With some spare time on my hands I thought it was apt that I
have a another go at a game (after all I have spent enough time painting
figures), but rather than catch up on the Ruritanian games I had planned I
decided to explore the IHMN Gothic supplement. This as available online as part
of the IHMN site and contains special rules and companies for classic Gothic
horror encounters including Frankenstein and his monster, vampires and
Werewolves.
For this encounter I decided to bin my own lists for the
Wolfen and werewolf hunters and go with the characters taken directly from the
supplement. This at least gave me the opportunity to use my werewolf figures
that I had professionally painted at least a decade ago and have never used on
table.
Background
King Rudolf was not in a good mood. Not only was he still
angry at the editorial featured in a provincial newspaper critical of his close
friendship with Hans Belbeck, and the claimed moral decreptitude of his court,
but he was so far unable to convince the members of his royal council that the
implicit insults contained in the infamous Pickstock telegram were of such a
severe nature that only a military response is acceptable. Princess Flavia in
particular was strident in her ridiculous opposition to such measures, and
insisting that reform of the court was required.
Then there are the continuous demands from the barely
civilised provincial regions. Demands for troops to combat bandits, for funds
to build hospitals and schools, and of course complaints about taxes and
tariffs. And now a secret meeting with the Cardinal of Strelsau had forced him
to allow the Templars to operate within the borders of Ruritanian.
 |
| King Rudolf |
Over the last few months reports had been received of bloody
and murderous raids on farms and settlements in the wild and mountainous east.
Police investigations had brought forward no answers, and soon rumours of black
legend and horror began to spread. A squadron of royal dragoons was sent to the
region and their patrols brought back only news of death and destruction, and
towns packed with refugees cowering behind town walls each night. Finally one
patrol failed to return. Their remains, half devoured and torn limb from limb,
man and horse were found in what was obviously their encampment close to the
town of Rasca. Not one man survived, and the diary of the commanding subaltern
gave no clue to their fate except the noting of packs of wolves seen around the
camp each night. Still missing though is the corpse of the guide who
volunteered to lead the troop through the forest. His remains did not lie with
the rest, though his clothes, torn and shredded in the midst of the camp.
The Cardinal had harrangued the King, claiming he cared only
about his comfort and pleasures while his subjects suffered the assault of the
Devil’s Legions. In the end Rudolf set the Royal Seal to a commission for the
Templars to lead an expedition into the mountains to investigate just what was
happening. Damn these interfering Churchmen, lecturing me as if I am a mere
child, thought Rudolf as he reached for a jug of finest cooled Rhenish. At
least the cost of this adventure is to be borne by the Templars ..... and they
can take the blame for anything that may go wrong!
The Battle
This is a big mistake! The thought simply would not leave
his head. Five days of creeping about the forested mountains of the
Transylvania Alps had brought the force to the remote valley, hidden from sight
and memory where the subject of their search was rumoured to lie. Here stood
the ruins of an ancient temple, old when Christ was born, these stones were
claimed to be soaked in the sacrificed blood of innocents, and now the lair of
a pack of murderous wolves responsible for the attacks in the area.
Using the gold of the Templars, he had recruited a company
of Wolfenjager, specialist hunters armed with muzzle loading rifles designed to
pick off their prey at long distance. They had laughed , albeit nervously, when
their bullet moulds were filled with molten silver, and their long daggers
coated in more of the precious metal. The head hunter though understood, he at
least had hunted the Accursed before.
The Inspector of Police had insisted that he join the
company, and he brought with him a number of his officers armed with revolvers
and clubs, and local farmers and townfolk dispossessed by the attacks or simply
seeking adventure, these armed with a variety of muskets, pistols, blunderbusses
swords and daggers.
 |
| The Templar's Party |
At the insistence of the Wolfenjager, and against his own
judgement they had divided their forces as they approached the hidden valley.
The Hunters supported by a group of villagers and police would occupy a steep
hill overlooking the temple location and take cover. Their flanks would be
covered by The Templar leading the Villagers and police, and also be a pair of
huge mastiffs steeled in the hunting of wolves. Meanwhile the remainder of the
police and villagers would sweep to the east around the valley, then move
forward driving the wolves toward the hidden and waiting hunters, who would
simply pick the creatures off ending the reign of terror.
 |
| The Battlefield |
The huge blessed sword felt heavy in his hand, the sweat
poured down his back under the mail and steel breastplate as they edged
carefully forward through the forest towards the base of the steep hill crowned
by massive standing stones. Suddenly, faint but clear, from somewhere in front
of them the cry of wolves and scattered gunshots were heard. The Templar
ordered his nervous followers to hurry and turned to climb the hill just as a
huge wolf bounded down the hill towards him. His sword suddenly lightened in
his hand as the silvered edge slashed through the thick hide of the wolf, as
its own claws scarred the steel of his breastplate.
 |
| The Wolfenjager |
He became aware of screams and howls to his flank, and
horrific creatures of nightmare were half glimpsed tearing into the police and
villagers, and blood sprayed across the grass. By his side the police inspector
was thrown to the ground by a creature from nightmare.
At the far end of the valley the horror was multiplied. The
group was led by a young volunteer known for his courage and strength and
called the Lamplighter. As they approached an ancient ruin in the valley a wave
of ferocious, snarling wolves swept towards their line. Muskets were raised in
readiness, when being like tall powerful wolves, but moving on two legs bounded
amongst them razor sharp claws reaching for them, drooling fangs exposed. The
courage of the villagers and our young hero evaporated, and as urine trickled
down his thigh the young man turned and fled followed by half his command.
 |
| Ambush |
In a race between men and wolves there can only be one
winner. The fleeing villagers were dragged to the ground and savaged by the
beasts, with four legs or two that pursued them. Those who stood and fought did
so with a hopeless courage that saw a leaping wolf brought down by a revolver
round, even as the police officer sank to the ground his throat opened to the
bone. Within minutes almost whole party
was down, badly wounded or dead; only the Lamplighter, stunned, staggered to
his feet and drew his dagger to face the ring of wolfen that surrounded him.
His screams echoed around the valley as the jaws reached him even as his blade
sank into the heart of a wolf.
 |
| Wolfen |
The Templar, turned again to face his attackers as the
Wolfenjager dashed to join him. The Inspector lay on the grass stunned, his
officer lay dead, but the villagers stood by his side, shaken, afraid, but
determined. The wolfen meanwhile had melted back into the forest over the hill
crest. They move so damned quickly thought the Templar as he rallied his force
and led them up the hill. From the ridgeline the Templar gazed down into the
densely wooded valley. In the middle of the trees the ruins of the ancient
temple drew his eyes, they seemed deserted but was that a trap? The trees could
hide a thousand enemies and prevented his skilled marksmen from seeking their
targets. It would be wise to withdraw, but the enemy moved like lightning in
the forest and would probably hunt them down before they could reach safety. Holding
the hill would be difficult as the trees provided good cover for any attack,
especially at night where they risked being overwhelmed. The hunts master urged
an advance on the Temple, no doubt hungry for gold, but the stone walls might
provide good cover, if only they could get there! Reluctantly he ordered the
advance the hunters to the fore and the rest as rearguard.
 |
| Last Stand |
They moved forward cautiously the hunters with their weapons
loaded with silver bullets and ready to fire on sight. The forest echoed with
the howling of wolves, but none could be seen lurking in the shadows. The first
of the hunters clambered over the fallen masonry on to the temple platform, and
froze as a wave of grey swept towards them. The trees exploded as wolves and
wolfmen swarmed into the attack. A blunderbuss crammed with silver shot
misfired as a wolfen leapt on to the hunter. Muskets snapped, and fired, the
smoke adding to the confusion and in moments the Templar stood alone on the
highest point of the ruins. Around him lay the torn and broken bodies of his
companions, and a ring of snarling, drooling fangs and blazing red eyes.
Through the wolfen company a huge, shaggy brown creature approached.
Realisation dawned in the Templar’s brain as he slipped a communion wafer into
his mouth before raising his sword high and leaping to the attack.
 |
| The aftermath |
Darkness fell and no sound could be heard in the cursed
glade ....... except the cracking of bone and rending of human flesh as the
Wolfen fed!.
Playing the game
As usual the game was fought as a solo effort. Having set up
the terrain I then placed the Wolfen on the table. Two groups were placed on
the hills, a third group was placed centrally around the temple ruins. The
attacking force were placed randomly as indicated by the roll of a die. As it
happens the two strongest groups started close together, while the third began
at the opposite end of the table. Splitting forces is not a good idea, but
within the scenario where the strength and make up of the enemy force is not
know treating the situation like a wolf hunt makes sense with one group driving
the prey onto the waiting guns.
|
| The Hunters |
Unluckily the prey were far from panicked by the situation.
The wolfen consisted of an Accursed Hybrid, 5 werewolf hybrids, and 8 wolves
all straight from the IHMN HV and F or Gothic lists, but with added stealth
talent, the hybrids were also able to act as medics to the Wolfen company. I
also allowed the hybrids to move at the same rate as the wolves, as every film
I have seen emphasises the lightning quickness of the beasts. And did they move
fast, literally running rings around the opposition. Rushing from the trees to
savage the enemy then dashing back into cover, helped by consistently winning
the initiative roll.
 |
| Outflanking |
I was not aware of the effect of the Horror talent until
halfway through the action, thanks to a FB message from Craig. Instead I used
the Terrifying talent, and that seemed to work as the group of villagers acting
as beaters panicked when attacked with half of them running away, only to be
caught by the charging wolfen.
 |
| Whoops! |
The dense terrain certainly suited the Wolfen, plenty of
places to hide, and a real scarcity of clear fields of fire. This meant that
usually firing only happened in the advance to contact. This meant the
blunderbusses were next to useless and the ones that were fired suffered from a
throw of 1 and another of 3. I allowed those armed with revolvers to fire twice
when being charged and this snap shooting was effective. In future though I
would upgrade the hunter’s weapons to breechloaders instead of rifled muskets
as the time taken to reload is too long in this scenario. I thought that it
would take a full volley to hold back a wolfen charge, but that would leave the
hunters helpless if their shooting was off target, as it turns out advancing
slowly and loaded did not work either. The Templar was certainly effective
hacking down a wolf on first contact, and shrugging off two hybrid attacks
before falling to a dual attack by the Accursed Hybrid and a wolf.
Interesting game!
