Waking Dead

Marienbergers vs. Undead

The Marienbergers had decided to pay the ransom for their leader’s safe return, unwilling to leave Jack at the mercy of the Beastmen warband. Although the trade was incident-free, every man was exhausted and wanted to find some rest. Their companion, the Priest of Morr, had mentioned a tavern nearby that might still provide some shelter. They turned the corner into the main street and found themselves face to face with the horde of the undead. There would be no rest tonight.

Jack ordered the halfling forward to scout out the undead numbers; he soon returned, his features pale and his breaths short and blowing.

“The undead number around a dozen sir, ooohh haaagh, they are hooogh, being lead by a vampire!” he puffed.

“Very well,” said Jack “we will be no match for these creatures if they get amongst our ranks. Form a line behind that hedge.” He pointed towards his most talented crossbowmen “You two, get up higher and see if you can’t pick a few off as they approach.”

Slowly the creatures of the undead band approached. The whooshing sound of loosed bolts from above, followed by the sounds of missiles striking stone, wood and flesh. It seemed to Jack that the undead must number far more than his scout had estimated. Through every window slit and doorway he could see zombies and ghouls moving towards them, slowly but with definite purpose. Then a well aimed bow shot struck down a man further down the line.

“Up there!” someone shouted, “the vampire!”

Suddenly all the fire the Marienbergers could muster was loosed at the window, shots ricocheted amd stuck in the woodwork… The vampire could not be seen, perhaps he had been destroyed. Jack turned his view back to the approaching undead, they still came the same way, their motions being driven by the will of their master; he had endured.

“Stand ready boys, they must break cover and charge if they would drive us from this place.”

As if to answer his words, the undead suddenly moved into view, their master silently commanding from the rear. The Marienbergers now laid down a vicious hail of concentrated fire, several of the undead dropped, those that remained were too few to overcome the defenders. The Vampire decided to draw his minions back and seek feeding elsewhere.

Witch Hunters vs. Beast of Chaos

The great Beastman Chieftain bellowed in exultation; he had found the men of whom the priest had spoken. He had not wanted to spare the human leader, had wanted to choke the life from him, but the priest had mentioned reward for his safe return: foolish human, coveting gold over flesh. The Beastman had spared the human only because of his promise of more blood to come, and this the priest had delivered. Ahead of him lay the Witch Hunters warband, a feast of pure flesh.

The Chieftain’s orders were barked out quickly, his warband splitting in two. A few ungors were sent down the left as a diversion, the main body of the warband along with the shaman moving from cover to cover down the right, ready to overwhelm the Witch Hunters on the charge. Through a collapsed doorway the chieftain could see the humans moving around ahead of them, their behaviour was strange. It was obvious they had sensed his approach but did not rush out to meet them in battle; instead they seemed to be waiting for them. These humans must have gone mad – attack or flee, those are the only tactics in a fight. Steadily the Beastmen crept forward when suddenly one of the band dropped, pieces of grey meat hanging from the smoking wound. Another howl drew the chieftain’s attention; one of the warhounds had been shot by another of the black-powder weapons.

“GRAAAAAAAOOOWW!!!” bellowed the Chieftain and his followers broke cover, thrown into a rage by the human’s defiance, their bloodshot eyes rolling wildly, their hooves clattering on the loose cobbled floor.

The Witch hunters let off a close range volley of shots, dropping another warhound before a second beast ripped a cowering human to shreds. The remaining warband followed up close behind the hounds, ready to shatter the human’s thin line and taste their sweet raw flesh. Then the humans opened fire again with their black-powder weapons and more Beastmen fell; the charge began to lose momentum… and stopped. Their chieftain cursed and suddenly went stiff, his flesh punctured by a double-handed sword.

The remaining Beastmen turned and fled, hauling their butchered leader back across the cobbles. The Witch Hunters had won the day.

Wow, two updates in one day! I’ve added a link to the current table below; at the moment there’s still all to play for, but Mark R’s Skaven are starting to pull away in terms of Warband Rating. I’ll be facing these in the next round…

Link to Table

The next matches are as follows:

Undead vs. Beasts of Chaos
Witch Hunters vs. Skaven