Warm Ale and Mud

  FRAULEIN PFIEZELS OLD COTTAGE Fraulein Pfiezel is  rumoured  to be a witch. She lives in her cottage, which is a few hours walk out of the village proper. It can be reached via a small track that leads off from the main road, which can be identified by an old abandoned cart that has become quite overgrown, Rumour aside, we do know that she likes to keeps to herself a lot. On the rare occasions she does come into the village the folks there are deferent and polite. She is often wandering the hills to the north of Heiligsheld or the deeper areas of the woods. She is an accomplished herbalist and is the locals go to for cures and remedies. Her cottage is small, and she has a small herb garden that she maintains fastidiously. On her door is the skull of what the villagers say is a Beastmen she killed for wandering too close. She claims to know nothing about anything like that, and she says it is just a skull she found, probably a sheep or goat or something. She would say th...

  THE OLD TOLL BOOTH It sits on the north road from Heiligsheld, manned normally by 2 men from the Counts fortified manor. Out the front on a bodged old sign are the blurred and worn toll fees, some less than generous road users say the signage is faded on purpose so the prices can be inflated. As for the Toll Booth itself, whilst sturdy with a single arrow slit to discourage people from trying to batter down the door, it is otherwise unremarkable. Mostly the lads who are on duty linger about outside, hence the barrels. On one barrel we see a bottle of cheap rotgut and the skull of the very first Toll Keeper, Jan Tresor. People say he drank and smoked so much that his mouth became rotten early on in life, but somehow even as a lowly toll keeper he managed to find the money to have gold teeth made to replace his own. He was quite lucky like that, so the lads who are on duty keep his old bone box around as a good luck charm, hoping his fortune will rub off on them. On the wall are so...

  ARMBRUSTSCHUTZEN Crossbows are a staple of any Imperial force. The small garrison at Heiligsheld is no different. This particular lot are lead by sergeant ‘Short’ Basil as his men call him, a veteran of many a skirmish and more than capable of bullseying the eye of a bull at some prescribed distance. He keeps his lucky bolt in his cap. It was shot at him from behind by a goblin war chief, the bolt miraculously tore through his shirt, bounced around the inside of his breastplate and came out through the back again and then killed the war chiefs wolf. * Basil keeps it in his cap as a good luck charm. *So Basil claims. 

  HOLZFALLER Heiligsheld is located somewhere near or in woods. As such woodsmen are fairly common there. The Holzfaller of Heiligsheld are however an exceptional bunch. Whilst not actually soldiers, nor indeed part of the garrison, they will of course defend their home should the need arise. This unit is lead by Martyn Hauer an old mercenary captain who can be seen in the middle. His old mercenary unit was known as the Red Cocks. On the far left is Fimm, an adept woodsman who fills his spare time carving ornate figurines for the local children. Between Fimm and Martyn is Anatole Bucheron, he is a Brettonian. Next to Martyn is Johan Wesker- Schmitt, he likes the Bierwurst and ale. He claims the garlic in the Bierwurst keeps the  Counts Men  at bay. Finally on the far right we have Big Heinz, a companion of Martyn from his mercenary days.

  ERZATSOLDER The most versatile of all the imperial soldiers, the humble swordsman. They are led by Karl Raspe who is a distant relation of Count Halven. A veteran of campaigns in Tilea he thinks himself a bit fancy and cultured. He even claims to have visited Lustria and far off Cathay. He is proud of his moustache. The banner is carried by Adolphus and shows the crest of the Halven family who rule the village of Heiligsheld. This banner is significant as when taken into battle, holy relics are hung from it. They are the last remains of  Imre Jenz, the person from whom the village got its current name. He died in 2155 defending what is now an old ruined shrine off in the forest from followers of chaos. The unit has a couple of Martyn Hauer’s old mercenary lads in it, one of which has a brother in the Armbrustschutzen led by ‘Short’ Basil. At the rear is Heinrich the units musician. When roused his pipes let forth a terrible wailing that puts fear into friend and foe alike.

I am going to try a blog. I do have a website that shows my Warm Ale and Mud stuff: https://angelbarracks.co.uk/ However it does not have a comments section so I thought maybe I would give here a go and see how it pans out. So what is this Warm Ale and Mud all about? I am playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd edition and I am building the village of Heiligsheld and its surrounds. It is a homebrew village/locale set in Stirland . Once I have enough of the places modelled, buildings, scenery and the people that live there, I will begin to tell stories about the village. These will be played out as games and then published here. We will learn how the village got its name, why it is not on any Imperial maps, how Fraulein Pfiezel came to have what appears to the skull of a beastman on her door, why Otto Klept spends most of his time in the pillory, and much more. It will be almost like a collection of short stories about the village told and modelled in miniature form. The soldiers garriso...