For Unioncon 2026, the mysterious Broheim and I decided to run a mini-version of the Bogenhafen Campaign (Bogenhafen Burns: Siege Rules) designed as a one-day pickup event. Huge thanks to Angerworm as well for lending out his wonderful Empire army to again play the defenders of Bogenhafen!
The story remained the same- Chaos raiders pierced down the mighty river Reik as an orc horde descended from the mountains. Both converged on the city of Bogenhafen, laying it under siege. Yet hope remained- a questing army of Brettonian knights, drawn by visions of the grail, had followed the orcs down out of the mountain passes.
To streamline this contest, we did two sessions. In the morning, four players depicted the Envelopment of Bogenhafen: 2-4 linked Warhammer Skirmish scenarios pulled from the main siege rules. As we didn’t have the alternating turn mechanic, I tried to add some additional bonuses to each scenario to raise the stakes. We would track these results and carry them over to the main scenario just like in our campaign, altering the siege players to the stakes of the morning! Then the final siege would play out in the afternoon to determine the ultimate fate of Bogenhafen.
Envelopment of Bogenhafen
In the morning I was joined by Bahonkus the Saucemaster, LoneAuto, Hal, and We Wargame (https://www.youtube.com/@We_Wargame) who came out to play the siege! They all had some familiarity with WHFB and Mordheim, so we were off to the races quickly.
We had one of the small tables, which we split into two skirmish play areas- one representing the road out of the city and the other the skirmish near the city walls.
In game one, Loneauto and Bahonkus squared off in the Messenger scenario. The empire had a mounted hero as well as a knight and two pistoliers- two would be decoys and one the true messenger.
They were opposed by a force of chaos marauders consisting of 5 mounted horsemen, a few foot warriors, and led by a mighty aspiring champion!
This game was fast and brutal- the Empire charged right up the center with their knights, slamming into some Chaos foot holding the line, killing some outright.
Chaos launched a massive countercharge, but more warriors fell.
Ultimately, this came down to rout tests- the Aspiring Champion had to roll to hold the blockade together, and got an ’10’. Empire was victorious as Chaos retired in disorder!
From this victory, the morale of the Empire forces would be lifted. In the final siege, the Empire general would be +1 Command rating, as the defenders know help is on the way!
In game two, We Wargame and Hal faced off on the city walls, where Orc and Goblin raiders scaled the city walls to burn a pair of warehouses on the edge of the city. Inside, a number of Imperial sentries patrolled, spread out over the whole board.
The orcs attacked in a single block near the north of the city walls, swarming the dispersed Empire warriors. On the wall, some goblins engaged the halberdiers while the bulk of the force advanced below.
Goblin bowmen managed to set the first building alight with flaming arrows, and a flanking force ran around to light the second warehouse.
The forces of the Empire sprang into action- reinforcements poured to the north wall, but the night conditions limited the effective range of the crossbows and handguns. The sergeant at arms, Clever Hans, fought the raging fire, trying turn after turn to put it out.
On the ground, the lone squig was an absolute monster- he chomped warrior after warrior eventually racking up five kills!
Right on the last turn, the Empire began to turn the tide, killing enough goblins and finally extinguishing a fire! But on the very last go, the remaining orc boss and goblin re-lit the fire with a lucky ‘6’ roll, and stole victory!
With that victory, D3 stands (we rolled a 2) of the Empire forces would be removed at the start of the game due to starvation within the city!
Skirmish games go fast, so as we hoped we had time for a second round of games! We quickly took a break (always recommend a break in a con game) as I reset the board. Loneauto and Bahonkus would face off again on the road, this time as reinforcements from the relief column attempted to break into the city, leading their supply wagon!
Here, Loneauto was not joking. He deployed the Chaos forces in a mighty battle line and advanced, while the Empire held to the road.
A mighty melee ensued in the center, as the Chaos battle line slowly mulched the Empire. Eventually, they broke through to the wagon and the Empire needed to concede.
With that, the Bretonnian reinforcements would also be down D3 stands representing the lost reinforcements!
The final scenario was Hal and We Wargame again facing off, but in this case in the Goblin Tunnels under the walls of Bogenhafen!
The goblins aimed to undermine and collapse the wall, making a breach into city. Sgt. Clever Hans and his counter mining team had to break into the tunnels and stop them! The goal was simple- eliminate as many enemy miners as possible in 5 turns! The only wrinkle- this time the orcs had a troll! Perhaps the greatswords and flagellents would be enough to take it down.
They leapt right into a mighty scrum- the Empire unable to take down the troll as warriors slowly fell.
It all came down to the last turn- the Empire captain and the Orc Big Boss squared off, each with one wound left. The hulking orc missed in the dark, as the captain’s halberd struck true- the orc was slain! With that, the Empire won!
Not only did they save the wall from collapse, the Empire had killed the Goblin mining team- an entire unit of goblins would be removed from the orc force in the Warmaster game!
A huge thanks to all four players for jumping in and helping tell the story of this siege! It was very exciting to give everyone a recap of the daring events of the morning to kick off the siege and set the stakes properly. This was a lot of fun, and a morning session of 2-4 Warhammer Skirmish games linked to a later game is something I will definitely be doing again!
The Final Siege!
Alright, in the evening we gathered around the siege table, with We_Wargame joining the forces of evil along with Soviet and James, and Jerz, Joe, and Francisco joining in for the forces of ‘good’!
Overall, from the actions of the campaign:
- The Empire General in the city was at +1LD
- The Empire army would lose two stands of troops (chosen by the defenders) and the Brettonian Army would do the same
- The Forces of Evil would lose one unit of Goblin tunnelers
After setting the stakes, we commenced with the Final Assault scenario: Bogenhafen Burns: Siege Rules
With a mighty roar, the 3000 points of Chaos and Orcs surged towards the city, pushing their rams and towers. Four mighty bombards faced the walls. A number of defensive lines and redoubts of the siege lines faced back at the incoming Brettonians! The forces of evil lurched forward slowly, inching towards the city with a lot of failed command rolls.
Unfortunately for the defenders of Bogenhafen, the preliminary fire from the Empire was ineffective, as many troops were out of range and the one unit of cannons simply caused a short driveback or two. It was outside the walls where the Brettonians sprang into action, racing towards the siege lines!
As the rams continued to close with the walls, the siege towers and infantry of the forces of evil blocked the shots from their bombards! The brettonian knights charged the boarboys on their left flank, smashing through near the objective. Even more boldly, the pegasus knights swooped over the wolfriders to charge the bombards in the rear, killing two of them!
In the next turn, the rams reached the wall and the bombards began to finally pound some wall sections. The Imperial counter fire drove some regiments back in confusion, but on they came! Outside the wall a huge cavalry scrum erupted as the right wing of the Brettonians was slowly mulched by Chaos cavalry. But the Pegasus knights were able to charge and silence the second set of bombards!
The Brettonians had secured on objective in the chaos lines, scoring a victory point and taking us to 1-0!
Finally the forces of evil reached the walls in force! While a sally forth from a unit of Flagellants held in reserve did burn the ram and two initial assaults with ladders were rebuffed, the siege towers reached the walls and the giant took the place of the ram battering the gate with his huge club!
A brave unit of knights, also held in reserve, sallied forth from the side gate getting a mighty flank charge on a unit of Chaos warriors… and the knights then proceeded to whiff terribly! They lost the combat and were driven back!
With that, evil had its chance as three siege towers assaulted the walls- while the Empire left flank held, the forces of chaos broke through in two places and took the walls! Units began moving over.
However, they had still not reached an objective and the Brettonians continued to hold one in the siege lines, taking the score to 2-0.
In the final phase, the forces of Chaos as well as a unit of black orcs broke into the city. The infantry of the Empire was getting worn down, and their reserves were already committed. A unit of Chaos ogres got over the walls and broke through to seize the Church Square, their first objective! However, outside the walls the last two units of Brettonian knights, along with the surviving pegasus knights, charged the goblins guarding the second objective… and smashed them off of it!
Scoring the objective points, it was now 4-1 for the forces of good (with a target of five VPs). We were running low on time and were not able to play out the last turn, but the forces of good had a commanding lead. The armies of the Empire and Brettonia were almost broken (worth 2VPs) and the armies of evil in good shape, but that would not be enough to claim victory for the forces of evil! With that, the group decided to wrap it up and declare a victory (though not an overwhelming one) for the forces of good!
Their siege lines smashed and camp destroyed, the orcs and chaos marauders lost their discipline, looting and fighting in small pockets in the city. While many would perish, the existential threat to the city of Bogenhafen was defeated!
Thanks again to all the players and especially to Broheim, AngerWorm, and Draugr for their help getting this one up and running!
-BS