Here is the first part of the reporting on my 6 player Krieghammer (warhammer using kriegspiel inspired rulings) campaign. I've been running it for about 6 months and the final battle (three players - Skaven, Chaos/Empire and Beastmen) is taking place right now! I ran it on discord, getting private orders from the players (whether those orders for in a battle or commands for travelling across the map) and publicly updating the map/giving important area updates. All of the battles apart from the final one have been in private, so the other players not involved in the battle were not able to get unfair intelligence on the other player's armies. I ran the game using the freeform/ruleless protocols (inspired by the Free Kriegspiel Revolution) outlined in my waraming PDF "Freeform Skirmish Referee": https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/352987/Freeform-Skirmish-Referee
Find out more about Krieghammer/join the discord and play a game here: http://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2021/04/krieghammer-rules-and-armies.html
I did all of the maps/battle images in Paint.net.
Original Recruitment Post for the Game/Details on how it was played:
- Each player is in control of a faction warband.
- Each turn, outside of battle with another player, takes a day.
- You will be given a description of the region you are in and then give the orders for what your warband does on that day.
- The turns outside of battle will be more broad strokes than the battles. Their purpose is to grow your warband/gather items of power/maybe be killed by NPCs.
- The map will make it clear where all the other factions are but you will not know specifically what they are up to. Alliances and communication are possible between the different factions (if somewhat improbable), but each faction outside of the two Empire commanders has their own unique goal to win the scenario.
- Battles between player warbands will be resolved in a public battlefield (This ended up being private!).
- The end is not the end: A win by the Beastmen, Orcs, Skaven or Undead will trigger apocalyptic events that will be dealt with by the other factions in an epilogue of sorts (Both the Skaven and the Beastmen did this - they got a massive amount of troops as a reward!).
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| The campaign map |
Factions, Their Goals and Recruitment information (From the Recruitment Post):
- Beastmen, Starts with 15 points: You must raze three towns of the stinking menfolk. More beastpeople will join your cause if you find them in the deep dark forests and woods!
- Orcs, Starts with 15 Points: You must prove yourself as a warboss, winning five battles against any of the other factions! More orcs dwell in the mountains, they will be looking for a fight! Goblins are in the woods, bash them into fighting for you!
- Skaven, Starts with 20 Points: You emerge in the middle of the Veldt from a tunnel from the under empire. You must capture two human towns and keep each for long enough to build a tunnel beneath the ground. You will be sent more troops overtime from beneath the earth!
- 2 x Commanders of The Empire, Starts with 20 Points Each: You must defend The Empire! Cleanse Ostermark of all other factions. You will be sent an allowance from the empire to recruit more men from the towns and villages of the region!
- Undead, Starts with 15 Points: Your vampire baron master requires an army of the undead! Raise the dead from the many sites of ancient battles or cemeteries in the region. You must not return south until you have raised an army of undead worth 80 points.
Some caveats:
- Probably not balanced in any way! Your army well may be crushed!
- The campaign will probably take a while to play out.
- There may be a lull for you when we have to resolve a battle between two warbands
A turn is a day. Each turn you will get a description of the region you are and how your warband's actions from the previous day went. Each turn you provide orders as to what your warband will spend the day doing. All of the above will be done via private message. It generally takes a day to travel between regions - but mountainous/forested regions may take longer! (edited)
Moving to a new region takes a whole day. Doing something in a region also takes a whole day. You can split up your armies but they will be weakened if they meet aggressive groups!
Player Warbands:
Beastmen, The Peacebane Warherd, led by Beastlord Kurghan Fleshrender.
Orcs, led by Black Orc The Nameless:
Daily Map Updates: Each map updates represents a day - bits and pieces happened in the direct messages between me and the players but I will not present them here in the interest of brevity!
Day 2: I didn't upload a map image for some reason....
Day 4: From the mountains come the roar of "WAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!", heard as far as Muckenhof. The orcs there have been incited, a great beast has been slain and a new great and glorious warboss marches forward, gathering the greenskins! (The Orc commander defeated a Jabberslythe in the mountains!)
Day 5: A great howl comes from the northern black forest. Smoke fills the air. Ryazan is razed by the beastmen. Now diseased men and women flee from the town - they are unable to cross the river into the safety of nearby towns and are lost forever in the chaos infected wood!
Day 7: In the East the people of the town of Weiler has begun fleeing from the approaching horde of Orcs! They are absolutely terrified at the size of it! Some of the braver/insane fighting men have stayed behind but most of the town has abandoned hope and fled! Where are the defending armies of The Empire, they cry!
Day 9 (Lost a day here!): The town of Weiler has been lost to the gleeful destruction of the orc host!
Day 10: The people of Nagenhof and Buckrow have begun to flee their city - fearful of the enormous orc warhost rampaging the land! Some small token hosts of mad defenders remains! Sigmar, they cry, Why has your Empire abandoned us?! Some of the refuges from Buckrow fall dead on the riverbanks - a foul sickness wrecking their fleeing bodies!
Day 11: Buckrow is lost to the orc menace! Hundreds if not thousands of refugees flee West along the river in search of heroes to save them!
Day 12: Something feels...wrong, in Ostermark! The dead are raising from the ground in the West!
Battle! The forces of the Beastmen, The Peacebane Warherd, led by Beastlord Kurghan Fleshrender will be attacked by the Army of the Empire 2, led by Pistolier Grondschlächt von Impfneid-Zugzwang, on the river near the ruins of Ryazan!
A river, just east of the Ruin of Ryazaan. Beastmen on a boat and a troop of The Empire's finest.
• The ranged units march into position and open fire – they focus on the more lively runts who appear to be steering the boat– the forest echoes with the BOOM of rifles and the arrows and bullets slay the beastman raiders! They fall into the river – dead.
• The remaining beastman aboard the barge do nothing in response. As the empire’s units get closer they realise it is a trick! Foul chaos magic has coated the corpses of dead men, beastman, and wild animals in a glamour to make them appear like living beastmen! They are but stinking, rotting corpses!
• An ungodly HOWL blasts from the north!
• At the ungodly howl – the two peasant scouts flee! The days marching through up river with endless howling and gibbering and the sight of a boat full of a corpses is too much for them! They run away!
• One of the conscripted archers also jumps in the river and swims South. This madness is too much for her!
• Two beastman soothsayers in the woods send gouts of flame at the imperial troops! One is unsettled by their glinting armour and does not cast – but the other sends a fireball at the two Pistoliers! Grondschlächt von Impfneid-Zugzwang is set alight!
• 5 Beastmen Raiders appear in the nearby woods and fire at the burning pistoleer, Grondschlächt hitting him twice! Both in the arm! He may have trouble firing with this arrow wounded arm!
• A stinking plague carrying Nurgle Chaos Spawn emerges slathering from the woods and runs at the mounted knight! It scratches and bleats but is unable to pierce the knights armour or unsettle its mount yet. It is unable nor cares to, reach the targets it was directed to attack!
• 7 spear wielding beastmen runts appear and charge at the mounted pistoliers! 3 stab at Grondschlächt’s mount, 1 spear wounds its flank! 4 stab at the other pistolier’s mount! It is stabbed twice! Both mount are unsettled by the stabbing at the flames! One of the pistoliers horse bucks but its rider holds tight!
• 5 Beastmen appear! 3 Smash into the Western Troopers! 1 of the troopers is beheaded by a beastman! The other has its leg cleaved off! Both are slain! The remaining trooper pierces one of the beastman’s arms but does not slay it!
• The other 2 beastman smash into the mounted knight already beset by the spawn of chaos! A beastman smashes in the leg of the poor horse who crumples to the ground! Dead!
• The now unmounted knight hacks at the foul spawn of chaos that is gibbering at him! A might blow! The chaos spawn has its head instantly removed! The melts to the ground oozing pestilence! The knight immediately begins cough and hacking beneath his helmet!
• The riflemen all reload! The men and women of the empire look at Grondschlächt for direction in this madness! In the north there is howling of yapping and snarling of many vicious wild beast dogs!
• Grondschlächt opens fire at the Soothsayer launcher of flames in the woods. A VERY lucky shot! Getting it right between its beastly eyes! The soothsayer is dead. Hermann the other pistolier unleashes his pistols at the other Soothsayer – not having as much luck but wounding the casters arms!
• Herman, ungodly whispers filling his skull, screams – tears running down his face, “Too many secrets! Oh god the secrets!”, and sends a fireball hurling at one of the western Beastmen! It catches aflame!
• The remaining Soothsayer sends a ray of pain towards the westernmost foot knight! His body seizes up in excruciating pain and he drops to the muddy ground, laying on his back in pain and screaming in agony!
• The beastman raiders open fire! Hitting one of the riflemen in the leg! The rest of the arrows sink uselessly into the mud.
• The riflemen open fire on the remaining Soothsayer. Another crack shot from the guns of man! A bullet in the head! The other soothsayer is killed! The remaining projectiles hit into nearby trees and bushes, uselessly.
• The remaining beastman runts stab at the pistolier’s horses! Not achieving much of anything!
• The remaining trooper attempts to help his leader! Moving towards the runts attacking his horse! The beastmen warriors nearby to him hack their axes at him! Three hits, a blow to the leg and arm slows the trooper – allowing the third beastman to stomp forward and behead him.
• On the eastern flank the now unmounted knight coughs and splutters and wheezes in his helmet! He has been infected with some foul plague from the corpse of the spawn of Nurgle.
• The beastman nearby to him descend, swinging their axes! SMASH! SMASH! The knights leg armour and helmet are cracked and smashed and destroyed by the blows of the vicious beastmen!
• The knight, reeling from the attack and feeling ill, stumbles forward – missing his swing
• The beastmen swing again – perhaps over confident, the first misses, the second smashes in the leg of the ailing knight. He is bleeding profusely from the wound!
• The knight stumbles forward and pierces the arm of the beastman! It his last action in life as he tumbles forward into the mud – from his injury and fast acting plague infection. The beastmen hack at his prone form – cleaving his skull beneath his useless helmet.
• The units of the empire form up as best they can! The banner man – seeing his friends and comrades ripped to pieces from ghostly beasts that seem to have appeared from now where, throws down his banner and attempts to flee. Nearby runts and beastmen stab and hack him to death.
• The Riflemen and Pistoliers all reload! Ready to fire!
• Another great terrifying HOWL from the woods! The Ruin of Rheden a foul slathering pack of fang hounds bounds out of the woods! Hungry for man flesh!
• Another booming and doomfilled howl from the North. It is largely aesthetic in nature as the troops of the empire as terrified and unnerved as they could possibly be!
• One of the western beastman jumps in the water to douse the flames cooking his beastly body!
• The rifleman wildly fire their arms at nearby runts! They are too close and too surrounded and too terrified to get a good shot. They have missed! Gunsmoke fills the air yet again regardless.
• Four runts surrounded the rifleman! All stabbing deep into their flesh with their spears! The riflemen are dead.
• Another three runts attack the horsed pistoleer! Only one hit! But a deep stab into the flank of the horse! The horse crumples and dies beneath the pistoleer!
• The raiders in the nearby trees fire at the dismounted Pistolier Hermann! Two arrows hit him! His leg and arm are pierced.
• The beleaguered Herman is chopped at by nearby Beastmen! Not the finest blows from the beastmen but…it is enough to slay the already wounded and shocked and battered and fallen from his dead horse Herman. He is slain!
• Grondschlächt urges his horse ashore, hoping to escape. His sodden pistols amazingly fire! Slaying on of the beastman runts!
• Grondschlächt is massively overwhelmed and outnumbered, the horde of beastmen have him surrounded. It is moments before he is ripped from his horse and the horde begins its feast! Grondschlächt is slain along with his men – carrion feast for the beastman horde.
Nice overview and battle report. My own experiment is in abeyance...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing it restarted!
DeleteNice report, I enjoyed both the campaign and the battle scales.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask your method to cut the map into little sub-areas? Was it at random, or is there a logic? Sub-areas seems smaller for harder to cross lands.
Glad you enjoyed it! This is only party 1, there are some even bigger battles coming in the future!
DeleteAs to the map, yes there was a logic. Not a strict logic but generally harder to cross areas are smaller - because travel time is always one day a smaller area on the map means a harder to cross area in the game world!