WFB scenario: Vampire Hunt

Before I get started on a Warhammer scenario whot I done wrote, I shall begin with an update on le campaign preparations. Given how enthusiastic my last post’s sign-off was about getting my Hochland army ready for the campaign, it’d be embarrassing if I’d since sat on my hands and tried, unsuccessfully, to twiddle my thumbs. Fortunately, over the weekend, here’s what I got done:

- Assembled the warrior priest.

- Assembled the final ten handgunners. There’s a blind man. No, it wasn’t a mistake.

- Finished assembling the volley gun’s base/crew.

- Started conversion work on the wizard. Right now, she looks... bald.

The learning point? Hobby begets hobby. Painting Captain Brandt got me more fired up than a buffalo sitting on a Catherine Wheel.

Speaking of Captain Newandshiny, Maisey and I pulled a fun little skirmish scenario out of our collective posterior, and it was a good time. I thought I’d share. If you happen to have an army of undead at your disposal, then yay. If you don’t, maybe just take this as inspiration for some oddball scenarios of your own.

Dragomir and Filthy Bogdan maxin’ in the Garden of Morr.

Vampire Hunt

A vampire has taken up residence near a small town and is preying on the locals. It falls to a small band of heroes and soldiers to find and slay the monster, but their task is a tough one. So long as the vampire remains concealed, he can raise mobs of undead minions and send them against his foe with impunity. That said, escape is not an option for the vampire now that people are aware of his presence; he will have to kill off his hunters lest they spread word to others in the area. For both sides, this is do or die.

THE ARMIES

Aside from a dribbling assistant (a ghoul is ideal) the hero-level vampire is alone and on foot. S/he is assumed to be a level two wizard who automatically knows the spells Raise Dead and Invocation of Nehek. Besides that, they have whatever equipment is depicted on their model. The hunters’ force may be worth up to 250 points, and may take whatever models they wish. Minimum unit sizes do not apply when selecting your troops. Taking three archers, seven swordsmen and a knight to accompany a few heroes would be perfectly acceptable.

THE BATTLEFIELD

You will need a 4’x4’ table with the outskirts of a village on one table edge. This is where the hunters will deploy. The vampire player then places 2-3 pieces of scenery in which a vampire could have made their lair – graveyards, wizard’s towers, haunted mansions and ruined chapels are all ideal. You should then fill the rest of the board with as much scenery as possible; this is not a battlefield, after all.

Bing-bong. Hello! Can I interest you in the Hochland State Pension
Scheme? No? That’s fine, thank you for your time, madam. Also, is
there by any chance a vampire in there with you?

DEPLOYMENT

The vampire player doesn’t deploy, rather, they secretly note down which piece of scenery the vampire is lurking in. The hunters then deploy in a small group on the outskirts of town, no more than 12” onto the table.

Captain Brandt and his men leave the outskirts of Lüthorst thinking
that everything’s fine. Thirteen of them, and one vampire. What could
possibly go wrong...?

FIRST TURN

The vampire gets the first turn.

GAME LENGTH

The game is likely to last many turns, but each of those turns should be extremely quick. It is best to play until either the vampire or the hunters are dead, or to stop at a time limit agreed by the players.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

If the hunters are wiped out, the vampire wins. If the vampire is slain, the hunters win. Any other result is a draw.

SCENARIO SPECIAL RULES

Skirmish

All the models in the hunter’s force behave like individual character models, meaning that they can freely join up to form a unit or disband to work as individuals. Furthermore, none of the units in this game represent serious line units, but people (or monsters) standing next to each other. Nothing but the wounds caused during a round of combat count towards the combat resolution.

In hiding

The vampire begins the game hidden in one of the potential lairs, as mentioned above. S/he is only revealed if and when one of the hunters enters their lair. Note that it is therefore only possible to discover the vampire during the Remaining Moves sub-phase, meaning that the vampire may not be charged during the turn in which they are discovered.  Once discovered, the undead player places the vampire (and their dribbling assistant) anywhere within or in base contact with their lair. Alternatively, the undead player may choose to reveal the vampire's location during their own turn, again during Remaining Moves.

Saturation of Dark Magic

The vampire has chosen their lair well; it is an evil place ripe with the stench of death. Whilst within their chosen lair, the vampire’s spells have a range of 36”. So long as the vampire only uses 4 power dice to cast a spell, they will not suffer a miscast even if they cast with irresistible force. If there are no summoned units on the table, the vampire may cast Raise Dead twice in the same magic phase. Moreover, summoned units of skeletons may be raised beyond their starting size.

...that. That is what could go wrong.

Designer’s note: why have we given the spells such a huge range? Because misdirection is the vampire’s primary tactic for survival. Your ability to keep a poker face as the hunters approach your lair is paramount, as is your ability to look upset or nervous when they approach one of the ‘lairs’ full of nothing but a bucket of red herrings.

So there you have it, folks. Maisey and I played this the other night, with predictably hilarious results and lots of dribbling assistant impressions. A noble band of adventurers fighting off waves of zombies and skeletons felt like classic fantasy, but when said noble adventurers were getting overwhelmed by brain-hungry corpses as early as turn two, I started getting nervous. The end result, however, was so entertaining that I’ve a mind to write it up as a battle report. Suffice to say, it wasn’t over by turn three.

[EDIT: You can now read said battle report here.]

If you have any thoughts, questions or comments on the scenario, I’d be interested to hear them!

~Charlie