Flames of War Arrives at the Gate!

Does anyone actually remember when we put Flames of War on the figurative table of Stuff We Want to Get?  No?  Me either.  Best guess is, it's been over a year and a half of pondering, planning and studying two different rulesets.  Now, the World War II miniatures game will be rolling onto our battlefields here at the Wargate, and the club is abuzz with a new enthusiasm.

Our local gaming store, The Cave, brought in a huge order for us.  Several of our members pitched in together to 'persuade' the owner to go ahead and take a dive into this game that's new to our region's metagaming sphere.  Now they stock Battlefront miniatures, and I've already found all sorts of cool stuff to pick up while I'm down there.  If you live in the Ada area, do check out The Cave down on Broadway and Main.

The munitions and gear, fresh from the crates.

As we got our know-wots together, it became apparent the Club would have to decide how to approach gaming with Flames of War.  In general, the game is divided into three 'eras':  Early, Middle and Late War. Within that framework, there are multiple theatres...that's a whole 'nother discussion.  We chose the Mid-War Eastern Front as the place for us to start, so the club divided into two camps:  Soviet and German.

It took a while to muddle into the game, but now it's a solid hit here at the Wargate.  German helmets (real ones) have seemed to spawn into existence of their own accord in the corners of my house.  This was our big push - several members are now commanders in what will be our first WW2 campaign.  

Historical gaming, that is.

To break in this momentous occasion, I plotted against the party to get us some real refreshment - some authentically brewed Leninade!  Yes, even though I'm pretty sure there's no where to find this awesome sauce anywhere in our state, we sent one of our members ranging all the way out to - well, where they have it.  It was a long trip, and took him like two whole weeks.  When he returned, bedraggled and road weary, all he had to his person was some dirty clothes and this bottle of Socialist Spirit!

Poor Shaunny travelled 2,000+ miles while hiding this beverage container somewhere uncomfortable. 

Practice and tournament gaming begins in earnest on October 1st!!

A lot of folk want to practice and see how it goes, so for the (somewhat serious) Q4 campaign, only the four players who got a part of the giant order will be named commanders of the forces, though we'll be letting all our members take part in the campaign...and if they are unlucky, maybe a few random passerby down at The Cave!

Jerry Wargate (not pictured) is allergic to Communism, and so is not pictured.

For the Germans, Jerry Wargate commands the Heer Grenadierkompanies that will drive the Nazi warmachine into Moscow with massed infantry and artillery.  His partner in war-crime is Captain Video, whose S.S. Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie's moniker is Das Hintergrundgeräusch - which probably refers to the ever constant growl of their engines and guns!  These two commanders will collect Nazi wins for the club's narrative!

For our part, the Soviet Union has a solid corps of T-34 tanks in my own 6th Guards Tankovy Batalon.  With Skim as my partner, leading his North Volga Kommandos Strelkovy Batalon, our combined arms should mean more than trouble for the fascists invading the Motherland.  It's sure to be bitter and grim - just the way we like it here at the Wargate!

Army Briefing: The Tower of Iron Woe

The

Tower

Of

Iron Woe

By Chief Scrivener Hannan

Naggaroth, 2522 I.C.

            Dark Elves have always been known to be hateful and cruel in the extreme.  They jockey for the favor of their black lord Malekith, and live in constant fear of their plans and schemes becoming known.  This one danger is what holds many back from attempting to wrest power forcibly from their kin, and they are made to stay their hands for many human lifetimes.  When the fires of revenge and ambition are stoked within those most black of souls for so very long, the resulting vendettas can shake the foundation of the world. 

For the first time in nearly a hundred years, the Sorceress Supreme known as Viorlix, the Lady of Woe, has made a breakthrough discovery that could place her in a new position of power beyond her wildest dreams.  She has unraveled the mysteries of the Old One’s ancient powers of elemental mastery, and her magic has blossomed far beyond what most Dark Elf sorceresses’ ever achieve.  Now, her quest for the keys to this raw elemental power has made her call in every favor ever owed to her to fuel a quest that spans across the world, and may well threaten all who live upon it.

The Lady of Woe and the Iron Lord

            Hailing from the city of Har Ganeth, the Lady of Woe has had her problems with the Dreadlords of that fell place.  Though she has felt the influence of these lords, a precise few of them have stymied Viorlix’s rise to power for centuries.  She attempted to move against them clandestinely in the past, but too many close calls and not enough results led her to look to another plan.

            The elemental seals of the Old One’s can create a magical blast deep under the earth, and can bring the city down where ever she likes.  She will have power in Har Ganeth, by choosing which Dreadlords reign, and which fall in the cataclysm to come.  Any who oppose this plan will be put to death, and the city will change hands as Malekith chooses a new lord for the city. 

Yet, Viorlix will be the true power in the city of Executioners – for she will decree when the very earth will claim the noble sons of the druchii.  Only One Dreadlord is privy to Viorlix’s plan – her consort Kaengaaris the Iron Lord.  He is master of the Black Ark the Tower of Iron Woe, and with his Sorceress has set sail for the new world.

A Black City Upon the Waves

            The Sea of Chaos is known for the many perils of piracy and raiding, but the shadow of the Black Arks hang even over the norsemen and their terrible longships.  Normally they are terrible foes, full of corsairs and dark elf slavers and worse things below the decks.  Known for binding foul sea monsters such as kraken and sea dragons to their will with their hateful practices of beast-training, many otherwise powerful ocean-going vessels meet their match without ever really comprehending the danger.

            The Tower of Iron Woe is wreathed in sorcery wrought by generations of Kaengaaris’ kin.  The vessel is over four hundred and fifty yards in length, and the main deck sits seventy yards above the water line.  The vessel has five large towers, closely spaced together in the center construction.  Slave galleys and pits for monsters line the below decks, and any who enter it are seldom heard from again.

Rare amongst the druchii, many of the Iron Lord’s ancestors were gifted sorcerers, and the corsairs didn’t really see the need to give up these prizes to the likes of the murder cults or even to Malekith himself.  The result is a vessel like none other, and the mind-bending sorcery at work within its labyrinthine construction gives it many straightforward advantages, and many not-so-straightforward.

            The ark is accompanied by a powerful storm at almost all times, unless Kaengaaris wishes it to subsist (which is not often).  The ark itself sits in a mile wide eye of calm within the storm, magically maintained by the sorceresses and a magical device within the ark’s main tower, called the Tower of the Storm.  This feature is used to cloak the ark’s approach and escape, making assaulting the vessel a daunting prospect.

            Within the other towers are various magical defenses and weapons, but none are so valuable as the Lady of Woe’s most prized possession.  The Orb of Reaching is a powerful artifact that the sorceress has studies for nearly two hundred years, and now she is able to use it to create portals through time and space.  It is this artifact that has allowed her to force entire sections of the ark through bends in space, making the individual towers appear on land in the Grey Mountains, Bretonnia and the Empire.  It is through this that these druchii warriors have been so swift in their invasion of the Old World.

            Yet the sorceress Viorlix’s plans have not yet come to fruition.  The Elemental Seal of Chotec was located in a demiplane within the dwarven city of Khazid Grimaz.  After using an arcane fulcrum brewing in the heart of the dormant volcano, she broke the seal’s power and destroyed the ancient city the dwarves were excavating, as well as a good portion of the mountain where they were currently living.  Now, the dark elf warriors and corsairs loyal to the Iron Lord fight for the Lady of Woe in key areas across the Old World.  Beware the Towers, for they appear in the night...