Author Topic: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project  (Read 21233 times)

Offline Horned Owl

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[Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« on: March 17, 2011, 10:46:12 AM »
The dark horizon was lit by the flicker of burning Firstborn villages. The air was alive with the smell of burnt timber and the cries of the dying. Resting his large fists on the balustrade of his war tower and looking out into the night, Golgan Khan felt himself aroused. He glanced around at his Orc concubine, who instantly recognised his mood. She moved toward him and gently placed a hand on his waist, swaying slightly with the motion of the tower, which was mounted on the back of a great beast of war. Her nails caressed the dark brown skin, and the tension eased out of his bunched muscles. He gripped her hair tightly, enjoying her stare, half defiance and half pleasure, and the sharp sensation of her nails parting his skin and drawing blood. They exchanged a long look, then both grinned fiercely and turned to the night.

"Magnificent, isn´t it?" the Ogre said hoarsely. She didn´t look up at him but nodded, her gaze fixed on the bright fireflies drifting past the tower, then stole a quick sideway glance at him. As always, her Lord looked more himself when surrounded by battle. He stood taller, breathed more deeply. His face seemed graven in stone, save for the slight working of his jaw, as he drank in the sight and smell of bloodshed.

Her reverie was broken abruptly with the clash of steel on steel and the guttural shouts of fighting orcs from the howdah of the flanking beast. On the right, the platform tilted, and she saw more Firstborn warriors leaping from the cliff onto the myrmadon, joining the fight that was already underway. The flickering swords were lit by the blaze and seemed like miniature flames themselves. They were being ambushed!

Her Lord had not moved, nor turned his gaze from the horizon.

"Marad!", he shouted.

The captain of his Orc guard, tall, lean and leather-skinned, already stood at attention. He knew his master, having fought many campaigns at his side, and he knew an unspoken order when he heard it. Instantly he barked at his assault warriors who, also, had expected the order and already set arrows to their bows. They loosed, and the black-fletched rain was instantly answered with the sharp sound of crossbow bolts hissing through the tower´s beautiful latticework. One Orc grunted and went down, and a bolt struck the cedarwood post near Golgan´s head. He never flinched.

"Keep the arrows flying!" Marad´s voice was deep and betrayed no strain. Golgan Khan grinned. His foes had proven resourceful, and he relished the prospect of facing them personally. He knew he was in dire danger, but he was beyond caring. Too long time spent commanding troops from afar and playing games, he thought. It was time to get some blood on his falchion and, if it was to be his fate, to die like an Ogre.

When the first soldier leaped across from the howdah, Golgan kicked the war table into his face and watched with satisfaction as the man tumbled down the myrmadon´s flank in a flurry of maps and quills.




So much for bad fanfiction from yours truly. I included this one because it inspired the next scenario project: battle on the howdahs and war towers mounted on the back of several bad-tempered greater myrmadons. (Credit also goes to Topkick who started me off along the topic of boarding actions!) We reasoned we could treat the towers as mobile buildings if we twisted the rules for indoor fighting a bit. This is one of the strong points of Chronopia: many eventualities have already been provided for in the game and only need a little bit of tweaking.

(Somehow, whenever I look at pictures of the myrmadon war towers, I imagine them striding majestically across a wide snowfield while rebel Elves on flying dragonbane dart between their legs and try to topple them with harpoons and tow cables. Excuse me.)

 
« Last Edit: March 30, 2011, 07:56:36 AM by Horned Owl »
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."

Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2011, 10:53:45 AM »


This is your basic greater myrmadon, which will be copied on DIN A3 cardboard. I´m currently working on a modular set of a three-story tower, open platform and side howdahs that can be mounted on the beast. Since we´re working with a set of counters instead of miniatures, it doesn´t matter too much that the myrmadon is flat.



This is the basic sketch for the bottom tower level. I´ll keep you updated – house rules are in the works!
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."

Offline joshuaslater

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2011, 12:43:46 PM »
Go man go!!!  Those flats would rock with models as well.  Keep up the good work and reports.
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Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2011, 07:21:23 AM »
As soon as I´ve finished the tower, I´ll put the pictures into the public domain if anyone is interested in recreating this scenario.

HOUSE RULES FOR MYRMADONS:


For purposes of activation, the myrmadons count as Individuals. A myrmadon has two actions and may move 3" with each move action. It may not run or charge. The myrmadon must travel in a straight line and may make one 45° turn per activation, at any time during their movement. All moves by the myrmadon are tramples, with the trampled model automatically killed if they fail to dive for cover.

The myrmadon may make a Tusk attack and a Tail mace attack with each attack action spent.

Tusk attack: Place a circular template about the size of the Vortex directly adjacent to the myrmadon within its front 90° arc. All models touched by the template must dive for cover or be hit by a Strength 16 (x2) hit.

Tail mace attack: Place a circular template about the size of the Vortex directly adjacent to the myrmadon within its rear 90° arc. All models touched by the template must dive for cover or be hit by a Strength 13 (x2) hit.

This all boils down to: myrmadons are ponderous and easily outmaneuvered, but try to avoid getting too close!

The myrmadons count as scenery / buildings for purposes of line-of-sight. Simply put, they are too large to be affected by any hand-held weapon. The natural weapons of the larger beasts-of-war (anything from size 2 upwards), spells, fire-based weapons and effects cannot harm them either, but may spook them if they hit a tender spot (test against an armour of 28 – 1st edition. A failed armour save means the myrmadon becomes enraged).

The moment a myrmadon becomes enraged, and every time an enraged myrmadon is activated, every model on any of the platforms must make a leadership check or go prone. Models already prone and in contact with a window or balcony edge must pass a Ld test or fall off, checking for falling damage as normal.

An enraged myrmadon is still activated by its player. Roll on the following table as soon as it is activated:

1-7Myrmadon is controlled by its own player this turn.
8-16Myrmadon is controlled by the opponent this turn – if multiple opponents, roll randomly which opponent
17-18Myrmadon stands still
19-20Myrmadon spends all move actions to get closer to other myrmadons on the table (if there are none, see result 15-16)


Each myrmadon has a Goblin mahout positioned on the platform on the beast´s neck, behind the large bronze shield. He counts as being in hard cover for all attacks from the front and sides (270° arc to the front).

GOBLIN MAHOUT

CCMWPwLdAcWStMvADefS
1010-12110-1701

The Mahout is armed with a goading spear (polearm, Damage 6). He may use his spear to attack a model within 180° of the Myrmadon´s front.

Structure: INDIVIDUAL

Special rules: When the Mahout is activated, he may spend his action to try and gain control of the myrmadon if it is currently enraged. Roll against his Leadership.

If the Mahout is killed, the myrmadon will automatically become enraged if successfully hit with a weapon that may spook it (see above).



HOUSE RULES FOR HOWDAHS AND TOWERS:


All normal rules for fighting in buildings apply. The war howdah and side howdahs are open-topped, with a crenellated wall running along the edge providing hard cover.

Due to the unstable nature of the platforms, a mounted model on any of the levels of the tower or howdahs must make a Leadership test for any move, leap, charge or countercharge action that it takes, or it will slip and go prone.

A model may jump through a window if it successfully makes the distance. It must make a Leadership test to successfully hit the window, however, or it will fall down.
If the window is blocked by a model, this counts as a charge. Resolve the charge normally, including any countercharges. If the model kills its opponent, the enemy model is removed, and the attacking model takes its place. If the enemy model is still alive, the attacking model cannot pass through the window and will fall. Check for falling damage as usual.

Models with polearms may attack models one level higher or lower than they are provided their bases are adjacent.
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."

Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2011, 07:29:13 AM »
... And a model may spend an action to try and push another model through an unblocked door or window. Compare strength and roll as you would a Break Away test. If the pushed model wins, nothing happens. If the pushing model wins, the enemy model is moved through the door / window, and the pushing model moves to where the pushed model stood before. If models are pushed out of a window, they may suffer falling damage.
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."

Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2011, 11:02:00 AM »
MISCELLANEOUS HOUSE RULES

For this scenario, we imagine the battlefield lit by the flickering flames of Firstborn villages that were put to the torch by the vanguard of the Emperor´s army. The light comes from the side of the tabletop ahead of the myrmadons. Due to the flickering light, all Spot rolls and ranged attacks are at -2, unless they are made at a distance of less than 6 inches.

We´ll also use a twist on the Darkness rules from The Dwarven Labyrinth, inasmuch that every terrain feature casts a shadow in the direction facing away from the flames. (This also applies to the myrmadons and every model that has a size of 3.) The shadow is again as long as the feature´s or model´s base. Models in the shadow are subject to the Darkness rules and are targeted and spotted at -4 unless they are less than 3 inches away.

We´ll probably test this out in a smaller scenario beforehand – the idea of models scurrying from shadow to shadow looks appealing enough to be incorporated in a scenario of its own.
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."

Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2011, 04:51:12 AM »


Here´s the bottom level of the war tower, which could also be used as an open-topped round howdah. I´ll put walls and windows on it later, as well as an access point to the higher levels.

The half-circular front embrasure behind the shield is the mahout´s position. The four round platforms at the corners are pintle mounts for a variety of weapons that can be operated by any unmounted model in base contact. I´ll draw counters for those weapons later, but I envision a large arbalest (I´ll probably use stats from the Vulture clan Impaler) which can be reloaded by anyone, or a grapeshot cannon (Hail of Arrows template?), which can only be reloaded by an Alchemist, or a one-shot bundle of incendiary rockets (always deviates unless operated by an Alchemist, and places a cluster of Fire Bombs, as per the Alchemist "spell").

The weapons emplacements can be used to target the crew of the flanking beasts, models on the ground, or to spook the myrmadons (which the attackers have to do to get a chance of getting close enough to board).
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."

Offline joshuaslater

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2011, 03:19:10 PM »
WOOT!!!
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Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2011, 02:19:34 AM »


Here´s the scale with regard to height bands.
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Offline Alxbates

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2011, 06:58:39 AM »
I can't believe that I missed this thread!  Excellent resource, excellent artwork!  Well done!
Wan Chew Tree Faw!

Offline Horned Owl

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2011, 12:16:29 PM »
Thanks! I´m terribly busy at the moment, but I hope that I can continue this thread and supply some pictures sometime soon. Although Manic Miner has to get first servings. (I haven´t forgotten.)
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Offline Manic _Miner

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Re: [Scenario] The Greater Myrmadon Project
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2011, 01:06:37 AM »
 Love this idea and the to scale pictures are amazing too.Would be really good to see this done in 15mm.28mm would just cost way too much.