The order of the broken lance

[selone]

Congrats on the result, spear armed saurus can be scary if used well, got to say I loved the story too

[Golden Lion]

Great, great story Grumbaki. Didn't lose interest for one bit. That battle went fairly well too, I think mostly, as you said, due to effective shooting and control over the movement phase. Pistoliers are fanastic against slow armies, especially when there isn't too much shooting arrayed against you.

Thanks again, and looking forward to more.

[RaZeR]

Nice report and a really nice story
Loving the double-reports, keep up the good work

[grumbaki]

Thanks for all the comments. It took a bit for me to figure out how to incorporate lizardmen into this story, seeing as how they are not a common sight around the Marienburg-Wasteland-Empire Border region.

I really agree with what Golden Lion said about Pistoliers. They are great against slow armies with little shooting. However, I do fear for them if I run into an army that can cover it's flanks with something like repeater crossbows, or even elven archers. Plus, with the way my lists are set up, I'd say that I'll likely have trouble against armies like wood elves that are even better than me at running circles around the enemy. But I guess that I'll face that problem when I get there.

[grumbaki]

(No battle report right now, just some more fluff)

A month passed, and Konrad spent the time recovering within the fortress monestary of the order. The grand master had yet to return, but news had come back from the battle field. The orc invasion was larger than any had anticipated, and for the past month more and more greenskins had poured out of the mountains. Nearly every able bodied knight had ridden out with the grand master to join in the defense of the Empire's borders against this. With the war in the north the state armies were all but pulled away, and this meant that there were few soldiers to spare for the trouble that the order now found itself caught up in. The town was under a state of siege, with constant sorties being made to bring in much needed supplies, and with that constant attacks. The wooden walls of the town were said to be knee deep in goblin corpses. Most worrying to Konrad was that there had been no news of any black orcs in the attacks, meaining that the warlord had a plan. He would have ridden out immediately to help in the war if it were not for the direct orders of the Grand Master for him to defend the monestary and to act as its lord in his stead.

This left Konrad with a mere handful of knights and a force of warrior monks. Truth be told, he could raise mroe due to the nature of the order, but he was loathe to do so. Unlike many other Sigmarite orders, the Order of the Broken Lance was not chaste. Far from it, most of the older knights were married and so were a majority of the monks. This had a rather shameful origin. It was that their founder, though a pious man, was a nortorious womanizer, and thanks to his large contribution to the church was able to secure this right for himself and for his men. But, due to his oaths he did agree to finally settle down with but one woman, who just happened to be his wife. With von Hertwig long dead there had been many voices within the church that had called for an end to this, and for all members of the order to live celibate lives. Nothing had come of it, as for all of their talk the order provided an important defense for the Empire's borders, and as long as it fulfilled its purposes there were few who really cared what went on behind its walls.

For the order, this meant that a small town of Hertwigsburg had grown around their fortress monestary. It was there tha tthe majority of the people lived. It was an odd arrangement, but one that needs explaining. When a child was born to a member of the order, be he a knight or monk, the child was in no way a member. Only upon reaching adulthood could the child make an oath to join the order, though until then he was considered the property of his parents, and thus the order as well. This oath would sign the person's life and wealth to that of the monestary, and that of their family. This meant that the entire town was owned by the order, and with it all of the produce that it made. Much of this came from the winery of the town, which gave the order most of its revenues, which were much needed for the upkeep of its armed forces. This also provided a rather stable supply of new recruits, which could not always be filled by warriors who had chosen to make the journey to the monestary.

Besides for the town, there was the monestary itself. It was really half church, half fortress, with the inner keep being a grand church of Sigmar. The holy fortress had seperate housing in it for any unmarried men in the order, which in truth made up a large part of it as many of its members had travelled there in the hopes of one day attaining knighthood. Along with these were the order's barracks, armory, stables and library. The most menial tasks of upkeep were done mostly by the children of members of the order, but the roles of trainers for new recruits, librarians, and in many cases priests, came from a different source. These were in large part made up out of members of the order who were crippled in battle. For such a militant instituion it was a common matter, and the order did all that it could to care for, and give meaning to the lives of, all who were injured in its service.

All of this created a largely self sustaining community that Konrad now found himself lording over. Looking out from his room within the inner keep he could seen Hertwigsburg layed out before him from beyond the outer walls. By no way was it as big as any of the major towns, as it could fit within Bogenhoffen four times over and still have room. But it was profitable and well defended. Plus, with the monks of the order knowing that they fought not only for their god, but also for their families and home, it often gave them that extra spark of determination that was needed to win battles. Konrad was worried though. The monestary was horribly under manned, and if rumors were to be believed, Lucien von Herst had been spreading rumors of heresy against the order. It seemed like few believed them, or truly cared, but if the war against the orcs went poorly and the order was left crippled, then who knew what would happen? With a sigh Konrad turned from the window and back to the papers on his desk. He was lost in his melachony thoughts until his wife came in, carrying their child in her arms. A smile broke across Konrad's face, momentarily erasing the lines of worry. Ever since he had become Seneschal and had inherited the sword of fate he had become somewhat distant from his wife and from his young son. The guilt of killing those who he felt inimate too had been too much. But now that he was back and recovering from his wounds, the simple pleasure of being around loved ones was a welcome relief, and a needed one. The visage of Nagash especially haunted him, and he was thankful for anything which could bring happiness into his life.

[RaZeR]

Yay more fluff
Nice work, is it building to anything in particular?

Keep it coming

[selone]

Indeed tip top story writing matey

[KHolbourn]

I can't persuade you to write some fluff for my army on my thread by any chance?

[grumbaki]

Thanks again for the comments. Razer, as for your question: I have a basic outline of where I want this to go. I just need to shoehorn the different armies into it. As I don’t know whether I’ll be facing tomb kings, vampires or Bretonnians, it can be kind of hard to do this. I’m just really glad that I’ve got to play against another Empire army multiple times. Without that, this would have been much harder. Sometimes I just need to go with the flow. However, I do have the following points to go by.

1) If a character dies in game, he is dead. Many people will have their main character be ‘wounded’. For example, if Konrad dies in game, he is either dead or crippled. Harsh, but there it is. I am kind of surprised he has lasted this long, which his great because it has given me time to flesh out his character. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to do so for the grand master, which is too bad because I had plans for him.
2) In early August I am going to China (yay!) to see my parents in law. After that, I’m off to law school, and if that is anything like college then I won’t be playing any warhammer for a long time. Because of this, this entire series has to end by then. With 1-2 games a week, that doesn’t leave much time, about three weeks.
3) For this series, I have different ‘endings’ in my mind. It’ll really depend on how well they do in the coming weeks on which ending will be shown. Yes, this does mean that the order can be totally destroyed. Just because they are my creation doesn’t mean that I will have any trouble with killing them all.


Selone, thank you for enjoying my favorite part of these reports. I am trying to work on the quality of the actual battle reports, but the fluff means the most to me. And KHolbourn, if I have the time then I’d enjoy to. If there is any battle report that you’d like some fluff for, I’ll give it a shot (no promises, but I do enjoy this). Just PM me, along with any details of what you’d like in it (such as characters, setting, or if anything goes).

With that said, I had two games today. Both were again Chaos Warriors with a mono-god Nurgle theme (and two different generals). The first one 1500 points and the second 1000.

I've got the battle reports written up, but I'm still working on the fluff. Once it is done I'll post them.

[RaZeR]

Cool
Looking forward to seeing what happens then! Although it'll be sad to see the story end...

KHolbourn, how about asking grumbaki to write up some fluff for our game this weekend?

[grumbaki]

I'd love to, it should be fun.

Game 1 1500 Points

Nurglite Army:
Chaos Champion: Barded Warhorse, Shield, Magic Armor (makes the enemy re-roll hits), probably a magic weapon (Eye of gods gives him +1 LD)
Chaos Sorcerer: 2 Dispel Scrolls, Chariot (Magnificent Buboes, Plague Squall) (eye of gods gives him MR 2)
6 Knights: FC, Mark of Nurgle
20 Warriors: Shields, FC, Mark of Nurgle
20 Marauders: Flails, FC, Mark of Nurgle
10 Hounds

Empire:
Captain: Sword of Fate, Barded Warhorse, Shield, Full Plate
Warrior Priest: Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armor, Barded Warhorse
Mage: Lvl 2 (rule of burning iron and spirit of the forge), ring of volans (spirit of the forge), dispel scroll (amazing spells for fighting chaos warriors! Against chaos knights, spirit of the forge does 2d6 str 7 hits with no armor saves allowed)
20 Swordsmen: FC
-10 Swordsmen Detachment
5 Knights: FC, Warbanner
5 Knights: FC, Steel Standard
5 Pistoliers: Marksman w/ repeater pistol, musician
10 Huntsmen: Marksman
2 Cannons
Helblaster
(1484 points: I had made a similar list to the one in the last game, but after the game started I dropped the IC down to regular knights when I realized that I had again taken too many special choices and just swallowed the points lost)

Terrain:

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

Green=woods
Brown=hills
Blue=pond

Deployment:
Chaos (top side)
Chariot on the left side of the lake. On the other side of the lake are the marauders and the knights. By the right woods are the chaos warriors and then the dogs.

Empire (bottom side)
SS Knights (with WP) between the hills and forest on the left, Swordsmen on the other side of the forest. WB Knights (with captain) to their right. The Helblaster goes between WB Knights and Swordsmen, with both cannons on the hill behind them. The Pistoliers go on the far right, past the last forest, and the Huntsmen set up in the center forest closest to the chaos lines.

Turn 1:
Chaos goes first. They advance, with the dogs and warriors going after the huntsmen in the woods. Magic is stopped.
The Pistoliers run up to the dogs, while the huntsmen move out between the two woods so the warriors can’t see them. The knights shuffle a bit, but mostly stay put. He stops my magic, using a scroll to insure that the ring of volans doesn’t destroy his knights. My cannons open fire at his chariot. The first one rolls horribly and lands just in front of it. The other hits it but fails to wound. The pistoliers and huntsmen kill 7 out of 10 dogs, but because of the LD of his hero they hold.

Turn 2:

Dogs charge my huntsmen, who hold. The rest of the army moves up, but his chariot goes up cautiously between the hill and pond. In his magic phase he Plague Squall through, but misfires (yes, misfires. Plague Squall is a magic stone thrower attack, but if you misfire then it lands on the caster). It hits his own caster and does 3 wounds to the chariot and 1 to the sorcerer. In hand to hand combat his dogs kill one huntsman, who then kill all 3 dogs in return.

In my turn I reposition a little, but do little actual movement. Magic is stopped. During the shooting phase one cannon fires at his chariot and the other fires at his knights. The cannon firing at his chariot lands a shot right in front of it, but misfires and thus fails to bounce. The second cannon kill 1 knight. The helblaster opens fire on the knights, and even with -2 to hit (mark of nurgle and long range) it brings down 3 knights. They pass their panic test. The pistoliers and huntsmen run circles around the chaos warriors, shooting down a handful.

Turn 3:

The chaos knights move up right in front of my knights. He basically gives me the option of shooting them for a turn or charging them (a flank shot with a cannon mind you). His marauders move up, but his chariot again stays still. I think that he was tempting me to charge the marauders with my knights, so he could counter-charge with the chariot. Magic is stopped.

My WB Knights charge his knights. Magic is again stopped (gah!), but in the shooting phase my cannons hit his chariot once, which hits the chariot and destroys it (finally!). In the close combat phase my captain accepts the challenge of his hero. I hit twice, but after being forced to re-roll I only hit once. It wounds (doing 2 wounds) and the hero dies. One knight is killed by mine, and his horse (yes, the horse, not the knight) takes down one of mine. He breaks and flees (and is unable to rally as only 1 chaos knight was left).

At this point I had two units of knights facing his marauders (one on the flank, the other in the front), so no matter what he’d be flank charged. The caster was one foot (with one wound) and the chaos warriors were never going to catch their enemies. He called the game, which was kind of disappointing but I understand why he did.

Victory!

Thoughts:

1. After the game he complained long and hard about my shooting, saying that I took too much. I tried to defend myself, saying that it really isn’t that bad for an Empire army, and that my dwarfs pack much more firepower. I also pointed out that if I rely on state troops he’ll just chew right through them and if I took out the shooting then I’d probably just throw in more knights and some outriders, which would be just as bad. He didn’t seem to take too kindly to this and then lamented his lack of shooting options/reliance on magic as a ranged attack. So, I ask you, was my army too shooty, and if so what changes should I make for a better comp score?
2. I love controlling the movement phase! Sorry, I’m still a dwarf player at heart, so this leaves a warm glow after years of having had circles run around me. Huntsmen and Pistoliers are golden when the enemy lacks a proper way to counter them.
3. Don’t rely on magic. Even with the perfect set up for killing chaos warriors with my mage, I still didn’t get a spell off all game. Sure, it was only turn 3, but after that it is kind of late to target chaos knights.
4. Terrain is key. I was able to shelter my knights from any of his charges and force him to come to me. He wasn’t able to get around the terrain with his infantry, and by advancing he’d either have to ignore the swordsmen+artillery to face the knights, or he’d have to accept the flank charges. Also the heavy terrain meant that setting up a charge against my knights was difficult.
5. In some games, by directing where the enemy can go and by dominating the shooting phase you can take control of the movement phase as well. What really helped in this was my heroic huntsmen who took down the last of those dogs. Having them rushing my helblaster would not have been fun.


Game 2 1000 points

Dwayne was nice enough to loan his army to Andy, a new warhammer player. Andy is starting WoC (he has 500 pts of them but hasn’t played a game yet), so this would be a great lesson for him. Dwayne stuck with him to help him make his army list and then offered some tactical advice as the game went (but not too much, which is best for someone who is learning, my thanks again to Dwayne for being kind enough to do this).

When making my list, I was sure to not use any artillery. This was done A) to prove that I can win without it and B) in 1000 points I rarely use artillery and I don’t like tailoring my lists (as I knew he’d have a chariot).

Nurglite Rearguard:

Chaos Sorcerer of Nurgle: Mark of Nurgle, Chariot, Dispel Scroll (Magnificent Buboes, Plague Squall), eyes of gods-causes terror
12 Chaos Warriors: Mark of Nurgle, Shields, FC
12 Chosen: Shields, Extra Hand Weapons, Mark of Nurgle, FC
15 Marauders: Flails, Mark of Nurgle, FC
5 Marauder Horsemen: Throwing Axes, Light Armor, Mark of Nurgle, FC

Empire:

Captain: Sword of Fate, Barded Warhorse, Shield, Full Plate
Warrior Priest: Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armor, Barded Warhorse
Mage: Lvl 2 (rune of burning iron and distillation of molten silver), Ring of Volans (distillation of molten silver)
* 20 Swordsmen: FC
5 Knights: FC, Warbanner
5 Inner Circle Knights: FC, Steel Standard
5 Pistoliers: Marksman w/ repeater pistol, musician

• Usually I would have taken huntsmen instead, but I decided against a new player it wouldn’t be fair to give him nothing to catch. Plus, the idea of going through another argument about my list didn’t seem very appealing. The swordsmen were there for that purpose. Usually, I don’t see much point sending state troops up against chaos warriors unless I have a surprise up my sleeve. For this game, I really didn’t (I didn’t even have the points for a detachment!). I consoled myself that a general doesn’t always get to pick the perfect army.

Terrain:
Same as last game
http://www.warseer.com/gallery/data/...re_v_Chaos.jpg

Deployment:
Chaos (top side)

Warriors to the left of the pond. Marauders to the right of the pond, with the chosen to the right of them. The chariot went between the marauders and the chosen. The horsemen took the right flank.

Empire (bottom side)
Inner circle on the far left, regular knights to the right of them, swordsmen a bit further right, and finally pistoliers to the far right.

Turn 1:

Chaos went first and they advanced. Magic killed the preceptor of the regular knight unit. The Empire responded by mostly staying put. The swordsmen moved up a bit to give the mage room to see the horsemen through the gap in the trees. 2d6 str 4 shots later and only 1 horseman was left, who didn’t panic.

Turn 2:

Again, chaos advanced. He got his stone-thrower type spell through, but misfired. It hit on his own chariot, but didn’t do any damage (even with 12 hits, 6 on the mage and 6 on the chariot). My inner circle knights then charged his warriors and my pistoliers ran up to his last horseman and shot him down. In the magic phase I got some re-rolls for my captain (to hit and wound in close combat). In hand to hand my inner circle killed 4 warriors, broke them and ran them down.

Turn 3:

His units and chariot were starting to get mixed up at this point, so he did his best to clear that movement mess up. Magic was stopped. In my phase the regular knights charged his marauders and the rest of the army shuffled. Shooting from the pistoliers put a wound on his chariot (damned mark of nurgle). In hand to hand 5 marauders died (3 from Konrad, thanks to the priest) for 1 knight in return. The marauders held.

Turn 4:

He couldn’t charge his chariot due to lack of space, so he moved his units around. The chosen were gunning for my swordsmen and the chariot lined up for a flank charge against my knights next turn. Magic killed another regular knight (I hate buboes). In hand to hand Konrad killed 3 more marauders and the last 2 knights took down 1 more. The marauders broke and were run down.

Luckily when my turn started terror didn’t send anyone running. The knights turned around, though the inner circle had just got around the pond and were pretty much out of the game. Magic killed one chosen.

Turn 5:

The chosen move up to my swordsmen (who had been slowly backing up for most of the game), finally getting them to the point where I'd have to accept a charge next turn. I dispel buboes, but he gets plauge squall off. It scatters away from my troops, hitting nothing (whew!).

In my turn the regular knights charge his chariot (passing their terror test). The pistoliers try to shoot his chosen, but multiple shot + mark of nurgle means one hit which doesn’t wound. Magic equals a miscast which wounds the mage. Konrad then kills the sorcerer twice over and the chariot flees.

Turn 6:

The chariot rallies and his warriors finally charge my swordsmen. In close combat the chosen use two weapons (15 attacks, 10 hits, 10 wounds!) which leave 6 swordsmen dead. The swordsmen hold.

In the last part of turn 6 Konrad and his knights charge the chariot and the pistoliers rear charge the chosen (done for fluff reasons, they want to prove themselves so they can be knights! Plus I didn’t like the idea of anyone in the order abandoning their comrades). The chaos warriors kill 3 more swordsmen and 2 pistoliers for 1 casualty back. The chosen lose by 1 (15 models with the mage, so I have 2 ranks, outnumber, rear, standard and one wound. 7 in total, to the chaos 5 wounds and standard) but the chosen hold. The chariot loses combat and is run down.

Victory! (And we actually lasted all 6 turns)

Thoughts:

1. I love knights. I think that I mentioned that before. They were my hammers in both games. A lesson though: Don’t run large blocks of marauders with flails. Even with ranks and a standard, T 3 AS 6+ doesn’t cut it. For such troops, 4+ AS from a shield is a better investment, so they can hold out long enough for chaos warriors to help them. A small unit of 10 marauders with flails is probably better, as they can be used as a flanking unit.
2. Konrad with his set up really is worth it. In these two games he took down both enemy generals thanks to the sword of fate. I’ve heard that many people don’t take it because they don’t like limiting their options on what a hero can do. I find that the Empire generally lacks the tools for taking down really hard enemy heroes/monsters in close combat, and Konrad is perfect for that role. We’ve got plenty of other ways to take down rank and file as it is.
3. State troops cannot stand up to chaos elites. I knew that going into this battle, but this proves it. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they held against their onslaught (and that my opponent never targeted the mage). Throughout these battles my state troops have been pretty darn brave. Sigmar protects!
4. Mark of Nurgle is really nasty. -1 WS doesn’t seem like much, except that it means my WS 4 becomes a 3, and that can be huge. Also the -1 to hit against shooting really spoiled the pistoliers’ day.
5. Always make sure that your units have space. His chariot got sandwiched between his infantry (due to the pond and woods restricting their movement. This robbed him of a flank charge against my knights.
6. Small units of chaos warriors can deal plenty of death to take out other infantry, but they’ll struggle against a charge from heavy cavalry. After the game Dwayne said that he usually prefers taking units of 20 warriors because of this, but that means that they can be really expensive.
7. One more turn and I’d have been screwed. As is, he got half points for my swordsmen, regular knights and mage (222.5 victory points). If we went into turn 7 he’d have gotten full points for my pistoliers, mage and swordsmen (569 victory points). It’d still be a victory, but less of one. In retrospect, charging in with my pistoliers was really foolish, but as I said in the report it fit their character to do so.
8. I think too much.

[grumbaki]

Konrad was sleeping soundly next to his wife when the vision hit. For once, the rules of the sword were broken, as his vision was of two people, but that was hardly surprising when chaos was involved. Konrad saw a small norse village located along the sea of claws. Twins were born and all throughout the village the norsemen rejoiced, for the children were obviously blessed by the gods. The woman who had given birth to them had sickened during the last month of her pregnancy leading most to believe that she was as good as dead. She would have been killed if it were not for the warnings of the tribe’s shaman. Just as she died from her sickeness the children were born, two twisted, diseased parodies of life. One was small, weak and skeletal, the other bloated and foul. As the children grew the tribe was gifted with the plagues of the Crow God, gifts that were happily accepted. The once idyllic village was turned into a nightmare of rotting warriors, barren fields and polluted water. The children, as they reached adulthood had grown into their roles. The bloated one was a monster of a man, wearing armor that was splitting from his girth. A great warrior, Konrad was forced to witness how he put his scythe to good use raiding the lands of other tribes as well as the coasts of Kislev. The skeletal one had grown into a sorcerer, whose crimes were such that Konrad would later pray for the memories to be erased. Besides for their physical mutations, there was something deeper. The twins shared more than a bond, they shared the same mind. What one saw, the other did as well. What one thought, the other did too, regardless of distance or circumstance. Even their voices were the same. Understanding their diseased minds, knowing their hopes and desires, it was almost too much for Konrad to stand. But because of the sword, he could not wake from what was most certainly a nightmare.

Together, they were the chieftain of their tribe and under their leadership it grew in stature in the north. This continued until the war in the north began and they heeded the call to arms. Images flashed by of great battles fought in the north, of the siege of Middenheim and Archaon’s eventual defeat. The twins led what was left of their tribe south, through the Imperial lines and down the river Reik. The dream ended with a sickening realization, they were heading for the Hospice of the Crying Lady, the local temple to Shallaya.

Konrad’s wife had gotten used to her husband waking up in the middle of the night with wild eyes, but it did not ease her pain or fear of seeing him hurriedly arm himself for battle and cry wildly for his men to rouse themselves. After a night and a day of frenzied preparation, Konrad had formed himself an army. The cannons were dragged from their emplacements on the walls of the monastery and forces of warrior monks were quickly raised. Konrad even managed to press ten knights into service, though three of them were still recovering from their wounds. He had seen what the chaos army was like and he knew that they would need all of them at their disposal if they were going to meet it. As the army marched out, Konrad did not see his wife standing on the battlements, praying for his safe return.

The Hospice of the Crying Lady was located fairly deep in the forest, and it was a sign of the Goddess’ favor that it had never been attacked by the creatures of the wood. Konrad and his men reached it in good time, and Konrad breathed a sigh of relief when he found it still standing. He demanded that the priestesses abandon their temple and lead their charges to safety, but their matriarch refused, saying that there were too many who could not be moved and that Shallaya would protect them. The only one who would listen was a battle mage who had come to see his brother who had lost his mind and was being cared for by the sisters. The man had demanded that he be allowed to join in the battle; a demand which a veteran commander like Konrad was not going to refuse.

Konrad set up his lines with care. He had found the clearing in his vision and had set up his artillery and infantry in plain sight of the enemy. His knights and pistoliers were out of sight, sheltering behind the woods and the hills. The enemy would see the strong center and would advance and then when they closed he and his men would overwhelm them. The chaos forces appeared, but due to the heavy terrain it was obvious that they had failed to bring up their entire force. Konrad glared in hatred as he saw a host of enemy knights led by the grotesque brute that was their chieftain come into sight. They had charged through helblaster and cannon fire, leaving two thirds of their number dead on the field. Where Konrad glared in hatred they pulled up short, surprised to see a host of knights ahead of them instead of just lightly armored infantry. With a roar Konrad and his men charged. Flies buzzed around them and his head swam as he closed in, but Konrad ignored it. The Marauder chieftain raised his scythe to strike, but it only fell when his arm came off, having been lopped off by Konrad’s blade. His return stroke split the warrior from shoulder to hip, and the chaos chieftain came apart in two pieces. Filth spilled out of the broken armor. Of the other two chaos knights, one was impaled by no less than three lances and his horse pierced by a forth. The last of them swung its sword in an arc, but only the flat of the blade struck. Yet it still unhorsed one of Konrad’s knights, such was the strength of the blow. The corrupted knight then turned to flee. Konrad and his men pursued him straight into the flank of the large block of marauders, a wall of men which was soon shattered by a charge from the other unit of knights. The slaughter was brief, but it was deadly. Within a minute the field was covered in the bodies of the slain. The unhorsed knight reseated himself and Konrad took stock of the battle. His pistoliers and huntsmen had driven off a large body of chaos warriors deeper into the wood, and while his cannons had destroyed the chariot which carried the sorcerer into combat, it was reported that the other chieftain had fled on foot. All told only one man had died, his throat torn out by the teeth of one of the chaos hounds. Konrad was proud though to see that the archers had killed three times that number with their blades and had then harassed the enemy infantry. He would be asking for names after the battle.

Konrad barked orders to his men. The archers and ten of the swordsmen were to take the artillery back to the Hospice to guard it against any form of attack, while the rest of his men were to follow him deeper into the woods. He was determined that the sorcerer would not escape, his sword demanded nothing less.

They found the enemy ready and waiting for them. The surviving chaos warriors had broken off into two units, with the most veteran ones grouping together to the far right. More marauders swarmed out of the forests, and leading them was the sorcerer, riding another chariot. Without any artillery to back them up and without the benefit of surprise, Konrad’s force took the first casualty. The preceptor who was riding with him fell off his horse, his armor rusted and crumbling, his body decayed. Konrad spurred his horse forward towards the enemy. The ground shook under their charge, with eleven fully armored men on horseback thundering towards their foe. With a crash of steel the lines hit. Konrad swung his sword in a frenzy of hatred, cutting down all who stood before him. The foe were large and well armed men, but unarmored. While lacking in protection, they made up for this with a lack of pain. Their wounds wept pus where Konrad’s sword fell, but mortal wounds still took them down. A second knight was unhorsed by a flail blow which took his horse down from under him. The horse fell on the knight’s leg, crushing it. A third knight fell soon after; like the preceoptor, victim of fel magic. By then though, over half of the marauders lay dead on the ground and still the killing continued. The few survivors turned to flee, but were run down by the vengeful knights who left a carped of corpses in their wake. To the left Konrad could see his other knights slaughtering the last of the chaos warriors who had tried to stand against them. His pistoliers were also in sight, having broken through the last of the marauder horsemen, in large part thanks to the mage who had accompanied the army, and they were showering the chariot in pistol shot; to little effect.

Konrad and his last two knights turned their horses around in time to see the sorcerer do the same with his chariot. A bolt of green light shot out from the hand of the sorcerer, missing Konrad, and withering a tree instead. Putting his spurs to his mount Konrad charged. He came up alongside the stationary chariot and swung his sword, taking the head of the sorcerer off in one blow. The chariot turned to flee, with the knights in close pursuit. It soon became abundantly clear why the chariots were only being used as platforms for the mage, as in its flight the chariot bounced and then flipped over due to the rugged terrain. The warrior driving it was crushed, as were the two horses, as they were tethered to the doomed machine.

But not all went so well. The most veteran chaos warriors were soon surrounded by swordsmen and pistoliers, stabbing and firing off shots at close range. Only three of them had fallen, but for that number they had killed two horsemen and half of the swordsmen. The slaughter was too much for the men of the Empire, who gave ground before such destruction. The chaos warriors fought their way out of the melee and into the deep woods, terrain far too dangerous for cavalry to ride in, and the warrior monks were far past the point where they were willing to pursue such a foe unaided.

Exhausted, Konrad dismounted from his hose. The day was theirs, as they had routed a determined foe which had come in greater numbers than themselves. For this though, they had paid a price. Two of his knights were dead and a third would likely never ride again. Of the warrior monks, seven had died outright and judging from the wounds of the others, three more would not live pas the night. Even the battle mage who had fought valiantly with the monks was wounded. But it was worth it. He had killed two beings which deserved nothing but death for their crimes, and with them the majority of the chaos army. Konrad walked over to the surviving pistoliers to offer them his congratulations. He also offered them one last task before he could knight them, a declaration which instantly got their attention. They were to ride out of the forest and to warn all of the nearby towns and villages that there were nine chaos warriors in the area and that they should be on their guard. With the vitality of men who had achieved a life long dream they had immediately mounted their tired steeds and went off. Konrad prayed that they would survive the perils of the forest. He then turned his attention to the warrior monks, who had finished burying the dead and who were carrying the wounded back to the Hospice. He would have to talk to their sergeant after the battle. With so many pistoliers dead, some of them would soon be promoted to their ranks, and from there is just one step ahead to knighthood. They would have to learn how to ride a warhorse, to care for it and then how to fight on one. It would be a long process, and one which other orders did not need to go through as most nobles grew up in a saddle. It was a necessary step and Konrad knew from the battle today and from the bravery of the monks that there would be a few who were worthy of this honor.

The men of the Order of the Broken Lance marched away from the field of battle. They would be back with the sisters of Shallaya later to consecrate the field and to dispose o the enemy corpses. It was a task that Konrad did not want to do himself, for fear of the plague should they handle the corpses of Nurgle’s chosen. Fortunately, they would soon have the aid of the priestesses of the goddess of healing. It had been a long day, but from the field covered in corpses, Konrad was pleased to say that it was a fruitful one.

[Kerill]

Great reports and fluff as always

Your WOC opponents seem to be rolling for eye of the gods at the start of the battle- they can't do that, they only get to roll if they kill an enemy character or large target.

Your 1500 point list has a fair bit of artillery for that level but I don't think your shooting is at the cheese level. At the same time your opponent simply doesn't have enough screens or deployables allowing you to easily out-deploy and shoot him. WOC really need hounds.

Chaos also needs magic to be able to help at range, at 1500 points a level 2 will do nothing. 2 level 2s, one with power familiar, the other with the book can put a lot more pressure on- 8Pd against your 4DD will see one or 2 spells go off every turn and a fireballs on the pistoliers or buboes on your mage/warrior priest/general gets nasty quick. Your list is solid and there are few points wasted, the WOC lists both have a fair bit of waste in them I reckon.

Chariots are of course deadly afraid of cannons/S7 bolt throwers but that's the gamble of taking them. 100 points for the character mounted version isn't bad at all for what you get, you just have to mitigate the damage they can cause- hide the chariots first turn and, if you won't be charging second turn, pivot the chariots so the flank faces the cannons (so the base is less wide and harder to hit).

Generally though, I wouldn't be too worried about your list.

@Khoulburn, fluff isn't that hard to write as long as you decide who your heroes are and where they are/what they are doing there. After that it more or less writes itself. Looking at your last list for example the mage and priest could be brothers (with the priest still suspicious of the use of magic) who have been hunting down cults an illegal sorcerors in Marienburg. With the defeat of Archaon's horde and much of the army split into smaller warbands seeking to hide within the empire there have been more attacks on isolated settlements in nearby wastelands (to the N of Marienburg) and on the borders of the forests (NE), as a result they have been sent at the head of a patrol to hunt down the beast and warrior warbands in the areas, hunt down cultists and protect the villages of the area.
Set in the wastelands and forest edges you also have fluff justification for fighting most of the warhammer armies:
Wastelands are coastal so you can easily have DE/HE/Lizardmen (from albion)/TK/Bret/WOC fleets landing and causing mischief. There are almost certainly some O&G tribes in the forest/wastelands. VC are always easy to justify in the empire and beasts live in the forests as well. Ogres could have been driven out of the middle mountains into the forest/wastelands by the chaos incursion.

[RaZeR]

Also, I think the WoC player in the first game made another mistake, when his Plague Squall misfired and landed on him. I dont have my rulebook here but I'm pretty sure it doesn't affect models with the mark of nurgle... So certainly wouldn't have wounded him, and if the chariot was nurgle marked as well (which I would do, but not sure if you have to), it wouldn't have wounded that either...

[mikepm07]

In the first list you have 2 warrior priests using enchanted shields. Aren't armies limited to 1 of any common item except for Power Stones and Dispell Scrolls?

[selone]

Congratulations on your latest result, I like your latest storyline, I remember shallaya only too well from WFRP

[grumbaki]

Kerill: I'm not familiar with WoC (my dwarfs have fought some battles with Khornate warriors before, but thats it), so I didn't know about the eye of the gods. Next time I'll call him on it.

RaZeR: I know even less about their spells.

mikepm07: Yup, 'tis a mistake. It's been pointed out, and I'll be sure not to repeat it. (It's too bad though, as I pictured them as being blessed hammers/shields).

Selone: I love the WHFRP gods and goddesses. I'm always afraid that they will go the way of the dwarven pantheon (there are, or should I say were, more dwarven gods than the big three). Before you know it Sigmar will be sitting on a golden throne! At least I hope not...

[Golden Lion]

Sweet stuff again grumbaki! I will be disappointed to see it end in the near future. I find Warriors of Chaos to be tough opponents, so well done on both victories. I disagree with the chaos player that you have too much shooting. The Empire needs shooting to be able to win. As you said, a state block will simply fall apart against knights or warriors (though your swords held up pretty well there!). Empire armies need to thin out enemy units before engaging them to have a real chance of defeating them. Would you have taken an all-out gun-line, than things would have been over the top and boring. However, that is far from the case.

I still love your background! Some great writing, that definitely doesn't get boring. Great how you enter family affairs into as well, and I also like you discussing the fate of casualties post-battle and including a rationale for taking units in your army.

Hope to see a bit more before you go on to other things!

[grumbaki]

Golden Lion, thank you. I'm really glad that you enjoyed it. While I too am sad that it will end, at least it gives a time frame for when it has to wrap up, which keeps things fresh. As for the next report...

Sigmar provides! I came in for a game yesterday and waited an hour with nobody showing up. I finally left the store and was half way to my car when I saw Dwayne (the Nurgle player) unload his cases from the car. We agreed to the game in the parking lot and I happily returned to the store. We agreed on a 1500 point game and both drew up our lists on the spot. He informed me that he was 6 points over, and when I said that I was 10 he graciously allowed it.

1500 Points (ish)

Empire:
Mage: Beast (Bear's Anger, The Hunter's Spear), Von Horstman’s Speculum
Mage: Metal (Rule of Burning Iron, Distillation of Molten Dislver), Ring of Volans (Transumtation of Lead), Dispel Scroll
Mage: Death (Dark Hand of Death, Drain Life), Doomfire Ring (I was hoping for Doom And Darkness to go off with the Doomfire Ring, for those panic tests at -3 LD)
20 Swordsmen: FC
-10 Swordsmen detachment
20 Spearmen: Shields, FC
-10 Swordsmen detachment
5 Knights: FC
5 Knights: FC
Cannon
Cannon
Mortar
Helstorm Rocket Battery (proxied with my helblaster)

1510 points

Chaos:
Chaos Champion: Barded Warhorse, Shield, Magic Armor (makes the enemy re-roll wounds? I thought that it was for hits, but didn’t want to argue) Mark of Nurlge
Chaos Sorcerer: 2 Dispel Scrolls, Chariot (Magnificent Buboes, Cloying Quagmire)
6 Knights: FC, Mark of Nurgle
20 Warriors: Shields, Halberds, FC, Mark of Nurgle, War Banner
15 Marauders: Flails, Shields, FC, Mark of Nurgle
15 Marauders: Flails, Shields, FC, Mark of Nurgle

1506 points

Deployment and Terrain:
(terrain was already set up, he denied the opportunity to move it around so we started playing)
http://www.warseer.com/gallery/data/..._v_Chaos_2.jpg

The black circle was impassible terrain. The white circle was a ruin which counted as difficult terrain. The dark green circles were woods, the brown squares were hills.

Chaos deployment (In red, from left to right) Marauders, Chaos Warriors, Knights (with hero), Marauders (chariot behind)

Empire: (In blue) On the left hill: cannon and mortar. Knights, Swordsmen, Spearmen, Knights, On the right hill: cannon and rocket battery. The beast mage stayed with the swordsmen, while the other two generally ran around by themselves.

Pre-game Tactics:

I felt confident going into this. I figured that my shooting and magic could whittle him down, as I had cannons to take down his knights/chariot and plenty of anti-infantry war machines. Then if my center held, my knights could charge their flanks and break the enemy. They also might be able to break marauders on the charge, but I didn’t want to risk it unless I had too. That’s how it would go in theory. Read below to see how it turned out.


Turn 1:

Chaos went first. Everything advanced, magic was shut down.

The Empire responded with some slight repositioning. During the magic phase, 1 knight is brought down with the Hunter’s Spear and the armor of the chaos knights is turned into lead. He burned both his scrolls to stop everything else. Then during the shooting phase:

Mortar: Fired at marauders, but misfired and blew up! (First shot of the game)
Rocket Battery: Fired at the warriors. Hits the knights instead and killed 2.
Both cannons had the arc for flank shots against the knights! The cannon on the right had a chance to hit 5 knights with a flank shot. It misfired, thus being unable to shoot for two turns. The other cannon took down 3 knights (killing them all).

Overall, not a bad turn. I managed to take down all of the knights, but I had a mortar gone and a cannon out for 2 turns.

Turn 2:

The chaos general charged my swordsmen (I did my best to convince him not too, but he decided to charge the block anyways. Personally I would have sent him in against a detachment). During the magic phase his mage miscasts and wounds himself with a S6 hit, though his chariot was unharmed. In hand to hand my Beast Mage accepted the challenge and used the Speculum (I said to him "Please don't hate me" when he issued the challenge and he responded "what, you've got an item that ignores armor saves?" I then showed him the rules for the speculum, with the store manager, who is another Empire player, laughing in the background). The chaos hero wounded the mage and was wounded in return (We forgot about the metal spell on him, but we also forgot about his armor. So I guess it worked out fine in the end). He fled, but got away, landing right behind the chariot. The swordsmen pursued into the chaos warriors.

During the magic phase, the chaos general was killed by the metal mage using the rule of burning iron (he claimed that his armor made me re-rolls to wound rolls, even though in previous games he said it was to hit. Not wanting to waste time arguing, I just accepted it and made the two rolls of 2+). Besides for that I killed 3 marauders with my magic, and that is with 3d6 str 4 hits on the marauders and the doomfire ring hitting them as well! I then failed to get off the Bear spell on my mage, which he saved his dispel dice for. I think that I might have killed a chaos warrior as well.

In the shooting phase the rocket battery fired at the chariot (which was in-between the warriors and marauders. If I aimed at the other blocks there was a chance it might scatter into my own lines. With the chariot as the target, it would be more likely to scatter onto his troops than mine). Instead it landed directly on the chariot, I randomized on the chariot and it did no damage (do helstorm batteries hit with a higher for the model directly under the template? The book just says str 5, so we played it that way). The functioning cannon hit the chariot and destroyed it. In hand to hand my mage issued a challenge and killed his champion. I then killed 2 warriors, while he killed 3 swordsmen (using halberds). I outnumbered him, but he had the warbanner so the combat ended in a draw.

Turn 3:

The marauders moved up again. In the magic phase his mage miscasted again, wounding himself a second time and died (two turns in a row the mage took a str 6 hit with no armor save alloed!). In hand to hand he killed 5 swordsmen for 1 death back. The swordsmen broke and were run down (with my beast mage being killed with them).

My troops aligned themselves for some charges. During the magic phase 2 marauders from the unit to the left died and 1 from the right died, and I think that I got another chaos warrior or two. Shooting saw 3 chaos warriors die from a cannon shot. The cannon on the right (the one which had the flank shot against the knights but misfired) proved worthless again. It had a shot that could hit 5 chaos warriors; it landed right in front and misfired on the bounce. The rocket battery misfired as well, being unable to shoot for two turns! My luck with shooting and magic was really sub-par, but due to the positioning of my units I still felt that I could eliminate the marauders and avoid/shoot his chaos warriors.

Turn 4:

His warriors turned to the right to face my lines. They were down to 10 models at this point. The left hand marauders had about 11-12 left and the ones on the right had 12-13ish.

The knights on the left flank charged his marauders, as they were so close that I really didn't have a choice. I hoped to break them on the charge. He had 1 extra rank, outnumbering and a standard for +3 combat resolution. With my standard, I'd need to kill at least 3 marauders on the charge to win combat. With 6 attacks from my knights and 5 from my horses, I figured that the odds were with me. But even if I fluffed it, I hoped that the knights could stick around and whittle their foes down.

I then declared 2 charges on the right against his marauders, with the knights to his right flank and the spearmen to the front. The detachment's supporting charge was ready to hit them in the left flank. He fled from this onslaught and was run down, though we had a small argument as he claimed that because they fled from the highest unit strength (the spearmen) my knights couldn't catch them. A staff member resolved the dispute and he called the game.

Victory for the Empire!


Thoughts:

1. Deployment was big in winning me this game. My artillery on the flanks were in no danger, and the hills gave them a clear view of the battlefield. Everything of mine was right where I wanted it to be, with my state troops lined up against his infantry and supported by knights on the flanks.
a. On his side, his marauders near the ruins were too far away to do anything, and his knights ran up in such a way that my artillery was in the optimal position to inflict damage. This left two units that were an actual threat, and while my magic/shooting didn’t get their numbers down as much as I’d like, at least the right hand marauders were outmaneuvered enough to take them out.
2. I had mixed luck with my magic and shooting, but I had both in such an amount that it didn’t really matter. Even though my mages were not doing too much, they could reliably get off 2-3 spells a turn, and my artillery let loose such a barrage that even with their misfires they got the job done. He on the other hand he had horrible luck with magic, as his mage committed suicide through double miscasts. So I guess that I really can't complain too much.
3. Von Horstman’s Speculum is great against chaos. Their heroes need to challenge, so just put the mage in a unit that you expect them to charge. The lack of save can be bad though (still took a wound), but it does neuter his combat heroes.
4. There was a discussion after the game between my opponent and a staff member (with the input of a veteran player who has both mortal and daemon armies) about what he can do to improve his army. The advice that was given is below, and I agree with all of it.
a. Drop the chariot and/or 1 unit of marauders (while making the other unit bigger)
b. Get marauders horsemen and/or dogs
c. Get a second mage
i. With this he can actually do something in the magic phase and he can have fast units which can threaten enemy warmachines/support units. His mainly infantry army cannot do any of that. His chariot really is a liability, as it doesn't seem to make it into combat, and it takes more than 1 chariot for them to be of any real threat to an infantry block. It also seems to have a "shoot me!" sign on it.
d. I recommended that in the future he only run his knights with one rank. Then if he makes sure that enemy cannons only have the front-arc, they can only kill 1 knight per shot, instead of the 2-3 (could have gotten 5 if it were not for that misfire) hits that my cannons were getting. I’m not sure if he wanted to listen to this, but if he did it will really limit the amount of damage that enemy shooting can dish out.
5. I hate it that whenever good positioning gets off a great charge the game ends. I was looking forward to hitting those marauders on three sides as it did take some time to set up. It seems like it is a rarity to reach the full 6 turns when the game goes your way. This is too bad as there really was more that he could do. With his flight of the marauders he was set up to hit my detachment in the flank. A good flee would put them through the spearmen. While I doubt that he would reach the spearmen, there was the chance that he could (and thus really mess me up). Still, that’s all academic because the game ended when it did.

[grumbaki]

Following the successful defense of the Hospice of the Crying Lady, the strength of the region was mobilized to hunt down the survivors of the attack. Nine chaos warriors survived the attack, but they were hunted like animals through the forest. A new campaign had started. This hunt was spearheaded by the Gold Mage Edwin von Vergildet. Convinced by the priestesses of the threat to the Empire, he delayed his return to the court of the Graf of Middenland to see the battle out. Both sides quickly moved to round up whatever aid they could. Vergildet sought out the reclusive Charakter, a priest of Taal who lived deep within the woods, as well as the Count of Gulstag for his soldiers. While this went on, the chaos warriors scoured the forest for every mutant and monster they could find. It was a hard process even for they, and their numbers shrank by the week. Two chaos warriors died at the hands of their fellows as they fought for leadership of the army that they had built. Three more fell while fighting goblins whom they fought for control of the woods, which they gained after slaying the bloated spider that the goblins worshiped as a god. A sixth warrior was felled by one of the chaotic monsters that they sought to tame. The last three survivors though, they had managed to build their army, which was composed of every outcast, mutant, traitor and beastman within the forest surrounding the Hospice. All those who refused to join them were slaughtered, so when they marched out to war it was with bloody weapons held high.

So it was that three weeks later the two sides finally met. After the endless skirmishes and raiding, Virgildet was sure that he had guessed where his foes would strike next. The uniting of the warbands within the forest had culminated on several raids on the farmsteads of the region, and judging by the trail of destruction he was certain that the village behind him would be their next target. He had called on every resource at his disposal. He stood with Charakter at his side, watching the Imperial army prepare for battle. The Count had been most forthcoming with his assistance, emptying his castle of warmachines and even deploying forty soldiers, and a mage who acted as his advisor, to stand in the way of the enemy. Virgildet did not know what college she was from, but there was an air of malevolence about her that kept the common soldiers at bay, and at work. The count's artillery had been cunningly concealed high above the field on the hills that sat on either side of the village. It had been a hard and thankless fight to get the warmachines up there and hidden, but he was sure that it would be worth it. Virgildet had also contacted the leader of the knights who had fought at the Hospice, but as of yet he had received no word back from them. If he was right, then the enemy would burst out of the forest at any minute, so there was no way that they could wait for the knights of the Broken Lance to arrive.

The enemy came like he had anticipated. They were numerous. Where Virgildet had been able to raise a mere forty soldiers, the enemy had emptied the forest of its worst denizens. Mutants, beastmen the cultists streamed out in large mobs. What was most horrifying was the sight of the largest that came out. One of them was certainly a minotaur, but of the other five it was impossible to say. All that was known was that they were huge monstrosities, and they were led by a chaos warrior riding an impossibly large steed, which in all probability was one of the chaos steeds that survived the first battle with the order. With a roar the imperial artillery fired. Disaster struck at once, as the mortar fired for its first time. It was made from a simple bronze casting, and the cheap material showed, as there was a hidden crack in its casing. The mortar simply came apart, ripping apart its unfortunate crew in an explosion of shrapnel. However, the rest of the concealed artillery did its job, ripping huge holes in the advancing beasts. Of the six monstrosities that had charged, not a single one surived the barrage. The chaos warrior leading them rode through the storm of lead and straight towards the swordsmen, and Charakter. The chaos warlord swung down with his sword, which barely missed decapitating the priest of Taal. Charakter struck back with his staff, a staff which was imbued with the power of the god of Nature. It did nothing to break past the warrior’s armor, but the tainted one screamed in pain as the purifying nature of Taal purged the diseases of the warrior's tainted body. The champion of Nurgle turned to flee, unwilling to fight a priest of this rival god. Virgildet smiled as the champion fled. With an incantation he heated the armor of the warrior up with his sorcery, mirroring the heat of its creation. The cowardly champion screamed even louder as he was cooked within his own armor.

With a cry of victory Charakter and the swordsmen streamed forward towards the enemy. They ran straight into the mob of the largest enemy mutants. The creatures, while smaller than their cousins who were felled by the artillery, each stood taller than a man. They came in a variety of forms, some cloaked in features, others covered in scales. All were deadly, mindless beasts that hungered for the taste of human flesh. Charackter swung his staff at the chaos warrior leading them. It struck the warrior on the head. It left no mark, but the power of Taal felled the warrior none the less. It was a victory, but one that could not last. The imperial soldiers fought with bravery, but it was no match for the raw anger and power of the mutated beasts. Swords were eaten by maws that grew out of the sides of the mutants, other swordsmen died as acidic blood covered them from wounds that they had cut into the enemy. Charackter himself fell when a beast ripped his head off with a single swipe of an oversized claw. It was a massacre. However, the beasts were now leaderless and were soon driven into a complete frenzy by the pain caused by the spells Virgildet and his colleague threw at them as well as the cannon balls which cut them down with impunity. The mindless spawn, driven mad by pain, rage and the taste of blood turned on each other, tearing, biting and killing everything within reach. Even those who still had the presence of mind to attack the imperials had to defend themselves against their bretheren. Every surviving human fled from them as the mindless beasts tore themselves apart while fighting over a carpet of dead swordsmen.

The last chaos warrior had ridden into battle upon a peasant’s cart. The cart was pulled by two near-dead mules, and the cart was full of the rotting corpses of the peasant family who had once ridden in it. The chaos warrior raised up his armored arms to call upon his god for aid. Nurgle heard his call, but apparently his god was displeased with the performance of his champions. The warrior doubled up in pain, as for the first time the diseases that he carried actually hurt him. The warrior fell off the cart, retching as his own diseased body ate him alive. His lasts words were those of supplication for the uncaring god of chaos and his last thougths, appropriately enough, were filled with despiar. He was dead long before the imperial cannons obliterated any trace of his existence, or that of his impromptu shrine.

Elsewhere in the battle the spearmen made ready to attack a mob of mutants that were coming at them. They came screaming and howling, some weilding weapons, others who had no need of them. Smaller that those who had already seen combat, a rare few of them could even pass for normal humans. The battle hung in the balance, with two large mobs of mutants and beastmen charging at the imperial lines. While the spearmen held firm against one mob, the one to the west was heading straight for the unprotected cannon that sat upon the hill. They howled for blood even as they charged through the artillery barrage. It was then that victory was sealed. From behind the imperial lines warhorns were heard, followed by the sound of heavily armored knights charging. Virgildet ceased in his spell casting long enough to see the knights of the Order of the Broken Lance charge into battle. One group of knights came hurtling down the hill to the east, past the cheering artillery crew only to crash into the melee between the mutants and the spearmen. It was the deciding factor, as the courage of the foe snapped and they turned to run, only to be cut down. On the other flank came five more knights, who rode straight past the visably relieved cannon crew and into the second mob of mutants. They had no infantry to hold them in place, so what was a rout on the east became a battle on the western flank. However, the simple weapons of the unarmored mutants proved to be of little consequence to the heavily armored cavalry, and they too soon turned to flee. It was too late for that, and to a beast they were ridden down.

The sun was still high in the sky as the battle came to an end. The field before them was littered with the dead. Virgildet smiled as he surveyed the battle. For the fist time in a generation the forests on the borderlands would be safe, as it was clear that the chaos warriors had emptied it of threats to make this attack. The surviving imperial soldiers cheered as they dispatched the wounded. Virgildet walked through the piles of the dead, fastidiously holding his robes up so as not to ruin them. Finally he came upon the body of Charackter. The priest of Taal had bravely met, and defeated, two champions of the plague god. After a minute’s search Virgildet found the man’s head and then dragged both it and the body out of the pile. He ignored the looks of fear and derision cast upon him by the common soldiers, who believed that he planned some obscene ritual with the dead priest. The leader of the knights, as well as his fellow mage didn't even notice him, the politics of victory at the forefront of their minds. All Virgildet wanted was to give the man whom he had worked with to build this defense, and who he had come to know as a friend, the burial he deserved upon clean, untainted ground. After his heroism, it was the least he could do.


The State of the Region

The area around the Marienburg-Empire border is still unstable, but most threats have been ended. The town attacked by the Marienburgers has been resettled with little damage done to the buildings and (with the exception of the Lowland Tower's garrison) little loss of life. Trade once again flows, though it is unknown whether or not the forces of Marienburg will spend more men and money on this venture. The Lowland Tower is being rebuilt, and should the funds become available (and should trade continue to flow) the tower might become the corner stone of a new fortress.

With the army of Surt destroyed, the barrows that his forces fought from are now safe, but as there is little strategic value in the region due to the poor soil quality and lack of mountain passes. Thus this changes little for the average man of the Empire and the victory is all but unkown outside of the halls of the order. However, it is a great moral victory, for the ancient Unbeorgens have finally been put to rest.

Furthermore, the massacre against the Dark Elves has not gone unheeded in Naggroth. It is unknown in the land of chill on what actions will be taken by the Patriarch of the family, who now knows of the location of the Horn. All within his household wait with baited breath to see if he will try to claim the prize for himself, or if he will simply take vengeance on his wife for her duplicity.

The destruction of the Tribe of the Crow, along with their mutant allies, has done much to secure the region. The forests are now safe from mutant and forest goblin attacks, though the taint of Nurgle remains. This is a temporary threat though, as the priests of Taal, Rhya and Shallaya are actively working to free the forests from this (a task made much easier due to purging of the forest).

However, all is not well. The Bog Daemons still remain in the Wasteland, so travel through that region is perilous in the extreme. Fortunately, the casualties that they took in battle will mean that their raids will drop dramatically for the next few seasons, at the very least. Also, the majority of the Order is still locked in combat against the Orcs. The town they are defending is holding strong, and the Orc Warlord is running out of goblins whom he can throw at it (as most of the greenskins of the mountains have chosen to follow Grimgor in his march to the north). However, the Imperial defenders, while will provisioned, are running low on power and shot for their guns, able bodied men to man the walls, and the wooden walls have been shored up numerous times due to bombardment from orc catapults. The battle there still hangs in the balance as both sides run out of bodies to throw into it. Should the Grand Master lose that war, then the Order, despite its victories, will be long in recovering.