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N o Qu a r t e r

™

Issue 02

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President: Sherry Yeary

NO QUARTER PRIME STAFF

Chief Creative Officer: Matthew D. Wilson

Editor-in-Chief: Lyle Lowery

Executive Director: William Shick

No Quarter Prime Assistant: Josh Colón

Director of Operations: Jason Martin

Continuity Editors: Matt Goetz, Douglas Seacat

Director of Publications: Michael G. Ryan

Editing: Dan Henderson, Lyle Lowery, Michael G. Ryan

Director of Legal Affairs: Brent Waldher

Graphic Design: Richard Anderson, Laine Garrett, Jordan Twaddle Lead Designer & Developer: Jason Soles

Photography: Laine Garrett, Jordan Twaddle

Development Manager: William Schoonover Writing Manager: Matt Goetz Senior Writer & Continuity: Douglas Seacat Editorial Manager: Dan Henderson Graphic Design Director: Richard Anderson Art Director: Michael Vaillancourt Lead Concept Artist: Nate Feyma Sculpting Director: Ron Kruzie Staff Sculptors: Doug Hamilton, Nathan Lambardi Studio Manager: Dallas Kemp Studio Modeler: James A. Thomas Digital Engineers: Nathan Lombardi, Marco Segovia, Luke Sheridan, Stuart Spengler Staff Painters: Brendan Roy, Jordan Lamb Hobby & Terrain Specialist: Danny Samuels Project Manager: Michael J. Mulligan

ISSUE CONTRIBUTORS Writing: Josh Colón, Matt Goetz, Lyle Lowery, Dallas Kemp, Will Pagani, Danny Samuels, Douglas Seacat Development: Will Hungerford, Will Pagani, William Schoonover Illustration: Jeff Axer, Carlos Cabrera, Oscar Cafaro, Emrah Emasil, Nate Feyma, Troy Galluzzi, Marcel Mercado, Mateusz Ozminkski, Néstor Ossandón, James Wolf Strehle, Mike Vaillancourt, Andrea Uderzo Painting & Terrain: Dallas Kemp, Lyle Lowery, Brendan Roy, Danny Samuels, Luke Sheridan, William Shick Proofreading: Josh Colón, Matt Goetz, Dan Henderson, Will Hungerford, Dallas Kemp, Lyle Lowery, Will Pagani, Michael G. Ryan, William Schoonover, Doug Seacat, William Shick

Model Project Manager: Emily Burns Licensing & Merchandise Coordinator: Wendy Vermeers Playtest Coordinator: Jack Coleman

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Contents 04 ESCALATION TO WAR II THE FIRE & THE FORGE

20 SANCTUM OF DAWN COMPANY OF IRON

32 FELLIG

HOSTILE TERRITORY

40 TWELVE FACTIONS OF CHRISTMAS CID AFTER ACTION REPORT

48 TABLE READY IN 5 STEPS II PAINTING & HOBBY

54 UNBOUND

WARMACHINE & HORDES

74 FORCES OF THE TROLLBLOODS–NORTHKIN THEME FORCE

THE FIRE & THE FORGE

Vol. 2: Vultures Gather, Winter 605 AR

ESCALATION TO WAR by Douglas Seacat

"The Fire & the Forge" is a feature that examines pivotal moments in the recent history of western Immoren and its groups battling for supremacy or survival. It is intended to allow newer readers to become familiar with what has come before and to serve as an engaging reminder to older readers.

E

scalation to War, the first series in "The Fire & the Forge," will be told in six parts and goes back to the era of WARMACHINE: Escalation, covering a pivotal turning point starting at the end of 604 AR and going through 605 AR. These conflicts kicked off six brutal years of turmoil and war that reshaped the region and saw the rise of powerful competing factions.

WINTER’S WAR The speed and success of Khador’s opening attacks during the invasion of Llael ensured they had a sizable advantage as the war moved into the grittier and tougher months that followed. Having so quickly seized Laedry and Elsinberg while also obliterating Redwall Fortress, the Khadoran Army effectively secured the western border of the smallest of the Iron Kingdoms. This achievement ensured reinforcements and supplies could flow uninterrupted to the warfront from major cities like Khardov, Korsk, Skirov, and Volningrad. 4 No Quarter PRIME

Maintaining supply lines across such a distance and in the middle of a particularly intense winter still proved to be a challenge. Later, Kommandant Irusk would give credit for his successes to his friend and peer Kommandant Mikhail Ivdanovich, who orchestrated logistics. This man’s tireless and methodical efforts sustained Irusk’s aggressive and swift advance into the Llaelese interior. Queen Ayn Vanar worked to ensure the war received all possible support from the Motherland. She endorsed the construction of a massive railway extending from the existing line between Korsk and Rorschik toward Laedry, over a hundred miles away. It was built at tremendous cost in resources as well as lives—as many as five hundred Khadoran patriots died during the railway’s construction due to the breakneck pace, difficult conditions, and long shifts. This railway was not completed until after the most significant battles of the War in Llael, but it would prove its long-term value during the subsequent occupation period and later

conflicts against Cygnar in the Thornwood and beyond. Even before it was fully completed, this track helped expedite supplies sent to the war-torn nation. Meanwhile, Cygnar proved its commitment to its Llaelese allies by sending large numbers of soldiers into the kingdom even as its defenders were reeling from the initial attacks. Already beginning at a severe disadvantage, Cygnar’s armed forces sought to find their footing amid an uphill battle, engaging the Khadorans at multiple strategically important locations in an attempt to stall their advance by any means possible. From a Cygnaran perspective, these were grueling and frustrating months of the war; more than one commanding officer privately lamented King Leto’s commitment to the defense of Llael, however honorable it might be. Even as Cygnar’s First Army rushed to reinforce Merywyn, they were thwarted. The Battle of Throat Cutter was fought on the 24th of Glaceus, the first month of 605 AR. The Khadorans had strung massive chains across the Black River to create a blockade, and they defended access to the anchor points of these barriers. Heavily armed riverboats exchanged fire while squads of Cygnaran infantry were offloaded to both shores in an attempt to reach the well-guarded blockhouses where the chains were anchored. Despite a valiant effort by the Cygnarans, the Khadorans soundly defeated them and turned back their boats. The Cygnaran Army was not fully

deterred and was able to march into Llael on foot, but this caused a considerable delay. Meanwhile, Irusk’s forces secured vital blasting powder resources at Rynyr and also seized the strategically vital bridges at Riversmet in the first of several battles in this town, winning access to eastern Llael. Those Cygnaran soldiers already present in Llael endured demoralizing skirmishes, defeats, and subsequent withdrawals, all while becoming increasingly desperate for reinforcements from the south. Despite this, the defenders experienced moments of hope and celebration amid other setbacks. At the Battle of Fort Llernas, for example, a besieged Llaelese force was relieved by the heroic efforts of the young warcaster Ashlynn D’Elyse. The severely damaged fortress was ultimately abandoned, but Ashlynn’s efforts saw most of its personnel safely evacuated to Merywyn. Battles around the capital prevented its immediate encirclement, bolstered by the arrival of Cygnar’s First Army and warcasters such as Lord Commander Stryker and Commander Adept Nemo. Unfortunately, Khador’s early seizure of Riversmet and Irusk’s ability to redeploy his armies quickly allowed him to get sufficient forces east of the Black River to eventually surround Merywyn. By the end of the second month of the year, on Casteus 26th, the Siege of Merywyn began. The Llaelese Army and Cygnaran Army had managed to heavily reinforce the

No Quarter PRIME 5

THE FIRE & THE FORGE city and had reason to expect they could sustain an extended siege. And operations were undertaken throughout the siege to weaken the Khadorans, hoping to break their stranglehold. Other groups quickly arrived to capitalize on the war’s chaos, proving this would not be a conflict confined to Khador, Cygnar, and Llael. Cryxian elements made an appearance within the first month of the year as the Nightmare Empire began to harvest necromantic resources from active battlefields far from its island shores. At the Battle of Keeper’s Dig on the 22nd of Casteus, forward elements of the Cygnaran Army were cut off by heavy snowfall and were beset by Cryxians at their makeshift firebase. Necrotite mining rigs cropped up in multiple remote locations, while stitch thralls and necrotechs were spotted harvesting battlefield remains to craft new horrors. These efforts were led by the iron lich Asphyxious, who was laying the groundwork for Cryxian operations in the vicinity. Nor was Cryx the only powerful group drawn to Llael. Early in the year, the Harbinger of Menoth called on Menites of every nation to join her by relocating to the Protectorate, causing tremendous ripples through the rest of the Iron Kingdoms, particularly in Khador, with its large Menite minority. Armed forces from the Protectorate answered the hierarch’s subsequent call to crusade, preparing to move on those they marked as unbelievers. Leaders of the theocracy determined that the war in Llael would open opportunities to advance their cause. Some were concerned priceless Menite relics in that kingdom would be jeopardized by conflict. Committed faithful led by High Exemplar Mikhail Kreoss soon marched on Llael to pave the way for larger expeditions to follow.

STOKING THE FIRES OF FAITH The Temple of the Eye in Southern Llael, Glaceus 20th, 605 AR Breath plumed from the holes in his helmet’s visor as he turned to face the next onrushing foe, and the air he sucked into his lungs had a cold bite, suggesting a harsh winter was upon them. High Exemplar Kreoss gripped the haft of Spellbreaker in his gauntleted hands, keeping its ball and chain whirling with momentum as he prepared to absorb the shock of the doom reavers that rushed at the Sul-Menites. That they were maddened was clear both in their frenzied movements and in the muffled howls emerging from behind their metal masks. Many had their chests bare, too insane to be deterred by the cold or the prospect of death. Kreoss had spent his life defending the Temple of Menoth and had marched across countless battlefields. He had seen more than his share of carnage, and the tumult of battle could no longer surprise him. Still, the sight and proximity of doom reavers instilled in him a particular dread. They wielded the fell blades by which the Orgoth had once tamed Immoren, as unholy as the relic blades of his own knights were empowered by Menoth’s light. The sides of each fell blade were filled with tormented faces, mouths agape as if screaming in agony. If one stared at such a blade too long, the faces moved. It seemed as though their screams could be heard, along with a litany of unintelligible but unsavory sounds. 6 No Quarter PRIME

The reaver at the fore performed an impossible leap, stepping off a gravestone in the shrine’s graveyard to launch himself through the air, his blade lifted in both hands behind his head. Kreoss had seen such a blow cut an armored knight in two. Indeed, not fifteen feet from where he stood lay the butchered body of Exemplar Trente, who had perished in the first assault. Even warcaster armor and his power field could not ensure survival from a rampaging doom reaver. Kreoss extended his right hand as though demanding the deranged Khadoran stop, his left hand still holding Spellbreaker as orange runes manifested in a circle around his gauntlet. In mid-leap, the doom reaver was consumed in a column of swirling flame, blasting outward in a clap of heat that set afire two of his nearest companions. The screaming of their pain was not so different from their war cries, though they crumpled into heaps, chained blades tumbling from their hands. “Beware, Brother Elias!” The shout came from Warder Samual. Kreoss turned and saw one of his errants was oblivious to a doom reaver closing on him from the side. He was turning too slowly. The high exemplar moved swiftly to intercept, checking the attacker with his armored shoulder as the deranged man tried to rush through and hack at the exposed young errant. The reaver recovered quickly and managed a sideways swipe that caught Kreoss’ arm, provoking a blaze of white light like a flash of lightning from his power field. The fell blade bit into the warcaster armor but was locked tight, its momentum stolen. Kreoss smashed the reaver with the haft of Spellbreaker, knocking him back a step, and followed with a blow of the whirling spiked ball of his weapon that he brought down onto the Khadoran’s head. The reaver dropped to the ground as his skull caved, and Kreoss extracted the blade from his armor and tossed it away in disgust. Even holding it so briefly had felt like it was something alive beneath his fingers. He was distracted for a brief moment by a symbol burned into the skin of the reaver’s chest—a stylized Menofix. Once, this creature had been a member of the Old Faith. The sight provoked in Kreoss a feeling of emptiness and loss. He looked up and saw that while they had cleared the immediate area, his knights were suffering on the other side of the path leading to the main temple building they protected. Several of the doom reavers had cut a swath through multiple Exemplar before finally being taken down. The Exemplar errants who had been firing their crossbows from closer to the graveyard moved up to support them, sending bolts into the next nearest foes. “High Exemplar! To the south!” This was shouted from Samual, who had momentarily stopped to reload her weapon. Kreoss turned and clenched his jaw as he watched figures with oddly proportioned silhouettes coming at the fray from the direction of the already trampled vineyard. He initially presumed a flanking force of the Khadorans. It would not have been unusual for them to callously send their doom reavers first to break up the lines and kill as many as they could before Winter Guard or Iron Fangs committed to the fight. The Khadorans cared nothing for the lives of their chained prisoners whose minds had been given over to the fell blades.

Troop Movements & Key Battles Llaelese War, Winter, 605 AR

Key Battles 1 Battle of Rynyr, Glaceus 8th Khador v. Llael

2 First Battle of Riversmet, Glaceus 16th Khador v. Llael & Cygnar

3 Throat Cutter, Glaceus 24th Cygnar v. Khador

4 Temple of the Eye, Glaceus 20th Protectorate v. Khador v. Cryx

5 Well of Truth, Glaceus 27th Protectorate v. Cryx

2

1

11

5

6 Battle of Willow Barrens, Casteus 4th Khador v. Cryx

9

7 Battle of Fort Llernas, Casteus 12th Khador v. Llael

6

8

7

4

8 Battle of Keeper’s Dig, Casteus 22nd Cygnar v. Cryx

10 3

9 Battle of Saldon Tower, Casteus 23rd Khador v. Cygnar & Llael

10 Beginning of the Siege of Merywyn, Casteus 26th Khador v. Cygnar & Llael

11 Second Battle of Riversmet, Trineus 3rd Cygnar v. Khador

Khadoran Troop Movements

Cygnaran Troop Movements

Llaelese Troop Movements

Protectorate Troop Movements

No Quarter PRIME 7

THE FIRE & THE FORGE But the movement and shapes were wrong. They advanced quickly but as a loose mob, not in formation. Their arms were bulky and strangely shaped. Then the light caught them, and he saw they were mechanithralls, the unnatural products of necromancy animating the corpses of the dead and fusing them with steam-powered machinery.

of the Creator of Man. There was a booming thud, akin to the footfall of an unseen giant, and all his enemies—Khadoran and Cryxian both—were knocked back and off their feet. A half-dozen doom reavers had been in the middle of a howling charge, rushing to maim and kill, but they too went tumbling to the ground as all the thralls fell as well.

“Samual,” Kreoss barked sharply, “bring your knights here to the fore and put fire on the new foe! Go to swords when they close!”

“Fire!” he shouted, and the air sang with the sound of crossbows unleashing their deadly volleys.

He continued to shout orders, splitting his force, moving his knights back closer to the temple wall without surrendering the route to the doorway.

“Strike now!” And those Exemplar with relic blades in hand quickly closed on the foes that had been knocked from their feet, delivering to them a swift and merciful end. The runes around Kreoss did not fade but only swirled and changed as fire erupted among more thralls farther back. The warcaster’s eyes blazed with holy conviction as he strode in the direction from which they had come.

Dozens of unarmed civilians cowered inside, having taken shelter from the peril, and only the Knights Exemplar in Kreoss’ charge stood between these foreign faithful and slaughter. Bad as it would have been for them to be cut down by doom reavers, falling to Cryx would be worse. He vowed under his breath that he would not allow a single Menite to be desecrated in death, not while he lived. Golden runes blazed around his form as he called upon the power entrusted in him by the Lawgiver. Raising a hand above his head, he brought it down, and with it he invoked the wrath

—●— They surveyed the carnage in the aftermath, while Kreoss ordered those who survived to bring the bodies of the fallen into the temple. The faithful they had protected gathered to offer their praises to the Exemplar once the fighting was done and it was clear they were safe once more. They then emerged to assist in bringing in both the dead and the wounded. He overheard the young errant, Elias, ask of Samual, “Why would doom reavers attack us here? What could Khador hope to gain?” “Never attribute to the Greylords motives more complex than simple malice,” she replied. “They are corrupt and godless. The proof of their dark work lies all around us.” Sinister fell blades lay scattered around the perimeter of the temple. Kreoss had ordered their chains severed and the foul relics be carefully collected and wrapped in cloth to be disposed of later, lest they infect and corrupt the minds of the faithful. Kreoss stepped closer to the two knights. Elias saw him and quickly took to a knee, his head bowed. “High Exemplar! Thank you for saving my life. I feel unworthy.” Kreoss raised a calming hand to settle the youth and said, “On this day, rank does not matter. You are my brother, as Samual is my sister. Each of us would gladly bleed for the others.” Samual inclined her head respectfully and said, “What do you make of these attacks, High Exemplar? Do you think these were the vanguard of larger forces?” “I had thought so, but now I am not sure. Were that so, more should have followed to finish us while we were beset on all sides.” Kreoss went quiet for several seconds, his eyes sweeping the graveyard and the temple, from which the sounds of prayer rose in a comforting and familiar hymn. Then he said, “I see no Greylords among the slain nor witnessed any directing the fight. These reavers were like rabid dogs escaped from their cages. There may be no greater plan at work. Though the Khadorans think these men are theirs, their minds are enslaved by wielding these blades. Orgoth madness guides them. The holiness of this place may have been enough to draw them. They wanted to extinguish the goodness here and

8 No Quarter PRIME

replace it with rot and death. That was the Orgoth way, now adopted by their inheritors.” Samual nodded. “I wish we had brought Fire of Salvation and other blessed warjacks. We may have need of them in the days ahead.” Kreoss took this in the spirit in which it was intended, not seeing it as a judgment or rebuke. They were far from the Protectorate and were the first of their peers to venture into this region during the war, hoping to bring the word of the Great Crusade to the faithful and see if it were plausible to recover lost relics. He had chosen his force for mobility; lacking reliable supplies had compelled him to leave his warjacks behind. Once they had secured their key objectives, Kreoss intended to lay the groundwork for resupply caches to facilitate other operations. “Our blessed machines will follow us soon enough,” he said. “Though given what happened here today, I do not intend to delay securing the Well of Truth. Horrors may be closing on other holy sites in this accursed land.” He shook off his introspective mood and said to Samual, “When you are certain we have recovered all our dead, burn the rest of the fallen.” —●— Returning to the Temple of the Eye, Kreoss felt compelled to address the gathered faithful. The space was now cramped but well lit, with torches and myriad candles giving it a warm glow. Above the main altar and pulpit was a large round stained glass piece featuring the namesake of the temple, an all-seeing eye intended to represent the gaze of the Creator. Kreoss had taken damp rags to clean his armor of the blood that had stained him. He removed his helmet and set it to the side so they could see his face. Wounded exemplar had been lain on improvised pallets in one of the adjoining chambers. The slain had been respectfully shrouded and lain across the forward pews and the marble floor before the altar, closest to the Canon of the True Law and where those gathered could look upon them and acknowledge their sacrifice. The local priest said prayers over them, and though his words were not identical to those employed by Sul-Menite clergy, they were well said and heartfelt. Inside these walls, both priests and congregation spoke an accented Sulese instead of their native Llaelese tongue, a fact Kreoss appreciated and which made it easy to imagine he was back in one of the towns in Gedorra or Sulonmarch. He had chosen to visit this place because of its ties to the Protectorate, to the missionaries who had brought the True Law here, correcting their once wayward beliefs.

Kreoss accepted the nod from the priest and began to speak. “Now that the peril to your town is over and this holy place is secure, the time has come to speak to you of why we are here.” He paused a moment and looked out at the gathered faces. They were listening intently, but he could see fear and uncertainty reflected on many. Given the attack and its aftermath, he did not blame them. “Even before we were assailed on these grounds, I had intended to speak with you about a greater peril, a danger that we must all face together. “As you know, our faith has dwindled over the centuries. Though Menoth is the Creator of Man and we all owe our existence to his generosity, many have turned their backs to him. It is easy to be thankless, to be selfish, to accept the less demanding path. Other faiths have arisen to encourage this corruption and descent. Because Menoth is distant and unknowable, and his voice and commands are stern, it is easy for people to forget how to love and honor him. Once, the faithful were found in every township, from west to east and north to south. Priests ensured the rule of law and punished the wicked. Darkness was held at bay, beyond our walls. “Not so today! I do not come here to rebuke you, for you are the faithful. I see it in your eyes and feel it in your hearts. But you know as do that I we stand in a godless land, on an island amid a tempestuous sea. So it is with every village that remembers the True Faith. They are all islands, each scattered and alone, their people living good lives but left vulnerable, unable to call on others like themselves. Surrounded by darkness, these islands can too easily be swallowed and sink into oblivion. I come to you now, in this time of war, because it need not be this way.

F&F Intel: Menites in Llael Though Llael has long had an overwhelming Morrowan majority, several regions support small but fervent Menite populations. Cities like Leryn have well-entrenched Menite communities, and there are rural villages entirely devoted to the Lawgiver. The Menite faith as practiced in most of Llael is different in significant ways from the southern theocracy, particularly given their minority status. Such priests have never had much influence over the government. Yet in communities where Sul-Menite missionaries have visited, they have converted locals, convincing them of the truth of Sulese doctrine. It was to these villages that armed forces of the Protectorate turned when they marched into the region.

“You may have heard rumors of miracles in the south, in the lands from which I come, at the Temple in Imer. These rumors may have seemed too good to believe. Yet you know me and can trust that I will speak truth. The Harbinger of Menoth is real. She has come to us in our time of need, as the fire of the faith sputters in the wind and threatens to be extinguished. She is a bonfire of faith, a conduit to the divine, and by her words we will restore what has been destroyed. The Temple will be rebuilt in lands where its walls were torn down. She invites us, all of us, to become unified in cause and to join as one. The isolation is ended, and the Great Crusade to warm all of mankind by the flame of truth has begun!” He saw their gleaming faces, the adoration and awe, and for a moment he was taken aback. He had not intended to speak so much, had not even known what words he would say. It felt as though they had flowed from him, driven from his heart in part from

No Quarter PRIME 9

THE FIRE & THE FORGE the ache he felt on seeing the still faces of the Exemplar who had been slain. He realized his hands upon the pulpit were shaking. He was no priest, no orator, yet the words had come from somewhere true, and he saw they had an impact. He cleared his throat and said, “You here know I speak truth. I will rely on you to spread these words to others who doubt. To the Menites of Llael who fear change, who may not want to face the darkness that comes, brought by the unbelievers. A darkness made tangible outside the doors of this temple today. Once you have spread the word, you who are able of body and ready to take up the burden are asked to travel from here, to join us in Sul, in Imer. This is a large thing to ask, I know. To give up your homes, to go on a pilgrimage to a foreign land and commit yourself to the faith. I do not ask of you what I was unwilling to do. I too was born elsewhere. Having gone through this, I will tell you that my dedication and love for the faith was made stronger by this choice. It is something you can remember with pride. The Harbinger awaits you. Go to her and bring as many converts as you can reach.” More words did not come to him, so he stopped. He saw that his Exemplars were staring at him. They had also taken off their helmets, several having adopted positions of prayer. Among them was the youth Elias, who was staring up at the Eye, his expression thoughtful. Kreoss inclined his head once more and then recovered his helmet before stepping down from the podium, smiling upon the knights who knelt before him and bidding them to rise. Their work was far from over.

Aftermath: Beginning of the Crusade While the Protectorate’s involvement in the Llaelese War was periphery to the central conflict between Khador and Cygnar over the fate of this kingdom, the theocracy’s involvement in the region would become increasingly significant in the years to follow. Military leaders such as High Exemplar Kreoss galvanized the faithful both in Llael and at home, lending credence and strength to the rising momentum of the Great Crusade. Kreoss’ courageous and daring efforts operating far from the heartland in this time paved the way for him to be declared leader of the exemplars in the months ahead, after the death of Grand Exemplar Baine Hurst. Having secured the safety of the faithful taking shelter at the Temple of the Eye, High Exemplar Kreoss went on to recover the Well of Truth from a shrine south of Leryn, a blessed relic that Imer’s priesthood had been trying to secure for decades. A number of other ancient Menite relics were safeguarded in this period, proving conclusively that the Protectorate—though a small nation—could conduct military operations abroad. It would not be long, however, before the Protectorate would find itself embroiled in battles both in the north and the south, when efforts to attack Caspia directly from Sul were set in motion and the Northern Crusade was declared to forge more lasting bastions of the faith in foreign lands.

UNDYING AMBITION By 611 AR, the ominous threat of Cryx had become fixed in the minds of everyone living on Immoren’s mainland, but six years earlier this was not yet the case. As the Llaelese War opened, most mainlanders saw Cryx as a distant and exotic menace, one whose reach extended only to the coastal regions where bloodthirsty pirates and Satyxis raiders were rightly feared. By the end of the first month of winter in 605 AR, however, Cryxian elements were actively conducting operations in Llael, hundreds of miles inland. These were initially isolated sightings of Cryxians exploiting the carnage of battlefields after the outcome was decided. Necrotechs and necrosurgeons would quickly arrive to harvest resources like corpses and wrecked warjacks and transform them into weapons of war. It would not be until many months later that mortal intelligence groups began to understand how these reports were even possible. The presence of advanced machinery, including helljacks, bonejacks, and necrotite mining rigs, suggested a cunning mind behind these efforts and robust—if inexplicable—supply lines. Later, it was unearthed that these Cryxian actions were an extension of plans hatched during the Scharde Invasions twenty years before. While Cryx had ultimately been defeated in that costly war with Cygnar, its commanders had secretly landed substantial assets on the mainland. Powerful and patient undead leaders had penetrated deep inland to establish hidden bases. The largest, a necrofactorium located beneath the Thornwood Forest, facilitated easy access to Llaelese battlefields. The ancient iron lich Asphyxious directed these forces to create Cryxian infrastructure in the service of Lich Lords Daeamortus and Terminus, the architects of the Scharde Invasions. From his vast network of subterranean tunnels, Asphyxious amassed an ever-growing arsenal of warjacks, banes, and thralls. While ostensibly serving his distant lich lords, Asphyxious remained focused on his own agenda, seeking to multiply his personal power. Such efforts were not unusual among the upper ranks of Cryx; each iron lich was expected to seek new weapons and to master ever greater supernatural capabilities. Yet the scope of Asphyxious’ plans proved to be beyond his peers, with the goal of transforming himself into a god. Central to his scheme was the emergence of a tangible conduit to the divine that had recently manifested on Caen: the Harbinger of Menoth. Asphyxious turned to one of his most cunning agents—the warcaster Goreshade. Having proven the scope of his occult lore and his ability to adapt to unusual circumstances, the eldritch was directed to conduct a difficult and extended mission gathering intelligence inside the Protectorate of Menoth with the ultimate goal of corrupting the Harbinger for his own purposes. While Goreshade could cloak himself in shadows and move unseen, the prospect of conducting a long-term operation inside the theocracy represented a huge risk. The smallest mistake could reveal Goreshade’s presence to a nation well equipped to eradicate unholy foes. That Goreshade agreed to undertake this task suggests he was either firmly under Asphyxious’ control or so arrogant as to believe himself beyond the ability of any mortal to interfere with him . . . or possibly both.

10 No Quarter PRIME

A flotilla of the Cryxian Black Fleet evaded the Cygnaran Navy in the Gulf of Cygnar and brought the eldritch and his small escort to Protectorate shores unseen, where they emerged just south of the Guardians. From there he was able to enter the interior of the Protectorate and begin his research. In the pursuit of this task, Goreshade is known to have relied heavily upon the uniquely Cryxian intelligence-gathering technique of forensic necromancy. By the use of blasphemous rites, he could interrogate the dead, coaxing answers they might never have betrayed while alive.

SECURING THE WITNESS Town of Septum in Gedorra Province, Protectorate of Menoth, Casteus 22nd His clawed fingers and tireless strength let him clamber quickly and easily over the outer wall of Septum, at ease and seeing perfectly well despite the darkness. Of the three moons, only two were evident, both at less than half-full. The sky was partially overcast, though some few stars gleamed down to add their wan light. But once he was past the outer wall, the streets were bathed in light from myriad fires—gas lights and torch sconces set along each lane. He had become a frequent unseen visitor in the last couple of weeks, and by now knew the town’s every byway.

As on other nights, the town was very quiet, most of its inhabitants having fled the streets at dusk, eager to return to their homes and bar their doors. This was a land that feared the darkness outside their walls. The only sound aside from the flickering torches was the clanking of armor and weapons worn by knights and militia on patrol. They were not seeking beings like him—they could never have fathomed one such as he was among them. No, they prowled against any of their own violating their stringent laws, ready to seize and shackle any witless fool who was slow to heed the curfew. To these sounds was joined the clomping of horse’s hooves and the rattle of wagon wheels. He positioned himself where he could await his quarry. He drew shadows around himself like a garment stitched from scraps of night, becoming a phantom. He did not need to sleep or rest like the living, and he intended to make use of every hour of day and night until his tasks were completed, both the errand for Asphyxious and his own research project. Each would require considerable time. He was not truly invisible, but to weak minds he might as well have been. Were he to abandon his shadows, he would tower over most humans. Those he passed earlier in the day would have been terrified at the sight of him in his dark steel armor and the spiked exhaust pipes on his back from which

F&F Intel: Goreshade & Cryx The timing of Goreshade’s alliance with Cryx is thought to have begun by 586 AR. By the time of the Llaelese War, he had been serving Cryx for less than twenty years. It is natural to wonder why Asphyxious trusted a relative newcomer with such a vital task. Asphyxious had found a kindred soul in Goreshade, who brought to Cryx a wealth of obscure occult lore. Goreshade worked to ingratiate himself with the lich, but there is reason to believe Asphyxious took mystical measures to ensure the eldritch’s obedience. The iron lich clearly believed Goreshade to be firmly in his thrall, a subordinate who could not betray him. Asphyxious was versed in dark rites to bind Goreshade to his service, perhaps in a mystical arrangement sealed by Bloodcleaver, a bestowed weapon forged by the iron lich. Later events proved the eldritch retained his autonomy. Certainly he proved to be quite skilled in turning magic against its intended purpose.

A number of smaller temples and shrines are scattered across the Protectorate of Menoth, including among the arid Erud Hills, some safeguarding priceless relics of the remains of ancient priests.

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THE FIRE & THE FORGE potentially interfere with him, and these he steered clear of. In particular he made sure to avoid the voiceless members of the Reclaimant Order. They were believed to hear the whisperings of their aloof god. He did not know the truth of this but decided it was better to simply evade them. The armored knights who often accompanied priests could potentially be dangerous, but he had found that their eyes were as easily fooled as any farmer’s. They sought to see only the light, stepping quickly past shadowy alleys. Clad in gleaming and burnished mail, they seemed even less sensitive to his presence than were the superstitious laborers in the streets. Their helmets kept their eyes focused to a very narrow angle of vision, as did their discipline. The eldritch had been in the Protectorate long enough to feel comfortable with his methods. A portion of his early efforts had been taken up haunting libraries and other repositories of lore. Not the large and more ornate vaults preserving ancient sacred texts, though he intended to visit such places eventually. For now, he was more interested in recent records, dull and tedious observations of those who tracked the comings and goings of those petitioning the higher clergy. Such writings were insipid, and it felt beneath him to read them, but he had no minions to whom he might pass such labor.

wisps of oily smoke emerged. Fortunately, they were unable to perceive his passage. Some he had walked by did shudder as their occluded minds sensed his unnatural presence. They felt unease; their noses wrinkled as they smelled something foul. Some few made superstitious prayer gestures with their hands or murmured under their breath, but his magic kept their attention from fixing on him. Their prayers had no power; their god did not listen to them, as he was preoccupied with other matters far from Caen. It was a testament to his occult power that a being like Goreshade, now an eldritch but once the lord of House Vyre in Ios, could move so freely inside the Protectorate of Menoth. He was more cautious in the presence of the priesthood, though lesser members of their caste were as blind to the supernatural as other mortals were. Despite their titles, their arrogance, and their privileged status, most priests were clerks and administrators. Functionaries in the government, not so dissimilar from those found in other nations, for all their ornamented robes, gilded staves of authority, and masks of office. Prayer occupied them, it was true, but so did bureaucracy; an endless procession of messages and missives. Some few among them had real power and could 12 No Quarter PRIME

On this mission, he was Asphyxious’ servant. He had made an effort to appear to be eager to please, to adopt the guise of seeking the lich’s favor. Asphyxious was easily flattered. The iron lich was testing him, curious regarding his limits. Even as he sent Goreshade south, Asphyxious had gone north to the Thornwood, where his base of operations had been planted and ongoing plans required him. He had given his orders as though they were a simple errand, not an impossible quest no other denizen of the Nightmare Empire could hope to complete. There had been no question of Goreshade’s accepting this task. Asphyxious believed Goreshade was his creature, enthralled by mystical chains as powerful as they were invisible. It was no accident he had turned to an outsider; the iron lich plotted treason against his master—the Dragonfather Toruk. The eldritch did not particularly care one way or the other, as he had no reason to feel loyalty to Toruk. What he required of Cryx was its resources and its unquestioning soldiers. The lich’s labyrinthine mind was of interest to Goreshade, though he had undertaken measures to ensure his will remained his own. Still, he dutifully boarded the blackship and waited below decks during the long journey. When called on a moonless night, he crossed the deck and walked off the side of the vessel, letting himself splash into the water and sink to the bottom, there to walk unhindered

until he reached the shore and climbed onto its sands. He had studied maps of this land, memorizing every detail until he felt confident he could walk anywhere inside its borders. A number of banes had accompanied him and were ready to be called upon when he needed them. They were not as adept at passing unseen as he, and so he had sent them to a hidden location nearby, waiting amid old tunnels and crypts that had not been walked by the living for decades. While several were reasonably intelligent, none had the temperament for the work he did. The only thing they were skilled at was killing the living. It had been tedious but easy enough to find the names he sought. More work to determine where they were now and their ages and dispositions. Fortunately, the Menite clergy was forever scrutinizing its priests, trying to gauge their worthiness for the offices they held. So it was he found notes on an older scrutator, one who had been present when the young woman from an outer town had arrived in Imer and presented herself before the Synod. The miracles claimed in her name were described in the same dry manner as the lists of daily rituals. Those records led Goreshade to Septum. He had soon located Scrutator Marius Grummel, one of the elder and revered leaders of this town. Goreshade might have cornered and interrogated the man while he was alive, but he had found such measures to be ineffective and largely a waste of time. Particularly with those who had gone through the mental training to which scrutators were subjected. Better to question them when they were dead and more readily forced into compliance. Some minor investigation revealed to him the scrutator was filled with guilt and preferred to scourge himself before sleep, subjecting his body to painful lashing. His body was already frail, weak from lost blood. To the scourging barbs, the eldritch had applied a resin treatment including necrotite ashes. The priest may have been dismayed to see the blackened streaks along the veins of his arms and back, but he would have interpreted this as a divine sign of impurity that only pushed him to torment himself more vigorously. His death less than a week later dismayed no one and aroused no alarm.

Goreshade watched as that single wagon pulled by its skinny horse pulled up to the temple, carrying its funereal cargo, the slow cadence of its hooves and the rattling of its wheels paired with the metallic sound of the Temple Flameguard boots marching on either side. The two men seated at the fore of the wagon were both priests, the driver clearly the junior, given his simpler vestments and unadorned mask. The one seated beside him was a scrutator, perhaps there to conduct whatever rites were required to send his peer to Urcaen—“The City of Man,” as the Menites called it, where they hoped to go, where their faceless god waited behind towering walls. Just the thought provoked a simmering anger in Goreshade’s dead heart, despite the coldness of his mind. His passions had not been erased with his mortality, only faded and requiring greater stirring. Not all gods were where they should be. Some gods had been less aloof, willing to abandon their palaces to spend time among their chosen people. And not all peoples, no matter how pious, knew what the afterlife held for them once their flesh failed. The sanctimony and righteousness of the weak creatures who lived in this theocracy disgusted him. Their god did not love them, did not deserve their dedication and zeal. The measured approach would have been to lurk patiently and await the end of the Menite funeral arrangement before making his move. But Goreshade’s sudden anger banished

Forensic necromancy is a macabre practice perfected by Cryx and allowing access to the thoughts of the dead. There are a variety of apparatus employed for such work, some of them drawing on the same unholy mechanisms found in soul cages.

Scrutators were not buried with great ceremony, their passing marked only by a select few and handled by quiet rituals, mostly at night. To Goreshade it seemed likely the caste disliked reminding the flock of their mortality. The scrutator mask was worn to erase their humanity, to become pure symbol. A symbol should not perish. Grummel would be replaced with no particular fanfare, only another masked figure stepping into authority, to be obeyed without question. Goreshade climbed swiftly over another wall, this one surrounding a small and old temple, one that had stood here long before most of the better built structures of Septum. The wall was of crumbling bricks, as was the temple shrine. They had taken what measures they could to adorn it in a way that suggested its role as a house of worship. It was situated near a simple path that led to a rocky hill whose face had been excavated and flattened. There a circular opening awaited, next to it a great round stone that could be rolled to seal it—a tomb of the ancient Menites.

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THE FIRE & THE FORGE the patience he had mustered. There was no denying the overwhelming compulsion to kill, to see the faith driven from their eyes as oblivion claimed them. He leapt from the wall and was upon the first Flameguard before they were aware of his existence. He let the shadows fall aside like a shed cloak. He laughed as Bloodcleaver bit into the soldier’s side. He had swung with such strength that the blow knocked the man into the wagon as his armor crumpled and parted. Bloodcleaver’s edge shattered his ribs and ruptured his lung. The man’s helmet fell from his head, and his face was frozen in an expression of disbelief and horror. The other Flameguard had quick reflexes and came at Goreshade with his spear, shouting as he attacked. A ghostly female presence stepped close to him, having emerged from behind the Cryxian warcaster and emitting unnatural cold. The Flameguard gasped as wisps like black smoke left his mouth and nostrils, collected by the spectral form, which had stolen the very breath from his lungs, leaving him gasping. He still landed his thrust against Goreshade’s hip, but the blow was trivial and easily ignored. Goreshade raised his left hand, and his eyes gleamed as green runes manifested and all the blood in the Flameguard’s body was torn from him, pouring from his mouth and eyes, leaving his body withered and desiccated. His corpse fell while his spear clattered across the cobblestones. The eldritch turned to the wagon as the younger priest jumped off the driving board and ran, his robes flapping around him. The warcaster reached in his direction, extending his will to invoke an implosion of swirling dark energies to tear the man limb from limb. Where he had stood were now bloodied rags and a bent and twisted Menofix. Braver than the youth, the elder priest stood and faced the Cryxian, his staff in his hands, its Menofix gleaming as prayers tumbled from his lips. He sought to summon his faith as a tangible miracle. For a moment his body was suffused with a golden light. “Begone, foul specter!” the priest intoned, drawing upon his righteousness like a sword. The light atop his staff began to kindle and blaze like a bonfire. Another cruel laugh erupted from Goreshade. He waved a clawed hand before him, shredding the light and banishing it into darkness. The nearby torches guttered and expired as he stepped toward the priest, whose eyes had filled with terror. “There will be no reward in death for the likes of you,” Goreshade said softly before he fed Bloodcleaver again.

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—●— The fight was over quickly, and the ancient tomb and its shrine were remote, so the violence passed unnoticed by other guardians of Septum. Goreshade had the luxury of time to do his work properly. Taking the shroud from the finely dressed corpse on the wagon, he used his blade to sever the head of Scrutator Grummel. Leaving the headless body on the wagon, he took the head with him into the yawning crypt, there to commit greater blasphemies. The priest’s howling soul lingered near the body, not yet fully divorced from the flesh. The funerary rites he had been denied would have let him pass on, but his guilt still held him here. Goreshade had brought a special device. It was a modified cage of blackened iron with tinted glass between its tines, making it resemble a lantern. By arcane force he stripped the dead skin and muscles from the scrutator’s head, inscribed on the skull’s surface several necromantic runes, and then placed it inside the lantern. As it went, the scrutator’s soul was drawn in as well, like a shapeless mist that shrieked and raged. Soon its strength was exhausted, and it could not evade the torment of its new state of existence. After closing the soul lantern’s hinged door, Goreshade held the device before him and addressed it calmly, in perfectly accented Sulese. “Speak to me, Marius Grummel, and tell me all that you know of the woman who calls herself the Harbinger of Menoth.”

Aftermath: Cryxian Incursion into the Protectorate Demonstrating patience remarkable even to the undead, Goreshade would spend many months on his mission in the Menite theocracy before confronting the Harbinger. The exact nature of his actions during this period are unknown. His ongoing survival and ability to evade detection proves Asphyxious’ choice was well made. It would eventually become clear, though, the iron lich was not the only undead lord advancing a private agenda. Goreshade was operating far from Cryxian oversight for nearly a year, during which time he conducted research into occult matters having nothing to do with Asphyxious’ plot. With the longer perspective of history and examination of some of his later deeds, it is possible to deduce some of Goreshade’s path. While he was in the Protectorate, a number of tombs were desecrated and several sacred libraries plundered. Among the pilfered works were the archives of Menite priests cataloguing potent relics buried in other nations. In the years after the Llaelese War, Goreshade did not return to Cryx but instead visited several of these far-flung crypts. This included a tomb in southern Khador in a region that had once been northern Ord, from which Goreshade stole the Torch of Lord Khazarak, a victory sigil of a revered Khardic horselord. This relic would eventually facilitate the eldritch’s confrontation with the Iosan god of winter, Nyssor, being used to melt the ice sealing the god in frozen slumber.

THE COST OF WAR One of the cities affected most severely by the escalating conflict in Llael was Riversmet, a large and strategically important northern Llaelese town. While it had been of little note for much of its history, Riversmet would have the dubious distinction of being one of the most fought-over places in the Llaelese War. Several major battles were fought here, and its ultimate destruction marked a major turning point. Prior to the invasion, Riversmet was an idyllic small city nestled in a valley just south of the Llaelese Mountains, a community surrounded by the waters that are its namesake. It profited from being at the conjunction where the Rangercliffe Run joined with the larger Black River, already widened by the eastern Oldwick. The Black River originates in Lake Armsdeep, the inland sea of central Rhul, and has long served as a major artery of commerce between the dwarven nation and its southern trade partners. Riversmet’s population included a substantial community of Rhulfolk, including both dwarves and ogrun. The Black River flows through the Llaelese capital and two major Cygnaran cities, including its capital, while also connecting with the Dragon’s Tongue River to reach cities in Ord. By these channels, all of the Iron Kingdoms except Khador are connected by these rivers and through them to Rhul. And all foreign goods that passed through Riversmet were subjected to tariffs—a major boon to the Llaelese economy—though this income was monopolized by its self-serving nobles. Safe places to ford the powerful Black River are few in number in Llael, and most are perilous at certain times of the year. The only guaranteed safe crossings for large armies with warjacks were in Merywyn and Riversmet, making this town’s bridges strategically vital. Their early capture was a key aspect of Kommandant Irusk’s invasion plan. Control of Riversmet

allowed strikes into eastern Llael and, most important, allowed Merywyn to be encircled and besieged. Attacking this town also provoked Rhul, a calculated risk by the High Kommand. They deduced that the mountain nation would be reluctant to act, having no wish to embroil itself in human wars. Immediately after launching the invasion, Khadoran diplomats were sent to Ghord to reassure the Moot and preserve trade between Khador and Rhul. The First Battle of Riversmet took place on the 16th of Glaceus, just weeks after the fall of Llael’s western border. While forewarned, the combined Llaelese and Cygnaran defenders of Riversmet were inadequate to repel the overwhelming invading army. Khador’s victory was swiftly won and with limited collateral damage, though there were hundreds of civilian deaths and several buildings destroyed. The Khadorans relied on a strategy of rapid attack and redeployment, so the majority of these forces advanced on other targets. A small garrison was left to safeguard the town and its bridges. The occupying force did not attempt to pacify the populace but instead relied on the fear of reprisals to forestall organized uprising. The Khadoran kommandants did not expect the Cygnarans would be in any position to threaten their hold on the town once they began the Siege of Merywyn. This did not account for the unconventional tactics of certain Cygnaran military leaders, such as Scout General Bolden Rebald and his favored weapon. Lieutenant Allister Caine was sent north with a small but mobile elite force, including some of the most dangerous members of the Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest. This small force was badly outnumbered but soon demonstrated the capabilities of Cygnar’s gun mages. Their goal was to seize the bridges and cut off Khadoran supply lines for those soldiers already deployed east of the river, hopefully facilitating attempts to break the siege of Llael’s capital.

Caine's Spellstorm revolvers are special examples of magelock pistols, the pair being works of art as much as deadly weapons of war.

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THE FIRE & THE FORGE

HAVE MAGELOCK, WILL TRAVEL Riversmet, Northern Llael, Trineus 3rd, 605 AR

F&F Intel: Lt. Caine In Cygnar, a warcaster in training is made a lieutenant during a journeyman tour and is promoted to captain when recognized as a full warcaster. For several years, the one exception was Lieutenant Allister Caine, who had the unfortunate distinction of having been demoted for conduct unbecoming an officer just weeks after earning his captain’s shield. This was one of several black marks on his record, which also included an earlier allegation of murder in Bainsmarket. This crime had drawn the attention of Scout General Bolden Rebald, who covered it up and recruited Caine as an agent of the CRS. Being a lowly lieutenant with a reputation for insubordination would prove to be an advantage in his secret work.

Northern Llaelese buildings had their rustic charm, and Riversmet looked almost warm and cozy after they had spent several sleepless nights hunkering down in the snow without a campfire to relieve them. They were all shivering with their teeth clenched to keep them from rattling, despite the warmth provided by heavy overcoats. The warm light in a number of windows across the rivers and their bridges was a deceptive trap. Lieutenant Allister Caine would have liked nothing better than to creep into the town, find a tavern with a blazing fire, and put his feet up near the hearth. Sadly, the town was occupied, and he had a feeling all the common rooms would be hosting any number of Winter Guard. The nicer taverns might have Iron Fangs instead. A number of the nearer buildings betrayed battle damage—scars and holes from bullets ricocheting off stones or piercing through wood. He saw several that looked to have fallen to rubble, perhaps destroyed by mortar fire. Khadoran soldiers were evident on watch atop the nearest bridge. Caine’s group had observed a sizable former investigator’s station on the opposite side of the bridge, which had likely been turned into a barracks for the town’s new overseers. “I see at least one problem, Lieutenant,” Sergeant Vester said in a low voice. “There appear to be quite a few more Khadorans here than us. By a wide margin, I’d say.” Caine chuckled and said, “The question is, are there more Khadorans than bullets we’ve brought? Since that might indeed be a problem.” Vester gave a small shrug. “We brought a lot of bullets.” “Then I think we’re all right,” the warcaster said with a smile. “Just don’t miss.” “That’s the thing with you all,” Master Sergeant Bastion Falk said, hefting the larger rune-inlaid weapon he preferred in both hands, a massive scattergun. “You only shoot one red at a time. If you wait for them to clump up, I can take care out the whole lot.” “That thing,” Vester hissed disapprovingly, staring at the weapon. “Jealous?” Falk asked. He and Caine shared an amused look. Falk was a gun mage whose combat experience was extensive, even compared to the other veterans Caine had brought. Caine was older than the other man by several years, but the two had spent some time at the Tempest Academy together. Caine had been sent there relatively late

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and Falk when he was quite young. They’d had their squabbles but had since gotten along well. “Bah,” Vester scoffed, “you can keep it. That’s no proper magelock. You’ll not be seeing me walking around with one of those.” Caine said, “That’s just because yer juice isn’t strong enough to charge its shot. Falk has the touch.” “Quiet!” Hissed Hullerson. The slender Morridane was hunkered down closer to the edge of the river. She’d served with the rangers before her arcane gift manifested itself, and she had retained some useful skills plus a spyglass she’d neglected to return to them. She had it in hand and was scanning the nearest bridge. “Patrols are out.” Caine nudged Falk and inclined his head back toward the copse of trees they had used to cover their approach to the main road into Riversmet from the south. To the others, he said, “We’ll be right back. Keep an eye on them.” Once they’d gotten some distance he said, “Glad yeh were able to join me on this. Let’s see if we can come up with a plan that’ll keep our people alive.” Falk nodded and said, “Thought the Black 13th were joining us. Could sure use them.” Caine held a finger up to his lips. “We’re not supposed to talk about them, remember? They had another assignment. Besides, I don’t think Lynch likes me. Granted, he has reason.” He smiled and looked back to the bridge. “But this would be their kind of operation.” “You’ve got a bad reputation for returning as a lone survivor on missions like this,” Falk said, his expression flat. “I told Durden I’d be coming back. Don’t make a liar of me.” Caine chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll try not to. Yer still with Durden? Is he at Northguard?” The other gun mage shook his head, looking rueful. “Merywyn now. Fixing warjacks for the siege, I’m sure. He volunteered to be among those marching with Nemo.” “So yer both putting yer lives on the line. That’s rough. I’ll do my part to get yeh back, though I don’t think yeh need my help. Yer twice the gun mage I am, Falk.” To anyone else, that might have sounded like a false compliment, but Caine meant it. Falk was one of a kind, the sort of gun mage who had so much raw power he had melted several magelocks at the academy. There had even been talk of making him an adept. Caine was good, but no one was talking about putting his name in that hat. Falk said, “But I’m no warcaster. My armor can’t stop blunderbuss fire.”

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THE FIRE & THE FORGE

F&F Intel: Gun Magery The narrow but impressive niche of the gun mage is a relatively recent development, an extension of military sorcery applied to firearms. Employing rune-inlaid weapons called magelocks that are made of alloys treated to sustain the heat generated by this magic, they are deadly combatants. Their magic also affords them greater tactical flexibility than ordinary infantry. The two nations with systematic gun mage traditions are Llael and Cygnar. Gun mages in Llael organized originally as the Order of the Amethyst Rose, many of whom joined the High Royal Guard to protect their king. The order fell into disfavor after the death of the last Llaelese king, and after the Llaelese War, those who remained re-formed into a vindictive group called the Thorn. Cygnar’s gun mages were once a secret society called the Brotherhood of the Tempest. During King Vinter IV’s infamous Inquisition, the kingdom’s warmaster general protected these gun mages by authorizing the Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest as an official branch of the army.

“Mine can’t always, either,” Caine said. “I suggest stepping out of the way instead. What do you recommend here? I’d prefer to take these arseholes in small numbers, if possible. We move fast, take the first bridge, get into the town proper, lay low, then strike again. I think we can cause a lot of confusion. I know a few bolt holes. We can pick off groups of reds one by one. But this first assault on the bridge garrison is going to be rough and will open us up to retaliation.” “I don’t think we need to get fancy,” Falk said, looking back at the bridge, the smallest of the three in Riversmet. “Diversions. We need someone to make a jackass of himself, draw their attention up top, then the rest of us can come from below the bridge and do cleanup. We just need to give them enough to worry about that they can’t figure out how few we are. Then we vanish before their friends arrive.” Caine blew out a breath. “Why do I think I’m the jackass tonight?” Falk smirked and said, “You’re the one who can dodge bullets. Seems only fair.” —●— Every gun mage Caine had selected for this frantic expedition was a veteran of multiple battles, each proven both as a skilled shot and a worthy member of the Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest. There were a couple of them who had developed more unusual talents, mostly minor tricks that were sometimes helpful. Hullerson, as an example, could sometimes make her shots silent, given she had time to concentrate and there were not too many other distractions. That was a lot to ask for on the battlefield, rendering the ability less useful than it might have been, particularly as Hullerson did not want to be an assassin. As a patrol of Winter Guard took a leisurely stroll to the southern side of the bridge to peer along the road, they were startled when one of their number suddenly flew off to the side. It was as though an unseen rope had lassoed him to yank him clean off the bridge. He went flying with a surprised yelp to splash into the river’s rushing waters. The remaining guardsmen shouted and rushed to the railing, clearly alarmed but also confused. There had been no loud report, and in the darkness they couldn’t see that the man was bleeding into the river. One among them—a sergeant—yelled orders and sent a subordinate rushing back to the barracks, perhaps to get rope. A couple other guardsmen there heard the commotion and came forward. Shouted words were exchanged.

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Then a second Khadoran went flying. Hullerson’s concentration must have faltered—this time there was a gunshot followed by the crackle of thunder as the charged bullet took the Khadoran in his posterior and sent him soaring into the water as well. Now the shouts and orders were of a different sort, and more Winter Guard rushed out onto the bridge with rifles or blunderbusses in hand. Showing good discipline, those at the fore took to the cover of the bridge’s parapet, pointing to where they thought the shot had come from. They were looking in the right general direction, but Caine thought it unlikely Hullerson would get hit, especially if she moved after firing. The real racket had begun, and this meant they were on a ticking clock before additional reds arrived to reinforce. The echoing sounds of these shots would be heard across the area, perhaps muffled but certainly not drowned out by the rushing rivers. Caine watched from the darkness closer to the river and waited until more soldiers emerged to take up firing positions along the bridge. Then he gathered his power. He pulled at reality, opening a hole to tumble through. There was a lurch, and the world reasserted itself in a new configuration as, with a flash of light, he appeared behind the collective Winter Guard. His Spellstorm pistols were ready—he directed the barrel of one at an officer barking orders behind the rest. As the man opened his mouth to speak, Caine fired, and his bullet took the Khadoran in the back of the head, making a ruin of it. His next shot took a nearby lieutenant in the throat, even as the officer was aiming his rifle into the darkness beyond the bridge. A heavyset soldier nearest Caine gave a startled yell and turned, realizing their foe was right next to him, glowing pistols in hand. “Here! One of them’s here!” he shouted in Khadoran, and the others turned, raising their weapons. Several of those nearest had the wits to fire, though they moved too quickly to steady their aim. From Caine’s perspective, it felt as if time slowed in response to his magic, which also blurred his form, giving him time to step neatly to the left as bullets smashed into the wall of the garrison next to the door from which they had come. He rolled to the right as more fire came his direction, a volley of such intensity that he was running out of places where he could safely evade. He fired twice more, taking out the two nearest guardsmen one after the next, then ducked behind the cover of the stone corner of the garrison. From the sound of it, more men were coming from within. A flare fired above the roof, lighting the scene and clearly signaling any other soldiers in the vicinity. Caine cursed under his breath and reached out to

make mental contact with his distant warjacks. He had one powerful Defender and two smaller Sentinels nearby, the latter bearing chainguns that should serve him well against the town’s garrison. They were beyond the range where he could control them directly, having been left back against the likelihood of their being spotted or heard by Khadoran spotters and ruining the surprise of their attack. He sent a mental summons, telling them to rush to the bridge as fast as they were able. He did not have to tell them to fire on any enemies they saw, as their advanced military grade cortexes could discern friend from foe. They knew what to do with their weapons. Now that the Winter Guard was more than adequately distracted, the other gun mages had made their move. First hunkered down just below the other end of the bridge, pressed up against the stonework, they now rushed out into the open. Caine saw Falk emerge first, his rune-covered scattergun gleaming as he scowled and fired. When he pulled the trigger, a spray of powerfully charged shot blasted from his weapon, delivering a wide spray of death through multiple Khadoran soldiers. The glowing metal rounds erupted into a wash of fire that spread to several more, wiping out nearly half of those on the bridge. It was an impressive and horrifying display. The other gun mages joined their attack to his, and soon streaks of blue fire struck with unerring accuracy against the guardsmen. When those nearest turned to face this new threat, Caine leaned from behind the corner to gun down several more. Runes surrounded his right pistol as he sent a powerful wave of focused energy straight at a rifleman not far from him. There was a booming noise like thunder, and the man went flying back to crash into several others behind him, all of them tumbling off the side of the bridge and into the hungry river waters. His Sentinels had come close enough to add their fire, shooting over the heads of the gun mages on the far side; the sound of their chainguns whirring up to speed was distinctive and—he hoped—properly terrifying to the Khadorans. Bullets sparked off the stone of the bridge and sent blood spraying as they hit flesh. One after another, the Winter Guardsmen fell and were still. Falk shouted for them to advance, and they rushed across the bridge, shooting as they went. Additional Khadorans fell from the roof of the garrison behind which Caine hunkered. The warcaster heard the sounds of dozens of stomping boots and turned to see a whole squad of additional Winter Guard rushing their direction, their firearms ready. Gritting his teeth and hoping his form was blurry enough to confuse them, he streaked across the intervening space, moving straight at them. He got near enough before they reacted—he could see the officer at the fore’s eyes widen at the sight of Cygnaran blue. Then Caine summoned all of his power into the core of his being and unleashed the maelstrom. Power filled him, glowing along his frame as runes surrounded him, together with a sudden rising and unnatural wind. His body lifted slightly into the air and spun, the world having slowed to a crawl. Blue pulses of power erupted from his Spellstorms as he fired again and again, each shot

hitting another Guardsman unerringly. His guns became uncomfortably hot, filled with a blazing intensity he could feel even through his gloves. The metal of his barrels turned orange as if he’d left them in a forge. Then the trance faded, and his feet touched the ground again. The light of his magic dimmed but not before it had illuminated nearly two dozen corpses before him. A sudden and intense wave of fatigue washed over him. “Nicely done, Lieutenant,” Falk said drolly as he and the other gun mages neared. Behind them clanked the warjacks, the Sentinels closest and the Destroyer farther back, still crossing the bridge. Its cannon boomed loudly as it fired upon some distant target along the riverbank. “There will be more where those came from,” Caine said. He could hear other steam engines, and he knew the reds had warjacks as well, making their lumbering way toward the commotion. “We need to get away from here, into the streets. Follow me and restrain your fire. There will be civilians where we’re going. Let the warjacks cover our backs.” Sergeant Vester reloaded his gun and nodded. “Glad to do so, sir. Shall we go and give a warm greeting to the professionals holding the eastern bridge?” “Sounds delightful,” Caine replied with a grin. “Time to bring the Tempest! By dawn I don’t want a single red breathing air in this town.” They smiled like wolves back at him, and he was relieved to see all of them were accounted for. He did not speak it aloud, but Caine felt the grim certainty that whatever their successes, they were too few to hold Riversmet for long. He knew the generals intended to send as many additional soldiers as could be spared as soon as possible. But he had learned not to count on such promises. Right now, the only ones he could rely on were those with him. He accepted Falk’s slight nod in acknowledgement, and they moved on, hastening toward the narrower streets of the occupied town.

Aftermath: Riversmet After the Second Battle of Riversmet, Cygnar was able to hold the town for seven weeks, considerably longer than anticipated, thanks largely to the efforts of armed Llaelese who joined the cause. Most significantly, this included professionals from the Order of the Golden Crucible headquartered in Leryn, a heavily fortified city to the northeast. The Siege of Merywyn continued to occupy the majority of the Cygnaran Army in Llael, and they sent limited reinforcements to Riversmet. However, it was the Crucible Guard that made the difference after they arrived in force, lending vital manpower and munitions to the effort. Together they were able to fortify the western bridge and establish improvised cannon batteries in key positions to fire on the approaching enemy. The Khadorans were largely caught up in the Siege of Merywyn and were in no position to initially uproot the defenders here. This changed when Karchev the Terrible was sent in the month of Tempen to deal with the problem. He decided to make an example of the Llaelese here to undermine the defenders holed up in Leryn and demoralize the Order of the Golden Crucible. While a number of civilians had left Riversmet by this point, fleeing the city after its numerous battles, the fact that Cygnar and the Crucible Guard had reclaimed the town stirred a sense of defiance, and a sizable population remained. This set the stage for one of the greatest tragedies of the Llaelese War.

No Quarter PRIME 19

COMPANY OF IRON

Sanctum of Dawn by Matt Goetz

C

raelix slid among the bodies of the dead humans. Each looked like it had sprouted a grove of black saplings, proving his archer's deadly accuracy. As he wound over and through the corpses, he enjoyed the look of fear that death had frozen on their faces. His archers had gathered in a ragged circle around one of the humans. It was unwounded, as he had instructed. The vassal commanding the archers, Beryss, held the tip of her claymore to the sprawled figure’s pulsing throat. With one of his upper arms, Craelix pushed his way through the archers and drew closer to the human. He let his tongue sample the air and enjoyed the taste of mingled blood and fearful sweat. “Can it speak?” Craelix asked Beryss. The grim Nyss inclined her head to indicate that the human could. “Good. Tell it what I say.” Craelix’s form bestowed him with many gifts, but it was not well suited to the sounds of human speech; thus, he relied on others to be the porters of his words. Craelix lowered his body so his face was level with the prone human’s and began to speak.

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“There is a fane to your god nearby.” As Craelix spoke Beryss repeated what he said in human words. The pale, sweat-sheened human looked at him, confused, then at the Nyss, and babbled a string of words in response. “She doesn’t know what that word means,” Beryss said. “A holy place. Ask it,” Craelix snapped. He clenched his jaw while he waited for the response. “She says there is,” Beryss said without emotion. “How many hunters protect it?” Again, a burble of words passed between the Nyss and human. “Few, but they are strong in faith.” “Let their faith slow my arrows. Ask it, does this fane contain the vessel?” As Beryss relayed his message, she gestured to indicate the rough shape of the vessel they sought. Craelix watched the human. Little muscles in its face ticked and went soft. Its pupils grew large, its eyes wider, and its gaze twitched to meet his own for just a moment. Craelix knew whatever it said next would be a lie.

“She says there is no vessel.” Craelix drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had found it at last. The Voice of Everblight would be pleased. “Tell it we will let it live. Back up.” Knowing what happened next, Beryss spoke and lifted her claymore from the human’s throat. The pitiable human lay there stunned for a moment before rising from the dirt, looking around the ring of archers in disbelief. Craelix might not be able to form the words of human speech, but the gesture he made was universal. He pointed to the human’s chest, then out into the darkness between the trees. You, go. The human turned and began to hobble off into the darkness. Craelix watched it for a moment, noticing the direction it turned in its flight. As the pale color of its robes faded in the darkness between the trees, he drew an arrow from the quiver at his hip as his upper arms readied his bow. He ran his tongue along the arrowhead, letting venom sacs in his mouth constrict a fine stream of blighted fluid. The pale dot of the fleeing human had all but faded from view when he nocked the arrow and drew the bowstring back. The bowstring spoke, and his arrow flew true. The shot struck the meat of the human’s leg, causing it to cry out in pain and stumble. It picked itself up and continued running, now favoring the wounded leg. His venom would weaken it, but more important, it would keep the wound fresh and flowing. The splashes of blood it left on the ground and the broad fronds of ferns in its passage would lead them back to the fane, to the vessel, and to his victory. —●— What junior Exemplar Vinius’ hymns lacked in musicianship or rhythm was more than made up for with flat notes, improvised lyrics, and volume. His strange arrhythmic rendition of the hymn of morning prayer reflected over the mountain and back into the ears of the marching errants. “The boy certainly is,” Naj-Okeer grasped at the air as if he were trying to snatch the appropriate word from it, “enthusiastic.”

Gade considered Naj-Okeer’s question as he surveyed their surroundings. On many of the journeys Gade undertook, working alone in the territory of heretic nations, Vinius’ actions would have drawn the attention of whole patrols of scouts. Out here, though, in the untamed mountains north of Llael, there was little more than a few bogrin or farrow who would hear the off-key hymn. “Let him enjoy it while he can. We can talk with him later about tempering his faith with discipline. Besides, we’re not far from the Sanctum of Dawn. Menoth protects this consecrated place.” Naj-Okeer clasped his fist to his chest and bowed his head in deference to the warder’s authority and the Creator’s name. With that, he fell back in line with the other marching Exemplar. The knights errant continued up into the mountains on a weather-beaten and foot-worn pilgrim road for some time, longer than even Vinius could maintain his ardent hymns. The way became a steep series of switchbacks flanked by tough mountain scrub, broken by slender bridges spanning fissures in the rock. As they ascended, the full view of Llael unfolded to the south. The nation’s broad plains and fertile lands were etched with only a few narrow roads and the dark ribbon of the Black River glinting in the rays of the morning sun. It had been many years since Gade had first stepped foot in this land. Back then he was young and in awe of the High Exemplar leading Gade and his brother knights in righteous battle. The memory made a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. As they ascended yet another steep trail, Gade began to wonder what the ancient Priest-King Kalimon found so appealing about this inconvenient place. But then the temple Kalimon had built, the Sanctum of Dawn, came into view. Gade halted and looked upon it, prompting the rest of the Exemplar to follow suit. Resting next to a rushing waterfall cutting through the dark stone of the mountain, its simple walls and tower of hewn stone were ornamented with hammered brass Menofixes. The early sun shone on the polished metal embellishments and cast fiery reflections onto the surrounding rocks and into the water spray, painting the rocks with brazen hues and the air with a sparkling, colorful gleam. In front of it, vibrant green trees emerged from a walled garden to shudder in the mountain air. “Oh, I see,” Gade murmured to himself.

Behind his helmet, Warder Elias Gade grinned at his companion. The Idrian knight was the oldest man among the knights errant, Gade included, and had a greater sense of humor than most of those Exemplar Gade had fought beside. “Indeed, he is. I’ve heard peasant zealots who were less. . . fervent.” “And many more who stayed on key, no doubt. Should I silence him? He may draw unwanted attention to us.”

No Quarter PRIME 21

COMPANY OF IRON

Esteemed Hunting Parties In the new blighted society still taking shape among the Legion of Everblight, the Nyss remain competitive and fierce in seeking to serve their draconic master. Some of their hunting parties have earned great respect and esteem, at times given special praise or missions by the warlocks who speak for the dragon.

“Reshaped by Everblight’s Will”

“Pick the Carcass Clean”

“Born of Ice, Remade in Fire”

Hunters of Gallys Shard

The Carrion Seekers

The Sandblooded

Though their numbers have been greatly diminished, the bowmen of Gallys Shard earned recognition for their accuracy even before the coming of the dragon. They wear traditional ornate and well-crafted black-dyed leather armor, which contrasts sharply with their pale skin and the boney, blighted spurs protruding from it. The lightweight armor affords maximum freedom of movement, while its overlapping scales provide increased protection.

This hunting party seeks and scours the various blighted sites left by the Dragon War of 609 AR, when Everblight’s progenitor and siblings clashed with Legion warlocks and then battled in the skies over Cygnar. Every broken scale and patch of flesh is valuable to Everblight and helps him fashion new and hardier spawn. The Carrion Seekers collect not only such scraps of blightempowered flesh but also hunt down the dragonspawn of the other dragons. The random mutations of these spawn are scrutinized, and the best qualities are stored for later use, should they prove useful.

The Castle of the Keys, site of one of Thagrosh’s greatest victories, is where the Sandblooded reside. Everblight’s gift to these hunters was to acclimate their bodies to the arid desert conditions, so they might watch over the Castle of the Keys and eliminate any of the dragon’s foes seeking clues about him there. Their newly made physiology prevents them from returning to the cold mountains to rejoin the Legion, which is a price the devoted hunters are willing to pay in order to guard the splendor of Everblight.

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“The Teeth of the Gale”

“We are the Heralds of Reckoning”

“Keep Sacred This Place”

Siltstalkers

The Proud Reckoners

Wardens of the Pools

Hunting amid the small towns and island communities off of Khador’s northern coast, the Siltstalkers are a small but skilled hunting party. They are devoted to discovering pockets of the blackclad druids in this region and executing them in retaliation for Krueger’s assault on Everblight’s warlocks. These blighted Nyss wear sharkskin leathers and adorn themselves with scrimshaw carved from the tusks and teeth of sea beasts.

The Proud Reckoner hunters take pride in their connection to Lylyth, the Reckoning of Everblight. These experienced warriors have accompanied her on numerous missions and have proven their worth in battle, and it was they she selected to assist her in her attack on the dragon Charsaug. Though many perished, those that survived are now hardened veterans with valued experience and unquestioned courage.

The spawning vessels and their attendant acolyths are among the most precious resources within the Legion of Everblight. Without them, far fewer dragonspawn could be created, crippling the Legion’s most powerful military assets. The Wardens of the Pools guard larger spawning vessels and patrol the wilderness around vital locations the Legion maintains, answering ultimately to Vayl Hallyr as they seek to prevent Everblight’s many enemies from crippling the dragon’s engine of war.

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COMPANY OF IRON

Errant Interdictions of Renown Among the armed forces of the Protectorate of Menoth, the Knights Exemplar stand as the most disciplined, each considering it a sacred duty to excel. Errants in particular regularly risk death by going abroad in pursuit of missions for the faith. Even among their ranks, some have earned special esteem while in pursuit of the Great Crusade.

“Absolute Obedience”

“We Fight for Them”

“Flame, Faith, and Devotion”

Errants of the Sovereign Temple

The Spared

Brothers of the Purifying Flame

Adorned in the traditional garb of the order, this interdiction is attached to the Sovereign Temple in Imer, the hierarch’s seat of power. They go to battle in armor lacquered the color of bone and deep wine-red tabards. Each among them is oath-sworn to carry out the will of the hierarch and, in his absence, the Synod. They comprise an elite order of warriors unshakably committed to the True Faith.

24 No Quarter PRIME

The skorne attack on Imer cost many Sul-Menite lives, particularly among the Exemplar knights, who fought to hold back the foreign invaders at every breach in the wall. So many Exemplar knights died in the fighting that several forces were effectively dissolved, and the survivors were brought together under a single banner. These veterans recommitted themselves to finding and destroying the enemies of the theocracy and its ruling Synod.

The Brothers are an ancient order of Exemplar who in antiquity fought beside Menite champions like Khazarak and supported King Vygor’s troops at the launch of the First Thornwood War. This brotherhood once counted members in many Menite communities but now is found only within the walls of Khadoran communities that adhere to the Old Faith.

“Vigilant in Holy Battle”

“The Answer to Her Prayers”

“Our Path Is Righteousness”

Knights of the Sacred Tomb

Blades of the Maiden

Pavers of the Way

The Blades of the Maiden are Exemplar who are sworn to defend the Harbinger of Menoth on her crusade of conversion in Khador. Each among them is fervent and pious, bound by oath to give their own lives to protect the Harbinger from harm. The Blades of the Maiden have shown their commitment to this cause, as many have fallen to the weapons of enemy forces only to return to battle once again through the Harbinger’s own intervention.

One of the sacred duties of the Exemplar Errants is to act as the long-reaching arm of the scrutators and to root out those who seek to flee the Temple’s justice. The Pavers of the Way are such knights, operating beyond the conventional support structure of the Exemplar Order in places like Ord and western Cygnar. Relying on local Menite communities to conceal and supply them, these Exemplar also seek out pilgrims faithful to Menoth who may seek to travel to the Protectorate to learn the True Law.

Few men have commanded the kind of loyalty Severius did. Even before his elevation to the position of hierarch, countless faithful pledged themselves to him and his cause. When he was grand scrutator, the Exemplar he selected to join him on his pilgrimage of faith were among the most devout, hastening to fulfill his every command and ready to put all of Immoren to the torch at his decree. After Severius’ passing, these Exemplar now stand as the hierarch’s funerary guard, keeping his tomb untouched by those of too little faith and ready to strike down any who would profane his resting place.

No Quarter PRIME 25

COMPANY OF IRON

SCENARIOS & GAMEPLAY CONTENT In this issue of No Quarter Prime, we continue our ongoing support for Company of Iron with more scenarios to add to those in the box set and those in last issue, but we also include something new to expand your model options when building a Company of Iron force. This series of new scenarios takes its inspiration from two new solos released in October for WARMACHINE and HORDES, along with Company of Iron. As with last issue’s article, you can use these scenarios as inspiration when coming up with your own scenarios. Creating your own stories and playing them out on the tabletop is immensely rewarding, and linking a series of games together into a mini-campaign, where winning a game grants a benefit or opportunity to the winner of the next game, only adds to the fun.

SANCTUM OF DAWN As the story begins, the leaders of the Protectorate of Menoth have dispatched one of their most capable agents with a small force of Exemplar Errants far beyond the northern borders of the Protectorate to recover a holy relic that may contribute to the ongoing war of faith being fought across western Immoren.

26 No Quarter PRIME

That relic lies in a distant sanctum within the mountains north of Llael, beyond the battles that continue to rage through the embattled kingdom. Unbeknownst to the holy knights, the relic contains a dark secret. The ancient Menite Priest-King Kalimon was a fiery champion of the Creator, one whose life was consumed by his quest to root out and eradicate forces of dark occult power and other evils. Many of his foes were in possession of objects of power that he felt were too dangerous to be used in battle but which were infused with magic that made them impervious to him, too powerful to be destroyed. Kalimon utilized sacred vessels from the holiest sanctums of Icthier to contain and neutralize these objects, and he built an isolated monastery to keep these relics safely secluded from the world. It was the priest-king’s hope that someday the Creator of Man would raise up a champion who would succeed where Kalimon had failed, one who could successfully destroy such befouled objects and rid the world of their evil. The disembodied dragon Everblight has discovered that one of these relics is an item from his time spent lurking beneath the Black Kingdom of Morrdh, and that it may in time assist him to tip the balance of his unending war against the rest of dragonkind. Everblight, unsure of the exact location of the relic, has dispatched a trusted servant who will not relent in his hunt for the object of his master’s desire.

COMPANY OF IRON SCENARIO 1

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARTIFACT “The Third Ark of Kalimon,” Gade said. Naj-Okeer stood by his side looking imposing. They stood across from five Menite priests in robes and golden masks. Shortly after coming into view of the Sanctum, the clergymen had hurried down the mountain path—in a rushed and rather unpriestly manner—to intercept the Exemplar Errants and inquire about the SulMenites’ business on the mountain. The senior priest of the group that had come down the trail to meet the Exemplar shifted. “The ark has remained in our care for over seven hundred years—” “And we are grateful for your sect’s stewardship, but the High Exemplar wishes to see it returned to Imer. You may select priests to join us and see to its care on our return.” The priest began to muster another argument when a warning call from a knight at the end of the column cut him short. Gade traded a glance with Naj-Okeer, and the two turned and readied weapons. At the rear of the column of knights, a sallow and panicked Menite pilgrim hung from Caldas’ shoulder. Her right leg was crusted with blood, the shaft of an arrow protruding from the meat of her calf. Gade and Naj-Okeer rushed back on either side of the column, and the knights shifted to form ranks and ready their shields and crossbows. Gade thought he saw something out of place, like the shadow of a high cloud shifting over the rocks. He called out, “Shields!” A whistling hail of arrows rained down. Most rattled off the Errants’ shields, but Caldas was helping the pilgrim—he had not raised his in time. The shot found the eye slit in the knight’s helmet and wrenched his head at an ugly angle. Along the twisting mountain path to the Sanctum, a group of slender black-garbed figures stood among the rocks. They wielded elegant bows from which a stream of arrows flew. Leading them was an aberrant, freakish creature with a long serpentine body and four limbs. Gade let instinct and the Creator guide his shot as he loosed two bolts at the thing. “Do not let them pass, brothers. We must protect the path to the Sanctum, no matter the cost!”

Gameplay Overview A raiding force is attempting to reach an isolated stronghold. The only path to their target is a winding mountain pass. The stronghold’s defenders have dispatched a force to intercept the attackers at the base of the mountain. The attackers must get to the pass.

Setup One player is the Attacker and the other is the Defender. After terrain is placed but before the game begins, both players roll a die, rerolling any ties. The player who rolled higher chooses to attack or defend. The Attacker begins the game with priority.

by William “Oz” Schoonover

The Defender chooses a table edge and places a passage marker centered on that edge and two objective markers. The objectives must be placed more than 8˝ from the Defender's edge, more than 4˝ from each side table edge, and at least 12˝ from each other. Place a mission marker on each objective marker. Then, the Defender deploys their models completely within 8˝ of that table edge and completely within 4˝ of each table side, dividing their models as evenly as possible between the two sides. After the Defender deploys, the Attacker deploys their army completely within 2˝ of the opposite table edge.

Attacker

Defender

Advance Deployment Limit

1

1

Ambush Limit

0

1

Special Rules The objective markers represent ballistae. A ballista with a mission marker is loaded. Models can forfeit either their Normal Movement or Combat Action to perform a mission action. When one of the Attacker's models performs a mission action while in contact with the passage marker, the model is removed from the table and it has broken through. A model removed in this way suffers free strikes as if it had moved off the table. When one of the Defender's models performs a mission action while in contact with an objective marker, it can load or fire the ballista. If the ballista is not loaded, place a mission marker on the objective. If the ballista is loaded, the model can make a ranged attack with RNG 10 and POW 12. LOS is measured from the model firing the ballista, and a model's LOS is not blocked by an objective marker it is in contact with while firing a ballista. Range is measured from the marker, and ranged attacks made with ballista do not suffer the Long Range penalty. Models cannot gain the aiming bonus when firing a ballista. Remove the mission marker after firing a ballista. Note: A model that is placed as a result of Ambush or Burrow cannot perform a mission action during its activation the round it was placed. 

Victory Conditions The game ends at the end of the fifth round, when an Attacker's model breaks through, or when only the Defender has models in play. The Attacker wins if one of their models breaks through. The Defender wins if the game ends at the end of the fifth round or if the Attacker has no models in play and none of their models broke through.

No Quarter PRIME 27

COMPANY OF IRON SCENARIO 2

TIME FOR REINFORCEMENTS

by William “Oz” Schoonover

“There’s a bolt in you,” Beryss said, not looking up from her work.

Special Rules

Craelix glanced down at the shaft of the crossbow bolt protruding from his lower right pectoral. He grabbed it and snapped the shaft, throwing the broken portion aside. He snarled at her, his anger causing his speech to slip into thick hissing sounds. “Where are the acolyth? I summoned them hours ago.”

Models can forfeit either their movement or combat action to perform a mission action. A model can only perform one mission action each round.

“The mountains are difficult to navigate with a spawning vessel. They will be here soon.” Beryss didn’t respond to his anger. She sat trimming the fletching of new arrows with a small knife. In the wake of losing several hunters trying to reach the human fane, Craelix’s hope that his senior archer could summon a bit more passion seemed fruitless.

The flag in this scenario represents a light warbeast or warjack being prepped by the defending force. For a Faction with access to warjacks, the mission markers represent coal needed to fuel the ’jack. For a Faction with access to warbeasts, the mission markers can represent a variety of things. A Legion army is collecting flesh and blood in a spawning vessel to mystically create their beasts while the Circle Orboros may be collecting stone and other components to create a Wold.

“It will not take them long to discover our trail. Unless we can transform these,” he jabbed a finger at the bodies of dead Nyss lying on the rocks, causing him to wince in pain, “into spawn, we will not be able to repel them.” Beryss looked at him for a moment from beneath hooded eyes. She pointed higher in the mountains behind him with her knife. “Then you should be pleased. The acolyth approach.”

Gameplay Overview The victorious force from the mountain pass is pressing its advantage to destroy their opponents. The retreating army’s only hope is to regroup and try to rebuild its strength.

Setup The Attacker in this scenario is the player who won the previous scenario. The Attacker begins the game with priority and +1 to their hand size. After terrain has been set up, the Defender chooses a table edge. After the Defender chooses a table edge, the Attacker places eight mission markers completely within 15˝ of the Defender’s table edge. These markers must be placed more than 7˝ from the Defender’s table edge, more than 3˝ from the sides of the table, and more than 5˝ from each other. Once the mission markers have been placed, the Defender places a flag marker on the table anywhere more than 7˝ from their edge and deploys their models completely with 5˝ of their table edge. After the Defender deploys, the Attacker deploys their models completely within 2˝ of the opposite table edge.

Attacker

Defender

Advance Deployment Limit

1

1

Ambush Limit

0

1

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For a more enjoyable experience, the flag in this scenario can be replaced with a model or other thematically appropriate object, such as a light warjack or Legion of Everblight Spawning Vessel.

Mission markers represent material needed to ready a warjack or warbeast (see callout). A battle-ready defending model in contact with any number of mission markers can gain any number of those markers as long as no enemy model is within 1˝ of the marker. A model carrying two or more mission markers suffers –1 MAT and –1 RAT. Mission markers cannot be passed, and a model cannot drop a mission marker voluntarily. When a Defender’s model performs a mission action while in contact with the flag, and there are no enemy models in contact with the flag, the Defender places all of the mission markers being carried by that model on the flag. When an Attacker’s model performs a mission action while in contact with the flag, and there are no enemy models in contact with the flag, remove one mission marker from the flag.

Victory Conditions The game ends at the end of the fifth round, if there are six mission markers on the flag marker, or when either player no longer has models in play. The Attacker wins if all of the Defender’s models have been destroyed or removed from play. The Defender wins if the game ends becasue six mission markers are on the flag marker or if there are four or more mission markers on the objective at the end of the fifth round. The game ends in a draw at the end of the fifth round if both players still have models in play, the flag marker is still in play, and there are fewer than four mission markers on the flag marker.

COMPANY OF IRON SCENARIO 3

A LONG ROAD AHEAD As they took refuge within the sanctum, Gade looked at his fellow errants. Several bore with grim resolve the wounds they had suffered in the most recent clash, trying not to let him see how badly they had been injured. The dragonspawn birthed on the mountain had done its damage. “Potentate, we came to collect the Third Ark of Kalimon stored in this sanctum. I need you to tell me, what is it? Is there anything about the ark that might have affected the Nyss; drawing them here?” Gade asked. The older priest wrung his hands on his staff of authority before answering. “Kalimon was a great bastion of the faith. He took it upon himself to root out befouled things and keep them locked away here, placing them in vessels consecrated to the Creator. When the Northern Crusade first came, we gave them many of Kalimon’s relics on the orders of the scrutators. Many…” “But not all. The Third Ark, it contains one of these cursed items?” The priest sighed, seeming to deflate a bit. “It does. An artifact of the Black Kingdom, reclaimed from the swamp that had hidden it for over a thousand years.” “No doubt what they’re after, then. Potentate, collect your priests and any pilgrims still in the sanctum. Unless we want Kalimon’s work to have been in vain, we’re getting the ark off this mountain.”

Gameplay Overview The defenders of the mountain stronghold realize that the goal of the raiders is obtaining a powerful artifact. The only hope to keep the object safe is to move it before the raiders overwhelm the defenders.

Setup The Attacker and Defender in this scenario are the same as the first scenario. The winner of the previous scenario can include a warjack or warbeast in their army for half of its point cost. If a player’s Faction does not have access to warjacks or warbeasts, that player can reduce the cost of one medium-based unit or solo by 5 points when constructing their army. The Attacker begins the game with priority.

by William “Oz” Schoonover After setting up terrain, the Defender chooses a table corner and must place an objective marker within 8˝ of that corner and a flag marker within 4˝ of the opposite corner. Once terrain has been placed, the Defender deploys his models completely within 8˝ of the corner with the objective marker. After the Defender deploys, the Attacker deploys his models completely within 6˝ of each corner without a marker, dividing them as evenly as possible between both corners.

Attacker

Defender

Advance Deployment Limit

0

1

Ambush Limit

0

1

Special Rules Once each round, if there are more Defender models than Attacker models within 3˝ of the objective marker, the Defender can move it up to 10˝. The objective moves following all of the rules of a model but is not considered to be a model (friendly or enemy) for any other reason.

Victory Conditions The game ends at the end of the fifth round, if the objective marker contacts the flag marker, or when the Defender no longer has models in play. The Attacker wins if the game ends because the Defender no longer has models in play or at the end of the fifth round if the objective has not contacted the flag and both players still have models on the table. The Defender wins if the objective marker contacts the flag marker. The game ends in a draw at the end of the fifth round if the attacker has no models in play and the objective marker hasn’t contacted the flag objective.

COMPANY OF IRON SCENARIO 4

BATTLE OF THE HEXES The errants abandoned the sanctum, and the blighted hunters pursued them tirelessly. Craelix moved from rock to rock in quick bursts along the mountain pass, pausing only to loose another arrow at the fleeing humans. One, their leader, turned and raised one of its weapons… …Gade fired with his left hand between the beats of his heart. His shot hurtled toward the four-armed beast that bore down on them… …before the bolt could touch him, Craelix hacked up with one of his short swords. He knocked the shot from its path, where it struck Beryss through the eye… …Gade watched his first shot ricochet away from his target. While the beast looked at the dying Nyss to its right, Gade lifted his left hand and loosed another shot… …Something struck Craelix between the scales of his tail and abdomen. Pain lanced through him, and with an angry shriek, he sprayed venom on another arrow, firing it for the human’s heart… …Gade didn’t hear Naj-Okeer cry out—he only felt the impact of the older knight knocking him off his feet. There was a tearing sound, and when Gade looked up, his companion’s body went slack and pitched over. Vinius screamed in rage and rushed forward, sword and shield ready… …the horn of the Winter’s Shadow hunters sounded as they emerged from the bluff above the priests carrying their burden. Craelix’s own warriors did not slow, instead rushing to meet the humans with their blades in a relentless charge. He had a clean shot on the unarmored man carrying the inscribed ark and readied another arrow, kissed with his blight-strengthened venom… …and Gade watched with horror as the beast fired one more arrow, not at him but at a priest carrying the Third Ark of Kalimon. Where the arrow hit him, the priest’s flesh distended and burst in a steaming spray of black bile that touched the other bearers. The ark fell to the stones as Gade rushed toward it… …as Craelix wended his way forward the ark struck and came open, revealing the fragment within he had been sent for, a relic of his creator’s forgotten kingdom. Gade and Craelix stood at arm’s length, one grasping for the work of a devout and ancient priest, the other for a weapon from the long-dead kingdom that had once obeyed Everblight.

Gameplay Overview The fight over the relic has culminated in a final battle. The relic has split into two pieces, one focused on offense and the other on defense. The force that secures both pieces will be victorious.

by William “Oz” Schoonover

Setup The Attacker and Defender in this scenario are the same as in the first scenario. The winner of the previous scenario gains +3˝ of deployment. Before placing terrain, place an objective marker in the center of the table. No terrain piece can be placed within 3˝ of the objective. Players follow the standard deployment rules with one exception. Each player’s commander must be deployed on their half of the table and b2b with the objective marker.

Attacker

Defender

Advance Deployment Limit

1

1

Ambush Limit

1

1

Special Rules After deployment is complete, the Attacker’s commander gains mission marker 1 and the Defender’s commander gains mission marker 2. Models carrying mission markers cannot end a move farther than 8˝ from the objective or target each other with attacks or other rules. Mission markers represent powerful relics in this scenario. If a model with a mission marker is destroyed or removed from play, the model is replaced with the mission marker. If a battle-ready model contacts a mission marker, it gains the marker. Once per round, a model carrying a mission marker can pass it to another friendly model it is b2b with. A model carrying a mission marker gains Force Barrier. Force Barrier – This model gains +2 DEF against ranged attack rolls and does not suffer blast damage. The model with Mission Marker 1 gains Sacrificial Strike. Sacrificial Strike (★Action) – RNG CMD. Target a model in this model’s LOS. If that model is in range, remove one friendly Faction trooper model within 1˝ of this model from play. The target model suffers an unboostable magical damage roll with POW equal to the base ARM of the removed model. The model with Mission Marker 2 gains Healing Aura. Healing Aura (★Action) – Friendly models within 2˝ of this model can remove d3 damage points. Roll separately for each model.

Victory Conditions The game ends at the end of the fifth round or when one model is carrying both mission markers. A player wins if one of their models is carrying both mission markers. The game ends in a draw at the end of the fifth round if both mission markers are not being carried by the same model.

30 No Quarter PRIME

DISMOUNTED DRAGOONS A Company Of Iron Rules Expansion

H

orthol grunted as he surveyed the path ahead. He sat atop his buffalo at the lip of a ravine, his only way across a precarious rope bridge. He and his warriors had ridden for three days with little rest to reach this place, and their destination was still a way out. Trying to navigate around the obstacle would add much more time to their journey—the kriel that was his ultimate destination had called for aid, stressing that they could not hold out for long.

The fighting forces of the Iron Kingdoms use a variety of tactics and weapons to wage war. However, Company of Iron represents smaller battles that happen in areas not well suited to the use of forces like heavy warjacks and cavalry. Among the armies of Immoren are a few exceptional individuals who prefer to fight while mounted but who are equally comfortable climbing down out of the saddle and joining their comrades on foot.

Horthol cursed his luck under his breath. This was the faster path, but he and his long riders would need to leave their mounts and wagons behind. He considered his options, and a gust of wind set the bridge swaying. It gave an unsettling creak. Horthol decided, climbing down from his saddle. His bison could find its own way home. Hopefully the other mounts would follow its lead.

The following chart lists point values for playing games of Company of Iron with dismounted dragoon models. These models start the game using the dismounted miniature and card and cannot become mounted during a game.

He motioned for the others to join him as he stepped out onto the bridge.

model name

faction

points

Requisition

Champion of the Order of the Wall

Protectorate

5

0

Darragh Wrathe

Cryx

5

0

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Retribution

4

0

Fenris

Khador

5

0

High Exemplar Gravus

Protectorate

5

0

Horthol, Long Rider Hero

Trollblood

4

0

Major Katherine Laddermore

Cygnar

5

0

Man-O-War Drakhun

Khador

4

0

Tyrant Rhadeim

Skorne

4

0

Wolf Lord Morraig

Circle

4

0 No Quarter PRIME 31

HOSTILE TERRITORY

FELLIG by Josh Colón, Matt Goetz & Douglas Seacat

I

n all of Cygnar, there are no other cities quite like Fellig. Situated at the farthest reach of the kingdom, the immense natural barrier of the Thornwood Forest isolates it from the rest of Cygnar, and in fact, it has more in common with neighboring Ord than its own nation. It stands at the border of three great kingdoms and because of this, has suffered continuously in the face of modern warfare. Fellig is a bastion of Morridane culture. Its people are ardently Cygnaran while still accustomed to feeling removed from the rest of their nation. Adding to this sense of isolation, the city is home to significant numbers of Thurians and Tordorans, all of whom bring with them elements of Ordic culture. Fellig is also one of the few places where open trade once occurred between Khadoran kayazy merchants, the trade houses of Ord, and Cygnaran interests. Traders from all three nations were a common sight on the streets for generations prior to the most recent escalation of simmering hostilities to full-blown war. Fellig’s remoteness from other major Cygnaran military outposts, as well as being a town directly on the border with Khador, made fortifications a crucial aspect of its design, resulting in its people living in a formidable fortress city. Fellig holds the dubious distinction of being the most besieged location in the Iron Kingdoms. Since shortly after the Corvis Treaties, it has stood between ambitious Khadorans and their dreams of southern conquest. 32 No Quarter PRIME

In recent years, Fellig has undergone a tumultuous period, during which its future was uncertain. Cut off from Cygnar, protected by the soldiers of another nation, and encircled by armies of its greatest enemies, Fellig’s days as a part of Cygnar seemed at their end. Yet the city endured, and its resilient inhabitants endured along with it.

ORIGINS The history of people living where Fellig stands stretches back thousands of years and includes some of the region’s darker eras. Around 3500 BR, the Lords of Morrdh united all the settlements in the area that is now called the Thornwood Forest, creating one of the first civilized human nations. While initially concentrated in one region, the people of Morrdh expanded to found several outlying towns, each fortified sufficiently to protect itself and connected by one of the first known systems of roads. One of these was the community of Felacch, settled at the northwestern limits of the lands claimed by the dark kingdom. This town grew into a true city featuring numerous black stone temples and impressive fortifications, becoming wealthy by extorting tribute from the nearby tribes of what are now the Murata Hills. Even in ancient days, Felacch was a fortress and garrison, with most of its able-bodied population armed

and ready to fight. Its soldiers contested the horselords of the Khardic and Umbrean peoples, cutting down the renowned cavalry of the north with their fearsome bladed chariots. The warriors of Morrdh were more comfortable in the dark forested terrain of their territory than on the open plains of the horselords, and so most of these battles were geared to keep the northerners at bay, to discourage them from settling nearer. Armed bands from Felacch gathered slaves from rivals, erasing entire villages and earning a reputation for cruelty. These efforts worked well—Felacch prospered, and the region was largely avoided by the other kingdoms that were growing into power in this era. The city remained an important part of the Black Kingdom until the fall of Morrdh. Though few records remain of the exact circumstances leading up to and during the kingdom’s fall, the consequences are well known. No longer supported by the cities to the south, Felacch withered. Over a few hundred years, the once-expansive city was reduced to a handful of inhabitants, and much of its impressive architecture collapsed from neglect or was scavenged by neighboring communities. This reversal of fortune was not without its benefits, however. When the Orgoth came to western Immoren, the almost uninhabited ruin of Felacch—now a meager village named Fellig—was beneath their scrutiny. The people of this region had become adept at hiding and avoiding the attention of hostile powers, allowing Fellig’s inhabitants to live relatively free from the oppression many others endured under Orgoth tyranny. Fellig’s fate would change once again in the aftermath of the Rebellion. During the war, Morridanes of the region worked closely with the other allied groups that would become Cygnar. Their perseverance and knowledge of the forest made them adept scouts and ambushers, though Morridanes also suffered from prejudice due to their ancestral connection to Morrdh. Once the Orgoth had been driven into the sea, the victorious Council of Ten met at Corvis and created the Corvis Treaties, which outlined the borders of the new Iron Kingdoms. These new lines put Fellig at the fringe of its parent nation of Cygnar, placing it near the shared borders between Cygnar, Khador, and Ord. While this would ensure it remained fortified, it also opened up new opportunities. In short order, the small village experienced an influx of soldiers and those required to support them, followed swiftly by hopeful merchants and tradesfolk, becoming a city once more.

CITY GEOGRAPHY The city lies at the northwestern edge of the Thornwood Forest, within sight of Ord’s Murata Hills to the west, where Ord’s recently constructed Fort Bairdon was built to watch for Khadoran invasion. The forest has been cut back from the city walls far enough to allow its defending soldiers to spot and fire on any approaching force. Several ancillary villages have been settled outside the city, the inhabitants of which stand ready to abandon them when war threatens.

There are three entrances into the city, with the largest gatehouse on the east wall connecting with the Bramblerut Road leading to the rest of Cygnar. Historically the southwestern gate leading to Armandor has seen the most daily traffic, especially since Ord connected the city to its railway. This opens the city up to Ord’s entire railway network, and occasional military trains serving Ord’s Shield Division pass through the Aniballi station at the center of town before going out the newer northwestern gate leading to Fort Bairdon. Like the main gate, the railway entrances are fortified and can be sealed when necessary. This rail means Fellig has the distinction of being part of the only inter-kingdom rail network in the Iron Kingdoms. Reflecting its people’s pragmatic nature, most structures in Fellig are built simply and practically, primarily of wood or mortared stone. The center of the city is reserved for nobility or other high-standing or affluent families and is home to the majority of the city garrison. Though Fellig lacks a traditional keep, a stout stone wall protects this innermost region. Working-class and poorer families live beyond the inner wall in an area most vulnerable to shelling if the city is besieged. Positioned on the outskirts of the city and a literal stone’sthrow away from Fellig’s impressive defensive perimeter are barracks and military storehouses for the troops stationed at the outer wall. There are several dozen cannon emplacements, most of them on outer walls, with the heaviest concentration pointed north and east—toward Khador and back along the main road approaching the city’s largest gatehouse. These have historically been the most likely directions of attack. The largest of these cannons outclass even heavy ship guns—several are mounted on steam-powered turrets that grant a broad angle of fire, and these are manned by proficient artillerists. A variety of smaller cannons can be redeployed more readily as needed. Beyond Fellig’s outer wall lies an extensive network of trenches. Among them are countless wire obstacles, chain gun nests, blockhouses, and other fortifications. The northern defenses are the most heavily garrisoned and reinforced, but the trenchworks to the west and east are also extensive. One of the most notable buildings in the inner city is known as the Duke’s Manor, originally called Melroane Hall, ostensibly the ancestral seat of the Duke of the Northforest. This large manor was constructed in 520 AR by Duke Kerrigan Melroane, whose last living heir died during the Battle of Bluesands some eight years later. The family disintegrated, and Kings Vinter II, Vinter III, and Vinter IV did not appoint a new one in its stead, though they used the prospect as a political enticement. King Leto Raelthorne eventually elevated a minor Morridane bloodline with the appointment of Lord General Olan Duggan, a controversial move that reinforced the king’s support of his esteemed military officers. After Duggan became duke of the Northforest, the humble soldier refused to live in Melroane Hall and designated the estate for use by visiting dignitaries. In the period when Khador occupied the rest of the Thornwood from 608–610 AR, the estate was used to coordinate the city’s mixed Cygnaran and Ordic defenders, transforming it into Fellig’s military headquarters.

No Quarter PRIME 33

HOSTILE TERRITORY One of the most significant locales associated with Fellig lies outside of the city proper to the southeast off the main road. This is the Monastery of Ascendant Angellia, built soon after the Corvis Treaties and once boasting the third-largest library of Morrowan sacred tomes, exceeded only by the Sancteum and the great library of Elsinberg. Its value became even greater after the end of 604 AR, during Khador’s invasion of Llael when pious Morrowans escaped Elsinberg with several of that city’s rarest tomes. These books were taken to Fellig in hopes of protecting them from the Khadorans. In a cruel twist of fate, in 606 AR forces from the Protectorate of Menoth’s Northern Crusade set the monastery ablaze, destroying countless volumes. Church laborers and volunteers reconstructed the damaged monastery in the years that followed, but priceless knowledge was irretrievably lost. The monastery remains a site of pilgrimage, but it has become a monument to what was lost here.

was seen as the more vulnerable and less defensible of these two positions, which contributed to it being repeatedly besieged.

CITY ON THE BORDER OF WAR

Several brave rangers managed to escape Vygor’s cordon and brought word to Vinter Raelthorne II, who was leading the Cygnarans hastening toward Llael. After this, soldiers from Fellig went to heroic lengths to ambush and stall Vygor’s forces, tying them up until Vinter II’s army could reach them at the Dragon’s Tongue. For their accomplishment, the Fellig branch of the Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service was awarded special commendation. After this, Fellig’s defenses were considerably reinforced, with the completion of the city’s outer wall and major gates completed a few short years after the end of the war.

In addition to being the seat of the Northforest Duchy, Fellig is the only major Cygnaran city north of the Dragon’s Tongue, and its standing in relative isolation has always made it a tempting target for Khador. While Fellig is a part of a long chain of smaller forts, towers, and defenses along the northern Thornwood, it is a major linchpin for Cygnar’s First Army, serving as the opposite end of a chain reaching to Northguard to the east. Between these two fortified holdings, all lesser Cygnaran defenses must depend on rapid troop redeployment to deter incursions. To make true and lasting inroads into the Thornwood and beyond to the Cygnaran interior, an invader would need to seize Fellig, Northguard, or ideally both. Fellig

34 No Quarter PRIME

Fighting between Khadorans and Cygnarans at Fellig goes back to the Corvis Treaties and has rarely halted altogether. The last century in particular has seen several noteworthy conflicts. Fellig played a key role in the First Thornwood War of 510– 511 AR when King Ruslan Vygor hatched a scheme to lure most of Cygnar’s army into Llael while he plunged his main army through the Thornwood, opening up the Warjack Road by sheer brute force and the application of countless warjacks. Hoping to reach southern holdings quickly and without interference, Vygor chose not to attack Fellig directly but instead sent a contingent of forest fighters from Scarsfell to encircle the city and prevent word of his invasion army from getting out. He was aided in his efforts to isolate the city when an illness swept through Fellig, which had already prompted a quarantine.

Following the First Thornwood War, Fellig experienced a long period of relative stability. Though the calm was periodically broken along the nearby borders by probing skirmishes that were initiated by Khador’s Fifth Border Legion and occasionally by threats from nearby Tharn tribes, the city was not directly threatened until 596 AR. In an event now known as the Brickfield Massacre, the horrifying nightmare machine called the Deathjack emerged from the darkness to indulge

The Outbreak of 511 AR In the months following the New Year, Fellig suffered an outbreak of an unknown disease that manifested as a choking cough, leaving sufferers unable to speak from the pain. Some feared it was a return of rip lung while others pointed to disappearances of forest patrols and cattle mutilation as sign of some darker force at work. The gates of the city were sealed to avoid spreading the disease.

in slaughter. The people of Brickfield, a small community outside the city walls, tried in vain to flee the Deathjack as it tore through them. Over one hundred men and women died, with dozens more wounded or missing. The reasons for the Deathjack selecting Fellig for attack are not known, but it had developed a reputation for such sprees, showing up often and unexpectedly across western Immoren. Beginning in Tempen of 606 AR, a series of more severe military clashes engulfed the region, and Fellig would spend the next several years directly besieged or otherwise embattled. Supreme Kommandant Irusk ordered an attack on Fellig in the early months of the year, a siege that would not be broken for four months. Some consider it a miracle Fellig withstood this assault at all, though closer examination reveals clever plans set in motion by its defenders. As the Khadorans closed on the city, Lord General Duggan planted false information suggesting it was weaker and less fortified than it was, spreading reports of the “inadequate nature” of its readied artillery in particular. He also spread the rumor that the city’s food stores were nearly depleted. When Khador’s first assault was rebuffed, the besiegers took the conservative tactic of surrounding the city and attempting to starve them out, an approach their spies suggested would happen quickly. Meanwhile, Irusk and his vanguard were pulled away to action elsewhere in the Thornwood, eventually joining the Battle of Temple Garrodh. In this regard, fortune favored Fellig, and it was relieved by additional elements of Cygnar’s First Army before it succumbed.

sufficiently they would be pinned in place. Given free rein to terrify Fellig’s citizenry, the Butcher and his forces committed a number of atrocities against those caught outside the city and in nearby villages. The Butcher was ordered not to attack the garrison directly—since his forces were outnumbered—but he was eventually goaded into doing just that. Though the odds were severely against him, the Butcher almost succeeded in his goal, inflicting brutal carnage on the defenders before his wounds overcame him. With its defenses badly depleted, Fellig likely would have fallen to the attackers despite the Butcher’s defeat if not for the intervention of Rhulic mercenary forces hired by Ord and led by the warcaster Gorten Grundback. The Ordic military subsequently sent its own soldiers to protect the city and sent word to King Leto that they would safeguard the place. By this point, Northguard had fallen to Irusk’s second assault on that fortress and the Thornwood was seized by the Khadorans. Seeing no other options, King Leto agreed to accept the Ordic occupation of Fellig. While it remained nominally a Cygnaran city, the Ordic military governed it for three years, during which time it became even more economically and culturally connected to that kingdom. The effects of the Butcher’s horrific attack are still felt in Fellig. For weeks, Orsus Zoktavir ordered his manhunters, led by Yuri the Axe, and his doom reavers, led by the infamous Fenris, to circle the nearby forest, annihilating any enemy scouting parties. Howling echoed into the night and dismembered limbs and severed heads were displayed outside the walls. No one would ever forget the carnage of the day Orsus Zoktavir broke through the outer gates. Though the city was spared from Khadoran forces storming through their streets—thanks mainly

Just a few months later, an unlikely, far-flung operation by the Protectorate of Menoth saw the city once again besieged and lit aflame. Protectorate leaders had intended to seize Fellig and use it as a bastion of the Northern Crusade, but like the Khadorans before them, they discovered this was not easily done. The Menites eventually withdrew, deciding to seek a foothold in Llael instead. While the attack was brief, the damage was deeply felt, as it was at this time that they burned to the ground the prized Monastery of Ascendant Angellia. Later in 607 AR, Irusk launched a renewed campaign against the southerners, sending a significant detachment to Fellig under the command of Kommander Orsus Zoktavir. In this case, the capture of Fellig was not the goal, as Irusk had his attention firmly on Northguard, but he hoped the presence of the Butcher of Khardov would frighten the city’s garrison

Long gunners of the First Army defend Fellig.

Fellig's walls, both inner and outer, are set with a diverse array of cannons, including several on turrets and geared elevating mechanisms allowing greater range of firing angles.

No Quarter PRIME 35

HOSTILE TERRITORY to the noble sacrifices made by soldiers manning the inner cannons and protecting the entrance to the inner gate—for a moment it seemed as if the Butcher would break through.

their way to attack anyone attempting to travel the Bramblerut Road. Fellig was able to retain contact and trade with its Ordic neighbors but not its Cygnaran ones.

For preventing what would have assuredly been the slaughter of untold innocents, each of the perimeter cannons bears inscriptions honoring the fallen who had manned the battlements that day. The doors replacing those that the Butcher cut through are made out of reinforced two-feet thick bolted steel, which itself has been set into a new fortified stone archway. The inner pathway features plaques set next to deep gouges cut by the Butchers infamous axe, Lola, signs that Fellig’s defenders will never forget the day they almost lost the city.

These conditions proved fertile ground for intrigue. Several kayazy and their agents were imprisoned as potential spies. The majority of these Khadoran merchants had come to the city for legitimate trade and business reasons, but in the wake of early anti-Khadoran sentiment, their pleas for release went ignored. Not only were the local survivors in an unmerciful mood toward Khadorans, so were the Ordic officers who had taken up governance. After several months, most of these men and women were set free and allowed to return to Khador. Their time in chains embittered these Khadoran nationals, ironically encouraging once innocent merchants to become saboteurs and spies.

CITY OF INTRIGUE After the siege of 607 AR and the subsequent peaceful occupation by Ordic soldiers, Fellig became a hotbed of political tension. Cut off from its parent nation and beset by enemies, the situation in Fellig became one of the most unusual in the Iron Kingdoms. Its exhausted citizens were saved from starvation or conquest by the friendly Ordic soldiers, but the situation here remained tense. While the city was not actively besieged during most of the next three years, the Khadorans were never far off and went out of The defenses of Fellig include a number of tall towers intended to allow keen-eyed scouts with spyglasses to peer over the nearest trees and hills to spot approaching threats. Reflected light signals allow coded warnings to pass between Ord's nearby Fort Bairdon and Fellig's towers.

Meanwhile, Fellig saw rise to a small but vocal contingent of Ordic separatists. These separatists wished to see Fellig become a fully Ordic city. Prominent citizens of Ordic heritage who became disenfranchised with the Cygnaran military after the siege blamed the situation on Cygnar’s inability to protect its citizens. They loudly advocated for the city’s secession to Ord. Many still hold these beliefs. For a time the city was a breeding ground for spies and hired killers. Members of the Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service, Khador’s Section Three, King Baird’s network of spies, and other vested interests waged a secret war within its walls, each group hoping to tip the balance in their nation’s favor. Almost every night someone new would go missing, with the few who were located ultimately found dead in an out-of-the-way alley or basement.

CURRENT AFFAIRS Events took some odd turns in recent years. When Cygnar and Khador were briefly allied, Khadoran forces threatened to seize the city from its Ordic soldiers “to aid their ally,” a thin pretext for taking the city for themselves. The Ordic Army turned to a large mercenary army led by Asheth Magnus to break the siege without provoking a war between Ord and Khador. This resulted in a massive influx of mercenaries to the city. Following the truce of 610 AR, Fellig and the rest of the Thornwood returned to Cygnaran control. The city was once again linked to its parent nation. For many, this came as a relief and was the end to an incredibly tense three years, but others knew this respite from war was temporary. This was proven as war once more erupted between Cygnar and Khador in Llael in 611 AR. So far the fighting has been concentrated there, but the 5th Border Legion has been mustering and is as ever eager to renew conflict along the border. Mercenaries in great number, including associates of the former mercenary warcaster Asheth Magnus, have retained a presence in the city since its liberation and have reason to protect the city. There are concerns that the former Khadoran prisoners which returned to their homeland have detailed intelligence about the city’s newer defenses, information that may prove useful to the High Kommand.

36 No Quarter PRIME

HOSTILE TERRITORY SCENARIO

THE FELLIG SITUATION Artillery Sergeant Lambert Polton looked at the distant enemy armies mustering north of Fellig and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a weary sigh. He hadn’t even gotten breakfast yet. “Godammit, not again,” he muttered. “Sergeant?” Sammy Amberdenne, a sooty young woman from the Cloutsdowns and one of Polton’s better gunners, wriggled a finger in one ear to dig out the cotton wadding she’d stuffed there. “Get the double powder charges ready. The Fifth-Bloody-Border reds are back for another go. Got some Rhulfolk with ’em this time. Remember, carcass shot over the Winter Guard, plenty of coal tar in them, but save the solid iron shot for the ’jacks and the High Shields. Bastards are tougher than hard-boiled beef tongues.” Amberdenne moved to follow his orders. Polton noted that the cannons farther down the defensive line, Sergeant Hatcliff’s guns, were already elevating their barrels to fire a few ranging shots at the northerners. “Never have the courtesy to attack us after breakfast, do they?” Polton turned to the nearest gunner. “Right, get off that gun. I’m gonna kick their asses back to Korsk. Got a score to settle with these reds.”

Gameplay Overview One player is the Defender, using powerful cannons to keep those within the battered walls of Fellig safe. The other two players are the Attackers, representing a desperate alliance forced to work together to sieze the city as they endure relentless bombardment from its artillery.

Setup This scenario requires three players. Each player builds a 50-point army. One player is the Defender, and the other two players are the Attacker team. The Attackers do not treat their teammate’s models as friendly models or as friendly Faction models, even if they are the same Faction. Players on the Attacker team take their turns simultaneously, treating their combined turn as a single turn for the duration of spells and effects. The Attackers are the first players, deploying and taking their turn first. The Defender marks a line running between the two side table edges exactly 20˝ from their deployment table edge. Next, the Defender places two Fellig Cannon terrain features (see Special Rules) in contact with the marked line but not within 10˝ of each other. Finally, the Defender places six Shattered Wall terrain features (see Special Rules) in contact with the marked line but not within 1˝ of each other or of the Fellig Cannons. This terrain

by Will Hungerford layout represents the outer perimeter of the walls of Fellig. The Attackers then place four pieces of terrain completely within 20˝ of their table edge, using only forests, hills, shallow water, obstacles, and trenches. No terrain feature can be placed within 3˝ of another terrain feature, with the exception of trench templates. The Attackers have a 7˝ deployment zone, and the Defender has a 10˝ deployment zone.

Special Rules This scenario uses the Fellig Cannon and Shattered Wall terrain features. A Fellig Cannon terrain feature is open terrain that provides cover to Defender models completely within it. A Shattered Wall terrain feature is an obstacle that provides cover and blocks LOS both to and from small-based models. Fellig Cannons and Shattered Walls can be targeted and damaged as if they were huge-based Defender construct models with DEF 5, ARM 16, and 30 damage boxes. Models within a Fellig Cannon terrain feature when it is destroyed suffer a boosted POW 12 damage roll. Note that Defender models can target Fellig Cannons and Shattered Walls with spells that affect friendly models, and Attacker models can target these terrain features with spells that affect enemy models. Fellig Cannons and Shattered Walls can be repaired by friendly mechaniks as well! The Big Guns: The cannons of Fellig are devastating, and while the Attackers may outnumber the Defender, they must destroy these cannons as quickly as possible to have any hope of surviving. During each of the Defender’s Control Phases, the cannons fire. The Defender places a 5˝ AOE anywhere on the table, but not within 10˝ of each other, for each Fellig Cannon terrain feature still in play. Each AOE then deviates d6˝ inches in a direction determined by the deviation template. The Defender can choose the orientation of the template before rolling for deviation. Models in the AOE are hit and suffer a boosted POW 12 damage roll. Additionally, if a model’s base overlaps the point of impact, the model is thrown d6˝ directly away from the Defender’s table edge. Models thrown do not deviate. The POW of collateral damage is 12.

Victory Conditions The Attackers win if both Fellig Cannons and at least half the Shattered Wall terrain features are destroyed. The Defender wins if both the Attackers’ warcasters or warlocks are destroyed or removed play. (The game does not end when the Defender’s warcaster or warlock is destroyed or removed from play.)

No Quarter PRIME 37

HOSTILE TERRITORY

BUILDING SHATTERED WALLS by Danny Samuels

Shattered walls are versatile terrain pieces that can add visual flair to your games. Follow this simple guide to build your own or use it as inspiration to create ruined structures of your own design. Tools & Materials Black foam board Epoxy putty or air-dry clay Formula P3 Hobby Knife Formula P3 Super Glue Gesso Hot glue gun Polystyrene angle stock (.030 mm) Rotary leather punch Ruler Sand or ballast Sheet polystyrene (.030 mm) Wood filler or spackle Wood or styrene base

1a

1b

STEP 1: CREATE WALLS 1a) Use a sharp hobby knife to carefully cut out the shapes for the brick walls from foam board. 1b) Peel the paper backing from both sides of the foam board, revealing the soft foam beneath. 1c) Draw in bricks with a ballpoint pen. Press the pen lightly to create brick detail.

1c

2a

STEP 2: ADD DETAIL TO WALL & BASE 2a) Using your rotary punch, add rivet detail to thin strips of styrene. Take care not to push too hard, or you will puncture the styrene and ruin the riveting. These strips will be used to add detail on the walls.

2b

2c

2b) Assemble the walls using your hot glue gun and then attach them to your base. Use the styrene strips to add details to the walls. For a more realistic effect, use a lighter to heat up the exposed styrene until it softens slightly and then carefully bend it to create mangled metal. 2c) Add spackle or wood filler to the interior wall of the ruined building, then build up where the walls connect to the base with a mound of air-dry clay or epoxy putty. 2d) Use sand or ballast to add texture to your base and then prime everything with gesso.

2d

38 No Quarter PRIME

Now all that’s left to do is paint the shattered wall to match your tabletop battlefield!

BUILDING THE FELLIG CANNONS by Danny Samuels

Building your own cannons for the “Fellig Situation” scenario can bring an added touch of immersion and storytelling to your game. Follow this simple guide to build your own or use it as inspiration to create cannons of your own design. STEP 1: CREATE THE CANNON

1a

1b

1a) Use a jeweler’s saw to carefully remove the smoke stacks parts from the Ironclad back. 1b) Glue the cannon part to the front of the Ironclad boiler. This should cover where you removed the exhaust stacks.

STEP 2: CREATE THE EMPLACEMENT 2a) Using a sharp hobby knife and the cutting templates, cut .040 mm styrene out in the shape of the emplacement base.  It helps to make multiple passes rather than trying to go through it in one try.

2a

2c

2d

2e

2b) Cut shapes for blast shield walls out of .040 mm styrene as well. 2c) Using your rotary punch, add rivet detail to thin strips of .020 mm styrene. Take care not to push too hard or you will puncture the styrene and ruin the riveting. These strips will be used to add detail on the blast shield walls. 2d) Glue the styrene details to the exterior of the blast shield walls. You can also add more flat paneling with thin styrene sheet if you like. 2e) Add a layer of detail to the interior blast shield walls as well.

STEP 3: ATTACH CANNON TO EMPLACEMENT 3a) Glue the cannon to the base of the emplacement.

Tools & Materials Cutting templates (available to download at privateerpress.com/ NQP2) Formula P3 Brown/ Aluminum Putty Formula P3 Clippers Formula P3 Hobby Knife Formula P3 Super Glue Jeweler’s saw Rotary leather punch Ruler Scrap of textured fabric Sheet polystyrene (.040 mm and .020 mm) Wood or styrene base Part from Cygnar Classic Ironclad (PIP 31004): * 0001 E Back Parts from Khador Winter Guard Gun Carriage (PIP 33077): * 0472 C Gun 1 * 0472 D Gun 2 *These parts are available in the Privateer Press Online Store.

3a

3b

4a

4b

4c

4d

3b) Glue the blast shields to the sides of the base.

STEP 4: ATTACH MODEL TO BASE AND ADD DETAIL 4a) Glue your cannon emplacement to your base. 4b) Roll a sausage of putty and cut small, flattened sections to use as sandbags. 4c) Press a scrap of fabric over the sandbags to add texture. 4d) Texture the base to your liking with rubble, sand, and other miscellaneous details. Now paint your new terrain piece and defend the city!

No Quarter PRIME 39

AFTER ACTION REPORT

THE 12 FACTIONS OF CHRISTMAS CID by Will Pagani

With the exception of the brand-new Grymkin—who don’t really like Christmas anyway— we have exciting new releases for each of the Factions that worked their way through the latest CID cycle. This article will cover some of the major changes inspired by the community’s feedback and how that feedback helped the development team evolve and grow the models into what you see at the final release.

THEME FORCES Faithful Masses Not much changed during the CID for this theme force—we just poked in a few models that people made excellent thematic and fiction-based arguments for, including the Avatar!

Llaelese Resistance The Resistance underwent major changes during this cycle. Changing from one Cygnar or Protectorate unit to two, allowing large bases, and making all the units borrowed from other Factions Llaelese (and then giving them Pathfinder  !) collectively built up to a very interesting and diverse theme force that is both unique and powerful.

40 No Quarter PRIME

Sons of the Tempest Sons of the Tempest got a rework of its bonuses. Dropping the threshold for free models to 15 points, adding the Pistoleer advantage to some of the core units, and swapping around the upkeep benefit all came out of the CID.

Will Work for Food The main function of CID is to uncover interactions that we might miss as a development team. Will Work for Food had the option for a top-of-turn-one assassination with Dr. Arkadius and Road Hogs that we overlooked. The community found it and pointed it out, so we were able to change the final benefit of the theme force to remove this interaction. As a theme force available to both Farrow and Blindwater, this theme is very versatile and is sure to make waves!

Lieutenant Bastian FaLk

2017 v1

CygnAr ArCAne TempesT soLo

FALK 1

FALK 1 SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6

Lieutenant Bastian FaLk

6

6

7

15 12

7

mAgeLoCK sCATTergun RNG ROF AOE POW

SP 8 1

— 12

Prowl – While

this model has concealment, it gains Stealth . it is missed by an enemy ranged attack, immediately after the attack is resolved this model can make one basic ranged attack against the attacking model. run & Gun – At the end of its activation, if this model destroyed one or more enemy models with ranged attacks that activation, it can make a full advance. reciProcate – When

MAgeLocK ScAttergun attack tyPe – Each

sword RNG

0.5

POW

P+S

PC 5

FA C

3

9

time this weapon is used to make an attack, choose one of the following special rules: • Hail Fire – This weapon’s RNG becomes 8. If this attack boxes its original target, you can make a SP 6 attack using the boxed model as the attack’s point of origin. The SP 6 attack can target models in the boxed model’s back arc. Models hit suffer a POW 12 magical damage roll . • incendiary – This attack causes fire damage , and models hit suffer the Fire continuous effect . • rune-Marked – When a model hit by this attack suffers a magical damage roll , add +2 to the roll. Rune-Marked lasts for one turn.

DAMAGE

Champion of the order of the Wall

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

8

8

4

13 18

9

BlAzINg lANCE RNG

*

Pow

P+S

Pow

P+S

8

16

SwOrD RNG

1

4

12

SHIElD RNG

Pow

0.5

Champion of the order of the Wall CHAMPION (MOUNTED)

CHAMPION (MOUNTED) 8

4

P+S

12

Girded – This model and friendly models B2B with it do not suffer blast damage. Leadership [paLadin] – While in this model’s command range, friendly Paladin models gain Girded. reposition [3˝] – At the end of an activation in which it did not run or fail a charge, this model can advance up to 3˝, then its activation ends. retaLiatory strike – If this model is hit by a melee attack made by an enemy model during your opponent’s turn, after that attack is resolved this model can immediately make one basic melee attack against that model. This model can make only one Retaliatory Strike per turn. steady – This model cannot become knocked down. sturdy – This model cannot be pushed.

BlAzINg lANCE Lance – This weapon can be used only to make charge attacks. This weapon’s RNG is 0 unless this model charges. When this model charges, this weapon’s RNG is 2 until the charge attack is resolved.

SwOrD cLose combat – This

model cannot make an initial attack with this weapon during an activation in which it charged at least 3˝.

MOUNT

MOUNT RNG Pow

0.5

12

criticaL knockdown – On

knocked down.

a critical hit, the model hit becomes

DAMAGE

PC

Mounted & Dismounted

8

Champion of the order of the Wall

FA 2

2017 v1

PrOTECTOrATE PAlADIN DrAgOON SOlO

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

8

8

4

13 16

9

SwOrD RNG

1

POW

P+S

POW

P+S

4

12

SHIElD RNG

0.5

4

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

Champion of the order of the Wall CHAMPION (DISMOUNTED)

CHAMPION (DISMOUNTED) 6

Bastian did not change very much during this cycle, but he did pick up both Prowl and Pathfinder , as players found it difficult to keep him alive with such a short range on his attacks. Given how important he can be to the theme force Sons of the Tempest, we felt increased survivability was important to ensure his relevance during list building.

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

2017 v1

PrOTECTOrATE PAlADIN DrAgOON SOlO

Lieutenant Bastian Falk

Girded – This model and friendly models B2B with it do not suffer blast damage. Leadership [paLadin] – While in this model’s command range, friendly Paladin models gain Girded. retaLiatory strike – If this model is hit by a melee attack made by an enemy model during your opponent’s turn, after that attack is resolved this model can immediately make one basic melee attack against that model. This model can make only one Retaliatory Strike per turn. steady – This model cannot become knocked down. sturdy – This model cannot be pushed.

12

Champion of the Order of the Wall The Champion received most of his feedback deep into the cycle. (As testers know, if they’re unhappy with something, they need to participate in battle reports and use the feedback form to get a model on the radar.) All of this is weighed heavily when assessing a model, and the Champion received mostly positive feedback from the form—but many players were still unhappy at the end of the cycle. During our internal testing after the cycle wrapped up, we agreed. This Paladin picked up a little more offensive power and a tad bit of durability with Tough being added to his dismounted option.

DAMAGE

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

No Quarter PRIME 41

AFTER ACTION REPORT

Kapitan Sofya SKirova

2017 v1

KhAdOr BlAcK drAgOn IrOn FAng SOlO

SOFYA 1

SOFYA 1 SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6

6

8

4

12 15 10

BlAStIng PIKe RNG

2

Kapitan Sofya Skirova

POW

P+S

POW

P+S

7

13

ShIeld RNG

0.5

Another contentious model, Sofia made some players very excited while others didn’t really see her merit. Internally, we were happy with her damage output, her survivability, and her tricks. She ended up being slightly reduced in points, and we hope to see her as a common inclusion in the Legion of Steel theme force.

Kapitan Sofya SKirova

2

8

Inhuman Resolve – When a living friendly Faction model in this model’s command range is destroyed by an enemy attack, after the attack is resolved this model can remove 1 damage point. When this model is disabled, it becomes knocked down instead of becoming boxed and its activation immediately ends. While this model is disabled, it cannot activate. If this model is disabled at the beginning of your Maintenance Phase, it is destroyed. PRecIsIon stRIke – When this model damages a warjack or warbeast with a melee attack, choose which column or branch suffers the damage. RIghteous vengeance – If one or more friendly Faction warrior models were destroyed or removed from play by enemy attacks while within 5˝ of this model during the last round, during your Maintenance Phase this model can advance up to 3˝ and make one basic melee attack. shIeld guaRd – Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent’s turn while within 3˝ of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. veteRan leadeR [IRon Fang] – While in this model’s command range, other Iron Fang models gain +1 to attack rolls.

BlASting Pike cRItIcal knockdown – On

knocked down.

a critical hit, the model hit becomes

DAMAGE

PC 5

FA C

Lieutenant Crosse, resistanCe Fighter

2017 v1

MERCEnaRy LLaELESE WaRCaStER

Lieutenant Crosse, resistanCe Fighter Mercenary – This

CROSSE 2 SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

5

6

6

15 15

8

SOuL REavER 2

— 12

KnifE RNG

0.5

CROSSE 2 Dark Blessing – Once

per turn at any time during its activation, this model can spend one soul token to gain +3 DEF for one round.

SOul REavER

RNG ROF AOE POW

12

model will work for the Crucible Guard, Cygnar, and the Protectorate.

POW

3

P+S

8

FOCuS

Black Boon – While this model has at least one soul token, it gains an additional die on attack and damage rolls made when resolving an attack with this weapon. Discard the lowest die in each roll. Death Dealer – You can remove three soul tokens from this model at the start of its Combat Action to use Death Dealer. If you do, this weapon becomes ROF 4 and its attack and damage rolls are boosted during this model’s Combat Action. This model cannot make additional attacks this activation. soul taker: soul reaver – This model can gain soul tokens. When this model destroys a living enemy model with an attack with this weapon, this model gains the destroyed model’s soul token. This model can have up to five soul tokens at any time.

6

DAMAGE

WJ +29

Lieutenant Crosse, resistanCe Fighter SPELLS Dark Fire

FA C

2017 v1

COST RNG AOE POW DUR OFF 2

10

–

12

–

Yes

When a living enemy model is destroyed by Dark Fire, the spellcaster gains the destroyed model’s soul token regardless of the proximity of other models. Dauntless resolve

2

6

–

–

uP

no

Fire GrouP

2

selF

Ctrl

–

turn

no

Ghost Walk

2

6

–

–

turn

no

liFebounD

2

6

–

–

uP

no

Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit gains +3 ARM and Tough . Models are not affected while out of formation.

While models in the spellcaster’s battlegroup are in its control range, their ranged weapons gain +2 RNG. Fire Group lasts for one turn. Target friendly Faction model/unit gains Ghostly for one turn. (A model with Ghostly can advance through terrain and obstacles without penalty and can advance through obstructions if it has enough movement to move completely past them. It cannot be targeted by free strikes.)

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

Lieutenant Crosse, resistanCe Fighter

Feat: Shadow war Drawing on the darker energies of Soul Reaver, Lieutenant Crosse and his fighters become an insubstantial pack of shadows that no barrier can stop, striking down the enemy before dispersing into the darkness.

Friendly Faction models currently in Crosse’s control range are affected by Ghost Walk this turn. and Additionally, affected models gain Stealth Run & Gun for one round. (At the end of its activation, if it destroyed one or more enemy models with ranged attacks that activation, a model with Run & Gun can make a full advance.)

Target friendly living model/unit gains Shield Guard. When an affected model is destroyed by an enemy attack, the spellcaster gains its soul token. (When a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent’s turn while within 3˝ of a model with Shield Guard, you can choose to have the model with Shield Guard directly hit instead. It is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. A model can use Shield Guard only once per round and cannot use Shield Guard if it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary.)

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

42 No Quarter PRIME

Agrimony, Crone of the Dying StrAnDS CRYx ReveNANt SOlO

2017 v1

AGRIMONY 1

AGRIMONY 1 SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6

4

4

Agrimony, Crone of the Dying StrAnDS

4

14 12

8

AppArition – During

your Control Phase, place this model anywhere completely within 2˝ of its current location.

MAgic Ability [7] • Black Waters (HAction) – While

within 5˝ of this model, living and treat open terrain as shallow water. Black models lose Tough Waters lasts for one round. • Bone shaker (Hattack) – Bone Shaker is a RNG 8, POW 12 magic attack. When this spell boxes a living or undead nonwarcaster, non-warlock enemy warrior model, you can immediately take control of the model and make a full advance with it followed by a basic melee attack, then the boxed model is removed from play. The boxed model cannot be targeted by free strikes during this movement. • sigil of PoWer (HAction) – RNG CMD. Target friendly model/unit. If the model/unit is in range, its weapons gain Damage Type: Magical . Sigil of Power lasts for one turn. tactician [revenant] – While in this model’s command range, friendly Revenant models can ignore other friendly Revenant models when determining LOS. Friendly Revenant models can advance through other friendly Revenant models in this model’s command range if they have enough movement to move completely past them.

DAMAgE

PC 4

eminent configurator orion CONveRgeNCe WaRCasteR

FA C

2017 v1

Agrimony brings a strong set of situational abilities to the Ghost Fleet theme force. Granting attacks Damage Type: Magical , a solid offensive spell, and the ability to remove Tough and create rough terrain is a strong set of rules that are not as obvious as some other interactions.

eminent configurator orion ORION 1

ORION 1 SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

Agrimony, Crone of the Dying Strands

6

4

5

15 16 10

teNsOR lattICe RNG ROF AOE POW

13

1

— 13

Configuration – At

the start of each of this model’s activations, it gains +2 MAT or RAT until the start of its next activation. in this model’s battlegroup gain Reposition [3˝]. (At the end of an activation in which it did not run or fail a charge, a model with Reposition [3˝] can advance up to 3˝, then its activation ends.) soul Vessel – This model generates soul tokens as if it were a living model. field Marshal [reposition 3˝] – Warjacks

TeNsOR LaTTIce polarize – If this attack directly hits an enemy model, before resolving damage immediately push models within 2˝ of the model hit 2˝ directly away or directly toward the model hit in the order you choose.

PeNdulum RNG

0.5

POW

4

P+S

10

PeNduLum KnoCKdown – When a model is hit by an attack with this weapon, it becomes knocked down.

FOCuS

7

DAMAGE

WJ +28

eminent configurator orion SPELLS Avenging Force

FA C

2017 v1

COST RNG AOE POW DUR OFF 2

SelF

ctrl

–

UP

no

If one or more friendly Faction warrior models were damaged by enemy attacks while in the spellcaster’s command range during your opponent’s last turn, during your Maintenance Phase one model in the spellcaster’s battlegroup in its control range can advance 3˝ and make one basic ranged attack. Forced indUction

2

10

*

*

–

*

2

ctrl

5

–

UP

no

MAgic BUllet

2

6

–

–

tUrn

no

SPellPiercer

2

SelF

ctrl

–

tUrn

no

eminent configurator orion Feat: ObliviOn COnFiguratiOn In a fraction of a second Orion combines the fundamental principles of magic and mathematics, configuring his army’s attack along noncollinear vectors to exploit the inherent weaknesses of selected targets and thereby coordinating their utter destruction.

Target warjack gains 1 focus point. Then the warjack and enemy models within 1˝ for each focus point on it suffer an unboostable POW 10 electrical damage roll . When Forced Induction targets an enemy model, it is an offensive spell and requires a magic attack roll. MAge Sight

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

Place a 5˝ AOE completely within the spellcaster’s control range. While a model is within the AOE, models in the spellcaster’s battlegroup ignore forests and cloud effects when drawing LOS to it when attacking it. and ignore Stealth

Friendly Faction models gain an additional die on attack rolls against enemy models in Orion’s control range that have no focus or fury points, and they gain an additional die on damage rolls against enemy models in Orion’s control range that have 1 or more focus or fury points. Oblivion Configuration lasts for one turn.

If target friendly Faction model’s next basic ranged attack directly hits, after resolving the attack choose another model within 4˝ of the model hit. The chosen model suffers an unboostable POW 12 magical damage roll . The point of origin for this damage is the model hit. This damage is not considered to have been caused by an attack. After resolving this damage roll, Magic Bullet expires. Magic Bullet lasts for one turn. While in the spellcaster’s control range, the weapons of friendly and Damage Type: Magical Faction models/units gain Blessed Spellpiercer lasts for one turn.

.

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

No Quarter PRIME 43

& AFTER ACTION REPORT

- use this aMPersand FOr CirCLe

Dire Troll Brawler

animus

BRAWLER sPd str Mat rat deF arM CMd

5

Dire Troll Brawler

2017 v1

Trollblood NorThkiN heavy WarbeasT

12

6

3

12 18

3

FLAiL rnG

2

POW

5

P+s

17

oRneRy

COsT RnG aOE POW DuR OFF 1

Self

–

–

RnD

no

The spellcaster gains Retaliatory Strike. Ornery lasts for one round and expires after the spellcaster makes a Retaliatory Strike attack. (If a model with Retaliatory Strike is hit by a melee attack made by an enemy model during your opponent’s turn, after that attack is resolved the model with Retaliatory Strike can immediately make one basic melee attack against that model.)

BRAWLER RegeneRation [d3] – This

model can be forced to remove d3 damage points once per activation. This model cannot use Regeneration during an activation it runs. Snacking – When this model boxes a living model with a melee attack, it can choose to remove the boxed model from play. When it does, this model can remove d3 damage points. FurY t

eshOL hr

d

4

8

2

1

Mind

BOd Y

3 4

i

t

sP

6

ir

PC 16

5

Harpy & Siren

Harpy

Harpy Wind Flayer

HARPY SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

2017 v1

RetRibution VYRe LigHt WARjAck

These models had almost no complaints associated with them. People seemed to really like them from the get-go, and we were very happy with how they started, so that showed in the feedback. Bringing a strong combination of melee and range, both with a different focus, these models have carved out their niche quite well.

Fa u

9

6

6

12 17 —

ThunderbolT – Enemy

models hit are pushed d3˝ directly away from the attacking model. On a critical hit, the enemy model becomes knocked down after being pushed.

Wind FLAYeR RNG ROF AOE POW

12

2

— 13

R

FoRce cLAW RNG

1

POW

4

P+S

13

L

LigHt FoRce cLAW RNG

0.5

POW

P+S

PC 9

FA u

2

11

R

DAMAGE

L L

R

L

M

C

R

M

M

C

C

R

Siren

2017 v1

REtRIbutIoN VyRE LIght WaRjack

Siren SIREN

SIREN SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

9

6

6

12 17 —

Oracular VisiOn – Once per turn when this model is directly hit by an attack, it can immediately spend 1 focus point to not suffer a damage roll from the attack.

FoRcE Shock Death DriVer – When

FoRcE Shock RNG ROF AOE POW

10

1

— 12

R

this weapon boxes a living or undead nonwarcaster, non-warlock enemy warrior model, you can immediately take control of the enemy model and make a full advance with it followed by a basic melee attack, then the boxed model is removed from play. The boxed model cannot be targeted by free strikes during this movement.

RuNE bLadE RNG

1

POW

5

P+S

14

L

LIght RuNE bLadE RNG

0.5

POW

P+S

PC 8

FA u

3

12

R

DAMAGE

L L

44 No Quarter PRIME

R

L

M

C

R

M

M

C

C

R Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

&

- use this aMPersand FOr CirCLe

Wold Wight

animus

WOLD WIGHT sPd str Mat rat deF arM CMd

6

6

5

4

12 15 —

rnG

1

t

1

selF

–

–

turn

no

The spellcaster and models within 2˝ of it immediately suffer the Fire continuous effect .

POW

P+s

4

10

Fire’s Fury – This

model gains +5 ARM against fire damage . While suffering the Fire continuous effect , this model cannot become knocked down and gains boosted attack and damage rolls. shield Guard – Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent’s turn while within 3˝ of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary.

eshOL hr

d

2

COsT RnG aOE POW DuR OFF

spontaneous Combustion

WOLD WIGHT

LanTerns

FurY

Wold Wight

2017 v1

CirCle light Warbeast

–

2

1

Mind

3

BOd Y

4 i

t

6

&

sP

ir

PC - use this aMPersand FOr CirCLe 5

Fa u

5

Primus Jalaam

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

JALAAM 1

JALAAM 1 sPd str Mat rat deF arM CMd

6

6

The Wold Wight did not change during the CID, offering a cheap Shield Guard option for Circle and providing a solid model for the Faction's two synergy casters. Ultimately, we found the DEF 13 of the Wold Wight to be an issue with Kaya 3’s feat, creating an incredible attrition-based list. Changing it after the end of CID to DEF 12 slightly reduced its effectiveness.

Primus Jalaam

2017 v1

Skorne Warlock

Wold Wight

7

7

15 15

9

ReiveR rnG rOF aOe POW

12

2

— 10

Hunter – This model ignores concealment and cover when making ranged attacks. Prey – After deployment but before the first player’s turn, choose an enemy model/unit to be this model/unit’s prey. This model gains +2 to attack and damage rolls against its prey. When the prey is destroyed or removed from play, choose another model/unit to be the prey. resourceful – This model can upkeep spells on models in its battlegroup without spending fury.

ReiveR Burst fire – Gain

BLAde rnG

1

POW

P+s

6

12

+1 to damage rolls with this weapon against medium-based models and +2 to damage rolls against large- and huge-based models. Grievous Wounds – A model hit by this weapon loses Tough and cannot have damage removed from it for one round.

BLAde Grievous Wounds –

FurY

See above.

Primus Jalaam

6

daMaGe

WB +28

Primus Jalaam SPELLS Artifice of DeviAtion

Fa C

2017 v1

COST RNG AOE POW DUR OFF 2

ctrl

5

–

UP

no

Place a 5˝ AOE anywhere completely within the spellcaster’s control range. While completely within the AOE, friendly Faction models gain cover. Enemy models treat the AOE as rough terrain. DeADeye

2

6

–

–

tUrn

no

ScAvenger’S BleSSing

2

6

–

–

UP

no

vAniSh

1

Self

–

–

–

no

WArPAth

3

Self

ctrl

–

UP

no

Target friendly Faction model/unit gains an additional die on each model’s first non-spray ranged attack roll this turn. Target model/unit gains Pathfinder and Prowl. Models are not affected while out of formation. (While a model with Prowl has concealment, it gains Stealth .) Place the spellcaster anywhere completely within 3˝ of its current location. Vanish can be cast only once per activation.

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

Primus Jalaam Feat: Hide in SigHt The hunters under Jalaam’s command are made elusive as a mirage shimmering over the vast desert plains of the east, and the enemy’s efforts to target or strike them are rendered as clumsy and futile as those of the blind.

When an enemy model makes an attack roll against a friendly Faction model in Jalaam’s control range, the enemy model rolls one less die. Hide in Sight lasts for one round.

Jalaam caused many heated debates during this CID cycle. Some community members enjoyed his support style; others pushed for larger increases in his personal damage output. As a development team, we saw him leading expeditions to hunt down great beasts found in the wastes but not personally felling them in one volley. Adding in some utility rules like Grievous Wounds and Resourceful allowed Jalaam to shine.

When a friendly Faction model in the spellcaster’s control range destroys one or more enemy models with a melee or ranged attack during its activation, immediately after the attack is resolved one warbeast in the spellcaster’s battlegroup that is in its control range can advance up to 3˝. A warbeast can advance as a result of Warpath only once per turn.

Illus. by Andrea Uderzo © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

No Quarter PRIME 45

& AFTER ACTION REPORT

- use this aMPersand FOr CirCLe

Ice WItches

2017 v1

Legion BLighted nyss Unit

LEADER & GRUNTS

LEADER & GRUNTS sPd str Mat rat deF arM CMd

6

4

5

4

14 11

6

CoLD STEEL BLADE rnG

0.5

Ice WItches

POW

4

P+s

8

Magic ability [6] • Frostbite (Hattack) – Frostbite

is a RNG SP 8 magic attack. Models hit suffer a POW 12 cold damage roll . • ice cage (Hattack) – Ice Cage is a RNG 10 magic attack. A model hit suffers a cumulative –2 DEF for one turn unless it has is Immunity: Cold . When a model without Immunity: Cold hit with three or more Ice Cage attacks the same turn, it becomes stationary for one round. • PuPPet Master (Haction or attack) – Puppet Master is a RNG 10 spell. When it targets an enemy model/unit, it is a magic attack. You can have one affected model reroll one attack or damage roll, then Puppet Master expires. Puppet Master lasts for one round. snow-wreathed – This model has concealment.

CoLD STEEL BLADE critical Freeze – On a critical hit, the model hit becomes stationary for one round unless it has Immunity: Cold .

&

Farrow Valkyries

- use this aMPersand Grunts CirCLe 7 PC Leader & 2FOr

Farrow Valkyries

Fa 3

2017 v1

Minion Unit

sPd str Mat rat deF arM CMd

5

6

6

6

13 16

7

BUckLER cANNoN rnG rOF aOe POW

8

1

— 12

WAR HAmmER rnG

2

Farrow Valkyries Minions – This

LEADER & GRUNTS

Farrow Valkyries are a solid three-model unit with Shield Guard. Swapping out Assault for Point Blank on their buckler cannons opened up their power to interact with the melee damage buffs available to the Minions Faction.

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

POW

4

P+s

10

Trollbloods.

unit will work for Circle, Legion, Skorne, and

LEADER & GRUNTS GanG – When making a melee attack targeting an enemy model in the melee range of another model in this unit, this model gains +2 to melee attack and melee damage rolls. Point-Blank – During its activation, this model can make melee attacks with its ranged weapon, with a melee range of 0.5˝. Do not add this model’s STR to damage rolls made with ranged weapons. Charge attacks made with ranged weapons are not boosted. shield Guard – Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent’s turn while within 3˝ of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. VenGeance – During your Maintenance Phase, if one or more models in this unit were damaged by enemy attacks during the last round, each model in the unit can advance 3˝ and make one basic melee attack.

WAR HAmmER critical knockdown – On

knocked down.

a critical hit, the model hit becomes

MOdeL a’s daMaGe

MOdeL B’s daMaGe

MOdeL C’s daMaGe

PC

Leader & 2 Grunts

8

Fa 3

Illus. by Néstor Ossandón © Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All faction names, logos, warjack®, warcaster® & warbeast are TM of Privateer Press, Inc.

champion of the order of the wall

Gained Leadership [Paladin]: Girded Gained Retaliatory Strike

Gained Critical Knockdown

Dismounted 46 No Quarter PRIME

Mounted

Lieutenant Crosse, Resistance Fighter Another exciting caster addition to the game, Crosse 2 brings unique concepts to Mercenaries. The Faction’s first warcaster who uses soul tokens, Crosse was having a hard time consistently collecting them. After a huge amount of feedback and a Dev Talk, we ended up with a new version of the Lifebound spell.

Eminent configurator Orion Tensor Lattice

Oblivion Configuration

Eminent Configurator Orion

Variable MAT and RAT

Orion had been in the works for some time, so we were very happy to finally have him out to the public. With the community feedback showing a push for more of a “configuration” theme with Orion, we added a rule…Configuration! Allowing him to modify his own MAT and RAT scores at the start of his activation put flavor into this caster, giving him a unique and interesting feel.

Dire Troll Brawler While the Brawler was not in this CID cycle, it’s still part of the Christmas 2017 release cycle. The Brawler is the first noncharacter 2˝ melee range heavy for this Faction. Because it’s a Northkin, it’s open to many synergies within the Faction, playing well in the Storm of the North theme force.

Ice Witches The Ice Witches went through a few iterations during this cycle, but we could never find a mark that made everyone happy. We ended up reverting many of the changes and stuck to our original design, as it seemed most people were happy with the Ice Witches’ power level.

EXISTING MODELS Holy Zealots & Deliverer Skyhammers Holy Zealots received a slight point decrease and had their RAT increased by 1 (to 5). This change was very simple yet had a large impact on the playability of the unit, allowing it to threaten heavier targets with its already high-POW ranged attacks. The unit’s low RAT is not as big of a deal against infantry because it sports reasonably high blast damage. The Deliverer Skyhammers picked up a new rule, Rocket Volley, that increases the size of their rockets' AOE as they combine more attacks. And with innate Arcing Fire and a significant POW boost, they can drop a big dose of pain into the squishy core of an opposing army.

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer The Gun Mage Officer switched around a few rules but most notably gained the unique once-per-game ability Moment of Clarity. Granting his unit True Sight for one turn can allow Arcane Tempest Gun Mages to clear out opposing Stealth infantry, push enemy warjacks and warbeasts out of zones, or even go for previously unavailable assassination attempts.

Woldwarden, Wold guardian, WoldWatcher, Blackclad Stoneshaper, and Bradigus Thorle Many of the Circle Orboros constructs received an overhaul during this CID cycle. The two heavy warbeasts, Woldwarden and Wold Guardian, both went down in points, and the Woldwarden also increased in strength. The Woldwatcher popped up to MAT 6 and dropped a point. Supporting from behind, the Blackclad Stoneshaper gained a new spell to cast, Earth’s Power. This spell adds +2 STR to any construct warbeast it is cast upon. Finally, Bradigus Thorle had his spell Mystic Wards reworked to be a much more attractive choice.

No Quarter PRIME 47

PAINTING & HOBBY

TABLE READY IN 5 STEPS II by Lyle Lowery

Playing with a fully painted army is simultaneously one of the most rewarding and intimidating aspects of the WARMACHINE and HORDES hobby. But it’s not hard to paint an army to tabletop standard—a level of quality that looks good on the table and at arm’s length. Here are a variety of styles that will help you get your army table ready in no time! MODELS Mercenaries Ghordson Driller by Lyle Lowery Mercenaries Freebooter by Dallas Kemp Mercenaries Rover by Luke Sheridan Mercenaries Cephalyx Warden by William Shick Minions Road Hog by Marco Segovia Minions Gatorman Blackhide Wrastler by Marco Segovia Grymkin Skin & Moans by Luke Sheridan

48 No Quarter PRIME

N

o Quarter Prime 01 covered the Factions of the warring nations of Immoren. Now we’ll tackle those who don’t fight for territory but who fight for other purposes altogether, be it for profit, power, or other dark ends. On these pages, you will find painting guides for iconic Mercenary models—including pirates and Rhulic mercenaries—Minions

of both Blindwater Congregation and Thornfall Alliance persuasions, and Cephalyx and Grymkin models. Follow the instructions for your chosen Faction to ready your army for the table. But you might want to read through them all— you just might pick up a new tip or trick to incorporate into your own painting repertoire. You’re table ready!

MERCENARIES — GHORDSON DRILLER

MERCENARIES — FREEBOOTER

Step 1: Drybrush the silver metals with Pig Iron. Basecoat the gold metals with Rhulic Gold.

Step 1: Drybrush Deathless Metal then Pig Iron. Basecoat the armor plates with Ironhull Grey and Rucksack Tan and the gold areas with Brass Balls.

Step 2: Basecoat the armor plates with Hammerfall Khaki, the shoulder plates with Skorne Red, and the eye slit with Morrow White.

Step 2: Shade the grey plates with a 1:1 mixture of Coal Black and Thamar Black, the tan plates with Battlefield Brown, and the gold metal with a 1:1 mixture of Thornwood Green and Coal Black. Wash the steel with Armor Wash.

Step 3: Wash the metals with Armor Wash. Shade the armor plates with Gun Corps Brown.

Step 3: Highlight the grey plates with a 1:1 mixture of Ironhull Grey and Menoth White Highlight, the tan plates with a 1:1 mixture of Rucksack Tan and Menoth White Highlight, and the ropes with Moldy Ochre.

Step 4: Shade the armor plates with Bastion Grey. Step 5: Edge-highlight the armor plates with Menoth White Highlight and the metal with Quick Silver. Glaze the eye slit with Yellow Ink and then the corners of the eye slit with Red Ink.

Step 4: Basecoat the glows with Heartfire. Shade with Red Ink. Mix Red Ink and Umbral Umber in the recesses. Highlight the glow's center Cygnus Yellow. Step 5: Paint the metal plates' holes with Thamar Black. Highlight the steel with Quick Silver and the gold with a 2:1 mixture of Radiant Platinum and Brass Balls.

1

2

1

2

3

4

3

4

5

5

No Quarter PRIME 49

MERCENARIES — ROVER

MERCENARIES — WARDEN

Step 1: Basecoat the metal areas with Pig Iron and Molten Bronze.

Step 1: Basecoat the skin Sickly Flesh, the steel Cold Steel, the brass areas Brass Balls, the cloth and leather Bastion Grey, and the open wound Menoth White Highlight.

Step 2: Basecoat the armor plates with Traitor Green and Idrian Flesh.

Step 2: Wash the flesh and brass areas with a 2:1 mixture of Mixing Medium and Piggy Purple Ink. Wash the steel with a 2:1:1 mixture of Mixing Medium, Armor Wash, and Thamar Black. Wash the open wound on the back with a 2:1:1 mixture of Mixing Medium, Red Ink, and Sanguine Base.

Step 3: Wash the metals with Armor Wash. Step 4: Shade the green armor plates with Thornwood Green and the brown armor plates with Umbral Umber. Step 5: Highlight the silver metals with Cold Steel, the gold metals with Rhulic Gold, and the armor plates with Rucksack Tan.

Step 3: Highlight the flesh with a 2:1 mixture of Sickly Flesh and Mixing Medium. Drybrush the brass Brass Balls and the steel with Cold Steel. Step 4: Paint anywhere you want glow with Menoth White Highlight. Highlight the exposed spine with Menoth White Highlight. Step 5: Wash the areas of glow with a 1:1 mixture of Mixing Medium and Piggy Purple Ink. Wash the spine with a 2:1 mixture of Mixing Medium and Red Ink.

1

2

1

2

3

4

3

4

5

50 No Quarter PRIME

5

MINIONS — ROAD HOG

MINIONS — BLACKHIDE WRASTLER

Step 1: Basecoat the skin with Gun Corps Brown, the tusks with Bootstrap Leather, and the mouth with Sanguine Base.

Step 1: Basecoat the skin with a 1:1 mixture of Cryx Bane Base and Wurm Green, the belly scales with a 1:1 mixture of Ryn Flesh and Hammerfall Khaki, and the rope and cloth with Battlefield Brown.

Step 2: Shade the crevices and folds with a wash of Greatcoat Grey, Gun Corps Brown, and Cryx Bane Base.

Step 2: Wash the skin with a mix of Armor Wash and Ordic Olive.

Step 3: Basecoat the gold with Brass Balls and the silver with Pig Iron.

Step 3: Basecoat the metals with Pig Iron and the bones with Umbral Umber.

Step 4: Shade the gold metals with Umbral Umber and the silver metals with Exile Blue. Shade all metals again with Armor Wash.

Step 4: Shade with Thornwood Green and Armor Wash. Step 5: Highlight the scales with a 1:1 mixture of Thrall Flesh and Wurm Green, the bones with ’Jack Bone, and the ropes and cloth with a 1:1 mixture of Hammerfall Khaki and Bootstrap Leather. Highlight the metal with Radiant Platinum.

Step 5: Highlight the tusks and teeth with ’Jack Bone, the gold metals with Rhulic Gold, the silver metals with Radiant Platinum, and the skin with a mix of Gun Corps Brown and Rucksack Tan.

1

2

1

2

3

4

3

4

5

5

No Quarter PRIME 51

GRYMKIN — SKIN & MOANS

BASES

Step 1: Basecoat the skin with Skorne Red and the bone with ’Jack Bone.

Step 1: Use Mixing Medium to affix sand or ballast to the base.

Step 2: Basecoat the wraps with Midlund Flesh, the dark skins with Idrian Flesh, the stitches with Thamar Black, and the eyes with Carnal Pink.

Step 2: Basecoat the base with Umbral Umber. Step 3: Drybrush the base with Rucksack Tan.

Step 3: Shade the skin with Umbral Umber and the bone with Bastion Grey.

Step 4: Drybrush the base with Menoth White Highlight.

Step 4: Shade the wraps with Kossite Flesh Wash and the dark skins with Umbral Umber.

Step 5: Use white glue to affix patches of static grass. For extra pop, you can drybrush the grass with ’Jack Bone.

Step 5: Highlight the wraps with Ryn Flesh, the dark skins with Khardic Flesh, the bone with Menoth White Highlight, the flesh with Menoth White Highlight, and the stitches with Trollblood Highlight.

1

2

1

2

3

4 3

4

5

5

52 No Quarter PRIME

WARMACHINE & HORDES

Unbound Large-Scale Battles in the Iron Kingdoms by Jason Soles

54 No Quarter PRIME

No Quarter PRIME 55

WARMACHINE & HORDES

Across from you stands an enormous force, among them a wall of armored warjacks whose engines growl like living things. Their soldiers are neatly arrayed, their discipline unmatched, their banners streaming. Yet you are not daunted, for you know the strength of your army, equally vast, yet fiercer. War-scarred veterans stand alongside youths eager to prove themselves. What they lack in discipline they make up for in strength and fighting spirit. As you survey the field, soon to be stained with blood, the beasts you have gathered roar and howl. They are hungry, and you aim to feed them. The day is yours to win. You need only give your commanders the order: Attack! This is the fire in which heroes are forged. This is Unbound.

U

nbound is a set of rules for playing large-scale games of WARMACHINE and HORDES. These rules feature an alternating sequence of play that keeps both players involved constantly throughout the game. In standard, smaller-scale WARMACHINE and HORDES games, each player takes one turn every round and activates all their models each turn, then waits while the opponent takes a turn and moves all their models. In Unbound, rounds are instead divided into several turns in which players alternate activating portions of their armies, known as detachments. In this way, Unbound simulates the ebb and flow of a huge battle, giving players ample opportunity to act and react to the fortunes of war. Instead of completely replacing the rules of WARMACHINE and HORDES, the Unbound rules modify only the structure of play while leaving the core mechanics untouched. Unbound is also designed with multiplayer games and team play in mind in addition to two-player games.

Scenario Play Unbound games are played using special scenarios that reflect titanic clashes between enormous armies in the midst of war. Full details on scenario play are given in the “Unbound Scenarios” section on page 66, and pages 68–71 present a selection of six Unbound scenarios that include a broad selection of missions and battlefield conditions. Since the scenario rules can introduce significant variations in gameplay and strategy, players should determine which scenario they will play prior to building their armies.

Army Construction In Unbound games, each player plays with two or more detachments. Each detachment is a 50-point force led by a warcaster or warlock. These detachments are standalone forces within the player’s army, each with its own battlegroup and supporting units, solos, battle engines, and so on. A detachment must follow standard FA restrictions for the single warcaster or warlock that leads it. In a standard game of Unbound, each army is made up of three detachments, but players can play with as many detachments as they agree upon or as few as two. Players take turns activating

their detachments throughout the game. The more detachments in each army, the longer the game will take to play. A detachment can include Mercenary or Minion models that will work for the player’s Faction. Detachments led by a Mercenary warcaster or Minion warlock that will work for the player’s Faction are considered to be Mercenary or Minion detachments and can include only Mercenary or Minion models. An Unbound army can include only one instance of a character model or unit no matter how many detachments are in the army.

Detachments & Theme Forces A detachment can be made using a theme force, and the detachments in an Unbound army can be made using different theme forces. Theme force rules that refer to “this army” or “the army” affect only the detachment made using that theme force. Example: Khador’s Legion of Steel theme force has a special rule that says, “The Great Bears of the Gallowswood and Iron Fang solos in this army gain Countercharge.” Only Great Bears and Iron Fang solos in a detachment made using the Legion of Steel theme force gain Countercharge as a result of this special rule. If one or more of your detachments has a special rule that affects enemy models, you choose one enemy detachment to be affected by the special rule for each of your detachments that carries the rule. Example: The Legion of Everblight’s Ravens of War theme force has a special rule that states, “Enemy models lose the Ambush special rule.” For each of your detachments made using this theme force, you can cause the models in one of your opponent’s detachments to lose Ambush. Some theme forces have special rules that extend your deployment zone. This extended deployment only affects models that are part of the detachment made using the theme force that granted the extended deployment. Some theme forces have a special rule that adds +1 to your starting roll for the game. In Unbound, these bonuses are cumulative: you gain +1 to your starting game roll for each detachment made using a theme force that carries this rule.

No Quarter PRIME 57

WARMACHINE & HORDES

Sample Unbound Army PROTECTORATE DETACHMENT 1

PROTECTORATE DETACHMENT 2

Led by warcaster Intercessor Kreoss using the Exemplar Interdiction theme force.

Led by warcaster Feora, Protector of the Flame using The Creator’s Might theme force.

The available point total is 50 army points + Kreoss’ 28 warjack points = 78 total points

The available point total is 50 army points + Feora’s 28 warjack points = 78 total points

Kreoss’ Battlegroup

Point Cost

Feora’s Battlegroup

Point Cost

1 Fire of Salvation Warjack

16

1 Hand of Judgment

18

1 Guardian Warjack

15

1 Redeemer Warjack

11

Point Cost

1 Revelator Colossal

37

Units, Solos, and Battle Engines 1 Choir of Menoth unit of 4 troopers

4

Units, Solos, and Battle Engines

1 Exemplar Venger unit of 5 troopers

20

1 Choir of Menoth unit of 6 troopers

Point Cost 6

1 Knights Exemplar unit of 6 troopers

9

1 Hierophant Solo

3

1 Knights Exemplar Officer command attachment

5

2 Vassal of Menoth Solos

**

1 High Exemplar Gravus solo

9

3 Wrack Solos

3

2 Knights Exemplar Seneschal solos

**

Battlegroup Subtotal

66

Battlegroup Subtotal

31

Units, Solos, and Battle Engine Subtotal

12

Units, Solos, and Battle Engine Subtotal

47

Total Army Points

78

Total Army Points

78

Models in this detachment gain +2˝ of deployment and the weapons of warjacks from the theme force. in this detatchment gain Blessed

Solos and Choir of Menoth units in this detachment gain Reposition [3˝] and models/units in this detachment can begin the game affected by Feora’s upkeep spells as a result of the theme force.

** Free with Theme Force

** Free with Theme Force

58 No Quarter PRIME

PROTECTORATE DETACHMENT 3

PROTECT

Led by warcaster Vice Scrutator Vindictus using the Faithful Masses theme force.

KREOSS 3

RAT DEF ARM CMD SPD STR MAT 4 14 18 10

8

The available point total is 50 army points + Vindictus’ 29 warjack points = 79 total points

Vindictus’ Battlegroup

7

1 Devout Warjack

9 16

Units, Solos, and Battle Engines

6

1 Deliverer Skyhammer unit of 10 troopers

13

2 Deliverer Sunburst Crew Unit

5**

1 Holy Zealots unit of 10 troopers

12

1 Monolith Bearer Command Attachment

3

2 Paladin of the Order of the Wall Solos

8

FEORA, PROTECTOR OF THE FLAME

RNG

2

2016 v1

PROTECTORATE WARCASTER

CONVICTION

POW

8

P+S

14

FEORA 2 SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6

7

7

5

MOUNT

15 17

9

RNG POW

0.5

12

HEAVY FLAME THROWER RNG ROF AOE POW

SP 10 1 FOCUS

— 12

APOCALYPSE RNG

7

2

POW

7

P+S

14

Point Cost

1 Choir of Menoth unit of 6 troopers

1 High Paladin Dartan Vilmon Solo

6

Point Cost

1 Dervish Warjack 1 Reckoner Warjack

2016 v1

SOR KREOSS PLAR WARCASTER INTERCESORA TE EXEM

VICE SCRUT

FOCUS

ATOR VINDICTUS PROTECTORA TE WARCASTER

6

2016 v1

VINDICTUS 1 DAMA SPD GE

6 WJ +28

STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD 6 6 4 15 16 9 FA C

LAWGIVER RNG

1

POW

P+S

6

12

**

RNG

1

POW

6

8 (4 ea)

DAMAGE

WJ +28

SOLACE

FA C

P+S

12

FOCUS

Battlegroup Subtotal

32

Units, Solos, and Battle Engine Subtotal

47

Total Army Points

79

6

The Reckoner gains the Hand of Vengeance special rule and the Protectorate player gets to place a wall as a result of the theme force. DAMAGE

** Free with Theme Force

WJ +29

FA C

No Quarter PRIME 59

WARMACHINE & HORDES

Setup, Deployment & Starting the Game Once players have determined the scenario they will use and have built their armies, they are ready to play. Unbound games are played on a 4´ × 6´ battlefield rather than the standard 4´ × 4´ battlefield used in smaller games of WARMACHINE and HORDES. To start a game of Unbound, perform the following steps in order: Players set up the table with a number of terrain features outlined by the scenario they have decided to play. Players make a starting roll to determine who will be the first player and who will be the second player. The player who rolls higher chooses whether to be first player or second.

The first player deploys any of their models with Advance Deployment  that were not deployed in step 4, placing them up to 6˝ beyond the deployment zone. The second player deploys any of their models with Advance Deployment  that were not deployed in step 5, following the same guidelines. After all forces have been deployed, the first game round begins with the first player taking the first turn using the Alternating Play rules below. Unlike a standard game of WARMACHINE or HORDES, there is no established order of play; players will jockey throughout the game to take the first turn each round (see “Seizing the Initiative” below).

10˝

7˝

First Player Second Player

The second player chooses a side of the table to deploy to. The first player deploys models first, placing them completely within 7˝ of the table edge opposite the one chosen by the second player. This 7˝ × 72˝ area is the player’s deployment zone. Deploy units so that all their troopers are in formation. Models with Advance Deployment  do not have to be deployed at this time. The second player deploys models on the other side of the battlefield, placing them completely within 10˝ of the table edge, following the same guidelines.

60 No Quarter PRIME

48˝

72˝

Second Player 10˝

7˝

First Player

Alternating Play Unbound games are divided into rounds like standard WARMACHINE and HORDES games. However, rather than each player taking one turn per round, players each take a number of turns each round equal to the number of detachments they had at the start of the game. The number of turns a player takes does not change as play progresses no matter which models are destroyed or removed from play. Players take alternating turns throughout the game. During each turn, a player must activate one detachment, starting with the player who has the initiative. A detachment can activate only once each turn. When both players have completed all their turns, the round ends. A new round then begins, starting with a new roll to seize the initiative. For game effects, a round is measured from the current turn to the end of the last turn of the round. A game effect with a duration of one round expires at the end of the current round.

Seizing the Initiative In an Unbound game, the order of play is not static. Instead, beginning with the second round, at the start of each round players roll a d6 to determine who takes the first turn that round. The player who rolls highest has seized the initiative and takes the first turn that round. Note that any modifiers to the starting roll, such as a theme force bonus, do not affect the roll to seize the initiative.

Domination Bonus The more ground a player controls, the greater his chances of seizing the initiative. When playing Unbound, the table is divided into eight 24˝ × 18˝ territories. Each player gains +1 on their roll to seize the initiative for each territory they control at the start of the round. A player controls a territory if they have one or more models completely within it and their opponent does not.

24˝

Play Accordingly The round structure of Unbound games substantially changes the familiar timing of the game and forces players to approach their model and unit activations carefully. Notably, many spells and feats that can be stacked in normal WARMACHINE and HORDES games are limited to affecting only the models activating during the current turn.

18˝

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WARMACHINE & HORDES

Anatomy of a Round Rather than each player’s turn having three phases, each round in Unbound has three phases: Maintenance, Control, and Activation.

Maintenance Phase During the Maintenance Phase players take turns performing the following steps, beginning with the player who has the initiative that round. The player with the initiative completes all three steps first, then the next player completes them. 1. Remove all focus points from your warjacks. Remove all focus points in excess of the FOCUS stat for each of your models with the Focus Manipulation special rule. Remove all fury points in excess of the FURY stat for each of your models with the Fury Manipulation special rule. Leave fury points on warbeasts at this time. 2. Check for expiration of continuous effects on any models you control. After checking for expired continuous effects, resolve the effects of those that remain in play. 3. Resolve all other effects that occur during the Maintenance Phase.

Control Phase During the Control Phase, players take turns performing the following steps, beginning with the player who has the initiative that round. The player with the initiative completes all of these steps first, then the next player completes them. 1. Each of your models with the Focus Manipulation ability replenishes its focus points. To replenish focus, a model gains focus points so that it has a number equal to its current FOCUS. Each of your models with the Fury Manipulation ability can leech any number of fury points from warbeasts in its battlegroup that are in its control range. However, a model cannot exceed its current FURY in fury points as a result of leeching. 2. Warlocks gain fury from Spirit Bond. After leeching, a model with the Fury Manipulation special rule can additionally gain up to 1 fury point for each mediumbased or larger warbeast that was part of its battlegroup and has been destroyed or removed from play. If a destroyed warbeast returns to play for any reason, this model can no longer gain fury points for that warbeast from Spirit Bond. A model cannot exceed its FURY in fury points as a result of Spirit Bond. 3. Warjacks power up. Each warjack in a battlegroup that has a functional cortex and is within its controller’s control range gains 1 fury point. A warjack with a crippled cortex or no cortex at all cannot power up and does not gain this focus.

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4. Each model with the Focus Manipulation or Fury Manipulation special rule can spend focus or fury points to maintain its upkeep spells in play. If a model does not spend focus or fury points to maintain an upkeep spell, the spell expires and its effects end immediately. 5. Make a threshold check for each of your warbeasts with 1 or more fury points left on it. Any warbeasts that fail the check immediately frenzy. 6. Resolve all other effects that occur during the Control Phase. Note that shaking knockdown and stationary effects in an Unbound game occurs at the start of a turn in which a model activates. Also, focus is allocated at the start of each turn, rather than at the start of the round, as described below.

Activation Phase During the Activation Phase, players take turns activating their models as described in the next section. All models you control must be activated once per round. A model cannot forfeit its activation unless allowed to do so by a special rule.

Marking Activated Units We strongly recommend placing a token next to each model or unit as you activate it to keep track of which models have activated during a round. Remove these tokens at the end of the round.

Taking Turns At the start of each of a player’s turn, the player must declare which detachment will activate that turn. Though the models in the detachment activate separately, all models in the declared detachment must be activated that turn. Models and units within a detachment can be activated in any order during a turn.

Lost Detachments If all models in one or more of a player’s detachments have been destroyed or removed from play, that player is not required to activate a detachment each turn and can choose which turns to activate the remaining detachments. Example: Jason and Oz are playing a game with three detachments each. Ordinarily, each player must activate a detachment during each of his turns. However, if one of Jason’s detachments has been completely destroyed, he can choose which two turns he wants to activate a detachment, though he must activate both by his third turn each round. If Jason loses another detachment, he can choose to activate his remaining detachment during his first, second, or third turn.

WARMACHINE & HORDES

Focus Allocation At the start of each of a player’s turns, each model with the Focus Manipulation special rule activating that turn can allocate focus points to warjacks in its battlegroup that are in its control range.

Shake Effects Instead of shaking effects during the Control Phase, a model with the Focus Manipulation or Fury Manipulation special rule can spend focus or fury to shake effects at the start of its activation. Similarly, a model that can be forced to shake effects does so at the start of its activation rather than during the Control Phase.

Targeting a Model in Melee This is one core rule in Unbound that differs from the standard rules of the game. Instead of determining if a non-AOE, nonspray ranged or magic attack that missed its intended target hits another model in melee with the target, in Unbound the attack simply misses and cannot hit another combatant. This modification helps speed up gameplay when large numbers of models are on the table.

Deployment Zone

10˝

34˝ 48˝

72˝

Deployment Zone

Deployment Zone

34˝ 34˝ 10˝

10˝

Multiplayer Games Free-for-All Games Unbound can accommodate three or four players in free-for-all games. At the start of the game, all players roll as normal to determine the order of play. At the start of subsequent rounds, players roll as normal to seize the initiative. Reroll any ties, with the highest reroll winning the roll, followed by the next highest, and so on. In a three-player game, each player has a 10˝ × 34˝ deployment zone. One player deploys in the middle of the east table edge, the next player in the northeast corner of the table, and the third player in the southeast corner of the table, as shown in the diagram below. For a four-player game, increase the table size to 4´ × 8´. Each player has a 14˝ × 38˝ deployment zone in one corner of the table, as shown in the diagram. In multiplayer games, the portion of the table edge that makes up the back of a player’s deployment zone is treated as that player’s table edge for scenario purposes.

Team Games Team games are played with two or more players on each team, with each player controlling one or more detachments. Each team plays a single Faction, but its army can include non-Faction models that will work for that team’s Faction. Players should decide which detachments each player will control before the start of the game. At the start of the game, the teams roll to determine which team will set up first and take the first turn. Starting on the second turn, teams roll to seize the initiative. When calculating a team’s domination bonus, count all models on the team. Throughout each round, teams alternate taking turns. The players on a team must decide which of their detachments to activate at the start of each of their turns. The player in control of that detachment then activates all the models in the detachment that turn.

3 Player Setup

Deployment Zone

10˝

10˝

Deployment Zone

38˝

38˝ 48˝

96˝

38˝ Deployment Zone

38˝ 10˝

10˝

Deployment Zone

4 Player Setup

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WARMACHINE & HORDES

Unbound Scenarios The scenarios for Unbound games on the following pages reflect titanic clashes between armies in the midst of war and cover a broad selection of missions and battlefield conditions. Unbound scenarios are narrative and mission-oriented rather than being purely competitive. These scenarios do not simply create an alternate win condition but instead frequently alter how the game itself is played. Unbound scenarios are intended to be played on a 4´ × 6´ table.

Choosing a Scenario When selecting a scenario, players either agree among themselves which scenario to play or they can roll on the appropriate table below to randomly determine the scenario. It is best to determine the scenario prior to building your armies because the scenario rules can introduce significant twists, such as building destruction, table-wide flooding, or massive wildfires raging across the table.

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To randomly determine the scenario for a two-player game, roll a d6 and consult the following table.

Roll

Result

1

Floodland

2

Forest Fight

3

Last Stand

4

Occupation

5

Treasure Hunt

6

Wildfire

For multiplayer battles, roll a d6 and use the following table to determine the scenario.

Roll

Result

1

Occupation

2

Forest Fight

3

Treasure Hunt

4

Floodland

5

Forest Fight

6

Occupation

Terrain Placement In most Unbound scenarios, players place terrain features before making the starting game roll. Players generally alternate placing terrain features until one player wishes to stop. The other player is then allowed to place one additional terrain feature. Each player must place at least five terrain features unless otherwise indicated by a scenario’s special rules. The size of terrain pieces is also important. No piece should be insignificantly small or extremely large; pieces from 3˝ to 6˝ in length and width are best. Given the scale of Unbound, however, it is acceptable to use one or two larger pieces of terrain, up to 8˝ in length and width. Terrain pieces are categorized as restricted or unrestricted for the purposes of setting up tables: Unrestricted terrain: dense fog, forests, hills, rough terrain, shallow water, trenches, rubble Restricted terrain: hazards, obstructions, obstacles

Restricted terrain cannot be placed within deployment zones or within 5˝ of any other restricted terrain piece. Each table should contain a minimum of three line-of-sight blocking terrain pieces (e.g., forest, dense fog, obstruction). Hazard terrain features can be used as standalone pieces or combined with another feature, such as a burning earth forest. When combined in this way, the feature counts as a single terrain piece for the purposes of terrain quantity requirements and becomes restricted terrain. These rules apply only to initial terrain setup by the players, not to terrain placed by players before or during the game due to special rules in their army.

Multiplayer Play Many of the following scenarios are suitable for play with three or four players. Additional rules for each of those scenarios are described in its Multiplayer Game section.

We recommend that the majority of terrain on a table be unrestricted terrain. The exact number, type, and placement of terrain pieces are up to the players, but the following terrain rules must be followed when setting up tables: Do not place terrain within 6˝ of any table edge. Unrestricted terrain pieces cannot be placed within 2˝ of any other terrain piece. Trenches, however, can be placed in contact with other trenches.

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Floodland

Forest Fight

The endless rains are taking their toll, and it is only a matter of time until the floodwaters inundate the battlefield. The army that succeeds in holding the high ground will be the one to take the day.

Vast armies fall upon each other in the midst of an ancient forest. Only the most tenacious force will be able to uproot the enemy and claim the wooded terrain for themselves.

Setup

Setup

Before using the normal method to place terrain, place five hills on the table. Place the first hill in the center of the table. Center the remaining four hills 14˝ from each corner of the table as shown in the diagram below.

Before placing terrain normally, place a forest in the middle of the table. Players then take turns placing additional forests anywhere within 8˝ of the center forest until each player has placed three forests. These forests cannot be placed within 2˝ of each other or the center forest. This group of forests represents the Grove.

After these hills are placed, place additional terrain features using the normal method except each player places only two terrain features instead of the normal five.

Special Rules At the beginning of each round after the first, roll a d6. On a roll of 5 or 6, the floodwaters come. All non-elevated areas of the table are treated as shallow water during that round. When a player has a model completely within one of the five initial hills and the opponent has none, the player controls that hill. Ignore inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and models out of formation when determining if a model controls a hill. At the end of each round, a player who controls three or more of the five initial hills gains 1 control point.

After all forests in the Grove are placed, place additional terrain features using the normal method except each player places only two terrain features instead of the normal five.

Special Rules When a player has a model within a Grove forest and the opponent has none, the player holds that forest. Ignore inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and models out of formation when determining if a model holds a forest. A unit can hold a forest only if all models in the unit are within that forest. A player who holds four or more Grove forests controls the Grove.

Victory Conditions

Victory Conditions

A player wins if they have the only warcaster(s) or warlock(s) remaining in play.

A player wins if they have the only warcaster(s) or warlock(s) remaining in play.

Additionally, starting on the second round, a player wins at the end of the round if they control the Grove.

Additionally, a player wins if they score 3 control points.

Multiplayer Rules

Multiplayer Rules This scenario is suitable for multiplayer games. In a multiplayer game, a player wins if they scores 2 control points.

This scenario is suitable for multiplayer games. In a three-player game, do not place a forest in the center of the table to begin creating the Grove. Instead, players takes turns placing forests anywhere within 8˝ of the center of the table until each player has placed three forests. The normal placement restrictions apply. In a four-player game, follow the normal Grove placement rules except each player places only two additional forests instead of three.

14˝

10˝

7˝

First Player Second Player

10˝

14˝

14˝

14˝

14˝ Second Player 10˝

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7˝

First Player

14˝

First Player Second Player

14˝

14˝

7˝

Second Player 10˝

7˝

First Player

Last Stand

Occupation

Last Stand is a desperate battle for survival between an attacking army and a defending force. Surrounded and cut off from support, the defenders prepare for the onslaught of its enemies while the attackers move to capitalize on their fortunes—or be destroyed in the attempt.

This battle takes place within the cluttered confines of a small town. Its outer defenses are breached, and two great armies now rush to secure the town before it is consumed by the flames of war.

Setup Place terrain normally, then make a starting roll. The winner of the starting roll chooses whether to be the Attacker or the Defender. The Defender deploys first and takes the first turn. The Defender’s models lose Advance Deployment  and the Ambush special rule. The Defender deploys completely within 12˝ of the center of the table. The Attacker deploys completely within 9˝ of the corners of the table, as shown in the diagram below.

Special Rules There are no special rules in this scenario.

Victory Conditions A player wins if they have the only warcaster(s) or warlock(s) remaining in play. The Attacker wins at the end of any round if they have a warcaster or warlock within 5˝ of the center of the table and the opponent does not. The Defender wins if the Attacker has not won the game by the end of the fifth round.

Multiplayer Rules This scenario is not suitable for non-team multiplayer games.

Setup Before using the normal method to place terrain, mark an 18˝ × 18˝ area in the middle of the table to represent Town Square. Place a 5˝-diameter Fountain terrain feature in the center of Town Square. The Fountain is shallow water that provides cover to models completely within it. Next, starting with the first player, players take turns placing obstructions within Town Square until each player has placed four. These obstructions represent Buildings in Town Square and, unlike normal obstructions, they can be placed within 2˝ of each other. These Buildings can be targeted, attacked, and damaged as if they were enemy huge-based models with DEF 5, ARM 16, and 80 damage boxes. When a Building suffers 80 damage points, it immediately collapses. Replace the obstruction with a rubble terrain feature. After the Buildings have been placed in Town Square, players place additional terrain features using the normal method, except each player places only two terrain features instead of the normal five.

Special Rules When a player has more models within Town Square than the opponent, the player controls Town Square. Ignore inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and models out of formation when determining the model count. At the end of each round, a player who controls Town Square scores 1 control point.

Victory Conditions A player wins if they have the only warcaster(s) or warlock(s) remaining in play. Additionally, a player wins if they score 3 control points.

Multiplayer Rules 9˝

9˝

Defender Deployment Zone

This scenario is suitable for multiplayer games. In a three-player game, the first player places only two Buildings in Town Square, and the other players each place three. In a four-player game, each player places two Buildings in Town Square.

12˝

9˝

9˝

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Treasure Hunt It is a race for vast riches, ancient artifacts, or secret lore as rival armies compete to unearth and retrieve hidden treasures from the scattered ruins of the past.

Setup Make a starting roll before placing terrain. The winner of the starting roll decides whether to be the first or second player as normal. Starting with the first player, each player places two 4˝ x 6˝ rubble terrain features on the table to represent the Ancient Ruins. An Ancient Ruin terrain feature cannot be placed within 18˝ of any table edge or within 5˝ of another Ancient Ruin. After placing the Ancient Ruins, players place additional terrain features as normal. The first player then deploys first and takes the first turn.

The Treasure is dropped if the model carrying it is slammed, thrown, placed, destroyed, or removed from play or otherwise leaves the table. If a model drops the Treasure due to being slammed, thrown, or placed, the token is dropped after the model is moved or placed. When the Treasure is dropped, place the token so that it is completely within the area of the base of the model that was carrying it. A model cannot voluntarily drop the Treasure. A warrior model in contact with the dropped Treasure can forfeit its Combat Action to pick it up. The Treasure can be picked up in this manner only once per turn.

Victory Conditions A player wins if they have the only warcaster(s) or warlock(s) remaining in play.

A model cannot begin the game within an Ancient Ruin.

Additionally, a player wins if a friendly model carrying the Treasure begins its activation completely within 10˝ of their table edge.

Special Rules

Multiplayer Rules

Once per turn, the active player can choose a single warrior model in the activating detachment that is completely within an Ancient Ruin terrain feature to search the Ancient Ruin for Treasure. The searching model must forfeit its Normal Movement and Combat Action this turn. The search resolves at the start of the player’s turn. The active player rolls a d6. On a roll of 6, the Treasure has been discovered. Each Ancient Ruin can be searched only once per game. If the Treasure has not yet been found when a model searches the last Ancient Ruin, the active player does not need to make a roll; the Treasure is automatically discovered. The Treasure is represented by a 30  mm token. When a model discovers the Treasure, place the token near that model’s base. This model is considered to be carrying the Treasure. A model carrying the Treasure can forfeit its Combat Action to pass the Treasure to another friendly warrior model in B2B contact. The Treasure can be passed this way only once per turn.

10˝

7˝

First Player Second Player 18˝

Ancient Ruins Placement Zone

18˝

18˝ Second Player 10˝

7˝

First Player

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18˝

This scenario is suitable for multiplayer games. In a three-player game, the third player places two Ancient Ruins, and the other players each place one. In a four-player game, each player places one Ancient Ruin.

Wildfire The devastation of war has ravaged the countryside in truly cataclysmic fashion. Two armies march to battle even as a massive wildfire sweeps across the land, and only those capable of swift victory and even swifter escape will survive.

Setup Place terrain normally, then make a starting roll. The winner of the starting roll can either choose to be the first player or choose a table edge for deployment and a side table edge (east or west) where the Wildfire will start. If the winner chooses to be the first player, then the second player chooses where the Wildfire starts. Place a token on the side table edge chosen for the fire. This token is used to indicate how far the Wildfire has spread during the game.

Special Rules At the end of each player’s turn, the Wildfire spreads. The active player rolls a d3 and moves the Wildfire token that number of inches directly away from the chosen side table edge. For

example, if the first player rolls a 2 at the end of their first turn, the Wildfire spreads to cover the area of the battlefield within 2˝ of the chosen table edge. A model that enters or ends its activation within the area of the Wildfire suffers a POW 12 fire damage roll  and the Fire continuous effect  . Fire continuous effects  that affect models within the area of the Wildfire cannot expire. A model escapes it if begins its activation within 5˝ of the enemy table edge. Remove that model from the game.

Victory Conditions A player wins if they have the only warcaster(s) or warlock(s) remaining in play. Additionally, at the end of the sixth round, the player who has had the greatest number of models escape wins the game.

Multiplayer Rules This scenario is not suitable for non-team multiplayer games.

WARMACHINE & HORDES

THEME FORCE

Forces of the Trollbloods:

Northkin by Matt Goetz & Douglas Seacat

D

escendants of an ancient people who inhabited the cold northern lands since before human civilization, the Northkin are rugged, fearless, and irrepressible. Violence is never far from their lives—the very hammers with which they shape the stones of their fortresslike homes are as readily employed to crush the skulls of their enemies. They sow crops primarily to provide grain for the strongest ales and for distilled uiske and vyatka, consumed in riotous revelries before these warriors commit to battle. They have a lust for life, leaping into combat with the same abandon with which they celebrate

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victories or lament defeats. Joined together in their traditions and the defense of their territories, they intend to carve their destiny by the edge of their blades. Being a Northkin implies more than simply having knowledge of the forests and mountains where these kin live—the Scarsfell, Nyschatha, Malgur, Wolveswood, the Rimeshaws, and others. It is more than taking comfort in winter, feeling at home trudging across frozen wastes and trackless snow, or howling in answer to bone-chilling winds. To be a Northkin is

to embrace a bold and reckless enthusiasm for peril, to seek out conflict rather than avoid danger, and to laugh at life’s ironies with one’s dying breath. Many Northkin see their southern kin as pitiful, dour, and humorless saps that hide in their villages, nursing weak drink and bemoaning their mistreatment at the hands of humankind. Few can claim to squeeze every drop of life from their days on Caen as thoroughly as the trollkin of these kriels. Northern warriors, both male and female, train with weapons and learn

to wage war almost as soon as they emerge from their mothers’ wombs. Hoping to die in battle, they glorify those who have fallen before them, immortalizing their greatest heroes by carving their names and stories into stone. Before death claims them, Northkin champions hope to create a mountain of slain enemies and sire a multitude of progeny. Kith that fight together form unbreakable bonds, as each family member lends another pair of hands to wield an axe and raises their voice against their many foes.

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THEME FORCE

Origins It is only in recent years that the Northkin have come together in a formal alliance. The decision to form such a pact was influenced by Madrak Ironhide, who approached them when starting to forge his United Kriels. Some northern champions and warbands answered his call, seeing in his desperate mission an opportunity to gain glory and spoils while fighting far-flung enemies of the kin. However, few northern kriels were willing to join their fates to this southern affiliation. Kriel elders saw value in uniting and believed all kin to possess blood ties, but they knew it was not in their best interests to cede leadership to Ironhide. They decided instead to create their own alliance— one composed of and led by northern kin. While the sworn agreement unifying these kriels is new, the bonds of Northkin culture stretch back to the time before the Molgur, that vast confederation of savage peoples who once spread across western Immoren. There have always been kin in the great northern wilderness, since the mythical days when trollkin were birthed by Dhunia as the first thinking race. As kin migrated and scattered, some preferred the cold north, proud of their ability to survive and prosper amid its pitiless forests and mountains. They shared a passion for life in these

Scrolls preserve lore in a portable form. Sacred scrolls may be rubbings made directly from a krielstone, while others are inscribed from runes taken from multiple stones or other sources.

beautiful but perilous lands. Invading humans, dwarves, and Nyss eventually competed with the kin for this territory, but Northkin were there first. This pride of place persists in the halls and councils of the oldest villages, whose legends, graven on ancient krielstones, number among the first runic writings. Many Northkin kriels were once part of the Molgur, though they were less closely bound to this group than their southern cousins. Most surviving Molgur legends among the trollkin focus on the southern tribes, especially those of the Wyrmwall Mountains. Nonetheless, there were bands of Northkin warriors who traveled widely to raid alongside others, returning home laden with spoils. Several renowned Northkin heroes supported Horfar Grimmr against Priest-King Golivant, returning with tales of their exploits and of Grimmr’s tragic end. The shattering of the Molgur had an impact that reached even the Northkin’s frozen homelands; many southern kin fled north, seeking respite from Golivant’s purging crusades. Some Northkin descend from these displaced kriels. Even with the Molgur gone, the Menite crusades against trollkin did not end. Priest-King Khardovic also took up fire and sword to purge enemies of his faith. Trollkind was specifically targeted, deemed an embodiment of everything the Menites feared. Ever since, the northern kriels have known the necessity of fighting humankind to keep what is theirs. Many of the regions the Northkin called home were viewed by humans as too much trouble to tame. The Northkin consolidated their claim on these inhospitable territories by fiercely defending them. The long-time foes fell into a pattern of sporadic bloodshed alternating with mutual avoidance, fighting tooth and nail only where one side intruded on the other. The Northkin shunned heavily settled areas so long as their villages deep in the wilds were left alone. This uneasy truce coincided with the Dhunian awakening after the Molgur’s fall, when worship of the Wurm was set aside in favor of the Great Mother. Despite this religious shift, reverence for the Wurm lingers with the Northkin more than with southern kriels. Dhunia is always given primacy, but Northkin warriors credit their divine father with passing down gifts of hunting prowess, bloodthirstiness, and an appetite for food and drink. Since the earliest times, the widely scattered kriels of the north formed regional councils, recognizing a need for shared communication and mutual defense. The vast Scarsfell Forest is led by four great councils: Neves Council, around the river of the same name; Irkes Council, banding together the western Scarsfell; Scarsheart Council, uniting the central forest; and Bitterroot Council, the smallest of the four, in the east. The kriels of the Rimeshaws, the Nyschatha Mountains, and the Malgur Forest each have their own councils. The eldest speakers of these councils comprise the core of Northkin leadership.

Northkin share their lands with many perils, including formidable frost drakes.

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The strongest Northkin kriels include the Boneblod, Braggmaw, Blomus, Cragfist, Galtor, Jawnel, Lagmoor, Lourdag, Margov, Pelnas, Rumtar, Trustone, and Utlag. Most have fallen into loose matriarchies; the gathered elders are led by the eldest female leader, called a ketmoder. A ketmoder’s authority is far from absolute, but she has great sway and can call warchiefs to task. The warchiefs are looked to for direction in battle and defense, but it is the ketmoders who collectively make long-term plans for their people and settle disputes. A diverse and stubborn lot, they do not agree on much. One matter upon which the ketmoders did agree was refusing Madrak Ironhide when he came asking for support in 607 AR. Though many warchiefs were as sympathetic to Ironhide’s plight as they were eager to fight, the Northkin elders did not wish to get drawn into battles that were not their own. Instead, they swore solemn oaths to formalize their own alliance at a gathering of ketmoders in 608 AR.

While Northkin resist the idea of following a single leader, certain individuals manage to earn widespread respect. None still living can match the legend of the shaman and warchief Borka Kegslayer, seen by many as an embodiment of the Northkin spirit. His kith and kriel have spawned numerous esteemed heroes, and Ketmoder Jennan, their ancient matriarch, is one of the most feared Northkin elders. Nonetheless, even they cannot claim to speak for all the northern kriels. Fundamental to the Northkin alliance are the twin notions of respect and strength, by which all kriels and individuals are weighed. While the United Kriels of the south sprang from a need for mutual protection, the Northkin seek more from life. Mere survival is not enough—they seek to win glory by facing down mighty foes. Their warbands are ready to prove they can stand against the greatest armies. They embrace strife, laughing at their rivals’ fears and annihilating anyone foolish enough to get in their way.

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THEME FORCE

Training Northkin have no formalized military training, but all know how to fight by the time they reach maturity. Trollkin resilience lets young warriors learn by being thrown into certain peril with a reasonable expectation of survival. The journey to becoming a great Northkin warrior never ends—each skirmish adds to a lifetime of experience. Learning begins at an early age, as soon as a young kin can stand upright and hold a weapon. At first this education takes the form of games involving simple sparring. Youths practice wrestling and unarmed combat but are also given wooden weapons and encouraged to become comfortable with them as a form of play. Northkin parents think nothing of allowing the young to batter one another into submission and rarely interfere. As trollkin reach adolescence, they engage in tests of strength such as hurling stones and felled trees. To foster cooperation, teams face off on either side of a heavy log, pushing in concert to force their opponents back in a variant of tug-of-war. Those who excel earn the acclaim of their peers and may be taken in by older warrior mentors. Contests are ritualized at certain times of year, often during seasonal festivities. The most celebrated contests include drinking competitions, displays of raw strength, “friendly” duels atop the kuar platforms that dominate village centers, and the grohmat mahkeiri, a contest of mental fortitude in which participants try to overpower one another through sheer force of will.

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Such contests occur notably during the harvest festival of Mannur and the hunting season of Orrem. Winners of these contests are widely celebrated, earning pride of place and often receiving gifts of food, drink, and prizes. Winners are commonly sought out as mates and often produce offspring with counterparts of similar acclaim. Hunting is a critical part of martial training, as it demands alertness, stealth, and a keen mind that can exploit varied terrain and changes in the weather. Prolonged hunts teach the young to navigate the wilderness and its varied perils. Hesitation in claiming a life can be lethal on the battlefield; hunting conditions the young to confront this necessity. As trollkin mature, they join raids and attacks against the kriel’s enemies alongside seasoned fighters. Even those with an aptitude for spiritual matters or useful crafts such as smithing, stonework, or brewing must fight to defend the kriel. Those intended for ancillary roles are soon given leave to remain behind during raids, but lessons learned in battle stay with them. Novices are grouped in small bands with a more experienced fighter serving as kithkar, a familial term that translates to “eldest sibling” and denotes leadership. In time the best kithkar win invitations to join champion bands, each led by even more heroic kithkar. After decades of fighting, some few stand alone as true heroes of the kriel. As warriors grow too old to serve reliably in battle, they take on other roles but still fortify a kriel’s reserves. Many kriel elders were once champions, and a lifetime of experience informs their decisions.

Tactics Northkin tactics rely on the resilience and ferocity of their aggressive infantry and generally favor fighting in close quarters over ranged combat. When kriels battle for territory, warriors on either side rush to seize an early advantage against the enemy line in a ferocious blitz, hoping to swiftly take down the enemy’s warchief and greatest heroes. A block of stalwart champions usually occupies the center of an infantry line. Younger defenders meet at the wings to prevent foes from encircling champions already engaged in protracted duels. Warlocks and their powerful trolls, when available, can turn the tide of conflict and are usually at the heart of the fray. Traditional Northkin tactics are not designed to eradicate a rival’s forces. Instead, kriels seek to overpower enemy forces and break their morale, forcing their opposition to withdraw and opening up a chance to raid vulnerable supplies. Trollkin resilience and their ability to regenerate nonlethal injuries mean that one kriel can soundly beat another without destroying it. A Northkin raiding force is often divided in two, with a larger group of better-armed and more heavily armored warriors fighting to occupy enemy defenders while a swifter, lightly geared force sneaks around defenses to seize spoils. Only in times of all-out war do Northkin resort to punitive slaughter. The most protracted of such wars occurred in the last few decades against the human Ruscar tribes, who were viciously contesting territories with the Scarsfell kriels. The Ruscar once sought the annihilation of their trollkin neighbors but nearly suffered that fate themselves after Borka Kegslayer

assembled a warband in retaliation. Kegslayer drove the Ruscar from the Falconbridge River after calling winter trolls to join his forces, securing these lands. Conflicts between the Ruscar and the trollkin periodically flare up, as they remain bitter enemies. When confronting a more numerous or stronger foe or a well-fortified position, Northkin switch to less direct tactics, depending instead on multiple small bands of skirmishing warriors who coordinate to confuse the enemy. Working in concert, these Northkin bands seek out weak points in defenses, hoping to disorient with multiple waves of attacks, striking quickly and then pulling back. These tactics can whittle away at a larger enemy force and disrupt fortified defenses. When fighting more technologically advanced armies, Northkin utilize combined arms and surprise strikes, with rifle-bearing pygs providing cover for traditional warriors, who lure opponents to overextend their reach and into deadly ambushes. Against disciplined armies, Northkin use tight phalanxes of warriors moving in formation to make the most of their shields. Backing up the frontline combatants are support elements such as raiders armed with firebombs, who pepper enemies with projectiles. Their heavy cavalry—bison riders—charge to exploit weak points in the enemy line and create breakthroughs, or smash into the flanks and rear of infantry formations. The Northkin have fewer legendary warlocks than the United Kriels, but warlock-led bands make excellent use of the north’s native trolls. These ice-blooded beasts can summon destructive cold to freeze enemies in their tracks. Towering above them are the terrible glacier kings—huge, ancient trolls whose bodies crackle with ice and whose breath swirls like a raging blizzard.

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Northkin Villages & Holdfasts Though the Northkin have few traditional military fortifications, every village is a formidable fortress unto itself. Wherever possible Northkin utilize as much stone as is available, and their customary villages are very heavily fortified by human standards. Built to withstand an impressive amount of punishment and stocked with ample stores of food and drink, even a small kriel’s village can weather a substantial siege. A high wall encircles every Northkin village. This wall is most often constructed of stone and ice, though sometimes a wooden wall with stone cladding will suffice, at least until more stone can be secured. In places where it is difficult to quarry, Northkin will go out of their way to locate and gather stone for building, including stealing portions of ruined structures from their rivals or even neighboring kriels. Built into the outer wall are watchtowers and gatehouses, and the curving rear walls of many houses help to reinforce the defensive perimeter. Northkin avoid angular construction, preferring to build in curvilinear forms. The rounded wall and towers help deflect modern munitions, preventing solid strikes that can penetrate the stones. Even within the encircling wall, Northkin homes are built like rounded towers or are domed, though often featuring thatched roofs and incorporating more wood than is typically the case in some southern trollkin villages. These homes dot the interior space surrounding several shared areas, such as the elevated kuar dueling platform common among trollkin, various gathering places for the performance of festival and funerary rites, krielstone sites, and practice fields used by warriors. An average village will have multiple storehouses filled with grain produced on outlying farms or raided from the kriel’s neighbors. These storehouses also have deep cellars dug into the earth to preserve perishable goods. In addition, smokehouses are used for long-term preservation of meat and fish. These stockpiles allow a kriel to maintain supplies when it finds itself besieged. Such sieges are not uncommon in battles between neighboring rivals, especially if the defending force is smaller than the attacking army. Waiting out the aggressors is a viable tactic, especially in months when a harsh storm might arise. Livestock such as goats, chickens, and sheep are either raised on farms or kept by families dwelling within the village walls and can also help trollkin defenders to weather a prolonged siege. Northkin prefer hardier livestock that requires little husbandry, as well as farm animals smart enough to avoid the attention of any full-blood trolls dwelling in the village.

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Most of a kriel’s population dwells within the protective wall; only a few isolated families will risk building their homes beyond it. Often these outlying buildings, farms, and workshops are collectively owned and are home to only a few dedicated workers at a time. In times of war, these outlying structures are typically abandoned, and their inhabitants return to defend the kriel. Should the need arise, every adult trollkin within the kriel rallies to this mutual defense. Larger villages can have hundreds of battle-ready kin defending the wall, but even the smaller settlements are fortified enough to repel many attacks. Similarly, it is often the case that pygmy trolls living in proximity to a kriel will inhabit a less formidably defended village that can be temporarily abandoned until the enemy threat is driven away.

Where do Trolls Live? As with many kriels in the south, it is not uncommon for Northkin to allow full-blood trolls to live among them in their communities, where they are treated as valued though somewhat lesser members of the village. Trolls in a village are usually accompanied by one or more kin directing their efforts. They are particularly useful for construction or repair work on walls or buildings, employed as laborers to take advantage of their size and strength. Trolls are frequently tasked with carrying heavy loads from one place to another and will also join hunting and raiding bands abroad, so long as they can be trusted not to consume fresh kills or spoils. They are kept ready to defend the village in the case of attack, at which point they will be placed where the attack is fiercest, helping defend a breached gateway or a section of the wall that is being assailed. Not all villages with trolls have warlocks at their disposal, but there will generally be one or more kin present who is adept at interacting with the brutes and convincing them to do as bid—a role sometimes falling to a shaman, sorcerer, or fell caller. Offers of food are used to encourage good behavior, and a troll might also be rewarded with trollkin-forged weapons or armor, which they take pride in and readily employ in the kriel’s battles. Though valued, known by name, and capable of rudimentary speech, trolls can be unpredictable and dangerous, especially if hungry or angered. For these reasons, most are given lairs separate from the kin rather than sleeping and eating among them. Many trolls are content to live in a nearby cave or similar excavation, sometimes dug out of a convenient hill or cliffside. In some villages trollkin will carve out tunnels with entrances within the walls to house their trolls. Such an interior entrance is barred and watched so kin can control when the trolls are allowed ingress. Some such tunnels have a separate exit into the wilds that allows trolls to leave and hunt for prey as required—and that can serve as a well-guarded secondary escape route for a village under siege. While these arrangements are common with both regular and elemental full-blood trolls, dire trolls are rarely allowed into a village for long, beyond the needs of defense against a significant foe. Their appetites and tempers are much fiercer than their smaller cousins, requiring them to be handled with caution. Any dire troll seen in a Northkin village will be under the control of a warlock who has the trust of the kriel’s elders. Their lairs are usually more remote, though temporary arrangements might be made closer to the village when its warriors are gearing up for imminent battle.

Anatomy of a Northkin Village

Bearhouse

Retaining Palisade

Sheltered Storage

Champion Banners

Troll Lairs Kuar Dueling Ring

Perimeter Palisade Parked Hooch Hauler

Great Hall

Distillery

Goat Pen

Smithy

Kriel Stones

Larger kriels may surround a central village with several holdfasts on the boundaries of their territories. Built like smaller, more fortified villages, Northkin holdfasts house only a few dozen warriors at most. The trollkin dwelling in the holdfast are cycled out from season to season and year to year, so none will remain far from home for long. If an enemy approaches the kriel’s territory, the holdfast can ignite signal fires or send messengers to warn the kriel so a larger warband can be gathered to fend them off.

Gatehouse Towers, also used for extra storage

These outposts serve to project a kriel’s strength to its neighbors and prevent incursions deeper into its territory, though most often they act as trade posts between a kriel and its neighbors. Northkin warriors eagerly barter for goods that the kriel cannot easily acquire or produce. Human and bogrin traders frequently visit holdfasts. Though little coin trades hands, large exchanges of fur and trollkin liquor for weapons, refined metal, blasting powder, and other amenities are common.

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Life among the Northkin

the scope has been constrained. Raiding is deeply ingrained in Northkin warrior culture and considered vital to teaching fighting skills. Provided that these conflicts do not threaten the larger collective, Northkin councils ignore them.

The life of a Northkin warrior has been the same for millennia. The world these warriors inhabit is an unforgiving one in which the weak and timid cannot survive. Northkin are measured by strength and by deed and are expected to defend kith and kriel.

The most substantial gain from unity is increased trade between the kriels, which allows them to share resources. Certain kriels have specialized in producing commodities as diverse as grain, smoked meats, weapons, or liquor. Of course, trade deals can also spark fresh conflicts between neighbors when one side accuses the other of not living up to its promises.

This still holds true under the Northkin alliance, which brought disparate northern kriels and regional councils into a unified confederation. Daily life has changed only in small ways. The idea of unity is new and not beloved by all. Some fear the elimination of interkriel conflicts, which have always kept the Northkin strong. Others embrace this newfound unity, believing it will help them all endure against savage neighbors and the imperialist nation of Khador. The Northkin cherish independence, and thus some feuding between kriels is still commonplace. Each kriel looks out for its own interests before worrying about others. Wars between kriels sometimes require the intervention of the elder councils. Practices such as raids on neighboring kriels persist, though

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When not at war, the Northkin live much as they always have. They harvest limited crops, hunt, tend to what livestock they maintain, build and fortify homes, pray to Dhunia, and enjoy various violent diversions. The line between warrior and skilled worker blurs in Northkin villages, for each adult should be useful in both peace and war. Warriors often pick up a handy skill, and dedicated craftsmen also learn to wield weapons. Most trollkin villages are in a continual state of upkeep, as are their weapons and tools. There is always work to be done, though these efforts are commonly disrupted by drinking and feasting. All within a village’s walls help care for the young.

Parents regularly foist their offspring on neighbors, and the young can then be forced to assist with whatever work their current guardian is engaged in, learning various practical skills in the process. While on campaign away from their villages, Northkin live as bandits and nomads. Without the protection of the village, they must make do with whatever supplies their beasts of burden and full-blood trolls can haul. When these provisions are exhausted, they hunt, forage, and raid for supplies. The larger the warband, the faster and more frequently it must turn to raiding, which strains already tenuous relationships between Northkin and their neighbors. A warband may construct large encampments while on the march. Depending on the band’s size, these encampments can sprawl up to a mile across, with isolated tents and lean-tos dotting the landscape. Warriors tend to gather with members of their own kith or kriel, or those with whom they have longstanding friendships. Hostilities between different factions in a warband are inevitable. Clever kithkar do not quash these rivalries but rather encourage duels to settle disputes when the warband is encamped. Whether contests of drinking, fighting, or battling wills, these duels relieve tension before it can boil over into greater violence. These efforts can keep a large warband from devolving into bloody feuds, unless there are multiple warchiefs with their blood up. When disruptive infighting flares, the elder shamans, fell callers, and stone scribes must calm the warchiefs and get them to focus on bigger goals. That said, a Northkin army does not mind arriving at a battlefield a couple of days later than planned in order to resolve disputes between prideful leaders provoked during the journey. Northkin forces are more chaotic and less decisive than those of the United Kriels, but their warchiefs would have it no other way. Between fights, Northkin like to drink and boast about their past accomplishments, both to increase standing among the warriors gathered and for the benefit of the stone scribes who travel with the warband. These tales can quickly expand beyond the glimmer of truth at their core. Fabrications become elaborate, with the size and strength of an opponent taking on mythical proportions. All Northkin enjoy a good story, however, and these nightly boasts are a competition unto themselves, with the best storyteller earning drinks offered in toast. Braggarts often end up heading off to bed drunk and halfconscious, though this will not keep them from entering battle the next day. Not all is work, battle, drink, and storytelling. Faith is also a key element of Northkin culture. Their connection to Dhunia is expressed in every aspect of life, even warfare. The way Northkin express faith may seem strange to southerners, as the climate of the north does not have the vibrant shifts in season and the cold winter is long and harsh—a time when most kin

Elders are revered among the Northkin, particularly those like Kolgrima Stonetruth who is thought to have the gift of prophecy.

Among the most valued of a veteran warrior's loot and prizes will be an ornamented stein or drinking horn, the latter sometimes carved from the horns of wild goats, satyrs, drakes, or other beasts.

consider the goddess to be slumbering. This only makes the Northkin value her more: since they have their mother’s full attention for but a small portion of the year, prayers and feats to earn her blessings become more vital. Shamans see to the spiritual needs of the warband. Wizened and craggy elder shamans evoke the harsher aspects of the goddess, wielding ice and storm against their enemies. Others evince Dhunia’s less warlike qualities, learning divinations and prophecy, consecrating crops and the hunt. Some tend to the wounded between clashes and bless the warriors before they take the field. Younger shamans, selected from among the more pious and introspective kin, learn at the feet of elders. Some feel the calling and demand to be taught Dhunia’s wisdom. Those valued few who can bond with full-blood trolls as warlocks may rise to become great warchiefs, bringing Dhunia’s favor with them. Few of Dhunia’s blessings are more treasured than the gift of fertility. Mating is casual among the Northkin, particularly in larger warbands, with few of these arrangements treated as permanent. Gatherings between kriels are an opportunity to strengthen and diversify a kriel with outside blood. Parents often keep tabs on distant offspring, feeling a lasting connection even into their adulthood, and bonds between siblings are among the tightest in a kith. With Northkin being notoriously fecund, it’s not uncommon for a warrior to have a dozen or more brothers and sisters. Frequently, warbands consist entirely of siblings and cousins. A chief who can march to war with his sons and daughters is considered especially blessed by Dhunia. Following a campaign, Northkin pillage spoils that they can bring back to their kith. Warriors dole out these tokens in the kriel during long feasts where they share highly embellished stories of their exploits in acquiring the goods. Should a warrior fall in battle, their plunder is solemnly bestowed upon their next closest kin or surviving blood brothers. A chief will sometimes have the gold or silver they loot forged into armbands or other pleasing shapes by a kriel’s metalsmiths—as gifts to favored champions to cement their loyalty.

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Northkin Units Kriel Warriors Kriel warriors make up the bulk of any Northkin warband. Its warriors are a diverse group, and in larger bands they may be drawn from different kriels. Individual members possess a wide range of capabilities and dispositions, from stoic warriors from mountain kriels to savage and tribal fighters from the deep forests. Though they are varied, each is a stalwart combatant ready to battle against all who would threaten their northern lands. Leading them are accomplished kithkar, veterans who have tested their skills against opponents in countless battles and who have earned the right to lead their kin in war. Kriel warriors wield a variety of hand weapons paired with a round shield. Stronger warriors may carry hefty cabers that they can hurl to crush enemies and break up formations of heavy infantry. Most wear a simple armored cuirass, though wealthier kriel warriors will pair it with hardened leathers, helmets, and other armors. Northkin warriors have a reputation for wild drunkenness paired with feats of strength and bravery. Fighters armed with little more than axes seldom hesitate to charge headlong into battle, no matter their foe. Whether the Northkin are motivated by drink or courage, their neighbors in the north know not to underestimate the capabilities and daring of even the lowliest members of a warband.

Champions Bound together by blood oaths, trollkin champions are the indomitable heart of a Northkin army. They often fight beside the band’s warchief at the center of the army’s advance. Bands of champions are drawn from the greatest fighters pledged to their warchief, and each has a storied past of battlefield deeds. Upon taking the kulgat oath, they are forever obliged to fight on one another’s behalf. This bond runs as deep as kinship. Sometimes champions of kriels that were once bitter rivals will be brought together by a warchief and sworn as family through kulgat oaths. While such groupings may begin with tensions, in time fighting side by side will cement strong bonds between them. Northkin champions exemplify their people. While few are chieftains themselves, each commands great respect. Each is a larger-than-life figure known for performing feats of courage and recklessness, making bold boasts, and drinking to heroic degrees. There are countless stories of the boisterous celebrations champions hold following battle to match the feats of strength they demonstrate during those conflicts.

Raiders Raiding, a common activity among Northkin, is any assault where the goal is seizing goods or resources rather than slaughtering adversaries. Mixed bands of warriors join in such raids, but some kin focus on this as their primary task. Raiders specialize in conducting quick strikes before withdrawing. They sometimes act on their own and at other times join more heavily armed warriors who serve as a distraction and can cover their retreat once the raiders have seized the plunder. Dedicated raiding bands are vital for smaller kriels that rely on their spoils to survive. These skirmishers use ambushes and hit-and-run tactics and prefer to avoid lengthy engagements. Raiders carry firebombs that they use to set buildings ablaze to distract sentries and lure them from storehouses. These bombs prove equally effective against massed infantry and are particularly useful against troops marching through dense forested areas such as the Scarsfell, where terrain forces them to clump together in columns. Raiders wait in ambush along the most likely paths and use their bombs to devastating effect before charging out of the trees to finish off survivors. When joined to a larger warband, raiding parties act as an advance force. They are sent prowling through dense wilderness to approach an enemy encampment unseen. They also range ahead of the main army to engage patrols or smaller pockets of resistance. While their fighting prowess is valuable, raiding parties are primarily relied on to keep a warband on a march provisioned with the plunder they collect. It is also their job to loot downed foes after a skirmish, a task veteran warriors consider beneath them. Choice spoils are expected to be offered to the warchief.

Kriel warriors take great pride in their weapons and armor, and are expected to keep them in good repair, bartering with kriel smiths as required. A warrior's home is often decorated with additional weapons seized in battle and which can be taken up by mate and children if the village is attacked.

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THEME FORCE

MODELS

5

5

6

1 Kolgrima Stonetruth, Winter Witch Warlock 71117

1 5

2 Dire Troll Brawler Heavy Warbeast 71118 3 Glacier King Gargantuan 71094 4 Rök Character Heavy Warbeast 71102 5 Northkin Raiders Unit 71110 6 Northkin Shaman Trollkin Solo 71103 7 Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North Character Solo 71116

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Long Riders Driven from their traditional habitats across southern and eastern Khador, long riders have had to adapt. These trollkin have carefully protected and relocated herds of bison, and some long rider bands have entered the strongest trollkin alliances. Many joined Madrak Ironhide on his journey south to Alchiere, but others went north into the Scarsfell and beyond, offering their esteemed fighting prowess to the Northkin. These mounted warriors have been welcomed enthusiastically into northern warbands, bringing the speed and crushing impact of their mounts together with their own martial discipline and skill. Long riders mostly keep to their own company, though some have enjoyed partaking in the wilder revels so common with their northern kin. What long riders bring as heavy cavalry makes them invaluable— a band of long riders can effortlessly punch through enemy lines, allowing infantry to flood through the gaps they create. While not as swift as the horses or ulk ridden by other peoples, few mounts are as hardy as the long riders’ bison. The beasts’ thick fur girds them against cold, allowing long riders to travel in conditions few others could endure. The bison have adapted well to the hilly, forested terrain typical of northern regions, though sometimes the kin must work to keep them sufficiently fed, as adequate grazing is sparser in the north.

Pygs Numerous tribes of pygmy trolls live alongside the Northkin, as has become common in other regions. Pygs who live near trollkin inevitably grow closer to the kriels, who find the smaller trolls eager and useful additions to a kriel’s martial strength. Their small size allows them to sneak about at the fringes of conflict and lie in wait unseen. They have become extremely adept at setting up ambushes and performing flanking maneuvers, often coordinating with trollkin raiders. Pygs make for particularly effective lookouts once they learn to distinguish the markings of a friendly kriel from those of its rivals. The pygs’ natural hardiness and adaptability to the elements lets them stay in the field for an indefinite period, sustaining themselves on roots and whatever game they can capture, and they can even get by on small stones for a time if need be. Their keen eyes—by trollkin standards, anyway—let them spot approaching forces from a great distance, while their size allows them to more easily escape notice.

Shamans & Stone Scribes The kin who guard the spiritual and written legacy of the Northkin play an important role both at home and in battle. These individuals are still expected to take up arms when required for kriel defense or in support of major attacks but not on the front line. They enter combat behind the lines, protected by dedicated warriors, as their special talents are too valuable to risk losing to a stray bullet. The powers and skills they possess mean that they are always a part of major battles, for they can greatly magnify the fighting prowess, resilience, and flexibility of larger warbands.

Shamans and sorcerers are those special individuals whom Dhunia has blessed with magic. Shamans commune directly with the goddess and act as healers, sages, and spiritual leaders of the kriel. The raw elemental power of sorcerers often manifests among trollkin as a reflection of their home environment. Northkin sorcerers call upon the freezing winds and deadly frost of their homeland as weapons against their enemies, in contrast to the earth-based runeshapers more common in the south. Stone scribes carry a different sort of esteem in a warband. Though younger warriors may verbally harass these sagacious kin for taking a passive role, veteran champions know well the value they serve. It is the scribes who observe the deeds of all warriors and judge whether they are worthy to have their accomplishments set down in stone. It is through the scribes’ works that heroes are made and remembered, their actions added to a village’s krielstones. Those who have fought alongside scribes and krielstone bearers know their dedication and furthermore can appreciate the inspiring sight of a krielstone. Champions and kithkar show their respect to these individuals after a bloody fray by bringing them drinks and asking them to relate the battle as they saw it, for their insight is valued. By this example, younger warriors learn that one may contribute to victory without swinging an axe or sword. The krielstone itself provides mystical protection to the warband. Runes chiseled into every face imbue the stone with deep mystical power that resonates across the battlefield, filling nearby fighters with strength or protecting them against their foes. In addition to describing heroic deeds, krielstones of the north bear the legacies of the fiercest winters a kriel has endured. Such stones can call on the memories of the kin to project the bitter sting of a winter storm.

Bear Handlers Some kriels are known for their skill in capturing and training wild northern bears. The bear handlers of these kriels hoard this knowledge, for the powerful beasts are a potent advantage in times of war. While Northkin have tamed several breeds, they favor the great northern white bear for its combination of size, ferocity, and receptivity to training, though these bears have a notable stubborn streak. Tamed bears quickly learn to attack at their handlers’ command. By simple gestures combined with uttered commands, a bear handler can designate specific prey even in the chaos of battle, which the bears will pursue without relenting. The beasts become protective of their trainers and handlers and will lash out at anyone who raises a hand against them, making the bears useful guardians. Some are even trained as beasts of burden, such as those used by the Hearthgut kriel. The sure-footed beasts haul massive hooch wagons over snow and ice with an agility far outstripping bison with their clumsy hooves, and they can fend for themselves against winter argus and wolf packs.

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MODELS

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1 Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet & Scroll Bearers Warlock Unit PIP 71090

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2 Hunters Grim Warlock Unit PIP 71070 3 Kriel Warriors & Caber Thrower Trollkin Unit & Weapon Attachment PIP 71079 12

4 Kriel Warrior Standard & Piper Trollkin Command Attachment PIP 71031

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5 Trollkin Long Riders Unit PIP 71080 6 Trollkin Runebearer Solo PIP 71051

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11 Northkin Fire Eaters Unit PIP 71088 12 Northkin Bear Handler & Battle Bears Unit PIP 71109 13 Pyg Lookouts Northkin Unit PIP 71111 14 Skaldi Bonehammer Trollkin Northkin Command Attachment PIP 71050

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15 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes Trollkin Unit PIP 71091 16 Northkin Elder Trollkin Command Attachment PIP 71115 17 Trollkin Champions Unit PIP 71069

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THEME FORCE Legends of the Northkin

Skaldi Bonehammer A sometime ally, sometime rival, and frequent drinking companion of Borka Kegslayer, Skaldi Bonehammer has earned a name for himself in the company of some of the greatest trollkin warriors of the age. His hunger for glory and for vengeance upon those who would harm his people is well known among the kriels. The number of skulls crushed by his great hammer is beyond count, and his very presence inspires his kin in battle.

intel: skaldi

Winter argus fur-lined vest

Barrel of raided uiske

Birth Year, Place:

569 AR, Village on Irkes River

First Notable Kill:

Joroth the Unchained, Champion of Blackcap Peak

Pewter tankard wrapped in leather

Black bear skull codpiece

Skaldi Bonehammer spent his youth among the kriels of the Scarsfell Forest, alongside trollkin armed to defend themselves against neighboring human tribes, Khadoran patrols, and occasionally enemy kriels. Relishing opportunities to prove his valor, Skaldi welcomed any excuse to feud with rival warbands.

When Borka Kegslayer vowed to follow Madrak Ironhide south at the creation of the United Kriels, Skaldi initially balked, claiming there were glories enough to be won in the north. In time, however, stories and inscriptions of the great southern battles reached the Scarsfell. At first Skaldi dismissed these tales as exaggeration, but he was soon forced to acknowledge the truth of the ever-growing war Borka had predicted. To prove himself Kegslayer’s equal once more, Skaldi took his warband from the Scarsfell to the embattled southern kriels in order to seek out their greatest warriors and lead them to battle for the sheer joy of strife.

Skaldi has a reputation for going out of his way to antagonize the champions of his rivals, provoking them into duels. He proved to have quite a knack for getting under the skin of anyone he hoped to fight atop a kuar dueling platform. On at least one or two drunken occasions, he found he had bitten off more than he could chew. Even his setbacks became legendary, as it would require multiple opponents working together to knock him from the platform.

Skaldi Bonehammer has tested his strength against all manner of opponents; Cryxian pirates, skorne raiders, and many more have fallen beneath the bonecrushing blows of his great hammer. This weapon has been with him for a decade, bought from smiths of Borka’s kriel with a pile of plundered spoils.

Legends of the Northkin

Kolgrima Stonetruth, the Winter Witch Kolgrima Stonetruth is a dangerous, half-mad figure whose motivations are little understood by the Northkin. This mystifying oracle once dwelled in the territory of the Rimeshaw Council, and her voice carried great weight among the elders. Kolgrima then retreated high into the Shard Spires to live as a hermit in the frozen lair of a wild winter troll. The blast of freezing winds was her music, and the creak of the glacial pack drowned out the bickering of elders or the simpering of mortally wounded warriors afraid to die.

Intel: kolgrima Birth Year, Place:

494 AR, Unknown

First Notable Kill:

Glynyth, First Hunter of the Voassyr Tribe

Born with the gift of sorcery, this trollkin witch can read the future in entrails and bones, catch glimpses of fate in the whorls of a blizzard, and divine her people’s destiny in a patch of frostbite blackening a limb. Her robe is adorned with runic sigils and specially prepared bones laden with mystical energies. Many petitioners have sought her favor over the years, but never lightly. Kolgrima’s words were always honest—even when that candor was cruel, like telling a new mother she would not live to hear her newborn’s first words. The oracle could also touch the spiritual essence of trolls as a warlock, bonding to the winter trolls in the mountains where she resided. Sharing the glacial magic within their souls taught her to better wield her own sorcerous powers; she learned to harness the biting cold of the north, earning mastery of the frozen world.

Augury bones

Her sorcerous power let Kolgrima save the kin of the Nyschatha Mountains from destruction several decades ago, when an alliance of human and bogrin tribes sought to drive them out. Hundreds attacked the Nyschatha kriels and would have overwhelmed their defenders had Kolgrima not marched from her mountain lair accompanied by winter trolls. She swept through the attackers like a winter gale before retreating to the mountains once more. Nobody knows why she aided the kin, nor why she left so suddenly.

Robe made from the hides of bears and mountain goats

Uglu, a northern boreal snowy owl

Kolgrima dependably emerges from her mountain cave whenever enemies threaten the north. Accompanied by her great pack of winter trolls, she might return at any time to the northern trollkin, serving now as a revered war leader rather than an oracle. The Winter Witch does not affiliate herself with any single group, instead showing up as suits her, guided by her visions. Though she occasionally joins the kin’s feasts, she sits alone, staring into the shadows or whispering in guttural Molgur to her companion, a clever owl called Uglu that even her trolls dread approaching. Kolgrima has proven her worth in battle, and her arrivals are usually timely, even if no one truly understands what motivates her. She is more an embodiment of winter than mortal kin, a being whom Northkin fear but also gladly welcome to fight by their side.

Hook of the Winter Shepherd

Ceremonial Knife

Angry Winter Witch scowl No Quarter PRIME 93

THEME FORCE Legends of the Northkin

Borka Kegslayer If there is one northern kin whose accomplishments need no embellishment, it is Borka Kegslayer. His name is known in kriels from Scarsfell to Alchiere, and he epitomizes Northkin virtues and virility—a true living legend. Astride his mighty bear with club in hand, he has become a battle-ready ambassador between the Northkin and other far-flung trollkin communities. His countless progeny and his tightly knit family, eager to march against enemies of the north, will carry forward his line and his renown.

For Borka there is no distinction between his deep faith and his love for battle. As a war shaman of Dhunia, he believes the Great Mother loves to see her children emerge victorious in combat. He thinks this was why she blessed the trollkin with resilience and fecundity, letting them endure terrible injuries and yet live and be fruitful enough to ensure their sons and daughters outlast and outnumber the generation before. Some years ago Borka responded to the call of Madrak Ironhide and left the north to seek battle elsewhere. Many of his immediate kith followed him, but others of his kriel felt betrayed. Borka did not consider this choice to be turning his back on them but rather an extension of his desire to test his skill and brawn in the fiercest clashes. He saw that the curse of Rathrok would attract enemies beyond counting, as would be proven true in the following months.

Trauma, decorated with Dhunian prayer bands

Yet when a resurgence of the human Ruscar— bitter enemies of his kriel—threatened his people, he returned at once. He has reunited with his bear, Arktos, which is now a trusted ally and companion, far more than merely a mount. Though Borka has no particular ambition to lead large armies, this talent comes naturally to him—he is a warchief without equal. The Northkin’s love for Borka Kegslayer is universal; even his fiercest rivals are glad to drink with him and bleed at his side. His warbands, which blend his immediate kith and champions drawn from dozens of kriels, are united primarily by their eagerness for epic battle.

Metal spikes set in chin

Warrior tattoos

Borka had a brush with death fighting Kromac the Ravenous in the Wyrmwall Mountains, though his famed resilience saw him through. He lost an arm in the clash, which has since regenerated.

Male Dhunian virility display

Quitari of Borka’s kriel

Bombs

intel: borka

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Birth Year, Place:

556 AR, Somewhere in the Scarsfell Forest

First Notable Kill:

Urla One-Eye, Legendary Great Bear

Arktos is a great northern bear that Borka befriended as a young cub in 604 AR. The beast had grown to his full impressive size by the time of Borka’s return to his kriel in 609 AR. In the interim Arktos had been trained to serve as a mount by his kin, though he disliked other riders.

Legends of the Northkin

Valka Curseborn Few trollkin carry so black a reputation as the aged and bitter chieftain Valka Curseborn. As skilled in war as he is eager to wage it, Valka had once carved out a great kingdom for himself in the frozen north. Though his kriel is no longer as mighty as it once was, his legend lives on, inspiring fear and dread. His temper is his curse, and it has only soured with age. He seeks a glorious death, yet in every battle death is denied him. The chieftain was not always feared. In his prime he was a rising hero among the fierce Icetung kriel, a warrior whose enthusiasm for battle embodied their most treasured values. He attracted a loyal host of warriors as bold, aggressive, and fierce as him. Across the western Scarsfell he plundered and raided, seizing spoils and siring offspring, besting the champions of rival kriels and joining their warriors to his own. He became a legendary warchief, and his name was spoken in drunken toasts by the Icetung kriel and in hushed whispers by his enemies—“Valka Axebrother” he was called then.

intel: Valka Birth Year, Place:

530 AR, Icetung Kriel Holdfast

First Notable Kill:

Chief Ugrekk of Jarholm Kriel

Helm of the Icetung Chief

Rhulic stein seized in combat outside Hellspass

Upon defeating rival kriels, Valka issued challenges to any surviving chieftains. These duels were fought for the kriel itself—not its fealty or its lands, but its people, who would be forced to join the Icetung kriel and cast off their former quitari. Valka slew countless rivals and replaced the vanquished with Icetung champions.

Armbane

Bloodletter

Had he died back then, he might yet be remembered as a paragon of Northkin heroism, but that was not to be. Every victory he claimed fueled his desire for more, and in time the darkness of his nature revealed itself. Thirst for battle became a madness in him. Valka would simmer with fury, as if he had poison in his gut. Even as his mood darkened, so did the fortunes of his kriel. What Valka seized he could not hold; his lands went fallow or were claimed by rivals while he was off raiding. As his territories fell into disorder, one by one his most trusted allies fell in battle, leaving him increasingly alone and friendless. Now, in his advanced years, his kriel is greatly diminished. Few follow the aging warlord and those who do have lost all love for him. They obey him solely out of fear, not admiration.

Once known as Valka Axebrother, he carries two rune-inscribed axes, one passed down to him from his predecessor, the other won in a duel.

Steel rondel

Valka knows what he has become. He can only redeem his legend by seeking an end worthy of his former greatness. He enters every fray hoping to meet such a fate. At battle’s end, he lowers his bloodied axes and surveys the carnage he has unleashed. He desires a hero’s death but is too stubborn to die. The foe worthy of claiming his life has yet to challenge him.

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Halls of Honor These legendary Northkin heroes and champions are among those few who have earned honor and acclaim far beyond their home kriels.

Sturla Winterblood

Vandrad Bearkin

The foremost champion of her mountain kriel, Sturla Winterblood has for many years dominated the glacial battlefields of the western Nyschatha Mountains, fighting as the right hand of her chieftain, Laut Frostbarren. Sturla’s axe has tasted the blood of dozens of other champions in duels. She has bested heroes with long records of victory, including a notable grohmat mahkeiri victory against the sage Thorstar Deepheart. Now Winterblood fights for her kin against the ravaging hordes of blighted Nyss and dragonspawn coming down from the Shard Spires.

None know the kriel Vandrad Bearkin hails from, nor do they understand where this trollkin calls home. Stories persist that he lives on the shores of the Sea of Blackice, where his only companions are the large and imposing white bears of the north. Vandrad speaks little when he journeys south on the Iceblade River, riding a sizable sled pulled by several of his bears. He is taciturn, sometimes finding words hard to come by after months spent alone in the frozen wastes. He chooses to communicate only with chieftains who take him on as a mercenary of sorts. Once he helps secure victory for a warband, Vandrad and his bears return into the icy expanse they call home, laden with enough supplies and alcohol to last for another season.

Veteran kin often wear decorative stone chits. They may be set on weapons, attached to clothing, or collected into jewelry. Chits bearing the names of deceased kith are common in the south, but in the north these markers signify the wearer’s legendary deeds or namesake feats.

Urdan Vikinbjorn Guthar Blistertongue For nearly twenty years the fire-eater Guthar Blistertongue has traveled among the Northkin kriels. He and his family of hooch-swilling, fire-eating trollkin are notorious performers and fierce warriors. Guthar joined in a series of brutal raids against the human Ruscar during a prolonged war between the two peoples. In a battle at Wurmtop Hill, he burned alive the Devourer shaman Leega the Poisoned Moon. Guthar hoisted the shaman’s burned corpse as a banner, and the sight of it caused hundreds of Ruscar warriors to quit the field of battle. He was celebrated for his efforts by none other than Borka Kegslayer, who gave the fire-eater enough ale in which to drown himself. Since that victory Guthar Blistertongue retains a banner upon which is drawn the silhouette of a man who is burning and dancing, a sight the Ruscar and other tribal humans have come to loathe and fear. 96 No Quarter PRIME

Loathed by the Khadoran defenders of Uldenfrost and Northkin elders alike, the infamous raider Urdan Vikinbjorn has lived a vagabond’s life in the deep wilderness of Khador’s far north. His seasonal raiding campaigns have earned him the ire of his neighbors, but some chieftains still respect this trollkin. In the winter of 606 AR, it was Urdan Vikinbjorn’s cohort of firebombhurling vagabonds who burned down the Winter Guard fort of Viskgard, forcing the human warriors out into the cold. Their frozen bodies would serve as a warning to other Khadorans who tried to push into the kriels’ territories. The western Irkes Council has endeavored to bring Urdan on board to secure him as a warchief and thereby take advantage of his reputation, but the raider has remained aloof. He prefers to follow his own lead and to operate slightly outside the dictates of any authority. This fact has attracted a number of proud and independent warriors to his side, particularly those who distrust the formal alliance.

Notable Kin While the Northkin mostly look to their own, they do pay respect, albeit often grudgingly, to certain exceptional outsiders.

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet & Rage of Dhunia Hoarluk Doomshaper, whose craggy face is recognized across Immoren, addressed Northkin councils in decades past when he was seeking troll lore. A powerful representative for the most violent Gnarls kriels, this shaman is treated with deference and due caution even by those who disagree with him. The Northkin appreciate Hoarluk Doomshaper for awakening the glacier kings, whose might augments their warbands. Borka Kegslayer once shared company with both Doomshaper and Madrak Ironhide, and was seen as an enthusiastic emissary of the north. When these three were fighting side by side, they represented the greatest warlocks of each major trollkin community united under a single unstoppable banner. Some would like to see them join forces again, but now the trio is separated by even greater distances.

Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood While there is little contact between northern and southern kin, the wandering Calandra Truthsayer serves as a bridge between them. Unwilling to remain in one place too long, she is among the rare few to periodically make the trek from the frozen north to the sweltering new home of the United Kriels, accompanied by her own formidable warband. Shamans of the north know Calandra to be blessed of Dhunia, and they heed her prophecies and omens.

Horgle Ironstrike, the Anvil Horgle Ironstrike was born into a Northkin kriel in the southeastern Shard Spires, though he and his mother remained outsiders. That kriel was wiped out, and Horgle never adopted Northkin ways. Still, he retains northern contacts. Northkin champions and warchiefs seeking peerless weapons value his talent for forging immensely. His bitter animosity toward dragonspawn and blighted warriors has led him to risk his life in other kin’s wars, including northern ones. He has befriended the Lourdag kriel’s fire-eaters, who admire his mastery over flame. While he also helped the United Kriels, Horgle chose to remain in western Immoren when Madrak and his people left to settle Alchiere.

Brun Cragback (& Lug) While he has earned a reputation as a recluse and loner among his Rhulic kinfolk, Brun Cragback is known to the Northkin and has been embraced as a worthy warrior and kindred spirit by some. The dwarf and his formidable armored ursine companion Lug are welcome in many trollkin villages across the Scarsfell Forest and adjoining territories. Though he expects to be paid for his mercenary services, Cragback is willing to work on the barter system, accepting casks of potent Northkin booze or other valued goods in lieu of coinage. He is on oddly amiable terms with Borka Kegslayer’s ketmoder, Jennan, though no one in the kriel knows exactly why.

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THEME FORCE

Kriels of Renown Every kriel is proud of its history of glorious deeds and brave champions, but several have truly made a name for themselves, spoken of with fear, respect, or even awe throughout the northern territories. Some of these kriels are among the mightiest of the Northkin, with favored standing in their councils.

“Blood calls to blood.”

“What you cannot hold is ours.”

“The deep-rooted tree never falls.”

Boneblod

Braggmaw

Cragfist

The warriors of the Boneblod are wild trollkin, thought by some to be nearly animalistic. Some elders suggest that the kriel has never forgotten the time of the Molgur and longs to return to it. Perhaps there is truth to this, for few Northkin kriels love warfare and bloodshed as much as the Boneblod. So great is their longing for war that they have a long tradition of selling their talents as mercenaries to fellow Northkin, taking the field in many wars between the kriels.

Living near the fringes of Uldenfrost, the Braggmaw kriel has a long tradition of raiding their human neighbors and burning their settlements to the ground. The plunder from these raids has made the Braggmaw wealthy by Northkin standards, and they outfit their raiders with weapons and armor of the highest quality. They are seen as a bandit kriel by some neighbors, who resent the attention their raids draw from Khadoran authorities. Braggmaw elders insist that here in the far north, it is they who write the laws, not soft-skinned humans.

The trollkin of the Cragfist kriel dwell in the southern expanse of the Scarsfell Forest. Once they commanded a great empire, but Khadoran expansionism to secure resources has steadily eroded the territory they control. A number of Cragfist warriors joined their strength to the United Kriels, heeding Ironhide’s call, and have since made the exodus to Alchiere, but others refused to relinquish their lands. The Cragfists remaining in the north continue to fight a bitter war against the various descendants of the Khardic Empire and have the most experience battling the Khadoran Army.

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“Fire travels where it will.”

“A stone never lies.”

“Silence is the strongest word.”

Lourdag

Trustone

Utlag

Considered a bit of an anomaly even among the Northkin, the Lourdag are nomads who journey from one trollkin village to the next in a constant cycle of walkabout. Known as a kriel of hardy and fearless warrior-storytellers, the Lourdag trade in liquor, stories, and fire. Driving massive caravans of hooch haulers and performing feats of fire-eating, they live the life of itinerant traders, entertainers, and warriors. For a price, their many fireeaters and fell callers will join up with warbands for a time before wanderlust calls them away again.

Few kriels can boast the honored lineage of champions that is the pride of the Trustone. Drawing its legacy from the great war chief Gosta, the Warden of Scarsheart, and after him the mighty leader Oluf Oakenfist and his many sons and daughters, the Trustone kriel is home to numerous legendary warriors any kriel would be privileged to call their own. The Trustone are respected by many other trollkin, and their elders command a strong voice on the Council of Scarsheart.

Hailing from the frigid peaks of the Iceblade Mountains, the Utlag are a stoic band of individualists who have the strongest voice on the Nyschatha council. Considered dour by their more boisterous lowland neighbors, the Utlag lived in proximity to the Nyss and many warlike human tribes for centuries, sometimes hunting great frost drakes among the mountains’ glacial peaks and crevasses. The coming of the blighted legion of the dragon Everblight forced many of the Utlag from their life of solitude in the mountains to search for other homes, though several villages led by uncompromising champions still defend their ancestral homeland atop the peaks. No Quarter PRIME 99

THEME FORCE

painting Northkin Quills

Fur

B: Base

B: Sanguine Base S: Exile Blue

B: Trollblood Highlight S: Gun corps Brown

S: Shade

H: Sanguine Highlight

H: Menoth White Highlight

SWATCH KEY

h: highlight

Gold

Skin

B: Rhulic Gold S: Deathless Metal

B: Trollblood Base + Frostbite S: Trollblood Base + Meredius Blue

H: Solid Gold

H: Frostbite

Steel

Leather

B: Pig Iron S: Armor Wash

B: Gun Corps Brown S: Battlefield Brown + Exile blue

H: Quick silver

H: Hammerfall Khaki

Tartan

Wraps

RAIDER

B: Greatcoat Grey S: Gun corp Brown

B: ’Jack Bone S: Bastion Grey

H: Bogrin Brown

H: Menoth White Highlight

Tartans

Skin tone VARIANTS Add character and realism to your units by painting different models in a unit with a variety of skin tones. Use photo reference and experiment to create a unique unit for your force.

Northkin

Bragmaw

B: Trollblood Base + Frostbite S: Meredius Blue + Coal Black H: Frostbite

Tats You can add tattoos to your Trolls by mixing Coal Black into your base skin color. Add a touch of Frostbite to the center of your design to give it some depth. Be sure to practice on a bit of paper or on an old mini before committing to get the design right.

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B: Frostbite S: Underbelly Blue + Trollblood Base H: Morrow White

Lourdag B: Trollblood Base + Coal Black S: Coal Black H: Trollblood Base

1. To paint your tartan, base the area in your background color. 2. Add broad vertical and horizontal lines over the field. Darken the areas where the lines intersect. 3. Add smaller lines to enhance the effect. Remember, keep the pattern simple and do not overfill any surface.

Tartan (Borka) Gun corps brown bloodtracker brown battlefield brown

Polar Bear Fur A good recipe for polar bear fur is to bisect in Trollblood Highlight. Shade with a 50/50 mix of Trollblood Highlight and Greatcoat Grey. Use pure Greatcoat Grey as a final shade. To highlight, use Menoth White Highlight. By wet blending these colors, you can get quick and effective fur.

KRIELS OF RENOWN

boneblod Warpaint: Skorne Red Fur: Trollblood Highlight Leather: Beasthide

braggmaw Skin: Trollblood Base + Coal Black Fur: Battlefield Brown Chin Growths: Coal Black Quills: Exile Blue

CRAGFIST

Quills: Khador Red Highlight Fur: Ember Orange

Fur: Morrow White Steel: Cold steel

Fur Spots: Ironhull Grey Chin Growths: Bloodstone

TRUSTONE Skin: Underbelly Blue Chin Growths: Ironhull Grey Tattoos: Ironhull Grey + Thamar Black Fur: Trollblood Highlight

WINTER’S COLD

LOURDAG

Quills: Ironhull Grey Skin: Frostbite

UTLAG Chin Growths: Thamar Black Fur: Ironhull Grey + Thamar Black Leather: Greatcoat Grey Gold: Rhulic Gold

Snow & Ice To create Ice effects seen on many Northkin models, wet blend Cygnar Blue, Meredius Blue, Morrow White, and Coal Black. Keep the blending smooth and the contrast high. Use pure Morrow White for small reflections. Use Morrow White for snowing. Keep your shadows very subtle by adding small amounts of different blues to give you a dynamic snow effect.

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Weapons & Equipment of the Northkin Every capable adult must help defend the kriel in times of war and be prepared to fight alongside their warchief, to whom the kriel’s champions are pledged by bonds of fealty or obligation. Warchiefs are themselves beholden to elders, either their kriel’s or a regional council’s. Elders work with warchiefs to ensure sufficient weapons and armor are stockpiled, and they keep tabs on a community’s supply of iron and other metals so smiths can forge such gear. Materials are not freely distributed, however— they must still be bartered for by warriors. There is no such thing as standard equipment among Northkin. Warriors wield weapons they prefer according to availability; the type and quality can vary greatly from kriel to kriel. Spoils from raids or battles enable veteran warriors to secure the best gear, either seized or negotiated by barter, while youths resort to whatever is on hand or rely on hand-me-downs from seasoned peers. Prosperous warchiefs reinforce loyalty by gifting spoils or better-quality weapons to those sworn to them, often allowing champions first pick. Powerful kriels may have legendary weapons that have been treasured for generations, some boasting Dhunian blessings. The wealthiest warchiefs sometimes distribute gear to poorer kriels in exchange for fealty. When warriors muster under the banner of a single leader such as Borka Kegslayer, they can expect some provisioning. Starved warriors dressed in tattered leathers reflect poorly upon their chief.

Krielstones Like other trollkin, Northkin bear rune-inscribed krielstones into battle. The legacies scribed into these stones form a vital part of a kriel’s identity, as warriors aspire to earn their place alongside the ancestors memorialized there. Contained within the runes are the powers of the deep winter chill and the biting northern winds. Skilled elders who recount the tales written thereon can stir these forces against the enemies of the north.

Personal Equipment While no standards exist for equipment, some items are frequently found among Northkin gear. Many kriels create trail rations from dried meat mixed with roots or dried fruit they forage locally, while others prefer rough bread or hard cheeses. Iron fire starters, tinderboxes, and other fire-making supplies are common, as are whetstones, honing steels, and oil or bear fat to protect metal from rain and snow. On long campaigns, warriors may bring throwing spears or bows for hunting, particularly if they are far from a supply chain. Both northern and southern trollkin own decorative stone charms but with differing significance. While southern kin wear chits bearing the names of mates or deceased kith, in the north these markers more often record the wearer’s greatest deeds, particularly their namesake feats. Such chits, given by kithkar or warchiefs to acknowledge warriors’ courage, recall the medals bestowed on human soldiers.

Hardtack biscuit

Aged bison-milk cheese

Strips of smoked ulk meat

Deerskin bindle

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Warbeasts Northkin make use of many different breeds of troll, particularly since Borka Kegslayer returned to the north, bringing with him trained trolls and dire trolls from the United Kriels. But of all warbeasts at the Northkin’s disposal, none are so well suited for northern battles as the ice trolls and winter trolls common to the frozen reaches. Northkin have a greater affinity with elemental trolls than is the case in southern communities. While regular full-blood trolls are more intelligent and easier to deal with than the feral winter trolls, the latter’s command over ice and storm makes them valuable weapons. In past generations, bold warlocks would coax one of these intractable beasts from their icy lairs to condition them as warbeasts, though only recently have the Northkin attempted to command them in significant numbers. Since the kin have begun seeking out dire trolls more actively, they have discovered some in the north with adaptations quite distinct from those elsewhere and well suited to fighting alongside raiding kriels.

While Northkin wield a variety of weapons, axes are particularly prevalent and can be made of different materials and come in many forms.

With great patience, the Northkin have begun to adapt these trolls for battle by refining techniques used to train axers and impalers, for winter trolls fill similar roles. They are sorted by disposition and taught to exploit their innate gifts—to devastating effect.

Melee Weapons The Northkin favor more traditional weapons compared to their United Kriels counterparts. Firearms are not unknown in the northern kriels but are considerably rarer, sometimes treated as novelty weapons. Many Northkin openly disdain them, favoring brutal close-combat fighting. Still, even those who would never wield firearms know the damage they can inflict and prepare accordingly. Northkin vanguard warriors, who run the swiftest in heavier armor, typically close with ranged foes and cut them down—a few grazing shots while approaching are to be expected. Northkin use various weapons, though the axe reigns supreme. With the metal required to make one sword, weaponsmiths can produce two or three axes instead. An axe makes a worthy tool and weapon both; on long marches they can fell trees and split wood for shelters and fires, though Northkin prefer hand axes for such work and typically reserve war axes for bloodshed. Northin warriors use other traditional weapons such as maces, hammers, and spears, but these are less common. Rather than finding widespread use across an entire kriel, such weapons are most likely to be favored by specific champions, who may prefer crushing adversaries rather than hacking them to pieces.

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Booze Alcohol is favored by all trollkin, but it is a much more vital aspect of Northkin culture than it is among other groups. Few can boast of imbibing as often or as deeply as warriors of these northern kriels. They pride themselves on the quality and potency of their alcohol, and few major conflicts occur without the consumption of great volumes of liquor. Warbands may haul hundreds of gallons of booze through deep snow and over rough terrain just to get raucously drunk before and after a large battle. Any worthwhile feast, duel, or negotiation will feature drinking. Such indulgence is not merely entertaining; it has ritual aspects, helping cement communal bonds. Even bitter rivals symbolically put aside differences to drink together before and after campaigns. Northern kriels use massive wagons carrying thousand-gallon casks to transport their booze long distances. Kriel warriors acquire drink from the wagons when the warband stops to camp—though a few always snag a cask during battle. Most enjoy ale and beer, but the Northkin don’t consider these serious drink. Distilled liquor is preferred almost universally, with uiske and dangerously pure vyatka being the favorites. Northkin liquor is notorious for its strength, so some hooch haulers also act as mobile siege weapons. Wagon crews hurl casks of volatile spirits into enemy ranks and then set them ablaze with alcohol-fueled torches.

Just as unusual as these siege engines are the fire-eaters. These Northkin wanderers travel the Rimeshaws, performing spectacular feats by spewing moonshine into lit torches to produce enormous gouts of flame. Fire-eaters join warbands occasionally for the opportunity to imbibe to their hearts’ content, show off, and burn their enemies alive.

Armor & Battle Dress By tradition, Northkin wear garments with quitari patterns to identify their kriel, as do other trollkin. They wear these patterns prominently, usually as all-purpose woolen garments such as kilts or breechcloths. Northkin dress balances protection from the elements with freedom of movement. A warrior’s garments typically consist of leathers, furs, and felted wool, often layered to defend against the cruel northern climate. Bundled in this fashion, warriors can endure even the harshest winter. Natural trollkin hardiness shields Northkin from cold weather that would imperil a human, but even they might succumb to a harsh storm or extended winter gale without the proper attire. Walking unprotected through freezing water or snow drifts can cause even Northkin frostbite. Though they can regrow frostbitten skin or even toes and fingers, that painful experience is best avoided. Tougher mountain kriels wear little in the way of shirts or leggings, but even they don heavy coats and boots trimmed or lined with fur.

A valued commodity, the kin do not take kindly to those who waste booze by breaking barrels or spilling their contents; being drunk is not an excuse and duels have been fought for less.

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To outfit pygmy troll lookouts with rifles, kriels may need to trade for weapons and spyglasses, bartering furs, alcohol, or raided plunder. Most of these items are human made, though they may be modified by smiths among the kin.

Spyglass

Rifle

The Northkin also prepare their armor for extreme low temperatures. Steel armor, particularly plate mail, is backed with thick layers of felted wool and fur. This prevents ice-cold steel from freezing to a warrior’s flesh while also helping secure the armor and muffle noises from movement. Poorer kriels cannot afford to produce heavy steel armor, and their warriors often make do with thick layers of boiled leather. Wooden shields are common, typically constructed of laminated layers of hardwood and softwood; the two materials help repel attacks or bind a weapon’s edge in soft fibers. Most shields have steel or iron rims to protect and reinforce the edge, as well as a curved or conical central cap to deflect blows away from the supporting wrist. Northkin shields are round, favored for portability and maneuverability. Shields wear out quickly in combat and must be regularly replaced.

Firearms & Explosives While many Northkin eschew firearms, some do not, particularly the pygmy trolls who live side by side with the kriels. Like their southern cousins, northern pygs have an unusual affinity and aptitude for human firearms. Most military rifles salvaged from raids on human settlements end up in pyg hands, as they can wield them without extensive modifications. The eclectic array of manufacturers and models includes many old service weapons and a few newly manufactured ones. Securing ammunition can be a challenge, so trollkin weaponsmiths often recast bullets for the kriel’s pyg lookouts. Some rifles or pistols seized as trophies to represent victory over humans are displayed at celebrations even if ammunition is unavailable; such purely symbolic weapons may never be fired. More commonly seen in trollkin hands are petards and grenades. Filled with blasting compounds harvested from mining operations or salvaged from unneeded ammunition, they are made with cast iron casings and packed with shrapnel like iron nails, grapeshot, and similar langrage. Other explosives use flammable liquid—often hooch—to start roaring fires. Casings are often made en masse by a kriel’s blacksmith, but the trollkin who employ them usually insist on packing their own payloads by hand—each keeps a specific preferred balance of blasting powder, shrapnel, or liquor in mind. Explosives are primed with a thick incendiary fuse that burns down to a volatile packet in the center of the charge. When the packet flares away, it exposes the central pack of binary explosive to the outer layer, mixing them in a smoky, violent blast.

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THEME FORCE

Company of iron

Requisition Costs This table gives the requisition costs of the new Northkin models useable in Company of Iron games. The cost for units with a minimum strength and a maximum strength is divided by a slash, with the first number corresponding to minimum cost of the unit and the second number corresponding to the maximum cost. The requisition cost of weapon attachments is not cumulative; use the cost listed regardless of the number of weapon attachments added to a unit. Tables for all Factions are updated as new models are released and can be found at privateerpress.com/rules. Model count adjustment: If your opponent starts the game with at least twice as many models in their army as you have, increase your hand size by one. If your opponent has at least three times as many models, increase your hand size by two.

106 No Quarter PRIME

Dallas Kemp's Steel Kriel prepare to ambush an unsuspecting Cygnaran warjack shipment.

New Northkin Models Solos Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North

Units

Requisition -1

Requisition

Northkin Raiders

0/0

Pyg Lookouts

0/0

Attachments

Requisition

Northkin Elder

0

Light warbeasts

Requisition

Ice Troll

0

Troll Basher

0

State of War: Northkin The proud warriors of the Northkin relish the chance to prove their strength through combat, regardless of season. While others hide in their strongholds to wait out the vicious winter, Northkin eagerly brave the elements and go to war, though frigid weather and harsh terrain can often be deadlier than the foes they face. The terrain features described below provide a variety of highly thematic options to use in any narrative game of WARMACHINE and HORDES. The scenarios on the following pages indicate the exact quantity of thematic terrain to use for each scenario. When not using a scenario, discuss with your opponent how many pieces of thematic terrain you wish to use.

Bonfire Though Northkin are proud of their ability to endure wintry conditions, some extremes are too much for even them to bear. During the harshest of winter storms, Northkin rely on great bonfires to ward off the cold. Rules: A Bonfire terrain feature is a 3˝-diameter obstacle that is considered to be an enemy model to all players. When a model contacts a Bonfire, that model suffers the Fire continuous effect  . While within 3˝ of a Bonfire, models gain Warm. (A model with Warm does not suffer the effects of the Blizzard battlefield condition.)

Rules: A Frozen Lake terrain feature is open terrain but can be represented by a shallow water terrain feature. If any part of an AOE attack’s template touches a Frozen Lake, leave the AOE template on the table after the attack is resolved. AOE templates left in play in this way show where the ice has been broken and are treated as impassable terrain by models without Flight  . If a model is within the AOE when it is placed, roll a d6. On a roll of 1–4, the model scrambles to safety; the model is pushed the shortest distance required to no longer be within of the AOE. If a model cannot be moved so that it is outside of the AOE, it is removed from play. On a roll of 5 or 6, the model falls into the icy water and is removed from play.

Ice Witch Hut Born with sorcerous command over ice and cold, ice witches dwelling in the northern wilderness place a high value on their solitude, reserving certain cruel punishments for interlopers who dare approach too close to their homes. Rules: An Ice Witch Hut is an obstruction and should be no larger than 5˝ ×  5˝. When a model activates within 5˝ of an Ice Witch Hut, roll a d6. On a roll of 1, 2, or 3, the model escapes the witch’s notice. On a roll of 4, the model suffers –2 SPD that activation. On a roll of 5, it suffers –2 to attack rolls that activation. On a roll of 6, it suffers –2 to damage rolls that activation.

Snow Bank

Battlefield Condition: Blizzard

Shaped by howling winter storms, snow banks are giant mounds of snow often rivalling hills in size.

Northern winters frequently give birth to blizzards without warning. These raging storms can last for days or even weeks, leaving the frozen corpses of the unprepared as a warning to never underestimate the north.

Rules: A Snow Bank terrain feature is a hill that grants concealment to models completely within its perimeter in addition to elevation.

Rules: A Blizzard is a battlefield condition rather than a terrain feature. While a Blizzard is active, models without Immunity: Cold  suffer –2 SPD and DEF, and models with Immunity: Cold  suffer –1  SPD and DEF. (The Blizzard battlefield condition is used in Northkin Scenario 2 on page page 109.)

Northkin Scenarios

Crevasse Crevasses are deep chasms in the glacial ice. Unwary travelers who fall into them are sure to perish, never to be recovered. Rules: A Crevasse terrain feature is represented by a wall template but does not provide concealment or cover. Models cannot charge over a Crevasse unless they have Pathfinder  or Flight  . If a small- or medium-based model without Flight  contacts a Crevasse, roll a d6. On a roll of 6, the model falls into the Crevasse. Immediately remove the model from play.

Frozen Lake During a deep freeze, lakes are covered by sheets of ice. Care must be taken while traversing a frozen lake, for it is difficult to gauge the ice’s thickness. If it gives way, any atop it are plunged into the freezing waters below.

Northkin go to war for many different reasons and against many different foes, and every trollkin is expected to fight on behalf of kith and kriel. Northkin settle feuds with rival kriels through combat, but much more often they wage war on other wilderness tribes, including humans, Nyss, and ogrun. These wars are fought for many reasons. Some because of old grudges, such as the enmity between many kriels and the human Ruscar. The Ruscar sought to destroy the northern trollkin, but were driven off by the great war chief Borka Kegslayer. Most wars are waged for simpler reasons, such as territorial dominance or control over a region’s resources. The northern lands are unforgiving, and every resource is worth fighting for. In every generation great champions and war chiefs arise from among the Northkin to lead others in battle, but their skills are also needed in times of peace. These fighters may come together for a greater purpose, like the destruction of singularly deadly predators who threaten the kin. On the following pages are three narrative scenarios that allow players to experience the harsh realities of Northkin warfare on different battlefields across the wilds of western Immoren. No Quarter PRIME 107

Northkin Scenario 1

Raiding Mission

by Will Pagani

Perched atop a snow-covered hill, Orlag Frostbone watched as a howling tide of Braggmaw kin smashed into the village’s human defenders. The Braggmaw warriors were putting on a good show, bashing their shields with their axes on the approach and making enough noise to shake snow from the pines. Orlag grinned as the men within the village walls rushed to their brothers’ aid outside the village’s north gate.

Army Composition

He turned to the pack of two-dozen raiders strung along the backside of the slope behind him, bandoliers of firebombs hanging off their chests and mischievous glints in their eyes. “All right,” he said. “The warriors did their job. Now, what do you say? Shall we go steal some stuff and light the rest on fire?”

Deployment

His raiders knew not to cheer—that would run counter to the distraction the warriors had provided for them—but they didn’t need to. Looking at their wolfish grins, Orlag knew exactly what they were thinking.

Gameplay Overview One player is the Attacker, a raiding force intent on taking all the useful goods they can find from a rival village. The other player is the Defender, an Defender that must protect the settlement against the sudden raid. Unknown to the defenders, the frontal assault is a feint, and the true threat is the smaller raiding party attempting to slip in and steal valuable supplies.

Setup Before the game begins, players agree between themselves or randomly determine who will be the Attacker and the Defender. Place six to nine pieces of terrain of varied types on the table. No terrain feature can be placed within 3˝ of another terrain feature with the exception of trench templates. After terrain is placed and players have chosen table edges, the Defender places three 30  mm Supply Cache tokens completely within 16˝ of their right-hand table edge, 10˝ away from their deployment table edge, and not within 4˝ of each other. These tokens represent the supplies that the Attacker is attempting to steal.

The Attacker player builds a 50-point army with an additional detachment of 20 points that consists only of non-warcaster, non-warlock, non-cavalry models. The Defender player builds a 75-point army normally.

The Defender deploys first but is the second player. The Defender deploys their models completely within 10˝ of their back table edge and completely within 20˝ of their left-hand table edge. The Attacker deploys their main army completely within 10˝ of their back table edge and completely within 20˝ of their right-hand table edge. The Attacker’s additional detachment is deployed completely within 10˝ of their back table edge and completely within 20˝ of their left-hand table edge. Models lose Advance Deployment and Ambush during this deployment.

Special Rules Supply Caches: An Attacker model can forfeit its action while B2B with a Supply Cache token to pick it up. If it does, place the token on the model’s base. The Supply Cache token is dropped if the model holding it is destroyed, removed from the table, or removed from play after the effect that caused the model to be destroyed or removed is completely resolved. When the Supply Cache token is dropped, place it completely within the area of the base of the model that was holding it. A Supply Cache token cannot be dropped voluntarily.

Victory Conditions The Attacker wins if a model with the Supply Cache token begins its activation within 2˝ of the Defender’s table edge. The Defender wins if the opponent’s warcaster or warlock is destroyed or removed from play or if all three Supply Cache tokens are still on the table at the end of round 7.

Northkin Scenario 2

Burn the Village

by Will Pagani

“If we do not get inside, we die,” Dimmok Lakeheart said. Ice formed jagged spines along his brows and jaw, and he had already lost several of his toes to frostbite. One had grown back quickly, only to blacken and fall off again. He pulled his fur closer, but it did little to warm him.

Army Composition

His blood-bound champions agreed. The blizzard was too much for even Northkin to bear. Worse, they could not build fires because the warriors of their rival kriel would quickly discover them. Those rivals were safe and warm within the walls of their village, shielded from the biting wind, and would make quick work of Dimmok’s cohort.

Deployment

“Perhaps there is another way,” suggested one of the kin. He was dressed strangely, as was the way with all the wandering fire eaters, and his breath carried fumes of potent liquor to Dimmok’s face. “The Gaumgott kriel have enjoyed the warmth of their hearths—perhaps too much. It is time they shared some of that warmth with us. Allow me, and I will build you a bonfire the likes of which you have never seen before.” Dimmok looked at the village in the distance. Its roofs were made of fine thatch, supported by stout timbers. They would offer a fine fire.

Both players build a 50-point army. Armies cannot include structures, weapon crews, or cavalry models.

The Attacker is the first player and must deploy their models within 16˝ of the wooded side table edge and within 10˝ of their back table edge. The Defender is the second player and must deploy their models within 16˝ of the village side table edge and within 10˝ of their back table edge. The Defender then places five Bonfire terrain features on the village half of the table.

Special Rules Attacker models gain the following special action:

Gameplay Overview

Burn It to the Ground! (★Action) – If this model is B2B with a village building obstruction, add a Smoldering Fire token to the obstruction.

One player is the Attacker and the other is the Defender. The Attacker is a party of raiders attempting to convince the Defender, a neighboring tribe, to abandon the region by burning their village to the ground. The elements rage around both forces as a blizzard blows into the area and the huts of the village go up in flames.

Smoldering Fire: During the Defender’s Maintenance Phase, roll a d6 for each obstruction that has a Smoldering Fire token on it. If the roll is equal to or less than the number of Smoldering Fire tokens on the obstruction, the building has been set ablaze! The obstruction gains all the rules of a Bonfire but is still an obstruction.

Setup

Victory Conditions

Before the game begins, players agree between themselves or randomly determine who will be the Attacker and the Defender.

The Attacker wins if all the buildings are set ablaze.

Divide the table into two halves with a line from the center of one player’s table edge to the center of the other player’s table edge. One table half is the village. Place six to eight obstructions in this table half to represent the village buildings. The other table half is a wooded area. Place three or four forests and two or three Snow Bank terrain features in this table half. Additionally, place two Ice Witch Hut terrain features in the wooded area, 16˝ away from each deployment zone and 12˝ from the wooded side table edge. No terrain feature can be placed within 3˝ of another terrain feature with the exception of trench templates. The Blizzard battlefield condition is active in this scenario.

The Defender wins if fewer than three buildings have been set ablaze at the end of round 7,. Additionally, a player wins if they have the only remaining models in play or if the opponent’s warcaster or warlock is destroyed or removed from play.

Northkin Scenario 3

Trophy Kill The hunters stood on the glacier, each band of champions born from a different kriel. When tales of the great beast had reached them—an enormous and invincible monster destroying whole kriels and consuming all kin within—these champions had come forth. Each desired the honor of felling the mighty creature, and now, finally, it was time.

by Will Pagani

One scarred champion stepped forward, raised a horn to his lips, and let loose a low, mournful note that carried on the mountain gale. For a moment there was nothing but the horn’s fading echo and the wailing of the wind. Then the glacier trembled and cracked, and from a deep crevasse the monster’s form emerged.

When the Monster takes damage, always apply all damage to column one. Do not use the normal rules for crippled aspects. Instead, when the Monster’s Mind is crippled, it gains an additional die on all attack rolls; when its Body is crippled, it gains an additional die on all damage rolls; and when its Spirit is crippled, after performing all its initial attacks as described below, the Monster immediately performs a sweep power attack in each of its firing arcs. The first time the Monster would become disabled, all damage is removed from it regardless of any effect that would prevent this, but all its aspects are still considered to be crippled.

Amid the battle cries of a half-dozen kriels, the hunters ran forth to glory—or to death.

The Beast Slumbers: If the Monster is undamaged, it does not activate during the first round.

Gameplay Overview A monstrous creature has been terrorizing the area, and the most skillful hunters have banded together to destroy it. Players take on the role of these hunting parties. Only by cooperating and combining their efforts will any survive to tell the tale!

Setup Use any gargantuan model to represent the Monster. Place the Monster in the center of the table, then place up to fourteen pieces of terrain on the table, using only forests, Snow Banks, Frozen Lakes, and Crevasses. No terrain can be placed within 6˝ of the Monster or within 3˝ of another terrain feature.

Army Composition Up to four players can take part in this cooperative scenario. Each player builds a 25-point army without using warcasters, warlocks, warjacks, warbeasts, structures, battle engines, weapon crews, or cavalry models. All models except the Monster are considered friendly to each other.

Deployment Players roll to determine the order of play. Starting with the first player, each player chooses a corner of the table and deploys within 10˝ of that corner. Models in this scenario lose Advance Deployment and the Ambush special rule.

Special Rules The Monster: The Monster is not controlled by any player. At the end of each round, the Monster moves and attacks as described below. The Monster is not affected by continuous effects and cannot be targeted by free strikes. The Monster ignores all terrain features’ special rules and can draw LOS through forests. If the Monster ever has to make an action that is not covered by the rules below and there are multiple ways to resolve the action, the players should resolve the action in the way that is most detrimental to them.

Erratic Behavior: At the end of each player’s turn, the Monster activates and then behaves according to the following rules. At the start of its activation, it automatically shakes all effects that can be shaken and ignores all effects that would cause it to forfeit its Normal Movement or Combat Action. The Monster then turns in place to find a foe. Use the deviation template to determine the Monster’s new facing. Before rolling, direction 1 on the template should point in the direction the monster is facing. After changing its facing, the Monster immediately charges directly toward the closest model in its LOS. If the charge fails, instead of ending its activation immediately, the Monster makes initial ranged attacks with all its ranged weapons targeting the closest model in its LOS and within the appropriate firing arc for each ranged weapon, then its activation ends. The Monster cannot voluntarily stop its movement before contacting its charge target. If the charge is successful, after the charge attack is resolved the Monster makes the rest of its initial melee attacks targeting models chosen by the player that last damaged it. If the Monster has not yet taken damage, randomly determine which models it targets. If there are no eligible models to charge, the Monster advances directly toward the closest model in its LOS, then makes all its initial melee attacks using the targeting rules above. If there are no models in its LOS, the Monster advances directly toward the closest enemy model, then makes all its initial melee attacks using the targeting rules above. If the Monster has no models in its melee range after these movements, it makes all its initial ranged attacks using the targeting rules above. Don’t Poke the Monster: If the Monster suffers 10 or more damage points from a single attack, immediately after the attack is resolved the Monster performs a trample power attack. It tramples directly toward the attacking model. It advances as far as necessary to move completely past the attacking model and continues to move until it has performed a legal trample. This means it can trample farther than the normal SPD + 3˝. The Monster does not stop its trample movement when it contacts a model with a medium or larger base.

Victory Conditions The players win if the Monster is destroyed or removed from play.

Trollbloods Theme Force

Storm of the North For generations the Northkin have stood as disparate clans, fighting one another as often as they battled the many rivals who surround them. For the first time in centuries, these hardy northern folk now fight for a common purpose. Resilient warriors wage war alongside the legendary warbeasts of the trollkin, while powerful warlocks wield arcane might to enhance the battle prowess of their warbands. All opposition is crushed beneath the Northkin onslaught or is frozen and shattered by the power of winter itself.

Army Composition An army made using this theme force can include only the following Trollblood models: • Trollblood warlocks

• Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribe units

• Non-character warbeasts

• Kriel Warrior units

• Rök

• Fell Caller Hero solos

• Champion models/units

• Trollkin Runebearer solos

• Long Rider models/units

• Troll Whelp solos

• Northkin models/units

Special Rules • This army can also include one Minion solo and one Minion unit that will work for Trollbloods. These models can be included even if they have the Partisan [Trollblood] special rule. Minion units in this army can include attachments. • For every full 20 points of Trollblood units and battle engines in this army, you can add one Trollblood command attachment or medium-based Trollblood solo to the army free of cost. Free models do not count toward the total point value of units in the army when calculating this bonus. • Non-warlock Trollblood warrior models in this army become Northkin models and gain Immunity: Cold . • Warlocks in this army can upkeep spells on friendly Northkin models/units without spending fury. • Before models are deployed at the start of the game, you can place two 4˝ AOE snowdrift terrain features anywhere completely within 20˝ of the rear table edge of your deployment treat snowdrifts as rough terrain. Models with zone. Models without Immunity: Cold gain concealment while completely within a snowdrift. Immunity: Cold

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