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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Codex said:
I'm not all that familiar with The Hobbit, but I have been curious on something. Do you guys think Belegar Ironhammer's story intended to have similarities with Thorin Oakenshield, at least in canon, or there are too many differences? I was just curious on Belegar's roots. Exiled kings trying to reclaim their lost kingdoms aren't exactly rare in fiction, but Warhammer has Mt.Doom and Misty Mountain and Karak Azgal had a dragon camped out in the vaults of the Dwarves in an obvious Smaug reference before the dragon was slain by Skalf Dragonslayer.
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I think that the exiled dwarf king in the ruins of his ancestors' once great hold is a major fantasy trope, so barring an interview with the person who first came up with Belegar it would be really hard to tell how close the inspiration may have been.

That said I will take Belegar being in the Total War Warhammer games as a better adaptation of the Hobbit than the Hobbit movies. :V
 
> The magic flowing to Karak Vlag was uncorrupted, which you're fairly sure would not have been the case if the Hold had been conquered by Beastmen.

Can we verify this with the Waystone wizards from the colleges now that we have recruited some that apparently dealt with corrupted stones? Similarily, are we able to compare the Forest? Cyrston placed the growth to either Drakwald, Forest of Shadows or Laurelorn and we are now quite well placed in Laurelorn, which could enable us to rule out 1 of the 3. (Although i think Cyrstons knowledge of Bretonnia was probably nonexistent, so there is probably more options)
 
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If Mathilde is with the Longshanks, should she bait Alberich with an "unguarded" street that she herself is guarding?

Suppose Alberich looks for a street without checkpoints. Mathilde has the Night Prowler; he literally can't notice her. Alberich would walk himself straight into Mathilde's ambush.

Of course, Alberich might prefer to just push through the checkpoints. He has powers, he may have helpers, and he's on a deadline.

But Mathilde can still respond to alarm fireworks from the other guards. So what if Alberich doesn't take her bait? Even if the trap fails, she's no worse off for having tried.

Mathilde, secretly guarding an "unguarded" avenue to the tunnels - good idea, or bad?

And should Regimand bait another street himself the same way? He doesn't have Night Prowler but he's got plenty of illusions.
 
So, worst case scenario speculation. The reason that Alric didn't stop the last murder is because he's on Alberic's side, and has turned to Chaos to make all of those fools rue the day they decided to ignore him yet again. He's actually working for Tzeentch, because making the victims of your plot rely on your protection is extremely pleasing to the Plotter of the Four.

Or possibly even worster case, Alberic never returned. The reason the Longsharks couldn't find him is because this was always a one man show.

After all, you can't spell Alberic without Alric.
 
Does Talabheim chain off its streets at night, like Renaissance European cities did? Alberich might actually do better to get himself smuggled out by day, in a wagon or crate or something.

But the Hunter Lord might forbid or triple-inspect all wagon traffic on The Big Day, forcing Alberich to leave on foot by night, despite the barricade chains.

The tactics challenge on each side is pretty neat.

Alberich's riddle: "Get out of a city, when everybody's looking for you, and you have a deadline; but you can stun and maybe control one or two at a time."

Mathilde's riddle: "Catch someone moving through the city to an exit, when he can stun or control one or two people at will; but he has to leave by and likely on a certain day, and you can partially but not completely barricade or limit traffic that day, and post lots of guards; and you and Regimand can make believable illusions, but only in your own two locations at any time."

A puzzle!
 
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Resonant said:
Quick question here @Boney, did Alkharad genuinely not recognize the signature robes of a Grey Wizard here when he randomly guessed Mathilde's identity? It seems a bit peculiar that he would need to ask when he later recognized "the famous Mathilde Wizard" during her ambush attempt.
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Zombie eyes. The robes of a Grey Wizard just look like regular robes if you can't make out the details of the trim.

pucflek said:
> The magic flowing to Karak Vlag was uncorrupted, which you're fairly sure would not have been the case if the Hold had been conquered by Beastmen.

Can we verify this with the Waystone wizards from the colleges now that we have recruited some that apparently dealt with corrupted stones? Similarily, are we able to compare the Forest? Cyrston placed the growth to either Drakwald, Forest of Shadows or Laurelorn and we are now quite well placed in Laurelorn, which could enable us to rule out 1 of the 3. (Although i think Cyrstons knowledge of Bretonnia was probably nonexistent, so there is probably more options)
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There's nobody that has experience with what happens if Beastmen conquer a Karak. And Cyrston didn't get a good enough look at the forest in the first place to positively identify it now, years later.

Ninbefor said:
Does Talabheim chain off its streets at night, like Renaissance European cities did? Alberich might actually do better to get himself smuggled out by day, in a wagon or crate or something.
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No, once you get past the Taalbaston Talabheim is actually less defended than just about any major city of the Empire.
 
So I'm getting into Total War Warhammer (already 22 hours in...) and I'm going to start a Belegar campaign soon. I did some rudimentary research, and I was a bit surprised.
Boney said:
The contents of the bottle are separated into a score of vials, each with a neck just large enough to allow a bolt to be dipped into it, and they're distributed to what Ulthar has taken to calling his Raiders - the elite of his Rangers who have shown the most aptitude for striking terror into the hearts of the greenskins.
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First, these are Ulthar and his Raiders in DL. I was surprised to note that they're actually a Regiment of Renown in Total War Warhammer. The description for them is also neat because of what it says:

"Rangers are mysterious figures, and it is not surprising that many tales are told of their deeds. The most famous of their kind is the regiment known as Bugman's Rangers — vengeance-seekers who follow their brewmaster, turning up out of the wilds with grim tidings before lending a hand in the battle that is sure to follow. Others, too, have grown in status — the Redbeards that haunt the High Pass; the grim survivalists called Ulthar's Raiders, known for the trail of Goblin heads they leave on stakes near Karak Eight Peaks; and the Frostbeard Clan, hardy Rangers who set clever traps to ensnare monsters on the slopes north of Karaz-a-Karak."

We've already met Ulthar and his raiders, and the Redbeards in the form of Snorri. Only Bugman's Rangers and the Frostbeards left and we finish Ranger Bingo.
Boney said:
"Aye?" He looks at you again, respect in his eyes. "Then Clan Angrund welcomes you." He nods to the Longbeard on his right, aptly labelled, with a beard so long it trails the floor. "This is Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund."
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In Total War Warhammer, Belegar has a bunch of ghostly Ancestor Heroes hanging around helping him retake Karak Eight Peaks. The Ancestors of Karak Eight Peaks, including King Lunn. That was clearly creative liberty from CA for the game and has no real basis in the lore (at least not for Dwarves unless you're taking 1st Edition lore into account), but I was surprised to note that one of those heroes' names was Halkenhaf Stonebeard.

I like finding out new stuff about DL and where Boney got everything from. Always new stuff to find.
 
VoiceOfTheRiders said:
I got fairly far on my Belegar campaign and enjoyed it. Stopped when the latest DLC was released. Granted I was playing on normal, but I didn't find it too difficult.
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I generally think 'how hard is Clan Angrund' is over hype: it's not beginner friendly because of the starting spot and the +50 cost debug until you get K8Ps can mess with you if you don't know how to budget.

But again, that's a new player trap, not truly hard. Your still playing dwarfs with good early armour and you have the ghost hero's who are basically unkillable at the start because no one has magic damage.

It's not Crooked Moons 'gobbos verse the world!' Start, or beastmens 'clock is ticking to win before the dwarf amour stacks start coming for your fluffly booty'
 
My beginnings in the Dwarf campaign have been quite fun and surprisingly informative. For example, I found out that the term "Tinker" that Dwarfs use refers to Tinsmiths, and that apparently it's the first step to engineering?

"A few decades of learning the art of the tinsmith is many a Master Engineer's first step to greatness."

That passage led me to look up what tinsmithing is actually about, and turns out Tinker is a term for a Tinsmith. That was a very interesting and enlightening passage to me, because I found that Dwarfs use distinctively different terms to refer to "Toolmakers" vs "Tinkers". Toolmakers are the people who create and repair tools for jobs. Tinkers are Tinsmiths who work with light metals. Modern day fiction has confused me on the term tinker and gave me a different idea of what it meant.

Another neat tidbit is that Engineers refer to trigonometry as "Number Lore". Amazing.

I also figured out what it feels like to be a Dwarf and why it takes decades for a person to get the necessary training to become a Loremaster:
That's not even their full tech tree. Combine this with the stupidly slow growth and I felt I was aging a thousand years playing for a few hours. I wish I could hire Wizards from the colleges so I could roleplay DL Belegar, but unfortunately I'm stuck to a bunch of ghosts. Belegar is also too old. I don't know any mods that age him down, but I do know a mod that removes his beard. That image is stuck with me forever.
 
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