Tainted Blood of the Innocent - Round Up

The dust had settled and the armies fighting for supremacy on the Tainted Blood of the Innocent table had either been victorious or scattered in defeat. The Wood Elves had done well protecting Shael from the horror of Malagor but the Elf couldn't find the infamous Beastman during the battle - even though his corruptive presence was all consuming. The battalion of Empire present at the battle had struck a deal with the Wood Elves to protect her from harm but a mighty Terrorgheist had nearly brought her death before she vanished from the table... Much too the beasts dismay. That was when Shael was at her closest to finding Malagor and she could even see his matted fur joining ranks with the undead, but the Terrorgheist had spoilt her revenge.

Malagor in the mean time had joined forces with the undead, as he wanted to surprise the tainted sister by not being part of the Beastmen ranks. But his plan back-fired, it seemed that the sister could sense his whereabouts, and after she fled the Terrorghiest Malagor knew he needed to take flight and find where she had vanished too in the mayhem.

Shael had retreated back to her allies lead by Lord Loec but they had been cut off by the unlikely combination of a Dark Elf and Lizardmen army standing in their way. The battle was already in full flight when she rematerialised on the battle field but Loec was standing strong against the onslaught and it wasn't long until Malagor took flight from his Vampire allies and made an alliegence  with the Dark Elves of Naggaroth.

In the end however Shael escaped her death and Malagor remained unscathed in the combat. Shael's blood was still pumping and Malagor was still chasing her through the forest of dinge like a possessed monster.

The Wood Elves ended up taking victory after their dark brethren's battle prowess fell to pieces in front of them and the Lizardmen were also overturned due to the Wood Elves ability to run rings around their opponents. Although the victory was not a landslide and their were a fair few Dark Elf and Lizardmen infantry that would live to fight another day and in these dark times you need evey man you can get.

The Undead were victorious in a distant part of the Forest of Dinge and did well to repell a marauding unit of Gors and Minotaurs from ripping their entire battle line apart. However the Mortis Engine stepped in and struck fear into the Gor making them flee and chasing them down. The Empire were unlucky as they had set up a line of the finest Empire marksmen only for them not to get much decent shooting away. In the end however their was a last ditch attempt to claim the centre of the table as Gorgarronn and his Bestigors piled into a unit of Flagellants only to be flanked by Halberdiers. In the end a stalemate but the forces if U death had stolen the victory.

GAME ROUND UP
James (Dark Elves) vs Mevlin (Wood Elves) vs Will S (Lizardmen)
Triumph & Treachery table 1
Final T&T Paychest
Melvin - 1200    Will S - 350    James - 200 
Total Gold Earned
Melvin - 13    Will S - 4    James - 2

Hendrik (Vampire Counts) vs Sam (Empire) vs Mark (Beastmen)
Triumph & Treachery table 2
Final T&T Paychest
Hendrik - 1200    Mark - 950    Sam - 300
Total Gold Earned
Hendrik - 13    Mark - 10    Sam - 4

GOLD STANDINGS
Hendrik    33
Francis    30
Melvin    28
Ben    27
Simon    25
Mark    19
James    17
Jack    15
Will B    13
Sam    10
Henry    6
Will S    4
Janek    4
Gareth    4
Fred    4
Luke    2
Hugh    1
   

Triumph & Treachery - A Guide

Triumph & Treachery

We'll be playing a game of Triumph & Treachery on Sunday for our Tainted Blood of the Innocent games. However I realise that a lot of the players involved will not of had the chance to play a game of T&T and perhaps have no idea what it is - so in light of this I've created a mini guide so that everybody can prepare for the gaming madness that will surely ensue.

Brief Introduction

Triumph & Treachery was released in November 2013 and was a limited print run, so if you see any copies lying around in stores pick them up! The ruleset allows players to play large multiplayer games in an easy and accessible format and minimizes a lot of the issues that come with having multiple armies on the tabletop. The whole premise of the game is to create fragile alliances with other players whilst betraying others, whilst wrangling deals and messing with your opponents battle plan - in short it really fits the Triumph & Treachery title.

Turn System

T&T uses a unique turn system compared instead of the 'I go - you go' method that you'll all be accustomed too. Instead each player is assigned a specific turn card, these are five cards that are identical on the back but have five different weapons on the front, where each player is assigned a weapon. At the beginning of each turn the cards are shuffled and placed face down, creating an order of play which is unbeknownst to the players and once everybody is ready the top card is flipped up revealing a weapon and allowing that player to go first. This creates a situation where nobody knows the order of play, and nobody can truly pre-plan their battle plans as there's a sense of unknowing.

Order of Play

T&T turn phases are exactly the same as a normal game of Warhammer, Movement, Magic, Shooting and finally Combat. However instead of having free reign to do what you like to who ever you like, you may only select one enemy army in each phase, all other forces become neutral and cannot be affected.

So for example; my player card has just been flipped over and it's now my turn. I decide to choose James' Dark Elves as my enemy in the Movement phase which means that I can only charge his units that turn. But in the Magic phase I decide to target Henry, which means that between the two of us we work out power and dispel dice as usual and I can only cast spells on my own units and Henry's enemy units.

Active, Neutrals & Enemies

These are terminology given to certain units, Active units are your own, Enemy units belong to the enemy that you've declared in each independent phase and Neutral units are everybody elses models that cannot be effected in any way.

Paychests and £$€¥

Show me the monies! So instead of Victory Points being used there's a system called Paychest. Simply put each player gains coins every time they wipe out a unit and the amount of coinage they gain depends on the total pointage of the unit. Effectively the player with the largest Paychest at the end of the game is the winner. Players can decide to use this paychest however to bribe other players, so there's nothing stopping you from paying a gold coin too somebody to ensure they don't charge you this turn - but in true T&T spirit you don't have to stand by any deals you make, chuckle, chuckle...

Grassing Him Up

There's no rule in the book saying that underhand dealings and general nonsense isn't permitted. So feel free to shout at who has the largest Paychest and feel free to mess up your opponents plans by throwing a curve ball at the last moment, it's all silly fun at the end of the day.

Action Cards

So you'll have noticed that only two players get involved in each of the current players phases which leaves the other players waiting in the lurch. So to combat the encroaching boredom and agitation that may occur each player draws action cards that can be used at any time, either in your turn or during some body elses.

For example; I'm about to charge a horde of Bestigor into the flank of Gareth's Orc Boys, however Ben sees that this could be detrimental to his plan if the Bestigor break through and plays an action card which means I must select another player to be my opponent for the movement phase. Which means the Bestigor can't charge the Orcs this turn and I'll have to choose another player to be my enemy scuppering my plans.  

Malagor Rising

Malagor could sense their inevitable approach, he knew he couldn't fail the chaos gods this time even though they were not telling him the full scope of their dark plans. Everything was an urge to the Bray Shaman and the gods wanted the Sisters of the Bryars dead, and so it shall be... Even so, Malagor could feel a dark cloud lurking over the gods plans, they were uncertain as to the correct action to take and the developing story of Nagash's resurrection had all but halted their advances.

What would their plan of action be?

Malagor didn't dwell on the thought long as his bestial urges demanded that food required gourging upon and with that he ripped a fresh chunk from a roasted spawn arm. 'All the nutrients to expand the magical mind', Malagor thought to himself.

But the visions kept coming, blurry images of a burning city and a dark lord returned, the hopes and fears of the chaos gods had been flashing brighter every day. It would be enough to drive a sane man delirious, but Malagor had become atuned to this chaotic affliction. But there  was one premonition that shook him to the core, an image of putrid pestilence running rife through the streets and forests of the old world, there would be war with no end however those fighting were shrouded in mystery.

Malagor grunted and exhaled, he needed a new herd as he had lost a great swathe of his mighty host whilst guerilla fighting the Wood Elves. And to make matters worse a maddened Orc army had decided to pitch in on the carnage, to survive Malagor needed a new Herd and fast and it wouldn't be easy as many Herd leaders were tough to win over, but perhaps one might.

"Yes...", Malagor hissed.

"Gorgarron and his pathetic followers will obey me, he will be the first to fall to the seven - and when he does the swarm will come".

Malagor retrieved his staff and made haste; he didn't have long until Geheimnisnacht.

Shaar's Tribulation - 2.0

Shaar knew this wasn't going to be easy... The Wood Elves were capricious and arrogant and would most likely kill any one that even had an aura of evil - he would have to be on top of his game to fool the Elves. But they had a weakness, thanks to the betrayal of Magnar Grimlokson.

Shaar knew he needed to use this happening in his favor and began planning a devious scheme to win the elves over and get them to fight for him without realising their folly, but the Vampire needed to be careful these were not the simple minds of the humans. Shaar began by changing his physical form using dark magics, turning him into one of the fey with flowing hair and blue eyes - he repulsed at the sight of himself and cursed at his plight. He hoped that Nagash would be the first to thank him for his assistance, but deep down he knew that there was a fat chance of that, all the glory would fall to Mannfred and that made his skin crawl with hate.

But he paused and thought about his plan, "Time will show them all", he muttered to himself as he cleaned his grubby face revealing the pale elfish skin beneath.

Shaar had until the next full moon until his transition would falter and disappear so needed to dispose of a Wood Elf to gain the right attire and work on his intellect and dialect - the Bretonnian accent was very difficult to shake even after hundreds of years. But if everything was in place he knew his plan couldn't fail, firstly he needed to track down some Dwarfish armour from the Orb battlefield. His next objective would be to run bloodied and screaming into the Wood Elves encampment, shrieking that his family and brethren had been butchered by the Dwarfs - and that an unknown green ball of energy had disintegrated their fledging outpost.

If all went to plan Loec would be enraged, first by the defiance against his kin and then the memory of the betrayal. Surely even an Elf wouldn't think twice about waging war anew against the Dwarfs, the wounds would still be hurting and fresh. And if they didn't believe him then he would have evidence of Dwarfish armour and steel - and then he would play his part in the battle until the time is right to dissapear with the Orb.

It will finally be his...