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Author Topic: Captain Moritz von Schalttberg  (Read 3399 times)

Offline AldebrandLudenhof

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« on: February 13, 2006, 12:10:57 AM »
This is something I knocked up yesterday evening. You can see what the point of writing this little scrap and then making fairly plain and unadventurous rules leading from it if you care to look at this thread here: http://www.lightalliance.co.uk/hammer/viewtopic.php?t=986

Otherwise; here it is. I can't remember where stories with rules attached would go here. This might belong more appropriately in the Imperial Office..in which case, I beg that a moderator might move it there.

"..so our Captain Moritz grabs the banner, pulls out a pistol from his sash, and, there, jus' like tha', straight through the toodling fool's chest, and then he runs at the two of 'em as were left, kicks the one guys horse and jabs it with the end of the banner pole as it rears up, ducks under the sword as gets swung at him, then that guy brings 'is 'orse round and tries ter get him under its big feet, but he's not having that, he staves it off with the banner pole, like with a staff, and he backs, backs, backs away, and, there, jumps back ove' this dead 'orse, the horse trips, the knight falls off, but our Captain Moritz, 'e's a gentleman, which means the idiot gives him a chance, but no mistake, he's a proper soldier, don't you be fooled by that fine hat of his, so, like I was sayin', he picks a sword up off the ground and they fight, and by Myrmidia's golden bosom, can he fight! He swings like this! Like this! He brings his sword up like this, spins, sword jumps from righ' ter lef' hand, he spins and there! Buried in 'im, he runs at 'im so 'e don't get to get 'is own back, but no matter, 'is sword's dead as 'e is, all that light glittering round it goes out like, like, snuffin' out a candle - like, and our Moritz takes a step back, and gives him a bow, then he's standing looking round the field again. Sleeps with the men but drinks 'is beer on 'is own, and some say he keeps ter him a jug of wine, well, I don't blame 'im fer that, one bit! A fine gentlemen and a fine soldier is Captain Moritz."

   Moritz von Schalttberg was born the son of a minor Averlander noble, Lord Klaus von Schalttberg, a strict man who had been a garrison commander near Black Fire Pass in a peaceful period, and who as Moritz grew up was mostly busied with the financial management of the Averland military, and his own agricultural estates. He had no interest in hunting and fishing or the arts; he wrote some history of a dry and patriotic sort and was a dedicated son of Sigmar. He had three sons, Oswald, Moritz, and Peter. Oswald was a stoic academic who obtained a posting as an assistant to the Arch Lector of Nuln at the age of seventeen, whilst Peter followed quietly in his father's shadow. Moritz, though, was different. When he was six, his uncle Rainer von Schalttberg stayed at the house of his father for a week, and for the week held Moritz enraptured bny his tales of military life. Klaus disapproved of the drunkard Rainer, but somehow Rainer managed to persuade him to let him take his son to Nuln for a week when he came for another visit six years later. Perhaps the discipline of a military career seemed to Klaus the best way to deal with his overly energetic second son; if this was his hope, it failed spectacularly. Rainer payed little heed to Moritz most of the time, and didn't bother to take him home for two months, only then when he received direct orders from his commanding officer. Aged twelve, the scenes of drunken debauchery and swaggering adolescent nobility, the riches and exotic wonders of the tales of all the older soldiers around him and the sense of excitment amongst the younger men fixed in his mind a love of adventure and the carefree life of a mercenary soldier.

   Between the ages of ten and fifteen, Klaus had Moritz taught by Earnest Lumm, a chaplain of some repute for his theological treatise on the relationship between each class of society and divine Sigmar, and a chaplain who knew nothing of the young, and bored Moritz without fail. On his fifteenth birthday, which by his father's custom for birthday's he should have spent in meditation in the chapel, he overheard a servant girl talking about a party of young men draped in finery, "the comeliest of men the village may see in many a while", in the words of the cook. He went up to her.
   "Would you like to see the men?"
   "Which men?"
   "The soldiers!"
   The girl looked confused.
   "I've been listening to you servants talk. I'm leaving to join them today. Would you care to accompany me?" He bowed low.
   
   A week later an enraged Lord Klaus von Schalttberg was seen out of a dusty second floor tavern window in Nuln, in pursuit of his errant son and a pretty serving wench. Moritz leaned back from the window, lent on the wall, closed his eyes, and went very pale. Below he heard a greater chorus of laughter and dimly he fancied he heard his father's voice. In a sudden he pulled himself up, tucked in his shirt, adjusted his boots, and resolved to affect an air of manly defiance, taking up his sword and marching toward the door, when the wooden board crashed in and smacked against the adjoining wall with a crack. Parched skin glowing pink, spitting fury, he launched forth at Moritz.
   "You....you....by Sigmar, I pray you may end up above the ground as black as a toad, philanderer, rogue, blackguardly knave! No son of mine could ever do such a thing, for sure I have been cuckolded! Get down and beg for mercy you wretch! Two hundred marks you've taken, I know that, and your....doll, I don't want to see her ever again! Get down and submit..knave!"
   With his words tailing off and drowned out by the laughter of those in the tavern below, Moritz took a swig of a tankard on a table beside him and pointed at him and, obviously fearful, stammered a high pitched - "Ha! Cuckold! Hahaha!" He wiggled two fingers at his father and pulling out the girl from the curtain where she hid, pressed her against the wall and gave her a full sloppy kiss on the lips as she collapsed into the arc of his left arm. He turned back to his father and grinned, wild eyed. The hall behind erupted into hysterics, until Klaus ripped out his sword and hurled it at Moritz, who ducked out of the way. It caught the girl across the shoulder, slashing her flesh, and she cried out and fell. Stupefied for a moment Moritz's fear turned to rage, and he ran at his disarmed father and rammed him out of the door. He crashed through the wooden ballustrade, swiftly followed by Moritz, whose flying momentum rammed him into a table. He recovered himself and hauled a heavy stool from under someones legs and smashed it over his prostrate father's head, and began a tirade of abuse at him.

When he woke up, he was in a cold cell.

That Midsummer's Day was the day of the great fire of Nuln Prison, in which a full coven of twelve burghers accused of Tzeentchian worship were enabled to escape. Less noticed was the flight of Moritz von Oskkar, accused of killing his respected father Lord von Schalttberg in a drunken rage. He never found what happened to the girl, though he presumed she lived, looking back on the event in retrospect; he remembered nothing between a brief vivid moment of red smoke in the tavern and the cold sharp wind of his rat infested prison quarters. His clothes smelt of smoke and the horse he'd managed to steal was clearly not up to the journey he planned to make. An outlaw in his own lands, his only course was a long trip to Tilea, where a young man of talent and spirit such as himself should be able to find employment, from what he had heard in his one blissful week of freedom in Nuln, and from the stories of Uncle Rainer, who had apparently served as a standard bearer to the 1st pike company of Remas. He managed to steal another horse from a poorly guarded tavern just north of Wissenland, then he carried on a zig-zagging route, stealing food when he needed to, escaping the borders of the Empire on a clear and windy night.


Rudolph Fereus, bald, fat, and of limited interests, the banker-in-chief to half the court at Altdorf, did not like surprises. So a night-time ambush on his party on a normally quiet road in Reikland, in which he found himself suddenly surrounded in shouts and cries and bangs, and in which an arrow embedded itself two feet from his bulging stomach on the inside wall of his sedan chair, and in which he found himself knocked out, bound, and awoken with a splash of freezing cold water in what felt like a blizard, was not the most pleasant experience in his life. He promptly fainted.

The next day, Captain Moritz von Osskar, was pacing up and down in front of him in a tent. Aged twenty-eight but looking in his mid-thirties from an impressive array of deep lines incised in his still handsome face, he spoke with formality and soldierly bluntness.
"You're being ransomed off. Well, we don't know how much we'll get for you. How much do you reckon your friends in Altdorf would pay for us to let you go?"
"Well...well, I could pay myself, but what is this?"
"You can pay? Well, who are we to address to, and what would you consider a reasonable sum?"
"A reasonable sum? A reasonable sum! You - bandit!", he spluttered, with unusual spirit. The effort seemed to fatigue him and he lay down again and put his hand over his sweaty brow.
"You have a fever of some sort by the by. Bandit? I would prefer if you did not use that term. I am not a bandit. I am not a gentleman. I am a professional soldier and my men need pay more than you pay."
Rudolph goggled.
"Who are you anyway?", he said, examining his fingernails.
"What? What? Oh...er...I am Rud- Rudi! Rudi Olkaski, a merchant, a, timber merchant!" Rudolph strained all his creative muscles to breaking point. And beyond.
"Oh really?" - he laughed silently.
"You don't believe it!", said Rudolph, in an attempt at bluffing (as a banker, he was better at bluffing).
"No."
"Oh."
Rudolph fell to a simple device.
"So, tell us your name, and we'll see about getting that money and setting you home."
Rudolph wanted to prolong the inevitable.
"Well, who are you?"
"Me? I am Captain Moritz, to you, and to my men, and to anyone else who knows me. I am a soldier."
"A soldier? I'll have you know I know men in high position at the court, and if you don't treat me well you won't find any work in the length and breadth of the Empire! Hah!"
"Hah! No official would pay me anyway." He spat. Rudolph looked quizzical.
"Why not?"
"Because I killed my father here some ten years ago or so and fled from the consequences. Since then I've fought against an Imperial army. You know the Battle of Meinhar? That was - "
"- you?"
He nodded.
There was a pause.
"The knights will see to it you are never paid here. Why don't you go away somewhere?"
"Because some rogue will pay me here. It's as likely as anywhere else."
There was another long pause.
"If you let me go...I might be able to see what I could do to ease your passage into Imperial employment again..."
"I don't need it."
"Oh."
There was another pause.
"Are you sure?"
Silence. Rudolph lay again and closed his eyes, and tried to pretend he hadn't uttered the offending phrase. He was awoken from the brink of sleep when he heard a voice.
"What?"
"I said OK. See what you can do. Take this letter." He held out a folded piece of brown parchment.
"What?"
"Off you go. Now. To Altdorf."
"Oh, er, yes! Now?"
"Yes, now! Stupid pig." Captain Moritz seemed distracted.
"Oh. Er. Right. I shall..be..gone!" A horse was driven his way by a soldier. He clambered onto its back with much difficult, and set off from the camp without looking back.


Two months later, a commision came from Prince Deitrich of Holen to clear out a goblin horde from the forests near his castle of Holenham.


Captain Moritz von Oskkar:165 points

Code: [Select]
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 6  6  4 4 3 6 4 9


Equipment: Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, pistol. He rides a barded steed.

Magic Items:
The Ring of Faruth - Captain Moritz gains +1S at all times.
Troll Tooth Charm - Magic Resistance (1). 6+ ward save.

May be hired as a Lord choice by any Dogs of War or Empire army. May be hired as a Lord and a rare choice by other Old Worlder human races other than Bretonnia.

Offline HoS

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2006, 02:37:06 AM »
Hmmmmm. I like it! No incredibly super-human rules, just simple, and with a good story, I might add! In fact, it captures the spirit of the Empire completely! Money, violence, and gentleman warriors! I think that he will see at least some use in my future games.
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Offline AldebrandLudenhof

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2006, 01:57:03 AM »
Thanks. That post pretty well sums up what I was aiming for so, I am content :wink: Any more comments on either rules or the writing?

Offline Crimsonsphinx

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2006, 12:01:32 PM »
He seems ok in most respects, but I have him as probably a few points too cheap, as hes nearly a GM in stats and equipment [lacking fullplate] but has magic items too.

I don't want to sound overly critical, as he is good and balanced, but most opponents I know would have you add on a couple of points simply because he was "home made".
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Offline valmir

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2006, 01:16:30 PM »
I agree that it is probably a little bit on the cheap side. I also agree with Crimsonsphinx that you should add on a couple of extra points purely for him being homemade. Given his lack of Weapons Of Mass Doom, I would probalby suggest a base points cost of 165 or such, with maybe an extra 20 points purely in the interests of opponent satisfaction.

I think that you should reword the Ring of Faruth. A cheesy player could interpret this as a Ward Save, whereas I think you mean more of an AoMI style thing. Or perhaps you could phrase it as a 5+ save that can be combined with other normal armour.
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Offline AldebrandLudenhof

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2006, 03:24:05 PM »
The stats are directly taken from the Dogs of War general, because that's what he is - a Dogs of War general special character.

I don't agree on adding extra points specifically for opponent satisfaction - I just choose to err on the side of conservatism with rules I write, something which H&A members sometimes fail to appreciate. However, I agree on the points issue, so 165 it is.

I'm not sure what you mean by the Ring of Faruth being worded. +1S means plus one to his strength - ie, he is in effect a S5 character. It's exactly the same as the Sword of Might, and was priced as such.

Thanks for comments.

Offline Guvnor

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2006, 04:44:16 PM »
I think they thought 'S' meant save in that situation, just like +1AS. I took it as strength, which was correct, yay!
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Offline valmir

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2006, 07:00:37 PM »
I'm sorry. I was completely stupid about the +1S. It really is pretty unambiguous. For whatever reason, my eyes saw '+1S' and my mind read '1+AS'.

In which case, it now seems really balanced. More balanced, in fact, than most people make their Lords.
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I'm pretty sure the dwarfs are carved from refined suck. I'd rather build an army out of lego.

Offline AldebrandLudenhof

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Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2006, 09:53:01 PM »
Better name inserted :wink:

Offline Simon Templar

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Re: Captain Moritz von Schalttberg
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2006, 10:35:23 PM »
I like this charachter a lot for being well balanced and having a nice background story. I think the points are well balanced for his stats and magical equipment. One thing i would appreciate though is some special rules  :roll:

A cheesy charachter for about the same points (175 something) is Borgut Facebeata' from the SoC.