the corpse onto its back with his crossbow. Hallis recoiled and looked away, but Arlana forced herself to study the dead dwarf. Many deep gashes scored his flesh, and thick blood matted his beard. One eye was swollen shut. Still, it was not these wounds that made the wayfarer’s breath catch in her throat but the terrible deformation of the body: an eruption of spines along one arm and the neck, a distorted skull and masses of teeth bulging from a too-small mouth, still agape in a silent final cry. Fendiran broke their moment of contemplation, muttering in a low voice, “If it’s all the same to you, I suggest we get our work over with as quickly as possible and get back to Bradigus.” Arlana nodded. The group came alive with activity, setting up camp and a worksite. Fendiran sent his woldstalkers to hover at the periphery, and Hallis ordered Cragbones to patrol the site, while Vadim slipped noiselessly down the incline to scout the environs. The wayfarer approached the vandalized pillar where the disfigured body lay and placed her palm on its surface, pointedly avoiding the brownish drips. Her senses melded with the igneous rock, extending down to its foundation. She felt the dormant power beneath the site as one would hear a murmur in the dark, and the connection sent a shiver through her spine. Then, it faded. Poor Hallis would have her work cut out for her. Arlana gazed up at the smashed pinnacle of the stone, where blows of a heavy hammer, she supposed, had fashioned the top of the pillar into a sinuous head. She could make out the flare of nostrils, and there the curve of fangs implied by some darkened pigment. A dragon.
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She shivered, though she had not encountered any foul power in the stone. Nor had she detected the presence of intense blight. This site, perched on a high rocky outcropping at the back of a canyon, was cut off by the blighted land to the southwest, but she did not believe any fell magic had tainted it. Who had damaged the stones, and for what purpose? As she took in the landscape, the twang of a crossbow and a sharp cry suddenly drew her attention to the east side of the circle. She caught a flurry of motion and the sound of sliding scree. A drawn-out curse in Khadoran rose from the north, and Vadim emerged at the edge of the circle, his dark brows knitting beneath the shadow of his pelt, his jaw clenched. “One dwarf, watching. Maybe a scout, maybe his friend,” Vadim announced, pointing at the corpse. “I missed my shot. Dwarf went east.”
“Did you see anyone? Were they armed? Obvious defenses? Blight?” prompted Hallis. “No,” said the reeve hunter. Hallis and Fendiran shared an eye roll, but Arlana laughed. “I think Vadim would tell us if an army of blighted Rhulfolk were charging through the valley. No, we don’t understand this situation fully yet. Let’s stick to what we know. Night is falling, and we still need to scour that monolith and have Hallis start her stone-curing magic by moonrise.” Gratefully, they retreated into the comfort of routine. Nonetheless, Arlana pulled Fendiran aside. “Think you can put together a sentry stone?” The stoneward nodded gravely. “Just in case?”
“You’ll have to follow,” Arlana ordered, “We don’t know what kind of danger we’re in here, and we’ve hours of hard labor ahead of us before there’s any chance of channeling the energies here back to the nearest ley line conjunction.”
“Just in case.”
With a nod, Vadim went in pursuit of the scout.
Arlana woke at first dawn, parched and shivering under her black cloak. The smell of the bundled herbs burned at the grave cairn the evening before still hung about her dark hair, which she untangled with her fingers and wove into a thick, loose braid. Hallis lay next to her, legs tucked to her chest, snoring softly—a peaceful morning, for a change.
“We might not even be able to return to the other site safely on foot anymore,” Fendiran whispered sharply. “Blighted Rhulfolk!” exclaimed Hallis. “We don’t even know how many there are!” “Well, that’s what Vadim’s going to find out. The Ironhead Enclave could support thousands of Rhulfolk, but out here? They’d be scratching a living from rock, living off moss and marmot meat.” “And what if they’re stark raving mad from blight?” asked the stoneshaper, her voice rising. “What if they slaughtered their own?” Fendiran added. Arlana shook her head. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” she answered slowly. Gazing back at the dead body in its pool of dark blood, she thought of the enraged dragonspawn they had killed. The image of the mysterious wound on the beast floated to the front of her mind. Could the dwarf have fought the creature before climbing up here to die? She wrestled with the urge to reach out to her fellow blackclads through the nearby ley lines. They were cut off until they could restore the standing stones and create a proper energy flow. Their backs were to the hard face of a mountain. Below, who knew what twisted, blight-induced peril awaited. Arlana smirked, considering this wasn’t the kind of excitement Fendiran always said he was longing for. “C’mon, Fendiran, Panicmonger of Orboros, I’m going to need a hand moving the dwarf’s body. Might as well erect a cairn for him. We ought to prepare our ritual to cleanse that blight and repair the stone before moonrise. So, move!” Not all of her peers would have bothered, content to allow the corpse to be consumed by scavengers. Arlana felt the dwarf had suffered enough indignity. An hour later, Vadim returned to report a small entrance to a Rhulic settlement cut into the rock on a high ledge along the eastern slopes of the valley. There was no telling how large it was.
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“Very quiet there,” Vadim explained to them slowly, as if searching for better words and failing.
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The three blackclads had toiled into the black of night to purge the blighted toxins from the earth around the pillar while Vadim kept watch. The druids had gathered around the woldwatcher, which drove its heavy fists into the tainted soil, and they had channeled their collective wills through the construct. The carved symbols on Cragbones’ frame blazed as if with greenish fire. Illustrations>Card and Board Games>High Command>Gargantuan Might>Ley Lines_Nestor> Hallis had collapsed onto her bedroll the second Arlana had managed to coax a similar glow from the runes on the monolith’s surface. The wayfarer and the reeve hunter also slept soon thereafter, well weary from the unexpected rigors of the day, while Fendiran paced, standing the first watch. Now the stoneward slept, and Vadim was nowhere to be seen, which Arlana took as a sign that all was well. She drained her water skin, took in the view of the valley, now curling with thick fog, and returned to the monolith for a moment’s meditation. The rock felt freezing to her bare skin, but when she sent her spirit down through this stone, only a tepid warmth kindled beneath her touch. Had the previous evening’s ritual failed? Arlana’s eyes darted about the stone circle, searching for some sign of intruders. All was as it had been the previous evening, but the pillar . . . the pillar seemed different. Just as she’d experienced the day before at the previous site, the warm, enveloping power of the land seemed dimmed, diminished. Blight in the area alone couldn’t account for this overnight change, surely. She went to Hallis and jammed an elbow into the side of the still-drowsing stoneshaper. “Listen,” she whispered, “Something’s wrong with the monolith.”
Hallis merely grunted and turned her back to her companion. “Hey! It’s morning, and the stone seems less powerful now,” Arlana insisted. “What?” Hallis was stirring at last. “Look, the same thing happened yesterday, at our previous campsite. The stone felt fine in the evening, but in the morning, it felt different.” “I’ve never heard of such a thing, Arlana. Let’s check the monolith for new damage, but I’m sure we would have heard intruders. Then again,” she grinned drowsily, “Fendiran was on watch.” The women rounded the stone pillar, examining it, and Hallis had Cragbones lift her up to feel for cracks at its peak where she had mended the rock to efface the dragon effigy. Nothing. Heavy footfalls broke the still of early morning, and Vadim burst into the circle, breathing heavily. “The cairn knocked over. The dwarf’s body gone. Taken! I search the valley and see many Rhulfolk. But, fog.” Blood rushed to Arlana’s head. “We need time,” she muttered. She shook Fendiran awake and ordered, “Finish that sentry stone, now!” She turned to Hallis. “I can’t take us through the ley lines. I need you to try, at least try, to work on the easterly stones. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just—the thinnest connection. We can’t escape on foot through the fog.” Hallis frowned and shook her head, “You know I can’t finish in time. We have to take a stand.” “That may be true, but we’ll try all the same. And keep alert!” “Arlana, you know how blight affects living creatures. There’s a madness within them. I don’t think we’ll have a choice but to put them down,” Fendiran said. He was already running his hands over the raw stone, using his will to mystically carve into it potent runes. They appeared beneath his hands, faster than any chisel could have done, but it was still a slow and laborious process. The wayfarer gritted her teeth. What a fool she’d been not to ask the group to work through the night on their defenses. She’d been so sure the Rhulfolk were few in number. And if they were crazed by blight, why had the scout fled rather than attacking? And now, why approach in the day when they could have come in the night to retrieve their dead kinsman? “Keep at it, all of you, and none of you move from here until I give the word. I’ll teach them to respect the Circle Orboros!” Approaching the monolith and feeling the vibration of energy gathered within, the wayfarer let her mind join its flow. In a flash, she vanished.
What were you thinking? Arlana chastised herself farther down the slope. She had sought to instill confidence, but Vadim probably saw through her words. She only hoped
they would keep on task. As she tried to pick her way down the mist-filled valley to head off the approaching foes, the shortcomings of her plan were becoming apparent. She stopped in her tracks and crouched, palms to earth, forcing herself to calm, for her heart to slow, remembering her training. She began to listen, and slowly sounds carried to her: the soft shuffle of feet, the stifled rasp of whispers in the Rhulic tongue, the clink-clank of metal. Gritting her teeth, she summoned all the energy she could for this act of daring. She disappeared again . . . . . . And assumed solid form at the flank of the gathered Rhulfolk with a crackle of lightning and a boom of thunder. She cast her thin arms wide so her cloak billowed out, and she brandished her voulge with a mighty yell, steeling herself to vanish again before the dwarves could organize a proper attack. She’d lead them on a merry chase for as long as her power availed her. But the Rhulfolk flung themselves to their knees and emitted a great wailing. A small chest tumbled from the arms of one, sending a handful of coins and gemstones to sparkle on the damp ground.
“Mercy!” cried an elder dwarf in slightly accented Cygnaran. “Be merciful, druid! Spare us!” The old woman ventured a glance at the young wayfarer, who stood stockstill, uncertain. Barely a dozen Rhulfolk were cowering before her. Arlana observed no telltale signs of blight. The odd pickaxe and hammer they had been holding lay abandoned on the ground. Perhaps seeing that destruction was not immediately raining down, the elder dwarf rose to her feet. She studied the blackclad intently, then took a step forward. Arlana finally found her tongue. “Back! You desecrated our standing stones. You have been tainted by the blight. I saw your kinsman.”
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“Saw and killed him, you mean!” the woman retorted, having apparently gotten over her fear enough to work up a sense of indignation.
One of them began to weep openly. Arlana could just make out his comrades muttering to him in Rhulic, “You couldn’t have stopped Aelfric. It wasn’t your fault he slipped away.”
The eyes of several others looked at her nervously, and it was clear most of them feared antagonizing a blackclad, even a young one such as she.
“You claim you’re innocent, but when you took Aelfric’s body, you did something to the great stones. I felt it myself. Explain!” the wayfarer suddenly accused them.
The old woman continued, “You slew a son of our clan! Aelfric was mad, yes, touched worse than the rest of us by the dragon filth and obsessed with the accursed creatures. We watched over our kin here in this valley that we thought abandoned by all. Why have you come to disturb our misery? Take this tribute and begone!” cried the elder, pointing at the small chest.
“Your stones mean nothing to us,” replied the elder coolly, raising her eyebrows. “We only wanted to bury our dead. You claim innocence, druid, but we know your kind were involved in this! Our kinfolk who fled Ironhead after the dragon battle said blackclads were there! It was your actions that brought them to our home. Can you tell me that your kind had no part in the devastation of these mountains?”
“We found your kinsman already dead there,” Arlana countered. “We came here only to restore our stones that have stood here for many years. The pillars were defaced, painted in blood . . . ”
Arlana said nothing at first. It was complicated, a matter she would never have shared with outsiders, even if she could claim to understand it fully. The fact was, the dwarf was not wrong—members of her order were at least partially responsible for what had transpired here. Krueger the Stormlord, she thought, recalling the most pervasive rumors.
“Ha!” barked the elder. “Mud, you mean—mixed with rust and ashes and river clay for pigment. It’s the work of one, though Aelfric is—was—handy with a hammer. We feared the blackclads and, save for him, shunned those uncanny stones. I thought blackclads knew what blood looked like.” One of the other dwarves hissed at her, trying to get her to settle down, but she waved him off. Arlana flushed. Then she told them hesitatingly, “We killed a dragonspawn at the mouth of the valley. It was wounded and enraged. I think . . . Perhaps it slew your Aelfric.”
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Arlana chose her words carefully, comprehending that these Rhulfolk were more victims than aggressors. She knew her order had fostered a fearsome reputation, but she had rarely had occasion to benefit from that. “I will not speak to what my order may or may not have done. We mean your people no harm. We have work to attend, and then will go. If you do not attack, nor will we. The blight threatens us both. Take your tribute.”
The elder and the others shared looks and a quick whispered conversation. She said, “You say you slew the dragonspawn that was Aelfric’s bane. I thank you for this. But remember that we have tended this blighted valley that no druid deigned to tread until the dragons fought. Be not so quick to accuse,” chided the elder. Fixing Arlana with a twinkling blue eye, she gathered up the chest and fallen gemstones. Then she rose and marched from the glade.
“Why didn’t you tell me, if you knew?” the wayfarer accused the reeve hunter.
Arlana let loose a thin breath of relief, careful not to slump, to betray that she had been as afraid of a clash as they. As the other Rhulfolk beat a hasty retreat, somewhat less brashly, the elder called back to the druid, “Look to your own, blackclad! Get gone from here!”
”Well, not exactly,” Hallis admitted. “That stone is repaired, and any blackclad could use it for basic needs. Nobody will be the wiser—only someone like you would notice, Arlana. Those extra runes just allow Morvahna to regulate who taps into its full power. A shift in territorial boundaries. Not our concern.”
When Arlana returned to the stone circle, the other blackclads assailed her with so many questions that she had to shout them down before she could recount the odd exchange. “One thing still troubles me,” she finished. “I still can’t explain the way the standing stones seemed to change overnight.” Hallis and Fendiran stared at her blankly. But Vadim nodded toward the base of the monolith, eyes narrowed. Frowning, Arlana approached the stone and ran her fingers along the surfaces until she encountered an unexpected groove, and then another—extra runes that would have been hidden to casual observers. She pressed to the ground to examine them. They were freshly inscribed. “Morvahna? These symbols mark the stone as Morvahna’s,” the wayfarer said. Vadim caught her eye and nodded again—this time toward Hallis. “Hallis? You did this? Why?” Her friend did not bother to act surprised, though she gave Vadim a sharp look, then tilted her head back and sighed. “I had hoped we could slip out of here without this becoming a thing. I’m not the first blackclad forced to take on extra orders from another potent. She only wanted me to add her mark, with a little discretion. Seemed simple enough. You can’t say no to Morvahna, and why would I?” “Oh,” said Arlana with dawning comprehension. “Oh.” Hallis folded her arms across her chest and shrugged. “She might’ve put in a good word for me.”
“I just tell you. And the Circle—always secrets.” Arlana exclaimed in frustration. “Hallis, I can’t believe you let me confront those dwarves without all the facts. We were heading toward bloodshed! With a weakened stone, no less!“
Arlana chewed at her lip. An uneasy silence fell over them. It was true such regulatory runes were not uncommon on certain standing stone sites, though usually reserved for those deep within a potent’s central holdings. Morvahna doing this here was a sneaky move, intended to allow her to seize new regions before her rivals. Smart, but underhanded. Arlana did not like being caught up in such games. Still, she could not blame her friend for having ambition. Within the Circle, it was the only way to advance. “Well, thankfully it didn’t come to violence. Even if I could reach Bradigus now, I know what he’d say. He would just want us to finish up and move on,” Arlana said finally, crossing her arms tight across her chest. “It’s just . . . You could have told me, Hallis. I needed to know this.” “I know. I know.” Arlana contemplated Fendiran’s half-assembled sentry stone crowding the circle, their packs pushed aside in their rush to defend themselves, and the primitive dragon visages—colored mud!—that marred the massive stones. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” sighed the wayfarer. “This is at least a week’s work, if we’re being honest,” put in Hallis, throwing her arms wide in exasperation. “We’ll have to create more monoliths to guide the flows past all that blight in the valley.” Arlana gave a rueful laugh, thinking suddenly of the elder. “I think I know some skilled stoneworkers we might ask to quarry the stone we need. But we’re going to have to ask really, really nicely. Perhaps make some promises.” Then she pushed the stoneshaper’s shoulder gently. “Come on, Hallis, the Star-Reacher. We might as well help you try to impress Morvahna.”
Mute for once, Fendiran crossed his arms and let his light mane fall forward to hide his face. Vadim shifted from one foot to the other.
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
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Blighted Cygnar By Josh Colon & Douglas Seacat • Art by Néstor Ossandón & Andrea Uderzo To learn about the events leading to the circumstances described in this article, be sure to read Wrath of the Dragonfather by Zachary C. Parker. For centuries, the dragons of western Immoren engaged in a cold war, awaiting any sign of their progenitor making his next move to reclaim the power he had bestowed upon them. In recent years, however, events conspired to provoke the dragons into sudden action—a combination of Everblight’s influence and the discovery
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of a long-disembodied athanc provoked a dragon war over central Cygnar. The cities of Orven and Ironhead were the most affected, both places where Cygnarans lived alongside well-established Rhulic enclaves. These places were directly assailed by dragons and their corrosive blood, incurring great casualties and an aftermath of destruction complicated by massive blight. Through the brave actions of a number of heroic individuals, these cities managed to survive, but even years later, reconstruction efforts have been slow, costly, and hampered by unusual obstacles.
ORVEN The Event
In the winter of 609 AR, a fierce and unexpected battle erupted over the skies and streets of the Cygnaran city of Orven upon the arrival of the dragon Charsaug. Soldiers drawn from the city’s garrison, part of the 14th Division of the Cygnaran Army, fought heroically to protect the city from the dragon, though there was little they could do to injure the immortal and titanic creature. Charsaug had apparently been drawn to the city after detecting the athanc of a legendary dragon in the custody of Major Prime Victoria Haley and Knight of the Prophet Constance Blaize. While this athanc had been kept in a sealed containment device, this mechanism had begun to fail, prompting its detection. Making matters worse, agents of the Legion of Everblight also joined the fray: a pair of powerful blighted Nyss warlocks named Saeryn and Rhyas, who rode gargantuan dragonspawn to battle Charsaug in the air while Cygnaran Storm Striders blasted at the intruders with lightning from below. While these warlocks turned their attention to Charsaug instead of the Cygnarans, a second dragon, Ashnephos, joined the fray, escalating the potential collateral damage. Realizing the city could not endure such an onslaught, Major Haley’s forces rushed from the city by train toward Ironhead Station, taking the athanc and its containment device with them. The dragons followed behind. While the city was eventually secured, the resulting devastation changed its face and will continue to impact the region for some time.
The Disaster
The battle damaged structures and destroyed buildings throughout the city, many of which were obliterated in an instant by dragon fire or by collateral damage from the weapons fire of defenders, which included cannon volleys from Orven’s Rhulic enclave. While the conflict took place mainly within the industrial and commercial districts, the battle originated in the northwestern quarter, a section of the city tightly packed with homes, businesses, and pubs. The city’s defenders managed to divert Charsaug away from the densest population centers, but despite their efforts, the death toll was high in the end. Worse, injuries to Charsaug caused the dragon’s blighted blood to spill down onto several populated areas. The number of citizens afflicted with permanent blighting as a result of this was limited primarily by the fact that many of those so exposed were slain outright, a dubious blessing. By the time Ashnephos, Charsaug’s twin, arrived to aid its sibling, many inhabitants of the city thought their destruction was guaranteed. The Lady Warthunder, a heavily armed military train, contributed to the defense and served to help Major Haley escape the city. As the train sped out of Orven, however, the twin dragons reduced the city’s rail yard to ashes.
While the soldiers aboard the Lady no doubt saved tens of thousands of lives in Orven by drawing the dragons away, this chase would not end without major consequences. Wainwright Crossing, the major rail bridge over the Banvick River to the east, was destroyed during the pursuit. Even by 611 AR, two years later, the repairs to this bridge remain incomplete, as efforts have suffered numerous setbacks, and vital materials have often been delayed by the need to use alternate routes. As the speeding train battled against the twin dragons in the mountainous region between Orven and Ironhead Enclave, an ancient terror reached Immoren for the first time in sixteen centuries. Toruk, the father of all dragons, returned to the mainland to do battle against his offspring. Toruk’s impossibly swift crossing of the distance between Cryx and western Cygnar had dire consequences for the human kingdom. Beneath the Dragonfather’s flight path, the dead rose from the earth to attack the living. Many cemeteries and small churches that fell under the shadow of the Dragonfather’s wings were unhallowed by his passage, their graves tainted. A number of opportunistic necromancers in the region have since used this to their advantage, pillaging corpses for their own nefarious purposes, though agents of the Church of Morrow were quickly dispatched to mitigate the damage. During the dragons’ battle, their blighted blood rained down from the skies, some of which collected into noxious and hazardous pools that have persisted. These blighted concentrations have attracted dragonspawn and are frequented by reanimated corpses, specters, and other threats. While Orven took the brunt of the immediate destruction, the surrounding wilderness was also greatly affected. Much of the blasted landscape carries the scars of dragon blight, with twisted and transformed wildlife competing against dragonspawn for meager resources. Both hunting and mining have become perilous for the people of the region, and many have left their homes in search of safety.
The Restoration
The twin pillars of Orven’s community are its human and Rhulic populations. For generations, both peoples have lived in relative harmony, learning to appreciate and respect each other’s strengths and differences. These bonds were never more apparent than during the aftermath of what the locals took to calling the “ash storm,” when both communities came together to begin the city’s extensive reconstruction efforts. While few places in the Iron Kingdoms have anything resembling organized disaster relief, the Cygnaran crown did send aid to the people of Orven, mainly in the form of supplies, military reinforcements, and prison crews to help the locals with rebuilding efforts. With the high degree of cooperation between various local and military groups, most of the city has been repaired in the last two years, with all major roads and commercial buildings restored to working order.
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Despite these efforts, the people of the city continue to struggle, as many are still displaced by the destruction of their homes and businesses, increasing Orven’s homeless and criminal populations to unprecedented levels. Refugees from Orven have flocked to other nearby cities, such as New Larkholm and Ramarck, raising issues of poverty and unrest due to increased overcrowding.
The Aftermath
The greatest source of Orven’s financial troubles is the destruction of the Wainwright Crossing rail bridge and the failure of all subsequent reconstruction efforts to it, despite several attempts by both local and military construction crews. This is not a reflection on the competence of the repair crews but rather due to the dangers of the region, as dragonspawn and other blighted creatures continue to roam the area.
Within days of the event, Orven received many Morrowan apothecaries and church alchemists bringing medicine to heal the sick and wounded, missionaries helping families locate lost loved ones, and priests sanctifying graveyards and putting errant spirits to rest. These actions have once again endeared the populace to the church, which proved diligent in its work to bring relief to the bodies and spirits of the people of Orven. It is no coincidence that Orven has experienced a resurgence of faith in the last two years, with several new Morrowan churches and shrines erected in the city.
What’s more, a once small but vicious farrow tribe called the White Tusk scavenged nearly all the useful weapons and steel from the Lady Warthunder. Using this fallen Cygnaran military equipment, including malfunctioning storm chamber technology, the White Tusk tribe has increasingly become a source of concern for anyone traveling the region. Spoken among the work crews are tales of the spirits of the fallen trencher company that fought on the Lady Warthunder, and how they linger around the bridge. These restless soldiers attack the living in a futile attempt to complete their mission, unable to distinguish between enemy and bystander. This has been a major aspect of the difficulties in repairing the bridge, though efforts continue. In the meantime, the city of Orven has endured a decline in business and opportunities for its people, though it is hoped this will pass when the reconstruction is completed. Some have thrived amid new opportunities created by the situation, while others have increasingly relied upon expert members of the local Rhulic enclave to provide aid to their neighbors.
As the birthplace of Primarch Arius, the now-deceased former leader of the Church of Morrow, Orven has long held a significant place in the hearts of the Cygnaran faithful. With this in mind, the church immediately made Orven a priority, sending substantial aid to its citizens.
Outside the city, several efforts have been underway to secure the area for safe travel. In the earliest days after the incident, the increased dragonspawn activity made traveling by foot or horse a dangerous proposition. Word spread, attracting hardy monster hunters looking to prove themselves. Within months, monster hunters from across Cygnar and Ord flocked to the area, lured by both the challenge and opportunities offered by lucrative contracts. This is a risky endeavor that has already resulted in several fatalities, but some few have earned valuable experience and a steady income hunting dragonspawn. Another common sight in the area is a number of selfstyled “master alchemists” claiming to posses the cure to dragon blight or other related ailments. These devious charlatans are only interested in profiting off the misery of others, offering useless balms and potions at extravagant prices. Perhaps the most egregious offender is a man named Ennis Gilroy. Gilroy has proven to be both unscrupulous and successful in his endeavors. Claiming to possess a method to remove blight from the ground and make soil farmable again, Gilroy offers his services at an exorbitant rate. He then hires the poor and displaced to dig up a blighted field and dump the contaminated soil and debris in places such as Rimmocksdale Lake. This has contaminated the surrounding deep soil even further, and reports of strange blighted fish and creatures in the lake and surrounding hot springs have increased drastically within the last year. Not all efforts at cleansing the landscape are insincere or ineffective, as the clients of the gobber-owned Mog and Mag’s Sanitation Services can attest. Former assistants at the Order of the Golden Crucible, these gobber twins heard of the plight of Orven and set about finding a way to solve the problem using their alchemical expertise. Within a few months, the pair had invented an innovative and ingenious, if slow, method to safely siphon and extract blighted waste from soil and water. Despite charging a modest fee and regularly foregoing payment on a case-by-case basis, the brothers’ business has boomed. The pair oversees crews totaling three dozen humans, gobbers, and trollkin standing by for such contracts.
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While their process takes time and involves alchemical solutions that are only available in limited supply, Mog and Mag’s Sanitation has so far restored several square miles of terrain outside Orven, bringing newfound hope to those working the land in these regions. Unfortunately, this process does produce blighted waste that must be disposed of. At present, the only solution is to store these blighted contaminants as deep as possible in nearby caves and tunnels, including several depleted and abandoned mines. The impact on the wildlife of the mountains remains to be seen, and there has been discussion that these efforts may open up Mog and Mag to legal consequences in the Cygnaran courts. In terms of building reconstruction, several neighborhoods have been entirely torn down and rebuilt, and these efforts remain ongoing. Clan Lord Horud Lakestone has roused the clans of the Orven Enclave dwarves to lend their expertise and assistance in these matters. Clan Lakestone invested funds in this effort and now technically owns a number of these new structures, essentially broadening the enclave’s reach. Additionally, some of the Church of Morrow’s funds to help the region have gone to pay for dwarven workers, a legitimate exchange but one that has bolstered the clans. Altogether, this has caused some political friction between human and enclave leaders. Many of Orven’s human citizens bitterly recall it was dwarven ordnance raining down on their former neighborhoods during the clash with the dragons. There has been a general expectation that the dwarves should volunteer their services rather than being paid, which many local dwarves consider unreasonable.
IRONHEAD ENCLAVE The Event
Mere hours after the disastrous events in Orven, even greater devastation came to Ironhead Enclave, as the dragon alliance clashed against their progenitor, Toruk, the Dragonfather. This major dragon clash took place immediately above the Enclave, showering the earth below in blighted blood mixed with pouring rain. More than once, a dragon would crash to the ground, shattering the earth and toppling buildings before ascending once again to rejoin the titanic battle above. In the most dramatic turn of this draconic battle, Blighterghast was sent hurtling from the sky to smash straight into the Enclave. His impact made a crater that penetrated multiple layers of the dwarven city, bathing the entire area in his heavily blighted blood. Enough blood was spilled that numerous dragonspawn spontaneously came into being. This resulted in one of the largest dragonrelated disaster in the history of the Iron Kingdoms. In the end, Blighterghast and the dragon alliance prevailed, driving Toruk away from the mainland, but the cost that such a victory had on the people of Ironhead Enclave will be paid for for years to come.
The Disaster
The human-run subterranean city of Ironhead Station weathered these events with little damage, shielded by the mountain above it. The destruction to the railway, however, impacted its economy, causing shortfalls and trade problems. The adjoining dwarven enclave suffered badly as a result of its location, being considerably more exposed. Unlike its human counterpart, Ironhead Enclave is situated on the surface of the mountain, and even its considerable underground structures were not deep enough to escape unscathed. While the city did not endure any dragons deliberately rampaging through its streets, the impact of Blighterghast unleashed tremendous destruction and lasting blighted spillover. The damage to Ironhead Enclave was extensive, with approximately a third of the city’s buildings and structures destroyed and another third damaged. While this wreckage was horrific for the city, it ultimately proved to be the least of the Enclave’s troubles. As the dragons battled overhead, their blighted blood showered the streets below, disfiguring the population. It is calculated that nearly five thousand people lost their lives. These casualties might have been worse if the population hadn’t reacted so quickly both to seek shelter and to come to the aid of the injured. Though the vast majority of blight affecting survivors was superficial, most of Ironhead Enclave’s citizenry show some physical signs of dragon blight. Superficial deformities include rocky growths, bone spurs, eye discoloration, and other cosmetic malformation. Despite the emotional trauma brought on by these physical changes, the hardy dwarven people adapted quickly, going about their lives and uniting together for the good of the city. The prevalence of these changes has helped mitigate the degree to which they are considered a stigma, at least within the community. During the event, every able-bodied dwarf joined up to help in the defense of Ironhead Enclave and, more important, in the disaster relief after Blighterghast’s impact. Regardless of status or occupation, thousands of the Enclave’s citizens took up arms, helped put out fires, or pulled their neighbors from the rubble. Though the city was ultimately spared from a direct draconic assault, by the time the immortal beings departed, they had left lasting scars on the city, its people, and the land itself. The degree to which the pervasive blight has affected the region is still only partially understood and might require outside agencies—like the enigmatic Circle Orboros—to correct.
The Restoration
Unlike Orven, there was little cooperation between the Rhulfolk of Ironhead Enclave and the neighboring Cygnarans in the aftermath of this attack. Ironhead Station largely left the people of the Enclave to fend for themselves and seemed more focused on the situation in Orven. In fairness, Cygnar was swept up by the Second Cygnaran Civil War and then months of fighting Khador in the Thornwood. While these conflicts were focused primarily in northern Cygnar, CORVIS CODEX
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they kept the kingdom’s government preoccupied. The people of the Enclave were less aware of these factors, seeing only that their neighbors were not there for them. Dwarven leaders rallied the people to solve their own troubles, reinforcing the fact that they remained Rhulic and not Cygnaran citizens. Some degree of mutual support with the Orven Enclave took place, but the clans in each city remained focused on the damage done to their respective communities. Rhulic industriousness eventually prevailed, and a great deal of the Enclave’s infrastructure was repaired within the first year of the attack. Still, the dwarves took notice. While Rhulic pride kept them from airing grievances with the Cygnaran authorities, some ruling clans in Rhul advocated ways to express their displeasure more meaningully. A few, such as clan Blackheel, went as far as to suggest increased prices on trade goods between Ghord and Caspia. Relations between Rhul and Cygnar were not severely strained overall, but the people of Ironhead Enclave have become considerably more insular than they once were. All areas of the Enclave that could be expeditiously rebuilt have been seen to, yet this leaves several sizable regions cleared but largely untouched. These sections of the city are so heavily blighted that they are considered a hazard to all life and reconstruction impossible until some sort of solution can be found. Some of these areas are relatively small—where dragon blood splashed down on an individual building or street, for instance—but this also includes the crater-like epicenter where Blighterghast impacted and where a great pool of blood collected and seeped into the ground and levels below. Attempts to isolate and remove blighted rubble and stone are ongoing, but each affected zone offers its own challenges. It is an expensive, dangerous, and time-consuming endeavor. Most of these blight zones are cordoned off to the public, contrasting these ruined locations against the newly reconstructed surrounding buildings. The Ironhead Elder Council has taken pains to quell rumors regarding the scope of the destruction here, and most of the clans have agreed to keep this an internal matter. The people of Ironhead do not wish their tragedy to be known by the Cygnaran population nor the Moot back in Rhul. The council fears appearing incapable of caring for its citizens and also knows the scope of those affected by the blight might permanently damage the reputation of the community. This would cause a loss of face and political clout they are unwilling to endure. This has further prompted the council to go as far as sending only dwarves free of blight back to Rhul to update its government. It is not uncommon to see druids of the Circle Orboros in the immediate surroundings. These blackclads have been hard at work for years, attempting to repair the damage to the natural life of the region and to heal the wounds done to the several major ley lines flowing through the adjoining mountains. These druids face grueling and dangerous work, not only from the blight interfering with their powers but also from horrific dragonspawn that continue to roam the surrounding plains and mountainsides.
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The worst of these areas are referred to by some as the dragon-scarred wastes, avoided by all except the most daring necromancers and occultists searching for unusual sources of power. Some of the monster hunters employed near Orven have taken to offering their services to Ironhead or the blackclads, willing to test their mettle as skilled dragonspawn hunters at “competitive rates.”
The Aftermath
While the majority of Ironhead’s population suffered only minor blighting, there were those in the city who were less fortunate. A small but not insignificant minority experienced severe and unmistakable blight. The nature of the changes is extremely varied from one individual to the next but are all nearly impossible to hide. Some have developed hardened, scaly skin that is cold to the touch. It is common for the afflicted to exhibit stony, angular growths on their foreheads, elbows, and knuckles. Some individuals have had hands and fingers turned into claws, while others have developed stunted, wing-like protuberances on their backs. The most alarming changes are not physical but mental. Some have had their personalities and habits changed entirely. The most commonly reported change among the heavily blighted is extreme compulsiveness. These blighted Rhulfolk become utterly and obsessively driven to perfect a given craft, generally one practiced more reasonably before the blighting. While some few have found productive ways to channel these energies— such as by tirelessly assisting reconstruction—others are driven to laboring over strange and often disturbing projects, including crafting baffling works of sculpture, smithing, or construction. Many of these bear draconic or serpentine elements, appreciated only by others similarly blighted. Some of the most severely blighted populace have been taken in and housed at the Ward of the Claywives, a house of healing funded by the elder council and supported by the local priests of the Great Fathers. The healers of the ward do their best to look after these blighted individuals, though some families opt to care for family members discreetly in their homes in order to preserve their dignity. While this course of action is seen as more honorable, there are risks. Many families have trouble keeping their afflicted relatives’ obsessions under control; there have been a number of incidents in which these blighted dwarves have injured or even killed those caring for them, especially if prevented from fulfilling their compulsions. Not all of the most heavily blighted population have been accounted for, a topic of no small concern. Many heavily blighted citizens disappeared into the many tunnels and ruined underground passages beneath the city, where they created a new society for themselves. These dwarves have joined one of several furtive dragon cults, most of which are devoted to Blighterghast. The largest cult calls itself the Blightborn. Its members have entirely renounced the Stone Fathers, hoping to earn the favor of their dragon god by constructing
large and elaborate underground structures in his honor. The activities and intent of these cultists are largely unknown, but they have been busily involved in creating their own deeper tunnels and buildings and festooning them with peculiar works of art. These projects have been kept secret and are guarded by some of the largest of Blighterghast’s dragonspawn. Rumors surround these cultists, from accusations of kidnapping to outright murder, though little proof has been offered to the city’s authorities. For its part, the Enclave has made the recovery of these people a priority—as long as it can be done discreetly, so as not to draw attention from the Cygnaran authorities or, even more so, the Rhulic Moot. So far, few have been willing to explore the unknown depths. There have been thankfully few violent encounters despite apprehensions. One of the most tragic stories since the disaster involves Thelrick Grimshield, son of one of Ironhead’s councilors, who proved instrumental in the defense and restoration of the city during and after the devastation. During the crisis, Thelrick led from the front, putting himself in grave danger to personally coordinate efforts to protect his people and subsequently exposing himself to large amounts of dragon blight. Through sheer will, Thelrick maintained a hold of his mind while his body transformed until the major rebuilding efforts were nearing completion almost a full year after the dragon battle. Once satisfied his people were taken care of, Thelrick retreated into isolation, his mind eventually slipping
into madness. So far, the council of elders has kept Thelrick’s disappearance a secret from the populace, who would lose morale knowing that one of their heroes had succumbed. Some among the Grimshield family believe Thelrick now leads the Blightborn, as he was seen carving a strange symbol on the walls of his home in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. This same symbol now appears painted or engraved on the walls of newer structures and machines in the lower portions of the city. Ironhead Enclave has had to contend with an alarmingly large number of dragonspawn in the region, most of them thought to have arisen from Blighterghast’s blood. Making their homes in the city’s sewers and ruined buildings, these dragonspawn are simple-minded but violent creatures, seeking primarily to kill to feed, showing at least enough cunning to stalk isolated victims. Surviving witnesses claim these dragonspawn have been seen protecting the subterranean cultists as well as refusing to attack those who bear the most obvious marks of the blight. It remains to be seen if the Enclave will ever fully recover from this disaster, and certainly it is likely the city will never again be entirely the same. Most of the surviving inhabitants hope the blighted regions can be cleansed and restored and also that in another generation or two, the blighted deformities will vanish. The hidden cultists below the city belie this, suggesting an alien new culture that has no intention of leaving.
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No Quarter #72 asked you to bring to life our newest collectible bust: General Sebastian Nemo. We received many wonderful entries this time around, making for some fierce competition. Here are the judges’ favorites.
GOLD CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Displaying a skillful application of various painting techniques, Carlos does a masterful job of breathing life into the sculpt. His clever use of lighting and color helped create a vibrant and striking piece. Congratulations, Carlos!
HONORABLE MENTION
TYSON KOCH
The creativity and vision of Tyson’s Nemo won us over. With his conviction to the concept, Tyson was able to give us a unique and memorable interpretation of the venerable Cygnaran warcaster. Very well executed.
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