The Imperial Greatship Hammer’s Star edged carefully through the night.  The waters were thick with icebergs large enough to crush the ship, were its captain insufficiently cautious.  Commodore Kurtzfeld wondered if that is what befell his missing squadron of Wargalleys.  The Wolf of the North and her two sister ships had left on a routine patrol and not returned.  Kurtzfeld had become incensed upon being told.  He was determined to find out why the ships… his ships… had gone missing.  If someone was behind this affront, he’d leave their burnt out hulls as a sign to others that he was not a man to taunt.  An accident might have befallen one galley, maybe even two, but surely not three.  No, someone was to blame.

He had no fear that the mighty Greatship would find trouble that she couldn’t subdue with her cannons.  No fleet of such a size had been seen in this area in a lifetime.  No, some squad of Norse raiders or Kislevite rebels had surely ambushed his proud Wargalleys and would now be blown to cinders in repayment.

His head snapped around at a terrible crashing noise, but it was nothing more than two icebergs that had collided in their drifting.  He focused again on the sea and sky before him.

Ahead he saw Muergen’s griffin circling.  The Knight must have found something.  As the ponderous Greatship drew nearer, Kurtzfeld’s keen eyes could make out the Griffin’s rider swinging his sword over his head to draw attention and then pointing down at an iceberg below him.  Kurtfeld eased the Greatship next to the Iceberg as carefully as possible given the cold winds whipping around the icy peak.

Wolfgang’s Reiksguard regiment formed up on deck and prepared to disembark on to the iceberg.  The veteran sergeant’s breath puffed out as he yelled orders at his shivering men.  They disembarked into boats to search for whatever clue Muergen had spotted from the air.

Kurtzfeld watched for several minutes as the men moved about on the iceberg digging something from the ice.  Two of them lifted something up for Kurtzfeld to see.  It was the wing of a griffin, and it snapped in two as they held it.  Kurtzfeld’s teeth gritted painfully.  Miuergen’s younger brother had accompanied the patrol upon his own Griffin.  The beast cost a fortune to feed and now it was of no use.  To say nothing of the younger Muergen himself.  Other Reiksgard were holding up sections of wood that might have been part of the hull of a Wargalley.  These too were brittle from the cold and broke apart as they were held.

There was another sound like icebergs colliding. The Reiksguard were thrown off their feet as the berg they were upon shuddered.  Wolfgang was already ordering his men back to the boat.  Kurtzfeld looked but couldn’t see another iceberg colliding with the one his men were on.  A shrill sound reached him over the crashing and he realized it was Muergen yelling, or screaming, high above him.  The knight was pointing his sword at the iceberg the Reiksguard were now fleeing.  Kurtzfeld could see nothing to draw such a yell from the knight.

And then he saw it.  

He missed it at first because he was looking too close, it was only when he took in the whole horrible image that what terrified the circling knight became apparent.     

There was a dark shape within the iceberg.  It was moving.  It was these struggles that had the whole iceberg shuddering, and now splintering.  The shape was large.  Really really large.  

Kurtzfeld was yelling orders to his men in a manner that would have made Wolfgang blush had the man heard it.  But Wolfgang was scrambling on board the Greatship from the landing boats with the rest of his soldiers.  The Hammer’s Star turned slowly away from the iceberg as the latter birthed a monstrosity.  The thing burst forth from the ice and stood as a man does, but it was covered by a mat of dingy white fur, and its face was bestial.  The beast roared and the sound deafened Kurtzfeld.  And the cold!  If he had thought the night cold before it was nothing like what rolled off that terrible thing.  

The creature stood easily as tall as the highest mast of the Greatship, and it shrugged off the remaining ice that surrounded it and began to pursue Kurtzfeld’s ship.  As each massive foot came down the water beneath it solidified into ice that supported it.  The great beast left a trail of icy footprints in the sea as it pursued the Hammer’s Star.

Wolfgang had stationed his troops along the edges of the deck in the terrible possibility that they might have to try and fend the beast off at close quarters.  Wolfgang himself took up position next to Kurtzfeld, both because he had a good view from which to yell at his men and so that he might protect the Commodore if need be.

The Greatship shuddered as the rear cannons fired at the creature.  One shell flew wide.  The other aimed  right at the beast.  The ball of iron seemed to slow as it grew close to the beast and ice formed on it.  It impacted the beast in the shoulder but it was the cannon ball that shattered rather than the beast’s limb.

Kurtzfeld cursed and cursed again as the wind changed so that they were now sailing against it.  He spun the wheel.  Against the wind the Greatship would wallow and the beast would catch them easily.  They would have to turn and sail back past it.  At least that would bring the port battery to bear.  The beast was looming over the ship when the three great cannons on the left side of the Hammer’s Star fired.  This time two of the shells struck home.  The beast roared in pain and staggered back.  It was a small margin but one Kurtzfeld was intensely glad for.  He had other problems to consider.  

The ice under the beast rose barely above the water line… so long as it stood upon it.  But when it moved on the ice left behind shot upward.  Now that the Greatship had doubled back it faced a wall of ten foot tall ice to the fore.  Meanwhile the beast crouched down and roared one more.  A wave of cold flowed off of it much more intense than before.  Kurtzfeld hunched down against the aching cold.  When he looked up he saw Muergen dive toward the beast.  He thought the knight was foolishly trying to revenge his brother, or maybe even trying to distract the beast to give the Hammer’s Star time to escape.  And then he realized that the great Griffin had frozen solid in mid flight.  The once noble steed and her rider shattered when they impacted the towering monster.  The beast took no notice but plodded on after the ship.

Kurtzfeld yelled and pointed.  There was a weak point in the ice wall ahead.  Some of the ice from its path had started to melt.  There was a gap in the wall.  It’d be a tight fit but it was widening as he watched it.  The rear cannons fired again.  Kurtzfeld didn’t bother to look, he had given up hope that the ship’s weapons could end the threat posed by the beast.  He made for the gap.  The wind was astern and the ship was making the best speed possible.  

As the Hammer’s Star squeezed between the melting ice floes the slushy water slowed the ship, but it was too late to matter.  They were past the ice wall.  The beast wouldn’t be able to catch them now in open water.  

Kurtzfeld clapped Wolfgang on the shoulder-

And shouted as his sergeant shattered into a million frozen pieces.  He’d positioned himself to protect his captain and he’d succeeded.  Wolfgang had taken the brunt of the cold wave for Kurtzfeld.

When he looked back, heart filled with hatred, Kurtzfeld saw the creature crouching down, a thin layer of ice already coating it in a new iceberg.  To wait.

Yeti

The yeti is a creature similar to others found in the Sea of Blood but with a few important differences.

Point cost: 75
Battle honors: 3
Move: 2 dice
Wounds: 4
To hit: 5-6
Save: 5-6 (no save against any attack with "fire" in the title)

The Yeti is immune to below the waterline attacks as none of it is below the water.

Special Attack
When the Yeti uses its special attack roll an artillery die.  The number that comes up is the number of frostbite attacks that the Yeti can distribute among all targets within 4” of the Yeti, including friendlies but excluding other Yetis.  A misfire means no attacks that turn.  Each target must have one attack assigned to it, if possible, before any target can be given more than one.  For each assigned attack roll one die, on a 6 the target loses one crew or takes one wound.

Example- a dwarven fleet with a Yeti is attacking high elves.  The Yeti attacks and rolls a 6 on the artillery die.  The targets within four inches are a high elf dragon ship, a high elf eagle rider, and a dwarven monitor.  The Yeti has to assign at least one attack to each, since he has more attacks than targets, he can assign the rest as he sees fit and so puts four attacks on the dragon ship, one on the eagle, and one on the monitor.  If he had rolled a 2 for the number of attacks he could have put one on the dragon ship and one on the eagle and left the monitor alone, but he could not have put both on the dragon ship.    

Optional rule- for each crew lost to the Yeti’s cold attack one fire on the ship, if any, is put out.

Yeti Movement and Setup
There are a few differences in how to use Yeti from other monsters.  Yeti do not live under the water. When placing monsters instead of placing a template to represent the Yeti’s territorial waters place a small iceberg.  This is the yeti covered with a thick layer of ice.  While within the iceberg the yeti has no effect on game play and cannot be harmed.  The yeti is summoned like any other monster and if this is successful the iceberg is removed and the yeti put in its place (on top of an ice hex) to represent the yeti bursting from its icy hiding place.

A roll of a one on the “Sea Monster Reaction Table” normally results in the creature returning to the deep sea.  In the case of a yeti it is replaced with the small iceberg again.

Yeti cannot dive as other monsters can.
         
Trail of Cold     
As the yeti moves it leaves a wake of ice behind it.  To represent this each time it moves lay down white Ice hexes to cover its path.  At the beginning of each turn replace any white Ice hexes with the light blue Slush hexes, except for the hex the yeti is standing on.  Also at the beginning of the turn remove any light blue Slush hexes already in play.  The yeti always stands on a white Ice hex.

Example- A yeti is summoned in the middle of the table.  The iceberg it was concealed in is removed and the yeti is put in the same place with a white Ice hex underneath it.  At the beginning of the next turn the only Ice or Slush hex on the field is the one the Yeti is standing on so nothing is changed.  During the battle phase the yeti moves 6” towards the enemy side.  Six white hexes are laid down to mark the path the beast took (total of 7 hexes when you include the one it started in).  At the beginning of the next turn the white Hex under the Yeti is left alone, the other 6 Ice hexes are swapped for light blue Slush hexes.  During this battle phase the yeti again moves 6” toward the enemy side.  There are now 6 blue slush hexes starting where the yeti appeared, and then 7 Ice hexes (including the one under the Yeti).  At the beginning of the next turn the Slush hexes are removed and the Ice hexes replaced with slush (except again for the one under the Yeti).

Ice hexes count as land for purposes of running aground.  Ice does not block line of sight.  Slush hexes slow any ships moving through them by 3” inches so crossing a one inch hex takes 4” of movement total.  Ships can fire at ice hexes.  Cannons or any weapon with fire in the title can be used to prematurely melt the ice into slush.  Hits are scored on a 3+ and the ice has a save of a 6.  If damage is incured then the ice immediately turns to slush.  Slush cannot be fired upon.

OPTIONAL- Dragonships and Black Arks ignore slush.  Black arks are too large to be slowed by it and the dragonblade on the high elf ships slices through slush with no noticable reduction in speed.  Both ships can still run aground on ice.

Ships are not at risk of running aground from a Yeti attacking them in a boarding action even though the yeti has an ice hex beneath it.  Similarly a boat may attack the yeti in close combat by getting adjacent to the ice hex the yeti is on without actually touching the creature.  The crew runs out over the ice to attack the monster before retreating back to the ship.  Doing so penalizes the attacking crew by -1 for the boarding action as the icy surface is slippery.  The crew does not suffer this penalty if the yeti is the attacker because it is assumed to be attacking the crew while they are on their ship.

Meta-design-
This is the part where I explain what the hell I was thinking when I wrote what I wrote.  First of all this whole thing was inspired by the tundra heroscapers set that somebody on here recommended for iceberg terrain.  I’m buying a set (don’t have it yet, curse you ebay!) and was thinking about the yeti looking critters that come with the icebergs and white and blue tiles.  

Ever one to economize I tried to think of a way to make the most of my purchase.  I was also noting that while there are monsters good at attacking crew and attacking different types of ships there didn’t seem to be one good at destroying flyers.  Such a creature would ideally have a ranged attack with the potential to hit multiple targets.       

I had a mental image of a yeti and as its foot came down the water froze so that it stood upon a mini iceberg.  I liked the image and the idea of a creature that created its own water hazards was appealing.  Hence the idea of having it leave a trail of ice.  At the same time I thought it was too powerful if this ice stayed indefinitely and so the idea of the ice melting fairly rapidly as the yeti moved on was a good balance.  The yeti might be used to box in one enemy man o war or squadron but wouldn’t be able to cut off their entire fleet.

Its attack is based on the idea of hitting a lot of targets but not doing a lot of damage.  On average it will do just under 1 crew damage per special attack (.83 crew/wounds per special attack).  That might be a tad weak but given that it has a range, and a unique ice walking ability, it seems reasonable.  The stats and cost of the Yeti match that of the Gargantua.  Given that the Gargantua also has an ability that reduces attacking boarding actions against it and a moderately powerful attack this too seems reasonable.

If you don’t want to buy the tundra set it’d be pretty easy to use white and light blue paper strips to represent the ice and slush.