Forbidden Psalm Game 7: There Can Be Only One

We’ve reached the finale of our campaign of Forbidden Psalm: a tabletop miniature wargame by Kevin Rahman, based on TTRPG Mörk Borg.  

The campaign follows two rival warbands: Queen Heldu’s Undeadites and Artanaro the Sly’s Cannibals. Both warbands are employed by the mysterious mad wizard Vriprix, who lives in a derelict castle and never shows his face. If you missed the previous battle reports, you can get up to date here: 

GAME ONE: THE MAD WIZARD’S TEA , 

GAME TWO: MY HEART HAS JOINED THE THOUSAND,

GAME THREE: I AM THE REAL VRIPRIX,

GAME FOUR: CUT OFF HER HEAD AND TAKE OUT HER HEART.

GAME FIVE: MORTSAFE

GAME SIX: THE FORBIDDEN PSALM.

After Heldu handed the Forbidden Psalm to Vriprix, he says he has one last thing for the rival warbands to do. While the wizard prepares for the reading that will transcend him past the end of the world, the Undeadites and the Cannibals must have one last fight. Only five of Vriprix’s minions can accompany him to what lies beyond, and that means their numbers must be cut in half. The warbands are sent out to a marsh to duke it out, and the five that make it back alive before dawn will get to survive the apocalypse.

MODELLING FOR THIS GAME

Since this is the final encounter, both warbands spent their XP and gold liberally. Most got kitted with heavy armour by now, but I stopped myself from converting completely new models for all of them for this one game. I limited it to the warband leaders.

Queen Heldu got her third version, one wearing heavy armour. The base was the Warhammer Wight King. I made a few small changes besides transplanting Heldu’s face. It was pretty straightforward.

Artanaro the Sly also got a major makeover. He’s now copying Janos the Cannibal’s fashion style, probably in an effort to be taken more seriously. He’s an edgy boy. It’s a converted Nurgle Bloodbowl player, just like the original Artanaro model. The big sword came from a Bladeghast Revenant, and the head from Fecula Flyblown from Warhammer Underworlds (with the face fully re-sculpted).

The final scenario’s monster is the Puca (originally Wendigo). I had two 3d printed Wendigos lying around for ages, and this was a good opportunity to get them painted. One came from Lord of the Print, and the other from Yasashii Kyojin Studio. When painting these two, I referenced the Fiend creature from the Witcher III game. It has an interesting striped pattern that was fun to freehand.

DEPLOYMENT

When I read the stats for the Puca/Wendigo/Fiend, I was concerned it would not get to do much before it gets cut into ribbons. It can do a measly d6 damage per turn, and most player characters are wearing heavy armour at this point. Its special ability was not likely to get into effect, since there was little chance it would manage to knock anyone out and survive for two turns after that. This is the finale, and we want carnage, dammit! So, we introduced a few changes: first we increased the Fiend’s damage to d10, and then we added another Fiend. Now each warband has its own monster to deal with before they start killing each other. The encounter ends only when both Fiends are dead and there are five models left standing.

Dugnutt the High Elf was assigned a personal objective this game. It was something suggested a while back by @7he_blindman on Instagram: to steal Queen Heldu’s crown. In order to achieve this objective, Dugnutt must be in base contact with Heldu, and as an action roll his Agility against Heldu’s Presence. If he wins he takes the crown. If he loses gets a punch.

We rolled for weather and got Fog: all ranges are reduced by 3 inches.

The Cannibals’ plan is to stay o the sidelines and send Niduk to kite their Fiend towards the Undeadites. Once Heldu’s fighters are mangled from dealing with a double portion of Fiend, the Cannibals will come in and mop them up. Dugnutt is completely useless as a combatant, and will lay low waiting for his chance to steal the crown and slip away.

The Undeadites are planning to stay together and take down their Fiend as soon as possible, and then continue fighting as a group until all Cannibals are down.

TURN ONE

Undeadites win initiative. Each warband does their maneuvers according to plan.

TURN TWO

The two Fiends appear. Undeadites win initiative.

This turn Heldu, Filth, Grittr and Waltz beat on their Fiend, while Cannibals just wait around. Winter sees an opportunity to get rid of Maag by simply scaring him off the table with her Intimidating Presence feat, but he uses an omen to pass that test.

Niduk positions themself so they are the model nearest to the Fiend. The monster rolls high for movement, and manages to get all the way to the assassin. This is not a disaster, since Niduk can leave combat at will. But they trade blows and each rolls a max damage. That was not the plan, Niduk...

TURN THREE

Cannibals win initiative.

Maag and Abathur attack Winter. She attempts to intimidate Artanaro into walking away from her and into the Fiend’s claws, but it fails. Artanaro walks up to her and attacks. In the meantime, Heldu, Filth, Grittr, and Waltz fight the other Fiend. Niduk gets away from their Fiend, clearing its path towards the Undeadites. Dugnutt repositions, still waiting for an opportunity to steal the crown. In the monster phase, the Fiend from the Cannibals’ end of the table moves 6’’ towards the Undeadites.

TURN FOUR

Cannibals win initiative.

Abathur knocks out Winter with a powerful axe blow. Maag and Artanaro pull back away from the melee. Grittr chops down the Fiend he’d been fighting, while Waltz moves to intercept the incoming one. He attacks it and gets mauled out of action. Niduk sneaks in behind Filth and tries to shank him, but misses and gets stabbed in return. Heldu retaliates and downs Niduk. Dugnutt sees the Queen distracted, and runs in to steal her crown. Rolls well and succeeds in taking his prize!

In the monster phase, the remaining Fiend charges at Grittr, but fails its attack and gets executed by the Fanged Deserter. Grittr can be proud, as he’s taken out both monsters this encounter.

At this point, the Undeadites have lost two fighters, and the Cannibals one. Two more characters need to be knocked out for the encounter to end.

TURN FIVE

Cannibals win initiative. Having fulfilled his objective, Dugnutt disengages from Heldu and runs away from the battlefield giggling maniacally. Now we’re down to six characters on the board, and the warband leaders decide to sort it out with a duel. They position themselves so they’re ready to attack each other next turn, each of them bringing a helper just to stand there in order to deny the negative 3 counterattack modifier.

TURN SIX

Artanaro and Heldu commence their duel. Heldu is already pretty battered from her previous melees, while Artanaro is unscathed thanks to his cunning strategy. They both deal damage, with Heldu escaping death twice: once with her shield and another with her Through Gritted Teeth feat.

TURN SEVEN

Another round of attacks, and an unexpected result: the two warband leaders take each other out simultaneously! Grittr, Filth, Maag, and Artanaro are the ones left standing at the end of the encounter.

AFTERMATH

The four fighters agree to form a new warband. Grittr Fiendkiller takes leadership, and the other three don’t even try to dispute that. They just saw the guy cut down two massive monsters... Grittr’s Axmen return to Vriprix’s castle, ready to follow him into what lies beyond. As they slam on the door, they are greeted by a cold echo. The door creaks open, letting them in. Exploring the empty halls, they find nobody there. Looks like the wizard left without them. No gold or other valuables to be found either... Furious and screaming curses at Vriprix, they set the castle ablaze and disappear into the woods. The Axemen have a dirtbag lying charlatan to hunt down.

Elevated from gutterborn scum to wretched royalty, King Dugnutt set off on his own to pursue new adventures in the dying world.

Heldu, Artanaro, Waltz, Winter, and Niduk were left for dead on the battlefield. Their fate is unknown.

The campaign is finished. I used a different battle report format than what you’d find in my previous reports. It used to be pure story with no reference to gameplay/rules, and the photos were key scenes recreated and shot after the game. In this campaign, I photographed actual gameplay and the report was way more... gamy? I was wondering which one you prefer, narrative-scenic or this? Let me know in the comments.

As always, shoutout to Gardens of Hecate’s patrons! Appreciate your support. If you’re not a member, you can join here anytime: PATREON. The extra coin allows me to experiment with new ideas, tools, materials and techniques - and write about it for everyone's entertainment and education.