War of thirteen : Ulric's Paw

[Pentagathus]

Death has come to the empire. In the form of war, in the form of famine, in the form of plauge, it matters not, for death allways means one thing. Opportunity.
Never has the opportinity been greater, the emperor is dead and who is there to claim the throne?
The Paw of Ulric of course.
They are a cult shrouded in mystery and rumour, viewed as outcasts by some, kings and great lords by others. Are they noble priests or abominations? The only thing the rumours agree on is that they are dedicated to Ulric, the wolf of winter.
Hector Khanvall imperial tactician is one of the few who know the truths behind the rumours, a man of the north who has fuaght with and beside these Norscan's and gained their trust.
The Paw view Hector as the perfect reflection of their god, he is strong fast and savage in combat but is most dangerous when at the head of a pack, cunning, devious, ruthless and best of all, he allways wins.
He shall make the perfect Emperor, he shall be the one to bring Ulric to the head of the Pantheon, he shall make the Norse remember their old gods and Chaos shall quake before the wolf's howl.

Claimant:
Hector Khanvall, Kislevite and master strategist.

First Sword (Jarl)
Sigefrid Heavy Armed, inspiring leader and mighty warrior. Sigefrid has known many fears but never ran, he is strong of voice and stature, tough but lacking some of the finnese of other fighters.

High priest (Ulfwerenar)
Witnere the wolfman. Witnere means nightmare in the Norscan tounge and this is one wolfman who lives up to his name. Cursed for rejecting the gods of chaos he is strong, fast and vicious. He is the figurehead of the Paw but shall never lead due to his instable mind and blood lust.

Accolyte (Bondsman)
Guthrum the wolfbrother. Brother to Witnere and only surviving kin this brave young man looked after his brother in his madness, taking many wounds on the road to his sibling's recoring sanity. Somehow he met with the youngest son of a norse Jarl, Sigefrid the follower of Ulric. Sigefrid saw Witnere as the child of Ulric and took to two brother's in as part of his retinue.

Accolyte (Bondsman)
Sihtric the hammer. Sihtric was born and raised a Norscan, untill his father turned to chaos and became a repulsive mutant. The gods of Chaos destroyed the rest of Sihtric's family untill he was all that was left of his long line. He sailed south as a vikingr and faught agaisnt many enemies, eventualy being defeated and captured by knights of Ulric. He gained the knights' trust once they heard his tale and he became a squire to one proud but impoverished knight, Wolfsturm.  On travels with Wolfsturm the young knight drank himself to stupidity and announced his squire's lineage to an innfull of Norscan hating peasants. A fight insued which ended with Wolfsturm and many of the peasants dead. The peasants were to afraid to continue fighting Sihtric but blamed him for the murder of Wolfsturm. Sihtric was an outcast once more and he travelled north, harried all the way to the keep of Sigefrid. Sigefrid took this young follower of Ulric into his ever growing band.

Temple Guards (Maruaders)
Berfwulf and Aelthrun are two former Hurscarls of Sigefrid's household. Now they serve the charismatic Sigefrid and by turn Hector Khanvall.

Temple Guards (Huntsmen)
The Stenach twins were found poaching on the lands of Sigefrid's fahter who wanted them slain. Instead Sigefrid convinced his father to let the two hungry men fight for him, bows were needed in a strong warband and a strong warband is needed to make a youngest son a mighty lord.

The Pack (Wolves)
These two mangy beasts were drawn to Sigefrid's odd band by Witnere who leads them as any alpha wolf.

Let the hunt begin!

[Jubal]

Kickass. I'll be interested to see how this goes. I was pretty pleased when you got hector, the northernish fluff fits well.

[Pentagathus]

Since I can't seem to edit that post:
Let the hunt begin!
(Replacing Woof Woof preferably)

I was pretty pleased as well Jubal. His special rules should be a nice boon to my force. Annoyingly he is the only warrior with higher than ws4 in my band.

[Pentagathus]

I have downgraded the equipment of my warband so that I can field another mighty warrior. This ones a hero so thats one more exploration dice. Cookie for whoever guesses where I got his name from (propbably Jubal but mbye someone else as it's pretty damn obvious.)

Guard's Reeve (Berseker)
Dark Douglass, a man of low birth (the bastard of a priest) this fearsome warrior has battled his way into his weapons and status. He was levied from his lords (his fathers) lands at the tender age of twelve. He was much younger than the normal age that a boy must serve as a levy but he was big for his age and his father wanted to be rid of taint to his name. However the lad seemed to have a nack for fighting and was looked out for and tuaght by a grizzled veteran. Once his father's campaign was fuaght Douglass still lived and went on to become a sell-sword with that veteran of his. Eventualy after battling with the knights of Ulric he was converted to that god and suaght to join their order. The knights had luaghed at him, although he was skilled and fearsome he was still a bastard who could not afford armour. In a rage Douglass fuaght with one of the knights, smashing him with his fist and slamming him on the floor. The other knights restrained him, lashed him and released his services as a mercenary.
When his father learned of this he sent hired killers to dispose of his troubling bastard before he could shame his father anymore. The veteran that befriended Douglass was killed by the assasins buy Douglass survived and after killing and mutilating the assasins he went to take revenge on his father.
He managed to sneak into his fathers bedchambers, killing his guard. He crossed his axe with his fathers falchion and once his father was dead he took that falchion as his birthright. However he swore that he would never wear armour as a knight, he was lowborn and he would remind them of it everytime he fuaght.
He left berift, untill he encountered the Paw and swore fealty to the worthy Sigefrid.

Damn that one was long.

[Gen_Glory]

Saga of The lockhand guy  Mount and blade   you know the one

[Pentagathus]

No I don't. The whohand who?

[Gen_Glory]

the guy who kept getting raped

[Pentagathus]

Oh that one. I read the first part of that but only the first part.

[Gen_Glory]

o ok

[Jubal]

Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series?

[Pentagathus]

L' what?

[Jubal]

?

[Pentagathus]

I posted this in another forum so there are no names.

My first (campaign) battle was agaisnt a strong beastman warband who had no shooting except for their claimant who was armed with a hunting rifle, superior blackpowder and had the hunter special rule. My opponant also only had one hero as he hadn't realised that more would be needed for exploration.
We had enough terrain for an interesting battle but there was plenty of open space for shooting.
My werewolf (who has sprint) went off with my wolves on my left flank to draw away some of his troops. One of my archers climbed onto a very small tower which offered a bit of cover and higher ground. The other failed the climbing test and moved around the tower. My main force marched straight down (out of his claimants line of sight) the table towards his main force in two groups, one made of Black Douglass and the Bondsman the other with everyone else. My two archers did nothing with shooting and would continue to do so for the whole game.
My Wolf plan worked and a group of 3 beasts broke off to the flank to meet my wolves. My amazingly huge movement meant I could ditch them easily and turn up to threaten his main force on two sides while his 3 beasts were on the wrong side of the board.
His claimant shot one of the archers and his Chaos Warhound charged the other. I managed to get one bondsman to save my stunned archer from being eaten by said doggy with Dark Doug following. The bloddy dog knocked by bondsman down and the claimant stunned Douglass with a shot.
Meanwhile, my Sigefrid got charged by his fear cuasing hero (I hadn't known he had sprint) but survived all attacks which bought enough time for Sihtric and a warrior to pass their fear test and knock the wee beasty down.
One gor broke of from his main group to charge on of my wolves. The wolf survived and then I countercharged with my other wolf. The gor fought with them before failing his all alone test and running away to be hunted down by the wolves.
The remainder of his main force fell back to protect his claimant but were not quick enough to stop Witnere from charging in and happily munching on the claimant. I sent my two warriors foward to hurl axes at these failed bodyguards. I should have charged but I stood where I was and hurled axes for armadillos and giggles.
Guthrum and the surviving Kettle Head archer sent the Warhound realing off the battle covered with axe and hammer wounds. They chased but did not catch the dog.
My enemy routed before I could take out any more of his men.
So I got victory and 6 exploration rolls, managed to bag myself 75 gc and got a goodly amount of experiance. I lost no one and neither did the beastmen although his claimant now suffers from old battle wounds. He got no money on account of having no hero left and loosing.
I used all of my gold to equip Sihtric, buy a new Kettle Head (the 3rd brother was too busy to fight in that battle) and of course pay for Grym's shipping fee.

And the second battle:
This time I was agaisnt a new player to Mordhiem. I think someone else wrote his list. He had mercenaries of some sort, I think it was Osterlanders. They were numerous but ill equiped, mainly swordsmen with great swords, some youngbloods, two decent heroes, his leader and a marksman with a handgun.
He deployed in one large group, whilst I set up in four groups, my Wolves and Witnere on the flank, my archers down the other side, my leader claimant and bonsmen down the center with my beserkr and warriors next to them. I forgot to deploy the mercenary I bought last time and so he did nothing.
I got first go and marched everyone straight towards my enemy.
He did pretty much the same thing after failing his climbing test with the marksman.
I moved my archers half movement to get them into range and started shooting at his swordsmen, knocking one down. My wolf group ran on to threaten his rear whislt my other two groups moved foward (covered from his marksman.)
He moved all his fighters foward again.
I charged with my wolf group into one of his champions and his two youngbloods.I moved my beserkr and warriors foward behind some cover and moved my leader and claimant group to support my archers if they got into combat.
My archers did nothing but knock a man down again.
Witnere killed the champion (actualy killed him, he got a 12 on the injury chart) and the youngblood had failed his fear test so he missed his attack.
My opponent was scared of Witnere so he moved his claimant and a swordsman into the second story of a building (there was a sort of ramp made from fallen floor) whilst charging Witnere with his leader. His leader took a wound off Witnere, and Witnere knocked him to the floor. My wolves chased off his other youngblood and cuaght him (he got old battle wounds.)
My archers bagged themselves some more fail.
My beserkr climbed up onto the other side of the building that my enemies claimant was hiding in and would have charged if we had not decided to forgo that turn due to running out of time.

I got 70 crowns for that battle, lost no one and captured no one (we have a house rule that you capture any injured heroes on a roll of a 5+ if you win the battle) so my only regret was hot having enough time to finish the sluaghter. Although I suppose it would have been mean to the new player.
I got a few advances, including the lads got talent which make Berwulf into the Reeve and got the Muruader band 2 attacks (just like my archer group last battle.)
After paying my mercenary (who didn't fight) 10 crowns I then bought my leader a Holy Relic (Wolf's Paw necklace?) and my new Reeve a great axe. Then I used Berwulf's old eqeipment and my remainding money to buy a new muruader.


And my warband as it is now.
Claimant:
Hector Khanvall, Kislevite and master strategist.

First Sword (Jarl)
Sigefrid Heavy Armed, inspiring leader and mighty warrior. Sigefrid has known many fears but never ran, he is strong of voice and stature, tough but lacking some of the finnese of other fighters.

High priest (Ulfwerenar)
Witnere the wolfman. Witnere means nightmare in the Norscan tounge and this is one wolfman who lives up to his name. Cursed for rejecting the gods of chaos he is strong, fast and vicious. He is the figurehead of the Paw but shall never lead due to his instable mind and blood lust.

Accolyte (Bondsman)
Guthrum the wolfbrother. Brother to Witnere and only surviving kin this brave young man looked after his brother in his madness, taking many wounds on the road to his sibling's recoring sanity. Somehow he met with the youngest son of a norse Jarl, Sigefrid the follower of Ulric. Sigefrid saw Witnere as the child of Ulric and took to two brother's in as part of his retinue.

Accolyte (Bondsman)
Sihtric the hammer. Sihtric was born and raised a Norscan, untill his father turned to chaos and became a repulsive mutant. The gods of Chaos destroyed the rest of Sihtric's family untill he was all that was left of his long line. He sailed south as a vikingr and faught agaisnt many enemies, eventualy being defeated and captured by knights of Ulric. He gained the knights' trust once they heard his tale and he became a squire to one proud but impoverished knight, Wolfsturm. On travels with Wolfsturm the young knight drank himself to stupidity and announced his squire's lineage to an innfull of Norscan hating peasants. A fight insued which ended with Wolfsturm and many of the peasants dead. The peasants were to afraid to continue fighting Sihtric but blamed him for the murder of Wolfsturm. Sihtric was an outcast once more and he travelled north, harried all the way to the keep of Sigefrid. Sigefrid took this young follower of Ulric into his ever growing band.

Captain of the Guard (Berseker)
Dark Douglass, a man of low birth (the bastard of a priest) and a hard life. His father took him into his levies when marching off to war, Douglass was too young but his father hoped he would die in the fighting. Douglass did not die but learned to fight well and with pride. Once his father's war was done he went wandering as a sell-sword. He fought beside the knights of Ulric, took their god and eventualty wished to join their order. The knights, who knew of his birth luaghed at his wishes and shamed him. Dark Douglass flew into a rage and butchered many knights. When his frenzy fled, so did he. He fled home and spoke with his father. When his father learnt what he had done he tried to kill Douglass but he ended up as the corpse.
Douglass went wandering untill he met a warband of fellow Norse who shared his god - The Paw.

Ulric's Reeve (Muruader hero)
Berwulf was chosen from the Temple Guard to be the Reeve, the justice of Ulric. He has forsaken his axe and shield for a headsman's great-axe. Strong and with a passion to dish out Ulric's justice he is a warrior to be feared.

Temple Guards (Maruaders)
Berfwulf and Aelthrun are two former Hurscarls of Sigefrid's household. Now they serve the charismatic Sigefrid and by turn Hector Khanvall.
Since Berwulf became the Reeve the Paw found a new Temple Guard, Harald of house Shep.

Temple Guards (Huntsmen)
The three Kettle Head brothers were found poaching on the lands of Sigefrid's fahter who wanted them slain. Instead Sigefrid convinced his father to let the hungry men fight for him, bows were needed in a strong warband and a strong warband is needed to make a youngest son a mighty lord.

The Pack (Wolves)
These two mangy beasts were drawn to Sigefrid's odd band by Witnere who leads them as any alpha wolf.

Sell-sword. House cooked hired blade, Nighllamachman
Grym has long been an agent of the Paw and a friend to Sigefrid Heavy Armed. Armed with halberd and crossbow he is used to urban fighting and in this battle for thrones will become even more used to it.

Let the hunt begin!

[Gen_Glory]

they were middenheimers

[Pentagathus]

Don't their sworsmen get some sort of bonus?