The latest issue of Fanatics magazine for Mordheim, city of the damned arrived shortly before the launch of STRIKE TO STUN.

The first thing which catches your attention is the headline "Girl Power". No, Town Cryer hasn't become a teeny-magazine, the headline hints at the new Amazon Warband for the Lustria setting. As always, the magazine starts with the obligate Editorial by Steve Hambrook. But after this short introduction, the magazine starts with full throttle, err... I mean full warpstone power. The first chapter is dedicated to Games Workshops summer campaign "Dark Shadows". Now your warbands can explore the misty island of Albion. Although I didn't think that it would be possible to convert the Mordheim rules to a playable Albion-setting, I have to admit that the authors did a great job. With rules for weather, which is an important factor on Albion, the special Terrain (fens and woods), new monsters (fen-beasts and giants) and the Ogham stones you get all the rules you need to play in an Albion-setting. The description of the Dark Emissary and the Truthsayer together with two new spell-lists also adds a special flavour to the game. The three scenarios are also great, each with special rules and a Reward-Table for Albion artefacts. If you also play Warhammer Fantasy Battle and have some special Terrain and Miniatures I strongly recommend you to play some battles with this setting.

The second chapter holds the last part of the Lustria- Cities of Gold setting. To be honest, I disliked the setting in the beginning (see review of TC 13), but it seems that I caught the Lustria-virus: I really think about the possibility of building some Lustria-terrain and collecting one or two Warbands... The articles in Town Cryer 14 and the current issue have especially changed my mind. The introductory article describes three sample settlements which can be used by players as camps. Each settlement offers something special: while the Estalian colonial-town of Santa Magrita has a great market on which common equipment could be purchased cheaper, the Norse settlement of Skeggi offers cheaper Hired Swords. With the Amazons, a new all-women warband is introduced to the Lustria-setting. I wonder why all female warbands have to consist of half-naked pin-up girls with huge breasts and huger weapons. But it seems that this is the fate of females in Fantasy-games... The Amazons are an interesting and dangerous warband. Somehow I have the feeling that the Amazons are the Sisters of Sigmar of Lustria. Like their Mordheim-counterpart, they have access to a wide range of unique artefacts and special skills that can only be used by them. Led by the powerful Serpent Priestess who wields a couple of devastating spells the Amazons can be used as a close-combat warband as well as a shooty warband. A wide range of both hand-to-hand and missile weapons and a couple of special weapons like the starsword or the sunstaff makes them a tough enemy for every other warband in Lustria. Although the idea of a new all-female warband is very intriguing, the wide range of special equipment and an above-average starting profile makes them in my opinion a little bit too powerful for a human warband. The next pages hold the information about new Dramatis Personae for Lustria: First of all there is the renegade Dark-elven Assassin Dijin Katal, a nightmare for all enemies. Then there is the Amazon Priestes Penthesilea, who seems the Lustria version of Bertha Bestrafung and finally the Norse Berserker Drenok Johansen, an awful warrior wielding a huge Battle-axe. The final part of this issue's Lustria-section is a modelling workshop by James Mackay, which describes how to build Rivers and swamps. The drawback of this article is the fact that all pictures of the terrain are only in grayscale.

The next chapter is in my opinion the best one. We all know that Warpstone, or Wyrdstone as it is called by the humans of the Empire hold great powers. It is said that it can turn lead into gold and to lengthen the lifespan of mortals. So why always sell the collected stones to greedy merchants who pay a lousy amount of money for the hard work of collecting? Why not keeping one or two stones for yourself and use its magical powers? Warpstone can make one more powerful by lending its supernatural powers though its use holds great risks. You can turn into a Chaos Spawn or get a mutation. What makes this article so great is the new mutation table which introduces 36 mutations (d66). From Eystalks to Mace-tail, you can find a lot of nice mutations in this table.

In the following chapter a new scenario called "The Mummy" can be found. Although placed in the city of the damned it acts as an introduction to the forthcoming Khemri-setting. Awakened by a Necromancer, the deadly remains of KaHotep, a Tomb King from the lands of Khemri, restlessly haunt the streets of Mordheim, until a warband is able to defeat this foul undead and his minions. The scenario is for 2-6 warbands and should be led by a Game-master who controls the Mummy and its Tomb Guardians. It really makes me curious about the new setting placed in the lands of the dead, which should start in the next Town Cryer.

The last few pages of Town Cryer 15 are dedicated to the Fan letters and the "Watchtower", an overview about all articles ever published in Town-cryer. All in all issue 15 is the best Town Cryer I ever read. For the first time I found almost all articles useful and interesting, especially the Wyrdstone-article and the Mutation-table are of great use for every Mordheim player. I can only recommend this magazine to every player who likes Mordheim or Warhammer-skirmish and I hope that the following issues will be of the same quality like Town Cryer 15. (nc)