The Vengeance of the Lichemaster (Part one : The project)

Hey! I hope you remember me? I'm back after long month of absence,   I finally finished my work in my “new” house which occupied me during all the winter season. I took the way of the brushes since the beginning of May with a new project, a whole project concistant to : Paint some models, building, and create a nice battlefield. My project is to realize the famous scenario of The Vengeance Of The Lichemaster . This scenario is contained in Citadel Journal spring 86, this issue which describes and launches a new creatures in the universe of Warhammer… The Chaos Ratmen.

I chose this scenario for several reasons, the first which comes to my mind is purely financial… Yep, to start,  I have the chance to have an already painted  Skaven army (interesting!). And this scenario pack is probably  the least greedy in rare models, but in spite of that I did not considered to be necessary to invest in certain figurines as Mikeal Jacsen which remains very simple to convert, or  Ranlac and Krell which are for me rather far away from the quality of the other Citadel models during this era.  I thus replaced these figurines by more relevant models. That will make the subject of one of my next publication on this blog. 

The GM in action !

But the primary reason of this choice, this scenario is played with three people. Thus, it enables me to take at the same time the role of the Monks player AND the role of the Game Master (GM). My wish is to show to two uninitiated players the interest of the GM in the WHFB game.

Beyond its role of judge referee in certain situations during the battle, the GM is there to maintain the intrigue of the scenario. He knows many things which the players discover (or not) during of the battle. The GM brief separately each players to presenting the scenario and generally the goals which the players must achieve (goals are secrets). The GM also presents the troops and magic objects to players, they are kept secret. The GM can also maintain the secret on results of dices roll, your adversary don't know how many turn a spell is active. I hope you understood? The GM is there to keep many things secret.That allows to add another dimension to WHFB and it is exactly what I want to show through this scenario.

To finish, the approach of a scenario consists in giving an interest or a background to the battle. Through the history, the narration or the reading of a text, the GM which poses the bases of the intrigue which implies our two players and their faction. The characters also give depth to the story, the description of those is very important; in this manner the loss of a simple champion can give a bitter taste to its general, even if it's victorious at the end of the game. 

Now, the gaming material, the battlefield and the figurines which cover it. A beautiful table supports the immersion of the players. The advantage of The VengeanceOf The Lichemaster, this is a  “one shot scénario” and  this is not a mini campaign which is longer to prepare. This is why, I took care to select a good material to carry out a beautiful battlefield and of course the great Abbey of La Maisontaal, that will be the last part of this project. Currently, I work intensively on the horde of Lichemaster, pics coming soon.