Reikland in flames

 

It is the year 2023 and these are dark times indeed for the Empire. The land is being ravaged by the vampire wars: under the command of the dreaded Vlad von Carstein the armies of the undead are cutting a bloody path through the eastern provinces, and in the west secret vampire covens prey on the citizenry in the dead of night. One of these fiends, The Undying has fled from Altdorf into the Reikland countryside, and now is being hunted by an elite group of beast slayers led by Gerhart of Reikvia.

The Witchers (middenheimer heroes)

Gerhart: captain with crossbow and sword

His daughter Ciri: champion with crossbow and sword

His temporary ally Letho: champion with sword

Sergeants Hans and Franz: inexperienced altdorfer officers with halberd

Yennefer: sorceress (warlock)

The Altdorf Company of Honour (henchmen)

Three marksmen with crossbow

Otto: warrior with halberd

Court of The Undying

The Undying: vampire with halberd

Doctor Faustus: necromancer with sword

The dregs of Altdorf: three thralls with flail

The cannibal pack: four ghouls

Shambling dead: two zombies

Kaiser: dire wolf

Welcome to the first game of these Empire in Flames campaign. This supplement takes us out from the cramped streets of Mordheim and into the fields of the Empire, where our valiant heroes must rescue some kidnapped peasants in a breakthrough scenario 

The undead baddies take cover behind the woods, waiting for the inevitable rain of fire

The witchers keep their distance and only Yennefer closes a bit

To launch one of her spells

The sorceress then flies across the board to join the push into enemy lines

Meanwhile Ciri has dealt with the enemy vampire with her trusty crossbow, rolling three sixes in quick succession

The direwolf tries to stop the humans and charges Yennefer

But the sorceress dodges its rotting jaws and throws the beast down

The poor wolf is then finished off by Lotho

One of the altdorfers has charged a zombie, but he misses with the halberd and is killed

While their comrades have been progressing on the right, Ciri and her escort have engaged the vampire's thralls, in a combat that sees one of the dregs slain for no witcher loss

Gerhart takes the lead finally, protecting his girlfriend from some ghouls

And with the first ghoul slain the undead fail their morale test, abandoning the frightened peasants, who are rescued by our merry band of witchers

Reiklanders for Mordheim

 

The witchers are not alone in their fight against the undead menace, and as part of their contract to hunt the vampires infesting Reikland a force of the Altdorf town guard has been dispatched by the burgmeister, to help out and ensure that the job is done instead of doing a runner with the money

These models are excellent 3D prints, whose files can be found in myminifactory 

Since they will square off against the undead in the campaign, I added some gravestones and zombies emerging from the ground, spooky!

For the paintjob I went for a scheme inspired by the Altdorf company of honour, an elite unit identifiable for their yellow plumes. Both red and blue were dryburshed with a lighter tone and then I painted one by one all the slashes in a cream colour, by far the most laborious part of the process

As always the inks were the last part of the painting, with both leathers, wood and slashes receiving an undiluted dose of Vallejo sepia

Yennefer of Vengerberg

 

Both in the Witcher series and videogames this sorceress is a key player in the story, so including her in the warband was a must. In Mordheim she'll play as a warlock for hire.

Since most of her clothes are black painting Yennefer was pretty quick, with only the feathers and the magic fire as colourful contrasts to her sombre outfit

Necromancer

Of course my witchers need some bad guys to square off against, and what a better foe than the unnatural undead! I already had some ghouls and a vampire lent by a friend, but the warband also needs a necromancer to raise the dead. Given that I had total freedom when painting him I went with a combination of purple and cyan tom make a cyberpunkesque hero for the baddies

 

Aifield assault

 

The final game of this year's Legion season takes us to an urban battlefield, where the rebel Alliance clashes once more against the oppressive Galactic Empire

Today's game will be a struggle for five objectives spread all over the board. Naturally the central one is the most contested, with a squad of stormtroopers making a reckless advance to claim it only to be wiped out by Ahsoka

Luke also joins in the fun, taking cover behind a downed aircraft

Meanwhile all the rebel antitank weapons have been firing repeatedly into the AT-ST, reducing it to half damage and crippling its legs

Father and son clash over the starcraft

Luke however goes for the AT-ST, chopping it up with his lightsaber as Ahsoka comes to the rescue

Things look up for the rebels, with three objectives on their hands

Then Luke uses a command card to attack twice, destroying the walker and slashing into Vader

It is now the 5th and final turn, and another unit of rebels caps the central objective

The mandos meanwhile fire on Palpatine, bringing him to just one wound left

Finally it is the AT-RT pilot who at last kills the emperor with his antitank cannon

With Palpatine dead and most of the imperial army destroyed the day ends with a clear rebel victory 3-1

Letho of Gulet

 

The last hero of my witcher warband is none other than Lothario of Gluckshalt, a brutal fighter with a shady reputation of assassin for hire. Despite having done more than one dirty job for the Altdorf emperor, Lotho remains a beast slayer at heart, and when Gerhard asked for help in the hunt for a malefic vampire he was the first to offer his sword

A brawny warrior Lotho eschews the crossbows wielded by his comrades for a massive sword capable of cleaving a troll in two with a single blow

As most witchers he favors a lightweight leather armour, that offer some degree of protection without hindering his movements and speed, a key advantage when facing monsters whose claws can rip asunder a suit of steel plates