Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Map - Year 6, Turn 5, continued


History of the Sundered Isles – The Forty Third Year of the Second Age. Macdanalus, Scrivener to the King. The Sixth Year and Fifth Campaign Month of the Great War (part two).


War in the North

The Glorious Siege of the Cauldron
And so it was that after a full month of skirmishes, adventures, dark and heroic deeds, and an unspeakable incident with a warthog, the Bretonnian King’s army cut its way south through the forests of Northern Elswood (B15) until finally they beheld the Great Cauldron of the Norse (C15). Upon its battlements they could see foul daemons and monstrous hosts while behind were the dark pits that gave the forbidding fortress its name. Glory was at hand.

The Chevalier turned to his King. “What are your orders my liege? Let us storm the walls at once so that we may cast the fiend back into hell”. The King thought carefully for a moment before making his decision. 

“We storm that shit...”

Bretonnians elect to storm the walls.

 Attacker (1500pts)
  • Bretonnian 1st Army (1500pts) – accompanied by the Bretonnian King 
      Defender (2090pts x 2)
  •  Norse 4th army (1090pts)
  • Norse defensive muster (300pts)
  • Monstrous Host (400pts)
  • Daemon Host (300pts)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sven Halfhand, leader of the Skaeling people, and keeper of the dark cauldron listened as the Bretonnian champion issued his challenge. One on one he wanted was it? Halfhand laughed. “Send for the beast”. The gates opened slowly as the shaggoth stomped out to crush the impudent human.  The chevalier charged his monstrous foe. The duel that followed would quickly become part of legend. For over thirty minutes the chevalier danced and weaved around his much larger opponent. The earth shook repeatedly beneath the shaggoth’s blows. Finally, the exhausted beast stumbled and the chevalier leapt upon its back, his carcasonne birth sword piercing the beast’s skull and killing it instantly.

Discipline immediately broke on the Bretonnian side as a regiment of Knights Errant surged recklessly against the walls. The young knights were destroyed quickly and totally by a countercharge from the daemon host and by a barrage of magic from the walls. It was a massacre.

The king withdrew his force to consider his next move.  

Result - Bloody Repulse - The Bretonnians are thrown from the walls. The siege continues but no further assaults are possible until the following campaign turn
  • Bretonnians lose 400 troops from its 1st army which remains camped outside the walls
  • Warriors of Chaos lose 250 troops from its monstrous host
............................................................................................................................................................. 


War in the South

The Battle of Hag Graef
Total war finally returned to Kinsblood after months of posturing and atrocities from all sides. As the Druchii King hurried to meet his Undead allies in Hag Graef (H15) - and with the Deadites waiting patiently for their allies to arrive - a force of Norse warriors and daemons arrived suddenly from the direction of Clar Karond (I16). The Witch King’s forces cautiously approached the battlefield as he carefully watched the two hordes line up for battle before him. Now was the time.

Attacker (900pts)
  • Norse 3rd Army (400pts)
  • Daemon Host (500pts)
Defender (3,650pts)
  • Dark Elf 1st Army (500pts) – accompanied by the Dark Elf King
  • Dark Elf defensive muster (150pts)
  • Undead 1st Army (1500pts) – accompanied by the Vampire Counts King
  • Undead 2nd Army (1500pts)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Result - Druchii/Undead alliance wins and the Chaos army is scattered

The vastly unnumbered berserker horde of Khorne marauders and bloodletters crashed and broke upon a phalanx of steel and bone. The chaos forces take horrendous casualties and are quickly isolated and broken by the defenders in a terrible massacre. The chaos army is driven from Hag Graef and scattered. The force retreats back to Clar Karond in confusion and disorder, breaking up and dispersing as it does so. The victors shadow the retreating force picking off stragglers and isolated groups.
  • Dark Elf 1st army loses 50 troops
  • Undead 2nd army loses 50 troops
  • Daemon Host loses 500 troops and is completely wiped out (includes losses to pursuit)
  • Norse 3rd army retreats to Clar Karond (I16)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Battle of Mournwood
Just like the Norse King’s army in the far north, the Undead 3rd army stationed in Mournwood (I14) had a scouting mishap at precisely the wrong time. As the master necromancer attempted to get confirmation of his orders he looked up and saw the sky seemingly twist in upon itself...and reality appear to bend. It was too late. The Daemons had arrived.

Undead are caught in a pincer as three warbands advance on Mournwood from Nagarythe (I13) while a further three spill in from Karond Kar (J14)

Attacker (2,700pts)
  • Norse 1st Army (500pts)
  • Norse 2nd Army (600pts)
  •  Daemon Host (500pts)
  • Daemon Host (400pts)
  • Daemon Host (400pts)
  • Daemon Host (300pts)
Defender (1149pts)
  •  Undead 3rd Army (1149pts)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 Result - The chaos hordes had retaken Mournwood (I14)

The warbands of chaos crush their enemies and the Undead army is defeated and scattered
Surrounded on all sides and caught unawares the Undead army initially take heavy casualties – the warriors of nurgle reaped a fine harvest of zombie parts for their pots while a lahmian vampire was artistically and lovingly ripped to pieces by an exalted champion of slannesh. 

The master necromancer Davo von Strudlepopper quickly realised the battle was unwinnable. Von Strudlepopper ordered his elites to flee the field and prepared a mass resurrection of the fallen zombies to delay and mire the chaos horde. There were acres of them. Every time the zombies were cut down they rose again – for three whole hours this cycle repeated until finally a herald of Tzeentch found and magically neutralised the master necromancer hiding amidst a mob of zombies. With the Undead general captured the zombie horde collapsed. 

A grim fate awaited the master necromancer. They say the dead can’t scream… they are wrong.
  •  The smallest of the Daemon hosts lose 100 troops
  • The Undead 3rd army loses 550pts and retreats to Hag Graef (H15) - (includes losses to pursuit)