Let's Rip Off Something Awful - Dark Omen or No Love For 56K

Attack, hobviously. You get monees from thar.

Attack, besides we might get some valuable info and/or phat lewt

I'd like some more votes and feedback, guys.

attack

it might make your next quest harder/ more interesting for us to watch ;-)

attack the greenies. the hand can wait a bit more and this jurgen character can maybe help you in the future.

Wow, that last battle was intense! The orcs had like a zillion regiments all over the place! I don't know how you survived, their troops just kept disappearing from one screen to another.

The vamp quests were masterfully played, congratulations.

I am starting to share your dislike of infantry: I had the dwarven inf. flee instantly *twice* when charged by skeleton warriors. And they (the dwarves) were at full strenght too! Pah.

Anyway, I vote to attack and find out who this bandit guy is, if only to have him betray us.

All battles in Warhammer: Dark Omen and in Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat are intense! Except for a really cute battle with trolls you might get to witness- I played ahead a little to check out the next battles. They aren't getting easier. At all.

I try to use the ogres because I really like the thought of levelling them up, but it's diifficult to gather XP with them... alas, I'll keep trying.

Right, we'll attack the camp. Actually, it's already done because I doubted that suddenly ten people would show up and vote choice B. >_> You'll need some patience as I must write the battle report and get groceries. Not in that order.

I guess they're even more intense if you use only half of the available regiments

I wouldn't say so. Orchestrating the movement of ten regiments is a lot harder than controlling only five. Maybe, in a way, I am actually making the game easier by keeping small battle groups - it makes me more mobile and I can react much faster. I replayed some past missions using all regiments and that was a disaster.

Plus, in SotHR, using a regiment costs money, so I developed a habit to use as little as possible. I could technically fight without the ogres since the flagellants are just as good (better?) but I think it would be cool to have them level up. Plus, ME SMASHIES RARGH

Why not give the heart of Woe to the Grudge-Bringer infantry and use them as a suicide squad?

And Gods damnit this thread makes me wish i was competent enough to get the game working on my box.

I say attack the camp, if only for the XP.

Also, I'd love to see the Flagellants with the Heart of Woe. They die anyway, why not turn them into holy hand grenades?

P.S. I know you're partially doing this to help your English, so here is my contribution. Your grammar is better than most native English-speakers, but save it as a reliable refresher.

P.P.S. I enjoyed the writing of the last chapter especially. I always love a good Warhammer Battle Report.

I was thinking you were making fun of my grammar, Sovard, but that site IS great. Bookmarked! Thank you.

There's one thing we can do without in a battle: losses.

Edit: Tired. Next update next week or maybe tomorrow.

Would be really nice if you could level the ogres. Maybe use them in tandem with other units? They are a little faster than normal infantery aren't they? In that case you could use them to smash into the backs of engaged enemies. Fear causing ogres charging should be fun to look at

I'm not sure if you can find the hand before it is freed. So getting caught up here and with troll hunting will definately cause one of the most difficult battles in the game (at least it was for me). The bandit camp has some loot and exp is always nice + you don't seem to have much difficulty with tough battles so: attack!


EDIT: Typos

I'm up for anything that increases the overall number of battles and that makes succeeding battles harder. Attack, I guess. They'll probably beef up the next battle if you do.

Aurgh, it's my genetically inferior clone.

Jasede said:

Edit: Tired. Next update next week or maybe tomorrow.

Click to expand...

MOAR :D

I'm WAITING....

Tomorrow is a holy day in Protestantic Germany, like otherwise every Sunday (no work or school and all shops closed), so have patience and let me recover from my illness first, then update tomorrow a few times.

meanwhile i've managed to get SOTHR up and running. it doesn't like windows xp and is much uglier than I remember, but still kicks all kinds of ass.

Oh, and the intro cinematic does have animated skaven.

Chapter 11 - Mortar Magic

Yeah, I lied. Surprise update!

Welcome back to your old pal Jasede's "Let us Play Warhammer: Dark Omen". Last update we were faced with one big conundrum. Should we attack the camp of greenskins together with the notorious outlaw Jürgen Muntz? Or should we ignore his request and ride on to Kislev, saving precious time?

Your vote was heard; a decision was made. We attack the greenskin camp! And we attack it harshly.

To the battle!


Battle 15 - To Raid or Not to Not Raid




First, the map. Observe the situation: A cave most likely swarming with orcs to the north-west of the camp and the camp itself in the centre, consisting of a mere three tents. A ballista placed in the northern part of the camp trained at our troops. Remember that the ballista is the greenskin cannon, making it a deadly war machine.

This mission is special in a regard: since we surprise the greenskins we are allowed to actually begin the battle with a pincer attack. Note the two deployment zones.

To make this battle more fun we deploy quite a bit of troops: the mortar, flagellants, ogres, cannon and crossbowmen to the south-west, and the cavalry along with the bright wizard and Muntz's men -a large regiment of two-handed sword-bearers that will serve as nothing but cannon-fodder- to the south-east.

Let the battle begin!

There are three treasure-chests in the middle of the greenskin camp. Upon noticing our attack, the two regiments of night goblins will do their best to capture those chests and flee with the loot. Well, if we let them! My advice regardless: Do not bother. While killing those goblins before they flee will indeed allow you to get the chests and more coin in the end, doing so will also most certainly incur losses that end up being more costly than that loot would be worth in the first place.




We order our flagellants and ogres to head north. There they discover regiments of goblin archers. As you can see, we already ordered both the flagellants and ogres to gang up on one because if you let them live them they can cause us many losses. At the same time, our mortar fires at the greenskin ballista and scores a direct hit, destroying it as evidenced by the picture to the bottom left, depicting the dying last greenskin of the ballista crew. I bold this because the mortar is very innaccurate in the tabletop game, and in this game too, but it does sometimes get lucky. I wish the camera could be on all places at once! But no can do. There is even more stuff going on in this single screenshot: Muntz' men try to get to the regiment of goblins before they run of with the gold, but they have a nasty surprise for us.

Fanatics.
The dreaded night goblin fanatic is an unit that will be familiar to those who already played Shadow of the Horned Rat. To put it as brief as I can, it is the most powerful enemy unit one could encounter. It is a goblin bolstered with the power of a rare hallucinogen made of mushrooms by the night goblin shamans, and hence, it is a very, very powerful goblin indeed, swinging a heavy and HUGE ball-and-chain and prancing around the battle field with it randomly, and here it comes, killing *everything* it comes in contact with. That is quite right: if we had sent our cavalry here, running into even a single of those fanatics would have killed half of them if we had been unlucky. Muntz's men have the honour of taking the worst blows. Sucks to be an expendable NPC regiment!




With the night goblins killed by the surviving two-handed swordsmen and the archers having been taking care of by our brave and most importantly fearless flagellants (they never ever flee) and ogres (thanks to their magic banner which is important for them to have since I like to throw my infantry against overwhelming odds as I am used to nothing but success from the flagellants' earlier performances) we brave the next wave of foes: monsters. Giant spiders to be precise. Now, those guys do cause fear, but they are really harmless compared to, say, the rat ogre of Shadow of the Horned Rat. Even a single "Blast" spell of the Bright Wizard can kill them, and I am not even mentioning his other spells. We dispose of this threat quickly.




"We" being the cavalry, the ogres and the flagellants. Muntz's men flee from the grave threat a single spider poses, proving once more that my disdain for infantry is not at all unfounded.




Now that we killed all the monsters and chased off the surviving greenskins, some orcs finally decide it would be a good idea to help their brothers and leave their cozy cave.

Meanwhile, Muntz's men regain their wits and stop fleeing. We order them to attack...




...but an orc shaman leaves the cave too and utterly annihilates half of Muntz's unit with a single spell. Did I mention spellcasters are powerful in this game?




Things get really hectic at this point, and I predict it will just get harder in future missions: the orc wizard runs around wreaking havoc so we try to get him. At the same time the orcs from the cave got reinforcements by means of another (very large) unit of orcs, engaging our forces in melee so it is difficult for us to actually find someone who is not busy and would hence have the time to take care of the shaman. Better yet, a unit of Boar Boyz breaks through the woods from the east while we do all this, charing towards our cannon! Nuts!




After a last-minute shot of the cannon which is, unlike the mortar, highly accurate, the Boar Boyz decide to flee. In the last second, in fact! Had they not our cannon would be lost. But this would not be a Warhammer computer game if there was not another unit of Boar Boyz to break through the woods. Luckily they arere still quite far away. Do you see that green glow in the melee? The orc shaman can actually buff friendly orcs with a spell, making them tougher. He is a thorn in my eye!




Screw people who say the cannon sucks. A single direct hit and those Boar Boyz also flee. Just a single hit. Sure, the mortar could do the same, but it is far less accurate.




If you are wondering what that green foot is: it is the the shaman's "Krush" spell and is responsible for destroying half of Muntz's men. It indeed summons a giant foot from the sky, coming down upon your troops to squish them. You can not make up stuff like thos. Luckily it is also very innacurate and missed our fast cavalry.

With the Boar Boyz routed, the cavalry can finally destroy this pesky shaman who made this mission a costly one - chaaarge!

He doesn't last long.




Finally the battle is over... but what's this? A statue with red-glowing eyes? Let us attack it!




Score!




I forgot to make a shot of my losses, but here they are:

Cavalary: 4 dead (1000 coins)
Cannon: 1 dead (50 coins)
Flagellants: 7 dead (210 coins)
Ogres: 1 dead (40 coins)
Muntz' men: nobody cares. Boy being an NPC unit must suck!

Total gain of this mission: 2705 coins
Total cost of this mission: 1300 coins
Total profit of this mission: 1405 coins

But that's not all. Remember the trinket we got from the statue? Check it out!




That is right. Using this we can make regiments flee. And you know what? Once you get a regiment to flee it is as good as dead!

And I also have a surprise for you: this mission yields a second magical item. Some orcs from the cave had it, though I did not notice them drop it. Luckily the game automatically collects magical items lying around after a battle.




Yummy!




Muntz and his men have left now that we are no use to him.
:evil: That comes as no surprise. Have you spoken to the ogres?
Yes, and they want to join us rather than follow Muntz.
:evil: That's an offer I won't refuse! Ogres make good fighters. Tell them they are welcome as long as they don't drink too much blood during battles.
Oy, greetings Commander. You won't be sorry to have ogres at your back. [Back? You'll be at the front, bitches!] We're ready to rip and rend!
:evil: Good! Now let's be on our way.




We continue the journey to Kislev. On our way there...




We have just crossed the border to Kislev.
:evil: And look who's there to greet us!
Commanderrr Berrrnharrrdt I prrresume. I am Vladimir Storrrmbrrringerrr, Ice Mage to the Czarina at the palace of Kislev. Her Imperial Highness has sent me as your formal escort through her lands.
:evil: You have an impressive reputation, Vladimir. So, for that matter, how is your Czarina?
Of myself I will say nothing. But the Czarina is a woman above all others. It was she who saw your coming as she scried the Ice Crystal. By her Crystal she has also seen the rise of the cold, silent undead as they come to invade our motherland.
:evil: It will be interesting to meet your Czarina.
Then follow me, Commander!

[Just a little while later...]

Morgan! More trouble!
:evil: Let me guess... bands of the living dead on the road ahead?
Right first time.
They are strange, fearsome beings. The peasants of this region call them the cursed ones, the cold dead who eat warm, living flesh. After nightfall , if there is a knock on a cottage door, no peasant will open that door. Children have gone missing.
:evil: We will bring hot war to the cursed ones. Ready the troops! SLAUGHTER!


Battle 16 - Mortar Magic

You would think that after the optional battle with the greenskins we would get a relaxing, normal battle again, something that is not incredibly hard and nigh-unfair.
You would also be wrong.




We ready the troops to the south of some ascending serpentines the undead hold. Yes, they have higher ground, and yes, serpentines will slow our ascent up by a lot, making us sitting ducks.




We check the map to get a nice overview: serpentines. Also, there is this fireball. It is advancing to our position. This might not be very good. In fact this means the undead now have catapults too and are firing at us with a deadly catapult while we are still at the starting position.




Time for some mortar magic. As I told you before, the mortar is highly inaccurate, even when you have line of sight with the enemy. Right now we do not, but we do know from which direction the enemy shoots his catapult. Since the mortar is not that accurate anyway, we can do this neat little thing: we order it to fire, blindly so, at the general direction of where the shots came from. Soon, undead screams inform us of the success of this fine little tactic.




While the mortar blindly pounds into the undead ranks, the undead catapult also keeps firing. Despite us having ordered our troops to hug the cold, frozen stone walls, a stray hit of that blasted catapult brings our crossbows into disarray. We can not stay here forever or our other men will meet the same fate!




After blowing the horn we found last mission -remember it also makes fleeing allies stop fleeing- we begin the dangerous and slow ascent of the serpentines, still under fire from the catapult.




This mission is seriously ridiculous. The catapult still fires at us mecilessly while, oh joy, undead archers we can not even fight from this position rain death on us from above.

It is important to get into melee as soon as possible to make the undead hesitate in using the catapult and the archers since that would mean cutting their own troops down. Crossbows and bright wizard hug the wall again, seeking cover from the archers, while our cavalry and soon the infantry engage in a rather big melee. The new flag to the north is the undead catapult.




The melee is not all that bad since our mortar earlier weakened at least one of the skeleton units. Please note the deadly necromancer hanging around, as well as the incoming hit of the undead catapult. Though hard to see from this angle, it actually missed the crossbowmen. But only just.



:twisted: Duel with me, if you dare, witless wizard!


'k!




With the melee won, the catapult destroyed and the necromancer-threat negated we can finally regroup the surviving troops. Will there be more undead ahead on top of the serpentines?




Of course! Two "3-star" skeletons (meaning they are not level 0, but level 1) and two sizable groups of wights challenge us.




:evil: We will attack the wights to the left!
We smash dem otha deaders, boss!
:shock: CRUSH KILL DESTROY :froth:




That one unit of skeletons decides not to help their friends in melee and instead chase our wizard. Bad idead, they run right into our crossbows and are swiftly destroyed.







Now that we're finally done with the distractions, we finally arrive at Kislev and meet the Czarina.



Late again, Bernhardt?
:evil: I don't have your advantage. I can't fly here on my own hot air.
:!: *Lesbo voice, not the good kind* I am Czarina Katarina, ruler of Kislev. Welcome to my imperial palace, Commander Morgan Bernhardt. I have been looking forward to your arrival.
:evil: I am glad to have arrived, your Imperial Highness. How can I be of service?
:!: You serve yourself, I suspect. But as we share the same enemy, we can serve each other. Ze army of ze undead are a spreading plague in my realm. Ze populations of hole [not a typo] village have disappeared! I have lost a dozen regiments in ze battle with ze living dead.
:evil: My mission is to find the Hand of Nagash.
:!: I am familiar with your mission and the Hand of Nagash. According to Kislevian folklore, the Hand is improsened in a glacier beyond the northern borders of my empire. Did you know that ze undead are also showing an interest in ze Hand? I have received reports that they are amassing in ze region of this fabled glacier.
:evil: Do you know anything about the nature of this... Hand?
:!: I know that the Hand of Nagash is not a hand. Let me explain. Nagash, zat being of ancient nightmares, had an arch-servant, a necromancer. Zat necromancer had no name. Serving the will of Nagash in all zings, zat Nameless One [another incarnation I am sure] rode across ze lands and terror rode wif him. Im time, Ze Nameless One [ZNO] was given a name by those who feared his coming: The Hand. The Hand of Nagash. Zat is what is frozen in the glacier, Commander: ze arch-servant of Nagash from ze beginning of days.
:evil: I see. And unless I am mistake, the Dread King's minions are attempting to free the Hand from his ice prison.
:!: I have no doubts of it. Earlier today I scried my crystal, peering into its depthts. And I saw them: undead armies gathering near a glacier near the border of Troll Country and the Chaos Wastes of ze north. I can give you the exact location.
:evil: Then I must go there!
:!: Indeed you must. But are your forces large enough to face this challenge?
:evil: A friend of mine, Ragnar, lives to the north. Maybe I can request the aid of him and his men.
B-) I, too, shall lend my skills to your cause, Commander.
:!: Vladmir's prowess as an Ice Mage shall prove invaluable, Commander, and zat Ragnar and his men could bolster the strength of your army.
:evil: I will leave now, your Imperial Highness.
:!: I wish you good luck. For all our sakes.




We travel north towards our goal, far past the town of Krovas. On our way, in Krovas...




:evil: It's been a long time, Ragnar. How many trolls have you slain since we last met?
Not enough! But we've killed a few in our time, eh, Morgan? What brings you to the cold north?
:evil: Something worse than trolls: the walking dead.
The cursed ones... I heard rumours of the dead rising...
:evil: The rumours are true, old friend. They are spreading through the Empire and towards Kislev. They are also massing to the north to free the Hand of Nagash. If they gain the Hand we may soon be ruled by an empire of the dead.
And you want my help...
:evil: Well, I could do with a hand.
Well... I am on my way to repulse an invading number of trolls, but I am short on troops. Help me out and you will gain my aid.
It is a tricky decision, Morgan. Chasing after some trolls could lose us a great deal of time...




So what should it be?
A - Attack the Trolls and help Ragnar, gaining his aid or
B - Ignore Ragnar and ride on the glacier?

You decide!

that's the kind of surprises i like...

and i'd vote for A, another cavalry's always nice!

More votes!

Also, it's a race: can this seven-paged thread reach more views than the amazing X-com thread with two pages? Stay tuned.

Attack the trolls, pit our ogres against them!

Could Leoni-eh, (sic) Bernhard's face get any worse than that?

Attack the trolls! Feed our blood lust Jasede!

BTW did Jürgen Muntz have anything to say before battle 15 or did it go straight into battle after you made the choice to attack?

Definitely help fight the trolls.

Would've voted against the last fight, myself. But so far it doesn't seem like the fights are costing you much, while gaining you neat-o items (and troops).