The League of Ostermark
Author: Nicodemus Kyme
Source: Fantatic Magazine #1
Far beyond the sprawling cities of the Empire lies the province of Ostermark. Situated in the eastern-most fringe of the Empire, Ostermark is as far removed geographically from the urban epicentre of the Empire as it is mentally. One of the largest Imperial provinces, Ostermark is a land of rolling fields and barren plains, the very epitome of the untamed wild where the ethos of the city is an alien and unwelcome intrusion.
A rural land, its peoples are possessed of a solitary, selfreliant mind-set. It is a place of wide spread communities, mainly comprised of isolated farms and small insular villages, and shares nothing of the cosmopolitan culture engendered by many of its provincial neighbours. A vast and open land, Ostermark is essentially flat, dominated by fields and verdant pastures, occasionally punctuated by low lying hills and rocky crags to the east, mere precursors to the massive mountains that rise beyond. These fields are often bordered by natural hedges and drystone walls to indicate the end of one farmer’s land and the beginning of another’s. At the very edges of its many rolling fields the Great Forest encroaches, forming an arboreal barrier between Ostermark and its main neighbour state Talabecland, within which lies the city of Talabheim. This low and barren landscape makes for an ideal farming community and many of the buildings and settlements around Ostermark comprise of farmsteads. Its lands are fertile, made so by frequent light rains and generous summers, and its rich soil is ideal for agriculture, Ostermark’s principal mercantile, and the many farmers of this land trade their surplus crops at the two major townships of Bechafen and Badenhof. The roads around Ostermark are crude constructions, often little more than dirt tracks to provide passage for farm carts, wagons and travellers on foot. They are paths seldom trodden and it is possible to see for miles around upon a clear day and for not soul to be in sight, such is the isolated nature of Ostermark’s populace.
South of Bechafen there is a wide and open plain known as the Eerie Downs. Possessed of a curious and unnerving stillness, the Eerie Downs are a foreboding place. A perpetual pall of low fog rolls upon the wild and unkempt grasslands of the Downs, numerous crags jutting up from the thick and vaporous mists like broken teeth. Woe betide any traveller lost there; men have been driven insane as the silence and the white fog engulfs them, all sense of direction evaporating into a vast expanse of nothing. It is said the souls of those who died upon the Downs haunt them still, that their spirits crave more souls to join them, their howls of anguish and bitterness a dreaded midnight chorus. It is a brave or foolish traveller indeed who ventures upon those pastures and lives to tell of it…
In the Year of our Lord Sigmar, 1999…
With no Emperor to lay claim to the throne the Empire is a land in turmoil, its peoples are thrown into a state of anarchy, and none more so than the people of Ostermark. When the great twin-tailed comet smote its capital city, Mordheim, into smouldering ruins, the province became a lawless land, rife with brigands and bandits. Its Elector, Count Steinhardt, was slain in the terrible cataclysmic events that followed along with the rest of his line, the family name of Steinhardt now a mere footnote in the annuls of history. Without any central government to restore any sort of order farms burn, crops are destroyed, and famine gnaws at the desperate masses, showing no sign of relenting. Where once blues skies and the call of wild birds provided the everyday vista, now smoke and the cries of the dying shatter this rural idyll.
Mercenaries wander around in bands laying waste and taking what they will, with no one brave enough or powerful enough to challenge them. For Ostermarkers these are dark times indeed, forced to take arms against the enemies without, the stirring tribes of Orcs and Goblins in the Worlds Edge Mountains, Beastmen from the Forest of Shadows and those within, the brigands that threaten to plunder the land ’til it is nought but razed fields and smoking ash.
The old roads are no safe haven for travelling farmers on route to Bechafen or Badenhof in hope of selling their crops to the townsfolk, in truth there is little to spare for such an enterprise with the threat of famine an ever-present reality. The towns themselves are full of grim faces, full of fear and hopelessness, the stark shadow of the former capital an unwelcome reminder of the blight infecting the land. Still though, there is hope, and some brave and determined souls still manage to survive and grind out a frugal existence in the untamed wilds. Fields still bear crops, cattle still graze upon the green plains of arable land and farm folk continue to subsist, albeit with fear and a ready sword.
When the last Emperor, Sigismund, was slain upon the very walls of Altdorf and the Empire was split into three warring factions of would-be successors, Ostermark threw in its lot with the claim from the Ottilans of Talabecland, their erstwhile neighbours. ‘Twas to be a fruitless alliance as the young Empress Magritta of Marienburg, whom many powerful institutions around Altdorf thought merely a puppet through which the machinations of her elders could be realised, secured power. It began a time of rivalry and civil warring and heightened the terrible plight of the Ostermarkers. And so, it is a time in desperate need of some stability and law in a growingly fractious Empire, where dark forces seek to overthrow it from without and within.
The Ostermark Marches are the frontier lands that form the border between Ostermark and the lands of Kislev to the north. This man-made border is pockmarked by stout wooden watch towers, each of which carries a large warning beacon. These flames are lit in times of war and are a signal of impending invasion, for the armies of Ostermark to make ready for battle. This borderland is further cemented by a natural barrier, the Lower Talabec, a tributary of the main river Talabec that runs deep into the heartlands of the Empire, and it is a valuable defensive strong point should the enemies of the Empire march beyond Kislev. The town of Bechafen lies deep in the Marches. Primarily a military township, it is renowned for its smithies and armourers, who forge armour and weapons to supply the Ostermark army. With its proximity to the northern lands and the ever-present threat of Chaos the steel of Bechafen is an invaluable resource.
Fighting Battles in the Province of Ostermark
During the time of the three Emperors the rulership of the Empire was disputed and warbands roamed the land as they pleased, looting villages, burning homes and robbing innocents and the only law they recognised was that exacted through force of arms. The lands surrounding Mordheim, those that belonged to the province of Ostermark, saw numerous small battles between these rival bands, each vying for their slice of the plunder, yoking the downtrodden country folk for all they were worth. Some rose up to defend those weaker than themselves, out of a sense of justice and righteousness, virtues sadly lacking in this dark time and so a desperate struggle had begun…
These rules allow you to fight your ‘Mordheim’ battles away from the city and out into the wild and untamed countryside of Ostermark. Its lawless lands are rife with banditry and other lawlessness, so much so that even the dark creatures lurking in the Great Forest dare to emerge into the smoke-filled daylight. Battles played outside of Mordheim offer a very different dynamic to the crowded streets and delapidated ruins. It provides a new setting for your games but one that can be incorporated easily by the simple substitution of terrain. Warbands are generated and fight in the same way for battles within the city, except they are fighting in the rural setting of Ostermark. Players can simply use the scenarios in the Mordheim rulebook but, rather than create your battlefield around ruined buildings, towers, streets and so on, use scenery that reflects the surroundings. Ostermark is a rural area and farmsteads, hedgerows, low lying hills, drystone walls, sparse woodlands and sprawling fields are perfect to represent it. Rather than climbing up to the higher floors of a ruined coaching inn or bell tower warriors can climb up trees and across streams or through crop-filled fields instead. The basic Mordheim rules still apply, it’s just the scenery that has changed.
Note: The Empire in Flames rulebook provides some excellent material for fighting battles in an Imperial wilderness setting, ideally suited for battles in and around Ostermark. It is recommended that if players own a copy of Empire in Flames they use the additional rules in this book. You can certainly plays battles in Ostermark without it but they will add an extra dimension of detail and allow you to fight campaigns and wilderness specific scenarios.
Scenery
Most of the scenery associated with games of Warhammer can be used to represent the terrain around Ostermark. Hills and woods are two particularly pertinent examples, but walls, hedges, fields and rivers are also ideal, along with small buildings; cottages, sheds, mills etc. can be used to represent farmsteads.
Wyrdstone
When the great twin-tailed comet struck the city of Mordheim, such was its impact that tiny fragments of it were scattered for miles around and to this day Ostermark is riddled with errant pieces of wyrdstone, some of which are bored deep into the earth, others cause unknown mutations in rivers and streams, and some lay amongst the rocky hills of the land in plain sight. Whilst fighting battles in Ostermark warbands collect wyrdstone in the usual way. It is assumed the warriors are scouting the wilds of the province to find it.
Ostermark Warbands
Although they are farmers by trade the men of Ostermark are stout and capable fighters, ready to take up arms against the common foe. Since the destruction of Mordheim some of the Ostermarkers have abandoned their farms, left as smouldering ruins, and formed warbands of their own, seeking to take back what was taken from them, defending their lands to the bitter end, or merely to take a share of the plunder in an Empire thrown into anarchy.
Special Rules
Ostermarkers are used to harsh odds and battling alone to defend their farms against mercenaries and other brigands. Their years of isolation and self-reliance have made them hardy warriors indeed, and, as such, they do not give up easily or balk in the face of outnumbering foes.
Ostermarkers follow the rules for Mercenary warbands as given on page 48 of the Mordheim rulebook. In addition Ostermarkers (Heroes and Henchmen) may re-roll a failed Leadership test for being all alone and routing. A warrior or warband must accept the second roll, however, regardless of the result. Furthermore, the men often use hounds to guard their farms and raise the alarm against trespassers. Any captain of an Ostermarker warband may have a wardog as part of his starting equipment to represent the beast who once protected his farm and holdings from bandits and other, fouler creatures.
Painting and Modelling
The colours of Ostermark are yellow and purple, although the latter tends to vary in shade and hue as the pigment is difficult to produce in the Empire. Although Ostermark warbands are essentially rural folk, in most cases farmers, it gives a warband a little more identity and cohesion as a group if they have something of their provincial colours on them, perhaps a shirt or arm or head-band. As rustic folk, Ostermarkers tend to carry weapons you might see on a farm, so axes, pitchforks, bows and so on are all good examples of how you can personalise your Ostermark warband.
To give your models a rural feel, beard heads are a good choice, as well as using fur cloaks to represent animal skins. If your warriors carry shields, those made of wood are the most suitable. Ostermarkers don’t have the strict military background of Rieklanders nor the effete opulence associated with Marienburg, rather they are simple folk, without armouries and smithies, the likes of which are founds in Nuln and Altdorf, and so their equipment should reflect that. The motifs and heraldry of Ostermark are dominated by their culture so rams and bulls head are appropriate, along with scythes and ears of corn to reflect their agrarian nature.