The order of the broken lance

[Golden Lion]

Fun report and another piece of great fluff! Thanks a bunch. A bit awkward in the battle that both of you countered each others charges and that the flee moves failed on both sides. I guess the inner circle didn't rise to that position for nothing though .

I am looking forward to more!

[grumbaki]

Glad you enjoyed it Golden Lion. Up comes the next one...

I played against a new person today, which is always a good thing. Game 1 was warbands, where we fought each other to a bloody draw in preperation to the league beginning next week. It has led me to redesign my entire warband (I did a bandit themed one. Captain with the dragon bow, pistoliers has highwaymen and lots of archers. His clan skyre skaven are more competitive, so I think that I'll have to go mage heavy next week). After that he brought out his tomb kings, an army that I have little experience against. But, always up for a challenge we fought the battle that is seen below.


Empire V Tomb Kings 1360 points

Empire:

Captain: Sword of Fate, Barded Warhorse, Full Plate, Shield (114)
Warrior Priest: Hammer of Judgement, Heavy Armor, Shield, Barded Warhorse (148)
Lvl 2 Mage: Ring of Volans (Celestial Shield), Dispel Scroll, Lore of Light (Both damage spells) (145)
5 Knights: Full Command (155)
5 Inner Circle: Full Command, Steel Standard (190)
11 Huntsmen: Marksman (115)
5 Pistoliers: Musician, Marksman with repeater pistol (114)
20 Swordsmen: Full Command (145)
-10 Swordsmen detachment (60)
Cannon (100)
Mortar (75)
Total: 1361

(This is an illegal list! I have 1 special choice too many. I made the list too quickly it seems. I originally had only had 10 huntsmen and a helblaster, but dropped it for a cannon without thinking about the slots)

Tomb Kings:

Tomb Prince: Great Weapon (5+ AS, 4 wounds, toughness 5 can deduct an attack from an enemy)
Hierophant (Can fly)
Hierophant (Horse, some kind of jar…I don’t think that it had any cookies in there)
20 Spear-skeletons: Full Command
16 Bow-skeletons
10 Heavy Cavalry: Full Command (some kind of magical banner)
3 Chariots
2 Scorpions
Total: 1360

Terrain

On his side of the table, there were heavy woods to the left flank and a hill on the right flank (with a building on it). The right side of the table had a total of 3 buildings (1 in his deployment zone, as mentioned above, 1 in the center and 1 in my deployment zone, also on a hill).

The center of the board was free of any terrain. The center of my deployment zone and the far right was one large hill.

http://www.warseer.com/gallery/data/...Tomb_Kings.jpg

Deployment

Tomb Kings: (left to right)
Heavy Cavalry, Infantry (prince and mounted mage in there), chariots, archers (flying mage in here). Both scorpion markers were placed near my artillery.

Empire:

Huntsmen (deployed in the woods on the far left, in his deployment zone), pistoliers, knights (with the captain), swordsmen (with the mage), inner circle (with the warrior priest).

Turn 1:

The tomb kings go first and advance. The heavy cav go for my huntsmen, but I stop their movement spells. The infantry are pushed forward and the archers kill 1 inner circle knight while the chariots kill 1 swordsman with their bows.

The inner circle tries to charge the chariots but fail their fear test. The swordsmen advance and in the magic phase I make the inner circle unbreakable and put celestial shield on my swordsmen. The mortar has a perfect guess on the infantry but scatters off of them, hitting nothing. I had a choice for my cannon of trying to kill 5 enemy heavy cav or to go for a chariot. After much deliberation I decided that my pistoliers/huntsmen could take care of themselves and shot at the chariots. The cannon misfired. The pistoliers advanced on the heavy infantry and with the archers kill 5 of them.

Turn 2:

One scorpion comes up and charges my mortar. The chariots charge my swordsmen, who hold (and the detachment flanks them). The heavy cav. charge my pistoliers who stand and shoot, killing 4 of them. I manage to stop him from charging his infantry into combat and any attempts he had at raising his heavy cav. In close combat his lone rider misses my pistoliers and gets shot through the skull. The chariots kill 6 swordsmen, who do 1 wound in return. Drawn combat. The scorpion kills the mortar crew and overruns into the cannon.

The inner circle knights flank the chariots while the normal knights charge his infantry. My pistoliers ride up towards the flank of the infantry, while the huntsmen leave the woods. Magic does nothing and shooting is out of range.

In close combat the inner circle and the swordsmen destroy the chariots. My captain attacks his tomb prince (who makes my captain lose an attack), and whiffs. He is hit back but passes his armor save. My knights kill his hierophant and two other skeletons. It is a drawn combat.

Turn 3:

In his turn there is not much more that he can do. His other scorpion comes up behind my inner circle and it charges their rear. He dispelled celestial shield, and then his shooting killed 4 swordsmen (taking them down to 10 models). In hand to hand, my captain hits and wounds his prince, doing 2 wounds with the sword of fate! Too bad the tomb prince had 4 wounds and then put a wound on Konrad in return. The knights take down 3 skeletons, but lose 2 of their number in return! The knights break and flee 16’’, panicking the detachment who fled 9’’. The undead infantry overrun into my swordsmen. The scorpion fails to hurt any of the knights, who wounded and then killed it with combat resolution. The other scorpion eats the cannon crew.

On my turn 3 the inner circle flank charges the skeleton infantry (who are down to 15 models at this point), while both my swordsmen detachment and the knights rally. The pistoliers rush up to the skeleton archers, and in a feat of incredible rolling kill 8 of them! The archers unleash a volley that drops a further 3 (leaving with them 5 archers and the mage).

My warrior priest got off soul fire, which killed 6 of the enemy spearmen. My knights targeted his prince, did the two wounds and killed him*. At this point he called the game.

*Note: After the game we remembered the prince’s curse. I took the test and it would have wiped out the entire unit of inner circle knights. Those curses are horrible!

Victory for the Empire!

Thoughts

1. Tomb King magic is relentless. The trick is to pick which spells that you need to dispel and to let the rest through. He got off a lot of shooting with his magic, but I stopped him from doing any essential moves or raising. That is what won me the game.
2. Scorpions are nasty! They ate both of my artillery pieces (which did nothing all game, I might add), but when the scorpions saw combat with actual combat troops they didn’t do so well. They are great harassers, but cannot eat units without some luck.
3. Flanks charges! Victory from this game came in large part due to my detachments and inner circle knights getting flank charges. The Empire wins when its units work together, a lesson which this game shows.
4. Don’t look down on swordsmen. Even though half of them died they were the anvil of my army. If they broke then the game might have ended very differently.
5. My mage didn’t get a single spell off all game. However, he did eat up all of my opponent’s dispel dice, which let my warrior priest make his unit unbreakable (handy for the two flank charges that his unit got) and then with soul he took down an impressive six spearmen. Sometimes getting rid of your opponent’s dispel dice can be just as important as actually getting the spell off.
6. And finally, my charge against his fully ranked up unit that had the prince. I know that I previously said that knights cannot do such charges, and this proves it again. But I saw it as a way to kill his general (which I did do, even though he never failed any instability tests) and his close combat hero. I thought that if I could do that then I could neuter his magic phase, and even if the knights lost in a subsequent round of close combat they could probably get away. In the end it still worked out pretty well, and knowing what I do now I’d probably still make the attempt.

[grumbaki]

A month passed since the battle for the Lowland Tower. It was a month that was well needed, as the Order of the Broken Lance was not a large one, and they had fought in many battles. Luitipold had found life in the order to be better than he expected. He was, however, still an initiate. After he had taken his oaths in front of the chapter master and the high priest of Sigmar, he and his fellow recruits were integrated into the order’s infantry. The last month had been spent training and studying, two things which went well with his former life. His fellow mercenaries were not having an easy time with the latter, as the order made the attempt to teach all of its monks to read. It was a daunting task that often failed, but most men jumped at the chance to learn a skill they otherwise would never have had the chance to master. Because of his skill with a quill, Luitipold quickly found his place with his new comrades, writing letters for them and reading any correspondence when managed to make it all the way from their villages of birth. It was on a day like any other, where Luitipold found himself hunched over a desk with ink stained fingers that Magnus, one of his comrades from the Nordland Wreckers burst into his cell. They were being called to battle.

Konrad rode at the head of the column. The grand master had spared every man he could for this, but that was not easy. The order had taken many casualties in recent months and could not summon as many knights as they were used to. To make matters worse, the orcs had finally rallied together under a strong enough leader to create a Waaagh! and so he had responded to the desperate call of assistance from the township of Wurtbad. Konrad would have ridden with his master to battle if it were not for his vision. His soul blackening vision. Konrad had only told a few of men of the order of what he had seen, them and the priesthood of Morr. With his knights rode the Black Guard of Morr, led by a dour priest of the god of death. His mission was enough to spur the dour guardsmen to battle. The army that marched with him was one of the cloth, made up entirely out of warrior monks. With the foe they would fight, he only trusted them to hold their ground.

When Nagash still walked the world, he fought with Sigmar in an epic duel. Before that, when Nagash entered the lands of the Empire he went through the village of the Chieftain Surt of the Unbeorgen tribe. Rather than let the foe pass through his lands, Surt attempted to harass the undead host. They were cornered on the slopes of the mountains and there they made their last stand. Nagash, in his malevolence, cursed these warriors for their impudence in thinking they could stop one such as he. From then on, Surt and his army have haunted the tombs of their ancestors, roaming the foothills of the mountains, cursed to forever keep their vigil. For over two thousand years they had waited there, their territory avoided by all sane travelers. That is, until this day, as a pair of necromancers had wrestled control over the undead host and would soon lead their army into the Empire. Konrad shuddered despite the heat of the last days of summer. In his dream he had seen the Great Necromancer, he had looked upon the visage of Nagash himself. Konrad had seen this great evil, and he knew only despair.

The host reached the barrows after two days of marching. They saw their foe lined up upon the hills before them. The ancient barrows of unbeorgen lay to their right, while a forest of dead trees sheltered to their left. Konrad knew that his archers lay in wait in that forest, ready to harass their foe’s advance. Both sides occupied the high ground, as their field of battle sloped down into a plain that lay between the two armies. The artillery that they had dragged with them from the chapter keep was position on the hill, with the warrior monks position before it. Konrad led his knights to the left of this position, while the Black Guard of Morr took the right. The plan was simple. The archers and the pistoliers would deal with the enemy cavalry. The infantry would be the army’s anvil, while the black guard were the hammer. Konrad and his knights would be the sword, which would plunge into the enemy’s heart and rip it out.

The battle began with an explosion as a mortar shell landed in front of the undead host. None of the dead missed a step as they advanced through the crater; the heated shrapnel did not make their ranks raver, nor did the smell of gunpowder. They were beyond any such concerns. With them rode their ancient chariots of war. None of the undead looked behind them as the sharp retort of pistol fire broke the silence. The undead cavalry had attempted to flush out the archers, only to be broadsided by pistol fire. The ancient armor of the enemy offered no protection against such firepower, and to a skeleton they were ripped apart. On the other side of the field, arrows rained down from the sky, landing among the living. One monk died, an arrow through his throat. His brethren did not waver. Another took a black guard of Morr through his visor, and the knight fell to the ground without a sound. If his comrades noticed, or even cared, they gave no sign.

Luitipold clutched his sword with a white knuckled hand. He was in the third rank of his unit, but he could feel the enemy approach. They came on chariots with scythed wheels, pulled by long dead horses and ridden by skeletal warriors who fired arrows into them as they charged. This was insanity, how could they be expected to hold against this? Onward the chariots came and Luitipold would have ran if he had anywhere to run to. He couldn’t move, as his regiment was too tightly packed. The men around him started to sing praises to Sigmar, as most of them knew that they would likely die. But they had sworn to their god to not take a step back, to hold the enemy by any means necessary. The chariots hit, and men died. Bones were shattered, lives ended, the screams of the wounded filled the air. But the charge died, its impetuous lost, spent upon the broken bodies of the monks. With a roar the detachment of swordsmen charged in, devoid of fear, religious rapture written on their faces. Luitipold now found himself in the front rank, the men in front of them having died under the wheels or spears of the enemy. With strength born through fear he swung his sword, bellowing incoherent warcries. The monks had held, and that was all they needed to do. From the hilltop came the knights of Morr. The chariots had stopped moving, and now they were vulnerable. Filled with the wrath of the god of death the knights hit home, and nothing could stand in their way.

Konrad spurred his horse onwards, past the raging melee and towards the waiting line of skeletal spearmen. Amongst them rode a necromancer, who pointed a withered finger at the charging knights. He never finished his incantation, as he was punched off of his horse by a pair of lances. The knights hit hard, crushing the first rank of skeletons into dust. Konrad went right for Surt. The ancient king of men stood before him, his armor still shining as if though it were new, his great sword still as sharp at the day it was crafted. Konrad felt as if though he were moving through molasses, and it took all of his strength just to swing his sword. Caught off guard by the sorcery, he barely parried the return blows. Surt, even in death fought like a true hero, and Konrad knew immediately that he faced a warrior at least as skilled as himself. Gritting his teeth, Konrad came in again. The charge had already spent itself, and soon they would need to withdraw. His sword came down and with a feeling of victory it broke through the defenses of the wight. The holy blade crashed through its ribcage and sent the skeleton falling to the ground. Konrad’s smile died on his face when Surt got back up. For the first time in the history of the order, the blade had failed. The great sword caught Konrad in the chest and nearly dismounted him. He could feel his ribs break under the impact, but his armor held. Konrad coughed up blood. They had waited too long. Already two of the knights had been swarmed by the spearmen, brought down and murdered. Brother Hernst, seeing this brought up his horn to his lips and let out two blows, one long and deep, the other short and sharp. Immediately, half of the warrior monks who were destroying the chariots broke and ran, they were followed shortly after by the surviving knights of the order. It was not a moment too soon, as the undead relentlessly followed their quarry.

The battle hung in the balance as Konrad brought his knights to a halt, along with the warrior monks who had fell back with them. Brother Hernst had called the retreat to give the main block of monks time to reorganize to meet the undead charge. They had to trust in the black guard to come to the aid of the monks. Konrad looked over the field of battle. Behind the black guard lay a twitching monstrosity, a creature of flesh and bone fused together. It sported far too many limbs, some of which clutched weapons, others which ended in them. Konrad knew not what kind of creature it was, or what foul magic had created it, but it had picked the wrong target when it had attacked the black guard. A second one, however, had picked a better target, as evidenced by the mutilated corpses of the artillery crew. It was starting to lumber its way towards the monks. Konrad could barely sit in his saddle, but nevertheless he raised his sword. Through blood stained teeth he shouted “For Sigmar! For the order! Destroy it!” With a roar of approval his surviving knights, and the rallied warrior monks, advanced.

Father Theodorus dismounted and climbed up onto the wreckage of the chariots. His black guard did so as well. The undead were coming and it was impossible to fight on horseback around the broken remnants of the chariots’ demise. He dropped his shield and pulled out a book. From his vantage point he looked down with distaste at the undead and then he began to read the prayer of unbinding. As he chanted the undead advance faltered. First one skeleton fell, then a second, and a third. One by one the magic that bound them was unraveled by the power of Morr. One skeleton in particular started to come for him, one which held a great sword and which appeared to be unaffected by the prayer. The black guard charged it. One knight came in with a feint, drawing the attack of the wight, while a second blindsided it. The heavy bastard sword, blessed by Morr, hit the wight behind the legs. There was a crunch of bone and the wight fell to the ground. A third knight raised his sword above his head and brought it down onto the skull of his foe. Individually, the black guard were feared warriors. But it was their fearlessness, and their skill in working together, which gave the templars the advantage they needed when fighting the most dangerous of the undead.

Luitipold watched in elation as the skeletons fell. The black guard tore into them with a vengeance while the power of their god destroyed the foe where they stood. Of the fifteen skeletons which had advanced on them, only a handful now stood and they wavered as if though struggling to stand up. Luitipold was about to charge when the air chilled. All of the light of the day seemed to be sucked away as the wight began to shudder. All throughout the field of battle the other skeletons shook and then fell apart, even the abomination that Konrad was charging towards fell still to the ground. As one the monks stepped back, moving away from the twitching corpse. The black guard did no such thing, the five knights surrounded it with swords drawn and shield raised. Above them their priest chanted prayers to his god. It was to no avail. With a shriek that should not have been able to come from a fleshless corpse the wight was consumed by darkness. It was a darkness which engulfed black guard. Screams filled the air, but they were the screams of men. Luitipold could see nothing until the globe of darkness faded. When it did he saw the priest of Morr slumped against the side of a chariot, alive but with blood running freely from his nose. His book was clutched to his chest as was his blessed blade. Of the knights though, they all lay in a circle on the ground, unmoving. One of their helmets had fallen off. Luitipold looked into the armor and saw nothing. A breeze washed past them, scattering the dust that lay within the armor. Even in defeat the curse of Nagash was not to be trifled with.

Hours later Konrad lay in his pavilion, swathed in bandages. The dead had been blessed and buried, while the priest of Morr had given special attention to the fallen foe. They had died gloriously in life, and Konrad hoped that now they would finally find their rest in the halls of Morr. He had heard the reports from his unit commanders. His own knights had killed one of the necromancers while the pistoliers had ridden down the other which had tried to shelter amongst the skeletal archers. Both of their heads were impaled on stakes outside of his pavilion, while their bodies were burning on a pyre. For such despicable men they deserved far worse. The day had been won, and with far less casualties than what he had feared. But still, the last horrible moment played out in his mind, of the black guard being consumed by the curse of Nagash. Even with the battle over the face of the Great Necromancer haunted him. Konrad looked down at his sword, the sword which had failed him this day. The day had changed him, for Konrad had always thought that even if he died it would be worth it if he died gloriously. What this had proven to him was that even with a good death one could still fall into damnation. Konrad laid back and tried his best to forget.

[Kerill]

Great battle reports and even better fluff, keep 'em coming.

On the duellists btw, they are legal regardless of what that dude says- ignore him. Pistol armed duellists also fit into an empire army seamlessly from a fluff perspective.

[KHolbourn]

Great to see another Empire doing really well and I'm liking the refusal to use the W.Alter/ Stank options. I go with all infantry/cavalry as well and its great fun.

The story fluff is great as well. Though I don't how find the time to do it Making me feel bad about not including any story fluff in my thread and I can't start now as it'll be obvious I'm just copying you

[RaZeR]

Awesome reports and fluff as usual
Keep up the good work, and keep winning!

[Golden Lion]

Excellent stuff again Grumbaki. Congratulations on beating the Tomb Kings (always difficult to face undead with Empire) and your story writing skills are more than average! Getting better even, I would say.

I want to read more on the order now, so please do not keep us waiting for too long.

Thanks!

[grumbaki]

Wow, thanks for all the comments.

KHolbourn, it would be in no way copying me. And if it was, I would find it all the more flattering.

Kerill, I agree with you. But I dislike the feeling of having arguments over what is legal or not, so I think that I will tend to avoid them. But because they fit so well, they might still make an appearance or two.

Golden Lion. Thanks again for continuing to read/comment. As for the request for more, I just had a game today (rare to get in more than 1 game a week). It was against Keith, the tomb king player I just went again. I won't be able to get the report up until at least monday. But, for a preview:

1500 points.

Tomb Kings: Casket of Souls!, even mix of infantry, chariots and cavalry
Empire: Three warrior priests, even mix of infantry, artillery and cavalry

Oh, and it was one of the closest games I've played in a long time.

[grumbaki]

I would like to thank everyone for waiting for this. Please forgive me for the fluff below. As you might have guessed, fighting actual tomb kings doesn’t seem that likely for the order, so I had to get creative. And if anyone wonders about the orcs that are mentioned, I will hopefully be getting in a 2000 point game this week against the orcs. I plan to bring the Grand Master of the Order to the battle. I have heard some rumors that my foe may or may not have Grimgor, so that really worries me. I’ve been thinking about some effective counters to that combat monster, but so far “duck and cover” seems to be my most common thought. Anyways, below is the battle that I mentioned last week. I hope you all enjoy it!


1500 points

Empire:
Warrior Priest: Sword of Might, Shield, Barded Warhorse, Heavy Armor, Shield (123)
Warrior Priest: Sword of Might, Shield, Barded Warhorse, Heavy Armor, Shield (123)
Warrior Priest: Armor of Meteoric Iron (1+ AS), Great Weapon (119)
20 Spearmen: Shields, FC (140)
19 Swordsmen: FC (139)
10 Handgunners: Marksman with long rifle (105)
10 Huntsmen: marksman (105)
2x Cannons (200)
5 Pistoliers: Outrider with repeater handgun, musician (114)
5 Knights: Full Command (155)
5 Knights: Full Command, Warbanner (180)
Total: 1503

Tomb Kings:
Hierophant: Casket of Souls, 4+ ward save
Hierophant: Flyer
Tomb Prince: Great Weapon, Heavy Armor, +1 wound, enemy at -1 attack, probably eats babies too.
20 skeletons: spears, shields, FC
16 skeletons: bows
3 chariots: mirage standard (shooting at -1 to hit, 5+ ward against auto hits/templates)
8 heavy cavalry: full command, banner that lets them resurrect the dead
2 tomb scorpions

Terrain/deployment:

The empire side had a hill on which the cannons/handgunners were placed. In front of the hill were placed both units of knights, to their right were the spearmen. The left side had the swordsmen/warrior priest and the pistoliers.

The tomb scorpion markers were placed to either side of the empire hill. The tomb king side had two hills, the one in the center had the casket and the one further to the right had the archers. The heavy cav. took the center-right, facing one units of knights, while the chariots took the center-left, facing the second unit. The infantry took the left hand side.

The center of the table had no terrain, but all around the center were heavy woods and old ruins. The huntsmen deployed on the far left, near the enemy infantry.

Turn 1:

The Tomb Kings got the first turn and advanced. The infantry turned to face the huntsmen and were magiced towards them. I was happy with this, as it effectively took an expensive unit and character out the game. Even if they did manage to catch my skirmishers, it would mean that they wouldn’t make their points. Shooting was out of range and the casket was stopped.

The Empire responded by shuffling its ranks and moving the pistoliers up towards the chariots. The magic phase was stopped. During the shooting phase both cannons hit the casket. I opened the rulebook and declared that the casket was a warmachine, and thus I hit the priest twice. After wounding him twice, and two failed armor saves, the priest (his general) was well and truly squished. He then opened his army book and said that all shooing my be randomized between the casket and the three of them. So on a 5+ I would hit the crew. Then I would need to randomize a second time, hitting the guards on a 1-4 and the priest on a 5-6. Needless to say we could not agree on this. Finally, I decided to just get on with the game and pretend that the casket cannot be killed. I offered to fire at a different target.

So I fired both cannons at the chariots. One cannot hit and he made his ward save. The other cannon misfired and exploded. Seeing the look on my face as I prepared to hand him the tape measure, he offered to change the misfire roll to a 6, so that it just wouldn’t shoot. I gratefully accepted that. However, my huntsmen did take down a few of his skeletal infantry and the handgunners put a wound on the chariots.

Turn 2:

The tomb king lines moved up cautiously, with the chariots facing the pistoliers. One scorpion came up, misfired and was destroyed. The flying hierophant moved closer to the infantry so he could magic them into combat with my archers. I assume that he decided that his cav/chariots couldn’t break my knights, so he decided to go for a different tactic. In the magic phase I stopped his infantry from moving, but that left me with 4 dice. He then rolled an 11 to move his chariots.

This needs some explaining. I now either had to lose my pistoliers and have fast cavalry (chariots) behind my lines, or I had to let him get off the casket of souls. If I stopped his movement, my knights would flank charge his chariots. He knew that I would have to make this choice, and after much deliberation I stopped the movement spell. The casket went off.

I lost: 4 spearmen, 1 cannon (the one that misfired), 3-4 handgunners, 2 knights from the warbanner unit, 3 knights from the other unit, and about 2 swordsmen. All of that from a single spell. Fortunately no panic tests were failed.

In my turn the knights charged and both units passed their fear tests. In the magic phase I got off soul fire which killed 4 out of 8 heavy cavalry. In the shooting phase my last cannon fired at the infantry, landed well short and hit the last of the three chariots. He failed his ward save and it was lost. The pistoliers moved up quickly to face the flying hierophant and shot him down in a hail of lead. Also my long rifle put a wound on his tomb prince and some more infantry fell. In hand to hand, the chariots and the heavy cav were destroyed, while my warbanner knights overran 15’’ towards the casket, putting them right in front of it.

Turn 3:

The tomb kings moved a bit, but the infantry going after my archers couldn’t catch them. In the magic phase I…forgot about the casket. I stopped all of his other spells, and then my face fell when I realized my mistake. The infantry heavy empire player that I went against before looked at our table and then said to me “well, it’s your fault.” And he was right.

The warbanner unit, down to four models, lost two more, and panicked (thus losing my only chance to kill the casket). The pistoliers lost 3 models and panicked. My second cannon died, and my handgunners were taken down to four models (but they didn’t panic). In his shooting phase his archers continued to rain death on the spearmen who were marching against them.

On my turn the pistoliers continued to flee and my knight/priest rallied. At this point I got a phone call from my wife informing me that I didn’t have the hour that I thought I had to finish the game. We decided to hurry things up. My larger unit of knights (2+ the priest) moved to claim a table quarter, now that my handgunners couldn’t get it, while the swordsmen continued to march on.

Turn 4:

He had little to do, but in this phase I was sure to stop the casket. This let him get his shooting spell off, which killed the last of my warbanner knights, but the priest passed his panic test. He also got the spearmen down to 12 models.

In my last turn the pistoliers rallied and the spearmen + warrior priest charged his archers. I only killed 1 archer, and he killed 2 spearmen (taking them down to half strength). His second scorpion never showed up, but a die roll after the game showed that it would have made it on turn 5.

Victory Points:

Empire: (total guessing here)
Chariots (assuming they are 40 points each with 40 points for banner: 160)
Heavy Cav (assuming they are 20 points each with 65 points for command: 225)
1 tomb scorpion (85 points)
Flying mage (he said that all of his heroes were expensive, so I am guessing 130 points)
2 banners (200)? (the unit was wiped out but the hero with them. Does he count as keeping the banner? I will assume that it doesn’t count. (100 only)
1 table corner (100)
[800 ish victory points] (a complete guess on my part, to be honest. But if he archers are 10 points each and the spearmen 8 points, then this would roughly make a 1500 point list)

Tomb Kings:
Warbanner Knights (180)
½ Knights (77.5)
½ Spearmen (70)
½ Handgunners (52.5)
2 Cannons (200)
½ Pistoliers (57)
[637 victory points]
Difference of 163 victory points: Draw!

Thoughts

1. That was a very hard fought game. Fighting the undead can be a tough prospect, but getting hit by knights in the flank always hurts. Empire knights with a warrior priests are scary on the charge.
2. I hate the casket of souls. I already have a thread going in the rules section on whether or not my artillery barrage would have destroyed it. Is there any other way to deal with it? For example, Alrded’s casket of sorcery? It would be really fun to steal the spell and use it against his army. I hate the idea of facing something which I can’t kill with shooting and which will easily destroy all of my artillery/knights.
3. Never forget your enemy’s best spell! If I hadn’t forgotten about the casket (stupid!) then I would have had my second cannon, my handgunners would be over half strength, my spearmen over half strength as well, and my knights would have charged his casket the next turn (targeting the guards and destroying the mage through combat resolution). Basically, forgetting that spell cost me the game. Also, having a dispel scroll would have been nice for that occasion, or for turn 2 when I had to choose what to use my dice for.
4. On turn 2 I had to choose whether I wanted to hurt his army, and thus let him hurt mine, or to play it safe and keep both of ours intact. In the end I decided that it was more important to control the movement phase by destroying the faster elements of his army. Sometimes, you can’t have everything your way and you need to look at the bigger picture.
5. This makes my first lost with my Empire in a 1 on 1 game. I’m still new with the army and I am kind of relieved to see my winning streak end. I have no illusion of being a great general. I was starting to go into my games thinking ‘this will be the one. The dice will go against me, he will out maneuver me, etc.’ I do feel though that the loss of the win was really my failing, as I didn’t stay focused and thus let his casket decimate my forces. However, I must say that he did do a good job of forcing me to use my dispel dice so he could tear me apart. Also, he was really unlucky with his tomb scorpions.
6. And finally, cannon # 2 was doomed to die. On turn 1 it exploded, and after he allowed it to survive it was killed by the casket on turn 2. You really can’t outrun fate!


Father Sigmund led his men through the fen. He had been commanded by the grand master to round up more men and equipment for the coming battle. He had accomplished his goal when he had traveled long along the edge of the wastelands to the town of Fuellerhoffen. The lords of the town had agreed to lend their aid and Sigmund had sent a rider ahead to tell his lord of the men he had gathered. In truth, it was not just reinforcements that he would be bringing, but it accounted to a second army. He was doubly fortunate that Huellerhoffen was currently housing a troop of knights of Sigmar’s Blood who had agreed to ride with him to fight the orc menace. However, the lords of Fuellerhoffen had been a bit too forthcoming with their aid, and it took two days longer than expected to raise the force. Now, if they wanted any chance at all of reaching the battle in time they would have to go through the wastelands and the fens that plagued it. Rumors abounded about the horrors that lay within those fens, of swamp daemons that killed from the mists and of rats that walked on their hind legs like a man. Obviously they were tall tales. And even if they weren’t, Sigmund knew that there was no time to waste circumventing the blighted lands.

The first signs of trouble came when the scouts reported strange stone cairns ahead. They were gigantic structures that seemed to be like ant hills. There were holes within them, deep holes that none of the scouts were willing to enter. Even with time of the essence Sigmund ordered his men to advance cautiously. It was an order that he was glad that he gave when the fog rolled it. It was a thick fog, as thick as that of Altdorf, though far more ominous. The men advanced cautiously into it, but pulled up short when they could see clear enough to make out the shapes within it. They were bipedal, and about as big as a human. But the figures had spiked tails and their heads were oddly shaped. There was a scream in the distance and the fog thickened, obscuring the figures. Sigmund started to shout orders, for his men to form up and for the cannons to be loaded. The knights of Sigmar’s Blood advanced cautiously, but when they saw the enemy they broke into a charge, shouting prayers to their god. Sigmund tried to call for them to stop, but they were swallowed up by the fog. The warrior priest instead called to his men to stay firm. He knew that they had to get out of the fen and out of the wasteland, but he was determined to bring aid to his order. So they moved onwards, inch by tortuous inch. Figures would charge out of the fog, figures with fanged teeth and horribly cyclopean eyes. They wielded cruel bludgeons and blades. The cannons were soon abandoned by the terrified crewmen, though most were still killed or carried off by the swamp daemons. The handgunners faired little better. They shots took down a few of the foe, and their leader with his long rifle later swore that he shot what he thought was a leader of the beasts. However, over half of them never made it out of the fen alive. It was a nightmare, with men crowding together for protection and hiding behind their shields. None could see more than a foot in front of them, and all feared the sight of a screaming beast charging into their shield wall. More than a few of the monsters were brought down by the terrified men, but the hit and run tactics were taking a toll.

Hours later the survivors of the army staggered out of the fog and onto more solid land. It took a further day for them to regroup, and even then it took several hours for them to march out of the wasteland and back to the main road. The reports came in from the unit leaders. Of the Knights of Sigmar’s Blood, three fourths of them fell in battle. Their commander, a fellow warrior priest, recalled fighting his way to the base of one of the giant stone heaps, only to be set upon by hordes of swamp daemons. Only he and one of his men rode out to safety, but his companion was brought low by a thrown spear. The commander of the knights met up with the survivors of the spearmen who were battling ferociously with bow armed daemons that occupied a high point. Even with his aid only half of the spearmen were able to retreat to safety. Of the other knights, they too had seen glory, riding down a host of enemy who had come out of the mist. But they had also fallen prey to the ambushers within the fog, losing over half of their number. It appeared that only Sigmund’s own men came out with minor casualties, as their foe preferred to attack the more lightly armed handgunners and cannon crew. The scouts faired better, though the pistolkorps suffered grievously after they had impetuously charged into the mist to assassinate one of the swamp daemon’s mages, a creature which the young noblemen described as being ‘the most hideous woman we had ever seen, and Karl here had been to Ostland!’. All told, the army that Sigismund had gathered was in tatters. Well over a third of them were dead and few of the wounded could be recovered. The artillery was lost, as was precious time. Even if he could restore the morale of the army Sigmund knew that there was little chance that they could make it in time to aid his liege. The warrior priest looked up to the sky, as if asking Sigmar for guidance. Then he looked over at his army. Night was soon falling, but he doubted that many of them would be able to sleep. When he called for a double of the watch that night, nobody objected. All Sigismund could hope was that with the longer route, they could at least make it in time to help hold the town if his lord was victorious, or to try and avenge him if not.

[KHolbourn]

Tough match that. And as usual some great fluff.

Do you feel the lack of BSB much? I always end up taking one though sometimes think another warrior priest may be a good investment.

[grumbaki]

Well, for my dwarfs a BSB is a must. With them, I almost never leave the BSB home. But for the Empire it is different. For one thing, I have more freedom to pick my fights, so if I lose combat it usually isn't by that much. For example, I won't throw state troops up against black orcs unless my detachment can give me the flank (famous last words, we all know that talk is easy...). What helps with this is the ability to march block/redirect really tough enemies. Secondly, because I use so much cavalry, a battle standard bearer won't be able to reach that many units which are in combat, which really reduces his effectiveness.

What I might do one of these days is more of an infantry heavy army. I've been thinking about having one that looks like this:
(edited)
Captain: Barded Warhorse, Lance, Full Plate, Shield (78) [1+AS]
Captain: Sword of Might, Battle Standard, Armor of Meteoric Iron (115) [1+AS]
Warrior Priest: Barded Warhorse, Heavy Armor, Shield, Hammer of Judgement (135) [2+AS]
19 Swordsmen: FC (139)
-10 swordsmen (60)
-5 Handgunners (40)
19 Spearmen: Shields, FC (134)
-10 swordsmen (60)
-5 Handgunners (40)
19 Greatswords: FC, Banner of Arcane Warding [MR 2] (220)
-10 swordsmen (60)
5 Pistoliers: Outrider with repeater pistol, musician (114)
10 Huntsmen: Marksman (105)
Cannon (100)
Cannon (100)
Total: 1500

The idea for this is mass infantry that won't shift. With the charge, the warrior priest can give the greatswords hatred and that would be deadly. Plus all 3 heroes have a minimum 2+ armor save, so they can survive. Plus, I can march block/shoot enemies that can give the blocks real trouble. Of course, this is all theory hammer, but I think that it might just be crazy enough to work.

[Golden Lion]

Hi Grumbaki,

Great report yet again! I went up against Tomb Kings once with my Empire and was similarly decimated by the casket, the first time that thing went off I was stunned by its effect, it is definitely a MUST dispel part of their army. People think less of it in recent times mostly because there are more troops around that are immune to psychology. It is a wicked piece of machinery though. You played well enough I think! Good balance between threatening with the huntsmen, moving up with the foot and charging with the (slower than TK cav) knights. Wouldn't really dare to answer the question about the casket, yet rendering it invulnerable to shooting seems a bit off the hook! I know that against Stegadons for example, you randomize to hit crew or beast. War machines work differently though.

Remember that you can park your infantry on top of tunnelling markers to force them into combat when they surface where planned.

I like your fluff as well, that was quite original! Nice thinking that there is more lying in wait in the dark forests of the Empire than the foes we all know.

One more thing: I mentioned the swords of might before, but there was some misunderstanding in regards to that comment. However: by my knowledge no duplicates of magic items are allowed in the ARMY. So only one sword of might is allowed in your entire army. Also: you do not gain the armour save bonus for fighting with HW+shield on foot when armed with a magic weapon, they require too much concentration to use.

Cheers and thanks for the report. No worries about the draw, you were still ahead (if your guess was correct)!

[grumbaki]

Golden Lion,

Ah, I misunderstood your comment then. I was under the impression that common magic items are allowed to be duplicated. I will really need to look that up before today's game (hopefully), as my army has two swords of might in it (you can see that I like that item).

Also that is good advice for the tomb scorpions. I'll need to keep that in mind for my next game. Getting it stuck in combat with spearmen/swordsmen seems great, especially as no matter how well it rolls it will at least lose two wounds from combat resolution. I'll just need to make sure that there are no heroes in the unit for it to killing-blow.

And I'm glad you liked the fluff. I find the fimir to be interesting, but I understand why they were dropped. Any race that reproduces via...*ahem*, unwanted intercourse, is not really appropriate for any audience. But the idea of swam demons attacking out of the mist really is cool, and I love the how they are taken from Celtic mythology, something what GW has rarely explored.

[PeeKay]

Golden Lion is correct. Magic items cannot be duplicated between characters unless stated in its description, like the Dispel Scrolls. So many rules picking armies it confuses me often.

Great report and fluff but I wish I knew the Empire and Tomb Kings better. What does the Casket do? It's the first time I have heard of it

[grumbaki]

Casket of Souls:

* Cast every turn automatically with a power level of 2d6.
* Every enemy unit/warmachine/whatever that can draw line of sight to the casket must take a LD test with a -2 penalty.
* For every point you fail the test by, the unit takes a wound with no armor save allowed.

So for the sake of example: The casket goes off and effects a unit of knights. Knights are LD 8, so with the penalty they are down to LD 6. You roll an 11. 11-6=5. 5 knights die with no armor save allowed.

As you can see, this is really, really deadly. This in conjunction with other tomb king magic is nasty as well. Tomb King Hierophants cast their spells with a power level of 2d6, while the tomb prince gets his off at 1d6. So in any one turn I was facing this:

4 bound spells. 1 with power level 1d6, 3 with 2d6. These are spells which allow him a free move, free shooting/close combat attacks/ bring wounds back to his units or characters, or the casket as seen above. As I see it, I would need on average 21 power dice to stop all of his spells (average roll of 3 for each dice) and I only had 5 dispel dice. Tomb King magic really is relentless...

[PeeKay]

Ouch!!! Something like a Banshee Howl but with a LOS instead of a crappy 8" range. Also you were not allowed to shoot the casket so that sucks. Does it effect units with ItP?

I am glad I don't know any Tomb King players

[selone]

I learnt alla bout casket of SOOOOOULS from vaul You did well not to lose against it not having experienced it before

[Kerill]

Good game against the tomb kings (issues aside). The hierophant should indeed have got smacked by the cannon, one of the reasons why people almost never take the casket since he gets, at best a 4+ ward. Having said that I don't think the casket priest has to be the hierophant.

[grumbaki]

Now for the next installment of these repots. I didn’t get the game in against Scott that I was hoping for, but fortunately I ran into Andrew. I had just finished getting massacred in warbands against a VC player (he only actually killed 1 swordsmen, but due to fear he chased everyone else off the board…oh, and his zombies grew from 10 models to 55!) But enough about that…

Andrew is exactly the kind of player that I like to play against. Why? Well, he won an award in a War of the Rings tournament, not for winning, but for having the most fluffy army. Well, without further ado, here is the report:

Empire:

* Captain: sword of fate, full plate, shield, barded warhorse
* Warrior Priest: sword of might, enchanted shield, barded warhorse, heavy armor
* Mage: lvl 2 lore of light (burning gaze, anti fear bubble one), ring of volans (burning gaze), van horstman’s speculum
* 5 knights: full command, war banner
* 5 inner circle knights: full command, steel standard
* 5 pistoliers: marksman with repeater pistol, musician
* 10 huntsmen: marksman
* 20 spearmen: shields, full command
- 10 swordsmen
* 2x cannons
* helblaster
1501 points

Horrible mistake! Again, I have one too many special choices. I had used my 2k list as a base to make this one (with fidgeting to get rid of a mage and lowered the grand master to Konrad among other things), so once again I messed up on my special choices. My apologies to Andrew for that.

My 2000 list:
Grand Master: sword of power, laurels of victory +126
Lvl 2 mage: Doomfire Ring +130
20 swordsmen: FC +145
-10 halberdiers: +50
-6 handgunners +48

Total: 2000

In retrospect, I probably should have just made a new list from scratch.


Lizardmen

* Scar Veteran: ASF sword, shield, probably some armor
* Skink Priest: Engine of the Gods (Uron’s Thunderbolt, Portent of Far), dispel scroll
* 10 skink skirmishers
* 2 salamanders
* 3x units of 21ish saurus warriors: spears, shields, full command

Terrain:

We decided that you can’t always pick the perfect terrain, so we just used what was on the table when we got to it. For the purposes of the map, his army is orange (he actually painted them with a red-orange theme that looks great, especially on the skinks) and mine in blue. Rather than bombard you with colors for each unit, please see below for a description of the terrain and deployment.

http://www.warseer.com/gallery/data/..._Lizardmen.jpg

On the lizardman side: hill on the left, woods on the far right.
On the Empire side: hill in the center (just along the table edge), woods in the center-left and the right.
The center was free of terrain.

Deployment:
Lizardmen: Next to the hill on the left was a unit of saurus, the engine of the gods and then the last two units of saurus. The scar veteran joined the center unit. In the woods on the right were the salamanders and skinks in the woods.

Empire: Pistoliers behind the woods on the left, inner circle to the left of the woods with the captain. The mage went in the forest. Helblaster and spearmen in the center, with cannons behind them on the hill. Regular knights on the far right. The huntsmen went to the side of the hill on the far left flank of the lizardman army.

Turn 1:

Empire goes first. The pistoliers and knights on the left move up a bit and the huntsmen move 4’’ to get up on the hill. The mage joined the spearmen when I remembered that he could be zapped with lightning. The rest of the army shuffles a little bit but mostly stays still. In the magic phase burning gaze killed 3 skink handlers and wounded a salamander. Both cannons fired at the engine of the gods. The first one rolled a 2 for its distance and only bounced 2’’, so it missed. The other hit the engine (randomized on the stegadon), wounded and rolled a 6 to wound. The ancient stegadon fell and the mage was then on foot.

The lizardmen advanced. The far left saurus were marched blocked, and the skink priest joined it for protection. Magic only got off portent of far. From this point on I won’t mention his magic, as I stopped the lightning spell each turn and portent only went off when he was not in combat. On the other hand, my warrior priest would never get a single prayer off, and my mage would only get the odd burning gaze on his saurus which only accounted for a few. The salamanders fired at my regular knights but were out of range.

Turn 2

No charges. Konrad leaves his knights and joins the spearmen, while the mage runs back to the woods. He was trying to hit my pistoliers with the lightning each turn, and I’d rather lose the mage than the pistoliers, so I saw no harm in running him out. The pistoliers advance up and everyone else just positions. Magic is stopped, and he used a dispel scroll to stop my ring from getting off burning gaze. In the shooting phase my cannons fired at the salamanders, killing both and a skink. The remaining two skinks fled, never to come back. The bowmen continued to fire into the block of saurus that was closest to them, dropping one and the pistoliers added to the volley as well. The helblaster would repeatedly fire into the saurus block that contained the hero. No misfires were ever rolled (I had confidently assured my opponent that my helblasters blow up every game), so by the end of turn 3 the saurus only had one full rank.

The lizardman advance continued, with his skinks in the woods to my right and his two blocks getting dangerously close to my models. He also moved up his left saurus block giving their rear to my pistoliers, while the mage left the unit so it wouldn’t be run down in the charge.

Turn 3:

Charge! The knights charge the front of the saurus warriors while the pistoliers charge their rear. The rest of my army stays put. Shooting takes down a few saurus warriors from his two bigger blocks. Also the huntsmen target his lone mage and kill him with a volley. In hand to hand combat his saurus kill 2 pistoliers for four casualties in return. He loses combat, breaks and is run down. In retrospect, the pistolier charge was kind of risky. If he managed to kill just one more pistolier than I would not have gotten the rear bonus and could have possibly lost the combat. Thank Sigmar that the dice were with me.

Left Flank Secure

In his turn his right most block charges my knights, but were out of range. His skinks fired on my knights to no effect.

Turn 4:

Charge! My knights and spearmen charge his right most saurus (the spearmen for their flank). They flee and get away. My detachment moves up to support the parent unit (thankfully with wheeling they still gave a frontal charge to the saurus). My cavalry units move up to surround the fleeing saurus.

In his turn the fleeing saurus rally, facing my normal knights. The other saurus (with their hero/general) charge the spearmen, while the skinks surprised me by charging the flank of my detachment! I really hadn’t seen that coming, and it threw a kink in my plans. In hand to hand combat his scar veteran targeted my captain and wounded him twice. Thankfully, I passed the armor saves, and in return inflicted 7 wounds on the saurus hero. His saurus killed 2-3 spearmen for a wound back, but the saurus held. The skinks failed to hurt any of the swordsmen, but lost one in return. They held and the swordsmen turned to face them.

Turn 5:

With my inner circle and pistoliers facing the wrong direction, I held off on engaging the rallied (and almost untouched) saurus block. Instead, I started their encirclement and my pistoliers let loose a volley into their flank. Along with the archers/cannons, this did wonders in reducing their numbers. I also started to move my helblaster away, incase my spearmen broke I didn’t want the saurus overrunning into the war machine. In hand to hand combat, my spearmen/captain failed to do any wounds and lost two more spearmen, but the saurus held. The swordsmen, who had recently turned around, killed two skinks for no loss and the remaining ones fled and escaped. This left the detachment stranded in the woods.

With it being his turn, he looked at the board and realized that there was little he could do. His depleted saurus block was looking at getting double charged by my knights no matter what he did and the other block probably wouldn’t hold much longer. With that, he called the game.

Outcome: Victory for the Empire!

Thoughts:

1. My dice were amazing. I haven’t played a game before were the dice always (ok, almost always. I had one cannon shot miss due to the dice…) went my way. His dice rolls were fairly average, but mine were amazing. That went a long way for victory.
2. Mobility is key. The core of his army were 3 large blocks of saurus warriors, with salamanders and skinks as the mobile elements. He admitted after the game that the skinks or the salamanders should have gone on the other flank to protect it. But for the salamanders, there were too many good targets on the right flank, and I suppose that he didn’t want his skinks making a long trek in the open on the left flank. On the other hand, my cav/scouts once again did their job in controlling the rhythm of the battle. I find that having these options opens up a whole new aspect of the game, an aspect that I never got to develop while using my dwarfs.
3. All hail the Imperial Gunnery School! The cannon crew were crack shots that didn’t let me down. I just really have to say that for once the cannons did everything that they were supposed to, and more. I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that if I didn’t get rid of that engine of the gods on turn 1, it could have been a different game. With that said, after deployment I was praying to Sigmar for turn 1, so it couldn’t get its shield off. I’ve never played against one before, but I’ve heard horror stories (ancient stegadon, mage, warmachine all rolled into one? Ouch!)
4. Knights are great, but I am really trying to use them correctly. By themselves, it is too risky to use them. But they are great for controlling what your enemy does, because nobody wants to present a flank to them.

[grumbaki]

Following his battle against the cursed chieftain Surt, Konrad and his surviving knights made their way back towards their chapter house. It was a long journey, and through it the Seneschal of the Order nursed his wounds. He had feared that the blow from the Wight Surt had broken his ribs, but was pleased to learn that his wounds were far less severe than he had thought. He had left with the priest of Morr most of the warrior monks.

After a week’s ride, Konrand and his men were nearly back to the fortress-monastery. They had made camp for the night when another one of Konrad’s visions struck him. While far from the most harrowing, it was by far the strangest he had ever had. A lizard like beastman crawled out of a pool that was decorated with arcane glyphs. It was full grown already and it was huge. The lizard-man, as Konrad would think of it, was as tall as a human, but far more muscular and its’ scales were like armor. The vision changed and the lizardman was fighting a different kind of beastman, a strange rat-man hybrid. Obviously, they were fighting in chaos tainted forests, as the foliage was different from any seen naturally in the old world. The only similarity between the forests of the old world and the forest seen in the vision was that the plants were green, but even then it was a different shade. The fighting seemed to go on forever, with both sides unleashing mighty beasts as they fought what was total war. Mixed in with it were scenes of death, where this lizard-man led its bands against numerous human and inhuman forces. Usually the sword did not just show martial pursuits, but personal ones as well; family, friends, lovers, all that was important to the person who was fated to die. This creature only had death and blood. Then it was standing before what looked like a giant, bloated toad, the most disgusting creature of chaos Konrad had ever seen. They said nothing, but Konrad could feel the intensity of the beast’s loyalty, or worship, Konrad could not tell which, for the toad like creature. Finally, the vision ended with the lizard marching through a forest in the Empire, a forest near Bogenhaffen. Usually Konrad would wake from these dreams with a feeling of intimacy with his target, having learned of his foes’ hopes, dreams and failings. This time it was different, he was left feeling cold. It was if his foe was created only to kill, not to think, to love or to laugh. In a way it was like feeling what it is like to be an ant. It was a feeling that Konrad did not like at all.

Konrad and his men reached the large town of Bogenhaffen in good time. His order was on good terms with the Burghomeisters of the town, so he didn’t think that it would be too hard to convince them of the threat posed to them. These beastmen, after all, were heading straight for their town. Or close enough to it, for Konrad’s purposes. A small army was soon raised using the town’s guard. Konrad brought with him to the army five veteran knights, the order’s pistoliers and bow armed warrior monks. The town contributed handsomely to his cause, with a regiment of spearmen, a brace of cannons, a helblaster volley gun and even the services of the Reiksguard. The Reiksguard was in most ways the opposite of Konrad’s order. Only the first sons of the noble houses of the Empire could join the prestigious order, whom were the bodyguards of the Emperor. Needless to say, leadership of the army was given to the captain of the Reiksguard. While no warrior priest, his fiery rhetoric was more than enough to instill hatred for the enemy into the hearts of his charges. With so much noble blood pumping through their veins, their captain naturally took control of the army. Knowing of the reputation of the Order of the Broken Lance, he assigned them to the far left flank, far away from the rest of the army. His men took what he considered a position of honor on the right flank, ready to support the infantry and to take advantage of any opening created by the artillery.

Konrad accepted this with good grace. Truth be told, he too was of noble blood, but he saw no reason to tell the captain of the Reiksguard this. In his order, devotion and skill were all that mattered, and few looked kindly on those who tried to pull rank with their blood. It was a curious tradition that got the order few friends, but Konrad knew where his loyalties lay. It was too his order, not to a pompous noble from Altdorf. And truth be told, he was comfortable on the left flank. The enemy would be drawn into the center, towards the waiting infantry and artillery, which would leave their flank open for he and his men to exploit.

The first sign of the enemy came from the sounds of drums and crashing trees. Every man of the Empire watched with baited breath as the enemy emerged. They were numerous, and each one looked like it could break through a shield wall single handily. Most worrying though was the monster that walked amongst them, a giant beast that few would ever have thought existed. The giant lizard sported some kind of device on its back. Well, it did, until the artillery opened fire on it. The small lizard ontop of it stood up and screeched a spell of protection. The first cannon ball slowed in the air, falling well short of the creature, and then slowly rolled to a stop. The second cannon ball got through the creature’s wards and struck the beast directly between the eyes. The cannon ball was fixed deep in its’ cracked skull, and the stegadon could only let out a groan before it collapsed. A cheer went up through the Empire line and Konrad kicked his horse into action. His men began to approach the first of the large blocks of these lizard-men, while his pistoliers quickly made their way around the enemy. Konrad was getting ready to order the charge when a glance to his left showed him the target of his dreams, the chieftain of this odd beastman army. He gave a quick order to the preceptor to take command of the flank as Konrad spurred his horse towards the spearmen. The enemy where getting closer, and Konrad wanted to be there when the chieftain made it into the Imperial lines. Seeing him coming, as well as the enemy, the Imperial battle mage quickly ran from the unit into the safety of the trees. Konrad let him go as he easily dismounted and took up his position with the spearmen. None dared challenge him, as truth be told, most of the spearmen were green recruits, and were glad to have a warrior besides their sergeant who was an actual veteran.

The Saurus let out a bestial roar as they charged. Konrad braced himself as the chieftain came right for him, judging Konrad to be the leader of the humans. The creature was fast, and it rained blow upon blow on Konrad before he could even react. Fortunately, Konrad was armored from head to foot in full plate armor, so bar a concussion he was in little real danger. What did stop him though was when one of the blows got past his shield and hit him on the chest, right where Surt had laid his blow. Konrad almost fell, and the Saurus stood forward to deliver the coup de’ grace. Nobody could help him, as both men who stood next to him had died, for they were not armored like Konrad was. The blow fell, but with gritted teeth Konrad raised his shield and blocked it. Surging up he brought his sword forward into a lunge. The lizardman blocked with its shield, but the sword of fate went right through the armor, through the creature’s arm and through its body. If the creature was surprised it gave no sign, as it responded by biting Konrad on the shoulder. Teeth broke was its jaws closed on the steel, but even then Konrad could feel the armor caving in. With a roar he steeped back and swung his sword in an arc, taking the creature’s skull cap off. Blood and brain matter flew, and for one horrible moment it looked like it may keep on fighting. Then it fell to its knees and finally to the floor. The spearmen, galvanized by the sight of the chieftain’s death rallied around Konrad and began to push back. The lizardmen were killing two to three humans for everyone one whom they lost, but that didn’t matter. To even get were they were they had to walk through Helblaster fire, which left two-thirds of their number dead on the field. Konrad raised his bloody sword, and with a prayer to Sigmar on his lips he joined in the fight. One by one the lizardmen fell, impaled by spears or cut down by Konrad’s sword. However, they all fell where they stood, as unmovable as a mountain.

It was only after the battle that Konrad learned of what had happened outside of his duel. He learned this from the captain of the Reiksguard, who had come with a face red with anger. Konrad, in front of the army, was berated by the nobleman for abandoning his post. He had ordered Konrad to fight in the left flank, not with the spearmen, and by doing so he had endangered the army. Konrad’s preceptor had only made the matter worse by pointing out that his knights and pistoliers had secured the left flank, and that the seneschal’s actions had led to the death of the enemy commander in personal combat. This did not go over well. Captain Lucien was upset on the stolen glory. His men had charged the enemy, who had fled. By the time his men had caught up with them, the enemy had reformed into a shield wall, a shield wall that was broken by the charge of Konrad’s already victorious knights. What Lucien saw as his men’s glory was stolen by the intervention of ‘common born thugs in armor.’ Konrad stood his ground in front of this. He could barely stand, for unlike Lucien he had fought in two consecutive battles and he was wounded. Konrad looked around at the crowd which had formed. He could tell whose side the common soldiers were on, for they had fought with him and shared in his pain. He knew then and there that he would gain nothing by arguing with von Herst. The reputation of his order might suffer from the man’s charges amongst the courts of the Empire, but it would grow with the common man. So Konrad surprised von Herst. With a smile he offered his hand and said “My lord, it was an honor to fight alongside you and your men.” Von Herst looked at the outstretched hand and sneered “I don’t make it a habit to touch peasants.” With that he mounted his horse and led his men away, back to Bogenhaffen. Even with the pain Konrad smiled, because yes, he knew where his loyalties lay.