A new narrative event will take place at CaptainCon in Providence RI, USA, on the 5-6 February 2022. Right around the corner!
This narrative event will be a mix of Age of Sigmar and Warcry, where each player will have a Warship they bring to the event, and try to plunder coast towns and pressgang Civilians into their crew! And for the final battle, players will fight off the titanic Charonhydra in a team megabattle!
The Charonhydra is a realmbeast that escaped the Stormvault beneath Hammerhal Aqsha, and has been rampaging through the Vitriol Sea. The Dawnbringer settlements there have united and call on allies and mercenaries to fight it off. But the confusion left them open for the Chaos ravager fleets to build an alliance of their own and start raiding the ports. And perhaps even capture the Charonhydra for themselves…
Players can expect lots of interactivity between Warcry and AoS games, collecting coins to buy magical items, and nobody will be safe from cannonfire!
Each army/warband can also have a unique Captain: an Anvil of Apotheosis Hero for AoS, and a Leader with a new custom card for Warcry.
We chatted with the logistics NEO for the event, Nuno Martins (@WH_narratives), about what players can expect from it.
Q: Please summarize the event for us, and what players can expect.
A: This will be a 2-teams event, where players both on Warcry boards and AoS tables will try to plunder objectives, secure Civilians as crew, buy items and upgrade their Warships.
All of this is in preparation for the final mega battle on Sunday, where the teams will converge on the Charonhydra on the water, and tables around it (both Warcry and AoS) will be able to bombard the monster from long range.
There will be themed tables for the port regions of the Vitriol Sea, and expect a lot of swashbuckling action and team strategy!
Q: What Narrative innovations and special rules will you be deploying in this event?
A: The main highlights are the interactive Warcry+AoS tables, the Warships, and of course the final Boss battle against the Charonhydra.
This event will be the second I have run mixing Warcry and AoS (the previous being The Lavafall Riots in Jan 2020), but this time the Warcry tables will be able to immediately bombard their adjacent AoS table if a fighter is in the right position. The players don’t have to wait: the bombardment happens immediately, and the game keeps moving. Our tables are done by our team’s Bobby Amaral from Favored Terrain, which includes a lot of custom-made 3D printed pieces and his signature Warcry folding suitcase tables.
The Warships were inspired by the NOVA Grand Narrative in 2018, and the Soulless Seas supplement by Duncan Hall. The rules are meant to be simple and not take over the rest of the game, but still allow for that boarding action, jumping from ship to ship.
The Charonhydra boss monster was inspired by the Realmbeasts that the Realms at War team introduced in 2017, and the Colossal Red Dragon mega battle rules by Duncan Hall. It is meant to be a threat to the whole table, and take a lot of time to kill. But with 2 teams of players surrounding it, plus other players bombarding it at long range from other tables, they will be able to apply enough pressure to bring it down… and then cripple it, or enslave it.
Q: How will the Warships work? There will be upgrades dependent on the Civilians pressganged, correct?
A: Yes, one of the goals throughout the event is to pressgang a crew to staff your ship. The more crew you gather, the more abilities you unlock on your Warship.
The Warship is a special faction terrain piece, that can move and be destroyed (in AoS games). The rules for AoS are slightly more complex because the Warship acts more like a unit and will be used in the final battle to ferry troops and shoot at the Realmbeast. At the Warcry tables it will be used as a mobile shooting platform at the edge of the board, and in the final battle to secure control of one of the team Flagships (which have the BIG cannons that bombard across tables).
The AoS Warship starts with some small artillery, but can be customized with an upgrade, and extra ones can be added with the more Civilian tokens the army has secured (they are pressganged as crew). The Warcry version, once upgraded, becomes more mobile and can shoot the cannon on its own without any fighters needed on deck, so they can focus on boarding actions. Fighters can even swing across decks using the special boat Abilities!
Q: What kind of team dynamics and strategic actions will players be able to experience?
A: Players in both AoS and Warcry will be trying to secure Civilian tokens and gain Coins through securing objectives. They can exchange these between teammates, or even bribe other players in exchange for strategic favours.
While Civilians act to upgrade the Warships, securing objectives or fulfilling victory conditions during games will award players with Coins. These can be used to buy item upgrades between games, or spend on Treachery cards during games. In the final battle, Coins can be spent to return more troops back to the battlefield.
AoS and Warcry players in each paired set of tables will need to coordinate their actions to win against the opposing pair of players. It will be up to the Warcry players to secure ‘The Weapon’ that exists at the center of their table, and commandeer it to shoot at the AoS table where it will help their partner the most.
Q: Team megabattles seem to be in fashion this year, but you’ve decided to add a big monstrosity to the mix. How do you plan on running this?
A: The final battle will proceed as several separate team battles, with one main table surrounding the big nasty monster, and other secondary tables each fighting their own separate game. However, each of the secondary tables will have scenery pieces on it that their controlling players can use to affect the main table where the monster is. These will be large artillery towers in a coastal fortress fought over by AoS armies, or the large Flagships that will be fought over by Warcry warbands.
The Charonhydra has 3 heads that will be the nightmare of players on the main table. And if they are cut down, the death of players’s units will only fuel their regeneration! It’ll be a race against time for players to carve up the Realmbeast enough to expose its weak point: only then can it be crippled or enslaved (depending on what team you are on).
Yes, it’s exactly like a videogame boss monster!
Q: What would you like to say to players out there, to motivate them to come to CaptainCon and play on the Vitriol Sea? And perhaps for people to join your local gaming scene in the larger Boston area?
A: Narrative gaming in Warhammer is the most amazing experience you will have with the game. The tables will feel like a real place in the realms, and you will see your achievements on each table build up to the final battle. And we have ship to ship combat and a giant boss monster!
It’ll be an experience to remember, and repeat again.
We normally play around the larger Boston MA area, usually at Alpha Omega Hobby (who have been amazing for years and are sponsoring our event). I myself have ran some 3 narrative events there, and each has been a unique experience players had never had before, and everyone is always impressed at the themed tables. If you are in the area, come down and many of us are down for some narrative experimental gaming.
———–
Thank you, Nuno!
We will be following the event online, so please post lots of pictures on social media!
You can find the Event Rules page here for more details and tickets.
There are still tickets available, grab yours before it’s too late!!!
What do you think about this event?
Do you have any questions for the NEO, and how to put together an event in connection to a convention?
Leave your comments below!
Narrative Event Organizer Network 