by The Chosen of Sigmar
Story:
Rumor was spreading of large force that had destroyed a Dwarfen stronghold near
Zhufbar, in the south of the Empire. Apparently a
Daemon Prince had made a pact with a Vampire Count. This pact had advantages for both of
them: the Vampire could feast on the flesh and blood of the fallen, the
Daemon Prince had an ally that could 'regenerate' any of his own fallen men. OK, they
would be dead, so what? Since they joined forces many foes were beaten and the
conquered land and loot grew with great speed. There was no force in the world
that would even consider to take up arms against this army as it consisted of
both fear causing and hard hitting troops. Now that they had past the mountains
the Empire was for the taking.
Karl Franz was informed of this invasion as he was himself grouping most of his generals and troops to fight off a Chaos invasion in the North. The Emperor knew that only a few of his servants would be daring enough to meet this foe: Valten and Luthor Huss who were on their way to Middenheim, and Kurt Helborg, who was fighting an invading Dark Elf host near the port of Marienburg. And then there was Falco. The Emperor had given him the position of Peace Keeper, a position that had brought him in the worst battles people could imagine but never he had failed his Emperor. As Karl Franz heard Falco was in Talabheim, he sent a messenger to his former bodyguard. Talabheim was the perfect place to gather a force to stop the threat from the south!
As Falco received the imperial message, he called upon all Elector Counts and Grand Masters of the Empire to send him troops as his own troops had suffered great losses in their last battle. As always the city states of Nuln, Middenheim and of course Talabheim reacted whereas the Elector Counts as always kept their troops near them. Only the Count of Averland, a friend of Falco, sent some extra reinforcements. Would it be enough the hold off the evil tides...
The armies:
The Empire had chosen for a rather usual army list bringing fast en heavy
cavalry together with the necessary shooting and backup infantry. In order to
make some room for the Steam Tank the Chosen of Sigmar had chosen not to fill all
hero slots. One level 4 Light Wizard and two Warrior Priest were all magic he
was carrying to the battle field (expecting a Khorne player on the other site of
the table.
As
a result of the 2=1-rule (see elsewhere on the site) Iano picked a small force
with only a unit of marauders, a large unit of Chosen Knights of Khorne and a
Giant. A Daemon Prince was added to lead this all. The impact of this force
could be big as it wa
s very hard hitting, but then again, it could also be
profitable for me (The Chosen of Sigmar) if I could kill a unit or two of this
force.
Stefano chose the more usual approach to assemble his army and went for the Strigoï approach. If there's one thing I hate about that, it is the usual flying vampire. A real pain in the ass if you ask me. For the rest I only really feared the Black Knights (Stefano's favorite conversion unit) as it was the only thing that would be able to charge me in turn two.
Deployment:
The Empire chose to deploy using hedges, a marsh and a hill as cover. It was a rather normal deployment with the high ground advantage for the Great Canon and a unit of Handgunners and a compact deployment for the rest of the army. The huntsmen were going to be able to disturb the movement of the Undead in a early stage.
The Chaos and Vampire Count players deployed in a dispersed way. Since they had 2 generals (the Daemon Prince was the Marshall) they were always going to test on a leadership of 9. Difficult indeed!
The battle:
The Evil side had first turn and began moving towards the Empire troops. Any magic attempts were promptly dispelled (6 dice do have their advantage, you know).
For the Empire the cavalry and the steam tank did some movement in order to get the fast troops of Chaos and Undead in some traps. Mat Chstick was able to cast both Shem's Burning Gaze on the Dire Wolves, killing 4 of them, and more importantly Amshu's Blinding Light on the Black Knights, making it impossible to charge the Empire battle line the next turn. My artillery was looking forward to two rounds of shooting at these fellows. As successful as the magic had been, as terrible went the Imperial shooting: the Great Canon malfunctioned, the Helblaster (Sudden Death indeed) and the Hull Canon misfired which resulted in 3 hull points lost. The Handgunners and Pistoliers shared in the enthusiasm of the artillery and did not many kills either.
To Khorne or not to Khorne, Iano charged his
Chosen
Knights into the Nulner Pistoliers who failed to escape by an inch. Luckily
this didn't bring the knights in base contact with the other troops. The
remaining Dire Wolf tried to charge Mat Chstick who fled in fear. It brought the
Di
re Wolf in charge range of the Free Companies. The Daemon Prince and the Giant
charged the White Wolves. Their first knight issued a challenge which was
accepted by the bloodthirsty Daemon General. The Fell Bats and the Marauders
joined forces and charged the Averlander
Pistoliers. Needless to say that the Fell Bats and the Marauders exterminated
the
Averlander youngsters. On top of that the Thrall decided to spread his wings
and charged the Great Canon. He killed two of the crew members where the third
was able to get away. von Stumkopf wounded the Giant but when the
big guy shook the
world by jumping up and down their was no trace of the White Wolves
anymore. The Prince
had no mercy on the First Knight and killed him outright. Luckily von Stumkopf
was able to escape the pursuing Chaos adepts.
The engineer in the Steam Tank must have drunk to much the day before as he let's off too much steam blowing up another portion of his Steam Tank. As a result he doesn't have enough power to charge the Marauders so he decides to take a shot at the Daemon Prince. Luckily, the canon ball hits home. Both Mat Chstick and von Stumkopf rally as Father Eustachius leads the Greatswords in their charge against the Khorne knights. Luckily they beat the knights who fail their break test. In their hatred the Greatswords outrun the horses and catch them which let Iano make the following statement of the year: "Auch!". The 101st Detachment declared the charge on the remaining undead wolf but fail their fear test when about to start running. Damn, this was again not looking good for Mat Chstick, the Enlightened.
Azraroth hadn't tasted enough blood and
launched himself in the
rear of the Nulner Handgunners. They were simply
no match for the hideous creature and were slain. The Dire Wolf again charged
the Wizard of Light and c
ame out victorious. Mat Chstick ran of the table
because he was outnumbered 2 to 1. The Free Companies fled as the Black Knights
declared a charge upon them. Failing their charge the Black Knights now had an
open flank where the Reiksguard would greatly take advantage off. The Fell Bats
made a dive attack on the Steam Tank hoping it would keep the behemoth blocked.
All they did was make
some wind. The Marauders wanted to join them but failed
their terror test. The Giant and the Daemon Prince again charged Otto, who
challenged the Daemon. Wielding the Sword of Sigismund von Stumkopf took the
last wound of the Marshall. The Giant started to yell and brawl which made Otto
turn tail. However he was captured by the Giant in running of the table. In the
mean time the Gargaroth had invoked 7 zombies which had the only purpose to
divert the charge of Falco and his knightly bodyguard. He succeeded by throwing
2 sixes. Damn, having 3 dispel scrolls and not able to use them...
Falco of course charged these minions of evil and he succeeded in exterminating them completely. He chose not to overrun in order to take on the Black Knights in a following turn. The Steam Tank steam boiled a Fell Bat and then grinded the other under its wheels. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Gargaroth lead his Skeletons in a charge on the Greatswords.
They stood firm and held their own because of the immunity to fear provided by
Father Eustachius, who was wounded in the process. The black knights scared the
detachment of free companies off the table. On the other side the Giant
reappeared.
The 82nd Detachment ran in terror as the Giant
stepped towards
them. The Steam Tank again
over pressured but was able to get stuck wit h the Giant. This was a battle
within the battle: two large targets bashing (or crashing) it out. The Steam
Tank didn't cause much wounds and but neither did the Giant. This was all to
change in the next couple of rounds. Father Eustachius fell under the claws of
the Vampire and as a result the Greatswords ran away. The pursuit got Gargaroth
and his bony companions in charge range of the flank of Falco. This was not
looking good for the Empire General.
The foul Count declared a charge and seen the conditions, Falco chose to stand ground. But the outnumbering Skeletons led by their general
beat the poor knights and as the proud Reiksguard fled, the Undead were able to
capture them. Falco fell under his horse and was left for dead while the undead
charged into the badly positioned Talabheimer Handgunners.
In
the mean time the Giant tried to yell it away but the unbreakable, stinking heap
of iron kept coughing smoke.
So much smoke it drove out of the clash and smashed
back into the Giant, again not doing enough damage to kill it. The Giant, in all
his despair, eadbutted the Tank and the machine blew up completely. The engineer
was seen flying into a bush but his remains were never found. To bring some
glamour to the way the Empire was trying, the Spearmen, inspired by the Warrior
Priest Brother Clavicula, charged the marauders in the flank. Carrying the
banner of Griffon the victory 
was theirs to take. The Chaos Adepts fled in
despair. On the other side: 3 Handgunners were able to flee from the melee.
Last turn for Chaos and the Vampire counts: they wanted the total victory... The Giant declared a charge on the victorious Spearmen. Not wanting the big guy in the rear and hoping to rally in the final stage of the Empire, they fled. The Ghouls, haven't done much in the previous turns charged the fleeing Free Companies. These kept on running and stayed out of reach. Gargaroth again charged the remaining Handgunners, but they ran faster than him (what fear can't make some people do). The black knights saw 5 huntsmen to charge and as they did, these also fled. Not far enough though and so some casualties were made in this final turn. The marauders failed to rally so the only Chaos thing standing was the Giant. Not bad, not bad at all.
Last turn for the Empire: there was only one thing to do and that was rally all fleeing troops not giving away more victory points. The Handgunners, the Free Companies and the Spearmen all rallied. The Empire had lost, but with pride...
End:
Brother Clavicula overlooked the battle field. Great had been the losses of the Empire but then again so were those on the side of Evil. The remainder of the troops were looking for other survivors while Gargaroth and his minions continued the advance into the Empire. Talabheim was soon to be reached. Then a yell of one of the troopers caught the attention of Brother Clavicula: Falco was found. He lay under his horse and had broken several bones in his body but was determined to stand up. "As long as my spine is OK, I'll be fighting", he laughed at the Warrior Priest. The Priest lay a hand on the head of Falco and started mutter some unintelligible words. An unnatural ray of Light struck Falco, who felt his strength return. The Peace Keeper was alive!
To learn more about Gargaroth's advance read Pursuit of the Undead!
Learning points:
Empire:
-
Sword of Sigismund is a fine weapon for the Batlle Standard Bearer. Striking first with 3 strength 5 attacks is as good as any ward save.
-
A Steam Tank can let you down.
-
Never throw Iano's artillery dice: too much misfires!
